Hearthpwn

When you play against an Aggro Hunter you want to mulligan heavily for your Ancient Watchers, your Molten Giants, and your Sunfury Protectors. Toss everything else back. I'd definitely take out your BGH for a second argus, and you'll be set against a hunter.

Quote from pimpemup »

Quote from EvelinaMae »

You should watch LiBo from the WCAs. $90,000 on the line, and he 6-0ed with his Shaman deck on pure God draws. 

*edit* 11-0 now...shaman OP

Guys, LiBo down. LiBo down. His Shaman lost. He got zoo-ed down, 5-0. Seriously, zoo. Zoo. . . . zoo OP

What cards should be considered nerfed, hmm, good question.

You can argue any card that costs zero mana should be nerfed. Hunter's Mark and Innervate both cost 0 mana and could be considered cheating in a way. Hunter's Mark kill off your opponent's minion for free. Innervate basically play an insane card on your turn, for free. 

Also, Undertaker Why is that card even a thing? Seriously. 

I still think it's because the ladder hasn't fully reset yet. I played from Rank 15 to 9 back to 12 just yesterday and today, and I'd say a majority of the players I queued up against had their legend card backs in hand. 

So, even though I am a pretty decent player (haven't made legend yet), I'm still struggling to climb past Rank 10. 

And arena, yes, people are constantly up-ing there game, especially with so many guides/streams that teach people how to play arena. I've seen streamers who draft amazing decks can sometimes be crushed in arena, going 3-3 or 4-3 etc. when they have 12-0ed many a time. So don't worry, you're not getting worse, there's just more of an influx of people educating themselves on playing Hearthstone. Something of like 20 million people play Hearthstone apparently. About 25% of those people have reached your rank as well. And like just imagine all the people you face in arena are part of that 25%, play regularly, and know how to play just as well as, if not better than you. That's like 5 million people. So yeah, I get it. I get crushed in arena so often, I don't even bother trying anymore. 

In the early game, it's all about board control. Always clear the totems at this point in the game. Once you reach the mid-game, then you can start pushing for damage. But this also depends on your game plan. If your playstyle is more control heavy, you're going to like clearing the board more. If not, then you'll likely push for damage when staring at a sole Searing Totem or Healing Totem. It goes without saying, you always kill the Mana Tide, the Flametongue, and the Spell Damage Totem. 

Always check how much burst you have in hand as well. If you have x damage on board and x damage in hand, and if you go face you can kill him next turn, go for it. But keep in mind, if his board has 2+ minions that pose a significant threat, you're telegraphing to him you have lethal. Also, make sure you're not in danger of dying next turn before you decide to go face. 16 is a pretty comfortable life total to have against a shaman and a clear board. Depending on the hand size of your opponent, you can calculate about how much burst damage he might have. When it comes to Shaman, always bear in mind the rule of 3s. Shamans can do 3 damage at any point of time. Rockbiter, Lightning Bolt, Fire Elemental, Lightning Storm (expect it to roll high) Al'Akir, Bloodlust. And it's important to keep your minions from being vulnerable to dying, so knowing a Shaman can do 3 damage at any point in the game, try and keep your minions healthy. If you're ahead, you don't want to lose all your minions to a lightning storm that rolls high or any other random cheap removal spell a Shaman has. 

And lastly, you can't be afraid of the totems when you're playing against Shaman. If you're playing correctly, they're not so scary after all.

Quote from Jaraxle87 »

Lord Jaraxxus, followed by Grommash Hellscream, Prophet Velen, Grommash Hellscream, and Lord Jaraxxus my most recent Legendary was King Mukla.  In between i got a third golden Grommash Hellscream and a second Prophet Velen.......kind of crappy luck if you ask me...

I've gotten 2 Prophet Velen as well and 2 Archmage Antonidas on top of that. Not very useful -_- 

Quote from absolutecrazy »

A Priest deck would be short of power without Thoughtsteal. You feel that this card provide great threat, but it's simply because there are too few cards in a game in Hearthstone. Try playing Priest without Thoughtsteal in current version, and you'll find it a total disaster for lack of valuable cards in the late game.

That's how Priest works. A Priest deck has very few minions or damaging spells. If it doesn't steal cards or rob minions from the foe, it can't win on its own. Any reasonable midrange deck should be fast enought to take down such Priest strats before all the stealing comes to value.

I've made legend without the use of Thoughtsteal. I think Thoughtsteal as a card is overrated, and I'd rather have reliable minions in that slot, then win with outlandish steals. I could be in a bind, use Thoughsteal, and boom, Shield Slam or Deadly Poison. I don't like having dead cards in my hand. 

Me vs. Fox (9/4 Priest v. Control Warrior)

Turn 1: Passes on both end

Turn 2: Me - Heal face for 2 Fox: Says Thank you; Armors up

Turn 3: Me - Shade Fox: Armors up

Turn 4: Me - 2nd Shade on board, Power Word Shield Fox: Equips Deathbite hits face

Turn 5: Me - Mind Vision into Rag, Thoughsteal into Fiery War Axe and Gromm Fox: Armorsmith, Acolyte, Deathbite hits face, coin, Whirlwind

Turn 6: Me - Holy Nova Fox: Belcher

Turn 7: Me - 5:7 Shade into Belcher; Cabal Sludge Fox: Shield Block; Spellbreakers the revealed Shade

Turn 8: Me - Loatheb; Equips Fiery War Axe, kills Spellbreaker; Attack with everything (14 damage to face leaving Fox at 29 health) Fox: Faceless Manipulator on the revealed 7:7 Shade

Turn 9: Me - Slams Rag, exact lethal on board if hits face. Rag hits 7:7 Shade Fox: Slams Rag, Executes, Concede

Edit: Just realized that the OP said "Arena" but this is still a gamebreaking play, so I'll leave it.

Quote from battlemaid2495 »

What's wrong with ramp at the moment? I haven't had any experience with it, but have almost all cards to build a ramp deck (lacking 2x AoW). Could you elaborate please, so that I don't waste dust on nothing?

Ramp druid is an awesome deck! Just right now, the ladder is swarmed with aggro decks and the like. It's just not good in the current meta before the ladder reset. You'll be rekt by hunters and zoo. 

Go ahead and craft your Ancient of Wars, wait 3-4 days, hopefully the meta will slow down enough to play :) If it doesn't, you can always tailor it to zoo decks, no problem. Just my Ramp druid I love to play scales to high to compete on ladder, and I don't really want to take anything out so I can keep pace with the meta. I have other decks I like to play with instead, like priest.

Have you tried the 9/4 priest? It got me to legend last season, it's a pretty decent deck to ladder with. It has a higher win rate against control decks, but it's so much fun. You should try it out. 

Quote from Semioteric »

Quote from joonjoon819 »

Quote from Schterfernie »

I'd recommend Aggro to the top, then you can start playing your slower decks. 

That's really the best game plan for laddering. Grinding to the top, you just want quicker games.

 

Quote from klimon »

The higher ranks (20-7) tend to be flooded with aggro decks. If you run a slow deck, you are often at a disadvantage. Passing the first 3 turns and droppong a drake/giant turn 4 may mean you're  dead by turn 5. Try a different deck to rank up, and pull out handlock closer to rank 5

What decks would you recommend? Rogue and Mage aggro don't seem to be working right now, and I just don't like playing zoo or huntard. I can't find a deck that both works and is fun to play.

Aggro rogue was killed by belcher, so definitely wouldn't recommend that. You could try priest. Pally is strong vs zoo but weak vs aggro hunter so may not be an option. I think Druid is pretty good in the current meta. You could also consider miracle (Hyped has a couple interesting builds, one with Arcane Golem and one with Southsea Deckhand/Faceless)

If you go druid, token with double combo is a pretty quick deck. Ramp druid is so bad in the current meta right now. 

If you're facing a lot of hunters, you might want to pull out your warrior deck.

But I definitely agree that if you don't want to play zoo or hunter go priest. Tempo priest is a fun deck to ladder with. 

I'd recommend Aggro to the top, then you can start playing your slower decks. 

That's really the best game plan for laddering. Grinding to the top, you just want quicker games.

My very first legendary I opened was Onyxia :) You dare challenge the daughter of Deathwing?

I played her in all of my decks for like the first month I played. 

You can add me as well Seiko #1781

Going to craft Jaraxxus for the Handlock deck I'll be playing this season. I'm ready to test it out after maintenance is over. Thanks y'all for the responses!