Hearthpwn

Both, wild with the account I've put nearly 2 years and some cash into, standard with the f2p one I started last month.

I remember when Standard (or Type II) was introduced in M:tG. Everyone who had the Power Nine, all the dual lands, and so on played Type I, and newer players played Type II, sealed deck or booster draft. The way HS's laid out this transition could go much more smoothly and upset far fewer gamers, if only because if something doesn't work it can be changed with a patch. But nerfs aren't the way to go. As we've seen with Undertaker and Warsong it often means making cards unplayable. If they're only usable in Wild anyway why not leave them as is? (Yes, even Boom.)

My main concern is that ALL cards remain craft-able, and the adventures are worth keeping too. New players may start in Standard but eventually try Wild which means they'll want to get as much as possible, including the old stuff. In time Blizzard might even take the suggestion I've made many times to have a HS version of auction house where every day or week a player can obtain a missing piece of their collection (be it a single card, gold lgdry, or adventure) for a discount (gold, dust, and/or real money). It's still a fairly new game. There will be bumps in the road.

It's really hard to get above rank 15 using only one deck. I'd consider building two or three alternate decks to deal with your worst matchups for tempo Mage. One solid control deck, an aggro deck, and maybe a Reno or combo deck will give you a good mix to pick from. Hardest of all is knowing when to switch based on what's being played at a given time, and of course it'll take MANY games to get from 10 to legend, but it can be done.

Patience and perseverance. The more time you put into HS the more you'll get back, as with all things. Watching pros and learning how they win consistently also helps. A friend of mine used to play casually, then he started watching Trump and playing every day. Within a month he faced Trump in Casual and won. Now every time I log in he's in a game. We've both played many CCGs and HS is by far our favorite. Put in the time and effort, have fun, spectate and have regular games with your friends. It's well worth it.

Once you have Boom and whatever staples you need for your favorite deck(s) you can play and earn everything else you need. Most of the must-haves aren't lgdrys and in time you'll get them in packs. That said there are certain things that usually cause huge swings in games like Tirion, Alex, Antonidas, Deathwing, sometimes Sylvanas and Jaraxxus and Mal'Ganis. The more you play the more you'll see what can win games on their own.

Classic, no question. Boom is the only must-have lgdry from GvG. Unless you play mech decks I'd get all Classic or go back and forth between Classic and GvG.

They've been adding incentives to play more since Naxx. If you do dailies and climb as far as you can on ladder each month you'll be surprised how quickly you'll accumulate gold/dust/packs. With each set/expansion there's usually special deals to reward dedicated players and/or help newer ones keep up. One possible improvement I keep bringing up would be a HS version of the Auction House, although it would require A LOT of work and constant monitoring so nobody gets robbed as I've seen while trading in M:tG online. Still a good idea worth considering, among several.

BTW, I don't get why tl;dr was mentioned, but it's a great channel. Glad to know there are fans here.

First decide how you wanna win and what kinda deck you wanna build. Then fill in open slots with the best pieces, which might not be epic/lgdry. The first epics I crafted were Molten/Mountain Giants for Handlock. Now Sea Giants are usually better with all the token/totem/zoo decks. The big problem with crafting is, with few exceptions (like Dr Boom), what's hot this week might be useless the next time an expansion comes out. Just craft what you wanna play most, or what you know is most flexible.

3 reasons to keep a gold lgdry:
1. You don't already have a regular version
2. You're working toward a complete collection
3. You REALLY like shiny things.

Best reason to dust a gold lgdry: you can immediately get any regular lgdry or 4 epics which will probably improve your winrate much sooner than 1 golden.

One sure way to win with Golden Monkey is to somehow get it from your Sky Golems.

With 2 copies of each in your deck and a chance to look at up to 9 cards (if you've got the Coin) before you play your first card it's often better than 50/50 to get something useful by turn 2. RNG can seem like a cruel mistress sometimes, but flip a coin enough times and you'll eventually get an edge.

Oddly enough my first two games after completing the final wing were back-to-back Golden Monkey mirror matches, one Rogue one Warrior. When I finally got it I only had one card in hand (which became a useless Baron R) and I was so far behind it didn't matter. In the next expansion there has to be some kind of tutor card (Discover a minion/spell from your deck...or collection?) Even then it's a combo that requires a deck that can survive long enough to pull it off. Could be fun in Casual and insane if pulled off in Arena, but whoever can win with it on ladder deserves a medal.

Discover may be good enough to make toolbox Zoo dominant after all the cards have come out. Scarab is good, but I haven't made room in any of my ladder decks for what I got from Wing #1. Some new possibilities for fun decks and Tavern Brawls though.

I used to enjoy watching Patron players concede the turn they finally drew their combo and realized they still didn't have lethal. Now I'm wondering how long it will be until I see another Patron, or non-control Warrior. The only ones truly affected are those who only played Patron Warrior and those who couldn't figure out how to defeat them (it wasn't that hard with most classes, people just had to whine).

Only two Warrior decks until the next expansion:

1. CW

2. Weird attempt at a Charge combo deck that will be lucky to achieve a 20% win rate.

Huh!?! How is this a fix? Why ruin a perfectly fine card that only gives you the win if you've got 3-5 other pieces of the combo in hand AND your opponent has less than 30 life AND no taunts or secrets AND you've somehow survived until turn 8 to pull it off?

Thank you, whiners. It wasn't enough to make WC a 4 mana 3/3 or 3 mana 1/2. Oh no. Even if last month's hot combo deck only wins 50-60% of the time that's still WAY too much for you, isn't it? Meanwhile, Face Hunter is left alone entirely!?!

Blizzard, I beg of you, stop changing stuff just because somebody complained about losing to a card more than twice. If you continue destroying viable decks (even those that win more than 50% of the time) by making individual combo pieces completely unplayable (ala Buzzard and Leeroy) there will be fewer decks to craft and fewer reasons for people to keep playing as games get even more boring and predictable.

Here ends the rant, but seriously...has there ever been a Charge Warrior deck? Ever ever?