# The Hearthstone Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [April 28, 2014, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hearthstone-thread/687172 "2014-04-28T07:42:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 88
**Author:** ![The\_Lurker\_Above](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@The\_Lurker\_Above](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Lurker_Above)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hearthstone-thread/687172/1741 "2016-06-06T23:45:07Z")
Woot! Fandral Staghelm in my last Arena pack. I was tempted to craft him so I could try a token deck with the Wisps of the Old Gods I got from month end rewards. Procrastination pays off again! ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hearthstone-thread/687172/1742 "2016-06-08T16:45:45Z")
The current Brawl is just stupid. There really is no strategy beyond “God I hope I get lucky and get decent legendaries to work with”. ---
**Author:** ![aktep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f0a364/32.png) [@aktep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aktep)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hearthstone-thread/687172/1743 "2016-06-08T18:06:49Z")
I dunno, I liked playing a turn 3 Y’Sharrj. It might have gotten interesting if my opponent didn’t concede after my turn 4 Y’Sharrj. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Lurker\_Above](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@The\_Lurker\_Above](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Lurker_Above)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hearthstone-thread/687172/1744 "2016-06-08T20:23:12Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > The current Brawl is just stupid. There really is no strategy beyond “God I hope I get lucky and get decent legendaries to work with”. Ha! My first (and only) game started with me dropping 3 King Mukla’s on turn 1. :eek: I see no reason to go back in, it’s not like I can top that. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hearthstone-thread/687172/1745 "2016-06-09T01:35:46Z")
The randomness is dumb. After 7 games, (I usually don’t play that many in one sitting but I was either dying so fast or by turn 4-5 I knew there was no way I was going to win so I conceded), I finally won a game because the other guy was dumb and smashed his face into a 9-7 two turns in a row. It was looking like he was going to win too. All my games except the last one all I got was 8, 9, and 10 cards while the other guys had some 3-6s. So they were throwing stuff out at turn 1-3 and I never had a chance until turn 4-5 and by then they already had several minions out and I could have played one. Which they would have killed and then still been able to hit face. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hearthstone-thread/687172/1746 "2016-06-09T07:34:18Z")
> [@The\_Lurker\_Above](#): > > Ha! My first (and only) game started with me dropping 3 King Mukla’s on turn 1. :eek: > > I see no reason to go back in, it’s not like I can top that. T1 Gormok, T2 Gormok Gormok, T3 Gormok Gormok ---
**Author:** ![crazyjoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hearthstone-thread/687172/1747 "2016-06-09T15:11:19Z")
Yeah, this Tavern Brawl kinda sucks. They could have made it so that only ONE copy of any given legendary could be duplicated 4 times. As it was, I played a game where I got 8 Finley’s. Before I conceded I made sure to get 7 of them on the field. ---
**Author:** ![Wilson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@Wilson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wilson)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hearthstone-thread/687172/1748 "2016-06-09T16:57:12Z")
I swear I had one game where I had 12 Reno Jacksons. OK it may have just been eight, but it sure felt like more than that. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hearthstone-thread/687172/1749 "2016-06-10T00:25:36Z")
[This time for sure!](http://i.imgur.com/fSlFuz7.jpg) As it turns out, third time is _not_ the charm. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hearthstone-thread/687172/1750 "2016-06-10T00:31:18Z")
Okay having won the brawl with the golden monkey I am ready to call it off. ---
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hearthstone-thread/687172/1751 "2016-06-10T00:55:48Z")
I had someone open with double Hogger. This is a one and done brawl for me for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hearthstone-thread/687172/1752 "2016-06-10T01:36:44Z")
I’m doing dailies now that I got my pack. I got a Hogger today and he was awesome. I won that game. I faced a guy using Priest with Confessor Paletress and that was what he used the minus 3 mana on. Turn 5 he had two of those out and was healing each turn and had the board full. At the end of his turn he had enough damage to kill me his next turn, I was still at 30. What I’m doing is checking out my initial card draw and then replacing those to get a feel for what I’ve got and if I don’t like it I just concede and try again for better cards. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hearthstone-thread/687172/1753 "2016-06-10T01:38:24Z")
> [@The\_Lurker\_Above](#): > > 3 wins isn’t bad (it’s actually pretty much spot on for the average run), but you can’t go too horribly wrong just blindly following HearthArena’s advice. Ss you get better you’ll know when to go against it (and any difference of ~10 points may as well be a tie). > > For play improvement I found watching videos of co-op runs (ADWCTA/Murps has some good ones) where they discuss their picks/plays helpful. Ratsmah had(has?) a good series where he’d coach a subscriber through a draft/run. > > I started about where you are and I’ve brought average up to 6 wins over the last 17 runs. I had a bad start to WotOG where I was still completely focused on tempo, but I changed my drafting and strategy to include some more value and did way better. Overall WotOG average is at 4.97 now. > [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > HearthArena helps a lot. You know what’s also really useful? Kripp’s videos. Kripparian is pretty much _the_ authority on competitive arena, and he has _so_ much useful information on how to play the mode. By watching him play, you can get a really good idea of how it works, how to win, pitfalls to avoid, etc. It’s just all-around great stuff. 🙂 I never used to play Arena much, but since getting HearthArena it’s a bit more fun and I’ve gotten a bit better. Not great, but at 3.95 average wins, and 57.05% overall win rate so far (which has been steadily climbing since getting it). Although I was pretty shocked to see how big the disparity is between my win rate without coin (64.86%) and on the coin (only 49.33%). I never quite realized how big of a deal it is. I also tend to throw away the coin a little too quickly sometimes, so I’m trying to be more conservative with it. I tried watching [this Krip video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LArSxf_zdow) (it’s a 12-0 run with rogue from 6 months ago, pre-WOG), but a lot of the times he makes plays that baffle me, are certainly not what I would do in the same situation, but he doesn’t necessarily explain them. Any other video recommendations (especially recent ones since WOG) that explain the thought process more, especially with tricky plays? Also, why are you guys typing out your whole decklist when you can just link to the run? [This was my last run with Druid, 7 wins](http://www.heartharena.com/arena-run/kd8dwq) (click the “deck basics” tab for the linear decklist). ---
**Author:** ![aktep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f0a364/32.png) [@aktep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aktep)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hearthstone-thread/687172/1754 "2016-06-10T04:49:49Z")
> [@aktep](#): > > Well, Heartharena and I drafted the following. We’ll see how it goes. > …snip… Finished 4-3 after starting 4-1. Two tough beats tonight, including one where i finally got board control then my opponent had a Faceless manipulator and copied my 8/2 charge minion for lethal. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hearthstone-thread/687172/1755 "2016-06-11T00:49:56Z")
Another 12-win Arena today: Argent Squire Buccaneer Clockwork Gnome Injured Kvaldir Zombie Chow Annoy-o-Tron x 2 Goblin Auto-Barber x 2 Haunted Creeper Undercity Valiant Cogmaster’s Wrench Shadow Strike Argent Horserider Emperor Cobra Gnomish Experimenter Mind Control Tech Silent Knight x 2 Aberrant Berserker Cult Master Mechanical Yeti Southsea Squidface Assassinate x 2 Clockwork Knight Shadowcaster Sludge Belcher Nerubian Prophet Sylvanas Windrunner Interestingly, Sylvanas was _not_ a significant part of any game I won. Rather, most of my wins had something to do with just curving out hard: Gnome/Kvaldir/Buccaneer/Chow -\> Creeper/Dagger -\> Prophet, and past there it hardly matters that I have lategame because I can just pump out so much aggro that they don’t get there. They pull a Bog Creeper? Assassinate. 😃 Also, Cogmaster’s Wrench + Goblin Auto-Barber is just a little bit gross -4/3 weapons are hard to deal with. When I started today I was 4:2, so I did not expect to hit 12 wins with this, but hey - hard to argue with this kind of aggro. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hearthstone-thread/687172/1756 "2016-06-12T23:21:49Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > Another 12-win Arena today: Just link to the run please, as I did 2 posts previously, instead of typing out the whole deck list. Much easier and also shows more info like the draft picks you had, breaks down coverage and synergies, etc. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Lurker\_Above](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@The\_Lurker\_Above](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Lurker_Above)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2016, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hearthstone-thread/687172/1757 "2016-06-14T00:32:39Z")
Ever have an Arena deck [so disgusting](http://www.heartharena.com/arena-run/p0xyz8) you’re almost afraid to play it? :eek: I’ve coming off of a 6 game bad streak (2,2,3,3,4,8) and drafted _that_. It’d almost be a crime not to go 12, but I think my very best with Warlock is 8 or 9. Will report back with results! ---
**Author:** ![aktep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f0a364/32.png) [@aktep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aktep)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2016, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hearthstone-thread/687172/1758 "2016-06-14T01:38:01Z")
> [@The\_Lurker\_Above](#): > > Ever have an Arena deck [so disgusting](http://www.heartharena.com/arena-run/p0xyz8) you’re almost afraid to play it? :eek: For a second I thought that was the warlock buzzsaw I ran into last night that opened with some combination of darkshire councilman, 2x Imp gang boss, and a 4 mana forbidden ritual. Would have been no problem, if only I had some sort of AOE. Instead, by the time I would be able to get any resemblance of board control I was too spent to deal with the big drops that showed up. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2016, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hearthstone-thread/687172/1759 "2016-06-14T01:38:16Z")
> [@The\_Lurker\_Above](#): > > Ever have an Arena deck [so disgusting](http://www.heartharena.com/arena-run/p0xyz8) you’re almost afraid to play it? :eek: > > I’ve coming off of a 6 game bad streak (2,2,3,3,4,8) and drafted _that_. It’d almost be a crime not to go 12, but I think my very best with Warlock is 8 or 9. > > Will report back with results! Nice draft - I had [this Warlock one](http://www.heartharena.com/arena-run/h183gz) a little while back (75.2 tierscore), but am embarrassed that I only got 7 wins with it. I’m sure I didn’t play it as well as I could have, but I’m not sure exactly where I went wrong. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Lurker\_Above](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@The\_Lurker\_Above](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Lurker_Above)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2016, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hearthstone-thread/687172/1760 "2016-06-14T02:51:02Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Nice draft - I had [this Warlock one](http://www.heartharena.com/arena-run/h183gz) a little while back (75.2 tierscore), but am embarrassed that I only got 7 wins with it. I’m sure I didn’t play it as well as I could have, but I’m not sure exactly where I went wrong. That’s even more disgusting on a purely tierscore level. I didn’t think that was possible. Can’t say for plays of course, but I’d have made a couple of different drafting choices. [ul] [li]Good call pick 7 with the Councilman over the Flame Imp. What on earth is HA doing putting the Councilman at only a 65 there.[/li][li]Pick 9 I’d have at least considered DOOM! over Bane of Doom. I’ve found Bane an overpriced ping too often. But DOOM! has been used against me a couple of times to completely swing a late game that was going hard against the lock.[/li][li]Pick 14 I’d really be tempted by the Crusher. Your opponents are likely to be low by T6, and you’re likely to have tokens on the board from choices so far. I’m assuming Voidcaller synergy bumped it way up.[/li][li]I’m impressed that Blizz gave you the option of Arcanite Reaper on pick 20 :P[/li][li]Pick 26 I’d definitely gone with the Flesheating Ghoul over the Possessed Villager. You’ve already got a good early game but only two two buffs so far (plus 2 chances with Pedder). On it’s own I think the Villager is too low impact.[/li][li]Pick 27. Councilman over the Acolyte. You don’t really need the draw and the Councilman is way scarier for your opponent.[/li][li]Pick 28 is a tossup, and I can see the case for any of the three, but I’d lean toward the mortal coil.[/li][/ul] Looking at you’re record I’d bet your ran into Consecrate(s), Swipe(s), and Twilight Flamecaller(s) once you hit 7 wins. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hearthstone-thread/687172.md?page=87) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-hearthstone-thread/687172.md?page=89)