The Happy Hearthstone Podcast

Warrior and Priest Cards - Episode 11

Hello!

• Derrick is on the show this week
• Topic: Picking favorites and least favorites from Warrior and Priest cards
• Reasons to be happy this week

Who is Derrick?

• History with card games
• History with Blizzard games
• History with The Happy Hearthstone

Warrior Cards Overview

• A full list of all Warrior cards
• Damage your own minions for perks
• Random creature removal
• Attack with your hero
• Charge: attack right away
• Warrior Hero Ability: Gain 2 armor

Our favorite Warrior cards

Cards we are excited to play, even if they’re not necessarily the best by objective standards

Josh:

• Brawl – Beautifully hilarious. It won’t always be useful, but it’ll always be fun to play.
• Armorsmith – Solid basic creature with a lot of upside, which you can trigger yourself with Warrior deck
• Warsong Commander – Can you tell I like bodies with abilities attached? Charge is super valuable for surprise ambushes to eliminate threats on other side.

Derrick:

• Cleave – A fantastic 2 drop. If played on turn 2 or 3 will likely board sweep your opponent. Downside is late game, if you top deck this, it’s dead in your hand until you have some potential targets. I like it solely because of the early game card advantage.
• Cruel Taskmaster – Warrior deck gains benefits from being Enraged and this minion grants an additional 2 dmg on top. Great combos with Grom Hellscream and Frothing Berserker. Has immediate effect and can add 2 or more damage to a minion this turn and potentially future turns.
• Shield Block – As the game progresses, this card becomes more and more valuable. The card draw is huge, I effectively heal for 5, and only costs 3!

The best Warrior card

The most powerful card that we think should be in every Warrior deck.

Josh:

• Battle Rage – A common! It won’t always be useful, which is usually a warning flag for me. But the cost is so low, and Warrior has so many cards that damage friendly minions that I could see this being really strong. It’s a decent card if you get 2, and insane if you get more. And it’s all minions, not just yours!

Derrick:

• Mortal Strike – If you’re winning, this a decent removal card. If you’re losing, 6 points to the face is a ton of damage! I think, as a Warrior, you’ll be below 12 health in a lot of games. Another important thing to point out about this card is hidden information. When this card is in your hand, this card is a BOMB. You only need to get your opponent to 8. When you do, they’re suddenly dead and didn’t realize it. I don’t think this card is ever bad.

Warrior cards we hate

Cards we personally don’t want to play, or will hate to play against

Josh:

• Charge – I like Charge, but this is rarely a 1-for-1 trade. We could use that card slot more effectively.
• Gorehowl – Basically restricts you to attacking minions (attacking a hero will be 7 dmg for 7 mana). It’s not terrible, but not what I want to be playing. I don’t like losing choices. That said, it does combo really well with cards like Upgrade.
• Cleave – I hate the word “random” on cards like this. It pretty much guarantees that I will rage at some point.

Derrick:

• Commanding Shout – I hate this because it keeps reminding me that you can’t play spells on your opponents turn. I think that takes away so much flexibility from this card. You basically have to play it on a minion that is near death, that you have to attack with this turn, but it’s probably dead next turn.
• Upgrade – First off, I think the card name is cheesy. Yes, it’s only 1 mana but it’s only +1 attack. If I only play a deck with 30 cards, this one would not make the cut for me.
• Heroic Strike – It’s cheap to cost, which is fine. But again, not likely to make the cut if I can only play 30 cards. It’s a 1-time +4 attack on my hero. Which means I’m likely using it to hit their hero. Otherwise I take damage from attacking minions. And it only lasts for one turn. I just don’t think I’d want to play it. Bummer ebcause it’s a huge archetypal skill for the Warrior.

Priest Cards Overview

• A full list of all Priest cards
• Steal enemy minions
• Heal allied minions
• Nuke damage on enemy hero
• Silence: ability removal
• Priest Hero Ability: Heal 2 damage.

Our favorite Priest cards

Cards we are excited to play, even if they’re not necessarily the best by objective standards

Josh:

• Mind Blast – Super mana efficient. Always useful and can slip in any turn when you have free mana you couldn’t otherwise use.
• Cabal Shadow Priest – Expensive, so you can’t ignore the ability. However, it’s a permanent steal, and there are a lot of pesky units with low attack and cool abilities. Don’t kill it, steal it!
• Fade – Draw for 2 mana isn’t bad by itself. Fade is great survival trick. Can also use it before playing a minion that you want to keep safe. That means they have to kill all other minions before they can hit that one.

Derrick:

• Prophet Velen – Might be a little too late game-ish but certainly has an impactful effect on the game while he remains in play. The priest deck has many ways to deal damage or heal and draw cards, which could be deadly while Prophet Velen remains on the board.
• Penance – Great, cheap removal. If hero life totals cannot go over their max HP then the bonus on this card is dead until you need to heal up, but throughout most of the game there is usually a minion that has 3 or less HP, and my hero won’t stay at max HP for long. This works as efficient removal for 3 mana cost, and the heal-for-3 on your hero is just gravy.
• Divine Spirit – If you’re having trouble getting your head around the usefulness, picture this: Auchenai Soulpriest is in your hand. 4 cost for a 3/5 minion. Would you be happy if the card instead said 6 cost for a 3/10 minion? I think I would. Also many of the priest cards have important text on them. This allows you to keep those minions around for an extra turn or two which can often make this 2-drop card very useful. Manage to combo this with cards like Faerie Dragon or Power Word: Shield and it becomes quite potent.

The best Priest card

The most powerful card that we think should be in every Priest deck.

Josh:

• Northshire Cleric – This gets out of control quickly. It’s not just friendly Minions! I will play my Priest deck with plenty of healing, and this makes your hero ability allow you to heal minion for 2 health and draw a card for 2 mana. Combo with AoE heals like Circle of Healing or Holy Nova for huge card draw.

Derrick:

• Thoughtsteal – A 3 drop! This is too powerful. A must-have for every priest deck. In the Forge, grab as many as you’re allowed to play. This card means that at any point in the game, you can fish your opponent’s deck for whichever creatures are most relevant right now. I expect this card to be adjusted before release due to how hard the devs are pushing it’s power level. This card adds 2 cards to my deck as well, which is useful. This is a 3 drop bomb.

Priest cards we hate

Cards we personally don’t want to play, or will hate to play against

Josh:

• Mindgames – Too expensive and too random while there are much better options that do similar things in the Priest cards. I like that it goes onto the battlefield, though.
• Shadowform – Maybe I just like healing too much, but there are better cards (like Auchenai Soulpriest) that accomplish this without feeling like a wasted card slot. If you want to be aggressive, there’s plenty of damage spells. Just put those in the deck instead.
• Mental Collapse – Will be useless in some games. Just use Mind Blast and always get 5 damage for the same mana.

Derrick:

• Prayer of Fortitude – This would work so much better on a minion. Since this is just a spell, it ends up becoming very situational. And otherwise it’s almost a dead card in your hand.
• Silence – Even at 0 cost, I wouldn’t want this card in my deck. Maybe if it was -2 mana, then I’d start considering it. But in a 30-card deck you really have to be picky about what cards make the cut. I’d rather have a card the just kills the minion.
• Mind Vision – Yes, your opponent loses a card, which is fine. And you gain a card. But you have no control over what you get. They have to have cards in their hand, and it has to be something that you actually want, and then you have to pay mana to play it. This card has too much randomness for a 6 mana cost.

Card of the Week

Rock the boat. Don’t rock the boat, baby!.

Farewell

• Follow Derrick on Twitter
• What you want to see in future episodes
• What hosts you want to visit the show

Technical Speculations - Episode 10

Hello!

• Liam is on the show this week
• Topic: the technical aspect of Hearthstone features
• Reasons to be happy this week

Who is Liam?

• History with card games
• History with Blizzard games
• Programming experience

What will the UI look like?

• Hearthstone will be on PC, Mac, and iPad
• Android is unconfirmed, but we’re hopeful
• Can the same UI be used for all of them?
• How difficult it is to adjust the UI for different screen sizes
• What each platform needs
• Could we see a phone version?

How long will have to wait for an Android version?

• Other card games’ dev cycles
• Kotaku article
• Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers
• Hearthstone’s dev team size

How big will the game be, and will that compromise the Mac/PC version?

• Size available on iPads
• Size of other card games, on PC and iPad
• Still concerned?

How will multi-platform accounts work?

• Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers comparison
• Multiple purchases?
• Multiple accounts?
• Shared decks?
• Apple store restrictions

Cross-platform playing

• General lack of cross-platform play in gaming
• Hero Academy, Dungeon Defenders
• Different languages used by the OSes
• The process of porting a game to multiple devices
• Android device disparity
• WoW cross-server tech

Card of the Week

He’s not very good at juggling if the knives keep hitting people.

Farewell

• Follow Liam on Twitter
• What you want to see in future episodes
• What hosts you want to visit the show

Tabletop Roots - Episode 9

Hello!

• Matt is on the show this week
• Topic: WoW TCG and Hearthstone’s tabletop roots
• Reasons to be happy this week

Who is Matt?

• History with card games
• History with Blizzard games
• Favorite hero in WoW TCG

Summary of WoW TCG

• Released in 2006
• Gameplay overview
• WoW loot cards

Mana screwed

• What is it?
• Why do we hate it?
• WoW TCG’s solution
• Hearthstone’s solution
• Will it work?

Release schedule

• WoW TCG’s history of releases
• Magic’s style of releases
• Hearthstone’s plan?
• Do we need/want constant releases?

Instant-speed vs Secret Cards

• WoW TCG + Magic have instant cards
• Hearthstone has secret cards
• Good enough?

Elements adopted from WoW TCG

• Choosing what your creatures attack
• Permanent health
• Do we like it in Hearthstone?

Other WoW TCG elements we want in Hearthstone

• More heroes
• Raids
• Different health totals
• In-game loot
• Talent Specializations

Card of the Week

You thought he was here to help? Nope! He wants your soul.

Farewell

• Follow Matt on Twitter
• What you want to see in future episodes
• What hosts you want to visit the show

Hero Abilities (Part 2) - Episode 8

Hello!

• Dan is on the show this week
• Topic: Hero Abilities
• Reasons to be happy this week

Who is Dan?

• History with card games
• History with Blizzard games
• Favorite class in WoW
• Hunters carry cards?

What are Hero Abilities?

• 9 Heroes in the game, each with a unique ability
• 2 mana to use
• Can be used once per turn, unlimited times during game

Garrosh Hellscream

Orc Male Warrior

Ability: Gain 2 armor.

Discussion

• What Defines Warriors in WoW?
• Our Impressions
• Flavor Rating: 6,8
• Power Rating: 9,7

Gul’dan

Orc Male Warlock

Ability: Lose 2 health and draw a card.

Discussion

• What Defines Warlocks in WoW?
• Our Impressions
• Flavor Rating: 10,10
• Power Rating: 8,11

Malfurian Stormrage

Night Elf Male Druid

Ability: Shapeshift for one turn, becoming a bear that has 1 Attack and 1 Armor.

Discussion

• What Defines Druids in WoW?
• Our Impressions
• Flavor Rating: 10,10
• Power Rating: 3,3

Thrall

Orc Male Shaman

Ability: Summon a random totem. (4 unique options)

Discussion

• What Defines Shamans in WoW?
• Our Impressions
• Flavor Rating: 11,10
• Power Rating: 8, 2/4/6/8/10

Rexxar

Orc Male Hunter

Ability: Deal 2 damage to the enemy hero.

Discussion

• What Defines Hunters in WoW?
• Our Impressions
• Flavor Rating: 5,7
• Power Rating: 8,7

Card of the Week

Felguard don’t care about your precious crystals

Farewell

• Follow Dan on Twitter
• What you want to see in future episodes
• What hosts you want to visit the show

Hero Abilities (Part 1) - Episode 7

Hello!

• Gavin is on the show this week
• Topic: Hero Abilities
• Reasons to be happy this week

Who is Gavin?

• History with card games
• History with Blizzard games
• Favorite class in WoW

What are Hero Abilities?

• 9 Heroes in the game, each with a unique ability
• 2 mana to use
• Can be used once per turn, unlimited times during game
• New heroes?

Valeera Sanguinar

Blood Elf Female Rogue

Ability: Equips a 2/1 dagger onto the hero. If hero already wields the dagger, it adds 1 attack to the dagger.

Discussion

• What Defines Rogues in WoW?
• Our Impressions
• Flavor Rating: 9,9
• Power Rating: 8,7

Jaina Proudmoore

Human Female Mage

Ability: Deal 1 damage.

Discussion

• What Defines Mages in WoW?
• Our Impressions
• Flavor Rating: 5,4
• Power Rating: 5,6

Uther the Lightbringer

Human Male Paladin

Ability: Summons a 1/1 Silver Hand Recruit.

Discussion

• What Defines Paladins in WoW?
• Our Impressions
• Flavor Rating: 8,6
• Power Rating: 6,6

Anduin Wrynn

Human Baby Priest

Ability: Heal target minion or hero for 2.

Discussion

• What Defines Priests in WoW?
• Our Impressions
• Flavor Rating: 7,6
• Power Rating: 9,9

Card of the Week

Slam, slam, thank you, ma’am!

Farewell

• Follow Gavin on Twitter
• What you want to see in future episodes
• What hosts you want to visit the show