LogFAQs > #885304539

Game 8: Vs Paladin. I went First. Another solid opener, at least. Facing Paladin is a bit of a nightmare though. He coins Sword of Justice on 2, so I know I'm in for a battle against some oversized minions. Even worse than expected... he drops Flappy Bird on the next turn. I have barely just enough presence on board to answer a 4/4, thankfully. He cleans up my board with Consecration on the following turn. I'm drawing exclusively from the bottom half of my deck which is probably the only thing keeping me in this game. It also means I have potential to draw into some value mid/late game. He actually gets very over zealous about using his Truesilver Champion even after I'm clearly trying to shred through his life total, and puts himself within range of a Bite lethal (combined with the minions he left on board). Surprise victory from out of nowhere. Win!

Game 9: Vs Mage. I went Second. Shaky opener, might not be too bad. Can I please just not lose to mage to end my run. That is really the last thing I want. He starts off with Mana Wyrm, so I already know I am not going to get my wish. Lol fuck these constructed level decks in arena lately. I at least manage to out value him with some clever plays and don't fall too far behind. Played so much better in the midgame. Doesn't matter. He had Lich King. Followed by Faceless Shambler the following turn for a second 8/8 taunt. Seriously what is up with these crazy decks that have unbeatable plays followed by plays that are equally insane just in case you had a sliver of a chance, to make sure that there is really nothing you can do? This fucker literally had Frost Lich Jaina in his deck as well. I don't even know what to say. The only reason I got to see it was because he used that one death knight card to pull four ADDITIONAL MINIONS onto his board, and just happened to burn it. I have taunts to protect myself and he understandably has spiked hogrider as well. Wouldn't want to miss any of the 'bullshit arena answers' checkboxes for this guy. HE WAS SOMEHOW AT 6-2 and walked right into my mediocre deck. Loss.

The level of deck variance in arena right now is just absolutely insane. Your opponent at 6-2 is just as much of a crapshoot as your opponent at 0-0. Just what is even going on in this format lately.

Final Result: 6-3

1 Pack, 85 Gold, 1 Common Card

Overall this was a really good example of the severe lack of two drops in arena right now. It's something I've noticed over several of the last few runs but this one especially suffered as a result. My deck quality was fine but my curve was overall very heavy and I ended up struggling in so many of my matches as a result. Even in the games I won, I never truly felt like I was ahead until it got close to the finish line. And even then, just one answer from my opponent would have shut me down completely.

This may actually be a good explanation for why the difference between first and second is not as severe as it used to be. Since there's not as many 2 drops, there's probably lots of decks that can't really capitalize on the the extra tempo of going first (because they have nothing to play on 1 or 2 often), while many players going second can coin out a 3 drop in order to close the gap and/or pull ahead. I know I often found myself doing this when I went second not just in this run but the previous ones as well. There were even times where I felt myself wishing that I was going second rather than first.
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~* I knew that there was no exit out of this maze.~*
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