Hearthpwn

To help understand the design space limitation between nerfing versus buffing cards, let's presume our controlled variable is equivalent to the amount of cards changed. For the sake of this example, let's set the control variable to 5.

If a new design space centralizes around the 5 buffed cards to counter the current tier 1 decks, then the variety of new decks that can theoretically challenge the current tier 1 lists will almost always utilize a combination of these 5 buffed cards. The complementary cards will most likely stay the same since we're simply shifting 5 cards from playable, to overpowered/build around pieces. Also, the designers will essentially 'choose' which class to buff through their select, limited changes. 

There's also a higher chance for the designers to receive more negative feedback if these 5 cards end up defining the meta (forcing archetypes) or failing to change the meta (useless balance patch, need of another patch, wasted time). 

If a new design space centralizes around nerfing 5 overpowered, suppressive cards to reduce the power of current tier 1 decks, then the variety of new decks that can theoretically challenge the current tier 1 lists extends beyond shifting 5 cards from playable to overpowered. Why? Because moving 1 card from overpowered to playable generally opens up the room for at least 2-3 new cards to enter the meta AND gives players a chance to autonomously play test a variety of cards to figure out the new tier 1 decks. 

There's also a lower chance for the game designers to receive backlash because at the very least, players will no longer lose to the same tier 1 decks even if another suppressive, tier 1 deck arise from the balance changes. That's more of a psychological factor, but a real marketing incentive nonetheless. 

Hope that helps!

If you're competitive, then consider crafting Anduin, Malfurion, or Gul'dan. However, I believe Anduin's deck cost the most since you'll likely need Lyra or Raza as well. Malfurion's jade/aggro/taunt deck would be the cheapest. Gul'dan works as well, but his deck is more difficult to pilot in my opinion. 

If you're looking for something fun, then consider crafting Uther, Rexxar, or Garrosh. Those decks are more tier 2, but can be piloted like a tier 1 if done correctly. 

I don't think Priest is necessarily the King of the ladder since I personally play decks that destroy them. I run the new Pillager/Oil Rogue with 1 Sprint and 1 Gadgetzan, and I've currently been 6-0 against Priest in the ladder, albeit I'm only around rank 4 at the moment so I'll keep you updated if the Priest players get better in legend...

Would you say replacing the Jeeves for Sir Finley is a good enough choice where you won't try experimenting taking out other cards instead? I'm currently debating between 1 Innervate, Jeeves, or Pilot Shredder (suggested by the author). 

What do you think about replacing an Innervate with Sir Finley? 

Thanks for the suggestion. I've since gone 15-1 with your deck, and am about to hit rank 8 with the deck. I'm planning on using this egg druid to legend this season. 

Great deck! It's funny how a lot of people on this server aren't successful with this deck because they're probably not playing it correctly, and thus, criticizing your innovative deck. 

Wow, the majority of the people in this specific thread is either blissfully ignorant or extremely pessimistic. To be able to make claims that you won't see Reno Jackson 90% of the time until turn 5-6 is mathematically incorrect. To play Reno correctly, you can actually choose to mulligan for him against Face Hunter matchups, as you would do for Antique Healbot, depending on your other mulligans or playstyle. 

More importantly, the tradeoff of removing roughly 7 one ofs, transitioning my midrange Paladin deck into a Highlander Paladin deck, is not as consequential against control decks as you think. I'm a 3X legend player specializing in Paladin/Warrior, and my control Paladin is already sitting at rank 5 with 2 partial days of play time boasting over a 70% win rate. I have the matches recorded if you really want to examine it, but so far it's equally consistent to my midrange Paladin. 

If you don't want to listen to me, then just go watch the VODS of other pro players such as Lifecoach, Savj, or Strifecro, where they all use different Reno decks to climb the ladder successfully. Keep in mind, we are still at the early phase of testing, so Reno deck may not stay by the end of the adventure, but it's certainly making quite a dent on aggro at this moment. 

In this matchup it is mostly about the Emperor into warsong/frothing play for the OHKO burst. However, since everyone will probably be mentioning that, I'll include a few other ones.

1. Play 1 Patron with whirlwind/deathbite/inner rage (minimum 4 patron spawned) earlier in the game to bait out their brawl and establish board control. Don't use warsong in this scenario even if it's midgame unless for some reason they have a bunch of armor smith/cruel taskmaster out.

2. Recognize that 1 Warsong and 1 Patron with Inner Rage and Whirlwind effect is 14 damage. This number is critical b/c Warriors often armor a lot and you need a 2nd wave of burst because the OHKO combo at the end sometimes will not cut it. 

3. Use your cycle cards such as Slam and Battle Rage in the early game if your hand is clunky. Aim for a minimum of 2 draws for Battle Rage. 

Here's some mathematical analysis for the Joust mechanic if you guys want a quick read. I'll be comparing current versions of two popular decks and see how the Joust mechanic will work out percentage wise if they were to replace their counterparts. Specifically for this post, I'll be looking at a popular hybrid hunter deck build and compare it to a midrange paladin. I'm choosing a slower hunter just to show a conservative estimation on what to expect. 

http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/282686-s17-1st-eu-legend-midface-hunter-guide

http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/279981-midrange-paladin-top-100-legend-eu

Midrange Hunter deck features 4X 1 drop, 6X 2 drop, 2X 3 drop, 2X 4 drop, 2X 6 drop for an average card value of 2.6. 

Midrange Paladin deck features 1X 1 drop, 5X 2 drop, 3X 3 drop, 2X 4 drop, 7X 5 drop, 1X 6 drop, 1X 7 drop, 1X 8 drop for an average card value of 4.3. 

As a result, you can expect that 62% of the time, you'll be able to get the full value out of joust, and if it's against an aggro hunter with Savannah taken out, the numbers jump to 67%. Keep in mind, more than likely you'll take out Zombie chow and orientate the game more toward a mid-late style so it's very easy to manipulate this number up past 70%. You can actually look at the data far more accurately on a standard deviation chart, but overall it's a huge swing for control decks as you can easily replace a few cards and build around the mechanic. 

To be frank I also work in an industry that requires high level of statistical mathematics and analysis for my job. I am not going to argue with you about power creeping since I too believe Blizzard is slightly guilty of that, but the way they constructed the cards and added new mechanics to include a possibility of cards being better, or worse, than their other counterparts is both innovative and a solution against aggro - a problem that has been hurting this game.

If you look at the game mathematically, the mana curve with strong monsters compared to their mana counterpart is what defines the pace of the game. Cards like Piloted Shredder, Imp Gang Boss (class specific), Mad Scientist, and so forth are examples of insanely high value cards that the meta revolves around since not only are they the top tier cards for their mana curve, but also favorable when compared to other monsters from different curve. Mad Scientist, for example, lets you essentially discount up to 4 mana if you count the card draw of the secret being 1 mana, and then the actual secret being 3. Mathematically we are looking at a value of 6 mana for a 2 mana card. 

To solve the aforementioned problem, Blizzard must focus their attention on higher curve cards from 5 and onward and offer a huge upside to play them. The quickest solution to solve the aggro problem and shift the meta to a higher curve is realistically introducing card from the Jouster collection where their is a huge upside for having a higher curve deck. Not only will you be able to survive the early game, but you'll also be able to control the board and recover from more situations. 

See my ranks ?