Aggro Warrior or Highlander Aggro Warrior are both super strong at the moment.
I piloted Highlander Aggro Warrior from Rank 10 up to Legend (my 1st Legend, yay!).
I have mixed feelings about this. I love Highlander Aggro Warrior deck, and with 23 Wild cards coming into the Standard meta (until the end of this expansion - mentioned by Blizzard CC) - the meta can change completely...
I like meta changes but... man it really is a "Feels Bad - moment" - when you just master your favourite deck, there would be 2 more months of the meta to enjoy it... but instead it is about to change, probably in a big way.
I was playing Highlander Warrior very extensively over the September, and at the end of August. My experience - it's very strong, as strong as stats show.
I reached a Legend with it for the 1st time of mine :) from Rank 2 (0 stars) up to Legend with... 11 wins in a row :) my overall winrate so far is about 65-66%.
My overall results so far are 103-54 (wins-losses). Played it from Rank 10 up to Legend in September.
I used slightly different list. Comparing to deck you listed from VS:
Octosari - I would say this card isn't necessarily needed, but it certainly increases winrate by few %. Sometimes it is risky to play, against possible Hex, Sap. Or if opponent has silence and it can deny the card refill.
Zephrys. My experience is that it's more efficient to play it in the mid-game or late-game when needed (dealing big burst damage - even if not lethal, getting Tirion Fordring on curve, getting Mass Dispel to silence multiple taunts...). I had 1 game against Control Warrior where I used Zephrys to get Pyroblast and finish him at the next turn... Total satisfaction :D
Of course - having Zephrys in hand means you have to constantly evaluate possible lethal scenarios - it's best use for this card really (feels totally unfair).
You have to know, how to use it in a given matchup. For example - versus Murloc Paladin you should use Zephrys to get some AoE spell like Lightning Storm against their board refills. Against combo Priest you should use it to kill or silence their big threats - either - big buffed minion or to kill Northshire Cleric in the early-game.
However, playing Zephrys on turn 2 is sometimes necessary. For example if you had unlucky draw and otherwise you would have no other turn 2 and turn 3 plays. If you have other plays - use them, because Zephrys is best if you use it at important moments (few examples above).
Siamat - if you are ahead on board and opponent has no minions... Playing it on turn 7 versus Quest Druid is game winning, and versus Control Warrior it's super strong too (can win you the game too, or make them play removals inefficiently).
In those 2 scenarios above - choose Divine Shield and Windfury. And look at them sweating while thinking if they can even remove it. Because if they don't - you can buff it with Inner Rage or Cruel Taskmaster or play Zephrys and get some buff for it...
I love this deck and I am little sad that meta game is about to change completely because of upcoming 23 Wild cards coming into Standard mode :( (hard to say how it can shake up things).
I vote to have this list added to the top of the thread ASAP. I just got scammed myself, and it turns out the battletag was on that blacklist.
I sent the first challenge, intending it to be a proof challenge, but they accepted instead of declined. I feel like a complete fucking idiot for not backing out of the deck selection.
Sorry to hear that m8. Remember the game doesn't count for the quest unless one of you is below 15 health when it ends, so you can concede any time before then and retain your quest.
Never knew that. I just thought that, like me, my opponent wanted to play out the game.
I'm not sure trading is worth it anymore. I play on NA, and lately it's been taking forever to find an opponent to trade with. Last time I think it took two weeks. Now that I think about it, I was probably too eager to get it out of the way, as it had already been three days, and that left me more vulnerable to getting scammed.
There's a specific thread on Reddit for quest trade purposes too: when you get one, you should create a post both here and there.
I remember seeing that thread before. They point you to this questshares site, saying to try it first. I tried it one time I had the quest, found nobody after many tries, then gave up on it forever. I decided to just use the forum for trading. I guess that reddit thread is probably about as safe as posting here is, though.
It definitely seems this site and hearthpwn are a lot more popular in Europe than North America. I guess more North Americans prefer reddit or something.
I think this would be pretty easy to do since the PM backend seems fairly complete. But there are probably many issues that individually would be "pretty easy" to fix, and I don't really know what's a priority to the community.
Also, not that I've ever tried it before, but writing a forum from scratch seems like a pretty big project.
Edit: I don't even see a way to delete messages, so I guess the backend might not be as complete as I thought. I am of course assuming that there is more than updating the UI needed.
Keep cycling and using Flash Heal / Novice Engineer and use Time Out + Zephrys the Great to board clear. Once you have 7 Mogu Cultist you can go mad :D
I think it is kinda pointless to HoF a mass freeze effect so that blizzard can start printing more mass freeze effects in the future. What would be the point? Also, Think about wild. Adding a new mass freeze effect every year or two would mean that in wild mages would have access to 6+ board freezes, which, as you stated, would be too many.
You mentioned that if they were to rotate Frost Nova then they would have room to add other mass freeze effects with addition effects, but I think that having Frost Nova is a good idea because it gives us a reference point for other mass freeze abilities. So even if we were to rotate a mass freeze card, Blizzard would probably be the better option. (And because it has a higher rarity players will get more dust from it rotating :P)
This isn't a rant about power, or even frustration. This is about design space. I think that Frost Nova seriously limits the design space of freeze effects for Mage. With Frost Nova and Blizzard, Mage has insane board locking presence. They can prevent all enemy minions from attacking up to four times. That's totally balanced, but it means that you really can't print another mass freeze effect (at least not one with a bonus effect worth using). Being able to do that six times is far too much. With both cards being Classic, that's an entire design that that's just... not viable.
Obviously if Nova were to go, it would have to be prefacing a set where Blizzard was intending to add another mass freeze. That makes the most sense.
The reason I think Nova should go over Blizzard is because it's cheaper and has no other effects, which makes it harder to balance. Also, Blizzard is too entertaining to cut from Standard. I also know that Cone of Cold exists, but that's just a worse Frost Nova (ergo, a side effect that's not worth using). Maybe without Nova, Cone of Cold could even see play - that might be interesting.
Thoughts? Do you agree or am I talking out of my ass?
Ironhide Direhorn was originally in the deck, but I ended up cutting him because it almost always got removed before the Overkill effect was possible. We usually have a pretty large hand size, so Octosari ends up overdrawing a ton in my experience.
Sir Thomas of the Silver Hand was once a noble knight, but through the machinations of Balnazzar the Dreadlord, he was broken and twisted into the maddened abomination you see before you. Now, he returns every Hallow's End, to wreak terrifying chaos upon the villages of Azeroth...
... But what's even more frightening is that he won't stop reciting his terrible poetry!
The Headless Horseman acts similarly to Kazakus, though instead of crafting a spell to use at a later date, you craft an effect that happens immediately upon playing the card, almost like a Swampqueen Hagatha token.
You would Discover twice, to create a unique effect for the situation. The poems are generally themed around: Building a board, dealing with an enemy board, or utility, with there being two choices for each category. The poem options are laid out below.
This is definitely the hardest I've gone in this thread but I liked the concept and ended up having a lot of fun with it! I've always enjoyed the Horseman's poetic sensibilities in-game, so I'm glad to have been able to incorporate it into the card.
Now, to continue with the Halloween theme, a Warlock Epic. (Try to make it spooky!)
I built a Big Priest variant around the time of the 2018 Fire Festival in honor of the Firelord himself! The intention was multiple Ragnaros copies plus Enchanter to rain down a second Cataclym on your opponent (as in reshaping the world, not the card)!
First, the interaction for Jaraxxus is definitely strange, but because he is a minion who takes over as your hero and not a hero card, the interaction exists. Lord J can still be on your board as a minion in some situations (summon through Voidcaller or Skull, or Bane of Doom summoning a random demon), and since he is a minion at heart the spell still works even if he's in your hero slot.
The best solution for Jaraxxus if they want to make him playable is to make him into a true Hero card. But they can't really do that either because then one class would always have a hero card in Standard as he is part of the Classic set. So the other big solution could be blocking that interaction when Jaraxxus is in the hero position, or maybe coding Zeph to not offer Sac Pact when J is in the hero position. But as others have pointed out, Sac Pact isn't the biggest problem with J.
I actually still don't have Jaraxxus, despite playing since launch. I didn't start playing the game a lot until Un'Goro, and then prior to crafting Jaraxxus I opened Bloodreaver Gul'dan as my free log in DK for Frozen Throne. So as you said in OP, what was the point of Jaraxxus if I had Gul'dan DK?
Still a really cool card, and whenever I actually open him I'll probably try to build something around him, but who knows if it'll be any good. Maybe we'll see some support for midrange warlock over the next couple of expansions, then with rotation in April 2020 a deck with Jaraxxus might pop up and be viable.
Among the class cards, I expect Flamewaker, Babbling Book, Call of the Wild and Evolve to do some heavy lifting. I think the paladin cards are heavily overrated in light of the average power level that existed in their glory days. Secret Paladin is garbage now and I don't think these 2 will change that.
Personally I think Emperor T Ragnaros and Sylvanas are going to have the most impact. A bold prediction, I know, but there it is. I think N'zoth isn't nearly as strong as he used to be: there are tons of cards that summon wide boards nowadays, Phaoris, Nomi, Zul'jin, Kangor's Endless Army, Tip the Scales, etc. The current pool of deathrattles isn't terribly exciting, and the only current deck that naturally synergises with N'zoth is the meme that is quest Warlock.
wouldn't say Secret Pally is garbage. It has some of the best secret synergies in the game...but it just runs out of steam within 5 turns, which is where MC comes in. Secret Paladin would have been amazing during RoS if Divine Favour hadn't ben Hall of Famed.
It1-mana secrets are amazing with Sunreaver Spy and Secretkeeper.
Also, I still feel like Ragnaros doesn't really fit into anything (although I would very much like to run it in Cyclone Mage just for the potential turn 4 Rag with double Elemental Evocation)
Among the class cards, I expect Flamewaker, Babbling Book, Call of the Wild and Evolve to do some heavy lifting. I think the paladin cards are heavily overrated in light of the average power level that existed in their glory days. Secret Paladin is garbage now and I don't think these 2 will change that.
Personally I think Emperor T Ragnaros and Sylvanas are going to have the most impact. A bold prediction, I know, but there it is. I think N'zoth isn't nearly as strong as he used to be: there are tons of cards that summon wide boards nowadays, Phaoris, Nomi, Zul'jin, Kangor's Endless Army, Tip the Scales, etc. The current pool of deathrattles isn't terribly exciting, and the only current deck that naturally synergises with N'zoth is the meme that is quest Warlock.
Yes! I don't know what you'd want to swap, but I was thinking Call of the Wild would be great in a Highlander deck, especially if you play it before Zul'jin.
I actually missed hunter, and I agree the card is quite potent, it was too slow/outclassed before it rotated but now the meta is a bit slower than it was back then in the midrange shaman/patches era.. so it might fit, as to what to replace well you could look at win rates and cards that feel less impactful and switch them highlander decks tend to be very flexible.
My initial thought was the Masked Contender seeing as I felt I rarely got to play that card with the effect active, but that is just my personal experiences. nd while it's just a one card swap it still feels like a big hit to your deck's curve replacing a 4 mana card with a 9 mana card.
VS Data Reaper Report
Aggro Warrior or Highlander Aggro Warrior are both super strong at the moment.
I piloted Highlander Aggro Warrior from Rank 10 up to Legend (my 1st Legend, yay!).
I have mixed feelings about this. I love Highlander Aggro Warrior deck, and with 23 Wild cards coming into the Standard meta (until the end of this expansion - mentioned by Blizzard CC) - the meta can change completely...
I like meta changes but... man it really is a "Feels Bad - moment" - when you just master your favourite deck, there would be 2 more months of the meta to enjoy it... but instead it is about to change, probably in a big way.
Highlander warrior
I was playing Highlander Warrior very extensively over the September, and at the end of August. My experience - it's very strong, as strong as stats show.
I reached a Legend with it for the 1st time of mine :) from Rank 2 (0 stars) up to Legend with... 11 wins in a row :) my overall winrate so far is about 65-66%.
My overall results so far are 103-54 (wins-losses). Played it from Rank 10 up to Legend in September.
I used slightly different list. Comparing to deck you listed from VS:
-1 Redband Wasp, -1 Raging Worgen, -1 Militia Commander, -1 Darius Crowley (I don't have that card... but it isn't needed);
+1 Upgrade!, +1 Heroic Strike, +1 Injured Blademaster, +1 Bone Wraith;
Other cards I used sometimes (I was switching cards while learning the deck) - Neferset Ritualist, Youthful Brewmaster, Commanding Shout, Phantom Militia.
Octosari - I would say this card isn't necessarily needed, but it certainly increases winrate by few %. Sometimes it is risky to play, against possible Hex, Sap. Or if opponent has silence and it can deny the card refill.
Zephrys. My experience is that it's more efficient to play it in the mid-game or late-game when needed (dealing big burst damage - even if not lethal, getting Tirion Fordring on curve, getting Mass Dispel to silence multiple taunts...). I had 1 game against Control Warrior where I used Zephrys to get Pyroblast and finish him at the next turn... Total satisfaction :D
And my favourite, unexpected by many players - Windfury. Windfury combined with Inner Rage, Cruel Taskmaster or Rampage is totally insane.
Of course - having Zephrys in hand means you have to constantly evaluate possible lethal scenarios - it's best use for this card really (feels totally unfair).
You have to know, how to use it in a given matchup. For example - versus Murloc Paladin you should use Zephrys to get some AoE spell like Lightning Storm against their board refills. Against combo Priest you should use it to kill or silence their big threats - either - big buffed minion or to kill Northshire Cleric in the early-game.
However, playing Zephrys on turn 2 is sometimes necessary. For example if you had unlucky draw and otherwise you would have no other turn 2 and turn 3 plays. If you have other plays - use them, because Zephrys is best if you use it at important moments (few examples above).
Siamat - if you are ahead on board and opponent has no minions... Playing it on turn 7 versus Quest Druid is game winning, and versus Control Warrior it's super strong too (can win you the game too, or make them play removals inefficiently).
In those 2 scenarios above - choose Divine Shield and Windfury. And look at them sweating while thinking if they can even remove it. Because if they don't - you can buff it with Inner Rage or Cruel Taskmaster or play Zephrys and get some buff for it...
Other combo, Leeroy Jenkins + Inner Rage + Bloodsworn Mercenary = 16 dmg to the face, happens especially after opponent killed your Octosari...
I love this deck and I am little sad that meta game is about to change completely because of upcoming 23 Wild cards coming into Standard mode :( (hard to say how it can shake up things).
A Weekend of Wild Decks
Those slackers!
80g Quest Trading Fraudster: Vegetaz (HaVoC#2426)
I remember seeing that thread before. They point you to this questshares site, saying to try it first. I tried it one time I had the quest, found nobody after many tries, then gave up on it forever. I decided to just use the forum for trading. I guess that reddit thread is probably about as safe as posting here is, though.
It definitely seems this site and hearthpwn are a lot more popular in Europe than North America. I guess more North Americans prefer reddit or something.
Private messaging is a bit cumbersome
I think this would be pretty easy to do since the PM backend seems fairly complete. But there are probably many issues that individually would be "pretty easy" to fix, and I don't really know what's a priority to the community.
Also, not that I've ever tried it before, but writing a forum from scratch seems like a pretty big project.
Edit: I don't even see a way to delete messages, so I guess the backend might not be as complete as I thought. I am of course assuming that there is more than updating the UI needed.
Six-Shooter
Here's a really fun deck if your still playing with this brawl
Crystology
Mogu Cultist
Flash of Light
Novice Engineer
Zephrys the Great
Time Out!
Keep cycling and using Flash Heal / Novice Engineer and use Time Out + Zephrys the Great to board clear. Once you have 7 Mogu Cultist you can go mad :D
Frost Nova should be HoF'd
I don't think it needs to be HoFed.
I think it is kinda pointless to HoF a mass freeze effect so that blizzard can start printing more mass freeze effects in the future. What would be the point? Also, Think about wild. Adding a new mass freeze effect every year or two would mean that in wild mages would have access to 6+ board freezes, which, as you stated, would be too many.
You mentioned that if they were to rotate Frost Nova then they would have room to add other mass freeze effects with addition effects, but I think that having Frost Nova is a good idea because it gives us a reference point for other mass freeze abilities. So even if we were to rotate a mass freeze card, Blizzard would probably be the better option. (And because it has a higher rarity players will get more dust from it rotating :P)
Here's some art, make a card! [Legacy Game]
NEXT:
A Common Warrior minion from Rise of Shadows.
Here's some art, make a card! [Legacy Game]
I must say Michael, that is one awesome card.
The idea is that someone sees this monster and is freaked out, then later he is attacked out of nowhere by a monster.
Keeping with the theme of Halloween and monsters, make a Knights of the Frozen Throne Hunter minion out of this
Frost Nova should be HoF'd
This isn't a rant about power, or even frustration. This is about design space. I think that Frost Nova seriously limits the design space of freeze effects for Mage. With Frost Nova and Blizzard, Mage has insane board locking presence. They can prevent all enemy minions from attacking up to four times. That's totally balanced, but it means that you really can't print another mass freeze effect (at least not one with a bonus effect worth using). Being able to do that six times is far too much. With both cards being Classic, that's an entire design that that's just... not viable.
Obviously if Nova were to go, it would have to be prefacing a set where Blizzard was intending to add another mass freeze. That makes the most sense.
The reason I think Nova should go over Blizzard is because it's cheaper and has no other effects, which makes it harder to balance. Also, Blizzard is too entertaining to cut from Standard. I also know that Cone of Cold exists, but that's just a worse Frost Nova (ergo, a side effect that's not worth using). Maybe without Nova, Cone of Cold could even see play - that might be interesting.
Thoughts? Do you agree or am I talking out of my ass?
Group Therapy! Need to blow off some steam? Mega salty? Here's the place!
So tired of MCTech, such a stupid RNG card.
Elise's Zoology Report
Ironhide Direhorn was originally in the deck, but I ended up cutting him because it almost always got removed before the Overkill effect was possible. We usually have a pretty large hand size, so Octosari ends up overdrawing a ton in my experience.
Here's some art, make a card! [Legacy Game]
I fought for you... I fought in vain!
Now scatter scurry, shriek in pain!
No mercy on this night abides!
On Hallow's End, when the Horseman rides!
Sir Thomas of the Silver Hand was once a noble knight, but through the machinations of Balnazzar the Dreadlord, he was broken and twisted into the maddened abomination you see before you. Now, he returns every Hallow's End, to wreak terrifying chaos upon the villages of Azeroth...
... But what's even more frightening is that he won't stop reciting his terrible poetry!
The Headless Horseman acts similarly to Kazakus, though instead of crafting a spell to use at a later date, you craft an effect that happens immediately upon playing the card, almost like a Swampqueen Hagatha token.
You would Discover twice, to create a unique effect for the situation. The poems are generally themed around: Building a board, dealing with an enemy board, or utility, with there being two choices for each category. The poem options are laid out below.
This is definitely the hardest I've gone in this thread but I liked the concept and ended up having a lot of fun with it! I've always enjoyed the Horseman's poetic sensibilities in-game, so I'm glad to have been able to incorporate it into the card.
Now, to continue with the Halloween theme, a Warlock Epic. (Try to make it spooky!)
Honest Hearthstone Cards (Game)
NEXT:
A Weekend of Wild Decks
I blame our proofreaders for letting me commit that atrocity. Fixed now, thanks for pointing it out.
Meme of the Week - End of All Things
I built a Big Priest variant around the time of the 2018 Fire Festival in honor of the Firelord himself! The intention was multiple Ragnaros copies plus Enchanter to rain down a second Cataclym on your opponent (as in reshaping the world, not the card)!
Wild · Big Priest · by Thonson · 7 years, 3 months ago
A Weekend of Wild Decks
On the Combo Druid explanation, you wrote Earthen Might instead of Earthen Scales.
Some day I'll check all my old Wild cards and see if I can try some of these decks, they look quite fun!
Honest Hearthstone Cards (Game)
"Never lucky..."
Next up:
Honest Hearthstone Cards (Game)
Next:
Honest Hearthstone Cards (Game)
Next:
Lord Jaraxxus is a dead card
First, the interaction for Jaraxxus is definitely strange, but because he is a minion who takes over as your hero and not a hero card, the interaction exists. Lord J can still be on your board as a minion in some situations (summon through Voidcaller or Skull, or Bane of Doom summoning a random demon), and since he is a minion at heart the spell still works even if he's in your hero slot.
The best solution for Jaraxxus if they want to make him playable is to make him into a true Hero card. But they can't really do that either because then one class would always have a hero card in Standard as he is part of the Classic set. So the other big solution could be blocking that interaction when Jaraxxus is in the hero position, or maybe coding Zeph to not offer Sac Pact when J is in the hero position. But as others have pointed out, Sac Pact isn't the biggest problem with J.
I actually still don't have Jaraxxus, despite playing since launch. I didn't start playing the game a lot until Un'Goro, and then prior to crafting Jaraxxus I opened Bloodreaver Gul'dan as my free log in DK for Frozen Throne. So as you said in OP, what was the point of Jaraxxus if I had Gul'dan DK?
Still a really cool card, and whenever I actually open him I'll probably try to build something around him, but who knows if it'll be any good. Maybe we'll see some support for midrange warlock over the next couple of expansions, then with rotation in April 2020 a deck with Jaraxxus might pop up and be viable.
Hallow's End Meta predictions
wouldn't say Secret Pally is garbage. It has some of the best secret synergies in the game...but it just runs out of steam within 5 turns, which is where MC comes in. Secret Paladin would have been amazing during RoS if Divine Favour hadn't ben Hall of Famed.
It1-mana secrets are amazing with Sunreaver Spy and Secretkeeper.
Also, I still feel like Ragnaros doesn't really fit into anything (although I would very much like to run it in Cyclone Mage just for the potential turn 4 Rag with double Elemental Evocation)
Hallow's End Meta predictions
Among the class cards, I expect Flamewaker, Babbling Book, Call of the Wild and Evolve to do some heavy lifting. I think the paladin cards are heavily overrated in light of the average power level that existed in their glory days. Secret Paladin is garbage now and I don't think these 2 will change that.
Personally I think Emperor T Ragnaros and Sylvanas are going to have the most impact. A bold prediction, I know, but there it is. I think N'zoth isn't nearly as strong as he used to be: there are tons of cards that summon wide boards nowadays, Phaoris, Nomi, Zul'jin, Kangor's Endless Army, Tip the Scales, etc. The current pool of deathrattles isn't terribly exciting, and the only current deck that naturally synergises with N'zoth is the meme that is quest Warlock.
Analysis on the 23 wild cards added
My initial thought was the Masked Contender seeing as I felt I rarely got to play that card with the effect active, but that is just my personal experiences. nd while it's just a one card swap it still feels like a big hit to your deck's curve replacing a 4 mana card with a 9 mana card.
Hallow's End Meta predictions
why thank you
you shouldn't be afraid to participate in discussions, at worst you'll suggest something that doesn't work and someone will tell you why it doesn't.