Thanks guys, I'm going with Fire Elemental. I went with Mind Control Tech for the potential tempo swing, so I applied the same thinking to this choice. While there's no bad choice here, I think the hair-splitting favors the elemental. I'll post the draft soon (I hope).
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Old school WoW Mage motto: if you don't end the run with the most damage dealt AND the most deaths, you're not trying hard enough.
Draft thoughts: several hard choices toward the beginning. I had two Hexes offered in my first 4 picks, so I rolled the dice a bit. My last several drafts I've had one card that just kept showing up again and again, so after seeing 2 hexes so quickly, I took a chance that I'd see at least one more. I missed. But, I still like this draft. I have a lot of cards that are interactive, and I think I'll be able to swing some tempo. We'll see what happens.
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Old school WoW Mage motto: if you don't end the run with the most damage dealt AND the most deaths, you're not trying hard enough.
I think the draft is okay. Shaman is generally quite weak in arena and it doesn't help that there are no board clears to win the board back... but the overall quality of cards is above average. Cards like Belcher, Fire ele, MCT and North Sea can decide games on their own if the board is even. Good luck!
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I'm just another one of those. You know, those who do things. Things that need to be done by those that do these things in order to do those things that don't do these things themselves. Has the word 'things' lost meaning to you already?
In hindsight the Axe over Hex doesn't look so bad at pick#4 since your early game is surprisingly lacking.
However, I would have had a tough tough time passing over the 2nd Hex even though it was up against more quality cards.
Minion quality looks decent - but early game feels bit lacking as well as a way to finish off games. Kraken and Fire Elemental will be MVPs in this deck I'm sure.
Match 1: Paladin. Turn 1 he passes and I coin hero power (I think this was a mistake, but at the time it looked like a way to curve out). Turn 2 he drops Stonesplinter Trogg, I drop Flame Juggler, which hits face. Turn 3 he drops Puddlestomper and kills my totem, I drop Scarlet Crusader and trade juggler for puddles. Turn 4 he drops Blood Knight and hits my crusader with Humility. That pretty much ended it. 0-1.
Match 2: Warlock. Got a nut opening hand going first--worgen into trogg into spider tank. Cleared his board turn 4, leaving me with a fresh Scarlet Crusader and my tank at 3/1. Thought I had the match won when I dropped my Fire Elemental 3 turns later and cleared his only minion, but I got a harsh lesson in overconfidence when when he stole my elemental with MCT. I dropped him to 1 health, but he managed to clear every minion I had except my healing and spell damage totems. Top-decked Flametongue Totem ftw. 1-1.
Lessons learned: Match 1 - coining hero power turn 1 after opponent passes is stupid stupid stupid. If you don't see a good curve, pass the turn, save the coin, and hope for a draw. Match 2 - when you're ahead, start thinking about what can really f* you up and play to avoid it. I had 3 minions vs an empty board the turn before he played MCT. It may have left unspent mana, but not playing a minion would have been less of a tempo loss than how it played out.
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Old school WoW Mage motto: if you don't end the run with the most damage dealt AND the most deaths, you're not trying hard enough.
Match 1: Paladin. Turn 1 he passes and I coin hero power (I think this was a mistake, but at the time it looked like a way to curve out). Turn 2 he drops Stonesplinter Trogg, I drop Flame Juggler, which hits face. Turn 3 he drops Puddlestomper and kills my totem, I drop Scarlet Crusader and trade juggler for puddles. Turn 4 he drops Blood Knight and hits my crusader with Humility. That pretty much ended it. 0-1.
Match 2: Warlock. Got a nut opening hand going first--worgen into trogg into spider tank. Cleared his board turn 4, leaving me with a fresh Scarlet Crusader and my tank at 3/1. Thought I had the match won when I dropped my Fire Elemental 3 turns later and cleared his only minion, but I got a harsh lesson in overconfidence when when he stole my elemental with MCT. I dropped him to 1 health, but he managed to clear every minion I had except my healing and spell damage totems. Top-decked Flametongue Totem ftw. 1-1.
Lessons learned: Match 1 - coining hero power turn 1 after opponent passes is stupid stupid stupid. If you don't see a good curve, pass the turn, save the coin, and hope for a draw. Match 2 - when you're ahead, start thinking about what can really f* you up and play to avoid it. I had 3 minions vs an empty board the turn before he played MCT. It may have left unspent mana, but not playing a minion would have been less of a tempo loss than how it played out.
The coin in itself will probably help you curve out more than hero power.
Match 1: Paladin. Turn 1 he passes and I coin hero power (I think this was a mistake, but at the time it looked like a way to curve out). Turn 2 he drops Stonesplinter Trogg, I drop Flame Juggler, which hits face. Turn 3 he drops Puddlestomper and kills my totem, I drop Scarlet Crusader and trade juggler for puddles. Turn 4 he drops Blood Knight and hits my crusader with Humility. That pretty much ended it. 0-1.
Match 2: Warlock. Got a nut opening hand going first--worgen into trogg into spider tank. Cleared his board turn 4, leaving me with a fresh Scarlet Crusader and my tank at 3/1. Thought I had the match won when I dropped my Fire Elemental 3 turns later and cleared his only minion, but I got a harsh lesson in overconfidence when when he stole my elemental with MCT. I dropped him to 1 health, but he managed to clear every minion I had except my healing and spell damage totems. Top-decked Flametongue Totem ftw. 1-1.
Lessons learned: Match 1 - coining hero power turn 1 after opponent passes is stupid stupid stupid. If you don't see a good curve, pass the turn, save the coin, and hope for a draw. Match 2 - when you're ahead, start thinking about what can really f* you up and play to avoid it. I had 3 minions vs an empty board the turn before he played MCT. It may have left unspent mana, but not playing a minion would have been less of a tempo loss than how it played out.
Nice breakdown of the mistakes. With the coin, you never want to have its use result in a hero power play over the first 3 turns. At any point in arena, HP use in the first 3-5 turns is usually tempo death.
Not true. As a pinging class, I'd almost always use the coin to clear a T1 2/1 since this otherwise would allow the opponent to get much more tempo and / or value out of it. Also this provides instant card advantage. Exceptions are when I run an extremely aggressive deck myself, or when I play against a class that can't ping and I can drop a 2/3 while not having another T2 play other than heropower. The opponent is likely to go face with the 2/1, then I can heropower it the next turn and still have my undamaged 2/3 on board.
Little risky of course since this makes you vulnerable to cards like Mad Bomber and Flame Juggler, but I believe it is well worth the risk and works out most of the time. You gotta play risky if your curve is flawed.
Furthermore, I'd never say that hero power in the first 3-5 turn is "tempo death". As rogue, I heropower almost every game within the first 5 turns, as Mage and Druid I use the heropower quite often aswell, in order to get efficient trades.
Basically only the heropowers without immediate board effect really are tempo losses that you'd like to avoid if possible.
As mentioned turn 1 Totem is a big error, but probably wouldn't have changed the outcome at all considering he had bloodknight to eat your crusader.
Coin + Hero power to kill turn 1 2/1s are common practice, but it really depends how good/bad your opening hand is too.
Yeah, as I've thought about that match, I don't think using HP turn one or turn two would have made much difference. The only thing that may have made a difference may have been passing turn 1 and keeping the coin, but that Blood Knight was going to ruin my day no matter what.
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Old school WoW Mage motto: if you don't end the run with the most damage dealt AND the most deaths, you're not trying hard enough.
Match 3: Hunter. Opponent drops a worgen first turn, and I'm faced with the choice of coining my Stonesplinter Trogg and possibly having to hero power turn 2, or passing and saving my coin for a better moment. I choose to pass, and despite taking several hits to the face over the next few turns, my Scarlet Crusader goes 2 for 1, I clear his board and drop my Piloted Shredder on an empty board turn 4. Turn 5 he drops Fel Reaver. GG. 1-2.
Match 4: Paladin. Finally drew my Stormforged Axe. Opening hand was axe, MCT, worgen, and shredder. Hated to play the MCT on curve for tempo, but it turned out to be the right play. After turn 4, thanks to my axe and a nice Lightning Bolt, I was at 18 health but had 3 undamaged minions: shredder, MCT, and Demolisher. After that it was just keeping his board clear and wearing him down. He made it interesting turns 8 and 9 by dropping a Fossilized Devilsaur followed by Coghammer, but I had my Earth Shock. 2-2.
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Old school WoW Mage motto: if you don't end the run with the most damage dealt AND the most deaths, you're not trying hard enough.
Match 5: Priest. This one went long, and I nearly lost to Mind Control taking my kraken. Got my opponent to 2 health, but then he kept all my minions cleared except my 0 attacks. Finally pulled my axe the same turn he overextended enough for me to play my MCT. Just to see, I played MCT to see what I'd get. Sure enough, pulled my kraken back. Then I axed him. 3-2.
I've reached break-even, which is my average. Wins from here out are upping the average. Just once I'd like to get the Stormforged Axe-Bloodsail Raider combo, but I haven't seen that damn pirate in 5 matches. Cést la vie.
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Old school WoW Mage motto: if you don't end the run with the most damage dealt AND the most deaths, you're not trying hard enough.
I think I may have had the wrong philosophy while drafting this deck. I drafted on a tempo basis, but in hindsight I feel I may have been better served to draft for value, since it seems on average shaman will lean that way more often than tempo.
And I got an ordinary [card[flamecannon[/card] as part of my rewards! That makes it all worth it!
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Old school WoW Mage motto: if you don't end the run with the most damage dealt AND the most deaths, you're not trying hard enough.
Shaman is one heck of a slow class in arena, overload is quite devastating and as far as rebound mechanics go... well yeah.
Don't feel bad about the last game, knights win games on their own and the rest is icing... nay, more than icing on the grandiose cake of 12-0 victory. At least you got a playable flamecannon #rotation
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I'm just another one of those. You know, those who do things. Things that need to be done by those that do these things in order to do those things that don't do these things themselves. Has the word 'things' lost meaning to you already?
So after a shaman run that, while not horrible at 3-3, still felt somewhat disappointing, I was looking forward to seeing what class I'd be playing next. My choices? Uther, Anduin, Thrall. Following my self-imposed rules of engagement, we're dancing with Thrall again.
I drafted the entire deck without heartharena. It was interesting to see how its choices differed from mine as the draft progressed. However I don't like how heartharena counts the overload cost for two-drop vs three-drop. Looking at the overview, you'd think I have barely any turn 2 plays, but it lists my 2 Totem Golems and my Stormforged Axe as 3 drops. Little bit confusing. Anyway, some draft thoughts:
Pick 17: I struggled with this one, but finally I decided on Rockbiter Weapon because it would be more valuable if drawn late than Tunnel Trogg would be.
Pick 19: good thing so many of my opponents are either Paladin or Mage.
Pick 23: despite having several overload cards in the deck, Lava Shock figured to be nothing more than a 2 cost 2 damage in most cases, so I went for the extra removal power of Lava Burst.
Pick 25: heartharena really favors Wild Pyromancer, and I strongly considered it, but I finally decided on Goblin Sapper because even without the card text activating, it trades favorably with most 2 drops, plus I don't have to worry about it killing itself.
Pick 28: I should have taken the Amani Berserker over a 2nd Clockwork Knight, but at the moment of choice I was worried about having only 1 5-drop.
I think I like this draft better than my last one. It have a lot more removal than last time, and I'm optimistic. Which probably means I'm f*ed.
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Old school WoW Mage motto: if you don't end the run with the most damage dealt AND the most deaths, you're not trying hard enough.
Pick 12 is where I see the true lost potential. Stormwind Champion is too strong to pass on with Thrall. Those totems coming to life with the 1/1 buff can help you turn the board. I always take the first one offered when drafting for shaman.
I'd take either of the 2 choices over SW champ at pick #12. Shaman really shouldn't end up with totems by turn 7, unless you get really screwed on curve AND opponent actually leaves them on the board. It's harder to get totems to stick to the board than paladins and their 1/1s, which is already difficult enough.
The skipping pyromancer was a bit awkward though, even more so since his deck has 2 totem golems.
Match 1: Rogue. Playing second, could not have asked for a better opening: both Totem Golems and my Stormforged Axe in my hand and opponent passes first turn, as do I. I use my axe to kill their 2-drop and drop a golem turn 3, which opponent spends all of turn 4 killing. By this point I've drawn my Mad Bomber, and it does me good, killing my opponent's only minion, and then I coin my other golem. Rogues are good at flipping the board, but Lightning Storm wiped him out, and then I hexed his comboed Shado-Pan Rider. Basically, I out-tempoed a rogue. 1-0.
Match 2: Druid. I was worried at first because I had a slow start, but a little luck with HP and poor decisions by my opponent led to my gaining control of the board on turn 5, and when I countered his Dark Wispers with Lightning Storm and cleared his board, everything snowballed from there. Never drew a card below cost 3 until the turn I killed him, so this one burned some karma. 2-0.
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Old school WoW Mage motto: if you don't end the run with the most damage dealt AND the most deaths, you're not trying hard enough.
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With Shaman drafts I always look for those sweet shaman 3-drops. Also Ancestral Spirit is waaaay undervalued in arena.
I'd go fire elemental. I'm just not the biggest fan of hard removal in arena.
yeah, fire elemental for me as well, unless I already had like 2 fire eles and no hexes...
Thanks guys, I'm going with Fire Elemental. I went with Mind Control Tech for the potential tempo swing, so I applied the same thinking to this choice. While there's no bad choice here, I think the hair-splitting favors the elemental. I'll post the draft soon (I hope).
Old school WoW Mage motto: if you don't end the run with the most damage dealt AND the most deaths, you're not trying hard enough.
SHAMAN RUN 2
http://www.heartharena.com/arena-run/200rxv
Draft thoughts: several hard choices toward the beginning. I had two Hexes offered in my first 4 picks, so I rolled the dice a bit. My last several drafts I've had one card that just kept showing up again and again, so after seeing 2 hexes so quickly, I took a chance that I'd see at least one more. I missed. But, I still like this draft. I have a lot of cards that are interactive, and I think I'll be able to swing some tempo. We'll see what happens.
Old school WoW Mage motto: if you don't end the run with the most damage dealt AND the most deaths, you're not trying hard enough.
Ancestor's Call has a negative value :P
I think the draft is okay. Shaman is generally quite weak in arena and it doesn't help that there are no board clears to win the board back... but the overall quality of cards is above average. Cards like Belcher, Fire ele, MCT and North Sea can decide games on their own if the board is even. Good luck!
I'm just another one of those. You know, those who do things. Things that need to be done by those that do these things in order to do those things that don't do these things themselves. Has the word 'things' lost meaning to you already?
[Game] Name another card that has the same...
In hindsight the Axe over Hex doesn't look so bad at pick#4 since your early game is surprisingly lacking.
However, I would have had a tough tough time passing over the 2nd Hex even though it was up against more quality cards.
Minion quality looks decent - but early game feels bit lacking as well as a way to finish off games. Kraken and Fire Elemental will be MVPs in this deck I'm sure.
Twitch Arena Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/boozor / Youtube Chanel: https://www.youtube.com/c/boozortv
#1 Arena Leader Board Player in North America - August 2018 and April 2020
#2 NA Nov 18, #2 Asia July 19, #2 NA Feb 20, #2 NA June 20
Match 1: Paladin. Turn 1 he passes and I coin hero power (I think this was a mistake, but at the time it looked like a way to curve out). Turn 2 he drops Stonesplinter Trogg, I drop Flame Juggler, which hits face. Turn 3 he drops Puddlestomper and kills my totem, I drop Scarlet Crusader and trade juggler for puddles. Turn 4 he drops Blood Knight and hits my crusader with Humility. That pretty much ended it. 0-1.
Match 2: Warlock. Got a nut opening hand going first--worgen into trogg into spider tank. Cleared his board turn 4, leaving me with a fresh Scarlet Crusader and my tank at 3/1. Thought I had the match won when I dropped my Fire Elemental 3 turns later and cleared his only minion, but I got a harsh lesson in overconfidence when when he stole my elemental with MCT. I dropped him to 1 health, but he managed to clear every minion I had except my healing and spell damage totems. Top-decked Flametongue Totem ftw. 1-1.
Lessons learned: Match 1 - coining hero power turn 1 after opponent passes is stupid stupid stupid. If you don't see a good curve, pass the turn, save the coin, and hope for a draw. Match 2 - when you're ahead, start thinking about what can really f* you up and play to avoid it. I had 3 minions vs an empty board the turn before he played MCT. It may have left unspent mana, but not playing a minion would have been less of a tempo loss than how it played out.
Old school WoW Mage motto: if you don't end the run with the most damage dealt AND the most deaths, you're not trying hard enough.
Arena Leaderboard EU - September 2018: #47 (@7.77 Wins Average)
As mentioned turn 1 Totem is a big error, but probably wouldn't have changed the outcome at all considering he had bloodknight to eat your crusader.
Coin + Hero power to kill turn 1 2/1s are common practice, but it really depends how good/bad your opening hand is too.
Twitch Arena Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/boozor / Youtube Chanel: https://www.youtube.com/c/boozortv
#1 Arena Leader Board Player in North America - August 2018 and April 2020
#2 NA Nov 18, #2 Asia July 19, #2 NA Feb 20, #2 NA June 20
Old school WoW Mage motto: if you don't end the run with the most damage dealt AND the most deaths, you're not trying hard enough.
Match 3: Hunter. Opponent drops a worgen first turn, and I'm faced with the choice of coining my Stonesplinter Trogg and possibly having to hero power turn 2, or passing and saving my coin for a better moment. I choose to pass, and despite taking several hits to the face over the next few turns, my Scarlet Crusader goes 2 for 1, I clear his board and drop my Piloted Shredder on an empty board turn 4. Turn 5 he drops Fel Reaver. GG. 1-2.
Match 4: Paladin. Finally drew my Stormforged Axe. Opening hand was axe, MCT, worgen, and shredder. Hated to play the MCT on curve for tempo, but it turned out to be the right play. After turn 4, thanks to my axe and a nice Lightning Bolt, I was at 18 health but had 3 undamaged minions: shredder, MCT, and Demolisher. After that it was just keeping his board clear and wearing him down. He made it interesting turns 8 and 9 by dropping a Fossilized Devilsaur followed by Coghammer, but I had my Earth Shock. 2-2.
Old school WoW Mage motto: if you don't end the run with the most damage dealt AND the most deaths, you're not trying hard enough.
Match 5: Priest. This one went long, and I nearly lost to Mind Control taking my kraken. Got my opponent to 2 health, but then he kept all my minions cleared except my 0 attacks. Finally pulled my axe the same turn he overextended enough for me to play my MCT. Just to see, I played MCT to see what I'd get. Sure enough, pulled my kraken back. Then I axed him. 3-2.
I've reached break-even, which is my average. Wins from here out are upping the average. Just once I'd like to get the Stormforged Axe-Bloodsail Raider combo, but I haven't seen that damn pirate in 5 matches. Cést la vie.
Old school WoW Mage motto: if you don't end the run with the most damage dealt AND the most deaths, you're not trying hard enough.
Match 6: Paladin. 2 Shielded Minibots, 2 Murloc Knights, Keeper of Uldaman, and a Foe Reaper 4000... and I nearly won the game to a disconnect. I still pushed the game to turn 12 or 13, but finally I just had no resources to do anything. 3-3.
I think I may have had the wrong philosophy while drafting this deck. I drafted on a tempo basis, but in hindsight I feel I may have been better served to draft for value, since it seems on average shaman will lean that way more often than tempo.
And I got an ordinary [card[flamecannon[/card] as part of my rewards! That makes it all worth it!
Old school WoW Mage motto: if you don't end the run with the most damage dealt AND the most deaths, you're not trying hard enough.
Shaman is one heck of a slow class in arena, overload is quite devastating and as far as rebound mechanics go... well yeah.
Don't feel bad about the last game, knights win games on their own and the rest is icing... nay, more than icing on the grandiose cake of 12-0 victory. At least you got a playable flamecannon #rotation
I'm just another one of those. You know, those who do things. Things that need to be done by those that do these things in order to do those things that don't do these things themselves. Has the word 'things' lost meaning to you already?
[Game] Name another card that has the same...
So after a shaman run that, while not horrible at 3-3, still felt somewhat disappointing, I was looking forward to seeing what class I'd be playing next. My choices? Uther, Anduin, Thrall. Following my self-imposed rules of engagement, we're dancing with Thrall again.
http://www.heartharena.com/arena-run/9uk1bt
I drafted the entire deck without heartharena. It was interesting to see how its choices differed from mine as the draft progressed. However I don't like how heartharena counts the overload cost for two-drop vs three-drop. Looking at the overview, you'd think I have barely any turn 2 plays, but it lists my 2 Totem Golems and my Stormforged Axe as 3 drops. Little bit confusing. Anyway, some draft thoughts:
Pick 17: I struggled with this one, but finally I decided on Rockbiter Weapon because it would be more valuable if drawn late than Tunnel Trogg would be.
Pick 19: good thing so many of my opponents are either Paladin or Mage.
Pick 23: despite having several overload cards in the deck, Lava Shock figured to be nothing more than a 2 cost 2 damage in most cases, so I went for the extra removal power of Lava Burst.
Pick 25: heartharena really favors Wild Pyromancer, and I strongly considered it, but I finally decided on Goblin Sapper because even without the card text activating, it trades favorably with most 2 drops, plus I don't have to worry about it killing itself.
Pick 28: I should have taken the Amani Berserker over a 2nd Clockwork Knight, but at the moment of choice I was worried about having only 1 5-drop.
I think I like this draft better than my last one. It have a lot more removal than last time, and I'm optimistic. Which probably means I'm f*ed.
Old school WoW Mage motto: if you don't end the run with the most damage dealt AND the most deaths, you're not trying hard enough.
This is cool. I am following the narrative of this way too intensely lol. Keep it up!
Why am I sticky?
Match 1: Rogue. Playing second, could not have asked for a better opening: both Totem Golems and my Stormforged Axe in my hand and opponent passes first turn, as do I. I use my axe to kill their 2-drop and drop a golem turn 3, which opponent spends all of turn 4 killing. By this point I've drawn my Mad Bomber, and it does me good, killing my opponent's only minion, and then I coin my other golem. Rogues are good at flipping the board, but Lightning Storm wiped him out, and then I hexed his comboed Shado-Pan Rider. Basically, I out-tempoed a rogue. 1-0.
Match 2: Druid. I was worried at first because I had a slow start, but a little luck with HP and poor decisions by my opponent led to my gaining control of the board on turn 5, and when I countered his Dark Wispers with Lightning Storm and cleared his board, everything snowballed from there. Never drew a card below cost 3 until the turn I killed him, so this one burned some karma. 2-0.
Old school WoW Mage motto: if you don't end the run with the most damage dealt AND the most deaths, you're not trying hard enough.