Episodes
Sunday Nov 30, 2014
The Last Standin Paladin Deck - Episode 40
Sunday Nov 30, 2014
Sunday Nov 30, 2014
Hello!
- Scott is on the show this week
- Topic: Hot Paladin-on-Paladin deck battle action!
- Reasons to be happy this week
- News: Gnomes vs. Goblins card reveals
What is a Deck Battle?
Once a month, a guest host brings their favorite deck onto the show to battle the current reigning champion deck for control of the Happy Hearthstone Deck Battle Throne!
If the challenger wins the best-of-3 series, their deck becomes the new Reigning Champion Deck and will fight off future challengers until it loses, or until it’s earned its place in the Happy Hearthstone Hall of Fame!
View the Deck Battle Archive + The Happy Hearthstone Hall of Fame
Defending Deck: Scott’s Survival Paladin deck wins by spewing cheap hard-to-kill and regenerating minions onto the battlefield. His deck has reigned supreme for 4 months, and has beaten 1 deck before this episode.
Challenger Deck: Josh’s Last Standin Paladin deck is a super-lategame Paladin deck that stalls out with simple spells and minions and then floods the board with fatty minions that overwhelm the opponent.
The Deck
Creatures
- 1x Acidic Swamp Ooze
- 2x Argent Protector
- 2x Earthen Ring Farseer
- 2x Shade of Naxxramas
- 2x Spellbreaker
- 1x Faceless Manipulator
- 1x Feugen
- 2x Sludge Belcher
- 1x Stalagg
- 2x Guardian of Kings
- 1x Stormwind Champion
- 1x Gruul
- 1x Kel’Thuzad
- 1x Alexstrasza
- 1x Sea Giant
Spells
- 1x Blessing of Wisdom
- 2x Equality
- 2x Holy Light
- 2x Consecration
Weapons
Sideboard
I really like this deck because it uses very few high-quality cards that you can’t get from the Naxxramas dungeon. But in case you don’t have some of the ideal cards, here are some easy-to-get backups you can use that keep with the same theme and strengths of the deck. I’ll also add a few upgrades in case you have the more rare cards that I don’t have (but wish I did).
Early Backups
- Boulderfist Ogre (Replace Gruul, Alexstrazsa)
- Frost Elemental (Replace Sea Giant)
- Acidic Swamp Ooze (Replace Sword of Justice)
Future Upgrades
- Aldor Peacekeeper (Replace Acidic Swamp Ooze)
- Lay On Hands (Replace Stormwind Knight)
- Tirion Fordring (Replace Stormwind Knight)
The Duel!
Josh’s Perspective
Scott’s Perspective
Post-Duel Commentary
- Who won
- Obligatory bragging session
- Challenger Deck: How well did it perform?
- Defending Deck: How well did it perform?
- Best moments in the matches
- The Happy Hearthstone Champion Ceremony(tm)
Community
- Questions from TK
- iTunes Reviews
Card of the Week
Farewell
- Follow Scott on Twitter
- What you want to see in future episodes
- What hosts you want to visit the show
Thursday Nov 13, 2014
Random Raises the Skill Cap - Episode 39
Thursday Nov 13, 2014
Thursday Nov 13, 2014
Hello!
- Adam is on the show this week
- Topic: Why Random Cards Raise the skill cap, not lower it
- Reasons to be happy this week
- News: BlizzCon announcements: Spectator mode, World Championship, new expansion, and more!
Current Perspective on Random Cards
- The new expansion has a lot of random effects in its cards.
- Goblins and gnomes both have strong ties to random or unexpected effects in their engineering, so it fits the theme
- Some forum/reddit posters have gotten very angry about how they believe the random effects reduce the competitiveness of the game. And at first, I kind of agreed.
- Adam shared his perspective with me and explained how random effects are actually increasing the skill cap and competitiveness of Hearthstone.
- It really got me excited about the expansion, and let me view the cards with a totally new, better perspective. I wanted him to share that with all of you as well.
Why Have Random Effects On Cards At All?
- Diversity
- Surprise
- Risk
- High-level strategy revolving around manipulating the odds in your favor
Degrees of Randomness
- How random does the effect have to be?
- Stampeding Kodo vs. Brawl
- How wide of a variance is there in the outcome? Best case vs. Worst case
- If it’s randomly deal 100 damage to your opponent or destroy all of their cards, do you really care that it’s random?
Randomness Raises the Skill Cap
- Random effects can be controlled and manipulated.
- Approach random cards like a con artist. How can you manipulate the context and the environment to make that random card work in your favor.
- This is a more big-picture strategy that involves knowing all the cards in your deck, your chances of drawing each card, and controlling the board at a level beyond simply “I have more minions”.
- Be patient with your random-effect cards to get the most value out of them.
Examples From the New Expansion Cards
- Blingtron 3000, Ogre Warmaul
- Bomb Lobber, Madder Bomber, Goblin Blastmage, Bouncing Blade, Flamecannon
- Gnomish Experimenter, Recombobulator, Unstable Portal
- Piloted Shredder, Piloted Sky Golem, Sneed’s Old Shredder
Community
- Questions from Bert and Matt
- iTunes Reviews
Card of the Week
Farewell
- Follow Adamon Twitter
- What you want to see in future episodes
- What hosts you want to visit the show