So I've been playing since around September of last year, I've also played MTG for 7 years now. I've gotten higher than rank 10 once or twice. What I don't understand, is that I know how to play the decks I do, and I know that they're solid decks with decent winrates. Tempo Mage, Midrange Druid Etc. I get that some decks have bad matchups. But Sometimes I'll get on losing streaks, Be aware that I'm getting tilted, stop, have a break, come back later, and do It again. 3 days ago I was rank 11, now I'm down to 15. I get that sometimes you lose, but I just don't understand what's going on. I'm a decent enough player that I shouldn't get completely wrecked. I stop and analyse things I could've done better in the games I lose and the minds a blank. Does this happen/has this happened to anyone else? How do you deal with just constantly losing despite knowing that you can win?
Yea , Hearthstone or any CTG is not all about being good and having a good deck. It also has a lot to do with luck.
Also have you been trying to modify your deck against the decks you are losing to? If you are losing to the rush decks a lot you might wanna put an Antique or something else.
Admittedly I haven't really been modifying them all that much, but the one time I did try that I added some anti aggro tech and got wrecked by 2 control warriors and a dragon priest. So it didnt seem to help all that much. So I guess my question is how to make my games less decided by luck?
Losing a game, or a string of games, can come from several factors. One mis-play, one bad mulligan, one unlucky RNG roll, you get the idea.
With this game, I've found, you have to play the numbers. Having a good deck and good knowledge of opponent deck's is only 50%. The rest comes from practice, educated guessing, a little bit of luck, and the desire to (win) play a lot of games.
This season has been a struggle for a lot of people, myself included, as I like to play control decks and I don't stick with one deck in particular. This season I have basically stuck with Handlock, and the farthest I've gotten this season is rank 8.
I suggest you pick one deck that you think is the best, the one that you like to play the most, and post it here. Maybe there is something in your deck list you are over looking. Either way: You would benefit from optimizing one deck and it's matchups, which leads to better decision making and ultimately momentum building.
The most common advice to improving is to watch better players and their decision making. Track your own stats. Reflect on previous games, both wins and losses, to look for better plays. Don't play Ranked if you aren't focused on playing as perfectly as possible. Stop when you feel you're just auto-piloting.
All of the above guarantees nothing, and it can be very hard to overcome the feeling of helplessness when you put forth a lot of effort into controlling and maximizing your chances to win, only to have it snatched from you in the worst possible way. But that's Hearthstone, and card games in general, and that's why you have to play to the numbers.
I have also had this problem also around rank 10. I understand the decks although it is weird how I will play a deck one week and do great the same deck a week later will get wrecked .Is it the meta shift I am not adapting to ? I put most the blame on myself. I guess what I am really asking is what strategy do you guys use when climbing the ladder ? Do you switch decks after 3 losses or tech in necessary counter cards ? Thanks in advance.
That's all there is to it, sometimes I can be stuck in rank 10 for 2 weeks because the stupid ass decks beat me back to having no stars, I work my way back to just before hitting rank 9 and there we go again, if RNGesus is not on your side you can forget about moving higher in constructed...
i usually got to around rank 8 every season playing whatever (even mill rogue that one season). then started playing CW and got to rank 4 a couple times. then secret pally is everywhere so cw isnt as good anymore. right now im just playing patron exclusively only rank 10. i dont really deserve to be higher than 10 with this deck ill be honest. i think its a combination of how good a deck is how much you know the deck and how innately good you are playing it. if youre only playing tempo mage and combo druid i would just switch over to better decks. those decks are alright but they never really click for me personally and arent really even op. they are just ok. i would just try something else like midrange hunter, patron, or secret paladin. also do things like thinking multiple turns ahead of time.
The main problem i find with players that cant rank up is they dont plan ahead much. Sometimes its better to save removal for a future threat. For example swiping a paladin board that hasnt played muster yet can lose you the game. Or polymorphing a belcher and then opponent plays ysera. This happens to me a lot when im learning a new deck. A way that you beat high level players is to bluff them into thinking you dont have a card yet or you wouldve played it so they stop playing around it or overextend etc. sometimes you have to push for damage for a two turn lethal than extend the game if you will lose in the long run.
you have to think and go back to that moment that lost you the game and think what could i have done to prevent this from getting out of control, sometimes nothing but a lot of the time you can find a more optimal play. To this day i still find myself realizing that another play couldve been better in some games and thats why i lost them. It sucks to lose a bad mu but sucks more to lose one thats in your favor.
also realize what tier deck you are playing. Its okay to lose more if you are shaman than if you play patron or demonlock or secret pala them the loss is more on you if you lose a lot. Then you have to figure if its a misplay on your part, or the deck is faulty and needs to be teched.
Your deck looks weak with too many not-so-powerful spells and top-heavy minions to be consistent (although a top player would surely make it work ok) . I suspect you often don't manage to gain board control before you get to play your big boys.
Losing 4 ranks (>= 15 stars) usually suggests a wrong 'mindset': you may have lost a game where your opponent got lucky with a big early minion and now you feel you simply *have* to keep on to that fireball in your opening hand, or something like that. This is wrong and causes you to lose more often, but you feel like you have no choice and keep doing it.
To counter that, a good start is to play a top mage deck so if you lose many games then you *know* it is you and not the deck. Then you can start to figure out why. If you play that comfortably then by all means create your own versions of decks: lots of fun to play unconventional strategies. But then you also have a better idea of possible shortcomings of the deck and how to compensate.
Another option is to play multiple decks yourself, so you get a better understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. Good luck.
I have tried Polymorph: Boar and Spellslinger and I never thought they were that useful. I can't imagine not running Mad Scientist with secrets in the deck, its just such good value. So maybe sub in Mad Scientist x2 for those cards.
So one thing to note: when you play Counterspell in your deck is that it is a little bit of anti-synergy to run Mechanical Yeti. The reason being is that you are giving your opponent a cheap useless spell to proc your Counterspell and that could really work against you. I know the spare part is useful for Archmage Antonidas, but maybe consider running Azure Drake instead, especially since you don't have any 5 drops.
If you're getting to rank 10 then you're in the top 10% (I think, I don't have exact numbers to hand) of players. It's not that it's impossible to win, you are 'winning' in a sense, because 90% of players each month don't get as high as you do. You're just not quite good enough to really break into the upper echelons and reach the elite tiers. This is harder than it was a few months ago because there are more people battling to reach rank 5 to get the golden epic at the end of the month. Success comes down to:
- Time playing (more games = more win streaks = higher rank) - Getting as good a collection as possible (it's amazing how many people on here say they are playing 'Handlock' or 'Control Warrior' but when you dig deeper they have a lot of missing cards subbed for inferior alternatives). - Choosing the right deck - Competency at playing your chosen deck (including knowing how to play each common matchup correctly) - Competency at playing the game in general (because often random things happen in game that take you outside your comfort zone) - Knowledge of the meta and what decks are good at any given time. - Luck
There's no point in obsessing about the last one, because it's the one you can't control. Work on getting better at the other six
While playing keep track of your wins and losses. After 50 or so games tech your deck to help with the decks you are facing most and are losing to the most. Play another 50 games and repeat if needed. Stick with one deck and learn that one deck as best as you can. Don't switch decks unless the deck you are playing (after 50 or so games) is clearly not going to be able to handle the meta that you are facing. Good luck with your climb.
As far as your tempo mage deck, if I was to run tempo mage again I would:
-1 Arcane Missiles (two is ok if all you face is aggro)
-1 Mirror Image (two is ok in a warrior/weapon heavy meta, otherwise not all that useful)
-Counterspell (this card is ok in a hunter heavy format, otherwise not too great)
So I've been playing since around September of last year, I've also played MTG for 7 years now. I've gotten higher than rank 10 once or twice. What I don't understand, is that I know how to play the decks I do, and I know that they're solid decks with decent winrates. Tempo Mage, Midrange Druid Etc. I get that some decks have bad matchups. But Sometimes I'll get on losing streaks, Be aware that I'm getting tilted, stop, have a break, come back later, and do It again. 3 days ago I was rank 11, now I'm down to 15. I get that sometimes you lose, but I just don't understand what's going on. I'm a decent enough player that I shouldn't get completely wrecked. I stop and analyse things I could've done better in the games I lose and the minds a blank. Does this happen/has this happened to anyone else? How do you deal with just constantly losing despite knowing that you can win?
Success is HS has a lot to do with building a deck that that counters the meta. There is a lot of luck/variance in the game and it comes down to playing a lot of games and getting over 50% wins. If you only play a few games and lose all/most of them then it may seem that all you do is lose. Good players realize this and don't get tilted or emotional when they lose, they make changes if necessary then move on to the next game.
Don't overthink it honestly. People aren't lying when they say just play the deck you're most comfortable with and you should be fine, and that's really there is to it. Deck match up has a lot to do with your success and sometimes you`ll just get a string of good match ups and you`ll get a good streak going. When you`re at rank 15 (really anything below 5) you`re gonna be running into a crap ton of different decks so don`t worry about teching this and that unless like three or more of the match ups need the same techs. Just make a deck, keep it concise and keep it focused.
There are so many factors to how successful you are at winning games and climbing the ladder. I floundered the 1st part of the month experimenting with different priest decks and went from 18 to 10 to 17 and now I'm at rank 6. There was a stretch of playing gimmicky priest decks where i would lose 4 or 5 games in a row and it was depressing, but I am grinding out golden priest so it wasn't the end of the world.
1. Beginning of month is harder.
2. Sometimes you play a great "anti-meta" deck and are able to win lots of games.
3. You are playing the OP flavor of the month and just do well because the deck is strong and everyone isn't ready for it.
4. You get lucky or really unlucky for a streak.
At the end of the day your main success in hearthstone is up to the deck you play and how well you play it.
So a couple thoughts here based on your OP as well as you sharing your decklist.
#1. You're not as good as you think you are. Not saying this in a mean way or to be a troll - but if you're not breaking level 10 on a regular basis (you say you've been playing the game since a year ago) then you really are missing something. Which leads me to point #2...
#2. You don't understand the meta well enough. Understanding the meta doesn't just mean "oh yeah I know a lot of people are playing secret paladin/combo druid/midrange hunter/CW".. It means you actually know how to play against the most popular decks. As the guy above me posted can you answer those 3 questions pretty much on a regular basis. Do you know how to actually play around secret paladin to the point where you'll win most the match-ups? This is probably where you drop off (as well as most level 10 players). If you want to get better at the game I highly suggest you focus your efforts on understanding how to counter your opponent's deck, regardless of what it is.
#3. Your deck. Based on the deck you showed us - I'd say it's a tier 2/tier 3 deck. I was playing a lot of tempo mage pre TGT and after the release I found it to drop down a notch among the new decks. Not that deck selection is everything but if you can't get on a solid win streak (like 10-0 or 12-0) it's hard to make a run to level 5. Most players that constantly hit level 5 - legendary will get on some type of good run during the season. When you play with a deck that constantly goes win-win-loss-win-loss-loss-win-loss-loss-win-win (you get the picture) it's hard to get to level 5.
#4. People say this all the time but watch pro streamers. I personally like Kolento but there are plenty of top players out there. Take some time to really walk through their play. Pause the video before they make their move. Mentally walk through exactly what you would do and then compare it to the pros. Is it the same? Is it different? If it's different, why? What did they see that you didn't? To get really good at the game it's a balance of playing/learning. You can't get better by just watching players play all the time but on the flip side at a certain point it's worth investing some of your time watching pros.
So I've been playing since around September of last year, I've also played MTG for 7 years now. I've gotten higher than rank 10 once or twice. What I don't understand, is that I know how to play the decks I do, and I know that they're solid decks with decent winrates. Tempo Mage, Midrange Druid Etc. I get that some decks have bad matchups. But Sometimes I'll get on losing streaks, Be aware that I'm getting tilted, stop, have a break, come back later, and do It again. 3 days ago I was rank 11, now I'm down to 15. I get that sometimes you lose, but I just don't understand what's going on. I'm a decent enough player that I shouldn't get completely wrecked. I stop and analyse things I could've done better in the games I lose and the minds a blank. Does this happen/has this happened to anyone else? How do you deal with just constantly losing despite knowing that you can win?
Yea , Hearthstone or any CTG is not all about being good and having a good deck. It also has a lot to do with luck.
Also have you been trying to modify your deck against the decks you are losing to? If you are losing to the rush decks a lot you might wanna put an Antique or something else.
Admittedly I haven't really been modifying them all that much, but the one time I did try that I added some anti aggro tech and got wrecked by 2 control warriors and a dragon priest. So it didnt seem to help all that much. So I guess my question is how to make my games less decided by luck?
Gotta play !
Used to be a proud Handlock player.
Legend 17 times.
Still flirting with the ladder from times to times with Renolock.
Losing a game, or a string of games, can come from several factors. One mis-play, one bad mulligan, one unlucky RNG roll, you get the idea.
With this game, I've found, you have to play the numbers. Having a good deck and good knowledge of opponent deck's is only 50%. The rest comes from practice, educated guessing, a little bit of luck, and the desire to (win) play a lot of games.
This season has been a struggle for a lot of people, myself included, as I like to play control decks and I don't stick with one deck in particular. This season I have basically stuck with Handlock, and the farthest I've gotten this season is rank 8.
I suggest you pick one deck that you think is the best, the one that you like to play the most, and post it here. Maybe there is something in your deck list you are over looking. Either way: You would benefit from optimizing one deck and it's matchups, which leads to better decision making and ultimately momentum building.
The most common advice to improving is to watch better players and their decision making. Track your own stats. Reflect on previous games, both wins and losses, to look for better plays. Don't play Ranked if you aren't focused on playing as perfectly as possible. Stop when you feel you're just auto-piloting.
All of the above guarantees nothing, and it can be very hard to overcome the feeling of helplessness when you put forth a lot of effort into controlling and maximizing your chances to win, only to have it snatched from you in the worst possible way. But that's Hearthstone, and card games in general, and that's why you have to play to the numbers.
http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/335346-flamewaker-mage-dangerzone
This is the mage Deck I'm using. Often its a coin flip how it goes, but it doesn't look too much different to other flamewaker based tempo mage decks?
I have also had this problem also around rank 10. I understand the decks although it is weird how I will play a deck one week and do great the same deck a week later will get wrecked .Is it the meta shift I am not adapting to ? I put most the blame on myself. I guess what I am really asking is what strategy do you guys use when climbing the ladder ? Do you switch decks after 3 losses or tech in necessary counter cards ? Thanks in advance.
C A S I N O S T O N E B O Y S
That's all there is to it, sometimes I can be stuck in rank 10 for 2 weeks because the stupid ass decks beat me back to having no stars, I work my way back to just before hitting rank 9 and there we go again, if RNGesus is not on your side you can forget about moving higher in constructed...
i usually got to around rank 8 every season playing whatever (even mill rogue that one season). then started playing CW and got to rank 4 a couple times. then secret pally is everywhere so cw isnt as good anymore. right now im just playing patron exclusively only rank 10. i dont really deserve to be higher than 10 with this deck ill be honest. i think its a combination of how good a deck is how much you know the deck and how innately good you are playing it. if youre only playing tempo mage and combo druid i would just switch over to better decks. those decks are alright but they never really click for me personally and arent really even op. they are just ok. i would just try something else like midrange hunter, patron, or secret paladin. also do things like thinking multiple turns ahead of time.
The main problem i find with players that cant rank up is they dont plan ahead much. Sometimes its better to save removal for a future threat. For example swiping a paladin board that hasnt played muster yet can lose you the game. Or polymorphing a belcher and then opponent plays ysera. This happens to me a lot when im learning a new deck. A way that you beat high level players is to bluff them into thinking you dont have a card yet or you wouldve played it so they stop playing around it or overextend etc. sometimes you have to push for damage for a two turn lethal than extend the game if you will lose in the long run.
you have to think and go back to that moment that lost you the game and think what could i have done to prevent this from getting out of control, sometimes nothing but a lot of the time you can find a more optimal play. To this day i still find myself realizing that another play couldve been better in some games and thats why i lost them. It sucks to lose a bad mu but sucks more to lose one thats in your favor.
also realize what tier deck you are playing. Its okay to lose more if you are shaman than if you play patron or demonlock or secret pala them the loss is more on you if you lose a lot. Then you have to figure if its a misplay on your part, or the deck is faulty and needs to be teched.
cheers.
Current Deck: [Moon-Arcane Medivh]
Watch me play and follow me on Twitch
I agree.
I would cut one Arcane Missiles for another Flamecannon. Better for removal early game and only one more mana when procc'ing Archmage Antonidas.
I have tried Polymorph: Boar and Spellslinger and I never thought they were that useful. I can't imagine not running Mad Scientist with secrets in the deck, its just such good value. So maybe sub in Mad Scientist x2 for those cards.
So one thing to note: when you play Counterspell in your deck is that it is a little bit of anti-synergy to run Mechanical Yeti. The reason being is that you are giving your opponent a cheap useless spell to proc your Counterspell and that could really work against you. I know the spare part is useful for Archmage Antonidas, but maybe consider running Azure Drake instead, especially since you don't have any 5 drops.
Just my 2 cents.
If you're getting to rank 10 then you're in the top 10% (I think, I don't have exact numbers to hand) of players. It's not that it's impossible to win, you are 'winning' in a sense, because 90% of players each month don't get as high as you do. You're just not quite good enough to really break into the upper echelons and reach the elite tiers. This is harder than it was a few months ago because there are more people battling to reach rank 5 to get the golden epic at the end of the month. Success comes down to:
- Time playing (more games = more win streaks = higher rank)
- Getting as good a collection as possible (it's amazing how many people on here say they are playing 'Handlock' or 'Control Warrior' but when you dig deeper they have a lot of missing cards subbed for inferior alternatives).
- Choosing the right deck
- Competency at playing your chosen deck (including knowing how to play each common matchup correctly)
- Competency at playing the game in general (because often random things happen in game that take you outside your comfort zone)
- Knowledge of the meta and what decks are good at any given time.
- Luck
There's no point in obsessing about the last one, because it's the one you can't control. Work on getting better at the other six
The only cancer in Hearthstone is its community.
While playing keep track of your wins and losses. After 50 or so games tech your deck to help with the decks you are facing most and are losing to the most. Play another 50 games and repeat if needed. Stick with one deck and learn that one deck as best as you can. Don't switch decks unless the deck you are playing (after 50 or so games) is clearly not going to be able to handle the meta that you are facing. Good luck with your climb.
As far as your tempo mage deck, if I was to run tempo mage again I would:
-1 Arcane Missiles (two is ok if all you face is aggro)
-1 Mirror Image (two is ok in a warrior/weapon heavy meta, otherwise not all that useful)
-Counterspell (this card is ok in a hunter heavy format, otherwise not too great)
-Polymorph: Boar
-SpellSlinger
-Mechanical Yeti
+2 Mad Scientist
+2 Mirror Entity
+2 Azure Drake
Here is my tempo deck. I have been playing and would love your guys feed back. Thanks
Success is HS has a lot to do with building a deck that that counters the meta. There is a lot of luck/variance in the game and it comes down to playing a lot of games and getting over 50% wins. If you only play a few games and lose all/most of them then it may seem that all you do is lose. Good players realize this and don't get tilted or emotional when they lose, they make changes if necessary then move on to the next game.
If you loose, somebody's winning. Thus it's not impossible to win.
Don't overthink it honestly. People aren't lying when they say just play the deck you're most comfortable with and you should be fine, and that's really there is to it. Deck match up has a lot to do with your success and sometimes you`ll just get a string of good match ups and you`ll get a good streak going. When you`re at rank 15 (really anything below 5) you`re gonna be running into a crap ton of different decks so don`t worry about teching this and that unless like three or more of the match ups need the same techs. Just make a deck, keep it concise and keep it focused.
There are so many factors to how successful you are at winning games and climbing the ladder. I floundered the 1st part of the month experimenting with different priest decks and went from 18 to 10 to 17 and now I'm at rank 6. There was a stretch of playing gimmicky priest decks where i would lose 4 or 5 games in a row and it was depressing, but I am grinding out golden priest so it wasn't the end of the world.
1. Beginning of month is harder.
2. Sometimes you play a great "anti-meta" deck and are able to win lots of games.
3. You are playing the OP flavor of the month and just do well because the deck is strong and everyone isn't ready for it.
4. You get lucky or really unlucky for a streak.
At the end of the day your main success in hearthstone is up to the deck you play and how well you play it.
Ask yourself this each turn:
"Can I name every card that my opponent can play this turn?"
"Can I name the very card that I want to draw next turn to get out of this situation?"
"Can I recite what cards are still in my library?"
----- you get the idea -----
If you can't answer these kinds of questions, you're probably not as good as you think.
"Are you not entertained?! ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!"
"What we do in life, echoes in eternity." - Maximus Decimus Meridius
So a couple thoughts here based on your OP as well as you sharing your decklist.
#1. You're not as good as you think you are. Not saying this in a mean way or to be a troll - but if you're not breaking level 10 on a regular basis (you say you've been playing the game since a year ago) then you really are missing something. Which leads me to point #2...
#2. You don't understand the meta well enough. Understanding the meta doesn't just mean "oh yeah I know a lot of people are playing secret paladin/combo druid/midrange hunter/CW".. It means you actually know how to play against the most popular decks. As the guy above me posted can you answer those 3 questions pretty much on a regular basis. Do you know how to actually play around secret paladin to the point where you'll win most the match-ups? This is probably where you drop off (as well as most level 10 players). If you want to get better at the game I highly suggest you focus your efforts on understanding how to counter your opponent's deck, regardless of what it is.
#3. Your deck. Based on the deck you showed us - I'd say it's a tier 2/tier 3 deck. I was playing a lot of tempo mage pre TGT and after the release I found it to drop down a notch among the new decks. Not that deck selection is everything but if you can't get on a solid win streak (like 10-0 or 12-0) it's hard to make a run to level 5. Most players that constantly hit level 5 - legendary will get on some type of good run during the season. When you play with a deck that constantly goes win-win-loss-win-loss-loss-win-loss-loss-win-win (you get the picture) it's hard to get to level 5.
#4. People say this all the time but watch pro streamers. I personally like Kolento but there are plenty of top players out there. Take some time to really walk through their play. Pause the video before they make their move. Mentally walk through exactly what you would do and then compare it to the pros. Is it the same? Is it different? If it's different, why? What did they see that you didn't? To get really good at the game it's a balance of playing/learning. You can't get better by just watching players play all the time but on the flip side at a certain point it's worth investing some of your time watching pros.
#5. Go back to #2.
Friend me @Anasko#1102 |
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