Hearthstone

[Mystary!]

Have you tried reynads zoo warlock?

 

[Gay-Lussac]

No, but thanks for posting that video, it game me some ideas.

I removed:

Demolisher (1)
Shadowflame (1)
Cult Master (1)
Abomination (1)
Siphon Soul (2)

Added:

Worgen infiltrator (2)
Dire Wolf Alpha (1)
Shattered Sun Cleric (2)
Dread Infernal (1)

Will replace the infernal for a doom guard once I get dust for it. The other cards added can be replaced too, foi similarly agressive cards, but they're performing pretty well right now.

The early aggression here is amazing; leper gnome and worgen are a guaranteed 2 damage, with the potential for a lote more if you drop fel guard afterwards. Winning really often on ranked, feels good =]

 

[Jasede]

I need some super basic advice.

Stuck at ~14 (rank) with my Trump Budget Mage. I know I want to stick with the mage.
But...

2 types of decks give me trouble:
1) Control decks, where people remove my minions all game, then unleash some endgame beasts
2) aggro decks where I don't pull my arcane missiles and am helpless until flamestrike (which even with x2 I only pull like 60% of the time)


I don't really know how to play vs either. I made it this far bumbling but now I really gotta learn to deal. What are the default strategies vs control decks? What do I do vs aggro decks?

I am looking for advice like:

"Against [type], play [cheap/strong] minions early"
or
"Save all your stuff"

Stuff like that. If they play control, should I just play nothing, then polymorph/fireball the crap they have been waiting for? If they play aggro, do I just stall and pray to god I pull my 1 damage aoe / flamestrikes?

 

[J1M]

You should save your polymorphs if you can.

Freezes allow you to wait an extra turn and catch more things with your flamestrike. Ie. Frostbolt + Fireblast the 8/8 and kill it next turn with flamestrike.

It also sounds like you may need some way of winning the game. You can stall/control the board, but lack a finisher. Traditionally, a mage would use pyroblast but you could also use some big creatures instead.

 

[Zed]

I thought trump removed arcane missiles from his deck. I personally prefer arcane explosion.

 

[Grinolf]

I need some super basic advice.

Stuck at ~14 (rank) with my Trump Budget Mage. I know I want to stick with the mage.
But...

2 types of decks give me trouble:
1) Control decks, where people remove my minions all game, then unleash some endgame beasts
2) aggro decks where I don't pull my arcane missiles and am helpless until flamestrike (which even with x2 I only pull like 60% of the time)


I don't really know how to play vs either. I made it this far bumbling but now I really gotta learn to deal. What are the default strategies vs control decks? What do I do vs aggro decks?

I am looking for advice like:

"Against [type], play [cheap/strong] minions early"
or
"Save all your stuff"

Stuff like that. If they play control, should I just play nothing, then polymorph/fireball the crap they have been waiting for? If they play aggro, do I just stall and pray to god I pull my 1 damage aoe / flamestrikes?

I don't think someone could help you with that, since it depends on your opponent class and deck. So it maybe better to watch how he plays against various decks, especially the ones against high ranked opponents. Even if they are currently dated.
Still
1. You should play nothing only when your minions would be definitely killed without any gains for you, you already have some minions on board and don't want to overextend against possible UtH, Brawl, some AoE or you really want to save that particular cards for later, that shouldn't be relevant for you with Trump mage deck.
2. Against aggro you should try to play a minion or even two each turn. Prefer to use your hero power or spells only when they get you the same or better results that this minion. Like it's better to kill 2-1 minion with your hero power than to play 3-2 minion for the same mana. But with 2-3 minion situation could be different.
3. Polymorph > fireball, so if you choose which to use, pick later. The exeption is when you plan to use fireball for finishing your enemy.

Also I am not sure about missiles. I wasn't impressed by them and didn't use them. But then Trump played with them quite a long time, so I decided to try them too. But before I did that, I found that he pick Argent Squires as superior anti aggro measure. He also tried Explosion and Bomber instead, but I don't know if they are better than missiles.

UPD. Against aggro you could also consider to pich Shieldmasta instead of yeti, but they are worse against control decks, where taunt didn't matter that much compared to one additional damage.

 

[Jasede]

Thanks for the advice.

I keep confusing names. I meant Arcane Explosion. I found the Missiles spell terrible.

Here's the deck, shamelessly ripped from the latest Trump stream. I've liked it a lot more than the ones you can find from early March.

2x Mana Wyrm
2x Arcane Explosion
2x Frostbolt
2x Amani Berserker
2x Sunfury Protector
1x Acolyte of Pain
2x Earthen Ring Farseer
2x Harvest Golem
2x Fireball
2x Polymorph
2x Chillwind Yeti
2x Water Elemental
2x Azure Drake
1x Faceless Manipulator
2x Boulderfist Ogre
2x Flamestrike

It's pretty great, seeing how some bumbling new player can easily reach rank 13 by hitting random buttons. But now I need to actually get good and draw the right cards.

Also I need to add that the Faceless Manipulator is just amazing. 3 Ogres? No problem. Copying their legendary, then polymorphing it? Always a laugh.

 

[Jasede]

Fucking mage.

Words can not describe how annoying it is to be one turn away from victory- only to find out that the enemy mage has exactly 3 cards in his hand to your 15 HP: Fireball, Fireball, Frost Bolt /flips tables

 

[MicoSelva]

You should have forced him to sue up thiese fireballs earlier, but still bad luck.

I went with a near-dream Priest Arena draw just to end up with a 1-3 win record. I probably screwed up mana curve, as defeats came mostly from bad tempo - too expensive cards on hand most of the time.

I've decided to give the Priest another try, and it's a bit better now, with 5-2. Auchenai Soulpriests rock. Comboed with Circle of Healing they can turn the tide of the game just four mana. Add in Young Brewmaster and they even get to live to tell the tale.

Also, cast Shadow Madness on Harvest Golem and kill it off. The damaged golem will stay with you forever*.

Interestingly, I got Onyxia in both draws. This game really wants me to have that card. It saved my ass a couple of times too.

*Until it dies, obviously, but still.

 

[Jasede]

I did! I kept playing Ogres and shit. He just sat there and took the hits... which meant I knew what he was planning. But damn, he must have drawn that second fireball or frost bolt just when he needed it. That kind of luck does make the game pretty exciting though, kind of like Poker or Mah Jong.

 

[MicoSelva]

Happens. The game is pretty random, but card games do tend to be that way. You can make half of your deck out of low cost cards, not draw any in the first six turns and lose to an onslaught of acidic swamp oozes, knife jugglers and questing adventurers buffed up to 9/9.

Just grit your teeth and move on.

 

[MicoSelva]

BTW, someone should change the thread title - not in beta any more.

 

[Gay-Lussac]

http://ihearthu.com/vivafringes-guide-to-arena/

This really helped me out.

Two major pointers:

Matches are often decided on the first 2 turns, specially in arena; not having enough good 2 drops (at least 4, but aiming for about 6) is a sure fire way to mess up an otherwise good draft.

Don't waste your removal unless you have to. Trading with minions is usually the best choice - if you can trade one of your 2/1 for his 3/2 instead of blowing a spell on it just so you keep your minion on the board, do it.

 

[Jasede]

Wow, I feel like a huge asshole. I knew the Hunter had Misdirection on, but if I hit myself, I was going to die. I was at like 7 HP. Not knowing what to do, I Polymorphed one of my ogres. Next turn he foolishly summoned a 3/1 minion with charge, and went for my face. Then he used his shot. I was at 2 HP and the turn ended. I attacked with my sheep, triggered misdirection, hit myself, and then, at 1 HP, finished his 15 with Fireblast, Fireball and Frost Bolt + my remaining ogre. Like a boss.

 

[Brother None]

That ain't asshole, that's excellent reading of his secret and bad reading on his part (though we don't necessarily know what he could've done better). He could have smelled something was up when you polyd your ogre, for sure.

Well played!

 

[MicoSelva]

Well played!

 

[Metro]

I like using Shadow Madness (MC minion for a turn) against mages when they've obviously played Vaporize.

 

[Jasede]

I think I want to learn Priest. Mind Control seems like such a dick-move. It seems like one of THE best spells in the game. Plus, you should be able to survive until you can use it with all the 2 damage AoE and control spells and healing... Paladin does seem better though, they have sick cards.

 

[Grinolf]

Mind Control seems like such a dick-move. It seems like one of THE best spells in the game.

It was the best card in the game, as far as I know. But it was nerfed to current 10 mana cost, which means that it would be a dead card in your hand most of the game and game isn't even guaranteed to reach that point. Still it should be good against some decks, but I personally never would run 2 of them and even not always pick it in arena.

Also I lied to you, when I said that Trump mage didn't have minions you would want to save.
Obviously you want to save Manipulator. Also it better to save Sunfury Protectors against Savage Roar Druids, Miracle Rogues or aggro decks. But game didn't always allow you not to play something, especially when you dealing with aggro decks. So not ideal use of that card is still better than been killed before you have a chance to use it properly.
Also it better to save the Ooze against classes with weapons if/when you add one.

 

[Metro]

I play Priest almost exclusively now. Well... completely exclusively as I'm getting somewhat tired of the game and getting shit cards in booster packs. I manipulate/stack dailies to get Priest ones (or spell/minion ones) and just do three at a time/one thirty minute session. Mind Control can certainly be a game changer but the fact that it takes up a whole turn's worth of mana lessens it's appeal and most good players only use one per deck. And, yes, Priest has a ton of removal but Holy Nova is a 5 mana card and some rush decks (with luck) can completely fuck you before you have a chance to play it (if you actually get it early). Of course if I bothered crafting cards I'd get protectors to help stave off early rushes but I'm hoarding until I can get Rag. I'd also craft an Aucheni Priest to go with my Circle of Healing for maximum minion rape. 4 mana for 4 damage AoE. That will flatten any rush.

 

[MicoSelva]

4 mana for 4 damage AoE. That will flatten any rush.

Yes, it does.
Combine with a brewmaster for extra butthurt.

Mind Control is the ultimate turnaround card. If You are winning and opponent plays some last resort minion, like Ragnaros or Ironbark, counter with MC to crush him. If you are losing, MC might give you the edge to pull off a win. But yeah, one is enough. If you find yourself in need to use two MCs per game, you probably lost already.

 

[Jasede]

I am in fucking shock. You know that Warden card, 1/7?

I was just killed by a Priest who buffed its HP to 1/30, then made its attack 30/30. 1 hit KO.

I was frantically trying to draw my Polymorph but the cards were just not kind. Why didn't I freeze him when he was 1/13...)

 

[Gragt]

Old stuff. Always fun to play a silence or an Aldor Peacekeeper on those.

And yeah, buffing a card for one turn kill is possible but if your whole strategy relies on this it can be very risky.

 

[Metro]

Whenever you see subpar cards being played it's usually a tip something like that is going to happen.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Thats not really useful information though. It's not like you can blow your best removal on a subpar card because it's gonna be buffed later.