Hearthpwn

Got handed a couple dud runs yesterday to cool off my hot start to the month.

#1 Druid - 2-3 record - Mid-range

http://www.heartharena.com/arena-run/cid6gz

Comments: Initially I was really happy with this deck, has a bit of everything and above average quality cards. I predicted an easy 7+ wins with the potential for another 12 win. After some tough losses against a Paladin that flipped the board with an Aldor Peacekeeper, against a Mage in a top deck battle, I was served up my saltiest moment for the day. Against a Shaman that was making misplays every couple turns, I ended on the wrong end of RNG, this time to a top deck max lethal roll from Crackle, oh did I mention that he rolled the +1 spell damage totem in order to get a chance at lethal. This was pretty salty.

#2 Druid - 2-3 record - Attrition / Late game

http://www.heartharena.com/arena-run/yj5bp6

Comments: This deck wasn't as strong as the 1st and I had to make some curve considerations late in the draft. With only 6 early game cards it was pretty thin, but I never missed a 2 drop in any game, drawing Zombie Chow in half the games helped too. But with double swipes and a strong late game, I'd predicted an average 5 wins with it maybe more with good match ups. Rushed down by a Hunter in game 1, followed up with overwhelming Paladin plays in the following 2 losses. Even a Swipe on turn 4 into Muster for Battle and Dancing Swords WASN'T enough to catch up the board, eventually losing to a massive Mukla's Champion turn. In hindsight, taking the Tauren Warrior might have been better then the War Golem, but not really.

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Anyways, bad luck ? bad play ? What you guys think of these drafts ? Back in the saddle for the weekend.

In the Druid deck, there were some not so good cards, although 2x Swipe generally leads to more than 2 victories. I might have taken the second Ironbark instead of Mark of Nature, just because the card doesn't do enough, and id rather have another big taunt minion.

I can't see your Mage deck, as for some reason both links lead me to the druid deck. I think its just some bad luck probably involved as well, sounds like your opponents have pretty high quality decks, and was just some unfortunate events that cause you to lose. 

Do a rogue run. That's what i do to break my slumps ;)

Quote from TheKeatingGuy >>

In the Druid deck, there were some not so good cards, although 2x Swipe generally leads to more than 2 victories. I might have taken the second Ironbark instead of Mark of Nature, just because the card doesn't do enough, and id rather have another big taunt minion.

I can't see your Mage deck, as for some reason both links lead me to the druid deck. I think its just some bad luck probably involved as well, sounds like your opponents have pretty high quality decks, and was just some unfortunate events that cause you to lose. 

Do a rogue run. That's what i do to break my slumps ;)

Quote from hintM >>

Tough luck on those druid runs, I think on better days they'd both often go 7+ wins. I actually like the 2nd druid deck you deemed weaker much more than the first one. It just seems very flexible and can do more things. Has few bad cards yes, but they are cheap. Plus mechs, beasts and esp savage roar it has some good synergies and you got a lot of reach options in the deck either for lethal or comeback, I had perhaps been 12 win hopeful with it. The first one has bunch of really solid  cards almost all stand-alone, most of them big. So too often for my taste it is up to your draws and opponents how far you go, making 2-3 unlucky, but not too shocking.(we see pure solid high value minion bad curve druids go all the way even nowadays sometimes, but super rare imo).

ARGGG!!!! TGIF - Salt day.

Just wanted to share a salty moment from last night -

After playing several heavy minions into this mage I've finally got him on the ropes and a turn away from lethal. Just an insane sequence of late game bombs played on curve for the most part.

Turn 7 6/6 Crusher + Stealth part (from earlier Mech yeti) , Turn 8 6/6 Crusher + Hero power, Turn 9 - Kraken, Turn 10 - Nefarian - (draws counter spell and frost nova)

The mage trades away his board (no hard removal) to hold off all these huge dragons + Kraken. Eventually only Nefarian sticks and slaps him into lethal range.

Turn 11 I played a 3/3 and put down counterspell and frost nova his remaining board setting up lethal with Nefarian.  

He has two small frozen minions and no hand. Only a taunt can really prevent him from dying because a spell can't save him.

He top decks Deathwing. Literally my mouth drops open. 2 turns later I'm dead and I couldn't draw the reach to finish him @ 6 hp.

First time I've ever lost to a Deathwing wow - won't forget this one. Sick.

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Following game I ended up losing because my opponent top decks an Acidic Ooze that prevented a hidden lethal. I had Kraken in hand for 4 damage and a Reversing switch spare part...... and a 3/6 on board. Opponents at 11. FML.

Of course the guy doesn't even know how lucky that ooze was lol

Nothing you can do but laugh and shake your head.

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Been a rough week so far for wins. Definitely filling out my quota of losing runs this week with a couple 2-3 and 3-3 runs. Losing about 500 gold in the process =/

Sounds like its rough times man. Seems like our luck flips back and forth haha.

And I actually got 6 wins with a priest last night :p 

I have a warlock run that i stopped at 4-1 last night that i feel like it going to do well. Been staying away from both mages and paladins in my drafts and arena is rewarding me heavily lately.

My warrior is also up to 7 wins/run now. So things are good in arena for me lately. Hope it turns around soon for you as well.

Perhaps you are on to something :P

I play on EU casually and I never pick Paladin / Mage / Rogue unless they are up against each other. I make sure to play the weakest class available. And it turns out that I am doing better on EU then on NA - but this over a much smaller sample size.

One big thing is that people know how to play against mages and paladins. They are very predictable. Lots of people who play arena have no idea what a rogue or a warrior or a shaman can bring to the table simply because they aren't used to playing around their cards, simply because they don't play the classes themselves. How many times have i caught people off guard when i flip the board completely with a rogue play. or a turn 6 fire elemental.

Just have to make the strengths a weakness :)

Wanted to share this 12- win deck today.

http://www.heartharena.com/arena-run/674h9u

With a seemingly horrible curve and only TWO - 2 drop minions and NINE - 5 drop minions, I didn't have high hopes for this deck. The deck also lacked reach and any weapon buffs or direct damage spells. This seemed like a nightmare from the get go.

However, it did have numerous ways to get back into the game and 2 for 1. 

The card quality was good though, average deck score over 68 which is high in my experiences. Heavy minions and strong tempo Sap were critical to winning games. 

MVP:   Sap

Had a MU at 11 wins against the same warrior twice. Beat me the 1st time when i couldn't play a card til turn 4, but i got my revenge and the 12 wins on the 2nd try.

Honestly, i'd never in a million years expect this deck to run 12 wins with the minion/mana distribution. 

Feel free to rip into me for the picks - my excuse is that it was friday night and i was a bit intoxicated =D

Congrats on the 12 wins. I'd definitely be expecting a tough time with so little early game, but glad to see that the overall quality of your cards won through.

Latest fresh Rogue deck up

Rogue 4/17/16: http://www.heartharena.com/arena-run/aj4g66

Comments: Hard to ever pass SI7 that early in the draft. Also had the option for 3x Zombie chows in deck, but only took 1x. Think the deck should do fine, has some tools for different situations and good amount of reach, but lack late game punch and card draw. Lately, Arena has been pretty tough so anything over 7 is a nice plus nowadays. Prediction: 7-3 Actual: 7-3

Ended up 7-3   with the above Rogue deck.

Absolutely man-handled by two Mages. One top deck Flamestrikes for the win, second Mage baits my lethal push then he MCT my 4th minion and flamestrikes the rest. Clear road for him to win the afterwards of course. I don't think these two games were winnable. 

Crazy. Definitely looking forward to the upcoming Mage reign with WOG release. /kappa

for that rogue draft heres my 2 cent on what i would pick different

11# - gnomish inventor

20# perdition's blade 

22# bloodsail

23# zombie chow

26# in my opinion here its between auto barber and champion i wont even consider shado pan cuz no tomb pillagers, no backstabs,and draft allrdy had 3-4 cards that are good to combo , and its minion heavy, i think i would go with champion :) tough its probably 50/50 between him and barber

11) My reasoning is I didn't want to clog up my 4-mana slot with a bad 4+ draw card, since I had 3x 4-mana cards already 10 cards in, this would have been my 4th.

20) Lacking early game at the moment, only 5x drops less then 2 mana, decided against the 2nd blade over a decent 2-drop.

22) Think some substance in the deck is fine. Only real clean 4 drop so far.

23) I'm hesitant on the 2nd chow especially over the 1st betrayal this late in the draft. Would like others opinions on this, but I believe the Betrayal is fine here. 

26) Although Barber is almost an auto pick most of the time, I really wanted some meat going into the end of the draft. Shado-Pan or Champion would have been my choices, went for the Shado-Pan since curve was bit lighter, however I can see a strong argument for Champion here. Didn't want the Barber, although may be wrong.

Thanks for the draft dissection, nice to go over the thought processes.

Quote from EtaCarinae23 >>

How about a quick Evaluation of what i just drafted, all i say is Dr and Surpreme Archaeologist :o

http://www.heartharena.com/arena-run/18nu86

Quote from EtaCarinae23 >>

How about a quick Evaluation of what i just drafted, all i say is Dr and Surpreme Archaeologist :o

http://www.heartharena.com/arena-run/18nu86

Phew - sweated out this 12-win Paladin deck the last couple nights. I've blown a couple really high quality Paladin decks lately, and after a good snowball going with this deck after the first couple games, I was pretty sure it had what it takes to go all the way.

First 12 win with Paladin in a long time so this one felt good.

Surprising note: 5-0 against Rogues. Helped to never see a single Fan of Knives!

MVP: Murloc Tidecaller, just kidding, of course Muster for Battle, card is ridiculous.

http://www.heartharena.com/arena-run/shfe8r

Followed up the last 12-1 Paladin with a 12-2 Rogue with a very seemingly average looking deck list.

http://www.heartharena.com/arena-run/1i17s2

MVP: Eviscerate

With pretty much no removal in the whole deck, the 2 Eviscerates were super premium in this deck and were very effective at generating tempo. Didn't run into any back breaking board clears that I remember which would have been the obvious downfall for this deck.

First loss was to a unexpected 16 damage combo from Paladin - but had no chance to stop it with any play anyways. (Kvaldir Raider 6/6 into stealth spare part - next turn hero power for 8/8 and Blessed Champion. Lul) 2nd lost was at 11-1 facing pretty much a constructed Shaman deck with a 7/6 Fireguard Destoryer, Fire Elemental, Knife Juggler, and 2x lucky swings from an Orge. Hard to out value such strong minions.

Rocked out ANOTHER 12 win run. This makes 3 in a row, first time i've achieved this, all with 3 different classes. This time it was Mage.

http://www.heartharena.com/arena-run/lq1opr

Looks like a minion heavy deck with 4x Water Elementals, but lacked some late game cards, with only 1x Kraken to hold down the fort.

MVP: Water Elemental, luckily never ran into situations where the 3/6 was not efficient. Gave a lot of headaches to Rogues. 

Overall, a pretty weak deck considering there was not a lot of reach, and not many strong minions at the 5 mana range. It was a very aggro, tempo based mage as opposed to a longer control game mage.

Can't complain - super happy at the 3rd straight 12 win !

With the launch of WOG I decided to end this month early on the 26th. Also ending the strongest month I've had yet.

April 2016 (End of LOE) - 37 Runs @ 6.41 win rate (with 7x 12 win runs with 4 classes)

I actually started the month tearing it up with a win rate of 8+ but only through the 1st dozen games. Variance came and brought me down to earth a bit, but I've been steady since. My 1st infinite month ? Close enough !

Honestly, I think discussions here, talking about situations and just putting more thoughtfulness into Arena has attributed a lot to my success. So I am thankful for the people here that put in the effort to help. I tried to avoid my weaker classes as this is still something I am working on with my EU account.

Just seeing progress is exciting and encouraging and for that I am thankful.

More to come.