Episodes
Saturday Feb 28, 2015
Goblins vs Gnomes Review - Episode 43
Saturday Feb 28, 2015
Saturday Feb 28, 2015
Hello!
- Scott is on the show this week
- Topic: Goblin vs. Gnomes Expansion Review
- Reasons to be happy this week
- News: Upcoming reveals at PAX East!
What Kind of Review Is This?!
It’s not a complete review.
There are 123 cards in this expansion, and we took 3 hours to review 30 cards in Naxxramas! Instead, we picked a sampling of cards to talk about — the ones we think you should really care about.
For each quality level, we each picked 3 cards to talk about:
- 1 card that you must craft
- 1 card that you must draft in Arena
- 1 card that you must avoid in both cases
If people want to hear us review more cards, we might do a similar feature for each set of class cards in the new expansion too. Just let us know in the comments below! in the future: Class cards, we pick 2 cards total:
Neutral Cards – Common
There are a lot of very strong common-quality cards in the expansion, which is great for Arena and makes it easy to craft cards for constructed! Look here before you invest dust into the more expensive cards, that aren’t always as good as these commons.
Best to Craft: Piloted Shredder
- Josh says: Always passes the vanilla test. Lots of fun surprises too!
- Scott says: Solid value. Lots of fun.
Best to Craft: Antique Healbot
- Scott says: That much life can make a real difference in some decks. It’s expensive, but leaves a body of substance behind. Helps most when you’re behind on life, but not necessarily on board.
- Josh says: This has caused me to win and lose many games. Best healing many classes have access to.
Best to Draft: Annoy-o-Tron
- Josh says: Always useful. It’ll hold off a rush early, trade with 2-health minions easily, and absorb two big hits in late game.
- Scott says: I remember saying I loved the look of this guy before we could even play with him. And sure enough, he performs just as I’d hoped.
Best to Draft: Micro Machine
- Scott says: Deceptively strong. Starts as a 2/2 for 2 by the time stats matter. By your turn, he’s a 3/2. Anything above that is awesome. He’s great w/ coin.
- Josh says: Tremendous potential for a tiny investment (2 mana). If you can land some sturdy taunt around it, or some extra health on it, it can win games.
Best to Dust: Lost Tallstrider
- Josh says: A dumb card for a dumb bird. Will rarely kill more than one creature. Take Chillwind Yeti instead. Also, why is it wearing goggles and a bullet bandolier?
- Scott says: Pure vanilla in a sub-optimal stat configuration. At least he’s a beast.
Best to Dust: Flying Machine
- Scott says: Add haste and we’d be talking. Instead, it’s just too slow and vulnerable to be worth playing with.
- Josh says: Have to avoid dreaming best-case scenarios here. I’ve seen one person combo it with Blessing of Kings, and every other play has been lackluster.
Neutral Cards – Rare
There was a surprising lack of desirable cards at the rare quality level. I think you’ll be dusting a lot of these in order to make more commons or epics.
Best to Craft: Arcane Nullifier X-21
- Josh says: Another good variant in the line of taunt defenders. With Senjin Shieldmasta, Sludge Belcher, and this you’ll have a mid-game taunt creature for any type of deck you’re building against.
- Scott says: Seems okay, but would probably rather have Tazdingo most of the time.
Best to Craft: Jeeves
- Scott says: Jeeves has been overlooked IMO. In cheap mech decks, he’s quite strong. After all, how much would you usually pay to draw just 1 extra card?
- Josh says: This guy has sit in my hand so many games, because it’d benefit my opponent just as much or more than me. Fine card, but not my cup of tea.
Best to Draft: Bomb Lobber
- Josh says: Awesome effect on a decent body. In Arena, it’s not hard to play this when there’s only one enemy out.
- Scott says: Yup. This guy is the real deal.
Best to Draft: Lil’ Exorcist
- Scott says: Best of fairly bad choices. Everyone tends to have some Deathrattle in Arena.
- Josh says: Pretty bad card after the Undertaker nerf. I see this drop as a 2/3 more than anything else. Susceptible to silence.
Best to Dust: Gnomish Experimenter
- Josh says: Stats are woefully underpowered — and a 1/1 card is barely a card. Would rather have a Raptor for 2 mana. You can craft Commons better than this with the dust.
- Scott says: Ignore any thoughts about ‘turning a minion into a 1/1’ unless you planned on drawing and playing every card in your deck.
Best to Dust: Target Dummy
- Scott says: Proves Wisp isn’t the only worthless 0-cost card Blizzard can make.
- Josh says: Just in case Shieldbearer was just a little too useful for you.
Neutral Cards – Epic
Now this is where it gets interesting! There are a lot of interesting mechanics at the epic quality level, and not all of them are traps! Have fun with these ones.
Best to Craft: Enhance-o Mechano
- Josh says:It’s fun! And it’s actually quite solid. If you can hit this onto 2 minions, I say you hit value. And sometimes you’ll get even more.
- Scott says: A bit of a win-more card, but can help at parity.
Best to Craft: Hobgoblin
- Scott says: For fun!
- Josh says: Some cool possibilities for sure. Plus, very funny!
Best to Draft: Piloted Sky Golem
- Josh says: A nice body that can trade and replace itself? that’s exactly what you want in Arena! This is the Harvest Golem 2.0
- Scott says: Like Piloted Shredder, but an even better value.
Best to Draft: Recombobulator
- Scott says: Arena card quality is often lower, and there isn’t much synergy. Think of it as getting a free re-roll (and heal) on any crappy minion you own.
- Josh says: Surprisingly useful, and often just a raptor — which is just fine by me. Even good late game — kill something and then swap it to “heal”
Best to Dust: Mini-Mage
- Josh says: Such a weird creature. There are much better options for stealth damage minions and MUCH better options for cheap spell damage minions. This is actually more vulnerable than non-stealth spell power options.
- Scott says: He’s a hard sell over Jungle Panther.
Best to Dust: Junkbot
- Scott says: Well-named. Needs 2 activations before he’s profitable. Good luck with that.
- Josh says: This card is pure dumb. The 5 cost is just insane.
Neutral Cards – Legendary
These are the cards we dream about — the coolest of the cool. And Goblins vs Gnomes doesn’t disappoint! There are tons of great Legendaries to add to your decks.
Best to Craft: Sneed’s Old Shredder
- Josh says: It’s not a perfect card, but it’s the best way to play with all those fancy Legendary cards I can’t afford. Buy one Legendary, get them all for free!
- Scott says: So much fun! Usually a pretty good value.
Best to Craft: Troggzor the Earthinator
- Scott says: Such incredible value if your opponent has any spells at all, really.
- Josh says: We talk about “hyper-scaling” champions in League of Legends — and I think it’s time to use it for Hearthstone. This champion scales out of control crazy fast against a spell-heavy deck. I’m happy to help it burninate all of the peoples.
Best to Draft: Dr Boom
- Josh says: Even generalist gaming sites like PC Gamer are having public debates over whether or not this card should be nerfed. It gives you a big body that must be dealt with, and a couple small bodies that have a big impact even if they’re removed. Brutal board control swing in Arena.
- Scott says: Debatably overpowered right now. Biggest weakness is BGH, and even then you keep the Boom Bots.
Best to Draft: Foe Reaper 4000
- Scott says: In arena, where there tend to be less hard removal, this guy is king.
- Josh says: Yeah, notice that he damages them, but doesn’t take combat damage back from those extra minions. Brutal board bully.
Best to Dust: Hemet Nesingwary
- Josh says: There are much cheaper, much more universal ways to kill almost any beast in the game. Especially with Hunter losing popularity.
- Scott says: Effect is highly conditional, and stats balance is bad. Might be good in the new world championship tourney format though.
Best to Dust: Mimiron’s Head
- Scott says: It’s a trap! He’s a novelty for sure, but not actually good.
- Josh says: I desperately want this card to be good, because it’s just so darn cool. But, alas, Blizzard has done everything it can to make sure you have to align 500 stars to make this happen. So cool when it does, though.
Community
- Alex: How to catch up after not playing for awhile?
- iTunes Reviews
Card of the Week
Farewell
Thursday Feb 12, 2015
The Paladin Tech Deck - Episode 42
Thursday Feb 12, 2015
Thursday Feb 12, 2015
Hello!
- Adam is on the show this week
- Topic: Paladin Brawl 2: This Time With Robots
- Reasons to be happy this week
- News: Undertaker nerfs, Hearthstone wins awards at DICE!
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: Adam’s Paladin Tech deck is a mid-game paladin deck that uses Spare Parts, lots of Legendaries, and some slick spells to apply pressure quickly and ensure he has the tools to finish the game on his terms.
The Deck
Creatures
- 2x Clockwork Gnome
- 1x Ironbeak Owl
- 2x Knife Juggler
- 2x Shielded Minibot
- 2x Aldor Peacekeeper
- 2x Piloted Shredder
- 1x Loatheb
- 2x Quartermaster
- 2x Sludge Belcher
- 1x Sylvanas Windrunner
- 1x Toshley
- 1x Troggzor the Earthinator
- 1x Tirion Fordring
Spells
- 2x Equality
- 2x Muster for Battle
- 2x Consecration
- 1x Lay on Hands
Weapons
- 1x Coghammer
- 2x Truesilver Champion
Sideboard
In case you don’t have some of the ideal cards listed above, here are some easy-to-get backups you can use that keep with the same theme and strengths of the deck.
- Lord of the Arena (Replace Sylvanas, Troggzor the Earthinator)
- Acidic Swamp Ooze or Big Game Hunter (Replace Aldor Peacekeeper or Sylvanas Windrunner)
- Guardian of Kings (Replace Tirion Fordring)
The Duel!
Josh’s Perspective
Adam’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
- No question this week — email me a question for next show!
- iTunes Reviews
Card of the Week
Farewell
- Follow Adam on Twitter
- What you want to see in future episodes
- What hosts you want to visit the show
DECK GUIDE:
Our robot overlords have arrived, and they’re surprisingly Paladins! A community champion rose up to challenge The Happy Hearthstone Deck Champion on this week’s show. Adam also took the time to put together his full list of cards and commentary to help you play his deck too!
Find out more about this deck and watch it in action in the latest episode of Happy Hearthstone!
Note from Josh: The rest of this article was written by Adam. Thanks, Adam!
Paladin Tech
This deck is all about getting high-value minions on the board to apply pressure and keep pace. Then, around mid-game, you break out all sorts of fun tricks with spells, Spare Part cards, and utility minions to seal the deal.
Creatures
2x Clockwork Gnome
This is a decent cheap creature that can trade and help you get Spare Parts that you will use on turn 6+ to combo with other cards.
1x Ironbeak Owl
Ironbeak Owl allows you to keep tempo or shut down big threats with silence. It’s important to have at least one silence card, and this is the cheapest.
2x Knife Juggler
Like Infamous says on Twitch, “Be true knife juggler, be true!” Knife Juggler combos great with Equality, which we’re definitely including.
2x Shielded Minibot
Shielded Minibot is a must-have for this deck because it needs an early minion that can stick and remove threats from Warlock Zoo decks. This lets me get into the mid-range game to win.
2x Aldor Peacekeeper
I run 2 here because I can’t run 3 or 4. Seriously, this card can take a big threat and turn it into to a cute little kitten (“It’s so FLUFFY!”). By reducing it to 1 attack, you can shut down ugly giants in Handlock decks early or swing into that taunt creature and not lose footing.
2x Piloted Shredder
BECAUSE RNG, BABY! You will truly never find this sort of random effect in any other card game. Because I don’t want to do the math, I’m gonna say you get value out of this card at least 75% of the time and the other 25% is Doomsayer. Really bad luck happens, but typically you will get a lot of value from this card.
1x Loatheb
If you’re still playing this card on turn 5 no matter what the board state is, I’m about to blow your mind.
Look at your opponent:
- If it’s a Priest, wait until there turn 9 ends to play it. They can’t pay 15 cost for Mind Control.
- If its a Rogue, yeah play this on turn 5 or sooner with Coin. I used to say wait for Gadgetzan Auctioneer, but now it’s harder to see coming.
- If it’s a Druid, wait until their turn 9, so they can’t reset the game with Tree of Life or take the game with Force of Nature + Savage Roar.
- Hunter, play it as soon as you can.
- Mage, their turn 8. Because 2x Fireball in the face hurts a lot.
- Paladin turn 8 will stop their biggest heal in Lay on Hands. Go this route if you feel you can follow it up with a win. Even if you don’t suspect that, still play it on their turn 8 to stop the Muster for Battle + Quatermaster combo
- Shaman is really weird, like Rogue, because they have no powerful late game spells. But if they tempo you, look out for the turn 8-10 with a combo of Lava burst and Crackle. If you see a Malygos go down ever, and you can’t remove it, play this card.
- Warlock has two cards to look out for: Hellfire and Shadowflame. When you have a good board, play it to stop these cards or cost them their whole turn to use them.
- Warrior, like Warlock, uses spells for board control, like Brawl on turn 4 and later. So use the same strategy as Warlock.
2x Quartermaster
This guy is awesome! It takes all your 1/1 Silver Hand Recruits from your hero power and Muster for Battle and makes them scary 3/3s!
2x Sludge Belcher
Sludge Belcher is great at slowing down an onslaught by forcing them to attack your creatures instead.
1x Sylvanas Windrunner
Can steal their big threat. ‘Nuff said. If I had a dollar for every time I dropped this on a sad yolo Ragnaros play I would have a lot of money. In fact, I’m gonna start charging people for those plays. Also, this card is great when combined with Equality because it forces 2v1 plays to go your way. I would argue this is a must-have in all Paladin decks.
1x Toshley
I LOVE SPARE PARTS! At 5/7 for 6, he can hold his own in many good trades even able to punish a solo Belcher play.
1x Troggzor the Earthinator
Any card that punishes the opponent for doing what they want to do is good in my book. Troggzor summons a 3/5 Burly Rockjaw Trogg any time they play a spell that also gains +2 attack every time a spell is cast.
1x Tirion Fordring
If you could only understand my personal struggle with this card… I love it so much and yet loathe it at the same time, because for some reason I never feel I truly get the value out of him I want. It’s hard to explain, but it’s definitely an amazing card and it deserves every second of every minute in this deck.
Spells
2x Equality
This is a very, very valuable strategic card that allows you to set up other combos such as Consecration, Sylvanas, and Knife Juggler. Every Paladin deck should run this card.
2x Muster for Battle
If Quartermaster is the “meat” of this deck, then this is a great 3 servings of potatoes. This card combos well with the rest of the deck with little to no effort. Equality + Knife Juggler late game can be just as good as a Consecration draw.
2x Consecration
Now for the controversy: this is a great card, but with this deck I would love to drop one out. Everyone knows to expect this card by now. The only reason I didn’t take one out, is because of how common Zoo Warlock and Face-punching Hunter was last season. If you find that you’re not seeing them now, post Undertaker nerf, you could take one out.
1x Lay on Hands
A big heal that isn’t a -1 card advantage? Sign me up! Because it draws you 3 cards, you actually come out with a +2 advantage. The old Yu-Gi-Oh player in me drools over this card and its overwhelming power. That being said, it comes too late in the game and most of the time is the only card you will play in turn 7 or 8.
Weapons
1x Coghammer
I have to admit I didn’t add this card until I saw it on Magic Amy’s in the meta report. Coghammer is just another card to help stop early threats from Warlock Zoo Face-punching Hunter decks. Both are so common right now that it felt good when I added it. However, I liked it too much I tried bumping it to 2. At 2, I found I had too many weapons and was replacing weapons before they expired. Needless to say, I went back to 1 and was very happy with its result.
2x Truesilver Champion
“Wait minute let me take you there.” Okay, this card is great at 4 mana and 4 attack. Those 2 charges let you clear threats and resist damage or just heal during your onslaught. I like this card for clearing minions, because you don’t take as much damage in the long run and don’t lose minions that cause a tempo change.
Final Thoughts
Some of you might have been playing decks like this for awhile. Use your Clockwork Gnomes and Toshley to gain spare parts! If you’re really lucky, the game will bless you with a time rewinder Spare Part! This will help you double-down on Quartermaster or use them more carelessly. Other Spare Parts help enhance your game, buying you turns with freeze or giving your 1/1 recruits +1 health to stay out of a Mage’s hero power. All of them are great because they help round out your curve.
Speaking of which, play the curve and hug it as close as you can, as long as you can. This deck keeps most of its minions at 6 or less attack to really keep them with a dead Big Game Hunter card in their hand, without sacrificing quality. Good luck and have fun!