There are so many options, and every time I build my own deck it is downright repugnant. Of course I do alright with netdecks, but I see pros swap cards out depending on the meta, whenever I try to do this I am overwhelmed by not all the options, but all the GOOD options, and no matter what I swap the whole deck goes to shit. Are there videos to watch? I watch all the popular streamers about 4 hours a day, and play about 14 hours a day. WHY AM I SO AWEFUL. I love love love this game, but I was way better at deckbuilding in MTG FeelsBadMan
MTG is shit for rich kids, doesn't count on deckbuilding. Everything is already done and many decks are already netdecked but with real stuff. Hearthstone is just the same, but digital and not so much for rich kids (or maybe yes). Build around one sub card and test it, never sub two copies of a tech or any card u want to sub. Try to narrow ur choices to 1 copy of each tech/conditional cards and 2 copies of real and useful cards. Also try to follow this math - few copies of 4 mana cards, 2 or 3 of 5mana cards and no more than 2 copies of 7+ mana cards. Try to fit ur deck with cards that can be played from 1 to 3 mana into 20cards at least. Follow the early tip to finish the deck 3-5 4 mana cards/ 2-4 5 mana cards/ 1-2 6+ mana cards. This will make ur game flow more than premade greed strategies that we do on our heads before construct a deck.
I always like to feel what's good in the meta and also play every currently famous deck, to see what their weaknesses are. If you then start your own deck, you can slowly build your way towards countering the meta.
I think the most important part is just doing it often, you natuarlly get better then.
Also playing 14 hours(???!!!) seems a lot; a lot of times you get better if you sleep a lot and take a lot of breaks.
Also another important thing is to not hold on too tight to some cards. Like e.g. Wand Thief seems like a very good card in a lot of mage decks, that feature minions. But sometimes it just doesn't really add up towards your general plan, although not being awful. Just keep tweaking and testing and you'll get better.
Also, playing your same deck over and over is important, too. B/c you get better in how this deck plays; not always straight forward.
@op, that's the problem actually - only very few options are actually really good, depending on the class you play. It's always been the same with HS. If you deviate from that, your deck's win rate will likely drop (unless you are extremely lucky and find some secret combination that very few decks can counter).
Want to get better at deck building? Try other games, including single player ones (not that HS is far from that, but still...).
I think it comes down to deciding what general wincon your deck has (or can have) based on the available obvious synergies (since expansions are released around those) and trying to make the most of that strategy. It is all too tempting to dilute it with tech cards, favourite cards etc. and I definitely fall pray of that because I like versatility. But this makes your counters less reliable as you have too many for different scenarios and hence your winrate drops. So focus on the wincon, maximise the number of cards that get you there and fill the rest of slots with some counters (ideally, you find cards that do both and that is why some decks get nerfed - good example is the recent Shadow Priest rework of Illucia, it was a counter AND advanced the Priest's wincon at the same time).
I build all my decks on my own and done really well with many of them on my way to and in legend. It takes practice and a general understanding of the meta, as well as Tracking your winrate and don’t stop experimenting just because the first version didn’t go that well. You need to have an idea of your paths to victory, how long it takes to win and how you want to survive until then. You need to determine wether your creation shall be aggro, tempo, midrange or control. After that you have to cut the cards that don’t fit the archetype (like removing rustwix from a midrange demonlock) even if they might be fun. If you play off meta homebrew stuff you do not need to make it even worse.
then you have to experiment. If the thing you planned to do to win the game isn’t happening often enough to win games, think about ways to speed it and make it more consistent. If that doesn’t work, your wincon might be a failure and you have to start over
Look at decks on hsreplay to see which cards are doing well (high win percentage when played) in different decks.
When you draw a card that you've recently changed or added in, think about how useful that is in the game and if it would be better as a different card.
Think about if you want cards to make the game go longer or shorter and what the goal of your deck is and what stage of the game you typically win.
1. Analyse cards and check their strengths/find obvious synergies, e.g.: If you want a Nethrandamus deck you need cards that can "die" a lot or benefit from minion deaths, so Coordinated Strike, Command the Illidari, Blood Herald, Feast of Souls, Wrathscale Naga, Umberwing, Ur'zul Horror and Coilfang Warlord are mandatory cards because they summon more minions per card and thus can die more often than other cards. Each class has a "token" , a "Big" and often times a "Spell" archetype, just see what fits in there. Fill the rest with neutral cards that contribute to that archetype to form a reasonable mana curve.
Another thing to note: Same goes for discount synergies. Playing an Imprisoned Scrap Imp followed up by a Shadow Council can really be broken. Just double up on those bonuses and watch your opponent concede.
2. When doing that, try to find obvious on-curve synergies and anti-synergies. Putting a Pit Commander or a Fel Summoner into a deck with a Sightless Watcher or a Ur'zul Horror doesn't make a lot of sense since A) you don't want to skip Sightless Watchers Battlecry and B) you don't want to put a tiny Demon out. So these go into different decks. Fel Summoner and Imprisoned Antaen look much better because you put a big Demon for free on the board and with luck trigger the Dormant effect one turn earlier if you opponent triggers Fel Summoners Deathrattle on his Turn.
6. That's why Murloc decks are often times safe crafts because the synergie is very obvious compared to other archetypes.
7. Weaker cards are being replaced with better versions for that archetype via expansions. Gurubashi Berserker for example was replaced by Floating Watcher in Goblins vs. Gnomes because it is stronger and still synergizes wit Dread Infernal in a Big Demon deck - on curve.
8. Decks with Cards that say "if you have XXX in hand" usually want you to also have cards that can draw more cards early on so you actually have these cards in hand to midgame.
- You need some intelligence regarding current meta, so check last 3-7 days meta stats with hsreplay.net
- check meta deck popularity and win% vs the other popular archetypes (the archetypes win% table) and you need to try and understand why each decks is favor against the other type, to verify that you can test yourself by being able to "guess" quiet accurate the win rates of each main archetype against the other types
- Focus on the meta ranks that are relevant to you, so don't look at high legend or very low ranks, Diamond 5 to Legend is good. - If the meta is balanced and many different archetypes are played it will be hard to create a favorite counter (meta "solved"), sometime you have above 50% aggro arch-types so you can counter with a Control deck. In most cases, When you design a competitive deck the first thing you need to think about is if it will be good vs Aggro, because Aggro is in general very popular in HS (especially if not in legend) Even if you have cool idea about special synergy or nice combo you need to consider that vs. aggro it wont work well for you, and aggro is the main enemy.
Aggro decks are "resolved/optimized" first, so dont try to design the best aggro deck in the game, its probably already in Play and well known. Regarding card quality you need to check the stats and pick the best performing.
Practice practice pracitce. And be okay with losing alot.....use the rank 5 and 10 floors to experiment....as you lose alot you will get a feel for what works and what doesnt.....
However, the meta is HS the past year is all about combo and quest....fast decks...so its a real grind to play home brew decks and expect to do well with them....it can get frustrating losing to quest mage game after game.......also check out other deck builder streams for ideas and to see how otheres think about the process....good luck!!
I find deck building one of the most rewarding aspects of HS.
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There are so many options, and every time I build my own deck it is downright repugnant. Of course I do alright with netdecks, but I see pros swap cards out depending on the meta, whenever I try to do this I am overwhelmed by not all the options, but all the GOOD options, and no matter what I swap the whole deck goes to shit. Are there videos to watch? I watch all the popular streamers about 4 hours a day, and play about 14 hours a day. WHY AM I SO AWEFUL. I love love love this game, but I was way better at deckbuilding in MTG FeelsBadMan
MTG is shit for rich kids, doesn't count on deckbuilding. Everything is already done and many decks are already netdecked but with real stuff.
Hearthstone is just the same, but digital and not so much for rich kids (or maybe yes).
Build around one sub card and test it, never sub two copies of a tech or any card u want to sub. Try to narrow ur choices to 1 copy of each tech/conditional cards and 2 copies of real and useful cards.
Also try to follow this math - few copies of 4 mana cards, 2 or 3 of 5mana cards and no more than 2 copies of 7+ mana cards. Try to fit ur deck with cards that can be played from 1 to 3 mana into 20cards at least. Follow the early tip to finish the deck 3-5 4 mana cards/ 2-4 5 mana cards/ 1-2 6+ mana cards.
This will make ur game flow more than premade greed strategies that we do on our heads before construct a deck.
I always like to feel what's good in the meta and also play every currently famous deck, to see what their weaknesses are. If you then start your own deck, you can slowly build your way towards countering the meta.
I think the most important part is just doing it often, you natuarlly get better then.
Also playing 14 hours(???!!!) seems a lot; a lot of times you get better if you sleep a lot and take a lot of breaks.
Also another important thing is to not hold on too tight to some cards. Like e.g. Wand Thief seems like a very good card in a lot of mage decks, that feature minions. But sometimes it just doesn't really add up towards your general plan, although not being awful. Just keep tweaking and testing and you'll get better.
Also, playing your same deck over and over is important, too. B/c you get better in how this deck plays; not always straight forward.
Hope you'll have some future success with it!
Watch me play :)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwk2WA4qQ6WRM9chJK2KSYQ
@op, that's the problem actually - only very few options are actually really good, depending on the class you play. It's always been the same with HS. If you deviate from that, your deck's win rate will likely drop (unless you are extremely lucky and find some secret combination that very few decks can counter).
Want to get better at deck building? Try other games, including single player ones (not that HS is far from that, but still...).
I think it comes down to deciding what general wincon your deck has (or can have) based on the available obvious synergies (since expansions are released around those) and trying to make the most of that strategy. It is all too tempting to dilute it with tech cards, favourite cards etc. and I definitely fall pray of that because I like versatility. But this makes your counters less reliable as you have too many for different scenarios and hence your winrate drops. So focus on the wincon, maximise the number of cards that get you there and fill the rest of slots with some counters (ideally, you find cards that do both and that is why some decks get nerfed - good example is the recent Shadow Priest rework of Illucia, it was a counter AND advanced the Priest's wincon at the same time).
I build all my decks on my own and done really well with many of them on my way to and in legend. It takes practice and a general understanding of the meta, as well as Tracking your winrate and don’t stop experimenting just because the first version didn’t go that well. You need to have an idea of your paths to victory, how long it takes to win and how you want to survive until then. You need to determine wether your creation shall be aggro, tempo, midrange or control. After that you have to cut the cards that don’t fit the archetype (like removing rustwix from a midrange demonlock) even if they might be fun. If you play off meta homebrew stuff you do not need to make it even worse.
then you have to experiment. If the thing you planned to do to win the game isn’t happening often enough to win games, think about ways to speed it and make it more consistent. If that doesn’t work, your wincon might be a failure and you have to start over
Here are the steps to do it:
1. Analyse cards and check their strengths/find obvious synergies, e.g.: If you want a Nethrandamus deck you need cards that can "die" a lot or benefit from minion deaths, so Coordinated Strike, Command the Illidari, Blood Herald, Feast of Souls, Wrathscale Naga, Umberwing, Ur'zul Horror and Coilfang Warlord are mandatory cards because they summon more minions per card and thus can die more often than other cards. Each class has a "token" , a "Big" and often times a "Spell" archetype, just see what fits in there. Fill the rest with neutral cards that contribute to that archetype to form a reasonable mana curve.
Another thing to note: Same goes for discount synergies. Playing an Imprisoned Scrap Imp followed up by a Shadow Council can really be broken. Just double up on those bonuses and watch your opponent concede.
2. When doing that, try to find obvious on-curve synergies and anti-synergies. Putting a Pit Commander or a Fel Summoner into a deck with a Sightless Watcher or a Ur'zul Horror doesn't make a lot of sense since A) you don't want to skip Sightless Watchers Battlecry and B) you don't want to put a tiny Demon out. So these go into different decks. Fel Summoner and Imprisoned Antaen look much better because you put a big Demon for free on the board and with luck trigger the Dormant effect one turn earlier if you opponent triggers Fel Summoners Deathrattle on his Turn.
3. On-Curve synergies like mentioned above: Parade Leader on turn 2 followed up by Coordinated Strike or Magehunter or Felrattler on turn 3 is great. There are tons of other examples, often times in combination with Neutral cards too e.g. Animated Berserker turn 1-> Dozing Marksman turn 2 or Shieldbearer Turn 1 -> Cruel Taskmaster Turn 2 or Spirit of the Shark Turn 4 -> Former Champ Turn 5. (These interactions where designed that way). Trust me, if you make lots of those on curve-synergies work you will have a big advantage. If you put Raging Felscreamer in you deck you definitely want Priestess of Fury as well since there is always a chance to discount the Priestess to 5 to create on-curve synergy. Same applies to Death Speaker Blackthorn: he can summon 5 cost Deathrattle cards so you def. want Burning Blade Acolyte in your deck with him.
4. If you like secret synergies you need at least 6 secret cards in your deck to make good use of it.
5. This way you will be able to craft your own decks and reach legend with homebrews as you use cards very efficiently. There is a reason that you received Kobold Geomancer, Ogre Magi and Gurubashi Berserker as Warlock rewards in vanilla Hearthstone: Kobold Geomancer + Shadow Bolt or Mortal Coil, Ogre Magi turn 4 -> Bane of Doom Turn 5, Gurubashi Berserker Turn 5 -> Dread Infernal Turn 6. (Both Mortal Coil and Bane of Doom need Spell Damage support to have a higher chance of triggering their effect). Sure, Kobold Geomancer might work in Mage too, but Classic/Basic Mage doesn't have a single Spell that benefits from Spell Damage on Turn 3.
6. That's why Murloc decks are often times safe crafts because the synergie is very obvious compared to other archetypes.
7. Weaker cards are being replaced with better versions for that archetype via expansions. Gurubashi Berserker for example was replaced by Floating Watcher in Goblins vs. Gnomes because it is stronger and still synergizes wit Dread Infernal in a Big Demon deck - on curve.
8. Decks with Cards that say "if you have XXX in hand" usually want you to also have cards that can draw more cards early on so you actually have these cards in hand to midgame.
9. Profit
- You need some intelligence regarding current meta, so check last 3-7 days meta stats with hsreplay.net
- check meta deck popularity and win% vs the other popular archetypes (the archetypes win% table) and you need to try and understand why each decks is favor against the other type, to verify that you can test yourself by being able to "guess" quiet accurate the win rates of each main archetype against the other types
- Focus on the meta ranks that are relevant to you, so don't look at high legend or very low ranks, Diamond 5 to Legend is good.
- If the meta is balanced and many different archetypes are played it will be hard to create a favorite counter (meta "solved"), sometime you have above 50% aggro arch-types so you can counter with a Control deck.
In most cases, When you design a competitive deck the first thing you need to think about is if it will be good vs Aggro, because Aggro is in general very popular in HS (especially if not in legend)
Even if you have cool idea about special synergy or nice combo you need to consider that vs. aggro it wont work well for you, and aggro is the main enemy.
Aggro decks are "resolved/optimized" first, so dont try to design the best aggro deck in the game, its probably already in Play and well known.
Regarding card quality you need to check the stats and pick the best performing.
Practice practice pracitce. And be okay with losing alot.....use the rank 5 and 10 floors to experiment....as you lose alot you will get a feel for what works and what doesnt.....
However, the meta is HS the past year is all about combo and quest....fast decks...so its a real grind to play home brew decks and expect to do well with them....it can get frustrating losing to quest mage game after game.......also check out other deck builder streams for ideas and to see how otheres think about the process....good luck!!
I find deck building one of the most rewarding aspects of HS.