Hearthstone 20: What is your Quest?

[Rosstin]

Loving the combo of adventure and full expansion!

[Rodin]

Brawl RNG Hilarity:

Get a Lich King naturally in my deck.

Play Lich King, get Death Grip.

Play Death Grip, steal my opponent's Lich King.

Profit!

[Zevox]

What, him complaining that now he needed to DE his favourite legendary and make a better one wasn't enough?

Honestly, no, not at all. I don't even remember that one sounding like a complaint so much as a statement of fact. Most of his lines come across that way, honestly, just blandly villainous.

Maybe it's the voice actor's delivery as much as the way he's written?

[Destro_Yersul]

Honestly, no, not at all. I don't even remember that one sounding like a complaint so much as a statement of fact. Most of his lines come across that way, honestly, just blandly villainous.

Maybe it's the voice actor's delivery as much as the way he's written?

Maybe, I don't know. To me he comes across as a bit of an edgelord who takes himself and his card games way too seriously, and who is trying way too hard. So I'm not sure where you're getting bland villain, because to me it doesn't track that way.

[Landis963]

Moving away from nitpicking actor performances, has anyone figured out a good way to beat Sindragosa yet? I'm not sure how to thread that needle between "don't use more than one creature slot every 10 damage" and "Unchained Magic kills you dead." (I've tried Murloc Pally and both Classic and DK Elemental Mage)

[AmberVael]

I ran Jade Druid and killed her first try. Don't damage her, just control the entire time until you have massive jade golems, then finish her off.
Pretty sure you can fatigue her too, though I didn't try that.

[Zevox]

Maybe, I don't know. To me he comes across as a bit of an edgelord who takes himself and his card games way too seriously, and who is trying way too hard. So I'm not sure where you're getting bland villain, because to me it doesn't track that way.

Huh. Yeah, that's definitely not how he comes across to me. That would be better, if not my preferred type of comedic villain personally. But they'd have to at least change the voice actor's performance substantially for that to be what I'd get out of it, I think, if not change the writing itself. (And this week's wing makes me think changing the writing itself may be more necessary, honestly, he was pretty dull.)

Moving away from nitpicking actor performances, has anyone figured out a good way to beat Sindragosa yet? I'm not sure how to thread that needle between "don't use more than one creature slot every 10 damage" and "Unchained Magic kills you dead." (I've tried Murloc Pally and both Classic and DK Elemental Mage)

I did it first try with my current Control Paladin. Only spells in the whole deck are two Equality, two Consecration, two Spikeridge Steed, and whatever Hydrologist and the one Ivory Knight discover. I only drew one consecration early, another late, and one Hydrologist.

And you don't need to not use more than one creature slot, just make sure you don't hit him to below a 10-health threshold unless you have only one minion on the board. Plus, weapons help - they let you hit him using neither spells nor minions.

[Destro_Yersul]

So far the writing this week is pretty good, far as I'm concerned.

Spoiler

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Talking about how much he's reached Legend rank, complaining that Lana'thel didn't put his cards in sleeves...

Hah, "It is fortunate that you cannot lose stars at your rank"

Haha, if you lose a couple times to Putricide, the Lich King compliments his deck.

And then he claims that you'll never defeat him, so long as his wing is locked. Excellent.

[Zevox]

So far the writing this week is pretty good, far as I'm concerned.

Spoiler

Show

Talking about how much he's reached Legend rank, complaining that Lana'thel didn't put his cards in sleeves...

Hah, "It is fortunate that you cannot lose stars at your rank"

Haha, if you lose a couple times to Putricide, the Lich King compliments his deck.

And then he claims that you'll never defeat him, so long as his wing is locked. Excellent.

Well, I didn't lose to Putricide (honestly, he seemed like the easiest of this week's bosses to me - the one that nearly beat me was Lana'thel), so I didn't see that one. Heck, the line I did get after I beat him (something like "You belong in a Hunter deck, not my keep") I'm not even sure if it was intended to be anything but a bland statement.

The rest of those lines though, yeah, I can see how they may be trying to make them entertaining in the way you're taking them, but they all just kind of bored me. There's nothing particularly funny about them to me, especially with his delivery of them.

Anyway though, on another topic: so, I saw this video last night, and oh god, do I want to make that deck now. I've been wanting Jade Rogue to work for so long, and that seems way more promising than any version I've seen or made before. Sadly though, no Valeera the Hollow... or Edwin or Patches, for that matter, but unlike them I don't think Valeera can be replaced without losing too much of what gives the deck new potential.

In the time being, I've played around with a more Tempo-oriented midrangey Jade Rogue, and run it enough to get my Rogue the last level I needed to reach 60 (it was my last non-Hunter class that hadn't gotten there, so long after all the rest did...). I've tweaked it a lot and I'm still iffy about it, but it's had some good results at times, sometimes scoring easy wins off early snowballs, sometimes winning a value game even against more controly decks due to strong pulls off the Swashburglers, Hucksters, and/or Journey Belows.

Spoiler: Jade Tempo Rogue

Show

2x Backstab
2x Journey Below
2x Swashburgler
1x Defias Ringleader
1x Eviscerate
2x Jade Shuriken
2x Jade Swarmer
1x Sap
2x Undercity Huckster
1x Fan of Knives
1x Perdition's Blade
2x Plague Scientist
2x SI:7 Agent
2x Jade Spirit
2x Violet Teacher
1x Vilespine Slayer
1x Aya Blackpaw
1x The Black Knight
2x Bonemare

Couple of things about it: there's a lot of one-ofs where I'm uncertain about the cards for various reasons, mainly in the two-drop spot, where I've felt like I have too many spells and not enough minions for a tempo-style deck at times. I'd also absolutely trade The Black Knight for a second Vilespine Slayer, but I don't have one, and don't want to spend dust on an old epic right now, and there's enough taunt around that TBK usually hits something. I also know that Hallucination is pretty standard in Rogue these days, but I'm kind of loath to swap the Journey Belows for it since they're so likely to get me either Jade Swarmer or Aya. I could perhaps be talked out of it, though.

That's where I stand with it at the moment. It's not really what I want Jade Rogue to be, but until I get Valeera the Hollow, it's what I'm running. Any thoughts or suggestions?

[Rodin]

Jade Rogue does indeed look fun, it'll probably be the next deck I build.

My favorite line from the Adventure thus far has to be when you summon The Lich King against Marrowgar. Marrowgar gets all confused and LK says "Nothing personal."

Playing Secret focused stuff against Putricide is pretty fun too.

[Destro_Yersul]

Yeah, Putricide has lines for Mad Scientist and Eater of Secrets, though I haven't found anything else yet.

[Hamste]

Yeah, Putricide has lines for Mad Scientist and Eater of Secrets, though I haven't found anything else yet.

Have you tried Kezan mystic, the warrior 5 mana tentacles card, echoing ooze and the two swamp oozes? They seem like they may be related to the fight.

[Seerow]

So I just had the most ridiculous game.

I started climbing last night with an Aggro-Taunt druid, that is surprisingly effective (Went from rank 15 to rank 5 in the span of like 3 hours).

Just now, I ran into a Jade Druid. This Jade Druid had both Infesting Plagues in his top 10 cards, and played them both against a full board of 7. He also managed to Black Knight a pretty highly buffed taunt, dropped both of the jade dudes that taunt, and his DK for 2 more taunts. Altogether I am fairly sure I had to eat through around 90 health worth of taunts. And yet I still somehow won in the end. Absolute insanity.

[Rodin]

Yeah, Putricide has lines for Mad Scientist and Eater of Secrets, though I haven't found anything else yet.

He also gets snarky when you play Ethereal Arcanist (which is a really good card in that match). I think he also had a line for Kezan Mystic, but I can't remember if it was any different than the one for Eater of Secrets.

[Psyren]

My janky free C'thun deck beat Lana'thel in one go; I had far more problems with Marrowgar. Haven't tried Putricide though.

[Thialfi]

Was it me or was this week's bosses much easier than last week? I didn't build a special deck or alter an existing deck for any of them. I went reno priest/secret mage/and reno elemental mage. The first two were one shots and sindragosa took a couple tries.

[rooster707]

Was it me or was this week's bosses much easier than last week? I didn't build a special deck or alter an existing deck for any of them. I went reno priest/secret mage/and reno elemental mage. The first two were one shots and sindragosa took a couple tries.

Yeah, I haven't done Sindragosa yet but I beat the first two on my second try. I definitely had a lot more trouble last week.

[The Glyphstone]

I felt the other way, really. Inner Fire Priest just steamrolled all three bosses last week, I had to put together customs for this to ensure easy victory. Lathanel was probably the easiest - after the trial round to figure out her gimmick, I oneshot her with a janky Evolve/Token Shaman (not counting the one game where I accidentally Evolved into a Ticking Abomination). Putricide was almost as easy. Sindragosa took a few tries, but I beat her out with Weapon/Pirate Warrior - i think my only spells were Upgrades and a single Bring It On.

[Seerow]

I felt the other way, really. Inner Fire Priest just steamrolled all three bosses last week, I had to put together customs for this to ensure easy victory. Lathanel was probably the easiest - after the trial round to figure out her gimmick, I oneshot her with a janky Evolve/Token Shaman (not counting the one game where I accidentally Evolved into a Ticking Abomination). Putricide was almost as easy. Sindragosa took a few tries, but I beat her out with Weapon/Pirate Warrior - i think my only spells were Upgrades and a single Bring It On.

Hardest boss for me so far was Deathwhisper. My Silence Priest just couldn't do the trick, I had to make a custom priest deck to really get it going. (Eventually won by duplicating 4 Dreamwalkers and circle of healing). First two bosses of wing 1 did just get rolled over though. One shotting Marrowgar with his own bone spike was my highlight there.

Out of wing two, Lanathel got rolled by my Druid deck, Putricide I made a custom secret mage (basically every single secret x2, Ethereal Conjurer, Eater of Secrets, etc). Wound up being tougher than expected, running to fatigue but still won the first game once I got a Conjurer to stick. Sindragosa was surprisingly easy. Lost my first round due to running silence priest (lol yeah 3 damage for every spell in hand on a deck 50%+ spells, not good). But I switched over to my Corpsetaker/Midrange Paladin, proccing both 20 and 10 health with weapon hits on an empty board, and crushed her pretty easily.

[Hamste]

Sindrigosa took me a few tries though it may be because I was doing an inner fire combo priest to one shot her for the fun of it (the first one I did first time and Putrecide took 2 as I didn't know about the 5 mana thing so I entered with a really cheap deck).

[heronbpv]

@Zevox:
Some ideas:
If possible, swap the Perdition blades for the new Shadowblade, and the Defias for the Razorpetal Lasher, possibly even two of each. Perdition and Defias seems like the weak links in your deck as of right now.
Also, consider removing the Plague Scientists in favor of Mimic Pods, as a double Jade card can push your advantage greatly.
Also also, maybe any combination of Spell Breaker + a second Sap, what with the popularity of Bonemare and Spikebusted Steed. And I second the idea of a Vinespine Slayer replacing the Black Knight, if you didn't find any room for all three.

[Jaxzan Proditor]

For me, all the bosses have felt pretty easy. For almost all of them I've only had to try once. I'm wondering if that might be intentional to make it an easier introduction for everyone.

[Psyren]

I believe the goal is to make people shell out for a card pack or two for the puzzle pieces to beat them. For Marrowgar you need a OTK or Steal deck, for Saurfang you need weapons, for Deathwhisper you need heals, stealth, or burn, etc.

[Rodin]

I believe the goal is to make people shell out for a card pack or two for the puzzle pieces to beat them. For Marrowgar you need a OTK or Steal deck, for Saurfang you need weapons, for Deathwhisper you need heals, stealth, or burn, etc.

My F2P account bears this out. I managed to avoid buying packs but did have to shell out a bit in dust to pick up appropriate weapons, as well as a couple of Eater of Secrets for Putricide.

Marrowgard is just hellish as F2P, mainly because of his bone spikes. They're really hard to deal with if they arrive early, and with limited steal options they're difficult to grab for the OTK.

It took me at least a dozen tries before I finally got him. The other bosses weren't too hard to deal with apart from Sindragosa, where building a janky weapon warrior proved difficult.

[Zevox]

Was it me or was this week's bosses much easier than last week? I didn't build a special deck or alter an existing deck for any of them. I went reno priest/secret mage/and reno elemental mage. The first two were one shots and sindragosa took a couple tries.

Eh, marginally I guess. I don't recall having much difficulty last week either - I believe only Marrowgar took me more than one try. But I guess this week everything was done in one try and only Lana'thel was even close, so yeah, that's technically easier.

My F2P account bears this out. I managed to avoid buying packs but did have to shell out a bit in dust to pick up appropriate weapons, as well as a couple of Eater of Secrets for Putricide.

Marrowgard is just hellish as F2P, mainly because of his bone spikes. They're really hard to deal with if they arrive early, and with limited steal options they're difficult to grab for the OTK.

It took me at least a dozen tries before I finally got him. The other bosses weren't too hard to deal with apart from Sindragosa, where building a janky weapon warrior proved difficult.

I must admit, I don't see why being free-to-play would have any impact there. The answers to those Bone Spikes aren't legendaries or anything, they're just appropriate removal (SW: Pain, Execute, Equality combos, etc) or just straightforward good tempo giving you an appropriate board presence to handle them.

@Zevox:
Some ideas:
If possible, swap the Perdition blades for the new Shadowblade, and the Defias for the Razorpetal Lasher, possibly even two of each. Perdition and Defias seems like the weak links in your deck as of right now.
Also, consider removing the Plague Scientists in favor of Mimic Pods, as a double Jade card can push your advantage greatly.
Also also, maybe any combination of Spell Breaker + a second Sap, what with the popularity of Bonemare and Spikebusted Steed. And I second the idea of a Vinespine Slayer replacing the Black Knight, if you didn't find any room for all three.

Hm, I agree that Perdition's Blade and Defias are the most questionable cards, but I think Shadowblade and Razorpetal Lasher are equally if not more so. Shadowblade is another 3-mana weapon just like Perdition's, but trading the extra split to the damage for the one-turn immunity, which doesn't seem like a great deal with a tempo deck. At the least I have a hard time seeing it being a significantly better card. With Razorpetal Lasher, well, I can see the argument for that card in a deck that runs Gadgetzan Auctioneer, but it seems harder to justify in a deck that doesn't use him to me. Granted, though, I'm still astounded that card sees play at all, so that one may be some bias on my side leaking through. Still, Defias seems like a better tempo deck card than Lasher to me, trading a mere 1 damage that costs an extra mana for a 2/1 on the board - though granted, at the trade-off of not being playable as anything but a vanilla 2/2 on 2 without exactly Backstab and a target for it to go with him, which is what makes the card questionable.

As for the Plague Scientists being traded for Mimic Pods, I don't think that makes sense at all. Yes, mimicking a Jade card is strong value, but I'm not running this version as a value deck, and that's highly unreliable. The Scientists meanwhile fit perfectly in a tempo deck, putting a body on the board and allowing me to trade more favorably with another body than I otherwise could - they're great with those early small Jade Golems, Jade Swarmers that are still stealthed, or Violet Teacher tokens. Those I think belong in a deck like this one, and are part of the reason I've chosen to try this sort of Rogue deck.

The aforementioned issue of balancing 2-mana cards between spells and minions is why I'm hesitant to put in a second Sap, but Spell Breaker may be an option to help out with taunts that could be difficult otherwise, like Spikeridge Steed. I'd need to find something to take out for it though... maybe the Defias or Perdition's Blade. Probably Perdition's, I think.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Moving away from nitpicking actor performances, has anyone figured out a good way to beat Sindragosa yet? I'm not sure how to thread that needle between "don't use more than one creature slot every 10 damage" and "Unchained Magic kills you dead." (I've tried Murloc Pally and both Classic and DK Elemental Mage)

Beat her with my standard Pirate Face Warrior. The trick was flipping my thinking around. Whereas Pirate Warrior usually wants to use face to kill enemy minions so it can use its own minions to go face, you instead want to use your minions to trade into enemy minions and protect your health, whilst buffing up your weapon. Be very careful to trade away your minions before activating Sindragosa's passive, and you should be golden. I wound up finishing with a 7/2 weapon remaining and a Heroic Strike in my hand.

[Rodin]

I must admit, I don't see why being free-to-play would have any impact there. The answers to those Bone Spikes aren't legendaries or anything, they're just appropriate removal (SW: Pain, Execute, Equality combos, etc) or just straightforward good tempo giving you an appropriate board presence to handle them.

I was trying to do it as Priest, and either the Bone Spikes would come down when I didn't have a Pain, or I would be able to deal with them but wouldn't have a way to OTK without being able to steal them and I would just get attritioned out.

It's possible I would have had better luck as a different class, but Priest is the only class I've made effort to build decks with on that account so that's what I went with.

[Zevox]

I was trying to do it as Priest, and either the Bone Spikes would come down when I didn't have a Pain, or I would be able to deal with them but wouldn't have a way to OTK without being able to steal them and I would just get attritioned out.

It's possible I would have had better luck as a different class, but Priest is the only class I've made effort to build decks with on that account so that's what I went with.

Hm, yeah, Priest is most likely not the class best-suited to that boss. And I'd tend to think that any adventure is going to be pretty difficult to get through if you only run one class, almost regardless of which one it is.

[Techwarrior]

The skeleton I just ran a C'thun Priest with Mass Dispel and Songstealer. One shot it with C'thun and minions on board.

[Mando Knight]

Hm, yeah, Priest is most likely not the class best-suited to that boss. And I'd tend to think that any adventure is going to be pretty difficult to get through if you only run one class, almost regardless of which one it is.

I beat Marrowgar and Sindragosa both fairly easily with a basic Silence package. Use the rest of your cards to fight for the board, develop a Humongous Razorleaf when you have an open slot and 3 mana (Adventure bosses will ignore it because it has Can't Attack), then Silence/2x Divine Spirit/Inner Fire for an instant kill.