Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft

Heh, nice. Ragnaros is the ultimate anti-Hunter Legendary.

I've noticed my recent wins tend to involve some kind of combo to win, even if I'm not playing a particular combo deck. Two stick out because they involve me being a topdecker.

A simple one using Priest against an Mage (Echo Mage); I draw Auchenai Soulpriest, which allows me to use Light of the Naaru on the enemy for 3 damage. I drop Zombie Chow and play Circle of Healing, which does 5 more damage. I use my Hero Power on the enemy for the last 2 damage, which killed of my opponent who was at 10.

A more interesting one with Warrior also against a Mage (Freeze Mage this time); The opponent, had just used his second Pyroblast, with left me with 1 health. I'm not even kidding. I have a Death's Bite with 1 durability left and draw Armorsmith, which I play. I attack the enemy and gain 1 armor for every minion I have; 6. I equip my second Death's Bite and immediately replace it with Fiery War Axe. 6 more armor. One Hero Power later I'm at 1 health and 14 damage, and because the Mage had already played most of their burn spells (I think they had a single Frostbolt left and probably Ice Lances), this amount of armor won me the game.

While you may not believe that you have a "combo deck", you were in fact running combos. Death's Bite (or Whirlwind) plus Armorsmith is a well-known one; Auchenai Soulpriest with Circle of Healing or Light of the Naaru is another, never mind the Zombie Chow uber-combo.

Soulpriest + 2x Chow + Circle + Hero Power = 12 damage to face. Soulpriest + 2x Chow + Baron Rivendare + Circle = 20 damage to face. The problem with these is that they require a lot of cards to work, meaning you must have a lot of draw mechanics to get them in hand, and Priests have loads of trouble with reliable draw.

edited 13th Feb '15 12:23:36 PM by Fighteer

Suddenly I am so glad I never disenchanted Deathwing.

Ooh, that seems neat. I'll have to give that a shot.

Does that deck work? Because it sounds really awesome. I mean, anything that can make Deathwing viable is awesome by definition.

I haven't managed to get it to work, myself.

Also, manage to grind out enough gold for a pack, aaaaaand it's an Iron Juggernaut.

You know that feeling when your opponent plays some beyond awful early game card and you know you're gonna win?

Like when a Shaman Frost Shocks your face on turn 1 and then coins out Gnomeregan Infantry on turn 2.

I always feel guilty when that happens.

Heh. Turn 3: Sword of Justice. Turn 4: Echoing Ooze and another Echoing Ooze.

Heh. I recall when I was using Fireballs to face an enemy from 30 hp.

Remembering now that I've played against one Paladin whose entire turn 3 consisted of playing Sword of Justice. So, well, I've just casually oozed it.

edited 15th Feb '15 2:48:45 AM by FergardStratoavis

you mean like every game I've had in three weeks coz the game is trying to see how long it can marathon giving me the absolute worst starting hands?

Makes me wish we could set static starting hands, grrr.

edited 15th Feb '15 6:29:28 AM by CobraPrime

Wait, setting our own starting hands?

That would mean every game against a mech mage would be an auto lose.

Hardly. Just make a better starting hand!

I don't think there's much that can stop a double Mechwarper with Annoy-o-trons and Snowchuggers and Clockwork Gnomes.

You know, the uber cancer hand.

Besides having static starting hands would make everything same-y.

I still prefer it to losing 4 games in a row coz the game dealt innervate innervate wild growth wild growth swipe Force of nature.

Or it feeling i just HAVE to have Tirion on turn 1. For 6 games straight.

Coz that one Swipe's not getting you far.

edited 15th Feb '15 10:17:04 AM by CobraPrime

That's actually something of a dream ramp hand: you'll get Wild Growth on turns 2 and 3 (or 1 and 2 with the coin) and have potentially 10 mana to play on turn 4.

Yes. And 10 mana is amazing when you get nothing to use it on.

I know what a dream ramp is. What im talking about is ramping into NOTHING.

10 mana, 12 mana or 1000 mana does shit all when all you can do with it is hero power.

edited 15th Feb '15 10:18:43 AM by CobraPrime

Got Toshley out of my arena pack. Itching to turn it into a Lightbomb or something.

I've noticed that in nearly every game I've played, the Paladin is able to fill the board with weak units, with only the very occasional strong unit. Not just the Hero Power, but also with a number of the collectible cards. It would odd to base the Paladin around the Zerg Rush, especially since Warcraft III had them fight against the Undead, who used the Zerg Rush themselves.

Then again, I might've just accidentally created a deck that makes this easy. If it matters, I'm only at level 25.

Paladin's whole thing is buffing up weak minions to create favourable trades with weaker ones or weakening enemy minions (Equality sets all minions' health to 1, and Aldor Peacekeeper sets an enemy minion's attack to 1). Blessing of Kings gives +4/+4, Sword of Justice allows you to give +1/+1 to 5 minions with its charges, and Quartermaster buffs up all of your Silver Hand Recruits to 3/3.

Also lotsa divine shields to get units who can trade twice

Most classes can use that tactic in this game, some better than others. Warlock does it the best, thanks to it's Hero Power.

Paladin actually is the best class for long, drawn out Control games (do not try this tactic if you're new and lack the cards to do it, though).

The buffs have different flavors though. Warlock buffs often come at the cost of one or more of their own minions. Priest can play a viable buffbot deck though most of theirs are health buffs (with the exception of Inner Fire). Druid and Shaman both have a rage-themed single-turn alpha strike possible-finisher (Savage Roar and Bloodlust respectively). Hunter's mostly rely on Beast syenergy. Warrior has lots of Enrage. And so on.

...I don't think Mage has any class-specific buffing? There's Mana Wyrm and that's all I can think of.

edited 17th Feb '15 12:32:57 AM by Elle

The problem with buffs is that they're often not worth it to use. The few ones that see play are either really efficient or flexible. Dark Cultist for example gets played because its a 3 mana 3/4, the extra health is just a bonus. Power Word: Shield provides card draw, while other cards such as Rockbiter and Powermace also serve as good removal. Some of the buffs that go unused in constructed end up being top tier in Arena, though.

I decided to slap together a Mech Mage deck really quick to get a feel for how the general playstyle of Mech decks feels before making a proper, ladder-worthy one.

I absolutely destroyed another Mage in six turns, taking no damage at all.

I love Mech Mage.