Hearthpwn

Sparkles card back is the only monthly back in HS history that I missed earning...pretty happy to snag this one for Gold.

0-3 hours a day.  The low side is much more usual, but I do get in the occasional HS groove.  I play a lot while a basketball game is on a 2nd screen. Usually quests and Arena but occasionally constructed.

I've yet to jump in Arena since the expansion as I'm busy and taking a bit of a HS break but as a former and future Arena only player I can say that yes, the meta is generally a bit softer at the start of an expansion or new meta. 

-The arena player pool broadens at the start (not just new players, but also people who generally don't play as much arena and returning players who haven't played in a little while).

-People haven't adapted to the new meta (not just the new cards per se, but also the amount of 1 drops, 2 drops, etc. in the offering pool, the speed of the new meta etc.). 

-At the start of a new expansion Blizz takes some time before adjusting arena buckets...this usually leaves some overpowered cards too lowly bucketed or sometimes trap cards are too highly bucketed.

Also you mentioned playing at the end of the previous expansion.  Generally speaking the arena player pool at the end of an expansion is smaller and more populated by experienced arena players who have fully adapted to exploiting the by then stagnant meta, so you're less apt to win as much.

Completely destroyed him (had an easier time on Heroic than normal tbh) with Priest my first time facing the Heroic encounter (though I had previously failed to reach him on one attempt thru).  Standard Priest hero power with the Shadows deck.  Toggwaggle's dice!  Duplatransmogrified Gruul so I had 19 Gruuls!  Plus Ragnaros, two Arfus, a +2+2 Rafaam, Confessor Paletress,  and Kel'Thuzad to top it off.  Then a few copies of the 4 mana discover and resurrect a friendly minion that died and a few copies of discover a spell in your deck.

Ya gotta cheat harder!

If it's a "shit mode" why would you want to play it, even if free?

FWIW I think it's great, and also free enough (gold).

At first glance it sounded cool and exciting but from a balance perspective I don't see this being very fun at all.  Seems they chose the sets based on the 'evil' theme and not any sort of balance or competitive or even 'fun' (based on the cards themselves,  again this seems to all go off of theme) considerations.  MSG was a shit show and it comes back.  

Maybe the bucketing system will sort out this but I doubt it.  I wouldn't care so much if it weren't for the fact that Blizz just now seemed to have figured out Arena balance and it's all going out the tavern door.

As a committed Arena player (I only do constructed for quests and previously for Golden wins) I'll stay in Arena and adjust, but it's a bit sad because it's going to be quite a fall from where we are now.

Treasure From Below - upgraded with Deathrattle your cards in your hand cost (2) less

Sharktoothed Harpooner - 2 Mana 4,3 battlecry reduce card cost that did not start in by (2)

Raging Contender - 6 Mana 8,4 Rush, Deathrattle fill board with random Pirates

For the buckets I did one or two from Burgle, one or two from Aggressive Tactics, one or two from Weapons, one from Tricks of the Trade and otherwise went for small minions (Pirates and Misfits) so that I could keep dumping my hand and avoid overdrawing.  Did not touch Battlecry, Deathrattle, For the Money, or Bounce.  Was a very, very easy run (no real close calls), and my first victory after almost 100 teams defeated. Final boss was Paladin with the Divine Shield shrine.

Yah congrats to my Taiwanese brothers and sisters.  Tea in a carton?!?...who knew?

Yeah Keening Banshee is awesome if you can get it.

Favorite Brawl.

Check out the Lightforge podcast back episodes, or their youtube channel grinning goat.  You can watch them draft and play on that channel and some back episodes of the podcast can be very helpful.  Watching streams on demand of old drafts lets you pause before each pick and think which you would take and then compare your choice to theirs and listen to their deliberation/explanation of each pick. They also have a helpful tierlist. 

The whole collection is great but I legit spit my drink when I got to the end of Lil' Situational.

Pretty great.  Love the rogue quest one, hate quest rogues.

.

Needed 5 Shaman wins so I tried Thrall's deck.  Went 5-1 beating 1 Rogue, Warrior, Shaman and 2 Priests and losing to 1 Rogue.  Elemental package is kind of scary and was fast enough to beat the Rogue (too slow for the 1st) and those other decks are slow enough to allow the eles to synchronize, which is pretty devastating.  1 Priest summoned Amara, no sweat for a full board of Eles, and the other pulled a fruitful N'Zoth, but fell victim to an Elemental Invocation.