I actually speculated on that a LONG time back earlier this year when discussing the possible third expansion with a friend. But at that time I was thinking Caverns of Time and maybe a trip back in time to stop the early aspects from defeating him, at which point the Old Gods would try to corrupt him to do their bidding. Which was my reasoning for why Lazul was brought into this mess in the first place: she's the real puppeteer, pulling the strings to do the will of her masters, the Old Gods! Rafaam was simply played to think it was all his idea, but he too has been manipulated by the whispers from the shadows. I mean, how could a low level villain like Rafaam steal Dalaran in the first place, if some influence of other powerful beings wasn't already at play? The Old Gods look to try and return in WoW at the same time they try to return in Hearthstone!
That was my theory anyway, and some of it still may fit.
The location is Wyrmrest Temple in Northrend, you can see Dalaran floating near the temple. So the snow and clothing is definitely due to the location.
It would appear that the community's thoughts since the first teaser for the entire year in April were correct: Dragon themed expansion to end Year of the Dragon. But what? What will be the story of the third set? Personally, I want to see something with corrupted Dragon Aspects. As in an alternate reality where they were ALL corrupted by the Old Gods, not just Deathwing. Not sure what the effects could be, but could be pretty sweet! We've already seen some potential alternate versions in WoW. Norzdomu has his crazy alternate version Murozond, Malygos went mad and had to be killed so a Malygos the Mad could be possible, Ysera was plagued with the Emerald Nightmare before her death in WoW... All we'd need is an alternate version of Alexzstraza. Maybe a more Deathwing-like figure where she really only brings death as opposed to life and death (as her current voice line suggests when played).
Maybe the name of the year doesn't require all sets in that year to have Dragons? I know it's likely sarcasm, but these types of comments are a bit ridiculous as even if the first set had a lot of dragons, the second and third would likely not have. It would be terrible in a design sense to just push a ton of Dragon cards all year long.
That said, the name for the year was likely on purpose and leading to this final set. The community was mostly guessing something dragon themed in expansion three since the first teaser image for the entire year, and with Wyrmrest Temple in Lazul's crystal ball I'd say that a dragon-themed third set is all but certain now.
The main question to ask is what will we see? In the solo content for Uldum **SPOILER** there is a mention of a "final plague" that unleashes evil long since dead. In the solo content it puts the four old gods on the opponent's board, but could it be a reference to bringing Deathwing back to life? Elise already has three cards, why not Deathwing? He was serving the old gods in his attempts to destroy the world through the Cataclysm after all. Another option could be bringing the Crazed Aspect Malygos back to life. Or perhaps we'll get corrupted versions of all the dragon aspects!!!
Hey Wizards of the Coast reprints older cards into new sets for MtG all the time, no reason Blizzard can't do the same with HS.
This is basically Kibler's argument for having a rotating "Core" set rather than a forever in standard Classic/Basic set. It allows old stuff to come back, change it up from time to time, keeps the Standard meta feeling more fresh! It's an idea I'm all for, even if it becomes a whole new constructed mode as opposed to just the new Standard mode.
It could be something like "The last four or five card sets PLUS a mix of Classic, Basic, and Cards from older sets to make up a "core" of cards. They could even offer "core packs" in the store, with the current mix of Core cards available to pull from the packs... Could be dope! A good name for this mode? "Modern"? Since it's a newer type of Standard game? Or maybe it becomes the new Standard format and current Standard becomes "Legacy"?
I'm just itching for any change to the game that continues to make it feel fresh and new. Maybe bringing small Wild sets in like this on a regular basis can be that change.
I guess that would be helpful if you're looking for cards with small or no effects... Normally when I'm searching for a card with a specific effect I just name the effect. Like "draw" or "destroy", and other things that both start with "D". I sometimes even search for effects that don't start with the letter "D"!
But I digress, I usually am searching for a card with an effect I want to include, and want to see all options I have regardless of how many text lines they have. Which can be done by searching a specific word/term.
I tend to get roped more than this one friend of mine (who rarely does) so I told him once "I just do it back when they do it". I'm often watching something while playing anyway, so who cares! But he told me that's immature and I'm just adding to the issue. When I told him it actually gets them to start playing faster because they are annoyed that roping isn't annoying me. He was almost shocked that it works that way.
And also, thank you! I appreciate you and the good you do for this community! LOL!!!
Awesome write up! I'm hoping to get into the next preview and plan to play BOTH card games, personally. How much of one over the other is still to be determined, but I will probably never leave Hearthstone completely due to the investment of both time and money I've put into it (dear God, the money...).
EDIT: I should add that one of the coolest features to me is the way you can decide which factions you earn cards in. Since you don't have random packs in the game, the option to earn xp, have that xp unlock cards, and you get to choose which faction you're trying to level up makes it easier to get all the cards you want if you're only interested in a single play style, or trying to earn cards for a specific deck.
I think what MisterFerro means is that LoR is made by Riot, which is owned by Tencent, a Chinese company. Riot also came out in with their own statement not really in support of either party involved, but as a reminder to their players that political statements would not be tolerated because they want to keep personal and political views separate from their games due to serving many different countries and cultures. So in essence, switching to show you are not for China and for a Free Hong Kong might actually be a counter-intuitive move. As a side note, Epic Games made a statement that they would not punish someone for something like Blitzchung's statements. Tencent owns about 40% of Epic, but the majority is still owned by one of the founders.
Yes, Blizzard acted way too quickly and too harshly without considering the backlash. Even if they were only acting according to the rules in the GM agreements and not thinking of their profits from the Chinese market, as they said in their updated statement, there is NO WAY people will believe it because of the speed and severity of the first ruiling. I think if they had first released a statement that he knowingly violated the rules, slapped him with a warning or a three month suspension, this would have all blown over by now.
I'm happy that they gave him back his prize money, and while I still think the 6 month ban is still too long, it's actually a LOT better than the 1 year they originally gave him. I say that because if GM follows the same format next year in terms of dates, etc, he could actually end up missing no time at all in GM as the ban would end before May, and May is when GM started this year.
I will also add, while what you do is up to you, you don't have to completely leave HS unless you're also just really bored with it. You could play both! I personally am thinking of just playing both. And if this matters to you at all... Kibler was still playing HS today on his stream. Just saying! :)
I've seen a lot of Shaman-Mage builds as I got higher into the 7+ wins area the other day. I think it is a popular choice because while Mage is missing the classic damage spells like Fireball, as well as classic board clears like Blizzard and Flamestrike, wild Shaman has some powerful damage spells and board clears. So if you're lucky you can supplement the missing Mage classic cards with those wild Shaman cards.
But so far my favorite is the free run on an alt account I have going that is Paladin-Rogue. It's a midrange deck with a few heavy hitters for later in the game when I've established a pretty clear control of the board. Sitting 8-2 currently. I have a Brann Bronzebeard and 2x Jade Spirit, Fungalmancer and a few other minion buffing battlecries.
I played this game a lot when I first downloaded it, but have gotten away from it. Would love to eventually see it added to OoC list of games it covers somewhere down the line. But I know it isn't a super popular game so I'm sure it's not a priority anytime soon.
I am all for it! This new game actually looks really fun, and before I saw your post the other day addressing the fact that you were not just a Hearthstone site, or not trying to be, I was already thinking this could be a huge boost for this site if you become an early adopter of the game and start creating a lot of quality content for it now to draw in some of that audience.
And more users, even if their not here for (just) Hearthstone only helps you guys gain more Patreon support, meaning more employees, more content, new features, etc.
This guy saying he's leaving must have also not seen your post or he'd know that game filtering in the feed is something you said you guys are working on.
Just a thought, have you tried reaching out to Riot to see if they could somehow "partner" with you guys? For example... if you and a few others all had early access and were doing some experimenting, etc, or even just watching some streamers and analyzing their plays and decks, start compiling a type of "early meta report". Basically providing insights that no one else is doing right now, they could drive people to your site to check out the articles. And on your dev side, maybe focus on integrating the game more, a deck builder for LoR, all that good stuff. Maybe even a "pack opener" similar to the Hearthstone one, even though LoR doesn't have random pack openings. Early adoption of features like this could gain a large following as the place to go for LoR info and community.
I'm sure this is all stuff you've thought of before, but I'm just spit balling a little here. And if you do try to compile some early content like a meta report or decks to try I would be glad to help whenever I get access, which I registered for the day it was announced.
Being someone who may end up playing both games, I am not bothered by it at all. In fact I hope you guys really jump on this game and set yourselves up to be a top site for LoR content, and community gathering. I'd gladly wait on a few new features to the existing HS site, etc, if it means you guys are able to build a larger overall audience here at OoC by snagging a chunk of LoR players and bringing them here.
The more people you get here, the more users you have, the more successful this site can be. And that's awesome! So HS, LoR, MtGA, if you want to expand into covering Eternal as well, that'd be cool! It's not a super popular card game, especially after MtGA came out since Eternal was mostly an attempt to make a digital MtG clone that had better graphics/UI than Magic Online, but pretty sure it still has more users than Artifact. :)
Edit: Also, don't forget about The Bazaar. You know, Reynad's deck building game that we first heard about over a year ago... but then again, I think they announced the game as they were finishing initial design and moving to code the first shell of an alpha test. So would expect it may be a little longer before that one is out.
Yeah, I had some interest in Artifact, but never got on board on launch because of the initial cost. And then after the first few weeks I heard all the complaints. The random attacks were also a huge problem for me. I get if characters are lined up against each other in Artifact, have them fight. But when you have an opening ahead of your character, why not let the player choose to either hit the tower or help defeat an enemy in the spot directly to their right/left?
Ultimately, very glad I didn't get Artifact. But any card game with a F2P model is a card game I'm willing to at least try out. Haven't been on it lately, but I was enjoying Eternal for a while, which honestly this is kind of a mix of HS and Eternal or MtG. But comparing one of those to this wouldn't have made for as funny of a joke.
I agree with you, 100%, and always write guides as soon as I post a deck (which isn't often). But honestly, this deck doesn't need that much of a guide.
But... Guide:
The object of this deck is to control the board and stall until you can drop Emperor Thaurissan to get a tick on Malygos, as well as both copies of Sinister Strike and Eviscerate. Once you reduce each of these 5 cards by 1 mana you can play them all for 10 mana and do 34 face damage for an OTK!
The point of the quest is that the reward you get helps to control the board, by allowing trading with your hero while not taking damage. It also makes your Blade Flurry better as 3 damage to all is better than 1 to all enemy minions. The random card generation helps to ensure you don't run out of cards to play, and as always [Hearthstone Card (Gadgetzan Engineer) Not Found] helps you draw through your deck to find the combo pieces you need.
{DISCLAIMER} This guide was not written by the deck creator. The author of this guide has not played a single game with this deck at the time of writing the guide.
Not again ... lol. Havent played any token spawners yet, so dunno if it covers everything or this card only. Might be a problem with Basic set being gone and shaman HP tokens being flagged as basic set or something, tho it should at least summon Totem Golem if nothing else.
It was nerfed September 2016 to be "Summon a basic totem", so Totem Golem would not be in the pool. Only the four basic totems from hero power.
Which is weird... if you play with Shaman hero power right now does it not summon a totem either? What about SHR with Paladin?
You're asking me as if I've really put a lot of thought into this deck lately! :D
I quite literally found this deck list of mine on an old, no longer useful Hearthstone related site... *cough*... when the Fire Fest-E.V.I.L. came around this year and posted it here instead. Notice it includes nothing past K&C except a single Vivid Nightmare... it's not been updated/optimized in a while. The idea actually came from something I tried to build back in the Un'Goro days that used Herald Volazj and Mirage Caller to do basically the same thing but with a much MUCH lower win rate! Then during the Fire Festival 2018 I was like "Hey! I could do that thing I wanted to do, but using a Big Priest shell!" And so this deck was born to celebrate the Firelord in style!
Anyway, I suppose you could either swap that out for the Plague, or even make a few more changes, like remove both SW Horror, or one of them and Lightbomb to add in the Plague and a second Statue. The main reason I only have one Obsidian in this deck: I don't own a second copy. I'd love to see what list you come up with if you make some changes though.
I actually speculated on that a LONG time back earlier this year when discussing the possible third expansion with a friend. But at that time I was thinking Caverns of Time and maybe a trip back in time to stop the early aspects from defeating him, at which point the Old Gods would try to corrupt him to do their bidding. Which was my reasoning for why Lazul was brought into this mess in the first place: she's the real puppeteer, pulling the strings to do the will of her masters, the Old Gods! Rafaam was simply played to think it was all his idea, but he too has been manipulated by the whispers from the shadows. I mean, how could a low level villain like Rafaam steal Dalaran in the first place, if some influence of other powerful beings wasn't already at play? The Old Gods look to try and return in WoW at the same time they try to return in Hearthstone!
That was my theory anyway, and some of it still may fit.
It's probably not a tavern, but her little cart we first saw in the trailer(s) for Rise of Shadows.
The location is Wyrmrest Temple in Northrend, you can see Dalaran floating near the temple. So the snow and clothing is definitely due to the location.
It would appear that the community's thoughts since the first teaser for the entire year in April were correct: Dragon themed expansion to end Year of the Dragon. But what? What will be the story of the third set? Personally, I want to see something with corrupted Dragon Aspects. As in an alternate reality where they were ALL corrupted by the Old Gods, not just Deathwing. Not sure what the effects could be, but could be pretty sweet! We've already seen some potential alternate versions in WoW. Norzdomu has his crazy alternate version Murozond, Malygos went mad and had to be killed so a Malygos the Mad could be possible, Ysera was plagued with the Emerald Nightmare before her death in WoW... All we'd need is an alternate version of Alexzstraza. Maybe a more Deathwing-like figure where she really only brings death as opposed to life and death (as her current voice line suggests when played).
Maybe the name of the year doesn't require all sets in that year to have Dragons? I know it's likely sarcasm, but these types of comments are a bit ridiculous as even if the first set had a lot of dragons, the second and third would likely not have. It would be terrible in a design sense to just push a ton of Dragon cards all year long.
That said, the name for the year was likely on purpose and leading to this final set. The community was mostly guessing something dragon themed in expansion three since the first teaser image for the entire year, and with Wyrmrest Temple in Lazul's crystal ball I'd say that a dragon-themed third set is all but certain now.
The main question to ask is what will we see? In the solo content for Uldum **SPOILER** there is a mention of a "final plague" that unleashes evil long since dead. In the solo content it puts the four old gods on the opponent's board, but could it be a reference to bringing Deathwing back to life? Elise already has three cards, why not Deathwing? He was serving the old gods in his attempts to destroy the world through the Cataclysm after all. Another option could be bringing the Crazed Aspect Malygos back to life. Or perhaps we'll get corrupted versions of all the dragon aspects!!!
Only a few days to find out at BlizzCon!!!
This is basically Kibler's argument for having a rotating "Core" set rather than a forever in standard Classic/Basic set. It allows old stuff to come back, change it up from time to time, keeps the Standard meta feeling more fresh! It's an idea I'm all for, even if it becomes a whole new constructed mode as opposed to just the new Standard mode.
It could be something like "The last four or five card sets PLUS a mix of Classic, Basic, and Cards from older sets to make up a "core" of cards. They could even offer "core packs" in the store, with the current mix of Core cards available to pull from the packs... Could be dope! A good name for this mode? "Modern"? Since it's a newer type of Standard game? Or maybe it becomes the new Standard format and current Standard becomes "Legacy"?
I'm just itching for any change to the game that continues to make it feel fresh and new. Maybe bringing small Wild sets in like this on a regular basis can be that change.
I guess that would be helpful if you're looking for cards with small or no effects... Normally when I'm searching for a card with a specific effect I just name the effect. Like "draw" or "destroy", and other things that both start with "D". I sometimes even search for effects that don't start with the letter "D"!
But I digress, I usually am searching for a card with an effect I want to include, and want to see all options I have regardless of how many text lines they have. Which can be done by searching a specific word/term.
I tend to get roped more than this one friend of mine (who rarely does) so I told him once "I just do it back when they do it". I'm often watching something while playing anyway, so who cares! But he told me that's immature and I'm just adding to the issue. When I told him it actually gets them to start playing faster because they are annoyed that roping isn't annoying me. He was almost shocked that it works that way.
And also, thank you! I appreciate you and the good you do for this community! LOL!!!
I like the tie in to Hearthstone lore at the end. :)
Awesome write up! I'm hoping to get into the next preview and plan to play BOTH card games, personally. How much of one over the other is still to be determined, but I will probably never leave Hearthstone completely due to the investment of both time and money I've put into it (dear God, the money...).
EDIT: I should add that one of the coolest features to me is the way you can decide which factions you earn cards in. Since you don't have random packs in the game, the option to earn xp, have that xp unlock cards, and you get to choose which faction you're trying to level up makes it easier to get all the cards you want if you're only interested in a single play style, or trying to earn cards for a specific deck.
I think what MisterFerro means is that LoR is made by Riot, which is owned by Tencent, a Chinese company. Riot also came out in with their own statement not really in support of either party involved, but as a reminder to their players that political statements would not be tolerated because they want to keep personal and political views separate from their games due to serving many different countries and cultures. So in essence, switching to show you are not for China and for a Free Hong Kong might actually be a counter-intuitive move. As a side note, Epic Games made a statement that they would not punish someone for something like Blitzchung's statements. Tencent owns about 40% of Epic, but the majority is still owned by one of the founders.
Yes, Blizzard acted way too quickly and too harshly without considering the backlash. Even if they were only acting according to the rules in the GM agreements and not thinking of their profits from the Chinese market, as they said in their updated statement, there is NO WAY people will believe it because of the speed and severity of the first ruiling. I think if they had first released a statement that he knowingly violated the rules, slapped him with a warning or a three month suspension, this would have all blown over by now.
I'm happy that they gave him back his prize money, and while I still think the 6 month ban is still too long, it's actually a LOT better than the 1 year they originally gave him. I say that because if GM follows the same format next year in terms of dates, etc, he could actually end up missing no time at all in GM as the ban would end before May, and May is when GM started this year.
I will also add, while what you do is up to you, you don't have to completely leave HS unless you're also just really bored with it. You could play both! I personally am thinking of just playing both. And if this matters to you at all... Kibler was still playing HS today on his stream. Just saying! :)
That's a pretty impressive feat, especially since I'm not sure how you would Hex Hakkar while playing a Warlock deck...
:)
I've seen a lot of Shaman-Mage builds as I got higher into the 7+ wins area the other day. I think it is a popular choice because while Mage is missing the classic damage spells like Fireball, as well as classic board clears like Blizzard and Flamestrike, wild Shaman has some powerful damage spells and board clears. So if you're lucky you can supplement the missing Mage classic cards with those wild Shaman cards.
But so far my favorite is the free run on an alt account I have going that is Paladin-Rogue. It's a midrange deck with a few heavy hitters for later in the game when I've established a pretty clear control of the board. Sitting 8-2 currently. I have a Brann Bronzebeard and 2x Jade Spirit, Fungalmancer and a few other minion buffing battlecries.
I played this game a lot when I first downloaded it, but have gotten away from it. Would love to eventually see it added to OoC list of games it covers somewhere down the line. But I know it isn't a super popular game so I'm sure it's not a priority anytime soon.
But thanks for this post! Very nice.
I am all for it! This new game actually looks really fun, and before I saw your post the other day addressing the fact that you were not just a Hearthstone site, or not trying to be, I was already thinking this could be a huge boost for this site if you become an early adopter of the game and start creating a lot of quality content for it now to draw in some of that audience.
And more users, even if their not here for (just) Hearthstone only helps you guys gain more Patreon support, meaning more employees, more content, new features, etc.
This guy saying he's leaving must have also not seen your post or he'd know that game filtering in the feed is something you said you guys are working on.
Just a thought, have you tried reaching out to Riot to see if they could somehow "partner" with you guys? For example... if you and a few others all had early access and were doing some experimenting, etc, or even just watching some streamers and analyzing their plays and decks, start compiling a type of "early meta report". Basically providing insights that no one else is doing right now, they could drive people to your site to check out the articles. And on your dev side, maybe focus on integrating the game more, a deck builder for LoR, all that good stuff. Maybe even a "pack opener" similar to the Hearthstone one, even though LoR doesn't have random pack openings. Early adoption of features like this could gain a large following as the place to go for LoR info and community.
I'm sure this is all stuff you've thought of before, but I'm just spit balling a little here. And if you do try to compile some early content like a meta report or decks to try I would be glad to help whenever I get access, which I registered for the day it was announced.
Being someone who may end up playing both games, I am not bothered by it at all. In fact I hope you guys really jump on this game and set yourselves up to be a top site for LoR content, and community gathering. I'd gladly wait on a few new features to the existing HS site, etc, if it means you guys are able to build a larger overall audience here at OoC by snagging a chunk of LoR players and bringing them here.
The more people you get here, the more users you have, the more successful this site can be. And that's awesome! So HS, LoR, MtGA, if you want to expand into covering Eternal as well, that'd be cool! It's not a super popular card game, especially after MtGA came out since Eternal was mostly an attempt to make a digital MtG clone that had better graphics/UI than Magic Online, but pretty sure it still has more users than Artifact. :)
Edit: Also, don't forget about The Bazaar. You know, Reynad's deck building game that we first heard about over a year ago... but then again, I think they announced the game as they were finishing initial design and moving to code the first shell of an alpha test. So would expect it may be a little longer before that one is out.
Yeah, I had some interest in Artifact, but never got on board on launch because of the initial cost. And then after the first few weeks I heard all the complaints. The random attacks were also a huge problem for me. I get if characters are lined up against each other in Artifact, have them fight. But when you have an opening ahead of your character, why not let the player choose to either hit the tower or help defeat an enemy in the spot directly to their right/left?
Ultimately, very glad I didn't get Artifact. But any card game with a F2P model is a card game I'm willing to at least try out. Haven't been on it lately, but I was enjoying Eternal for a while, which honestly this is kind of a mix of HS and Eternal or MtG. But comparing one of those to this wouldn't have made for as funny of a joke.
This is the game that Artifact wants to be when it grows up.
I agree with you, 100%, and always write guides as soon as I post a deck (which isn't often). But honestly, this deck doesn't need that much of a guide.
But... Guide:
The object of this deck is to control the board and stall until you can drop Emperor Thaurissan to get a tick on Malygos, as well as both copies of Sinister Strike and Eviscerate. Once you reduce each of these 5 cards by 1 mana you can play them all for 10 mana and do 34 face damage for an OTK!
The point of the quest is that the reward you get helps to control the board, by allowing trading with your hero while not taking damage. It also makes your Blade Flurry better as 3 damage to all is better than 1 to all enemy minions. The random card generation helps to ensure you don't run out of cards to play, and as always [Hearthstone Card (Gadgetzan Engineer) Not Found] helps you draw through your deck to find the combo pieces you need.
{DISCLAIMER} This guide was not written by the deck creator. The author of this guide has not played a single game with this deck at the time of writing the guide.
It was nerfed September 2016 to be "Summon a basic totem", so Totem Golem would not be in the pool. Only the four basic totems from hero power.
Which is weird... if you play with Shaman hero power right now does it not summon a totem either? What about SHR with Paladin?
You're asking me as if I've really put a lot of thought into this deck lately! :D
I quite literally found this deck list of mine on an old, no longer useful Hearthstone related site... *cough*... when the Fire Fest-E.V.I.L. came around this year and posted it here instead. Notice it includes nothing past K&C except a single Vivid Nightmare... it's not been updated/optimized in a while. The idea actually came from something I tried to build back in the Un'Goro days that used Herald Volazj and Mirage Caller to do basically the same thing but with a much MUCH lower win rate! Then during the Fire Festival 2018 I was like "Hey! I could do that thing I wanted to do, but using a Big Priest shell!" And so this deck was born to celebrate the Firelord in style!
Anyway, I suppose you could either swap that out for the Plague, or even make a few more changes, like remove both SW Horror, or one of them and Lightbomb to add in the Plague and a second Statue. The main reason I only have one Obsidian in this deck: I don't own a second copy. I'd love to see what list you come up with if you make some changes though.