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
Thursday Oct 30, 2014
What are eSports? - Episode 38
Thursday Oct 30, 2014
Thursday Oct 30, 2014
Hello!
- Eleanor is on the show this week
- Topic: Have fun with esports
- Reasons to be happy this week
- News: Blizzcon incoming, Android app coming soon, fun infographic with stats
How do Hearthstone Esports work?
- How many pros?
- How are they making money?
- Tournament formats
- Global history of the scene
Hearthstone World Championships at BlizzCon
- How it works
- Who’s participating?
- What’s the prize?
- Find a stream
- Opening Weekend info
- Blizzard’s official roundup
- Follow on Twitter for updates: @CM_Whirthun, @PlayHearthstone
Why Watch Hearthstone Esports?
- Learn from watching the pros
- Entertainment!
- More Hearthstone
- Tournaments are so fun
- Also try lesser known streamers like Ek0p or Chakki
Pro #1: Strifeco
- Cong Shu, USA, Cloud9
- More info on the show!
- Recent match
- Twitch
Pro #2: Kolento
- Aleksander Malsh, Ukraine, Cloud9
- More info on the show!
- A recent match
- Twitch
Pro #3: RDU
- Dima Radu, 17, Romania, Meet Your Makers
- More info on the show!
- A recent match (Spoiler-free list of videos from that event)
- Twitch
Pro #4: Savjz
- Janne Mikkonen, 26, Finland, Team Liquid
- More info on the show!
- A recent match
- Twitch
Other Players to Watch
Casters
- What shoutcasters do and why they matter
- Artosis
- Gnimsh
- Frodan
- Realz
Hearthstone Esports Community Resources
- /r/hearthstone
- /r/hearthstonevods
- LiquidHearth
- GosuGamer
- Twitch!
- Other Shows: Value Town, Turn2, Angry Chicken
Community
- iTunes Reviews
Card of the Week
Farewell
- Follow Eleanor on Twitter
- What you want to see in future episodes
- What hosts you want to visit the show
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