Hearthstone

[Cyneheard]

Agreed with Gustaran - disenchanting is meant to be expensive, and legendaries are way to valuable to feed into the grinder like that.

If anyone wants to "freely" get the +95 dust quest reward for disenchanting and if they have 40+ dust already, just craft a recently-patched card (I did one of the Imps) and disenchant it for the full 40 dust.

[Krill]

When people referring to a good mana curve, precisely what is it that makes a curve good?

[Sir Bruce]

A good mana curve means your deck is very likely to be able to use mana when you want to. For instance in Arena you almost always want to be able to play a card on turns 2, 3, and 4. So a good arena mana curve means your deck has a distribution of mana cost so that is a likely scenario while still having enough late game high mana cards to generate late-game threats. Arena ideals are drawing a 2,3,4 as first player and a 2,2,3,4 (though 2,3,3,4 isn't bad) as second player. That works out to around 5-8 of 2,3,4 mana minions. Though that's a very rough guideline and is less true in constructed.

[WilliamLP]

When people referring to a good mana curve, precisely what is it that makes a curve good?

Just pointless theorizing because I'm trying to figure out how to be good at this game.

1. You want (ideally) to use every point of mana every turn.
2. You want flexibility in options that use mana efficiently, given the need to play specific cards or the hero ability. E.g. if I don't have any 3s and I need to play a certain 2 on turn 5, I'm probably going to waste mana.
3. You don't want to run out of cards too soon.

Both #1 and #2 suggest the curve is better off being smooth.

The mulligan system means you shouldn't need as much in the bottom of the curve as you otherwise would.

Usually a big card is better to play than two small ones totaling the same mana, if only because it nets you up a card. But there are plenty of cards that try to throw this for a loop, e.g. Big Game Hunter, Shadow Word: Death, unconditional removal.

Different classes would seem to demand different shapes of their curve. Warlocks (I think) should have lower cost cards because running out isn't as much of an issue. Warrior (I think, again) should have his curve a little higher than mage or druid or rogue because his hero ability sucks in most games, and you should spend mana on cards instead.

[Jowy]

I've been using Lightspawn and having fun buffing it up to 20 odd health and attack and murdering people with it at short notice.

Is this a generally effective strategy, or have I just been playing a bunch of idiots?

Playing newbs, I think :P It's pretty easy to deal with since you don't even have to kill it, just damage it or silence it or use removal.
When practicing Priest I found out that most of those buffs cards were too situational and would just sit in my hand doing nothing.

[Sian]

might just have found a new favorite combo on Rogue

Raging Worgen ... Pling it with Shiv (+1 Card) and then combo Cold Blood onto it ... 8/2 Windfury ready to strike in t3 (if coining the Worgen)

[WilliamLP]

might just have found a new favorite combo on Rogue

Raging Worgen ... Pling it with Shiv (+1 Card) and then combo Cold Blood onto it ... 8/2 Windfury ready to strike in t3 (if coining the Worgen)

With a warrior you also have Inner Rage (0 mana, 1 damage and +2 attack), and Rampage (2 mana, +3/+3 to a damaged minion). I don't know if the deck would win games but attacking with the 9/5 Worgen on turn 3 would be great fun when it happened.

[Cyneheard]

Warrior (I think, again) should have his curve a little higher than mage or druid or rogue because his hero ability sucks in most games, and you should spend mana on cards instead.

I think it's the heroes with good non-situational powers (paladin and mage especially) who can get away with a slightly higher mana curve/a lack of 2s in their deck.

The Paladin's Hero Power is roughly equivalent to a Novice Engineer - a 1/1 for 2 mana that doesn't change your handsize. And the mage's power is always useful.

[WilliamLP]

I think it's the heroes with good non-situational powers (paladin and mage especially) who can get away with a slightly higher mana curve/a lack of 2s in their deck.

The Paladin's Hero Power is roughly equivalent to a Novice Engineer - a 1/1 for 2 mana that doesn't change your handsize. And the mage's power is always useful.

If I as a warrior am spending less mana on my hero ability than you are as a druid or paladin, doesn't that mean I have more mana available for cards than you do, all else being equal? (Which it never is...) And doesn't that mean my curve can be a little higher? Where does this logic break down, if it does?

[Cyneheard]

I don't know if the deck would win games but attacking with the 9/5 Worgen on turn 3 would be great fun when it happened.

Anything short of hard removal on T3 or T4 by your opponent = gg.

However, as the 2nd player, you get up to 11 cards to look at by T3 if you mulligan everything. The odds of getting all three of Raging Worgen, Inner Rage, and Rampage by then are around 15-20%.

"=HYPGEOMDIST(1,11,2,30) + HYPGEOMDIST(2,11,2,30)" in Excel gives you the odds of drawing 1 or 2 copies of a card out of 11 card draws (say, the Worgen) - that's 60.6%, and the other 2 cards are slightly less likely since you've used some of the draws (and I'm completely ignoring the fact that you might not mulligan all 4 of your starting cards because at least one of them is part of the combo). 60.6%^3 = 22.3%.

However, what's the opportunity cost of running this combo? Rampage is solid, Inner Rage is situational but can either remove a pesky 1HP opponent OR trigger Enrage beautifully, and it's not like Raging Worgen is a waste of space at a 3 mana 3/3, even if you don't trigger Enrage. So I think it is worth keeping the combo in the deck.