Hearthstone 21: We DO take candle!

[The Glyphstone]

The only boss I never beat was the dragon with treasures. One victory against Togwaggle, who I personally consider the worst boss due to how completely RNG he is. The Darkness, Azari, and Xul I faced enough times to more or less work out the best ways to handle them, though they didn't always work.

[Gandariel]

I've beaten all of them at least once.

Azari: for some reason I met him extremely frequently. Won some (i think 3 classes), lost some (2-3)
This one is fairly straight forward, but very strong. He has a pretty decent early game, lots of removal, and a strong lategame clock.
You need a strong deck that can win quickly and doesn't depend on one specific card.

Xul: only met him once and won. The special cards he gets aren't *that* insane. If he has a howl fiend when he finishes his quest you can force a discard (I tried but failed).
Other than that, he's like Azari. No crazy strats or tricks, your deck needs a game plan or his lategame gimmick will kill you.

King Togwaggle: only met him once, won (barely): he can pull off some really nasty stuff (wand of disintegration on my deathrattle board), but his AI can be very stupid (he cast 6 party portals, which let me recover).
Can't say anything else about him, it's very RNG heavy.

Vaelstraz (the dragon): met him twice and won easily. I think this one is the easiest: Unless he draws a lot of buffs he can't really force you to kill the chests early.
While all chests are up he is fairly easy. Even with one destroyed chest he isn't anything crazy. When more are down you might be in trouble... but then again the treasures you got can probably save you.

Darkness: I know I lost once to him, so my counting says I met him 3 times and won 2: this one is actually pretty hard, depending on your deck.
I ended up beating him once with fatigue (don't remember the class) and once as Hunter with DK Rexxar and "5+ cost minions cost 5". After a lot of struggle (and a lucky poisonous exploding bloatbat) the power of zombeasts got me back up and provided a constant stream of dudes which (eventually) overpowered his 5/5s and removal.
I did win without fatigue, but he had like 2 cards left in the deck when I got lethal. So if there is a way to beat him quickly, I didn't find it :P

So, even though I didn't have that many encounters with the bosses, my personal ranking (from hardest to easiest) is Azari, Darkness, Xol, Togwaggle, Vaelstraz.

[Cespenar]

Darkness is most commonly beaten in fatigue anyway. His deck is more or less designed with that sense, with heavy mass removals and whatnot. Some pointers, since I've faced him almost ten times now:

-Early tempo is pretty good.
-Unless it's a special case, always try to knock out 3 or more darknesses with your candle.
-Constant tempo instead of one turn army is key. He has Psychic Screams, Twisting Nethers, Dooms, etc.
-Double deathrattles work well.
-Double battlecries work well.
-2x Health works well.
-5 cost thingy works well, if you have a deck like that.
-Jade or C'Thun always work well, doubly so with double battlecry.
-Constant generations without extra card draws work incredibly well, like Wax Rager, Staff of the Archmage, Tad's Pole, Skull of the Man'ari, Deathstalker Rexxar, etc.
-Anything with lifesteal works well.

-Spells generally don't work very well. But, board clears or freezes work well.
-Lots of card draws may not work so well.
-Normal weapons may not work so well, but something long-winded like Valanyr of course works well.

[Rynjin]

I have yet to see Xul. Togwaggle is a crapshoot for me. I found Azari fairly easy every time I got him since he doesn't have any really frustrating mechanics except your tears as the treasure you got from boss 7 is gobbled up and you never get a chance to play it that run. The dragon I've only lost once to, because he drew all his big buffs early and started buffing all the chests (and I screwed up by killing his whelps and letting him summon in stronger minions =/).

[otakuryoga]

dungeon runs count for wins toward gold hero?
did not know that

[Joran]

dungeon runs count for wins toward gold hero?
did not know that

No they don't. Only ranked wins count towards gold hero.

[Mikemical]

Guys, I have 1600-3200 dust. What should I craft in order to rank up beyond 15?

I don't have Patches, Thalnos or Leeroy and don't intend to craft them.

I'm thinking about crafting either Raza and Shadowreaper Anduin(already have Velen and Lyra), or Antonidas and Open the Waygate(already have FLJ and Pyros)

[Seerow]

Guys, I have 1600-3200 dust. What should I craft in order to rank up beyond 15?

I don't have Patches, Thalnos or Leeroy and don't intend to craft them.

I'm thinking about crafting either Raza and Shadowreaper Anduin(already have Velen and Lyra), or Antonidas and Open the Waygate(already have FLJ and Pyros)

Out of those options I'd go razanduin, but honestly? Probably neither of those. Raza rotates in 3 months and is a bad investment now, anduin isn't worth it without him.

Check out spiteful summoner dragon priest. I think the whole deck has no legends, and is in total about as much dust as you are looking to spend. It carried me from 15 to 7 over the course of a 6 hour run last month.

[Joran]

Out of those options I'd go razanduin, but honestly? Probably neither of those. Raza rotates in 3 months and is a bad investment now, anduin isn't worth it without him.

Check out spiteful summoner dragon priest. I think the whole deck has no legends, and is in total about as much dust as you are looking to spend. It carried me from 15 to 7 over the course of a 6 hour run last month.

On the plus side, Raza, Anduin, Kazakus, Reno, Velen, Lyra will always be the backbone of a good Wild deck even after Raza rotates. It's also a ridiculously fun deck to play at the moment, even though I'm constantly making misplays.

Honestly to get past rank 15, I don't think you even need legendaries. Just put together an okay midrange hunter deck and you should get there with win streak bonuses.

[Spore]

anduin isn't worth it without [Raza].

Really? I think you are badly mistaken. A good Anduin play can regularly kill up to 3 enemy creatures. The hero power gets upgraded to be proactive instead of reactive and is usable several times per turn. Anduin is a great card and the best death knight.

Imho you should play Face Hunter or Midrange and preserve your dust.

[Gandariel]

Yeah, it's not a matter of dust cost. You can get legend (or at least rank 5) with very cheap decks.

My suggestion? Craft two Call to Arms and two Corridor Creepers, and go aggro paladin. That deck is pretty good, and won't lose much in the 2018 rotation.

Midrange Hunter is also good.
I also really like good old Zoo, which doesn't need any legend (or Epic IIRC)

[CarpeGuitarrem]

IMO, Corridor Creeper is definitely your first craft. It slots into most decks, including budget decks, and there's no way Blizzard can reduce its effectiveness without directly nerfing, which means you'll get a dust refund if they do.

Agree with Gandariel, Call to Arms is busted.

[otakuryoga]

beat todays brawl with a quick and easy priest shenanigans deck
4 minions with 6 health
divine spirit
inner fire
shadow vision
thalnos
mind blast
northshire
power word shield

No they don't. Only ranked wins count towards gold hero.

thats what i thought, but from what Psyren said

I've been using DR to level the classes I never play in other modes like Hunter and Rogue.

i thought i had missed something

[Kish]

Apparently the lack of any connection between "level" and "golden hero."

[Psyren]

Yeah I wasn't talking about golden heroes at all, sorry.

The only thing I said about golden heroes was that I was fine with the non-basic ones - Maiev, Liadrin, Medivh etc

[Haruspex_Pariah]

I decided to go for a Mage deck built around an old friend. Sorcerer's Apprentice, Frostbolt, and Ice Lance plus other cards to fill the space.

Fought a Priest who seemed pretty safe ending his turn at 27 health. Not against one Frostbolt and eight Ice Lances! Naturally, I had an Apprentice on board at the time.

EDIT: Did I say eight? I meant six. Yes, six.

[Landis963]

I decided to go for a Mage deck built around an old friend. Sorcerer's Apprentice, Frostbolt, and Ice Lance plus other cards to fill the space.

Fought a Priest who seemed pretty safe ending his turn at 27 health. Not against one Frostbolt and eight Ice Lances! Naturally, I had an Apprentice on board at the time.

EDIT: Did I say eight? I meant six. Yes, six.

This is actually what I used to beat this week's Brawl. Thanks for the inspiration.

[The_Jackal]

This is actually what I used to beat this week's Brawl. Thanks for the inspiration.

Ooh, good idea. I'm totally stealing this.

[Lord Raziere]

I got lucky on this weeks brawl, I filled my deck with three cards:

1. The Murlocs Unite
2. Two Murloc Tidecallers

Thus I played the first, then the second, then a shadow copy of the second, and my opponent thinking that meant I could just endlessly summon more tidecallers, each more powerful than the last for the rest the game, he conceded right there.

But thats not how the Brawl works. turns out, nothing but shadow copies means you have nothing to copy after that. so I bluffed a guy into conceding with three cards for an easy pack.

[Seerow]

Wow what a great game I just had. I saw some chatter about the Weasel Tunneler Priest deck, and thought it sounded fun... so decided to give it a whirl. 2000 dust of potential regrets later, I am matching up against the meta.

A few aggro paladin and rogue games that were "eh okay" later, I run into a Warlock. Not sure if he was Control or Cube, because I pulled a Rin off Crystal Oracle early, and both of us played her on curve, turn 6.

Mine stuck around for a while, due to not getting a good place to kill it off. My opponent on the other hand managed to destroy my deck on turn 10, taking out 15 cards with it. I eventually also destroyed 15 cards, about 5 turns later but I'd guess about half of those were Weasel Tunneler and stuff I shuffled back with a psychic scream.

The game went about 9 turns into fatigue, with me finally winning. I played Amara, Warden of Hope, 3 times in those 9 turns, and ultimately won by Cubing the 6/6 seal demon and then mirage callering it, giving me 24/24 worth of stats on the board after his board clear.

[Rynjin]

I got lucky on this weeks brawl, I filled my deck with three cards:

1. The Murlocs Unite
2. Two Murloc Tidecallers

Thus I played the first, then the second, then a shadow copy of the second, and my opponent thinking that meant I could just endlessly summon more tidecallers, each more powerful than the last for the rest the game, he conceded right there.

But thats not how the Brawl works. turns out, nothing but shadow copies means you have nothing to copy after that. so I bluffed a guy into conceding with three cards for an easy pack.

You guys make me feel bad for just building a random Warlock deck with about 8 slots free for Shadow Projection.

Then again I won, so eh. I get peeved when people concede just because I have lethal. No consideration for people trying to finish their "Play 50 Warlock cards" quests. =/

[Rodin]

I got lucky on this weeks brawl, I filled my deck with three cards:

1. The Murlocs Unite
2. Two Murloc Tidecallers

Thus I played the first, then the second, then a shadow copy of the second, and my opponent thinking that meant I could just endlessly summon more tidecallers, each more powerful than the last for the rest the game, he conceded right there.

But thats not how the Brawl works. turns out, nothing but shadow copies means you have nothing to copy after that. so I bluffed a guy into conceding with three cards for an easy pack.

I had something similar - both me and my opponent had only a few cards in our deck and didn't draw any of them.

After staring at each other doing nothing for four turns, he conceded. I decided to just take my pack and call it a day.

[Joran]

Wow what a great game I just had. I saw some chatter about the Weasel Tunneler Priest deck, and thought it sounded fun... so decided to give it a whirl. 2000 dust of potential regrets later, I am matching up against the meta.

A few aggro paladin and rogue games that were "eh okay" later, I run into a Warlock. Not sure if he was Control or Cube, because I pulled a Rin off Crystal Oracle early, and both of us played her on curve, turn 6.

Mine stuck around for a while, due to not getting a good place to kill it off. My opponent on the other hand managed to destroy my deck on turn 10, taking out 15 cards with it. I eventually also destroyed 15 cards, about 5 turns later but I'd guess about half of those were Weasel Tunneler and stuff I shuffled back with a psychic scream.

The game went about 9 turns into fatigue, with me finally winning. I played Amara, Warden of Hope, 3 times in those 9 turns, and ultimately won by Cubing the 6/6 seal demon and then mirage callering it, giving me 24/24 worth of stats on the board after his board clear.

Grats. I think Savjz may have created that deck. I've watched him pilot it and it's a glorious clusterf*** of a deck; it's hard to play, very grindy, but gets into hilarious situations. He even had a chat command "!wincondition" just because people kept asking how he was supposed to win with the deck. (Apparently, it's to create a bunch of weasels, shuffle them into the opponent's deck and then overwhelm them when they start drawing nothing but weasels). Or in true priest fashion, win with your opponent's win condition.

[Seerow]

Grats. I think Savjz may have created that deck. I've watched him pilot it and it's a glorious clusterf*** of a deck; it's hard to play, very grindy, but gets into hilarious situations. He even had a chat command "!wincondition" just because people kept asking how he was supposed to win with the deck. (Apparently, it's to create a bunch of weasels, shuffle them into the opponent's deck and then overwhelm them when they start drawing nothing but weasels). Or in true priest fashion, win with your opponent's win condition.

Yes the deck was made by savjz. What you described has been my experience with it. The deck is a blast to play, it can be really hard against aggro but beautiful against anything slower. That said even with my aggro troubles, if I live to turn 6 or 7 I will Outlast any aggro deck purely through Amara value.

Edit: Deck continues to prove it's more than just a meme. Climbed my way from 15 to 10, managed a better win rate with it than I was pulling with either Dragon Priest or Aggro Paladin. I haven't hit 5 since KoFT launched (Geist basically made Silence/Combo Priest super frustrating to play, and that was my favorite deck by far), but I think I may push for it this month.

[Mikemical]

Welp, went and created a Razanduin deck. I am not proud of myself. I got to 15 today switching between that and a Deathrattle Hunter.

[Haruspex_Pariah]

Welp, went and created a Razanduin deck. I am not proud of myself. I got to 15 today switching between that and a Deathrattle Hunter.

Eh, don't sweat it. You worked hard to gather that dust, why not use it to make the best deck possible?

I remember when Pirate Warrior was the express ticket to Legend and everyone seemed to climb aboard. I tried to be the hipster who didn't even though I had more than enough dust to craft the deck, and now I think that I actually missed out. So you do your thing.

[Spore]

Welp, went and created a Razanduin deck. I am not proud of myself. I got to 15 today switching between that and a Deathrattle Hunter.

Remember to research the decks that counter you hard, so that you don't get frustrated by seemingly impossible match-ups. A lot of decks counter Raza decks currently.

And actually I feel my dislike gravitating towards Control-Warlock much much more (not the Cube Variant). If everything goes perfect for them, you have about 6-8 Voidlords to grind through representing 48-63 damage mitigation, often more.

[Joran]

Welp, went and created a Razanduin deck. I am not proud of myself. I got to 15 today switching between that and a Deathrattle Hunter.

Pfft. Feel no shame for playing the top tier decks: Ranked is for climbing and you should play whichever deck you win with and have fun playing. Razakus is actually a difficult deck to play, a ton of fun to play, and there's a lot of skill involved in figuring out the best way to use your cards and which cards to include. A lot of the meta is targeting Razakus Priest and there's a bunch of Aggro decks ready to smash your face in.

I'm climbing with Aggro Paladin and that deck is cancerous, although countered very hard by Control Warlock and not a good tournament deck.

[Mystic Muse]

Have a list for aggro paladin? I'm in the mood to play some cancer.

[Joran]

Have a list for aggro paladin? I'm in the mood to play some cancer.

Spoiler: Decklist

Show

### Standard Aggro Paladin
# Class: Paladin
# Format: Standard
# Year of the Mammoth
#
# 2x (1) Acherus Veteran
# 2x (1) Argent Squire
# 2x (1) Lost in the Jungle
# 1x (1) Patches the Pirate
# 2x (1) Righteous Protector
# 2x (1) Southsea Deckhand
# 2x (2) Dire Wolf Alpha
# 2x (2) Knife Juggler
# 2x (3) Divine Favor
# 2x (3) Rallying Blade
# 2x (3) Unidentified Maul
# 2x (4) Blessing of Kings
# 2x (4) Call to Arms
# 1x (4) Spellbreaker
# 1x (5) Leeroy Jenkins
# 1x (6) Sunkeeper Tarim
# 2x (7) Corridor Creeper
#
AAECAZ8FBK8E8gWRvAK5wQINpwXUBfUFrwfZB7EI2a4CuMcC48 sClc4C+NIC+9MC1uUCAA==
#
# To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone
# https://www.vicioussyndicate.com/dec...aggro-paladin/

I apparently have 1 Cobalt Scalebane instead of 1 Blessing of Kings.

For mulligans, I tend to look for Corridor Creeper/Call to Arms (i.e. the broken cards) and rely on the low curve to get me early plays. I also keep one Southsea Deckhand on the mulligan, because it pulls Patches, and makes a follow-up Dire Wolf Alpha good.