Hearthpwn

Match 4: Paladin. Playing against pallets is all about keeping them off the board, so when they play first with a quality 1-drop, you know it's going to be a long match. I countered his worgen with my amani, but he countered my counter with abusive sergeant... and a TARGET DUMMY? I struggled to keep up on the board, but I threw the game away when I dropped my Abom at the best possible time... for my opponent. 3-1.

Match 5: Druid. FINALLY got one of my 1-drops in my opening hand; pulled webspinner in my mulligan and drew my worgen first turn, so I was able to set the pace from the beginning. I was card disadvantaged the entire game, but the cards I drew always seemed to play into the board situation: he drops taz dingo vs my swamp ooze, I pull my alchemist to enable the trade; when I drop my activated drakonid on turn 8, I have my highmane in case of hard removal (rare in druid, but possible); when he plays ancient of war, I draw my longbow. Felt nice to command the game. 4-1.

Match 6: Mage. My opponent must have had the worst draw in the world. Turn 1 he passes to me; I coin king's elekk (lose joust). Turn 2 he pings my elekk (?); I play swamp ooze and go face. Turn 3 he pings to kill my elekk and plays gadgetzan jouster (he wins joust); I play dancing swords and go face. Turn 4 he plays a pyromancer, pings my ooze (???), and goes face with his jouster; I trade my ooze for his jouster, equip glaivezooka (buff the swords), kill his pyro with my hero, hero power, and go face with swords. Turn 5 he drops a conjurer; I play loot hoarder, freezing trap, and go face with swords and hero. Turn 6 he pings my hoarder and tries to trade into my swords, only to watch his conjurer get trapped. Then he conceded. He played 3 cards total. Glad this game didn't go long. 5-1.

Match 7: Warrior. Had a nice opening hand, playing a worgen and coining a webspinner turn 1 after opponent passed. Turn 2 he dropped a haunted creeper; I played king's elekk (lost joust) and went straight face. Turn 3 he played ogre brute and traded for my worgen; I ran my webspinner into the ogre (got huge toad), followed by my elekk, then I set a bear trap. Turn 4 he smacked me with a spider to pop my bear, then equipped death's bite, killed my near, and smacked me with the other spoder; I dropped a shredder, daring him to kill it and wipe out his spiders. Turn 5 he... lost to the rope. I dropped what I could quickly, went straight face, and ended turn. He lost to the rope again. I hate it for him, but I'm not passing up a free win. Blitzed next two turns to kill him before he relogged. 6-1.

This now matches my best win total for any run. I hate to see someone lose to a DC, but perhaps it's karmic payback for the DC losses I've had. Let's see how far it goes.

Match 8: Paladin. Thought I had a good opening playing second with Webspinner into King's Elekk, but Flame Juggler wiped my spider with Battlecry, then got a buff from shattered cleric to wipe my elekk. Turn 3 Dancing Swords got erased by Truesilver, and when I cleared his board with kill command and glaivezooka he reloaded with clockwork gnome and gorillabot. Nail in the coffin was turn 6 murloc knight into another murloc knight. 6-2.

Match 9: Paladin. Really getting tired of seeing Uther. Opened well and competed throughout, but got rolled by a Molten Giant followed by BGH killing my activated Crusher. 6-3.

I wanted to get this run finished before the expansion hit, but I didn't want it to end quite that fast. Still, that makes 3 classes I've hit 6 wins with. Let's see how WOG shakes things up.

Sucks - but expected when you start piling up those win totals, you start running into the same classes and/or very good players and/o very good decks !

6-3 really sucks because the reward jump from 6 to 7 is the largest T_T

So it's been an eventful night. My wife, who only recently started playing, had a Mage arena run she started before WOG released. She did her first 2 matches by herself, losing both, so she asked me to help her. I helped her to 3 wins before the release.

She ended up 7-3. So now my wife's best arena run is better than mine. Love the irony.

But perhaps I got a bit of good karma in the process. I started my next arena run, and got not one, but two pleasant surprises: pick 20 and pick 30.

DRUID RUN 2

http://www.heartharena.com/arena-run/888rnl

I went against my recent habits and relied solely on heartharena for my choices this time, picking its recommendation on every choice. I'm concerned about my curve, but five 8 health taunts? Just need to stay alive long enough to start dropping them.

That final pick... I don't have words to describe.

My only concern is the slight lack of 2 drops, but once you hit turn 7 and keep on dropping those big taunts the game is practically over. I think that most arena games will slow down too thanks to the powerful late game arena WOG cards, meaning you have the advantage there. Good luck!

Match 1: Druid. Going second, I mulliganed away one Bog Creeper, only to pull another in opening hand. And draw another turn 1. Also had Innervate in opening hand. Almost felt unfair when I dropped a creeper turn 4... and another on turn 7... and another on turn 9. Dropped Dr. Boom turn 10 just because I could, but didn't need it. 1-0.

As a side note, I've started using HDT to keep track of my deck and record my games. Not much to learn on this last game, but looking back over exactly what I did and what I could have done should really help figure out whether I lost because I misplayed, because I was outplayed, or because I was just screwed no matter what. Is there a way to post the replay file on the forum? I know I can upload it to Zerotoheroes.com, but if I could post the files here, it would make recapping my matches so much easier.

@ShadowSpectreX: the heat sinks on your computer must be massive, based on your location. ;+)

Match 2: Mage. Heartharena described this deck as an attrition deck, and I understand that after this match. Young Priestess is not a Turn 1 play and should be thrown back (played Turn 1, died Turn 1 to coin fire blast). This put me at a 2 card disadvantage. Pretty even back and forth until Turn 5, when I Innervate a Bog Creeper... and watch it die to Flame Lance. Now I'm behind on cards and on the board. Turn 7 I play another Bog Creeper... and watch it also die to Flame Lance. Turn 8 Ironbark Protector manages to take out 2 1/2 cards over 2 turns, but thanks to being frozen by Water Elemental deals no face damage. Turn 10 I'm facing a frozen 4/4 and a Scaled Nightmare with only a Dire Wolf Alpha. At this point I'm down to 1 card--Recycle. Not wanting the Nightmare to get out of hand I recycle it, also playing my newly drawn Wildwalker. Now I'm top-decking against a Mage who is ahead on the board and has a 3 card advantage. I think I might still have a chance when I draw another Creeper to go along with the Lightwarden given to me by Hungry Dragon... and then he plays The Beast. Thank you Tomb Spider. 1-1.

Match 3: Druid. TREANTS GONE WILD!!! Playing second, have a very nice curve after mutually passing Turn 1. Turn 5, with 2 minions apiece, he attacks face and plays Poison Seeds. I trade the treants and play Corrupted Healbot--he's still full health, so using it purely for trades will negate the deathrattle. Turn 6 he plays Dark Wispers. Now I'm fully expecting some kind of full board buff, so rather than play my Clockwork Knight to buff my bot, I play Wildwalker and HP to ping a wisp, killing another with the bot. Sure enough, Stormwind Champion, and he... attacks face? Drops me to 19. I trade my bot for the champion, drop a Creeper and go face with the Wildwalker. He plays Raven Idol for a spell, and gets another Poison Seeds, plays it, plays a Lowly Squire, and hits face with HP. I drop my Ironbark and trade for the Squire and another treant. He plays Polluted Hoarder, then casts Soul of the Forest. Will it never end? Finally, 3 turns later, after I run my Spawn of N'Zoth into his taunt to give my other 5 minions +1/+1, he concedes. 2-1.

I think I now have a feel for this deck. If I run into a pure face-rush deck I may be in trouble, but if I can just play the waiting game and conserve my resources (appallingly sparse on card draw), I've got more late-game bombs than most decks can handle. And who knows, maybe the stars will align and I'll get that dream Brann->Boom combo (4 Boom Bots, anyone?).

A Druid actually had the nerve to draft those cards... I mean, really, double Poison Seeds? And Soul of the Forest? And Dark Wispers? He really wanted the combo (even though Wispers actually isn't all that bad in arena).

Don't worry about me too much, I'm a Spectre, remember? ;) And my computer... well let's just say it takes one heck of a long time for messages to arrive to Earth, I learnt that the hard way when I wanted to tell someone the distance from my house to the supermarket: 187,5 meters. I sent that message ten times as of now, but it was never returned...

Match 4: Priest. Playing first, my Clockwork Gnome is met by a Mechwarper, so I HP to clear it; Opp. drops a Huge Toad. My Razorfen Hunter dies to the Toad, with the rattle killing Tusker (how dare they), and Opp. drops a Spider Tank. I need board presence, so even though I'm only at 29 health, I drop Zombie Chow and Earthen Ring Farseer; Opp. drops Holy Champion and kills the Chow. Once again, with my opponent undamaged, I play my Corrupted Healbot on curve with no fear of the rattle; Opp. drops Dire Wolf Alpha and Zealous Initiate, goes face with the Champion, and then heals... me, buffing the Champion to 5(6)/5. I hate to use it on a 4 mana card, but it feels like the right play: I Recycle the Champion, then kill the Wolf; Opp. uses Thoughtsteal and plays Master Swordsmith. Turn 7 I drop my first Creeper. Turn 9 I drop my second. Turn 10 I Raven Idol into Mech-Bear-Cat. Conceded. 3-1.

Match 5: Warrior. This class is the bane of my existence in Arena. This one started fast and stayed ahead; Turn 1 Lightwarden, Turn 2 Fiery War Axe, Turn 3 Argent Horserider, Turn 4 Aberrant Berserker, Turn 5 Refreshment Vendor + Bloodsail Corsair, Turn 6 another Fiery War Axe and another Argent Horserider, Turn 7 Psych-o-Tron and armor up. I drop a Creeper to try and stem the tide, but by this point, despite my best efforts, I'm down to 11 health facing 4 minions and Opp. still has a charge on the Axe. Mad Bomber does Opp. good and pings the Creeper down so the Axe charge can kill it, pushing 3 more damage through; I drop an Ironbark and hope for a miracle, but Opp. drops Kvaldir Raider, armors up, and runs 3 minions into my Protector to kill it. I'm down to 5 health and I'm out of taunts. I really hate warriors. 3-2.

Match 6: Paladin. So, I'm playing an attrition deck, right? So my gameplan is to manage the early- and mid-game to win in the late game, right? Playing first, Turn 1 Living Roots for saplings; Opp. passes. Turn 2 Bilefin Tidehunter and attack with saplings; Opp. coins out... Acolyte of Pain? Turn 3 Spawn of N'Zoth and attack all face; Opp. kills taunt with Acolyte and drops Steward of Darkshire (thank you). Turn 4 I misplay slightly by running my Spawn into the Steward before playing Faerie Dragon (oops), but I still clear his board with hero power and a 2/2 sapling, going face with the rest; Opp. hero powers and uses Holy Light. Turn 5 Clockwork Knight, kill the recruit with my other 2/2 sapling, and go face; Opp. plays Stand Against Darkness. Turn 6 I play Spellbreaker, hero power one token, use the rest of my board to clear the other 4 (farewell good saplings) and hit face with the Knight; Opp. plays 3 minions, none of which have taunt. He has 11 health, I have 15 damage on the board. GG. His draw must have really sucked. 4-2.

Match 7: Shaman. Skip ahead to Turn 10: after Opp. plays Maexxna, summons a totem and trades for my Ironbark, I have Faerie Dragon and Bog Creeper vs Tomb Spider, Maexxna, and Wrath of Air Totem, all at full health. In my hand I hold Spellbreaker and I draw Dr. Boom. The right play is to silence Maexxna and force my Opp. to fight through my taunt, then drop Boom next turn... but I get starry-eyed at finally seeing Boom at a meaningful point in the match. It takes until Turn 15, but I'm done. 4-3.

Progress report: all classes played at least twice, overall record after 20 runs 64-60, 3.2 win average. Best classes so far: Hunter, Druid, Warrior. Worst classes so far: Priest, Shaman, Warlock. I am 1 match below .500 with the coin, 5 matches above when going first. Sample size still small, though, so no conclusions yet.

Next run hero choice was between rogue, priest, and warlock. Warlock is by far my worst class so far (2-6), so Gul'dan it is.

WARLOCK RUN 3

http://www.heartharena.com/arena-run/732sia

What the heck is going on with multiple legendaries? That's 2 runs in a row now. Not that I'm complaining, but has anyone else noticed an increase in legendary draft choices since WOG? 2 runs is too small a sample, I know, so anyone else? Anyway, this looks to be a pure aggression deck. I'll have to balance tapping for resources with life total and board situation. I could really use some advice on how to 'lock better; this class just hasn't worked for me so far.

I haven't seen any Legendaries in 15(ish) runs since release! Here's hoping!....... Good luck with your run!

The key question is are you improving ? I think 20 runs is a good stopping point to re-evaluate your game and see if it's going in the right direction, stagnating or going backwards.

Warlock draft -

#16 - Why spawn ? Deck lacks removal and reach - soulfire is pretty obvious pick. Spawn is situational and is a horrible play on turn 3.

#30 - I'd take MCT here over a 2/5 Taunt. Just preference. HA gives more value to the 4-drop because you're lacking 4s. But MCT is the better and more impactful card.

Overall - pretty insane deck, lacks a clear reach like charge or direct damage except for Rag. A heal would have been nice too since you have a lot of Flame imps / Wrathguards, you'd have to watch your life closely.

Demon zoo + Councilman for early game and Rag + Sylvie for the finish. I am jelly at your draft luck.

I think I'm improving, though too often it's in retrospect. There have been several, several times (not just in arena) when I realized I missed lethal by concentrating too much on the board, but that will come with time I'm sure.

I took spawn over soulfire because 1) I've had good experience with it, and 2) I have an aversion to cards that make me discard.

... I hate posting from my phone..

Anyway, maybe I need to get over that aversion and learn to play around it. We'll see what happens.

Match 1: Warlock. Playing second, I keep Darkshire Councilman and throw back my Yeti, Sapper, and Rags, getting Flame Imp, Imp Gang, and Spawn. Turn 1 Opp. plays Flame Imp, as do I after drawing a Villager. Turn 2 Opp. plays another Imp and goes face; I draw my DID, trade Imps, and coin my Councilman. Turn 3 Opp. silences my Councilman with an Owl and hits face; I draw Voidcaller, play my Imp Gang and kill the Owl. Turn 4 Opp. taps, plays Twisted Worgen, and trades for my Councilman; I draw my Anubisath, play Villager and Spawn, and run Imp Gang into the Flame Imp, spawning an Imp. Turn 5 Opp. drops a Sludge Belcher and goes face with the Worgen; I draw my Nullifier, play DID (buff the Spawn), run the Spawn and the Villager into the Belcher (should have done Villager first), kill the Slime taunt with Imp Gang (spawn Imp), and trade the Imp for the Worgen. Turn 6 he drops Dread Infernal, clearing my board except for DID and a final spawned Imp; I draw Wrathguard, tap to draw Silent Knight, and play my Nullifier... except I misplay and throw the Wrathguard instead. Muttering to myself I run DID and Imp into the Infernal to kill it. Turn 7 Opp. plays Wailing Soul and Bloodfen Raptor; I draw Flame Imp, play Nullifier and Silent Knight, and go face with Wrathguard. Turn 8 Opp. runs both minions into Nullifier to kill it, taps, and drops a Pint-Sized, Blood Imp, and Dark Peddler; I draw a Villager, tap for a Flame Imp, play Anubisath and Villager, and kill the Pint-Sized with my Knight. Turn 9 Opp. top-decks and plays a Kraken, killing my Wrathguard; I draw my second Imp Gang, tap and get Infested Tauren, run my Anub into the Kraken (buff the Villager), play Tauren and Imp Gang, kill the Kraken with the Villager, and go face with the Knight because I'm at 2 health and both his minions have 3 health. Turn 10 his Wailing Soul kills my Tauren, then he kills me with Peddler. 0-1.

Match 2: Druid. Going first I draw Sylvanas, Imp Gang, and Rags. I toss the legendaries and get Villager and Spawn to replace them. Turn 1 I draw Demonwrath and play Villager; Opp. passes. Turn 2 I draw and play Twisted Worgen, attacking with Villager; Opp. HPs to kill Villager (spawn Shadowbeast). Turn 3 I draw Yeti, play Imp Gang, and attack with beast and Worgen; Opp. coins Swipe and wipes my board, spawning 1 Imp. Turn 4 I draw Mechwarper, play Yeti, and attack with Imp; Opp. plays Shredder. Turn 5 I draw Flame Imp, tap and get another Flame Imp, play Spawn and go face with Yeti; Opp. kills Yeti with Starfall, then kills Spawn with Shredder, buffing my Imp. Turn 6 I draw Villager, tap and get Wrathguard, play Mechwarper and both Flame Imps, and kill his Shredder, popping Huge Toad; Opp. trades Toad into an Imp (DR hits face), kills Mechwarper with Wrath, and plays Infested Tauren. Turn 7 I draw my third Flame Imp, tap and get Dire Wolf, play Wrathguard, Imp, and Dire Wolf between, then kill the Tauren; Opp. kills Imp with Slime, drops 2 Mad Bombers (which kill my Dire Wolf and take Wrathguard to 1 health), then HPs to kill Wrathguard. Turn 8 I draw Rags, tap and get Nullifier, kill both Bombers with Demonwrath, and play Villager; Opp. drops Runts and HPs face. Turn 9 I draw and play DID, play Nullifier, and go face with buffed Villager; Opp. plays Stormpike (pings Nullifier), runs Runts into Nullifier, HPs to kill taunt, and plays Annoy-o-Tron. Turn 10 I draw Volcanic Drake, run Villager and DID into the annoyance, and play Rags, which kills the Stormpike; Opp. plays Psych-o-Tron, Deathlord, and hits face with Runts and HP. Turn 11 I'm at 2 health. 0-2.

I had to walk away for a good long while after those 2 games. I know my deck is better than I'm playing it, but I just don't know what I'm missing. Should I be going straight face? Should I be playing board control? I don't think my opponents' decks were significantly better than mine, so what am I doing wrong? Anyway, I was to close to tilt to play again for a while. I just don't get this class.

@Boozor: I see the advantage of Soulfire over Spawn now. There are lots of cards in my deck I won't miss, but that 4 damage for 1 mana would have been more useful.

It's interesting because the sequences you are describing doesn't really show too much you could have done otherwise.

You made a small misplay playing wrathguard instead of the nullifier - but not sure if that broke the game for you probably not.

I wasn't completely keeping track - but are you tapping even if you have mana efficient plays? Maybe too many taps, or tapping at wrong time? We all know from the draft that you do not have a lot of heals, and a lot of minions that have drawbacks to your health (3x flame imps and 2x wrathguards).

I don't think you should let go of the board to go for face damage because your deck lacks reach to finish games. So it's going to be a board centric play style.

The 1st game was pretty close - but Kraken blew the game open unfortunately. It's just a timely top deck for your opponent - happens. Might as well flip a coin in that deck vs deck match up if skill is equal.

2nd game. Probably ended up taking too much damage from those imps and wrathguards. The game sounds like it was in your hands until double bombers into a weak turn by you with demon wrath / tap / villager.

Wouldn't punish yourself too hard about those losses - doesn't seem like you made turning point mistakes or anything like that. Some games just can't be won.

Reason why I said soulfire is a clear pick over the spawn was just because this decks lacks a) Reach b) removal. Soulfire - although loses you value from card discard, is a great tempo card allowing you to remove and develop your board on the same turn. It fits the "style" of the deck nicely. Spawn is more value oriented and a huge tempo hit when it's played.

In hindsight, not sure if soulfire would have helped you too much in these games though. GL on avoiding that goose egg !

Match 3: Druid. Playing first, I keep Imp Gang and throw back Demonfire and Yeti, getting Twisted Worgen and Floating Watcher. Turn 1 I draw Infested Tauren and pass; Opp. plays Clockwork Gnome. Turn 2 I draw Villager and play Worgen; Opp. coins Gnomeregan Infantry and hits face. Turn 3 I draw Flame Imp, play Imp Gang, and run Worgen into Infantry; Opp. plays Tinkertown Tech and goes face. Turn 4 I draw another Flame Imp, play Tauren, and pop the Infantry, spawning an Imp; Opp. plays Gorrilabot (holy mech synergy batman), kills Tauren with Tinker, and kills the Slime with Gnome. Turn 5 I draw Wrathguard and pause--I'm now holding Floating Watcher, 2xFlame Imp, Wrathguard, and a Villager. I want to save the Imps and Wrath to buff the Watcher, so I tap... and get Darkshire Councilman. Perfect. I play the Councilman, trade Imp Gang for Tinker (spawn Imp, buff Councilman), and go face with final Imp; Opp. plays another Gorrilabot (good grief!), freezes Councilman with Coolant, and kills an Imp. Turn 6 I draw Silent Knight and set up my Watcher turn--I play Knight, Wrathguard, and Villager (buffing Councilman to 5/5) and attack face with Imp; Opp. Recycles my Councilman (bastard) and kills my Imp and Villager with his Gorrilabots (spawn Shadowbeast). Perfect. Turn 7 I draw Imp Gang, play my Watcher, trade my Wrathguard for the 3/3 bot (Watcher 6/6), run my Knight into the 3/2 bot (clearing Opp. board), hit face with Shadowbeast, and play both Flame Imps (Watcher 10/10); Opp. plays Addled Grizzly, Tauren Warrior, and Forbidden Ancient (2/2)... and concedes. 1-2.

Match 4: Paladin. Playing second, I keep a Councilman and mulligan DID, Silent Knight, and Power Overwhelming, getting Villager, Flame Imp, and my 2nd Councilman. Turn 1 Opp. plays Selfless Hero; I have a major brain-fart and play the Imp instead of the Villager (draw was Demonwrath). I think that little mistake cost me the game, as looking over the rest of the match I wouldn't change anything else. Watching Rags get hit by Keeper and killed by a funnel-cake vendor kinda hurt, though. 1-3.

So apparently, I have an opportunity for improvement in my Warlock game. Maybe I'll look up some warlock arena runs and watch them, see if I can learn a bit. Disappointing run, but on to the next run.

Quote from Caddage >>

Match 4: Paladin. Playing second, I keep a Councilman and mulligan DID, Silent Knight, and Power Overwhelming, getting Villager, Flame Imp, and my 2nd Councilman. Turn 1 Opp. plays Selfless Hero; I have a major brain-fart and play the Imp instead of the Villager (draw was Demonwrath). I think that little mistake cost me the game, as looking over the rest of the match I wouldn't change anything else.