I believe that each article in this series contains a very interesting deck. A bit later you almost made me spend a bunch of dust on a Mage deck. And this time I just couldn't get past it.
In my opinion, you can not set a period like "once a week" and post only the most interesting decks when ready.
Dusted a bunch of legendary cards, spent 16k of dust, replaced a couple of cards and added a Mr. Smite for synergy with N'Zoth. I got a lot of emotions from playing this deck. Especially when after turn 4 Nozdormu the opponent moves the cursor over all the cards, not knowing what to do after ramping at 10 mana.
Mobalytics uses deck trackers for top ranked players.
Pretty sure the stats are fine...
But we can all find justifications for our delusions if we want to.
You find justifications for your delusions every time you post on this forum.
But that aside, Mobalytics uses the stats for basically everyone. Their raw data covers the entire range of ladder, from Iron IV to Masters.
So, yeah, their data is fine if you want a giant mixing pot of literally everything anyone is playing anywhere on ladder. But that's not a "meta." That's just everything any random person is playing, all mashed together. (And that's one reason why aggro always shows up in a favorable light - aggro works quite well in the very low ladder, where people mostly have no idea how to play properly against it. And then to make the data even worse, people in the upper tiers of the ladder don't really play aggro; but that's where aggro would be losing to balance out the overall stats. So, that means that the vast majority of the aggro stats come from the bottom of the ladder. Try playing aggro in Diamond tier and see how far it gets you up there.)
Back to the point. An actual "meta" (for anyone who cares to use the term properly) refers to the set of decks that are actually good and are actually being played by a reasonable number of players in higher ranks of the ladder.
So, if you want an actual meta report, you have to filter the data.
Sadly, Mobalytics doesn't allow us peons to filter their data unless we subscribe and pay up. Hence, us peons have to look to people who put out actual meta reports based on FILTERED DATA.
((I honestly don't know why I bother trying to reason with someone who is so completely unreasonable.))
Side note - Please provide names for these other superior card games. I'd love to know which ones are better than this pathetically subpar game we're taking time to talk about. (Please note the dripping sarcasm ... I normally wouldn't have to say that I was being sarcastic, but I figure with you, I'd better be completely clear.)
Neb, thank you for staying home and playing Hearthstone instead of going out and spreading Covid - good call.
Another wise decision: not having a kid (or getting a dog) just to fill up open time in your schedule.
You clearly know yourself well enough to be wary of the risk of replacing one time-consuming hobby with another. Swapping games is not the answer.
You already proved that you can trim back your HS commitments, in the financial sense. You can very likely gain control over the hours commitment too.
I do want you to take a look at the total amount of screen time in your week. Computer science, HS, TV, and internet are all wonderful, but taken as a whole, that's quite a bit of sitting and staring at an electronic rectangle. How much fresh air did you breathe this week?
It's getting late here, so I'll leave you with this thought: if your friend/cousin/sibling came to you with the same sense of imprisonment, how would you advise them?
If you like Yogg, then why not play him as many times as possible in one game?
With this deck, you can potentially have his effect for an infinite number of times (limited by the turn timer of course).
Compared to decks like Yogg Mage, Yogg Druid, and Yogg Hunter where Yogg is only played once or a maybe few times with some copy effects, Yogg Shaman is the best Yogg deck because you can simply get his effect many more times per game. Even compared to Yogg Rogue where you can shuffle 40 Yoggs into your deck with Togwaggle's Scheme, this deck is better because it can consistently get more than 40 Yogg effects and is much more resilient to the problem of Yogg overdrawing you into fatigue.
Packages
Infinite Yogg-Sarron Package (necessary to get Yogg's effect for an infinite number of times)
Shudderwock - replays battlecries and is used to go infinite and replay Yogg's battlecry many times per game.
Corrupt the Waters - this quest will be completed naturally by playing the battlecry cards in the deck, you need the hero power to have a higher chance of going infinite with Shudderwock.
The way this deck goes infinite with Yogg-Saron, Hope's End effects is by playing infinite Shudderwocks and having Shudderwock play Yogg's battlecry. For the first time you play Shudderwock, make sure you have played Grumble, Worldshaker and a Saronite Chain Gang at a minimum beforehand, and that you have the hero power from Corrupt the Waters. On the Shudderwock turn or before, play Tour Guide to get a free hero power, and then use the hero power and Shudderwock in one turn. Alternatively, you can use Lightning Bloom instead of Tour Guide to be able to hero power and play Shudderwock in the same turn. This will guarantee your Shudderwock going infinite, but you can play Shudderwock without the hero power and still have a chance. You can play Yogg-Saron, Hope's End either before or after your Shudderwock turn, and afterwards keep using your zero cost hero power (each Shudderwock will make it cost zero again) and play your Shudderwocks which will keep generating new ones and replaying Yogg's battlecry. It's usually better to play Shudderwock before Yogg-Saron, Hope's End to get multiple copies of Shudderwock in hand because Yogg's battlecry can destroy a Shudderwock before it gets to duplicate itself and add copies to your hand. Try to keep your hand size low when you play him so that there is room for copies to go into your hand. One final note is that if you are against a deck with low pressure and have drawn Yogg, you can play Shudderwock for many turns to keep filling up your deck with cards from the Anti-Fatigue package battlecries. Then when your deck is at the limit, 60 cards, you can play Yogg and then the Shudderwock chain and it will keep going for quite a while.
Anti-Fatigue Package (prevents fatigue damage during your infinite Yogg turns)
Body Wrapper - shuffles a card into your deck and helps prevent fatigue
Baleful Banker - shuffles a card into your deck and helps prevent fatigue
This package is incredibly important to this deck. When you are playing Shudderwocks to get the Yogg effect each time, Yogg can draw cards from your deck. Over time, this will kill you due to fatigue damage unless you can shuffle more cards into your deck. As many copies of Body Wrapper and Baleful Banker should be played as possible given the amount of pressure you are facing from your opponent before going into your infinite Yogg turns, so that each time you play Shudderwock for the Yogg effect it also uses those battlecries to shuffle cards into your deck and thus help prevent fatigue. These cards also help complete your quest. Try to play Baleful Banker with no friendly minions on the board because you don't want extra cards in your deck while you are still trying to draw your combo pieces of the Infinite Yogg-Sarron package. Also, be aware that shuffling a card into your deck will randomize the deck order so don't play these after Lorekeeper Polkelt until you have drawn the cards you need.
Card Draw and Spells Package (Cards to draw through your deck quickly and get to your combo including useful spells drawn by Spirit of the Frog)
Spirit of the Frog - draws cards, the spells below synergize with this to draw a spell of higher cost.
Lightning Bloom - can be useful to get to an important card faster and also to boost the amount of mana during a Spirit of the Frog turn.
Lorekeeper Polkelt - doesn't actually draw any cards but he will put your key combo pieces on top of your deck.
Spirit of the Frog is a great card that lets you draw through your deck very quickly. In addition, you can predict the next card you are going to draw from it. An important point is that you should not try to maximize the number of spells you cast with Unstable Evolution, because if the spell count is too high then Yogg will draw more cards on average than the Anti-Fatigue package can shuffle in to your deck, which might cause you to die from fatigue. Around 10 spells from both Unstable Evolutions is a good limit. Primal Dungeoneer is another great card to draw spells and Grumble, Worldshaker.
General Gameplan
Mulligan for Spirit of the Frog, Questing Explorer, Primal Dungeoneer, and Armor Vendor. Draw cards to get to your Infinite Yogg-Sarron package and play those cards while naturally completing your quest through playing battlecry cards including the Anti-Fatigue package. Finally, play the combo described in the Infinite Yogg-Sarron package and keep playing Shudderwocks each turn that will each replay Yogg's effect twice due to the quest hero power. Sit back and enjoy!
Final Thoughts
This is an incredibly fun deck to see the power of Yogg-Saron, Hope's End. You can swing for lethal early on if he makes you a board or keep the Yogg effect going for as long as you want and have Shudderwocks to play (although this deck can go infinite, if Yogg decides to discard your hand and transform your deck, then there is not much you can do – however one of the Anti-Fatigue package cards might shuffle a Shudderwock into your deck so if your hand is discarded a Shudderwock may be in your deck). Other than playing this deck in casual or ranked, it might be fun to play a friend match with it, letting your opponent borrow this deck, and then agree to not do any direct face damage and let Yogg decide the outcome of the match.
I hope you enjoy this deck and that this guide is helpful! If you have any questions, suggestions, or stories about this deck, please comment below.
Theres only three classes that generally play Kazakusan; druid, priest and warrior.
Druid has been straying away from it nowadays, because old gods are simply just more consistent in terms of finishing the opponent, since locusts are gone from the pool. And you get to play more anti aggro, of which a kazakusan deck simply cannot do.
Priest and warrior have it but you might as well just forget about it, because they're rarely ever seen and generally the game's over way before they ever get to play kazakusan anyway.
Of course it also depends what you're playing. If you're running aggro decks, then obviously you'll never ever see that dragon out.
@Crusader2010: Thanks for your long and very insightful response which I greatly appreciate. I have read it a few times already and it most definitely contains useful pieces of advice. By the way, nice to meet you too! ^_^
I am not going to write in the same detail, but I will give some reflection on certain passages and try to be as objectively as I possibly can (I also have no ill intention whatsoever).
First of all, I love psychology and long philosophical discussions which often use hypothetical situations. If not for my study of choice computer science I could very well have been studying that field instead. The human mind is absolutely fascinating and a marvel of evolution.
I too am certain that I already hold the answer to my (self created) problem and I know that I am the only one that can make that U-turn for heading towards positivity again. The most influential person in one's life is always that person itself. Perfectionism and procrastination are two of my biggest flaws by the way. For Hearthstone, I would prefer to not make another heavy handed overkill (pull-all-the-plugs) decision again. My "outcry for help" should perhaps be best perceived as looking for similar wandering souls instead of seeking out a one size fits all silver bullet solution.
Secondly, there is no known offspring of my own running around (yet) otherwise that would definitely soak up most if not all of my time and simultaneously "solve" my current situation (two birds, one stone).
As for my relevant digital gaming background, I will say that I fell in love with Blizzard games with titles like: Diablo, Warcraft and Starcraft. Playing RTS games used to be one of my favorite pastimes. In real life, I was introduced to Magic: The Gathering back in 1996 and it was almost like love at first sight if that is even possible at all with a card game, lol. I loved the complexity and all the strategies involved and of course the fantasy theme. There was even a time where I qualified for nationals, but alas did not manage to extend the run to world championships. The worst part of that game was obviously its immense financial upkeep and after several years of having great fun I had to pull the plug on it.
Fast forward to 2014 and Hearthstone bursted onto the digital cardgame scene and I finally found a less costly alternative to Magic: The Gathering. It even solved the annoying mana (land) issue and it had amazing artwork plus built-in humor (flavor) as well. I cannot pinpoint exactly where Hearthstone took the first turn for the worse, but I can safely say that the questlines of United in Stormwind were the tipping point for me and games became almost unbearable. Personally, I enjoy a longer more controllish style of gameplay and loathe the "If you cannot beat them, just join them" response.
All other game modes besides constructed are not really my cup of tea, because I like to be in control as much as possible and the huge RNG factor of Arena for instance I simply cannot enjoy all that much. I also hated drafting in my M:TG period even when that was a necessary evil to accumulate enough tour points. I somehow managed to get my 12 wins Arena key within a very short time and I was glad I did not have to repeat that achievement ever again. It was kind of unfortunate that Team 5 decided to remove that piece of coveted artwork from my in-game statistics though. Hopefully, it will return some day soon™. I have been Legend 26 times (and counting) which means I can set the checkmark for that achievement as well. Going the distance is still a pain in the ass, especially since I lost that lovely 11* bonus a long time ago. The increasing amount of bugs in Hearthstone is also very discouraging. I mean if Team 5 seemingly no longer cares about its own game anymore, why should a long time player as myself still care?
I agree that constructed is currently often not very enjoyable at all and it might not ever recover its once former glory time. Though I sure hope that it does in some way or another. The next rotation might help out Standard, but unfortunately I cannot imagine Wild to escape this suffering due to its eternal format. Playing constructed Hearthstone is sometimes still fun for me, so I should "simply" adapt my playtime to reflect the amount of enjoyment I can get from playing it.
Cheers to you too and once more thanks for sharing (i.e. caring)!
Yes, you could describe the LoR combat system as reactive. I'd prefer to call it interactive and tactical - you can't just do whatever you want on your turn. You have to anticipate what your opponent will do. Likewise, you don't just sit around and twiddle your thumbs on your opponent's turn - you have to prepare for how you will respond to them.
Everyone is different, and I don't really have a problem if you don't like the LoR system. But for me, I've played LoR for quite some time, and I played HS for two years before that ... and I've gone back into HS again recently and played for about a month ... and HS is just not nearly as engaging or interesting in the actual gameplay. Maybe in the deck choices and reading the meta and choosing the mulligan - there is some depth of strategy there. But once the mulligan is finished, the game is, like, 80% decided already before the first card is played. Not my style, personally.
For anyone who reads this series - please let me know your thoughts on increasing the rate of articles! To for example 2 or 3 a week on average.
Would this be too much and an overload or would that be something you’d like?
My dream is to have 100 Wild off meta decks with full guides that are all updated (both decks and guides) each expansion and miniset, and increasing the output will help that happen faster.
Anyone who reads this series - please let me know your thoughts on increasing the rate of articles! To for example 2 or 3 a week on average.
Would this be too much and an overload or would that be something you’d like?
My dream is to have 100 Wild off meta decks with full guides that are all updated (both decks and guides) each expansion and miniset, and increasing the output will help that happen faster.
I'll write some long piece of s*t text in the hope that you'll find something useful in it. Don't take anything personally (i.e. in a bad way) since that isn't the intent.
Firstly, i have to start with some psychology and the fact that it seems to me you are portraying yourself as sort of a victim and looking for some kind of savior (i.e. perfect answer) from the community. Unfortunately, this isn't healthy to do, since the only person who can "save" yourself is YOU. We need to be sympathetic and supportive, but the answer MUST come from YOU. Otherwise nothing will ever change and you risk even slipping further away from your desire (because no one can really integrate in their brain an answer coming from "outside" rather than "inside", which leads to some disassociative behavior etc). There is something called a "circle of desire" and you stopped at taking real and meaningful action. Asking for an answer is not action, but an attempt of your subconscious (and inner saboteur) to delay solving the issue or to try and go around it. Why? No idea. The answer lies within you.
Thus, i'll try my best to not give any concrete answers to the problem at hand. Yet, i will say this: all the answers you ever require can only come from knowing yourself better. Constant evolution of your inner self and trying to match your feelings and your thoughts so that you are not broken. Now, enough with this :)
Secondly, some background about myself. I'm 37, engineer, working in programming, currently also studying law (second university), with an interest in strategy games (long ones!). I'm divorced, having a 2 year-old son, and a girlfriend that wants a kid of her own. I try to do my job as fast as possible so as to have enough time during the day to study for law school. As you can imagine, my time is limited to say the least. Nice to meet you :)
Thirdly, i'll provide some background for my gaming evolution and my perception of it. The relevant-to-our-discussion parts, of course.
I've been playing HS since beta, and had played WoW for like 5 years since Burning Crusade (stopped after they nerfed the dungeons in Cataclysm). Classic HS (same as BC WoW) was really nice. Even a few expansions after. The last one i enjoyed was the one with the christmas tree paladin. Everything was beatable! If you wanted long games, you could have them. Same for fast ones.
The more cards they added, the worse the game got. I was never really into stupid grinding (probably have some issues from my WoW days), so i never got to legend because it felt silly and useless. After some time it became very clear that they were catering to teenagers more and more (same happened in wow). I really hated that because the quality dropped.
Fast forward into the present, i cringe when i read Iksar's responses to AMAs. I curse their so-called designers and see how much they lack imagination compared to other people in the community. I loathe the laziness that goes into this game every round, and has happened for years.
When they realeased these quests (and even before with all the mana cheating) it was even more clear they want HS to become a toilet game (i.e. play while you poop). Class identity is crap and has been for a while. Faster and faster games means less thinking required. In other words, this game is definitely not for me (remember, i enjoy long strategy games; i recently bought Distant Worlds 2 and having a blast! Playing the largest galaxy size every time. It doesn't matter that i don't finish most games - the fun for me is in the beginning, the initial expansions etc).
There is so much crap happening in constructed HS that it's extremely frustrating to lose (and has been for a while now). There are many PC games i lose at, but it's never this frustrating. For example even in HS - Battlegrounds and Arena. The amount of tilt is very low compared to Standard. Why? Because most of the time you can do something (here we can have a long discussion, if you ever want to, on what my perception of Arena is and what i've realized over time, the barriers, how to mulligan in certain cases etc).
In other words, i mostly play arena now, with some BGs here and there. But, to play arena, i need gold. Which means i need to complete daily and weekly quests. I have 1 standard deck - quest hunter - which i play in bronze to get SOME stuff completed more quickly - and i almost puke every game (win or lose).
Why not pay for arena you may ask? Because blizzard went down the drain, as a company, long ago. Recent developments only confirmed that for me. I did pay for some arenas back in classic, naxx and 2-3 expansions after. But i stopped when i saw no improvements made to the game, no real power balance, more grindiness added, every new thing was a powercreep, extreme amount of useless cards being printed just to have fewer chances of getting what you actually want, etc. In other words, i'm not gonna pay 1 cent to this crap company anymore - not going to support their laziness, bad designs and complete lack of integration testing. Not even in other games ("do you guys have phones?!").
I recently found another card game, Skyweaver, that caught my eyes. Not going to pay anything for it either since it's probably only fun at the beginning, but at least it scratches the itch for card games. What i love is its "arena mode" - 2 players play random decks based on some of the "classes" their chosen hero has. Completely free. It's also very interactive - there are lots of things to think about and ways to answer things.
And this is what i like - a game that promotes strategic thinking! Be it a card game or an exploration space game or anything else. I do admit, i'm not really into the Dark Souls genre, since repeating the same moves for 30 minutes (to kill a mob) is not even close to "strategic", but it's something i want to explore soon (probably in elder ring).
Currently, HS provides this strategic thinking only in arena and (to some lower extent) BGs. This is my feeling and my experience with the game. Having played a lot of games in my life, i know i'll never enjoy constructed in the form it's now. Too much clutter and too much cheating (mana, card draw etc). I enjoy being able to control the pace of the game to some extent. Randomness is good, but extreme amounts of it are bad (BGs suffer from this, but the saving grace is that the game mode is not frustrating to lose at). Arena has swings, but it's mostly about accepting the variance and trying to get on top over a longer period of time (again - strategy, but with a differently required mindset).
Lastly, and as a conclusion, I hope you get something good out of my wall of text. Try to find out more things about yourself, and you'll realise what you need to do to get rid of that "inprisonment" feeling. When you realise what you enjoy, you'll know what to look for.
Yeah that one is for fun and this one has a high winrate to Legend and is way stronger. Righteous Defense is better, it's like a 3 mana removal for a big minion plus many of your minions benefit from handbuff.
Don't think of this as a control deck, it's a Reno deck that wins with board pressure.
Great job as always Swiz. This could be the final push for me to craft Barov and Nozdormu. They also are core to the Exodia deck right?
Don't you miss Equality here? Maybe in place of Righteous Defense. But the deck looks really nice. I prefer to have an inevitable win condition, though, against combo decks or druids, that's why I love Exodia. Do you think this one is better rounded against the meta than your Nozdormu Exodia?
Nice, you played Reno Paladin before it was cool! Glad this decklist could help with ideas, I love decks that last for months or years and keep being updated. It's like a journey or evolution of a deck that's interesting to see.
He technically got nerfed and there is a special group of people who think every nerf is a devastating move that absolutely requires you to push the disenchant button?
Kangor is definitely not core. Thekal and Molten Giant are very powerful for highrolls but you can put in some generally good anti-aggro and early game cards and still do well with it.
Funnily enough they've updated the original blog to say that every week should give you packs. I've definitely had the stream open for more than required as well but zero packs so far for the week. Hopefully they're just slow this time.
Legend Reno N'Zoth Paladin - Wild Hearthstone Full Deck & Guide on the Wildest of Weekends
I believe that each article in this series contains a very interesting deck. A bit later you almost made me spend a bunch of dust on a Mage deck. And this time I just couldn't get past it.
In my opinion, you can not set a period like "once a week" and post only the most interesting decks when ready.
Legend Reno N'Zoth Paladin - Wild Hearthstone Full Deck & Guide on the Wildest of Weekends
Dusted a bunch of legendary cards, spent 16k of dust, replaced a couple of cards and added a Mr. Smite for synergy with N'Zoth. I got a lot of emotions from playing this deck. Especially when after turn 4 Nozdormu the opponent moves the cursor over all the cards, not knowing what to do after ramping at 10 mana.
Absolutely worth it. Thank you, Swizard!
New Meta Breakdown
You find justifications for your delusions every time you post on this forum.
But that aside, Mobalytics uses the stats for basically everyone. Their raw data covers the entire range of ladder, from Iron IV to Masters.
So, yeah, their data is fine if you want a giant mixing pot of literally everything anyone is playing anywhere on ladder. But that's not a "meta." That's just everything any random person is playing, all mashed together. (And that's one reason why aggro always shows up in a favorable light - aggro works quite well in the very low ladder, where people mostly have no idea how to play properly against it. And then to make the data even worse, people in the upper tiers of the ladder don't really play aggro; but that's where aggro would be losing to balance out the overall stats. So, that means that the vast majority of the aggro stats come from the bottom of the ladder. Try playing aggro in Diamond tier and see how far it gets you up there.)
Back to the point. An actual "meta" (for anyone who cares to use the term properly) refers to the set of decks that are actually good and are actually being played by a reasonable number of players in higher ranks of the ladder.
So, if you want an actual meta report, you have to filter the data.
Sadly, Mobalytics doesn't allow us peons to filter their data unless we subscribe and pay up. Hence, us peons have to look to people who put out actual meta reports based on FILTERED DATA.
((I honestly don't know why I bother trying to reason with someone who is so completely unreasonable.))
Side note - Please provide names for these other superior card games. I'd love to know which ones are better than this pathetically subpar game we're taking time to talk about. (Please note the dripping sarcasm ... I normally wouldn't have to say that I was being sarcastic, but I figure with you, I'd better be completely clear.)
How to deal with the feeling of FOMO?
Neb, thank you for staying home and playing Hearthstone instead of going out and spreading Covid - good call.
Another wise decision: not having a kid (or getting a dog) just to fill up open time in your schedule.
You clearly know yourself well enough to be wary of the risk of replacing one time-consuming hobby with another. Swapping games is not the answer.
You already proved that you can trim back your HS commitments, in the financial sense. You can very likely gain control over the hours commitment too.
I do want you to take a look at the total amount of screen time in your week. Computer science, HS, TV, and internet are all wonderful, but taken as a whole, that's quite a bit of sitting and staring at an electronic rectangle. How much fresh air did you breathe this week?
It's getting late here, so I'll leave you with this thought: if your friend/cousin/sibling came to you with the same sense of imprisonment, how would you advise them?
Infinite Yogg-Saron Shaman
If you like Yogg, then why not play him as many times as possible in one game?
With this deck, you can potentially have his effect for an infinite number of times (limited by the turn timer of course).
Compared to decks like Yogg Mage, Yogg Druid, and Yogg Hunter where Yogg is only played once or a maybe few times with some copy effects, Yogg Shaman is the best Yogg deck because you can simply get his effect many more times per game. Even compared to Yogg Rogue where you can shuffle 40 Yoggs into your deck with Togwaggle's Scheme, this deck is better because it can consistently get more than 40 Yogg effects and is much more resilient to the problem of Yogg overdrawing you into fatigue.
Packages
Infinite Yogg-Sarron Package (necessary to get Yogg's effect for an infinite number of times)
Yogg-Saron, Hope's End - the master of RNG.
Shudderwock - replays battlecries and is used to go infinite and replay Yogg's battlecry many times per game.
Corrupt the Waters - this quest will be completed naturally by playing the battlecry cards in the deck, you need the hero power to have a higher chance of going infinite with Shudderwock.
Grumble, Worldshaker - during your Shudderwock turns, adds a 1 cost copy of Shudderwock to your hand and helps it go infinite.
Saronite Chain Gang - its battlecry is used to generate copies of Shudderwock during a Shudderwock turn which can then go into your hand using Grumble, Worldshaker's battlecry.
Tour Guide - makes your Corrupt the Waters hero power cost zero for the first Shudderwock turn.
Lightning Bloom - can use this during your first Shudderwock turn to hero power first in case you haven't drawn Tour Guide.
The way this deck goes infinite with Yogg-Saron, Hope's End effects is by playing infinite Shudderwocks and having Shudderwock play Yogg's battlecry. For the first time you play Shudderwock, make sure you have played Grumble, Worldshaker and a Saronite Chain Gang at a minimum beforehand, and that you have the hero power from Corrupt the Waters. On the Shudderwock turn or before, play Tour Guide to get a free hero power, and then use the hero power and Shudderwock in one turn. Alternatively, you can use Lightning Bloom instead of Tour Guide to be able to hero power and play Shudderwock in the same turn. This will guarantee your Shudderwock going infinite, but you can play Shudderwock without the hero power and still have a chance. You can play Yogg-Saron, Hope's End either before or after your Shudderwock turn, and afterwards keep using your zero cost hero power (each Shudderwock will make it cost zero again) and play your Shudderwocks which will keep generating new ones and replaying Yogg's battlecry. It's usually better to play Shudderwock before Yogg-Saron, Hope's End to get multiple copies of Shudderwock in hand because Yogg's battlecry can destroy a Shudderwock before it gets to duplicate itself and add copies to your hand. Try to keep your hand size low when you play him so that there is room for copies to go into your hand. One final note is that if you are against a deck with low pressure and have drawn Yogg, you can play Shudderwock for many turns to keep filling up your deck with cards from the Anti-Fatigue package battlecries. Then when your deck is at the limit, 60 cards, you can play Yogg and then the Shudderwock chain and it will keep going for quite a while.
Anti-Fatigue Package (prevents fatigue damage during your infinite Yogg turns)
Body Wrapper - shuffles a card into your deck and helps prevent fatigue
Baleful Banker - shuffles a card into your deck and helps prevent fatigue
This package is incredibly important to this deck. When you are playing Shudderwocks to get the Yogg effect each time, Yogg can draw cards from your deck. Over time, this will kill you due to fatigue damage unless you can shuffle more cards into your deck. As many copies of Body Wrapper and Baleful Banker should be played as possible given the amount of pressure you are facing from your opponent before going into your infinite Yogg turns, so that each time you play Shudderwock for the Yogg effect it also uses those battlecries to shuffle cards into your deck and thus help prevent fatigue. These cards also help complete your quest. Try to play Baleful Banker with no friendly minions on the board because you don't want extra cards in your deck while you are still trying to draw your combo pieces of the Infinite Yogg-Sarron package. Also, be aware that shuffling a card into your deck will randomize the deck order so don't play these after Lorekeeper Polkelt until you have drawn the cards you need.
Card Draw and Spells Package (Cards to draw through your deck quickly and get to your combo including useful spells drawn by Spirit of the Frog)
Spirit of the Frog - draws cards, the spells below synergize with this to draw a spell of higher cost.
Lightning Bloom - can be useful to get to an important card faster and also to boost the amount of mana during a Spirit of the Frog turn.
Unstable Evolution - can be used multiple times to feed your Yogg-Saron, Hope's End so that it can cast more spells each battlecry. Good synergy with Saronite Chain Gang.
Maelstrom Portal - helps you survive to your combo turn.
Tidal Surge - good removal and heal.
Primal Dungeoneer - draws a spell and will also draw Grumble, Worldshaker since all your spells are in the nature spell school.
Bloodmage Thalnos - draws a card and makes Maelstrom Portal and Tidal Surge more effective.
Lorekeeper Polkelt - doesn't actually draw any cards but he will put your key combo pieces on top of your deck.
Spirit of the Frog is a great card that lets you draw through your deck very quickly. In addition, you can predict the next card you are going to draw from it. An important point is that you should not try to maximize the number of spells you cast with Unstable Evolution, because if the spell count is too high then Yogg will draw more cards on average than the Anti-Fatigue package can shuffle in to your deck, which might cause you to die from fatigue. Around 10 spells from both Unstable Evolutions is a good limit. Primal Dungeoneer is another great card to draw spells and Grumble, Worldshaker.
General Gameplan
Mulligan for Spirit of the Frog, Questing Explorer, Primal Dungeoneer, and Armor Vendor. Draw cards to get to your Infinite Yogg-Sarron package and play those cards while naturally completing your quest through playing battlecry cards including the Anti-Fatigue package. Finally, play the combo described in the Infinite Yogg-Sarron package and keep playing Shudderwocks each turn that will each replay Yogg's effect twice due to the quest hero power. Sit back and enjoy!
Final Thoughts
This is an incredibly fun deck to see the power of Yogg-Saron, Hope's End. You can swing for lethal early on if he makes you a board or keep the Yogg effect going for as long as you want and have Shudderwocks to play (although this deck can go infinite, if Yogg decides to discard your hand and transform your deck, then there is not much you can do – however one of the Anti-Fatigue package cards might shuffle a Shudderwock into your deck so if your hand is discarded a Shudderwock may be in your deck). Other than playing this deck in casual or ranked, it might be fun to play a friend match with it, letting your opponent borrow this deck, and then agree to not do any direct face damage and let Yogg decide the outcome of the match.
I hope you enjoy this deck and that this guide is helpful! If you have any questions, suggestions, or stories about this deck, please comment below.
Hearthstone Grandmasters 2022 Season 1 Continues With Week 3 - Here's What You Need to Know
Yeah, can confirm that I haven't gotten more packs after having gotten 2 from the 1st week. Dont think it'lll come too, its been 3 days after all.
Must be a typo, or they made a mistake on week 2. Can't imagine blizz getting too generous on purpose.
Kazakusan disappearing ?
Theres only three classes that generally play Kazakusan; druid, priest and warrior.
Druid has been straying away from it nowadays, because old gods are simply just more consistent in terms of finishing the opponent, since locusts are gone from the pool. And you get to play more anti aggro, of which a kazakusan deck simply cannot do.
Priest and warrior have it but you might as well just forget about it, because they're rarely ever seen and generally the game's over way before they ever get to play kazakusan anyway.
Of course it also depends what you're playing. If you're running aggro decks, then obviously you'll never ever see that dragon out.
How to deal with the feeling of FOMO?
@Crusader2010: Thanks for your long and very insightful response which I greatly appreciate. I have read it a few times already and it most definitely contains useful pieces of advice. By the way, nice to meet you too! ^_^
I am not going to write in the same detail, but I will give some reflection on certain passages and try to be as objectively as I possibly can (I also have no ill intention whatsoever).
First of all, I love psychology and long philosophical discussions which often use hypothetical situations. If not for my study of choice computer science I could very well have been studying that field instead. The human mind is absolutely fascinating and a marvel of evolution.
I too am certain that I already hold the answer to my (self created) problem and I know that I am the only one that can make that U-turn for heading towards positivity again. The most influential person in one's life is always that person itself. Perfectionism and procrastination are two of my biggest flaws by the way. For Hearthstone, I would prefer to not make another heavy handed overkill (pull-all-the-plugs) decision again. My "outcry for help" should perhaps be best perceived as looking for similar wandering souls instead of seeking out a one size fits all silver bullet solution.
Secondly, there is no known offspring of my own running around (yet) otherwise that would definitely soak up most if not all of my time and simultaneously "solve" my current situation (two birds, one stone).
As for my relevant digital gaming background, I will say that I fell in love with Blizzard games with titles like: Diablo, Warcraft and Starcraft. Playing RTS games used to be one of my favorite pastimes. In real life, I was introduced to Magic: The Gathering back in 1996 and it was almost like love at first sight if that is even possible at all with a card game, lol. I loved the complexity and all the strategies involved and of course the fantasy theme. There was even a time where I qualified for nationals, but alas did not manage to extend the run to world championships. The worst part of that game was obviously its immense financial upkeep and after several years of having great fun I had to pull the plug on it.
Fast forward to 2014 and Hearthstone bursted onto the digital cardgame scene and I finally found a less costly alternative to Magic: The Gathering. It even solved the annoying mana (land) issue and it had amazing artwork plus built-in humor (flavor) as well. I cannot pinpoint exactly where Hearthstone took the first turn for the worse, but I can safely say that the questlines of United in Stormwind were the tipping point for me and games became almost unbearable. Personally, I enjoy a longer more controllish style of gameplay and loathe the "If you cannot beat them, just join them" response.
All other game modes besides constructed are not really my cup of tea, because I like to be in control as much as possible and the huge RNG factor of Arena for instance I simply cannot enjoy all that much. I also hated drafting in my M:TG period even when that was a necessary evil to accumulate enough tour points. I somehow managed to get my 12 wins Arena key within a very short time and I was glad I did not have to repeat that achievement ever again. It was kind of unfortunate that Team 5 decided to remove that piece of coveted artwork from my in-game statistics though. Hopefully, it will return some day soon™. I have been Legend 26 times (and counting) which means I can set the checkmark for that achievement as well. Going the distance is still a pain in the ass, especially since I lost that lovely 11* bonus a long time ago. The increasing amount of bugs in Hearthstone is also very discouraging. I mean if Team 5 seemingly no longer cares about its own game anymore, why should a long time player as myself still care?
I agree that constructed is currently often not very enjoyable at all and it might not ever recover its once former glory time. Though I sure hope that it does in some way or another. The next rotation might help out Standard, but unfortunately I cannot imagine Wild to escape this suffering due to its eternal format. Playing constructed Hearthstone is sometimes still fun for me, so I should "simply" adapt my playtime to reflect the amount of enjoyment I can get from playing it.
Cheers to you too and once more thanks for sharing (i.e. caring)!
New(?) card game
Yes, you could describe the LoR combat system as reactive. I'd prefer to call it interactive and tactical - you can't just do whatever you want on your turn. You have to anticipate what your opponent will do. Likewise, you don't just sit around and twiddle your thumbs on your opponent's turn - you have to prepare for how you will respond to them.
Everyone is different, and I don't really have a problem if you don't like the LoR system. But for me, I've played LoR for quite some time, and I played HS for two years before that ... and I've gone back into HS again recently and played for about a month ... and HS is just not nearly as engaging or interesting in the actual gameplay. Maybe in the deck choices and reading the meta and choosing the mulligan - there is some depth of strategy there. But once the mulligan is finished, the game is, like, 80% decided already before the first card is played. Not my style, personally.
(Wildest of Wednesdays series) Your Thoughts on Weekly Output?
For anyone who reads this series - please let me know your thoughts on increasing the rate of articles! To for example 2 or 3 a week on average.
Would this be too much and an overload or would that be something you’d like?
My dream is to have 100 Wild off meta decks with full guides that are all updated (both decks and guides) each expansion and miniset, and increasing the output will help that happen faster.
Legend Reno N'Zoth Paladin - Wild Hearthstone Full Deck & Guide on the Wildest of Weekends
Anyone who reads this series - please let me know your thoughts on increasing the rate of articles! To for example 2 or 3 a week on average.
Would this be too much and an overload or would that be something you’d like?
My dream is to have 100 Wild off meta decks with full guides that are all updated (both decks and guides) each expansion and miniset, and increasing the output will help that happen faster.
Kazakusan disappearing ?
Every game I play is either against a questline, or someone stalling their way to Kazakus. This may be why I'm playing more MtGA of late :P
How to deal with the feeling of FOMO?
@NebuchadnezzarHS
I'll write some long piece of s*t text in the hope that you'll find something useful in it. Don't take anything personally (i.e. in a bad way) since that isn't the intent.
Firstly, i have to start with some psychology and the fact that it seems to me you are portraying yourself as sort of a victim and looking for some kind of savior (i.e. perfect answer) from the community. Unfortunately, this isn't healthy to do, since the only person who can "save" yourself is YOU. We need to be sympathetic and supportive, but the answer MUST come from YOU. Otherwise nothing will ever change and you risk even slipping further away from your desire (because no one can really integrate in their brain an answer coming from "outside" rather than "inside", which leads to some disassociative behavior etc). There is something called a "circle of desire" and you stopped at taking real and meaningful action. Asking for an answer is not action, but an attempt of your subconscious (and inner saboteur) to delay solving the issue or to try and go around it. Why? No idea. The answer lies within you.
Thus, i'll try my best to not give any concrete answers to the problem at hand. Yet, i will say this: all the answers you ever require can only come from knowing yourself better. Constant evolution of your inner self and trying to match your feelings and your thoughts so that you are not broken. Now, enough with this :)
Secondly, some background about myself. I'm 37, engineer, working in programming, currently also studying law (second university), with an interest in strategy games (long ones!). I'm divorced, having a 2 year-old son, and a girlfriend that wants a kid of her own. I try to do my job as fast as possible so as to have enough time during the day to study for law school. As you can imagine, my time is limited to say the least. Nice to meet you :)
Thirdly, i'll provide some background for my gaming evolution and my perception of it. The relevant-to-our-discussion parts, of course.
I've been playing HS since beta, and had played WoW for like 5 years since Burning Crusade (stopped after they nerfed the dungeons in Cataclysm). Classic HS (same as BC WoW) was really nice. Even a few expansions after. The last one i enjoyed was the one with the christmas tree paladin. Everything was beatable! If you wanted long games, you could have them. Same for fast ones.
The more cards they added, the worse the game got. I was never really into stupid grinding (probably have some issues from my WoW days), so i never got to legend because it felt silly and useless. After some time it became very clear that they were catering to teenagers more and more (same happened in wow). I really hated that because the quality dropped.
Fast forward into the present, i cringe when i read Iksar's responses to AMAs. I curse their so-called designers and see how much they lack imagination compared to other people in the community. I loathe the laziness that goes into this game every round, and has happened for years.
When they realeased these quests (and even before with all the mana cheating) it was even more clear they want HS to become a toilet game (i.e. play while you poop). Class identity is crap and has been for a while. Faster and faster games means less thinking required. In other words, this game is definitely not for me (remember, i enjoy long strategy games; i recently bought Distant Worlds 2 and having a blast! Playing the largest galaxy size every time. It doesn't matter that i don't finish most games - the fun for me is in the beginning, the initial expansions etc).
There is so much crap happening in constructed HS that it's extremely frustrating to lose (and has been for a while now). There are many PC games i lose at, but it's never this frustrating. For example even in HS - Battlegrounds and Arena. The amount of tilt is very low compared to Standard. Why? Because most of the time you can do something (here we can have a long discussion, if you ever want to, on what my perception of Arena is and what i've realized over time, the barriers, how to mulligan in certain cases etc).
In other words, i mostly play arena now, with some BGs here and there. But, to play arena, i need gold. Which means i need to complete daily and weekly quests. I have 1 standard deck - quest hunter - which i play in bronze to get SOME stuff completed more quickly - and i almost puke every game (win or lose).
Why not pay for arena you may ask? Because blizzard went down the drain, as a company, long ago. Recent developments only confirmed that for me. I did pay for some arenas back in classic, naxx and 2-3 expansions after. But i stopped when i saw no improvements made to the game, no real power balance, more grindiness added, every new thing was a powercreep, extreme amount of useless cards being printed just to have fewer chances of getting what you actually want, etc. In other words, i'm not gonna pay 1 cent to this crap company anymore - not going to support their laziness, bad designs and complete lack of integration testing. Not even in other games ("do you guys have phones?!").
I recently found another card game, Skyweaver, that caught my eyes. Not going to pay anything for it either since it's probably only fun at the beginning, but at least it scratches the itch for card games. What i love is its "arena mode" - 2 players play random decks based on some of the "classes" their chosen hero has. Completely free. It's also very interactive - there are lots of things to think about and ways to answer things.
And this is what i like - a game that promotes strategic thinking! Be it a card game or an exploration space game or anything else. I do admit, i'm not really into the Dark Souls genre, since repeating the same moves for 30 minutes (to kill a mob) is not even close to "strategic", but it's something i want to explore soon (probably in elder ring).
Currently, HS provides this strategic thinking only in arena and (to some lower extent) BGs. This is my feeling and my experience with the game. Having played a lot of games in my life, i know i'll never enjoy constructed in the form it's now. Too much clutter and too much cheating (mana, card draw etc). I enjoy being able to control the pace of the game to some extent. Randomness is good, but extreme amounts of it are bad (BGs suffer from this, but the saving grace is that the game mode is not frustrating to lose at). Arena has swings, but it's mostly about accepting the variance and trying to get on top over a longer period of time (again - strategy, but with a differently required mindset).
Lastly, and as a conclusion, I hope you get something good out of my wall of text. Try to find out more things about yourself, and you'll realise what you need to do to get rid of that "inprisonment" feeling. When you realise what you enjoy, you'll know what to look for.
Cheers!
Legend Reno N'Zoth Paladin - Wild Hearthstone Full Deck & Guide on the Wildest of Weekends
Yeah that one is for fun and this one has a high winrate to Legend and is way stronger. Righteous Defense is better, it's like a 3 mana removal for a big minion plus many of your minions benefit from handbuff.
Don't think of this as a control deck, it's a Reno deck that wins with board pressure.
Legend Reno N'Zoth Paladin - Wild Hearthstone Full Deck & Guide on the Wildest of Weekends
Great job as always Swiz. This could be the final push for me to craft Barov and Nozdormu. They also are core to the Exodia deck right?
Don't you miss Equality here? Maybe in place of Righteous Defense. But the deck looks really nice. I prefer to have an inevitable win condition, though, against combo decks or druids, that's why I love Exodia. Do you think this one is better rounded against the meta than your Nozdormu Exodia?
Legend Reno N'Zoth Paladin - Wild Hearthstone Full Deck & Guide on the Wildest of Weekends
Nice, you played Reno Paladin before it was cool! Glad this decklist could help with ideas, I love decks that last for months or years and keep being updated. It's like a journey or evolution of a deck that's interesting to see.
Legend Reno N'Zoth Paladin - Wild Hearthstone Full Deck & Guide on the Wildest of Weekends
I made a reno pally deck on LoE meta called "shit deck" (because was a meme deck).
I've updated that deck on every expansion, now it's called "shit deck v14.0" and I use yo play It on Wild format.
I'll get tons of ideas from you! :D
Kazakusan disappearing ?
He technically got nerfed and there is a special group of people who think every nerf is a devastating move that absolutely requires you to push the disenchant button?
or you and I are just lucky
Legend Reno N'Zoth Paladin - Wild Hearthstone Full Deck & Guide on the Wildest of Weekends
Kangor is definitely not core. Thekal and Molten Giant are very powerful for highrolls but you can put in some generally good anti-aggro and early game cards and still do well with it.
Legend Reno N'Zoth Paladin - Wild Hearthstone Full Deck & Guide on the Wildest of Weekends
I own everything but Thekal and Molten Giant; might have to check this out :D Edit: Whoops, forgot Kangor. Guess I don't have him either.
Legend Reno N'Zoth Paladin - Wild Hearthstone Full Deck & Guide on the Wildest of Weekends
You can replace Murgur Murgurgle with Cariel Roame or Goody Two-Shields. You can replace Nozdormu the Timeless with Amber Watcher, although Nozdormu is really powerful and you will lose winrate.
Legend Reno N'Zoth Paladin - Wild Hearthstone Full Deck & Guide on the Wildest of Weekends
Of all the cards in the deck, I am missing Murgur Murgurgle and Nozdormu the Timeless - are they that important or should I skip this list?
Hearthstone Grandmasters 2022 Season 1 Continues With Week 3 - Here's What You Need to Know
Funnily enough they've updated the original blog to say that every week should give you packs. I've definitely had the stream open for more than required as well but zero packs so far for the week. Hopefully they're just slow this time.
Dean Ayala’s Hearthstone Q&A Recap #39 - No Year-long Story in 2022, Less OTK and Hand-wide Cost Reduction, & More!
This is Team 5's motto, core value, and mission statement, all in one.
But how did they not see it coming? It was literally one of the first questions I asked after the Mercs reveal.
Happy Little Trees
Great job, thanks for sharing :)
I am the other player who love Goru ! I got legend with the pre craft treants deck of druid back then and Goru was in the deck :D
I forever be a Nature type player and Druid is my favorite class. I Love the more theme deck.
Merci encore Swizard !