I put most of the blame on GRRM for the bulk of the fail of the past two seasons. The quality of his writing markedly declined in his last two books and I get the strong impression he was overambitious with the plot and just ran out of ideas. Giving D&D an outline of the plot is pointless if he isn't even sure about it himself. What he is good at is writing about politics and building interesting characters. When the story becomes high fantasy and epic battles then he doesn't seem able to pull it off. You could remove the entire white walker supernatural threat from ASOIAF and probably have a more coherent story. He should leave the epic fantasy to Steven Erikson, who at least knows how to tie up a complex plot with a satisfying ending (and in half the time).
I'm finding that there are a lot of SUPER powerful decks, including a few I've drafted. I just got steamrolled by a hunter that basically had a better than standard deck. Three Marked Shot, two copies of Unleash the Beast into two Call of the Wild. How is anyone meant to beat that?
Yeah I do agree. A few times now I've had great drafts, been completely in control of a game, but gotten randomly high rolled by stuff like discovered Antonidas into mirror image followed by discovered Kalecgos into discovered Pyroblast. Fun when you're the one doing it, but feels like a really cheap way to lose if you're on the receiving end. No way to play around crap like that.
It's a really fun deck. Good to finally be able to use Flark. I am having a lot more success against token druid with the more midrange version with Galvanizers, Whelps and Houndmaster though.
Key to win against druid is to build up a big early minion with magnetize. They have no hard removal so you can make it huge then they're finished. You are quite reliant on drawing Galvanizer to do this, but at least the matchup is better than 50%. Give it a try.
Rogue is ridiculous at the moment. Enjoying the mix of new and old cards but the lack of balance makes it a total crapshoot. I'm sure they'll make adjustments soon.
Played it from 15-5. It's super strong, perhaps too strong. Then again it keeps bomb warrior in check...
On the 3 games I lost it was a combo of taunts and board clears. Just running board clears wasn't enough. Control shaman with a lot of clears + rain of toads seemed the only hard counter.
Used my own version to go from 15-5 with only 3 losses (1x tempo rogue, 1x control shaman, 1x spell hunter). Not running Crystalsong Portal or Wrath. Two Force of Nature, two Dendrologist. Chance of discovering a useful spell is close to 100%.
Faced almost entirely warriors and rogues and it obliterates them.
Token druid is disgustingly strong. I just went rank 15 to 5 with only 3 losses. You just need Stalladris and Vargoth. I didn't bother crafting two Crystalsong Portal. Used two Force of Nature and two Dendrologist instead and it worked great.
I can't believe this obnoxious deck has lasted this long...
I think the main problem is the way the graveyard mechanics work. If a 1/1 was summoned and killed then it should go into the graveyard as a 1/1 and if it gets resurrected then it's a 1/1. Would make little difference to decks like that use Malygos, deathrattles etc. but you don't have the problem of a massive body at turn 5 (and 6 and 7).
Pretty sure they did. I drafted a warrior deck yesterday with 3 legendaries and I faced 3 opponents in a row that had Lich King (in their base deck, not discovered). There just seem to be a lot around.
After a lot of really mediocre drafts I got this dream-crushing monster of a warrior deck. No surprises getting 12 wins with this one (and a legendary card reward as the cherry on top):
Started playing yesterday with 150g. Finished with 420g and 4 packs and still have two quests in my log. If you're FTP then arena is the best way to stay competitive (if you're decent at it). Sure you get some days where nothing goes right, but overall I like it.
It does take a lot of practice. You need to learn which cards synergise well when drafting and then know the best strategy to play the deck you drafted.
Been doing a lot better this week. 7-10-9-8 wins. Seems the problem was really just a string of awful drafts. Now that I'm getting decks with 4-5 spells the decks have been far more consistent. Been having good success with control warlock and aggro druid.
I do wish there were less Giggling Inventors and Fungalmancers around though...
0
I put most of the blame on GRRM for the bulk of the fail of the past two seasons. The quality of his writing markedly declined in his last two books and I get the strong impression he was overambitious with the plot and just ran out of ideas. Giving D&D an outline of the plot is pointless if he isn't even sure about it himself. What he is good at is writing about politics and building interesting characters. When the story becomes high fantasy and epic battles then he doesn't seem able to pull it off. You could remove the entire white walker supernatural threat from ASOIAF and probably have a more coherent story. He should leave the epic fantasy to Steven Erikson, who at least knows how to tie up a complex plot with a satisfying ending (and in half the time).
0
I'm finding that there are a lot of SUPER powerful decks, including a few I've drafted. I just got steamrolled by a hunter that basically had a better than standard deck. Three Marked Shot, two copies of Unleash the Beast into two Call of the Wild. How is anyone meant to beat that?
3
Yeah I do agree. A few times now I've had great drafts, been completely in control of a game, but gotten randomly high rolled by stuff like discovered Antonidas into mirror image followed by discovered Kalecgos into discovered Pyroblast. Fun when you're the one doing it, but feels like a really cheap way to lose if you're on the receiving end. No way to play around crap like that.
2
It's a really fun deck. Good to finally be able to use Flark. I am having a lot more success against token druid with the more midrange version with Galvanizers, Whelps and Houndmaster though.
Key to win against druid is to build up a big early minion with magnetize. They have no hard removal so you can make it huge then they're finished. You are quite reliant on drawing Galvanizer to do this, but at least the matchup is better than 50%. Give it a try.
0
Rogue is ridiculous at the moment. Enjoying the mix of new and old cards but the lack of balance makes it a total crapshoot. I'm sure they'll make adjustments soon.
2
Played it from 15-5. It's super strong, perhaps too strong. Then again it keeps bomb warrior in check...
On the 3 games I lost it was a combo of taunts and board clears. Just running board clears wasn't enough. Control shaman with a lot of clears + rain of toads seemed the only hard counter.
0
Used my own version to go from 15-5 with only 3 losses (1x tempo rogue, 1x control shaman, 1x spell hunter). Not running Crystalsong Portal or Wrath. Two Force of Nature, two Dendrologist. Chance of discovering a useful spell is close to 100%.
Faced almost entirely warriors and rogues and it obliterates them.
1
Token druid is disgustingly strong. I just went rank 15 to 5 with only 3 losses. You just need Stalladris and Vargoth. I didn't bother crafting two Crystalsong Portal. Used two Force of Nature and two Dendrologist instead and it worked great.
1
I can't believe this obnoxious deck has lasted this long...
I think the main problem is the way the graveyard mechanics work. If a 1/1 was summoned and killed then it should go into the graveyard as a 1/1 and if it gets resurrected then it's a 1/1. Would make little difference to decks like that use Malygos, deathrattles etc. but you don't have the problem of a massive body at turn 5 (and 6 and 7).
0
So stupid...basically the same as last week. Barely worth the free pack.
0
Pretty sure they did. I drafted a warrior deck yesterday with 3 legendaries and I faced 3 opponents in a row that had Lich King (in their base deck, not discovered). There just seem to be a lot around.
0
After a lot of really mediocre drafts I got this dream-crushing monster of a warrior deck. No surprises getting 12 wins with this one (and a legendary card reward as the cherry on top):
0
Started playing yesterday with 150g. Finished with 420g and 4 packs and still have two quests in my log. If you're FTP then arena is the best way to stay competitive (if you're decent at it). Sure you get some days where nothing goes right, but overall I like it.
It does take a lot of practice. You need to learn which cards synergise well when drafting and then know the best strategy to play the deck you drafted.
0
Been doing a lot better this week. 7-10-9-8 wins. Seems the problem was really just a string of awful drafts. Now that I'm getting decks with 4-5 spells the decks have been far more consistent. Been having good success with control warlock and aggro druid.
I do wish there were less Giggling Inventors and Fungalmancers around though...
0
Aviana and Malchezaar are super unlikely to ever see play. Executus is marginally useful for heroic boss shenanigans but nothing else.
Most of the rest either currently see Wild play or could potentially in future. I'd keep em...