...watching streamers draft and play the decks helped a great deal.
Who do you usually watch? I tend to watch Kripparian on Youtube mainly. A lot of other videos I've seen are kinda... not garbage... but just not helpful. He's really the only one I've seemed to learn much from.
When my opponent plays 2/1 on T1 and i play Mad Bomber and it misses and i know i just lost the game, but still play it out and lose in the end anyway, just to confirm what i already knew :D I can remmember at least 3 matches, where i knew i lost the game in T2 on the spot :D
Seriously, how does anyone ever really know that they've lost at turn 2? I always feel like it can be turned around. Or are you talking at like 5 or 6+ wins right now? Maybe that's why I'm under the impression that any game can be turned around XD
On the flip side of things, reflecting on how you win games is probably just as important.
That's the stuff I usually remember. I usually see most losses as: they just had an answer for everything I did and I didn't draw anything to help that. If only I had drawn X, then maybe it would have been different." Kind of the same old song and dance like that.
Kripp is good entertaining but in terms of overall information i'd probably look for another streamer. I have always thought Grinning Goat's videos are high quality and informative. Merps and ADWTCA are excellent players in all classes so they know their stuff.
If your opponent goes first and plays a Clockwork Gnome 2/1 and you coin out Mad Bomber and you miss, his 1-mana 2/1 basically trades into your 2-mana card AND you lost your coin. So you now in a heavily disadvantaged position. It doesn't mean you will always lose but you are did not have a good start and threw away your only real advantage (coin). Now the first player has the initiative to play his higher cost minion first (always) and will have first say in how to dictate trading. At this point - if all things stayed the same (both play on curve rest of game), you will probably lose pretty decisively, even though you technically didn't miss a play on any given turn. He will trade better and push more face damage unless you have cards that can re-take initiative.
Things like Bomb Lobber, Stampeding Kodo, Dark Iron Dwarf, North Sea Kraken - ETC, all have potential to reclaim initiative.
Just take a step back and re-evaluate your losses as well as the wins. The best Arena players can keep up their ridiculous win rates and have large sample sizes to back them up. Some games might seem un-winnable, but these players make it clear that that the % of these games actually isn't that big after all.
...watching streamers draft and play the decks helped a great deal.
Who do you usually watch? I tend to watch Kripparian on Youtube mainly. A lot of other videos I've seen are kinda... not garbage... but just not helpful. He's really the only one I've seemed to learn much from.
When my opponent plays 2/1 on T1 and i play Mad Bomber and it misses and i know i just lost the game, but still play it out and lose in the end anyway, just to confirm what i already knew :D I can remmember at least 3 matches, where i knew i lost the game in T2 on the spot :D
Seriously, how does anyone ever really know that they've lost at turn 2? I always feel like it can be turned around. Or are you talking at like 5 or 6+ wins right now? Maybe that's why I'm under the impression that any game can be turned around XD
On the flip side of things, reflecting on how you win games is probably just as important.
That's the stuff I usually remember. I usually see most losses as: they just had an answer for everything I did and I didn't draw anything to help that. If only I had drawn X, then maybe it would have been different." Kind of the same old song and dance like that.
As for me, I've learn a lot from http://hearthstoneplayers.com/mastering-the-arena/ , specifically the guides by Adwcta. It is so detailed on the kind of mindset that goes into each turn you are playing, and what to generally be playing around for each class. Granted, these guides are now 'old' (such as Paladins now having 3 damage removals from Rallying Blade, we now generally play less around Silence), but should give you plenty enough pointers on knowing what to do during drafting and the matches.
I like watching Shadybunny over Kripp because he sometimes considers deeply into other card choices that we may think counter-intuitive, and there I learn more about card choices. He also plays Hunter. In Arena. That's pretty damn cool.
I eventually went 7-3 with the deck. Got a bit unlucky with Shaman playing Rafaam into board full of mummies, then a mage with two flame strikes. But it was fun all the same!
Edit: drafted a Warlock deck afterward. Has insane early game power, it feels like.
And how dare you miss that Blood Knight? It's sick against Paladin, okay against every other class, at worst a 3 drop which you somewhat need.
Well, I figured since everyone was coming here anyway.... ;) But in all reality, I should just start a new thread.
And I figured Recruiter would be better than Blood Knight because it kinda played into the fact that my deck floods the board anyway and Darkshire Councilman loves it! I figured Blood Knight would be too situational to be of much use. I'll have to remember it from now on.
Have to say that Blood Knight snub really stands out. Really see no reason to take Recruiter over Blood Knight.
Probably would have passed Raider and went with the 2nd Tentacle too just to keep the curve a bit lighter.
6 mana is also one of the most awkward mana slots to be jammed up on because you can't play 2 of them in the same turn so you don't want too many of them otherwise they just sit in your hand. You have 6x 6 mana cards in your deck, I think it's a bit too much especially for Warlock since they can keep their hand full with their hero power.
Agreed with the many things Emanon mentioned, but I want to say a few things.
Pick 2: I like Captured Jormungar over Succubus just because Succubus is fairly clunky. In earlier turns it discards a card while later turns it won't stick well to the board.
Pick 21: Frost Elemental vs Voidwalker is a fairly close pick, where at turn 6 onwards each of them stops exactly one attack. However, you don't have many 1 drops (with limited 3 dops), so mana curve should be a more suitable justification for Voidwalker.
Pick 29: I could've gone for Bloodfen Raptor here over Squirming Tentacle, if not for the lack of Taunt. Nevermind, you need more 3 drops.
Pick 30: Darkshire Librarian is like Bloodfen Raptor, but in order to get the card advantage "back" you need to trade the librarian in, even when you don't want to. So it's terrible 2 drop and outside of low-curve decks. I'd take Master Swordsmith here because the curve is just barely low enough to work.
As about the others, Emanon is right on about you making sub-par picks, and you should learn from them. And, can we have a new thread already?
7 wins sounds about right, you usually hit a wall if your deck isn't ridiculous. Though its definitely, sometimes, luck. But you do have to be acutely aware at all times that at high wins they have something amazing and you should kill them before you see it, if you haven't already.
On a side note, knowing when you can safely sneak in face damage is probably the biggest difference between low win arena players and high win players. Over trading is bad and ruins good starts.
Thanks everyone for all the input! Incredibly helpful and I'm honored at the level of response. Thank you for your help :) I seem to be doing a bit better now. The decks that I'm building are going about 6 wins now, which is a significant improvement from where I was.
Twitch Arena Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/boozor / Youtube Chanel: https://www.youtube.com/c/boozortv
#1 Arena Leader Board Player in North America - August 2018 and April 2020
#2 NA Nov 18, #2 Asia July 19, #2 NA Feb 20, #2 NA June 20
My greatest achievement yet:
Not disenchanting my double Shadowbomber
I eventually went 7-3 with the deck. Got a bit unlucky with Shaman playing Rafaam into board full of mummies, then a mage with two flame strikes. But it was fun all the same!
Edit: drafted a Warlock deck afterward. Has insane early game power, it feels like.
And the summary of the deck (mana curve and list):
You should make a new thread.
And how dare you miss that Blood Knight? It's sick against Paladin, okay against every other class, at worst a 3 drop which you somewhat need.
My greatest achievement yet:
Not disenchanting my double Shadowbomber
Have to say that Blood Knight snub really stands out. Really see no reason to take Recruiter over Blood Knight.
Probably would have passed Raider and went with the 2nd Tentacle too just to keep the curve a bit lighter.
6 mana is also one of the most awkward mana slots to be jammed up on because you can't play 2 of them in the same turn so you don't want too many of them otherwise they just sit in your hand. You have 6x 6 mana cards in your deck, I think it's a bit too much especially for Warlock since they can keep their hand full with their hero power.
Twitch Arena Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/boozor / Youtube Chanel: https://www.youtube.com/c/boozortv
#1 Arena Leader Board Player in North America - August 2018 and April 2020
#2 NA Nov 18, #2 Asia July 19, #2 NA Feb 20, #2 NA June 20
Pick 29: I could've gone for Bloodfen Raptor here over Squirming Tentacle, if not for the lack of Taunt.Nevermind, you need more 3 drops.My greatest achievement yet:
Not disenchanting my double Shadowbomber
7 wins sounds about right, you usually hit a wall if your deck isn't ridiculous. Though its definitely, sometimes, luck. But you do have to be acutely aware at all times that at high wins they have something amazing and you should kill them before you see it, if you haven't already.
On a side note, knowing when you can safely sneak in face damage is probably the biggest difference between low win arena players and high win players. Over trading is bad and ruins good starts.
Thanks everyone for all the input! Incredibly helpful and I'm honored at the level of response. Thank you for your help :) I seem to be doing a bit better now. The decks that I'm building are going about 6 wins now, which is a significant improvement from where I was.
Let's end the thread here, as requested. :)