I really feel at this point I've hit a wall with Arena, I average about 4-5 wins in Arena and can't quite figure out what's quite holding me back.
I've used Heartharena and various other Arena assist tools, and feel I'm experienced enough to pick against them at times, but still feels it's not enough and the draft might not be the issue, but it's a possibility.
I think about all upcoming turns, and try to play around the power plays like turn 4 swipe, conc, turn 6 facelesss summoner, turn 7 flamestrike, but this usually only takes me up to 7 wins at most. I try to make the highest tempo plays, and put the most stats on board when I can, but usually I get answered pretty easily.
I've had only one 12 win run in my 2 years of playing Arena on and off, which is horrible in my opinion, as I've seen various people do 12 win runs back to back, so it's not just about drafting an amazing deck.
I've watched Kripp, ADWTCA, Merps, Hafu, Trump and tried to follow their tips, but still struggle extremely and end up with 4-3 runs.
If anyone who averages 7+ wins in Arena currently I could really use some coaching, both in the drafting process and even more so in playing.
From reading your post I would say that you are incorrectly trying to "play around" too many things. How exactly do you "play around" a faceless summoner? Swipe is also rather difficult to play around as you are just playing your 2 and 3 drops on turn as usual, so options are usually limited and we are talking about obvious and basic stuff like not leaving a creature at 4 health and the other at 1 health, something most people wouldn't do on purpose anyway. Consecrate same story as you may play around that (often you are simply unable to) but can you play around truesilver, blessing of kings, and the whole bunch of other stuff that paladins can do at 4 mana at the same time?
For swipe lets say your opponent drafted 1 in the deck, the chance of it available on turn 4 is something close to 1/3 and the chance of it drawn in a game at all is usually between 50% and 66%, assuming the game ends between 10 to 15 turns. Then there is the possibility of not having one at all, and then we have decks of 2 or more. Either way if you average it out together the chance of a swipe on turn 4 or even 5 is significantly lower than 50%, so usually you don't or can't afford to play around it.
The only card you actually do consider playing around is flamestrike, when a mage has a decent chance to have it on turn 7 and you usually do have valid options to play around it (the options often suck but at least they would make some sense). Even that can be questionable as lets say you played around it on turn 7, if the mage has flamestrike in hand the card will not suddenly disappear from hand, so can you play around it turn 8, 9, 10, and every turn after that? If you do that you may actually hurt your winning chances more than the flamestrike on average, as you have to be totally winning to not have a "go for it" moment in a game.
If you watch good streamers carefully you should realize quite quickly that they play around things only when it is convenient to.
I've almost exclusively played constructed recently, but when I first started I only played arena. Eventually I got to a point where I went infinite, and got a lot of my cardpool from that. It can be lots of fun, but yeah sometimes you just lose to a deck that was randomly better or topdecked better.
A strategy that I recommend is recording/watching you games. You will notice screw-ups, poor trades, times when you should have committed more and tried to close out the game.
Another general strategy: Make playing a ritual, brew a pot of tea, feel good personally before you start playing, and you will notice improvements. Being mentally present will do a ton to both improve how well you play on that day, and also how much you learn from your run.
Play with other - Looking for a coach is great, but I also just played with other people at my level when I was reasonably good. We would skype or play in person, and their feedback made me question my plays.
Don't rely too heavily on website - Things might have changed, but I remember I used a website during my drafting, and one huge thing that it wouldn't do is check that my curve was good. Having a good curve for your deck is more important than picking the "best in a vacuum" card from each 3.
The advice is appreciated, but I have tried most of the options listed, and why I feel I need to turn to coaching now, as my own self-evaluation isn't sufficient.
Today I had two runs go 1-3 (Paladin), and realize I'm just awful as a whole at Arena.
I'm currently sitting at 55/78 9+ Arena wins this month; far from the best, but if you need some draft assistance I'm happy to try and help you out.
Note that it depends a lot on your mentality; if you draft an amazing deck with a well-above average chance at winning any given game you're more liable to 'coast' through the game and make mistakes. I usually perform as good, if not better, with decks containing Leper Gnomes as I do with decks containing Ragnaros or Deathwing.
e: that's not to say you should draft Leper Gnomes.
Look, I want to tell you something because you're very dear to me. And I hope you understand that it comes from the bottom of my damaged, damaged heart. You are the finest piece of ass I've ever had and I don't care who knows it. I am so glad that I got to roam those hillsides.
I really feel at this point I've hit a wall with Arena, I average about 4-5 wins in Arena and can't quite figure out what's quite holding me back.
I've used Heartharena and various other Arena assist tools, and feel I'm experienced enough to pick against them at times, but still feels it's not enough and the draft might not be the issue, but it's a possibility.
I think about all upcoming turns, and try to play around the power plays like turn 4 swipe, conc, turn 6 facelesss summoner, turn 7 flamestrike, but this usually only takes me up to 7 wins at most. I try to make the highest tempo plays, and put the most stats on board when I can, but usually I get answered pretty easily.
I've had only one 12 win run in my 2 years of playing Arena on and off, which is horrible in my opinion, as I've seen various people do 12 win runs back to back, so it's not just about drafting an amazing deck.
I've watched Kripp, ADWTCA, Merps, Hafu, Trump and tried to follow their tips, but still struggle extremely and end up with 4-3 runs.
If anyone who averages 7+ wins in Arena currently I could really use some coaching, both in the drafting process and even more so in playing.
Account: SangerZ #1482
Very willing to learn and improve from a coach.
From reading your post I would say that you are incorrectly trying to "play around" too many things. How exactly do you "play around" a faceless summoner? Swipe is also rather difficult to play around as you are just playing your 2 and 3 drops on turn as usual, so options are usually limited and we are talking about obvious and basic stuff like not leaving a creature at 4 health and the other at 1 health, something most people wouldn't do on purpose anyway. Consecrate same story as you may play around that (often you are simply unable to) but can you play around truesilver, blessing of kings, and the whole bunch of other stuff that paladins can do at 4 mana at the same time?
For swipe lets say your opponent drafted 1 in the deck, the chance of it available on turn 4 is something close to 1/3 and the chance of it drawn in a game at all is usually between 50% and 66%, assuming the game ends between 10 to 15 turns. Then there is the possibility of not having one at all, and then we have decks of 2 or more. Either way if you average it out together the chance of a swipe on turn 4 or even 5 is significantly lower than 50%, so usually you don't or can't afford to play around it.
The only card you actually do consider playing around is flamestrike, when a mage has a decent chance to have it on turn 7 and you usually do have valid options to play around it (the options often suck but at least they would make some sense). Even that can be questionable as lets say you played around it on turn 7, if the mage has flamestrike in hand the card will not suddenly disappear from hand, so can you play around it turn 8, 9, 10, and every turn after that? If you do that you may actually hurt your winning chances more than the flamestrike on average, as you have to be totally winning to not have a "go for it" moment in a game.
If you watch good streamers carefully you should realize quite quickly that they play around things only when it is convenient to.
Hi,
I've almost exclusively played constructed recently, but when I first started I only played arena. Eventually I got to a point where I went infinite, and got a lot of my cardpool from that. It can be lots of fun, but yeah sometimes you just lose to a deck that was randomly better or topdecked better.
A strategy that I recommend is recording/watching you games. You will notice screw-ups, poor trades, times when you should have committed more and tried to close out the game.
Another general strategy: Make playing a ritual, brew a pot of tea, feel good personally before you start playing, and you will notice improvements. Being mentally present will do a ton to both improve how well you play on that day, and also how much you learn from your run.
Play with other - Looking for a coach is great, but I also just played with other people at my level when I was reasonably good. We would skype or play in person, and their feedback made me question my plays.
Don't rely too heavily on website - Things might have changed, but I remember I used a website during my drafting, and one huge thing that it wouldn't do is check that my curve was good. Having a good curve for your deck is more important than picking the "best in a vacuum" card from each 3.
Hope some of that helps.
Phoenix Shaman deck + guide:
The advice is appreciated, but I have tried most of the options listed, and why I feel I need to turn to coaching now, as my own self-evaluation isn't sufficient.
Today I had two runs go 1-3 (Paladin), and realize I'm just awful as a whole at Arena.
I'm currently sitting at 55/78 9+ Arena wins this month; far from the best, but if you need some draft assistance I'm happy to try and help you out.
Note that it depends a lot on your mentality; if you draft an amazing deck with a well-above average chance at winning any given game you're more liable to 'coast' through the game and make mistakes. I usually perform as good, if not better, with decks containing Leper Gnomes as I do with decks containing Ragnaros or Deathwing.
e: that's not to say you should draft Leper Gnomes.
Look, I want to tell you something because you're very dear to me. And I hope you understand that it comes from the bottom of my damaged, damaged heart. You are the finest piece of ass I've ever had and I don't care who knows it. I am so glad that I got to roam those hillsides.
Moved to Players and Teams forum.
I'm very good with the theoretical side of Arena.
Talking about resource management, calculating chances, etc.
So if you need help with that PM me :P.
TEMPO MAGE