Someone signed up on 46 accounts and got 19 beta keys. I'm starting to see why there are so many on sale yet I haven't gotten one :P
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Hearthstone
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Hooray! My Priest Deck that I drafted (see page 4) went 8-3! My best performance yet! The deck worked pretty much as expected. If I could survive the early game I won. 2 of the 3 losses happened before Turn 8 and the third one on Turn 10. Mind Control is a ridiculously strong card. I wrote up a debriefing of every game but looking back at it it's not a terribly interesting read.
I did track all of my questionable picks to think about whether they were the right decision or not. Obviously you want to avoid too much of ex post reasoning here - what matters is the process not the particular outcome over a small number of matches. But this can still be illuminating for the sort of trade-offs you should be thinking about. - Silence vs. Booty Bay Silence is a lousy card that is dead too often and kills your advantage when you use it. I think this even though I used it nicely 4 or 5 times. I don't like Booty Bay but it would probably have been better. I'm downgrading my evaluation of Silence. It was even worse because often times I would have both Silence and my Owl in hand. Total overkill. - Holy Fire vs Wild Pyromancer vs Lightwell Lightwell was okay in my deck but not much more. Given my curve Wild Pyromancer would have been much better. I'm not sure my valuations changed that much. - Raid Leader vs Temple Enforcer Temple Enforcer is an absolutely amazing card in Arena and this run further solidified this. In no cases would I have wanted to have Raid Leader instead, even with my lousy mana curve. I think Raid Leader is only worthwhile in constructed where you can protect it plus combo it. - Holy Nova vs Shadow Word: Death Given my deck Holy Nova ended up being super useful. SW:D would only be situationally useful for a ridiculous early buffed card like an enraged Worgen. Any late game monster is going to be dealt with by my own amazing late game. Holy Nova, on the other hand, is exactly what this deck needs: big board clear in the midgame to power through to the late game. This decision should have been easier given my deck. - Ironfur Grizzly vs Worgen Infilitrator vs Murloc Tidehunter I got a lot of value out of the Grizzly but I think the Worgen would have been, on net, better. Anything to help me on turns 1 and 2. (December 5th, 2013, 22:57)v8mark Wrote: Grats on the 8 wins! Sounds like the moral of the story is that you should take Terror as an advisor on your next arena run I've been thinking about setting up a stream just so I could go over games after-the-fact. We can definitely get some communal hearthstone going on if I do.
Communal RB Hearthstone now on Bruce's stream: http://www.twitch.tv/sirbruce
A triumph for Team RB last night - our squad of Bruce, Terror and Merovech took a slow and honestly quite boring Shaman deck to a 6-3 record. Not a bad debut, all things considered. Shamans are tough to play, and we definitely lacked lategame punch.
Arena Mage Deck
Lightwarden - Secret Keeper - Murloc Tidecaller Lightwarden only really shines on Priests (and to a lesser extent Paladins and Druids i guess), and Murlocs aren't an intended major part of my deck, although it would have been the one i would have picked if I weren't going to play a class that had secrets Cult Master - Fireball - Mirror Image two 0/2 Taunt for 1mana? ... fairly efficient defensive capabilities War Golem - Dire Wolf Alpha - Silvermoon Guardian Dire Wolf Alpha is a gimped Raid Leader and War Golem is IMO a bit to steep prized for its ability Windfury Harpy - Razorfen Hunter - Stanglethorn Tiger Windfury Harpy while decent, it shines the most if you're able to get it charge or even more attack. A question of Razorfen Hunter or the Tiger, Hunter probably being ever so slightly better Arcane Missiles - Mirror Image - Acidic Swamp Ooze Decent (if randomized) damage, allready having a Mirror Image ... Acidic Swamp ooze is also a fairly strong card so all of them could be made an argument for Gnomish Inventor - Mirror Image - Spiteful Smith Spiteful Smith is of no use what-so-ever, so its a pick between draw-card and Mirror Image ... Gnomish Inventor Icelance - Spellbreaker - Frostwolf Warlord Spellbreaker, strong silence. Flesheating Ghoul - Dragonling Mechanic - Magma Raider Flesheating Ghoul forces the opponent to get it removed asap or it could be quite nasty by creature trading Young Dragonhawk - Boulderfist Ogre - Cult Master Young Dragonhawk is somewhat weak IMO and Boulderfist Ogre while strong doesn't really have anything but that to count for it ... Sunfury Protector - Questing Adventurer - Argent Commander Again, tough pick ... if i think i can get a ton of cards off quickly, Questing Adventurer wins ... and i think i can. Polymorph - Cult Master - Ironbeak Owl While Ironbeak Owl is a useful silence, Polymorph is simply better Cult Master - Core Hound - Scarlet Crusader Good trading protential in the Scarlet Crusader Flamestrike - Oasis Snapjaw - Jungle Panther Good boardclear if the game goes long Fireball - Youthful Brewmaster - Mirror Entity Mirror Entity is a good secret to have out when you start having big monsters thrown, Fireball is the other candidate pick of this set. Stonetusk Boar - Cone of Cold - Shieldbearer Nice for denying enemies attacking Raid Leader - Dread Corsair - Ironfur Grizzly good taunting creature. Polymorph - Murloc Tidehunter - Youthful Brewmaster Another Polymorph thank you. Frostwolf Gaunt - Sorcerer's Apprentice - Cult Master Sorcerer's Apprentice is really strong if you have a good spell deck, which this is shaping up to be, presently having 7 spells out of 17 cards. Murloc Tidehunter - Elven Archer - Magma Raider fairly lowend card worth, but Elven Archer if used correctly is probably the best Bloodsail Corsair - Lightwarden - Twillight Drake Bloodsail might have some worth but is probably a bit too specialized, Lightwarden is out as per earlier musings and Twillight is quite good, no real debate here Frost Nova - Arcane Missiles - Water Elemental bit underwhelmed by Water Elemental (unless you could somehow get Taunt on it), and Frost nova, while good just aren't my cup of tea Cult Master - Arcane Explosion - Mirror Image Good lowend boardclear ... idlely noticing that i still haven't seen a single card giving +spelldamage Enraged Worgen - Argent Squire - Mana Wyrm Mana Wyrm is stupidly good t1 if you're second, and quite a pain otherwise if you have a spellheavy deck (which i have, bonus with Sorcerers apprentice making them cheaper) Oasis Snapjaw - Arcane Missiles - Gurubashi Beserker Spelldeck is strong as spelldeck, neither of the other cards are really that shiny on mages Southsea Deckhand - Dread Corsair - Bloodsail Raider ... may i Pass? ... can i draw a mulligan?... none of them is really of any interest for me as a mage ... Corsair might be the least worthless of the set since it is an overpriced taunt Windfury Harpy - Wolfrider - Mirror Entity Wolfrider, good trading protential Thallmar Farseer - Arcane Intellect - Young Dragonhawk decently priced carddraw Priestess of Elune - Acolyte of Pain - Thallmar Farseer have 1(!) card costing more than 4 mana so Priestess might actually be remotely worthwhile Water Elemental - Ice Lance - Magma Raider Water Elemental is probably the best of those Coldlight Seer - Stampeding Kodo - Bloodsail Corsair Stampeding Kodo is strong. --- Interesting fact about the deck only got 3 cards costing more than 4mana never saw a single +Spell Damage my Keystone cards is without question, Questing Adventurer, Mana Wyrm and Sorcerer's Apprentice ![[Image: 4OfYtcS.png]](http://i.imgur.com/4OfYtcS.png)
Interesting deck. Lots of answers, but not many questions! Some comments on the draft:
Quote:Cult Master - Fireball - Mirror ImageI would unquestionably have taken Fireball. It's such a good card, and is one of only a couple of straight removal cards able to trade efficiently with mid-range minions like the Yeti and late-game minions too (Shadow Word: Death is the only other one that springs to mind). Quote:Windfury Harpy - Razorfen Hunter - Stanglethorn TigerTiger for me! 5/5 for 5 is good anyway; the stealth is a bonus. Particularly in light of what came after, although you weren't to know the curve would peter out by the time you hit 5-drops. Quote:Sunfury Protector - Questing Adventurer - Argent CommanderYou're right that Questing is good in this deck, but I would take Argent Commander 99% of the time in Arena drafts, even if I already had a couple. It's such a good card. I'd definitely have taken it here. Quote:Fireball - Youthful Brewmaster - Mirror EntityAgain I would have taken Fireball - it's not close IMO. Mirror Entity is situationally good, but almost never as good as Fireball. Quote:Enraged Worgen - Argent Squire - Mana WyrmI think I'd have gone Raging Worgen. This is close as Mana Wyrm is also good, but Raging is particularly good in mage decks where you can ping it to get the enrage bonus. Quote:Oasis Snapjaw - Arcane Missiles - Gurubashi BeserkerI'd have taken Berserker for the same reason as the Worgen. It's arguably even better, because you can ping it multiple times. Quote:Priestess of Elune - Acolyte of Pain - Thallmar FarseerThe Acolyte is something else you can ping for profit! I'd have taken that. The Priestess is good utility, but you need damage at this point and she doesn't really provide it. It's also overpriced IMO. Having said all that, it looks like a decent aggro-control type deck. I would be a little concerned as to how you'll actually do 30 damage to the enemy hero over the course of the game, but there's always fatigue  I look forward to hearing how it gets on!
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