Hearthpwn

I'm queen of topic jumping w/ natural enhancements from ADHD. Not only do I not care when others do, I'm happy to follow along the winding trail. :D

I play duels nearly as much as I play standard, b/c they're still pretty fun. It's the ongoing deck manipulation & changes that I love so much. I feel like a kid with a present when I get to pick out a new passive. 

I HATE arena. I've never been able to get a good deck with the limited card choices. I basically know after the first game that I'm simply not going to win more than once. Duels allow you to build your starter deck, then allows you to change strategy or improve by adding more throughout play. I'm currently able to reliably win 3-5 games, which isn't GREAT but much better than I've EVER done in arena. 

The imbalance between available heroes & their powers is still horrible. My current favorites are Vanndar Stormpike neutral or Drek neutral. The 15 spell discovery cards is a life saver for early game decks of Ratttlegore's 5-damage bombs since there's much more padding for the bomb draw chances. Unfortunately it's still very necessary to hit as hard as possible to avoid letting Rattlegore collect way too much armor. The other one that makes me gnash my teeth is the voidfiend priest. 

I've only played once in Battlegrounds, and disliked it enough to not play again. It may be more about just being a new format than I'm used to, which would fade after playing a while, but it was an incredibly boring & tedious play mode. 

I did like the Mercenaries for a while, but quicky reached the point that ridiculous amounts of grinding must be done before progressing.

I'm a little nervous about the upcoming expansion w/ new class added. The intro of the Demon Hunter class is what led to quitting for so long. It was probably the worst meta that I had personally played. I hope that's not going to recur. DH is still a pain in the ass w/ the ridiculous amounts of VERY cheap hero attacks combined w/ the one of the cheapest hero powers. Coming back to the introduction of DH relics is dredging up the old feelings of utter frustration. 

This is a great analysis!

There were quite a few new changes to the game at the time I quit a few years ago. I was loving the dungeon runs compared to the old solo adventure format. I'm playing a lot of duels since it resembles that so much, but it's been even more frustrating than standard. There are so many overpowered aspects in duels. The warrior passive power of putting a 5-damage bomb into my deck at the end of EVERY turn the opponent has armor is the WORST. Especially in lower level games, when you only have a small health and very few cards. With so many available options for lots of armor very cheap, it's a PITA. 

I also loved the concept of the Whizzbang card giving you random full decks each game of random classes. It allowed ANYONE to play with the full set. I still only like a couple classes, but being forced to work with ALL classes was really a great way to expand experience. I really miss that. 

So true. I am probably wrong about the way I use the word algorithm, but I also think you're right that I'm wrong also at least a little in the definition I think I'm using (yeah, I'm suffering brain frazzle at the moment). 

it's not necessarily that I think Blizzard thinks, "This player is winning 6 games in a row w/ Mage. Let's stick them w/ a deck that is statistically Mage butt kicking." It's more it's just reasonable decks reaching a level are playing reliably good against certain other decks. So if Mage does great against most classes except say Shaman, then I'll progress pretty well till both I and Shaman are surpassing them. Then it's inevitably down to just me and shaman decks. So there is where it's the deck archetype (and that may be the wrong term as well?) or strategy. Yes, it's sensible, but it also sucks that there's always just one or two deck strategies that will always close out any TCG, whether it be HS or MTG or anything else. 

I'm definitely going to look at Rogue again. It was always one of my fave classes. I again should have phrased my statement that it sucks differently, and said, "Rogue right now sucks because of the cards *I* currently have," which is different than the options that are available. It all goes back to me coming in with ALL expired cards and dusting everything I own to get enough to get just a couple 'good' deck classes in current standard. Sigh. At least that was a lesson learned. 

I'll also be working to build that wild collection back up again with purposely purchasing wild packs. Even if I do need to kick myself every time since I had so many wonderful ones and just poofed them all away like a dummy. But sometimes a good kicking when you deserve it prevents future mistakes. 

Thanks again for all your advice. it's been absolutely priceless to a returning never-great player who now wants to be better AND have fun. Thanks for addressing both those goals, because the fun is the first priority and the second is getting better, but both are important. :) Your advice has brought up things I hadn't even thought about, and also showed me a lot about wild that I just never even considered and may save my love & patience of the game. 

Thanks! Yeah, I use two Deepwater Evokers in all my decks. The newer Sunwell also offers up a good assortment of spells that often gives cards typically in good heal/armor classes, and the price is almost always easily met with the whole mana mitigation against deck size. The other things I use a lot are the Solid Alibi to buy some time in decks that set up huge multiple big minions that I can't swipe off the board. 

I agree that there's definitely work that goes into getting the Priest quest. I think I'm just so disgusted by ANY outright 'destroy the hero' with no possible mitigation whatsoever. I do understand and see it's silly to consider something as honorable or not, but it just feels that way. That's why I refuse to play that quest. If the result were something NEARLY impossible to beat, it's one thing. if it's something truly fully impossible, it's really frustrating. BUT - again, that's probably because it's usually like the algorithm seems to give me perfect paired opponents for great games 10x in a row, then throws 15 priest quests, abyssmal curse decks, & Jailer decks all at once. First time I EVER finally hit gold a couple weeks ago and then went straight back down to lowest silver after solid losses so many times without a chance to play or counter. 

So I am admittedly just talking from a place of deep frustration and probably being just snarky. I'll eventually have a deck that will be the most annoying deck in play and then feel offended when someone tells me that MY deck is the unfair one. Right now I actually hold back all the stupid freeze spells I can use, because I HATE going against them all the time but it seems like Mage is just way too loaded with them in either benefits with other cards or just overall too many freeze spells. If the opponent is being a rude or annoying person tho, I do unleash them. 

Thanks! Yeah, I use two Deepwater Evokers in all my decks. The newer Sunwell also offers up a good assortment of spells that often gives cards typically in good heal/armor classes, and the price is almost always easily met with the whole mana mitigation against deck size. The other things I use a lot are the Solid Alibi to buy some time in decks that set up huge multiple big minions that I can't swipe off the board. 

I agree that there's definitely work that goes into getting the Priest quest. I think I'm just so disgusted by ANY outright 'destroy the hero' with no possible mitigation whatsoever. I do understand and see it's silly to consider something as honorable or not, but it just feels that way. That's why I refuse to play that quest. If the result were something NEARLY impossible to beat, it's one thing. if it's something truly fully impossible, it's really frustrating. BUT - again, that's probably because it's usually like the algorithm seems to give me perfect paired opponents for great games 10x in a row, then throws 15 priest quests, abyssmal curse decks, & Jailer decks all at once. First time I EVER finally hit gold a couple weeks ago and then went straight back down to lowest silver after solid losses so many times without a chance to play or counter. 

So I am admittedly just talking from a place of deep frustration and probably being just snarky. I'll eventually have a deck that will be the most annoying deck in play and then feel offended when someone tells me that MY deck is the unfair one. Right now I actually hold back all the stupid freeze spells I can use, because I HATE going against them all the time but it seems like Mage is just way too loaded with them in either benefits with other cards or just overall too many freeze spells. If the opponent is being a rude or annoying person tho, I do unleash them. 

This is all just gross. 

I mean, unsurprising that there's always a percentage of people who just seem to think this is fun. But it's sad that it's so bad it's more normal to have requests be harassment than anything else. 

Also just a big ball of suck about Blizzard response. Getting really fed up with the lack of support options on this game w/ Blizzard. it's not like this is a totally free game. Most of us are paying in some way for this over time. 

I didn't even realize that was a thing. 

Yesterday I was playing against someone who absolutely demolished me. Sure, it sucked to lose, but I was having a lot of fun watching them play their deck. I sent a quick request w/ the specific intention to tell them exactly that as a compliment. We were both playing Mage & seemed to have the same sets of strategy but w/ different cards. I've spent so much time tinkering & evolving my deck that I truly found it interesting to see my own strategy played differently.

No wonder I haven't heard back from them (I think anyway) if people regularly use it to annoy others. 

I was not offered anything. 

I stopped playing after Witchwood & just started again a few weeks ago. ALL of my cards were obsolete for standard, so something would definitely have been appreciated. 

I ended up dusting nearly all my old collection. Now I hate that I did that, because I never expected I'd want to play wild. The current game is just infuriating for me as a mage. Despite having a very powerful fun deck, I'm constantly destroyed by all the big OTK cards like Purified Shard, Jailer, Denathrius, etc. The abysmal curses are going to be my breaking point. 

I've been looking so forward to finally updating my old original Jaina, but after reaching the level, it doesn't work. 

It allows you to select the hero you want & confirm, and then just spits you back out w/ the reward still marked as unclaimed. 

Anyone know of any solutions or just need to wait? 

If it doesn't work before a new rewards track starts, will they still give it to me? 

Thanks! I'll look into that. 

I'm so frustrated with the current standard right now. There are SO many cards that just destroy me as a Mage. I know how it sounds to complain & say that it's not fair when I lose, but I'm really struggling to overcome that. 

It's not that I think I should or even WANT to win all the time. Winning is obviously good, but even when I am trying to work at building rank, I'd still rather have a fun game than just demolish everything in quick brutal wins. 

Right now my mage is extremely strong. I have confidence that I'd be able to take it pretty far, if it was not for a few current cards. Priest Purified Shard, Jailer, Denathrius are all impossible to beat. It's especially bad when a purified shard is tossed out & despite having 20+ armor & full health, I'm done. 

It would be at least fair to keep all such cards in classes rather than neutral, and then ensure each class has a one-shot or equivalent card.

And Mage needs to be given better recovery. With abysmal curses thrown in sometimes, there are too many ways to kill a mage without enough mitigation/defense for the mage. There are probably other classes that need more boosts, but I mostly only play Mage or priest. It used to be Mage or Rogue, but Rogue sucks right now. 

So wild is a lot more interesting to me than it used to be. 

When I came back to play, I figured I'd never play wild, because I hadn't before. Therefore, I dusted nearly ALL my old collection in order to catch up with the standard sets. I'm kicking myself for that. VERY hard kicks. 

It really is fun!

I don't think it's a very competitive deck to be honest. However, it DOES have a lot of fun play, so I still go back to it when I'm annoyed by a losing streak in my more competitive decks. 

Okay, this is what I've decided to do with this deck: Use it for fun. 

It's useable, and I'm sure with a few tweaks and different directions (like those suggested already), it could be more competitive than it is. However, I don't think I'm going to get it that great due to my own skill and/or other issues like keeping it maintained to fight against upcoming cards or changes. 

At the same time, it's a really fun deck for me to play with. It satisfies all those little quirks that I personally love to fiddle with during play in HS. 

I've gone mostly back to mage for my more competitive play, or to be more accurate, more training/practice in deck building AND skill during play to hopefully become more competitive. 

But thanks for the help. I'm so impressed with these communities. HS is such a complex game and deckbuilding requires so much planning & thought. The time required to help total strangers with that is no minor gift. 

Quote from Noncolodei >>

Hello, 

Maybe you can be inspired by Kibler's dragon thief : https://youtu.be/SQ9xdlpj9mk He's always doing nice things :) 

Personally, I don't think Drakonid Operative is a good card anymore. It was my favourite card back in the days (I always loved thief priest but it was not viable before this extension I think) but it's too slow now. I also tried the caravan, which is really fun but not viable either unfortunately.

I play a version without the dragon package and I have a really good winrate. I'm still not ok with every card but I love to play it :

### Mini set Thief Priest 
# Class: Priest
# Format: Standard
# Year of the Hydra
# 2x (0) Desperate Prayer
# 2x (1) Gift of the Naaru
# 2x (1) Psychic Conjurer
# 2x (1) Shard of the Naaru
# 2x (1) The Light! It Burns!
# 1x (1) Theft Accusation
# 1x (2) Condemn (Rank 1)
# 2x (2) Mysterious Visitor
# 1x (3) Brann Bronzebeard
# 2x (3) Cathedral of Atonement 
# 2x (3) Identity Theft
# 1x (3) Murloc Holmes
# 1x (3) Prince Renathal
# 1x (3) Rustrot Viper
# 1x (3) The Harvester of Envy
# 2x (3) Venomous Scorpid
# 1x (4) Incriminating Psychic
# 2x (4) Lightmaw Netherdrake
# 2x (4) School Teacher
# 2x (4) Shadow Word: Ruin
# 1x (4) Xyrella
# 2x (5) Clean the Scene
# 1x (5) Theotar, the Mad Duke
# 1x (7) Blackwater Behemoth
# 1x (7) Mutanus the Devourer
# 1x (8) Murozond the Infinite
# 1x (8) Whirlpool

[deck]AAECAd35Aw6e6wPU7QOm7wPQ+QOhtgSotgSY1AS42QTF5AT+7gSB7wSX7wS/8ASIpAUNlugDmesDh/cDvp8E8J8EiqME1KwElrcE8tsE+dsEuNwEutwEhoMFAA==[/deck]

 

Quote from Seshua >>

I would replace Pandaren Importer with Venomous Scorpid.
It's a bigger threat for your opponent in most cases and you can discover copies of cards you already run in your deck which is a big plus since you run many good spells.

I would also cut Faerie Dragon and Cobalt Scalebane from the list because they don't provide much value other than having the dragon tag.
Drakonid Operative , Incriminating Psychic and Murozond the Infinite are more than enough to fulfill the Kazakusan requirement.
Raid Boss Onyxia is probably even better than Murozond the Infinite because it always does something powerful.

Shadow Word: Ruin should def be on this list.
I would even run more than 2 copies if i could.

I also run TWO copies of Cathedral of Atonement because card draw is king.
Same goes for Gift of the Naaru.

Thrive in the Shadows is also very good if you need to find your removal.
Same goes for Illuminate.

Condemn (Rank 1) can also be quite good if you run into a lot of aggressive token decks (druids, imp warlock).

Desperate Prayer is better than Flash Heal if you run Xyrella.
One mana can make all the difference (especially against token decks).

I would also add another copy of Spirit Guide.

School Teacher is still really good.
I even run Brann Bronzebeard just for the combo with this card.

Speaking of Brann Bronzebeard.
He can be really good with discovered cards of your opponent or your own discover cards.

No Theotar, the Mad Duke ?
C'mon it's a thief deck after all.
And it's by far the most powerful thief card in the whole game.

Cards i would also cut:
Boon of the Ascended - too conditional and a dead card without a minion on the board.
Soothsayer's Caravan - only (sometimes) worth it if you play it on curve
Copycat - never paid off for me personally
Lyra the Sunshard - too slow, too conditional, too much rng and the discover pool isn't as good nowadays (still one of my favorite cards ever printed though)

 [deck]Deck ID or Code[/deck]

Thank you both so much! I'm on mobile right now, which makes this forum really difficult to navigate, but the info & advice you both gave is amazing & I didn't want it to seem like I'm ignoring it.

I'll go through it tonight & mix up a few suggestions when I'm on my laptop. Deck manipulation also sucks on mobile imo compared to laptop.

I am absolutely amazed at the time & effort people are so kind to share here. 

I've NEVER been able to make it to legendary & it's now a goal to do asap.

I'm having a lot of luck & fun with this priest deck, but feel like it could be tweaked to have more reliable success & would love any suggestions on substitions or game play.

Here's what I love about it - 

• Copy / Discovery = Lots of fun playing class cards for classes I generally don't like to play fully, like shaman & DH.
• Great very mana-cheap board sweeps so I can survive to successfully play many of the higher cost cards. It can be very successful against huge & aggressive archetypes.
• It seems to allow active play from beginning to end, so no long-term stasis with simply surviving behind a few taunt or spell protection.

But I know it's not perfect, but don't know if it can improve without sacrificing the parts I really love.

Any suggestions? 

Priest: Identity Thief + Dragons

Oh, that makes sense & definitely takes away the annoyance. 

Thanks - I don't mind helping in that. :)