Just before I went looking for info, I got a string of mages (mentioned this). Supposedly mages are meant to be prey for face hunter, but instead I was prey to -them-. It's mostly the same list, and only a couple of decisions different, and yet that's the difference between being on the back foot all the time and having games where you're doing the oppressing. The line is paper thin and a single screwup can put you on the wrong side of it.
The thanks are fully necessary, because what I needed wasn't the list, it was the clues on where to look for holes. HSReplay's 'average turns to win', 1-drop preference order, what hand is good enough vs throwing away a good hand, stuff like that. There isn't a manual for that, you can only piece it together from clues everyone else leaves behind - it's not like some city-builder where you get a bunch of clues on where the hole might be. The whole thing is obfuscated by a ton of RNG and made hard to see, and the community is full of 'IT'S ALL LUCK' to make it even harder to find. So, I give the thanks for the people who were good enough to leave the missing pieces. :D
First-time Legend. Don't give a crap it's dumpster legend. :p (You do not want to know how long I've been after it...actually you do, you'll die laughing, but I ain't telling) Didn't use this exact deck, but when my run went sour and moved off DH to try face hunter (or anything cheap and viable, that's just what I went for) - this is the place I came to looking for help when my win rate was obviously sub 50% and I was still scraping the bottom of D5 a time or two a session. "It's brainless face hunter, they must be doing something I'm not." (Having a single brain cell? :p )
I kept Imprisoned Felmaw despite it being against recommendation. One of the things I worked out looking at your list vs mine was not much was different, so obviously I needed to MOAR aggressive about mulligan and risk getting a dead hand. Go for broke, not good enough is still a loss. Felmaw was one of the things I mixed up, I made it a T2 priority and T1 + coin, and stopped going for Scavenger's Ingenuity. Awesome but TOO SLOW, that's a later move, if that's your first you're probably already screwed. T1 + coin Felmaw can be really disgusting, and that's when the tide finally started to turn, but it feels like it's a liability in the mirror when it will probably just eat a Freezing Trap or be only after you lost the battle to get the killing window.
I wasn't sold on Dragonmaw, but it's everything it's promised to be. Like Felmaw, sooner is better, straight on T4 with a Tour Guide power is even more disgusting and if it lives (rare) it will go on a rampage. For that matter, Lorekeeper Polkelt turned out ok as well, but only in combo. Bomb warriors laugh as you unload the bombs on your own face, but they stop laughing when you suddenly have a direct line to theirs and it's lethal....js. Health is a resource, even for the huntard.
Toxic Reinforcements seems like it cannot be a bad card, since it gets through when the shutters come down - but I never got to try it. I had a spare Polkelt on hand already (otherwise would not have tried it) - if I did not, this would be in it's place. You NEED that reach.
Companions work better on a fuller board, but that's easier said than done. Should be obvious, but if it's so brain-dead and obvious, why isn't everyone legend then? We don't all have TCG pedigree to draw on, and I definitely don't.
I dumped Pressure Plate because it wasn't....well, face enough. It also didn't work as much as I'd like. Took Explosive Trap even though it made me like you and you said 'don't do that, it's too obvious' but sucking in the mirror hurt even more. Also, Plate wasn't fully effective vs Guardian Animals, but that's been nerfed now, so maybe the trap prefs will change again, as the meta shifts.
Cult Neophyte was REALLY tempting for a while on a string of Mages, but having thought about it (bad huntard! BAD!) the problem was actually that I wasn't aggressive enough. It was fundamentals, you were right, I can own that, and I owe you my shiny back and this legend monkey off my back AT LAST. On that note, between 'certain' and 'potential' there is also 'how likely is my crap to be blown up -anyway-', 'how likely am I to be shut out and stuck on burst', and 'does any of this matter anyway, should I just go for it and hope, do I lose anyway if I play around these'. Again, it sounds like really braindead obvious TCG stuff, but ya know, again, it's so obvious it isn't to a lot of people, and even to some of the top diamond bracket (who mostly seem to sport legend backs, so they HAVE done it and SHOULD know it).
You were right about Phase Stalker too and I was not, I overvalued it. The terror value is worth more most of the time. Having 2 and not 3 secrets also is a big deal (right again, don't enjoy it too much), especially if you've drawn one, because it gives you that much more say in what comes out, and that control matters when you need a bow charge (rare in this deck and meta, but it happens) or you could use the mana elsewhere, like on a pair of nice buffed 3/3 wolfies. That's a win % raising decision right there, so again I owe you for it and I'll give you the credit.
Clearly braindead huntard is not that braindead. Or maybe it is and I just grew half a cell? Whatever, not my problem any more, but I'm leaving this for anyone else wanting out the trap.
The mulligan help mattered even though I changed it a bit (dat coined felmaw :D ), better use of Tour Guide probably made a difference, realising he was bottom of the order, shooter was great and I wasn't giving him the chance to be, and Wolpertinger is actually a preferential T1, though the value is obviously a lot less if you're going second and you NEED to be seeking a power start, 'good enough' is not good enough with this deck.
Last, Pack Tactics looks promising and might be better for the mirror. On the other hand, a few of the mirrors I won, that was their last secret and I was -happy- to see it (because it wasn't bomb or freezing or even Misdirection, bye bye damage), so maybe not. Weirdly, for a brainless deck, I still have more unknowns and question than answers - and the meta will have moved again before I would find out anyway.
Normally I would not write anyone a big-ass wall, not least on brainless huntard, but I feel like I owe ya big, and since this is now the one that finally made it, I feel like I owe team huntard too now as well. So laugh and hate away folks, but I got what I wanted - partly cos of this guy, but every little helped - and this is just the gift in return.
Oh! I also owe you for pointing out infestation cub synergy as well, it hadn't occurred to me it would save skill command from being dead from that point on FOREVER. Also, I heard like, yearrrrrs ago that it's 90% face and 10% trades, but trust me people, the 10% is NOT EVEN SLIGHTLY OPTIONAL and if you choose the wrong 10%, you're also screwed.
Ok, well....adding my bit to help decipher how this is working out in practice. Rank 4 in standard last month, 9 stars given. I took the cheap-ass mech paladin I put a little dust into that I mentioned earlier, since I want something to mess around with but don't want to go all-in on a deck with demon hunter and the new expo so close. Besides, like I mentioned in that thread, obviously I could still learn from it. So, I've stuck with it for now.
First few matches, absolutely swinging. Something like 6 wins in a row, crazy-fast climb. I figured the system would realise I wasn't the kind of player it wants to protect, but somehow I got away with it for quite a while, even despite how aggro decks sometimes just fizzle out and leave you with nothing. Maybe I just got lucky. I figured I would be dead meat when the system finally woke up and realised, but for the later part of the day, the win rate levelled out and I parked it for the day on....Plat 5 I think. *2 remaining.
Today started almost immediately badly. To be fair, I choked at least one game, taking a trade to be 'safe' and therefore didn't get lethal damage later. Even so, I spent a chunk of the day on an equally huge loss-streak. The legend backs kept showing up, the galakrond and control decks kept turning out, and I got exactly what you expect cheap-ass aggro decks get when they face their counters in skilled hands. :P
Eventually it did let up and I ground the rest of the way out to Diamond 10 and out of the bonus pool, but daymnnn it was ugly. I read up a little on matchmaking in general yesterday and bumped into something called 'ELO Hell', I'm guessing 2x bonus might be our version of it. In theory, you are 'protected' by your bonus pool (as per the reddit thread) but at 2x, that protection is a lot slimmer. At 5x, you only need to win 20% to keep advancing - at 2x, you need 33% or you're going nowhere. You're still expected to gain, but it can very much hurt if you're in over your head. (I'm sure I've got the %'s wrong, but I'm still burned out from the matches earlier) It's possible I'm full of crap, and next season will be totally different, mind. I did say I expected I was overdue for a fall, and sure enough it was delivered presumably when I was over-MMRed (but because they hide the numbers we'll never know -_- ). However, the 2x stage was ugly and the rest relatively easy, and I think that will remain true over time.
In theory, I'm out of bonus now, so I SHOULD, if the reddit post is right, now be matching on rank and not MMR (though it claims 'generally'....how comforting -_- ). I only played one match at diamond 10, a dragon hunter that I got somewhat lucky with - he had a phase stalker out, fired the hero power and didn't get an extra secret with one already in play. Huh. Kinda unusual. Well, since it wasn't explosive or freezing, I exploited my 'good luck' and beat his face in for it. Luck I could've done with getting out of plat! :D Maybe a sign rank pool will be more lenient than MMR pool, but I'm burned out for a little while, so we'll see later. I'll keep an eye on this thread to see what other people are getting, though.
Hmm. I thought about control games for the opposite case, but the beatdown there is just the one whose win condition is likely to get taken away first (usually by fatigue or being forced to play their finishing combo or whatever).
Maybe I should just stop taking 20-year old article as gospel. :P ( - and play the deck more than an hour or two before I decide a problem is unsolvable)
....dang. Didn't think of that. Still, Zilliax is one card in 30, I'm not mulliganing for it directly, so the odds of me getting it before I'm dead ain't great, but....yeah. It makes him the beatdown.
Second question. Bearing in mind I can't expect to get Zilliax in time, surely I still need to attack -anyway- if I have any kind of chance of winning the race?
So I was rustling up a bit of last-minute gold at the end of the season. Mech Paladin vs....I'm assuming it was Face Hunter (Leper Gnome and Sandtrooper). Yeah, I know, we're both scum, we ruin the game, etc. etc. I don't care. :P That's not the question.
Anyway, so, a race-for-face breaks out. I end up winning it, a few HP ahead of them all the way. The thing is....I remember articles like 'Who's the beatdown' and ensuring you know what your role is, so you make the correct decisions. One player is controlling and wins if they can hold off the attack, the other is the beatdown and has to go for it. Who the beatdown is depends on a bunch of factors, and it can change with the flow of the game, as different situations come up.
In this case....we -both- made the decision to go for face. It's not exactly shocking. That's what Face hunter does, if it tries to do something else, it will lose. The other player obviously knows this, it was a single figure rank game. We ain't geniuses, but I'd like to think they know their deck at least in passing. :D Granted I'd only had the mech deck maybe an hour or two at this point, but I've faced enough of that face hunter before ranking up to also know, if they get too far ahead, you simply lose. If you -can- bring their health down and make them fear death, you have to do it - that mech deck doesn't have heal outside of Zilliax, so they WILL get you eventually, even if you clear everything.
That would make us.....-both- the beatdown? I don't recall that ever being a thing. Ok, it was an old Magic article, it's nearly 2 decades later and I don't even play Magic, but I don't recall it being possible for us -both- to be the beatdown at once. At most, we can alternate the role. Then again, unless I'm mistaken (very likely) - we were both right to go face in this case - or were we? Was one of us in the wrong role and supposed to be playing defensive? Nah....I recall some years back hunter mirrors also had this kind of rep.
Alternatively, maybe the beatdown doesn't apply to Hearthstone in quite this way because....bunch of contextual TCG reasons I don't understand, because, I only play Hearthstone and even then, not that well. :P Idk. Well, that's why this part-time aggro scumbag is asking. Yeah, I could just wail on face all the time and not think about it, and maybe I'm overthinking a 'dumb aggro deck', but.....this is a theory question and I don't have the answer. In fact, I don't have anyone in mind I can ask, other than here where someone might shed some light on it. Idk. It just....irks me I can't answer this. What else about 'braindead aggro decks' do I not even know? :D
Well, I made it to 10, but it was not 'ez'. I made a not-very-budget change as well, make of it what you will. It did better than DK shaman and hunter though which is what I got out of packs + the prologue. Credit to OP and the other budget paladin guy for doing the donkey work on this one, I walked into this trope blind and it's their work that got me even this much (bad as 10 is). I stuck with it because I don't fancy going on a druid crafting binge only to find in a week priest is now 86% of the meta.... :D
Saronite Chain Gang is as good as OP says it is. This deck survives where DK Shaman does not because the buffs mean your board doesn't keep disappearing. Crazed Alchemist is not bad either, and with buffs isn't a total waste in match-ups you don't need it much in either - just use it as-is as meat to help you hold the board.
Would advise against cutting Hydrologist for any reason, while it took me a while to get used to Pally secrets, you can do a lot of damage with them once you know what you're doing (I still don't, but....more than before I guess.)
Controversy time. I cut Doppelgangster for Tirion Fordring. Maybe I just suck with it, but mostly it was either clearbait or feeding taunts to druids. Saronite comes with taunt, plays sooner and the guys have higher health. Getaway Kodo can get you more to play with because of the taunt - doppels just get ignored or wiped, and are rarely the card to get returned. The taunt forces a reaction, the doppels usually do not and are often too late.
Why Tirion? Idk what you guys are getting, I got a load of Warlocks and Druids, with a scattering of others (and no handbuffs :P ). Drawing it out of Stonehill Defender, especially in Warlock was virtually always a big deal, and it was a handy finisher (rather than used for value). Without Reno, Warlock often comes down to the last few HP, and a whack to the face with an Ashbringer goes a long way to sealing the deal. Also, in Druid, you will be punished for wide board play (Spreading Plague in particular) so after the buffed minions start to run dry, you will need the back-up to keep the pressure on and perhaps close out. It's still a horrible match-up, but again the doppels don't seem to help it at all (if anything, they help the Druid).
There were probably easier ways to get rank 10, but there you go. It could be done.
Pulled a quest for 60, so I thought I'd tinker about with this. Pretty effective deck overall, but 5 wins isn't really much of a sample (and it was in casual).
I did make some alterations. Didn't have Shadowform, golden copy got dusted a very long time ago when dust was tighter to put together my first legendary Dr. Boom. What I -did- have was a Prophet Velen lying around, and since the goal was end-game, I figured a really big Mind Blast turn would also be decent, especially if you can supplement it with help from Shadow Visions and/or Radiant Elemental. (A 30-point hit would be sweet, but let's get real here... :D )
I've been messing with Handbuff lately, also running an aggro style and found Consecration pretty useful for defending the board and a couple of extra points of damage. Since we're holding out for a good Inner Fire turn to finish or maybe a blast or two (regardless of if you run my changes or not) - putting in Holy Nova seems fair. Other clears wouldn't be good enough, they're expensive as they are and you don't get the heal+extra face damage you get here. You might even disagree with this much. Took out the Worgen Infiltrator for those.
Wasn't thrilled with Barnes, 1/1s need buffed before you can do any heal-crazy with them. Switched for a single Auchenai Soulpriest, since I know what I'm getting with that (and it makes up a little for the lost Shadowform). If it's turn 6 or later, I can choose 2 on face or to defend the board before the other guy can do anything about it. Barnes can and did fall flat....didn't like it. :/
Deck is still good overall, and would be even without my tinkering. Idk if it ranks well, but after messing about in casual it's tempting to interrupt handbuff in ranked to mess some more with this.
Not gonna lie, I heavily edited the deck - mostly in the ways you just described :D - but I wouldn't have even tried it at all if I hadn't used this as a base, and if I use a deck somehow the least I could do is flip it a +1, so.....
Took an extra Duplicate to cover for a missing Echo of Medivh, and took Animated Armor in place of the Tournament Medics. Did exactly what it said on the tin - frustrating, needs the right draws but it will definitely get you there, following the instructions.
Only one hiccup. One of the infernals got buffed so I couldn't Fireball it (GRRR) but I still had a spare Frost Nova so that was that. :D
Messed about with this the past couple of days. Spent a chunk of the day stuck around rank 8-9 ... scanned the comments here and took the advice of Ancestral Knowledge to last a bit longer against the swarm of control decks I was getting. Folded in Earth Shock as well because I got sick of being rolled by druids and the other taunts put out there. Sporting a rank 5 just in time to collect the goodies. :D
Still no idea how I would even begin to deal with Warrior, but....can't beat everything I guess, I miss the effect Totem Shaman had on them but times move on. Also, I made the heresy of cutting Sir Finley Mrrgglton and Flametongue Totem, as for whatever reason they didn't seem to be having the impact for me. I'm not Legend for a reason. :p You can probably find better things to cut. Seriously consider the draw and silence adds though, if these are what hold you back. Wasn't expecting to get 5 this season.
Since I've played around with it a bit, and for the good of anyone who runs across this deck later, some findings.
As mech decks go, warrior is on the fast end of the scale. So, although I said you could switch in any finishers you like, Fel Reaver is MUCH more important to this deck than it might be to say, druid (which has combo and bigger minions) or mage (which has Archmage Antonidas, and where Goblin Blastmage is often more about blasting the board than trying to inch in the last of the damage.
As such, Piloted Sky Golem is just too slow. Dr. Boom is a nice alternative if you're worried about a lot of Aldor Peacekeepers, but in all honesty most of the wins I got with this either came from my single Fel ReaverREALLY doing the damage (T3 Reaver is terrifying, even if the other guy somehow manages to stop it) or from a very fast and powerful general start. Win axe used in a control fashion will help you get that all-important start on the board, even though beyond this the weapons are used more for extra damage than control - Screwjank Clunker is an absolute star, far more than Clockwork Knight usually is - high health to last a little longer on the board and with a better chance of finding a mech to buff.
I considered a Whirlwind as possible tech, but quickly opted for good old Ironbeak Owl. Consider that warrior is not very bursty at the best of times, and much of your extra damage comes from your stash of weapons. so Owl gives you a much better chance of finding that extra turn and inching out a win. I dropped a Mortal Strike for it (I rarely got the 6 out of it), and it may yet be a mistake (I've not played that many games, and better minds will probably disagree with me) but this way it doesn't disrupt your synergies and it's hard for owl to be wrong in an aggro deck (unless you're also mostly facing aggro with few taunts)
Lastly, I rarely got to abuse the enrage on Warbot but as a 1/3 for one it's still pretty handy and a better bet than others like Clockwork Gnome, which will just die to a swift hero power anyway.
I don't know if it's really worth crafting Fel Reaver specifically for this deck, given how badly it could turn out if you get flat-out countered by the meta (not just Aldor, but lots of taunts and freeze mage as well will torture your Reaver), but I did get a lot of mileage even just out of one of them - you can use it in pretty much any OTHER mech deck, and also depending on how much mech you plan on playing.
There are basically a bunch of 'mechy threats' you can use, including Fel Reaver but also including others like Dr. Boom, more Clockwork Knights - even maybe a Piloted Sky Golem or two. There are others as well.
At roughly the time the author and others were putting out this deck, I remember the Secretdins all suddenly started running Aldor Peacekeeper for no obvious reason. A bit of research and....well. The sweet spot fot this deck getting the rank the author got it has surely passed, but it's still a good solid basis for a mech deck which is why I'm here now to pinch it. :D
Since I've seen Mech druid, Mechadin, and even Mech Rogue kinda work lately, I'm pretty sure this deck is largely still valid, even though I'm only gonna be using it to gold-grind for LoE and the best I've done on ladder is 4 (and I still only finished 5). As someone who likes messing with mech decks though, I can tell you - you WILL have to juggle your threats around. The deck got the author good points, and a T4 Fel Reaver (with coin) that rampages over an opponent with no hope of dealing with it is really really sweet - but folks expect it now and tech accordingly. The other cards I suggested aren't as dramatic and won't have quite the same impact, but they don't all have the same vulnerabilities either. I used Piloted Sky Golem in a Mech Mage at one point for no other reason than to give the Control Warriors that were around at the time something to think about before waving Death's Bite around and being so keen to clear the board that way.
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Just before I went looking for info, I got a string of mages (mentioned this). Supposedly mages are meant to be prey for face hunter, but instead I was prey to -them-. It's mostly the same list, and only a couple of decisions different, and yet that's the difference between being on the back foot all the time and having games where you're doing the oppressing. The line is paper thin and a single screwup can put you on the wrong side of it.
The thanks are fully necessary, because what I needed wasn't the list, it was the clues on where to look for holes. HSReplay's 'average turns to win', 1-drop preference order, what hand is good enough vs throwing away a good hand, stuff like that. There isn't a manual for that, you can only piece it together from clues everyone else leaves behind - it's not like some city-builder where you get a bunch of clues on where the hole might be. The whole thing is obfuscated by a ton of RNG and made hard to see, and the community is full of 'IT'S ALL LUCK' to make it even harder to find. So, I give the thanks for the people who were good enough to leave the missing pieces. :D
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First-time Legend. Don't give a crap it's dumpster legend. :p (You do not want to know how long I've been after it...actually you do, you'll die laughing, but I ain't telling) Didn't use this exact deck, but when my run went sour and moved off DH to try face hunter (or anything cheap and viable, that's just what I went for) - this is the place I came to looking for help when my win rate was obviously sub 50% and I was still scraping the bottom of D5 a time or two a session. "It's brainless face hunter, they must be doing something I'm not." (Having a single brain cell? :p )
I kept Imprisoned Felmaw despite it being against recommendation. One of the things I worked out looking at your list vs mine was not much was different, so obviously I needed to MOAR aggressive about mulligan and risk getting a dead hand. Go for broke, not good enough is still a loss. Felmaw was one of the things I mixed up, I made it a T2 priority and T1 + coin, and stopped going for Scavenger's Ingenuity. Awesome but TOO SLOW, that's a later move, if that's your first you're probably already screwed. T1 + coin Felmaw can be really disgusting, and that's when the tide finally started to turn, but it feels like it's a liability in the mirror when it will probably just eat a Freezing Trap or be only after you lost the battle to get the killing window.
I wasn't sold on Dragonmaw, but it's everything it's promised to be. Like Felmaw, sooner is better, straight on T4 with a Tour Guide power is even more disgusting and if it lives (rare) it will go on a rampage. For that matter, Lorekeeper Polkelt turned out ok as well, but only in combo. Bomb warriors laugh as you unload the bombs on your own face, but they stop laughing when you suddenly have a direct line to theirs and it's lethal....js. Health is a resource, even for the huntard.
Toxic Reinforcements seems like it cannot be a bad card, since it gets through when the shutters come down - but I never got to try it. I had a spare Polkelt on hand already (otherwise would not have tried it) - if I did not, this would be in it's place. You NEED that reach.
Companions work better on a fuller board, but that's easier said than done. Should be obvious, but if it's so brain-dead and obvious, why isn't everyone legend then? We don't all have TCG pedigree to draw on, and I definitely don't.
I dumped Pressure Plate because it wasn't....well, face enough. It also didn't work as much as I'd like. Took Explosive Trap even though it made me like you and you said 'don't do that, it's too obvious' but sucking in the mirror hurt even more. Also, Plate wasn't fully effective vs Guardian Animals, but that's been nerfed now, so maybe the trap prefs will change again, as the meta shifts.
Cult Neophyte was REALLY tempting for a while on a string of Mages, but having thought about it (bad huntard! BAD!) the problem was actually that I wasn't aggressive enough. It was fundamentals, you were right, I can own that, and I owe you my shiny back and this legend monkey off my back AT LAST. On that note, between 'certain' and 'potential' there is also 'how likely is my crap to be blown up -anyway-', 'how likely am I to be shut out and stuck on burst', and 'does any of this matter anyway, should I just go for it and hope, do I lose anyway if I play around these'. Again, it sounds like really braindead obvious TCG stuff, but ya know, again, it's so obvious it isn't to a lot of people, and even to some of the top diamond bracket (who mostly seem to sport legend backs, so they HAVE done it and SHOULD know it).
You were right about Phase Stalker too and I was not, I overvalued it. The terror value is worth more most of the time. Having 2 and not 3 secrets also is a big deal (right again, don't enjoy it too much), especially if you've drawn one, because it gives you that much more say in what comes out, and that control matters when you need a bow charge (rare in this deck and meta, but it happens) or you could use the mana elsewhere, like on a pair of nice buffed 3/3 wolfies. That's a win % raising decision right there, so again I owe you for it and I'll give you the credit.
Clearly braindead huntard is not that braindead. Or maybe it is and I just grew half a cell? Whatever, not my problem any more, but I'm leaving this for anyone else wanting out the trap.
The mulligan help mattered even though I changed it a bit (dat coined felmaw :D ), better use of Tour Guide probably made a difference, realising he was bottom of the order, shooter was great and I wasn't giving him the chance to be, and Wolpertinger is actually a preferential T1, though the value is obviously a lot less if you're going second and you NEED to be seeking a power start, 'good enough' is not good enough with this deck.
Last, Pack Tactics looks promising and might be better for the mirror. On the other hand, a few of the mirrors I won, that was their last secret and I was -happy- to see it (because it wasn't bomb or freezing or even Misdirection, bye bye damage), so maybe not. Weirdly, for a brainless deck, I still have more unknowns and question than answers - and the meta will have moved again before I would find out anyway.
Normally I would not write anyone a big-ass wall, not least on brainless huntard, but I feel like I owe ya big, and since this is now the one that finally made it, I feel like I owe team huntard too now as well. So laugh and hate away folks, but I got what I wanted - partly cos of this guy, but every little helped - and this is just the gift in return.
Oh! I also owe you for pointing out infestation cub synergy as well, it hadn't occurred to me it would save skill command from being dead from that point on FOREVER. Also, I heard like, yearrrrrs ago that it's 90% face and 10% trades, but trust me people, the 10% is NOT EVEN SLIGHTLY OPTIONAL and if you choose the wrong 10%, you're also screwed.
0
Ok, well....adding my bit to help decipher how this is working out in practice. Rank 4 in standard last month, 9 stars given. I took the cheap-ass mech paladin I put a little dust into that I mentioned earlier, since I want something to mess around with but don't want to go all-in on a deck with demon hunter and the new expo so close. Besides, like I mentioned in that thread, obviously I could still learn from it. So, I've stuck with it for now.
First few matches, absolutely swinging. Something like 6 wins in a row, crazy-fast climb. I figured the system would realise I wasn't the kind of player it wants to protect, but somehow I got away with it for quite a while, even despite how aggro decks sometimes just fizzle out and leave you with nothing. Maybe I just got lucky. I figured I would be dead meat when the system finally woke up and realised, but for the later part of the day, the win rate levelled out and I parked it for the day on....Plat 5 I think. *2 remaining.
Today started almost immediately badly. To be fair, I choked at least one game, taking a trade to be 'safe' and therefore didn't get lethal damage later. Even so, I spent a chunk of the day on an equally huge loss-streak. The legend backs kept showing up, the galakrond and control decks kept turning out, and I got exactly what you expect cheap-ass aggro decks get when they face their counters in skilled hands. :P
Eventually it did let up and I ground the rest of the way out to Diamond 10 and out of the bonus pool, but daymnnn it was ugly. I read up a little on matchmaking in general yesterday and bumped into something called 'ELO Hell', I'm guessing 2x bonus might be our version of it. In theory, you are 'protected' by your bonus pool (as per the reddit thread) but at 2x, that protection is a lot slimmer. At 5x, you only need to win 20% to keep advancing - at 2x, you need 33% or you're going nowhere. You're still expected to gain, but it can very much hurt if you're in over your head. (I'm sure I've got the %'s wrong, but I'm still burned out from the matches earlier)
It's possible I'm full of crap, and next season will be totally different, mind. I did say I expected I was overdue for a fall, and sure enough it was delivered presumably when I was over-MMRed (but because they hide the numbers we'll never know -_- ). However, the 2x stage was ugly and the rest relatively easy, and I think that will remain true over time.
In theory, I'm out of bonus now, so I SHOULD, if the reddit post is right, now be matching on rank and not MMR (though it claims 'generally'....how comforting -_- ). I only played one match at diamond 10, a dragon hunter that I got somewhat lucky with - he had a phase stalker out, fired the hero power and didn't get an extra secret with one already in play. Huh. Kinda unusual. Well, since it wasn't explosive or freezing, I exploited my 'good luck' and beat his face in for it. Luck I could've done with getting out of plat! :D Maybe a sign rank pool will be more lenient than MMR pool, but I'm burned out for a little while, so we'll see later. I'll keep an eye on this thread to see what other people are getting, though.
Summary: new system is......hmm. Still undecided.
0
Hmm. I thought about control games for the opposite case, but the beatdown there is just the one whose win condition is likely to get taken away first (usually by fatigue or being forced to play their finishing combo or whatever).
Maybe I should just stop taking 20-year old article as gospel. :P ( - and play the deck more than an hour or two before I decide a problem is unsolvable)
0
....dang. Didn't think of that.
Still, Zilliax is one card in 30, I'm not mulliganing for it directly, so the odds of me getting it before I'm dead ain't great, but....yeah. It makes him the beatdown.
Second question. Bearing in mind I can't expect to get Zilliax in time, surely I still need to attack -anyway- if I have any kind of chance of winning the race?
0
So I was rustling up a bit of last-minute gold at the end of the season. Mech Paladin vs....I'm assuming it was Face Hunter (Leper Gnome and Sandtrooper). Yeah, I know, we're both scum, we ruin the game, etc. etc. I don't care. :P That's not the question.
Anyway, so, a race-for-face breaks out. I end up winning it, a few HP ahead of them all the way. The thing is....I remember articles like 'Who's the beatdown' and ensuring you know what your role is, so you make the correct decisions. One player is controlling and wins if they can hold off the attack, the other is the beatdown and has to go for it. Who the beatdown is depends on a bunch of factors, and it can change with the flow of the game, as different situations come up.
In this case....we -both- made the decision to go for face. It's not exactly shocking. That's what Face hunter does, if it tries to do something else, it will lose. The other player obviously knows this, it was a single figure rank game. We ain't geniuses, but I'd like to think they know their deck at least in passing. :D Granted I'd only had the mech deck maybe an hour or two at this point, but I've faced enough of that face hunter before ranking up to also know, if they get too far ahead, you simply lose. If you -can- bring their health down and make them fear death, you have to do it - that mech deck doesn't have heal outside of Zilliax, so they WILL get you eventually, even if you clear everything.
That would make us.....-both- the beatdown? I don't recall that ever being a thing. Ok, it was an old Magic article, it's nearly 2 decades later and I don't even play Magic, but I don't recall it being possible for us -both- to be the beatdown at once. At most, we can alternate the role. Then again, unless I'm mistaken (very likely) - we were both right to go face in this case - or were we? Was one of us in the wrong role and supposed to be playing defensive? Nah....I recall some years back hunter mirrors also had this kind of rep.
Alternatively, maybe the beatdown doesn't apply to Hearthstone in quite this way because....bunch of contextual TCG reasons I don't understand, because, I only play Hearthstone and even then, not that well. :P Idk. Well, that's why this part-time aggro scumbag is asking. Yeah, I could just wail on face all the time and not think about it, and maybe I'm overthinking a 'dumb aggro deck', but.....this is a theory question and I don't have the answer. In fact, I don't have anyone in mind I can ask, other than here where someone might shed some light on it. Idk. It just....irks me I can't answer this. What else about 'braindead aggro decks' do I not even know? :D
5
Well, I made it to 10, but it was not 'ez'. I made a not-very-budget change as well, make of it what you will. It did better than DK shaman and hunter though which is what I got out of packs + the prologue. Credit to OP and the other budget paladin guy for doing the donkey work on this one, I walked into this trope blind and it's their work that got me even this much (bad as 10 is). I stuck with it because I don't fancy going on a druid crafting binge only to find in a week priest is now 86% of the meta.... :D
Saronite Chain Gang is as good as OP says it is. This deck survives where DK Shaman does not because the buffs mean your board doesn't keep disappearing. Crazed Alchemist is not bad either, and with buffs isn't a total waste in match-ups you don't need it much in either - just use it as-is as meat to help you hold the board.
Would advise against cutting Hydrologist for any reason, while it took me a while to get used to Pally secrets, you can do a lot of damage with them once you know what you're doing (I still don't, but....more than before I guess.)
Controversy time. I cut Doppelgangster for Tirion Fordring. Maybe I just suck with it, but mostly it was either clearbait or feeding taunts to druids. Saronite comes with taunt, plays sooner and the guys have higher health. Getaway Kodo can get you more to play with because of the taunt - doppels just get ignored or wiped, and are rarely the card to get returned. The taunt forces a reaction, the doppels usually do not and are often too late.
Why Tirion? Idk what you guys are getting, I got a load of Warlocks and Druids, with a scattering of others (and no handbuffs :P ). Drawing it out of Stonehill Defender, especially in Warlock was virtually always a big deal, and it was a handy finisher (rather than used for value). Without Reno, Warlock often comes down to the last few HP, and a whack to the face with an Ashbringer goes a long way to sealing the deal. Also, in Druid, you will be punished for wide board play (Spreading Plague in particular) so after the buffed minions start to run dry, you will need the back-up to keep the pressure on and perhaps close out. It's still a horrible match-up, but again the doppels don't seem to help it at all (if anything, they help the Druid).
There were probably easier ways to get rank 10, but there you go. It could be done.
0
Some ideas.
Pulled a quest for 60, so I thought I'd tinker about with this. Pretty effective deck overall, but 5 wins isn't really much of a sample (and it was in casual).
I did make some alterations. Didn't have Shadowform, golden copy got dusted a very long time ago when dust was tighter to put together my first legendary Dr. Boom. What I -did- have was a Prophet Velen lying around, and since the goal was end-game, I figured a really big Mind Blast turn would also be decent, especially if you can supplement it with help from Shadow Visions and/or Radiant Elemental. (A 30-point hit would be sweet, but let's get real here... :D )
I've been messing with Handbuff lately, also running an aggro style and found Consecration pretty useful for defending the board and a couple of extra points of damage. Since we're holding out for a good Inner Fire turn to finish or maybe a blast or two (regardless of if you run my changes or not) - putting in Holy Nova seems fair. Other clears wouldn't be good enough, they're expensive as they are and you don't get the heal+extra face damage you get here. You might even disagree with this much. Took out the Worgen Infiltrator for those.
Wasn't thrilled with Barnes, 1/1s need buffed before you can do any heal-crazy with them. Switched for a single Auchenai Soulpriest, since I know what I'm getting with that (and it makes up a little for the lost Shadowform). If it's turn 6 or later, I can choose 2 on face or to defend the board before the other guy can do anything about it. Barnes can and did fall flat....didn't like it. :/
Deck is still good overall, and would be even without my tinkering. Idk if it ranks well, but after messing about in casual it's tempting to interrupt handbuff in ranked to mess some more with this.
2
Not gonna lie, I heavily edited the deck - mostly in the ways you just described :D - but I wouldn't have even tried it at all if I hadn't used this as a base, and if I use a deck somehow the least I could do is flip it a +1, so.....
0
Took an extra Duplicate to cover for a missing Echo of Medivh, and took Animated Armor in place of the Tournament Medics. Did exactly what it said on the tin - frustrating, needs the right draws but it will definitely get you there, following the instructions.
Only one hiccup. One of the infernals got buffed so I couldn't Fireball it (GRRR) but I still had a spare Frost Nova so that was that. :D
0
Messed about with this the past couple of days. Spent a chunk of the day stuck around rank 8-9 ... scanned the comments here and took the advice of Ancestral Knowledge to last a bit longer against the swarm of control decks I was getting. Folded in Earth Shock as well because I got sick of being rolled by druids and the other taunts put out there. Sporting a rank 5 just in time to collect the goodies. :D
Still no idea how I would even begin to deal with Warrior, but....can't beat everything I guess, I miss the effect Totem Shaman had on them but times move on. Also, I made the heresy of cutting Sir Finley Mrrgglton and Flametongue Totem, as for whatever reason they didn't seem to be having the impact for me. I'm not Legend for a reason. :p You can probably find better things to cut. Seriously consider the draw and silence adds though, if these are what hold you back. Wasn't expecting to get 5 this season.
4
Since I've played around with it a bit, and for the good of anyone who runs across this deck later, some findings.
As mech decks go, warrior is on the fast end of the scale. So, although I said you could switch in any finishers you like, Fel Reaver is MUCH more important to this deck than it might be to say, druid (which has combo and bigger minions) or mage (which has Archmage Antonidas, and where Goblin Blastmage is often more about blasting the board than trying to inch in the last of the damage.
As such, Piloted Sky Golem is just too slow. Dr. Boom is a nice alternative if you're worried about a lot of Aldor Peacekeepers, but in all honesty most of the wins I got with this either came from my single Fel Reaver REALLY doing the damage (T3 Reaver is terrifying, even if the other guy somehow manages to stop it) or from a very fast and powerful general start. Win axe used in a control fashion will help you get that all-important start on the board, even though beyond this the weapons are used more for extra damage than control - Screwjank Clunker is an absolute star, far more than Clockwork Knight usually is - high health to last a little longer on the board and with a better chance of finding a mech to buff.
I considered a Whirlwind as possible tech, but quickly opted for good old Ironbeak Owl. Consider that warrior is not very bursty at the best of times, and much of your extra damage comes from your stash of weapons. so Owl gives you a much better chance of finding that extra turn and inching out a win. I dropped a Mortal Strike for it (I rarely got the 6 out of it), and it may yet be a mistake (I've not played that many games, and better minds will probably disagree with me) but this way it doesn't disrupt your synergies and it's hard for owl to be wrong in an aggro deck (unless you're also mostly facing aggro with few taunts)
Lastly, I rarely got to abuse the enrage on Warbot but as a 1/3 for one it's still pretty handy and a better bet than others like Clockwork Gnome, which will just die to a swift hero power anyway.
I don't know if it's really worth crafting Fel Reaver specifically for this deck, given how badly it could turn out if you get flat-out countered by the meta (not just Aldor, but lots of taunts and freeze mage as well will torture your Reaver), but I did get a lot of mileage even just out of one of them - you can use it in pretty much any OTHER mech deck, and also depending on how much mech you plan on playing.
2
There are basically a bunch of 'mechy threats' you can use, including Fel Reaver but also including others like Dr. Boom, more Clockwork Knights - even maybe a Piloted Sky Golem or two. There are others as well.
At roughly the time the author and others were putting out this deck, I remember the Secretdins all suddenly started running Aldor Peacekeeper for no obvious reason. A bit of research and....well. The sweet spot fot this deck getting the rank the author got it has surely passed, but it's still a good solid basis for a mech deck which is why I'm here now to pinch it. :D
Since I've seen Mech druid, Mechadin, and even Mech Rogue kinda work lately, I'm pretty sure this deck is largely still valid, even though I'm only gonna be using it to gold-grind for LoE and the best I've done on ladder is 4 (and I still only finished 5). As someone who likes messing with mech decks though, I can tell you - you WILL have to juggle your threats around. The deck got the author good points, and a T4 Fel Reaver (with coin) that rampages over an opponent with no hope of dealing with it is really really sweet - but folks expect it now and tech accordingly. The other cards I suggested aren't as dramatic and won't have quite the same impact, but they don't all have the same vulnerabilities either. I used Piloted Sky Golem in a Mech Mage at one point for no other reason than to give the Control Warriors that were around at the time something to think about before waving Death's Bite around and being so keen to clear the board that way.
Experiment, live a little.