Hearthpwn

Apologies if this is redundant, I'm on and off with the forums but my latest run-ins with Hearthstone have led to me wonder what the community thinks. So here we go...

In short: there is simply too much card draw. 

The argument for aggro is a short one. If you are a low range aggro deck you should run out of resources when you play 10 cards in 5 turns. The goal is to get in and out early, and there shouldn't be a reward in the way of card draw to empty your hand while doing mostly non-countered damage to the opponent. Cheap fast aggro used to be cornered specifically by Druid and Warlock. Druid had the ability to refill boards through token/spell means, and would buff once they suspected the counters to be exhausted. Warlock had lifetap, and that pioneered the aggro we see today. They would live in the 1-3 mana position with a few higher end 5s or so to close out the game. Was it balanced? Yeah I feel it was. You could play hard control and you did have a very positive win-rate pushing hard aggro down. Rng had its place on both sides of the field, and sometimes Warlock or Druid just got there because the cards aligned. That's Hearthstone in it's purest form: A handful of competitive classes, some hard-set counters to keep ladder fresh, and somewhat telegraphed gameplay with a HINT of random generation/mechanics so every game didn't go the same way. (not another rng thread, just an example)

Now that the game has expanded, we see combo decks that can draw 20+ cards before 10 mana. The skeleton of what combo was has shifted... imo in the wrong direction. Combo used to be pretty synonymous with control. You needed to hold the board for a VERY long time to pop off your OTK or win set-up. This on average in the Druids, Warriors, Priests, etc of the past generally took 10-15 turns. In all reasonability, fatigue control was an auto loss and aggro needed to run into the wall enough times to crack it. While those pillars haven't changed entirely, card draw has enabled the current combo decks to formulate their plan within 10 turns, if not by turn 10 at the latest in most cases. This pushes the opportunity to combat it down to very specific lines. Lines like combo disruption- which is class specific and otherwise not really present in the game- and aggro that draws better than its opponent while simultaneously drawing a good curve to close the game within 5-6 turns. Is combo broken? No. The card draw is broken. Tuning the draw back to force combo to enact its plan 3-5 turns later is what will healthily contain mage, demon hunter, and other OTK opportunities to pulling off the combo 50% of the time or less, and getting the rest of their lacking win-rate through alternative gameplans- which creates a LIVING strategy/experience. 

I haven't had too many situations of control getting out of hand with card draw other than Tickatus Warlock. I feel that card specifically is a different conversation. Full fatigue control seems inexistent for now, but the game has a flow of bringing it back so we will see how the control conversation changes across the next year. I may be overlooking card draw issues in Control, but I hope some of you will point out the other culprits outside of Warlock.

Otherwise, how do you all feel? Is card draw the problem, or are the cards/classes themselves the real problem?

Ok. 

Say what you will about the current xp system. Yes Demon Hunter is broken and needs nerfs. Overall, the game is currently in a state that needs to be reviewed. But guys and gals, why do we have to be toxic? I'm getting emote spammed in casual games. I'm getting "thank" emotes when I'm getting finished off. I have multiple games where when the opponent answers my board they start spamming. Squelch isn't enough anymore. Once they see you hover them I've had opponents begin roping almost as if they saw me mute them so they found another way to be toxic. Skipping lethal and playing your entire hand when I give you the curtesy of doing lethal damage. Why not just concede? Because they are standing at the ready to thank me the moment I press it. Why can't we be decent? I've made a big push towards single-player games as of late because no matter what game or system I play toxic people are unavoidable and commonly found.