Without meaning to be overly critical, I'm a little confused as to the selection of cards here - and the point of the article series. Are you looking to highlight interesting cards? Underrated cards?
The reason I'm unclear is the three cards in the article are very different in terms of position:
Imp Gang Boss - Simply a good value card which has fallen out of play due to circumstances (the fall of generic zoo vs more 'gimmicky' zoo builds), which has seen significant play in the past. Not an interesting card by any means, just an old one which was once great and is no longer.
Nexus-Champion Saraad - A value-generating card which has never been significantly played simply because it's horribly unreliable and awkward, and yet occasionally sees niche play. Not an especially interesting card in terms of mechanics, but a fun one to play with.
Dragon Consort - A much more interesting card, but one which has never been good due to being positioned in a rarely played archetype - but also because it's somewhat schizophrenic in what it's trying to do. It provides no permanent advantage, and is instead a tempo play - but is, itself, a tempo loss due to being basically vanilla statted and slow. Primarily interesting for what it COULD do with more support, but also because I don't believe any other example exists of a single-use benefit persisting across multiple turns.
Shadowfiend - Not particularly interesting, and in fact simply a bad card in general. It wasn't considered bad because of Thaurissan - it was considered bad because Thaurissan does what you WANT it to do. In other words, it discounts the cards you want discounted. Thaurissan rarely stuck on board, but that was fine because he didn't need to - you played him when you had the cards you wanted discounted, or simply because you had a big hand. By contrast, Shadowfiend can't be targeted at specific cards, and indeed, without draw support (or it somehow sticking - even less likely than Thaurissan) does absolutely nothing. It's a card you play to generate future tempo by reducing mana costs in future, but you can't do anything to ensure you can actually USE that tempo without knowing what it'll hit. Not interesting, not underrated, and can't be profitably built around - it's honestly just bad.
My confusion, therefore, is that all four cards seem to have different reasons for being brought up. Maybe the article's just about discussing randomly-chosen Wild cards (which is fine, don't get me wrong) but I can't help but feel the article could be improved with more focus. Apologies for being critical!
I'd almost go with Reno mage rather than the burn variant as it's more flexible and is very different. I also think you should play Sylvanas in that lock
I don't have a large sample as an argument, but i also feel Renolock or Controllock is pretty much hit or miss, mainly based on whether you draw Reno Jackson in time, and even then it's not so safe.
If i were you, i would drop that, and tinker about a Hunter deck with Flare, Dirty Rat, and possibly Wild Bloodstinger too. Be it Highlander or something else. Basically making Hunter your tech deck against Mage, Reno and possibly Shudderwock Shamans too (which i am sure will flock the tournament as much as Secret Mages).
Alternatively, a CW with some Bomb package and disruption tools. Maybe Mecha'thun as well (but i have no direct experience with CW).
And imo Odd Rogue is kinda redundant with Even Shaman.
Well, with Hearthstone and MTG being so light on hardware requirements it is a bit surprising to see such articles here, but hey, it's always good to get updated! Since I play almost exclusively HS I don't visit hardware sites anymore, so it's nice to get some information here.
I'd like to see (at least from time to time) a slim/SFF build, not specially powerful, but small, silent and elegant. It should be enough to play HS (maybe even streaming to twitch) while not hurting your wallet and keeping your desk clean and elegant. It could be a Common build or even a Rare alternative, as silent and small components are sometimes expensive.
Did you manage to beat any one of the archetypes that I mentioned earlier with your current deck version? Because these are some of the main threats you find on ladder. Against aggressive decks ( like Mech Hunter) this version won't last till turn 5 without any defensive/survival tools. I play meme and combo decks myself too, trust me.
Of course you may win against another combo/passive deck, but aggressive archetypes will ruin your fun for sure.
Yeah, I actually beat Odd Paladin. I dunno. Needs more testing for sure, definitely needs more anti-aggro tools, not arguing - just stating factually what happened during testing
I tried a Warlock plot twist quest deck but all the aggro makes it a painful experience. Especially the quest shaman seems to be very strong, but also quest druid. Sometimes you get lucky and get your combo pieces in time and the sun shines, but if that is not happening, well. And then if you make it till end of deck time and have a big board to finish them off they pull out their Zephrys to save the day. Really annoying.
Did you manage to beat any one of the archetypes that I mentioned earlier with your current deck version? Because these are some of the main threats you find on ladder. Against aggressive decks ( like Mech Hunter) this version won't last till turn 5 without any defensive/survival tools. I play meme and combo decks myself too, trust me.
Of course you may win against another combo/passive deck, but aggressive archetypes will ruin your fun for sure.
Aggro rogue and warrior are probably the best decks for climbing right now. Both only really lose to slow warrior decks, and while those are apparently still somewhat popular, I've only faced a single one this whole weekend.
I would have to disagree. Aggro rogue is doing a lot worse than was expected post nerf. That's due to the fact that its best match up was Mage, which is basically non-existent.
Aggro warrior is better, but not much. Both are low to mid T2
How so? In my previous post I did seem to miss that aggro rogue is pretty unfavored against quest druid, despite my experience with the matchup. So you might be right that it's tier 2.
As you said secret mage is the deck to beat in wild currently. Which is why I'm wondering why you don't run any deck that can consistently beat it. From what I've seen and read it seems like both even shaman and odd rogue are 50/50 against it at best, if not unfavored. And renolock is just a matter of having reno on turn 6.
I'd advise to run a deck that can consistently beat secret mage, as nearly everyone will most likely be bringing it to the tournament. Jade druid and odd warrior seem to be the hardest counters. With the latter also having a decent matchup against the reno decks, especially if you go for a greedy build.
Trying something new which fits some of our interests on the team while giving you fantastic people content that can help support keeping the site lights online and helping you find new hardware to upgrade.
Is this something you'd like to see continued? Are there other types of hardware you'd like to see spotlighted? What about reviewed? Let me know what you think.
Aggro rogue and warrior are probably the best decks for climbing right now. Both only really lose to slow warrior decks, and while those are apparently still somewhat popular, I've only faced a single one this whole weekend.
I would have to disagree. Aggro rogue is doing a lot worse than was expected post nerf. That's due to the fact that its best match up was Mage, which is basically non-existent.
Aggro warrior is better, but not much. Both are low to mid T2
I think the meta is still in flux, and there doesn't seem to be any decks really standing out as OP. Quest Druid and Shaman definitely got a post nerf bump in win rate, and I think Combo Priest is going to be making a comeback. Control Warrior's play rate dropped due to everyone dusting Dr Boom, but it will be coming back strong. It didn't take a hard enough hit to kill it.
Mage is dead. I shed no tears for it's loss. Mage players will now flock to Wild where it's T1 with Secret Mage making everyone's lives miserable.
I know this is a meme deck, but in order to have fun with this, you should first and foremost, survive the early game. Most of the deck is consisted of dead cards (the combo pieces and cards to assist the combo resolve earlier) and you also have quite a few dead turns (like Gadgetzan Auctioneer turns, the Anka, the Buried turn and the 10 mana combo pre-setup). Being passive as Rogue won't help you last long (especially with decks like Odd Rogue, Odd Paladin, Even Shaman, Secret Mage etc lurking in all ranks), so you may need a more tempo oriented package and I guess some taunts?! Also let's not discuss the fact that disruptive combo strategies like Dirty Rat, Deathlord and others can cost you the game from a vital combo piece loss.
Thanks for your comments! I know what I am about to say is going to sound crazy - but I already tried what you are suggesting prior to this current version of the deck. Guess what my winrate was with the tempo version of the deck? 0%. I'm not exaggerating - it was literally 0%. I played about 10 games, didn't win a single one. Bad luck? Lack of skill on my part? Maybe. But the moment I switched away from tempo and arrived at this version with low cost spells, Cutpurses, Tomb Pillagers, and Auctioneers it just worked. I started winning games and pulling off the combo.
I totally acknowledge combo disruption is a thing, but as a long time combo player I've decided I won't change my deck to account for bad luck. I played a few games with this deck yesterday and someone played Dirty Rat and it hit a Gadgetzan Auctioneer instead of C'Thun. You win some, you lose some.
I can't help but feel that highlander decks are so dull to play and play against. Once you know your opponent has only 1 of each spell (beyond discoverable shenanigans), playing around things becomes trivial. Most of the time, it's correct to gamble they don't have that perfect answer. If not, yay! You won! If they did, scramble for Plan B.
I get that it's fun to make each card selected that much more meaningful, but the play and counter-play seem stale.
Anyone else agree?
I think this is more of a Standard issue than Wild. There is such a variety of Highlander builds in Wild, that you never know for sure what the opponent has. Yeah there's a 99% chance that certain cards are in the deck, (like all Renolocks will have a Defile for example) but many of the cards are interchangeable, and it's fun to change the play style.
As for playing them, I find them to be really fun to play. You have to really know your deck and the meta to determine how to best use your resources. Sure there are plenty of times where you say "if only I had drawn X, I would have won the game!" but that happens with all decks anyways.
Basically, your point of gambling if they have the perfect answer or not goes for all decks. That's kind of the nature of the game. You can make educated guesses, try and make your opponent use resources inefficiently, and gamble on if they have the answer they need to what you are able to play. Whether their deck is all singletons or duplicates doesn't change this fact.
Secret mage is still dominating, Reno lock has also really worked well for me since no cards were really changed from those decks, I don't know about standard though, I don't play it
Wrapped Golem
Elected mummy of the year (so far) by me.
The Forgotten Wilds of Hearthstone - Gold, Shadows, and Ethereals
Without meaning to be overly critical, I'm a little confused as to the selection of cards here - and the point of the article series. Are you looking to highlight interesting cards? Underrated cards?
The reason I'm unclear is the three cards in the article are very different in terms of position:
Imp Gang Boss - Simply a good value card which has fallen out of play due to circumstances (the fall of generic zoo vs more 'gimmicky' zoo builds), which has seen significant play in the past. Not an interesting card by any means, just an old one which was once great and is no longer.
Nexus-Champion Saraad - A value-generating card which has never been significantly played simply because it's horribly unreliable and awkward, and yet occasionally sees niche play. Not an especially interesting card in terms of mechanics, but a fun one to play with.
Dragon Consort - A much more interesting card, but one which has never been good due to being positioned in a rarely played archetype - but also because it's somewhat schizophrenic in what it's trying to do. It provides no permanent advantage, and is instead a tempo play - but is, itself, a tempo loss due to being basically vanilla statted and slow. Primarily interesting for what it COULD do with more support, but also because I don't believe any other example exists of a single-use benefit persisting across multiple turns.
Shadowfiend - Not particularly interesting, and in fact simply a bad card in general. It wasn't considered bad because of Thaurissan - it was considered bad because Thaurissan does what you WANT it to do. In other words, it discounts the cards you want discounted. Thaurissan rarely stuck on board, but that was fine because he didn't need to - you played him when you had the cards you wanted discounted, or simply because you had a big hand. By contrast, Shadowfiend can't be targeted at specific cards, and indeed, without draw support (or it somehow sticking - even less likely than Thaurissan) does absolutely nothing. It's a card you play to generate future tempo by reducing mana costs in future, but you can't do anything to ensure you can actually USE that tempo without knowing what it'll hit. Not interesting, not underrated, and can't be profitably built around - it's honestly just bad.
My confusion, therefore, is that all four cards seem to have different reasons for being brought up. Maybe the article's just about discussing randomly-chosen Wild cards (which is fine, don't get me wrong) but I can't help but feel the article could be improved with more focus. Apologies for being critical!
Preparing for a local Wild Tournament
I'd almost go with Reno mage rather than the burn variant as it's more flexible and is very different. I also think you should play Sylvanas in that lock
Arena tier list
Hello fellow Arena players! What do you think is the most powerful class right now? How has the bucket change affected your runs?
Here's some art, make a card! [Legacy Game]
Hoping for dragon pally support in the next exp.
Now a new Grommash legendary please..
Preparing for a local Wild Tournament
I don't have a large sample as an argument, but i also feel Renolock or Controllock is pretty much hit or miss, mainly based on whether you draw Reno Jackson in time, and even then it's not so safe.
If i were you, i would drop that, and tinker about a Hunter deck with Flare, Dirty Rat, and possibly Wild Bloodstinger too. Be it Highlander or something else. Basically making Hunter your tech deck against Mage, Reno and possibly Shudderwock Shamans too (which i am sure will flock the tournament as much as Secret Mages).
Alternatively, a CW with some Bomb package and disruption tools. Maybe Mecha'thun as well (but i have no direct experience with CW).
And imo Odd Rogue is kinda redundant with Even Shaman.
A Weekend of Wild Decks
Looking for something Wild?
Look no further:
Wild · Deathrattle Priest · by escabe · 7 years ago
PC Builds of the Month - September 2019
Well, with Hearthstone and MTG being so light on hardware requirements it is a bit surprising to see such articles here, but hey, it's always good to get updated! Since I play almost exclusively HS I don't visit hardware sites anymore, so it's nice to get some information here.
I'd like to see (at least from time to time) a slim/SFF build, not specially powerful, but small, silent and elegant. It should be enough to play HS (maybe even streaming to twitch) while not hurting your wallet and keeping your desk clean and elegant. It could be a Common build or even a Rare alternative, as silent and small components are sometimes expensive.
Anka'thun (Saviors of Uldum edition)
Yeah, I actually beat Odd Paladin. I dunno. Needs more testing for sure, definitely needs more anti-aggro tools, not arguing - just stating factually what happened during testing
Best decks after nerfs!
I tried a Warlock plot twist quest deck but all the aggro makes it a painful experience. Especially the quest shaman seems to be very strong, but also quest druid. Sometimes you get lucky and get your combo pieces in time and the sun shines, but if that is not happening, well. And then if you make it till end of deck time and have a big board to finish them off they pull out their Zephrys to save the day. Really annoying.
Anka'thun (Saviors of Uldum edition)
Did you manage to beat any one of the archetypes that I mentioned earlier with your current deck version? Because these are some of the main threats you find on ladder. Against aggressive decks ( like Mech Hunter) this version won't last till turn 5 without any defensive/survival tools. I play meme and combo decks myself too, trust me.
Of course you may win against another combo/passive deck, but aggressive archetypes will ruin your fun for sure.
Best decks after nerfs!
How so? In my previous post I did seem to miss that aggro rogue is pretty unfavored against quest druid, despite my experience with the matchup. So you might be right that it's tier 2.
But look at aggro warrior's current matchup spread: https://hsreplay.net/archetypes/308/aggro-warrior#tab=matchups
Could you tell me what aspect doesn't make it tier 1?
Preparing for a local Wild Tournament
As you said secret mage is the deck to beat in wild currently. Which is why I'm wondering why you don't run any deck that can consistently beat it. From what I've seen and read it seems like both even shaman and odd rogue are 50/50 against it at best, if not unfavored. And renolock is just a matter of having reno on turn 6.
I'd advise to run a deck that can consistently beat secret mage, as nearly everyone will most likely be bringing it to the tournament. Jade druid and odd warrior seem to be the hardest counters. With the latter also having a decent matchup against the reno decks, especially if you go for a greedy build.
PC Builds of the Month - September 2019
RGB ram and cooler? Way overpriced, and the Rx 5700 xt is way better than the 2070 for less money.
PC Builds of the Month - September 2019
Gotta say, I really didn’t expect to see this article. Really am loving how much you guys are experimenting with new content for the site
Here's some art, make a card! [Legacy Game]
Really cool artwork. Here's my interpretation:
Next: A Paladin weapon.
PC Builds of the Month - September 2019
Kudos for making these.
PC Builds of the Month - September 2019
Love it. I'm always poking around for PC builds I could afford, since I'm long overdue for an upgrade.
i'd be interested in seeing laptops. I know, not necessarily a "build-your-own" but they have plenty of swappable components
PC Builds of the Month - September 2019
Trying something new which fits some of our interests on the team while giving you fantastic people content that can help support keeping the site lights online and helping you find new hardware to upgrade.
Is this something you'd like to see continued? Are there other types of hardware you'd like to see spotlighted? What about reviewed? Let me know what you think.
Best decks after nerfs!
I would have to disagree. Aggro rogue is doing a lot worse than was expected post nerf. That's due to the fact that its best match up was Mage, which is basically non-existent.
Aggro warrior is better, but not much. Both are low to mid T2
I think the meta is still in flux, and there doesn't seem to be any decks really standing out as OP. Quest Druid and Shaman definitely got a post nerf bump in win rate, and I think Combo Priest is going to be making a comeback. Control Warrior's play rate dropped due to everyone dusting Dr Boom, but it will be coming back strong. It didn't take a hard enough hit to kill it.
Mage is dead. I shed no tears for it's loss. Mage players will now flock to Wild where it's T1 with Secret Mage making everyone's lives miserable.
Anka'thun (Saviors of Uldum edition)
Thanks for your comments! I know what I am about to say is going to sound crazy - but I already tried what you are suggesting prior to this current version of the deck. Guess what my winrate was with the tempo version of the deck? 0%. I'm not exaggerating - it was literally 0%. I played about 10 games, didn't win a single one. Bad luck? Lack of skill on my part? Maybe. But the moment I switched away from tempo and arrived at this version with low cost spells, Cutpurses, Tomb Pillagers, and Auctioneers it just worked. I started winning games and pulling off the combo.
I totally acknowledge combo disruption is a thing, but as a long time combo player I've decided I won't change my deck to account for bad luck. I played a few games with this deck yesterday and someone played Dirty Rat and it hit a Gadgetzan Auctioneer instead of C'Thun. You win some, you lose some.
Quest Trading - Play A Friend!
Battletag: HaVoC#2426
Region: EU
Trade Only?: Yes, you go first
Hot Take - Highlander decks are boring!
I think this is more of a Standard issue than Wild. There is such a variety of Highlander builds in Wild, that you never know for sure what the opponent has. Yeah there's a 99% chance that certain cards are in the deck, (like all Renolocks will have a Defile for example) but many of the cards are interchangeable, and it's fun to change the play style.
As for playing them, I find them to be really fun to play. You have to really know your deck and the meta to determine how to best use your resources. Sure there are plenty of times where you say "if only I had drawn X, I would have won the game!" but that happens with all decks anyways.
Basically, your point of gambling if they have the perfect answer or not goes for all decks. That's kind of the nature of the game. You can make educated guesses, try and make your opponent use resources inefficiently, and gamble on if they have the answer they need to what you are able to play. Whether their deck is all singletons or duplicates doesn't change this fact.
Hot Take - Highlander decks are boring!
Maybe in standard but in wild it's not the same
Best decks after nerfs!
Secret mage is still dominating, Reno lock has also really worked well for me since no cards were really changed from those decks, I don't know about standard though, I don't play it