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[accel]

I'm proud to say that I'm still F2P on my account (save buying a single pack during the beta ) and bought all the adventures and expansion cards I own with in-game gold and the dust gotten from duplicates and I'm not an infinite arena player or anything. That said, I have been playing regularly since the beta, so I just paid Blizzard with my time instead of my money. I can only imagine how tough it would be to build a sizable collection of cards if you started playing the game at a later date and wanted to stay F2P.

A data point on this: I am F2P, started an account several weeks ago (but was following the game for a long time, watched tournaments, etc). Every day or two I play a single arena run and clear dailies if they are about to overflow. The gold income from dailies is enough to keep arenas going (I get around 100 back from each arena, very roughly), so my collection of cards is growing at the rate of a pack every day or two.

Not too bad (as long as you understand that it'd take like 2-3 months of this before you can have a non-joke deck in constructed and like 6 months before you have something viable and maybe some limited options).

PS: No legendaries yet.

 

[Kornflayx]

Playing Aggro Pally against a Renolock. Drawing 8 cards from Divine Favor is quite good. Drawing 6 cards from the second one is also really good.

Moral of the story: Divine Favor is really good folks

 

[Fuzzery]

You have to know what archetype you're going for in arena and draft accordingly

 

[ViviOggi]

A neat illustration of the quality of deck building assistants like heartharena - someone ran constructed decks through it, here are the ratings:

https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/433bbr/ive_run_the_top_10_ladder_decks_through_hearth/

Every single deck would likely eat arena decks for breakfast, yet the algorithm rates all of them as mediocre (just the druid deck is rated as kind of OK).

I am entering my decks on heartharena when I am playing from a phone even though I am not listening much to the suggestions, because the site shows what I picked - and I don't think any of my decks ever scored by their measure below 62-63, certainly never below 60. Yet none of my decks were even close to the constructed ones above.

Sum total: learn to build your own decks, period. The helpful algorithms are of very limited use. (FWIW, I think it is largely the same with various ranking lists.)

It's a fun idea but I don't think Heartharena not accounting for virtually impossible amounts of synergy says much about its competence in drafting in reality.

Also it's Tempostorm lists

 

[toddhunter]

A neat illustration of the quality of deck building assistants like heartharena - someone ran constructed decks through it, here are the ratings:

https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/433bbr/ive_run_the_top_10_ladder_decks_through_hearth/

Every single deck would likely eat arena decks for breakfast, yet the algorithm rates all of them as mediocre (just the druid deck is rated as kind of OK).

I am entering my decks on heartharena when I am playing from a phone even though I am not listening much to the suggestions, because the site shows what I picked - and I don't think any of my decks ever scored by their measure below 62-63, certainly never below 60. Yet none of my decks were even close to the constructed ones above.

Sum total: learn to build your own decks, period. The helpful algorithms are of very limited use. (FWIW, I think it is largely the same with various ranking lists.)

Learning to build your own decks is great, but comparing constructed decks is only a theoretical exercise. It is meaningless to do it in this way.

What it actually does is help you pick a card, as you draft, based on what you have already picked. That is extremely useful, the algorithms work extremely well and the decks you pick work well against the decks you actually face.

the variance you are complaining about is simply the weighting on synergy. In arena this is way lower than in your constructed decks. They do it this way because of reality.

But as somebody who primarily plays arena, I 100% completely support your advice that these tools are useless and nobody should ever use them. People should always try to draft a constructed deck because they are way, way, better.

 

[peakish]

Hah, played a game yesterday as a mage and was losing with only an Ogre on the board and the opponent had lethal for their turn and almost a full hand. I emptied my hand, playing a Mirror Entity secret and a weak minion, and ended my turn with a Well Played. Thought they'd end it as soon as possible, but once they hesitated I realised that they thought the secret might be Ice Block or something as they started clearing my board, lol.

Then my Ogre survived and my Mirror Entity copied the Stalagg they played, precisely giving me lethal the next turn.

Man, it's fun here in the low rankings where none of us can play, heh.


Regarding the F2P discussion above, the most difficult part to me by starting to play so late (I started last month) is to know what to focus on, between three sets of card packs and three adventures. I do think that the few cards I've added from League of Explorers, what I've paid for so far, are what have been some of the most important additions to my deck. In particular, Entomb, Museum Curator and Elise.

Needless to say, I'm interested in the speculation that's going around about whether or not Blizzard will remove some of the old sets because that would make it much easier for me to focus on deck building.

 

[Zoggy]

I will always be proud that none of my 300 paladin wins are with secret paladin. Ok theres still my golden druid with midrange druid that makes some people sad even if I dont think is on the same level of cancer or is even cancer at all.

i only started playing paladin in october, after MC was well established.

i know have a golden uther and have reached legend twice.

i'm not even kidding.

 

[manhack]

Mech mage generally do not run flamestrike. And also mech mage is an aggro deck if you clear the board they will be top decking the rest of the way with no real card draw.

So you shouldn't be worried about playing around Flamestrike.

You can also see in the first picture he's going into turn 4 with 1 card in his hand. That is a sign of agression and that's he all in. Therefore doing everything you can to clear the board is the right move.

Generally they don't, but my experience in rank 18-10 the last week tells me otherwise. I've seen both mech mage and tempo mage running a wide variety of tech cards and spells including a TON of flamestrikes; I even had a mech mage use 2 flamestrikes on me last night. It was infuriating because I couldn't possibly play around 2 since that is crazy and I still wound up winning the game (hence why flamestrike in mech mage is kind of bad).

TLDR: you never know what the heck people are playing in the lower ranks.

 

[Zoggy]

i'm rly good at miracle malygos rogue when everything costs one mana, i should go pro

 

[Pooya]

got rank 1 5 star, final boss time...

of course it's the most moronic warrior, with double doomsayer, tournament medic and effing gorehowl again.

I hope next set they give mage armor piercing spells and paladin becomes even more cancerous without any nerf and more broken cards so that this deck and its players that have all the time in the world on their hand to troll are erased from the game for forever, amen. The old handlock has died, I wouldn't sat it's impossible. If warrior gets something else to play.

I leave that two more wins for tomorrow, getting legend with oil rogue felt quite good otherwise.

 

[Papercuts]

i only started playing paladin in october, after MC was well established.

i know have a golden uther and have reached legend twice.

i'm not even kidding.

Man...I've been playing since 2014 and don't even have a single golden hero, lol. I jump around too much, Pally is my closest but that was basically all midrange. Haven't played it much lately since I find secret pally super boring to actually use and I need to get warleaders to try anyfin.

 

[Zemm]

The only golden hero I have is priest. I deserve a medal for that.

 

[EmiPrime]

Charge in general is just a horrible mechanic and, in my opinion, it really should have no place in Hearthstone outside of stuff like Icehowl.

+1

I can react to Dr 6 on my turn, I can't to FON+SR, UTH or that stupid murloc OTK deck.

 

[Haunted]

I don't have a golden hero.

 

[Papercuts]

The only golden hero I have is priest. I deserve a medal for that.

My apologies.

 

[Kunohara]

Rank 5 and 4 have been all renolocks it's crazy. I've switched from demon zoo to secret paladin, and my match ups against renolocks has been about even actually. I just played against one where I did not have anything to play until turn 4, and I still won in fatigue. Crazy close game. I've never been this high a rank before, and the games have been significantly harder. It is always really close. If my weekend weren't so busy, I would have tried to go much higher.

 

[RumblingRosco]

Man...I've been playing since 2014 and don't even have a single golden hero, lol. I jump around too much, Pally is my closest but that was basically all midrange. Haven't played it much lately since I find secret pally super boring to actually use and I need to get warleaders to try anyfin.

Same. I've been playing since Open Beta and my highest wins is about 350 on Shaman (about 20 of those from Aggro Shaman... the rest... well...).

 

[Pooya]

I started around Naxx, played before that too but not regularly, just passing really. I have almost 4 golden portraits across two servers and I'm about to become legendary on both too!! beat that! you all suck!!!

 

[dk_]

Golden Hunter, Warrior, Paladin, Rogue, Warlock. Playing since late beta.

 

[Haunted]

I've been playing this game since beta and I just lost to the most perfect draw of a Murloc Shaman I have ever seen. 11 damage overkill on turn 4, 42 damage total.

Turn 1
Mrrgleton

I pass

Turn 2
Murloc Tidehunter

I play Armorsmith

Turn 3
Murloc Tinyfin
Murloc Tinyfin
Bluegill Warrior
Anyfin is Possible (1 Mana)
(his hand is now empty)

buffed 4/3 Bluegill kills off my Armorsmith

I play Fiery War Axe, kill his 4/3 Tidehunter

Turn 4
Anyfin is Possible top deck

 

[Apathy]

I've been playing this game since beta and I just lost to the most perfect draw of a Murloc Shaman I have ever seen. 11 damage overkill on turn 4, 42 damage total.

Turn 1
Mrrgleton

I pass

Turn 2
Murloc Tidehunter

I play Armorsmith

Turn 3
Murloc Tinyfin
Murloc Tinyfin
Bluegill Warrior
Anyfin is Possible (1 Mana)
(his hand is now empty)

buffed 4/3 Bluegill kills off my Armorsmith

I play Fiery War Axe, kill his 4/3 Tidehunter

Turn 4
Anyfin is Possible top deck

I hate murlock decks. Sometimes you just gotta take that L, cause there is no way to have a deck built to counter that and still be competitive against everything else.

 

[Haunted]

So now that I've lost against the fastest deck I've ever seen, I just lost against the slowest possible deck, too. My Ragnaros and Ysera were entombed, my Grommash Death'd, my Varian and Boom Lightbombed until I had no threats left, Starseeker got put into play via his Deathlord so I didn't even have that possible out. ;_;


what a day

 

[#sorrynotsorry]

So now that I've lost against the fastest deck I've ever seen, I just lost against the slowest possible deck, too. My Ragnaros and Ysera were entombed, my Grommash Death'd, my Varian and Boom Lightbombed until I had no threats left, Starseeker got put into play via his Deathlord so I didn't even have that possible out. ;_;


what a day

Fatigue priest! Fun but not that viable though.

I've been running a custom hunter deck without Flare. Work really well actually. Rank 4 on a 10 game win streak. I decimate pally, zoo, and warrior almost every time. Beat Reno if he doesn't draw it, lose if he does. I do get murdered by priest though.

It's working and not a netdeck! I feel good.

 

[EmiPrime]

You have to play conservatively against fatigue priest, always keep a big card advantage then once both lightbombs are used and they are top decking for answers, just let rip on them.

 

[Papercuts]

I got destroyed by a shadowfiend in the brawl. Never even thought about that card, but he drew a bunch with it on the field, and if any of the cards drawn are other draw cards they cycle for free.

I even milled and burned the priest's malygos and still died to velen double faceless mind blast, lol.

 

[Zoggy]

i've been up all night playing this stupid brawl.

70 wins so far.

right now doing shaman maly

 

[ZealousD]

A neat illustration of the quality of deck building assistants like heartharena - someone ran constructed decks through it, here are the ratings:

https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/433bbr/ive_run_the_top_10_ladder_decks_through_hearth/

Every single deck would likely eat arena decks for breakfast, yet the algorithm rates all of them as mediocre (just the druid deck is rated as kind of OK).

I am entering my decks on heartharena when I am playing from a phone even though I am not listening much to the suggestions, because the site shows what I picked - and I don't think any of my decks ever scored by their measure below 62-63, certainly never below 60. Yet none of my decks were even close to the constructed ones above.

Sum total: learn to build your own decks, period. The helpful algorithms are of very limited use. (FWIW, I think it is largely the same with various ranking lists.)

Final Tierscore is actually a pointless metric on HearthArena. It is just the average tier score of individual card picks. It doesn't tell you how strong the deck actually is. You could have a deck with 30 North Sea Kraken and get a good tier score but that doesn't mean the deck is any good.

 

[GeneralHerpes]

Brawl is actually not TOO bad for F2P. Went 2-2 w/ only Loatheb for legendary. Lots of common cards shine. & it's fun to pop legendaries w/ elven archers.

That said, my losses were...definitive.

 

[SonicXtreme]

Aggro priest got to single digits and I've only been ranking it since Monday. Can't wait for the first we're gonna see how high it can go. I just hope the higher ranks are ripe with secret pallys cos after I tech in double flame jugglers it's a fantastic matchup, well it's still favored without but gets even better. Holy fire mind blasts and shadowbombers are such good turn 6/7 bombs, basically just have to get them to half health by those turns then burn and it doesn't matter what's on their board. Get down can't stop the double digit face pounding turns to finish. Taking out one velens was a tough choice but I think it's for the best all in all, you don't really need more than one when you're trying to win t5-8

 

[Zemm]

There has never ever ever ever been an easier class to get to legend than Paladin right now. If you can't, then you are either awful at the game or don't play much.

 

[Dahbomb]

I went through and tried to make a bunch of decks without using Basic/classic cards.

I realized soon that trying to make a control deck is useless because you have such fewer good spells to work and the stuff they introduced hasn't been that good compared to minions. Only exception is maybe Priest as you can use double Lightbomb/Excavated Evil/Entomb but that still feels weak sauce.

Mech decks would dominate and to a lesser extent Dragon Priest. Everyone would use Dr Balanced because with no BGH it would be a huge menace.

The game would actually be worse in this format.

 

[SonicXtreme]

Has huge toad had success in any face decks? It's kind of appealing as a paladin tech , for a deck already double knife and flame jugged out but you'd really have to find room for it, curious if it squeezed in to anything serious

 

[Dahbomb]

Has huge toad had success in any face decks? It's kind of appealing as a paladin tech , for a deck already double knife and flame jugged out but you'd really have to find room for it, curious if it squeezed in to anything serious

Hunters and Mage decks use Mad Scientist, with those two also having Elekk and Sorc Apprentice. Warlock uses Dark Peddler, Paladin has Minibot, Priest has Wyrmwrest, Shaman has Totem Golem and Whirlozap, Druid has Darnassus and Rogue has Autobarber/Valiant/Defias.

That card isn't strong enough to beat the staple 2 drops for the classes and other top 2 drops like Haunted Creeper, Wild Pyro etc.

 

[Infernodash]

I've seen mages w/ 2 HP play two ice blocks - and spam fireballs/iceblast/ whatever other direct hp damage they have and get the win and secret pally is the cancer? lol right!

 

[Dahbomb]

I've seen mages w/ 2 HP play two ice blocks - and spam fireballs/iceblast/ whatever other direct hp damage they have and get the win and secret pally is the cancer? lol right!

You can win against Freeze Mage 100% with the right deck, you can't do same against Secret Paladin.

I WISH everyone on Ladder played Freeze Mage so I could farm them with Control Warrior.

 

[Zemm]

Yeah freeze mage isn't a problem, they're just annoying to play against because the games are so long and lacking any sort of interactively.

 

[Infernodash]

You can win against Freeze Mage 100% with the right deck, you can't do same against Secret Paladin.

I WISH everyone on Ladder played Freeze Mage so I could farm them with Control Warrior.

The right deck can't prevent the damage Freeze Mage does. You can keep the board clear, not lose HP and they drop alex, and spam fireballs. You can at least bgh MC or silence or removal. Once the HP barrier is up, there is nothing you can do. It's especially infuriating when it's dropped 2 turns in a row.

I also don't even want to get started on the always perfect curve turn 9 savage/force combo. Too many other problems in the game to single out MC. Too many. If anything, it's just one way to even the playing field with the other obnoxious decks in play.

 

[BananasWithGuns]

So I guess Elise Starseeker used to be a 2 mana Hunter spell.

 

[ZealousD]

So I guess Elise Starseeker used to be a 2 mana Hunter spell.

https://youtu.be/lcHy8xEt2QI

 

[Sande]

The right deck can't prevent the damage Freeze Mage does. You can keep the board clear, not lose HP and they drop alex, and spam fireballs. You can at least bgh MC or silence or removal. Once the HP barrier is up, there is nothing you can do. It's especially infuriating when it's dropped 2 turns in a row.

I also don't even want to get started on the always perfect curve turn 9 savage/force combo. Too many other problems in the game to single out MC. Too many. If anything, it's just one way to even the playing field with the other obnoxious decks in play.

Against freeze mage you can play warrior, heal after Alexstrasza drops, or hope that you can pressure them so much that they never get the chance to stop removing your threats. That last option can be almost impossible if the mage draws well, but the first 2 are pretty much free wins.
edit: Kezan mystic is obviously huge as well.

Big game hunter is the only proper answer to MC. And it's also a bs card that shouldn't exist in its current form.

 

[EmiPrime]

I've seen mages w/ 2 HP play two ice blocks - and spam fireballs/iceblast/ whatever other direct hp damage they have and get the win and secret pally is the cancer? lol right!

It's bollocks isn't it? Druid, mage and warlock are much stronger.

You can shut down secret paladin on your turn with a couple of tech cards that are useful against all classes (most notably BGH and owl) and board clear spells. I beat most secret paladins I face with my mid range paladin. Against freeze mage you can control the board the whole game, kill or silence their doomsayers and still get skanked out of a win because of back to back ice blocks and a cost reduced hand.

 

[Infernodash]

Against freeze mage you can play warrior, heal after Alexstrasza drops, or hope that you can pressure them so much that they never get the chance to stop removing your threats. That last option can be almost impossible if the mage draws well, but the first 2 are pretty much free wins.
edit: Kezan mystic is obviously huge as well.

Big game hunter is the only proper answer to MC. And it's also a bs card that shouldn't exist in its current form.

My point is you either have to play warrior or lose. Doesn't matter if you drop a healbot there's still an 8/8 on the board and a ton of spells in their hand.

It's bollocks isn't it? Druid, mage and warlock are much stronger.

You can shut down secret paladin on your turn with a couple of tech cards that are useful against all classes (most notably BGH and owl) and board clear spells. I beat most secret paladins I face with my mid range paladin. Against freeze mage you can control the board the whole game, kill or silence their doomsayers and still get skanked out of a win because of back to back ice blocks and a cost reduced hand.

Precisely! All the MC complaints and you pretty much lose on turn 9 to any Druid with savage/force. Turn 7 if they have innervate.

 

[Tarazet]

Has huge toad had success in any face decks? It's kind of appealing as a paladin tech , for a deck already double knife and flame jugged out but you'd really have to find room for it, curious if it squeezed in to anything serious

I made up a version of Egg Druid with Undertakers and Huge Toads. Good times.

 

[WesternHeretic]

I only play 3 class at rank 5 and higher (sadly my oil rouge is only like at the 7-9 range too much thinking) but mage/paladin/druid and from personal experience

Freeze mage > Paladin (65-35)
Paladin > Druid (60-40)
Druid > Freeze Mage (70-30)

I don't play temp mage and murlockdin so for Paladin it's midrange/secrets. For Druid it's midrange.

Druid is still be far the most lololol you have 0% chance to win this game when i draw perfect.

Secrets probably most consistent very few dead draw games but they happen one out of 10 games.

Freeze mage just whatever. You're cycling and looking for your shit it just did they draw good enough to kill you before you get what you need.

 

[Dahbomb]

There are many counters to Freeze Mage.

*Combo Druid : Comes with built in silences against Doomsayers and beefy minions. Combo allows you to do heavy damage before the Freeze Mage can. Heavily favored for Druid.

*Control Warrior is 9/1 match up. Auto win basically.

*Grim Patron Warrior is less favorable but still pretty strong against Freeze Mage. A good Armorsmith play can put you way out of range.

*Any Mill deck. Freeze Mage relies on card draw and essential combo pieces to win and if you can Mill their cards they become inert. Fatigue damage kills through Ice Block and that becomes irrelevant in the match up.

*Midrange Hunter. Similar playstyle to Druid, the hero power allows the Hunter to put in continuous pressure even without board presence. Plus you can put in Flare to counter the Secrets. Beefy minions like Highmane are very hard to remove.

*Aggro Shaman or really any heavy aggro deck. Finish the game before stuff like Emperor is a factor. Loatheb is a big back breaker against Freeze Mage.


Really though any deck that can utilize Kezan Mystic and Loatheb can beat Freeze Mage. I have beaten Freeze Mage as Secret Paladin many times, it really depends on the list. The main match up I struggle against Freeze Mage is with Priest. Dragon Priest doesn't have the burst to finish off Freeze Mage before they are set up and neither does Control Priest though I have won a few with my Flash Heal Priest variant. Warlock also struggles a bit but it's doable.

It just takes skill to play against Freeze Mage. Don't over commit if you don't have answer against Doomsayer. Use Loatheb in clutch situations (as in not tempo turn 5 play unless you can close out at 6). Save heals for after Alex play. Use Kezan when you have lethal, don't just do it if you see any Secret played (you might get Ice Barrier and then you will be sad).


On the flip side it's much harder to beat Secret Paladin. You can't always board clear a board that consists of stuff like Creepers, Shredders, Minibot and Secrets. You can't always BGH MC or even remove it. If Secret Paladin has board control right before MC comes down then they pretty much win the game. And it's not hard to get board control when you start games off with Minibot and Muster.

 

[Karsticles]

Hey all. I just picked this game up a week ago. I'm getting stuck around Rank 18 in ladder. It just seems like everyone is stomping me with with significantly better decks. What's a cheap and effective deck I could use to get to Rank 15 by the this weekend?

 

[ViviOggi]

 

[WesternHeretic]

Hey all. I just picked this game up a week ago. I'm getting stuck around Rank 18 in ladder. It just seems like everyone is stomping me with with significantly better decks. What's a cheap and effective deck I could use to get to Rank 15 by the this weekend?

Face deck. Any kind of aggro shit. Hunter/shaman/paladin.

Or just knowing how to play board and learn the cards in other netdecks. On my f2p account I've got to 10 using pretty much all basic/common cards before.

Having better cards help but knowing every card in your opponents deck helps more imo.

Doesn't matter what i have as long as i know every option you have on X turn.

Constantly talk to yourself like on the next turn his best play is "X" what is my best play against that.

 

[poppedcollar69]

wow i owned this anyfin paladin so hard

i sylvannased his murk eye and protected it... so when he anyfinned he only got 2 warleaders and a bluegill

i cleared his board and then... anyfin #2. ez two 10 attack bluegills and i lose

 

[CraigerGamer]

Hey all. I just picked this game up a week ago. I'm getting stuck around Rank 18 in ladder. It just seems like everyone is stomping me with with significantly better decks. What's a cheap and effective deck I could use to get to Rank 15 by the this weekend?

I'd say try something like face hunter. its pretty cheap and can be effective at that level. Also, the games will go pretty quick so you can queuing them up win or lose.