there is a pity timer for legendaries from iirc 30-40 packs. depending on when you got your Han Cho, you may be close to another one.
It was about pack 35 in that stack that dropped the legendary.
Alright, I’ve now managed to do exactly 1 run per class in the Arena. It’s still a small sample but I think I’ve got a decent anecdotal picture.
Results: 7.22 average wins. The meta is pretty darned soft if I can get that kind of average for an all-classes set of runs.
Worst two runs: Druid (2) and Hunter (4), I didn’t expect a whole lot from these classes but I was hurt bad in Druid with the lack of 2’s offered in my draft. And I’m pretty sure I’m just a bad Hunter player.
Best two runs: Warlock (12) and Warrior (10) both personal bests for the classes. Warlock was pretty much carried by DOOM! Letting people commit fully and then wiping the board to zero is nuts. Warrior was a very good draft for weapons/weapon buffs, though I did lose a game vs a Warlock due to him DOOM!-ing me. Karma.
Most commonly seen opponents: Mage (28), Warlock (15), Paladin (14). The only real surprise is the jump in Warlock population. It was really noticeable after the Reddit posts about how it was the ‘new best class’ from HearthArena’s data. Unfortunately I don’t think a lot of the new Warlock players were very good. I had an 80% winrate vs them, better than any class except Hunter (3-0 record). Warlock actually has a fair bit of reach now with Abyssal Enforcer’s (3 damage to all + 6/6) and Felfire Potion (5 damage to all) so long as he has enough HP to use it. It’s more important than ever to pressure a Warlock’s HP.
I’m mildly surprised that I didn’t see more Priests, since their new commons are frankly insane from an Arena perspective. Those I did run into were tough opponents and I had a 2-2 record.
Jade Golems were almost nowhere to be seen, and buffing cards in hand did not seem to be a very effective strategy for my opponents. A couple managed to quickly get crazy value on buffing cards in hand but most fell too far behind for the extra stats to help.
Can confirm: warlock is stupid in arena now. Felfire Potion is a must-pick, Abyssal Enforcer is all kinds of nuts, and the new 4-mana hard removal spell, while clunky in midgame, is incredible for closing out games.
With the new expansion and the sheer number of Jade Druid and paladin decks that choke the stream, I’m enjoying playing the new version of the Pirate Warrior. I bought 40 packs, and the legendary they gave me was Patches, so I went with it. It’s almost a complete no brainer deck, but it’s fun to whap those Jade Druids in the face time and again.
OK this brawl is sort of stupid (deathrattles trigger twice), but I learned something new from it.
I was playing as a Hunter against a mage. I had a Piloted Shredder on the board, and played a Moat Lurker to kill it, getting two little minions.
The mage had Mirror Entity out - summoned another Moat Lurker on his side. I then played Feign Death - two Pilotted Shredders for me from the Moat Lurker’s deathrattle.
Then on his turn, he ran his Moat Lurker in to mine - both died and I got four more Shredders! Apparently his mirrored Moat Lurker inherited the card memory of what mine had killed with its battlecry, including that it was my Shredder that had been killed.
Wish I had had the presence of mind to screen shot the board with six fully intact Piloted Shredders on it before my opponent conceded.
Obviously most of that is due to the rules of the brawl, but I hadn’t realized that Moat Lurker in a deathrattle deck is so effective against Mage/Mirror Entity.
I played for a couple hours last night/this morning. I moved from Rank 19 to Rank 11 in just those couple hours. While winning is fun, especially against the Jade Druids, it’s not a fun deck to play. It’s pretty brainless and straightforward, and draw dependent. But if you get even an average draw, it’s tough to beat. I may have to stop playing it though. I feel bad.
Yeah, I had a 50 warrior card quest so I decided I might as well forge Patches & go to work on it. Was pretty fun but I don’t feel the need to keep playing the deck.
I’m really enjoying the new Reno/Kazakas decks. Started off with Priest but moved on to Warlock and I’m finding it to be one of the most enjoyable viable decks in the game so far. Lots of decisions to make with this deck which makes the game a lot more interesting than just playing everything on curve.
On the other end of the spectrum pirate warrior is pure cancer and brainless.
… although aggro pirate shaman is apparently even worse.
Agreed. I also put together this Renolock deck. It’s the most technically complex deck I’ve ever played, because there are so many tools and so many decisions to make every turn. (Do I use tool X now or save it for Y?) Have had some incredible matches with mirror matches and other long-term/control-type decks where it really comes down to the wire.
Pirate warrior is cancer. I was originally playing a jade rogue deck, mainly because rogue is one of the few classes I don’t have the golden hero for yet. It was fairly fun against most non-pirate decks, but I was so sick of getting trounced by pirate warrior nearly 100% of the time (I think I won one or two matches where I got absolutely perfect draw and RNG). Renolock has better tools for combatting the cancer, and if you can make it to turn 6 and have Reno in your hand you’ve won (but that’s not the only way to outlast and win). It’s still a pretty serious threat though, and you need to get the right card draw to beat it.
Pirate Warrior is obnoxious.
I’ve been having a lot of success with Buffadin - running a whole lot of “buff your whole hand” cards, with only four non-minion cards in the entire deck (Smuggler’s Run and Truesilver Champion) using cards like Keeper of Uldaman, Aldor Peacekeeper, and Fight Promoter to make up for not having removal or card draw. Probably should sub in a few more heal cards. But the value is insane, particularly once you hit lategame with Doppelgangster.
Having played the aggro shaman deck a bit, it wins vs. Pirate warrior and actually has decisions to make, so feels a bit less obnoxious. Will probably still get you hate-friended a fair bit though.
Coin doomsayer helpless against skillful pirate meta.
What are the essentials to run the new renolock? I’ve always liked reno decks so it’s fun that it’s viable, but which cards do I absolutely need to run a viable deck?
Reno, Karakus, Mountain Giant, and Twilight Drake are pretty key… Beyond there, the “pricy” cards involve big legendaries like Ragnaros and Sylvanas, as well as a few legendaries which are meta-dependent but pretty necessary right now - Dirty Rat, Doomsayer, Twisting Nether…
Also fuck being able to do 7 damage on turn 2. It was bullshit when Shamans were using lightning bolt, and at least then they had overload to deal with the turn after. 
I might be well prepared then. I can craft one legendary. I have Reno, at least one of each giant, Rag, and Sylv. Dirty Rat is one of the few gadgetzan epics I actually have. So I could craft Kazakus and eventually twisting nether. Is there a particular deck I should try to mold mine after?
Does Kazakus seem like he’ll be part enough fun/viable decks for a while to be worth crafting? I’m kinda dreading when the whole archetype goes out the window when Reno gets rotated out. I think he should become a classic card.
I went ahead and crafted Kazakus. Reno style decks are fun and I forgot that he was a three class hero, so I can fool around with reno priest and reno mage too. Mage with inkmaster would be a pretty amazing combo for 10 mana spells although the current meta is not friendly to mage in general.
The new meta is killing me, especially because I had a pirate warrior deck I used to play for fun (although it was never competitive) before Gadgetzan. I don’t even have the good cards to make a decent pirate warrior right now, but even if I did all I’d get is hate friending. I was playing pirate warrior before it was cool sobs
Also, even though priest got a few good cards this expansion, my dragon priest is also still struggling. The only card I was able to add was one of the “Discover card in opponents deck if holding a dragon”.
Basically I need to open about 100 more packs 
Yup, aggro aggro aggro now. I thought it would shift a bit towards control or midrange as decks get refined but it seems like the opposite. I stopped playing ranked and am hiding in arena because of it, it’s just not fun.
I’m actually seeing a lot of reno and midrangy shaman decks now. I haven’t faced a full aggro pirate warrior in quite a while - think the counters are coming. I’m in Rank 6 now, though, maybe it’s still all aggro all the time below that, but I kinda farmed the aggro decks with Secret Hunter and Dragon Priest and got out pretty quick.