1) Team 5 may be trying to act faster to nerf oppressive decks in general. At least in Standard. So comparing this to not nerfing aggro decks quickly in the past is not an apples to apples comparison if they've had an overall change in philosophy of how long they wait (or don't wait) for nerfs.
2) I'm wondering if the fact that the card was recently buffed meant they were keeping a close eye on it and ready to revert back quickly if they thought it was too powerful at 2 mana. Similar line of thinking with Pocket Galaxy nerf.
The only quest deck with a 50+% win rate when played was Making Mummies. At least it was a few days back when this very site did an analysis of how the quest cards were performing. Might have changed some with nerfs but... might not have!
Here's my first shot at trying a "minion" version of strongholds. I honestly have no clue what I'm doing, lol. I think I like the "quest" idea better, but I still can't figure out how to design their ability to be removed without making it some sort of insta-win if your opponent doesn't have those specific cards in their deck. For example, let's say I made one defeatable by playing a card like a dragon or elemental. If they don't have one of those cards, I'm perfectly safe and they don't stand a chance.
Personally I think something like Blackhowl Gunspire or Portable Ice Wall are what you would want for minion based "Stronghold" cards. This type of effect would be better as a temporary dormant token idea like what Demonx had above. Also, this Chapel card's effect would be much better if it were an Evencosted card, please! LOL
I'm with HULKBiceps and I play a lot of fun, wacky C'Thun things in Wild. Currently around 10-9 playing a Reno Galaxy C'Thun deck. It has the current Standard Reno Mage shell updated with a few Wild spells and putting in a small handful of C'Thun buffers and the Eye himself, with the ideal play being Galaxy with C'Thun still in the deck, then later you can play Brann Bronzebeard, C'Thun, and Zola the Gorgon to get two golden C'Thun's in hand. If you draw C'Thun before Galaxy you can also just use Brann for doubling some of your C'Thun buffers' battlecry effects or just try to win with a crazy King Phaoris board, etc, much like the current Standard version of Reno Mage. I think I'm currently 7-6 with it so not great, but a lot of fun!
Anyway, at these ranks I'm seeing a more diverse range of opponents, nothing sticks out as super oppressive in terms of facing a specific deck(s) over and over again. One big thing I've noticed since the expansion released: There has been a huge decline in the Time Warp Mages! This is likely due to the Secret Mage rising in popularity and just winning faster than the slower, but often guaranteed win of Archmage Vargoth, Time Warp, 2x Arcane Giant.
I'm happy about this change, because with the deck I described above I at least have a chance to maybe survive against Mages, gain some semblance of board control, and play Reno Jackson after they've used a large amount of burst. If you can pull that off they often don't have enough steam left to kill you quick enough, where as the Time Warp Mages just stall stall stall until you're helpless to stop their win condition.
Personally I have still used HearthPwn on occasion, but mostly I'm only on OoC for Hearthstone news, forums, and recent user decks. I also get on HS Replay for deck stats, etc. Mostly when I've used HP since the split was a momentary bit of downtime at OoC during card reveals, and if I'm looking for inspiration for a Wild deck. Given how new OoC is they don't have the deck data base that goes back to 2014. But if I need some inspiration I can pull up an old deck similar to what I'm thinking of making, maybe get reminded of some old card I haven't seen in a while. Which is why I loved the recent article about "Forgotten Wilds" on OoC! As well as OoC's attention to Wild and featured Wild Weekend decks.
Truly, OoC is already a better site than HP ever was! Keep it up, guys!
Its sad that a number of fun decks in wild like Big Rogue will probably be more damaged by the collateral damage from the Barnes nerf than Big priest itself. Barnes was an often brutal turn 4 play to be sure, but Vargoth and the resurrection/ graveyard mechanic as a whole are much more problematic, imo. Having said that, I'm glad that Blizzard finally pulled the trigger on the nerf, but worry that Big Priest will continue to plague us more or less indefinitely. Maybe the lack of an early statue or Yshaarj will allow aggro decks to push through that much more easily, who knows?
Agreed. Big Priest doesn't need Barnes anymore at all. Just hard mulligan for Vargoth. Opponent kills it priest just resses it twice. Don't kill it and you risk facing double Shadow Essence
I've actually been thinking for a while now that Vargoth is a much better card in that deck than Barnes. The only upside of Barnes was playing him on turn 3/4 and getting something amazing to bring back over and over again. But once he died he was a terrible rez target himself. But Vargoth is an amazing rez target can still be played 3/4, and is much more impactful when summoned by Shadow Essence as well. The other great benefits of Vargoth outweight the lack of a 1/1 summoned when played.
But do you think we will get more a more detailed background story of the EVIL league?
Not sure. I mean, if it is some scheme to revive Deathwing then someone else is behind it, right? N'Zoth? I believe he was the original source behind the corruption of Deathwing to bring about the Cataclysm. And seeing as he was just released in WoW, perhaps he is influencing the events of Hearthstone as well. He could be using Rafaam for some bigger scheme and steered him towards the others. And if an Old God is involved, it would make sense why a previously minor character without a name (Madam Lazule) got brought into the scheme in the first place.
Ultimately I don't expect the story telling depth of WoW in Hearthstone. So I wouldn't expect to get a better explanation other than Rafaam had a scheme, needed some lovable losers to use in his plans, and he gathered the rest of the EVIL League.
I wonder if that was 5 weeks from when SoU went live? Does anyone know when that graphic went in? Or what day of the week it decrements?
Not sure on when the graphic went up, but if it's like last time it counts down one week at a time. So in other words, for the Dalaran Heist it still said it would be available in "1 week" from one week prior to launch up until launch. Since Heist released on a Thursday (May 16) let's say Tombs will release on Thursday as well.
I would then expect this Thursday, August 22, that the graphic will update to say "4 weeks", which would place it around a September 19th release date for the solo adventure.
There are a few epics I would like to have, but none that I absolutely MUST have at the moment. Like History Buff, for example. He could be a fun addition to a C'Thun deck as a way to either make your C'Thun buffing minions more playable, or to add extra buffs to the Old God himself if he's in your hand.
Other than those I've crafted everything I need/wanted during the first couple weeks. Zephrys the Great was of course crafted immediately after I opened all my packs and he wasn't in them. Especially since I opened Reno the Relicologist and at least one of every other mage card in the set. Finally cracked and crafted Luna's Pocket Galaxy to go in the deck.
As for Zayle, Shadow Cloak, he has a smaller amount of decks that were not provided by Whizbang the Wonderful. As I mentioned once before in this thread, if they move him and want to keep the same number of 23 legendary minions in the Boomsday Project set, they already accomplished this by introducing SN1P-SN4P. Seeing as SN1P is the only random legendary addition to a set (not counting recent Classic set additions to replace HoF cards), it really leads me to believe they put him in the game as a planned replacement come April 2020 when Whiz moves to Classic.
As far as the "it'll hurt their profits" argument, it will ALSO be great for new players if Whiz is made Classic (or maybe even the final Basic reward card for unlocking all cards on all classes?). And I've continually seen veteran players complain on sites like this how Blizzard caters to new Hearthstone players and doesn't care about long time players. So why wouldn't they make a change to always allow new players an easy option to play new Standard constructed decks without having a large collection? And ultimately, bringing in new players and keeping fringe players going by always giving them the Whizbang option should theoretically help get more profits in the long run. Larger player base = larger base of potential spenders.
What is the list you are running? Did you upload it to OoCards? Or can you share a link? I wouldn't mind giving it a go to see if it can be improved. I'm just sitting at Rank 10 trying a bunch of different things right now, so if it sucks it won't bother me rank-wise!
There you go. If you have thought I'm happy to hear them but the main issue as above was the OTK Combo need so much it's too slow to pull off either for win or loss.
But yeah this thread wasn't to whine about my bad deck, more to see if anyone else had something fun/good in mind before launch that turned out awful.
Honestly, with this expansion coming out I think my main thought was on the quests and which quests could be viable. I didn't think much about other decks outside of those or Highlander decks. I felt like Quest Priest was going to be really strong, but haven't seen many people playing it, and also don't have it to try it out myself.
I have seen a few lists for Boar OTK that use it as a way to try and survive, I guess? I was thinking after seeing this post that the best approach might be to try and stick Amet on board and make it a two turn kill so you can use Mass Dispel for taunts. But if your opponent has a brain and figures out what you're planning they'll likely just kill him immediately, or at least damage him. Perhaps with Amet and some Reborn taunts he can stick seeing as the Reborn minions would go to 7 health when they summon instead of 1. Then if Amet took damage use Circle before Dispel and Boar combo.
While I was waiting on your response I started playing around in Wild with Amet and Boars, but eventually swapped Boars for a Dragon package. I also added a Void Ripper since the deck is now more about winning the early and mid game, get some high health minions on board, then Dispel and stat swap for a nice, quick burst. Can still win the old fashioned way of Spirit x 2 > Inner Fire. Don't have a Confuse but I may craft one if the deck seems good without it, just to have an extra stat swap card, and one I can find with Shadow Visions
Thanks for the inspiration at least! If I play around with Boar OTK I'll let you know what I find.
What is the list you are running? Did you upload it to OoCards? Or can you share a link? I wouldn't mind giving it a go to see if it can be improved. I'm just sitting at Rank 10 trying a bunch of different things right now, so if it sucks it won't bother me rank-wise!
My favorite custom card I've made would probably be this one:
It's not super strong and requires a little set up, but I felt it was an interesting card. Play it the turn before Sul'thraze and hit it with an Inner Rage or two and you've got the weapon to clear some small minions and this guy to attack face several times.
Another fun one I was Inspired to create was one similar to an old legendary Nexus-Champion Saraad, but with a Toki-type of twist!
Zephrys the Great was a day one craft for me, right after I opened all my packs. He's absolutely amazing when his battlecry is active. I later crafted Siamat when I wanted to build a Highlander Mage list. He's done well in a few situations for me, but ultimately may be either more of a "win more" card, or just a way to clear two minions with Rush+Windfury and hope you get some sort of body left behind. I really feel he's best when you can go Divine Shield+Windfury and be largely uncontested until your next turn. But again, you're ahead on board already in that scenario so it's more of a "win more" card. I don't regret the craft on Siamat, but I also had my free golden Octosari (aka: My free "Choose Your Own Legendary" that came with the pre-order), so I didn't technically have to spend additional dust on him.
Despite being just over a 16 pack/legendary average today in my openings, it felt really bad at times! I hit the pity timer TWICE! But made up for it by having two double legendary packs. Prior to today I've only ever opened a double legendary pack ONCE, playing since release, and today it happened two times!
Also, my only craft so far has been Zephrys the Great, because why not?!?! For most epics I seem to have opened one copy of them, a few have two, some have none. Own all Commons and Rares of the set.
Maybe that was their way of disrupting the pattern. By making the change to Arena happen sooner than the expansion. However, it was most likely just a mistake. Blizzard isn’t THAT clever!
1) Team 5 may be trying to act faster to nerf oppressive decks in general. At least in Standard. So comparing this to not nerfing aggro decks quickly in the past is not an apples to apples comparison if they've had an overall change in philosophy of how long they wait (or don't wait) for nerfs.
2) I'm wondering if the fact that the card was recently buffed meant they were keeping a close eye on it and ready to revert back quickly if they thought it was too powerful at 2 mana. Similar line of thinking with Pocket Galaxy nerf.
The only quest deck with a 50+% win rate when played was Making Mummies. At least it was a few days back when this very site did an analysis of how the quest cards were performing. Might have changed some with nerfs but... might not have!
Personally I think something like Blackhowl Gunspire or Portable Ice Wall are what you would want for minion based "Stronghold" cards. This type of effect would be better as a temporary dormant token idea like what Demonx had above. Also, this Chapel card's effect would be much better if it were an Even costed card, please! LOL
I'm with HULKBiceps and I play a lot of fun, wacky C'Thun things in Wild. Currently around 10-9 playing a Reno Galaxy C'Thun deck. It has the current Standard Reno Mage shell updated with a few Wild spells and putting in a small handful of C'Thun buffers and the Eye himself, with the ideal play being Galaxy with C'Thun still in the deck, then later you can play Brann Bronzebeard, C'Thun, and Zola the Gorgon to get two golden C'Thun's in hand. If you draw C'Thun before Galaxy you can also just use Brann for doubling some of your C'Thun buffers' battlecry effects or just try to win with a crazy King Phaoris board, etc, much like the current Standard version of Reno Mage. I think I'm currently 7-6 with it so not great, but a lot of fun!
Anyway, at these ranks I'm seeing a more diverse range of opponents, nothing sticks out as super oppressive in terms of facing a specific deck(s) over and over again. One big thing I've noticed since the expansion released: There has been a huge decline in the Time Warp Mages! This is likely due to the Secret Mage rising in popularity and just winning faster than the slower, but often guaranteed win of Archmage Vargoth, Time Warp, 2x Arcane Giant.
I'm happy about this change, because with the deck I described above I at least have a chance to maybe survive against Mages, gain some semblance of board control, and play Reno Jackson after they've used a large amount of burst. If you can pull that off they often don't have enough steam left to kill you quick enough, where as the Time Warp Mages just stall stall stall until you're helpless to stop their win condition.
Personally I have still used HearthPwn on occasion, but mostly I'm only on OoC for Hearthstone news, forums, and recent user decks. I also get on HS Replay for deck stats, etc. Mostly when I've used HP since the split was a momentary bit of downtime at OoC during card reveals, and if I'm looking for inspiration for a Wild deck. Given how new OoC is they don't have the deck data base that goes back to 2014. But if I need some inspiration I can pull up an old deck similar to what I'm thinking of making, maybe get reminded of some old card I haven't seen in a while. Which is why I loved the recent article about "Forgotten Wilds" on OoC! As well as OoC's attention to Wild and featured Wild Weekend decks.
Truly, OoC is already a better site than HP ever was! Keep it up, guys!
I've actually been thinking for a while now that Vargoth is a much better card in that deck than Barnes. The only upside of Barnes was playing him on turn 3/4 and getting something amazing to bring back over and over again. But once he died he was a terrible rez target himself. But Vargoth is an amazing rez target can still be played 3/4, and is much more impactful when summoned by Shadow Essence as well. The other great benefits of Vargoth outweight the lack of a 1/1 summoned when played.
Is it a surprise that this chicken is so deadly? It has an ax on it's beak!
Not sure. I mean, if it is some scheme to revive Deathwing then someone else is behind it, right? N'Zoth? I believe he was the original source behind the corruption of Deathwing to bring about the Cataclysm. And seeing as he was just released in WoW, perhaps he is influencing the events of Hearthstone as well. He could be using Rafaam for some bigger scheme and steered him towards the others. And if an Old God is involved, it would make sense why a previously minor character without a name (Madam Lazule) got brought into the scheme in the first place.
Ultimately I don't expect the story telling depth of WoW in Hearthstone. So I wouldn't expect to get a better explanation other than Rafaam had a scheme, needed some lovable losers to use in his plans, and he gathered the rest of the EVIL League.
I have a feeling that Rafaam's true intentions will be revealed in the third expansion this year.
My guess is that unless they state it’s a golden legendary, then no. But really, not sure.
Not sure on when the graphic went up, but if it's like last time it counts down one week at a time. So in other words, for the Dalaran Heist it still said it would be available in "1 week" from one week prior to launch up until launch. Since Heist released on a Thursday (May 16) let's say Tombs will release on Thursday as well.
I would then expect this Thursday, August 22, that the graphic will update to say "4 weeks", which would place it around a September 19th release date for the solo adventure.
Legendary-wise, I have two that I still really want, which are Corrupt the Waters because it's good and I want it for Wild , Dark Pharaoh Tekahn which I've been running on an alt account and having fun. For quests I still need Activate the Obelisk and Supreme Archaeology as well. For the Explorers I still need Elise the Enlightened and Dinotamer Brann.
There are a few epics I would like to have, but none that I absolutely MUST have at the moment. Like History Buff, for example. He could be a fun addition to a C'Thun deck as a way to either make your C'Thun buffing minions more playable, or to add extra buffs to the Old God himself if he's in your hand.
Other than those I've crafted everything I need/wanted during the first couple weeks. Zephrys the Great was of course crafted immediately after I opened all my packs and he wasn't in them. Especially since I opened Reno the Relicologist and at least one of every other mage card in the set. Finally cracked and crafted Luna's Pocket Galaxy to go in the deck.
As for Zayle, Shadow Cloak, he has a smaller amount of decks that were not provided by Whizbang the Wonderful. As I mentioned once before in this thread, if they move him and want to keep the same number of 23 legendary minions in the Boomsday Project set, they already accomplished this by introducing SN1P-SN4P. Seeing as SN1P is the only random legendary addition to a set (not counting recent Classic set additions to replace HoF cards), it really leads me to believe they put him in the game as a planned replacement come April 2020 when Whiz moves to Classic.
As far as the "it'll hurt their profits" argument, it will ALSO be great for new players if Whiz is made Classic (or maybe even the final Basic reward card for unlocking all cards on all classes?). And I've continually seen veteran players complain on sites like this how Blizzard caters to new Hearthstone players and doesn't care about long time players. So why wouldn't they make a change to always allow new players an easy option to play new Standard constructed decks without having a large collection? And ultimately, bringing in new players and keeping fringe players going by always giving them the Whizbang option should theoretically help get more profits in the long run. Larger player base = larger base of potential spenders.
Honestly, with this expansion coming out I think my main thought was on the quests and which quests could be viable. I didn't think much about other decks outside of those or Highlander decks. I felt like Quest Priest was going to be really strong, but haven't seen many people playing it, and also don't have it to try it out myself.
I have seen a few lists for Boar OTK that use it as a way to try and survive, I guess? I was thinking after seeing this post that the best approach might be to try and stick Amet on board and make it a two turn kill so you can use Mass Dispel for taunts. But if your opponent has a brain and figures out what you're planning they'll likely just kill him immediately, or at least damage him. Perhaps with Amet and some Reborn taunts he can stick seeing as the Reborn minions would go to 7 health when they summon instead of 1. Then if Amet took damage use Circle before Dispel and Boar combo.
While I was waiting on your response I started playing around in Wild with Amet and Boars, but eventually swapped Boars for a Dragon package. I also added a Void Ripper since the deck is now more about winning the early and mid game, get some high health minions on board, then Dispel and stat swap for a nice, quick burst. Can still win the old fashioned way of Spirit x 2 > Inner Fire. Don't have a Confuse but I may craft one if the deck seems good without it, just to have an extra stat swap card, and one I can find with Shadow Visions
Thanks for the inspiration at least! If I play around with Boar OTK I'll let you know what I find.
What is the list you are running? Did you upload it to OoCards? Or can you share a link? I wouldn't mind giving it a go to see if it can be improved. I'm just sitting at Rank 10 trying a bunch of different things right now, so if it sucks it won't bother me rank-wise!
My favorite custom card I've made would probably be this one:
It's not super strong and requires a little set up, but I felt it was an interesting card. Play it the turn before Sul'thraze and hit it with an Inner Rage or two and you've got the weapon to clear some small minions and this guy to attack face several times.
Another fun one I was Inspired to create was one similar to an old legendary Nexus-Champion Saraad, but with a Toki-type of twist!
Zephrys the Great was a day one craft for me, right after I opened all my packs. He's absolutely amazing when his battlecry is active. I later crafted Siamat when I wanted to build a Highlander Mage list. He's done well in a few situations for me, but ultimately may be either more of a "win more" card, or just a way to clear two minions with Rush+Windfury and hope you get some sort of body left behind. I really feel he's best when you can go Divine Shield+Windfury and be largely uncontested until your next turn. But again, you're ahead on board already in that scenario so it's more of a "win more" card. I don't regret the craft on Siamat, but I also had my free golden Octosari (aka: My free "Choose Your Own Legendary" that came with the pre-order), so I didn't technically have to spend additional dust on him.
Are rewards in this brawl comparable to Arena for the same wins? Or is one better than the other in terms of rewards per win?
Out of 145 total opened today I opened nine legendaries, got two free, and crafted one.
Free golden: Octosari (and my only golden legendary)
Free quest: Untapped Potential
Opened: High Priest Amet, Anka, the Buried, King Phaoris, Unseal the Vault, Raid the Sky Temple, Reno the Relicologist, Making Mummies, Sir Finley of the Sands, and Hack the System.
Despite being just over a 16 pack/legendary average today in my openings, it felt really bad at times! I hit the pity timer TWICE! But made up for it by having two double legendary packs. Prior to today I've only ever opened a double legendary pack ONCE, playing since release, and today it happened two times!
Also, my only craft so far has been Zephrys the Great, because why not?!?! For most epics I seem to have opened one copy of them, a few have two, some have none. Own all Commons and Rares of the set.
Maybe that was their way of disrupting the pattern. By making the change to Arena happen sooner than the expansion. However, it was most likely just a mistake. Blizzard isn’t THAT clever!