How to Win Arena in 2016 - Episode 76

Hello!

• Ryan is on the show this week
• Topic: How to win Arena
• Reasons to be happy this week
• News: One Night in Karazhan!!!

Our Previous Arena Guide

• Episode 52, almost exactly one year ago
• Was focused on basic tips and general strategy and advice. Most of it is still extremely relevant today.
• 7 wins let you play infinitely for free.
• Choose your most comfortable class (when in doubt: Mage, Paladin, Priest)
• For your first 10 picks, just take the best cards regardless of mana
• Arena meta was aggressive, so 1-drop and 2-drops were very important
• You can’t have too many removal spells, and you always want 2-3 AOEs
• Watch your opponent’s mulligan to make better choices with yours
• How to use the Coin in early-game
• When to face and when to trade

State of the Arena in 2016

• Releases since the last update: The Grand Tournament, League of Explorers, Whispers of the Old Gods
• Mechanics since the last update: Inspire, Joust, Discover. C’thun and his cultists are excluded from Arena.
• Game system updates: Reveal of the increased chance to be offered class cards and cards for the newest set. Your newest class cards will always be offered most. Draft guarantees Rare or better on picks 1/10/20/30. The odds of being offered Epic or Legendary choices are very low (10%/2%).
• Meta Report: Meta is shaped by newest Neutral Commons and Class Commons. Old Gods meta is SLOW b/c of addition of good neutral taunts (Infested Tauren, Psychotron, Bog Creeper). One or two of these will usually stall out aggro decks. Additionally, OG neutral cards aren’t that aggressive in nature. Meta will naturally become faster in next Adventure by removal of OG offering bonus. Enchanted Raven may be enough to move Druid to top 3.
• Best classes right now: Mage and Rogue. Consistency is why: they have the best hero powers and best basic class cards and OG common class cards. Mage: Twilight Flamecallerand Faceless Summoner. Rogue: Shadow Strike and Southsea Squidface.
• Worst classes right now: Priest and Hunter. Worst hero powers (along with Warrior), in that they don’t impact the board directly. Their strong cards are too reliant on synergy to succeed. OG common class cards. Priest: Darkshire Alchemist and Hooded Acolyte is N/A because it’s a C’thun card. Hunter: Fiery Bat and Carrion Grub
• Arena Warriors got big love after being in an awful place for a long time, with N’zoth’s First Mate and Ravaging Ghoul.

The Best Classes in Arena

From best (Mage) to worst (Priest). You should pick the highest class on this list, if you feel comfortable playing all of them.

• Mage
• Rogue
• Warlock
• Shaman
• Warrior
• Paladin
• Druid
• Hunter
• Priest

The Best Arena Strategies for Each Class

• Druid: Tempo/Mid, Removal, Buffs, Beasts
• Hunter: Aggro/Tempo, Charge, Damage, Beasts
• Mage: Tempo/Mid/Control, Removal, MOST FLEXIBLE
• Paladin: Mid/Tempo/Control, Weapons, Buffs
• Priest: Tempo/Control, Removal, Buffs, Taunts
• Rogue: Tempo/Mid, Removal, VERY FLEXIBLE
• Shaman: Tempo/Mid, Removal, Totem, Buff, Evolve
• Warlock: Aggro/Tempo, ZOO!
• Warrior: Mid/Control, Weapons, Taunts, Removal

The Best Arena Cards for Each Class

If every class card was offered on pick 1, which card should you take?

Druid

• Basic/Common: Swipe
• Rare: Savage Combatant

Hunter

• Basic/Common: Glaivezooka
• Rare: Savannah Highmane

Mage

• Basic/Common: Ethereal Conjurer or Flamestrike
• Rare: Flamewaker

Paladin

• Basic/Common: Keeper of Uldaman
• Rare: Muster for Battle

Priest

• Basic/Common: Velen’s Chosen
• Rare: Auchenai Soulpriest

Rogue

• Basic/Common: Sap
• Rare: SI:7 Agent or Dark Iron Skulker

Shaman

• Basic/Common: Fire Elemental
• Rare: Master of Evolution or Lightning Storm

Warlock

• Basic/Common: Imp Gang Boss
• Rare: Imp-losion

Warrior

• Basic/Common: Fiery War Axe
• Rare: Frothing Berserker

The Best Neutral Arena Cards

If every neutral card was offered to you on Turn 1, and you only know what type of deck you hope to make, which do you take?

Aggro

• Basic/Common: Bog Creeper
• Rare: Sludge Belcher

Mid-Range

• Basic/Common: Dark Iron Dwarf
• Rare: Bomb Lobber

Control

• Basic/Common: Haunted Creeper
• Rare: Defender of Argus

Attrition

• Basic/Common: North Sea Kraken
• Rare: Sunwalker

Bonus Arena Tips

• Draw first. Always.
• When to face and when to trade: “Once you run out of good trades, go face” – Merps 2016
• Dilution of the card pool over time and the lessening likelihood of removal. (Lots of good stuff that’d take way to long to type up here — listen to the show!)
• Check out the Lightforge Tier List
• Listen to the Lightforge podcast!

Community

• Questions: Buying the new Adventure
• iTunes Reviews
• Donations (More info)

Card of the Week

Farewell

• Follow Ryan on Twitter!
• What do you want to see in future episodes?