Hearthpwn

Quote from Scorpyon >>

Ironically (to my last comment), I just faced 4 Priests in a row, all Deathrattles.
I assume that these were N'zoth priests, but again, they never managed to actually get N'Zoth online. 
Quest Shaman pretty much ran them into the ground before they could get going. 
The key is to basically hold off attacking in the early game, so the priest doesn't get cheap healing to advance the quest.

I feel like quest may not be the way forward for Priest. It can be a struggle to make quest progress against anything that doesn't rely on dealing incremental chip damage in the early game, and even though there are a couple of little tricks you can use to advance the quest in a slow game, ultimately you are at the mercy of the opponent's decision to interact with you if you want to complete the quest in good time. I could be wrong however - completing the quest quickly in a slow matchup is likely of very minimal importance, as you're relying more on setting up a good N'Zoth pool and winning in the late game resource battle than giving some taunt minions a small stat boost and some extra stickiness.

As expected, a huge chunk of ladder is trying out N'Zoth (with Sylvanus and 2x Khartut) in every class that can work it in. I'm interested in discussing your thoughts on the best way to exploit the heavy use of these decks.

I think Holy Wrath Paladin is fast enough to beat most of these lists, but with Emperor Thaurissan back in the format, its quite possible that some kind of Freeze Mage or other burn/alternate win condition combo deck could be more viable. At the other end of the scale, Secret Paladin and Tempo Mage with Mana Cyclone/Flamewaker could certainly look to pressure N'Zoth decks out of the game before they get going.

What are your thoughts?

Quote from DiamondDM13 >>

Then again, Europe doesn't understand the real meaning of Freedom. It is painfully clear when you realize no one else actually has Freedom of Speech.

???? Source?

I don't know what Europe you've been to.

I should never have come here.

Quote from CorNetto >>

Hey guys! Sorry to bother you with this question. But I've updated the game and I can't find any of the returned wild cards in my collection, has anyone got any clue where I can find them?

Looks like the update isn't out on some mobile platforms yet. Shouldn't be long.

Quote from honkydonky >>

This meta sucks like every other one, netdecking kills the game , gives people the illusion they are good at the game by playing a deck someone else thought up, hearthstone is a lot of rng and copying others always will be and will never change, just enjoy it as a game and dont stress about the 'meta'

This would only be true if higher tier decks were inherently easier to pilot than lower tier decks, which is simply not the case. A deck being good doesn't make it easy to use, similarly a deck being bad doesn't make it hard to use (Combo Priest is a good example of a powerful deck that is difficult to play optimally, evidenced by its high play rate and win rate in Legend, and low play rate and win rate below rank 5). So called "net-decking" is simply a refinement process by which a collective of players gradually weed out the sub-optimal card choices in their decks and replace them with more logical options. Refining and optimising decks is a playfield leveler that creates a competitive atmosphere, it is not some kind of evil that must be stopped. We have a finite pool of cards and have to select the 30 that work best, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that there aren't enough combinations for everyone to have original ideas that work well, so refinement and emulation of successful strategies is inevitable. Using simple logic, playing 30 cards that have some degree of synergy and can win games of Hearthstone makes more sense than gimping your progress by running sub-optimal cards for the sake of being "original."

I find this concept bizarre that a community refining card choices within decks and making their findings available to a wider base of players is somehow toxic to the game. What I find even more bizarre is this attitude some people have that what other people choose to play is any of their business. If someone wants to copy and paste a list off of Vicious Syndicate because it is backed by data, that's completely their call and no one else's business. Same if they want to make a minor adjustment to a proven deck to better fit meta the meta trends they are experiencing, or if they want to completely scratch build a relatively untested concept.

Quote from Shadowstorm1403 >>

Also best option in game 2 is black knight no? Why did it not offer that one strange

I'm assuming by "I drop Zephrys at 7 mana" he means that literally, and therefore had 5 mana to play with (also sort of explains why Lay on Hands was offered if it was turn 7), so it should not offer TBK as a reactive option. With that said, Kabal Shadow Priest was a very strange offer for this reason. Brawl is an absolute given here though so I'm not convinced we have all the correct information.

Quote from Sillyraptor >>

I know that they've been updating him to pick up on some more scenarios such as buffing 0 attack minions or weapon removal and all but of the few games that I've gotten to play recently Zephrys has given some strange suggestions.

Game 1) Druid (me) vs Hunter health is equal at about 22 to 21. Hunter has a full board of a 1/1's plus a Hyena with one health and a Masked Contender with 3; I have an empty board and 10 full mana. I was specifically looking for Holy Nova + Hero power to clear the board and was offered a Cabal Shadow Priest, Tirion, and Dread Infernal.

Game 2) Hunter (me) vs Paladin. I was extremely behind this game I had about 10 health Paladin was up at about 26; Paladin is murloc paladin and is dominating the board with a lot of murlocs about 4 of them 3+ Health. I drop Zephrys at 7 mana looking for the brawl to stay alive but instead am offered Holy Nova, Cabal Shadow Priest and Lay on Hands.

Game 3) Warrior (Me) vs Rogue. Pretty even i'm at 29 they're at 23. They have a board of a 4/5 with Taunt, a 1/3 with taunt and a 1/1. I have an 8/7 Siamat on board and 8 mana. I was looking for Fireball so I could clear the 4/5 and keep a pretty big minion alive then armor up but was instead offered Cabal Shadow Priest, Ysera and Sea Giant.

It may just be me but I just feel like these are less than ideal cards for scenarios that I was very clearly looking for a different card.

Game 1 Zephrys is correct. The best AoE in a vacuum is Dread Infernal as it is attached to a 6/6 body, which contests the 2/3 (and then some). Remember zephrys doesn’t know what your macro game plan is, he will just look for the best card according to the numbers. He almost always offer Tirion at 8 mana because it’s the best proactive card in a vacuum. Cabal is iffy but a reasonable high impact reactive play that isn’t another AoE. He’s definitely more likely to offer Holy Nova here if you hero power the 2/3 first, as it removes Tirion from the pool (you only have 6 mana) and makes Cabal weaker.

Game 2 doesn’t make a lot of sense, he seems to always offer brawl against a full board. Especially weird for him to offer 2 cards that are not playable this turn. Do you have a replay of this?

Game 3 seems normal. It won’t offer removal spells unless it unlocks lethal, or their board is stronger than yours. It expects you to play the Cabal or Sea Giant and clear with Siamat for a very strong tempo swing. Ysera is rarely offered (going into turn 9 when you are ahead only).

All in all game 2 seems like an anomaly/bug but games 1 and 3 are consistent. Remember Zephrys doesn’t know what you want, you have to learn how he works and manipulate his offerings accordingly (through sequencing your plays correctly).

Quote from Tzon_e >>

Quote from thebitterfig >>

Quote from hillandder >>

There is not much N'Zoth can do with Standard pool unless Belcher and Sylvanas come back too.

Khartut Defender will be really sweet with N'Zoth.  Each half which dies gets resummoned as a Reborn-intact version.  That'll lead to a lot of sticky taunts which also heal you.

 Maybe Anka Rogue becomes viable , imagine Anka , then N'Zoth for 1 mana and scheme the N'Zoth. I will definitely try it

How are you getting a 1 mana N’Zoth? It is a battlecry minion. 

The standard list gets murdered by Priest. The techy list is a little harder depending on how much tech they put in. Quest Druid is also favoured but I think its closer than the statistics suggest if the Shaman player is decent.

Idk, I didn't play for the whole of September and did 4-Legend with Quest Rogue on the final night with 2 losses (a Murloc Paladin and a Highlander Hunter). Granted the competition at 4-L in the last day of the season isn't exactly hard but the deck really isn't bad at all. Maybe you are making some incorrect plays (for example loading your Tess with an AoE spell in the Control Warrior matchup, prioritising quest completion over board in Aggro matchups etc). Its important to know when to shift gears as the Quest Rogue - in some matchups you need to switch up and use the weapon to pressure the face for 3 a turn rather than concentrate on clearing minions, while in others you need to really consider what cards to hold so as not to load detrimental effects onto your Tess. There are a lot of intricacies to Quest Rogue, which makes it very fun to play, and making use of sub-optimal generated cards is a big part of the challenge.

Zephrys can read spell damage but he generally won't prioritise burst if it isn't lethal.

Aggressive options that are good at the moment off the top of my head -

Combo Priest (now functions as an aggro deck, builds tall boards with cheap minons and buffs, techs combo so it can randomly OTK you if you leave a minion up).

Aggro Warrior (minion/weapon based face deck - the new 3/3 that copies a damaged minon is really powerful. Wins most aggro vs aggro matchups).

Aggro Rogue (never changes much, usual deal).

Zoo Warlock (never changes much, usual deal).

Murloc Paladin (not very interesting, has an aggressive curve but aims to play Prismatic Lens on 4 into a cheap Tip the Scales on 5 (summon 7 murlocs from your deck). Has a few back up plans in Chef Nomi and Zephrys as it decks itself so fast).

Murloc/Overload/Token Shaman (Token looks most promising at the moment but all 3 are viable, with token focusing on a Bloodlust finish, Murloc focusing on snowballing board with bloodlust as an alternative win condition and overload relying on Thunderhead to make boards and finishing with burst from spells and Doomhammer).

There are a few others available but these seem to be the best ones.

Quote from Tzon_e >>

Well you give me the pass I needed to ask something to Control Warriors. Yesterday I faced one and I was playing an old school Tess with Spectral Cutlass. The only different part in my side except from not using quest as Rogue is that I am using Lab recruiter and Barista instead of Tog's scheme. 

So In turn 9 I went Lab recruiter to a minion-> Barista -> lab recruiter to lab recruiter.

turn 10 I used Heistbaron and drew 3 cards for 0 mana, one of which was Lab. So I did Lab on Heistbarron. 3 Heist, 2 lab, 3 Khartut defenders on deck. 

turn 11. from then I go infinite. Way more infinite than Tog's scheme and I don't care to lab my Tess, just lab the lab, and lab some lackeys and lab your Heist. 

He decided that he want to play the value game until Elysiana , and do all his removals first. What on earth was he hoping? I have played with this meme rogue so many times that I know that I can go infinite, and draw 3 cards for 0 mana almost each single turn .So question on Control Warrior. Don't you feel hopeless on this matchup? Your opponent can fill the board with 3/2, 5/5 minions each turn. and shuffle infinite. Why you keep playing?

He didn't play the matchup correctly. You have to at least expect Tess/Scheme against Quest Rogue and aim to win with a double Omega Devastator swing turn or similar to generate more tempo than the Rogue can deal with. The Warrior is probably unfavoured but they can win if they play a tempo game once they have Boom online.

Hunter always has inflated win rates on the main page of HSR because it measures games across all ranks hunter secrets are super strong against inexperienced players.