Been playing for about 2,5 years, and more serious the last year. And finally made it! Feels so good.

As you know, after rise of Secret Burn Mage, Evenlock disappeared from the Wild meta. I tried BenFromWork's new dragon version of the deck and it surprised me positively. I went 8-0 (r4), even defeating 2 Mages. Of course, this can be a pure luck or me being too good ;), but if you would like to (at least) try an old deck with some new cards; and you enjoy shivers by constantly being on the verge of death, this deck is for you.

https://ibb.co/swMw0xz

### Even Warlock
# Class: Warlock
# Format: Wild
#
# 1x (2) Darkbomb
# 2x (2) Defile
# 2x (2) Nether Breath
# 2x (2) Sunfury Protector
# 2x (2) Vulgar Homunculus
# 1x (4) Faceless Shambler
# 2x (4) Hellfire
# 2x (4) Hooked Reaver
# 2x (4) Lesser Amethyst Spellstone
# 2x (4) Spellbreaker
# 2x (4) Twilight Drake
# 1x (6) Abyssal Summoner
# 2x (6) Evasive Wyrm
# 1x (6) Genn Greymane
# 1x (6) Mojomaster Zihi
# 1x (8) Zzeraku the Warped
# 2x (12) Mountain Giant
# 2x (20) Molten Giant
#
AAEBAfqUAwatEKmtAs30AsCPA+6sA/GsAwzyBfsGtgfhB40I3ArnywLx0AL90AKI0gLsrAOFsQMA
#
# To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone

I almost forgot posting the thread this time!

I have not played a lot this season, I have experimented a bit with several decks without investing a lot of time on ranked, so I have not yet reached my objective (Rank 5). But I still have time.

How is/was your climb this month? Did you give up because of shamans? Did you join the Face Hunter army? Tell us!

EDIT: Fifth game, I just got a Lightspwan from Evoke, so it's not legendary-only, still quite lopsided...

EDIT2: I've seemed to enjoy the most legendary (pun intended) Invoke streak ever. I've played 2 games in Standard Casual and got 2 Legs out of 10 invokes, so don't mind the post below. (Although it's a prime example of 'everything is possible, just unlikely')

-------------------

So I've been playing Invoke (Highlander) Priest recently and I noticed that I predominantly (maybe even exclusively) get Priest Legendaries. Over four games so far I got:

• Chameleos once (1)
• Madame Lazul twice (2)
• High Priest Amet twice (2)
• Lady in White zero times (0)
• Zerek, Master Cloner once (1)
• Bwonsamdi, the Dead thrice (3)
• Prophet Velen once (1)
• Catrina Muerte four times (4)
• Murozond the Infinite zero times (0)
• Princess Talanji thrice (3)
• NON-LEGENDARY-MINIOS zero times (0)

I DO know that this is a small*ish sample size BUT nonetheless it rises suspicion as there are more non-legendary priest minions than legendary ones (10 vs 29 if i counted correctly) and the probability of my sample already is <(1/3)^17 (**) which is incredibly small already.

Furthermore, you do get other minions by using the actual hero power (contrary to the Invoke keyword)

Any thoughts/ideas/falsifications?

IF this is true, I feel that the Invoke keyword is actually WEAKER than I thought. Most of the time your early game minions won't give you the needed midgame but only get your hand clunky. For me this even feels like a hidden nerf/bug.

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.

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

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?

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!

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