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[ZealousD]

It almost makes me wonder if STB isn't an accident, because some sort of research shows that cancer like that somehow causes sales increases.

They've actually talked about this some. The card used to be even more OP if you can believe that. They nerfed it late in the process and actually assumed it would be fine where it is now, and they said they didn't necessary have time to fully playtest the current version.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/01/12/hearthstone-small-time-buccaneer-has-already-been-nerfed

 

[thepotatoman]

They've actually talked about this some. The card used to be even more OP if you can believe that. They nerfed it late in the process and actually assumed it would be fine where it is now, and they said they didn't necessary have time to fully playtest the current version.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/01/12/hearthstone-small-time-buccaneer-has-already-been-nerfed

Hmm. Is it more op?

1 mana 4/4 is certainly crazy, but at least it doesn't come down until turn 3, or 2 with coin. And Fiery War Axe is the only card where it's truly super op.

Hard to say.

Edit: I guess control warriors might even run the pre-nerf version too, as a potential 1 mana 8/8, and Hunters and Paladins would be much more ahead of the curve than Shaman and Rogue is on it.

 

[ZealousD]

Hmm. Is it more op?

1 mana 4/4 is certainly crazy, but at least it doesn't come down until turn 3, or 2 with coin. And Fiery War Axe is the only card where it's truly super op.

Hard to say.

Not talking about the Swashbuckler version in the image.

Mike Donais: Small-Time Buccaneer was always neutral, but he changed a lot. He changed about five or six times throughout design process. One of his iterations was he was a 1 mana 1/2 and whenever you equip a weapon, he gained +2 attack for the rest of the game.

So in Warrior he was kind of okay, because if you played him before your weapon, he was a 3/2, but in Rogue, you could sometimes Hero Power three times in three turns and you'd be a 7/2. That was crazy. That led to a trap that a lot of designers fall into where [we said] - oh, let's make him worse. And we made him worse. Now that he's worse, it's okay to ship him. You want to be careful that just because you made something worse, doesn't mean you made it bad enough to ship.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Just won a match against Reno Mage that got a Ysharj from Atiesh with a Kazakus Potion which pulled an emperor made an 8/8 and transformed 2 of my minions into sheep. PO Shadowflame Hellfire Mortal Coil was exactly enough to clear with 10 mana and 2 1/1s.

 

[thepotatoman]

Not talking about the Swashbuckler version in the image.

Oh.

I especially don't think Rogue hero powering 3 times is worth making a 7/2, but that is strictly better than the current version in any case.

 

[Keyser Soze]

I have been playing so much bad/experiential stuff I managed to push myself to really low Rank 20.

I played a Rank 21 Mage, and my deck had Chromaggus, Lorewalker Cho and a bunch of Faceless Manipulators.

The mage got really annoyed with the bunch of Chos, as I ended up milling him with triples of with crap spells and coins, when he gave me triples of Fireball and Frostbolt. I think that poor player will never play the game again.

Sorry Blizzard

 

[squidyj]

Then you'll be completely fine

"Face is the place" is all you need to know

sure, if you don't care about your win percentage you can do this.

 

[Mobius and pet octopus]

sure, if you don't care about your win percentage you can do this.

Yep. It's always been incorrect to play a face deck as always going face.

 

[fertygo]

Got Patches dupe

pls blizz cut that bullshit about only STB that need to be nerfed

 

[scarlet]

edit: Levi's

 

[Lyng]

To this day I dont understand why people play Secret paladin. It requires less brain power then aggro shaman and is much slower.
And also a tip, dont BM when you win with that deck, its a no skill deck.

 

[Jadax]

Because people want to have fun?

I see no problem at all whichever decks someone chooses to play. The problem is with Blizz for being shit at balancing. If I had the cards for secret paladin, I would play it too to get to rank 5 (for rewards) and then return to my dragon decks for the rest of the month.

 

[Kunohara]

Got Patches dupe

pls blizz cut that bullshit about only STB that need to be nerfed

I actually just got a Patches in a pack even though I already have him. I'm hoping for a nerf as well. Get that sweet 3200 dust.

 

[JesseZao]

I wonder if they'll expand on the patches concept. They always seem to tease upcoming mechanics in previous expansions.

Ancient Wisp
0 mana epic druid spell
Gain 1 Mana Crystal this turn only.
After you play a Beast, cast this from your deck.

The animation would be a wisp spiraling out of your deck or hand.


Doom Herald SomeLoreGuy
5 mana 0/7 legendary minion

Taunt
Battlecry: Restore 8 health to your Hero.
If your Hero would take lethal damage, prevent it and summon this minion from your deck.

( Also considered it triggering at <15 health )

 

[Dahbomb]

Ancient Wisp
0 mana epic druid spell
Gain 1 Mana Crystal this turn only.
After you play a Beast, cast this from your deck.

The animation would be a wisp spiraling out of your deck or hand

At least it doesn't have Charge.... Turn 1 play a 2/2 + 1/1, seems balanced.

I really do not like this Patches mechanic one bit. Any card like that with no cost to use and just straight up buffs your plays with no counter is just bad for the game.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

The mechanic would make for a fun Zoo deck though.

 

[Dahbomb]

Imagine a deck full of cards like these. Turn 1 you play a minion and it summons 6 cards from your deck.

Yes that is totally not busted at all.

 

[ZealousD]

I hope they never, ever introduce a new card that gives you a free and consistent early game advantage like Patches. It doesn't matter what form that takes. It'll be OP.

 

[BananasWithGuns]

Yeah, specific cards that are summoned from your deck should be few and far between and even then they have to be especially balanced for that synergy.

Both Patches and Mad Scientist are overpowered so obviously Blizzard has failed in the balance aspect.

 

[Dahbomb]

This effect is probably balanced later on in the game.

Like if a 7 mana card summons a 1 mana card from your deck... who cares at that point?

Oh man I just got a godlike idea:


Dr. Zoom

7 mana 7/7. Battlecry: Summon 2 1 mana cards from your deck.

 

[ZealousD]

This effect is probably balanced later on in the game.

Like if a 7 mana card summons a 1 mana card from your deck... who cares at that point?

Oh man I just got a godlike idea:


Dr. Zoom

7 mana 7/7. Battlecry: Summon 2 1 mana cards from your deck.

Arguably more powerful than Dr. Boom himself. Sort of like with Mysterious Challenger, it pulls the weaker cards out of your deck so you'll be less likely to topdeck them. But it could be a wash if you draw your 1 mana cards early.

 

[Dahbomb]

Arguably more powerful than Dr. Boom himself. Sort of like with Mysterious Challenger, it pulls the weaker cards out of your deck so you'll be less likely to topdeck them. But it could be a wash if you draw your 1 mana cards early.

Of course it's not balanced. I just did it for the flavor.

Every time I make a card that has Dr in the text, you know it's not going to be balanced.

 

[thepotatoman]

I still like the "At the start of the game" trigger like Prince Malchezaar for cards affecting the game without being drawn. It's so much more flexible, and much easier to give it more of a drawback than just the drawback of it potentially being a dead draw like Patches.

 

[Pooya]

I made a huge mistake by deciding to ladder wild this season. rip wild, it's even worse than standard now. I miss secret paladin, that at least gave you 6 turns.

 

[Dahbomb]

I made a huge mistake by deciding to ladder wild this season. rip wild, it's even worse than standard now. I miss secret paladin, that at least gave you 6 turns.

Patches decks actually power creeped over Deathrattle decks in Wild. I never thought I would see the day but it's true.

 

[thepotatoman]

Are the pirate decks any different in wild? Like, do they run Ship's Cannon?

 

[slightconfuse]

Surprised no has tried a patches /gang up deck

 

[Dahbomb]

Are the pirate decks any different in wild? Like, do they run Ship's Cannon?

They run Ship's Cannon in PW.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Are the pirate decks any different in wild? Like, do they run Ship's Cannon?

some do sandbagging patches but the most difference is in running Death's Bite over Arcanite Reaper.

 

[LowParry]

Is there any good alternatives to Flamewalkers? And where does Ragnaros come from?

 

[ZealousD]

Surprised no has tried a patches /gang up deck

They have. It's a difficult and gimmicky combo deck. Anyfin Paladin basically does the same thing, but better.

 

[thepotatoman]

Is there any good alternatives to Flamewalkers? And where does Ragnaros come from?

I'm guessing you're probably looking at a Tempo Mage list, and in Tempo Mage it's 100% necessary, no substitutions. It is probably the most important card in that deck. There are other mage decks that don't use Flamewakers at all.

And Ragnaros is a legendary from the classic set. According to blizzard's current stance, it's never going to rotated out, but a lot of players expect them to change that stance at some point.

 

[ZealousD]

Yeah you can't really build a solid tempo mage list without Flamewaker.

Before Flamewaker, the more aggressive mage lists were basically burn decks, kind of like what Aggro Shaman does these days. You play aggressive early game like Mana Wyrm, Sorcerer's Apprentice, etc. You use Mirror Image to keep them on the board, then just throw burn like Frostbolt and Fireball in the mid to late game. I don't know if something like that would really work in low ranks right now, but that maybe you could try it if you really want a Mage deck and don't have the resources for Reno Mage or Tempo Mage.

 

[LowParry]

And the only way of getting Flamewalkers is with that Blackrock Adventure eh? Hmmm. I'm just about done with KZ which is really great. Maybe I'll get that one next.

 

[ZealousD]

And the only way of getting Flamewalkers is with that Blackrock Adventure eh? Hmmm. I'm just about done with KZ which is really great. Maybe I'll get that one next.

You'll be able to straight craft flamewakers for arcane dust once Blackrock Mountain rotates out of standard in a couple of months, but then you will only be able to use them in Wild and Tavern Brawl. But if you want to use them now, you will need Blackrock Mountain.

 

[thepotatoman]

And if you like the single player content, you'll want to buy it before the rotation, because they inexplicably no longer allow you to buy the single player campaign afterwards.

 

[Yaboosh]

And if you like the single player content, you'll want to buy it before the rotation, because they inexplicably no longer allow you to buy the single player campaign afterwards.

You only have to own a single wing to be able to buy it forever.

 

[Brawndo Addict]

Okay seriously what the hell is up with Arena? I barely squeak out a win in my first round with a mediocre druid draft and the very next person I play not only has a Faceless + BGH combo but he also drops a lategame Deathwing which throws away a Xaril too.

Is there like a secret code I'm supposed to enter or something; how are so many people getting 2+ legendary drafts for me to consistently match into them at the very beginning of a run?

 

[BashNasty]

My god you see a ton of the exact same pirate warrior deck these days. People have no creativity left. I'm playing my morning games, and 4 out of the last 5 decks I've faced have been good old pirate warrior.

Thankfully I've defeated 3 out of four of those decks, but my god people are predictable.

 

[FiveSix4Three]

Old god ramp druid is insanely fun!

Soggoth mvp

 

[JesseZao]

Old god ramp druid is insanely fun!

Soggoth mvp

Soggoth is a champ. I love Madam Goya'ing him out in my renolock. Prime targets being reno or something easily combo'd with like bloodsail corsair/patches.

 

[thepotatoman]

Thinking maybe taunt druid this could work against these pirates.

Mega Ramp Taunt Druid

Maybe I'll be try hard with that and see how far I can rank up with it. There's temptation to Madam Goya or Noggenfogger it, but I'm hoping to actually break the meta here, not meme it.


Only other thing that's interesting to me is finding the best midrange hunter build. I don't expect hunter to be super good, but it just seems to me like all the lists out there are doing it very wrong.

For instance Rat Pack is not a good card without more consistent ways to buff it up, and that doesn't exist right now. 2 mana 1/1 is is such crappy tempo, but at least the deathrattle is too good to pass up. 3 mana 2/2 is also extremely crappy tempo and a terrible deathrattle most of the time. It shouldn't be in any tryhard hunter deck at all.

Beast Hunter

So that's what I'm experimenting with trying to make legit. Tweaks to come I'm sure.

 

[Karsticles]

What about defensive patches?

When X happens, play this card and deal 4 damage to all minions.

When X happens, play this card and gain 6 armor.

 

[Nirolak]

I think those are called Secrets.

 

[MonorailCat]

My god you see a ton of the exact same pirate warrior deck these days. People have no creativity left. I'm playing my morning games, and 4 out of the last 5 decks I've faced have been good old pirate warrior.

Thankfully I've defeated 3 out of four of those decks, but my god people are predictable.

why be creative if it doesn't get you anywhere? In the longterm creative decks won't get you anywhere, because Reno/kazuakus, jade and pirate are just too strong.
It's a side effect of Team 5 pushing certain archetypes with overpowered cards. Experimenting is gone.

You are just artificially handicapping yourself with gimmick or off-meta decks.. it was always that way, but especially in this meta. Powercreep is real.

 

[Karsticles]

I think those are called Secrets.

I mean cards that play from your deck, patches-style.

 

[Dahbomb]

What about defensive patches?

When X happens, play this card and deal 4 damage to all minions.

When X happens, play this card and gain 6 armor.

You mean if opponent plays 4 minions then the card gets played from your deck?

Probably too good also. I think the main issue is that this mechanic is not costed appropriately. You need to really lower the power level and consistency of your deck to be able to use a card like that, sort of like Kazakus.

 

[JesseZao]

I think those are called Secrets.

Secret Secrets for Non-Secret classes!

Or

Variable-cost secrets for Secret classes!

 

[ZealousD]

I mean cards that play from your deck, patches-style.

So, Mad Scientist.

 

[manhack]

Thinking maybe taunt druid this could work against these pirates.

Mega Ramp Taunt Druid

So that's what I'm experimenting with trying to make legit. Tweaks to come I'm sure.

I think Druid can really shine when they nerf the pirate and shaman cards. Although some fear the Jade Druid decks overtaking the meta, I'm convinced that beast druid and ramp taunt druids could be more viable if the meta goes more mid-range and/or control.

Even my beast Druid list does well vs. slower aggro starts and stomps over Jade Druids.