i'll play a tier 1 deck if it's fun and suits my playstyle. i've been enjoying various control warlock builds for the last several months, some of which have floated in and out of the top tier. i don't generally enjoy curve or face decks though - spiteful decks are the absolute worst - and those are the decks that the game tends to privilege. but i did like tempo rogue in the bonemare era.
I rarely play Tier 1 decks, because they're mostly aggro/combo and I do not enjoy this playstyle. I'm a hardcore control player, I play control 80% of the time, 20% of the time I just play meme decks for the lulz. I stopped playing standard ranked a long time ago, I mostly jut play casual and wild.
**Preface** This is not a rant against any Tier 1 deck
Since the beginning I have consistently avoided playing the top dominant Tier 1 deck(s) - especially on ladder. I used to think I behaved this way because of deck play style as I prefer control or combo and the top decks usually tend to be an aggressive style (Pirate Warrior, Deathrattle hunter, etc.). But the last few metas have featured non-aggro decks as dominant decks (Razakus Priest, control/cubelock etc.). Plus many of these recent top decks have things I usually love to play with - timely board clears, value generating late game, clever value combos, and controlling or stalling mentality.
So why do I still purposely avoid the Tier 1 dominant decks? . I do honestly understand why people play these decks and why they would look down on anyone not playing the dominant deck in a ladder/competitive environment - after all, why would you not want to maximize your chance of winning, especially if it is in a class and play style you like?
To be honest I am not sure why I avoid these decks, even in casual I find myself not really wanting to build or play the tier 1 decks. Likely, it is something more than the reasons mentioned in the poll. So I wanted to reach out to the community and see if anyone else has this tendency - and more importantly ask why do you choose to go against the grain? Especially on ladder, why do you choose to play a non-top deck? I welcome comments from the Teir 1 deck supporters as well! What do you enjoy about playing these decks?
Why not maximize your chance of winning? Because you aren't spike.
Yes I'm going there.
There's three well accepted 'mentalities' for wanting to play card games. Those 'mentalities' spread out into more nuanced ideals but they tend to fit into the three concepts as a whole.
Spikes: Spikes want to 'prove something'. It's that "I want to be the very best, like no one ever was." Many will see the ranking system, point to Legend rank 1 and go "oh, that's where I belong." Others have other things to prove, such as "My playstyle is better than the others." or "Rogue is the best class, and I get it like others don't." or, similarly, "I'm the best Rogue player." or simply "I pity the person in front of me. Knowing you're going to lose must suck so much."
I'm exaggerating, but you get the idea. They see a goal and want to conquer it.
Johnny: Johnny wants to 'express something'. They want to establish an identity through their play. They want to know that what they do is their own design. They are the ones that..well.... feel what you do. playing the same thing everyone else bloody does feels robotic. Johnny wants to run their own decks, or play to their own style, or make their own goals or design their own cards. Even if they play a tier 1 deck, it's because it fits THEIR style that THEY wish to play with. If they win, it'll be THEIR way.
Timmy: Timmy wants to 'experience something'. Know those folks who fuss the most about how stale the meta gets, or how Witchwood ended up with the same decks as what we had last rotation? Timmy wants to enjoy themselves. They want to play fun decks and have fun doing it. Some enjoy the insanity of Yogg decks and what you see on Youtube. Some want the struggle of the fight and the thrill of the victory. Some want something they can talk about with friends. But they are the first to scream at all of the tryhards and hipsters and go "THIS IS A GAME!!"
From there it gets more nuanced, such as a Spike that tries to create the new tier 1 deck and the spike that wants to perfect decks or a Johnny that wants to make that Tier 4 deck Tier 1. There's also hybrids as well.
So yeah, the folks who want to play dominate decks all day and night and Spikes. The folks who ask what 'good decks' are out there 'that aren't Tier 1' are timmies. The folks who swear that their freeze shaman deck actually works are typically Johnnies.
And if you are looking at someone and wondering why in the world are they playing the game, it's probably a type that isn't your own.
I don't learn much by playing tier one decks. Sure, I might not win much, but I learn why I don't win much. For instance, what makes abominable bowman bad? Mainly, its hunter's lack of board clears (because unleash the hounds doesn't work with it, card draw is solved by deathstalker rexxar). I know this because I've played around and lost more games than I can count trying to make that card work.
Also, I just find taking a deck everyone knows is good and winning with it to be boring. Trying to counter the meta decks while designing my own deck is a fun challenge I can enjoy.
I started playing with my own version of Wild Even Shaman a few weeks ago because it felt like an original new archetype that could revamp the class from the bottom of the meta - turns out the archetype is t1 already. :(
But anyway, in general i don't ladder up with t1 because i like to homebrew or customise strategies: t1 are already refined decks, and leave no room for that.
I am mostly yes to the not playing tier 1 but for a while I play zoo lock and I think a variant of it was top tier but it wasn't what I had as I was always missing a Mal'ganis or the likes (Leeroy who?). I also played some of the aggro shaman back when it was tier one (but it was literally tier one for like 15 months after LOE). Aside from those, I usually (A) don't have enough dust- like now, I have elemental shaman and murloc quest shaman, (B) some of them I don't like playing, and lastly (C) I don't play enough to invest any more money than what I do (which I'm probably close to the $500 mark already, although been playing infrequently and casually since beta).
I have all cards, so I play the decks I like the most. When I did not put money on the game, I played a lot of Pirate Warrior (before MSoG, when it was a bad aggro deck) and loved playing it. When MSoG was released, deck got many cards that made it overpowered, so I started to get many people adding me to insult after a game.
Now I play the decks that I want because I have all cards. I was playing a lot of Taunt Druid and Dragon Shudderwock Shaman (I love to have 3 Rushing 7/20 taunt Shudderwock every turn), because I have fun, not because they are meta ( in case of Shudderwock deck sure it is not) but I can understand people that are not whale like me who need to play tier 1 decks to improve the collection.
There are some tier 1 decks that are very good to play, like Cubelock.
Because they re completly mindless. Look at even paladin and aggro mage, though the latter is not T1. All what they do is dragging things on your face till you die. Instead, I really like decks like control warlock, where you MUST think with your mind in order to win, but the combo with doomguards (in cube variant) and the DK are just f#cking broken. Then I hate cheating mana, that s not fair. With the nerf to lackey, maybe we ll see other variants of this class, like Even Warlock.
"The flow of time is always cruel... its speed seems different for each person, but no one can change it... A thing that does not change with time is a memory of younger days..."
Netdecking a Tier 2 or 3 deck is still netdecking, lads.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Start of Year: Provoke the failure of 3 expansions, force nerfs on otherwise balanced cards, bring deckbuilding to an all-time low and get rotated one year earlier for being such a threat to the game's health. - Genn and Baku's historical entry on the White Book of Shit Design, shortly before retiring unpunished
For me, making a deck is half the fun. Unfortunately winning is the other half, and its much, much harder to win with a homebrew. Still, if get a 50% win rate with a home brew, then I've achieved 75% fun. But a 75% win rate with a net deck is only 37.5% fun.
About a year into HS, I was struggling to break into rank 10, and was wondering if I sucked or was just playing sub-par decks. So, I netdecked (pirate warrior) for the only time ever and shot up to rank 3 in no time. It was miserable, but confirmed that I was fine as a player. My one legendary came in the first week of Ungoro, where I made a Murloc Pally that destroyed the ladder in just a few days. A similar deck became top tier shortly after, but the one I made was not net-decked. My one success story :)
All told, I'd rather have fun with my own deck around rank 10, then grind the higher ranks with a netdeck.
I play their 1 sometimes, often they are pretty cool decks and it really helps to understand how they work if you want to beat them.
I live for the meme decks though. Crazy combos, so bad it's good, silly win conditions and such. I'll take quite a few losses for the chance to pull off a crazy combo win.
Also, I make all my own decks, but I certainly read hot lists for ideas and use the tech they come up with. My versions of tier 1 decks tend to have a few tech changes, or sometimes just a couple bad cards slotted in that I find fun to play.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Check out my gaming blog: Downy Owlbear Designs and download free P&P games. Or argue with me about games on Qallout, the video debate site.
You are missing for me one of the most important reasons. Classes reasons. I play only rogue, I have like 30 wins in ranked with other classes and over 2000 with rogue. Hearthstone for me is only rogue, it is the only class that I like. When rogue sucks unistall hearthstone is my choice. So I play only rogue’s deck. No tier 1 rogue’s deck? So I will not play a tier 1 deck, but a tier 2 or 3 rogue’s deck. If there are no decks that I like I will play wild. If there are no good rogue’s deck in standard and in Wild unistall the game will be my choice. Like now for me there are no rogue’s deck in standard and I am playing only wild.
I dont mind playing tier one decks as long as they are fun. I usually play rogue tho (over 2k wins, rest classes at ~800) which is usually tier 2 becouse it's weak to aggro.
I play decks that appeal to me. For example Hagatha and Shudderwock are cards I like so I crafted them and I made a deck with them in it. It never crossed my mind how strong the deck was, I only cared about how fun it was. For the record I hit legend with it. The idea you need to play a tier 1 deck to hit legend is illogical. You just need to play a deck that can beat them.
I don't intentionally avoid them, but I also don't go out of my way to play them. Also, I probably have never played more than a game or two with any "netdeck" without changing at least a card or two.
Personally, I don't care for aggro decks, so I never jumped on the Paladin bandwagon. I already have my warlock golden portrait, so I haven't jumped on the cube train either. My luck is about as shitty as it can be, so Spiteful decks have never really been a thing for me.
But, that being said, I also enjoy winning, so I tend to steer clear of playing my homebrew decks on ladder.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I wanna glide down, over Mulholland I wanna write her, name in the sky I wanna free fall, out into nothin' Gonna leave this, world for awhile
i'll play a tier 1 deck if it's fun and suits my playstyle. i've been enjoying various control warlock builds for the last several months, some of which have floated in and out of the top tier. i don't generally enjoy curve or face decks though - spiteful decks are the absolute worst - and those are the decks that the game tends to privilege. but i did like tempo rogue in the bonemare era.
I rarely play Tier 1 decks, because they're mostly aggro/combo and I do not enjoy this playstyle. I'm a hardcore control player, I play control 80% of the time, 20% of the time I just play meme decks for the lulz. I stopped playing standard ranked a long time ago, I mostly jut play casual and wild.
there's an option lacking...I DESPISE mirror matches
One does not simply walk into Mordor,
unless they want to be the best they can be.
I don't learn much by playing tier one decks. Sure, I might not win much, but I learn why I don't win much. For instance, what makes abominable bowman bad? Mainly, its hunter's lack of board clears (because unleash the hounds doesn't work with it, card draw is solved by deathstalker rexxar). I know this because I've played around and lost more games than I can count trying to make that card work.
Also, I just find taking a deck everyone knows is good and winning with it to be boring. Trying to counter the meta decks while designing my own deck is a fun challenge I can enjoy.
I started playing with my own version of Wild Even Shaman a few weeks ago because it felt like an original new archetype that could revamp the class from the bottom of the meta - turns out the archetype is t1 already. :(
But anyway, in general i don't ladder up with t1 because i like to homebrew or customise strategies: t1 are already refined decks, and leave no room for that.
I am mostly yes to the not playing tier 1 but for a while I play zoo lock and I think a variant of it was top tier but it wasn't what I had as I was always missing a Mal'ganis or the likes (Leeroy who?). I also played some of the aggro shaman back when it was tier one (but it was literally tier one for like 15 months after LOE). Aside from those, I usually (A) don't have enough dust- like now, I have elemental shaman and murloc quest shaman, (B) some of them I don't like playing, and lastly (C) I don't play enough to invest any more money than what I do (which I'm probably close to the $500 mark already, although been playing infrequently and casually since beta).
I have all cards, so I play the decks I like the most. When I did not put money on the game, I played a lot of Pirate Warrior (before MSoG, when it was a bad aggro deck) and loved playing it. When MSoG was released, deck got many cards that made it overpowered, so I started to get many people adding me to insult after a game.
Now I play the decks that I want because I have all cards. I was playing a lot of Taunt Druid and Dragon Shudderwock Shaman (I love to have 3 Rushing 7/20 taunt Shudderwock every turn), because I have fun, not because they are meta ( in case of Shudderwock deck sure it is not) but I can understand people that are not whale like me who need to play tier 1 decks to improve the collection.
There are some tier 1 decks that are very good to play, like Cubelock.
Because they re completly mindless. Look at even paladin and aggro mage, though the latter is not T1. All what they do is dragging things on your face till you die. Instead, I really like decks like control warlock, where you MUST think with your mind in order to win, but the combo with doomguards (in cube variant) and the DK are just f#cking broken. Then I hate cheating mana, that s not fair. With the nerf to lackey, maybe we ll see other variants of this class, like Even Warlock.
"The flow of time is always cruel... its speed seems different for each person, but no one can change it... A thing that does not change with time is a memory of younger days..."
Netdecking a Tier 2 or 3 deck is still netdecking, lads.
Start of Year: Provoke the failure of 3 expansions, force nerfs on otherwise balanced cards, bring deckbuilding to an all-time low and get rotated one year earlier for being such a threat to the game's health.
- Genn and Baku's historical entry on the White Book of Shit Design, shortly before retiring unpunished
Math.
For me, making a deck is half the fun. Unfortunately winning is the other half, and its much, much harder to win with a homebrew. Still, if get a 50% win rate with a home brew, then I've achieved 75% fun. But a 75% win rate with a net deck is only 37.5% fun.
About a year into HS, I was struggling to break into rank 10, and was wondering if I sucked or was just playing sub-par decks. So, I netdecked (pirate warrior) for the only time ever and shot up to rank 3 in no time. It was miserable, but confirmed that I was fine as a player. My one legendary came in the first week of Ungoro, where I made a Murloc Pally that destroyed the ladder in just a few days. A similar deck became top tier shortly after, but the one I made was not net-decked. My one success story :)
All told, I'd rather have fun with my own deck around rank 10, then grind the higher ranks with a netdeck.
I play their 1 sometimes, often they are pretty cool decks and it really helps to understand how they work if you want to beat them.
I live for the meme decks though. Crazy combos, so bad it's good, silly win conditions and such. I'll take quite a few losses for the chance to pull off a crazy combo win.
Also, I make all my own decks, but I certainly read hot lists for ideas and use the tech they come up with. My versions of tier 1 decks tend to have a few tech changes, or sometimes just a couple bad cards slotted in that I find fun to play.
Check out my gaming blog: Downy Owlbear Designs and download free P&P games.
Or argue with me about games on Qallout, the video debate site.
double post
Greetings, traveler.
Let's make Hunter great.
Greetings, traveler.
Let's make Hunter great.
I dont mind playing tier one decks as long as they are fun. I usually play rogue tho (over 2k wins, rest classes at ~800) which is usually tier 2 becouse it's weak to aggro.
I play decks that appeal to me. For example Hagatha and Shudderwock are cards I like so I crafted them and I made a deck with them in it. It never crossed my mind how strong the deck was, I only cared about how fun it was. For the record I hit legend with it. The idea you need to play a tier 1 deck to hit legend is illogical. You just need to play a deck that can beat them.
I find wins via broken cards and synergies cheap and not fun. I also don’t believe they promote skill and deck building which can form complacency.
I don't intentionally avoid them, but I also don't go out of my way to play them. Also, I probably have never played more than a game or two with any "netdeck" without changing at least a card or two.
Personally, I don't care for aggro decks, so I never jumped on the Paladin bandwagon. I already have my warlock golden portrait, so I haven't jumped on the cube train either. My luck is about as shitty as it can be, so Spiteful decks have never really been a thing for me.
But, that being said, I also enjoy winning, so I tend to steer clear of playing my homebrew decks on ladder.
I wanna glide down, over Mulholland
I wanna write her, name in the sky
I wanna free fall, out into nothin'
Gonna leave this, world for awhile
I don't want to inflict cancer on other players.
I suck at Hearthstone.