Episodes
Friday May 16, 2014
How To Pick The Best Cards - Episode 31
Friday May 16, 2014
Friday May 16, 2014
Hello!
- Scott Lantz is on the show this week
- Topic: Card Evaluation 101
- Reasons to be happy this week
What Is Card Evaluation?
- Goal: Teach players how to determine the value of any card
- There are good and bad cards in the game on purpose
- This is the fastest way to get better at Hearthstone!
- All card evaluations are subjective to player personality and deck types, so think critically
The Vanilla Test
- Compare the bare-bone stats of a card to see if it’s good
- Rule of thumb: Attack + Health = (ManaCost * 2) + 1
- You can lump the stats of summoned “pets” with the card that summons them
- Chillwind Yeti
- Razorfen Hunter
Direct Comparison
- Find the closest similar card in cost/stats/effect and compare them.
- Bloodfen Raptor vs. Knife Juggler
- Razorfen Hunter vs. Harvest Golem vs. Imp Master
The Cost of Standard Effects
- Most standard effects (healing, direct damage, card draw) have a typical mana cost associated that Blizzard adds to the minion.
- There’s no magic answer with this. This is hard to define and uses fuzzy math.
- Spells vary too often to make an accurate list for them. These numbers apply to effects attached to minions
- 1/1 on a creature = 1 mana
- Stealth = 0.5 mana
- Taunt = 0.5 mana
- Divine Shield = 1.5 mana
- Spell Damage +1 = 0.5 mana
- 1 Card Draw = 2 or 2.5 mana (variable)
- 1 point of Direct Damage = 1-2 mana (variable)
- Charge = variable; expense increases with power of the minion
- Shattered Sun Cleric vs. Flesheating Ghoul vs. Thrallmar Farseer
Special Abilities
- Some of the special abilities cannot be directly evaluated since they’re so variable
- But many give simple benefits, like +1/+1 or 1 damage under certain situations. It’s generally possible to figure out how many activations they need to break even with their cost.
- Frostwolf Warlord
- Priestess of Elune vs. Frost Elemental vs. Hogger
The Class Benefit
- Class cards tend to be better than neutral cards
- Goldshire Footman vs. Voidwalker
- Boulderfist Ogre vs. Temple Enforcer
The Randomness Factor
- Randomness is inherently risky, so be careful overvaluing it.
- There are different types of randomness, though. Randomness that can be “shaped” to control the outcome are generally better
- Mad Bomber vs. Deadly Shot
Card Advantage
- Drawing cards is good, but cards that draw other cards are all over the value spectrum, good and bad. Evaluate each just like any other card!
- Azure Drake vs. Arcane Intellect vs. Novice Engineer
Versatility
- Versatility sometimes comes in the form of explicit choice, like Druid cards
- Sometimes it comes from different and potentially unexpected ways to use an ability
- Blessing of Wisdom
- Inner Rage
High Maintenance
- Low maintenance cards don’t need special circumstance to be played and get their full value.
- Chillwind Yeti and Arcane Intellect
- High maintenance cards need things to be in place in order to get its full value OR they somehow make your situation worse.
- High cost is high maintenance!
- Ancient Watcher and Defender of Argus and Venture Co. Mercenary
- Darkscale Healer vs. Spiteful Smith vs. Faceless Manipulator
- Mountain Giant vs. Sea Giant vs. Pyroblast
The Board State
- There are four states you can be in, in a Hearthstone game: Developing, Ahead, Parity, or Behind
- Cards are often better in some of those states and worse in others
- Some states are more important to be better in. Ahead is the least valuable, because you’re already winning.
Community
- Question from Nerdvana247: Are Rogue underpowered?
- iTunes Review: MrBthoven
Card of the Week
Farewell
- Follow Scott on Twitter
- Watch Scott livestream
- What you want to see in future episodes
- What hosts you want to visit the show
Saturday May 03, 2014
The Best Free Warlock and Rogue Decks - Episode 30
Saturday May 03, 2014
Saturday May 03, 2014
Hello!
- Jin is on the show this week
- Topic: The best free decks for Warlock and Rogue
- Reasons to be happy this week
How Free Cards Work
- Each hero starts with a set of free spells and you unlock more as you level them up
- You also get a big heap of neutral minions immediately when you start
- All of these free cards are combined into the “Basic Set”
- Blizzard built some starter decks, but they’re far from ideal. We’re going to make better ones.
How To Make The Best Free Decks
- Level the class you want to play to 10 to unlock all of your options
- Go to “My Collections” on the main menu and filter the cards by “Basic Set”
- Put the cards we list below into your list, and look if you already have the ones we suggest crafting and upgrading to.
- Website view: Free Rogue Cards, Free Warlock Cards, Free Neutral Minions
The Best Free Warlock Deck
Strategy: Zerg. Zerg hard. Play creatures that offer utility as well as a body. Cheap cards with double top deck power to overwhelm your opponent early in the game.
The Deck List
- 2x Soulfire
- 2x Murloc Raider
- 2x Voidwalker
- 2x Acidic Swamp Ooze
- 2x Bluegill Warrior
- 2x Murloc Tidehunter
- 2x Novice Engineer
- 2x Ironfur Grizzly
- 2x Raid Leader
- 2x Razorfen Hunter
- 2x Shattered Sun Cleric
- 2x Chillwind Yeti
- 2x Dragonling Mechanic
- 2x Sen’jin Shieldmasta
- 2x Boulderfist Ogre
First Crafting Goals
If you enjoy this deck, you’re going to want to untangle the mixture of two popular Warlock decks: Murloc and Zoo. Murloc is less popular right now and Zoo is considered very strong so we are going to work towards the standard Zoo deck with our upgrades.
- 2x Argent Squire (Replace Murloc Raider)
- 2x Dire Wolf Alpha(Replace Raid leader)
- 2x Abusive Sergeant (Replace Murloc Tidehunter)
- 2x Doomguard(Replace Boulderfist Ogre)
- 2x Knife Juggler(Replace Bluegill Warrior)
The Best Free Rogue Deck
Strategy: Play efficient minions at a slow pace, while you use removal spells and weapons to slow down your opponent’s aggression. Survive to the mid and late game, where your efficient use of cards will give you the advantage you need to bully out your opponent.
Deck List
- 2x Backstab
- 2x Deadly Poison
- 2x Sap
- 2x River Crocolisk
- 2x Fan of Knives
- 2x Shattered Sun Cleric
- 2x Silverback Patriarch
- 2x Chilldwind Yeti
- 2x Gnomish Inventor
- 2x Senjin Shieldmasta
- 2x Assassin’s Blade
- 2x Assassinate
- 1x Darkscale Healer
- 2x Boulderfist Ogre
- 2x Reckless Rocketeer
- 1x Sprint
First Crafting Goals
- 2x Defias Ringleader (Replace River Crocolisk)
- 2x SI:7 Agent to replace Silverback Patriarch
- 1x Blade Flurry (Replace Fan of Knives)
- 1x Eviscerate (Replace Fan of Knives)
- 2x Defender of Argus (Replace Gnomish Inventor)
- 2x Azure Drake (Replace Assassin’s Blade)
- 2x Spiteful Smith (Replace Sprint and Darkscale Healer)
Community
- Question from MouseDivided: The balance of Aggro decks right now
- iTunes Review: Dradardanggotu and jtechvfx
Card of the Week
Farewell
- Follow Jin on Twitter
- Watch Jin livestream
- What you want to see in future episodes
- What hosts you want to visit the show