Hearthpwn

https://youtu.be/ZPH4ifhk3BI

https://www.twitch.tv/stryder_hs

Hearthstone Background

As far as my ladder experience goes, I've been playing since Naxx was released. I've hit Legend in both Standard and Wild but nowadays I mostly dabble in Wild playing ridiculous decks like Rez Priest, Armor Druid and OTK decks. I spend the majority of my time playing Hearthstone Battlegrounds nowadays. I'm usually in the Top 200 of the North American Leaderboards but at my peak I hit #9 on the leaderboards. 

About Me

I'm 28 years old and I live in Canada. I love snowboarding and playing badminton and I'm a huge geek for Marvel and DC shows and movies! 

https://youtu.be/WY3As0fEc1Y

Hey everyone! I'm Stryder and I was a Top 200 Battlegrounds player on the NA server prior to the MMR reset. With Patch 19.2 there's been a ton of things to learn about new minions, new heroes and new spells. One of these new heroes is Y'Shaarj the defiler with a hero power that costs 2 gold and adds a random minion at the beginning of combat from your current tavern tier onto your board which you get to keep.

Based on a couple games played with this hero, he definitely feels like a combination of Yogg and Elise, but he's different in his own way as well. In the early game, he's worse than both Yogg and Elise because you don't get the stat bonus you get from Yogg and you don't get the consistency you get from Elise, plus if you hit a battlecry with your hero power you don't actually get to play the battlecry.

In the mid-game, he plays very similar to Yogg and Elise where the optimal strategy if your board allows for it is to go from Tier 2 to Tier 5 very quickly by tiering each turn, selling a minion and using your hero power. Compared to Elise, Y'Shaarj is definitely weaker because you miss out on the discovers and the battlecries, but compared to Yogg I think Y'Shaarj might actually be better because you're guaranteed a minion from your tavern tier whereas if you're unlucky with Yogg you could still be hitting Tier 1 minions with your hero power.

In the late game, I think this is where Y'Shaarj really shines because as Yogg, you don't really use your hero power in the late game because oftentimes you end up getting a minion you don't want and wasting gold. As Elise, your hero power doesn't do anything except give you a single Tier 6 minion when you get there. With Y'Sharrj, it's quite common where you end up in a situation where you have one "flex" spot on your board to cycle buff minions or minions you plan to sell next turn. In these cases, often a random minion from Tier 5 or Tier 6 will be dramatically better than the random minion you're keeping just to have 7 minions.

As an example, if you're playing a dragon board and you have Kalecgos and you're playing battlecry minions each turn, you often have 1 spot on your board that you're just leaving empty and playing weak battlecry minions. If you're playing as Y'Shaarj, often it's worthwhile selling your battlecry minion, leaving a spot empty and just playing your hero power as almost any random Tier 5 or Tier 6 minion will be better than your battlecry minion.

At the moment, Y'Shaarj is ranked pretty low according to HS Replay, but I predict once players learn how to play him and get familiar with his curve, he'll settle in the low Tier 2 bracket close to how Yogg ranks, if not slightly better. If you want to see a video of this hero in action, check out my gameplay video here:

Y'Shaarj the defiler has entered the Battlegrounds with a hero power that costs 2 gold and adds a random minion at the beginning of combat from your current tavern tier onto your board which you get to keep.

Based on a couple games played with this hero, he definitely feels like a combination of Yogg and Elise, but he's different in his own way as well. In the early game, he's worse than both Yogg and Elise because you don't get the stat bonus you get from Yogg and you don't get the consistency you get from Elise, plus if you hit a battlecry with your hero power you don't actually get to play the battlecry.

In the mid-game, he plays very similar to Yogg and Elise where the optimal strategy if your board allows for it is to go from Tier 2 to Tier 5 very quickly by tiering each turn, selling a minion and using your hero power. Compared to Elise, Y'Shaarj is definitely weaker because you miss out on the discovers and the battlecries, but compared to Yogg I think Y'Shaarj might actually be better because you're guaranteed a minion from your tavern tier whereas if you're unlucky with Yogg you could still be hitting Tier 1 minions with your hero power.

In the late game, I think this is where Y'Shaarj really shines because as Yogg, you don't really use your hero power in the late game because oftentimes you end up getting a minion you don't want and wasting gold. As Elise, your hero power doesn't do anything except give you a single Tier 6 minion when you get there. With Y'Sharrj, it's quite common where you end up in a situation where you have one "flex" spot on your board to cycle buff minions or minions you plan to sell next turn. In these cases, often a random minion from Tier 5 or Tier 6 will be dramatically better than the random minion you're keeping just to have 7 minions.

As an example, if you're playing a dragon board and you have Kalecgos and you're playing battlecry minions each turn, you often have 1 spot on your board that you're just leaving empty and playing weak battlecry minions. If you're playing as Y'Shaarj, often it's worthwhile selling your battlecry minion, leaving a spot empty and just playing your hero power as almost any random Tier 5 or Tier 6 minion will be better than your battlecry minion.

At the moment, Y'Shaarj is ranked pretty low according to HS Replay, but I predict once players learn how to play him and get familiar with his curve, he'll settle in the low Tier 2 bracket close to how Yogg ranks, if not slightly better. If you want to see a video of this hero in action, check it out here: 

https://youtu.be/ngtzxMaDH0A

https://youtu.be/mMtPqhdkRbA

https://youtu.be/lC4Hf8XWj84

https://youtu.be/0pTzI2sdDKg

https://youtu.be/yNS3ULaCex8

https://youtu.be/_r8-Bz__FmY

So with the new patch dropping this week Blizzard buffed Ysera to be even more reliable at finding dragons in the shop. Her new hero power adds an extra dragon to the shop at the beginning of your turn as well as every single time you hit refresh. Since the patch dropped, I’ve played a couple games with her and this new hero power feels incredibly satisfying as no other tribe-specific hero can consistently find minions for their tribe as well as Ysera can now. Here’s a couple tips I’ve compiled for playing Ysera:

• Generally, I would advise against staying on Tier 1 on turn 2. As tempting as it is to have two whelps on Turn 2, you don’t want to fall behind in leveling because the earlier you get Tier 5 and Tier 6 dragons the better. As well, the Tier 2 dragons are drastically better than Tier 1 dragons and can help you take less damage or even win some fights against other heroes that have a strong early game advantage (Lich King, Al’ Akir, Yogg, etc.)

• It feels incredibly easy to get triples of Dragons with Ysera now, especially at the lower tiers where the minion pool is small. Save your triples to discover Tier 5 and Tier 6 minions unless you’re struggling to stay alive and won’t make it to the higher tiers. You may lose tempo and some health in the early game, but the trade-off is finding a Razorgore, Kalecgos or Nadina that can potentially win you the lobby.

• Whelps are great in the early game, but even by the midgame their power levels often drop off and you shouldn’t be buying a 4th or 5th whelp if you can find better minions in the shop.

• Another minion that I see people get too attached to is Herald of Flame, it’s good in the early game but it’s power level drops off quite fast and if you’re able to find better minions don’t hesitate to sell it.

• If you’re low health and have some decent sized dragons on your board or some of the 3/6 Dragons on Tier 4, Nadina is a better pick than Kalecgos. Kalecgos might possibly win you the game but Nadina stops you from getting 8th place.

• With Ysera’s new hero power, it feels less necessary to go to Tier 6 than before. Even on Tier 5, consistently being able to find dragons on every turn gets you Razorgores, Twilight Emissaries and Cobalt Scalebanes that can help scale and buff your board. Additionally, it also helps you more consistently find triples so you have multiple chances at discovering a Kalecgos or Nadina. With that said, if you’re in a lobby where you’re strong enough to go to Tier 6 without dying, going to Tier 6 will definitely get you those Kalecgos and Amalgadons more frequently and help you win the game.

• When you’re in the endgame and you’re down to the final 4, think about what opponents you’re facing and how you can win against them. If they’re running Murlocs or a Baron/Selfless board, your priority should be finding a Nadina or two (or substitute one with a Macaw) rather than continually buffing your board with stats. If you’re fighting another Dragon player and their Nadina isn’t taunted, sometimes a 1/1 Divine Shield Taunt can save the day because the enemy’s Nadina doesn’t die and trigger it’s deathrattle. Keep these things in mind rather than playing battlecries on autopilot once you find Kalecgos!

If you're interested, here's a video of me piloting the new Ysera around 13k MMR rating!

So with the new patch dropping this week Blizzard buffed Ysera to be even more reliable at finding dragons in the shop. Her new hero power adds an extra dragon to the shop at the beginning of your turn as well as every single time you hit refresh. Since the patch dropped, I’ve played a couple games with her and this new hero power feels incredibly satisfying as no other tribe-specific hero can consistently find minions for their tribe as well as Ysera can now. Here’s a couple tips I’ve compiled for playing Ysera:

• Generally, I would advise against staying on Tier 1 on turn 2. As tempting as it is to have two whelps on Turn 2, you don’t want to fall behind in leveling because the earlier you get Tier 5 and Tier 6 dragons the better. As well, the Tier 2 dragons are drastically better than Tier 1 dragons and can help you take less damage or even win some fights against other heroes that have a strong early game advantage (Lich King, Al’ Akir, Yogg, etc.)

• It feels incredibly easy to get triples of Dragons with Ysera now, especially at the lower tiers where the minion pool is small. Save your triples to discover Tier 5 and Tier 6 minions unless you’re struggling to stay alive and won’t make it to the higher tiers. You may lose tempo and some health in the early game, but the trade-off is finding a Razorgore, Kalecgos or Nadina that can potentially win you the lobby.

• Whelps are great in the early game, but even by the midgame their power levels often drop off and you shouldn’t be buying a 4th or 5th whelp if you can find better minions in the shop.

• Another minion that I see people get too attached to is Herald of Flame, it’s good in the early game but it’s power level drops off quite fast and if you’re able to find better minions don’t hesitate to sell it.

• If you’re low health and have some decent sized dragons on your board or some of the 3/6 Dragons on Tier 4, Nadina is a better pick than Kalecgos. Kalecgos might possibly win you the game but Nadina stops you from getting 8th place.

• With Ysera’s new hero power, it feels less necessary to go to Tier 6 than before. Even on Tier 5, consistently being able to find dragons on every turn gets you Razorgores, Twilight Emissaries and Cobalt Scalebanes that can help scale and buff your board. Additionally, it also helps you more consistently find triples so you have multiple chances at discovering a Kalecgos or Nadina. With that said, if you’re in a lobby where you’re strong enough to go to Tier 6 without dying, going to Tier 6 will definitely get you those Kalecgos and Amalgadons more frequently and help you win the game.

• When you’re in the endgame and you’re down to the final 4, think about what opponents you’re facing and how you can win against them. If they’re running Murlocs or a Baron/Selfless board, your priority should be finding a Nadina or two (or substitute one with a Macaw) rather than continually buffing your board with stats. If you’re fighting another Dragon player and their Nadina isn’t taunted, sometimes a 1/1 Divine Shield Taunt can save the day because the enemy’s Nadina doesn’t die and trigger it’s deathrattle. Keep these things in mind rather than playing battlecries on autopilot once you find Kalecgos!

If you're interested, here's a video of me piloting the new Ysera around 13k MMR rating!

https://youtu.be/D8Wm7etEm7c

https://youtu.be/Fdwig0bth3I