Thanks for posting the codes again, Nirast!

Carbot released the last StarCrafts episode today. If you didn't see it, go do it right now! It was amazing and sad at the same time. The saga is over, but it was hell of a ride! Thank you Carbot!

I remember people being horrified when Galakrond, the Unspeakable was revealed because its hero power generates infinite value. However, as everyone is already aware off, Priest is in a terrible spot. The meta is highly focused on tempo and aggression and there's a certain very unhealthy deck out there that can kill you pretty quickly with good draws. Decks that attempt to drag the game to fatigue are just not viable.

But that's not the main issue. The real problem is Galakrond's Hero Power (Galakrond's Wit). It just adds random minions to your hand. What sucks about it is the high inconsistency. While certain minions can be good in any given situation (Mindflayer Kaahrj, for example, is pretty flexible), most of them are extremely situational or require the deck to be built around them to be worth anything (looking at you Test Subject). This means you can get some good stuff here and there, but most of the time you will be filling your hand with junk. This makes the invoke cards pretty terrible as they are meant to be low power level on their own but become strengthened by the hero power value. But that's not the case for Galakrond Priest. You are forced to add weak cards to your deck and the payoff may not even be worth anything.

What is even worse about this is that if the hero power was "Discover a Priest Minion" it probably would be just too good. It would pretty much always generate something worthwhile and give a ton of flexibility in your decision making. There's no balance here. With Discover it would be way too good. With no discover, it just sucks. Unfortunately, i don't see how this can become better. Priest got the worst Galakrond, the worst invoke effect and even its invoke payoff card is in a bad position (despite having one of the most broken battlecries out there).

So i wanted to ask you people: what would you do to make Priest's Galakrond better? What hero power would suit it most without breaking the game? Would you change something about the invoke cards?

I believe they could have given him something like: "Lifesteal: Deal 2 damage to a minion". That way it would provide board control and sustain without moving it away from a more control oriented playstyle.

New Eternal Event starting Christmas Day 12/25.

This holiday season, show no mercy. 

Bring a 75-card Throne deck and be ready for anything:

Each game will have a random boss rule from a list of over 20 boss rules. Some are from previous events or Gauntlet, and some are brand new!

Here’s what you need to know:

• The Crill’s Assault event uses 75-card constructed decks in the Throne format.
• The event costs 4,000 Gold or 300 Gems to enter.
• Each run is 10 games, win or lose.
• You may enter as many times as you like.
• You must select your deck when you join, and you cannot change decks between games in a run.
• There is no leaderboard.
• The Crill’s Assault event will run from Wednesday 12/25/2019 at 10:00 AM MST (17:00 UTC) to Thursday 1/2/2020 at 4:00 PM MST (23:00 UTC)
• Note: This event does not grant QCP.

Run Rewards

Wins	Prizes
10	6 packs, 1 Diamond Chest, 1 premium Rare
9	6 packs, 1 Gold Chest, 1 premium Rare
8	5 packs, 1 Gold Chest, 1 premium Rare
7	5 packs, 1 Gold Chest, 1 Rare
6	5 packs, 1 Silver Chest, 1 Rare
5	4 packs, 1 Silver Chest, 1 Rare
4	4 packs, 1 Silver Chest, premium Uncommon
3	4 packs, 1 Bronze Chest, 1 premium Uncommon
2	4 packs, 1 Bronze Chest
1	3 packs, 1 Bronze Chest
0	3 packs of The Flame of Xulta

Get ready for your winter assault starting Christmas Day!

Here's a cool video with composer, Ramin Djawadi, talking about the creation of music for the new Theros: Beyond Death trailer.

So, I'm curious to know already, what are your current favourite non-card games? Let's find new favourite games! My favourites at the moment are definitely destiny 2 and halo reach, bungo knows how to do good games!

Am I the only so, so disappointed by the lack of a viable mid-range or even tempo based Dragon Deck in DOD?

I was expecting to see Dragon Paladin, Dragon Hunter, and maybe even Dragon Druid be at least moderately competitive.

Instead we have Face Hunter, Deathrattle Rogue, and maybe Galakrond Shaman (post-nerf; unclear.)

I barely see any dragons being played most of my games on the ladder.

I do see the occasional Highlander Deck use the new 9 mana dragon. Still, so disappointing. 

The dust has settled from the recent nerfs to the Shaman cards that seemed to be the reason the class in the current standard meta was so broken.  In my experience, it doesn't feel like the class has really felt the impact of it.  Sure there are a couple of cards that are a little slower now, but overall the class still feels the same to me.  

The only real difference for my versions of the Galakrond, the Tempest decks is my inclusion of Corrupt the Waters and Electra Stormsurge.  I have found that playing Electra and then Dragon's Pack is mega dumb. 

But aside from Shaman, I've actually really started to enjoy the Warlock Galakrond decks and the variants that people are creating.  So my question is this... Now that Blizzard has "neutralized" Shaman Galakrond, what are you playing now?

...

And the last of the bunch

In the office that evening

Queued some Hearthstone at lunch

With the nerfs that had changed

The way standard was styled

He decided to change up

And queued up in Wild

At once he was queued

His Odd Rogue opposed

By a Thrall Even Shaman

Most deadly of foes

Once the mulligan was done

He soon found that he lacked

A one-drop on one

So the odds quickly stacked

The pressure soon mounted

The game had to be saved

So he slammed down a Swashburglar

And ripped Healing Wave

He pointed at face, crossed his fingers and toes

And the minions were seen

His Owl beat Thrall’s Golem

And he healed for fourteen

Despite this respite

Pressure mounted anew

And as both hands ran dry

He knew what he must do

His health was still low

And few minions on the table

But with no other options

He played Myra’s Unstable

He must heal and swing board

He accepted these facts

So he played out a Vilespine

But not before Zilliax

He now had the board

But his health was at six

And with fatigue now at two

Thrall had plenty of tricks

He topdecked for lethal

Found a crackle with glee

Pointed it at face

But he lowrolled a three

So our hero odd rogue

Knew that Thrall did not win it

With one health remaining

Valeera was still in it

He played out some minions

Cleared board best as he could

And then boosted the Zilliax

With a combo’d Cold Blood

His foe could not answer

With much power at all

So our hero now knew

He could defeat Thrall

So he searched for the lethal

To pick up the win

And the game closed with a cry

LEEEEROOOOOOY JENKINS!

---

Context - I wrote this last Christmas as a joke for a friend at work. Everything in the story is true - including dropping to 1 health from a lowrolled Crackle and finding lethal with Leeroy - which is why I was hyped enough to write something this cheesy.

Let this be a lesson to all - no matter how acerbic and waspish someone can act, they're still quite capable of doing something incredibly cringey and making themselves look like a pillock on the internet if it might make someone smile.

Hello,
I've been testing this lists for a while now... and after some last last tweak I decided to release them.
I've seen a lot of dudes asking for some good highlander decks to play, so here we are.

Every list has been tested at lower ranks 1-10 with approx. 70-80% WR each.

Hope you have fun playing them :D

Rippy Highlander Token Druid

Wild · Highlander Druid · by Rippy · 6 years, 2 months ago

• 0 Innervate x 1
• 1 Acornbearer x 1
• 1 Hot Air Balloon x 1
• 1 Mecharoo x 1
• 1 Treenforcements x 1
• 2 Dreamway Guardians x 1
• 2 Keeper Stalladris x 1
• 2 Power of the Wild x 1
• 2 Shrubadier x 1
• 2 Wrath x 1
• 2 Zephrys the Great x 1
• 3 BEEEES!!! x 1
• 3 Blessing of the Ancients x 1
• 3 Landscaping x 1
• 3 Microtech Controller x 1
• 3 Savage Roar x 1
• 3 SN1P-SN4P x 1
• 3 Soul of the Forest x 1
• 3 Swipe x 1
• 3 Wardruid Loti x 1
• 4 Archmage Vargoth x 1
• 4 Explodinator x 1
• 4 Flobbidinous Floop x 1
• 4 Mark of the Loa x 1
• 4 Replicating Menace x 1
• 4 Wispering Woods x 1
• 5 Elise the Enlightened x 1
• 5 Faceless Corruptor x 1
• 5 Zilliax x 1
• 8 The Forest's Aid x 1

14,280 Dust 1,761 1 Copy Deck Code

Rippy Highlander Face Hunter

Wild · Highlander Hunter · by Rippy · 6 years, 2 months ago

• 1 Arcane Shot x 1
• 1 Clear the Way x 1
• 1 Dwarven Sharpshooter x 1
• 1 Springpaw x 1
• 1 Timber Wolf x 1
• 1 Toxic Reinforcements x 1
• 1 Tracking x 1
• 2 Bug Collector x 1
• 2 Explosive Trap x 1
• 2 Freezing Trap x 1
• 2 Headhunter's Hatchet x 1
• 2 Hench-Clan Hogsteed x 1
• 2 Misdirection x 1
• 2 Phase Stalker x 1
• 2 Rapid Fire x 1
• 2 Scavenging Hyena x 1
• 2 Snake Trap x 1
• 2 Zephrys the Great x 1
• 3 Animal Companion x 1
• 3 Desert Spear x 1
• 3 Diving Gryphon x 1
• 3 Eaglehorn Bow x 1
• 3 Kill Command x 1
• 3 King Mukla x 1
• 3 Unleash the Hounds x 1
• 4 Hyena Alpha x 1
• 4 Lifedrinker x 1
• 5 Faceless Corruptor x 1
• 5 Leeroy Jenkins x 1
• 7 Dinotamer Brann x 1

8,440 Dust 1,940 4 Copy Deck Code

Rippy Highlander Spell Mage

Wild · Highlander Mage · by Rippy · 6 years, 2 months ago

• 0 Elemental Evocation x 1
• 1 Arcane Breath x 1
• 1 Arcane Missiles x 1
• 1 Elemental Allies x 1
• 1 Magic Trick x 1
• 1 Mirror Image x 1
• 1 Ray of Frost x 1
• 1 Shooting Star x 1
• 1 Violet Spellwing x 1
• 2 Doomsayer x 1
• 2 Frostbolt x 1
• 2 Khadgar x 1
• 2 Mana Cyclone x 1
• 2 Sorcerer's Apprentice x 1
• 2 Zephrys the Great x 1
• 3 Arcane Intellect x 1
• 3 Banana Buffoon x 1
• 3 Chenvaala x 1
• 3 Conjurer's Calling x 1
• 3 Frost Nova x 1
• 3 Stargazer Luna x 1
• 4 Azure Explorer x 1
• 4 Spellbreaker x 1
• 5 Cobalt Spellkin x 1
• 5 Malygos, Aspect of Magic x 1
• 5 Rolling Fireball x 1
• 6 Blizzard x 1
• 6 Reno the Relicologist x 1
• 9 Dragonqueen Alexstrasza x 1
• 12 Mountain Giant x 1

13,720 Dust 1,252 0 Copy Deck Code

Rippy Highlander Mech Paladin

Wild · Highlander Paladin · by Rippy · 6 years, 2 months ago

• 1 Crystology x 1
• 1 Glow-Tron x 1
• 1 Hot Air Balloon x 1
• 1 Righteous Cause x 1
• 2 Galvanizer x 1
• 2 Knife Juggler x 1
• 2 Micro Mummy x 1
• 2 Sandwasp Queen x 1
• 2 Sir Finley of the Sands x 1
• 2 Subdue x 1
• 2 Upgradeable Framebot x 1
• 2 Zephrys the Great x 1
• 3 Bronze Gatekeeper x 1
• 3 Consecration x 1
• 3 Goboglide Tech x 1
• 3 Sky Claw x 1
• 3 SN1P-SN4P x 1
• 4 Annoy-o-Module x 1
• 4 Blessing of Kings x 1
• 4 Replicating Menace x 1
• 4 Spellbreaker x 1
• 4 Truesilver Champion x 1
• 5 Faceless Corruptor x 1
• 5 Glowstone Technician x 1
• 5 Leeroy Jenkins x 1
• 5 Wargear x 1
• 5 Zilliax x 1
• 6 Avenging Wrath x 1
• 7 Kangor's Endless Army x 1
• 8 Tirion Fordring x 1

13,560 Dust 1,075 0 Copy Deck Code

So has anyone else seen the graphics glitch where keywords on cards will look like they've been roughly crossed out with pink marker? And is there any way to fix it? PC issue btw.

Hi everyone,

Try to guess: which card is guaranteed to NOT appear in zephrys pool when Rouge plays necrium apothecary?

Anyone facing similar situation?

The new Eternal expansion, Promises by Firelight, is now live. See the patch notes below.

New Features: 

• The new Promises by Firelight campaign is live! Journey into the past and play through the stories of the Xultan Champions to collect 21 new and exclusive, Expedition-legal cards!
• Premium versions of alternate art cards will now be craftable if a player owns four copies of the non-premium alternate art.

Bug Fixes:

• Invulnerable VFX should now properly disappear at the end of a turn in some cases.
• Promo cards in the Expedition Archive should no longer display the promo rarity when viewed in Collection.
• Updated the Overwhelm hanger to include language about defending Sites.
• Fixed an issue where echoed cards would incorrectly present face-down and remain on the screen if the hand maximum was surpassed
• Users on Switch should now be able to properly submit feedback when using a controller.
• Fixed issues with targeting opponent avatars on mobile.
• Units that are invulnerable to damage should now properly be affected by the Dinomancy Enthusiast boss power.

Card Fixes:

• Fixed an issue where playing Lay Siege in response to an Edict of Linrei could cause game instability.
• Soulflame Rider’s cost reduction should now no longer be capped at 3 reductions due to Decimating.
• Fixed an issue where Mistrust did not display proper Justice VFX.
• Kemmo’s Blueprints cast with Onslaught should now grant the drawn weapon +1/+1 before Echo creates a copy.
• Fixed an issue where Borderlands Lookout’s stats did not immediately update when some powers were played.
• Vara’s Sanctum’s wording has been updated: “While you have exactly one unit, it has +3 strength, Deadly, and Lifesteal.” Its functionality is unchanged.
• Fixed an issue where Karvet, Solar Dragon’s voice lines were cut off by the summon cultists.
• Burr-Spore Fern’s text should now be consistent in all languages.
• Improved the VFX for Eilyn, the Rising Storm summon effect.

So, a week has passed since the expansion, and now, as the second week starts, the dust has settled (from the recent nerfs) and all the responsible players that do not craft something in the first week now have dust to spare.

In short: what about a crafting guide for the best 'Dragons cards? So that we know which Legendarys and Epics to craft and to dust?

MANA COMPENDIVM

Hello dudes,
I would like to start this thread with the purpose of finding a scientific explanation on how cards "Balance" is done in Hearthstone.

I will start with some example of inexplicable cards, I'll take in consideration their cost and stats to compare each others.

1° Example

Cost: 4
Stats: 4/6 (10) = +1 EV - Taunt

Cost: 5
Stats: 10/12 (22) = +6 EV - Taunt

In this case, Dragon's Pack starts from a +5 EV from the average +1 EV of Saronite Chain Gang, but requires a condition to be played with buff as a double 5/6.

The question is: is it worth of a (5*) mana discount ?
The answer is: "I don't think so".

We can compare it to Scion of Ruin
Cost: 3
Stats: 9/6 (15) = +4,5 EV - Rush.

Seems fair enough?, but it's not. Because Scion of Ruin has minus 1,5 EV compared to Dragon's Pack. Which means that Dragon's Pack should get at least his cost increased by (1*) mana, or the buff decreased from +3/+3 to +2/+2

Anyway, the major problem is that only few classes can afford such big tempo plays. And as it seems, the real problem with either these two cards is the General Balance of the game.

More examples to come... Do you have some good one to explain? :)

Hello everyone,

as you might have heard, Mogu Fleshshaper will be changed soon (in less than 24 hours to be precise), moving its cost from 7 up to 9.
To be honest I was ok with this balance change, but I've read more than one person saying that this should be a buff instead of a nerf. It is true?

Let's look at it closely.

I'll now list every single 8 and 10 drops currently available in Standard, dividing them in 3 categories: potentially game ending (you definitely highballed), good (nice upgrade) and bad (worse or not much better). In order to give this rates I'll take in consideration a scenario in which the game isn't already decided. Consider also that some minions are in the middle ground between two tiers, so you may not agree about some decisions, but you should be able to see the logic behind all.
Let's start with the 8 drops:
POTENTIALLY GAME ENDING (8): Al'Akir the Windlord, Deathwing, Mad Aspect, Mosh'Ogg Enforcer, Tirion Fordring, Walking Fountain, Zzeraku the Warped, Grommash Hellscream, Batterhead.

GOOD (20): Akali, the Rhino (it would be in a lower tier if not for the effect), Catrina Muerte, Deranged Doctor, Fel Lord Betrug, Gruul, Da Undatakah, Gilnean Royal Guard, Ironbark Protector (maybe higher), Jepetto Joybuzz, Lucentbark, Mana Giant, Murozond the Infinite, Octosari (double edged blade but still an 8/8), Princess Talanji, Splintergraft, Tess Greymane (on the edge of being lower), Tomb Warden (not lower just for the taunt), Twin Tyrant, Whirlwind Tempest (see Tess), Cauldron Elemental.

BAD (8): Arcane Devourer, Captain Hooktusk, Heroic Innkeeper, Hex Lord Malacrass, Hir'eek, the Bat, Pit Crocolisk, Splitting Festeroot (maybe higher), Tortollan Pilgrim.

In the end we have 8 really good outcomes, 20 decent ones and 8 bad ones, with the average result being a 5,5/7, with an 11% chance to have Rush (4/36), a 6% chance to have Charge or Windfury (2/36 in both cases), a 19,4% chance to have Taunt (7/36), an 11% chance to have a somewhat useful deathrattle (again 4/36) and finally a 61% chance to get more than a simple vanilla minion (22/36).

Let's do the same thing for the 10 drops too

POTENTIALLY GAME ENDING (4): Colossus of the Moon, Big Bad Archmage, Kalecgos, Deathwing.

GOOD (8): Emeriss, Jumbo Imp, Hakkar, the Soulflayer, Sea Giant, Nozari, The Boom Reaver, Living Monument, Mecha'thun.

BAD (1): King Phaoris.

This time we have 4 really good outcomes, 8 good ones and just a bad one, with a 1/12 chance to get taunt and roughly a 50% chance (5/12) to get something more than a vanilla minion, with an average result of a 7,8/8,9.

Now, from what gathered here we can draw these conclusions:

• none of the two pools is bad (no shit Sherlock).
• while the 10 drops pool has a higher chance to get a really good minion, the 8 drops pool will get you something that will immediately affect the board with a much higher frequency.
• the average minion you'll get from the 10 drops pool has +2/+2 compared to the one you'd get from the 8 drops pool, which is fair if you consider the vanilla test.

That being said, why and when do you play Mogu Fleshshaper (followed by and evolve card, of course)? The answer is simple: the faster the better. You want to get the most possible out of you mana cheating effect. That's why even Murloc builds used to run him since they didn't want to play for value/control.

Imagine this average scenario: 1 drop + totem + enemy minion + other minion (second totem, second enemy minion, lackey, Faceless Lackey shenanigans,...) will discount Mogu for 4 and thus you'll be able to play it on turn 3, with (like I said before) 28 in 36 chances to get a well statted 8 drop that your opponent will have to answer in one or two turns.

What about 9 mana Mogu? In these case, you'll have to wait at least two more turns, in order to

1. play more minions in order to get more discount
2. keep the board spread out against your opponent's trades
3. get more mana in order to be able to actually play the card

Given these premises, the surprise/game breaking effect of Mogu would be less impacting on the board, to the point where a +2/+2 couldn't be enough to compensate the turns spent in order to set up an appropriate table.
I'll say it again: the Mogu Fleshshaper + Mutate combo's main goal is not to put as much stats as possible on the board, but do it the fastest you can, in order to have more chances for your big drop to stick.
Therefore, I can affirm that Mogu Fleshshaper's balance change is meant to be a nerf and not a buff.

TLDR: answering an 8 drop on turn 4 is much more difficult than dealing with a 10 drop on turn 6/7 - it's a nerf, not a buff.

Thanks for reading, I hope you've found this post interesting and insightful.
I'm really looking forward to read your own opinions!

From what I've heard we should be seeing this expansion drop this week (I believe tomorrow, actually), but we've still got a couple of new spoilers.

Revealed by Scarlatch on Discord. This one is a token and created by something else.

Revealed by Scarlatch on Discord.

Sludge Slurper is having its attack decreased to 1, from 2, in the December 19 Patch.

How do you feel about this change?

Once these changes are live, players will be able to disenchant the adjusted cards for their full Arcane Dust value for two weeks.

Faceless Corruptor is having its attack decreased to 4, from 5, in the December 19 Patch.

How do you feel about this change?

Once these changes are live, players will be able to disenchant the adjusted cards for their full Arcane Dust value for two weeks.

Mogu Fleshshaper is having its mana cost increased to 9, from 7, in the December 19 Patch.

How do you feel about this change?

Once these changes are live, players will be able to disenchant the adjusted cards for their full Arcane Dust value for two weeks.

Corrupt Elementalist is having its mana cost increased to 6, from 5, in the December 19 Patch.

How do you feel about this change?

Once these changes are live, players will be able to disenchant the adjusted cards for their full Arcane Dust value for two weeks.

Didn't see it posted yet, so I thought I'd mention it here.  

https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/hearthstone/t/16-0-5-balance-update-december-19/20934

Prayers have been answered!!!

Was just playing the brawl and used Witchy Lackey on a Lord Godfrey that was played at 2 mana since it came out of the holiday chest. The Evolve mechanic turned it into a Dragonslayer - 1 mana more than the PLAYED COST, not the real cost.

Has anyone else experienced this?!

Seems like the nerfs may be delayed, according to this source

https://twitter.com/neon31hs/status/1207366763924664320

:(