Hearthstone

[Molach]

Apparently dropping venture co. mercenary on turn 2 can be scary enough to draw a concession.

Ranked or arena?

In arena I might have played on and try to turn it around, but in ranked I'd probably concede as well - odds heavily against the player there so likely more optimal to save time and just start a new match...

[Dantski]

Apparently dropping venture co. mercenary on turn 2 can be scary enough to draw a concession.

I did that once, got Aldor peacekeepered the next turn and that was game right there because I couldn't play anything.

[Nystul]

Apparently dropping venture co. mercenary on turn 2 can be scary enough to draw a concession.

I did that once, got Aldor peacekeepered the next turn and that was game right there because I couldn't play anything.

Best Aldor Peacekeeper ever?

My game was constructed deck against another druid. If he didn't have any turn 3 play, I can't blame him for quitting. It did catch me by surprise because I was looking at my hand and thinking my next turn or two were going to be worthless. But gold questers sometimes concede very quickly.

[SevenSpirits]

I mean you can attack the peacekeeper twice, so it's only locking you out of playing minions for one turn. Still a brutal reversal. Aldor Peacekeeper is incredible and hitting Venture Co Merc is the best case.

[Jowy]

Played against a zoo lock in ranked. I was at 4 HP, but had board control with strong taunts up. He uses Soulfire. On a minion. He uses second Soulfire. On a minion. I won that game.

[Dantski]

I mean you can attack the peacekeeper twice, so it's only locking you out of playing minions for one turn. Still a brutal reversal. Aldor Peacekeeper is incredible and hitting Venture Co Merc is the best case.

It was a long time ago but I think he put down a low attack taunt so I couldn't easily remove my Merc.

[pindicator]

Man, I wish I would have watched the videos earlier. I hadn't done better than 6 wins at arena, more often getting 3 or 4. I kind of knew my problem was not getting enough early game down, and often I'd just wrest control of the board after taking 20 damage only to be finished off shortly after.

Then I watched a few videos of Trump on YouTube today and got to understand what his thought process was. Stuff that makes total sense in hindsight but I wasn't doing at all, like re-rolling my starting hand so I tried to have a 2, 3, and 4 drop so I could be the one putting on pressure in my early game. Looking ahead to make sure you can not only play out your current turn without wasting mana, but setting up your next turn as well.

The next arena I did I rolled priest and got my first time at 12 wins!

Here's the deck. It had a lot of early game and additional-summon minions, so I almost always had board control early. Temple Enforces, Sea Giant, and Mind Control finished the job if I hadn't already won from the quick early game.

I won my first 6, then went 3 out of the next 5 so I was sitting at 9-2. The second loss was a fun game, where a shaman and I traded blow for blow until we were both out of cards in hand, empty board, and only 6 cards left in each of our decks. He drew some heavy hitters and I had no answer; but still a fun, tense game. Took the screenshot then because it was already a personal best, but I went on to win the next 3, including a very dramatic final game (in spoilers below):

Played against a druid and opened with Coin & Knife Juggler only to see in get Wrathed. But I had good creatures lined up for turns 3 through 6 and quickly took control. Temple Enforcers are amazing for setting up favorable attacks on the board. I started to whittle him down and kept waiting for him to play cards, but felt like he was holding back. Well, he had been, for this:



He had just used his druid power to take out a 6/1 temple enforcer, which also dropped him to 9 life. Followed that up with a 0-cost Magma Giant which he cast Mark of the Wild for a 10/10 Taunt. Then Faceless Minion to copy that and a second 10/10 Taunt.

I was able to zerg down one of the giants with what I had on board, but not before playing a Silverhand Knight and a 1-cost Sea Giant. He followed with an Iron Bark protecter. Eventually I zerged down all 3 huge taunters, and was able to do just enough damage before he gained board control. Finished him off with a top-decked Dark-Iron Dwarf.

[Jowy]

So how did that miracle giant rogue deck do in the end?

Not the dream
Got 195 gold and a Cenarius card as a reward. Up to 9 legendaries now as f2p

[uberfish]

Enemy mage in arena: Secret
Me: Scarlet Crusader
Enemy: Mirror Entity copies Scarlet Crusader
Me: Blood Knight (9/9)

[Nystul]

My last 4 or 5 arena runs had ended with losing records. I was really hoping today that I could get back to 4 wins. Maybe actually get some gold back instead of this dust nonsense. Then I went 12 and 1! So close to winning the other one, too. What a strange game Hearthstone arena is.

Here were my draft picks:
paladin (shaman, druid)
5 - faceless manipulator (blood knight, big game hunter)
2 - mad bomber (eye for an eye, novice engineer)
1- blessing of might (core hound, raid leader)
5 - fen creeper (core hound, darkscale healer)
1 - blessing of wisdom (ogre mage, eye for an eye)
5 - frostwolf warlord (windfury harpy, voodoo doctor)
5 - silverhand knight (humility, tauren warrior)
3 - silverback patriarch (magma rager, young dragonhawk)
4- hammer of wrath (raging worgen, ironbeak owl)
5 - stampeding kodo (blessed champion, abomination)
4 - gnomish inventor (core hound, tauren warrior)
5 - silverhand knight (archmage, raid leader... half a dozen 5 mana minions in my first 12 cards?)
4 - senjin shieldmasta (darkscale healer, vooodoo doctor)
4 - violet teacher (angry chicken, holy wrath)
4 - silvermoon guardian (light's justice, leper gnome)
3 - ironforge rifleman (goldshire footman, young dragonhawk)
7 - stormwind champion (raging worgen, ironbeak owl)
6 - avenging wrath (southsea captain, doomsayer)
1 - hand of protection (venture co. merc., darkscale healer)
3 - aldor peacekeeper (ravenholdt assassin, stampeding kodo)
4 - consecration (mad bomber, grimscale oracle)
2 - loot hoarder (amani berzerker, venture co. merc.)
1 - humility (abusive sergeant, dread corsair)
2 - faerie dragon (abusive sergeant, mad bomber)
4 - dark iron dwarf (repentence, senjin shieldmasta)
7 - stormwind champion (ironfur griz, spiteful smith)
3 - mind control tech (arcane golem, ancient mage)
4 - senjin shieldmasta (light's justice, holy light)
2 -argent protector (grimscale oracle, stonetusk boar)
3 - blood knight (faceless manipulator, murloc warleader)

I was worried that this deck would play too slow, and sometimes it did, but so many tactical resources available. Multiple ways to put a "free" 1/1 on the board and give it a damage buff. Multiple ways to put a 6/6 or better on the board for 5 mana or less. Just enough AOE power to save my bacon a few times.

My rewards for going 12/1? 480 gold and a pack of cards. Leper gnome, argent squire, master of disguise, temple enforcer, and a pit lord. Well at least I have enough gold for 3 more arenas. Pit lord is kind of cool.