The Happy Hearthstone Podcast
 

The Happy Hearthstone Podcast

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Episodes

The longest running Hearthstone podcast in the history of space and time and cards. Join GuyGrumpy and a rotating host of guests from The Happy Hearthstone community as they help you get better at the game and have a blast doing it.

Episodes

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

Hearthstone Free Warlock Win

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

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.

Hearthstone Free Rogue Win

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

First Crafting Goals

Community

  • Question from MouseDivided: The balance of Aggro decks right now
  • iTunes Review: Dradardanggotu and jtechvfx

Card of the Week

Hearthstone Harrison Jones

Farewell

Read more

The Barbarian Warrior - Episode 29

Saturday Apr 19, 2014

Saturday Apr 19, 2014

Hello!

  • Redbeard is on the show this week
  • Topic: The Barbarian Warrior deck
  • Reasons to be happy this week
  • Happy Hearthstone’s one-year anniversary!

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 Barbarian Warrior: Kill minions. Crush face. Use weapons.
  • How it wins: This deck is flexible, which is what makes it so strong in blind matchups. Against aggro decks, it plays a mid-range control style. But against everyone else, it can go full aggro and just punch face for quick wins.

Five Key Cards

  • Fiery War Axe: Great removal, amazing value for the mana cost.
  • Mortal Strike: Strong removal and great surprise damage for early finishes.
  • Kor’kron Elite: The perfect aggressive Warrior card. I’d play 4 if I could.
  • Bloodsail Raider: Decent on its own, and incredible with a weapon equipped. The ideal turn-2 drop.
  • Frothing Berserker: This deck will hurt minions, and this guy turns that damage into more damage.

Hearthstone Barbarian Attack

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

Spells

Weapons

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.

The Defending Champion Deck

Dan’s Hunter Beastmaster Deck, which relies on lots of Beast minions and solid removal spells to rush the opponent down.

The Beastmaster Deck has reigned supreme for 6 months, and has beaten 4 decks before this episode.

The Duel!

Redbeard’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

  • Rob: “If i’m a hearthstone noob and don’t want to sink any money in the game yet what kind of deck can I build to at least have fun?”
  • iTunes Review: Thepostiegav, Trigsters

Card of the Week

Hearthstone Dust Devil

Farewell

DECK GUIDE:

Sometimes you just need to grab a big axe and punch a face! This Warrior deck is all about sending troops behind enemy lines to cut down the hero’s health total and then close it out with a few hefty swings of your own weapon. It’s aggressive when it’s allowed to be, and controls other aggressive decks when it needs to.

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 Redbeard. Thanks, Redbeard!

The Barbarian Warrior

“If you only use one ability, use mortal strike” –The Warrior Code, Line 6

When I started playing Hearthstone, I immediately gravitated to the warrior class. I played it in WoW for 6 years, so it’s my favorite class, plus I thought weapons were so cool. So when I went to try ranked play out, I wanted to play warrior, and I wanted to smash faces in with Mortal Strike. That is what I do. I play aggressively, kill minions, and send big damage upstairs.

Let’s get straight 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.

2x Leper Gnome

Aggressive decks need to play 1-mana minions, and this boy is the best option without buffs if you aren’t a warlock. He’s a 2-power dude you can drop on turn 1, and barring some kind of silence effect, he’s at minimum a guaranteed 2 damage, usually 4-6.

1x Worgen Infiltrator

I wanted a third 1-drop to increase the likelihood of having a play on turn 1, and since I play no ways to buff a small minion, the Infiltrator just edges out Argent Squire. Stealth stops him from dying for free to a hero power, which does a good job of getting him in for at least 2 damage.

2x Bloodsail Raider

Including Weaponsmiths, this deck has access to 6 weapons, meaning odds are good you’ll have one up most of the time. You can sequence your plays to drop him as a 5/3 early, a 4/3 in the midgame, or a 7/3 off the top of the deck late. All of those represent must-answer threats to your opponent’s health, and a 2-power minion on turn 2 is acceptable, if unexciting.

2x Knife Juggler

This is kind of a flex-slot for a 2-drop in the deck. I was playing Faerie Dragon here for a long time, but with the reduced popularity of mage and druid lately, the juggler may be worth playing again. If you find yourself facing a lot of single-target removal spells, switch to dragon, or in case of lots of weapons, feel free to try Acidic Swamp Ooze. Basically, any 2-mana 3/2 can fit here, so use what you feel is appropriate for the metagame.

2x Frothing Berserker

This troll is the man. He’s possibly the best 3-mana minion in the game and the best warrior card around. 2/4 for 3 is about a point of power under curve, but he grows very quickly and if he goes unanswered, he can take over a game and make your opponent have a very bad day. He synergizes with clearing your opponent’s board, with warrior weapons and removal, and actually makes it quite painful for your opponent to fight back if they’re killing anything but him.

2x Harvest Golem

Generic strong 3-drop. This slot could easily go to King Mukla or Arcane Golem if you are interested in faster beatdowns, or Scarlet Crusader if you prefer higher power and a divine shield, but I like the resilience of the Harvest Golem, especially to AoEs.

2x Arathi Weaponsmith

Arathi Weaponsmith is another big reason to play warrior. By the generally accepted maths, 1.5 mana of his cost pays for the weapon, and since so many early minions have 2 health to start, or end up with it after battling a minion, that 2/2 axe usually contributes to 2 minion deaths on the opposite side. Huge value with a respectable body on a female orc, which you have to love.

2x Kor’kron Elite

This is yet another powerful warrior minion. 4 power with charge means this guy represents a big surprise hit to your opponent’s board or face, and 3 health is more than most charge minions get to have, which all adds up to a big value.

1x Leeroy Jenkins

If you’re only ever going to craft 1 legendary, it should be Leeroy. He’s basically a neutral fireball, because his drawback means he almost never lives a whole turn after being played, but your opponent rarely does, either. The paupers among us can get by with Reckless Rocketeers, but crafting Leeroy should be a top priority if you plan to play aggressive decks.

Hearthstone Barbarian Face

2x Nightblade

Nightblade is not a very good card, but this deck needs ways to get the final few points of damage through after the opponent puts up a big taunt wall. I refused to play this card for a long time because I thought it was not worth it, but it is essentially more copies of Kor’kron Elite. Since the deck plays so many 4-mana minions, having a couple 5s doesn’t make much of a difference, and you trade off 1 up-front damage for an extra point of health.

2x Argent Commander

You may be noticing a theme. Every minion that costs 4 or more does some damage the turn it is cast. Argent Commander has 4 power, charge, and divine shield, which makes him surprise damage, resilient to removal, and a form of removal himself. This is another generic aggressive card that is hard to replace.

1x The Black Knight

This is another flex-spot for the deck. I play The Black Knight because “shields up” is the name of the game these days with so many ancient watchers getting in the way of finishing off an opponent. Spellbreaker is a fine substitute if you don’t have The Black Knight, and shifts in the popularity of certain decks could make Harrison Jones, Lorewalker Cho, Gorehowl, or Big Game Hunter a better choice.

1x Execute

This one-off is the most recent addition to the deck. I saw another aggresive warrior deck play one, and decided to try it out. I realized that in a world full of giants and legendary 8/8s, a card that can kill any size minion for a single mana is pretty worthwhile. I would not add a second copy because even with just one it has a tendency to sit in my hand a while some games, and I feel like 2 would risk hurting my ability to build a board presence too much if I drew both of them.

2x Heroic Strike

Heroic Strike is cheap removal that can also be sent upstairs to finish the opponent off. It synergizes with weapons, helps lower your health for mortal strike, and is cheaper than comparable cards from other classes.

2x Mortal Strike

Warriors have to work hard to get a Fireball. Mortal Strike is one of your primary finishers because it sends a lot of damage that is not subject to taunt. You should remember that you play this card at all times, because armoring up can sometimes be a bad move if it will keep you above 12 health for too long.

2x Fiery War Axe

One of the keystones to the deck, the Fiery War Axe is cheap removal, usually a 2-for-1, and a nice synergy with Bloodsail Raiders. That said, if your draw if heavy on weapons and weaponsmiths, don’t be afraid to send a durability or two at your opponent’s face.

2x Arcanite Reaper

This is the big axe. While Arcanite Reaper is usually meant to be a 5-mana pyroblast spread over 2 turns, it also excels at killing Chillwind Yetis and other annoying high-health midgame minions. It’s most appealing quality is the ability to make a 2-mana 7/3 out of Bloodsail Raiders, which is a pleasure virtually unique to warriors.

Hearthstone Barbarian Facer

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.

2x Faerie Dragon

Faerie Dragon is a replacement option for Knife Juggler. If your jugglers die too often to wraths, frostbolts, and backstabs, or if you just can’t spare 100 dust to make one, feel free to replace them with little dragons.

2x Acidic Swamp Ooze

Similar to Faerie Dragon, the ooze is a possible candidate for Knife Juggler’s job. He comes in if your jugglers are instead being killed by Perdition’s Blade, Deadly Poison, or Stormforged Axe.

2x Arcane Golem

Arcane Golem is a contender for Harvest Golem’s spot if you find the deck doesn’t put out damage fast enough for your tastes.

2x Scarlet Crusader

Scarlet Crusader is a middle-ground between the unfettered aggression of Arcane Golem and the resilience of Harvest Golem.

2x Reckless Rocketeer

Reckless Rocketeer is the budget replacement option for both Leeroy Jenkins and Argent Commander. It should never be played if you have access to those more expensive cards, but can stand in if your collection is lacking.

1x Spellbreaker

Spellbreaker is what you play if you can’t afford The Black Knight’s hefty price tag. It still gets your attacks past a taunt, but since it doesn’t remove that minion from the battlefield, it’s an inferior choice.

1x Gorehowl

Gorehowl is another possible replacement for that 30th card slot. It can go to the face for a lot of damage, and can clear up a messy board over a few turns, but at 7 mana is probably more than you want to spend on an aggressive finisher.

1x Lorewalker Cho

Lorewalker Cho is an option I’ve never really tried, but sounds exciting. Since the spells you play are not very good in the hands of an opponent (Heroic Strike is removal that damages its caster and Mortal Strike is rarely deployed before the final turn) and you only play a handful besides, Cho is a nightmare for opponents who rely on spells to handle your minions, such as mages and druids. The one caveat for the legendary panda is that Execute is not his friend, so if you include this in slot #30, be sure to swap out that Execute for a second Worgen Infiltrator.

1x Harrison Jones

If you fear things like Lord Jaraxxus, Doomhammer, Gorehowl, and Assassin’s Blade, let Dr. Jones put them in a museum as your 30th card.

1x Big Game Hunter

Big Game Hunter is the 30th card to use if what you fear most are giants and Ragnaros, the Firelord.

Final Thoughts

Aggressive warrior walks a fine line between midrange and all-in aggro, and is very much unexpected by ranked play opponents. If you like to watch your hero fly around the screen crushing things under his massive boot heel, you will definitely enjoy playing the Barbarian Warrior.

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The Power Paladin Deck - Episode 28

Saturday Mar 22, 2014

Saturday Mar 22, 2014

Hello!

  • Derrick is on the show this week
  • Topic: The Power Paladin deck
  • Reasons to be happy this week
  • Happy Hearthstone’s one-year anniversary!

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 Power Paladin: Use the potential of strong buffs and dangerous minions to force the opponent to play reactively.
  • How it wins: Puts too many dangerous minions on the board, consistently, for the opponent to rely on removal. If they let even one stick on the board, you can buff it up and end the game quickly.

Five Key Cards

  • Blessing of Kings: Strong buffs that can add surprise value to high-threat minions.
  • Faceless Manipulator: We’re going to be adding a lot of buffs to our minions, which gives us plenty of good targets for this guy.
  • Sword of Justice: An amazing card in every Paladin deck.
  • Windfury Harpy: A minion like this has innate threat that can snowball into a bomb, with or without buffs added onto it.
  • Guardian of Kings: This guy sits with your monstrous curve-toppers at the top of the deck list to help secure the win at the end.

Hearthstone Power Ghoul

Full Deck List

You can get more insight into the deck by reading Derrick’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

Spells

Sideboard

In case you don’t have some of the ideal cards, here are some quality back ups and alterations you can make that keep with the same theme and strengths of the deck.

The Defending Champion Deck

Dan’s Hunter Beastmaster Deck, which relies on lots of Beast minions and solid removal spells to rush the opponent down.

The Beastmaster Deck has reigned supreme for 5 months, and has beaten 3 other decks before this episode.

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

  • Richard: “What is your favorite card to use that is not considered ‘cool’ in the current or previous meta?”
  • iTunes Review: Gaxx78, BlackEntropy

Card of the Week

Hearthstone Blessed Champion

Farewell

DECK GUIDE:

The Paladin Power Deck

The goal of this deck is to build up not out. I find lots of value minions that have intrinsic power that I can seek to exploit, which can get huge on their own. Buff spells help you get even more value out of those minions, and protection spells help keep them on the board. With so many power threats in the deck, we’re counting on at least one of them sticking on the board to get momentum in your favor.

Let’s get straight 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.

1x Acidic Swamp Ooze

The 2 mana 3/2 minions are all pretty good. Take your pick. This one has the outside chance of killing a weapon (pure upside, but mainly this is my vanilla 2 mana 3/2.

1x Argent Protector

This guy’s bubble is a cheap way to get my power cards to stick around an extra turn.

1x Dire Wolf Alpha

One of the ways this deck solves the classic “if only I had one more damage” problem. Never play it on an empty board if you can avoid it.

1x Ironbeak Owl

Nearly every deck needs silence of some sort. This one is cheap and fits into my curve, nicely, in the mid game. Timing is key. I usually mulligan this card if it’s in my opening hand. I don’t want to play it on turn unless I have to.

1x Acolyte of Pain

Early-game, this keeps me refilling my hand as I spend cards. If I get him late game, I don’t hesitate to slap Blessing of Kings on him and just going off.

1x Demolisher

Another great target for Blessing of Kings. A free 2 damage to open each turn demands respect. Helps keep their board clear and also gets in for good damage.

1x Flesheating Ghoul

One of my favorite minions. This card allows me to create an early threat so that my opponent panics and either makes unprofitable trades or, even better, wastes premium removal.

1x Harvest Golem

This card goes in pretty much every deck. Works nicely through AoE effects. Even if he milks a silence out of my enemy, I feel good.

2x Ironfur Grizzly

My optimal way to cut off early game. If I have one of these in my opening hand, my chances of winning go way up. Shuts down Clerics hailing from Northshire and Wyrms smothered in mana.

1x Razorfen Hunter

This card just helps me establish a board presence. For 3 mana I get two minions which gives me more targets for buffs and blessings. Also helps me take out X/1 targets and still have an attacker.

1x Shattered Sun Cleric

Another one of the cards in my deck that fixes the “if only I could deal one more damage” problem. Also the +1 HP can sometimes turn trades into profitable attacks.

1x Silverback Patriarch

My deck wanted another taunt to deal with early-game threats. I also don’t mind putting Blessing of Kings on this dude. A 5/8 minion with taunt on turn 4 can be nasty, especially if you have another minion on the board.

Hearthstone Power Hand

1x Chillwind Yeti

One of the best vanilla beaters. A medium threat early-game and helps me curve out. Even off the top in late game, this guy doesn’t suck.

1x Spellbreaker

My other chance to silence. But at 4 attack, I actually prefer this guy to come down behind protection so that I can start taking chunks out of my opponent’s HP.

1x Faceless Manipulator

The build-around-me card of the deck. I’m designed to assemble some sort of mega-threat. Then if I happen to top deck Faceless Manipulator, I duplicate that mega-threat and make my opponent sweat.

1x Venture Co. Mercenary

Super efficient beater. Makes your other minions expensive but who cares if I have 7 attack on the board. Every swing with this minion is almost a fourth of their starting life total. I’m not afraid to burn my silence on this minion either if it makes sense.

1x Windfury Harpy

My deck needs threats like these that become great targets for my blessings and/or Faceless Manipulator.

1x Guardian of Kings

Designed to help dig me out of a small jam, top-decking this card helps me stabilize a bit. Both the heal and the size of this creature contribute to that end.

1x Ysera

When I build a deck I want two or three curve-toppers that, if I’ve leeched enough removal from my opponent’s deck along the way, will kill them outright because their deck is out of steam. Ysera not only puts down a creature with 12 HP, but also does 4 damage per turn, while giving me card advantage with powerful OP cards.

1x Deathwing

This card cheats. So I play it. Again, i’m hoping to lure out my opponent’s removal throughout the game, giving Daddy Dragon plenty of chance to survive that first turn by my opponent.

1x Blessing of Might

Cheap Cheap! This is like removal against an X/4 when I play it on a 1/1 (which the pally deck makes all the time). Also targets Windfury Harpy nicely. But I’d say I use it to help remove big threat minons 70% of the time.

1x Blessing of Wisdom

Cheap Cheap! We’ve talked about on this show whether or not we would play a card that says “Pay 1 mana and draw a card.” I know I would. And any draws beyond one is just gravy for me. The quicker I get to any of my bombs, the more likely my chances are of winning.

1x Sword of Justice

This will carry me through the mid-game. Giving the next 5 minions +1/+1 instantly makes my mid-game better than yours.

2x Blessing of Kings

Another build-around-me card in this deck. It’s the swiss army knife. I have plenty of great options to target with it, and if I’m absolutely desperate, it serves as a desperate removal card.

1x Consecration

My one and only shot at solving the lack of AoE in this deck. You gotta make it count when you use it.

2x Hammer of Wrath

This is the straight removal of the deck. It’s more expensive but draws me a card. Helps with tempo and card advantage.

1x Avenging Wrath

The flavor text on this one, says it all: “Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham!”

Hearthstone Power Cultist

Possible Additions

This deck has a few key cornerstone epics, which don’t really have great replacements. However there are plenty of big beaters and an alternative weapon you could use in the interim, all of which play just fine in this deck.
1x War Golem

If you need a curve topper, this card can fill in a gap.

1x Stormwind Champion

Another neutral minion that is commonly seen in Paladin decks. He must be dealt with or can overturn a game.

1x Ravenholdt Assassin

Without taunt, your opponent is taking 7 damage. Even more if you can protect him on the follow up turn. Great target for Blessing of Kings.

1x Truesilver Champion

Every time my opponent plays it against me, I groan. That means it’s good. I wanted this in my deck, but I just couldn’t fit it into the 30-card limit. But it’s worth jamming into every Paladin deck and can work as a stop-gap solution until you get a Sword of Justice.

Final Thoughts

Are you tired of Mages Flamestriking you to death? Try making your minions so big and nasty that those Mages simply blink away in fright! Try out this Paladin deck and feel the power. Get those noobs complaining on the forums that Blizzard should once again, nerf Paladins.

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The Best Free Druid and Priest Decks - Episode 27

Thursday Mar 06, 2014

Thursday Mar 06, 2014

Hello!

  • Justin is on the show this week
  • Topic: The best free decks for Druid and Priest
  • 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 Priest Cards, Free Druid Cards, Free Neutral Minions

Hearthstone Free Priest

The Best Free Priest Deck

Strategy: Keep your board full with healthy minions that you can use to kill the enemy army, while healing your troops to make sure you win the long war. Later on, manipulate your creature’s larger health pools into big damage, courtesy of a few spell tricks.

The Deck List

First Crafting Goals

If you enjoy this deck, you’re going to want to beef it up as you start to unlock new cards by earning or buying new packs, or winning in Arena. Here are 5 cards that you should try to get first, and what to replace with them.

Note: Once you have Inner Fire and Lightspawn, you should also swap Divine Spirit (a free card) for Novice Engineer.

Hearthstone Free Druid Charge

The Best Free Druid Deck

Strategy: Stave off rush tactics with removal and cheap minions while you slowly gain board and card advantage. Then push for a win in the late-game.

Deck List

First Crafting Goals

Hearthstone Free Druid Heal

Community

Card of the Week

Song by Justin!
Hearthstone Arcanite Reaper

Farewell

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How to Win Arena with Paladin and Shaman - Episode 26

Thursday Feb 20, 2014

Thursday Feb 20, 2014

Hello!

  • Scott Lantz is on the show this week
  • Topic: The best cards for Paladin and Shaman in Arena
  • Reasons to be happy this week

How Arena Works

  • Quick recap: picking a hero and cards
  • Goal for this week: help you make the best card choices while playing Arena
  • Includes neutral minions as well

Hearthstone Arena Paladin

The Best Paladin Cards for Arena

Basic strategy: Fill the board with troops and attempt to control the board. Once you can stabilize the board and get a minion or two to stick, buff them up and terrorize. Paladin is better situated than most classes to win via a grab-bag of tricks that contribute to efficiency in various ways. Especially against fast classes, if you neutralize and stabilize, you’re likely to do well in the long-run. Against slower classes, you’ll want to keep the pressure on.

Josh

Argent Protector
Great 2-for-1 potential to get board advantage early game, great late draw to protect your bombs.

Hammer of Wrath
Nice and simple. Any card that replaces itself has value, and the fact that this replaces itself AND kills an opponent’s minion on the board means it’ll be useful every game you draw it.

Consecration
It is so easy to kill multiple creatures with this card. Turn 4 is the perfect time for this too. If they’re rushing, you’ll wipe out 4-turns of minions on their side of the board. If they’re going big, you should be able to Consecrate and trade your small minions for their big minions. Bonus: also deals damage to their hero.

Imp Master
I’ve spent too many Paladin games with a powerful buff card in my hand and nothing to cast it on. The Imp Master + hero power will go a long way towards making sure something sticks on your side of the board.
Scott: I’ve become a big fan of this recently. Very under-rated card.

Noble Sacrifice
This is similar to Explosive Trap for me. Great way to remove a threat you know is coming — it’s a heal and a damage.

Scott

Blessing of Wisdom
This card is interesting. You cast it when you’re about to attack, and you are guaranteed to get your card back. So this is a unique card in hearthstone that essentially says “Bet 1 mana now that this guy will survive to attack again on future turns.” Or, with Windfury, it’s just plain profit. Must play it smart, but never costs you much if you bet poorly. Plus, you can use it to kind of neutralize an enemy minion in a pinch. Been seeing that a lot lately

Aldor Peacekeeper
A 3/3 for 3 is fine, and its ability goes a long way towards neutralizing the nastiest enemy minion on the board. This card’s ability is one of the best ‘free’ abilities on a creature whose size equal to its cost. Very close to a 2-for-1.

Blessing of Kings
While you obviously can’t have a deck full of buff cards instead of minions, this can be much stronger than a 4/4. You’ll often use this to take out the biggest thing on the board and still have a powerful (if fragile) threat left over. Beware of putting all your eggs in one basket.

Sword of Justice
As a 1/5 weapon for 3, this is not a good deal considering Paladin also has a 1/4 weapon for 1 that isn’t really worth using. You should be using this to buff, only attacking if highly efficient. This won’t enable any tricky surprises like Blessing of Kings, but +5/+5 (spread over 5 minions) for 3 mana is some of the best efficiency you will find. This WILL turn the game in your favor compared to a random neutral minion. Doesn’t do anything when cast though, so get it out ASAP.

Equality
Hard to use, but if you’re clever and patient, it can swing a game. This card is better in weenie decks. Combos well with cards like Knife Juggler, Scarlet Crusader, Argent Protector, Cult Master, and Harvest Golem. Make sure you cast this before summoning minions.

Hearthstone Mechanics Overload

The Best Shaman Cards for Arena

Basic strategy: A lot of cheap, powerful removal to keep the enemy board clear and then big minions at the end to keep the pain train going. One of the trickier classes to play well.

Josh

Mana Tide Totem
The enemy will put a lot of effort into removing this card. Play it when you have a taunt out or their side of the board is clear to increase your chances of getting more than one card. Remember: if they spend a removal to get rid of this, it’s a victory for you.

Stormforged Axe
We talked about this a lot on the last show, but this is the perfect answer for early game aggression. You should be able to kill almost anything they throw down in the first three turns, all with one card.

Fire Elemental
Big minion that instantly kills an enemy minion when it comes into play. Love it!

Flametongue Totem
This is one of my all-time favorite cards of any class. The element of surprise is extremely valuable, and it often lets you trade up short minions, or maintain a strong defensive wall as you punch to keep itself alive.

Frostwolf Warlord
It’s easy to look at this card and get worried about lost potential. But as a Shaman, you will almost always have at least one troop on the board (a totem). That makes this a 5/5 for 5 with a ton of upside.

Scott

Feral Spirit
Cast on turn 2 or 3, these spirits will usually dominate the board. Later in the game, their role changes to double-deep protection of your fragile-but-valuable creatures like Flametongue Totem, Mana Tide Totem, or Fire Elemental. Compared to Fen Creeper (a card I like more than most) this defers part of the casting cost, has more combined power/toughness, and is split over two bodies.

Lightning Storm
Lightning Storm is one of the signature Shaman cards. Mass AoE. Obviously, spellpower minions or totems make this thing even nastier. Generally best to wait until it will hit at least 3 minions. Note that this one doesn’t hit the enemy hero, so it’s all about its efficiency in killing minions.

Hex
People often overestimate cards like this and Polymorph, and therefore don’t get the full value they should. Generally, you don’t want to Hex cards costing less than 6 unless that card has been buffed with another strong card. Be patient and wait for a blowout, unless you just can’t. Keep in mind this is card disadvantage, since it will never kill a creature by itself. But if you can neutralize your enemy’s 8/8 for only 3 mana, that is a big tempo swing in your favor.

Unbound Elemental
This card is about half a mana overcosted for its stats, so while you can drop it in a pinch if you need to, it’s generally best to wait to cast it until you can also cast something with Overload on the same turn. Luckily, Overload cards have cheaper up-front casting costs, so that’s easier to do than it may seem. Obviously, you need plenty of overload cards with this, or it’s just an overcosted minion.

Stormwind Champion
While this card is also good in a Paladin deck, it’s a smidge stronger in a Shaman deck because it can make the difference between most totems being able to attack or not. Can really throw off your opponent’s combat calculations, giving you efficient trades they hadn’t planned on. If you can end your turn with your opponent having less than 6 power on board, this thing’s efficiency only grows. If you have 2 creatures ready to attack when you cast this, you’ll usually have profited.

Hearthstone Arena Lightning Storm

How To Win Arena

  • Minions are #1 priority
  • Card draw is always valuable
  • AoE removal works
  • Avoid specific synergy decks — it’s a trap!
  • Efficiency and flexibility
  • Don’t be scared
  • It’s worth the cost

Keep track of your progress!
Scott made a brilliant spreadsheet that you can use to track all of your Arena progress (and your entire card collection)!
Download his spreadsheet now
Scott’s Hearthstone Arena Tracking Spreadsheet

Here are a few great alternatives, in case Spreadhsheets aren’t your thing:
Arena Mastery: Website tracking (Derrick’s favorite!)
HearthStats: Website tracking
HearthTracker: Local app for tracking

Community

  • Question from Justin: How to use emotes without offending people?
  • iTunes Review: Icstrm and JollyAngus!

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Song by Scott!
Hearthstone Conceal

Farewell

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