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You can't use a single match up to determine a deck strength even if said matchup is against the current best deck on the ladder.

Kayn/Zoe for example has a positive match up into pirates aggro, last time I checked it was 54% winrate which is good but not what I would call "eating it for breakfast" but it also has lots of negative match up into other meta decks 42% into Nasus/Kindred (who is the second most played deck after pirates aggro) 43% into Veigo/Evelynn and mono Kai'Sa as such the deck struggle to even reach 50% winrate. Other Kayn deck aren't doing any better in fact they are doing worse.

So their assessment that Kayn hasn't been enjoying any great success so far is not inaccurate.

Quote From MrRhapsody

I'm at the worst mental state of my life, my creativity is gone, my passion is gone, my will is gone, and they won't come back any time soon, the whole deal of this custom expansion making for me was about the self improvement that came with it, like making cards, logos, lore, etc, but if the only thing I feel like doing now is go to work and spend the rest of the day looking at the roof waiting for the end of it, then I don't  think there's a point to keep working on it, nothing I do feels fun or meningful anymore

...

but my situation is critical and I must have full dedication to the treatment so I don't make something stupid.

I don't know the best words when it comes to this kind of situation, despite having lived it myself. When you reach that point where nothing seems to mean anything anymore and the most "productive" thing you can manage is just...surviving to the next day. I'm still trying to recover, even a full decade after I collapsed in a heap of darkness and loneliness. But I'm working on it, and that matters. Admit you need help, and seek it out: as far as I'm concerned there is no alternative waiting in the wings, so it's absolutely essential that you keep striving to make the only life you get a better one. For as long as it takes. Live, and fight your sorrow. We'll be here when you're ready to return; take all the time you need.

As for your project, I don't think I'm in a position to take it from you. I'm not making much progress on my own endeavors, including some IRL stuff: I don't want to get into the details, but I'm on the cusp of a pretty important life-changing decision and that needs my attention. I would be honored to work on it for you, but I can't give the expansion its due diligence right now :(

The flavor of the expansion is pretty cool, though, I must say. "Radioactive" could be a fun Keyword to experiment with.

Could you please edit your wall of text and put some dots where phrases should be ending or some more commas? My head hurts.

"Kayn is still waiting for the right combination of cards as well, as the decks including him haven't been enjoying any great successes so far"

What? Are you living under a rock? That a deck has good and bad match ups is not even worth to be mentioned but Kayn/Zoe and Kayn/Panth eat Pirates for breakfast. That alone makes this deck a powerfull pick. But just by stats alone: Out of 14 MU in the current meta 9 are in the ~50% and only 4 of all meta decks can claim a +50% WR against pirates as well. DYOR pls. Kayn is a solid pick.

Quote From OoklaTheMok

Now that I can't earn in-game gold from Battlegrounds

The ammount of XP that you get for the Reward Track is unchanged for BG

I went F2P when the BattlePass was released and have been happy with the amount of decks I can craft along with the free stuff. Even made Legend the past two months. Now that I can't earn in-game gold from Battlegrounds, I'll probably phase it out of rotation, maybe just ladder on Wild. 

I didn't see the name of this card back and assumed it was the Maw in Shadowlands.

I thought about this too, but there is no way that they are going to release the Mini-set + the big Merc update (which hopefully gets more recognition from Blizzard this time) only two weeks after the huge BG progression overhaul and quest addition. How else are they going to fill the time between now and the next expansion, which accoarding to the Tavern Pass at earliest launches December 5.

Throne of the Tides miniset is available until September 12th, so new mini-set next week?

One thing you can say about awakening is that it successfully shook up the play patterns and deck building requirements to such an extent I basically didn't know how to play or recognize LOR anymore.

And while I stand by the statement that some of the new additions are pretty strong as a dedicated control player, as in play and respond not just jam put card advantage till you win.

I didnt know what to do and I felt the new set was to blame, so let me share my findings on what works great if you don't want to play Ionia or Shurima, cuz I really don't:

1. 3 minimorphs feel pretty much required, Lee Sin, machine gun Aussie, Viego, all backed by 4 mana denys, so guess what burst removal can't be denied so run 3.

2. 1 mana equipment removal, I feel like silence and surpess and quietus are low key necessary as a 3 of no mater what.

3. Now you get to build the rest of your deck including pings, vengences/concerted strikes, draw, cycling creatures etc.

4. Synergy and turbo level pkg

5. Play slow play smart, generally speaking meta decks are just insane at tempo and infinite value, and turboing and just all sorts of crazy **** but once you recognize the new patters you're good here's a few examples

- snap kill monkey!

- only remove equipment that is providing additional value to the opponent appropriately judging this action takes a lot of games

- gently devalue open attack spam, this is huge for how I play control where you incentive a linear play style in the opponent that luls them into a false security that they are winning 3 dmg here or there, meanwhile they are essentially doing nothing while you for example burst level Lux or double darkness, or set up overwhelm swings etc.

- finally big take away in a 6 deny meta don't play ramp, don't play deep, these were strong picks last meta I really would not recommend right now, but lurk seems good.

So yeah back to big winstreaks in Plat one week after the expansion, my brews are doing well, but a lot of my old decks are unplayable now Awakening was a huge shift but overall a fun one, so good job Riot maybe hahaha.

You can tell that people at Blizzard have been regretting their decision to make Battlegrounds free-to-play for a while now. They overcompensated wildly with Mercenaries, and outside of 2 or 3 bundles (such as the Welcome Bundle), all of their Mercenaries offers have been overpriced garbage.

Now with runestones, they can finally get some steady revenue from all these Battlegrounds players. Unfortunately, that means that many secondary modes and products like Arena and Battlegrounds skins have suffered "collateral damage" with awkward costs in terms of runestones.

I believe the former Battlegrounds Perks weren't available as part of the Castle Nathria pre-purchase bundle anymore, so what you had active was actually dating back all the way to Voyage to the Sunken City (you can compare the pre-orders here and here). So basically got an extra month of it available compared to before (I was in the exact same situation). 

It ended up working out this way due to them now separating Battlegrounds Seasons from expansion releases. 

Passive Treasures Chosen

• First pool - Potion of Sparking
• Second pool - Special Delivery

Fixed!

4th September update: Pemmin's Dragon Druid - Multiple win conditions / laughing at Big Priests...

Dragon Druid! Emerald Explorer being played in a deck in 2022? Yes please. An off-meta deck that can find multiple ways to win!
Thanks to FcBoogax for making me aware of this deck.

Deck code:
AAEBAZICEvoOm+gC9fwCxf0CvZkDj84Dpu8DtYoEiYsEpa0EhLAE5bAEx7IE6dAEltQEmNQEuNkEl+8EC4oO38QCntICv/IC/a0DjK4Dr4AEz6wE9r0ErsAEwd8EAA==

https://youtu.be/kjhm25WwoNI 

So if I had the tavern pass for battlegrounds (due to buying season pass for normal hearthstone) I have to lose it now?

I was able to play with 4 heroes the past month this expansion and now I lost the ability to do it because of the update. Seems very unfair that they are taking back something I bought as a part of another package.

Is this how it was supposed to work? :/

So if you want to say play ezreal right now or Catarina good ****** luck. Same thing with darkness, even if you tech quietus just to stay competitive its usually rough due to the sheer amount of value akshan scythe dude gets.

Akshan/Kayn struggle to even reach 50% win rate meanwhile Ez/Kennen and Katarina/Gwen/Elise both have 55%+ win rate even Darkness is doing well with 52% win rate 

https://runeterra.ar/stats

https://masteringruneterra.com/meta-tier-list/

I love Blizz said they're not going to make it so you have to buy more runes than you actually need but there is still a Mercenaries coin bundle only available for 1200 runes. So if you only wanted to buy that bundle you would have to buy 1500 runes and have 300 left over.

Honestly, equipment cards need to go on the stack period full stop. 

It essentially 100% fixes the control into equipment matchup which is currently impossible.

Fisher girl goes down on 2, her equipment goes on the stack, you vile feast, her equipment now goes into hand.

On curve creature, equivalent on curve answer.

You play treasure of the sands on akshan, you respond with mystic he is not equipped yet so 1 mana burst only provides 1 life, so you can potentially ping again.

This is 100% the most likely fix for the mechanic to increase interactivity for re-active players without demanding everyone play Ionia.

So yes stackable equipment at slow speed but not counterable, this is how it should have been designed at the onset in a game about passing turn priority.

Its like if Undirs buffs literally just didn't show up on the stack, and were the equivalent of burst, he'd be the best champion in the game 

So Riot beyond the normal range of balance fixes this patch demands please make equipment intractable by treating it like a slow speed uncounterable spell.

Equip cards actually good ones like treasure of the sands 3 mana 4/4 buff can not be proactively punished by on curve removal say a mystic shot or what have you because they don't go on the stack.

Therefore the only thing that pro-actively controls a strong on curve equipment play is stuns and bounces which is why Ionia is running rampant right now.

So if you want to say play ezreal right now or Catarina good ****** luck. Same thing with darkness, even if you tech quietus just to stay competitive its usually rough due to the sheer amount of value akshan scythe dude gets.

Just want to say I love your writing style. Very entertaining, but informative and to-the-point. Gave me multiple giggles. Keep it up!

One small point: VS credits the enrage warrior deck to Funki Monki (data reaper report #239).

Bundles always cost cheaper than buying the packs directly. That's the whole point of bundles, the way blizz offers discounts for hearthstone. The runestones didn't change its price, it only makes the purchase more tedious and obscure its pricing, requiring its customers to translate the runestones to real cash.