Episodes
Saturday Sep 27, 2014
Mastering Your Opening Hand - Episode 37
Saturday Sep 27, 2014
Saturday Sep 27, 2014
Hello!
- Adam is on the show this week
- Topic: Choosing which cards to keep and throw back, based on your opponent
- Reasons to be happy this week
- News: Nerfs to Leeroy Jenkins and Starving Buzzard
Choosing Which Cards To Keep
- Scope of this guide
- How much it can affect your win rate
- Lots of questions from Josh
Playing against Druid
- Popular Druid deck type:Ramp, with late game threats
- What that Druid deck wants to do: Use Innervate to cheat something out early, then use minions and spells to control the board and keep tempo in its favor through mid and late game.
- Types of cards you want to keep:Any large minion that is hard to remove like Sludge Belcher or Cairne Bloodhoof/li>
- Types of cards you want to throw away:Any slow spells like Flamestrike or Holy Fire that take a long time to develop.
Playing against Hunter
- Popular Hunter deck type: Fast early minions that punch to the face
- What that Hunter deck wants to do: Deal as much damage as fast as possible, using charge minions and its hero power
- Types of cards you want to keep: Leper Gnome, Undertaker, any strong 1 or 2 drop
- Types of cards you want to throw away: High casting cost cards and secrets that the hunter can easily flare away
Playing against Mage
- Popular Mage deck type: Late-game control
- What that Mage deck wants to do: Keep the board clear with lots of removal and burn you down with spells and fatties late
- Types of cards you want to keep: Sturdy troops that will survive most removal like Kel’thuzad or Sunwalker, because this game is going to go late whether you want it to or not
- Types of cards you want to throw away: 1-health minions that don’t have an immediate impact on the board. The hero power will kill them easily.
Playing against Paladin
- Popular Paladin deck type: Slow control
- What that Paldin deck wants to do: The Paladin deck wants to get as much card advantage from its big equality combos as possible, while slowly leaning on you gaining small advantages over a long period of time
- Types of cards you want to keep: Card advantage cards like Acolyte of Pain or good mid range sticky minions like Harvest Golem
- Types of cards you want to throw away: Late game cards, you want to draw your big threats later on in the game, not early.
Playing against Priest
- Popular Priest deck type: Control
- What that Priest deck wants to do: Wait for you to make a move so it can counter on their turn with one of their many spells or minions
- Types of cards you want to keep: Any 4 power minions that are hard to remove like Cairne Bloodhoof, Chillwind Yeti, or Spectral Knight
- Types of cards you want to throw away: Big minions that usually get Shadow Word: Death’ed or Mind Controlled
Playing against Rogue
- Popular Rogue deck type: Miracle or Tempo
- What that Rogue deck wants to do: Miracle Rogue wants to draw Gadgetzan Auctioneer and then cast many spells all in one turn. Tempo rogue wants to completely control your board while casting midrange minions
- Types of cards you want to keep: Against Miracle you want a lot of taunt defense, against tempo you want easily casted early minions
- Types of cards you want to throw away: Anything slow or clunky like 5 casting cost minions or above, unless they have taunt
Playing against Shaman
- Most popular Shaman deck type: Mid-game board control
- What that Shaman deck wants to do: Use efficient spells to keep his minions on the board and then empower them all at once for a huge attack
- Types of cards you want to keep: AoE removal and minions that are spell-resistant like Faerie Dragon and Harvest Golem
- Types of cards you want to throw away: Slow, high-cost minions. You need to get board control early.
Playing against Warlock
- Most popular Warlock deck type: Handlock
- What that Warlock deck wants to do: Drop his health low and stack his hand while controlling the board, then unload huge minions
- Types of cards you want to keep: Early aggressive cards and strong removal spells. He will play huge minions eventually.
- Types of cards you want to throw away: Slow minions and low-damage AoE removal
Playing against Warrior
- Most popular Warrior deck type: Control Warrior
- What that Warrior deck wants to do: Lots of AoE removal and enough weapons to arm an entire country.
- Types of cards you want to keep: Weapon destruction like Acidic Swamp Ooze or Harrison Jones, and high-health taunt minions to force the weapon attacks
- Types of cards you want to throw away: Late-game bombs like Ironbark Protector and low-damage aoe spells like Fan of Knives
Community
- Question: Best class card from Naxx set
- iTunes Reviews
Card of the Week
Farewell
- Follow Adam on Twitter and watch him stream
- What you want to see in future episodes
- What hosts you want to visit the show
Monday Sep 01, 2014
Curse of Naxxramas Review - Episode 36
Monday Sep 01, 2014
Monday Sep 01, 2014
Hello!
- Scott is on the show this week
- Topic: Curse of Naxxramas review
- Reasons to be happy this week
Our Review Process
Our goal is not just to help you identify the most powerful cards in the set (although we are doing that). We want to help you understand why they’re powerful, what situations they’re best played in, and give you some fun ideas to play with all of the new cards, not only the best ones.
To do that, we suggest decks and combo cards for each card, and give each card two ratings:
Base Rating (0-5): Average value of the card, by itself, if played in all decks in the game.
Combo Potential (0-5): The high-potential value of this card, when played in an ideal deck that has synergy with it.
You can add the two scores together to get a rough estimate (out of 10) of the card’s overall value. But the specifics matter. A high Base Rating means the card has strong vanilla stats and doesn’t need synergy to be good. Rely on these cards in Arena. A high Combo Potential means that the card has a powerful effect that gets better with other, specific cards. Look for ways to exploit this when building decks in Constructed play.
What is Curse of Naxxramas?
- What the expansion costs, and what it gets you
- Our impressions of the solo dungeons and class challenges
- Explanation of card rarity
Neutral Cards – Common
Dancing Swords
- Josh says: Very high risk for a very low reward (1 bonus attack stat). Pass.
- Scott says: Same.
- Deck Recommendation: Mid-range Deathrattle deck, where you get an inherent bonus from the Deathrattle effect. (Aggro Paladin may be the best bet IMO, as it’s cost-efficient on offense and plays nicely with Divine Favor.)
- Base Rating: 1
- Combo Potential: 1
Haunted Creeper
- Scott says: I’m a big fan. 3/4 for 2 is better than Harvest Golem!
- Josh says: Crazy efficient on stats if the Deathrattle happens. And if not, they wasted a silence!
- Deck Recommendation: Deathrattle, Hunter Beastmaster
- Base Rating: 5
- Combo Potential: 3
Mad Scientist
- Josh says: Weak stats, but that effect is great — as long as you only have one Secret in your deck.
- Scott says: I think it’s still great with more than one secret, though you obviously lose some control that way.
- Deck Recommendation: Mage, Hunter, Paladin
- Base Rating: 2
- Combo Potential: 5
Nerub’ar Weblord
- Scott says: Hard to build around, and not good if you don’t.
- Josh says: Agreed! It’s just as likely to annoy you as your opponent, and this card is not even close to being strong enough to build around.
- Deck Recommendation: Druid, Rogue
- Base Rating: 2
- Combo Potential: 0
Spectral Knight
- Josh says: One of the hardest-to-kill minions in the game. Nothing else this big has the Shroud effect protecting it.
- Scott says: I don’t rate quite as highly as others, but it is clearly above average. 0.5 mana for its effect is a good investment. Works in many decks as filler.
- Deck Recommendation: Any deck that needs a beefy french-vanilla 5-drop.
- Base Rating: 4
- Combo Potential: 0
Stoneskin Gargoyle
- Scott says: Too easy to kill. It’s possible this can dominate a game with buffs and luck, but too high-maintenance.
- Josh says: You’re absolutely right. This looks much better than it is. Healing at the start of the turn, instead of end, really hurts it.
- Deck Recommendation: Control Priest
- Base Rating: 1
- Combo Potential: 3
Undertaker
- Josh says: Decent minion stats, and it’ll often draw out removal early because of the potential.
- Scott says: He’s good, but there’s not enough deathrattle in the game to get insane effect from him.
- Deck Recommendation: Deathrattle, Zoo (with a few deathrattle)?
- Base Rating: 2
- Combo Potential: 4
Unstable Ghoul
- Scott says: Not great under normal conditions, but plays really well with specific cards.
- Josh says: I like this card m ore than Scott as a general pick. Fine stats with Taunt, and it kills any attacker with 2 health. Solid value for any Control deck.
- Deck Recommendation: Control Warrior
- Base Rating: 2
- Combo Potential: 4
Zombie Chow
- Josh says: Great for early board control, when you’re not planning to deal damage before this dies anyways.
- Scott says: I value this card less than most. Has a place, but I don’t think it’s remotely OP. Can be a liability unless drawn in opening hand.
- Deck Recommendation: Shadow Priest Control, any Late-game control
- Base Rating: 3
- Combo Potential: 2
Neutral Cards – Rare
Deathlord
- Scott says: Can be good, can also be a big liability.
- Josh says: Luck be a lady tonight!
- Deck Recommendation: Aggro Warlock, Control Paladin, Control Priest
- Base Rating: 3
- Combo Potential: 2
Nerubian Egg
- Josh says: There’s so much potential here. This is the sort of card that just gets your mind racing with combo ideas.
- Scott says: Great card, but only in decks that can properly support it. It’s simply unusable in most decks.
- Deck Recommendation: Zoo, Shaman, Warrior Enrage
- Base Rating: 0
- Combo Potential: 5
Sludge Belcher
- Scott says: YOU SHALL NOT PASS. Also, taunt across 2 creatures is better than just 2 normal creatures
- Josh says: This guy will eat at least 2 hits, most often 3 in my experience. Taz Dingo what?
- Deck Recommendation: Any control deck
- Base Rating: 5
- Combo Potential: 1
Wailing Soul
- Josh says: Like the Nerub’ar Weblord, this seems like you’ll never see a board state where the effect doesn’t hurt you in addition to helping you. Weak stats leave me unimpressed.
- Scott says: Because he’s under the vanilla curve, you only want him if your deck is built specifically to get value from his ability. Best combo is Equality, though other ‘drawback minions’ work well w/ him too.
- Deck Recommendation: Control Paladin (Equality)
- Base Rating: 2
- Combo Potential: 2
Neutral Cards – Epic
Echoing Ooze
- Scott says: At its worst, leaves you with 2 1/2s, giving you 2/4 total for 2 mana. Also amplifies any buffs cast first turn.
- Josh says: I see the potential here but I just don’t like it. It’s super high maintenance and forces you to make bad decisions, like playing buff cards on turns that you can’t use them immediately.
- Deck Recommendation: Paladin, Druid
- Base Rating: 3
- Combo Potential: 3
Shade of Naxxramas
- Josh says: You’ll rarely leave this in Stealth beyond 3/3, but it is a trading machine!
- Scott says: Stealthed or no, continues to grow until killed. Demands an answer and therefore forces subpar enemy play in most cases. That’s worth at least 0.5 mana in my book.
- Deck Recommendation: Any non-combo-based deck
- Base Rating: 4
- Combo Potential: 0
Neutral Cards – Legendary
Baron Rivendare
- Scott says: Seems better than he is. Even in a deathrattle deck, you have to draw him and have other things line up to be useful. Stat numbers aren’t bad, but stat balance is horrible.
- Josh says: I can confirm those stats. I soloed him last week and the dude barely scratched me! Push over.
- Deck Recommendation: Deathrattle deck (Shaman)
- Base Rating: 1
- Combo Potential: 4
Feugen
- Josh says: I love this card. Yeti 2.0 — 1 more mana for 2 more health gives this guy a massive life total with a hefty 4-damage for trading. Deathrattle effect is just silence bait, nothing more.
- Scott says: Combo is hard to trigger, but this guy’s worth using vanilla
- Deck Recommendation: Warlock
- Base Rating: 4
- Combo Potential: 1
Kel’Thuzad
- Scott says: Super awesome card. Just pricey — as a super awesome card should be.
- Josh says: Lots of cool potential, but you’ll pay for it with the games where you can never even play this.
- Deck Recommendation: Control Priest, Control Paladin, Control Shaman
- Base Rating: 5
- Combo Potential: 5
Loatheb
- Josh says: I’m not entirely sold on this card. You’re given up at least 1 health for that effect. How often were they not going to play a spell anyways? Seems very focused against specific decks.
- Scott says: Fine card, but not the auto-include some people say. Slightly better than vanilla IMO.
- Deck Recommendation: Miracle Rogue (for mirror match),
- Base Rating: 4
- Combo Potential: 1
Maexxna
- Scott says: Compares to Boulderfist Ogre. Better against minions, worse against heroes.
- Josh says: Susceptible to Silence, but that’s just about it. 1 more health than Boulderfist Ogre at the same cost
- Deck Recommendation: Control Hunter, Control Priest
- Base Rating: 3
- Combo Potential: 1
Stalagg
- Josh says: Four health is such a liability, but it will draw out the removal. Only worth it if you’re going for Deathrattle effect.
- Scott says: Yup, agreed. 7/4 isn’t a good mix of stats, even though it’s on the vanilla curve.
- Deck Recommendation: Warlock
- Base Rating: 2
- Combo Potential: 1
Class Cards
Rogue: Anub’ar Ambusher
- Scott says: Drawback seems pretty big in most cases. Not really sure how to turn it into an advantage.
- Josh says: There are many more cards where this is a liability than a perk. The “random” factor makes it horrible.
- Deck Recommendation: Combo- and Battlecry-heavy Rogue decks
- Base Rating: 2
- Combo Potential: 1
Paladin: Avenge
- Josh says: Secrets can’t proc on your turn, which means you can’t really control when to proc this or who it lands on. That’s a lot of conditions.
- Scott says: Haven’t used it yet — I want it to be good, but I’m not sure it is. Ben Brode thinks it’s strong, but has been easy to play around when I’ve seen it in the wild.
- Deck Recommendation: Paladin Swarm, Paladin Control
- Base Rating: 3
- Combo Potential: 1
Priest: Dark Cultist
- Scott says: Strong card, absolutely above average. Have been surprised that it hasn’t performed stronger when I’ve seen it used.
- Josh says: Easily the best class card in this new set. Awesome vanilla stats, and an effect that synergizes perfectly with this class.
- Deck Recommendation: Control Priest
- Base Rating: 5
- Combo Potential: 4
Warrior: Death’s Bite
- Josh says: Warrior is always welcome to have more weapons, and the Deathrattle effect is decent, if situational.
- Scott says: Good card, fleshes out weapon spectrum for Warrior. Deathrattle can be very strong.
- Deck Recommendation: Enrage Warrior
- Base Rating: 3
- Combo Potential: 4
Mage: Duplicate
- Scott says: With infinite mana, this would be great. Requires discipline to control what triggers it, like Redemption. Hard to figure out where it shines most.
- Josh says: Yeah, I agree. This is one of those cards that looks better on paper than in practice. Same mana as Arcane Intellect, and equal part perks/hindrances in comparison.
- Deck Recommendation: Mage control
- Base Rating: 3
- Combo Potential: 2
Druid: Poison Seeds
- Josh says: I really wanted to like this card, and it does have a few very specific combos that are fun, but it’s almost never worth the mana/card.
- Scott says: This card sucks. I think I might rather play an Angry Chicken. Seriously.
- Deck Recommendation: Druid Deathrattle
- Base Rating: 0
- Combo Potential: 1
Shaman: Reincarnate
- Scott says: Lots of fun tricks with this thing. Can function as a poor-man’s silence. Can also restore Divine Shield. Reincarnate + Ancestral Spirit + Cairne Bloodhoof = LOLs for days
- Josh says: More of a fun card than a reliable staple for any deck. Have fun with your Timmy combos, but don’t expect efficiency.
- Deck Recommendation: Control Shaman
- Base Rating: 2
- Combo Potential: 4
Warlock: Voidcaller
- Josh says: Ugh. This card was designed to make sure the popular Warlock decks stagnated. I want to play Warlock demon deck, and I really tried to, but it just isn’t competitive. It’s barely even fun.
- Scott says: Avoiding casting cost of demons in hand is nice — avoiding drawback from them is even better in some cases.
- Deck Recommendation: Warlock Demon mid-game
- Base Rating: 1
- Combo Potential: 3
Hunter: Webspinner
- Scott says: Fun card that’s also good (on average).
- Josh says: My Sindragosa attempt was saved when I top-decked this and it gave me a King Crush!
- Deck Recommendation: Hunter Beastmaster, Hunter Deathrattle, Hunter Control
- Base Rating: 4
- Combo Potential: 2
Community
- None this week! Isn’t 3 hours enough for you?
- iTunes Reviews
Card of the Week
Surprise on the show!
Farewell
- Follow Scott on Twitter and watch his videos on YouTube
- What you want to see in future episodes
- What hosts you want to visit the show
Monday Jun 30, 2014
Host Your Own Tournament! - Episode 34
Monday Jun 30, 2014
Monday Jun 30, 2014
Hello!
- Nathan “Slight” Wuertz is on the show this week
- Topic: Hosting community events and tournaments
- Reasons to be happy this week
Community Events
- Tournaments: ESL America, Zotac, GosuCup, Soulfire Sundays
- Viewing Parties
- Player gatherings
- School clubs
- Online gatherings
How To Pick Your Event
- Online vs. Offline
- Competitive vs. Casual
- Tournaments vs. Other
How To Run The Event
- Tournament types
- Player count
- Sideboards
- Other rules
The Happy Hearthstone-approved First Tournament Format!
- Online
- Group stage: Best-of-3 round robin
- Semi-finals and Finals: Best-of-7, single-elimination
- Winner must use the same deck next game, loser can change
- No sideboards or editing of decks during a single head-to-head
- Stream it, and share links to all players’ (delayed) streams
Tools For Tournaments
- Documents/Registration: Google Drive
- Tournament Structures: XFire, Challonge, BinaryBeast
- Communication: Skype, Raidcall, IRC (for large tournaments)
- Contact Nathan with any questions! (Email said in the show)
Community
- Ian Zacharias: How to handle misplays in tournaments?
- iTunes Reviews: Thank you!
Card of the Week
Farewell
- Follow Nathan on Twitter
- Follow Hearthwars, Nathan’s Hearthstone tournament series on Twitter
- Subscribe to Hearthwars’ Twitch page
- Watch this week’s HearthWar’s tournament!
- What you want to see in future episodes
- What hosts you want to visit the show
Saturday Jun 21, 2014
The Arcane Druid Deck - Episode 32
Saturday Jun 21, 2014
Saturday Jun 21, 2014
Hello!
- Mick is on the show this week
- Topic: The Arcane Druid deck
- Reasons to be happy this week
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
The Deck
- The Arcane Druid: Stay alive. Kill them with massively empowered spells late.
- How it wins: This is a Druid control deck that ramps up nicely into a Spell Power massacre. It takes advantage of an under-utilized Legendary, Malygos, and a number of versatile Druid Spells to really frustrate and confuse your opponent.
Five Key Cards
- Malygos: You can’t really play the deck without him. Sorry.
- Swipe: Once buffed, it destroys everything. Great for board clears and can be used to go to your opponents face.
- Ancient of War: So very versatile, but he’s really there to set up the Malygos Drop. Ironbarks can be used as a substitute.
- Starfire: Once Malygos is out, this becomes a super cheap, straight-to-the-face Pyroblast. Paired with Swipe, you can do 19 damage in one turn and clear the board.
- Wrath: Early game, this is great for helping you keep the board clear.
Full Deck List
You can get more insight into the deck by reading Redbeard’s guide, which goes through every single card with full explanation and advice, but here’s the simple deck list with no commentary (ordered by mana cost), if you’d rather just try it out yourself.
Creatures
- 1x Kobold Geomancer (2)
- 1x Pint Sized Summoner (2)
- 1x Big Game Hunter (3)
- 2x Keeper of the Grove (4)
- 1x Spellbreaker (4)
- 1x Azure Drake (5)
- 1x Faceless Manipulator (5)
- 2x Ancient of War (7)
- 2x Ironbark Protector (8)
- 1x Cenarius (9)
- 1x Malygos (9)
Spells
- 2x Moonfire (0)
- 2x Claw (1)
- 2x Wrath (2)
- 2x Healing Touch (3)
- 1x Mark of Nature (3)
- 1x Bite (4)
- 2x Swipe (4)
- 2x Starfall (5)
- 2x Starfire (6)
Sideboard
If you don’t have all of the ideal cards, here are some quality backups and alterations you can make that keep with the same theme and strengths of the deck.
- Dalaran Mage (replace Kobold Geomancer)
- Ogre Magi (replace Azure Drake, Keeper of the Grove, or Spellbreaker)
- Archmage (replace Faceless Manipulator or Azure Drake)
- Ironbark Protector (replace Cenarius)
- Druid of the Claw (replace Ironbark Protectors or Ancients of War)
- Lord of the Arena (replace Ironbark Protectors or Ancients of War)
- Sunwalker (replace Ironbark Protectors or Ancients of War)
- Naturalize (replace Starfall)
The Defending Champion Deck
Redbeard’s Barbarian Warrior Deck uses weapons and fast-acting minions to put the pressure on early and keep momentum up into the mid-game.
The Barbarian Warrior Deck has reigned supreme for 1 month, and has beaten 1 deck before this episode.
The Duel!
Josh’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
- Scott Valentine: “Do you hold onto silence effect cards for late-game or play them early? Have you had any creative uses of Silence.”
- iTunes Review: Callum Orr
Card of the Week
Farewell
- Listen to Mick and Josh on Mick’s podcasts: The Starting Zone and Stormcast
- What you want to see in future episodes
- What hosts you want to visit the show
DECK GUIDE:
The moon is a powerful ball of dust, especially when wielded by the right hands/claws. This week, we look at a spell power Druid deck in Hearthstone, designed to use big spells like Swipe and Moonfire to clear the board and secure a safe kill in the late game.
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 Mick Montgomery. Thanks, Mick!
The Arcane Druid
This is a Spell Power control deck that relies on boosting up the power of your late-game spells to secure the win. A quick example, in case you’re not sold on the concept: Moonfire is a 0-cost card that does 1 damage. With the Spell Power that this deck provides, it usually deals 6 damage for 0 mana! That’s value.
Our primarily plan is simple: control the board as long as we can, then use our beefy taunt cards on turns 7 and 8 to protect your Malygos drop. Then you tee off and nuke the enemy’s face with spells. But this deck is versatile. You have a lot of direct damage spells, and beefy minions. If you don’t draw into Malygos, you still do a lot of damage with the other cards that buff your spell power. The real key is to remove all of your opponent’s cards on the board by turn 7. If you can accomplish that, you’ll be in good shape.
Let’s get into the cards I used in my deck for the mighty showdown with Josh. You can find a completely plain deck list on the podcast episode. Here, I’ll provide additional commentary where I feel it’s helpful or necessary.
Cheap, efficient access to spell power. This is one of three cards that directly buff spell power in this deck, and it’s the easiest one to get on the board early. While getting to the Malygos draw is key to buff the spells massively, minor buffs come in real handy during the early and mid game.
This card can be great to help you get to your beefy cards a bit early. There is a lot of 4 drop cards that could benefit from one less mana cost in the early game. Also, I find the Pint Sized Summoner is a nice victim card. Folks hate that card, and will do everything they can to try to kill it quickly, even if it means playing inefficiently. We’re playing for the late game, so inefficient plays by our enemies are exactly what’ll help us get there.
This helps stabilize the deck against other late-gamers. This comes in handy against other decks that roll out high damage minions. He’s a fine body if played at the earliest moment, and still works great if drawn late.
A staple card for control decks. He can do two damage or silence a minion. Instant value with a decent defensive body behind, that’s available for buffs.
1x Spellbreaker
One of my favorite silence cards. On turn four, he can silence to get some immediate value. If he lasts through the next turn, he’ll also do some nice damage.
1x Azure Drake
This guy is an obvious fit for this deck. He’s one of the best-value cards in the set in general. And with this deck, his buff to Spell Power is even more relevant. I love this card.
This is not necessary to have, but it has such great synergy with the late game cards we’re running in this deck. For example, if the Ancient of War your drop on turn 7 survives, you can use this to get a second for very cheap. Your opponent will not be happy. Oh, and it’s fun to Faceless Manipulator Malygos to get +10 spell power. Yep, I’ve done that.
This is such a strong card on turn 7. You can buff it to 10 damage, if the board is clear, or set up for Malygos by rooting him for the health and taunt effect. I tend to root the Ancient of War more often. Also, he can draw out the CC cards quickly from our opponent’s deck. I’d rather have a polymorph burned on him than Malygos.
Back, when I started this deck, I had no Ancient of Wars, so I used Ironbarks. They rock. Drop one behind your Ancient of War on turn 8 and you’re pretty set for a turn-9 Malygos drop or for Cenarius to buff it to a 10/10. Wahoo!
1x Cenarius
He isn’t necessary to make this deck work, unlike a lot of other Legendaries. In fact he has only been in this deck for a month or so, but he does make a huge difference because he is so versatile. He’s saved my bacon many times.
1x Malygos
The lynchpin of this deck. His Spell Power buff is so massive that once he is on the board, you can wreck your opponent in one turn depending on the spells you have in your hand at the time.
I’ll discuss the spells as a group. The spells are all very versatile. In turns 1 – 8, you can definitely use them to clear the board (first priority) or if you have a clear board, go to the face. Bite and Claw can be used for Control, but if you can go to the face with them, all the better. The only spell not in here for control is Healing Touch. That is for when you find yourself falling behind. Or in a tight one, heal your Hero, and force your opponent to change tactics.
2x Moonfire (0)
2x Claw (1)
2x Wrath (2)
2x Healing Touch (3)
1x Mark of Nature (3)
1x Bite (4)
2x Swipe (4)
2x Starfall (5)
2x Starfire (6)
Possible Additions
There is a lot of room for customization in an aggressive warrior deck, so there are many cards one can use to suit this deck to the current run of opponents or one’s particular collection. Your minion choices offer a lot of flexibility, and there are too many options to list all of them, so I include here only a small selection.
Dalaran Mage (replace Kobold Geomancer)
Ogre Magi (replace Azure Drake, Keeper of the Grove, or Spellbreaker)
Archmage (replace Faceless Manipulator or Azure Drake)
Ironbark Protector (replace Cenarius)
Druid of the Claw (replace Ironbark Protectors or Ancients of War)
Lord of the Arena (replace Ironbark Protectors or Ancients of War)
Sunwalker (replace Ironbark Protectors or Ancients of War)
Naturalize (replace Starfall)
Final Thoughts
I think that most folks ignore Spell Power as a mechanic. This deck is great because folks are not prepared for it, and it is incredibly adaptable. And while you do need the one Legendary (Malygos) to make it work, it’s only one — and that’s a lot less than most of the popular decks!
Monday Jun 16, 2014
How To Build A Good Deck - Episode 33
Monday Jun 16, 2014
Monday Jun 16, 2014
Hello!
- Scott is on the show this week
- Topic: The Arcane Druid deck
- Reasons to be happy this week
Basic Rules of Building a Deck
- Rarity does not equate directly to Power
- Skill is more important than deck
- It’s valuable to play current popular decks
- Decent skills and a slightly decent deck can take you to 15 or higher
- There is a difference between lower-level and higher-level decks
- “The Meta” applies less to lower levels and more to higher levels
Major Deck Types
- Aggro (fast)
- Mid-Range (medium)
- Control (slow)
Aggro Decks
- Attack the enemy player, make them spend their attacks killing your creature
- Wants: Charge, direct damage, creatures
- Ignores: Board control
- What does “reach” mean and how does it affect health totals?
- How valuable is card draw?
- Silence = removal
- Examples: Murloc Warlock, Shockadin
Mid-Range
- Use efficiency and flexibility to win in many different scenarios
- Wants: Card advantage, some early pressure, some late-game pressure
- Ignores: Extremes on either end
- Your creatures can 2-for-1 Aggro creatures
- You must be faster than Control decks
- Removal comes in all forms
- Example: Valuedin, Paladin Survival
Control
- Kill everything your opponent plays to control the board and have more choices when attacking
- Likes: Efficiency, removal, big creatures
- Ignores: Tempo, early aggression
- Card draw is moderately useful. Your cards tend to be expensive, so you often can’t cast them all.
- Removal can take any form. It can be more expensive cards to get more bang from one card, or cheaper removal to help you get to late game.
- Examples: Druid decks, Handlock
The Value Spectrum
- Good Stuff deck: Efficient cards that are strong on their own
- Combo deck: Okay/weak cards that become powerful when used together
Deckbuilding Considerations
- Strategy: How do you want to win, and what types of cards work towards that win condition?
- Synergy: Turn a card’s negative effect into a positive boost for a different card whenever you can
- Mana curve: What’s right for each deck, and how to interpret the mana bars in-game
Deckbuilding Pitfalls to Avoid
- Be realistic: avoid best-case-scenarios and remember the bad times as well
- Quiz: Power Word: Shield or Lightwell or Lightspawn
- When to take multiple copies of a card
- When to only take one copy of a card, even if it’s a good card
- Rule of thumb: If having two of the card in your hand is bad, you should be careful about having two in your deck
Community
- Macross: [A heap of deckbuilding questions]
- iTunes Reviews: Thank you!
Card of the Week
Farewell
- Follow Scott on Twitter, watch him play on Twitch, and look at his decks on Hearthpwn
- What you want to see in future episodes
- What hosts you want to visit the show