Mage Draft 2

This Mage draft went a little better than my last one did. This is only my second attempt in the arena since I have been in the Hearthstone Closed Beta. I got some better picks in the draft which helped a lot and I was able to duel some other heroes besides a Priest.

This time around I went back and forth on the wins. First match was against a Warrior, I beat him by over half my health pool and got some good control of the board early. Keep him from getting any combos built on his side and slowly built up my front line so when I was able to link stuff together it was worth the wait.

The second was a loss to a Shaman who got enough totems and minions out to drop Bloodlust and take me over quickly. I was screaming for my Blizzard Card to draw but had no such luck. I saw this coming and without the right cards there was nothing I could do to stop it.

The Third match was another loss to a Paladin that used a lot of control and held back his cards to counter whatever I put out.

My forth match was my final win in this arena run, it was against another Mage who clearly wasn't as familiar with the game. he conceded. It was a bit premature in my opinion but with the last run I had in the arena, a win is a win.

The last match was a slow painful death at the hand of a skilled rogue who played an extremely calculated game, he didn't go on the offense unless it benefited him and most of the time he was reactive to my card play. I would have loved to have an Ooze in my hand to deal with his daggers but no such luck this time around.

Overall I ended up 2-3, the rewards were a little better and the draft was definitely better, no legendary but a lot better choices of cards this time around.

Here is my draft, what I picked is highlighted in Blue and Bold, the Rewards and the Overall Score. Not very impressive but it is what it is. I will be doing at least one arena a day when I have time and will most likely just post what I data I think is pertinent.

Overall Score:   2-3

Rewards:           20 dust, Rare Card (Priest), and 1 Pack of Cards

Mage Draft

• Ravenholdt Assassin – Argent Commander – Mana Addict
• Ice Lance – Arcane Intellect – Shattered Sun Cleric 
• Earthen Ring Farseer – Frost Bolt – Silvermoon Guardian
• Bloodsail Raider – Core Hound – Mad Bomber
• Ogre Magi – Earthen Ring Farseer – Mirror Image
• Fen Creeper  - River Crocolisk – Scarlet Crusader 
• Youthful Brewmaster – Ventrue Co. Mercenary – Dark Iron Dwarf 
• Thrallmar Farseer – Abusive Sergeant – Silvermoon Guardian
• Stonetusk Boar – Ice Lance – Frostwolf Warlord 
• Twilight Drake – Abomination – Demolisher
• Dread Corsair – Mirror Image – Polymorph 
• Stormwind Champion – Arcane Intellect – Core Hound
• Shattered Sun Cleric – Spiteful Smith – Sen’jin Shield Masta 
• Secretkeeper – Mana Wraith – Sunfury Protector 
• Windfury Harpy – Loot Hoarder – Abusive Sergeant
• Southsea Deckhand – Tauren Warrior – Mirror Image 
• Ice Lance – Ironforge Rifleman – Scarlet Crusader 
• Silverback Patriarch – Stonetusk Boar – Ironbeak Owl 
• Elven Archer – Polymorph – Stonetusk Boar
• Molten Giant – Ice Block – Doomsayer
• Amani Berserker – Bluegill Warrior – Dragonling Mechanic
• Mirror Image – Flesheating Ghoul – Flamestrike 
• Razorfen Hunter – Gnomish Inventor – Dire Wolf Alpha
• Ironforge Rifleman – Abusive Sergeant – Scarlet Crusader 
• Bluegill Warrior – Oasis Snapjaw – Mana Wyrm 
• Dread Corsair – River Crocolisk – Mana Wyrm 
• Ice Barrier – Spiteful Smith – Silvermoon Guardian 
• Young Priestess – Violet Teacher – Murloc Tidecaller
• Stormwind Knight – Dalaran Mage – Water Elemental 
• Mana Addict – Ethereal Arcanist – Argent Commander

Mage Draft 1

I have started doing a lot more arena in the Hearthstone Beta lately. It seems to me that it's better to the arena than to just buy a pack of cards for 100 gold. It costs 150 gold to enter the arena so all you have to get back is 50 gold because even a 0-3 run still gets you a pack of cards. After a little help from Cold and some fine tuning on a spreadsheet I downloaded from Team Liquid, I thought a good grasp on card drafting. What I quickly learned was that there is still a good bit left up to the RNG.

My first match I had a choice between a Mage, Druid and Warrior. This was an easy pick for me since the Druid and the Warrior are the two heroes I hate the most so I went with the Mage. As I worked through the draft I saw that I wasn't getting the cards that I see most of the Mages using in the arena streams I have been watching like Fireball or some of the other heavy hitters for this class. I also didn't get a single legendary or very many rares for that matter. I ended up will a single Fireball card but I never saw it in any of the 3 matches I did.

My first two matches were against Priests and the last lose was against another Mage. The Priest is the class that all of you new players will quickly grow to hate and if you have been playing since the Hearthstone Beta first dropped then this is you favorite class and you probably farm dailies or when you get them in an arena draw you go 9-2 with them...

The two Priests rolled over me in no time, using card steals and Faceless Manipulators and healing up with ease.

The Mage clearly had a better draft than I did so he killed me in under 7 rounds.

Here is my draft, what I picked is highlighted in Blue and Bold, the Rewards and the Overall Score. Not very impressive but it is what it is. I will be doing at least one arena a day when I have time and will most likely just post what I data I think is pertinent.

Overall Score:   0-3

Rewards:           25 gold and 1 Pack of Cards

Mage Draft

• Murloc Tidecaller - Angry Chicken - Coldlight Oracle
• Shieldbearer - Goldshire Footman - Mad Bomber
• Ice Barrier – Tauran Warrior – Frost Nova
• Scarlet Crusader -  Flamestrike – Arcane Missiles
• Nightblade – River Crocolisk – Arcane Missiles
• Reckless Rocketeer – Bloodsail Raider – Ice Barrier
• Drangonling Mechanic – Ironfur Grizzly – Amani Berserker
• Faerie Dragon – Arcane Explosion – Cult Master
• Darkscale Healer – Leper Gnome - Voodoo Doctor
• Doomsayer – Sea Giant – Southsea Captain
• Ice Lance – Dragonling Mechanic – Frostwolf Warlord
• Frost Nova – Stanglethorn Tiger – Polymorph
• Magma Rager – Frostwolf Grunt – Raidleader
• Magma Rager – Dire Wolf Alpha – Kobold Geomancer
• Frost Elemental – Dire Wolf Alpha – Arcane Intellect
• Dead Corsair – Novice Engineer – Venture co. Mercenary
• Ancient Brewmaster – Fireball – Stonetusk Boar
• Sorcerer’s Apprentice – Arcane Missiles – Harvest Golem
• Bloodfen Raptor – Mirror Image – Wolfrider
• Angry Chicken – Coldlight Seer – Defender of Argus
• Arcane Intellect – Raidleader – Mirror Entity
• Frostwolf Warlord – Tauren Warrior – Dread Corsair
• Mind Control Tech – Ethereal Arcanist – Kirin Tor Mage
• Harvest Golem – Kobold Geomancer – Core Hound
• Faerie Dragon – Mirror Entity – Frostwolf Grunt
• Blizzard – Vaporize – Kirin Tor Mage
• Argent Squire – Earthen Ring Farseer – Silvermoon Guardian
• Ancient Brewmaster – Mirror Image – Water Elemental
• Shieldbearer – Flesheating Ghoul – Silvermoon Guardian
• Ancient Watcher – Wild Pyromancer – Coldlight Oracle

Shaman Deck 10 to 20

I had the honor of dueling my co-host Cold for about 2 hours the other evening. I say it with as much sarcasm as I can muster…

All kidding aside, Cold is really a great resource for a card game, he played Magic competitively for a long time and did it at the top levels of competition so a lot of the dynamics in this game he sees with a different degree of clarity than newer players to Hearthstone can hope to. For me, just starting, I didn’t have a lot of experience other than some Pokémon and a little bit of the World of Warcraft TCG with my son.

One of the things that Cold helped me with is that you have to look at the big picture of the match; you can’t focus on your opponent’s next move, you have to focus on the match as a single puzzle if you will. Not to say the next move your opponent make isn’t important, it is just one piece of the puzzle.

The second thing he taught me was that you don’t have to spend all the mana you have every turn just because you can. If it doesn’t benefit you in the fight or it doesn’t give you the most bang for the buck when it comes to mana usage end the turn.

Third, my favorite because it sounded like a fortune cookie was, "He who controls the board controls the match…" I am going to let you figure that out in your own time but he was right about it, guaranteed.

Lastly, he taught me that, like mana you don’t have to hit with every minion that can hit every round. This one was a bit harder for me to grasp but after thinking before I completed every turn I noticed that if I just “suicide smashed” my taunt minions into the opponents minions I was doing their job for them. They had to he me to get through to my hero so why was my hit helping the opponent out.

After about 6-8 lost matches to Cold, we went through my Shaman deck and added cards complemented the 4 fundamentals he taught me and got rid of the cards that were there just to have cards to play. We compared cards for their mana cost verses their utility in a match and made good changes.

I added a brief note by each choice highlighting why I like the card and what situation you use each in, but here is the deck Cold and I ended up with:

Shaman Cards

• 2 x Forked Lightning (1 mana) - Great for clearing out a 2 random lower health minions with, it’s even better if you have a Flesheating Ghoul on your front too. This is a card that can be buffed with spell power so plan for that to get the most out of it. The 2 Overload can be a downer but it’s still a useful card.

• 2 x Frost Shock (1 mana) – Zaps a target for 2 damage un-buffed  and freezes it for 1 round, great for control and this is a card that can be buffed with spell power so plan for that to get the most out of it.

• 2 x Lightning Bolt (1 mana) – This is a cheap single target attack that does 3 damage un-buffed for low cost. This is a card that can be buffed with spell power so plan for that to get the most out of it. This card comes with a 2 overload so plan accordingly.

• 2 x Flametongue Totem (2 mana) – Placement is most important, plan for these and never put them down at the end of a round, budget the mana to drop them before your minions attack at the beginning of a round.

• 2 x Feral Spirit (3 mana) – Gives you 2 x 2/3 spirit wolves with taunt but the 2 overload can limit you in the next round.

• 2 x Hex (3 mana) – Great counters for when you opponent drops a minion you can’t kill in the next round.

• 2 x Windspeaker (4 mana) – This is what I replaced the card the just gives Windfury to a minion with. Because for one mana more you get a 3/3 minion to add to the fight.

• 1 x Doomhammer (5 mana) – It gives you Windfury which will let you hit 2 times per round for 2 damage each time, the durability is 8 so you have 4 rounds of this to spend. This weapon comes with a 2 overload.

• 2 x Bloodlust (5 mana) – This is my favorite card, especially when you opponent hasn’t bothered to keep the totems you have been building up on the frontline cleaned off. The will add +3 attack to the whole line, even totems that previously had 0 attack.

• 1 x Earth Elemental (5 mana) – Drops a solid taunt minion, 7/8, so he can hit hard and take a punch. He also has a 3 overload so plan accordingly.

• 2 x Fire Elemental (6 mana) – This card is pretty straight forward, a 6/5 minion that is perfect to put Windfury on or a Flametongue Totem down beside. He opens with a 3 damage battle cry to boot; everything is a nail to this hammer.

Common Cards

• 2 x Acidic Swamp Ooze (2 mana) – Great against any opponent with a weapon and adds a 3/2 minion to your front line.

• 2 x Flesheating Ghoul (3 mana) - Every time a minion is killed, yours or your opponents, you increase you attack by 1. Make sure if you have a lot of minions you plan to kill before you attack your opponent’s hero that you put him out first so you get the most out of him. I see this card come out from a lot of people after they kill 2-3 minions. This minion only has to health but you are less likely to hit him if it’s going to cost you 7 health just to kill him. 

• 2 x Jungle Panther (3 mana) – this minion is nice because he is a 4/2 that comes out stealth so he is less likely to be killed before you have him buffed up and ready with a Flametongue Totem, Windfury or the round before Bloodlust goes down.

• 2 x Silver Hand Knight (5 mana) – This 4/4 will drop a 2/2 squire when he hits the front line, which oddly enough will take the focus off him more times than not against lesser skilled opponents.

Depending on what you play against you can substitute some of the common cards with 1 or 2 Ironbeak Owls or 1 or 2 Leper Gnomes both will bring the same usefulness to this deck as the ones I suggested above. I have had success either way so the switch depends on your play style.

Here is the cost summary of this deck, it gives you a lot of options for early in the match and then some solid choices to close with later on in the match. This deck takes into account that you are putting out totems on a regular basis.

I have used this deck since we put it together and have been keeping track of my win/lose record on a notepad and so far I am 26 wins and 6 loses. That puts me at a solid 77% win chance with this deck. Keep in mind that until you learn how to use this deck the way it was intended you will suffer a learning curve but after that you should be able to knock out more opponents once you get the hang of it.

The next post will be a post about one of my favorite Hunter Deck builds I have been fine tuning over the last week, Hunter Deck Level 10-20.

Ground Zero

Like we have been talking about on the Eviscerated Gaming Podcast, all 3 hosts have slowly been drug away from World of Warcraft and hooked on Hearthstone one by one. We were given 3 beta keys on the first day because of the podcast and they were tied to our accounts from the jump so we had to use them. Cold was able to get a few to give away on the show and on his site, Cold’s Gold Factory, but we weren’t as “shinned upon” as the other podcasts streamers or bloggers that kiss Blizzard’s ass on a regular basis were.

You may have been emailed a key from Blizzard directly but most likely you won one from any number of streamers, podcasts, or bloggers that are out there building there fan base with them. I don’t fault them, if they would have come to us and said “Here you go, here is 500 to give out on your podcast!!” we would be doing the same thing.

For the last 3 weeks Hearthstone is all I have been playing. It works well on my shitty work computer and is very easy to pick up and put down if you need to multitask or you can get into it for hours on end. The latter is what I have noticed about my playing habits so far.

Cold put out an awesome post that has a lot of good information on if you are just starting out. Nonmail and I both followed his advice and have reaped the benefits from it. If you are just starting you need to go check it out, it will save you a lot of hair pulling out and time.

Once you have leveled all of your decks to 10, the next step is to learn the play styles of each class and get them all to level 20. Playing these decks, even the ones you hate, serves a dual purpose; I hate the warrior deck but I play it so I am familiar with how that deck plays so I am better against it rather than with it. Using play mode to level the decks is great because you get XP and can complete quests for gold which, in turn, will get you more cards and better options. It also doesn’t hurt to pay for some decks too. I regret spending the $49.99 for 40 because of the amount I ended up disenchanting after they were all opened but the lower stacks would have been a better investment. The advantage to getting better cards instantly through spending a little bit of real money with take the edge off the grind without a doubt.

In future posts, I'll be sharing the deck builds I used to level each class from level 10 – 20 with. Check out the first one, Shaman Deck Level 10-20.