Hearthstone 17: Disco isn't Dead!

[Rodin]

I definitely like the idea behind these quests. They get people playing wacky decks like Pirate Rogue, Battlecry Shaman, etc. Sure, the people that are heavily grinding rank will probably rotate them off or duck into wild or something, but I think most people won't mind playing a few matches with a wacky deck in Ranked, particularly in the teens where I tend to hang out.

[Joran]

I definitely like the idea behind these quests. They get people playing wacky decks like Pirate Rogue, Battlecry Shaman, etc. Sure, the people that are heavily grinding rank will probably rotate them off or duck into wild or something, but I think most people won't mind playing a few matches with a wacky deck in Ranked, particularly in the teens where I tend to hang out.

I played a janky Enrage deck in Wild, because I'm rank 23 in Wild and wins there still apply to my Golden Heroes.

This change should also make Casual less of a net deck haven.

Edit: Nothing quite like forgetting that Pyro + Double Warleader + Equality doesn't kill the Warleaders, so the Priest got to Entomb one of my Warleaders. I was bailed out by Ivory Knight pulling the 3rd Anyfin. On the flip side, I baited out the second Entomb and put down Tirion and he had Aldor + Cabal to steal my Tirion =P

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Edit: Nothing quite like forgetting that Pyro + Double Warleader + Equality doesn't kill the Warleaders, so the Priest got to Entomb one of my Warleaders. I was bailed out by Ivory Knight pulling the 3rd Anyfin. On the flip side, I baited out the second Entomb and put down Tirion and he had Aldor + Cabal to steal my Tirion =P

I know that feel. I've done it many a time.

[moossabi]

Nothing in this game is ever as satisfying as a non-concede turn 6 win as priest.

[PsyBomb]

Nothing in this game is ever as satisfying as a non-concede turn 6 win as priest.

You can't just say things like that without sharing details! Do tell, please

[moossabi]

You can't just say things like that without sharing details! Do tell, please

It was against another priest who played next to nothing while I had a pretty good curve. Still, it was a turn 6 win.

...And it was immediately followed by five disasters or so which were absolutely ridiculous and which I should have won. One game I played N'zoth and my opponent killed everything, and the shifting shade pulled another N'zoth out of his deck. I play the next N'zoth on the next turn, and what does my lovely warlock friend just happen to be running? Doom. No matter. One of the shifting shades pulled out a Reno (I was playing a Reno deck), and with my own Reno in my hand I've got a pretty secure position. Eventually I play my own Reno and immediately Youthful Brewmaster it. I have two Renos in my hand, there's no way this guy can win. And then he drops a 16/16 C'thun with taunt onto a board solely comprised of some leftover runts (from Museum Curator). The next few turns are me desperately trying to draw entomb or Yogg while playing both of my remaining Renos, and then the bastard wins anyways.

In all I spent my entire afternoon trying to beat a Priest/Warlock dominance quest before just deciding to Murlock it up and getting a Druid with a ridiculous start (Innervate -> Twilight Elder -> A whole bunch of other ramping stuff) to concede. The pack I got was 40 dust.

()

[Seerow]

So remember I was playing casual earlier today, to get the murloc quest done?

Guess who forgot to switch it back when he got home from work?

That's right, this guy. I decided to play some more on my Dragon Warrior, and alternated between wtfing at the decks I was going up against and being proud of my 2-hour long win streak until suddenly I realized my rank hadn't moved at all despite winning like 10 games in a row. At that point I just did a massive face palm and it all made sense.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

Tried out a randomly thrown together Renolock for laughs. Ran into a shaman who brought two copies each of Mukla's Champion and Thunder Bluff Valiant. It was a swingy game, I had to use both Twisting Nether and a PO-Shadowflame combo, and still he brought me down to 6 life after Reno. Luckily I top decked Spellbreaker on a Taunt to sneak in the final points of damage.

[Spore]

Nothing in this game is ever as satisfying as a non-concede turn 6 win as priest.

I object. I love long drawn out control game who get decided not by rng but by wacky tech choices. Things like Reno Mage vs. Malchezaar Control Warrior. Or old Echo Giant's Mage. Rip Grinder Mage, my favorite.

[boomwolf]

I love the new quests!

Made me finally build my janky-fun rouge deck. its the messiest thing you've ever seen. and a freaking BLAST to play.

Spoiler: Decklist

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2 Buccaneer
2 Deadly Poison
Shifter Zerus
2 Swashbuckler
2 Bloodsail Raider
2 Eviscerate
2 Gang Up (people always forget this can target enemy minions)
2 Undercity Huckster
2 Burgle
Moroes
2 Unearthed Raptor
2 Dread Corsair
2 Southsea Squidface
2 Ethreal Peddler
2 Grand Crusader
Sylvanas Windrunner
Nefarian

The sheer shenanigans that just might happen makes it totally worth the times where it falls apart due to the incredible inconsistency.

[Rodin]

When Zeerus shifts into a class card, does he get a discount when you play Ethereal Peddler? Because that would be really cool.

[Emperor Tippy]

When Zeerus shifts into a class card, does he get a discount when you play Ethereal Peddler? Because that would be really cool.

He shouldn't. It is still Shifter Zeerus until it is played.

[Rodin]

He shouldn't. It is still Shifter Zeerus until it is played.

That was my first thought, but it's not as obvious as it looks since Zeerus preserves discounts from other cards like Nerubian Prophet even after he changes form again. Could be another of those edge cases that Hearthstone loves so much, so I'm curious if anyone knows for sure.

[Kish]

One e in Zerus.

[Mando Knight]

When Zeerus shifts into a class card, does he get a discount when you play Ethereal Peddler? Because that would be really cool.

Shifter Zerus counts as whatever card it is shifted into. If shifted into a not-Rogue class card, Ethereal Peddler will give Shifter Zerus a permanent discount.

[Rodin]

One e in Zerus.

Whoops! I guess my brain was thinking of Zeerust and inserted the extra E.

Shifter Zerus counts as whatever card it is shifted into. If shifted into a not-Rogue class card, Ethereal Peddler will give Shifter Zerus a permanent discount.

Good to know! Makes him a definite include when I get that Pirate quest.

[PsyBomb]

Got the quest for 30 Murlocs, so I decided to try a Shaman variant built around the Midrange core, but with 12 Murlocs and Everyfin is Awesome. Having an awesome and hilarious time with it! The deck is good enough to rack wins, but swarms out instead of full Midrange so enemies who think they know what's going on suddenly find themselves WAY out of position.

[boomwolf]

Can confirm shifter-peddler interaction works, and it led to some highly amusing "**** this I'm out" rage quits from my opponents.

[PsyBomb]

Further adventures in Murloc Shaman:

People see Shaman and expect certain things. Turn 4 lethal going second isn't one of them. Tidehunter, Flametongue, Bluegill + Oracle, Everyfin. Enemy was a Priest, no meaningful AoE before 5 mana, so I just blitzed while holding a Bolt and a Stormcrack in case of resistance.

The deck won't ever be T1, thankfully, but I thing the full-derp Face Mrrgle Shaman design has potential for T2 status (until the next set rotation, anyway). It just dies too easily to early board control.

EDIT: from the last couple of games, I'm confirming this. Any time I cast an Everyfin is Awesome on turn 4-5, I win. The trick is getting my guys to stick, which is a real issue against half the classes out there (And let's face it, 95% of the actual meta decks)

[Haruspex_Pariah]

Looks like there are signs pointing to the next expansion.

http://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Upcoming_expansion

We may be in for more goblins.

[Kish]

...seriously? A second expansion about goblins already? I hope not, the words "astoundingly lazy and unimaginative" come to mind.

[PsyBomb]

Gadgetzan? Eh, not enthused. Maybe it's more of a Desert War? There was a lot in that region besides the Goblin city. Silithid nest, the Caverns of Time, Troll and Ogre encampments, Tortuga, and other things.

[moossabi]

I have a massive distaste for steampunk integrated into fantasy settings. If guns and airships are around, why is anyone even using swords or bows at all? At this point it might as well just become an age of exploration setting and throw out the castles and magic. Guns beat casting time. I honestly hope that this will just be a subset of a larger desert expansion; another massive mech expansion would just be annoying.

That being said, I have a couple of predictions:

• Shaman gets more insane 1-drops that Blizzard meant to reinforce spellpower and totem shaman but will just end up pushing aggro shaman further ahead of everything else
• Paladin will get more cards that would work better in priest, while still not getting any 2-drops
• Priest gets screwed over again; it's the popular thing to do
• Warrior gets more pirates
• Murozond happens
• Tunnel Trogg gets moved to the classic set
• 1 mana priest spell: destroy a minion with exactly 4 attack
• Rogue gets more shadowcaster effects, including the class legendary
• They've gotta bring in Kael'thas as a hero someday, right?

[The Glyphstone]

Something we would recognize as a (albeit primitive) gun would enter our RL 'medieval' setting around the 13th century, but archery didn't stop being a viable military weapon until the 16th century. That's a 200-300 year window in which the two existed side-by-side, so all you need to do is have the current day of your setting be in a comparative era of transition.

As for Warcraft+Hearthstone specifically, the whole thing is founded in schizo tech anyways; forget guns, the dwarves drive steam-powered tanks around, and there are still archers and mages aplenty.

[Gandariel]

So, looking back Kharazam was probably the worst expansion we've ever had.

They gave the best Arena class the best Arena card ever (Firelands portal), they gave the best Constructed class two auto-includes (Spirit Claws and Maelstrom portal).

Didn't introduce any cool new mechanic, didn't solve (but instead exacerbated) the ladder problems (Shaman being dominant). I don't think any new archetype was born (Secret hunter? Resurrect Priest?).

I will say i really like the two new Priest cards (yes, two), and a few others (Arcane Giant, Cloaked Huntress, Curator..).

Can't speak about the quality of the actual PvE content because i don't really care for it.

Anyways, i don't mean to whine, but i'm pretty convinced of my opinion.

(Since i want to say something positive too, the best expansion we got was probably League of Explorers. Four balanced and fun legendaries, Discover, tons of interesting cards)

[Gray Mage]

There's an easter egg/tease if you talk with the Hearthstone page on facebook.

Spoiler

Show

Looks like it's centered on Gadgetzan, with a bit of a ganster vibe? It doesn't look like there'll be a mech focus.

[AgentPaper]

Something we would recognize as a (albeit primitive) gun would enter our RL 'medieval' setting around the 13th century, but archery didn't stop being a viable military weapon until the 16th century. That's a 200-300 year window in which the two existed side-by-side, so all you need to do is have the current day of your setting be in a comparative era of transition.

Even more notably, the traditional image of a knight in full plate didn't even exist until after guns and cannons were fairly commonplace on the battlefield. There's this popular myth that as soon as guns appeared they instantly revolutionized warfare basically overnight, and nothing else was ever used again, but it took hundreds of years for guns to become good enough to play a major role on the battlefield (pike and shot), and hundreds of years after that for them to become the sole weapon of warfare.

[moossabi]

Even more notably, the traditional image of a knight in full plate didn't even exist until after guns and cannons were fairly commonplace on the battlefield. There's this popular myth that as soon as guns appeared they instantly revolutionized warfare basically overnight, and nothing else was ever used again, but it took hundreds of years for guns to become good enough to play a major role on the battlefield (pike and shot), and hundreds of years after that for them to become the sole weapon of warfare.

Seems reasonable, but Glyphstone brought up an even better point: they have tanks.

[BRC]

New theme seems to be Gangs. We're shown three images when chatting with the tavernkeep, one crazy elf (Doomsayer?) in front of an engineering shop, an Ogre bank manager, and what looks like a fighting ring run by Pandarians.

I think introducing three new creature types would be too cumbersome. That said, here's my Based On Nothing prediction.

new mechanic: Extortion. Your Opponent starts their turn choosing between two bad options. Example, a 2 mana 2/1 that makes your opponent choose between you drawing a card, or them discarding a card at random.

[Anarion]

Seems reasonable, but Glyphstone brought up an even better point: they have tanks.

They also have magic bows that can fire tank-piercing arrows. All bets are off at that point.