Specifically this one, because the highlander mage is butt ton of dust and feels risky. Right now Mage archetypes is third winrate Mage(53.71), after Control mage(55.25) and Big spell(54.69), so my question is mainly about Reno the Relicologist and Zephrys the Great.
Do you feel this cards could carry the archetype? Do they bring unique fun experience? Maybe you got some other opinions? Would really appreciate your opinions =3
If your collection is only missing Reno and Zephrys for reno mage, you can just play regular giants freeze mage with tortollans thrown in. I was farming Reno mages with it all the way to legend. I felt super favored in the "mirror" because I run more board freezes, have two of conjurer's/giants for more consistent openings and have more draw
IMO, freeze is easily the best build of giants mage if you only care about winrate. You play Reno or sandwitch mage only if you want to meme around with the new cards. That's not to say they're not good; they can hold their own with a decent winrate in the current meta but as strictly worse versions of the trihard build, there's no reason to play them short of personal preference (and there's nothing wrong with that, if that's your thing!)
That said, Zephrys is a great card and probably worth crafting. He's currently found in the tier 1 decks highlander hunter and murloc paladin, which isn't a highlander deck but draws fast enough for Zephrys to be good. IMO, playing Zephrys is the most fun thing about Reno mage by far but this is something you can enjoy in other decks too
Edit: As of now, it looks like Reno mage is the 4th best mage deck behind dragon mage on HSReplay. As you might remember, dragon mage is in fact the unrefined prototype of what later became cyclone and freeze mages in the late RoS meta. So ... yeah, don't craft this unless you're okay with spending dust on memes
I love warlock. Some of my favorite effects involve discarding other cards. There are various types of discarding cards but I want to ask about Expired Merchant.
( I am making a huge assumption that Shriek or Reckless Diretroll basically work the same way except for targeting the highest card in hand, Shriek and Reckless Diretroll target the lowest.)
Here is my Scenario:
I have Expired Merchant in hand along with Cruel Dinomancer and Reno Jackson. Assuming no other card is greater than 5 mana in hand which card will be chosen? Is this random? Is the card that is Alphabetical first/last? Does it target the cards from left to right or right to left. Does it choose the card based on which card set came first? Is there any rhyme or reason once two cards are of the same mana level in hand? Do I have to play Reno to order to guarantee that Cruel Dinomancer is selected?
Is this mechanical process the same when dealing with discarding your lowest and highest cost cards?
Unfortunately, MTG Arena can never be brought to mobile - you and your opponent can have dozens of cards with looong texts on the board both at the same time, it is not possible to create a mobile design for this mess.
There are plans to bring it to mobile and maybe it will not work out, but it is being attempted.
In one game you often have:
8-10 different lands (like 2x forest, 3x swamp, 3 different types of multilands)
3-10 different creatures and tokens with enchantments on them
1-5 enchantments
1-5 artifacts
1-5 planeswalkers
deck
graveyard
Your opponent have the same
How will you fit this on screen while being able to clearly distuingish between cards?
I agree with almost everything in favor of tracking that has been said in this thread except for that "Lethal 100% of the time" comment which I think was an attempt at sarcasm. I laughed a little, anyway, because if you've ever faced a Hunter using tracking late game and you're down on health you've probably held your breath a little!
In my attempt to be helpful, I'll share how I use it in my Hunter decks and the reason why I might not include it. Not including it has nothing to with discarding cards. As a lot of people have mentioned, you're not really discarding them because you haven't received them in your hand yet. The concept behind using it wisely is this: You don't need all the cards in your deck to win the match. You need the right cards. Tracking helps you get the right card when you need it.
Here is a list of how, when, and why I play tracking. I hope it helps the OP out in the quest for the Golden Rexxar (keep in mind I don't play in Wild format):
Mulligan: I hardly ever keep Tracking unless I think I'll need it early on in the game. If I suspect I might need it early on in the game it's because I'm going first so I don't have an extra card with a coin and the situation makes me think I might want to keep a card that costs 4+ so I keep the 4-mana card and Tracking so I can fish for something to play on turn 3 or 5 if necessary. An example: I think my Mage opponent is going to have a Mountain Giant. A spell dealing 4 or more damage to a minion is a keeper because I probably don't need to put anything on the board on turns 1 or 2. For most situations, it's better to throw the Tracking back into the deck and draw something else because Tracking is a good late game card and not so good early in the game.
Against Bomb Warrior or any other opponent that shuffles cards into my deck: After my opponent has shuffled a lot of garbage into my deck I look for a chance to play Tracking. This allows me to eliminate the bombs or whatever other damaging cards that were shuffled in and I can draw a useful card.
Bomb or Mech Hunter: Tracking is very handy for fishing for Leeroy, Venomizer, or any other necessary card that can be used to wipe the board or finish off the opponent.
Midrange Hunter: A good late game card to use when you're in need of the card you know is in there but hasn't surfaced. The later into the game you play your Tracking, the better your chances will be of finding what you're looking for and disregarding what you don't need because your deck is lower on cards. It isn't really for card draw anymore because of Master's Call, which is far better for that need to draw cards. This is why a lot of Midrange decks only have one copy of Tracking these days (or none at all).
Secret Hunter: Tracking is not useful for this deck, usually, if you have Subject 9, so it isn't usually included in the deck.
A lot ofplayers that don't have a lot of experience with Hunter or with Hearthstone often use Tracking when they're going first and have only 1 mana available, thinking that this is a good way to use a turn that would otherwise be passed without playing anything. This is usually not the best way to use Tracking. Tracking is much more powerful, in most situations, later in the game.
I hope this helps a little and good luck in getting your golden hero! I'm working on getting Rogue and Warrior golden portraits at the moment.
Dude, without wanting to be disrespectful to all the others, your two comments were the most complete of those I read, THANKS! The points 2 and 3 are the ones I got to understand easily by myself and use instinctively. The rest, especially the explanation in 1, I'll have to train myself and the mindset used to play hunter. I've reached golden hero before posting this, was in fact one of the reasons behind it, having gold hunter and not understanding the mechanics behind one basic card so widely used. That said, the hero I got after it was rogue, much of it thanks to the tempo rogue glory days, but I think there is a chance now with the agrro rogue advertised by dekkster in here -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hj-ZAe5PAQs&t=418s
As for warrior, I would like to achieve it also, one of my favorite hero arts, but to achieve it nowadays, with the infamous 40min+ mirrors you are not certain to win..., it's going to be tough, good luck on that!
I'm so happy this was useful to you! I'm still working on golden Rogue. I need 164 more wins. I've been frustrated with the golden hero thing and gave up on it last season, but this season I'm focused on Rogue and leaving Warrior behind, mainly because I'm not having much fun with the warrior decks available to me. So, I'm in agreement with you about that. I'm hoping that maybe in the future warrior will be different.
Zoolock and old Dragon Priest (that with blackrock cards)
I've had a lot of fun with Zoolock. At first I felt negative about it because at the beginning of the expansion it was just about the only thing I could build, but now I'm into it. I really want to try the new version of handlock, but I still don't have a Lord Godfrey
I have faced a lot of Druid quest opponents and lost some of them but won more of them. My mage removal and refill and card-draw was just better, and more chances on real crazy bonkers op stuff happening. Their main problem: they can not remove and fill board at the same time, and have limited draw. So either they can remove your board and its your turn to fill it again leaving you on top, or they put something on the board with some choose-one spell. While other decks have powerful remove-and-play-minion options available (stuff with rush etc).
For instance the deck shown by RandomGuy: the highest stat on a minion in that deck is 5-10 or 10-5, while as a mage its not uncommon to summon several minions with stats >7-7 (mountain giants, 1-cost big minions using Luna, conjurer calling on some big dudes etc). So in theory the quest delivers nice cards to play, but the factual minions on the board are not that strong and easier to remove.
I haven't been playing quest druid, but I've faced a lot of quest druids today for some random reason. The strong quest druid players are the ones that hold onto their choose one cards until after they complete the quest. They know why those choose cards are in their decks and why they need both effects at the same time. This means that minion presence and minion removal is not too important if the player knows how to pilot the deck, especially with healing or with card draw. They can leave their side of the board empty until completing the quest and then flood the board with buffed minions all at once if they do it right. Give it some days and you'll find out that it's not so easy to beat, once the pilots get their licences
I have beaten the good players of quest druid decks. It's not an overly strong deck. When they leave the board empty for so many turns you can use that to your advantage, too, depending on what deck you're playing. Of course, it's also possible to lose against them. But so far I'm not like, "OMG, nerf this thing!" It's a good deck, but it's beatable
Well, i knew Highlander Hunter was going to be good enough, so that's not a surprise to me. :p
I'll be admittedly surprised if Nomi Paladin survives the meta. The design is pretty smart, and fancy too, i hope it succeeds to some extent.
I'm also partially surprised by Quest Paladin, i thought the condition was too harsh, but anyway i find it so boring that it leaves me neutral, even if i actually own card.
Or you can play N'Zoth's First Mate on turn 1 and, you know, wait to swing the weapon until you play the quest on turn 2, possibly alongside Upgrade!. A turn 2, 2/4 weapon is not better than a 2/2 weapon at all (nor does it complete the quest entirely on its own). But you do whatever you like. If I open a copy of the quest, I'll be dropping a Rabid Worgen that is not a pirate and has no weapon synergy, in favor of another N'Zoth's First Mate which is a pirate and creates a weapon out of thin air.
Excuse me, but what is the point in equipping the Hook and waiting to swing it?!? You are still starting the quest no earlier than turn-2!
And what happens if you do not get Upgrade! On turn-2? (It would imply a 3/3 succesful mulligan).
Do whatever you want, but you should have solid arguments before using that patronizing tone with people...
I played MTG arena for a few months before WOS came out. Izzet Drakes was my favorite deck and it worked out pretty well, i won more games than i lost. I took a break from Arena and now i wanna go back into it but my old deck loses to just about everything now. I don't know enough about this game to optimize it myself and every deck i find online on recommended sites suck as mtggoldfish is Bo3. How do i transform a Bo3 deck into a Bo1?
My old deck was made by myself on the skeleton of Izzet Drakes but now with all these new cards i'm lost at what to do. Planewalkers give me a headache as my core removal cards like Lava Coil now are worthless.
I hate playing it in Highlander Hunter, having to choose between powerful cards like [Hearthstone Card (Ziliax) Not Found] or [Hearthstone Card (Zephrys) Not Found] comes up way too often. Plus it's terrible with Zul'jin, which is enough for me to cut it and slot in a Hunter's Pack.
Was not expecting Highlander Mage to be remotely good, so that's a suprise. Glad to see Quest Paladin having a place in the meta. I suspect Quest Druid and Quest Shaman to drop off soon, they seem bad.
The single biggest surprise for me is that a mechanic that theoretically slows down the game for 4-5 turns (Quests) has also coincided with the extinction of aggro decks like Mech Hunter or Murloc Shaman.
So, I recently starting playing MTGA, and so far I'm just looking at all of the basic decks and leveling them up. Then I'll get to the real ranked play.
What I will say is that the starting deck lineup in MTGA is definitely much better than the starting deck lineup in Hearthstone.
On the board, I control a Season of Growth (to the right) which draws cards whenever I cast a spell on a creature I control. On the board, I control Gargos, Vicious Watcher (which pairs extremely well with Season of Growth because of its ability to fight when you cast a spell on it). I buff it with Giant's Growth (which I decided to do for the fight ability of Gargos, as well as advancing a quest I had at the time), with causes me to draw another Giant's Growth, which caused me to draw a Growth's Cycle, which in turn resulted in me having a 19/15 Gargos (it's damaged because it fought two creatures this turn due to its ability).
Highlander Hunter being a relatively strong deck is surprising. Dinotamer Brann + Zephrys the Great is enough to restrict a deck into a singleton, who knew.
Aggro/Tempo Warrior is seemingly strong according to some sites, but when I play it I get slaughtered by other more aggressive decks out there. I don't face it as much on ladder too.
Quest Paladin is actually viable, despite being voted one of the worst quests.
Just got shat on by the luckiest fucking quest priest ever. Turn 5 he completed his quest.
When I try it, "Nope, fuck you. Have shite draws and face super aggro for 10 games in a row"
Fucking beyond inscenced right now. I literally want to punch that lucky fucking cunt straight in his dumb ass face
I feel your pain. Happened to me too, the Quest Priest completed it in 5 turns and just steamrolled me from there.
That said, I haven't seen many Quest Priests on ladder. When I do though, they're incredibly hard to win against if you don't manage to rush them down.
Technically there are only two female mogu, the Twin Consorts who were the second to last boss in the Throne of Thunder.
It also doesn't make any sense for Mogu to be in Uldum or for them to summon a Titan Keeper considering that the Mogu abandoned the duties bestowed upon them by the titans and became evil warlords that took over pandaria. Lore-Wise Mogu Cultist is a complete screw up.
Gathering Highlander Mage Opinions
If your collection is only missing Reno and Zephrys for reno mage, you can just play regular giants freeze mage with tortollans thrown in. I was farming Reno mages with it all the way to legend. I felt super favored in the "mirror" because I run more board freezes, have two of conjurer's/giants for more consistent openings and have more draw
IMO, freeze is easily the best build of giants mage if you only care about winrate. You play Reno or sandwitch mage only if you want to meme around with the new cards. That's not to say they're not good; they can hold their own with a decent winrate in the current meta but as strictly worse versions of the trihard build, there's no reason to play them short of personal preference (and there's nothing wrong with that, if that's your thing!)
That said, Zephrys is a great card and probably worth crafting. He's currently found in the tier 1 decks highlander hunter and murloc paladin, which isn't a highlander deck but draws fast enough for Zephrys to be good. IMO, playing Zephrys is the most fun thing about Reno mage by far but this is something you can enjoy in other decks too
Edit: As of now, it looks like Reno mage is the 4th best mage deck behind dragon mage on HSReplay. As you might remember, dragon mage is in fact the unrefined prototype of what later became cyclone and freeze mages in the late RoS meta. So ... yeah, don't craft this unless you're okay with spending dust on memes
How does 'discarding your lowest/highest' work?
It's hearthstone... So it's random
How does 'discarding your lowest/highest' work?
Greetings!
I love warlock. Some of my favorite effects involve discarding other cards. There are various types of discarding cards but I want to ask about Expired Merchant.
( I am making a huge assumption that Shriek or Reckless Diretroll basically work the same way except for targeting the highest card in hand, Shriek and Reckless Diretroll target the lowest.)
Here is my Scenario:
I have Expired Merchant in hand along with Cruel Dinomancer and Reno Jackson. Assuming no other card is greater than 5 mana in hand which card will be chosen? Is this random? Is the card that is Alphabetical first/last? Does it target the cards from left to right or right to left. Does it choose the card based on which card set came first? Is there any rhyme or reason once two cards are of the same mana level in hand? Do I have to play Reno to order to guarantee that Cruel Dinomancer is selected?
Is this mechanical process the same when dealing with discarding your lowest and highest cost cards?
Thank you for your time!
MTG Fixing the f2p model! Huge updaside rewards.
In one game you often have:
8-10 different lands (like 2x forest, 3x swamp, 3 different types of multilands)
3-10 different creatures and tokens with enchantments on them
1-5 enchantments
1-5 artifacts
1-5 planeswalkers
deck
graveyard
Your opponent have the same
How will you fit this on screen while being able to clearly distuingish between cards?
Is MtG:A F2P?
Well, MTGA:
- 80% of cards are unplayable packfillers (it is worse than in Hearthstone)
- you need 4x of each good cards in good decks
- you cannot disenchant cards to craft new ones, only chance is by using wildcards (which are quite rare)
- if you have more than 5 copies of a card (you can use max. 4 in any deck) bad luck, you will get some wildcards for miniscule rate
- there are ~3-5 expansions each year with ~235 cards in each expansion
So:
You can play F2P but expect having only 1-2 good decks, while in HS you can craft as F2P basically deck from any class.
MTGA looks more generous but unfortunately it is not.
Tracking - is it worth it?
I'm so happy this was useful to you! I'm still working on golden Rogue. I need 164 more wins. I've been frustrated with the golden hero thing and gave up on it last season, but this season I'm focused on Rogue and leaving Warrior behind, mainly because I'm not having much fun with the warrior decks available to me. So, I'm in agreement with you about that. I'm hoping that maybe in the future warrior will be different.
What is your favourite deck so far?
I've had a lot of fun with Zoolock. At first I felt negative about it because at the beginning of the expansion it was just about the only thing I could build, but now I'm into it. I really want to try the new version of handlock, but I still don't have a Lord Godfrey
What is your favourite deck so far?
I have beaten the good players of quest druid decks. It's not an overly strong deck. When they leave the board empty for so many turns you can use that to your advantage, too, depending on what deck you're playing. Of course, it's also possible to lose against them. But so far I'm not like, "OMG, nerf this thing!" It's a good deck, but it's beatable
Pleasant Surprises from Uldum
Well, i knew Highlander Hunter was going to be good enough, so that's not a surprise to me. :p
I'll be admittedly surprised if Nomi Paladin survives the meta. The design is pretty smart, and fancy too, i hope it succeeds to some extent.
I'm also partially surprised by Quest Paladin, i thought the condition was too harsh, but anyway i find it so boring that it leaves me neutral, even if i actually own card.
Excuse me, but what is the point in equipping the Hook and waiting to swing it?!? You are still starting the quest no earlier than turn-2!
And what happens if you do not get Upgrade! On turn-2? (It would imply a 3/3 succesful mulligan).
Do whatever you want, but you should have solid arguments before using that patronizing tone with people...
Quest Trading - Play A Friend!
Eu region
Ankeru#2248
How good is Izzet Drakes now?
I played MTG arena for a few months before WOS came out. Izzet Drakes was my favorite deck and it worked out pretty well, i won more games than i lost. I took a break from Arena and now i wanna go back into it but my old deck loses to just about everything now. I don't know enough about this game to optimize it myself and every deck i find online on recommended sites suck as mtggoldfish is Bo3. How do i transform a Bo3 deck into a Bo1?
My old deck was made by myself on the skeleton of Izzet Drakes but now with all these new cards i'm lost at what to do. Planewalkers give me a headache as my core removal cards like Lava Coil now are worthless.
Starter Thief Rogue
what would you swap out for Zilliax?
Quest Trading - Play A Friend!
Battletag: ChrisBroman#1159
Region: NA
Trade Only?: Yes, you go first. (Will Show)
Quest Trading - Play A Friend!
Battletag: Gor#2212
Region: EU
Trade Only: Yes, you go first
Tracking - is it worth it?
I hate playing it in Highlander Hunter, having to choose between powerful cards like [Hearthstone Card (Ziliax) Not Found] or [Hearthstone Card (Zephrys) Not Found] comes up way too often. Plus it's terrible with Zul'jin, which is enough for me to cut it and slot in a Hunter's Pack.
Quest Trading - Play A Friend!
Battletag: bubu #1520
Region: ASIA
Trade Only: Yes, you go first
Done
Pleasant Surprises from Uldum
Was not expecting Highlander Mage to be remotely good, so that's a suprise. Glad to see Quest Paladin having a place in the meta. I suspect Quest Druid and Quest Shaman to drop off soon, they seem bad.
Fan Creations Tutorial - How to Use HearthCards #1: The Basics
Hands up to everyone who's planning on being active in the OOC custom card scene!
Surprisingly bad decks?
The single biggest surprise for me is that a mechanic that theoretically slows down the game for 4-5 turns (Quests) has also coincided with the extinction of aggro decks like Mech Hunter or Murloc Shaman.
A funny MTGA moment I thought I would share with you guys.
So, I recently starting playing MTGA, and so far I'm just looking at all of the basic decks and leveling them up. Then I'll get to the real ranked play.
What I will say is that the starting deck lineup in MTGA is definitely much better than the starting deck lineup in Hearthstone.
On the board, I control a Season of Growth (to the right) which draws cards whenever I cast a spell on a creature I control. On the board, I control Gargos, Vicious Watcher (which pairs extremely well with Season of Growth because of its ability to fight when you cast a spell on it). I buff it with Giant's Growth (which I decided to do for the fight ability of Gargos, as well as advancing a quest I had at the time), with causes me to draw another Giant's Growth, which caused me to draw a Growth's Cycle, which in turn resulted in me having a 19/15 Gargos (it's damaged because it fought two creatures this turn due to its ability).
Pleasant Surprises from Uldum
Highlander Hunter being a relatively strong deck is surprising. Dinotamer Brann + Zephrys the Great is enough to restrict a deck into a singleton, who knew.
Aggro/Tempo Warrior is seemingly strong according to some sites, but when I play it I get slaughtered by other more aggressive decks out there. I don't face it as much on ladder too.
Quest Paladin is actually viable, despite being voted one of the worst quests.
Uldum Essentials - Concept Art Spotlight
Matt Dixon did post Murmy's art process on Reddit some time ago so you can take a look at that if you're interested.
Surprisingly bad decks?
I feel your pain. Happened to me too, the Quest Priest completed it in 5 turns and just steamrolled me from there.
That said, I haven't seen many Quest Priests on ladder. When I do though, they're incredibly hard to win against if you don't manage to rush them down.
Uldum Essentials - Concept Art Spotlight
Technically there are only two female mogu, the Twin Consorts who were the second to last boss in the Throne of Thunder.
It also doesn't make any sense for Mogu to be in Uldum or for them to summon a Titan Keeper considering that the Mogu abandoned the duties bestowed upon them by the titans and became evil warlords that took over pandaria. Lore-Wise Mogu Cultist is a complete screw up.