Hearthpwn

That's good, I've used this deck to reach Rank 5 the previous 2 months. This month I got stuck with it around Rank 8-9, so crafted Aggro druid instead to get to Rank 5.

This is really good. I kinda got stuck around Rank 9 with my own Aggro Druid deck (with 1 Living Mana), spent 80 dust on this one, and went 24-13 to Rank 5. Well worth it, thank you!

This is the same as sonecaroxx's deck from a few months ago: http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/939638-free-to-play-rank-23-to-legend-in-3-days-day-80

Good to see it is still holding up.

Yeah, either silence the 3/9 or Mass Dispel your 1/3s essentially makes the 9 mana spent less valuable. Nevertheless it's an interesting card.

Wow this is not bad, definitely can give Warlock more time to control the board.

Perhaps this game is lacking innovation. The game is looking exactly the same as it did on release, some stuff we still can't do, like reordering decks. My guess is that technically the game is not designed to be easy to update - it was designed like a small indie game but has grown into a huge audience that needs more frequent and long lasting updates to the game. It explains why their focus is on constantly releasing new sets - it's easier to just come up with new cards and visuals without having to change the core code of the game.

I'm coming from a League of Legends standpoint here, where they have innovated and changed a lot of their core systems over time, to meet the growth demand.

That's pretty good, I didn't think about trying Explosive Trap, I thought it might be too slow. I guess Grievous Bite can serve a similar purpose.

I got to Rank 5 last month with Sonecaroxx's deck slightly modified (-1 Golakka Crawler  +1 Dire Wolf Alpha, -1 Bearshark for +1 Tundra Rhino). This month though it's been a lot harder, but perhaps it also being earlier in the season has an impact. I tried a few variations, putting in more 1 drops, removing a Cobalt, but eventually I grinded up to Rank 5 with nearly the same deck but with 2x Golakka Crawler. Having consistent draws in the mid/late game with 2x Bonemare and 2x Cobalt Scalebane really helps, though the problem is that sometimes they're just too slow. Early board control is difficult sometimes against rogue and shaman which makes you reliant on the correct draws, and drawing those cards early is just a dead card in your hand. 

Hunter this season so far has been more difficult than at the end of September, when the nerfs hit. I got to Rank 5 last month with that hunter deck linked in the OP (just a few different cards). This month I used mostly the same cards and got stuck at Rank 9 a bit (currently Rank 6). It still performs pretty well at Ranks 20-10. If you want to climb you have to play smarter now. There will be more games where you are unable to do anything against Tempo rogue and Razakus Priest, but playing correctly against them will win you games you wouldn't have otherwise.

It felt good to win a game against a Rogue who double Keleseth'd, with my mid-range hunter deck.

I just maintained board control, expecting them to play pirates, backstabs, SI:7 agents, vilespines. Instead, the only significant thing I remember him playing was Shaku, which I deadly shotted. By the time he played Vilespine slayer, I was pretty much pushing lethal.

Proof of Rank 5: http://imgur.com/tbeTO83

Quote from Mackie264 >>

you are trying to tell me than in just one month of playing you discovered the secret to just climb like crazy? You basically skipped the whole learning curve of the game (which for sure can't be learned in a month)

Well, there's no actual secret to climbing like crazy, the information is out there in lots of videos, articles, I just had to go out and use it. I have friends who told me that it was hard for any new player, and the learning curve was quite punishing, but I was expecting it. Plus my first month was kinda learning the game with my tempo mage deck, and got to Rank 16. Doesn't mean I suddenly know all the decks and details, but learning the fundamentals seems to be important here. Trump Teachings video series especially helped me beat Legendary decks with Basic cards.

even PRO players that are recognized as the best of the world I don't think reached rank 5 in a month just by grinding it out every day.

Satoshi, reached Legend on a BRAND NEW account in just 17 hours using Token (Aggro) Druid. https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/6wadf6/3104satoshi_hits_legend_with_f2p_account_in_17/ 

Disguised Toast's run using F2P Hunter during the Un'goro meta seems to be quite well known as well. It is these examples, plus some people on battle.net forums saying they reached Rank 5 with only a few months play, that I knew I could do it. And why not?

And sure you hit rank 5 as a new player that's probably playing a subpar hunter list, on a meta that is so hostile to hunter rn with razakus priest stomping on hunter, with evolve shaman getting pretty much an auto win against evey hunter, with jade druid out valuing every hunter turn after like turn 5, with the small taunt warrior rise, with the immense amount of tempo rogues in the ladder that do the same thing hunter does but just a lot better and a lot more decks.

Yes, perhaps my hunter deck wasn't the best up to Rank 13, but I had most of the key cards like Savannah Highmane, Alleycat + Razormaw. And no, Hunter seems to be in a much better place than before the nerfs, I didn't even know it was Tier 1 according to TempoStorm until today. Yes Evolve Shaman was frustrating to play against, lost most of those games but won some :). Jade druid I knew I had to go face almost all the time. In Ranks 9-5 I started facing a bunch of Keleseth Rogues, some of which I couldn't do anything about, but there were many other players I faced that let me easily take control of the game.

Probably your phone is not working and you meant to write 15 instead of 5 :)

Oh, of course it did :).

Hearthstone has me curious with how most people play the game. Are a lot of people stuck at lower ranks after more than 200 games or do most people just play casual to Rank 20/15 for the rewards? It seems to be a mix, and why Rank 20 is full of netdecks like Pirate Warrior.

I guess the next thing would be seeing if I could get more than 1 deck to Rank 10/5 standard, but that's mostly for next month. I still want to improve the mage deck.

I saw the reply I got as quite negative, and so didn't bother to reply. I WAS being realistic and definitely believed I could hit Rank 10, and 5 would be possible if I kept playing.

Well, after the nerfs hit I started working on my Mid-Range Hunter deck. I'd create a version, go on a win streak, then when I started to lose a few, upgrade a few cards. At the same time I was making sure in every game, I was expanding my familiarity of the main aoe spells, minions etc of each class. Though I found that establishing the right balance between board control and going face was a far more consistent indicator of whether I'd win or lose games. 

I've hit Rank 5 now, and on the way, I'd play against Hunters and win against almost all of them. I'd see them making inefficient plays, going for face, when I could just make value trades with their minions. So I did have to craft a bunch of cards, namely, having 2x Eaglehorn Bow was essential for those times I needed that extra board control.

From what it seems, you were saying having a bigger collection = better rank, and that I'd get stuck at a lower rank until I got a bigger collection. Rather I think it is knowledge of the cards from those who do have bigger collections that helped me, I don't need to own the cards to know what they do.

Solid deck, I upgraded the Hunter deck I had, using this as a guide. Got to rank 5 with a very similar deck, just -1 Golakka Crawler for +1 Dire Wolf Alpha, and -1 Bearshark for +1 Tundra Rhino.

Around 66% winrate for me from Rank 13 to 5

Hi,

I've been playing Hearthstone for a month, and I've reached a point where I feel I need some help to get further in the game. I built this mage deck, and peaked at Rank 16 with it, however I found that I had to play almost perfectly to win or take initiative.

I'm now thinking I can probably upgrade this deck to a secret tempo mage, but it requires Karazhan cards which I don't have, so instead I thought of crafting either aggro druid or F2P Hunter. I'd ideally want to get to rank 10, maybe 5 this month, but perhaps that requires me to disenchant too many cards just to get 1 deck that might not be effective after patch 9.1 comes out.

If having to buy Karazhan becomes a pay-wall to improving my mage deck, I'd be willing to switch to Hunter/Druid, but I'd be having to start again learning a new deck I guess.

I'd also want to get better at arena so perhaps I can more easily build up my collection.

So TL;DR: If I want to get to at least Rank 10 this month, what should I focus on? Improving my most experienced mage deck, crafting and learning a new meta deck, or getting better at the game to do arena more?