I would play the Abusive Sarge targeting the Alchemist to trade with the Trogg. And then play the Dragonkin Sorcerer and use coin to hero power the recruit out. With the Sorcerer a 4/6, even if he flamestrikes and smacks his worgen into your dragonkin sorcerer, you can play stormwind champ the following turn to heal it by 1hp.
Thank you guys.
On a side note TehJumpingJawa, I really like the way that you format your comments.
Now, another few questions for the forums.
Board Question 1:
The turn before he pinged my Burly Rockjaw Trogg and played the two minitions. After thinking about it for a bit, I realised that this might signal a flamestrike. As it would later turn out, his turn 3 draw (the middle card in his hand), was blizzard. That card was however not played until turn 9. The two main plays that I considered:
Summon the Dragonkin Sorcerer + hero power+kill the snowchugger with truesilver + trade with the mana wyvern.
Sword of justice + Scarlet crusader+weapon the snowchugger+trade with the wyrm. I liked this play a bit more because it developed my weapon, so I went with it. Also, it would leave me with a bigger board post-flamestrike. I don't know how correct it was.
Board Question 2:
In this image I must decide between playing the cobra and playing the sword of justice. My thoughts were that if I play the sword + kill the young priestess, and he has ooze, I'm suddenly very behind as compared to simply playing my cobra. Also, if I played the cobra I would be able to answer almost any 4 drop and then proceed to play my own, giving myself the temp lead. If I did do that, the sword would likely sit dead in my hand for at least until turn 7, when it could be giving me a mid game ramp-like advantage. Furthermore, my turn 5 and 6 play were effectively guaranteed to be excellent if I played it, so I ended up going with it.
What would you have considered to be the correct play, and why?
I eventually went with mad the grizzly, simply because I believed that the other two cards could have much greater value later on, even though this means that I will miss 1 point of damage. The shattered sun cleric can be used to turn a 2:1 trade into a 1:1 later on, and the mad scientist can be used to answer an annoying creature like oasis snapjaw.
Thank you. The fact that the Scarlet Crusader becomes a 3/2 against a mage in the mid to late game actually slipped my mind. So not only do I make use of the early game ramp of theSword of Justice, but I get tempo value out of the crusader that I might not be able to get in the late game.
Thank you for the analysis.
P.S. I added a 3rd board state to the question, if you have nothing better to do.
I would have done your second play as well. A 4/2 with divine shield on turn 7 against an empty board is pretty good. He has no immediate answer to deal with both your creatures unless he empties his hands. Also deters against using flamestrike.
Board #2:
I think SOJ is the best play here. You trade the 2/2 into his 2/1 so he doesn't get free heals. Next turn you can play Dragonkin or Spellbreaker if you have a good target and Fen Creeper afterwards (if you don't draw better options).
Playing Emperor is also perfectly viable. I feel it's more of an reactive play tho that doesn't generate too much tempo for you. You can deal with the cleric better and still have him on board, but there is no saying if he has Shadowword Pain or Holy Light. Plus, SOJ + Emperor yields more value, if he can now survive a trade he wouldn't otherwise.
Board #3:
Using the coin this turn makes the most sense since you have two level 3 drops. Using it on turn 3 for Shredderer is not bad perse, but wastes mana. SSC on Chow means you have a 3/4 and a 3/2 on board on his turn 3 - impossible to deal with and you can quickly build and maintain board control from there and put out huge pressure right away. 3/4 also trades with almost every 2 and 3 drop in the game, letting you get much more value out of Chow. You also keep Alchemist in hand, when he brings you true value (e.g with equality).
Alternatively, just using Hero Power would be fine too. Less immediate pressure, but you can play a bit more reactive depending what he plays next. Using SSC on a dude to kill a X/2 is also a good tempo swing.
I like the first play more for arena, as it's harder to come back from being so vastly behind, in particular as hunter.
I would have done your second play as well. A 4/2 with divine shield on turn 7 against an empty board is pretty good. He has no immediate answer to deal with both your creatures unless he empties his hands. Also deters against using flamestrike.
Board #2:
I think SOJ is the best play here. You trade the 2/2 into his 2/1 so he doesn't get free heals. Next turn you can play Dragonkin or Spellbreaker if you have a good target and Fen Creeper afterwards (if you don't draw better options).
Playing Emperor is also perfectly viable. I feel it's more of an reactive play tho that doesn't generate too much tempo for you. You can deal with the cleric better and still have him on board, but there is no saying if he has Shadowword Pain or Holy Light. Plus, SOJ + Emperor yields more value, if he can now survive a trade he wouldn't otherwise.
Board #3:
Using the coin this turn makes the most sense since you have two level 3 drops. Using it on turn 3 for Shredderer is not bad perse, but wastes mana. SSC on Chow means you have a 3/4 and a 3/2 on board on his turn 3 - impossible to deal with and you can quickly build and maintain board control from there and put out huge pressure right away. 3/4 also trades with almost every 2 and 3 drop in the game, letting you get much more value out of Chow. You also keep Alchemist in hand, when he brings you true value (e.g with equality).
Alternatively, just using Hero Power would be fine too. Less immediate pressure, but you can play a bit more reactive depending what he plays next. Using SSC on a dude to kill a X/2 is also a good tempo swing.
I like the first play more for arena, as it's harder to come back from being so vastly behind, in particular as hunter.
I understand and agree with your reasoning in all 3 situations. Thank you for analysing it for me. Thank you for changing my view on board #3 by the way. I failed to consider that if a hunter has instant removal on turn 3, it more likely than not deals 3 damage, which means that committing as much as possible to the board in that case by choosing the ssc over the grizzly is correct, since I would be almost certain to capitalize on the tempo.
Developing the sword is the best way of investing mana into the board while simultaneously reducing your vulnerability to AoE in future turns. Scarlet is great pressure that the mage can ill afford to ping.
Board #2
Tough one.
Losing tempo against a priest can be catastrophic, especially as you've already used the coin.
This would encourage me to trade the 2/2 into the 2/1, and play cobra.
However clearing the 2/1 with sword, and buffing your turn 4&5 plays to 4 atk is really strong; I'd take this play. I wouldn't worry about the priest's card draw, as him healing next turn is too much of a tempo loss for him, so hit face with the 2/2.
Board #3
Coin grizzly, or hero power are the 2 best plays IMHO.
As you've got perfect curve for the next few turns, I'd go with grizzly.
Keeping shattered sun and scientist for surprise buffing/debuffing is correct.
I'd hope that next turn your opponent animal companions into leokk(or spider tank et al.), so you can shattered sun your grizzly into it and win the game.
Developing the sword is the best way of investing mana into the board while simultaneously reducing your vulnerability to AoE in future turns. Scarlet is great pressure that the mage can ill afford to ping.
Board #2
Tough one.
Losing tempo against a priest can be catastrophic, especially as you've already used the coin.
This would encourage me to trade the 2/2 into the 2/1, and play cobra.
However clearing the 2/1 with sword, and buffing your turn 4&5 plays to 4 atk is really strong; I'd take this play. I wouldn't worry about the priest's card draw, as him healing next turn is too much of a tempo loss for him, so hit face with the 2/2.
Board #3
Coin grizzly, or hero power are the 2 best plays IMHO.
As you've got perfect curve for the next few turns, I'd go with grizzly.
Keeping shattered sun and scientist for surprise buffing/debuffing is correct.
I'd hope that next turn your opponent animal companions into leokk(or spider tank et al.), so you can shattered sun your grizzly into it and win the game.
Thank you.
I noticed that you opted for saving the play that can cause for a surprise tempo swing on board 3. I like this reasoning quite a bit, and presented with the same situation again I would probably play coin+grizzly a second time.
1) Trades, sword and scarlet. Sets up the sword in good time to be holding back because of the flamestrike.
2) Sword. Don't like that play much, but it's prolly the best time to develop it because you get value from it asap by killing the 2/1 and saving a 2/2. If he goes greedy to draw a card, what he well might, next turn you can silence + kill the cleric and get well ahead. If not, u can drop a 4 mana 4/6 against a priest. I'd be much more scared of SW:P than Ooze there cause it's more likely.
3) 3/3 this turn and next turn shattered sun smth either for trade or to play around multi shot. If this were t3 I'd shattered sun already this turn because it's the strongest play, you facing a hunter, and multi shot. But t2 you can hold it back a turn and be greedy with it. His best answer is the rare 3/2 weapon and if he has it it would get 2 for 1 either way.
Thank you.
I like how you pointed out that the grizzly on board 3 allows me to do something before multi-shot is live I'm bad at reading. .
The other people fail to realize that Quick Shot, Kill Command, Eaglehorn Bow and possibly Wolf Rider are a thing. Taunt can be played re-actively or in anticipation. I think using Grizzly is a worse play here.
The other people fail to realize that Quick Shot, Kill Command, Eaglehorn Bow and possibly Wolf Rider are a thing. Taunt can be played re-actively or in anticipation. I think using Grizzly is a worse play here.
All the possible plays he could make would be vulnerable to those 3 cards. 3/3 is just the strongest one. Alchemist is a worse stats, plays into explosve trap and nice tech card you can save. Hero power even more terribly slow and greedy, esp against hunter. Coin shattered sun cleric this turn the chow to playing the 3/3 next turn has the exact same outcome either way if he has Eaglehorn bow. If he passed t2 to hero power and not quick shot the chow, only to quick shot a 3/3 on t3 I'm fine with it. Same with kill command or wolf, again 1 vs 1 trade that takes whole turn and hunter is still massively behind.
It's just a good time to use coin here cause next turns seem very set. And if he keeps the coin then there is no good use for it for many turns to come. I mean the hand is coin, a situational 2-drop, double 3-drops and a 4-drop. And you play the taunt first cause first you aint sorry about it at all cause not like it's some amazing card you need to save for max value, but more importantly on t3 this way you can likely choose between buffing the 3/3 bear into 4/4 or 2/3 chow into 3/4 depending on if he plays a 4/4(bear), 3/4(bear), 4/3(chow), 3/3(chow), 3/2(chow), 2/3(chow) or 2/4(bear). Hunters best possible t3 there would be misha or bow and at least your bear can deal with misha, hunter needs to be very lucky now or he in trouble, needs like bow or lucky multi shot next turn.
The other people fail to realize that Quick Shot, Kill Command, Eaglehorn Bow and possibly Wolf Rider are a thing. Taunt can be played re-actively or in anticipation. I think using Grizzly is a worse play here.
Zukuu, I hope that you don't decide that I don't make myself seem like a hopeless case to you if I accept hintm's logic. After reading his response, and re-reading all the responses in this thread on the topic of board 3, I believe that I ironfur grizzly is the correct
___________
On another note, I have played a few more games, and have run into a few more confusing situations. What plays would you make in these situations? Why?
I would go for Sword of Justice + Avenge here. I would kill the shredder with one SOJ charge and the abusive sergeant and then kill what comes out of it accordingly with one of my other two minions. This sets you up for the later turns when you can activate the avenge and put SOJ buffs on cards like your arcane nullifier to make it a 3/6 and also helps clear the board.
Board #2
Same play, Sword of justice + Avenge, only now I would kill the yeti with one SOJ charge and the shredder. The reasoning is the same as above.
Board #3
It is obvious that you cannot cheaply kill his trogg. The cheapest way possible would be with trade + hammer of wrath, which I would save in this situation because this would leave me with only a 3/2 at the end of the turn. The problem is that most cards in our hand can be wrecked by his trogg. The only viable choice in my opinion, is arcane nullifier and hit face, since this way next turn we can Hammer of wrath the remaining damage off the trogg after the trade with arcane nullifier whether it is him or me that is making it, and then have enough mana to play ship's cannon.
The other people fail to realize that Quick Shot, Kill Command, Eaglehorn Bow and possibly Wolf Rider are a thing. Taunt can be played re-actively or in anticipation. I think using Grizzly is a worse play here.
All the possible plays he could make would be vulnerable to those 3 cards. 3/3 is just the strongest one. Alchemist is a worse stats, plays into explosve trap and nice tech card you can save. Hero power even more terribly slow and greedy, esp against hunter. Coin shattered sun cleric this turn the chow to playing the 3/3 next turn has the exact same outcome either way if he has Eaglehorn bow. If he passed t2 to hero power and not quick shot the chow, only to quick shot a 3/3 on t3 I'm fine with it. Same with kill command or wolf, again 1 vs 1 trade that takes whole turn and hunter is still massively behind.
It's just a good time to use coin here cause next turns seem very set. And if he keeps the coin then there is no good use for it for many turns to come. I mean the hand is coin, a situational 2-drop, double 3-drops and a 4-drop. And you play the taunt first cause first you aint sorry about it at all cause not like it's some amazing card you need to save for max value, but more importantly on t3 this way you can likely choose between buffing the 3/3 bear into 4/4 or 2/3 chow into 3/4 depending on if he plays a 4/4(bear), 3/4(bear), 4/3(chow), 3/3(chow), 3/2(chow), 2/3(chow) or 2/4(bear). Hunters best possible t3 there would be misha or bow and at least your bear can deal with misha, hunter needs to be very lucky now or he in trouble, needs like bow or lucky multi shot next turn.
3/4 chow deals 6 damage if he has no immediate answer, plus another 3 from SSC. Grizzly play nets you at least 1 damage less, a worse stat distribution, which makes ALL minions susceptible to various removals THAT turn, instead of having a big minion and a minion that already did his job. Playing taunt without reason at all, when you can generate PRESSURE makes literally no sense. You are losing tempo for no reason - AT ALL.
In particular in arena, you can overpower your opponent quickly - for that you want to maximize your turns and generate as much pressure as you can. You are doing the much slower play. His chance of having an animal companion and getting misha out is vastly slimmer than him having a removal. With quickshot etc he uses 2 mana to kill your 3 mana drop - it's in his favor. Let him kill a 3/2 SSC that already made use of its battlecry, that nets you value.
Zukuu, I hope that you don't decide that I don't make myself seem like a hopeless case to you if I accept hintm's logic. After reading his response, and re-reading all the responses in this thread on the topic of board 3, I believe that I ironfur grizzly is the correct
It's all theoretical anyway, but that doesn't make that play better. It has its advantages and disadvantages, but in arena, it's a worse play - by far.
I would go for Sword of Justice + Avenge here. I would kill the shredder with one SOJ charge and the abusive sergeant and then kill what comes out of it accordingly with one of my other two minions. This sets you up for the later turns when you can activate the avenge and put SOJ buffs on cards like your arcane nullifier to make it a 3/6 and also helps clear the board.
Board #2
Same play, Sword of justice + Avenge, only now I would kill the yeti with one SOJ charge and the shredder. The reasoning is the same as above.
Board #3
It is obvious that you cannot cheaply kill his trogg. The cheapest way possible would be with trade + hammer of wrath, which I would save in this situation because this would leave me with only a 3/2 at the end of the turn. The problem is that most cards in our hand can be wrecked by his trogg. The only viable choice in my opinion, is arcane nullifier and hit face, since this way next turn we can Hammer of wrath the remaining damage off the trogg after the trade with arcane nullifier whether it is him or me that is making it, and then have enough mana to play ship's cannon.
Board #1 - agree, especially with the buff arcane nullifier remark.
Board #2 - I think I would do this also, hit shredder first to see what pops out, then play SOJ. I would probably do hero power after this, Avenge can be played later, and the 2/2 has immediate value. Alternative play is SOJ + Seal of Light and bump the 2/3 into Yeti. This kind of uses a lot of cards, but keeps your 4 damage minion on the board, which are important against priest. Either way, you have to kill that yeti, otherwise priest will start to get use out of its hero power.
Board #3 - agree, arcane nullifier and trogg will likely live through the next turn, which gives you options to clear his next play.
I would go for Sword of Justice + Avenge here. I would kill the shredder with one SOJ charge and the abusive sergeant and then kill what comes out of it accordingly with one of my other two minions. This sets you up for the later turns when you can activate the avenge and put SOJ buffs on cards like your arcane nullifier to make it a 3/6 and also helps clear the board.
Board #2
Same play, Sword of justice + Avenge, only now I would kill the yeti with one SOJ charge and the shredder. The reasoning is the same as above.
Board #3
It is obvious that you cannot cheaply kill his trogg. The cheapest way possible would be with trade + hammer of wrath, which I would save in this situation because this would leave me with only a 3/2 at the end of the turn. The problem is that most cards in our hand can be wrecked by his trogg. The only viable choice in my opinion, is arcane nullifier and hit face, since this way next turn we can Hammer of wrath the remaining damage off the trogg after the trade with arcane nullifier whether it is him or me that is making it, and then have enough mana to play ship's cannon.
Board #1 - agree, especially with the buff arcane nullifier remark.
Board #2 - I think I would do this also, hit shredder first to see what pops out, then play SOJ. I would probably do hero power after this, Avenge can be played later, and the 2/2 has immediate value. Alternative play is SOJ + Seal of Light and bump the 2/3 into Yeti. This kind of uses a lot of cards, but keeps your 4 damage minion on the board, which are important against priest. Either way, you have to kill that yeti, otherwise priest will start to get use out of its hero power.
Board #3 - agree, arcane nullifier and trogg will likely live through the next turn, which gives you options to clear his next play.
Thank you to both of you.
As for board number 2, I suppose that after reading both of your comments I am still a bit undecided, I'm still unsure but I am definitely leaning towards playing the a 2/2 guy after the play, simply because I went back into the replay and saw that the shredder yielded a 3/2 (before buff) shrinkmeister. Since such a board would hardly be afraid of of Holy Nova, it is still a bit afraid of a hard to answer card that the other guy might play which would force me to trade in my entire board, such as a spectral knight. However, since I am a pretty bad player, please tell me how wrong or right my analysis is.
Also, I have another question for the general forum:
Board 1:
Yup, my opponent's turn 2 in arena was mechwarper-mechwarper-clockwork gnome.
trade for a mechwarper > frostbolt other mechwarper then ping gnome next turn
Likely what I would have done as well, apart from the Ping next turn, since, depending what he plays, Water Elemental is a better play then (e.g. if he just hero powers).
An alternative play would be to ping the Gnome and trade for the mechwarper. That way you have both your spells available next turn, if you should need them. Alternatively, you could ping Gnome and go for face, if you are greedy. But seeing how he drafted Mechs, that might be pushing your luck, so I would prefer the play from above.
Likely what I would have done as well, apart from the Ping next turn, since, depending what he plays, Water Elemental is a better play then (e.g. if he just hero powers).
An alternative play would be to ping the Gnome and trade for the mechwarper. That way you have both your spells available next turn, if you should need them. Alternatively, you could ping Gnome and go for face, if you are greedy. But seeing how he drafted Mechs, that might be pushing your luck, so I would prefer the play from above.
Hero power, attack 2/3 with chow, attack 2/3 with dagger, hit face with troll.
Coin, Chillwind Yeti, Hit face with both
Play taunt, hit face
Your first play
Panda is not an option here as it will lose you too much tempo and actually hurt your board. As a warlock the only way to deal one damage is by playing mortal coil, which will empower your troll too (not that it matters tho). It's a risk you can take.
Each play has advantages. Every hero power play sets up your dagger. You only have Auto-Barber, tho, so it's not as important. Still you have at least another attack left, generating a bit of tempo, if needed.
The first play has the advantage of trading efficiently right away in both turns. You don't develop your board that turn, tho. Meaning you could potentially fall behind, which you can counteract with Eviscerate tho. You don't play on curve tho, meaning lost potential.
The second play puts out the most pressure and gives you more on board options the next turn, which lets you deal with his board more effectively. It's worth the risk, since he can't deal with it effectively, unless he has a abusive / dark iron dwarf.
The third play makes seemingly the most sense. You keep your tools, play on curve and save your board presence. You can hero power and finish off his 3/1, if he should attack with it and play Yeti the next turn, or combo into eviscerate or coin out Venture co. It gives you the most options the next turn and leaves behind a 1/1 weapon to deal with his 2/3 the turn after that. It's the most economic play, but also the most greedy.
Your play generates tempo, but comes also at a price, since you lose options in the next turns.
All four plays are viable imo. Personally, I would go with the Tauren or Yeti play here, favoring the Yeti.
Hellfire would wreck a Yeti play, and as you'd likely have a very weak turn 4 follow-up, I'd be strongly opposed to such a play.
As your 3-mana minion trades so poorly with the board, I don't think you have any other option buyt to coin + dagger + eviscerate. (and do the obvious trades).
Hellfire would wreck a Yeti play, and as you'd likely have a very weak turn 4 follow-up, I'd be strongly opposed to such a play.
As your 3-mana minion trades so poorly with the board, I don't think you have any other option buyt to coin + dagger + eviscerate. (and do the obvious trades).
He trades 3 for 3 and you play into an empty board. I would call that "in my favor", IF it actually happen. As for the follow up turn, brewmaster + dagger or eviscerate is a decent option.
Like I said, neither of the choices is majorly worse/better than the other, but with only one eviscerate in the deck, I would try to get more value out of it.
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Thank you guys.
On a side note TehJumpingJawa, I really like the way that you format your comments.
Now, another few questions for the forums.
Board Question 1:
The turn before he pinged my Burly Rockjaw Trogg and played the two minitions. After thinking about it for a bit, I realised that this might signal a flamestrike. As it would later turn out, his turn 3 draw (the middle card in his hand), was blizzard. That card was however not played until turn 9. The two main plays that I considered:
Board Question 2:
In this image I must decide between playing the cobra and playing the sword of justice. My thoughts were that if I play the sword + kill the young priestess, and he has ooze, I'm suddenly very behind as compared to simply playing my cobra. Also, if I played the cobra I would be able to answer almost any 4 drop and then proceed to play my own, giving myself the temp lead. If I did do that, the sword would likely sit dead in my hand for at least until turn 7, when it could be giving me a mid game ramp-like advantage. Furthermore, my turn 5 and 6 play were effectively guaranteed to be excellent if I played it, so I ended up going with it.
What would you have considered to be the correct play, and why?
Board Question 3:
I considered the 3 following plays:
I eventually went with mad the grizzly, simply because I believed that the other two cards could have much greater value later on, even though this means that I will miss 1 point of damage. The shattered sun cleric can be used to turn a 2:1 trade into a 1:1 later on, and the mad scientist can be used to answer an annoying creature like oasis snapjaw.
What would you have done? Why?
I would have done your second play as well, it gets a lot more value out of the crusader than you usually would against a Mage.
Thank you. The fact that the Scarlet Crusader becomes a 3/2 against a mage in the mid to late game actually slipped my mind. So not only do I make use of the early game ramp of theSword of Justice, but I get tempo value out of the crusader that I might not be able to get in the late game.
Thank you for the analysis.
P.S. I added a 3rd board state to the question, if you have nothing better to do.
Board #1:
I would have done your second play as well. A 4/2 with divine shield on turn 7 against an empty board is pretty good. He has no immediate answer to deal with both your creatures unless he empties his hands. Also deters against using flamestrike.
Board #2:
I think SOJ is the best play here. You trade the 2/2 into his 2/1 so he doesn't get free heals. Next turn you can play Dragonkin or Spellbreaker if you have a good target and Fen Creeper afterwards (if you don't draw better options).
Playing Emperor is also perfectly viable. I feel it's more of an reactive play tho that doesn't generate too much tempo for you. You can deal with the cleric better and still have him on board, but there is no saying if he has Shadowword Pain or Holy Light. Plus, SOJ + Emperor yields more value, if he can now survive a trade he wouldn't otherwise.
Board #3:
Using the coin this turn makes the most sense since you have two level 3 drops. Using it on turn 3 for Shredderer is not bad perse, but wastes mana. SSC on Chow means you have a 3/4 and a 3/2 on board on his turn 3 - impossible to deal with and you can quickly build and maintain board control from there and put out huge pressure right away. 3/4 also trades with almost every 2 and 3 drop in the game, letting you get much more value out of Chow. You also keep Alchemist in hand, when he brings you true value (e.g with equality).
Alternatively, just using Hero Power would be fine too. Less immediate pressure, but you can play a bit more reactive depending what he plays next. Using SSC on a dude to kill a X/2 is also a good tempo swing.
I like the first play more for arena, as it's harder to come back from being so vastly behind, in particular as hunter.
I understand and agree with your reasoning in all 3 situations. Thank you for analysing it for me. Thank you for changing my view on board #3 by the way. I failed to consider that if a hunter has instant removal on turn 3, it more likely than not deals 3 damage, which means that committing as much as possible to the board in that case by choosing the ssc over the grizzly is correct, since I would be almost certain to capitalize on the tempo.
Board #1
Sword+scarlet
Developing the sword is the best way of investing mana into the board while simultaneously reducing your vulnerability to AoE in future turns. Scarlet is great pressure that the mage can ill afford to ping.
Board #2
Tough one.
Losing tempo against a priest can be catastrophic, especially as you've already used the coin.
This would encourage me to trade the 2/2 into the 2/1, and play cobra.
However clearing the 2/1 with sword, and buffing your turn 4&5 plays to 4 atk is really strong; I'd take this play. I wouldn't worry about the priest's card draw, as him healing next turn is too much of a tempo loss for him, so hit face with the 2/2.
Board #3
Coin grizzly, or hero power are the 2 best plays IMHO.
As you've got perfect curve for the next few turns, I'd go with grizzly.
Keeping shattered sun and scientist for surprise buffing/debuffing is correct.
I'd hope that next turn your opponent animal companions into leokk(or spider tank et al.), so you can shattered sun your grizzly into it and win the game.
Thank you.
I noticed that you opted for saving the play that can cause for a surprise tempo swing on board 3. I like this reasoning quite a bit, and presented with the same situation again I would probably play coin+grizzly a second time.
Thank you.
I like how you pointed out that the grizzly on
board 3 allows me to do something before multi-shot is liveI'm bad at reading. .The other people fail to realize that Quick Shot, Kill Command, Eaglehorn Bow and possibly Wolf Rider are a thing. Taunt can be played re-actively or in anticipation. I think using Grizzly is a worse play here.
Zukuu, I hope that you don't decide that I don't make myself seem like a hopeless case to you if I accept hintm's logic. After reading his response, and re-reading all the responses in this thread on the topic of board 3, I believe that I ironfur grizzly is the correct
___________
On another note, I have played a few more games, and have run into a few more confusing situations. What plays would you make in these situations? Why?
Board 1:
Board 2:
Board 3:
Board #1
I would go for Sword of Justice + Avenge here. I would kill the shredder with one SOJ charge and the abusive sergeant and then kill what comes out of it accordingly with one of my other two minions. This sets you up for the later turns when you can activate the avenge and put SOJ buffs on cards like your arcane nullifier to make it a 3/6 and also helps clear the board.
Board #2
Same play, Sword of justice + Avenge, only now I would kill the yeti with one SOJ charge and the shredder. The reasoning is the same as above.
Board #3
It is obvious that you cannot cheaply kill his trogg. The cheapest way possible would be with trade + hammer of wrath, which I would save in this situation because this would leave me with only a 3/2 at the end of the turn. The problem is that most cards in our hand can be wrecked by his trogg. The only viable choice in my opinion, is arcane nullifier and hit face, since this way next turn we can Hammer of wrath the remaining damage off the trogg after the trade with arcane nullifier whether it is him or me that is making it, and then have enough mana to play ship's cannon.
3/4 chow deals 6 damage if he has no immediate answer, plus another 3 from SSC.
Grizzly play nets you at least 1 damage less, a worse stat distribution, which makes ALL minions susceptible to various removals THAT turn, instead of having a big minion and a minion that already did his job. Playing taunt without reason at all, when you can generate PRESSURE makes literally no sense. You are losing tempo for no reason - AT ALL.
In particular in arena, you can overpower your opponent quickly - for that you want to maximize your turns and generate as much pressure as you can. You are doing the much slower play. His chance of having an animal companion and getting misha out is vastly slimmer than him having a removal. With quickshot etc he uses 2 mana to kill your 3 mana drop - it's in his favor. Let him kill a 3/2 SSC that already made use of its battlecry, that nets you value.
It's all theoretical anyway, but that doesn't make that play better. It has its advantages and disadvantages, but in arena, it's a worse play - by far.
Board #1 - agree, especially with the buff arcane nullifier remark.
Board #2 - I think I would do this also, hit shredder first to see what pops out, then play SOJ. I would probably do hero power after this, Avenge can be played later, and the 2/2 has immediate value. Alternative play is SOJ + Seal of Light and bump the 2/3 into Yeti. This kind of uses a lot of cards, but keeps your 4 damage minion on the board, which are important against priest. Either way, you have to kill that yeti, otherwise priest will start to get use out of its hero power.
Board #3 - agree, arcane nullifier and trogg will likely live through the next turn, which gives you options to clear his next play.
Thank you to both of you.
As for board number 2, I suppose that after reading both of your comments I am still a bit undecided, I'm still unsure but I am definitely leaning towards playing the a 2/2 guy after the play, simply because I went back into the replay and saw that the shredder yielded a 3/2 (before buff) shrinkmeister. Since such a board would hardly be afraid of of Holy Nova, it is still a bit afraid of a hard to answer card that the other guy might play which would force me to trade in my entire board, such as a spectral knight. However, since I am a pretty bad player, please tell me how wrong or right my analysis is.
Also, I have another question for the general forum:
Board 1:
Yup, my opponent's turn 2 in arena was mechwarper-mechwarper-clockwork gnome.
trade for a mechwarper > frostbolt other mechwarper then ping gnome next turn
Likely what I would have done as well, apart from the Ping next turn, since, depending what he plays, Water Elemental is a better play then (e.g. if he just hero powers).
An alternative play would be to ping the Gnome and trade for the mechwarper. That way you have both your spells available next turn, if you should need them. Alternatively, you could ping Gnome and go for face, if you are greedy. But seeing how he drafted Mechs, that might be pushing your luck, so I would prefer the play from above.
Thanks guys.
In this position, would you play coin+dagger+eviscerate or coin+dagger+panda the damaged minion back into your hand. Why?
I think 4 plays make sense here.
Panda is not an option here as it will lose you too much tempo and actually hurt your board. As a warlock the only way to deal one damage is by playing mortal coil, which will empower your troll too (not that it matters tho). It's a risk you can take.
Each play has advantages. Every hero power play sets up your dagger. You only have Auto-Barber, tho, so it's not as important. Still you have at least another attack left, generating a bit of tempo, if needed.
All four plays are viable imo. Personally, I would go with the Tauren or Yeti play here, favoring the Yeti.
Hellfire would wreck a Yeti play, and as you'd likely have a very weak turn 4 follow-up, I'd be strongly opposed to such a play.
As your 3-mana minion trades so poorly with the board, I don't think you have any other option buyt to coin + dagger + eviscerate. (and do the obvious trades).
He trades 3 for 3 and you play into an empty board. I would call that "in my favor", IF it actually happen. As for the follow up turn, brewmaster + dagger or eviscerate is a decent option.
Like I said, neither of the choices is majorly worse/better than the other, but with only one eviscerate in the deck, I would try to get more value out of it.