Hearthstone 18: Mean Priests of Gadgetzan

[Zevox]

yeah, the first "guaranteed" pack is always from the latest expansion.

If you get a second pack as reward, THAT one might be from all Standard (MSG, Old Gods, TGT or Classic)

Ah, great. Even when I've gotten high enough wins to potentially get a second pack, I've never actually had it happen, anyway, so that doesn't bother me. Looks like arena will be my play mode of choice for a while.

[thirsting]

Wow. Jade Evolution shaman is awesome.

Constant stream of more and more powerful golems and the usual shaman power stuff followed by
Brann + Dopplegangster + Evolution = instant board full of 6-mana minions.

[Gandariel]

Ah, great. Even when I've gotten high enough wins to potentially get a second pack, I've never actually had it happen, anyway, so that doesn't bother me. Looks like arena will be my play mode of choice for a while.

I've actually gotten a second pack in a 3-win arena, so you never know

[Haruspex_Pariah]

So I'm playing Mage for a daily quest. Drop the Potion of Polymorph. Enemy does not play a minion until after I play my next secret: Mirror Entity. When he finally does play a minion, the potion turns it into a sheep, but my copy from Entity is the original. I'm not sure if that is as intended, I'm definitely sure I played the poly potion before entity. Weird.

[Spore]

So I'm playing Mage for a daily quest. Drop the Potion of Polymorph. Enemy does not play a minion until after I play my next secret: Mirror Entity. When he finally does play a minion, the potion turns it into a sheep, but my copy from Entity is the original. I'm not sure if that is as intended, I'm definitely sure I played the poly potion before entity. Weird.

Don't similar effects trigger from last played to first played?

I play Murloc Paladin now. I loved Goblins in MTG and with the Goons mechanic and the tribal synergy, you have a cool aggro deck that needs SOME thinking.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Don't similar effects trigger from last played to first played?

You're thinking of Magic's "stack".

[Spore]

You're thinking of Magic's "stack".

Unlikely since I have never played MTG more than a few simple tribal decks back in 2000.

[Kish]

Hearthstone has an advantage (or "advantage") Magic doesn't--all its underlying rules are "this comes out the way the computer determines," and don't need to look consistent or be comprehensible to a person. I doubt the order the secrets were cast has anything to do with the "Duplicated minion and polymorphed original minion" result.

[Zevox]

I've actually gotten a second pack in a 3-win arena, so you never know

You're kidding. I've literally never heard of that happening for anything less than an 11-win arena before. I did not think the possibility started until maybe 10 at the earliest.

[Hamste]

I got two at 7 yesterday.

[Seerow]

So after flailing around with my own attempts at Jade rogue (which ranged from slow an inneffective to super greedy and inconsistent), I went ahead and copied the one that Kripp showcased in one of his videos; and think it may be my favorite deck of the expansion so far. It's super consistent in that I feel like I always have something worthwhile to play, and it generally works out such that I either have a ton of removal in the early game and keep control throughout; or I get a bunch of jade cards early on and just snowball to a win before my opponent can react.

So far my only losses have been to a Secret Mage (who was really lucky, and I played pretty badly against, failing to test for secrets that proceeded to wreck me) and to an Aggro Paladin (got an early handbuff and dropped a whole set of 2-health chargers, and with only FoK I wasn't really equipped to clear them without a spell damage buff I never saw, got overwhelmed by turn 7).

[Epinephrine_Syn]

Glad to hear it's viable, I'm halfway to crafting Kaz and really want this to work. My list looks pretty different from yours, as soon as my home internet is up I'll put it together on Hearthpwn for review

Yeah. I don't think it'll be top tier, but it'll at least survive. As for one question… is malchezar's Imp good with only doom guard for discard? If I were to include it I'd at least also add a Soulfire. Otherwise I'd run the Elven Archer over it (and before you knock elven archer, consider that it's basically Argent Squire with Charge, minus the ability to be buffed, plus Taunt Bypass).

I suppose there is also the Demon Synergy, which is minor but does exist.



On a different topic, is there anywhere I can just listen to the clips from the hearthstone cards? I enjoy at least couple and wanted to listen again, and I know at least for previous expansions they're out in places.



Edit:

So after flailing around with my own attempts at Jade rogue (which ranged from slow an inneffective to super greedy and inconsistent), I went ahead and copied the one that Kripp showcased in one of his videos; and think it may be my favorite deck of the expansion so far. It's super consistent in that I feel like I always have something worthwhile to play, and it generally works out such that I either have a ton of removal in the early game and keep control throughout; or I get a bunch of jade cards early on and just snowball to a win before my opponent can react.

Kripp did a Jade Rogue? And it works? … my Jade Rogue works too, but now I'm kind of wondering what he did.
Edit2: Phew, it's significantly different from my list, so I don't feel like I'll be overshadowed, but it's another iteration of non-auctioneer Jade Rogue.

[Mando Knight]

Yeah. I don't think it'll be top tier, but it'll at least survive. As for one question… is malchezar's Imp good with only doom guard for discard? If I were to include it I'd at least also add a Soulfire.

Without enough discards, Malechezaar's Imp is just a 1/3 demon and you're almost as well off just running a second Voidwalker, even in a highlander/Reno-type deck.

[heronbpv]

So, after some games on ranked mode, my experience so far wih my Dragon Priest is as follows:

1. I can deal with the new Pirate Warrior just fine, so long as I don't underestimate him and play greedy. Need my early game to compete, though. It's also the only kind of Warrior I faced so far. I'm 2-2 against this one.
2. Aggro-murloc Paladin is nuts. But then, all my Paladin opponents had murloc war leader in hand, and buffed them on turn 2 with that 2-mana 1/1. So, I'm yet to form a opinion on the match-up. I'm 0-3, and kinda wondering how to win against it, but seems possible.
3. Against the non-murloc Grimy Goon Paladin variant, I'm 1-1 and kinda hoping the deck evolves and solidifies, since I plan to play it myself. The two versions I faced were really different from one another.
4. Jade Druid just seems too slow and greedy. He has to play at least 6 Jade cards before my Dragonfire Potion starts lagging behind his flood. I'm 4-0 against the archetype.
5. Mirror match is really fun. Pressuring him with early dragons seems key, because that way he can't clear my board with Dagonfire Potion. Mirror is 2-0.
6. Control Priest is just like Dragon Priest, only that I can pressure him early really hard. Only 1-0, but I expect to see some more of these guys as I climb.
7. Reno Mage is doable, but really dependant on my play, and whatever I get from the Drakonid Operatives. So far, 2-0 against it, with one particular match going into fatigue (almost dropped the ball on this one; tried to kill him through his Ice Block, then Pyroblasted him while he had 9 life before I reduced his life total with my two minions. That one was really, really close).
8. Hunters are still experimenting with the Grimy Goons, but so far nothing seems as oppressive as the Secret Hunter from Kharazan. I'm yet to face a good variation. 2-1 so far.
9. I think I fought against just one Rogue so far, and won. Seemed like a tentative Jade Rogue variation, but without much pressure. Looking foward to see a pirate version. 1-0.
10. I also fought against just one Shaman, and it was a weak Jade variation as well. Wondering what changes the Midrange deck received after the expansion. 1-0.
11. And the title of cancer goes to Renolock. The MSoG version is nuts, with a bajillion AoE, burst, big minions and late game Jaraxxus to secure the win. I'm 1-4 against this one, and it's also the sole reason I have revised my deck (like, 3 times so far), just so I could beat it somehow. Yet to see a zoo version.

My deck's current version, after some iterations over my initial planning. Im now leaning towards getting a more solid early game, to fight back against aggro types and to pressure the more control variations:

Spoiler: Dragon Priest 6.0

Show

1. Power Word: Shield x2
1. Twilight Welp x2
2. Acidic Swamp Ooze x1 (looking at you, Jaraxxus)
2. Faerie Dragon x2 (best target for a Kabal Talonpriest early on)
2. Netherspite Historian x2 (fetching for big dragons, or curve-fill)
2. Shadow Word: Pain x1
2. Wyrmrest Agent x2
3. Blackwing Technician x2 (back in the deck to guarantee a strong early game)
3. Brann Bronzebeard x1
3. Kabal Talonpriest x2
3. Shadow Word: Death x1 (cut out one; still experimenting to see if I lost my premium removal in vain)
4. Twilight Guardian x2
5. Blackwing Corruptor x2
5. Drakonid Operative x2 (the dream is to Brann both this and a Netherspite at turn 10 for maximum value, but this guy feels super strong even without that)
6. Book Wyrm x1 (cut one out, in favor of a better early game; still a good discover choice)
6. Dragonfire Potion x2 (I like what I see so far, but the lack of Shamans flooding the ladder and their boards makes me wonder if I should drop one in favor of other forms of removal)
6. Entomb x1 (to counter their 4-attack minions , and the Renolock's Sylvannas)
6. Whration x1 (already got my "draw almost every dragon in your deck to fill your hand" moment, and it was both glorious and scary; still reserving judgment on it's overall effectiveness)
7. Chillmaw x1 (another taunt against the more aggressive decks; needs more time to see if this one is better than Chromaggus, because right now I need a big dragon that costs little)

Any comments would be greatly appreciated. And tips to beat Renolock, that thing is just outrageous to fight against.

[Epinephrine_Syn]

Okay so, in my Jade Rogue, I've actually crafted patches and put him in. Doing the math, 20% of the time at worst he's a stonetusk boar. 80+% of the time (since running 4 other 1 drop pirates), he's a 0 mana 1/1 Charge, Battlecry: Draw a card.

Is there something I'm missing with that? Patches just seems really good given that it's purely incidental synergy.


Also re: Renolock, I just bested one who didn't reno at 14 HP, because I Lotus Agent'd into Jungle Moonkin, and used it, shuriken, the Xaril 2 damage spell, and eviscerate to Lethal him behind the Kazakus Taunt he put up because So Much Greed with his third turn of Emperor. He must have been tilted off the face of the earth.

Tl:dr, a way to defeat Renolock is to Surprise Lethal him before he actually uses the Reno, because he thinks that he's within safe HP range.

[heronbpv]

@Epinephrine_Syn:
A valid strategy, definitely. I simply can't apply it with Dragon Priest, unless I make room for some Priest combo cards...
Hmmm, something to think about. How much burst is that Priest combo again? And how many cards do I need?

[Gandariel]

You're kidding. I've literally never heard of that happening for anything less than an 11-win arena before. I did not think the possibility started until maybe 10 at the earliest.

I was second guessing myself, but then I found this.

Apparently second pack can happen with as few as 1 win.

Also, the rewards have been changed a few months back. Before the changes, I had never seen a pack below 10 wins either. Now it's more likely.


http://hearthstone.metabomb.net/game...ist-01-08-2016

[Nerocite]

On a different topic, is there anywhere I can just listen to the clips from the hearthstone cards? I enjoy at least couple and wanted to listen again, and I know at least for previous expansions they're out in places.

I like to use Hearthhead to listen to card sounds, especially ones that rarely see play.

[Gandariel]

Spoiler: Dragon Priest 6.0

Show

1. Power Word: Shield x2
1. Twilight Welp x2
2. Acidic Swamp Ooze x1 (looking at you, Jaraxxus)
2. Faerie Dragon x2 (best target for a Kabal Talonpriest early on)
2. Netherspite Historian x2 (fetching for big dragons, or curve-fill)
2. Shadow Word: Pain x1
2. Wyrmrest Agent x2
3. Blackwing Technician x2 (back in the deck to guarantee a strong early game)
3. Brann Bronzebeard x1
3. Kabal Talonpriest x2
3. Shadow Word: Death x1 (cut out one; still experimenting to see if I lost my premium removal in vain)
4. Twilight Guardian x2
5. Blackwing Corruptor x2
5. Drakonid Operative x2 (the dream is to Brann both this and a Netherspite at turn 10 for maximum value, but this guy feels super strong even without that)
6. Book Wyrm x1 (cut one out, in favor of a better early game; still a good discover choice)
6. Dragonfire Potion x2 (I like what I see so far, but the lack of Shamans flooding the ladder and their boards makes me wonder if I should drop one in favor of other forms of removal)
6. Entomb x1 (to counter their 4-attack minions , and the Renolock's Sylvannas)
6. Whration x1 (already got my "draw almost every dragon in your deck to fill your hand" moment, and it was both glorious and scary; still reserving judgment on it's overall effectiveness)
7. Chillmaw x1 (another taunt against the more aggressive decks; needs more time to see if this one is better than Chromaggus, because right now I need a big dragon that costs little)

Any comments would be greatly appreciated. And tips to beat Renolock, that thing is just outrageous to fight against.

My list vs yours:

I cut the Blackwing Technicians and replaced them with 1x Potion of Madness and the second Entomb.
I'm rather happy, as Potion is usually getting pretty good value, and entomb is just too strong not to use.

Also, I have Ysera in the place of your Wrathion. Frankly she just wins me a lot of games.
With Dragon Priest, i often end up being slightly ahead on board, but "being ahead" doesn't really win the game on its own in control matchups. They just AoE or ignore them. I really won a lot of games thanks to Ysera, and even though i know Netherspite can get me a more matchup-specific card, i've won so many games 100% because of her, i'm reluctant to toss her.

Also had Sylvanas, cut her for Ooze. Will consider adding her again, because, well, Sylvanas.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

My current Rogue deck follows Kripp as well, though crucially I'm missing both Thalnos and N'zoth. I like how it plays in general though.

[Seerow]

My current Rogue deck follows Kripp as well, though crucially I'm missing both Thalnos and N'zoth. I like how it plays in general though.

Yeah, I am missing the thalnos, replaced it with a loot hoarder. But nzoth is key to the deck

[Epinephrine_Syn]

My current Rogue deck follows Kripp as well, though crucially I'm missing both Thalnos and N'zoth. I like how it plays in general though.

Yeah, I am missing the thalnos, replaced it with a loot hoarder. But nzoth is key to the deck

Actually, I mentioned kripp insofar as mentioning my list *differed* from his by a wide margin. I agreed with his assessment Re: A tempo focus. The rogue cards start getting #Worth at 2/2. But our decks only have 17 cards in common, and almost half of that is just 'the jade package'.

The fact that he doesn't have Journey From Below in particular, in kripp-meme-speak, 'triggers' me.

I'm not criticizing at all, though. I fully recognize that my deck list was garbage when I first made it, his is 100% unrefined, and that there's a lot to consider.

[heronbpv]

My list vs yours:

I cut the Blackwing Technicians and replaced them with 1x Potion of Madness and the second Entomb.
I'm rather happy, as Potion is usually getting pretty good value, and entomb is just too strong not to use.

Also, I have Sylvanas in the place of your Wrathion. Sylvanas is just too good.

(Also, i used to run Ysera, and frankly she won me a lot of games but i cut her for an Ooze. I might actually get the Ysera back and take out Sylvanas. Ysera is doing SO much in my deck)

Welp, since you have two Entombs, might as well steal their Sylvanas, lol!
Which is to say, you could definitely take her out and put Ysera back. I just find mine being instakilled/stolen/transformed at every game I played pretty disheartening, so I took her off after on my third iteration.
Also, what minions are you targeting with the Potion of Madness? At first, having just one of any didn't sound like too good a value to me, so I righted them potions off (both Madness and Pintsized). Tell me abot your experiences so far!

And I just saw Trump's Dragon Priest's first video, and that was nuts. He stole 3 Kuns, The Forgotten Kings from a poor Druid, you can imagine the madness. Also, his list runs 2 Azure Drakes, no Acidic Swamp Ooze and both Ragnaros and Ysera. Very different from mine, seems more controlish.

[PsyBomb]

Welp, since you have two Entombs, might as well steal their Sylvanas, lol!
Which is to say, you could definitely take her out and put Ysera back. I just find mine being instakilled/stolen/transformed at every game I played pretty disheartening, so I took her off after on my third iteration.
Also, what minions are you targeting with the Potion of Madness? At first, having just one of any didn't sound like too good a value to me, so I righted them potions off (both Madness and Pintsized). Tell me abot your experiences so far!

And I just saw Trump's Dragon Priest's first video, and that was nuts. He stole 3 Kuns, The Forgotten Kings from a poor Druid, you can imagine the madness. Also, his list runs 2 Azure Drakes, no Acidic Swamp Ooze and both Ragnaros and Ysera. Very different from mine, seems more controlish.

Madness is actually even better than it looks against certain hard matchups. I'm nowhere near getting a decent Priest deck together (I want to play Raza with Finley), but it tags a lot of early tempo minions (most of Zoo, early Goons minions, etc) and is game-changing if you steal a Jade Swarmer.

Currently testing a second-rate Silence/Rez Priest to get quest wins with, even that is noticeable in how much better than the last meta it got.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

I still have dust for one Legendary, or two if I disenchant one of the bad ones. N'zoth has the advantage of facilitating every Deathrattle deck I can think of, so there's value in that sense too.

[Seerow]

Actually, I mentioned kripp insofar as mentioning my list *differed* from his by a wide margin. I agreed with his assessment Re: A tempo focus. The rogue cards start getting #Worth at 2/2. But our decks only have 17 cards in common, and almost half of that is just 'the jade package'.

The fact that he doesn't have Journey From Below in particular, in kripp-meme-speak, 'triggers' me.

I'm not criticizing at all, though. I fully recognize that my deck list was garbage when I first made it, his is 100% unrefined, and that there's a lot to consider.

Oh I wasn't saying your deck was anything like Kripp's (I don't recall if I've even seen your list to be perfectly honest), I only brought him up because that is more or less what I personally am playing.

That said I do agree with you that the lack of Journey Below seemed kind of weird. But I don't know what I'd swap out for it, and right now like I said the deck is just working for me, so I'm just going to let it ride until I hit a wall, then try tinkering some more.

[Anarion]

Well, I've been doing the Jade druid train. I've improved my win rate vs. pirate warrior, though it's still about 40% I think, and the ladder is flooded with them, sadly. The main thing is that you need either acceleration into turn 3 swipe or innervate into a sizable minion turn 1-2. Playing Brann Bronzebeard or Fandral Staghelm alone on the board as a 2/4 and 3/5 taunt respectively is a winning strategy. Also, use every jade idol for a guy, you don't have time for silliness like playing for value.

Dragon priest feels 50-50 to me. If they curve out and I curve out, priest usually wins. Innervate is the best card in the opener, though. If you get ahead with something like Aya Blackpaw on turn 3 followed by reasonable cards, it's very possible to win as the druid. Dragon priest is also not a control deck at all, and like with pirate warrior, I don't play for value at all. I just get as much power as I can on the board as quickly as possible and my sense is that if I get ahead of them, I can stay ahead.

I'm up to rank 10 after today, and I'd say the meta atm is about 30% pirate warrior, 20% druid, 20% priest, 10% mage, 10% shaman, and 10% everything else, although maybe I'm just not seeing all the warlock zoo players.

You're kidding. I've literally never heard of that happening for anything less than an 11-win arena before. I did not think the possibility started until maybe 10 at the earliest.

I've gotten it on a 1-3 run once. Not sure if it's possible going 0-3, but 1 win can get you two packs. It's nice, I think, in that it increases the expected value of arena slightly and makes it more worth playing even if you don't get a huge win streak. Which is good because with the pure number of cards out now, you just can't expect to see your classe's important value cards every time.

[Seerow]

Oh man so I just ran into a Shaman, and my swashburgler on turn 1 picks up the Jade weapon; and then my undercity huckster grabs an Aya. It was like the perfect storm, but it was fantastic. Turn 6 Aya, Turn 7 Aya, turn 8 Swarmer + Raptor Turn 9 Sylvanas + Raptor, Turn 10 N'zoth. If he hadn't conceded I would have had a 13/13 Jade after killing off my Ayas + Swarmers again.

[Joran]

I'm the really boring person waiting for the meta to shake out before I craft the necessary legendaries so I can save on dust. I'm currently SMOrcing it up with Dragon Warrior. It has a decent matchup against all the Pirate Warriors since I'm running the 5 taunt version (2 dragon taunt, 2 fierce monkey, 1 Menagerie Warden) and it's fast enough to kill greedy Jade Druids.

A deck I'm interested in trying is the... I don't think they've come up with a cool name for the Aviana + Kun + combo stupidity deck. However, that would require me to craft both Aviana and Kun and I don't have an unlimited amount of dust.

Other legendaries I'm targeting are Kazakus, Patches, and Aya.

[Epinephrine_Syn]

I'm running this list, N'aya Redpaw 1.1. It plays significantly differently, and I'm glad I didn't do that synopsis before since I'd made a couple edits. I think now I'm ready to finally explain the deck, though. (If you don't have patches, sub in another Pit Snake, but get patches. It's… disgusting value. In my last Jade Rogue v Jade Druid I just finished, Patches was 5 damage to face and he even gave me +1 Spellpower for a turn.)


… also, are we still doing that tournament? And is it on the current meta, or a previous one?

Edit:

Oh man so I just ran into a Shaman, and my swashburgler on turn 1 picks up the Jade weapon; and then my undercity huckster grabs an Aya. It was like the perfect storm, but it was fantastic. Turn 6 Aya, Turn 7 Aya, turn 8 Swarmer + Raptor Turn 9 Sylvanas + Raptor, Turn 10 N'zoth. If he hadn't conceded I would have had a 13/13 Jade after killing off my Ayas + Swarmers again.

Also yes, t6 Aya t7 Aya is one of those disgusting curve toppers. One of the reasons I run Journey From Below, since that has about a 20% chance to grab Aya.