Hearthstone

[uberfish]

Some weird choices there to say the least. Bear trap seems pointless in face hunter, and there are tons of paladins and shamans running around post-expansion release so I'm not sure why you would not run 2x UTH and 2x Explosive to punish them for spamming the board with weak minions. Owl is also better than hunter's mark since it gets rid of Sludge Belcher and Chillmaw deathrattles.

Argent horseriders are worth experimenting with. But if you're playing them why would you cut a glaivezooka? it's a great target to stick around and get buffed.

Disclaimer: I don't play face hunter, but I see it a lot on ladder.

[v8mark]

Another interesting Arena deck to report: http://www.heartharena.com/arena-run/iz71a9

In the two games I've played so far I've almost killed myself with all the weapons - the first game I ended with 5 health, the second with 7. Pretty much all of that was in using the weapons. There are some interesting cards in there that I normally wouldn't have considered very good, namely Recruiter and Frigid Snobold, but which both have enough synergy with the deck overall to make them worthwhile. Recruiter in particular got me five 2/2s in the first game which went to very good use.

[Cheater Hater]

*sigh* Grand Tournament is such an awful expansion for Arena, for three main reasons:
1. There are way too many cards now for one consolidated pool--is there any weighting to which sets show up more, or is it all completely random? As an example, I'm going through a mage run now, and I didn't see a single Fireball or Polymorph, while I'm sure the crazy 2 Fireball 2 Polymorph decks still exist (I know I was getting some of those in GvG at least). This means that there's still a ton of variance between different drafts, and since as far as I know there's no universal cardpool lots of deck will be stronger than others. That's the key with Magic: the packs may suck, but they suck for everyone, and there's still a relative balance.
2. Jousting is one of the worst mechanics I've ever seen in a card game, and considering Hearthstone certainly didn't need randomness (especially post-decision randomness), it's especially bad here. To be fair, Magic did mostly the same thing with Clash, and while it wasn't great there, it was much more controllable (since it used the top of the library and you could choose whether or not to keep the card) and there much smaller effects (as opposed to the Taunt/Divine Shield guy where the joust is the main reason to play the card, for example).
3. All of the power is shifted to the late game, aggravating topdeck wars. A lot of this comes from Inspire, but that's not the main problem (given the inherent problems with hero powers in general, Inspire is a fine mechanic); the problem is swingy effects coming from Inspire. As a simple case study, look at the 5 mana 4/4 Inspire +2/+2: I'd argue a split card of 5 mana 4/4 or 7 mana 6/6 would probably be a fine card, and that ignores a lot of things (the value of the hero power itself, the ability to delay/repeat the pump effect, the ability to trigger multiple Inspire effects). An easy fix would be that you can't trigger Inspire on the turn you play something (just like how summoning sickness in Magic stops tap abilities, which are also mostly once per turn), but that obviously isn't happening. Of course, Inspire isn't the entire problem; Blizzard needs to stop printing so many efficient big creatures, especially at common (that 9 mana 9/7 Battlecry deal 4 damage is a complete joke--every class does not need Fire Elemental)--if you're going to ensure consistent mana you need to have a flatter cost-power curve in limited.

I just wish Magic could have a decent online client so I didn't have to slum in Hearthstone--even Magic Duels (which became a F2P Hearthstone copy) runs like crap. I'm seeing the trend with a lot of Blizzard games though--LoL is a much better game than Heroes of the Storm, but the awful design decision of last-hitting in LoL creates a skill floor that has been pushing me to HotS (though ironically the technical problems are on Blizzard's side of the fence this time--the program uses way too much memory even at low settings, the F2P grind is horrendous, communication outside of Ranked (which I haven't unlocked yet) is either non-existent or toxic, and a surrender option needs to be added yesterday as long as the maps remain so snowbally).

[uberfish]

I just drafted 5 Murloc Knights. Lol. Paladin such a skill class :P

Edit: Okay it did require a bit of thought, but went 12-0. Some of the later opponents were able to get a slight advantage early/mid game but were unable to keep up with Murloc spamming at the end.

http://postimg.org/image/m5b4x3t6n/

1 Humility not shown.

card notes:

Dragon egg: Activated for value every time.
Owl: Never turned up.
Flame juggler: Missed every time. Even more unreliable than mad bomber, but at least it's a 2/3.
Aldor peacekeeper: Played for tempo on turn 3 most of the time.
Seal of champions: A Truesilver Champion-level tempo card - because paladins really needed another huge tempo common in arena... Just like the sword, when played on turn 3 it kills their 3 drop and threatens to kill their 4 drop. second MVP in this deck behind the frog.

[yuris125]

@Cheater Hater: I believe clash in Magic was more like Scry 1 for both players with an additional effect when you won the clash. Joust doesn't have any benefits apart from added ramdomness (I don't play HS, but watch Trump videos often enough to have a decent impression)

Magic Online is not as terrible these days as it used to be, I've been playing it almost daily for the last couple of months, and can't remember any major problems. Admittedly, I have a relatively new PC (bought at the start of this year)

[Ichabod]

I just drafted 5 Murloc Knights. Lol. Paladin such a skill class :P

Edit: Okay it did require a bit of thought, but went 12-0. Some of the later opponents were able to get a slight advantage early/mid game but were unable to keep up with Murloc spamming at the end.

http://postimg.org/image/m5b4x3t6n/

1 Humility not shown.

card notes:

Dragon egg: Activated for value every time.
Owl: Never turned up.
Flame juggler: Missed every time. Even more unreliable than mad bomber, but at least it's a 2/3.
Aldor peacekeeper: Played for tempo on turn 3 most of the time.
Seal of champions: A Truesilver Champion-level tempo card - because paladins really needed another huge tempo common in arena... Just like the sword, when played on turn 3 it kills their 3 drop and threatens to kill their 4 drop. second MVP in this deck behind the frog.

I never had a 12-0 in arena, and I have quite a lot of games to my name. Congrats!

About Paladin, coghammer is also a great arena card, in my experience.

[uberfish]

Thanks! Yeah I forgot to mention coghammer but it is also very good. The 2/3 weapon is already worth 3 mana, and getting the divine shield is just a bonus. Paladins are stupidly OP.

[v8mark]

Very nice on the 12-0 uberfish! You're right about Paladin. Extremely strong right now and the new cards have made it stronger. Paladin has almost the perfect Arena kit - tempo-oriented and very strong early-mid game cards (Argent Protector, Shielded Mini, Seal, Muster, BoK, Truesilver), a fairly good board clear (Cons) and an extremely flexible hero power which floods the board. And the Murloc Knight is just silly…

Which brings me to Cheater Hater’s post, and I can’t really agree:

1) Card dilution. I mean, this is Arena right? That’s the point of it isn’t it? You can’t make the deck you want – you have to make the best of whatever deck you’re given, and make it work despite not getting multiple copies of Fireball/Flamestrike/Water Ele/Truesilver/Shielded Mini. That’s literally why I play it. I don’t want to be that guy who says ‘if you don’t like it, go play constructed’… but, well. That’s how I feel.

The only really negative effect of card dilution is that the number of board clears has gone down in absolute terms, which means that the imbalance between the classes (hello Paladin!) has increased. Classes that can flood the board cheaply are now at a bigger advantage than previously - and they were already strong!

2) Jousting – I sort of agree. I can take it or leave it; I don’t think it’s especially fun. I agree that the Master Jouster specifically is too dependent on winning a joust, as is the Armored Warhorse.

3) Late-game power. I’m totally happy with this shift. Playing against an aggro deck is not fun for me. So I like inspire a lot… the chief problem with the inspire mechanic is that it’s made classes with a strong hero power stronger, and they were already the strongest Arena classes.

[uberfish]

3. All of the power is shifted to the late game, aggravating topdeck wars. A lot of this comes from Inspire, but that's not the main problem (given the inherent problems with hero powers in general, Inspire is a fine mechanic); the problem is swingy effects coming from Inspire. As a simple case study, look at the 5 mana 4/4 Inspire +2/+2: I'd argue a split card of 5 mana 4/4 or 7 mana 6/6 would probably be a fine card, and that ignores a lot of things (the value of the hero power itself, the ability to delay/repeat the pump effect, the ability to trigger multiple Inspire effects). An easy fix would be that you can't trigger Inspire on the turn you play something (just like how summoning sickness in Magic stops tap abilities, which are also mostly once per turn), but that obviously isn't happening. Of course, Inspire isn't the entire problem; Blizzard needs to stop printing so many efficient big creatures, especially at common (that 9 mana 9/7 Battlecry deal 4 damage is a complete joke--every class does not need Fire Elemental)--if you're going to ensure consistent mana you need to have a flatter cost-power curve in limited.

Hmm, I think the split card of 4/4 for 5 or 6/6 for 7 would be pretty awful because you'd never actually be happy playing either option on curve. I don't think the power was really shifted to the late game as much, because tempo is more important than ever in the early and mid-game. Inspire is actually a snowball mechanic rather than a swing mechanic. Whoever is ahead by t6 or t7 tends to get more ahead if their opponent doesn't have a Big Play because AOE is rarer and inspire keeps getting them card advantage. Which is actually okay because it means top deck wars happen less often (because one player already won the game.)

Agree that Joust is annoying more than anything else. The one thing I do like about it is the scouting aspect and mind games when it shows a high impact card.

[Cheater Hater]

The problem is that card dilution isn't absolute, and the extremes still exist; look at the deck uberfish just posted (an aside: Murloc Knight is an absolute joke; if it was 5 mana, wasn't a Murloc itself, and was 3/3, it would still probably be too good for common).

I'd argue board clears should have never been so common to begin with, but their proliferation is a direct result of all the easy ways to flood the board (especially with hero powers). There need to be some "bad" board clears to ensure you can always get one if you want one, but the structure of Arena inherently prohibits that (there's no equivalent to "later in the pack" picks, since each pick is isolated).

Aggro decks in Arena are in a weird position--if someone has the hate (board clears and/or Taunt) and draws it you don't have much of a chance--if they survive until turn 7 or so they'll be able to cast it. Actually, maybe I should be approaching this a lot more like Rise of the Eldrazi draft--that format was made of ramp, big creatures, and mana sinks, which is just like the current Hearthstone format. That format was great for enfranchised players, but newer players hated it because it was too complex and too different than a normal limited format, so it was ultimately a failure. Conversely, the newer Hearthstone player doesn't understand a lot of aspects like a curve, so they probably like the format where they can take a couple Taunt creatures and coast to the endgame.

That's the other main difference of Clash vs Joust; Clash was made primarily for the smoothing aspects, while Joust was made because...? Blizzard thought it was cool? Hearthstone desperately needed more randomness since pros were winning too much? I have no idea.

I think you're undervaluing the value of versatility uberfish, though that's partially because the previous split cards (all the Druid stuff) are extremely efficient (because of the natural boost class cards get). Then again, one of the main reasons split cards (or things like Kicker) are so good in Magic is because you aren't guaranteed your mana. Inspire is one of the only mana sinks we've seen in Hearthstone other than Hero Powers themselves (to my knowledge; Overload is the closest thing I can think of, and that's not really the same thing), so we don't have much experience to go on there.

I really should go back to Magic Online, especially since I have a ton of MTGOTraders credits from my articles (though the annoying part is that they're always out of stock of tickets, and I haven't had much of an urge to go into Constructed--maybe I should start with the new Standard rotation)--I've recently had a computer upgrade too, so maybe it'll work better (and Leagues should help the time-management problem, even if Sealed Leagues have still been delayed indefinitely).