Hearthstone Arena Drafting!

[Destro_Yersul]

Yeah, Anu'bar's pretty solid in Arena. Kills yeti and lives.

[Landis963]

That and under the same rules as "why Vanish is bad," essentially gives you card advantage.

[GAAD]

Creepy spider it is.

16: Piloted Shredder #2, Murloc Raider, Stormwind Champion

[CantigThimble]

Not really because you spend a card to vanish, so you're down a card while they don't lose any (unlike other board wipes). Anub'ar doesn't have that because cards on board are still cards, so you aren't gaining or losing cards, just losing tempo.

[Zevox]

That and under the same rules as "why Vanish is bad," essentially gives you card advantage.

Not at all, actually. Vanish more or less gives your opponent card advantage because Vanish itself is used up solely to move all the cards back to their respective players' hands: it expends a card of yours but does not destroy a card of your opponent's, unless the opponent's hand is too full, which is highly unlikely in arena.

Anu'bar Ambusher does not inherently give you card advantage or disadvantage. How it works out in that regard is entirely dependent on what it trades with: it can be killed by a bigger minion and end up as card disadvantage, or trade with multiple smaller minions for card advantage, or just trade evenly with something that has similar stats to it.

Now, if its deathrattle hits something, what happens is that it gives you a tempo penalty: it moves one of your cards back to your hand, forcing you to spend mana on it again if you want it back on the board. This could be okay, if the card it sent back is cheap and you didn't need the small amount of mana it costs for anything else, or even beneficial if the card has a battlecry you can now reuse. But it could also be crippling: the opponent has removed something of yours from the board at no cost to them beyond what was necessary to kill the Ambusher in the first place. You can re-play it, sure, so it's not card disadvantage, but there's now a greater chance that the opponent has control of the board and can dictate trades against anything you play without charge. That would mean your opponent is ahead, and you'll need something to catch up with them in order to even things up again. And if you can't do that, or your opponent can leverage the advantage they've gained to pull further ahead before you get the chance to, that tempo swing could cost you the game.

All that actually makes Anu'bar Ambusher kind of a difficult card to evaluate, really. It can be very good or very bad, depending on the situation. Which is why I haven't posted a recommendation on this one: I don't know which I'd take between Ambusher and Trog.

Edit: Here, on the other hand, I go Shredder.

[Landis963]

Not at all, actually. Vanish more or less gives your opponent card advantage because Vanish itself is used up solely to move all the cards back to their respective players' hands: it expends a card of yours but does not destroy a card of your opponent's, unless the opponent's hand is too full, which is highly unlikely in arena.

So... like M:tG's Delirium Skeins? (Pay 3, IIRC, to have both players discard 3 cards)

Anu'bar Ambusher does not inherently give you card advantage or disadvantage. How it works out in that regard is entirely dependent on what it trades with: it can be killed by a bigger minion and end up as card disadvantage, or trade with multiple smaller minions for card advantage, or just trade evenly with something that has similar stats to it.

...This is why card advantage calculations are so confusing.

And I don't see a reason not to take a second Shredder.

[The Glyphstone]

Mo Shredders, Mo Problems.

[Zevox]

So... like M:tG's Delirium Skeins? (Pay 3, IIRC, to have both players discard 3 cards)

I suppose so. I've never played Magic, but that does sound like it's a card that leaves you with a card disadvantage.

[Landis963]

I suppose so. I've never played Magic, but that does sound like it's a card that leaves you with a card disadvantage.

Yeah, It was the first one I thought of that wasn't entirely obvious. (One with Nothing, my first thought, is 1 mana to discard your entire hand. Entirely too obvious a card disadvantage to fit.)

[GAAD]

Shredder.

17: Another Ambusher, Frostwolf Warlord, Blackwing Corrupter.

[Landis963]

17: Another Ambusher, Frostwolf Warlord, Blackwing Corrupter.

Do we even have another dragon to trigger Corrupter? And honestly, even if we don't, it might be the best of the picks here for its body. Otherwise we have Ambusher, which bounces something random of yours, and Frostwolf, which is as win-more as I've ever seen it.

[Zevox]

I'm pretty sure we have no Dragons, so Corruptor is out. Which means we have either another Ambusher or Frostwolf Warlord.

...ugh, I'm honestly not sure. Warlord is mediocre with a chance of being good and a vulnerability to silence, while Ambusher is just so hard to evaluate.

I guess I'll say Warlord? I'm just not confident enough about Ambusher to be too comfortable taking two, and we do already have five 4-drops, which is good, to only two 5-drops, and only three total cost 5+ cards, so more late-game may be desirable in general.

[The Glyphstone]

I suppose so. I've never played Magic, but that does sound like it's a card that leaves you with a card disadvantage.

Yeah, It was the first one I thought of that wasn't entirely obvious. (One with Nothing, my first thought, is 1 mana to discard your entire hand. Entirely too obvious a card disadvantage to fit.)

Though 'Card disadvantage' in Magic is far harder to evaluate, because cards in your graveyard/discard pile are still a resource to be used, and there are entire decks based around getting cards into your own graveyard for various reasons.

[Draz74]

(After going 3-5 in Arena games tonight, I suddenly feel unqualified to participate in this thread. Ugh. But I guess everyone has bad HS days.)

Frostwolf Warlord is surprisingly good as win-more cards go. In this case, I'd vote for it over Anub'ar #2 just due to how our curve is looking.

[GAAD]

The Frostwolves stand ready.

Gurubashi Beserker, Drakonid Crusher, Murloc Tidehunter

[Fleeing Coward]

Should totally have the corrupter because you know we'll see 5 dragons in a row now

Crusher's an easy pick here.

[Zevox]

Yup, Crusher over weak cards.

[Landis963]

Had to look up the Crusher because noob, but yeah, easily best card of the lot.

[GAAD]

I will crush you!

19: Dark Iron Dwarf, another Assassinate, Gilblin Stalker

[Gandariel]

Take dat Dwarf.



Also, @Zevox and Landis, Another clarification on Weaponsmith // SI:7
Agree w/ Zevox on what he said about mana cost.
To elaborate a bit more:

On turn 3 (or possibly 2) two damage kills pretty much anything. It's almost a guaranteed 2-for-1.
On turn four, 2 damage should still get you to kill something (especially if you're behind). But that's less guaranteed.
And on turn five, that's even less likely. So yeah, theoretically 3-for-1, but that's not guaranteed because you get to attack on turn four and five, when 2-health minions are more rare.
(Also, you might have a Death's bite or Arcanite reaper you want to play and be forced to waste a charge)

[GAAD]

Dorf fort

20: Secretkeeper, Crazed Alchemist, Bloodsail Corsair

[Jormengand]

You'll love my new recipe! Mainly because the other two things you could have are both terrible!

[GAAD]

I'll take some of your stat-swapping pie, Mr. Alchemist.

21: Goldshire Footman, Grimscale Oracle, Hungry Dragon

SEE? SEE? NOW we get a whole bunch of Dragons. Footman and Oracle are (near) literally the worst cards in the game; HUNGRY DRAGON is autopick.

22: Fan of Knives, Burly Rockjaw Trogg, Amani Beserker

[thirsting]

I'm a fan of knives, personally. Extra area of effect damage along with card draw.

[GAAD]

Point, plus we only have 2 cards on 3 because nobody in their right mind plays BGH on curve. But Amani is so good...

[Landis963]

22: Fan of Knives, Burly Rockjaw Trogg, Amani Beserker

Let's go Fan of Knives.

[Zevox]

Hm, Fan has merit, and may be better than Amani Berserker in a vacuum, but I'm a bit concerned about our 2-drops. As far as minions go, we've only got Mad Bomber, Loot Hoarder, Defias Ringleader, and Crazed Alchemist. The Alchemist we're not happy playing on 2, unless maybe the opponent played a 2/1 for 1 or coined out a 2/3. Defias we're happy playing on 1 if we go second, but otherwise has to wait until turn 4+ with this deck (so far we have no Backstabs and no 1-cost cards). Which leaves Bomber and Loot Hoarder that we're happy playing on 2, and Loot Hoarder is technically vulnerable to hero powers, even if his deathrattle makes that not so bad.

I think for that reason, Amani Berserker may be the pick here.

[GAAD]

I guess it's time for a little blood.

23: Deadly Poison, Ogre Brute, Anub'ar Ambusher

[The Glyphstone]

I think Deadly Poison might be the best pick here, because we have Blade Flurry. But Brute can be surprisingly solid, if unreliable.

[Zevox]

Deadly Poison. The Ogre is slightly tempting, but Poison's almost certainly better even in a vacuum, and we've got Blade Flurry in this deck, which makes it even better. Plus we could use a good 1-cost card to help combo Defias.