Knee-jerk reaction to day one ladder (SoU)

Started off at rank 20 and my first 10 opponents were: 7 quest druids, 1 quest warlock, 1 highlander hunter, 1 highlander mage

I'm only playing Whizbang until I get the opportunity to sit down and do some home brew deck building. How does it look for everyone else??

I've only seen one Quest Druid, one Quest Hunter, two tempo Rogues (one with and one without the quest) and last meta decks, Bomb Warriror and Big Shaman. It's mainly been Highlander Mage and Quest Priest that I keep seeing on ladder. 

I've played 5 matches at rank 9 against the same stupid Mech Hunter deck we've been facing for the past 3 months. How can people not want to try out the new cards but instead play the same shit they've been playing all year?

After like 10 matches using Whizbang against a friend of mine, who was trying out the new Quest hunter.

Rogue's Hooked Scimitar is super-duper rad with the pirate package.

Quest Hunter performs really good against a wide board [beat Whizbang's Murloc Shaman 0-3] but struggles against control decks [Big Warrior, Heal Druid]. The Zoo Warlock that I got also beat him once. I think I'm in love with the new Rogue weapon right now.

Not every player gets the bundle or saves up gold for every expansion guys. Day one decks are not for everyone.

Quote From Lucuma

Not every player gets the bundle or saves up gold for every expansion guys. Day one decks are not for everyone.

I can understand players not buying the bundles (I used to be f2p for years before transitioning to a paying customer), but not saving up gold? That's just lazy and on the fault of the players who don't save and/or complete their dailies

I am also one of those Quest Druids. Rank 15 to Rank 5 with a build much like Feno’s. 

With “Dad Legend” accomplished on Day 1, it’s  time to play some other decks.

I'm just glad I'm not running into bomb warriors tbh. 

Quote From Aidan0816

I'm just glad I'm not running into bomb warriors tbh. 

I played against quite a few

Climbed from rank 11 to 5 last night and did some spectating at the end

Knee jerk reaction: quest druid seems both super popular and absolutely terrible (or needs refining badly).  I've only lost to it once with terrible draws and the people on my friendlist had a similar experience

First game: I was Quest Priest (Dekster's Wall, with a few tweaks -- I subbed a Mass Dispel for the usual 1-mana priest health spell and it did come in handy).

Opponent was a Quest Shaman going nuts with lackeys and dragons, who ran out of fuel -- to Psychopomps who rezzed Zilliax a total of four times (and healed 12 HP for me for the quest), then went all in to a wide board that got Plague of Death'd.

His RNG with lackeys wasn't good; he kept getting the mutate or taunt ones, which allowed me to rebound and win after going down into the teens in health.

Got Reno the Relicologist from my first few packs, so decided to craft Zephrys the Great and make a Highlander Mage deck, which is actually a lot of fun. Coming from rank 20 to 17, I've faced some Quest Rogues and Quest Paladins so far, but managed to win most, as they seemed to have trouble finishing their quests. Tweaked my deck a bit to hope for better results, let's see what I'll encounter today.

The first days of an expansion are a lot of fun to me, especially low on the ladder, as there seem to be plenty of people who either don't have the cards/dust to make perfect netdecks, or simply prefer to experiment with their own creations. Usually, that fades pretty fast, so let's enjoy it whiile it's here!

All Quests with the exception of my first game with Quest Druid which was against a Golden Whizbang Bomb Warrior. 

 I won.. 😃

Aside from that it really has been people trying all the Quests. Which I love. It won't last sadly as I'm sure within 24 hours there will be a new Meta Deck that destroys all before it.

 But right now I'm having a blast.

I think it's ok that some people keep playing their pre-uldum T1 decks - this makes it easy to see if any of the new decks are good or not. 

Well so far the opponents i met are quite diverse ...

Quest Priest, Quest Rogue, Quest Paladin, Highlander Hunter, Highlander Mage, Weapon Warrior, Midrange Hunter, Quest Shaman but so far not One Single Druid ... 

I've only played 10 games (6-4 with a budget secret hunter) so very limited data. I did see all new decks which was nice, but I also understand not everyone will pre-order (I didn't) and may not have the gold to buy enough packs to build all-new-stuff. 

Quest druid is my pick to be totally busted once it's refined. It's an easy one to finish and turns 5, 6, and 7 are insane with Oasis Surger, Hidden Oasis, Ancient of War. 

Every opponent I've faced has been either Quest Shaman or Conjurer's Mage. I just finished my 5th game in a row against mage and I'm already over it. HoF Mountain Giant.

Looks like both of the new secrets are super OP for the time being.  I'm up to rank 3 now and absolutely no one plays around them

I don't remember this being the case in the past, but it looks like the general playerbase needs time learning how to play around them

I played some yesterday evening (U.S.) using Whizbang (I did also play one game with a slightly-altered Mech Paladin to complete a quest) and mostly enjoyed the experience in the rank 20 neighborhood.  Faced a curious mixture of opponents, including Quest Mage and Quest Warlock.  Probably the most fun I had was with the Quest Hunter deck recipe: it's not *good* but it is highly entertaining; summoning a full board of rushing locusts and giving them all +2 attack is delightful.

Spent Day One tinkering with versions of Quest Rogue (Tess build vs. Tempo build) around Rank 8. First three opponents were Quest Druids. Then a Quest Hunter. And 80% of matches (and we’re talking 15-20+) thereafter were all Quest Shaman. Part of the appeal might just be the ease of completion: Lackeys all have battlecries, Questing Explorer has a battlecry, so just play the way you want to play and you’re done. Now whether or not it works out long term is a different story. 

Holy #()4)#( we're already a day in and the general mentality is still very positive?

I honestly swear that's not me being trolly or hyperbolic.  In almost every expansion since at least TGT the community had found some major deck to rage over, whether it was Secret paladin, C'thun decks, Jade Druid, Cubelock, Shudderwock, or so on.  Even in expansions we loved there would be SOMETHING to rage over.  

So yeah, seeing this thread I was seriously looking for That Deck.  And by the above.. it sounds like a pretty awesome run so far.  That sounds great.

Myself I never get into the meta at this point. I'm in spam-arena mode, so I just have to watch how everyone is taking to the meta.  

As far as the old deck users.. hoarding gold doesn't really help a F2Per in MAKING decks.  It gets you the core commons and rares and a few legnedaries to start aiming yourself towards. But you have to craft the final key cards to make any deck. And only the insane (or new who will learn the issues shortly) F2Per will be crafting a single bit of ANYTHING at this time.  Instead you'll either be in Arena, playing Wonderful decks or playing your old stuff, especially if they still can get you somewhere.  

Once things stabilize, we'll sort over the riff raff and join in.

I have been playing quest druid along with a wild highlander shaman and a wild big beast/spell hunter. I have played against a variety of decks.

You guys are killing it with all the positivity! I'm still on that Whizbang grind and the number of druids has dropped off considerably since I first posted - now I'm seeing a little bit of everything. I can't wait to get some down time one of these evenings this week to fumble around with my collection!

I'm gonna be the negative nancy here. The new quests are too powerful, especially Shaman, Druid and Rogue. The vast majority of games I've played come down to a race to finish the quest, with minion interactions (you know, the crux of this game) being an afterthought. On top of that, I've been playing LackLock (or WarLack?) and it's the same. If I draw Dark Pharaoh Tekahn before opponent completes quest, I win. Otherwise they win. Luck has always been part of HS, but this might be crossing the line for me. Too highroll. Maybe things will change and new non-quest decks will emerge and take over the meta, but right now... meh.

Quote From Dakarian

Holy #()4)#( we're already a day in and the general mentality is still very positive?

 

I honestly swear that's not me being trolly or hyperbolic.  In almost every expansion since at least TGT the community had found some major deck to rage over, whether it was Secret paladin, C'thun decks, Jade Druid, Cubelock, Shudderwock, or so on.  Even in expansions we loved there would be SOMETHING to rage over.  

So yeah, seeing this thread I was seriously looking for That Deck.  And by the above.. it sounds like a pretty awesome run so far.  That sounds great.

Myself I never get into the meta at this point. I'm in spam-arena mode, so I just have to watch how everyone is taking to the meta.  

 

As far as the old deck users.. hoarding gold doesn't really help a F2Per in MAKING decks.  It gets you the core commons and rares and a few legnedaries to start aiming yourself towards. But you have to craft the final key cards to make any deck. And only the insane (or new who will learn the issues shortly) F2Per will be crafting a single bit of ANYTHING at this time.  Instead you'll either be in Arena, playing Wonderful decks or playing your old stuff, especially if they still can get you somewhere.  

Once things stabilize, we'll sort over the riff raff and join in.

 

 

 

Yeah I haven't run into "that deck" yet. Every deck seems beatable so far. Few days of refinement will be needed. But so much better than previous expansions where 1 deck is dominating everything (I'm looking at you Bomb Warrior and Token Druid from Ro)

1) I've been playing against several varieties of Zoolock. All of them are very, very strong, but I don't think they're broken. It's never going away. It's going to always define the meta.

2) I don't think Quest Shaman is quite as OP as anticipated. It's very good, but playing with it or against it doesn't feel broken. Zoo can put a ton of pressure on it before it gets rolling.

3) I've been playing control singleton Mage and control singleton Hunter and having a blast. Reno, Brann, and Zephyrs absolutely carry these decks. Zephyrs is living up to the hype. It's ridiculously good. Reno is great against all these zoo decks. I think a version of each will be at least a tier-2 deck. Can't recommend crafting Zephyrs and playing around with him enough.

4) Here's my true knee-jerk opinion: Quest Paladin needs a nerf. I find it to be game-breaking on the same level as Jade Druid. Reborn minions are proving to be good, but not overpowered. However, the hero power in combination with Mechano-egg is game-breaking. The deck goes infinite with Mechano-eggs in the mid-game, and becomes impossible to beat. The original reason Paladin was given such a powerful deathrattle minion is because the class didn't have deathrattle synergies like Priest and Rogue. You would never give Paladin a card like Shadowy Figure, but the new hero power is essentially infinite Shadowy Figure. It's busted. The deck is also able to run lots of heal without an issue. It breaks control decks, and can easily survive aggro/zoo decks. Nerf the quest to hell.

Quest Druid

Quest Rogue

Quest Priest

My ladder experience (NA 10-5) has been almost exclusively these decks. However, I'm not upset, 2/3 of these decks don't feel oppressive and I've been able to enjoy myself even when losing. A few times I've played against the priest and they weren't running Inner Fire or Topsy Turvy, so they'd start winning but had no way to finish the match other than me Conceding which irritates me.

My only reaction is there is still way too many Conjuring+Cyclone mages. When building a deck right now the first question I ask myself is "Can this deck reliably deal with a board of Giants around turn 5/6?" If that is a no, I ask, "Can this reliably kill a mage before they create a board of Giants?". If that is a no, I won't play the deck in ranked. Until nerfs come in, Mage and Warrior will probably still dominate with Rogue not far behind. 

It doesn't seem like there is any deck that's too strong at the moment, but one of my biggest gripes with the initial impression is that the meta feels very rock paper scissors like.  It could be that it's my deck specifically, since I've been playing a combo burn mage deck, but certain matchups are impossible to either win or lose.

Quest druid demolishes me, since my only way to deal with their board is frost Nova + doomsayer, and they'll usually be able to Starfall the doomsayer or kill it with Loti.  I haven't won once against that deck.

While zoolock is almost impossible to lose against.  They basically burn themselves for me with all the self damage mechanics and they rarely have any way to deal with frost Nova + doomsayer to clear their board.  Quest shaman is similarly weak, since they don't put up enough pressure to kill me before I can burn them down.

Murloc paladin seems an impossible deck to beat against nearly any aggro deck when they play tip the scales on turn 4 or 5.  At the same time, my aggro pirate rogue demolishes so many decks, hunters especially, since they can't do anything about all my damage to face.

This may just be the result of an early, unrefined meta.  I just hope it doesn't end up being too much of a rock paper scissors meta, otherwise hardly anyone will enjoy it

Quote From YJHS2000

I'm gonna be the negative nancy here. The new quests are too powerful, especially Shaman, Druid and Rogue. The vast majority of games I've played come down to a race to finish the quest, with minion interactions (you know, the crux of this game) being an afterthought. On top of that, I've been playing LackLock (or WarLack?) and it's the same. If I draw Dark Pharaoh Tekahn before opponent completes quest, I win. Otherwise they win. Luck has always been part of HS, but this might be crossing the line for me. Too highroll. Maybe things will change and new non-quest decks will emerge and take over the meta, but right now... meh.

I said this in another thread, but I think the "race to finish the quest" bit will stop when the meta settles outside of something this experimental. I don't think we'll see too many quests on ladder in a month.

Quote From Firenza

4) Here's my true knee-jerk opinion: Quest Paladin needs a nerf. I find it to be game-breaking on the same level as Jade Druid. Reborn minions are proving to be good, but not overpowered. However, the hero power in combination with Mechano-egg is game-breaking. The deck goes infinite with Mechano-eggs in the mid-game, and becomes impossible to beat. The original reason Paladin was given such a powerful deathrattle minion is because the class didn't have deathrattle synergies like Priest and Rogue. You would never give Paladin a card like Shadowy Figure, but the new hero power is essentially infinite Shadowy Figure. It's busted. The deck is also able to run lots of heal without an issue. It breaks control decks, and can easily survive aggro/zoo decks. Nerf the quest to hell.

I disagree. I think it's better than I expected it to be, but it's HARD countered by Shaman, and it's at least checked by Priest, if not also hard countered.

And a lot of other decks can just get out in front of it.

I would be surprised if it becomes a centralizing force in the metagame.

One thing I actually appreciate about the "race to finish the quest" mechanic is what it has done to smooth the rhythms of play time. We knew all along that Blizzard aimed for quests to be completed in the mid-game rather than "finish and you win," as in the old model -- and as a result, I've found my matches to be slightly longer than in Rise of Shadows, with more diverse action in the early game, and fewer lopsided contests.

Particularly appreciated in some of the Quest design is how they seem to discourage the "brain dead" mechanics that most people found frustrating in the last expansion. With Druid in particular, it's almost impossible to token spam while also leaving unspent mana on the table. 

Been playing Quest Paladin on standard and it’s pretty good, and most importantly a blast to play!

Shamans - mostly Murloc and Quest, generally beat them

Rogues - beat almost all of them, including some Quest Rogues

Quest Druid - generally lose against them. They seem incredibly powerful to me, I guess aggro is just weak against them

Mech Warrior - god, I hate them. Almost no new cards, near infinite value generation and clears, and the marvelously broken Dr. Boom. Only beat 1 so far. Ugh.

Priests - haven’t seen them much, the few I saw were Quest. Don’t really think they’re consistently bad or good.

Mages - Mostly Secret, a few Quest. They pounded me when I was starting with the deck, but I’m getting better against them now

Overall, had alot of fun! Except against Mech Warrior. They suck.

I used Token Druid for most of the day. I watched what other decks people played and how they played them. I like to sit back and learn first. Then I experimented with my hunter deck. I will have to do some crafting so I need to know which hero deck I like before fully committing.

Quote From doingtheobvious

Wild is the same as it ever was. At least this early on.

I've been seeing a lot more Reno decks to take advantage of the new cards.  Zephrys the Great always offers a useful card although he can't save you from certain death. There's been less Big Priest and more Priest experimentation.  For myself I'm still tweaking my Priest Quest deck and I'm currently 15-15.   If you can stabilize the board you win more often than not.  IF.  Same for Quest Druid.  If you don't dominate enough early Druid can bounce back in a roar.  Quest Druid loves getting the Coin.

Quote From JawsLoanCompany

I've been seeing a lot more Reno decks to take advantage of the new cards.  Zephrys the Great always offers a useful card although he can't save you from certain death. There's been less Big Priest and more Priest experimentation.  For myself I'm still tweaking my Priest Quest deck and I'm currently 15-15.   If you can stabilize the board you win more often than not.  IF.  Same for Quest Druid.  If you don't dominate enough early Druid can bounce back in a roar.  Quest Druid loves getting the Coin.

If you are talking about Activate the Obelisk Priest, a lot of those decks I run across would be better if they cut the quest or mulligan it. In so many matches in both standard and wild being down one card at the start hurts a lot, and the deck is already pretty good without it. 

So, a little late for the Day 1 impressions, but I've been playing about with a few deck ideas I've seen rarely, if at all, but here's what I've found

What I've been playing:

Standard:

Quest Paladin: If there's something that gets broken because of a quest, I'm expecting it to be because of this. The Quest is difficult to complete quickly, but once it is complete, it becomes very difficult for the opponent to do anything about it. If someone is able to streamline the completing of the quest, I wouldn't be shocked to see this everywhere. That said, if the completing can't be improved, then it won't be competitive.

OTK Hunter: Lots of fun, not very good. Still, bursting out 30+ damage in charge minions is always fun. I've been using discounted King Krush (by Scarlet Webweaver), copied by Ramkahen Wildtamer, and buffed by Emerissif needed.

Quest Warrior/Weapon Warrior: A very pleasant surprise this one. Quest is easy enough to complete, and by having lots of weapons in the deck, it's easy to keep triggering the refresh. Armored Goon is a beast in the right deck.

Wild:

Reno Even Mage: This shouldn't work. It just shouldn't. It's bizarre, fun, and somewhat competitive, although not broken enough to win at top ranks. The discounted HP brings things like Ice Walker, Spirit of the Dragonhawk and Fallen Hero better, while Echo of Medivh, Youthful Brewmaster and Baleful Bankergive you extra goes on Kazakus, Reno (both of them) and Zephrys the Great.

Been having fun with Quest Paladin. Always liked Deathrattle minions and Reborn is basically the same thing. Making copies of stuff and creating a sticky board is a ton of fun. Only gripe is how boring and painful it STILL is to fight any type of Control Mech Warrior and it not mattering how scary your board is, it will still die to Warrior plain and simple. Quest Druid is also all over the place and seems really strong.

The druid quest is stupid broken. Of all the decks I've been playing against, that one card had cost me so many wins. I'm not complaining, other than I want to craft it and is my previous dust I've been saving.  But with all the cards in druids arsenal that are multiple choice, have a constant Fandrel on turn 4 is stupid gross

Quote From shaveyou

Quest Paladin: If there's something that gets broken because of a quest, I'm expecting it to be because of this. The Quest is difficult to complete quickly, but once it is complete, it becomes very difficult for the opponent to do anything about it. If someone is able to streamline the completing of the quest, I wouldn't be shocked to see this everywhere. That said, if the completing can't be improved, then it won't be competitive.

Right now I am using the deck shown below. I average completion right around turn 6, with perfect ones coming in at turn 4 with a lot of luck. Unless I am all sorts of unlucky, I am finished at turn 8 after the Ashmore draw. I don't know if you can expect to reasonably be faster than this unless you remove all tech cards. 

Prismatic Lens into Tip the Scales is broken af

Quote From Xarkkal

Prismatic Lens into Tip the Scales is broken af

Yep. So is Emperor Wraps plus Mechano-Egg. Paladin is insufferable right now. 

Quote From YJHS2000

Quote From Xarkkal

Prismatic Lens into Tip the Scales is broken af

Yep. So is Emperor Wraps plus Mechano-Egg. Paladin is insufferable right now. 

Board clears and silences exist in the game. Hell, priest has a card that does both.

Edit: This is coming from a person who makes plays mostly control decks when laddering. Control should wreck pally this expansion if played properly and your deck is built properly. 

Quote From TheDycer

Quote From YJHS2000

Quote From Xarkkal

Prismatic Lens into Tip the Scales is broken af

Yep. So is Emperor Wraps plus Mechano-Egg. Paladin is insufferable right now. 

Board clears and silences exist in the game. Hell, priest has a card that does both.

"Play Priest" is not a solution, unless you want a two-class game. N

Quote From YJHS2000

Quote From TheDycer

Yep. So is Emperor Wraps plus Mechano-Egg. Paladin is insufferable right now. 

Board clears and silences exist in the game. Hell, priest has a card that does both.

"Play Priest" is not a solution, unless you want a two-class game. N

I was giving Priest as an example. Control warrior with silences (what I was playing and destroying Kangor's Army with), shaman (any "meta" style if you know how to play), zoo with silences to rush pally down, Conjuring Mage, aggro rogue. All those decks do extremely well when played right and you don't draw horribly (it is a card game, there will always be some aspect of luck in the game). 

I made my own Quest Druid deck day 1, and it has lots of cards that synergize with healing like Lucenbark and the 4/4 deers with rush that summons two of them.  I did pretty well against agro and tempo.  Lost to control, then started playing Quest Shaman Shudderwock and did VERY well!

Quote From LyraSilvertongue

Quote From Lucuma

Not every player gets the bundle or saves up gold for every expansion guys. Day one decks are not for everyone.

I can understand players not buying the bundles (I used to be f2p for years before transitioning to a paying customer), but not saving up gold? That's just lazy and on the fault of the players who don't save and/or complete their dailies

if you didn't buy pre-order 3 in a row, sometimes you just can't save gold for complete older expansions. Also saving is better with arena and not all players can handle that.

I can save for enough with arena but I know some friends who can't save enough without pre-order + arena. So its not just lazy. People have real lifes. :)

For the OP, it was just arena for me and I've just only played 5-8 games on ladder with whizbang. I believe what I always played against were all Whizbang decks so I couldn't say enough about first day decks. :) I can say that it really hurts to play against Taunt/control Warrior. I had really raged while I was playing against it.

But I can say that arena is funnier than last rotation. I had already pissed those mechs on last rotation. I've really had so much fun with this expansion in arena. There are great new cards for arena for sure.

Golden Scarab works great in Mage. Vulpera Scoundrel is great in any class. All of Reborn cards Murmy included does great in arena because of this, Pharaoh Cat also great. Siamat is also great in arena if you can pull it. Pit Crocolisk is like the king of the arena, Psychopomp acts great in any Priest arena deck, Dune Sculptor is also great if you could pulled minions like Banana Buffoon and more which I can't remember right now.

I can say that Mage,Hunter,Rogue and Warrior should be your choice in arena. I always got 5+ wins with them. Shaman has some problems in my experience because I had beat all of the shamans i had played against and got 3/3 with one shaman run. Priest is ok-ish, Druid is also ok-ish, can't say enough for paladin because I couldn't play with it and couldn't played so much against them. I have played against 2 paladins, 1 was loss and 1 was win. So my arena report is that. :)

It is really so much fun and easier than last rotation in my opinion. If you guys had issues with Arena before, You should give it a try right now.

Rank 3 and starting to face nothing but warrior again. /sigh

i dont want to lose hope but it’s so disheartening facing dr boom

I have played a wall priest, quest druid, Vulture zoolock, but the funnest deck I’ve played so far isn’t Reno Mage.

I honestly thought Reno would be awful and now that deck has carried me to rank 4 and I’m currently currently 5-1 with it in the Tavern Brawl. I don’t know about the other highlander decks but mage may just have enough enough be competitive. Maybe not when the meta get so fine tuned burn for now I love it

Rank 8, played 6 warriors in a row, all playing the same bull shit control deck. I’m calling it now, warrior gets the nerf hammer, and hopefully soon.

I'm mostly playing Quest Druid, which is a lot of fun. My matches against Quest Shamans are some insane value fiestas. My matches with them usually take 20 minutes, with a coin flip result every time due to the Shaman deck's near-infinite value generation and the Druid deck's overpowered cards once the quest is completed. 

Highlander Hunter is pretty strong, too. The class just has a lot of powerful cards that you can run as a one-of. A more refined list will probably make it one of the dominant forces in the meta.