Hearthstone 21: We DO take candle!

[Zevox]

Welcome to twenty-first GitP thread for Hearthstone. For anyone who doesn't know, Hearthstone is a video card game from Blizzard, based on the Warcraft series. The game is free to play and available here, so if you're interested, give it a shot. You've got nothing to lose but your free time.

For new players, something to be aware of is that there are a number of hidden "quests" you can complete which will give you free gold, dust, or even a pack. A complete list can be found here. Be aware that not quite all of those are ones you'll be able to complete quickly though.

And here is a list of Playgrounders currently in the game, for both NA and EU servers:

Spoiler

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GitP Username	Battle.net ID (US)
aethernox	ethernox#1948
AgentPaper	AgentPaper#1193
AmberVael	AmberVael#1225
Anarion	Anarion55#1254
Antonok	Antonok#1704
Anxe	GoCorral#1879
Baelot	Baelot#1149
Cogwheel	OmegaNixon#1123
banthesun	banthesun#1782
Dancing Owlbear	Owlbear#1586
Destro Yersul	DestroYersul#1239
D_Lord	Volrock#1367
Duck999	Duck999#1349
Duos	DoctorDapper#1491
Firedaemon33	Firedaemon#1486
flat_footed	Hiigara#1357
Fleeing Coward	Scorch#1432
GAAD	GAAD#1126
Gaelbert	SamHouston#1563
Gamerlord	Gamerlord#1612
Gandariel	Ciabatta#2958
Ganorenas	Ganorenas#1457
Gomipile	Glodd#1784
Gray Mage	GrayMage#1723
Grytorm	Grytorm#1777
Hamste	Theorules#1234
Haruspex_Pariah	HaruspexPari#1254
Hatevah	Hatevah#1405
heronbpv	Avan#1991
Hircine	IllusiveMan#1616
Jaxzan Proditor	Jaxzan#1878
jindra34	JinRia #1770
Johnjimco	JohnJimco#1482
Karoht	Karoht#1505
Kish	Grazzt#1417
Krade	Krade#1266
LegoShrimp	legoshrimp#1722
Landis963	Landis963#1789
Loreweaver15	Loreweaver#1199
Lunix Vandal	LunixVandal#1952
MacGiolla	MacGiolla#1982
MathMage	MathMage#1797
MCerberus	MCerberus#1734
mistformsquirrl	mistformsqrl#1430
moosabi	Moossabi#1325
Mystic Muse	NSFJunkblade#1400
Neon Knight	VultureCrook#1434
Neriractor	neriractor#1483
Nerocite	JoeKage#1852
nhbdy	Nohbdy#1927
Olinser	Olinser#1393
Onionbreath	GiantSquid#1845
OrcusMcP	Orcus#1805
otakuryoga	Scootaloo#1471
Pokonic	pokonic#1166
PsyBomb	PsyBomb#1878
Qwertystop	Qwertystop#1897
r2d2go	r2d2go#1262
Rodin	Rodin#1811
Rosstin	Rosstin#1609
SamBurke	SamBurke#1486
Shishnarfne	Gruschenka#1375
Sholos	Veebeebee#1383
Stabbity Rabbit	StabityRabit#1362
Techwarrior	Techwarri0r#1572
Temotei	Temotei#1507
Tesla_pasta	teslapasta#1973
Thanatos 51-50	Thanatos5150#1407
TheGlyphstone	Glyphstone#1419
The Hellbug	thehellbug#1216
The_Jackal	TheJackal#1499
Togarth	Asparag#1680
Trouble Brewing	HairyPoppins#1949
UserClone	UserClone #1545
Volatar	Volatar#1750
Yael	Urashima#1810
Yana	Raltis#1807
ZeroNumerous	ZeroNumerous#1913
Zevox	Zevox#1522
Zmek	JadeReaver #1783

GitP Username	Battle.net ID (EU)
Adumbration	Adumbration#2419
Aran Thule	AranThule#2780
Avaris	Avaris#2378
Avilan the Grey	Beardedgeek#2355
Beelzebub1111	SirArthurIV#1244
boomwolf	BoomWolf#1169
Dada	Scrattlebear#2863
D-naras	Dinos #2811
Epinephrine_Syn	SilverSeraph #2931
Fleeing Coward	Scorch#1432
Frog Dragon	Vasemmasti#2618
FyreByrd	FyreByrd#2962
Gandariel	Ciabatta#2958
GolemsVoice	CrazyCat#29897
Hewhosaysfish	HeWhoSezFish#2503
Hippie_Viking	HippieViking#2866
Infernally Clay	Winny#1904
Jormengand	Trianna#2529
Lionheart	Lionheart#2440
Mr.Silver	SilverSmiles#2462
Murmaider	Murmaider#2273
Posca	Mazura#2636
Raddish	Raddish#2730
ScionoftheVoid	JayPsi#2775
ShinyRocks	MoodyTuskarr#2790
Sian	Sian#2690
Silfir	Silfir#2863
SlyGuyMcFly	SlGuyMcFly#2562
Tokay	Tokay#2518
Tome	Taejix#2836
Volthawk	Volthawk#1214
Weimann	Weimann#2716
Wraith	Illusionist#2224
Xiander	Xiander#2814

[Rocks_Fall]

I got rocked by the "When your opponent plays a spell and draw a card, it costs 1" guy at level 7 of my first run. I liked the concept of Super Venomous as well, definitely changed up my playstyle to stay clear of it.

[Lord Raziere]

I got Zola the gorgon in my packs. haven't attempted to make new any decks yet, I feel as if I need more cards for that, might just buy more? should do the dungeon delve. and man I still have not gotten past marrowgar......still using my quest warrior deck for my most consistent wins.

[Seerow]

I got Zola the gorgon in my packs. haven't attempted to make new any decks yet, I feel as if I need more cards for that, might just buy more? should do the dungeon delve. and man I still have not gotten past marrowgar......still using my quest warrior deck for my most consistent wins.

Dungeon Delve uses a deck you draft as you proceed through the dungeon, so isn't reliant on your collection at all. Definitely worth taking a look at even if you had trouble with bosses from other expansions in the past.




On that note, the warrior run I mentioned in the last thread ended early. I then went into rogue and went with "See Jade Pick Jade" and just crushed it. I had something like 3 Ayas in my deck, along with 4 or 5 jade spirits, a handful of swarmers, and 2 Shurikens. Special bonuses included all minions with +1/+1 (like free guaranteed Keleseth, but better because it also applies to tokens, such as your jades!) and double Death Rattles (the swarmer and aya value!). Cruised through just about everything. Final Boss went up against the Darkness.

Spoiler: The Darkness

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That one was actually pretty tough. It was like the greediest control priest deck, except with 3x more health and a free 5/5 every turn to keep pressure up. Just to give an idea of how crazy it was, this game went all the way to fatigue. My board was kept clear consistently enough for me to get up to 24/24 jades before killing him. It actually got really sketchy towards the end, I had used my last candle and was down to top decking. At one point I had 13 health left and 2 Darknesses on the enemy side of the board before getting another Aya to swing it.

[Epinephrine_Syn]

I Attack The Darkness

Spoiler: Some "The Darkness" Katakombs Spoilers

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Mage Decklist
https://imgur.com/hU0kbem
https://imgur.com/tycNIEc
Warrior Decklist
https://imgur.com/ZjREMAl
https://imgur.com/uvWHK9t
Priest Decklist
https://imgur.com/eLRxhEq
https://imgur.com/0RkO6oi

[AmberVael]

I've managed two dungeon delve wins so far, once with mage, once with priest. The mage was pretty aggressive but didn't have much synergy, just a lot of different useful bits thrown together. Mostly what won me that run was Wish. Getting that against the final boss just ended the game.

Priest though, that was something else. It was Raza + Anduin on steroids. Key pieces included the Justicar Ring (the hero power upgrade choice) so that even if I didn't get Raza, my hero power only cost 1 (and it also let me stall more to get out my combo pieces, not to mention get value on my minions), some weird artifact weapon that cost 0 and gives you a free mage spell every turn (great for keeping up the Anduin machine gun), and the candle.

Spoiler: The Darkness

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Final match for Priest was against the Darkness, and it was a long one, but a breeze. I used up my free candles pretty early, because I knew that once I got my combo pieces out, free 5/5s wouldn't mean a thing. By the time we hit fatigue, I was using The Candle every turn with free pings alongside it, and a mage spell every turn to boot. Eventually I ran it completely out of cards, dominated the board, and ground it to death.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

Best dungeon run so far was with Mage, and made it all the way to Azari before crashing.

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Azari's free, automatic hero power destroys the top two cards of your deck. I managed to survive a few turns into fatigue, but between fatigue damage and having so many of my good cards burned it was inevitable.

Then I tried the no-minion Hunter deck. Maybe if this wasn't such a board clear-heavy environment? Upgrading the spellstone to maximum power only to realize that your wolf pack dies to a gentle breeze is kind of disheartening.

[Seerow]

Spoiler: Ixilid

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Oh my god I felt like such an idiot. I even read the spore he summoned as "Poisonous to heroes". So what's my thought "Better clear it before it can attack. Let's equip a fiery war axe and smack it". I even had a bash in hand I could have used instead.

That was a really fantastic run too. My first gear piece was reduce all minions above 5 to 5, followed by grabbing 2 ysharj. I am so mad at myself right now.

[Psyren]

Because the point of the card isn't simply to be a handbuff mechanic, it's that it's infinite value.

You do know it can be both right?

We've seen before how badly single-target handbuffs work, and throwing it on a weapon isn't going to change that.

Except it's not really single-target. Well okay, it is, but it every buff after the first one is pure value to a new minion. It's not like you have to keep drawing it, you're continuing to get your other threats (who continue to get buffed.)

And if the clone interaction works the way I think it does, it can easily become multitarget.

Especially not when it's more attack than health, which is a generally undesirable stat array for a buff.

And this is flat wrong. Being able to trade up is always desirable.

And this into Chain-Gang or Dopplegangster won't work for the same reason Don Honcho into them never did - just too unreliable.

This Han'cho is not only cheaper initially, it recasts itself pretty much for the rest of the game. That is going to be much more reliable than a single battlecry.

[The Glyphstone]

So after about six consecutive attempts, I finally won 8-0 with Rogue, successfully overcoming the Darkness. Potion of Vitality +Rod of Roasting was a fun combo that I got to use a few times, but Darkness was (like for everyone else) a fatigue match. I had 3 Rogue DKs in my deck and played them all, two Vanishes to clear the board, all three Candles, and finally my Hallucination netted me a Priest DK to clear the board one final time and start Voidblasting his health down. We were both in fatigue when he Psychic Screamed eight minions into my deck, and I had it from there. Oh, and I had scored the Hourglass treasure, and managed to clone it with the Shadow Reflection to get 3 turns in a row at one point.

[Cespenar]

First run easy as hell with Dragon/Deathrattle Priest. Won a couple fights at round 4-5 even, which is funny as hell because, well, Priest.

Eh, maybe it was beginner's luck. I'll try the other decks, but I hope they plan on updating the "Dungeon Runs" eventually, because even this "procedural" stuff looks like it can get boring without some spicing up once in a while.

[gomipile]

Because the point of the card isn't simply to be a handbuff mechanic, it's that it's infinite value. A weaker form of it than Jade Idol, to be sure, but infinite value nonetheless.

Well, no. Jade Idol can keep going as long as the game continues. Val'anyr stops recurring when you run out of minion cards. You'd need some other card that can generate unlimited minion cards in-hand for Val'anyr to have the same kind of "card game equivalent of infinite value" that Jade Idol does.

I got my first 8/8 dungeon run win with Druid, picking Jade cards whenever they were offered. Treasures included the upgraded hero power (2 attack, 2 armor for 1 mana, in Druid's case) and reduce the cost of all my spells by 1. I also got the treasure spell that heals the hero to full and fills the friendly board with legendary minions.

[Destro_Yersul]

Fear the pack openings. Behold, loot:

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Legendaries:
The Runespear
Val'anyr
Lynessa Sunsorrow

Epics:
Unstable Evolution
To My Side x2
Shimmering Courser x2
Grand Archivist
Carnivorous Cube
Crushing Walls
Level Up
Deck of Wonders
Corridor Creeper x2
Rummaging Kobold x2

Golden stuff:
Fungalmancer
Astral Tiger
Greedy Sprite
Leyline Manipulator
Oaken Summons
Scorp-o-matic
Plated Beetle
Unidentified Maul
Cavern Shinyfinder
Ironwood Golem
Drygulch Jailer
Shifting Scroll
Duskbreaker
Fungal Enchanter
Crushing Hand

The Useless Bollocks Award for most copies of a single card:
Tie between Guild Recruiter and Benevolent Djinn, at 10 apiece.

[Hamste]

I have done two runs so far. One was a mage that got wrecked at 7 wins. The other was warlock which won easily. I essentially played demon control with it, got the 1 mana hero power, wax golem and the +1/+1 things along with 4 void callers, malganis, 3 abbysal enforcers and a bunch of zooish cards like councilman, walker and flame imp. I also got really lucky and faced a boss who's hero power involved drawing cards and who would then play cards that discarded them. Only time I was threatened at all was when they got deathwing while their portal was still up and I still dealt with it

[Gandariel]

Tried Cthun priest, lost horribly. Way too "fair".

Then tried heal/token paladin (black guards and Burnbristles with the passive +1/+1), tokens were really strong but i lost at the final boss who crushed me (the guy who mills you)

Finally, went easy route: Druid, "see jade pick jade ", double Battlecry, +1/+1 to all minions. Easy wins all the way through. (Final boss was the discard warlock beholder guy, not really strong IMO)

[otakuryoga]

second dungeon run was warrior..got to take "Legendary" selection every time
lost on game 7 to sludge mama..i handled him dropping 2 10/11 taunts and a set on 9/9 doppelgangsters by running my double rattle sylvanis into one taunt taking the other and a gangster..then used the treasure that takes control of an enemy minion and then adds it to your deck

but then next turn he dropped another set of 10/11 taunters and a 12/13 ooze that duplicates itself

man..she is BRUTAL

currently on 4th boss with a Druid..got the hero power upgrade ring..drafted jade that i saw(gee, what a shock)

[Destro_Yersul]

Highlight of dungeon running so far: Killing a lava-filled chamber by chucking fireballs at it with Antonidas.

EDIT: Got rekt by the mill guy, because Shifting Scroll staunchly refused to turn into any form of direct damage. Anything would have worked. But no.

EDIT 2: Went with druid, got offered jade once. Took a bunch of Druid Quest stuff instead, smashed everything with huge stompy monsters. Final boss was the Darkness. Smashed him too.

[Mikemical]

Whoops forgot to add my Battletag

GITP name: Mikemical
BTT: ChachoPato#1115
Region: Americas.

[boomwolf]

Ffs

Lost my rouge run at the final dragon boss.

I had 8 Aya blackpaw in my deck. Somehow failed drawing any.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Then I tried the no-minion Hunter deck. Maybe if this wasn't such a board clear-heavy environment? Upgrading the spellstone to maximum power only to realize that your wolf pack dies to a gentle breeze is kind of disheartening.

I mean, they're probably paying more than 5 mana for it, and you only paid one card for that whole board. I'd be happy that they invested that many resources.

[Psyren]

I had a dungeon run with an AMAZING mage deck. Reno, Frostlich Jaina, Antonidas, Primordial Glyph and the new Spellstone, and that new scroll that gives a random spell - and no duplicates except 2x Kazakus, which is totally fine because no matter when I play him there's no duplicates in my deck, so he always works. I even got the Mage Quest, which I had a decent chance of activating due to the stuff above (especially Antonidas) and Shimmering Tempest. For my passive treasures I got a +3 spellpower robe and double life. That deck should have been unbeatable.

But I lost on boss 6 in the silliest way possible.

Spoiler

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He had so much removal that I was getting to the end of my deck - the boss hero power was automatically zapping anything I played for 2, and he had like 3 flamestrikes, multiple volcanic potions and other forms of clear, so I couldn't get anything to stick on the board. I drew that new scroll, which turned into Deck of Wonders, that new card that shuffles 5 random spells into my deck, and I decided to test for myself if they count for the mage quest (Spoiler: they don't) and since neither of us had a board I figured any burn spells I drew would go face, boosted by my spellpower and let me win, or even if he played any creatures the burn would hit them and I could finish them off with my hero power to overwhelm him with lifesteal elementals, which alongside the Reno in my hand would let me stay alive in Fatigue. So I pull the first Wonder Card...

..And it turned out to be Astral Communion, dumping my hand. Worse, the card draw from the scroll chained into another card draw spell (I think Intellect or Nourish) which triggered all the remaining spells and instantly making me fatigue with no cards left at all.

Regardless, I had a lot of fun with this new mode and can't wait to try again this weekend - especially on a class I don't use as much as I'd like, such as Warlock and Shaman.

[Rodin]

The silliest loss I've had was getting the card that gives you a Legendary weapon for 1 mana...and using it on turn 1 to give myself the Mage weapon.

I milled myself so fast it was scary. Instant loss on only the 4th boss.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

I mean, they're probably paying more than 5 mana for it, and you only paid one card for that whole board. I'd be happy that they invested that many resources.

Yeah, after seeing Kibler play basically the same deck I'm considering giving it another go. Not sure if I want to be crafting To My Side right now, though.

Also won my first dungeon run. I think I might have glitched/lucked out. The last boss was King Toggwaggle, and for some reason he decided to turn his minions into copies of that 3/15 wall which can't attack. Once his board was full I played Bloodreaver Guldan and slowly chomped him to death. Because of all his card draw he hit fatigue before I did and that was it. The fact that he kind of stopped doing stuff was weird though. Even if he had no space to play minions he must have had spells. Maybe his full board of things that couldn't attack caused a logic failure or something. Still, I'm glad to get at least one class run out of the way.

[AmberVael]

I just created my absolute favorite dungeon run deck.

Warlock, with the buff that reduces all creature costs above 5 to 5. Then, I picked up every single mountain/molten giant it offered me, along with several chromaggus, some abyssal enforcers, and bloodreaver gul'dan.

The reduction to 5 mana hits first, and then the normal discounts of mountain/molten apply after. With that combo, you can both tap to draw a card and play mountain giant on turn 2. Molten giants are also really easy to get out, especially given how much health you have in later games. I ended up with 7 giants in my deck, which I could often copy with Chromaggus.

I won that run handily (I faced off the dragon for my final boss, piece of cake).

I also had Archmage Staff for this run (0 mana 0/3 weapon that generates a random mage spell each turn). I've come to really like this artifact. Even though it wasn't the star of the run, it really helped.

[Jaxzan Proditor]

Opened 12 packs and got 1 legendary (Twig), so all and all could have been worse. Haven’t had a chance to do the dungeon, however.

[Psyren]

I got the Twig for free, did everyone else?

[Jaxzan Proditor]

I got the Twig for free, did everyone else?

I received Kingsbane.

[Lord Raziere]

I got the Twig for free, did everyone else?

I got the Runespear for free, but also Marin the Fox somehow? I think I got him earlier....

[Kish]

I got Val'anyr for free when the expansion launched, and I also got Marin the Fox as a promotion for logging in a week or two ago.

The Darkness was not a fatigue match for me. My Liadrin, with permastealthed minions, smashed it while it sat there with its hand of ten cards all of which were probably targeted removal, burning Mind Controls.

[Epinephrine_Syn]

I got Val'anyr for free when the expansion launched, and I also got Marin the Fox as a promotion for logging in a week or two ago.

The Darkness was not a fatigue match for me. My Liadrin, with permastealthed minions, smashed it while it sat there with its hand of ten cards all of which were probably targeted removal, burning Mind Controls.

Yeah, Invisibility Cloak kind of turns The Darkness into a complete buy. I tbh feel like invisibility cloak is by a wide margin the strongest treasure.