Hey guys, lurker doing his first post

I really enjoy playing Highlander mage, especially using The Amazing Reno.  However, one thing that I see most people agree on is that his hero power is... lacking, to say the least.

What I was thinking is that you add Raid the Sky Temple into the deck.  Maybe you mulligan it back into your deck, or keep it.   It depends on what you think that matchup is going to be.  Then, after you play reno, you complete the quest and get back a decent hero power, at least one that's better than random spells milling your entire deck.  This strat may be to slow, but if it's against Hunter, maybe you just mulligan the quest.

Open to Hear Suggestions

Hey all. Anyone else still having connection issues?

I had problems last week when the patch dropped. These seemed to get better last saturday when I reinstalled via the amazon app. Logged in a bunch of times tonight and I'm getting the  'We ran into a network problem as we were loading up your cards...' message. Just tried to reinstall again but it's made no difference. Grr

Any similar stories or suggestions for a fix?

UPDATE: THIS CARD MAKER IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE TO BE USED!!!

Welcome to the Custom Runeterra section. If you're here, and you're anything like me, then you love to create cards. Fortunately for us, the LoR Card Maker exists. If you want to create your own LoR cards, this guide I wrote will show you how.

When you first open the card maker, you are met with this interface.

Don't panic! Everything will make sense shortly. You have three different card types:

• Followers
• Champions
• Spells

Making them all work a little bit differently, so we're going to focus on one at a time. First, we're going to focus on followers since that's the default when you first open the page.

Stats and Keywords

If you're making a follower or champion, you may wish to find the art of your card first as the text may sometimes be hard to read without, particularly if there’s a lot of blue or yellow.

This top section is the card type. The middle helmet is the follower which (as I already mentioned) will be chosen for you when you enter the page. The helmet on the left is the champion, and the fireball on the right is the spell.

While making a follower or champion, this section is where you choose the Mana, Attack and Health of the unit in question. Below that is where you can choose what keyword abilities to put on the card.

From left to right, your choices are Regeneration, Lifesteal, Challenger, Fearsome, Quick Attack, Elusive, Overwhelm, Double Attack, Ephemeral, Fleeting, Can’t Block, Barrier, Tough, and Trap. You can put as many of them as you want on one card, although for the sake of realism, I wouldn’t put more than 4 on one card. There is currently only one card in the game with 3 keywords, Final Spark (and formerly Tryndamere in his Leveled Up form). Some keyword combinations (such as Regeneration and Ephemeral) may not end up working together very well anyway.

When you click on a keyword, it will light up meaning that it’s in the card canvas now. Clicking on it again will deactivate it.

If a card has one keyword ability, it will display that ability and its name on the card. If you have multiple keyword abilities activated, it will display the small icons without the names. We've called in Ahri from Ionia to help demonstrate.

Textboxes

This area is where you will write the name of the card, and its description if you wish to give it one. Writing the name is a walk in the park, but the description has a few more rules.

Below where you write the text, there is a blue square, a yellow square, and keyword icons for almost all of the available keywords.

The blue and yellow squares will allow you to write blue or yellow text. Use blue text to refer to specific cards by name (as is found on champion spells for examples), and use yellow text to refer to keyword abilities or various state-based actions. When you write a keyword ability as part of card text, its icon appears first, then the name of the keyword immediately after (example: Yoni WindchaserBADCARDNAME). When you click on one of these clickables, its code will appear in the Description box. For example, choosing Tough will be displayed as this:

This will be displayed on the card like this:

All code will be placed on the end of the text at that point, so keep that in mind when you’re writing a card that uses code.When you use blue or yellow code, it will appear as “<name><name>” or “<keyword><keyword>” respectively. At this point, write whatever you wish to be highlighted in that color in between the codes.

For example, writing this:

Will be displayed on the card like this:

If you're less familiar with LoR than you are with other card games, the standard wording conventions of the game might trip you up a little bit. If you're not sure with how a card should be worded, look at existing cards to get an idea of how cards with similar triggers/effects are worded.

This subtype box will be where you write the subtype of the card (Elite, Tech, Poro, Spider, etc.). It will be displayed on the top of the card like this:

Region, Rarity, and Artwork

This final part here is where you will choose the Region and the rarity of your card. You have the standard 6 Regions in the game to choose from at your disposal (from left to right: Demacia, Frejlord, Ionia, Noxus, Piltover & Zaun, Shadow Isles), as well as 7 other icons to choose from (from left to right: Bandlecity, Bilgewater, Ixtal, Shurima, Targon, Void, Runeterra).

Below that is the choice of rarity. On spells and followers, your choices are None (for token cards), Common (Green), Rare (Blue), and Epic (Purple).
Since Ahri is an Ironian champion, we’ll choose Ionia. For rarity, we’ll choose Epic. On the card, it will look like this:

The final option we have is to change the artwork position and zooming.

On this interface, click the arrow buttons to move the artwork around, and the magnifying glasses to zoom in or out.

There is no support for image URLs. Only images from your computer can be used as artwork, although this is not a huge issue and if you’re creating cards for a huge set, you’re likely to save all the artwork you use anyway.

Put everything together, and you get this:

Champions

Making champions works largely the same way, but there are two big differences. The first and foremost is the new Level Up box.

This is where you will place your champion's Level Up requirement. Be careful about the wording. In the case of the Leveling Up requirement progression towards a certain objective, some champions require it to be on the field for any progression to be counted (Kalista, Shen, Heimerdinger), whereas others do not (Ezreal, Yasuo, Teemo). Use the phrasing "I’ve seen" if the champion requires it to be on the field for progression to count.

Typing this into the Level Up box…

… will display this:

Although some champions will have blue or yellow text in their Level Up text, the maker does not allow this.

The second major difference with champion cards is that you're locked into using the Champion rarity represented by the yellow gem. Next to the yellow gem is the option to remove the Level Up box for when you make your level 2 champion.

One last cool thing about champions is that if you're making a follower and decide to change the card to a champion, the artwork will stay in the exact same place and it won’t reset back to its default position.

Spells

The final card type is the spell. Where followers and champions are mostly similar to one another with few significant differences, spells are vastly different in design.

Spells only have a mana cost, and then there are 6 keyword boxes below that. The first three are the spell speeds (Burst, Fast, and Slow), the fourth one is the "Skill" box used for unit abilities, the final two are additional effects added to the spells (Fleeting or Overwhelm). A spell must always have a speed or skill option enabled.

(Disclaimer: I’ve never been a LoL player, so don’t hate me if this isn’t the actual name of the ability)

Spells have a very different from design from followers or champions. The artwork is positioned on a circular landscape, and colors found in the artwork be faded into the background of the textbox. Spells will also have different frame designs depending on what spell speed is chosen.

Concluding Messages

VERY IMPORTANT: DO NOT use the "Download" button to save your cards. Due to an apparently un-noted update, downloading the card with this method will display stats and text in the wrong place. Until this is fixed, my fix for this is to use the Snipping Tool and snip the card that way.

But that's just all I have to say about the LoR Card Maker. I've made Ahri as a proper champion here:

And here's a bonus card if you want a break from all the Ahri cards I made (I swear I'm not a furry). It's Shroud Soulrender.

So, what are you waiting for? Go out there and make some cards!

Hi Hunters,

I've been looking to freshen up my Rexxar gameplay lately and was wondering what off-meta builds folks have been experimenting with in Standard these days? 

My main goal is to use under-played cards/synergies to generate novel problem solving opportunities for myself (and hopefully my opponent) in Casual mode (i.e. winrate <=50% is OK/expected).  Below are a few examples of what I've been tinkering with for the last couple weeks.  I'd love to see what people have theorycrafted for these type of archetypes as well as any other of your own crazy conctions!

• Beast Highlander - Gives an excuse to play cards like Octosari as well as a super long-shot combo where Scarlet Webweaver hits King Krush and then you use Escaped Manasaber to play the discounted Krush + Dinotamer Brann on the same turn
       
• Off-meta Unseal the Vault Hunters - I wish Licensed Adventurer enabled more combos for Quest Hunter in the late game, but so far I've really only built around Onyxia as a new threat with the coin.  However, being able to play 3x SN1P-SN4P + Hero Power on Turn 10 is also a nice change of pace.
  • Highlander Vault is pretty fun but Deathrattle Vault with Nine Lives and Deathwing is my pick at the moment.
  • Has anyone tried a Mech Vault build?  I could see one with Chopshop Copter having a little spice to it.
          
• Chef Nomi / Mecha'thun  Hunters - I like to try cycling with Arcane Fletcher each season and I think it might be in its best spot ever as the 1-drops aren't terrible at the moment (e.g. Dwarven Sharpshooter, Secretkeeper, and Springpaw).
  • Add in a few other deck thinning options like Tracking, Phase Stalker, and Diving Gryphon and you're well on your way to Nomi or Mecha'thun!
  • I also like to include a sidequest or two so I can run 1 copy of Licensed Adventurer and use that coin to play Archivist Elysiana + Baleful Banker on Turn 10 to experience the good ol' days :D
          
• Token Beast Hunter - A token deck without Quests so I don't feel pressured to play all the quest cards.  Instead we pump up our tokens with Spirit of the Lynx, generate value from them with Witch's Cauldron (replaying the spells via Zul'jin later), and draw from them with Cult Master. 
  • Fresh Scent and Veranus spice up the list a little from past seasons
         
• Midrange Weapon Hunter - This archetype has been awful for me, but I always try to include Bloodscalp Strategist in a build each season. 
  • To mix things up I've tried using Skydiving Instructor to thin out weak draws like Dwarven Sharpshooter and Shimmerfly in the midgame and then use Mojomaster Zihi to keep things in the midgame.
         
• Bad Luck Albatross Stuffer - After feeling the salt from a series of Embiggen Druid match-ups, I made something that has no intention of winning...you just stall and hope to frustrate their draws with as many 1/1s as possible.  Naturally, this invovles removal cards + Albatross, Nine Lives, Ramkahen Wildtamer, Dire Frenzy, Revenge of the Wild, and Zul'jin.
  • This deck also gave me the opportunity to play Tentacled Menace in the hopes of discounting two of my cards to 1-mana.  As a result, I throw in a Colossus of the Moon for the super rare high roll.  

Other builds I know I'll be experimenting with until the next expansion:

• Typically try a couple Flark's Boom-Zooka decks - one with big beasts and revenge of the wild and another with deathrattle minions and Deathwing
      
• I also really like the memes that Blatant Decoy enables with little-used cards like Colossus of the Moon, Big Bad Archmage, and Ysera. 
  • Unfortunately, when you combine the Decoy with Nine Lives it doesn't pull another minion from your hand.  Instead, it gives you another copy of Blatant Decoy and then pulls that new copy into play.  However, I've been meaning to try Nine Lives + Necromechanic to see if it will play the new Decoy and then pull a big minion from my hand.
        
• And when I'm really burnt out I'll make a full Casino build featuring Drakkari Trickster, Mischief Maker, Transmogrifier, Wyrmrest Purifier, etc. 

It's kind of crazy that, although I've listed a bunch of under-used cards, there are still a number of fun-looking ones I haven't touched this season like Dread Raven, Chromatic Egg, Body Wrapper, etc.

Please share any crazy Hunter theorycrafts you've been testing below!!

"I hunt [memes] alone on Out of Cards!"
- Rexxar

For context, I usually play for 1-2 hours ranked (hovering at gold 3-4 ATM) every night.  Lately, it seems like I've been getting wildly different results every night.  Like yesterday: I had a quest to frost bite so I was playing my Frejlord/Noxus battle scar deck but I could get a win to save my life.  Then I switched over to my SI/Noxus spider deck and went something like 4-2.  Tonight, it's been the exact opposite: I had a fearsome quest, spiders couldn't get a win, but battle scars were on fire.  

I just found it amusing that I'm getting practically polar opposite results over such a short time period.   Anyone else experiencing anything like that?

Hi all, I'm a multiple-time Legend player in Hearthstone, just started playing LoR. I'm free to play. So far I have been enjoying it by trying to build decks with my small collection myself and sniping a few wins over more complete decks on low ladder. Though I have a really hard time deciding which cards and how many copies to include in my decks.

If anyone has similar HS background but have been in LoR for a longer, any general advice on how you have approached this game? E.g., which beginning Champions do you think are good (and fun)? I liked Braum and Jinx the most. Lux feels really weak. Any advice on how to build up your collection? Any cards to craft? What about expedition? I averaged 7 wins in Hearthstone Arena and that's where I started to build up my collection in HS. So I'm really interested in trying expedition, but any advice is welcome.

Cheers!

Have you seen others link to cards like Millhouse Manastorm or put their decks in a post but not quite know how to use this yourself? You've come to the right thread! Below i will provide a brief guide on how to use 'BBCode' for yourself. Hope some may find it useful!

What is BBCode?

Bulletin Board Code is a simplified form of 'markup' that is typically used for formatting posts on message boards. In this case, we will be using it to add enhanced card and deck elements to posts, comments, deck guides, signatures & private messages.

It's pretty straightforward:

• Every code has an opening and closing tag. 
• Each tag is includes square brackets [ ] found beside the letter P on your keyboard.
• A tag has one or more parameters inside the brackets to tell it what to do.
• The opening tag will have the main parameter (example: 'card') and in some cases other optional parameters.
• Optional parameters give ways to customize the result in some cases; they are separated from the main one with a space.
• The closing tag will always have a forward slash / followed  by the same main parameter as the opening tag.
• Between the two tags you enter data, whether that be a deck id number or a card name etc.
• When you submit it to the site it then processes it into another form of markup that browsers can understand and display, like HTML.

Note: You must use plain text for these, as things like bolded or italic text will break it. I am intentionally breaking it in this post to show what to type.

Read on for an explanation on how to apply these in your own posts.

Feel free to use this thread to test if necessary!

• Out of Cards BBCodes

Card Tooltips

• Tooltips link to a card and show you the image of it when your cursor hovers over them.
• The name of the card you enter is displayed in a corresponding rarity colour.
• Although they are called 'card' tooltips, they work for any sort of entry in the database like hero powers and bosses as well.
• If there are things with the same name, such as a legendary card and also boss portrait, it will default to one.
• If it does not display what you intended you may have to look up the page with the search function and use the id# instead.

To use a card tooltip, you only need to type the following.

1. Opening tag: [card].
2. The exact name of card OR card ID (found in the card page URL, Millhouse Manastorm is 4047).
3. Closing tag: [/card]

[card]millhouse manastorm[/card] becomes:

Millhouse Manastorm

Including a second parameter 'gold' with a space will (soon!) load the golden image for the tooltip instead, if available.

Card Images

Very similar to the card tooltips however this tag will result in a clickable image being displayed, rather than just fancy text.

Use the same method as above, instead using [cardimg]name or id [/cardimg] which results in the following:

This is the default size, however you can choose the size for yourself. 

Custom Sizes

To make the image a particular size:

• Following the cardimg parameter add a space and the optional parameter 'size=#'.
• This goes only in the opening tag.
• The # can be anything from 0-400 pixels. This is the width dimension for the image, and it scales accordingly.
• A common custom size to use is 220 as it lets you put 5 cards horizontally: [cardimg size=220]name or id[/cardimg].

Gold Images

You like golden animation? Here's how to display them:

• Following the cardimg parameter add a space and the optional parameter 'gold'.
• This goes only in the opening tag.
• You may also use the size parameter separated by a space.
• Keep in mind that these use more resources to display, so try not to spam them!

Battlegrounds Images

If you want to display the Battlegrounds version of a card, you can do so by using the "bg" attribute on card and cardimg tags.

Let's use Alleycat as an example.

[cardimg bg]Alleycat[/cardimg] will give you:

Deck Widgets

So you've created a deck using our deckbuilder and you'd like to share it with everyone? The solution is simple!

On the page of a deck you will see a button below the user labeled '</> Copy BBCode'. This will copy the code to your clipboard for you to paste, easy!

Optionally you can type the [deck]id[/deck] BBCode with the id being found in the url of the deck page.

For example, this deck is number 6066: https://outof.cards/hearthstone/decks/6066-da-mumdatakah-quest-paladin

Using this deck id in the code results in a widget that neatly displays information about it and also links to it's page:

Da Mumdatakah Quest Paladin

Wild · Quest Paladin · by Chimera · 6 years, 9 months ago

• 1 Crystology x 2
• 1 Making Mummies x 1
• 1 Murmy x 2
• 2 Micro Mummy x 2
• 2 Subdue x 2
• 2 Temple Berserker x 2
• 3 Acolyte of Pain x 2
• 3 Bronze Gatekeeper x 2
• 3 Candletaker x 2
• 3 Consecration x 2
• 4 Ancestral Guardian x 2
• 4 Annoy-o-Module x 2
• 4 Bone Wraith x 2
• 5 Mechano-Egg x 2
• 5 Zilliax x 1
• 6 Pharaoh's Blessing x 1
• 8 Da Undatakah x 1

6,820 Dust 10,638 8 Copy Deck Code

If any questions are left unanswered you are welcome to ask them here! 

Ok, I have this problem with the hand buff archetype that it comes with elusive units, they still cheap, they still have the same problem as before.
They are way efficient dishing damage for cheap mana, and paired with cards like twins or elixir, they have enough sustain to survive good trades or removal. 

The removal in this game in general feels good, is not like Magic that is toooo good,  but in this game, as it's core design, has problems with the burst cards that bassicaly disable some interactions.

Relentless is another busted 3 mana card, that can turn the teable for cheap, this card should be 6 mana and no 3, there is no point in this card to be so busted. 
Theorically, you can play 3 pursuit after a waypout and dish enough damage for lethal. And to be a "fast spell" is also problematic, should be slow.

Yea, more card wording!

The text of Mageseeker Investigator is ambiguous. "Cast" is intended as past tense here, which is fine, but it could be taken to mean "if you cast a spell later."

Obviously, if you give it some thought, it would be very strange if it worked that way, but new players aren't known for giving anything any thought.

This can all be cleared up if they just change it to: "If you have cast a spell ..."

Read a post about some comments from streamers who attended the summit. Seems legit

https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/f7qnia/hearthstone_summit_news_from_2_italian_streamers/

Now I am excited!!

If this is true and Mage (my favorite class) is coming back (Tempo Mage please!!) then I will buy loads of packs

for the coming expansion...I love Hunter too it's all good!! Bad news for priest apparently..

I have a hard time thinking how Final Spark, which needs to target a unit getting casted after said unit is dead. I guess has something to do with overwhelm. It is w weird interaction casting multiples final sparks and oneshotting an oponent.

There is been a lot of hype since the Hearthstone Summit and I am looking forward to them revealing what they are planning.   Just have a few comments on some of the hype.  First, this idea of a Hearthstone 2.0.  If they  do one then they better transfer all cards to the new one because the will lose a lot of players if they do not.  I for one will not start collecting all over again after spending 6 years on my current collection.  Should be no problem transferring cards because after all what does 2.0 meant to a card game?  Really it is just like an expansion, so current cards should be included.  Second, they seem to be putting a lot of resources into Battlegrounds.  Even though I am not a big fan or a regular player of Battlegrounds, I will not knock it or suggest that they should not support this mode because clearly it has a following.  What I will say is that I do not see the source of revenue produced from this mode for Blizzard.  Basically, revenue comes from packs and packs have no value for Battlegrounds.  So clearly Blizzard is going to have to find a way to increase their revenue through packs in order to support Battlegrounds.  How they intend to do this is what is peaking my interest.

Shout out to all the wild players! 

I've been jumping in and out ever since big warrior got retired from standard - from the latest wild pack bundle I got my old favourite card back - Kingsbane (which i stupidly dusted a while ago when I was adamant I wouldnt get into wild...how wrong i was...)

I'm looking to try going for legend with kingsbane (havnt managed it in wild before, need that notch on the belt)

I gather this is more of an aggro deck now since the lifesteal was nerfed - I'm looking for good combo's and reccomended build types. I've tried the pirate version and had some fun, but does anybody use sonya with it anymore? or the DK? is a Mill version worthwhile? Which is best vs aggro or control? 

Many thanks in advance for any comments - 

With the new year announcement just around the corner, what are everyone's predictions for which cards get sent to the Hall of Fame this year?

My predictions:

Divine Spirit and/or Inner Fire - this should have happened last year

Edwin VanCleef - it's time for Rogue to stop being able to steal wins with an early Edwin. This card is used in too many Rogue decks, and I feel a change is needed to keep things fresh.

Leeroy Jenkins - I'm torn about this. Leeroy I have a love/hate relationship with. Having a Charge minion for an aggro finisher is important to the health of the meta. But really, how many more years are we going to be able to put up with hearing "Leeeeroy Jenkins!!!" right before we die? It's a classic card, with amazing flavor. I appreciate everything this card is... but I think it's time to send him out of Standard.  

hey! i ve read on the foroum about some ways to do that. also in other sites but im still confused on how to do that. I live in europe and use paypal mostly. anyone to help me ?

This version of Gauntlet is already making an appearance again, starting on March 6th.

Back from its December debut, the Hexagauntlet is here to test your skills! With up to six copies of a card allowed, what strategies will make the cut?

Hexagauntlet: March 6 – March 9
In this event, players can include up to six copies of a chosen card in their deck. (Unique Legendaries are still only allowed one copy per deck.)

Furthermore, the minimum deck sizes will be like our Micro Gauntlet event, specifically 30 cards for one- or two-attribute decks, and 45 cards for three-attribute decks. Don’t have six copies of your favorite cards lying around? For this event, the full collection will be unlocked for all players, so brew to your heart’s content!

The Hexagauntlet begins Friday, March 6 at 12pm ET and closes at 12pm ET on Monday, March 9. Events in The Elder Scrolls: Legends change regularly, so check in often to see what new challenges await!

I've been running a couple of copies of Unstable Voltician in my Lux/Heimerdinger deck, and he has an unintuitive interaction with 6+ cost spells. Specifically, while his text implies he is granted bonuses at the moment he is summoned, the reality is that he is granted an aura that activates whenever you cast your first 6+ cost spell. 

Obviously this makes him a better card (play him on 5, play a 6 drop spell on 6 to buff him), so I can't really complain. However, just based on the wording, the behavior seems wrong, and the existing behavior would be entirely described by just dropping "when I'm summoned" bit.

Hello everyone. I'm Raktoner.

For a while now I've been thinking of making a video expressing certain concerns I had with the way the Year of the Dragon has been handled by Blizzard. Unfortunately, I have no audience to start with, nor do I have the equipment (and frankly, knowledge) to make a video I'd be truly proud of. I've been commenting on this forum a bit lately and decided... Maybe this could be the place to start. It's important to note as I put in the title--this is an opinion piece. I am not speaking objectively. This is strictly subjective. 

I can't say I have terribly many qualifications, since I'm not exactly a Hearthstone personality, or a "pro player." However, I have some I can list that I hope will set my apart and show my opinion comes from the view of an above average Hearthstone player.

I am a 5x legend player--Two of those during the Year of the Raven, and the remaining 3 occurring in November, December, and January. I play for my University's TESPA team, where we were finished 3rd in the East and then went 2-2 in the playoff rounds. I have placed 1st in three local tournaments. Safe to say, I played a lot this year--it's why I feel I have a strong argument for my problems with this year.  

With that intro out of the way, I'd like to express my concern with the Year of the Dragon, going expansion by expansion. I'd then like to express my concern for what this means for the upcoming year rumored to be titled Year of the Phoenix.

Let's get started then.

Rise of Shadows

I think it's safe to say we were all excited for Year of the Dragon. Year of the Raven soured many people with the frustrating experience that came along with Genn and Baku's even and odd decks. Blizzard started off with a bold move: Moving all of the Even and Odd cards to the Hall of Fame, preventing them from controlling the meta for another year. This year promised us something we'd never seen before--a year long narrative. We were excited to see the return of Villains from Hearthstone history. Rafaam, Dr. Boom, Hagatha, Lazul, and Togwaggle all came back in an exciting way. But as their legendaries were revealed, the first two small problem started. First, Dr. Boom and Hagatha were and still are both represented in Standard already with their hero cards. Why were they getting legendaries again? This ended up not mattering much to people--a problem swiftly avoided as people realized: This doesn't matter, actually. I agree. But the next problem stuck the whole year: They were class legendaries. This struck fear in some people; I admit to being concerned as well. The 5 classes were branded the League of Evil, and were given the Scheme mechanic that saw little success outside of Hagatha's scheme. But the promise of the year long mechanic in the Lackey mechanic brought many people over to the evil classes.

In response, the "good" classes, who saw so little representation in the first expansion they didn't even get a team name, got... Twinspell. And Twinspell is a really good mechanic! For at least some point in the year, every Twinspell card saw play. It was a success! But the success of the mechanic stands much too short against the excitement brought by the Evil classes. We saw far more attempts by people to make Evil decks work, as Bomb Warrior and Tempo Rogue became the dominant decks of the meta, edging out Conjurer Mage. The "good" classes were flat out not as exciting as the Evil classes, and it showed. Blizzard attempted to balance this out in the next expansion, but made what I feel was a crucial error...

Saviors of Uldum

The good classes finally had their heroes. The League of Explorers returned, as Reno, Finley, Elise, and Brann brought with them the much loved Singleton mechanic. Concerns for Bomb Warrior ruining this mechanic were swept away quickly at launch, as Bomb Warrior was simply incapable of keeping up, especially after the August 26th patch nerfing the Dr. Boom hero card to 9 mana. Along with them, they brought an extremely powerful friend, the hardest to program card in Hearthstone's history: Zephrys the Great. A neutral legendary. Yes: a NEUTRAL legendary. 

Again, the Evil classes ended up being much more exciting. Four mechanics were re/introduced this set: Quests, which were for everyone, Reborn, which was for everyone, Plagues, which were for Evil only, and Singleton, which, thanks to Zephrys, was for everyone. Not to mention, the new Titanic Lackey really only saw play in the Evil classes that could properly support Lackeys. Hell, during this time, the best Quest was far and away the Shaman quest. This meant that again, the Evil classes were the favorite, more exciting classes. Thankfully the best Highlander decks during the Saviors of Uldum meta, and even during the Doom in the Tomb event, were the Good-Now-Explorer classes. This did not last.

Descent of Dragons & Galakrond's Awakening

The promised Dragons heavy expansion has finally arrived! This was the most excited I'd been for a Hearthstone expansion I'd been to date. I clearly had fun playing it; I've made legend twice during the event. But I won't lie to you all: the first time making legend was an absolute joke. The laughably overpowered Galakrond Shaman carried me to an 80% win rate as I reached legend on only the second day of the expansion. However, before I get in my own way, allow me to rewind a bit.

Descent of Dragons brought us two new mechanics: Invoke, one of the strongest mechanics to ever become part of the game, and Sidequests, a mechanic that like Twinspell has been really strong, but just doesn't bring the excitement of the Evil classes. We of course can't forget new Lackey synergy cards and the new Draconic lackey, or most importantly: Galakrond. Five brand new hero cards that were only for the Evil classes, again showing these 5 favor over the Explorer classes. Invoke and Galakrond was such a powerful mechanic, that the Shaman version of it was nerfed a mere two weeks in, and some cards with the mechanic got nerfed AGAIN a few weeks later. It was the most botched expansion launch in a while; not since The Witchwood has a new expansion come in and been nerfed so quickly. It left a terrible tastes in our mouths; how did Blizzard not see how freakishly overpowered this set was?

I did not forget about Zephrys. What should have been the most exciting card for the explorers robbed them of what made them most unique: The Singleton mechanic. Since Descent of Dragons, we've seen Highlander Rogue, Warrior, and Shaman all arrive in some form. Highlander Hunter remains the strongest, to be sure; but it's not what I've been hammering on this whole post. It is not exciting. Mage, Hunter, Druid, and Paladin were all powerful at some point during this year--but none of them have the excitement the EVIL classes brought. Their identities were pushed aside for Blizzard to focus on only five of it's nine classes.

Looking Forward

I hope people noticed something as they read this. I did talk about balance, sure, but that wasn't the main point I was talking about. It feels like Blizzard gave up on 4 of the 9 classes, and it showed throughout the year. When only five (or four, sorry Priest) classes are fun, the Meta isn't fun. The most fun I've had this year has been playing Battlegrounds--a game mode that provides us with no helpful rewards to help our collections, save for the occasional "play Battlegrounds" quests. This makes me concerned for the rumored Year of the Phoenix. What will Blizzard do?

Are we going to have a Witchwood situation? Is Descent of Dragons and Galakrond's awakening going to be so god damn powerful and fun that the first expansion of 2020 will be pushed to the wayside? 

Is Blizzard going to try to balance itself out, and then leave the 5 Evil classes in the dust by over focusing on the Explorer classes? 

Blizzard has already announced they will not be continuing the year long story. Why? The story and connected mechanics have at least been well received, if not without their problems.

As we face Hearthstone 2020, what does the future hold in store? 

I don't think there's any simple solutions, especially in the case that my opinions here don't reflect strongly on others opinions. I just hope that 2020 brings cool, fun stuff for all the classes, not just half of them.

I appreciate you taking the time to read all of my thoughts. I love Hearthstone. I love playing Hearthstone. I just played so much of it this year, I couldn't ignore these problems, and I wanted to share my thoughts somewhere. Thank you. <3

A new Expedition tournament starts this weekend!

Fight for in-game prizes and QCP in this Expedition Tournament!

Use your best Expedition deck to play 28 qualifying games! Players are awarded prizes based on their final record, and the Top 64 players will continue on to a Finals round the next day!

Here’s what you need to know:

This is a competitive event that anyone can play in! Looking to try out competitive, or practice for a future ECQ? This is your opportunity, while also earning sweet in-game prizes at the same time!

The first round lasts from 10:00 AM MST (17:00 UTC) on Friday 3/6/2020 to 4:00 PM MST (23:00 UTC) on Saturday 3/7/2020. During that time, play 28 games win-or-lose! There are increasing prizes for every win, so playing every game is your best chance for a good record. Choose your best Expedition deck at entry, because you will use if for the entire run!

After the first round, the top 64 players with the best scores on the leaderboard will be invited to play in the Finals, which will take place the very next day! Finalists will get a notification in-game after the end of the first round. The Top 64 players will use the same deck to fight their way up a single-elimination bracket for top standing! Starting at 11:00 AM MST (17:00 UTC) sharp on Sunday, Finalists will receive an automated invite to join their match! Aim to be online before then so you don’t miss out!

• The QCP Spring Challenge event uses 75-card constructed decks in the Expedition format.
• The event costs 11,000 Gold or 900 Gems to enter.
• Each run is 28 games, win or lose.
• You may only enter once!
• The Top 64 players will be invited to the Finals on Sunday.
• The first round of the QCP Spring Challenge event will run from Friday 3/6/2020 at 10:00 AM MST (17:00 UTC) to Saturday 3/7/2020 at 4:00 PM MST (23:00 UTC).
• Finals will begin at 11:00 AM MST (17:00 UTC) on Sunday.
• Note: Dire Wolf is located in a part of the world which observes daylight savings time, which begins Sunday March 8th, this is why the Finals on Sunday appear to have a different start time.
• Expedition points will be awarded for performance in the Qualifiers. These are used to upgrade the Expedition Card Back!

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Run Rewards

Wins	Prizes
15+	15 packs, 2 Premium Rares, 5 QCP
11-14	14 packs, 1 Premium Rare, 1 Rare
6-10	13 packs. 1 Premium Uncommon, 1 Rare
2-5	12 packs, 1 Premium Uncommon
0-1	10 packs of Echoes of Eternity

 

Leaderboard Rewards

Rank	Prizes
1	10 packs, 2 Diamond Chests, 75 QCP
2	8 packs, 1 Diamond Chest, 1 Gold Chest, 75 QCP
3-4	7 packs, 2 Gold Chests, 75 QCP
5-8	6 packs, 1 Gold Chest, 1 Silver Chest, 25 QCP
9-16	5 packs, 2 Silver Chests, 25 QCP
17-32	4 packs, 1 Silver Chest, 15 QCP
33-64	3 packs, 15 QCP

Good luck and have fun! 

Not too sure about thread placement, but figured this was the most logical place for it. And so I wanted to ask whats an "Avatar theme" it's listed in profile customization but I haven't seen anyone with one and don't have any of my own so I was just kind of wondering what it was.

So I just came across a VERY unusual interactions.

I had an Unscarred Reaver on board and my opponent played Corina Veraza. However, Corina pulled only minions, dealing 0 damage....yet the Reaver still got her attack boosted as if she took damage.

Apparently these "take damage" cards will proc even if technically no actual damage was dealt, just as long as the effect that would deal damage goes through.

Probably something that should be changed in all honesty.

While not very powerful, for me is swamp dragon egg.

A good combination of:

tribal synergy value(adding dragons to your hand doesn't miss powerful battlecries like chromatic egg), high health for the low cost and deathrattle keyword (turn 2 shadowy figure).

It should be replaced with a one mana dragon (priest only) that could contest early boards and work with both shadowy figure and dragon breeder: 1/2 deathrattle: give a friendly minion +2 health.

I've been on both the giving and receiving end of this. If you discover Dark Pharaoh Tekahn from Dragon's Hoard and you're playing Galakrond (what Rogue isn't right now?), you have access to unlimited 1-mana 4/4s. This makes you like a heroic adventure boss. I completely thrashed my opponent when I got this combo, and got completely thrashed when an opponent did. They just made it so Dragonqueen Alexstrasza cannot create herself. This seems like a fair change too. Both situations are going to happen very rarely anyway, but when they do, it just ain't fair. 

Thoughts?

Second Arena rotation for Descent of Dragons is coming on March 4.

Drafting Pool

"Free" Arena Ticket

Players who have an active Arena run when expansion launches will have their current run retired and will receive an Arena Ticket as compensation (plus any reward for current number of wins for that run).

• Play out your run to x-2 (x wins and max. 2 losses) if you want more rewards from your run, or just leave it at 0-0 if you dont want to bother playing.

Friendly Neighborhood Gladiator: if you do plan on leaving your run at 0-0, you might as well start two games and concede to two players, getting some positive karma :) You will get the identical rewards for 0-0 and 0-2 score.

For last few years Blizzard made the next year announcement in last week of February, Tuesday or Thursday.

So, I’m predicting that tomorrow, latest this Thursday big news will arrive.

What do you expect to come?