Board 8 > Hearthstone Discussion Topic: A Lack of Synergy

(+) Yeah! (+)

darn. I feel kinda bad, because, the sad thing is, I likely won't even use these cards. I mean I barely play constructed and I kinda hate playing control mage.
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I like control, I like Mage, I like dragons, and I like playing slow cards that are probably more likely to lose me the game than win it. Sindragosa would have been perfect, but I can't bring myself to craft cards that are going into shits and giggles decks rather than ones that I actually expect to perform well.

That said, I have over 4k dust just sitting there. If I wanted Sindy bad enough I'd be playing it.
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Control Mage is more fair now I think, it was strong in Ungoro because the meta was more token heavy (Shaman, Aggro Druid, Murloc Pally) but this meta has Ramp Druid and Priest near the top so burn strategies wont work so well. The top Aggro deck also has a great counter to Doomsayer (Vilespine). Thats where Jaina comes in! Frost Lich Jaina is a very good card that allows you to not rely heavily on hitting the opponents face with burn and gives you a late game win con.

Sindragosa on the other hand is a bit too slow but eh, maybe when Medivh rotates out Mage will have some room for it
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Post Death Knight Arena #2

I Was Offered: Priest/Mage/Druid
I Picked: Priest

I have a Priest related quest right now and it's not a class I play in arena pretty often. They're actually a solid class as of right now and this has not always been the case, and it might not always be, so maybe I should play them while it is an opportunity. Plus I have this cool Tyrande skin that I never use!

The Draft; Nothing special. I did get a Forbidden Shaping and a Kabal Courier. So if I do happen to win any games it will likely be due to shenanigans aka bullshit.

Game 1: vs Rogue. I went second. He had a ton of tempo. Then Lich King created by Stonehill Defender. Death and Decay for exact lethal. Loss.

Game 2: Vs Priest. I went Second. Counting my last run, this is now the sixth consecutive game where I've gone second. Not sure why they can't just add a thing in arena where you alternate going first and second from each match but whatever. Did not draw any playable cards in the first three turns. After that point nothing is playable because he's so far ahead on board I cannot make any play. God damn I don't mind having a mediocre deck and losing due to bad deck quality, but it's really pissing me off that I'm just getting absolutely wrecked by awful luck so far tonight. This dipshit of course plays right into Dragonfire Potion but it doesn't even matter because I'm the only priest currently in the entire arena pool of players right now who doesn't have that card. Loss.

Game 3: Vs Priest. I went First. Hey, finally. My first two opponents each had a one drop that spiraled completely out of control. This guy coins out a two drop. So, I guess, in a way, the match was sort of different. Maybe? He played even worse than my last opponent and my luck wasn't as bad, but his deck quality was much higher. Loss.

So yeah in basically polar opposite of my last run this one has me feeling like the high deck variance problem in arena still has not been addressed at all. Maybe I just got lucky on the previous run, because this time I absolutely walked face first into three CONSECUTIVE unwinnable situations. You should not be fighting an unbeatable deck at 0-2. Complete nonsense.
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I went to the local fireside gathering again today for another tournament - this one ended up going a lot better for me. Only an 11 person tournament, but I highrolled a bunch and won the whole thing. I ran Jade Druid, Tempo Rogue, Control Mage, and Highlander Priest, with a couple modifications each. The highlight was probably when my Lyra got pulled by a Dirty Rat on turn 3 (with a radiant elemental on the field), and I rolled enough spells to win on turn 5.

Ended up winning a Hearthstone bottle opener, pin, and a bit of store credit. Next gathering is going to be in December, probably right after the expansion drops, so there should be a lot of random decks out there to mess around with.
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Just a reminder, card reveal season kicks off at the top of the hour at https://twitch.tv/playhearthstone
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Rogues getting secrets is interesting, but if even one of the three is unplayable it likely makes them all unplayable.
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remind me to never pick Priest in arena again btw
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Duskbreaker sounds so silly strong

at least as long as Secret Agent and Netherspite are still in standard
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Just like when Drakonid OP came out, Dragon Priest will get a good card only for the rest of the deck to rotate in four months time.
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Another bad Hunter Legendary :X
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VeryInsane posted...

Another bad Hunter Legendary :X

i'm not even mad anymore

we still have Highmane
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8-mana 6/6 summon a Highmane, deathrattle summon a Highmane seems pretty okay tbqh.
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lol hunters making it to 8 mana

unless every card printed pushes control

and even then hunter just isn't set up for it

(plus aggro always finds a way)
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'Member when CotW was 8 mana?

Dowolf 'members.

it was a dark time.
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VeryInsane posted...

Another bad Hunter Legendary :X

Is it, though? I'm very leery of what recruit can do in the right deck. I'm not saying we have the tools to make a proper "big hunter," but imagine if you made a "big beast" hunter that had just two highmanes, king krush, charged devilsaur, and two giant mastodons. Plus maybe a couple abominable bowmans for good measure. And then the rest of your deck was meant to half midrange-y and half defensive/controlling. Or maybe you find a way to pull her out early (Barnes?) and start triggering her deathrattle.

Not likely, the way I've written it here, but don't count out the ingenuity of players to leverage cheat mechanics. After all, this is the same class you frequently see Barnes + Y'Shaarj as the entire minion complement.
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I mean I guess you can play a Keleseth shell and fill up your early game with just board control cards like Fire Fly, Bloodsail/Patches, Tar Creeper etc and then run a Barnes mid game filled with cards like Corpse Widow and maybe some other cards

other than that I just don't know unless we get other Hunter cards coming up
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the thing that does make her good is that she specifically recruits Beasts. then, like VeryInsane suggested, you could build an early game around the standard pirate package or other non-Beast units... but build a deck around high powers and high cost beasts in order to create a Big Hunter archetype. she would definitely shine there due to all of your Beasts being high cost and the amount of value she would generate.

however the big problem with this card is that Deathstalker Rexxar is already capable of generating INFINITE value and control hunter still sucks. so I doubt a card that is generating "a high amount of value" is going to make it work.

basically the card is good but what control hunter really needs is board clears and maybe some card draw.
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Tracking is actually really good for card draw

Its more the sustain part thats so tricky
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I mean she might be good just for the lulzy Charged Devilsaur/King Krush plus Play Dead face play. Obviously not reliable but one of those that would be hilarious when you do pull it off

I generally don't like playing control decks as much anyway so it's unlikely I'd have too much fun with this card even as someone who enjoys the Hunter class. but who knows... stranger things have happened. Anyfin was my favorite deck for a long time and I do love the idea of using your deck to spawn creative bursts of damage. the broken combos that we have now like quest mage are less fun for me because you automatically win once you've drawn enough cards. anyfin always felt like I needed to make it win by playing out my deck in the correct way. if she's more similar to that but you can build a large beast deck around her then it might be something I'd enjoy. only time will tell.
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I'm already playing a Play Dead Hunter and don't think I would run this card, half of the fun of it seems to be Krushing your opponent and I don't have that ability.
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More good priest dragons is cool
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If it pushes priest away from the current archetypes, yes, cool. If it encourages a stronger dragon build using inner fire BS, then I will be holding my breath until shadow visions rotates out.
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Druid weapon is by no surprise good

A 4 mana 1 weapon 5 durability with a Deathrattle Kun Effect

Maly Druid would like that, but its most powerful with Medivh I think
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who's ready for some

wild growth -> weapon -> nourish -> medivh + kun + UI (which of course gets a Y'sharaaj that pulls a Deathwing)

41/41 stats on the board by turn 5 the dream

looks like druid is going nowhere
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friendly reminder that Druid has been good in every hearthstone expansion and has been at or near the top for around a year or more now

strangely enough they still don't annoy me as much as shaman when shaman was at the top

or even as much as priest annoys me right now despite being near the top for less total time and being straight up garbage before that
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huh I still have zero primordial drakes

i feel like that is a glaring omission in my collection, but I haven't played any decks where it would be useful
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didn't you play taunt warrior

or was it just cthun warrior
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Yeah I've been always C'thun Warrior.

I've been updating it every expansion since it's still my favorite deck to play, even if it is way off meta.

Now it's some weird control/dead man's hybrid that is actually capable of winning some games at rank 5.
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I think I'll probably end up crafting Zola. Not really super powerful, but I'll probably throw it into a handful of different decks.


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Does the golden part add an extra mana to the cost?
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that's a really cool card.
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If you played it on a card that got Barnes'd out would it give you a 1 mana version of the card or full strength copy?

full strength I believe
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full strength, yes.

Buffs/debuffs do not persist between zones (c.f. resurrecting Barnes'd creatures, mana cost of Thing From Below resetting after it comes into play, bounced Nerubian Prophets costing 6).
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3 mana 1/3

Battlecry: Return one of your destroyed weapons to your hand

medivh buff fuck

probably won't see real play, but if you're playing a class that just uses atiesh or your legendary, I can see it being a reasonable tech

(also if you weren't aware atiesh is only a 3-mana weapn)
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also

can you umbra -> druid weapon for insta ten mana?
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Seems like it

Umbra Druid Weapon Hadronox actually sounds like a goofy combo that can be fun to pull off
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Post Death Knight Arena #3
I Was Offered: Rogue/Hunter/Warrior
I Picked: Rogue, obviously. Very fun class to play and they're at the top right now. I'll probably pick Valeera whenever she is offered.

The Draft: Got offered a bunch of crappy cards as per usual. I think Blizzard knows I'll keep paying for arena tickets no matter what so they aren't too concerned with giving me shit quality decks all the time.

Game 1: Vs Rogue. I went Second. So shit deck and immediate tempo loss in my first game. I see this run going about as well as the last two. Coined out Daring Reporter on turn 3. He plays Shiv and then hits it with his shadow blade. Leaving a 5/1 on the board. LOL. What a dunce. As we all know from the great sage UltimaterializerX, Hearthstone is not a skill based game in any way, shape, or form. However the stars happened to cosmically align perfectly and in this particular instance by complete coincidence my opponent happened to make a huge misplay and by also total chance I happened to have a huge tempo game and win (which was totally unrelated to the misplay and happened only because of completely random factors out of both player's control). Win.

Game 2: Vs Rogue. I went Second. This seems familiar. Oh, but he's playing Maiev this time. And my opening hand is slightly better. Shadowblade, Violet Illusionist, Daring Report. Pretty strong 2,3,4 curve. He goes all in on a Bittertide Hydra, allowing me to build a wider board and simply race down his life total to zero much faster. This was not related to my skill at the game in any way. It's actually probably a complete coincidence that I'm already doing better in a run where I picked a class that I have more experienced in and uses a tempo-based playstyle which I am more familiar with instead of the control style which I am less familiar with (not that my familiarity would impact the results even the slightest bit). Win.

Game 3: Vs Mage. I went First. I guess it's time to introduce this guy to the new top arena class. He bets on RNG and breath of sindragosa fails him. Kinda weird that he'd put his faith in a completely chance based outcome, playing to fairly crappy odds on a turn when he probably didn't need to, and then got punished for it. Although the term punish implies that his poor decision had any impact on the outcome, which it did not. I time the play of my tempo cards like SI7 and Vilepsine Slayer effectively, maximizing the value gained from them. He ends up facing a medium sized board that even flamestrike couldn't recover if he had it, which he did not. Also chanced my way around both of his secrets perfectly. Win.

Well I've had enough RNG for tonight. I'll continue this run tomorrow.
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So theres a new tempo priest deck called breakfast Priest that uses Meat Wagon, Eggs, divine spirit inner fire, and the strong mid to late game that every Aggro deck is running (Scalebane/Cairne/Bonemare etc) to create an a pretty effective strategy that doesnt just rely on cheesing your opponent out (you also have a pretty strong early game)

I dunno how effective it is but I kinda want to try it
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Egg/Scalebane/Cairne/Bonemare is the Hunter deck I'm running, but Breakfast is a much better name than what I gave mine.
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Seems like the new way to try to give good early game to things that arent aggro
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that... actually seems pretty good

not sure if better than tar creeper though
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Probably not, tar creeper matches up better against southsea captain, flappy bird, and SI7.

Doomsayer into this is ok though
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Game 4: Vs Priest. I went Second. Man Shadow Ascendant is a powerful card. This was a fiercely contested tempo game. I got to experience the joy of playing a game out to completion and not getting oppressively destroyed by an unfair death knight card to decide the outcome. Like my previously mentioned opponent this idiot plays right into a Daring Reporter, drawing extra cards while trying to kill it and preventing himself from being able to. He even puts a Loot Hoarder onto the board, allowing me to boost my Daring Reporter further and activate my Leatherclad Hogleader for 6 additional burst of charge damage. Vilespine Slayer is the only card in my hand. I save it for the following turn so I can combine it with my topdeck to eliminate any taunt he puts in the way. I topdeck Ultrasaur and he gets Obsidian Statue off of Free From Amber. Oh. Alright then. This forces me to sacrifice my DR but I do get to drop Ultrasaur onto an empty board. Despite him having a massive card advantage I'm able to secure the board decently. It's a tough late game. The entire game has been tough. But I keep dropping medium to large threats on the board and eventually come out ahead. Win.

Game 5: Vs Mage. I went Second. Holy crap I have been going Second a LOT lately. My opponent plays argent squire. I feel like I've been saying "I went second, and my opponent has a one drop" a lot lately. This makes the early game fairly difficult to navigate. And the guy is roping me every single turn which is added tilt and salt. Friendly Bartender puts in some work, healing me for about 5 damage over the course of the game before finally being killed. "Cabalist's Tome created by Shimmering Tempest." Ah, I'm feeling so nostalgic for the mage bullshit that used to be bullshit before DK Jaina became the new mage bullshit. I hit the Big Time Racketeer into Youthful Brewmaster dream. Feels good even though it seems like I am going to lose this game. Loss.
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VeryInsane posted...

Doomsayer into this is ok though

you mean this into doomsayer

but I expect many people to make that mistake
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No I actually do mean that since they curve out (Doomsayer clears Board leaving champion to have its battlecry)

Although in this meta Doomsayer isnt even that good tbh
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yeah I think VI meant playing Lone Champion onto an empty board on 3, which you can accomplish by playing Doomsayer on turn 2
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