I am an old player back for some HS after years of being AFK. I stopped playing actively just before Frozen Throne hit. So now my Standard collection is pretty much a (nearly full) classic set and a Blizz made Reno's Riches mage deck I was given for free when I showed up some months ago plus about 15k in loose dust as well as about 1200g.
I need your help to figure out how to really get back into the game.
What I am looking for is the following deck advice. How best to improve my Reno mage without investing heavily into Y.O.T. Dragon cards which will be leaving soon. Any other class that has a good singleton deck I could make without investing too much? I know such decks are often expensive but with some budget replacements to expensive but not critical Dragon cards I could reach platinum which is my rough goal. Any other cheap decks, both control and combo but mostly aggro/tempo you would recommend? I need to rank up fast and cheap after all.
I am thinking of buying about 6-8 Phoenix packs to get some commons and rares going so I don't have to craft them all. I know best value would be to wait for Barrens packs but I think getting a few packs from each of the newest expansions will go a long way towards giving me more options at low cost. As for what I will craft, that depends on you guys ;)
First of all, as you mentioned yourself, it would be reasonable to wait for the next set, rotation and new classic set and save resources until then. But you wrote that you really want to climb now, so I will try to help because nobody answered. I am by no means a standard expert, so this is just my 2 cents.
Is this the list you were given: AAEBAf0EHk2KAbsCyQOrBMsE7QSWBewHjQiDlgOfmwOgmwOhoQP8owOSpAO/pAPypQP0qwP1rAP6rAOwrQPwrwPxrwPnsAOBsQOFsQOHsQORsQOItgMAAA==
AFAIK the cheapest and good climb decks right now are token druid and face hunter/rogues (stealth aggro or weapon). They can be found in various versions on the well-known sites (not sure if I am allowed to post their names here). Token druid is especially cheap, you can build lists with 0 legendaries and 2-4 epics. However, obligatory "key cards from these decks will rotate in around a month" warning.
If you want to be efficient with buying packs, I highly recommend buying 1 pack from 1 of the latest 3 sets (I would suggest starting with Scholomance, then Darkmoon, then Ashes unless you want to hit a specific legendary from Darkmoon or Ashes). Buy and open 1 pack until you open your first legendary. There is a guaranteed legendary in the first 10 packs of each set, so you want to go one set at a time and one pack after another to max your chances for 2 legendaries with your gold.
If you want to update your reno list, I would recommnd cards from the last three sets to replace weak spots and not necessarily focus on a dragon package because that is usually too slow and expensive. Cheap, strong upgrades are Brain Freeze and Wand Thief (or Ray of Frost if you want an older card). If you are looking for some midrange win conditions that can also be legendaries which will be in standard for another year, I recommend Jandice and Ras (note that most of these cards I mentioned so far are from Scholomance, and double class cards, so you are more flexible when rotation hits). Speaking of Scholomance, Devolving Missiles is premium removal, Primordial Studies, Lab Partner, Cram Session are solid cards, especially if you go for Ras. Firebrand and Combustion are good anti-aggro tools you might also like. Pen Flinger, Wandmaker, and even something like Onyx Magescribe can make sense in your mage deck as well. Ashes is only helpful for you because of Solarian, Evocation and maybe Incanter's Flow because your singleton list will not go the spells-only route that is included in Ashes. These are solid crafts but imo not needed (maybe Evocation but your hand will be too full most of the time anyway). Darkmoon is decent for you if you want to go to a secret-based mage deck (Rigged Faire Game, Ring Toss is generally a good singleton card, Conjurer, even Sayge) but the set could be more interesting for you because C'Thun and Yogg are win conditions you can use in your singleton deck and Keywarden Ivory is another good addition to value singleton mage.
If I were to craft anything for my own singleton mage list, I would ask myself which type of mage I want to focus on (secret, spell damage, control in general, maybe even elementals), build a list with what I already have and then ask myself whether I need more early game presence/removal, midrange threats like Jandice, game-winning big plays like Yogg/C'Thun (Grand Finale for elementals) or huge control/value tools like Reno Hero or the quest. I would probably go for a more midrange approach with Spell Damage because that package is definitely in standard in a month. So Ras, Jandice, Ivory, C'Thun and/or Yogg as finisher and the low-cost spell damage package. In the end, this should be a very fun list to play, but I gotta say that token druid is a lot cheaper and much faster as well.
First of all, as you mentioned yourself, it would be reasonable to wait for the next set, rotation and new classic set and save resources until then. But you wrote that you really want to climb now, so I will try to help because nobody answered. I am by no means a standard expert, so this is just my 2 cents.
Is this the list you were given: AAEBAf0EHk2KAbsCyQOrBMsE7QSWBewHjQiDlgOfmwOgmwOhoQP8owOSpAO/pAPypQP0qwP1rAP6rAOwrQPwrwPxrwPnsAOBsQOFsQOHsQORsQOItgMAAA==
AFAIK the cheapest and good climb decks right now are token druid and face hunter/rogues (stealth aggro or weapon). They can be found in various versions on the well-known sites (not sure if I am allowed to post their names here). Token druid is especially cheap, you can build lists with 0 legendaries and 2-4 epics. However, obligatory "key cards from these decks will rotate in around a month" warning.
If you want to be efficient with buying packs, I highly recommend buying 1 pack from 1 of the latest 3 sets (I would suggest starting with Scholomance, then Darkmoon, then Ashes unless you want to hit a specific legendary from Darkmoon or Ashes). Buy and open 1 pack until you open your first legendary. There is a guaranteed legendary in the first 10 packs of each set, so you want to go one set at a time and one pack after another to max your chances for 2 legendaries with your gold.
If you want to update your reno list, I would recommnd cards from the last three sets to replace weak spots and not necessarily focus on a dragon package because that is usually too slow and expensive. Cheap, strong upgrades are Brain Freeze and Wand Thief (or Ray of Frost if you want an older card). If you are looking for some midrange win conditions that can also be legendaries which will be in standard for another year, I recommend Jandice and Ras (note that most of these cards I mentioned so far are from Scholomance, and double class cards, so you are more flexible when rotation hits). Speaking of Scholomance, Devolving Missiles is premium removal, Primordial Studies, Lab Partner, Cram Session are solid cards, especially if you go for Ras. Firebrand and Combustion are good anti-aggro tools you might also like. Pen Flinger, Wandmaker, and even something like Onyx Magescribe can make sense in your mage deck as well. Ashes is only helpful for you because of Solarian, Evocation and maybe Incanter's Flow because your singleton list will not go the spells-only route that is included in Ashes. These are solid crafts but imo not needed (maybe Evocation but your hand will be too full most of the time anyway). Darkmoon is decent for you if you want to go to a secret-based mage deck (Rigged Faire Game, Ring Toss is generally a good singleton card, Conjurer, even Sayge) but the set could be more interesting for you because C'Thun and Yogg are win conditions you can use in your singleton deck and Keywarden Ivory is another good addition to value singleton mage.
If I were to craft anything for my own singleton mage list, I would ask myself which type of mage I want to focus on (secret, spell damage, control in general, maybe even elementals), build a list with what I already have and then ask myself whether I need more early game presence/removal, midrange threats like Jandice, game-winning big plays like Yogg/C'Thun (Grand Finale for elementals) or huge control/value tools like Reno Hero or the quest. I would probably go for a more midrange approach with Spell Damage because that package is definitely in standard in a month. So Ras, Jandice, Ivory, C'Thun and/or Yogg as finisher and the low-cost spell damage package. In the end, this should be a very fun list to play, but I gotta say that token druid is a lot cheaper and much faster as well.
Hey, first of thanks for the help. And don't sweat it if your meta knowledge is not perfect, mine is about zero so you definitely can teach me a lot. ;)
I was unable to read your deck to my shame, ended up stuck in loading when I tried. But I found the Reno deck I was given:
Also I looked at legs I have opened from free packs so far. I have Ivory, Sathrovarr, Y'sharaj, Maiev and the free ones everyone got. And if you need to link me to an outside website you think is not kosher here for whatever reason feel free to PM it to me.
PS. Do you (or anyone, all questions are FFA :P ) know why there are more bonus stars at same rank in Wild ladder? My guess is fewer people and the stars use to spread them around the ranks quicker.
Yeah, that was the deck I linked. As I said, the dragon part of this deck is ok but not particularly strong. Cobalt Spellkin and Dragpnqueen are the only two dragons I would consider. Scalerider, Arcane Amplifier and Arcane Breath should be cut as well then.
Ivory is a card you can use in highlander mage, Maiev maybe if you desperately need a 30th card that is hard removal. The other legs you mentioned are not helpful for your deck.
Are there more stars in wild? I really don't know but they should be the same. I always get more stars in wild because I mainly play that mode and reached a higher rank the month before.
I know it's a bit long, but it gives you some idea about how to (slowly) catch up. Not a fast solution you are asking for, but since you want to get back into the game, that is the kind of strategy I would recommend.
Also, I'd probably recommend buying the Darkmoon mini-set for 2000 gold over Phoenix packs. You know what you get, some cards are really good, and in a long term perspective, it gives you a very good deal in terms of dust.
While I expect it takes a bit of patience to climb with it, the general idea behind the deck is solid. And it is meant to somewhat counter Stealth Aggro Rogue, which you'll see a lot of (the most popular deck on lower ranks right now).
While commonly used legendaries like Doctor Krastinov and Jandice Barov are not that essential, Secret Passage most certainly is. If you want to play an aggressive Rogue deck, that card is as critical as it can get.
The Token Druid already mentioned by D-Lord (this one: https://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/1377043-gibberling-token-druid ) is ok, though I personally find the deck a bit too fragile. You can find yourself knocked out too easily, once your board advantage is gone.
I would advise against Face/Aggro Hunter, as some core cards for that deck will rotate soon, such as Phase Stalker and Toxic Reinforcements.
EDIT: Regarding the bonus stars in Ranked (Wild and Standard):
It has nothing to do with "distribution" but your "internal MMR". Both modes track your MMR (Match-making rank) seperately, and depending on how high it is, the modes give you a star bonus to reach the rank you should have according to the game. Reaching a higher league or improving your MMR over time by maintaining a high winrate will result in a better star bonus next season.
I agree with most of what Dunscot wrote except for two things. Jandice might not be essential for a specific list, but she will likely be a staple in standard for the next year in two classes and help improve the highander mage list the OP wants to play, which is vey valuable. You have to add that because "not that essential" sounds like general assumption of her power level. 2nd and more important: Since the OP mentioned that they have Ivory, I would definitely not buy the mini set right now. The value of that set drops a lot if you already have the legendary you are going to be playing most likely + if the OP has her, it is pretty safe to assume that they opened some miniset commons and uncommons in the Darkmoon packs already, so the miniset becomes even less valuable (please correct me on this one if I am wrong). Sure, it's quite a good dust to gold ratio, but they want to climb now and the miniset won't help them. Also, they will get some more Darkmoon packs from ladder rewards or maybe other modes they might play, so the miniset is probably no priority. The argument that "you know what you get" doesn't really count because they have enough dust to craft cards like Arbor up to build token druid if they wish to do so, so this is really only about Moonfang, Envoy Rustwix, the priest legendary and the epic card from Races. That's not really worth it.
It's best to check if you got a legendary from the latest 3 sets and then start buying the ones where you haven't opened any legendaries 1 by 1 imo.
Thank you for the explanation on the stars. That makes a lot of sense now.
I guess, when you already have Ivory, the Mini-Set is a more debatable purchase. In terms of dust per gold, just for min-maxing, it's still worth it. And depending on what other cards you have or have not, it's still a good collection booster.
But you are right that it's not a priority, especially when the next expansion is more or less right around the corner, which will have a mini-set of its own eventually. Might as well sit it out.
As for Jandice: No question that Jandice is a strong card in both Rogue and Mage. What I meant to say is that she's not essential for fast Rogue decks (like the list I have linked) to work. And as Highlander Mage will likely end with the rotation, and Spell Mage benefiting more from Raz than Jandice, I would hesitate recommending the craft for the time being. Quite possible that she'll be a good pick for future Rogue and Mage lists as well, but that remains to be seen, and just for the purpose of climbing with either Rogue or Mage, it's not necessary in my opinion.
Thanks for the help guys. I settled on the stealth rogue and man am I happy. The deck is very fun to play and reminds me of old miracle rogue. Definitely not your usual aggro deck and it requires a lot of thought and skill. Ooor maybe I am overthinking it and misplaying but still I am having a lot of fun. I recommend people at least give it a try. Took me only about 2k dust to make as well.
Anyway I will keep using this thread to wear on your patience and ask stuff about the changed game :P
-Didn't arena used to be with Standard cards only but now I see it is Wild. Am I right or going coco?
-Matchmaking is now based on our invisible MMR, is that right? It wasn't like that before IIRC, I recall always being matched with people of my rank or close to it. Now we don't even know the rank of the person we are playing. Tbh given this setup we might as well be playing people from Casual who are our MMR.
-This rewards track, feels like it is less rewarding than getting straight up gold from quests. Especially if you don't reach lvl 50 like I probably won't this expansion. What is the player consensus?
They changed how Arena works, so that it has a rotating selection of expansions available from time to time. It's not the same sets as Standard -- the general formula has been "Classic, Basic, the newest expansion, and then a few others, including Wild ones."
The rewards track is generally more rewarding than gold from quests, on the assumption that you start it from the beginning. If you've missed a bunch of time on it, then the balance of rewards might be skewed a little, but it should be at least comparable to quest-gold.
Just read the Matchmaking page on the wiki, am I getting this right that Wild and Standard Ranked share same MMR? Seems like a massive mistake by Blizzard.
Just read the Matchmaking page on the wiki, am I getting this right that Wild and Standard Ranked share same MMR? Seems like a massive mistake by Blizzard.
They do not. They have their own separate mmrs. Even tavern brawl and arena supposedly have their own mmr rating system
@pizzacats - Can you get 2 (Chest(s)) rewards a month by making legend on both Stand and Wild i think?
@Neko_Tamo Arena (now) is usually the sets from standard ladder for the first 1-2 months of the expansion. IMO if you can average 3wins and really enjoy the mode - Arena is one way to get back into the game and learn it that is. (usually) if you leave an Arena run open and not finish itat 2 losses before an expansion laucnhes you will get a free ticket. (and Now the free ticket works for Duels/or Arena)
@pizzacats - Can you get 2 (Chest(s)) rewards a month by making legend on both Stand and Wild i think?
@Neko_Tamo Arena (now) is usually the sets from standard ladder for the first 1-2 months of the expansion. IMO if you can average 3wins and really enjoy the mode - Arena is one way to get back into the game and learn it that is. (usually) if you leave an Arena run open and not finish itat 2 losses before an expansion laucnhes you will get a free ticket. (and Now the free ticket works for Duels/or Arena)
Ive never made legend on both, but I’ve gotten diamond on one and legend on the other and only gotten the legend chest, so I assume it only gives one chest.
I know you will get a legendary among your first 10 packs of any expansion but does it go beyond that? I know it used to be said the pity timer ensures one legendary every 20 packs but this could be a myth. If there is a pity timer it might be advantageous to open packs from Phoenix expansions after I get common and rare Barrens cards up to the point I open my first legendary (not counting the "guaranteed" ones I already opened). That way I stock up on commons and rares from those expansions on the cheap thanks to duplicate protection and top it off with a legendary. Ideally a source is good but not necessary.
Got no luck asking in the Gen Forums, hope you good people can help me some more :D
Got no luck asking in the Gen Forums, hope you good people can help me some more :D
Thanks in advance
Pity timer is real. If you are looking to build up a basic collection of cards for Standard then opening Forged in the Barrens packs till you get your legendary and then switching to Madness at the Darkmoon Faire and doing the same etc. will get your more basic and rare cards to play with in Standard than just continuing to open only Forged in the Barrens packs.
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Got no luck asking in the Gen Forums, hope you good people can help me some more :D
Thanks in advance
Pity timer is real. If you are looking to build up a basic collection of cards for Standard then opening Forged in the Barrens packs till you get your legendary and then switching to Madness at the Darkmoon Faire and doing the same etc. will get your more basic and rare cards to play with in Standard than just continuing to open only Forged in the Barrens packs.
Now that I know that it exists I will open Barrens packs either as you say until I have all the commons or until I have all the rares. Then I will move to the older ones to get all their commons and cap it off with a legendary.
^ 20 packs is the average number of packs you need to open to get a legendary (after the first one, which will appear within 10 packs as stated above), but it's not guaranteed until you open at least 40 packs from a given expansion.
That is not much pity :D But beats nothing I suppose.
-I am still unfamiliar with the new quests. I only get 900XP and 1000XP daily quests, I flip the 900 ones ofc but seems wrong to flip the 1000 ones for sure. Weekly quests I am starting to think the 2800XP one for winning five Ranked games cannot be gotten twice. Even if I finish it fast and flip one of the 1750XP ones. Indeed I never got anything better than 1750XP by flipping them regardless of the time. Buuut I see the quest trading thread is still alive and well so clearly better quests exist they are just very rare. What is the quest mulligan strategy now?
-Any special, hidden rules about "Prime" minions? Like how Quests will always start in your hand despite it being written nowhere. Seems they get them pretty early and I never saw one be the bottom card. Probably a mixture of confrimation bias and hate of Solarian but still worth asking :P
-I am still unfamiliar with the new quests. I only get 900XP and 1000XP daily quests, I flip the 900 ones ofc but seems wrong to flip the 1000 ones for sure. Weekly quests I am starting to think the 2800XP one for winning five Ranked games cannot be gotten twice. Even if I finish it fast and flip one of the 1750XP ones. Indeed I never got anything better than 1750XP by flipping them regardless of the time. Buuut I see the quest trading thread is still alive and well so clearly better quests exist they are just very rare. What is the quest mulligan strategy now?
-Any special, hidden rules about "Prime" minions? Like how Quests will always start in your hand despite it being written nowhere. Seems they get them pretty early and I never saw one be the bottom card. Probably a mixture of confrimation bias and hate of Solarian but still worth asking :P
Daily quests give 900 or 1000 xp, so you want to reroll 900xp quests. There are 3 quests that give 1500 xp (Play a friend, Spectate a friend winning a game, and win 5 games in any mode), but they are so rare that I don't reroll 1000 xp quests. I think I got a total of 5 or 6 of these since the new system started. It might be valuable to also reroll 1000 xp quests, just to have a chance to highroll, but it seems too unlikely to me.
The weekly quests are 1750 xp each, except for the win 5 ranked games. You get the win 5 ranked games every week and can't reroll it, rerolling the other quests will never give a new quest that grants more or less than 1750 xp, so you should only reroll 1750 xp quests if you don't like them (don't play the mode/cards that are required). Imo the easiest combination of quests to do are Finish in top 4 in Battlegrounds and Deal 200 damage to enemy heroes. It's possible to do both in one BG game.
There is no special rule for prime minions that works similar to quests. Your opponents probably just got a little lucky.
I am an old player back for some HS after years of being AFK. I stopped playing actively just before Frozen Throne hit. So now my Standard collection is pretty much a (nearly full) classic set and a Blizz made Reno's Riches mage deck I was given for free when I showed up some months ago plus about 15k in loose dust as well as about 1200g.
I need your help to figure out how to really get back into the game.
What I am looking for is the following deck advice. How best to improve my Reno mage without investing heavily into Y.O.T. Dragon cards which will be leaving soon. Any other class that has a good singleton deck I could make without investing too much? I know such decks are often expensive but with some budget replacements to expensive but not critical Dragon cards I could reach platinum which is my rough goal. Any other cheap decks, both control and combo but mostly aggro/tempo you would recommend? I need to rank up fast and cheap after all.
I am thinking of buying about 6-8 Phoenix packs to get some commons and rares going so I don't have to craft them all. I know best value would be to wait for Barrens packs but I think getting a few packs from each of the newest expansions will go a long way towards giving me more options at low cost. As for what I will craft, that depends on you guys ;)
Any and all help welcome.
First of all, as you mentioned yourself, it would be reasonable to wait for the next set, rotation and new classic set and save resources until then. But you wrote that you really want to climb now, so I will try to help because nobody answered. I am by no means a standard expert, so this is just my 2 cents.
Is this the list you were given: AAEBAf0EHk2KAbsCyQOrBMsE7QSWBewHjQiDlgOfmwOgmwOhoQP8owOSpAO/pAPypQP0qwP1rAP6rAOwrQPwrwPxrwPnsAOBsQOFsQOHsQORsQOItgMAAA==
AFAIK the cheapest and good climb decks right now are token druid and face hunter/rogues (stealth aggro or weapon). They can be found in various versions on the well-known sites (not sure if I am allowed to post their names here). Token druid is especially cheap, you can build lists with 0 legendaries and 2-4 epics. However, obligatory "key cards from these decks will rotate in around a month" warning.
If you want to be efficient with buying packs, I highly recommend buying 1 pack from 1 of the latest 3 sets (I would suggest starting with Scholomance, then Darkmoon, then Ashes unless you want to hit a specific legendary from Darkmoon or Ashes). Buy and open 1 pack until you open your first legendary. There is a guaranteed legendary in the first 10 packs of each set, so you want to go one set at a time and one pack after another to max your chances for 2 legendaries with your gold.
If you want to update your reno list, I would recommnd cards from the last three sets to replace weak spots and not necessarily focus on a dragon package because that is usually too slow and expensive. Cheap, strong upgrades are Brain Freeze and Wand Thief (or Ray of Frost if you want an older card). If you are looking for some midrange win conditions that can also be legendaries which will be in standard for another year, I recommend Jandice and Ras (note that most of these cards I mentioned so far are from Scholomance, and double class cards, so you are more flexible when rotation hits). Speaking of Scholomance, Devolving Missiles is premium removal, Primordial Studies, Lab Partner, Cram Session are solid cards, especially if you go for Ras. Firebrand and Combustion are good anti-aggro tools you might also like. Pen Flinger, Wandmaker, and even something like Onyx Magescribe can make sense in your mage deck as well. Ashes is only helpful for you because of Solarian, Evocation and maybe Incanter's Flow because your singleton list will not go the spells-only route that is included in Ashes. These are solid crafts but imo not needed (maybe Evocation but your hand will be too full most of the time anyway). Darkmoon is decent for you if you want to go to a secret-based mage deck (Rigged Faire Game, Ring Toss is generally a good singleton card, Conjurer, even Sayge) but the set could be more interesting for you because C'Thun and Yogg are win conditions you can use in your singleton deck and Keywarden Ivory is another good addition to value singleton mage.
If I were to craft anything for my own singleton mage list, I would ask myself which type of mage I want to focus on (secret, spell damage, control in general, maybe even elementals), build a list with what I already have and then ask myself whether I need more early game presence/removal, midrange threats like Jandice, game-winning big plays like Yogg/C'Thun (Grand Finale for elementals) or huge control/value tools like Reno Hero or the quest. I would probably go for a more midrange approach with Spell Damage because that package is definitely in standard in a month. So Ras, Jandice, Ivory, C'Thun and/or Yogg as finisher and the low-cost spell damage package. In the end, this should be a very fun list to play, but I gotta say that token druid is a lot cheaper and much faster as well.
Hey, first of thanks for the help. And don't sweat it if your meta knowledge is not perfect, mine is about zero so you definitely can teach me a lot. ;)
I was unable to read your deck to my shame, ended up stuck in loading when I tried. But I found the Reno deck I was given:
https://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/1334288-renos-riches-free-deck-for-new-returning-players
Also I looked at legs I have opened from free packs so far. I have Ivory, Sathrovarr, Y'sharaj, Maiev and the free ones everyone got. And if you need to link me to an outside website you think is not kosher here for whatever reason feel free to PM it to me.
PS. Do you (or anyone, all questions are FFA :P ) know why there are more bonus stars at same rank in Wild ladder? My guess is fewer people and the stars use to spread them around the ranks quicker.
Yeah, that was the deck I linked. As I said, the dragon part of this deck is ok but not particularly strong. Cobalt Spellkin and Dragpnqueen are the only two dragons I would consider. Scalerider, Arcane Amplifier and Arcane Breath should be cut as well then.
Ivory is a card you can use in highlander mage, Maiev maybe if you desperately need a 30th card that is hard removal. The other legs you mentioned are not helpful for your deck.
Are there more stars in wild? I really don't know but they should be the same. I always get more stars in wild because I mainly play that mode and reached a higher rank the month before.
I would encourage you to read this here: https://www.hearthpwn.com/forums/hearthstone-general/general-discussion/247418-darkmoon-coin-for-2000-gold#c1
I know it's a bit long, but it gives you some idea about how to (slowly) catch up. Not a fast solution you are asking for, but since you want to get back into the game, that is the kind of strategy I would recommend.
Also, I'd probably recommend buying the Darkmoon mini-set for 2000 gold over Phoenix packs. You know what you get, some cards are really good, and in a long term perspective, it gives you a very good deal in terms of dust.
As for decks you can try: I recently came across this deck here: https://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/1377651-old-guardians-top-1000-legend-budget-mage
While I expect it takes a bit of patience to climb with it, the general idea behind the deck is solid. And it is meant to somewhat counter Stealth Aggro Rogue, which you'll see a lot of (the most popular deck on lower ranks right now).
Of course, the very same Rogue deck is also a good option, and also a relatively cheap. An example would be this here: https://www.vicioussyndicate.com/decks/flinger-aggro-rogue/
While commonly used legendaries like Doctor Krastinov and Jandice Barov are not that essential, Secret Passage most certainly is. If you want to play an aggressive Rogue deck, that card is as critical as it can get.
The Token Druid already mentioned by D-Lord (this one: https://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/1377043-gibberling-token-druid ) is ok, though I personally find the deck a bit too fragile. You can find yourself knocked out too easily, once your board advantage is gone.
I would advise against Face/Aggro Hunter, as some core cards for that deck will rotate soon, such as Phase Stalker and Toxic Reinforcements.
EDIT: Regarding the bonus stars in Ranked (Wild and Standard):
It has nothing to do with "distribution" but your "internal MMR". Both modes track your MMR (Match-making rank) seperately, and depending on how high it is, the modes give you a star bonus to reach the rank you should have according to the game. Reaching a higher league or improving your MMR over time by maintaining a high winrate will result in a better star bonus next season.
I agree with most of what Dunscot wrote except for two things. Jandice might not be essential for a specific list, but she will likely be a staple in standard for the next year in two classes and help improve the highander mage list the OP wants to play, which is vey valuable. You have to add that because "not that essential" sounds like general assumption of her power level. 2nd and more important: Since the OP mentioned that they have Ivory, I would definitely not buy the mini set right now. The value of that set drops a lot if you already have the legendary you are going to be playing most likely + if the OP has her, it is pretty safe to assume that they opened some miniset commons and uncommons in the Darkmoon packs already, so the miniset becomes even less valuable (please correct me on this one if I am wrong). Sure, it's quite a good dust to gold ratio, but they want to climb now and the miniset won't help them. Also, they will get some more Darkmoon packs from ladder rewards or maybe other modes they might play, so the miniset is probably no priority. The argument that "you know what you get" doesn't really count because they have enough dust to craft cards like Arbor up to build token druid if they wish to do so, so this is really only about Moonfang, Envoy Rustwix, the priest legendary and the epic card from Races. That's not really worth it.
It's best to check if you got a legendary from the latest 3 sets and then start buying the ones where you haven't opened any legendaries 1 by 1 imo.
Thank you for the explanation on the stars. That makes a lot of sense now.
I guess, when you already have Ivory, the Mini-Set is a more debatable purchase. In terms of dust per gold, just for min-maxing, it's still worth it. And depending on what other cards you have or have not, it's still a good collection booster.
But you are right that it's not a priority, especially when the next expansion is more or less right around the corner, which will have a mini-set of its own eventually. Might as well sit it out.
As for Jandice: No question that Jandice is a strong card in both Rogue and Mage. What I meant to say is that she's not essential for fast Rogue decks (like the list I have linked) to work. And as Highlander Mage will likely end with the rotation, and Spell Mage benefiting more from Raz than Jandice, I would hesitate recommending the craft for the time being. Quite possible that she'll be a good pick for future Rogue and Mage lists as well, but that remains to be seen, and just for the purpose of climbing with either Rogue or Mage, it's not necessary in my opinion.
Thanks for the help guys. I settled on the stealth rogue and man am I happy. The deck is very fun to play and reminds me of old miracle rogue. Definitely not your usual aggro deck and it requires a lot of thought and skill. Ooor maybe I am overthinking it and misplaying but still I am having a lot of fun. I recommend people at least give it a try. Took me only about 2k dust to make as well.
Anyway I will keep using this thread to wear on your patience and ask stuff about the changed game :P
-Didn't arena used to be with Standard cards only but now I see it is Wild. Am I right or going coco?
-Matchmaking is now based on our invisible MMR, is that right? It wasn't like that before IIRC, I recall always being matched with people of my rank or close to it. Now we don't even know the rank of the person we are playing. Tbh given this setup we might as well be playing people from Casual who are our MMR.
-This rewards track, feels like it is less rewarding than getting straight up gold from quests. Especially if you don't reach lvl 50 like I probably won't this expansion. What is the player consensus?
They changed how Arena works, so that it has a rotating selection of expansions available from time to time. It's not the same sets as Standard -- the general formula has been "Classic, Basic, the newest expansion, and then a few others, including Wild ones."
The rewards track is generally more rewarding than gold from quests, on the assumption that you start it from the beginning. If you've missed a bunch of time on it, then the balance of rewards might be skewed a little, but it should be at least comparable to quest-gold.
Just read the Matchmaking page on the wiki, am I getting this right that Wild and Standard Ranked share same MMR? Seems like a massive mistake by Blizzard.
They do not. They have their own separate mmrs. Even tavern brawl and arena supposedly have their own mmr rating system
@pizzacats - Can you get 2 (Chest(s)) rewards a month by making legend on both Stand and Wild i think?
@Neko_Tamo Arena (now) is usually the sets from standard ladder for the first 1-2 months of the expansion. IMO if you can average 3wins and really enjoy the mode - Arena is one way to get back into the game and learn it that is. (usually) if you leave an Arena run open and not finish itat 2 losses before an expansion laucnhes you will get a free ticket. (and Now the free ticket works for Duels/or Arena)
Ive never made legend on both, but I’ve gotten diamond on one and legend on the other and only gotten the legend chest, so I assume it only gives one chest.
Got no luck asking in the Gen Forums, hope you good people can help me some more :D
Thanks in advance
Pity timer is real. If you are looking to build up a basic collection of cards for Standard then opening Forged in the Barrens packs till you get your legendary and then switching to Madness at the Darkmoon Faire and doing the same etc. will get your more basic and rare cards to play with in Standard than just continuing to open only Forged in the Barrens packs.
If you see a bad post on the forum use the report function under it, so I or someone else of the moderation team can take care of it!
Definitely take a look at this budget deck. 5 rare cards, that's it. Works quite well
Link
Thanks for all the replies guys.
Now that I know that it exists I will open Barrens packs either as you say until I have all the commons or until I have all the rares. Then I will move to the older ones to get all their commons and cap it off with a legendary.
That is not much pity :D But beats nothing I suppose.
-I am still unfamiliar with the new quests. I only get 900XP and 1000XP daily quests, I flip the 900 ones ofc but seems wrong to flip the 1000 ones for sure. Weekly quests I am starting to think the 2800XP one for winning five Ranked games cannot be gotten twice. Even if I finish it fast and flip one of the 1750XP ones. Indeed I never got anything better than 1750XP by flipping them regardless of the time. Buuut I see the quest trading thread is still alive and well so clearly better quests exist they are just very rare. What is the quest mulligan strategy now?
-Any special, hidden rules about "Prime" minions? Like how Quests will always start in your hand despite it being written nowhere. Seems they get them pretty early and I never saw one be the bottom card. Probably a mixture of confrimation bias and hate of Solarian but still worth asking :P
Daily quests give 900 or 1000 xp, so you want to reroll 900xp quests. There are 3 quests that give 1500 xp (Play a friend, Spectate a friend winning a game, and win 5 games in any mode), but they are so rare that I don't reroll 1000 xp quests. I think I got a total of 5 or 6 of these since the new system started. It might be valuable to also reroll 1000 xp quests, just to have a chance to highroll, but it seems too unlikely to me.
The weekly quests are 1750 xp each, except for the win 5 ranked games. You get the win 5 ranked games every week and can't reroll it, rerolling the other quests will never give a new quest that grants more or less than 1750 xp, so you should only reroll 1750 xp quests if you don't like them (don't play the mode/cards that are required). Imo the easiest combination of quests to do are Finish in top 4 in Battlegrounds and Deal 200 damage to enemy heroes. It's possible to do both in one BG game.
There is no special rule for prime minions that works similar to quests. Your opponents probably just got a little lucky.
The Rule for primes is - you draw it the next turn or never (one of the last cards in your deck).
if you want to min max XP from dailies -
you flip the 1000 ones when your done for the day which guarantees it becomes 900 - which you then roll it the next day hoping for 1500.
you can try to keep 2 dailies around (for a tiny% increase chance of 1500 ones popping up) but thats not easy unless its an alt account.