Done, done, done, and… I don’t think I’ve unlocked Tavern Brawl. Let’s get on that next.
Also, best use of gold? Packs? Arena? Save it for some reason? (I do really like the Arena mode; drafts were always my favorite format in Magic The Gathering.)
How’s the single-player campaigns? Are the adventures worth doing? I’m thinking of dropping a little money on this - not much, less than 30€, and they seem like as good a place as any to get into the swing of things… If they’re any decent, that is. 
At first you should use it to unlock the solo adventures, because they give you cards you can’t get any other way and some of them are quite good (even necessary for certain decks). If you buy them with real money it’s like $75 to get all 3, but you can unlock all of them with gold instead at 700 gold per wing.
Stay out of the Arena for now. Save your freebie Arena run until you have a better idea of how to play the game, and don’t spend any gold on Arena runs. The problem with the Arena is that you need a 63% win rate just to break even, and a 70% win rate to use one Arena run to pay for the next. This means that most people - and you’re probably most people - lose gold every time they start an Arena run.
I would recommend buying Goblins vs. Gnomes packs, or saving up for the first wing of Naxxramus.
Classic packs are generally useful, but you’ll also get a freebie pack every week from Tavern Brawl and more freebies every now and again from the Watch & Learn daily quest.
Goblins vs. Gnomes has a bunch of truly obnoxious cards in it - cards like Doctor Boom and Malganis.
The Grand Tournament has a few good cards in it, but not enough to make TGT packs worth buying except to add a bit o variety.
Naxxramus is the most generally useful Adventure, as its Deathrattle theme basically hands you a bunch of obnoxious stuff that does not die.
The first wing of Blackrock Mountain used to be worth getting for Patron Warrior, a cheap yet effective deck in competent hands. Then Blizzard hit it with a nerf bulldozer, and now BRM is mainly only used by Dragon Priests.
League of Explorers is still coming out. The most interesting bit for me is the third wing, which has a bunch of cards for Murloc tribal decks.
Thanks for the tips, guys. 
A little late on the freebie run; I’m currently 2 games in (2-0 so far 
) and can’t wait to get back to it tonight.
I’ll give Naxxramus and Gnomes vs. Goblins a look.
You still get Emperor T. from wing one, IIRC, and he’s useful in a lot of lategame decks.
BTW, really digging this week’s brawl (the build your deck one), though I have no idea how to properly approach it. One thing I’ve noticed is that effects that trigger on drawing a card don’t trigger when you get a new hand at the end of the turn. On the other hand, Emperor T. DOES trigger on your new hand full of cards.
I agree, this week’s brawl is one of the best they’ve done. Totally new mechanic (draft as you go) that makes you think in different ways (combos are much more likely with the small decks).
Plus, chickens.
And I’m missing it. Curse you, level 20 req!
Also, 3:0 on the Arena.
Saving up gold for adventures at 700 gold per wing would take a really long time. If they’re willing to spend $20-40 on the game, buying adventures is the way to go. It unlocks a bunch of useful (and sometimes synergistic) cards at once.
I recommend not buying card packs or arena runs. Use your in-game gold for those. Save cash for the adventures. I would probably start out with Naxx to fill out your deck with some important cards, but someone might think one of the other expansions is more valuable. I haven’t put too much thought into it. But if you are willing to spend money on the game - say $20-25 every few months, then definitely buy adventures and spend gold on cards/arena.
What are you counting as “breaking even” here? I thought 3 wins (50% win rate) “breaks even” vs just buying the deck outright for 100 gold.
I also recommend discounting this advice. Sure, you probably will lose gold with each arena run. But if you actually enjoy playing arenas, well, that’s the whole point, right? I too play arenas instead of buying packs. I’m good enough that I at least break even doing this, and probably turn a slight “profit” relative to buying cards, but it’s fun for me to play arenas and I’d still do it even if I was getting less value for my gold.
It’s probably even more fun for a new player because you’ll get to try out cards you don’t own, it’s the only mode where you can play as a newbie and not be at a disadvantage. If you have fun in the arena, definitely spend your gold that way.
Three wins (50%) is where you tie just buying a pack, 6-7 wins is where you get your entrance fee back.
Made my frost mage Reno deck. My third game lasted until turn 25. Iceblock on turn 13 or so. Reno heals for 26. Echo of Medivh to get anothe Reno. A few turns later Reno heals for 18. A few turns after that Antique healbot heals for 8. Silly fun stuff.
This is a very silly deck. Fourth game was against a handlock. I fatigued him to death on turn 26 without even drawing Reno (I had 2 cards left to draw).
Somewhere around turn 10, I used an antique healbot and mirror entity. He also used an antique healbot. My copy meant that I had two on my board. So next turn I used echo of medivh for two more. Between all the freezing and board control I was able to do, he never got me below 10 hp again until the end of the game when he was out of cards. On his very last turn due to being fatigued to death on the next turn, he finally inflicted lethal damage with a Jaraxxus weapon attack… only to finally pop my ice block.
Not sure when I’m going to get bored of 25 turn games, but it’s a very silly deck with unique results.
And adventures are almost always have the the best $ -> gold rate.
I have to second the recommendation to pick up Naxx first, it really does have the highest amount of ‘must-have’ cards.
Nah, I have bought all the adventures with gold and it didn’t take that long at all. I didn’t even have any gold saved when they announced the League of Explorers, and have unlocked the first 3 wings as they’ve come out and have about 450 gold right now toward getting the last wing next week.
What do the adventures cost in gold? 3500 for the first two, 2800 for the last one? So we’ve got 9800 gold to buy the expansions. Let’s say we can get 50 gold from daily quests and another, oh, 40 from 12 wins every day. That’s 4 months of playing a whole lot, only getting access to cards slowly (one wing every other week, so we’re talking about playing a month before you even get your second wing’s worth of cards) never getting to buy a regular pack or make an arena run. I would not say four months of playing 2+ hours every day is “not that long at all”
Made it to what I believe was turn 36 with a control warrior. Wish there was a turn counter somewhere. Longest game I’ve ever had. Found out that ice block will not activate upon fatigue damage - I guess that’s because secrets only actually trigger on the enemy turn, right?
That’s correct. Competitive Spirit is the only Secret that triggers on your own turn.
Also, I just found out that even though the League of Explorers adventure looks like three separate quests leading up to a fourth thing once you’ve found all three pieces of the staff, you cannot actually do the first three in whatever order you wish. This is annoying, because I’m just here for the Murlocs in the third wing, and now I need to save up some more gold.
Okay, the brawl is still fun, but lord does it take a long time. Pretty much every turn going to the rope due to all the decisions once the board gets cluttered, and not because people are slow rolling.
Entomb is pretty crazy. It tempts me into playing control priest.
Entomb is nuts in the current brawl. Got it last night and managed to play it on three consecutive turns.
Pretty much any card that includes an “into the deck” effect is made stronger (or much weaker) in the current brawl, I’d guess. Gang Up should be a blast.
Whoever told me to do naxxramas: thank you! Those cards are, in fact, a freakin’ bonanza. Even without having unlocked Reincarnate yet.