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[Man]

It changed to May Season while I was playing a game (the battle stopped with neither parties being able to make a move so I had to log out).

I see that you go back a few ranks as part of that change ( I was 20th rank but reverted back to 23rd rank).

 

[Hydranockz]

Noz is also cheeky to play on a non-empty board. People panic and often don't make decent trades and stuff. I hate playing it on my laptop because without a mouse, those actions seem like a painfully long time!

 

[de1irium]

ugh

On the bright side, hopefully my momentum will carry through to next season...

 

[partyphone]

wait. that's a weird card for constructed.

 

[Card Boy]

Surprised Hearthmind hasnt being mentioned, Its like Twitch plays Pokemon. Only 20 users playing it. It has an overlay so you control the game directly.

the bot is rank 20 lol

www.hearthmind.com

 

[super-famicom]

Welp, giving a stealthed minion Taunt doesn't work. My opponent was still hitting me in the face =\

 

[JesseZao]

Surprised Hearthmind hasnt being mentioned, Its like Twitch plays Pokemon. Only 20 users playing it. It has an overlay so you control the game directly.

the bot is rank 20 lol

www.hearthmind.com

I saw a stream do it with "heatmap" controls. Not sure if it was the same one. I knew there would be copies, but there isn't much to be interested in for this. Guardsman Bob's version is more compelling since he's involved and plays the deck chat picks for him.

This is basically a gold farming bot. If chat coul actually climb to a relevant rank it would be interesting though. Also, Nozdormu hard counters the bot.

 

[Rockyrock]

its almost impossible to fit Noz into a deck

 

[Haly]

its almost impossible to fit Noz into a deck

If it was more affordable, I'd totally sideboard in Nozdormu vs Miracle Rogues.

 

[JesseZao]

If it was more affordable, I'd totally sideboard in Nozdormu vs Miracle Rogues.

All they need to do is nerf his cost/stats so he could be used turn 5 or 6. Maybe have him be a 4/6 5cc. Also, to be more legendary, he could gain +1/+1 whenever the enemy timer runs out (player must hit end turn).

I'd play it.

 

[Haly]

Shit, that just gave me a great idea:

Vision of Nozdormu
0 Mana
Players only have 15 seconds to take their turns.
Cannot be interacted with.
Battlecry: 8 turns later, you lose 8 mana and Vision of Nozdormu transforms into Nozdormu
8/8

Nozdormu
8 Mana
Players only have 10 seconds to take their turns.
8/8

EDIT: Even better!

Nozdormu, Intangible
0 Mana
Players only have 15 seconds to take their turns.
Cannot be interacted with.
If you ever have at least 8 active Mana crystals, empty them and transform Nozdormu, Intangible.
8/8

Nozdormu, Manifest
8 Mana
Players only have 10 seconds to take their turns.
8/8

 

[RumblingRosco]

You're a Mage on turn 6. Enemy has an X/4, and Y/5 minion on the board and you want to Flamestrike next turn. The last thing you want to do, in this situation, is to ping the Y/5, because that just makes it obvious that you're setting up for a Flamestrike, giving them time to counterplay.

The best part is when I don't have Flamestrike, but I ping his Y/5 anyway to make him think I do to put a hold on him playing any <5 health minions anytime soon.

 

[jstevenson]

Arena vs hunter

I have 20 health, he has 7, but he cleared by board with an explosive shot and then through down a stonetusk boar. I have a truesilver champ equipped

Use the Sword for four, Faceless manipulate the boar, dark iron dwarf it and hit lethal.

never thought I'd faceless manipulate a stonetusk boar, but there ya go!

 

[JesseZao]

Shit, that just gave me a great idea:

Vision of Nozdormu
0 Mana
Players only have 15 seconds to take their turns.
Cannot be interacted with.
Battlecry: 8 turns later, you lose 8 mana and Vision of Nozdormu transforms into Nozdormu
8/8

Nozdormu
8 Mana
Players only have 10 seconds to take their turns.
8/8

EDIT: Even better!

Nozdormu, Intangible
0 Mana
Players only have 15 seconds to take their turns.
Cannot be interacted with.
If you ever have at least 8 active Mana crystals, empty them and transform Nozdormu, Intangible.
8/8

Nozdormu, Manifest
8 Mana
Players only have 10 seconds to take their turns.
8/8

Makes me want the next adventure mode to involve the timeless isle (w/e it was called) or more specifically BM (black marsh?). The timed one with portals.

"We have to close the portals! Quick! The first one is opening!"

 

[MisterArrogant]

This is how you need to think to do well in Arena.

It's not enough to simply watch the board state, but to deduce what they have in their hand based on their actions on the board, then make your play based on that.

Another simple one:

Enemy Rogue's turn, has 3 mana up, activates hero power, then passes without attacking. An unused weapon telegraphs Deadly Poison, and being at 4 mana next turn telegraphs Deadly Poison + SI:7 agent.

This works in reverse too. When setting up your opponent for something, you need to make sure that you DON'T telegraph what's in your hand. Example:

You're a Mage on turn 6. Enemy has an X/4, and Y/5 minion on the board and you want to Flamestrike next turn. The last thing you want to do, in this situation, is to ping the Y/5, because that just makes it obvious that you're setting up for a Flamestrike, giving them time to counterplay.

Those are good points. I'm not as familiar with Rogue so I'm not as familiar with their play. I'm fairly familiar with Mage though. Sometimes you don't have a lot of choice though. Like with the Mage example, pinging the 5 health on turn six will likely signal your flamestrike on seven, but if you don't have anything else to counter you don't want to sit around and let them beat on you until you can do it all in one play. I'm not disagreeing with you. I totally understand what you're saying. However, things aren't always so cut and dry and there's always a lot of factors to consider.

Maybe your mana curve is bad. You can't just pick cards based on "value" independently. What card you pick depends on what else is in the deck. If you find your hands full of removal or that's all you're playing every turn then you probably picked too much. If you're top decking you probably didn't choose enough card draw etc and so on.

Also when you've learned the classes you can go for a theme when drafting. What cards are good in general isn't necessarily good in a strategy that a class is good at e.g. when I play warrior I'll play an aggro deck with a lot of weapons, chargers etc while trying to look for a few combo cards that wouldn't be very good by themselves (the card "charge" isn't that great in a normal deck but it's great as a finisher in an aggro deck. That 2/3 farseer with windfury is pretty terrible to pick usually but it does 8 damage to the face with charge)

I typically pay attention to mana curve. I admit card draw might be weak sometimes. It's something I'm paying more attention to in constructed so I might need to do the same in arena. I typically try to make picks that sync well with what I have in the rest of the deck but a lot of times shit is just random because it's random.

I really want to see how some of these drafts and games go that so many runs seem to go 1 to 3 wins consistently. I really think it's just a lot of people not realizing the simple mistakes and other small bad plays that cost them games.

I was thinking about recording my arena matches so I could go back over them after and see if I could come up with some strategies for a little more success. If I posted them on youtube or something you guys could let me know where I'm making bad picks or plays if you wanted. Do people still use fraps to record their games? Is there anything free that works well? I never ever got into any of that.

 

[Haly]

Those are good points. I'm not as familiar with Rogue so I'm not as familiar with their play. I'm fairly familiar with Mage though. Sometimes you don't have a lot of choice though. Like with the Mage example, pinging the 5 health on turn six will likely signal your flamestrike on seven, but if you don't have anything else to counter you don't want to sit around and let them beat on you until you can do it all in one play. I'm not disagreeing with you. I totally understand what you're saying. However, things aren't always so cut and dry and there's always a lot of factors to consider.

Of course, I was going to point this out but didn't feel it's necessary. Yes, if you have literally no other play than to setup for Flamestrike, then, by all means.

 

[OJdaKiller]

How does Heartstone Tracker work? I like the idea of being able to track my games. Is this an add-on you run? Does it track anything else?

I can't look for myself right now as I'm not at my home computer.

 

[Rockyrock]

If it was more affordable, I'd totally sideboard in Nozdormu vs Miracle Rogues.

That's the problem with it, the 9 mana makes it practically unplayable.

 

[Haly]

The Alarm-o-Bot joke deck can play him just fine.

kappa

 

[Overboost]

Cannot believe I didn't make the connection that The Beast is actually a beast minion. Played him while I had a Tundra Rhino on the board and pleasantly got a 9 attack instant charge for fatal. Derp.

Also, can we all agree Priest is getting WAY too popular lately and everyone's playing him like an asshole? It's gotten to the point where I auto-concede when I go up against a Priest, because fuck you. Zero fun every time.

If you main Priest, re-evaluate your life. Or at least tell me what to do against him with Mage/Hunter/Shaman/Paladin besides "play lots of 4/X cards".

 

[johnsmith]

Just played 2 mages, neither was aggro, and one was actually playing secrets. WTF is going on. The world is flipped turned upside-down.

 

[Haly]

Also, can we all agree Priest is getting WAY too popular lately and everyone's playing him like an asshole? It's gotten to the point where I auto-concede when I go up against a Priest, because fuck you. Zero fun every time.

Priest is shit, and the entire class revolves around assholish mechanics. It's impossible to play Priest OTHER than as an asshole.

Or at least tell me what to do against him with Mage/Hunter/Shaman/Paladin besides "play lots of 4/X cards".

Play lots of 4/x cards, they're the best cards in the game anyway.

 

[Aquavelvaman]

The dream! Tempo for days...

 

[NameGenerated]

Just played 2 mages, neither was aggro, and one was actually playing secrets. WTF is going on. The world is flipped turned upside-down.

I use secrets in my mage deck. Just 'cause I love when Spellbender absorbs an assassinate that targeted my Rag. Taking one for the team.

 

[bronson]

The dream! Tempo for days...

Have fun dropping all those minions down against a Hunter.

 

[Aquavelvaman]

Have fun dropping all those minions down against a Hunter.

Tempo rogue fears not unleash.

Anyway I won pretty hard, even coining scrub.

 

[OJdaKiller]

Or at least tell me what to do against him with Mage/Hunter/Shaman/Paladin besides "play lots of 4/X cards".

I've recently (last couple of weeks) started to play a troll priest deck which is a lot of fun, but certainly not op'ed...

Here's the secret...To beat this deck, use aggro...That works really well..I have no answer for it...Also, if you have board control by turn 4-6, you'll typically win...

You lose when the priest is in control by turn 5, or even if it's even...The deck kind of grows stronger as the game goes on because it doesn't rely on one gimmick...It's lots of gimmicks and a mind control waiting for you once you drop your big cards, or a SWD to simply kill them.

So yeah, aggro works well..Lots of early taunts work fairly well too, as...If you have silences, prioritize those cards...Silencing a light minion sucks, or the northshire cleric, mana addict, Cairne....hurts my feelings.

 

[de1irium]

How does Heartstone Tracker work? I like the idea of being able to track my games. Is this an add-on you run? Does it track anything else?

I can't look for myself right now as I'm not at my home computer.

I've been using it for the past 3 weeks ... I find it useful and interesting. The only real downside is that the stats are local, so if you play across multiple PC's there's no way to merge or sync the data except manually. There are other HS stat trackers that do store everything on the web, though, if you need that.

Here's what the main screen looks like:

Deck stats:

Charts:

 

[OJdaKiller]

I've been using it for the past 3 weeks ... I find it useful and interesting. The only real downside is that the stats are local, so if you play across multiple PC's there's no way to merge or sync the data except manually. There are other HS stat trackers that do store everything on the web, though, if you need that.

Here's what the main screen looks like:

Deck stats:

Charts:

That's cool...I'm going to install that when I get home...

 

[inky]

That looks neat. Saves me the trouble of having to track stuff myself.

 

[Cystm]

If you main Priest, re-evaluate your life. Or at least tell me what to do against him with Mage/Hunter/Shaman/Paladin besides "play lots of 4/X cards".

Says: the Hunter. You are playing the easiest hero in the game.

 

[inky]

Last Arena run went 9-3. Ended against a Druid with fucking Black Knight, Cenarius, and Savage Roar + Force of Nature combo. Oh, Wild Growth and Innervate starting hand, did I mention that? Edit: forgot to mention an Ancient of Lore, because why the fuck not.

Ridiculous.

Yay, Pit Lord! -.-'

 

[OJdaKiller]

Says: the Hunter. You are playing the easiest hero in the game.

That's the beauty of casual play. If you get a hunter, just concede. Blackball them completely...I encourage everyone to not even dignify a hunter with a match. They are that broken.

It's ridiculous that Blizzard created such a broken and op'ed class...It's not just UTH, it's Buzzard plus UTH, plus the cost of UTH, plus the charge, plus the flare, plus tracking, plus destroy any minion for 3 mana, plus the 5 dmg for just having any beast in play, plus the secrets, plus the hero power as a back up if all else fails...lol...

I guess on the flipside, they're bound for a nerf of some kind and priest is bound for a buff...

 

[Aquavelvaman]

Last Arena run went 9-3. Ended against a Druid with fucking Black Knight, Cenarius, and Savage Roar + Force of Nature combo. Oh, Wild Growth and Innervate starting hand, did I mention that? Edit: forgot to mention an Ancient of Lore, because why the fuck not.

Ridiculous.



Yay, Pit Lord! -.-'

I just lost my last game to a paladin with rag and alexstrasza. I had him to 3 health with assassin's blade up and then whoops, 12hp heal.

 

[FStop7]

I just got raged at in Spanish, LOL

I beat a guy straight up in Casual and he sent me a friend request just so he could rage at me. The salt is REAL.

 

[Brofist]

I'm in the midst of a bad losing streak vs Paladins in arena. In half of the matches I always seem to start with the slowest of hands, and the Pally BoKs a minion in the early going that I can't deal with.

Also not just against pallys, but Stampeding Kodo seems really popular in arena lately. I seem to get Kodo'd every second game.

 

[Aquavelvaman]

I just got raged at in Spanish, LOL

I beat a guy straight up in Casual and he sent me a friend request just so he could rage at me. The salt is REAL.

I've gotten like 5 friend requests but I never accepted them.

 

[scy]

Says: the Hunter. You are playing the easiest hero in the game.

Eh, at high-end play I'd say that the Hunter is one of the harder ones to play. A lot of combo pieces to balance and Tracking is one of the few cards that tests your knowledge of the match-up on what cards impact the current board the most.

The "click on minion, click on face" rush Hunters are pretty mindless but the same applies to basically every pure aggro deck. Learn how to mulligan and a few nuanced sequencing plays but not too much else.

 

[Llyrwenne]

Talking about Tracking;

Every card with a 'discard a card' effect shows your opponent the discarded card(s); Soulfire, Succubus, Doomguard, Deathwing or even just drawing a card when none fit in your hand. However, Tracking doesn't show your opponent anything. Why is this? There is no extra text on the card describing this and there is no reason that this one card should be an exception...

 

[zoukka]

Yeah playing midrange hunter is actually very hard. It's a weird deck that I like a lot. Sometimes you don't do shit early game and it's critical to use the UTH combo pieces eventually even if it's not optimal. When your hand is like a hyena, buzzard and stonetusk boar, I doubt anyone could say it's easy to make plays in the following turns. If you sit there waiting for UTH, you die to aggressive decks.

 

[ViviOggi]

In terms of braindead decks Zoo easily takes the cake if you ask me.

 

[Majine]

Did they give everyone those cool new card backs, or is it based on previous season performance?

 

[ViviOggi]

Did they give everyone those cool new card backs, or is it based on previous season performance?

Everyone who reached rank 20 last season.

 

[AnthonypUK]

I avoided this game like the plague.

I played it after consistent nagging by a friend last night

Now i'm Jonesing to get home to mess around with my decks and play some more, fuck you Hearthstone and fuck you blizzard i thought 'd finally escaped Blizzard game addition 3 years after getting off wow, now they reel me back in.

 

[call_kotaku]

I have to say that if I get a good draw with my druid deck I'm not going to lose to hunters, especially ones at my level. Generally the aggro ones will just deadly shot the first taunt minion they see and use their UTH/hunter's mark combo whenever they can't deadly shot (sometimes they even play UTH without buzzard if they feel like they're falling behind), and often times they try to save their kill commands for their finishing combo instead of using it for board control. All of this means they're really vulnerable to ironbarks and other big late game minions because while hunters are really frugal about their direct damage spells they are very trigger-happy with their removals. Also, black knight is a lot better in the matchup than I originally assumed because it surprises most people after their houndmaster plays.

The one temptation on my end is to save my keepers to silence the highmanes instead of using that 2 damage for board control, and using ancients of lore to heal instead of being greedy for cards.

 

[Majine]

Everyone who reached rank 20 last season.

Aight. I like it, spices things up if people have different backs.

I also want a board based on Undercity. It's so cool.

 

[Red_Man]

This is probably really obvious to most people in here, but I just noticed about a week ago that you can screw around with the boards, like turn lights on / off, light fires and my favourite is load and shoot the catapult on the Orgimmar map. I fell like an idiot for only finding it out now.

 

[d9b]

Welp, giving a stealthed minion Taunt doesn't work. My opponent was still hitting me in the face =

Once your minion becomes "visible" it works, but until then the card is still in stealth mode even with taunt.

 

[Luthos]

This is probably really obvious to most people in here, but I just noticed about a week ago that you can screw around with the boards, like turn lights on / off, light fires and my favourite is load and shoot the catapult on the Orgimmar map. I fell like an idiot for only finding it out now.

I actually hate it now. It's a sort-of OCD thing to destroy/hit everything. God help me if I get the Stormwind map, which has the most.

 

[Red_Man]

I actually hate it now. It's now a sort-of OCD thing to destroy/hit everything. God help me if I get the Stormwind map, which has the most.

:lol I'm the same way, especially when the other player is taking forever to finish their turn, I can't stop hitting everything.