Hearthstone 12: Costs (1) less for every poster in this thread.

[Fleeing Coward]

I experimented with Counterspell and it's actually pretty underwhelming since your opponent still gets the creature and most of them will play around it unless they're significantly behind and they have no choice so it's really just a win more card.

[AmberVael]

So uh.

I decided to do an arena run. I got a choice of some legendaries, none that really stood out, and I picked up Feugen since he has decent stats for his cost.

I just got another legendary choice. Its up between Toshley, Flame Leviathan... and Stalagg.

Do I dare?

[Lethologica]

I guess the worst that happens is he eats a silence or Polymorph equivalent.

Still, Toshley seems better on average.

[Jormengand]

Given the competition isn't that great...

You probably dare.

[otakuryoga]

That would require either a paywall or preconstructed decks - not everyone HAS 30 class cards.
Now, limiting everyone to Basic cards on the other hand... Yeti MVP

so where is the problem? brawl has used pre-constructed decks before... just last week in fact
how soon we forget the plague of spiders..........

[GAAD]

The problem is that there are more than 30 cards for each class. They can't just dump ALL of those cards in a deck; more cards in a deck would be a Brawl in and of itself. Even with that restriction, there's still a lot of room for creativity and

wait a minute.

30 random class cards. Spells and minions. That is AWESOME.

[Anxe]

Hunter seems like it'd be pretty good in that sort of Brawl.

[otakuryoga]

The problem is that there are more than 30 cards for each class. They can't just dump ALL of those cards in a deck; more cards in a deck would be a Brawl in and of itself. Even with that restriction, there's still a lot of room for creativity and

wait a minute.

30 random class cards. Spells and minions. That is AWESOME.

theres more cards they could have put into past brawl decks than they did...oh, whatever did they do?
oh, yeah, they had someone make decks...
these spells in warlock for spider week..not these
these spells in hunter for spider week..not these
etc
etc
etc

so its not an exactly mind blowing completely out of left field idea that they would go
these spells and minions for all priest deck..not these
these spells and minions for all warrior deck..not these
etc
etc
etc

[Landis963]

theres more cards they could have put into past brawl decks than they did...oh, whatever did they do?
oh, yeah, they had someone make decks...
these spells in warlock for spider week..not these
these spells in hunter for spider week..not these
etc
etc
etc

so its not an exactly mind blowing completely out of left field idea that they would go
these spells and minions for all priest deck..not these
these spells and minions for all warrior deck..not these
etc
etc
etc

At that point they may as well just use the basic decks though.

[Wraith]

Ladies and Gentlemen, good morning.

I don't have much to say about the current brawl - I'm 3/5 with what is essentially Basic Only Druid, because Innervate-> Innervate -> Ironbark does horrible things on turn 4 even without free stuff besides - as I'm still quite new to the game and don't have much in the way of points of reference.
I particularly liked the first Brawl, for what it's worth, as I'm still grinding my way through Blackrock Mountain and had just beaten Ragnaros when I was given the chance to play as him. That was... satisfying.

Which segues nicely into the body of my post; I'm STILL grinding my way through Blackrock Mountain, and have hit a brick wall at Chromaggus and would wish to petition the Playground Hive Mind for advice. I've read various generic guides and deck lists online, and frankly they're worthless - apparently it's easy to beat if you just load up on super rare 500+ dust cards and simply ignore the Brood Affliction cards until you have nothing better to play, but that doesn't fly so well when you've only been playing a couple of months and you don't have a single non-Expansion Legendary to your name.

Card wise, I have all of the Naxxramas rewards but am otherwise playing Pauper Heartstone. There's a few essential (or so I thought at the time) cards that I picked up early - Ironbeak Owl, Inner Fire, that sort of thing - but otherwise I'm probably going to end up disenchanting all of my Warrior/Paladin/Hunter/Warlock cards for dust to really get going on the classes that I care about. Where should I start? What do I need? And how many of my teeth am I going to grind down in frustration while getting through this thing?

So.... Help me, Oh-Big-Ones - You're my only hope!
Illusionist #2224 (EU)

[Destro_Yersul]

Give me a moment, I'll try to throw together a cheap basic deck that beats Chrommagus.

EDIT: I am assuming you mean normal mode Chrommagus. I am also assuming you have unlocked all of Naxxramas, and all of Blackrock prior to Chrommagus.

[Zevox]

Card wise, I have all of the Naxxramas rewards but am otherwise playing Pauper Heartstone. There's a few essential (or so I thought at the time) cards that I picked up early - Ironbeak Owl, Inner Fire, that sort of thing - but otherwise I'm probably going to end up disenchanting all of my Warrior/Paladin/Hunter/Warlock cards for dust to really get going on the classes that I care about. Where should I start? What do I need? And how many of my teeth am I going to grind down in frustration while getting through this thing?

I don't have much time to post right now - leaving for work in just a couple of minutes - but a couple of comments on this:

Ironbeak Owl is a good tech card, but most decks will only run one of it, if any. Unless you're playing Handlock (or maybe Face Hunter, I don't play that), it's not a card I'd consider essential.

Inner Fire is a bad card. It's too difficult to set up situations where it works well: you need either a minion with substantially more health than attack on the board, or a minion on the board and health buffs (most notably Divine Spirit) in your hand in order to make it work, and if that situation doesn't present itself, it's dead in your hand. Even if it does, you get one swing with the buffed attack score, and then might just lose the buffs to silence or the minion and buffs to hard removal. I'd advise against using it.

First thing to craft, if you haven't already: Piloted Shredder. Best common in the game, used in a great many decks. You can't go wrong throwing it into a budget deck.

[Destro_Yersul]

Okay, I just wrecked Normal Mode Chrommagus' face in.

The Deck:

Spoiler

Show

Card Sources:

Spoiler

Show

Mana Wyrm and Sorcerer's Apprentice are basic set commons, Piloted Shredder is a GvG common. Total cost for a full set: 240 dust.

Zombie Chow, Mad Scientist, Duplicate, Sludge Belcher and Loatheb are Naxx. No dust cost.

Flamewaker is from Vaelastraz, whose name I probably misspelled. If you're on Chrommagus, you already have this card.

Everything else is basic set. Once your mage is past level 10, you've got all basic cards on this list.

Here's the deal: Don't worry about Brood Affliction Red or Green too much. 1 ping to the face and healing Chrommagus' face are things which you can safely ignore in favour of establishing board control. All other Brood Affliction cards should be played on the turn you get them. Don't Squander Sorcerer's Apprentice or Flamewaker: Apprentice means Brood Afflictions all cost 0 mana, Flamewaker turns them all into mini arcane missiles. Once you've got board control, game is easy mode. Might take a couple tries, depending on your draw vs Chrommagus' draw, but it's winnable.

[Gandariel]

That list looks pretty solid. Also i added you on bnet. I can give you advice on crafting etc.

Also, as a general rule, i don't really like the idea of dusting everything from a class.
I mean sure go ahead if you never ever ever intend playing that, but there eventually comes a point when you have enough cards to make decent decks, so you're not in a hurry to dust everything.

There are a lot of cards that you should just dust, but i wouldn't dust good cards from classes i don't use much.

[Grytorm]

I just had a really close game of Warrior vs Paladin. It lasted a long time, he got me down low so I had to Alexstraza myself to stay alive. We ran out of cards. We both went into fatigue and he had me if he passed the turn. But then he didn't, and gave me the win. It was pretty cool.

[Ganorenas]

They could always include the daily quests from the tournament grounds, that would shore up the number of cards they could make. A few champion cards from some races, squares from the others. End up with a few extra named creatures.

I could see both of those worms (Acidmaw and the other one), Icehowl, the snowbold minions, that magnoton(was that what they were called?).

How about the twin Valkyr, they could have a Stalagg and Fuegen thing?

[Wraith]

EDIT: I am assuming you mean normal mode Chrommagus. I am also assuming you have unlocked all of Naxxramas, and all of Blackrock prior to Chrommagus.

Pretty much - I have so few other cards worth mentioning, you might as well just go by that.

Also, as a general rule, i don't really like the idea of dusting everything from a class.
I mean sure go ahead if you never ever ever intend playing that, but there eventually comes a point when you have enough cards to make decent decks, so you're not in a hurry to dust everything.

So Paladin and Warrior, then. I genuinely have no interest in either of them, and Rogue/Hunter are pretty minimal too. I'm not big on the Gotta catch 'em all! side of the game, I just need enough decent cards to be able to throw together enough vaguely-competitive decks to have fun with.

Ironbeak Owl is a good tech card, but[....] it's not a card I'd consider essential.

At the time it was the only Silence card that I could get a hold of, and I figured that it was better than nothing. I've since come to agree with you and generally just swap it out for something like Shadow Word, but like I said - at the time it seemed sensible.

Inner Fire is a bad card.

Given how many times I've been wrecked outright by an Inner Fire/Divine Spirit/Deathlord or similar on the ladder lately, and that it was essential for how I got past Majordomo/Ragnaros, it's not as unlikely as one might think. While perhaps not as valuable as I might imagine it to be, it's a card worth having since I like having my Taunts and Cleric is one of my top 2 classes, if only for the combo and Taunt/Healing shenanigans.

First thing to craft, if you haven't already: Piloted Shredder. Best common in the game, used in a great many decks.

First time out with it, on this suggestion alone, and it wrecked everything. Excellent advice, thank you.

Okay, I just wrecked Normal Mode Chrommagus' face in.

If anyone asks, I'll be sure to tell them that you're a certifiable genius. 10+ attempts with my trusty Druid and Cleric and I got no where, but this Mage managed it first try. Even with a few misplays I never dropped below 15 life, it was great fun. A thousand 'thank you's, sir.
No doubt I'll be back again for the Omnotron, but I'm feeling much more confidant now.

[MacGiolla]

Also, as a general rule, i don't really like the idea of dusting everything from a class.
I mean sure go ahead if you never ever ever intend playing that, but there eventually comes a point when you have enough cards to make decent decks, so you're not in a hurry to dust everything.

There are a lot of cards that you should just dust, but i wouldn't dust good cards from classes i don't use much.

I would also agree with this but doubly so with the advent of the Brawl. I could very easily see a brawl in the future where they allowed you to use cards from other classes, so while you may never play that class you might wish you hadn't dusted a particularly good card from a class you might not play.

[Infernally Clay]

I'm sitting on 695 gold. So do I buy the Thaurissan wing or grab five packs and an Arena run?

[Mando Knight]

I'm sitting on 695 gold. So do I buy the Thaurissan wing or grab five packs and an Arena run?

The Thaurissan wing is also the Patron wing, so I'd go with that.

[Gandariel]

I'm sitting on 695 gold. So do I buy the Thaurissan wing or grab five packs and an Arena run?

I'd say get Thaurissan. Patron warrior is a stupidly good deck that will hopefully be nerfed soon (i have seen 50-damage-bursts-from-the-hand more than once now), and Thaurissan is a great card in a lot of decks (Patron, Freeze mage, Ramp)

[Chen]

If you ever plan on spending any money on the game, use that money on expansions and gold on packs. The opposite is less efficient. If you never plan on spending any money on the game, then I agree with the above and suggest getting Emperor and Patron. Funnily enough those 50 bursts from the hand are more a result of Emperor than they are the Grim patrons (and of course Frothing Berserkers).

[GAAD]

Speaking of Emperor -
Paladin VS Priest - Full Game
1. Pass/Pass
2. Minibot/Coin - Deathlord
3. Minibot into Deathlord - Argent Protector on Minibot/Northshire Cleric - Deathlord into Argent Protector - Hero Power on Deathlord
4. Minibot into Deathlord - Truesilver Champion - Face into Deathlord - Deathlord summons Emperor T two turns ahead of curve/"You have bested me"

I REALLY wanted to ride that out a bit longer than five seconds.

[Zevox]

Given how many times I've been wrecked outright by an Inner Fire/Divine Spirit/Deathlord or similar on the ladder lately, and that it was essential for how I got past Majordomo/Ragnaros, it's not as unlikely as one might think. While perhaps not as valuable as I might imagine it to be, it's a card worth having since I like having my Taunts and Cleric is one of my top 2 classes, if only for the combo and Taunt/Healing shenanigans.

You're only going to see that combo at low ladder ranks - it's simply not good enough to make it beyond that. In order to make a combo like that work consistently the deck would need a powerful draw engine, like Patron Warrior or Oil Rogue. Priest can get a powerful draw engine going with the right board and Northshire Cleric + Circle of Healing, but that's too situational to be relied upon, so Priest combo decks simply don't work out to be competitive with stronger decks.

It is much better for the adventures, but that's because you can just retry however many times you need to to get the combo, and those bosses are often set up such that tactics that work against normal opponents aren't as effective against them, so big plays like that can end up a much better way to win than usual. In normal play though, you're presumably trying to build a deck that wins as often as possible against normal opponents, and Divine Spirit/Inner Fire Priest just doesn't do that. Trust me, people have had that combo since before I started playing the game (a year and a half ago, during the closed beta), and had already come to that conclusion back then, and nothing has changed it since.

First time out with it, on this suggestion alone, and it wrecked everything. Excellent advice, thank you.

You're welcome.

A few other suggestions for commons:

Knife Juggler - Great 2-drop, exactly the stats you want, strong effect. Good in aggressive and mid-range decks, less so in control.
Harvest Golem - Much like Piloted Shredder, but in 3-drop form. Solid for any deck type, albeit rarely seen in high-end decks anymore for a variety of reasons.
Antique Healbot - Great for control decks that want to drag the game out, sometimes for midrange.

[Destro_Yersul]

If anyone asks, I'll be sure to tell them that you're a certifiable genius. 10+ attempts with my trusty Druid and Cleric and I got no where, but this Mage managed it first try. Even with a few misplays I never dropped below 15 life, it was great fun. A thousand 'thank you's, sir.
No doubt I'll be back again for the Omnotron, but I'm feeling much more confidant now.

You're welcome. If you need more advice on Normal mode, I'm always happy to challenge myself with budget decklists.

Knife Juggler - Great 2-drop, exactly the stats you want, strong effect. Good in aggressive and mid-range decks, less so in control.

Not disagreeing, just pointing out that Knife Juggler is actually Rare.

[Zevox]

Not disagreeing, just pointing out that Knife Juggler is actually Rare.

Derp.

[Jormengand]

So, the current brawl made me face the mighty Millhouse Manastorm twice, but both times I imp-loded him for 4, so it was okay.

[Landis963]

I caved and bought the next wave of Naxx: the "experiment" isn't a total loss because now I'm at 0 gold, but still.

Anyhoo.

I'm currently beating my head against the wall attempting to beat the Hunter Class challenge vs. Loatheb. Does anyone have good pointers beyond "Make good trades, kill the spores, and get lucky"?

[Wraith]

I found that the best way too beat Loatheb was to not kill the spores; at least, not just at a whim.

The gimmick is to let 2 or 3 of them build up, then pop them with a cheap and fast minion (or a spell, if you have one) while you have a couple of others ready to go for face. It takes a little bit of time to get you guys in line, but it's more about sudden burst damage than about buffing one creature at a time.

[Suichimo]

So, I just can't beat normal Kel'thuzad and it is really getting to me. I'm following every single piece of advice for Paladins that I can find and I'm still losing. Either the advice I'm getting is garbage or I am, and I hope it isn't me.