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  • Dean Ayala's Community Q&A #12 - Barrens Balance Meeting on Monday, AI Ladder, Core Set, Heroic Battlegrounds, and More

    That doesn't make sense - people always want better decks. Often, "good enough" is not good enough.

  • Dean Ayala's Community Q&A #12 - Barrens Balance Meeting on Monday, AI Ladder, Core Set, Heroic Battlegrounds, and More

    So everyone knows that Paladin and Mage are broken (and rogue to a lesser extent). Warrior and Priest are underpowered. Yet blizzard doesn’t have a clue. I despair

  • Dean Ayala's Community Q&A #12 - Barrens Balance Meeting on Monday, AI Ladder, Core Set, Heroic Battlegrounds, and More

    I had never considered an AI ladder and now I wants. No more waiting for slow people, people BM'ing you, or just the usual "people gotta think" delay. Games will be so fast. Ofc, I say this now but part of getting better is not playing bad players....or AI. Still....

  • Achievement Hunting: Forged in the Barrens edition

    My own notes and decks on what I've done so far and can contribute additional info towards:

    Druid

    The Final Frontier: I also tried Naga Sea Witch + Giants. Doesn't work. Seems to be hardcoded to Celestial Alignment, which is fucked up.

    Buy One, Get One Free (of Taunt): I hated doing this one so much. My deck probably sucks but I was so angry at this nonsense I kinda refused to think about it any further. The big card you missed is Infested Goblin, that gives you 1-mana Taunt tokens to Broomstick. AAEBAZICBIUQ0eEDwuwD1qAEDcQG+waaB4EOoM0CntICv/ICoaEDnKQDlc0DmOoDrewDku4DAA==

    Do it for the Vines: Please note that Solar Eclipse proc does not count as an additional cast per turn for this achievement! You need to actually play 5 Nature spells. AAEBAZICBOQI1hGMrgPR4QMN6QH+AcQGntICv/ICj/YC5boD7LoDm84D8NQDrewDtuwDtaAEAA==

    Mage

    Barrens Bubbler: AAECAf0EAA/CuAOBvwP30QOR4QOF5AOS5APQ7APR7APB8AP8ngT9ngTmnwTnnwTonwTpnwQA

    Paladin

    Wear Your Sunday Best: If you run Invigorating Sermon as your only Holy spell, you can tutor it with Knight of Anointment. Also you can proc it twice with Archmage Vargoth, which reduces the amount of games needed. AAEBAZ8FBO0F/gf8/ALWmQMNnAL4B/sM97wC3sQC48sC2JgD+84DtuEDkuQDzOsD5+wDoaAEAA==

    Spell Slingin' Savior: Try to proc it twice in one game to max out that efficiency. AAEBAZ8FAu0FtJsDDowB6AGcAs4D3QqMDtMWs8ECz4YD7IYD+ZMDlrYDysED9+MDAA==

    Just between You and Me: The fifth secret can also be Autodefense Matrix.

    Priest

    Two Health Bars: Reno. Just play a Reno deck with some extra self heals thrown in against something like a Secret Mage.

    Why Can't I Hold All These Cards?: Maybe my deck idea wasn't the best, but I just ran a bunch of token in hand generators to get to a full hand as quickly as possible and tried to stall with 10 cards in hand as long as possible. You can play cards that give you a card back in your hand without losing an Achievement proc next turn, and take careful note of which cards give you more than one card back in your hand so that you can play stuff and fill back up. Usually around 4-5 procs per match if the opponent wasn't aggro, in which case I would just concede immediately. AAEBAa0GBJIP2MIDtIoEtYoEDR7GzALo0ALF7ALJ7ALm7AKSgAPSiQO0kQOBsQPXzgP+0QPi3gMA

    Rogue

    Identity Theft is not a joke: To complete the achievement you need to get the basic Rogue hero power from Yoink!. This can only happen if your own hero power is already not Rogue's. You can either run two Yoink!s or if you only unpacked one copy like me you can use Sir Finley Mrrgglton. KEEP NOTES ON WHAT HERO POWERS YOU'VE GOTTEN ALREADY.

    Just Don't Touch the Blade / Magnets, How Do They Work?: You can do both of these in the same deck, real easy. The trick is Cutting Class synergizing with your buffed poisoned weapon. Mix in Efficient Octo-bot procs and prepare a big Gadgetzan Auctioneer turn. Did it in one match. AAEBAaIHAq3rA67rAw7EAc0DpAfeB4YJ9bsCx84D99QDgeQDqesDq+sDrOsDkZ8Ekp8EAA==

    Shaman

    Extra Organic: Bru'kan isn't even that good. What you want is to play Beakered Lightning on a full board with a lot of Spell Damage thrown in. Rune Dagger makes things easier, Imprisoned Phoenix lets you set up in advance, Talented Arcanist gives you SD+2 same turn, Mad Summoner for when your opponent's side of the board is empty too. You can get 50 extra Nature damage per game, easy. AAEBAaoIAu0FkuQDDpwCvBTjuwKe/QKc/wLWnQPYqQOmywPNzgOH5APq5wOR6AOV6AOhoAQA

    Warlock

    Shadow of a Shadow: There are four 0-cost Shadow spells in the game already. Plus like you said, Thaurissan procs on 1-cost spells if you're lucky and your opponent is playing nice. AAEBAf0GAu0F1hEOowH7AZwCxAi2rALexALy0ALx9wKnmAPXzgPs0QPM0gOS5AON5wMA

    What's Better than Two Imps?: Mad Summoner is your friend! Actually there are so many imp summoning cards, the way you're 'supposed' to get this achievement is SO much slower. Note the 0-cost spells thrown in this deck, they're actually to help you progress the other achievement while you're at this one. Probably should have thrown Ritual of Doom in there, but I forgot that card existed until later on oops AAEBAf0GApwC7QUOowHcBsQI3Q+2rALexALy0AKQ7gKrkQPWnQOdqQPXzgO84wOS5AMA

    Warrior

    Gym Buddies: You can also use Archmage Vargoth in lieu of drawing the second Bulk Up. Personally I ended up with a really fun deck revolving around spamming infinite Injured Tol'virs with Barista Lynchen. Almost burned my Bulk Up because I had so many Tol'virs in hand lol

    Neutral

    Everyone's in Here!: Overlord's Whip gives you one Gruntled Patron proc instantly without having to lose mana that turn. After that you just need two Frenzy procs from cards like Inner Rage, Whirlwind (not two though or you'll start killing Patrons), or Improve Morale. When you have one full health and three damaged Patrons on board it's time for the coup de grace: Sudden Genesis. ez game ez life AAEBAQcE1ATWEY/tA4egBA0WnAKiBP8Hv8MCo4sDhJ8D9sID9+MDkuQD1egDtJ8EoaAEAA==

    Has Anyone Seen Mankrik's Wife?: I just stuck Mankrik in wild discard Warlock and waited to play it until my opponent was very low on health, making sure to trade disfavorably to make it seem like they had a chance. You only have to get lucky once, it took me three matches.

    Top Secret Snoop: What if I told you there is a reliable setup for this achievement? This is my magnum opus. BEHOLD:

    Time Out! + Lorewalker Cho + play 5 different secrets + Millhouse Manastorm

    Constraint number 1: Opponent needs to have 5 cards or less in hand. Constraint number 2: They need to proc the secrets next turn. This is actually not that hard, because they WILL try to get rid of your minions, Cho especially, they can't even hit your face anyways. Constraint number 3: You need two Emperor Thaurissan procs, although this is not very hard because you run so many secrets that discounting two of them is trivial. To be totally honest, I did it without Millhouse since I just went for it because I was going to lose the next turn anyways, but if you give your opponent five free secrets they are almost certainly going to play them and free up some hand space.
     
    I ran a bunch of different secrets to guarantee I would have five different ones to play, but PLEASE do not run Oh My Yogg! or Eye for an Eye, because they will either not proc or proc and fuck up the setup. Sacred Trial is also too inconsistent to get rid of on your side.
     
    Here's the deck: AAEBAZ8FDIwByATXBu8I1hGLvQLA/QLY/gKOmgPb7gPQ9wPIoAQJnALPhgPshgP5kwP34wOS5AOY6gPP6wPu8QMA
  • Dean Ayala's Community Q&A #12 - Barrens Balance Meeting on Monday, AI Ladder, Core Set, Heroic Battlegrounds, and More

    only because they are so broken that they don't neeed them (or can't use them in the case of spell mage)

  • Achievement Hunting: Forged in the Barrens edition

    Quote From KANSAS
    Quote From YourPrivateNightmare
    Quote From ElSabidon
    Quote From YourPrivateNightmare

    Druid

    The Final Frontier: Seems really hard to achieve without Aviana and Kun the Forgotten King. Ysiel Windsinger might also do the trick with enough set up (and preferably in Wild because Ultimate Infestation). Completing this the intended way through Celestial Alignment sounds like a bad joke. Getting Alignment off and ramping back to 5-mana with five 8+mana cards is a pipe dream. If you didn't get run down by that point your opponent will usually concede anyways.

    Did you get this achievement when playing this combo? Because I didn't and I just want to make sure it wasn't just a bug.

    Played Aviana, Kun the Forgotten King, The Lich King, Survival of the Fittest, Ysiel Windsinger and Ultimate Infestation for a total of 6 cards and got nothing. 

    Oh sorry, I hadn't gotten to that yet, but I just assumed it would have worked with Aviana but I guess they hardcoded it for Alignment.

    My bad there.

    I don't think it works if you play more than 5 cards since the achievement says "5 cards" not "5 or more". I had a similar issue with Do it for the Vines not counting some of my plays. I cannot confirm this but so far it is my best theory.

    Small update:

    I managed to complete this one by using Galakrond Rogue (shuffling high cost minions with Scheme and then Brann + Galakrond to odraw 6 of them for 0 mana). This means that it's not tied to the number of cards or Alignment.

    I think the reason why Aviana doesn't work is because the achievement requires permanent discounts instead of temporary ones for some reason.

  • Dean Ayala's Community Q&A #12 - Barrens Balance Meeting on Monday, AI Ladder, Core Set, Heroic Battlegrounds, and More

    Staff

    AI Ladder eh? You have my attention.

  • Dean Ayala's Community Q&A #12 - Barrens Balance Meeting on Monday, AI Ladder, Core Set, Heroic Battlegrounds, and More

    I'm all for RNG-heavy decks, but not if they are near/at the top of the meta. So despite enjoying Lunacy mage in DMF, I have quickly grown to loathe it.

    I know its a highroll, but the last one I faced had the dream hand (Deck of Lunacy and both copies of the Fresh Water), and by turn 4 they had played Skull of Gul'dan, Arbor Up (twice!), Barricade and Siphon Soul. Meanwhile I was just hoping for Tinyfin's Caravan to survive 1 turn.

    It's clear that Deck of Lunacy was balanced around both an unreliable card pool and limited card draw in mage, and I guess we shouldn't be surprised about the results when neither of those are true anymore. Yu-Gi-Oh taught us all long ago that 0 mana draw 2 with no conditions (aside from a simple deck building constraint) is too powerful, and Fresh Water is better than that because it often only costs 2 or 3 itself.

  • 2 Old Murk-Eyes

    Quote From Tumbleweedovski

    I've dusted mine by now. If Blizzard decides to do anything at all. The most they can do is remove the dust from our accounts we got from dusting. If they decide to remove the other copies of Murk-Eye and Parrot reddit and twitter will blow up again.

    There was no mistake.  Pretty much certain they intended everyone to get it if they met the requirements, even if they already had one.

  • 2 Old Murk-Eyes

    I've dusted mine by now. If Blizzard decides to do anything at all. The most they can do is remove the dust from our accounts we got from dusting. If they decide to remove the other copies of Murk-Eye and Parrot reddit and twitter will blow up again.

  • Dean Ayala's Community Q&A #12 - Barrens Balance Meeting on Monday, AI Ladder, Core Set, Heroic Battlegrounds, and More

    I hope Iksar's face photoshopped on card art becomes a regular thing for covers on these Q&A recaps.

  • Barrens Even Mage

    Still entirely sure of the Post + Defender package, but it's been working well so far. I've beaten also some Aggro Paladin, Big Priest, QRogue.

    On the other hand, the meta I encountered felt weird tbh, some junk decks and some Standard lists as well.

    Overall, the archetype might be around t3.

  • Dean Ayala's Community Q&A #12 - Barrens Balance Meeting on Monday, AI Ladder, Core Set, Heroic Battlegrounds, and More

    I actually don't see them that often anymore, maybe because the most popular decks right now (Spell Mage/Paladin) don't run them.

  • Dean Ayala's Community Q&A #12 - Barrens Balance Meeting on Monday, AI Ladder, Core Set, Heroic Battlegrounds, and More

    Mildly concerned that they're not mentioning Watch Posts in Standard as being looked at in terms of balance.

    Oh well, eventually they'll have to address it once those things remain in every deck even without any buildarounds

  • Dean Ayala's Community Q&A #12 - Barrens Balance Meeting on Monday, AI Ladder, Core Set, Heroic Battlegrounds, and More

    Great he is giving us an insight as to what the design methodology is/was as well as things like a balance meeting soon etc.  No promises, which I'd rather than giving them only to let us down.

    I don't play standard, but the whole mage thing looks more like a tavern brawl or PVE fight to me.  Fun I'm sure, but probably not great long term for the meta or future competitive tournaments.  Early days in the meta but if it doesn't change then I have confidence they'll do something.

    Great summary to give an overview of the key points.  All in all, 5 stars to Dean and 5 to OOC.

  • 2 Old Murk-Eyes

    Same thing here. I have 2 Murkeye and 4 parrots. When the new achievements launched seems they rewarded you again if you met the requirements.

    I'm certain their safe to dust but I'm holding them until stuff settles a bit just in case. Expansion+ Core is a big launch. Letting blizzard catch up a bit to clean up some of these bugs. Then dust they will become.

  • Achievement Hunting: Forged in the Barrens edition

    Quote From KANSAS
    Quote From YourPrivateNightmare
    Quote From ElSabidon
    Quote From YourPrivateNightmare

    Druid

    The Final Frontier: Seems really hard to achieve without Aviana and Kun the Forgotten King. Ysiel Windsinger might also do the trick with enough set up (and preferably in Wild because Ultimate Infestation). Completing this the intended way through Celestial Alignment sounds like a bad joke. Getting Alignment off and ramping back to 5-mana with five 8+mana cards is a pipe dream. If you didn't get run down by that point your opponent will usually concede anyways.

    Did you get this achievement when playing this combo? Because I didn't and I just want to make sure it wasn't just a bug.

    Played Aviana, Kun the Forgotten King, The Lich King, Survival of the Fittest, Ysiel Windsinger and Ultimate Infestation for a total of 6 cards and got nothing. 

    Oh sorry, I hadn't gotten to that yet, but I just assumed it would have worked with Aviana but I guess they hardcoded it for Alignment.

    My bad there.

    I don't think it works if you play more than 5 cards since the achievement says "5 cards" not "5 or more". I had a similar issue with Do it for the Vines not counting some of my plays. I cannot confirm this but so far it is my best theory.

    nope, that can't be the case because the achievement would have completed the moment you played your fifth card. Do it for the Vines also works like this and if you missed some it was probably because you didn't use Nature spells (Excess Mana isn't a NAture spell for instance, maybe that was the issue)

  • Are former Hall of Fame cards currently obtainable from opening Classic packs?

    If the flavor text changed to reflect that they were a promo I'm assuming that was a mistake of the move from Hall of Fame and making them legal in Classic format. That should be fixed to avoid confusion if they are not in packs.

    If I remember golden Gelbin was for using the shop in beta. While golden E.T.C was an early blizzcon reward. Those should stay unique. That said the basic versions in packs for completion sake wouldn't be a bad thing. I am assuming they weren't also a promotion. If they were then the promotion tag needs to come back.

    I crafted both of these way back because I like wierd cards so if the info is wrong sorry, been a while.

  • Weekend Wild Hearthstone Decks - Sunscale Hunter, Taunt Druid, Handbuff Mech Paladin, and More!

    Thanks for a suggestion.

  • Dean Ayala's Community Q&A #12 - Barrens Balance Meeting on Monday, AI Ladder, Core Set, Heroic Battlegrounds, and More

    Thanks for making this sectiona! I would never read through so much tweets.

  • Spell-Burn Mage

    7-1 so far, had robe of the apprentice and rally the troops (this one is insane)

  • Weekend Wild Hearthstone Decks - Sunscale Hunter, Taunt Druid, Handbuff Mech Paladin, and More!

    I have Guardian Animals in my raptor hunter. It works as long as the raptors are 5/5 or bigger, and if they are 3/4 it isn't the end of the world. It's a lot better than Kathrena Winterwisp.

  • How Standard Rotations Work in Hearthstone - Year of the Scarab

    The list of each expansion per year is a bit confusing, shouldn't it start like: 

     

    Year of the Kraken: April 26th 2016 - April 6th 2017

  • Achievement Hunting: Forged in the Barrens edition

    Quote From YourPrivateNightmare
    Quote From ElSabidon
    Quote From YourPrivateNightmare

    Druid

    The Final Frontier: Seems really hard to achieve without Aviana and Kun the Forgotten King. Ysiel Windsinger might also do the trick with enough set up (and preferably in Wild because Ultimate Infestation). Completing this the intended way through Celestial Alignment sounds like a bad joke. Getting Alignment off and ramping back to 5-mana with five 8+mana cards is a pipe dream. If you didn't get run down by that point your opponent will usually concede anyways.

    Did you get this achievement when playing this combo? Because I didn't and I just want to make sure it wasn't just a bug.

    Played Aviana, Kun the Forgotten King, The Lich King, Survival of the Fittest, Ysiel Windsinger and Ultimate Infestation for a total of 6 cards and got nothing. 

    Oh sorry, I hadn't gotten to that yet, but I just assumed it would have worked with Aviana but I guess they hardcoded it for Alignment.

    My bad there.

    I don't think it works if you play more than 5 cards since the achievement says "5 cards" not "5 or more". I had a similar issue with Do it for the Vines not counting some of my plays. I cannot confirm this but so far it is my best theory.

  • New Neutral Minion - Far Watch Post

    I want to play this into Glide and really frustrate my opponents