Ah ha! I knew my Boogeymonster was good for something. Turns out he dies the same as Crowley does. I guess we can't be too surprised Blizz didn't bother to align his mechanics with everyone else's when they standardised this a while back...
I hit level 231 yesterday; finished all the mini-set XP quest achievements and finally got a few of those sweet challenge friend requests.
Gold income is more than in the past, but playtime is also doubled. Precise math aside, I think gold income is relatively about equal or perhaps even slightly worse than before (extrapolated against total time spent playing HS).
What does feel really bad is that after opening 280 packs and crafting 1 or 2 legendaries myself, I'm still missing 3 of them. I need Maxima Blastenheimer in order to complete 1 of the 2 remaining regular XP quest achievements. Dealing lethal damage with Oh My Yogg! is really out of my hands, so I will not intentionally hunt this achievement down.
Looking forward to complete the remainder of the rewards track in the upcoming 6 weeks. Not sure what the plan will be during the period before the next expansion hits. Should the upper limit of 350 levels be removed from the rewards track? What do you think?
I'd like to believe that there's better in it for Moonfang, having played with him a while, but I can't. He's either too slow, or going against classes that can easily remove him. Nearly every deck I face will either ignore him and kill me, or remove him without much fuss.
Best deck to play moonfang in is actually in my opinion priest, because Embalming Ritual and Power Word: Shield are cheap cards that can help out with its unfortunate weakness while also able to bring him back in case he's removed the first time. Unfortunately priest is hardly a top class at the moment, so I guess this wolf would have to save its howling until the next expansion.
I've played Xanesh in Constructed and drawing it late wasn't really an issue: the deck is still playable without the discounts. The games that I lost were because I didn't draw/discover enough AoE vs aggro; whether I had Xanesh in hand didn't make a difference in those games.
There is a difference between attacking and dying. Sonya does not bounce itself, because she is already dead when the ability should trigger, so there is no minion with said ability to trigger anymore. Whereas ETC trades, attack ends, his ability triggers, he dies.
Similar to how something that is supposed to die can survive, if it was buffed "while dying". The order of actions that need to resolve matter.
That sounds like good reasoning, and a little bit of testing with Darius Crowley and Festeroot Hulk confirmed the distinction between attack and death phases (Crowley doesn't buff himself if he dies in the attack, but the Hulk does).
The bit I dislike is that similar logic would lead me to expect Wild Pyromancer to trigger if the spell kills him because the spell has been played before he dies, but he doesn't. It is not obvious that casting a spell should include the death phase.
Wild Pyromancer used to have consistency issues too before Blizzard did its revamp of the "whenever" and "after" spell triggers. There isn't really a generic "death phase" for spells because a spell doesn't necessarily interact with minions at all, which is probably why it doesn't map perfectly onto the templating for attacks. The spell is resolved when all effects from the spell are resolved (including the death of minions if relevant), and that's when the "after" template kicks in. By contrast, attacking always deals some damage, so there's always a need to check for minion or hero death.
There appear to be four versions of these kinds of attack templates (that I've been able to find):
So, spells look more like "cast spell -> whenever spell triggers -> resolve spell effects -> after spell triggers" while attacks look more like "declare attack -> whenever attack triggers -> deal damage -> after attack triggers -> check for deaths -> whenever attack and kill triggers -> resolve deaths -> after attack and kill triggers."
Ultimately, this seems pretty consistent between the spells and attacks, and E.T.C by this description has the right behavior. That said, there's probably room to change some of the templating on old cards to increase clarity.
For instance, Hulking Overfiend, Giant Sand Worm, and Batterhead all feature the same basic behavior - when they kill a minion, they get to attack again - but the Giant Sand Worm has a whenever trigger. I doubt those would produce different results in practice (as none of them buff themselves, and any other buff would be a separate "whenever" vs "after" effect), so having them use different templates is confusing.
By contrast, the difference is very relevant for The Boogeymonster and Darius Crowley, where the "whenever" vs "after" difference can determine* whether or not your minion survives combat because of timing of the self-buff.
*Technically I haven't tested The Boogeymonster for this, so I encourage someone to test this and call me out if I'm wrong. If I'm wrong, then I'd argue that's a bug with The Boogeymonster based on the templating it has. (This should be the same timing as Finja, the Flying Star, but while that's a card I did play back in the day, I don't remember the effect trigger timing in detail.)
So after two more weeks I went up from lvl 120 to lvl 150. Progression slowed a bit (did 20 lvls a week before), but it´s mostly due no more extra XP from achievements (did all old Darkmoon ones, only few from mini-exp left). Friend quests help a lot too, but missed 3000 XP (I have Tavern Pass) from one weeklie by my mistake :/
C´mon man, you have to do it :) You were the first from the beginning, it´s up to you to win. It´s my choice to withdraw from the game. There are many to support you, you deserve it :)
Damn but this event was fun! Kudos to Flux and the team for a great time, and my sincere congrats to Alleria for a stimulating competition. Thanks to everyone who fed me ammo, especially KANSAS and Swizard.
Absolutely no idea. I've checked the Goblins vs. Gnomes expansion site for cards that have "Knight" or "Sir" in their name or a knight in their art with no results. I do not know what people with a mustache can't do what other people can either.
While I have many ideas for OP cards, I can't think of a single macabre one. The last line might be a hint at a bad Duels hero but I don't play that game mode. "It can get you" hints at card generation, that's the one productive thing I can contribute.
Nicely done! It's still a rare feat to hit 12 wins, to be sure. I imagine Discard Lock is still holding up just as well, but it's great we have another choice to go for.
Oh wow, that is quite a clone army. It's an interesting concept with Corrupt cards, the only thing about Dark Inquisitor Xanesh that made me hesitant to try both in Duels and Constructed were the times when it's at the bottom of your deck with no way to tutor it. Knowing my luck, could be pretty often.
Thanks for putting in the effort! I thought there were already a lot of fine points you touched upon there, definitely invaluable for folks looking for more options.
Hearthstone's February 2021 Card Back, Year of the Phoenix, Has Arrived!
Honestly seems kind of "plain" to me. Not impressed.
ETC interaction - bug or intentional
Ah ha! I knew my Boogeymonster was good for something. Turns out he dies the same as Crowley does. I guess we can't be too surprised Blizz didn't bother to align his mechanics with everyone else's when they standardised this a while back...
Ramp Paladin?
Well, we might be wrong, according to Vicious Syndicate it could be the strongest deck in the meta right now...
Snowpocalypse
Looks like throwing snowballs still works.
Rewards Track: Current progress
I hit level 231 yesterday; finished all the mini-set XP quest achievements and finally got a few of those sweet challenge friend requests.
Gold income is more than in the past, but playtime is also doubled. Precise math aside, I think gold income is relatively about equal or perhaps even slightly worse than before (extrapolated against total time spent playing HS).
What does feel really bad is that after opening 280 packs and crafting 1 or 2 legendaries myself, I'm still missing 3 of them. I need Maxima Blastenheimer in order to complete 1 of the 2 remaining regular XP quest achievements. Dealing lethal damage with Oh My Yogg! is really out of my hands, so I will not intentionally hunt this achievement down.
Looking forward to complete the remainder of the rewards track in the upcoming 6 weeks. Not sure what the plan will be during the period before the next expansion hits. Should the upper limit of 350 levels be removed from the rewards track? What do you think?
The Best Darkmoon Faire Standard Hearthstone Decks for Moonfang
I'd like to believe that there's better in it for Moonfang, having played with him a while, but I can't. He's either too slow, or going against classes that can easily remove him. Nearly every deck I face will either ignore him and kill me, or remove him without much fuss.
Best deck to play moonfang in is actually in my opinion priest, because Embalming Ritual and Power Word: Shield are cheap cards that can help out with its unfortunate weakness while also able to bring him back in case he's removed the first time. Unfortunately priest is hardly a top class at the moment, so I guess this wolf would have to save its howling until the next expansion.
New Viable Hearthstone Duels Decks For Each Class in The More Balanced Meta
I've played Xanesh in Constructed and drawing it late wasn't really an issue: the deck is still playable without the discounts. The games that I lost were because I didn't draw/discover enough AoE vs aggro; whether I had Xanesh in hand didn't make a difference in those games.
ETC interaction - bug or intentional
Wild Pyromancer used to have consistency issues too before Blizzard did its revamp of the "whenever" and "after" spell triggers. There isn't really a generic "death phase" for spells because a spell doesn't necessarily interact with minions at all, which is probably why it doesn't map perfectly onto the templating for attacks. The spell is resolved when all effects from the spell are resolved (including the death of minions if relevant), and that's when the "after" template kicks in. By contrast, attacking always deals some damage, so there's always a need to check for minion or hero death.
There appear to be four versions of these kinds of attack templates (that I've been able to find):
So, spells look more like "cast spell -> whenever spell triggers -> resolve spell effects -> after spell triggers" while attacks look more like "declare attack -> whenever attack triggers -> deal damage -> after attack triggers -> check for deaths -> whenever attack and kill triggers -> resolve deaths -> after attack and kill triggers."
Ultimately, this seems pretty consistent between the spells and attacks, and E.T.C by this description has the right behavior. That said, there's probably room to change some of the templating on old cards to increase clarity.
For instance, Hulking Overfiend, Giant Sand Worm, and Batterhead all feature the same basic behavior - when they kill a minion, they get to attack again - but the Giant Sand Worm has a whenever trigger. I doubt those would produce different results in practice (as none of them buff themselves, and any other buff would be a separate "whenever" vs "after" effect), so having them use different templates is confusing.
By contrast, the difference is very relevant for The Boogeymonster and Darius Crowley, where the "whenever" vs "after" difference can determine* whether or not your minion survives combat because of timing of the self-buff.
*Technically I haven't tested The Boogeymonster for this, so I encourage someone to test this and call me out if I'm wrong. If I'm wrong, then I'd argue that's a bug with The Boogeymonster based on the templating it has. (This should be the same timing as Finja, the Flying Star, but while that's a card I did play back in the day, I don't remember the effect trigger timing in detail.)
The Lore of Runeterra's Noxus and its Champions
It's just happens every now and then, it's no big deal.
Rewards Track: Current progress
2 and a half month into expansion I got 10 000 gold. Never had that much gold in past - I got like 7-8k after 4 months. So I am happy.
Rewards Track: Current progress
So after two more weeks I went up from lvl 120 to lvl 150. Progression slowed a bit (did 20 lvls a week before), but it´s mostly due no more extra XP from achievements (did all old Darkmoon ones, only few from mini-exp left). Friend quests help a lot too, but missed 3000 XP (I have Tavern Pass) from one weeklie by my mistake :/
Last Minute Hearthstone Ladder Climbing? Here Are The Best Decks!
I think it's fair to debate whether or not this is the best version of the deck, but I would definitely not say the one shared here is "wrong" because
Snowpocalypse
Damn but this event was fun! Kudos to Flux and the team for a great time, and my sincere congrats to Alleria for a stimulating competition. Thanks to everyone who fed me ammo, especially KANSAS and Swizard.
[Game] Card Treasure Hunt (The Resurrection Attempt)
Absolutely no idea. I've checked the Goblins vs. Gnomes expansion site for cards that have "Knight" or "Sir" in their name or a knight in their art with no results. I do not know what people with a mustache can't do what other people can either.
While I have many ideas for OP cards, I can't think of a single macabre one. The last line might be a hint at a bad Duels hero but I don't play that game mode. "It can get you" hints at card generation, that's the one productive thing I can contribute.
For the sake of making a guess... Jandice Barov? (Because she can get you a Mozaki, Master Duelist who's a Duels hero afaik)
Hearthstone's February 2021 Card Back, Year of the Phoenix, Has Arrived!
Mark of Hakkar-ish. If you missed it somehow. :) Nice golden phoenixes.
Hearthstone's February 2021 Card Back, Year of the Phoenix, Has Arrived!
Aren´t we all just big kids inside anyway? :D
Hearthstone's February 2021 Card Back, Year of the Phoenix, Has Arrived!
Snowpocalypse
Much appreciated, thank you for sharing your snowballs with me :) This event was more fun than I thought.
Hearthstone's February 2021 Card Back, Year of the Phoenix, Has Arrived!
Card Back Design looks a bit boring to me, not so inspired, and not so Phoenix-y
Snowpocalypse
I have lost my pin ...
The 10 Best Card Backs Available in Hearthstone That You Definitely Can't Disagree With
Our taste is quite similar
Last Minute Hearthstone Ladder Climbing? Here Are The Best Decks!
Alas, I always seem to wait with ladder climbing until the final moments... and then miss out not only on the ranks, but also an occasional quest.
New Viable Hearthstone Duels Decks For Each Class in The More Balanced Meta
Nicely done! It's still a rare feat to hit 12 wins, to be sure. I imagine Discard Lock is still holding up just as well, but it's great we have another choice to go for.
New Viable Hearthstone Duels Decks For Each Class in The More Balanced Meta
Oh wow, that is quite a clone army. It's an interesting concept with Corrupt cards, the only thing about Dark Inquisitor Xanesh that made me hesitant to try both in Duels and Constructed were the times when it's at the bottom of your deck with no way to tutor it. Knowing my luck, could be pretty often.
New Viable Hearthstone Duels Decks For Each Class in The More Balanced Meta
Thanks for putting in the effort! I thought there were already a lot of fine points you touched upon there, definitely invaluable for folks looking for more options.