Hearthstone Players!

Given the RNG-heavy nature of HS, I usually play a given deck composition 5-10 times before tweaking (unless it's terrible) - then 5-10 more plays before changing again. It seems like you guys are reacting faster, both to perceived issues with your deck, and against decks you play. Does that work for you?

Or am I misunderstanding your comments?

Fair question. Most of the time, I'm incorporating knowledge of other decks I've played into the one I'm playing now. For example, my assertion about needing Silence is based on the proliferation of Cubelock and/or Voidlord decks. Handbuff has little way to deal with that in an efficient manner and Warlock can always counter my slowly battering through his defenses with increased card draw to find answers to my damage minions (aka Defile and Hellfire.) Plus, wrecking a big Taunt strategy with a single card like Spellbreaker is often worth the 1 in 30 chance to draw it, if the rest of your deck is stable.

Also, as much as it may seem like it, I don't always talk about all the games I play and their impact on what I'm thinking. I actually played 4 games with the Handbuff deck last night, but I used that one against the Shaman because of the symmetry with SoJ, which is I think the card that most would find questionable in it.

I usually only play like 5-6 games a day, so if I was waiting that long to see how there's bear out, I would never change at all. There's something to be said there, obviously. But I am not super competitive for the most part, and just want to try and do cool things. I like to get to R15 ~ R10 because I have collection/experience parity with these folks and it's not memes all the way down. I almost never ever play Casual, unless I am at like 16.2 and curious about something. I take my lumps with new builds on the Ladder.

Still plugging away with Recruit Shaman here. It's... fine. It's fine. It's not Evolve, which is nice. That was getting 1) Stale, and 2) Bad with all the jank at high costs they've rolled out 3/3s at 8, 2/4 at 9, &c. What a drag. I might play Evolve more if I had Unstable, but c'est la guerre.

Anyone see Fr0zen lose the Druid v Raza matchup this AM? Suuuucked. He tried to just Armor away and Surrender highrolled into Lyra-->Forbidden Shaping--> Deathwing in the mid-to-late to do him in longterm.

OK. Here it is. The Contest of Unmitigated Suck: hsreplay.net/replay/ukgxnFuuhCAkCs6erzgirf

It was my Overload deck vs my opponent's Totem deck. You cannot get more of an incredible battle than this. I had changed my deck away from Zalae's model by getting rid of the Eaters of Secrets, Cairne, and N'Zoth. I desperately needed some way to achieve the deck's primary win condition, so I replaced all that with 2 Lightning Bolts and 2 Eternal Sentinels. I played one game before this where I actually managed to Far Sight into a 0 cost Sentinel, played Earth Elemental, and Ancestral Recalled it! It then got Silenced and eventually Siphoned.

But this game started out differently. There would be no efficient creatures and daring setup plays. No, it would be a series of totems, ineffective Maelstrom Portals, and general wastes of time. Another thing that's, of course, supremely awful about Sapphire Spellstone is that, because of the inhibiting factor of Overload, you really want to start with a 7-cost in your opening hand. Since it's going to take you twice as long as any other class to both charge and play one, you kinda need it from the beginning. So your task is to start with a card that's effectively going to be dead for somewhere between 9 and 10 turns. Awesome.

This guy does first turn Kobold Hermit and I'm like: "I can't believe my luck! His deck's just as terrible as mine!" The other thing that's occurred to me is that Kobold Hermit is the appropriate comparison to Kobold Librarian. They both do basically the same thing: emulate the hero power. The difference, of course, is that Librarian emulates the best hero power in the game AND provides a 2/1 minion for the same cost. Hermit lets you eliminate the enormous drawback of the worst hero power in the game (randomness) but at the price of a card. There's rarely a time in the game when playing Librarian isn't a positive thing. There are plenty of times when playing Hermit will not be one. And, yes, that was four (4) Maelstom Portals played on turn 4. It's like the secret ritual to the Universe of Suck. So, his awesome board of 1/1s and a totem has control as we enter the midgame.

And then I topdeck the EE. With two (2) Spellstones in hand. Double upgrade! I am so gonna win this game. Except, well, I can't play either of them for two more turns. And I only have 3 mana on turn 6, unlike my opponent, the Wise Shaman who's not playing Overload. Of course, he also plays Ancestral Healing on a Jeweled Macaw to protect his ultra-threatening Spider Tank who makes totems. Not sure how that Primal Fusioned 6/7 behemoth is going to get past my 7/8, unless he has Hex in hand. But he's one away from Windcaller! And then the Crushing Hand drops. Double upgrade! My Spellstones are now maxed out and next turn is turn 7! Except I'm Overloaded by three. Again. And can't play them. Turn 6, he Hermits into Stoneclaw. Windcaller? Here it-! Isn't. Just Mana Tide. But a Fusioned Malch Imp is another threat to beat down my Elemental, so I Hex it, preserving my 7/7. Next turn... here come the pain !

See, proper play here, of course, is to throw the Lightning Storm because his next play if it's in hand is Bloodlust. It's always Bloodlust because totem decks are the very definition of one-trick pony. But he doesn't draw Bloodlust. No, what he draws while I've been waiting three turns to execute the win condition of my deck is Devolve, which drops my EE to a 4-drop. I mean, I guess I could spend 7 mana to make 3 2/6s but, really, who fucking cares? So I Volcano the board to be sure I don't get Lusted out of existence and end up having to confess to my shitty deck losing to someone else's shitty deck. This is like what new players feel like when they actually manage to avoid Cubelock at level 25, right? Next turn I'm going to be Overloaded by 3 on turn 9, so I still won't be able to use my Maximally Upgraded Spellstones(!) on my 5/2 Arena card. That would give me 4 5/2s that would then be instantly wiped out by Lightning Storm. Or Hellfire. Or a Duskbreaker. Or fucking Holy Nova.

And then he just plays everything he can and heals a whole 1 point on his Healing Totem with a Healing Rain and I realize he's just doing a Play 30 Shaman Cards quest. This is the state of Shaman, 1/19/18.

I'm back to screwing around with Paladin Control. I'm still using this list.
Dirty Rat x 2
Equality x 2
Loot Hoarder x 2
Plated Beetle x 2
Wild Pyromancer x 2
Benevolent Djinn x 2
Rallying Blade x 2
Barnes
Call to Arms x 2
Consecration x 2
Skelemancer
Cairne Bloodhoof
Spikeridged Steed x 2
Bonemare x 2
Silver Vanguard
Ragnaros, Lightlord
The Lich King
Tirion Fordring
N'Zoth, the Corruptor

I think it has weaknesses. Barnes is extremely speculative, since he can pull something cool like LightRag, Tyrion, and Arthas, or something really underwhelming, like a Bonemare or a Loot Hoarder. N'Zoth is kind of a conceit. He pulls Loot Hoarders, Beetles, the Vanguard, and Tyrion. Not exactly a game-winning play, other than that last card. But I think Paladin Control is in kind of an in-between spot right now so this is an in-between deck. If things go well, great. If not, well, you have enough potential to keep yourself alive into later turns where you might draw an answer. I had a game with Sebastian today that kind of turned out like that:

hsreplay.net/replay/N8xzccm9D4xituLZ67DdcS

As I mentioned to him when we started, the mulligans on this one are kind of wonky. There are enough early game/low mana cards that you'd really like in your hand to start. But, this being a control deck, means that passing up real answers may or may not be a good thing. The one task that Barnes and the Vanguard do perform is that they make up for the lack of draw in the deck, which is a problem that Paladin control always has. I'm not a fan of Lay on Hands, since I think it's too big a price to pay in a late game turn when you need to be answering your opponent, rather than blowing your whole turn not affecting the board at all. I don't think the card is overcosted. I just think it's a card you play when you're already ahead (i.e. Win more) or a pure example of luck on the reset.

The question of when to Dirty Rat is always a big one. I've won games almost purely from dropping him at the right moment (Hi, Raza!) I've also put myself under more pressure than needed with him (Oh. That's a "free" Creeper...) But I really only play the Rallying Blades for early game board control. They're Fiery (Notasmuch)Win Axes. So I Coin mine out and deal with the Secret lady before she gets to be a problem. Misha hits the board, which is the middling choice for me. I'm going to take 8 damage, regardless, from either her or Huffer, but at least I could get rid of Huffer with just the Blade. Leokk would add complications. So I do the Rat and it's not great, since now there's a free Secret and a Bow. But I was planning on Consecrating, regardless, since he's down to one card and Snake Trap plays right into that. Still, I'm down to 13 on turn 5 against Hunter, which is bad.

Topdecked Call to Arms reveals the other reason Rat is in the deck. Now I have draw, armor, and a 2/6 taunt in play for 4 mana. Sebastian dispenses with the Rat and play yet another Secret. I'm relatively sure that one of them is Freezing, but the second one could be anything. I'm in a position where a Kill Command could put me in a spot where I'm unable to come back, so I'm willing to do the Pyro/Consec combo just to clear the Wolf. Plus, the Pyro actually makes it so that Explosive kills the Beetle and gets me three health back, so losing it isn't a problem at all. Sebastian, meanwhile, is facing the age-old Hunter problem of draw, since he's kind of run out of gas just on the verge of killing me. But topdecked Savannah is pretty good. When I dusted all my Hunter cards, the one that gave me the most pangs was Savannah. Such a great card. But my only play is the Vanguard, which means he burns me down to 1. So, I either suicide her into the lion and get LightRag or I topdeck one of the more underrated cards of the set.

And it's the latter. If he Trackinged into the other KC, it's still over, but at least I don't die to Steady Shot and the Vanguard got me the second-best result in Arthas. Frostmourne does jack-all for me unless I can use it to beat face, which isn't likely at the moment. He doesn't draw KC and I draw Barnes. I spend some time thinking about which minion to play the Steed on. I decide on the Loot Hoarder because I want the Djinn to keep healing me for as long as possible and Arthas is already defending me and I want a second (and third) Taunt out there. Clearing the hyenas is just a matter of ensuring that one of the big bodies has to die to Arthas. It's one of the few times I've really been thrilled to see Army of the Dead from the Lich King. I'm still dead to KC and Steady Shot.

Kathrena pulls Charged Devilsaur and Sebastian's able to clear all my defenses. So it's do or die time again. A Secret goes up that simply has to be Explosive. He would have played it last turn if it was another Snake Trap or Cat Trap or whatever. Barnes pulls a Bonemare. Ugh. So I need Army to do work. It burns the other Rallying Blade and something else, but brings out the only minion that can save me: LightRag. I can't risk him hitting the wrong target, so I trade the 3 healing of Djinn for the 8 healing of Rag. But Sebastian correctly unloads on me and brings me to 4. I'm dead to KC again, so I clear everything, Bonemare a Bonemare, and drop the other Djinn, but have a 1 in 4 chance of Rag hitting the wrong target. He does not. At that point, the game is pretty much mine with his hand exhausted and me at 15. I'm betting the last Secret he played was a Snake or Cat Trap.

So, it worked, but luck played a huge factor; first in topdecking the Djinn, second in pulling Rag with Army, and third in Rag hitting the 25% on me. The Djinn still would have healed me up to 7 and he didn't have a board, which means KC would only do 3 for a turn in which I had lethal in play, but it was still pretty fortunate to be completely out of danger. Was a great game and I won while keeping The Man in my hand for half the game.

IAnyone have a chance to watch HS world championships this weekend? I wanted to talk about how it was decided by the better player using deep understanding of matchup to win.

Finals was FrOzen vs Tom123 or whatever number he uses. FrOzen goes up 2-0 and looks to have it locked up. First game was decided by lucky topdeck. FrOzen on Control big spell mage and is facing lethal damage from some big jade minions with Jade deck empty. He draws Arcane Artificer comibines it with Flamestrike kills minion and armors out of reach of UI to face for lethal.
Then Tom666 rallied to tie series at 2-2.

Last match is Jade Druid mirror. FrOzen has the coin and opens hand with double UI. He mulligans both for ramp. Tom789 keeps his UI and goes for card advantage. Now on ladder I don’t think any sane person would keep UI when facing Jade druid because if it’s aggro Druid you probably never have a chance to play it. But it’s tourney so he knows there is no threat of Jades being big enough to seriously threaten his life total by turn 10. It was the difference in their thinking about keeping UI that made the difference. Watch the game if you have a chance.

Been messing with a new OTK deck. Resurrect priest with Maly and Velen. You control the game with the full arsenal of spells. Eventually you have Maly and Velen in graveyard. Spellstone pulls them out plus one mindblast and one holy smite does 34 damage. They rarely see it coming

Sounds cool. What's the list?

Here is what I have been using. It can beat aggro actually. It’s awesome if you can Maly or Velen out early. Rez them and play spirit lash will keep you alive a long time. Big spelll priest wrecks this deck though. Mind control is impossible to play around. I don’t know about you guys but that big spell priest messes up all my fun on ladder.

I was just struggling like crazy trying to make the plateau at 5 on ladder trying to climb with full control warlock. There are just too many Razkuses and big spell priests to get anywhere. So I gave up on that and played Razakus out of frustration. I had made the cusp of 5 about 5 times already when I cued into tempo rogue desperately needing a win to cross the threshold.
So of course he shadowsteps Keleseth right out of the gate. I can’t go blow by blow like JackWraith but tturn 5 he had keleseth and 3 angry pirates on board and I had less than 10 life. If you saw the board state you would bet the house I was going down. I didn’t draw Raza until my 22nd card. I never drew Velen for OTK. My best play was having Anduin in hand and 19 life. He plays buffed Cairne. I know it’s a setup for Bonemare so I hold Anduin play some weenie draw minions. and take tons of damage. He bonemares Cairne, then I Anduin clearing his big threats and clean up baby Cairne with my small minions and a hero power. So crossing into 5 was definitely well earned.

# Class: Priest
# Format: Standard
# Year of the Mammoth
#
# 2x (1) Holy Smite
# 2x (2) Mind Blast
# 2x (2) Shadow Visions
# 2x (2) Shadow Word: Pain
# 2x (2) Spirit Lash
# 2x (3) Shadow Word: Death
# 1x (4) Barnes
# 2x (4) Eternal Servitude
# 2x (5) Holy Nova
# 2x (6) Dragonfire Potion
# 2x (6) Shadow Essence
# 2x (7) Lesser Diamond Spellstone
# 1x (7) Prophet Velen
# 2x (7) Psychic Scream
# 1x (9) Malygos
# 2x (9) Obsidian Statue
# 1x (10) Y'Shaarj, Rage Unbound
#
AAECAa0GBAm0A6irAoW4Ag2XAqEEyQbTCtcK6r8C0cEC5cwC5swCtM4C8M8C6NAC4+kCAA==
#
# To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone

Only reason I can go blow-by-blow is Deck Tracker. Those links I put in every game report are a turn-by-turn replay of the game. That's why I have so much detail. Thanks for the list. I'll give it a shot.

I saw Zalae streaming something like that list, he will probably refine it and add to his Fun Decks that Win (sometimes) series. I am sure it needs copy of silence. Maybe take out a holy nova.
Malygos is the true star of the deck. Was playing rogue and he had me down to 4 life. Turn 6 rez Maly and spiritlash brought me back to full health. Mid game I did not draw Velen. But rez Maly double mind blast and a holy smite for exact lethal. Malygos is my favorite card in Hearthstone. Like the artwork. But aside from Dragonlord in front of a full hand that probably is rife with dragons, Maly has to be one of the scariest cards to see hit the table. Often you die before your sphincter fully puckers.
What's your favorite card everyone?

Kel'Thuzad. Best card. I love everything about it. The long ass intro, the amazing effect, all the cool tricks with Reincarnate and other nonsense. Tons and tons of fun.

Favorite card? Hm. Tough one. There've been so many over the years. Maybe Evolve, just because it introduced a whole new thing for Shaman and created a lot of situations where you have to adapt on the fly to the different minions you picked up. It's certainly been the only workable deck for Shaman for the last couple years. I was arguing on Reddit a couple months back that when they do the rotation (and, hopefully, cycle some cards to the Hall of Fame), they should cycle some cards into the base sets for various classes, like Evolve for Shaman. But they might just keep it alive with one card per set as they're doing now (Deathseer, Unstable) so that it remains a theme of Shaman, but not something that's inherent to the identity. Someone started a thread on CompetitiveHS that was asking WTF? about Shaman and the Freeze and Totem decks. I did one of my long-winded deconstructions that got a lot of upvotes, citing my regular argument that Overload is just a poor mechanic and Shaman is doubly hindered by the fact that it's the only class whose hero power is random; in addition to the fact that they utterly dropped the ball with the Freeze theme (i.e. over half of Shaman's cards in Knights were Freeze and almost all of them were awful, then ZERO follow-up in Kobolds.) Unless they produce OP cards like Totem Golem and Tunnel Trogg to make a horrible mechanic actually usable, Shaman will never get out of the basement tier. Priest has a similar problem in that its base set is weak, but the hero power and most of its regular mechanics (like card stealing) are fine.

Got the 10 Pirates quest again, so I rebuilt Yarrrr!:
Bloodsail Corsair x 2
Lightning Bolt x 2
Patches the Pirate
Southsea Deckhand x 2
Bloodsail Raider x 2
Flametongue Totem x 2
Jade Claws x 2
Rockbiter Weapon x 2
Spirit Claws x 2
Stormforged Axe x 2
Lava Burst x 2
Southsea Captain x 2
Spirit Echo
Dread Corsair x 2
Naga Corsair x 2
Captain Greenskin
Doomhammer

I don't care if I win with it. I just want to finish the quest, but I do win with it pretty regularly. I pressed a Cubelock pretty hard and then lost to a Hunter when I got a really bad draw (as in, no actual pirates until turn 5) but then I squared off against a Jade Druid:

hsreplay.net/replay/Fu5zoLNwy5ZzXSBXLrKvmm

Opening hand is poor because I have no turn 1, but at least have something to build on. He Coins Wild Growth, so I know his hand is pretty late-game, too ("late game" for this deck is, say, turn 5.) I have to drop the Raider without a weapon in hand just to get moving and to bring out the worm. I have enough to clear any early Taunts. Totem on 3 is still disappointing, but at least it's Stoneclaw, which means I can go face with my pirates. I decide to Bolt him to maximize mana usage and just put pressure on. If his hand really is late game, then I might be able to make him panic by showing him how intent I am at keeping the heat on. He shows a bit of reaction by Pathing for Armor, but then hedges by drawing a card, too. Speaking of hedging, I decide to keep Patches around a little longer by using one charge of the Stormforged to keep my totem up.

He drops Behemoth and I really have no choice but to use my Lava Burst to clear. I decide to continue to keep my Raider clear by using another charge of the Axe on his 2/2 Golem. But he wouldn't have been able to clear the totem and kill her, so I probably should have gone face there. Overload is, as usual, restraining my development, as I long since would have developed other cards in my hand if I could. This is prima facie why Shamans can't compete against Warriors and Rogues with this kind of deck. But I do draw the Corsair to play with my Captain. I can't kill the Spellbreaker with the last charge, so I just go face. He can't clear and will sac his Spellbreaker to the threats on my board. Aya comes down, but with me at 26, I don't care. Druids don't have that much burst and I've been waiting to do Rockbitten Doomhammer for 10. I get him to 8. He'll wipe my board, but I have Greenskin and have lethal next turn with the other Bolt.

He topdecks the Ironwood to save himself and clears with the Spellstone, so he can hit me for 5 with Aya. But my plan remains roughly the same: Greenskin, Bolt, clear the Ironwod, hit him for 3 with the Doomhammer. He's at 6 and probably thinking that he wins on the next turn: UI, kill Greenskin, 5 armor, draw 5 cards and put lethal on the board (21 damage.) The only thing that saves me now is... Lava Burst. That's 11. GG. Even got a "Well Played" out of him. I wonder how many times people try to recreate this deck after seeing it. Probably not many. After all, it's Shaman.

MacDirk Diggler wrote: What's your favorite card everyone?

Knife Juggler. RNG done right.

Why is that every time I build an aggro deck I run into Ironwood Giant guy too? Like, I will go weeks without seeing one, and then I need to get the Pirate Quest, so I go small and it's EveryTauntIOwn.dec. Taz'dingo into Get Behind Me into Elephant Noises. Gives me time to play my Pirates out, I guess.

And that's why Pirate Shaman is a great deck. I honestly don't care if I win. I do TRY to win as I like to win games, but it's mostly just about seeing how many pirates I can play and how much damage I can do before the game ends, one way or the other.