It would be pretty cool if instead of the regular classic pack we got a "year of the dragon" pack for our first win in the brawl.

I'll bet Shu are Sari you bought that bundle now, huh?

I'll see myself out.

Very nice stuff, I do think some of the cards are a bit complex for the basic/classic set though. Not in the sense that they are hard to understand, or too many lines of text, but they use some concepts that are pretty unique. For example, Flame Rush is the only card in the basic/classic set that shuffles things, and there are only two other cards in all of Hearthstone that exchange Health for Armor, an expansion Epic, and an expansion class legendary, so having that ability as a basic card feels a little weird. The only other card to have the same effect as Cauterize is Alexstrasza, a legendary. And Warm Up is the only 'good' tutor card in the basic/classic set.

Cauterize and Blood Nova are probably to OP.

There are going to be some cards that do a lot by themselves, that is the entire point of big drops.

In my opinion, if there was zero chance of winning after getting behind on the board then THAT would be bad design. There should be a card to help you get out of any situation. Whether you are behind or ahead on board, life, or cards in hand there should be some way of turning things around.

I am pretty sure this mechanic is working like the developers want it to. The exact wording in the description of each keyword isn't to be taken for granted. The thing about a digital card game is that regardless of what the card says, it can be programmed to do whatever the programmer wants.

Also, Explosive Runes does the exact same thing when targeting a divine shield minion. First it checks how much health the minion (or unit) has, then based off of that it decides how much damage to do to the enemy hero (or nexus), and then all of that damage is dealt. 

Barrier does say it prevents all damage dealt to a unit, but it doesn't say anything about that extra damage being dealt to the nexus.

Battletag: Jarvis#12448

Region: NA

Trade only? Yes, you go first.

King Togwaggle?

Sorry if I came across as angry, there are no ill feelings from me to you.

I imagine that a lot of people interpreted your first post as being like "Oh wow, I am so looking forward to all of the netdecking. All of those kill-you-on-turn-4 aggro decks. Ooh, and how about those you-can't-play-cards control decks. Also, all of those super interactive OTK decks. What fun."

The issue with the internet is that there is no tone of voice or body language or anything, so it can be very difficult to detect sarcasm.

Battletag: Jarvis#12448

Region: NA

Trade only? Yes, you go first.

I am actually pretty excited about being able to rate news articles. Sometimes I read a very good article and I don't really want to make a comment just saying "good job" but I still want to show that I liked. Very often I wish that I could up-vote a news article just to show that I liked it without having to make a post.

So, were you genuinely looking forward to seeing new decks? Or was that sarcasm and you are salty about how your homebrew decks are constantly being preyed on by "no brainer net decks"?

I honestly think skydiving instructor is pretty powerful. It is two bodies for one card, plus it gets rid of a bad topdeck. You mentioned that a combo wouldn't be reliable because you wouldn't always draw it, but if you draw your one drop on turn one you probably won't be very upset. You don't need to get the perfect draw each time for this to be worth it.

If you are going to play a "fun deck" A.K.A. "bad deck" then you are going to have to expect to lose to "boring decks" A.K.A. "good decks".

Blackwater Pirate?

Ebon Dragonsmith?

It has been a day and MurlocAggroB has yet to post a riddle. Should we continue with someone else or give MurlocAggro a big more time?

Wait I am confused, this isn't a druid deck, right?

I had the opportunity to play Legends of Runeterra today, I only got through the tutorial and a handful of games with a deck I built myself. I didn't play very much, but I am going to share my opinion regardless. 

Pros

The gameplay was pretty fun, it was a nice mix of Hearthstone and Magic: the Gathering. The game moved pretty fast, and there wasn't a whole lot to keep track of on the board. But it was also very strategic and complex with the "instant speed" spells and the way attacking/blocking worked. I think it will be very popular amongst people who thinks that there isn't enough strategy in Hearthstone, but also aren't invested enough to play Magic:Arena. 

The game also seems very F2P friendly. When I first started I only had 20 cards from each region, so I couldn't really do much to build a deck. But I got rewards pretty fast. After just about every single game I played I got some cards. I am sure the rewards will slow down after I have played for some time, but Riot games seem to be very friendly to F2P players from what I have heard, and I don't imagine that Legends of Runeterra will be any exception.

One thing about the game that struck me as odd, and I am not quite sure yet if this is a pro or a con, is that you don't have an avatar or anything to represent yourself. All you get to see of your opponent is their username, and the champions they are using in the beginning of combat. I kind of like it because different skins really just feels like a way for the company to make some money by feeding into all of our inner collectors, and social features such as emotes or a chat system really just feels like a super convenient way to BM your opponent. 

Cons

One big thing that I really don't like about the game is that there is almost zero indication on a card as to which region it belongs to. There is a tiny symbol in the center of the bottom of the card, but that is it. No colored border or anything this both makes it hard to associate a cad to a region, but it also makes it hard to associate a region with the cards. Regions already have their own colors, so why not try and decorate the cards with their region, so that at first glance players can know exactly what region a card belongs to.

Another thing that bugs me is how the cards are worded, it is sometimes difficult to figure out what a card does. I don't like how the card texts are in first person, I guess they were trying to make the cards feel more alive or something? But it makes it weird to read. I would prefer something more professional sounding, so instead of saying "Level Up: I have damaged the enemy nexus" it would say "When this unit damages the enemy nexus Level Up".

Another thing that could use some small improvements is the UI, not just in the home menu and when flipping about your collection, but also when playing the game. One thing that Hearthstone does better than any other digital card game out there is their super friendly, easy to use, animated, colorful, and lively user interface. This is one of the biggest reasons, if not the biggest reason, the game is so popular. It is simple and easy to navigate, you can go to your collection from just about anywhere, and all of the game modes are in the very center of the screen. Legends of Runeterra's UI isn't nearly as easy, to start a game you first have to select a deck, and only then can you see the "start a match" screen, and you can change the mode you are playing on with tiny buttons there.

Also during the game everything feels a little cramped. Your hand, mana, and board were kind of smushed into one end of the screen to make room for the HUGE combat area. The mana being off to the side is okay, but I do think it would make things a little easier to keep track of if they got rid of the combat board and gave more room for your units on the field. You could see which creatures are attack with a large orange arrow or something along those lines like there is in MTG:A, or perhaps you could simple 'fade' the none-attacking creatures, or you could do something to make the attacking creatures visible without having to devote so much space to it. 

Summary

I think it is a very fun game with a lot of potential. The gameplay is great and they hit just the right middle point in terms of complexity. But there are a couple of "quality of life" things that could make the game so much more appealing. Things like a easier way to identify the region of a card, or a smoother UI, it is things like this that can change a boring game into an addictive one. I hope that the game receives updates to the interface and graphics so that it can play a lot smoother and be more attractive overall.

I am enjoying this adventure because it is something different. It has been a while since we have had to build our own decks to tackle each boss one by one instead of getting semi random decks to beat a random array of bosses in one go. I do enjoy dungeon run style content, but I don't really need 8 different versions of the same sort of thing. It is nice to have a different mode.

I do think that they could have done the bosses better though. If the bosses were less generic than just a couple of cards with a "good" hero power and they had a stronger theme then it would made deck building a lot more interesting. For example, Lord Marrowgar was a very well designed boss because you had to build a special deck to defeat him. You couldn't just play a 'good deck' and have a fair chance. Whereas with bosses like Dr Boom are just kind of boring because there isn't too much of a big theme, just sort of okay-ish cards. 

I just wish the bosses were more interesting and more of a deck building challenge.

To be frank, I don't really care that much.

But I can understand the joy of having golden legendaries.