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[Zemm]

I've played since release and this is easily the worst era of the game. There's just far too much RNG for it to be fun to play and it's a terrible competitive game for those reasons. The game right now doesn't deserve to have big tournaments, it's awful.

 

[Drkirby]

Replace your entire hand and deck with Holy Light, a card that only heals. I can't believe Blizzard thought that could be a good idea at any point. Maybe as some super dumb finisher as Priest?

 

[Fireblend]

I swear, 90% percent of the time my first draw is one of the two secrets in my deck. That's the mad scientist's job goddamit!.

 

[Karsticles]

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.

I feel like I'm making all the right plays. Dahbomb has been coaching my Arena play, and I got to an 8 win stream there with his help. I got to 5 Arena wins in a row solo, so I feel like my play decisions are pretty solid.

My biggest problem is that I don't know what cards I should be shooting for spending dust on. There are SO many options, and I've already burnt 400 dust on bad choices according to Dahbomb (and I mostly agree with him, though I WILL make use of those Abominations somehow...).

I THINK I want my end goal to be a Dreadlock deck, but Dreadsteed is 800 dust away. :-(

Edit: Oh yeah, and I tried Shaman in arena to check it out. NEVER AGAIN. I'm 2-2 and it has been such a struggle. Usually everything is free until round 4 with a Paladin.

Incidentally, I was 0-2 against Paladins at the start. Divine Shield is just too good of an ability with how it's budgeted right now. Maybe it should only protect from physical damage for a hit, like the physical version of spell immunity. That would be more fair than some of this crap.

Would it be too much if Shaman could pre-set their totem order in their decks, or if they always went Stoneclaw first?

 

[Pooya]

legend NA!

my final boss was a mage that conceded three times to me, win trading legend feels good actually, thanks to him

I played oil rogue almost entirely here, he said he used a 'dark side' deck to get there so he didn't want to gate keep rank 1 players. Sometimes lucky.

 

[Tarazet]

I swear, 90% percent of the time my first draw is one of the two secrets in my deck. That's the mad scientist's job goddamit!.

But you know as soon as you take it out for 2 CoC your Ice Blocks will go to the bottom of your deck.

And if you're playing huntard, well, it doesn't matter anyway.

 

[sibarraz]

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

*high five*

I will try to get paladin next

 

[CraigerGamer]

legend NA!

my final boss was a mage that conceded three times to me, win trading legend feels good actually, thanks to him

I played oil rogue almost entirely here, he said he used a 'dark side' deck to get there so he didn't want to gate keep rank 1 players. Sometimes lucky.

Sometimes all that salt pays off.

 

[Triz]

Just had a Hunter Arena draft with 3 legendaries, 2 unleash, and 2 animal companion. May King Krush, Elise Starseeker, and Arch-Thief Rafam lead me to at least 3 wins lol.

 

[EmiPrime]

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.

Turn 1 zombie chow and I can usually stop them getting a foothold, I just keep trading. If I can get to turn 6 with an empty board then I typically beat secret paladin. If they coin MC on turn 6 when they already have a shredder and a juggler on the board and a coghammer equipped then yeah you're going to lose but that's no different to many other decks that get a dream hand (especially aggro shaman recently) and you mulligan a hand of 4 and 5 drops and instead get Dr Boom and Sylvanas in your opening hand.

That said, MC should be a 4-4. Big enough that it can be BGHed if avenge lands on it.

 

[ViviOggi]

Turn 1 zombie chow and I can usually stop them getting a foothold, I just keep trading. If I can get to turn 6 with an empty board then I typically beat secret paladin. If they coin MC on turn 6 when they already have a shredder and a juggler on the board and a coghammer equipped then yeah you're going to lose but that's no different to many other decks that get a dream hand (especially aggro shaman recently) and you mulligan a hand of 4 and 5 drops and instead get Dr Boom and Sylvanas in your opening hand.

That said, MC should be a 4-4. Big enough that it can be BGHed if avenge lands on it.

Mate you keep underselling Secredin from the exclusive perspective of a goddamn Midrange Paladin. You're using the same busted tools, building the same type of cancerous board, you're essentially playing the same deck just with different bombs.

 

[Fersis]

legend NA!

my final boss was a mage that conceded three times to me, win trading legend feels good actually, thanks to him

I played oil rogue almost entirely here, he said he used a 'dark side' deck to get there so he didn't want to gate keep rank 1 players. Sometimes lucky.

Congrats!

How many Legend players we got on GAF?

 

[Gentle Rodriguez]

I swear, 90% percent of the time my first draw is one of the two secrets in my deck. That's the mad scientist's job goddamit!.

I've recently played a game in which 4 of my first 8 cards were my secrets and my scientists. So basically half my hand is useless.

 

[EmiPrime]

Mate you keep underselling Secredin from the exclusive perspective of a goddamn Midrange Paladin. You're using the same busted tools, building the same type of cancerous board, you're essentially playing the same deck just with different bombs.

I have Bolvar, Eadric and Tuskarr Jouster in my deck just because I think the cards look cool or have fun effects and have played mid range paladin since day 1 despite it being very underpowered for almost the entirety of the game's life. You can't accuse me of "cancer" (which is a really stupid term btw), this is the play style I like and I play it with cards that aren't really optimal. All I have in common with secret paladin is turns 2,3,4, Dr Boom and Tirion, hardly the same deck.

There are plenty of deck types that have strong board clears and/or can put early game pressure. Freeze mage effectively hard counters secret paladin and so does aggro shaman.

 

[TetraxShards]

Playing since near the end of closed beta. Haven't got past rank 12 (went on a winstreak with Priest around the end of Naxx era after crafting Black Knight and Ysera), class with most wins is Warlock with 110. Went 12-1 in Arena once, but the deck was madness, anyone could have done it.

I really like the game, I watch and read a ton of stuff about it, but I get too anxious after 4 or 5 games. So I just do dailies every few days with nonsense decks from Kibler and Day9's streams, try and win one game of Tavern Brawl, and stream an arena once a week or so (I have a 6-3 Hunter and a 7-3 Warlock on YouTube if anyone wants to coach, you will have to endure my voice though). I've got no problem with netdecking, but I feel like shit if I go on a long losing streak with a well-regarded net deck. I tried Secret Paladin with eggs that was going around a while back and went 1-7, and my one win was against a Mech Rogue (!) that almost bamboozled me with:

Turn 1: Coin -> Annoy-O-Tron
Turn 2: Annoy-O-Tron
Turn 3: Iron Sensei
Turn 4: Iron Sensei

No idea how I won, I'd have to check my HDT logs.

I have sunk a decent amount of money into the game as well, but that's mainly because I like to have all the toys to play with, so to speak.

 

[Grover]

ok 2 crazy stories to share,

i was playing my crappy mage deck and this zoolock is coming at me hard, my frost nova's and flamestrikes keep his board clear by the end, hes top decking now,

he gets me down to 1 hp and im basically dead, i top deck unstable portal and get Alexsrasa! i heal myself from 1 to to 15 and turn it around to win

2nd story, this happened 2 seconds ago, im playing controlly warlock and vsing face hunters all night, i have tons of taunts on the feild but this hunter gets me down to 6 and has like 4 cards in his hand, so im pretty much dead next turn, so i use Bane of Doom on my own guy and get Malganis, preventing any further dmg and he concedes

insane moments

 

[Ridli]

<snip>

I know this is gonna sound like a platitude, but you're gonna have to take a lot of losses if you want to step up your game. The important thing is to ensure that you are learning from each loss.

One thing that helped me was taking a class/archetype and sticking with it for a decent chunk of games. Like I wanted to learn lock so I rode Renolock for something like a hundred ladder games (wins *and* losses) straight. I spent a lot of early time losing to aggro just learning when was the appropriate time to heal/tap/put something on the board. Sticking with a deck for an extended period really helped me to identify what matchups I was strong/weak against.

Compare your turns after the opponent has reacted. Did you have another play? If you played X instead of Y would your position have been stronger or worse now? If it would have been even would it have cost more cards or fewer? If an opponent just won was there a card remaining in your deck that could have prevented it? If one of your cards were changed, would it be better or worse in that last matchup?

A loss streak can tilt anyone. But if you can look back and identify a learning moment, it makes it easier.

Oh, and of course, auto-squelch. It helps a lot.

 

[Gentle Rodriguez]

Got a BGH in a pack, pretty nice.

Got to rank 12, I could keep going but I don't care enough.

 

[EmiPrime]

I know this is gonna sound like a platitude, but you're gonna have to take a lot of losses if you want to step up your game. The important thing is to ensure that you are learning from each loss.

One thing that helped me was taking a class/archetype and sticking with it for a decent chunk of games. Like I wanted to learn lock so I rode Renolock for something like a hundred ladder games (wins *and* losses) straight. I spent a lot of early time losing to aggro just learning when was the appropriate time to heal/tap/put something on the board. Sticking with a deck for an extended period really helped me to identify what matchups I was strong/weak against.

Compare your turns after the opponent has reacted. Did you have another play? If you played X instead of Y would your position have been stronger or worse now? If it would have been even would it have cost more cards or fewer? If an opponent just won was there a card remaining in your deck that could have prevented it? If one of your cards were changed, would it be better or worse in that last matchup?

A loss streak can tilt anyone. But if you can look back and identify a learning moment, it makes it easier.

Oh, and of course, auto-squelch. It helps a lot.

This is excellent advice. Find a deck you enjoy and just keep playing.

 

[BananasWithGuns]

This is excellent advice. Find a deck you enjoy and just keep playing.

Unless you're like me and your favorite deck is midrange Shaman. Then you give up and sulk a lot.

 

[MetroidPrimeRib]

My favorite deck is Control Warrior, which is nearly unplayable with all the Paladins running around. I've been playing Control Priest instead, which works better in this meta. Might try a fatigue warrior

 

[TetraxShards]

This is excellent advice. Find a deck you enjoy and just keep playing.

I always liked Zoo, but I feel so vulnerable to removal. Plus, these days it seems to rely on Imp-Losion, which either wins the game singlehandledly or is useless.

I played six games and they were all either Control Priest or Face Hunter. It sapped my will to live. The Hunters I can deal with, it's always been this way, but these Priests. The games take forever. They just play Deathlord, Velen's and then removal until you hit fatigue. I guess I don't really understand what my answer can be to a Deathlord, most of the time. The only reliable way I can think of is Hunter's Mark, but even then you need something on board. Argh!

I'm really on tilt, I think.

 

[Karsticles]

I've played since release and this is easily the worst era of the game. There's just far too much RNG for it to be fun to play and it's a terrible competitive game for those reasons. The game right now doesn't deserve to have big tournaments, it's awful.

What has changed?

 

[Pooya]

Would this change make implosion to be a better designed card overall? I think Thijs suggested this.

if you hit for 4, you get 2 imps.
if you hit for 2, you get 4 imps.

I guess this makes it less esports material but it will help the card be less infuriating for both sides of it. It makes a lot of sense too, right now it's like you roll 2, you lose, you roll 4 you win, that's just awful to have this much RNG variance.

 

[Owzers]

played to rank 6 without secret paladin, got kicked out to rank 8 and played everything ( combo druid, secret paladin, zoo, renolock) eventually i got back to six and back to seven and then all the way to 5 when i went back to secret paladin.

War never changes.

 

[Papercuts]

Would this change make implosion to be a better designed card overall? I think Thijs suggested this.

if you hit for 4, you get 2 imps.
if you hit for 2, you get 4 imps.

I guess this makes it less esports material but it will help the card be less infuriating for both sides of it. It makes a lot of sense too, right now it's like you roll 2, you lose, you roll 4 you win, that's just awful to have this much RNG variance.

This would make more sense but I guess the text would be too unclear or something for them to do it with spellpower stacking.

If not that I would rather it just be a set 3-3 since 2 is awful and 4 is OP as hell. The current implementation of implosion is actually my least favorite card in the game, and I hate that the card is good and basically needs to be run.

 

[EmiPrime]

Unless you're like me and your favorite deck is midrange Shaman. Then you give up and sulk a lot.

I didn't know mid range shaman was a thing!

I always liked Zoo, but I feel so vulnerable to removal. Plus, these days it seems to rely on Imp-Losion, which either wins the game singlehandledly or is useless.

I played six games and they were all either Control Priest or Face Hunter. It sapped my will to live. The Hunters I can deal with, it's always been this way, but these Priests. The games take forever. They just play Deathlord, Velen's and then removal until you hit fatigue. I guess I don't really understand what my answer can be to a Deathlord, most of the time. The only reliable way I can think of is Hunter's Mark, but even then you need something on board. Argh!

I'm really on tilt, I think.

Deathlord is frustrating, even if you owl it after a velen's it can still trade very well with zoo's minions and the priest can keep it alive forever.

 

[Brofist]

Would this change make implosion to be a better designed card overall? I think Thijs suggested this.

if you hit for 4, you get 2 imps.
if you hit for 2, you get 4 imps.

I guess this makes it less esports material but it will help the card be less infuriating for both sides of it. It makes a lot of sense too, right now it's like you roll 2, you lose, you roll 4 you win, that's just awful to have this much RNG variance.

That sounds even more random and annoying

 

[Gentle Rodriguez]

Would this change make implosion to be a better designed card overall? I think Thijs suggested this.

if you hit for 4, you get 2 imps.
if you hit for 2, you get 4 imps.

I guess this makes it less esports material but it will help the card be less infuriating for both sides of it. It makes a lot of sense too, right now it's like you roll 2, you lose, you roll 4 you win, that's just awful to have this much RNG variance.

I think I'd like these kinds of random cards to just not be random at all. Implosion does 3 damage and spawns 3 imps, Boombots do 2 damage(or 2-3, whatever), etc.

 

[Sande]

That sounds even more random and annoying

Right now the randomness makes the card value vary somewhere around 2.5 - 6 mana. That can be a huge swing early on. I don't see how making it consistently worth 4 mana would be more random or annoying.

 

[ZealousD]

Would this change make implosion to be a better designed card overall? I think Thijs suggested this.

if you hit for 4, you get 2 imps.
if you hit for 2, you get 4 imps.

I guess this makes it less esports material but it will help the card be less infuriating for both sides of it. It makes a lot of sense too, right now it's like you roll 2, you lose, you roll 4 you win, that's just awful to have this much RNG variance.

Try to imagine the text on that version of the card. It would be a fucking mess.

Personally I think the card should just be cut from the game. I think the whole reason it exists is that Blizzard was trying to come up with a card that essentially double-scaled with spellpower in an interesting way. But since spellpower warlock is not a thing the card is not meeting its purpose and it's just a double RNG card that gets abused in connection with Knife Juggler.

 

[Pooya]

I guess coming up with a concise sentence for that is hard, alright.

 

[Papercuts]

Implosion is getting more toxic as new cards get added as well that are based around having minions on board. We already see that with power overwhelming and minions like Argus, Abusive, etc. but now Gormok and Seeker...ugh.

I had a renolock clear my board due to a 4 damage implosion, followed up by seeker from peddler, shadowflame. Like what the fuck. Added benefit on making my boombots worse as there's a bunch of trash littering the field now.

RNG board control AND board presence in one card should have never been a thing.

 

[Triz]

Just had a Hunter Arena draft with 3 legendaries, 2 unleash, and 2 animal companion. May King Krush, Elise Starseeker, and Arch-Thief Rafam lead me to at least 3 wins lol.

2-3. I swear every time I get a legendary (let alone 3) in my drafts I get wrekt.

 

[SonicXtreme]

Lucky for me aggro priest is super fun, can't wait to make an endless number of people mad starting Monday. We're taking aggro priest to the top now that I've ironed it out pretty well (got single dig rank in a few days since going ranked)

 

[Zoggy]

malygos beast hunter has great synergy guys!

Spoiler

if everything costs one mana

 

[Gentle Rodriguez]

I swear my Flamewaker hates my guts, piece of shit won't stop going face.

 

[Infernodash]

Rank 7...sooo many freeze mages, but I've teched in Kezan Mystic x2 and I get 2 auto concedes once I stole ice block. Sad that an entire deck revolves around 1 card.

 

[Gentle Rodriguez]

What kind of an asshole tempo mage runs 2 ice blocks

I thought he had pyroblast but the fucker just top decks frostbolt

SeemsGood

 

[Pooya]

and the last one I got was Lorewalker Cho too. I'm pretty sure I'll never open something top tier from classic set ever at this point.

Record so far, for the past 7-8 months.
3x Lorewalker Cho
4x Nat Pagle
1x Gruul
1x King Mukla
1x Tinkermaster

Missing Millhouse, Nozdormu and The beast, probably my next ones.

FINALLY.

next up must be Nozdormu and The beast and I can finally open decent cards I guess, almost there. so happy kappa.

 

[Danj]

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?

Don't be sad, I've been playing since March last year and I still find it very difficult to get past Rank 15. Just gotta keep doing those daily quests, buying those packs with earned gold, dusting the duplicates and saving up dust for legendary cards. The current brawl is really good for daily quests right now as some quick wins are possible.

 

[Dahbomb]

Rank 7...sooo many freeze mages, but I've teched in Kezan Mystic x2 and I get 2 auto concedes once I stole ice block. Sad that an entire deck revolves around 1 card.

Many decks are this way.

Combo Druid revolves around SR + FoN.
Secret Paladin revolves around Mysterious Challenger
Dreadsteed deck revolves around Dreadsteed
Anyfin revolves around Anyfin

Etc.

 

[Infernodash]

Many decks are this way.

Combo Druid revolves around SR + FoN.
Secret Paladin revolves around Mysterious Challenger
Dreadsteed deck revolves around Dreadsteed
Anyfin revolves around Anyfin

Etc.

I understand a combination of cards being needed for the win, like Combo druid. But, Anyfin and MC decks can win games without their namesake cards ever being played. The decks' cards have good synergy, which makes it very potent. I've had plenty of games where my MC didn't drop until after I used all my secrets...and I still won because of secretkeeper, blessings, muster, etc.

Conversely, freeze mages spend 6 to 8 turns dropping frost nova, doomsayers, blizzard and card draw. No HP damage. No board presence. Once you mystic their Ice Block, 75% of the time they concede. Even though they have two, the entire hand revolves around that 1 card and the ensuing burst. Moreover, you have an ice block and their deck is setup for a one-time burst. After that, it's a wrap!

I had a lot of issues without the mystics in the deck, but once I finally stopped being stubborn and added them by removing one muster and a creeper, I've been consistently winning. Biggest issue was consistently getting the Kezan in hand, but Divine Favor made it easier since Freeze loves to stockpile cards.

 

[Dahbomb]

Freeze Mage can't win with just Ice Block.

It can't win with just Antonidas.

I can't win with just Alex.

It can't win with just either Freeze or the burn.


It's a super refined deck that requires every component in it to win consistently. You remove one aspect of the deck and it falters. Ice Block is merely one component of it just like having a good early drop is an essential component for a Secret Paladin.



Edit: Oh wait you are complaining about beating Freeze Mage using Secret Paladin.

 

[manhack]

I mentioned it in an earlier post, but I swear every form of mage is running at least 1 flamestrike these days.

 

[ViviOggi]

Secredins complaining about Freeze Mage EleFuckingGiggle

(My phone auto-corrected Secredin to "We're done". Makes u think)

Also I haven't seen a Freeze Mage in weeks, must be because I'm playing Warrior

 

[Gentle Rodriguez]

I actually have a lot of fun playing vs freeze mages, probably because they're not so good at it so I win most of them. Either way the games are tense until the last second.

 

[Pooya]

Legend ladder, everything was face deck. Good grief, I didn't see this many face shamans from 5 to legend. I miss secret paladins already, without farming those I couldn't get legend this easily.

 

[WesternHeretic]

I understand a combination of cards being needed for the win, like Combo druid. But, Anyfin and MC decks can win games without their namesake cards ever being played. The decks' cards have good synergy, which makes it very potent. I've had plenty of games where my MC didn't drop until after I used all my secrets...and I still won because of secretkeeper, blessings, muster, etc.

Conversely, freeze mages spend 6 to 8 turns dropping frost nova, doomsayers, blizzard and card draw. No HP damage. No board presence. Once you mystic their Ice Block, 75% of the time they concede. Even though they have two, the entire hand revolves around that 1 card and the ensuing burst. Moreover, you have an ice block and their deck is setup for a one-time burst. After that, it's a wrap!

I had a lot of issues without the mystics in the deck, but once I finally stopped being stubborn and added them by removing one muster and a creeper, I've been consistently winning. Biggest issue was consistently getting the Kezan in hand, but Divine Favor made it easier since Freeze loves to stockpile cards.

Your problem isn't Freeze mage. Your problem is that Paladin weakness is burst from hand and Freeze Mage just capitalize on it. Druid can combo even if Freeze mage frostnova/doomsayer. Shaman can burst. Warlock can burst etc... Paladin can't.

One tip on that match up is never fill the board with 7 minions. 5 to 6 at the most. You need that 7th slot for your bootleg burst.

For example they frost nova you can silence one of your own minions (owl (2) > blessing (4) > Trusilver) for a burst of 8 + whatever that minion originally is. Or just kill the Doomsayer if the burst isn't enough for Lethal or at least pop ice block. Your only other damage from hand is Consec so if you can pop iceblock with them at 2 that's your win condition because bet that they will 100% freeze the board/character.

By reading your post you play Secret so you're not running owl. So your best bet is actually saving that 7th slot for something like (Keeper Doomsayer> Trusilver into doomsayer (8 mana to remove Doomsayer because once again you're not running equality on Secrets).

That's not a foolproof plan but it's one way to keep your board from Doomsayer and hope he doesn't continue to draw the blizzards/frost nova to stall.

Just my opinion from someone who plays both freeze and secret.

I actually have a lot of fun playing vs freeze mages, probably because they're not so good at it so I win most of them. Either way the games are tense until the last second.

I think Freeze Mage is a terrible deck to climb ladder but good once you're already in Legend.

 

[Haunted]

Would this change make implosion to be a better designed card overall? I think Thijs suggested this.

if you hit for 4, you get 2 imps.
if you hit for 2, you get 4 imps.

I guess this makes it less esports material but it will help the card be less infuriating for both sides of it. It makes a lot of sense too, right now it's like you roll 2, you lose, you roll 4 you win, that's just awful to have this much RNG variance.

miladesn pls, that's what I've been suggesting since forever! Cutting down on variance and making it a more reliable and balanced card.

Though we now know that Blizzard does want to push that variance because they think it makes the game more interesting and exactly because it tends to create heightened emotions (both positive and negative).


Card text: Deal 2 to 4 damage to a minion and create an inverse amount of Imps (4 to 2) for each damage dealt.

Classification in brackets optional. Worst case it's one of those card texts that even if you're unsure of its exact effect (so if it does 0 dmg it should create 6 imps, right?), you just need to see it happen once and then you know.

edit: Actually thinking about it, that 0 dmg 6 imps thing might be a fun twist. :lol