Hearthstone
Stuck at Diamond 5. Like, really stuck.
So I finally decided to try to reach Legend for the first time, which seemed doable with the new ladder system. So I crafted Dragon Hunter, which was cheap and, according to Vicious Syndicate, looked quite strong and with fast games, and climbed to Diamond 10 pretty easily. Then I switched to Galakrond Secret Rogue, because I don't like Hunter a lot, and I slowly climbed up to Diamond 6. I progressed quite slowly, so I switched to Dragon Hunter again. But after reaching Diamond 4, my winrate has dropped dramatically, and I've been floating between Diamond 5 and 4 for many days. I even crafted Dragonbane to try to improve my winrate, but to no avail. I thought it was just bad luck (it sometimes happens), but after 3 days of bad luck I think it has to be something else. I don't think the nerf to Scavenger's Ingenuity has been that bad for the deck, maybe it's just that I'm not good enough. Whatever.
I'll probably try again with Galakrond Secret Rogue, but I'm a bit discouraged, I don't have a lot of experience with that deck and I missplay too often; and with only 5 days to go, I don't think it's a good idea to switch to a completely different deck. Any advice?
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So I finally decided to try to reach Legend for the first time, which seemed doable with the new ladder system. So I crafted Dragon Hunter, which was cheap and, according to Vicious Syndicate, looked quite strong and with fast games, and climbed to Diamond 10 pretty easily. Then I switched to Galakrond Secret Rogue, because I don't like Hunter a lot, and I slowly climbed up to Diamond 6. I progressed quite slowly, so I switched to Dragon Hunter again. But after reaching Diamond 4, my winrate has dropped dramatically, and I've been floating between Diamond 5 and 4 for many days. I even crafted Dragonbane to try to improve my winrate, but to no avail. I thought it was just bad luck (it sometimes happens), but after 3 days of bad luck I think it has to be something else. I don't think the nerf to Scavenger's Ingenuity has been that bad for the deck, maybe it's just that I'm not good enough. Whatever.
I'll probably try again with Galakrond Secret Rogue, but I'm a bit discouraged, I don't have a lot of experience with that deck and I missplay too often; and with only 5 days to go, I don't think it's a good idea to switch to a completely different deck. Any advice?
The pleasure is mine.
My last standard decks: nothing special right now.
In my only case of Legend climb attempt (few minutes ago), it was in Wild, which is possibly easier.
But I made it by taking a deck that proved strong to me (Discolock) and tuned it against the meta I was expecting and actually encountering: in Wild it was full of board&weapon Aggro, so I went for Freeze package (3 cards, not just 1), and it worked really well.
So maybe trying to tech against the meta may help. I don't know how to counter Standard higher meta, or if it is possible at all, but the principle should be of some help.
PS: and yes, as og0 suggested, you need the right state of mind: get rid of expectations, you already reached a great result. Anything that comes now from D4 and on should be taken as a gift. Just play at your best and try to laugh at your bad luck when it happens. Legend rank is a side effect.
Firstly, D4 is already great and higher than most of the playerbase.
Even if Legend doesn't happen Star bonus for next season is going to be good.
Probably playing when tilted is one of the worst things you can do. Best to take a break, walk, listen to music for a bit when that happens :)
Wherever you finish, if you can get to D4, have the right attitude and enough play time, Legend is inevitable whether this season or another.
Good luck!!!
All generalizations are false.
Hey, I have played a lot of dragon Hunter the last two months and I have to say it's a powerful deck. That being said, a deck can be good but the way you play it is the most important factor. Dragonbane is one of the most powerful cards, so kudos for crafting it, but you gotta know when to play it. In fact, every card in the deck should have different uses considering your current matchup, and you have to learn that one mulligan ain't good enough for everything. You have to learn what works best against every other deck, and have to take risks; don't keep a well-rounded card, sometimes you don't even keep good cards in the mulligan 'cause you need the best cards. Sure, nerf to Ingenuity happened, and although I think it wasn't called for, the deck still is great, especially since DH also got hit. I always run against a lot of DH in the meta, and this deck has several ways to beat, but you gotta find out those ways yourself since many plays you can learn, but others you have to judge yourself. For example, I'm a main control deck player (what's that nowadays, right?), so I mostly want to kill everything, but with dragon Hunter you have to know when to take risks, like take a bit of damage to then swing the board with Explosive and then just go face and race it.
You may be having trouble against some decks, sure Priest and Rogues are annoying but you can beat them, if you learn what are your outs and play to your strength, that means sometimes to put yourself in the position that you win if you draw that one card, 'cause you will probably lose if you don't draw it. You can even beat Warrior, for sure.
I certainly recommend you play with the deck you feel most comfortable but focus on getting good with the deck, not on winning. And one more thing: I realized that cutting one boar for Zixor wins a lot of matchups, especially against DH, if you have the dust for it.
Bring back old Warrior Control.
I can also say that reaching Legend in Wild is easier... and definitely more fun. Often in Standard I hate that the matches tend to be polarised - you know the outcome of a game from the start and that could extra tilt you, thus making you not play like you believe you'll win. While there are some similarities in Wild, for me personally, it's not the same.
For Standard I believe that you should definitely use the best deck that you can afford. Then tech it. This is the key for me - be aware of the meta. You can check also the decklist here:
http://metastats.net/decksbyrank/10/
My best advice for you is to craft the deck that you like the most and just be happy to play it. As another fellow said - the Legend rank will become the side effect. Good luck!
Trying to counter the meta you find? Admirable, but mistaken.
Each time i do that, like either changing decks or tech some cards in like silence or oozes, those opponents are gone and only appear like 2 times out of 20 when before it was like 8 or more times.
I hear ppl saying this ALL THE TIME, and it really triggers me cause it just feels like they are playing a different game than me. Like for real give me your account so that i can play against the decks that im ready to face.
Like all those streamers and their youtube videos like "pick this deck and farm the X deck" and im like "bro each time i do that those decks become a rarity to face". Like for real whats the secret behind tech or deck countering and actually facing them? cause i dont know what it is.
I've found Quest Warlock to be strong lately. I really feel like I have a chance in every matchup. Plus, the highroll potential is massive. If you get a zero cost Malygos, then the game is pretty much in the bag.
And most importantly, it's a super fun deck!
I made the Legend climb with Secret Rogue before the Shadowjeweler Hanar nerf, but I've been steadily climbing with Quest Lock since then.
Problem is that both your decks (dragon hunter and galakrond rogue) got hit quite hard by the nerfs. The latter especially. For rogue you're probably better off switching the secret package for the stealth package like most players have been doing (it's considerably cheaper too). As for hunter, if you can afford to go highlander it's far more effective than the dragon variant and extremely versatile.
You can also use HSReplay to record your games and watch replays to notice errors in your plays.
I adjusted according to meta reports AND my own experience.
I did NOT adjust according to the previous 2-3 opponents, but according to stats.
Also, I was able to apply the correct techs, that is something that is still good against most other matchups. Not just hard counters to some cards. And I did it in a deck I was already confident about.
Finally, adjusting against local ranks is not a foolproof activity that grants you wins. It just improves your chances to win, and only if you can do it optimally (ie the meta is quite specific as to have counters against a variety of decks, as it was in my case).
dont get me wrong i understand what you are saying, but just to give u an example, is that after playing for a week on 2 different accounts i came to the conclusion that running a deck that isnt bad against some of the matchups and fully counters the most faced deck which for me it was secret mage (wild) i decided to pick cubelock and behold I played a little bit more than 20 matches that night and faced only 2 secret mages. the next day i gave up on it and went to another deck and faced 6 secret mages in 16 games. fun huh? i mean i won 4 out of 6 cause the deck also worked but it wasnt tailored to win it.
can give the other example of using ooze which i dont, but considering pirate warrior cubelock and secret mage all use the weapon (sure secret mage can win without aluneth) i wonder what opponents will i start facing if i tech in ooze. cause oh boy i remember the good old days of standard cubelock, and everyone using double ooze and sure enough yours truly did so only to face 5% of cubelocks when before it was 20%. like i said i really wish i could use other ppls account cause trying to counter the meta i face and not the last 3 matches, results in said meta disappearing leaving me with a subpar deck or an irrelevant tech in my deck for the next opponents.
The feeling of spending a whole night thinking it was just a bad streak of luck and the meta ive been facing will now appear but they never do is nothing short of gut wrenching.
I don't have any great advice for the OP but I just wanted to say good luck in your quest for first time legend. It is nice that it's only 15 stars from Diamond 5 to legend compared to the old 25 from 5 to legend. Not that I've gotten there yet myself either.
I've been running Dragon Hunter this month too for much of the climb and I've made it up to Diamond 3 before falling back a bit. It's fun when it works and not too frustrating when it fails as long as I don't run into five priests in a row.
Reached D5 - 2 weeks ago, and had arranged a gauntlet of Decks, around 4 different to tackle the climb to legend. After every loss decisive loss i would change the deck and try another one. Got multiple times to D1 with 3 stars but then losing the matchup without any chance. These plays were not in vain though, knowing how the different decks playout und what is essential in which matchups helped understanding making decions with the deck that finaly brought me to legend, Highlander Mage. It is a Fun deck to play and even the worst matchup, Hunter can swing from dire to win in an instant. The comeback mechanic of Puzzlebox / Amazing Reno makes it possible. The legend try from D5 to Legend took 75 games with a record 46-29. Most losses were against DH and Hunter, post nerf losses were against hunter only. In the End stick to your preferences, play mindless aggro, thoughtfull control or midrange which can be both depending on your start. I have chosen mage because of the comeback potential turn 6 and later which makes it more likely to play out until the end as with some other decks you can concede if you lose board and lifetotals of opponent are to high.
you're not alone friend. Been rotating back and forth from D2 to D5. Been running every kind of deck, from aggro and control.
From Rogue before nerfs, and Priest after nerfs. Even Enrage Warrior is bad enough to bring me back to D5. It's not a matter of winrate, but a state of mind. I even gave up if I made any slight error in my deck because of frustration. (I probably can still win it).
The only thing I learn is don't push your luck. If you win or lose 3 times, just stop playing.
Knowledge is Power
Dragon hunter is very strong, but not overwhelmingly so, and there's so many tech decisions that its not possible to just copy a hsreplay dragon hunter deck and expect to go well with it.
For example, the meta around diamond currently doesnt feature lots of dhunters, so I removed Explosive Trap for Freezing Trap and Snake Trap.
Since there's lots of highlander hunters and other dragon hunters, I replace the boar tech with Scalerider. I might change this to 1x Burrowing Scorpid, as rng keeps screwing me.
For some reason I keep facing murloc paladins, so I tech in Unleash the Hounds. Without this its nearly always an auto lost for hunter.
Honestly, there's little need for Dragonbane. Kill Command more of less does the same thing anyway in most matches. The only thing this can do is to maybe snowball a priest or mage matchup, which you're favored to win anyway.
Its always best to simply climb with a deck you're comfortable with since you are more likely to make better decisions and losing doesnt tilt as much.
Thanks a lot for your comments!
I've been watching some of my replays, some games were probably unwinnable, but in others I could spot some misplays. I think I became a bit overconfident with the deck (as I was climbing so easily) and I got used to play too fast. So that is something I could improve. I also agree I should have stopped playing when I was on a losing streak, but I'm stubborn sometimes...
Maybe switching the secrets is a good idea, since Friday I encountered 17% DH, 17% Mage, 22% Rogue (mostly secrets, some stealth), 17% Priest, other classes in small percentages. Explosive clearly does nothing against Mage and Priest.
I agree that Highlander Hunter is more powerful, but man, that shit is expensive! Currently I don't have the dust to craft it.
Thanks for the link to Metastats.net, I didn't know that site and I like that you can segment by rank (gold and below, platinum and above); however, it's unclear where they get the stats from... By the way, according to Metastats winrate is not that different between Galakrond Rogue and Galakrond Secret Rogue.
I'd probably stick with Dragon Hunter, maybe switching some secrets; matches playing Rogue take too long for the time I can spend playing Hearthstone this week. Time has always been a problem for me to climb to Legend!
I'll keep you updated!
The pleasure is mine.
My last standard decks: nothing special right now.
Hi,
I have one advice that I had not found in the comments yet - try to go to legend in one "sitting". In my experience, both on the old and new system, once you catch a win streak you should not give up playing. Maybe it is the day when RNG is in your favor, or maybe the micro-meta is just favorable to your deck or your style (or, like myself, you believe that MM is not that random and it just gives you those good days (d5-legend) and bad days (d1-d5) )
Anyways, even you do not believe in conspiracy theories, this is how hitting legend has worked for me, did not matter how many times I was "almost there", there came losing streaks and legend was earned from the floor rank in one sittings.
Also, I am aware that others said it, but don't give up on your legend quest. If you have made it that far, you are on your way to legend, sooner or later. In the new system, you even still play with the same opponents, as it is based on MMR.
Cheers and good luck!
Thanks! That sounds good, but I'm afraid I can't afford long play sessions anymore, as I did when I was younger! I have too much to do! I can normally play only for 1-1.5 h, maybe 2 h if star align. I know, that sucks, but that's life...
The pleasure is mine.
My last standard decks: nothing special right now.
Freezing Trap is definitely great, but I'm not sold on Snake Trap. Pack Tactics sounds like a better option to me, because most minions have special abilities (evasive, poisonous, hero power synergy...). Have you tested it?
The pleasure is mine.
My last standard decks: nothing special right now.
This isn't true at all and, honestly, a very poor and shallow comparison.
Kill Command is a single damage output of 3 or 5 damage (depending on your board state) to one target. For one mana more Dragonbane is a 3/5 worth of stats which, if not cleared quickly, puts you at a massive advantage, if not wins you the game outright. It will either win you the board (harder), deal the same amount of face damage as a single Kill Command does, unconditionally, every turn, or forces removal and/or minion trades from your opponent.
There's a reason every hunter archetype runs the card, because it's one of the class' best performers.
OP most definitely made the right decision by crafting it. Even more so now that the beast package got nerfed and might even be replaced entirely in some archetypes.
Im not disputing its potential to snowball, but from my own experience, that nearly never happens unless you're facing a slow, value oriented class/deck like mage, priest or druid which you are already favored to win.
I played with Dragonbane, but I mostly find myself in situations where its a 50-50 chance for me to outright win the game or lose it from there. Maybe its just me, but the power to Kill Command for guaranteed damage rather than merely a chance works better.
Just like to stress that I don't think Dragonbane is bad, but a majority, if not the entirety, of the time I don't find myself missing it.
Played mine with Snake Trap even when dhunters were everywhere.
I switched to Pack Tactics for a while but found that dealing 3 damage is really not such a big deal for most classes. Unless you're rocking deathrattle, its really not worth it. And against other aggro classes, three 1/1 snakes can be really annoying to deal with and allows better trades from your side. I would go so far as to say that in some matchups, it literally decides games.
Well, I saw the last Meta Report in Vicious Syndicate and decided to try the featured Dragon Hunter deck, which uses Zyxor: https://www.vicioussyndicate.com/deck-library/hunter-decks/dragon-hunter/
I decided to keep the traps I had used recently (1x Freezing Trap + 1x Explosive Trap). I also feel naked without Kill Command, so I removed 1 copy of Scalerider to accomodate 1 copy of KC.
Before the changes I got over my losing streak and climbed back to Diamond 4, and yesterday I reached Diamond 3 with the new deck. Today the grind continues! Wish me luck and good decisions!
The pleasure is mine.
My last standard decks: nothing special right now.
Focus on making and enjoying the best decisions AT EACH TURN. Take your time solving the puzzle.
The rest is laughable RNG, and maybe some extra experience (in optimally predicting your opponent's possible moves, and your possible future powerturns), but not your fault anyway.
So enjoy your final rush, whatever the outcome.
wow u make it sound like winning is just pure rng. its not. sometimes it is sure. but some decks are more consistent than others in terms of rng
Man you keep misreading what I write.
"The rest [from "the best decisions at each turn"] is laughable RNG, AND maybe some extra experience"
I don't make winning sound like pure RNG, that's just what you understood. Please read more carefully.
Good luck mate - we're with you whatever the outcome!
All generalizations are false.
Thanks everybody for your kind words! But I'm afraid I can't make it this season. I was at Diamond 2 yesterday (I went 9-3 yesterday with the new deck) but today I lost 4 games in a row (one of them because I'm stupid, I have to say), so I falled to Diamond 3. I had to climb today to Diamond 1 to have the possibility to reach Legend tomorrow. There is no way I can climb tomorrow from 3 to Legend, period. So maybe next season. Or maybe I will take a break and play just for fun. We will see.
Thanks again!
The pleasure is mine.
My last standard decks: nothing special right now.
@ OP
I haven't tried out the decks you are playing, so I can't give you any tips on how to pilot them optimally, but I will say, that the best decision is to play whatever you want. It may sound like a cliche, but it's the truth. At least for me. The current ranking system is friendlier than the previous one and it allows for more variety on the ladder.
I would like to say the following not to brag, but to prove my point. I reached Legend four times in the new ranking system - twice in standard and twice in wild. In standard I ran Quest Resurrection Priest, which might be hated by a lot of players, but it was and still is considered to be a tier 4 deck. And in wild I ran two semi-casual Thief Priest decks - N'zoth and Raza. My goal was to have fun, while I was ranking, and I really enjoyed the time playing those decks - especially the wild ones.
So try to enjoy your time on the ladder as much as you can. Legend will come eventually. Also, in the past I constantly made some tweaks to my decks, in order to deal better with the competition. With this I don't mean adding tech cards like oozes, but more like strong class cards, which are good in various situations. If you feel like certain cards are underwhelming, you could decide to replace those with such, that counter your local meta more. Also, hsdecktracker will prove to be extremely useful - you should use it, if you aren't doing it already.
[Edit] Going from D3-Legend in a single day isn't impossible. You just have to have a good win-streak. If you don't have that much time, you could stop here and try again next season. But if the thing holding you back is the fear of not succeeding, then you should definitely try reaching legend tomorrow, since luck might be in your side.
Do whatever you feel is right for you my friend. Sounds like you have a good attitude about it.
You got to D2 so Legend is inevitable if you have the time/patience for it :) And you know where to come if you need support :)
All generalizations are false.
Yes, time is a problem, Sundays are busy days at home. Thanks anyway!
The pleasure is mine.
My last standard decks: nothing special right now.
Join Wild for next season. ;)
If you have time still, give it a shot. Until just now I was stuck at rank 2 too before I went 6-1 to finally get that goddamn card back. If you get a lucky streak going you might get there within an hour and never have to worry about it agaain.
This is the most important advice you need to hear. When you're on a losing streak, it helps to take a break then get back to it after you've calmed down. When I was one win away from Wild legend only to lose to a Secret Mage, I turned the game off and didn't touch it for a few days, then eventually reached legend when I played again. That's a pretty extreme example, but you get the idea :P
Thanks again everybody! I don't really like Wild, I disenchant most legendaries when they rotate out (excepting the best ones), everything is so unpredictable... It's hard to play well if you can't figure out what cards your opponent is going to play!
I'm not yet sure I'm going to grind for legend this season, it will depend on how fast I reach Diamond. We will see!
The pleasure is mine.
My last standard decks: nothing special right now.
Wild is perfectly predictable. It had its own meta and being skilled means you know it and know most of the prevalent decks and what to expect from your opponent.
Just like in standard.
Of course it's predictable if you are used to play Wild. If you don't know the meta and you have no experience in the matchups, then you are at a disadvantage. It does not sound like the best plan to reach legend if you didn't in Standard.
The pleasure is mine.
My last standard decks: nothing special right now.
Well, we could give you a description of the typical wild meta, if you feel like trying it out. If you don't have a lot of cards, Odd DH is a fairly cheap deck. Quest Mage - the deck everyone tries to counter - is also relatively cheap:
https://outof.cards/hearthstone/decks/14505-w-quest
(this list misses an Evocation)
[edit] Come to think of it, the cheapest popular decks are: Handbuff Mech Paladin, Discard Zoolock, Secret Mage, Pirate Token Druid (dunno how viable it is though) and Even Totem Shaman (-//-).
Well don't worry, mate. If anything, this month just make you better as a player and will ofc increase your chance for the next month.
Learn everything and then be ready for the next. And then do other fun things too so you have a good mental state when you climb.
Good luck and stay healthy.
Hi OP,
First time legend here playing Dragon Hunter as well. In April, I was 1 game away from reaching Legend playing DH before ended up back at Rank 2. I'm sure many people suffered the same pain as I did missing Legend by just one game. Last season in May I decided to use Dragon Hunter since it's a deck that's pretty fast pace and do really well on ladder. I tried various versions of Dragon Hunter, and this one version finally pushed me over Legend:
### Dragon Hunter
# Class: Hunter
# Format: Standard
# Year of the Phoenix
#
# 1x (1) Tracking
# 2x (1) Toxic Reinforcements
# 2x (1) Dwarven Sharpshooter
# 2x (1) Blazing Battlemage
# 2x (2) Phase Stalker
# 2x (2) Freezing Trap
# 2x (2) Faerie Dragon
# 2x (2) Explosive Trap
# 2x (2) Corrosive Breath
# 2x (3) Stormhammer
# 2x (3) Scalerider
# 2x (3) Primordial Explorer
# 2x (4) Evasive Feywing
# 1x (4) Dragonbane
# 2x (5) Rotnest Drake
# 2x (5) Big Ol' Whelp
#
AAECAR8ClwiHsAMOhwTJBOEEiq0Di60D+a4D+68D/K8D/q8DhbAD57AD/7ADh7EDr7cDAA==
# Find this deck on https://hsreplay.net/decks/lUPftRQG27bGKsU7liMbAg/#tab=overview
Ecore100's youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbuEW3MZbrM
Based on my played games, my most favorable matchups are Hunter/Mage and my most unfavorable matchups are Warrior/ Paladin.
Like many people said here, if you already hit rank 2 or 1, you are able to hit Legend in just a matter of time.
Good Luck on hitting Legend!
I didn't think about Toxic Reinforcements neither did I see other Dragon decks using it, but it's of course a good strategy to find lethal faster. Thanks for the deck!
The pleasure is mine.
My last standard decks: nothing special right now.
Hello Drfelip,
You are not alone in this situation. I decided to give a try and reach legend with DH aggro and it went quiet well on the climb. But once I reached D5, I had a similar experience. Mostly went back and forth between D5 to D3, then I had a nice win streak that got me to D1.
And then shit hitted the fan, I was literally 2 wins away from Legend and then "bam", huge lose streak, back to D3. I Have to say that it is extremely frustrating so I decided to stop trying hard, chill and play another deck because I got bored of the DH anyway.
I'm playing Sholomance cyclone mage now. This is clearly not the best winrate deck, but at least a shitton of fun and RNG fiesta when you throw your Prime on the board. Most of the times against aggro I'm dead but at least I can throw an all-in with either evocation or a good sorcerer/cyclone combo.
I got to D3 with this deck, mostly on pure RNG luck, so maybe if i'm extremely lucky I could reach legend, but i'm definately not playing for that, I just wanna have fun now. When I'll have more dust i'll make the tempo version of this deck which seems to be good if I wanna try to go for Legend again.
Anyway, good luck to you Drfelip, and to all of you less than 3 wins away from legend getting back to D5, you are not alone ! :)
Thanks mate! I haven't tried pushing for legend again, yesterday I reached D6 and I don't think I have the time to push this season, we will see. Good luck to anybody pushing for first time legend!
The pleasure is mine.
My last standard decks: nothing special right now.
This is my experience every.. damn.. time...
I'll be playing and running into Pirate warrior every other game (wild) so I tech in a couple of Golakka Crawler. Lo and behold I never see another pirate warrior again. That's just an example, if I never want to see a secret mage ever again I just tech in a Eater of Secrets, that's me never playing Secret mage ever again until the very next game after I take them out!
Exactly. I eventually realise that all u need to do is pick a tier 1 or high tier 2 deck and stick with it. Just a few seasons ago i ran pirate warrior to counter odd dh and quest mage in wild and eventho i eventually face them and got legend the fact is it took me longer than it should cause for the better part of my time those decks were gone.
Next season i just said fuck it and ran reno priest from D5 to legend thinking i was gonna get trashed by quest mage. Funny thing is the very first match was against a quest mage and i was ready to auto concede but eventually i played it my opponent was probably drunk i won and then i reached legend never facing quest mage again with only 6 losses.
Until then i kept facing around 30% quest mages so my meta like everybody keeps saying was very recommended to NOT play reno priest.
I only faced aggro the majority of time so reno priest was the best choice despite everything. If i had heard only the "ooh u have to choose a deck to counter the meta so reno priest is a bad choice" i would never had the easiest run of my life from D5 to Legend.
There is no pocket meta. The matchmaking is rigged depending on type of deck u choose
I find that generally the best strategy is not teching, but switching if you find you're not doing well with what you're playing. My very first legend happened, might be like year and a half ago almost by accident. I had a Thaddius Deathrattle Hunter I really enjoyed and it somehow got me to Rank 1 by just casually playing it. So I thought, I'm this far, might as well go all the way. 5 times I made it to 1 win from legend and 5 times I was denied. So I gave up on it, switched to Jaina Mage and got legend in like 4 games, because the deck was just better suited to the meta. I've reached Legend every month since then, usually by just picking a deck that seems not just powerful on its own, but powerful agaisnt what I'm most commonly facing on my climb.
This season I was trying to reach legend with my tried and tested Deathrattle Raza Priest, which on its own got me to Legend 4 times in the last 6 months or so. This month, couldn't move an inch. Got to D3, and then went back and forth between D5 and low D2 for 3 days. Either I lost to ridiculously fast aggro that was always too fast and too strong despite my numerous board clears and hefty healing, or I lost to OTKs despite running an Illucia and Dirty Rat (neither of which I drew in the dozen or so games against combo). The deck felt too "in the middle", hedging against too many threats while excelling against neither of them. So I switched to Odd Warrior, accepted the losses against OTK (even though I did outarmor some of them) and just ate aggro for dinner game after game. Nobody else was playing anti aggro, it was all aggro, OTK or Raza Priest, and I was favoured against most of them. Bam, reached Legend in a day.
There is only so much teching can do for you if you're just playing the wrong deck for the meta. Two or three cards are not going to change the outcome as much as just adopting a different strategy will. But what that strategy is for Standard I could not tell you.