Hearthpwn

Quote from Caddage >>

http://www.heartharena.com/arena-run/at4r6y

I was thinking happy thoughts about this draft when I was punching it into HA, but I was surprised at how badly I misjudged pick 21, as compared to the algorithm. I still have trouble recognizing the general playstyle of a deck. Looking back, with as much removal as I already had, I see the tempo advantage of a huge body on turn 5 with spells to back it up on the following turns. I just didn't see it during the draft. Guess I'm still a nub that way.

HA judges this a Tempo deck. While I'm familiar with the concept of tempo, I'm not quite sure how to play this deck. Obviously play on curve, but my lack of card draw makes me fear I'm going to run out of options again and again. Any advice?

I think I'd prefer the Venture Co over the Worgen. But I don't think it's a wrong pick either way. I would have a hard time with your #3 pick between Frost Bolt and Water Elemental. Not saying either is wrong, but I love Water Elemental. It looks like Frost bolt was the right pick in hind sight though.

Deck looks solid, Use blizzard to stabilize board or to set up an extra attack turn to win the game.

Pick #21 is understandable though, seeing as you only had Mana Wyrm as a turn 1 play and Worgen is a pretty good turn 1 pick. But then again, you did have Mad Bomber on two and only a Conjurer on five at that time. Remember that constructed is not like arena, stat boosts are sometimes better than the negative effect you get. Ogre Brute is another example of this. Dancing Swords is bad since the negative effect has the same strength here as in constructed: very strong.

As for other picks, yeah, pick #18 is also a bit of a missed opportunity. It's Zombie Chow, it's negative is of such low impact it even sees play in arena. Dark Iron is also very enticing, but Mage general has less use for it than a swarming class like Pally or Shammy has. At that point you also didn't have a lot of 3 drops to combo it with, keep that in mind too.

But overall it's a pretty solid deck, too bad no Flamestrike, but double Blizzard, a Fireball and a Frostbolt should carry your deck well too. The reason it's tempo is because you have minions filling every curve with good value, while also having some taunts that allow you to control the game and keep it in your hands. If you are presenting durable threats while disposing of those of your opponent efficiently, you're doing well. Let your opponent react to your cards so you can make favorable trades and win the game by whittling down their health.

As for card draw: you have Conjurer, Spellslinger, Roaring Torch, even Yeti. And your minions last long too.

Quote from ShadowSpectreX >>

Pick #21 is understandable though, seeing as you only had Mana Wyrm as a turn 1 play and Worgen is a pretty good turn 1 pick. But then again, you did have Mad Bomber on two and only a Conjurer on five at that time. Remember that constructed is not like arena, stat boosts are sometimes better than the negative effect you get. Ogre Brute is another example of this. Dancing Swords is bad since the negative effect has the same strength here as in constructed: very strong.

There were several times I had trouble choosing because there were multiple "automatics" on the same pick. Pick 3 (elemental vs frostbolt) was hard, but imagine how hard pick 4 would have been if I had taken the elemental (polymorph vs frostbolt). Pick 5 was hard (spellslinger vs hoarder) simply because I HATE the slinger, but it has solid stats. Then pick 8 (mech yeti vs boulder vs boneguard) I would have been happy with any of the three. Pick 16 (mechwarper vs spiteful vs magi) I was so conflicted I sought advice from the collective. Several others gave me pause, but I don't want to sound like I'm complaining, because having 2 or 3 great cards to choose between is a good problem to have, and SO much better than having to draft a Wisp because it's the least damaging choice of the three (see WARLOCK RUN 2, Pick 3).

Thanks for all the comments guys. Reading your thoughts on the deck helps a lot. I'll try to get a few games played and posted in the morning.

Quote from Taidio >>

in arena you are droping your hand way faster than in constructed thanks to a lot of 2-3 drops and lower mana curve

I like venture in this situation too, but I wouldn't say better in *most* situations.

Like at pick #21 he has 2x 3 drops and 1x 5 drop, and 1x 6 drop, and deathlord is situation as a 3 drop. Seems hard to pass on a good 5 drop in such a situation.

Match 1: Paladin. Playing second, I drop my worgen on an empty board. Opponent plays a novice engineer, and though it feels wrong, I ping his minion and go face with the worgen. This begins a value trading game where I use HP frequently while building and maintaining board control. Deathlord earns it's keep coming out on turn 5 and staying longer with help from a farseer. When he finally goes down, he pulls a Clockwork Giant onto the board (gee thanks), but by that point I've flipped the switch and have the game in hand. 1-0.

Match 2: Paladin. Blizzard, flamecannon, and polymorph opening hand, decide to keep the flamecannon. Get farseer and deathlord on mulligan. Pass first turn, Uther coins a creeper, turn 2 my only 2 cost is the cannon, so I ping the creeper; he drops a faerie dragon. Turn 3 I play my deathlord; Uther pops his creeper and summons a recruit, declining to attack with his faerie. Turn 4, looking at my hand, I decide to roll the dice. I ping off the recruit and play flamecannon. RNG smiles on me and the dragon dies. Next turn I heal my deathlord with my farseer. Things are going well by turn 8 and I'm about to flip the switch... when suddenly battlenet starts having connection issues from a DDOS attack and I get kicked from hearthstone. Game is recorded as a loss. Sucks to be me. 1-1.

I like this deck. I've successfully played the value game in both matches, and I'm confident I had the advantage and should have won the second match. I'm just trying not to rage over the loss. I don't mind losing, but this makes me feel cheated.

And just for the record, both games so far my Worgen Infiltrator has traded up and given great value. Venture and frost are good cards, and I've seen spots where I could have used either, but I'm happy with how this pick has worked out so far.

Match 3: Warrior. Playing first, opening hand is fireball, worgen, creeper. I trade in the fireball and get dragonhawk rider, 1-2-3 opening. First draw is deathlord, so I play it turn 3 instead of dragonhawk, which in hindsight was a mistake. I'm playing a warrior, which means Execute might be in play. Deathlord needs to be saved until I have either a farseer to heal it, or removal to deal with the minion it spawns, if not both. As it plays out, he does indeed execute my deathlord turn 5, pulling a blackwing corruptor, which ultimately is too big a tempo swing. Game goes long, but I just can't get there. 1-2.

Match 4: Mage. Going second, have an opening hand of farseer, sunfury, deathlord, and dragonhawk. Zero mulligan. Both pass turn 1, turn 2 opponent pings my face. My first 2 draws are my second farseer and DID. Seeing ample support behind it, I coin deathlord. Works much better this time. The game turns into a removal battle, with my hand at one point consisting of polymorph, flame lance (from conjurer), and both blizzards. Eventually I'm able to draw into better minions and seal the game. 2-2.

Match 5: Mage. Playing first, opening hand after mulligan is frostbolt, spellslinger, and blizzard. Pass turn 1, opponent plays gadget jouster, losing the joust. Turn 2, I don't want to use frostbolt on a 1 mana minion, so I hero power ping it. Opponent coins a deathlord. Turn 3 I draw my own deathlord and I see an opportunity. I play my deathlord, and opponent runs his deathlord into mine, declining to attack with his jouster. Turn 4 I frostbolt and ping his deathlord down to 2 health, then run mine into his, killing it and pulling a minion of mine onto the board... my mana wyrm. Dumb f*ing luck. Opponent fireballs my deathlord and gets mechanical yeti. At least he burned a fireball. I have my polymorph in hand, but I don't want to use it yet. Then I see a better play... and I misplay it. Instead of killing the jouster with my wyrm and using flamecannon and ping to kill the yeti (leaving my wyrm at 2/2), I ping off the jouster first, forcing me to trade my wyrm into the yeti. As the game continues, we go back and forth on the board, with me taking more face damage than him. Finally, we're both out of cards, but I'm at 5 health to his 13. I have bloodmage thalnos (gee thanks, shredder) vs his empty board when he drops stranglethorn tiger. My next draw is my conjurer, which offers me hope in the form of vaporize. His next draw is also a conjurer, which gives him a fireball. GG. 2-3.

Rather disappointed, but I'm going to blame the DDOS attack for stealing a win from me. Let's see how the next run goes.

Damn - although some bad RNG on those deathlord pulls, the misplay might have been a factor that started the snowball.

Instead of a 2/1 body on a naked board, your opponent has initiative going into his turn. 

It seems like a small mistake but the 2 mana investment your opponent needs to use on turn 5 to burn your 2/1 body might have been enough to let you reestablish board control on your turn 5 against his 3-mana minion (2 mana to ping + 3 mana minion) At the very least it slows down your opponent giving you a chance back at it.

Yeah, I had that all planned out in my head, but my hand misread the memo. And the wyrm would have been 2/2, not 2/1, so more than a ping to remove. Just have to try not to repeat it.

It helps every now and again to remind myself that I play this game for free, too.

Quote from Boozor >>

Damn - although some bad RNG on those deathlord pulls, the misplay might have been a factor that started the snowball.

Instead of a 2/1 body on a naked board, your opponent has initiative going into his turn. 

It seems like a small mistake but the 2 mana investment your opponent needs to use on turn 5 to burn your 2/1 body might have been enough to let you reestablish board control on your turn 5 against his 3-mana minion (2 mana to ping + 3 mana minion) At the very least it slows down your opponent giving you a chance back at it.

 

 

Quote from Caddage >>

Match 3: Warrior. Playing first, opening hand is fireball, worgen, creeper. I trade in the fireball and get dragonhawk rider, 1-2-3 opening. First draw is deathlord, so I play it turn 3 instead of dragonhawk, which in hindsight was a mistake. I'm playing a warrior, which means Execute might be in play. Deathlord needs to be saved until I have either a farseer to heal it, or removal to deal with the minion it spawns, if not both. As it plays out, he does indeed execute my deathlord turn 5, pulling a blackwing corruptor, which ultimately is too big a tempo swing. Game goes long, but I just can't get there. 1-2.

Match 4: Mage. Going second, have an opening hand of farseer, sunfury, deathlord, and dragonhawk. Zero mulligan. Both pass turn 1, turn 2 opponent pings my face. My first 2 draws are my second farseer and DID. Seeing ample support behind it, I coin deathlord. Works much better this time. The game turns into a removal battle, with my hand at one point consisting of polymorph, flame lance (from conjurer), and both blizzards. Eventually I'm able to draw into better minions and seal the game. 2-2.

HUNTER RUN 2

My hero choice this time was between Gul'dan, Anduin, and Rexxar. With 2 runs apiece between warlock and priest and only 1 for hunter, I load my trusty crossbow and go hunting.

http://www.heartharena.com/arena-run/5ru194

Not quite sure what to make of this one. I have more card draw than I've had in a while, so I feel I should play more on the aggressive side. I tried to draft for reach for the most part. I took Explorer's Hat over Master Jouster out of sheer dislike for the jouster, and I picked Abomination for the board clear. As always, thoughts, comments, advice, and even ridicule is appreciated.

Ok, so I just read Shady's hunter guide, and suddenly I feel much better about this draft. This draft more closely resembles his "curve" archetype than "burn," but it has aspects of both. More importantly, I have a better idea how to play this deck now. Let the hunt begin!

Match 1: Shaman. Just going to skip to the end on this one. After having my savannah highmane hexed and hitting his thunder bluff valiant with deadly shot, I find myself with a garrison commander (thank you shredder) vs an empty board, 5 mana, and an active bear trap, so I HP twice, taking him to 16 health. He drops a fossilized devilsaur. Next turn I play my glaivezooka, 2xHP, go face with the commander, and drop king's elekk, drawing my drakonid crusher. This drops him to 9 health, and I forget to attack with my hero (Doh!). Opponent hits face with the devilsaur, spawning my bear, then drops an evil heckler, a DOOMSAYER, and gets his taunt totem on HP. I do some quick math, double tap hero power (5 health), use my hero to kill the totem, run 2 minions into the heckler, go face with the third (2 health), tell him Well Played... and drop my abomination. GG. 1-0.

Never hurts to get lucky there lol

Match 2: Paladin. This one was fun, between winning a king's elekk joust with micro machine, trading my Abom into his azure drake and enraging my berserker at the same time, killing his cobalt guardian with deadly shot, and being able to drop my drakonid crusher activated because my opponent used his last weapon charge to kill my berserker. Opponent had card advantage most of the game, but aside from passing turn one and playing catch up to his coined boneguard lieutenant, I had tempo most of the game. 2-0.

Match 3: Mage. This match was nerve-wracking, because both of us had decent removal and decent minions. He popped my bear trap and used forgotten torch; I dropped a kobold and used cobra shot to clear his spider tank. I think he was holding a flamestrike, but after turn 7 I never had more than 2 minions on the board. Scary moment when he dropped Nefarian, but I cleared his only other minion with my longbow and deadly shot it, then dropped an activated drakonid, only to watch it get sheeped. Next I dropped my highmane and my chillwind; my highmane became a boar and he dropped sunwalker. I'm getting nervous because I'm on 7 health and I've seen him use 2 torches, so I know there are at least 2 instant wins in his deck, so I play tracking, praying for deadly shot... and get it. Straight face plus HP takes him to 5 health. Next turn he uses explosive shot to clear my board, but nothing more. I drop webspinner, hit him with kill command, and send a heartfelt "well played." 3-0.

Reading Shady's guide has really changed my perspective, and I'm feeling good about this run. But now I'm into "tier 2," so to speak. We'll see how it goes.