True story: the highest rank I’ve ever gotten to in Hearthstone before is Rank 12. And you know what? That’s always been okay with me. I admire the people who can reach the higher ranks, and even get that elusive Legend card back, but I’d never aspired to be them. I’ve always played Hearthstone casually, just for fun, and outside of that one errant season I’ve never really climbed the ladder. Until now. With the start of the brand new year, and a brand new Standard mode, I thought it would be fun to see how high I, as casual player, can climb. I recognize that with the meta still in flux and the season being halfway over already, it’s probably not the *ideal* time for a ladder climb, but this is an experiment for fun, so let’s see where it takes us!
The Plan:
Start at Rank 20, with 0 stars. Play 10 games a day, for about a week. Try to win. See what happens!
Finding the Right Fit
It took me three full days to settle on a deck. Three days! That’s almost half my total time for this first test. You know what happened during those three days? I bounced back and forth between winning and losing and gained no ground. Three days in, and I was still right where I started. Next time, I’ll learn from my mistake and pick my deck out in advance.
Decks I tried:
Kibler's Toki & Arugal Elemental Mage
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Minion (23)
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Ability (6) | Playable Hero (1) |
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The very first deck I tried was based off this. I opened both Archmage Arugal (I can't be the only one who keeps accidentally calling him arugula right?) and Toki, Time-Tinker on the first day of the expansion so I wanted to try this deck out. But I only played a few games before switching. I will definitely pick this deck up again later as it was fun to play.
Tess Greymane Rogue
Next I tried a hurriedly built, ill thought out deck to try out Tess Greymane, who I also opened. Unsurprisingly, I did not have much success. However, since then I’ve encountered several Rogues playing something similar that I’ve just been calling Copy Rogue and they did a much better job of putting a deck together. If you're interested in giving it a try, here's one that looks like what I've been seeing:
Minion (18)
Ability (12)
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Quest Warrior/Odd Quest Warrior
Last year, I built a quest warrior deck that I really liked and played a lot. So for my next attempt, I used a standardized version of my old deck...and then when I realized that Baku the Mooneater would probably help a lot, made an odd only version. It saw some success but not a ton. I did encounter others versions of this idea while playing, so clearly I wasn’t the only one who thought this. In fact, I saw a lot more quest warrior then I did before this expansion released. Ultimately though, I tossed it aside in my continuing quest for the one deck to rule them all.
Quest Mage, but Not THAT Quest Mage
My penultimate attempt at finding the right deck was a standardized version of an old quest mage deck I'd built. It’s just a deck that happens to have the quest in it! It’s not THAT quest mage deck, I promise.
Lady Priest
I eventually settled on a priest deck that runs Lady in White. I like playing Priest — probably the class I played most last year. It finally got me some traction, but it definitely has its weaknesses. Since I'd seen it could win, and I had heard it's best to stick with one deck, this was the one I stuck with. The deck below has the same general idea (and now that I look at it, I think I need to try Wyrmguard in mine) :
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Minion (20)
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Ability (10)
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Lesson Learned: Pick a deck and stick to your guns. This was a hard one for me (despite the advice I’ve seen out there that sticking to the same deck is key) but I did it — once I found the right one, of course.
Beware the Tilt
In a ladder climb, if you are casual player like me, you are likely to go on a losing streak. Be mindful of diminishing returns, when you go on a losing streak you can start to feel frustrated and you just want to keep going to try and break the bad streak. Resist the urge, friends! At some point it just makes sense to step back, take a break, and come back to the climb later. You’ll play better when you are less frustrated, trust me (I had to learn this lesson the hard way). I mean it, ignore this at your own risk!
Lesson Learned: Cooler heads prevail. When you start going on a losing streak, and are feeling salty every game (c’est moi), it’s probably a good idea to take a break.
Knowing What You're Up Against
In all my matches, I only played against two druid decks. I know this is only one player's limited experience within the game, but still, definitely lower than we were seeing before the new year. The class I most often encountered by far was Hunter, often times with Baku Face Hunter decks and Spell Hunter decks. Some other fun facts from my encounters:
- There are a lot of aggro decks on the ladder right now. The aforementioned Hunter decks but also a lot of aggro paladin.
- Shudderwocks all over the place. I played 13 games against Shamans. Guess how many weren't Shudderwock decks? ONE. Never in my life have I been so happy to see a Murloc deck.
- Druid and Warrior were the two least played classes I saw, in that order, with Mage and Rogue tying for third place.
- I saw a lot of decks, and different classes, playing both Baku the Mooneater and Genn Greymane.
This week, with the meta still being in flux and the expansion just being released, isn’t the best indicator of how most ladder climbs will go. I saw a lot of experimental decks as people were trying out their new cards, so it wasn’t always easy to pin down what they were going for. That being said, it wasn’t all a guessing game. The majority of decks I came up against I was able to quickly place into clear categories, if not outright ID the exact deck they were using. Below are some of the most common (or something very similar) decks I encountered:
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Minion (19)
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Ability (7)
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Weapon (4)
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Minion (17)
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Ability (8)
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Weapon (5)
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Minion (26)
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Ability (4)
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Priests were a little harder to pin down. I saw a lot of variety in the decks that were being played. However, the one above is my best guess at the Priest deck I saw the most often.
Lesson Learned: You will see a lot of the same decks on the ladder and you will probably come to dread seeing a particular class at the start of the match, regardless of the fact that you don’t know which deck they are running yet (looking at you, Shaman). Which brings me to…
The Shudderwock in the Room
By now, you all have surely heard about (or formed your own opinions about) Shudderwock. I will reserve judgement for now, as I suspect that could be the scope of an entire other article, but this deck did give me a spot of trouble.
I wasn’t seeing Shudderwock decks very often, one or two a day at most. Until day six came along. All of a sudden every other deck was one and it sent me on a losing streak that quickly spiraled out of control.
I know aggro decks can beat Shuddy pretty easily, but I’d also learned that the best way to climb the ladder was to stick to one deck, so I wasn't sure what to do. I beat them occasionally and until then, wasn’t seeing the deck very often so I didn’t think I should switch. My deck is slow, so it’s weak to the Shuddy combo. It definitely started to make me feel like I had to play an aggro deck in order to continue advancing, but since the week was almost up, I stuck it out. Luckily, the last day didn't have a single Shudderwock deck, but it may be something for me to consider moving forward.
Some Fun Moments
- When The Lich King gave me Death Grip and Death Grip pulled Shudderwock out of my opponent’s deck, rendering their Shuddy deck useless, in my very first (but unfortunately, not last) game against a Shudderwock Shaman.
- When Chameleos transformed into Sulfuras the turn after my opponent Warrior completed their quest.
- Immediately after making a comment about the distinct lack of Rogues (I hadn’t played one in two days and only two total so far) I played one…and then three more in a row! Speak of the devil, and the devil shall appear. Isn’t that how the saying goes?
- I played against a Hunter deck that used a card I hadn’t seen before, Toxmonger, to incredible effect. It was similar to, if not exactly, like this Disguised Toast deck:
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Minion (20)
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Ability (9)
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Playable Hero (1) |
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At the end of my first week trying to climb the ladder, I only reached Rank 18 (insert sad face emoji and crowd booing here). I ended up playing more than 10 games on all days except the last day, with an average of about 13 games a day. It felt like a lot, and I’m not sure if the average casual player has enough time to invest in that many games, so that may be something to adjust in the experiment going forward.
The biggest lesson I learned is that this is harder than I expected. I’m used to switching decks when the mood strikes, and crafting cards for fun more often than for their competitive value. So this has definitely been a big adjustment for me. I also feel like I have a lot to learn. At what point do you give up on a deck that has been losing? And how do you choose a better deck so that you have success on the next attempt? These are all things I’ll be working on as I continue.
What about you guys? For my fellow casual players, have you ever tried to climb the ladder before? Did you find success or fail miserably? What tips helped you the most? Is 10 games a day way too many, not enough, or right on point?
And for my seasoned ladder climbing readers, what’s the number one thing you keep in mind when starting a new season? What advice would you give a casual player? Let us know in the comments below and don’t forget to check back at the end of the month to see how I did at the season’s end!
Climbing the ladder is reserved for aggro decks due to time constraints. Trying anything else is literally a waste of time, as you could play 5 games with a win rate of above 60% (Aggro Paladin) in the time you are playing a single game of, say, Taunt Warrior. That saddens me.
Nice article mate! I used to see myself as a casual player, compared to you I guess I´m a bit more competitive. Anyway, one big thing I notice is none of the decks you been using "trying to climb the ladder" is Tier 1 and thus not really optimal for the purpose of "see how far I can climb".
I got legend on EU early this month, then just fooled around with different takes on shudderwock and other meme decks. After trolling myself down to the lowest number of legend ranks where I faced rank 4 and such (all playing Tier 1 decks since they wanted to get legend) I got tired of it and went to my F2play Na account (I actually spent 4.99 Euro on it for the welcome pack).
My mission was the same as you ie how far down the ladder can I get with limited resources and just a few shivering days of the season to go, starting at rank 25 since I hadn't played on it since last year. The big difference was that I tackled the mission differently, since my NA account has a weak collection with very few games played I was limited to playing mage so I simply looked up the highest winrate mage deck according to https://hsreplay.net/meta/ and tried to copy it (had to sub a few cards I wasn't able to craft like Bloowmage Thalnos) and built it, now even after spending time getting all the 4 free cards from monster runs I´m sitting at rank 12 with around 80% winrate (and pretty confident I can make at least rank 10 in the following days).
So my suggestion if you really want to "see how far you can get" choose the right tools for the task (a Tier 1 deck) and learn to play it. Good luck on the ladder mate.
Very nice article!
I havent tried much, but when I do want to rank up it is usually with a fast deck. Because games take less time, if your time is limited you just get to play more of them. Of course you need a decent Win rate as well. But suppose you can choose between an aggro and a control deck, and expect similar Win rates, then the faster one is more effective.
Nice story. Let me share what I think: I run a couple alt accts (don't ask me why, its totally counterproductive) and I noticed A TON of people came back to the game and/or came back to climbing after the expansion. How do I know this? I used to get to 20 pretty easily on these accounts and now it's way, waaaay harder doing it without having a handful of cards at your disposal.
In summary: start of year ladder climbing is probably the worst timing you'll ever get.
I am a ranked wild player who played around rank 10, and I think the 2 best things to keep in mind, is
1) figure out what counters what, and what cards you can take out. Do not be afraid to make changes to your deck to counter certain decks, if you are playing control priest and are having a hard time vs shudderwoc, maybe add some cards for a wide board, or maybe some cards to help protect your life king so you can roll another death grip.
2) always plan out your turn before doing anything, you get 75 sec on your turn, which is usually enough to plan out your turn, you need to know what you are doing with your cards, before throwing them out. And when playing a control deck, you will likely want to play as little cards as possible while staying alive, as to Harvard advantage in the late game. But don't get to attached to your plan, always be ready to change your plan over the turn, hearthstone is a game of much rng, so things might just take a turn for the better, but staying to attached to your plan can make this good luck bad.
Good luck on ladder! And good job on the article, it was very well written.
With all due respect, playing on wild and on standard are 2 completely different things, and I'm pretty sure it might apply a little, but not much.
But I do go behind planning out your plays, even when I can't apply it myself. On far too many occasions that I'd like, I realized a made a mistake 2-3 seconds after I passed the turn (before the other player did anything). Talking to yourself (out loud, if possible) and thinking what your opponent would do is very important.
This is like reading my story hahaha. I have the same "problem". I've never cared on climbing the ladder, until now (for some reason). I got stacked in rank 15 trying all possible decks. Cubelock which is one of the most powerful decks in the moment didn't give me any win, i think i don't know how to play it right. And what is starting to be useful for me it's Odd Control Warrior. I'll keep trying on the next season, and good luck to you too.
Story of my (Hearthstone) life. Highest I ever got was 16. I win 4, lose 4, win 3, lose 5, win 6, lose 4 ...
The other day though I played a friend and he borrowed one of my homemade decks. Beat me good with it. Maybe I have great decks but am just not all-in mentally for the matches. Idk.
The new ladder system made it possible for a casual like me to reach legend for the first time in my 4 years of Hearthstone this month. What really helped me from rank 2 to legend was analyzing the pocket meta that was present (mostly paladins and warlocks) and playing one deck that countered both of them (control priest) . Knowing the insides and outs of the deck was also crucial to win the most difficult match-ups, because at the end of the day you need to win these as often as possible if you want to reach legend in a reasonable amount of time.
I learned alot this season. The best time for me to play is in the morning and evening. During the day my winrate plumits as i face better players. So i play only during those times. Sticking to one decks helps, you get better knowlegde about the deck, ins and outs.
I became rank 3 this season and i am pretty pleased.
Hopefully get to legend next season.
I also got aragul for free and toki from my 3rd pack
As for me same story bouncing back and forth between 20 - 19 season about to end so, next month new attempt ^^
I'm still at rank 20 even after the ranked patch... also I think this meta and the new set of cards are not to fun if only managed to create 2 decks
1 of them is quest warrior and the other is prince Liam paladin oppose to the decks shone here I am using only one legendary and not a million.
but I'm still happy to reach rank 20 in every month since I began playing :)
I'm playing 2-3 years
u playing hs 3 years and you can't pass ever rank 15? Well Meet.
For few years I was stuck in rank 20-15 then a while ago I tried Dudeladin and go rank 4 with like 90% from rank 20 then I always reached rank 5-4. Probably the ranking system is made like Overwatch so you're getting stuck at a rank untill you manage to get out by force.
Reading your post means you were casually playing the game before, but now you are taking it more seriously, by playing every single day and trying to win as much as possible. Therefore you stopped being a casual player.
Nevertheless, good luck with the climb
Very nice to read (for once) from someone in much the same position as myself. More of these please Hearthpwn!
I also rarely get above 100-ish games per month and usually end up in the rank 13 region, but I do consider myself a good player (technically). Generally end up with a ~60% win rate unless I piss about (like you did) with homebrew or poorly-chosen decks, or for fun at rank 15.
My tuppence:
Better advice is to stick to only 2-3 decks that you understand really well, and that fit different niches in the meta. I generally do this myself, limiting to only a few decks. This season I used: Odd Paladin, Spiteful Priest with Lady in White, Spiteful Druid. Made it to rank 2 with 1 star (highest ever) but then went on a losing streak and didn't care to try to climb back again.
Main Point: most people probably need two decks they can play effectivey, which have different weaknesses from each other. If one is getting bad matchups, switch to the other. And vice versa.