[ファブリス]

This game is a blast! I'm pretty new to card games. Probably my favourite part about this game is that it is one of the rare games where I am encouraged to learn and play all the classes. It doesn't take a huge time investment to learn the basics of each class, and it is integral to the game to know all the cards. It's also really fun to watch on Twitch for learning tricks

As a newbie I had the most hilarious match couple days ago.. I got really lucky and survived three legendaries on a basic priest deck (except Amani Berserkers). This Paladin dropped Tirion Fordring, Illidan Stormrage and Leeroy Jenkins! I used Mind Control twice (which steals the opponent's minion). In order to recover twice he used Equality which sets every minion's health to 1, which is probably why I was able to keep up with the basic deck. Not sure what else he could do. I guess an experienced player would have known Mind Control was coming from my Priest

The game ending was pretty hilarious: I captured his Tirion Fordring legendary. Then he copies it ! It was pretty silly but really exciting for me to see all those big cards. So then our Tirion's go head to head on the next turn, they both die and we BOTH equip the 5 / 3 Ashbringer He drops a *fourth* legendary: Sylvanas Windrunner. Unfortunately for him it is then my turn, I have Ashbringer from his Tirion for +5 dmg and a couple minions to finish him off.

Pretty silly game but one of the most fun I had so far

Having a really hard time going past Rank 20 without buying cards atm.

As a big fan of blizzard I tried Hearthstone a couple of days ago. I like card games and that's why I was hooked immideatly. I am really, really bad at it though. I like to play hunter (mostly, because my WoW character was one) and it seems hunters are terrible against priests. I haven't won a single game, when I had a priest opponent and there are quite a lot of priests out there. Any suggestions ?
I'd love to see those cards! Sylvana is one of my favourite heroes. Have you any special cards yet? I have misdirection, which is quite handy, but that's about it.

ファブリス Wrote:As a newbie I had the most hilarious match couple days ago.. I got really lucky and survived three legendaries on a basic priest deck (except Amani Berserkers). This Paladin dropped Tirion Fordring, Illidan Stormrage and Leeroy Jenkins! I used Mind Control twice (which steals the opponent's minion). In order to recover twice he used Equality which sets every minion's health to 1, which is probably why I was able to keep up with the basic deck. Not sure what else he could do. I guess an experienced player would have known Mind Control was coming from my Priest smile

Hahaha typical priest story :p I don't like having two mind controls in my deck though, as I have a nasty tendency of drawing them waaaaay too early in the game, and then they just sit there ...

I was in a similar situation not so long ago, against a rogue who brought out a whopping 6 legendaries during the game (damn ladder reset, all the high-ranked players are coming up the ladder again with their legendary decks T_T).

I managed to pull a mind control + faceless manipulator (which copies whatever minion you choose) on her ragnaros though, which gave me two of my own... after a shadow word : death on her last big creep, they pretty much won the game for me single-handedly :p

riogray Wrote:... and it seems hunters are terrible against priests. I haven't won a single game, when I had a priest opponent and there are quite a lot of priests out there. Any suggestions ?

Funny you should say that, as a priest my biggest nemesis are rush hunters... the game usually goes like this :

I play cards carefully to bait the multishots and other annoying clears. I try to keep a nova handy for fear of an "unleash the dogs" + buff combo, but when it comes out (usually before the 8th or 9th turn) it's usually too late ; the hunter would have whittled me down with bug bites and order to kill, and then he can just wipe my 20ish remaining hp in one go.

...but should I survive the onslaught, then I usually win, because the hunter is usually out of cards at that point.

Bottom line is, as a hunter, rush the sh*t out of priests. Most control priest deck are late game powerhouses, but have mediocre at best early games. Use explosive / multi / arcane shot and other instant kill to clear out the threats, whittle the priest's life with your hero power, and go for the execution when you can pull an "unleash the dogs" combo.

I wasn't expecting to see a Hearthstone thread pop up on this forum! Yeah, the game's pretty addictive

I've been playing since around October during closed beta. I find Arena to be a bit more fun compared to Ranked, but they're both great in their own respects. It can be hard to gain cards at an acceptable pace unless you play Arena constantly (and have a good winrate so that you don't run out of gold too quickly), or you simply pay for packs. I've paid for a fair few Arenas, but that was back when the player base was more skilled during closed beta. Lately with the influx of players, Arena has become noticeably easier (or maybe I've just gotten better). My last three runs were 10, 11 and 12 wins

Linval Wrote:

ファブリス Wrote:

riogray Wrote:... and it seems hunters are terrible against priests. I haven't won a single game, when I had a priest opponent and there are quite a lot of priests out there. Any suggestions ?

Bottom line is, as a hunter, rush the sh*t out of priests. Most control priest deck are late game powerhouses, but have mediocre at best early games. Use explosive / multi / arcane shot and other instant kill to clear out the threats, whittle the priest's life with your hero power, and go for the execution when you can pull an "unleash the dogs" combo.

Agree with this -- that matchup heavily favours the Hunter. Aggro decks in general give Priest a hard time due to the Priest's poor early game. Sure you can perhaps mitigate the onslaught with Holy Nova's and Shadow Madness / SW, but overall it's still an uphill struggle. After all, Priest is still one of the weaker classes (in both Constructed and Arena) right now.

[ファブリス]

(quick posting)

Check out this awesome puzzle if you haven't seen it yet

Do NOT scroll down the page until you give up, the solution is in a comment just below the cards.

Priest vs Priest Riddle

If you have no experience with Priest remember... Shadow Word: Pain does not work on a 4 attack creature, regardless how much or little health it has.

Guoguodi Wrote:Bottom line is, as a hunter, rush the sh*t out of priests. Most control priest deck are late game powerhouses, but have mediocre at best early games.

Thanks for the tip, I'll try this.

ファブリス Wrote:Check out this awesome puzzle if you haven't seen it yet

Couldn't solve it. After 20 minutes I checked the comments. Genius. But also really irritating, that I wasn't able to solve it.

ファブリス Wrote:Check out this awesome puzzle if you haven't seen it yet
Couldn't solve it. After 20 minutes I checked the comments. Genius. But also really irritating, that I wasn't able to solve it.

Mmmm, so I'd say :

Play Auchenai Soulpriest : -4 mana
Lesser heal sylvanas: -2 mana
Inner fire Sylvanas so she goes 3/3 : -1 mana
SW : P Sylvanas : -2 mana
Deathrattle goes off, soulpriest is MC'd
Smite the opponent -1 mana
Lightwell goes off on the priest

I love that soulpriest card... got two in my deck, so versatile. Works wonders with circle of healing too.

[ファブリス]

riogray Wrote:Couldn't solve it. After 20 minutes I checked the comments. Genius. But also really irritating, that I wasn't able to solve it.

Looked at it with a friend over Skype, we both never played card games and spent 15 minutes without a clue.

I did see Kripp using it a lot. I'm thinking I'll have to play this style (also with Shadowform) in Arena maybe... In Play mode I got used to a more defensive Priest because it holds up ok when you start out with the basic cards.

This puzzle made me realize Inner Fire could be a way to get at a 4 Attack creature on an opponent who knows what to do against a Priest... but it sounds like the gambles that most experienced player prefer to go for a strong card with immediate benefits.

Funny thing is though the Priest let me win early, my quickest, most aggressive wins twice lately were against a Priest ^_^ I just knew from turn 1... drop 4 attack creatures.

On another occasion I was lucky enough to silence the Lightspawn in the early rounds... that lightspawn stayed there during the whole fight doing nothing =)

Something similar happened to me yesterday in Arena... someone silenced my Taunt totem on a Shaman >_> I didn't have an easy way to get rid of it. Now I'm not 100% sure but I'm guessing I would not have been able to replace it until it dies. I just realized recently that when the X and Y totems are out, then you know you can only get Z because you can get one of each type on the board.

ファブリス Wrote:I just realized recently that when the X and Y totems are out, then you know you can only get Z because you can get one of each type on the board.

Wow I never realised that, but now that you mention it ...

Priest is good when you start out, because its basic spells such are holy nova and MC are very strong against basic decks, but as you start climbing up the ladder, you'll see that priest tends to fall behind quite a bit, especially against the current rush meta. It is still a strong class, but it seems to me that it takes more effort to win when I play my priest than when I play another class as of now. But given my track record as a holy / disc priest in WoW, I couldn't see myself leaving my trusty priest deck in the dust :p

ファブリス Wrote:This puzzle made me realize Inner Fire could be a way to get at a 4 Attack creature on an opponent who knows what to do against a Priest... but it sounds like the gambles that most experienced player prefer to go for a strong card with immediate benefits.

I'm honestly not too fond of Inner Fire, I still find it a very situational card - sure, it is fairly versatile and can be use to great effect both offensively and defensively, but it requires a fairly specific set of circumstances and / or a costly setup to be really useful IMO. And since as a priest, I like to keep a card advantage over the opponent, I very seldom end up picking this card.

Shadowform is pretty good though, a good way to counter the priest's weaknesses. Having a cheap 2/3 damage spell every turn is very strong, not to mention that you can ignore tanks completely. The downside would be that it makes cards such as the northsire cleric much less useful, and that you have to draw it :p

[ファブリス]

Yeah Priest is slow. I'm quite average atm, and above average with Priest I suppose because if I can hold up late game I can keep creatures alive and it usually ends with 3+ creatures on board like Boulderfist Ogre, Frostwolf Warlord and maybe a thick skinned Taunt creature that was shield. Then I drop Stormwind for the win. It's fun but definitely slow.

My first two arena runs were bad. I won 2 times, then 1 time. My picks for the deck were pretty bad too

For Play and Ranked I think I'm better off pushing a little more with Priest, maybe learn a more aggressive style.

What do you think of Temple Enforcer, the 6/6 that gives +3 Health?

I'm tempted to craft one. I don't have Shadowform or Auchenai. I have the Lightwell and Lightspawn I think but no experience with them.

Something I'm still learning is to just go for it in the first couple rounds. I lost so many games thinking I should hold on my cards or the coin. Now my Rogue started doing better and even a couple aggressive wins when I don't hold off.

[ファブリス]

riogray Wrote:I like to play hunter (mostly, because my WoW character was one)

Hehe I envy you a little bit.. I never played WoW so I don't have those connections, but it's great all the same. Love all the war cries, and the music is so good!

riogray Wrote:(...) it seems hunters are terrible against priests. I haven't won a single game, when I had a priest opponent and there are quite a lot of priests out there. Any suggestions smile?

My most aggressive wins against Priest is to drop 4 attack creatures. Dark Iron Dwarf (+2 attack to another creature this round is awesome), Chillwind Yeti, Jungle Panther should be good? (it's a 4 attack stealthed beast), Darkscale Healer is pretty awesome to heal you and your minions AND it's 4 attack as well.

Another thing to consider if you use lower attack creatures is Raid Leader, gives +1/+1 that's another way of getting a 3 attack out of range of Shadow Words? Or the Dire Wolf that increases attack? Assuming your other card played earlier has 3 attack. But only if you don't use the other 4 attaks I guess (on my Priest against another Priest I basically held off Stormwind for the kill to avoid opening my creatures to his spells =)).

Not saying those are good Hunter cards... but I think it's a good tactic on other classes at least where you play stronger creatures that you want to keep for more than one round.

And yeah like Linval said, Hunters tend to rush. I find them scary! It's really hard to keep up with the Hunter if he has a good hand to start. Do you have enough 1-3 mana beasts? Don't make the same mistake I did, don't hold off, drop something, anything, even if you have to use the coin or "waste" a creature's effect.

Control decks are slow, but priest all the more so - but I do like that gameplay too, it has a very satisfying feel to it... my most epic and fun games were with my priest deck, and I love that :p

I'm not a big fan of the temple enforcer, I find it a bit too costly for what it brings - If you want to use it for the heal, then the darkscale healer is much more cost effective, and if you want it for its brute force, then there are better alternative out there. I find the Venture Co. Mercenary to be a very viable choice for instance.

With my priest deck I've been trying to smoothe the mana curve out a bit, so I don't use 6* cards except for Holy fire and one Mind Control. The Auchenai soulpriest is excellent for sure, but to justify its presence you have to run one or two circle of healing. And to make circle of healing worth the card count, It's good to have two injured blademaster in your deck.

I would advise you consider cards such as a spellbreaker (good all around card, great if you happen to run ancient watchers), Twilight drakes (very good if you have lots of draw cards in your deck), Argus Defender (insanely cost effective, though you have to set it up properly if you don't want it to go to waste) or an Argent Commander (excellent all around card, a real pain to deal with). Abominations are worth considering too if you're running into troubles with aggro decks.

All in all, I would advise you stick with neutral cards for now, so as to make the most out of the investment - but if you're set on crafting priest exclusive ones, then definitely consider shadow madness or thoughtsteal (thoughtsteal relies a bit on luck, but it's cheap and generally pretty fun to use :p)

Oh, and @Riogray your absolute priority should be to craft two "Unleash the Hounds" cards. Trust me on that. I've lost against enough hunter on my friend list to know this is worth it. It's a terrifying card - it's cheap, and gets more powerful the more minions your opponent has. Couple it with an alpha wolf, destroy the tanks (if any) and win the game.

Oh, and it's dirt cheap too - no excuses =)

[ファブリス]

Ok I got one Spellbreaker. I was eyeing that one for a while. Drawing cards is still a big problem, but I don't know if it's due to bad deck selection or lack of skill "trading" cards during the game. Probably the later :p ... I usually have 1 or 2 Loot Hoarders, a Gnome Inventor and usually one class card that draws a card when used.

I'm rank 17 atm. Lost again on Priest, then won on Warlock. It's really odd the Warlock is the one I won 7 matches (6 Play mode, last one Ranked against a Hunter)... and have no losses on this class yet.

I'm afraid to touch his deck now :p I have no idea if I made a decent mana curve or just a decent selection. It's 0 5 6 7 5 4 2 1 atm.

.. It's definitely easier to play than the Priest. Pretty straightforward, very flexible 2 / 4 dmg spells to combine with minions. I'm not even using Succubus and Hellfire atm... maybe I should? Actually once I had Voidwalker and didn't use it on turn one... I like to start with the Amani Berserker or Faerie Dragon as those tend to annoy the opponent or make them waste a good card.

Thanks for the tips @everyone. Will try them out later on. I managed to get a bit better, I hit rank 18 yesterday. I have a feeling, that certain classes are much more common than others. For example priests and hunters. I wonder whether it's just coincidence or whether they are more of them.

ファブリス Wrote:I'm not even using Succubus and Hellfire atm... maybe I should?

I always think Hellfire is a very good one, especially since most of my cards are low health. But I guess that very much depends on the oponents deck.

[ファブリス]

Another suggestion vs Priest... it came to mind on my current Arena run ... woohoo my first two were really bad, but this one is at 5 wins atm.

Last match was against a Warlock. He didn't go for my 1/3 Northshire Cleric. So you never know... never underestimate that 1 attack card. We were both a 3 cards at one point but he kept going for the 2-4 attack minions and left the cleric so I kept getting cards. It's not very common though most people go for it.

The lightwell is pretty bad for me so far. Had a smart Hunter who hit it with a 1/1 creature just so my hero have only 50% chance to be healed.

In that match vs Hunter I made a big mistake and doubled the health of the lightwell thinking "omg pwnzor move".... Not so. It took a while before he killed it and as a result I wasn't getting healed. On subsequent matches I drop it early when I have nothing else, it soaks up a little direct damage from Hunter etc, but I leave it at 5 so eventually they kill it... and it makes up for my terrible draft of 2 mana minions.

Edit: well , there ya go. Now I got teared to pieces on the next game by an "aggro" Hunter. My lack of 2 drops didn't cut it Boo Hunters!

riogray Wrote:I always think Hellfire is a very good one, especially since most of my cards are low health. But I guess that very much depends on the oponents deck.

I'm starting to like Dread Infernal against Hunters an Shamans. It's only 1 dmg AOE but it's more controllable... and less dangerous to my own safety :p

I recently startet to use a warrior and it has been quite a lot of fun. It's simple (which is good for me ) and most people seem ill prepared against warriors. I do like having weapons as you yourself focus on any minion the oponent spawns and your creatures tare him down.

ファブリス Wrote:woohoo my first two were really bad, but this one is at 5 wins atm.

Wow that's really good. My record at the moment is 3 losses, though I will try again today

ファブリス Wrote:I'm starting to like Dread Infernal against Hunters an Shamans. It's only 1 dmg AOE but it's more controllable... and less dangerous to my own safety :p

Yeah that one is a pain as well.

Today I went back to playing hunter and the arena went much better than last time. I got to play a hunter and saw a couple of cards, which I really really want in my deck. The traps are very usefull and I had one lion card, which was very nice too. 3:3 isn't very good, but a huge step from last time's 0:3, especially since one loss was just bad luck.

[ファブリス]

Nice I think you mean the Savannah? I only just realized that the "lore" behind it for lack of better word is that the two hyenas that spawn have come to feast on its body :p

I haven't studied "drafting" much yet. There's two nice "coaching" videos here:

The Angry Chicken - Hearthstone Coaching #1 & #2

I finally unlocked the last hero for me which was Druid, quite fun to play. I like have those direct damage spells. In one of those videos they mention the moon animation on Starfire is pretty cool if you wait for it to play out. The moon on your characater rotates and shows its dark side? I haven't seen it yet because each time I forget and click >_>

ps: oh and wow tonight Kripp was playing a lock, I got to see the visual effect when you play the Twisting Nether (8 mana cost card that clears the board), it's awesome!

ファブリス Wrote:Nice I think you mean the Savannah? I only just realized that the "lore" behind it for lack of better word is that the two hyenas that spawn have come to feast on its body :p

That's the one, didn't realize the implication . And thanks for the video, was quite interesting, especially since I almost never play druid. Seems they have amazing cards though, the fact that you draw cards and deal damage with one spell is great.

[ファブリス]

Yeah Druid is a lot more fun than I thought. I'm liking it, it's pretty straightforward like the Warlock. And you can dispatch weak threats with your weapon just like the Warrior.

So much easier to respond to threats when you don't have a great starting hand as long as you have a Swipe by turn 3-4. Started Arena last night, I have 2 Starfire, 2 Swipes, 1 Starfall... good times :p

ファブリス Wrote:Started Arena last night, I have 2 Starfire, 2 Swipes, 1 Starfall... good times :p

Wow that's good! How did it go?

I managed to get a 5:3 with a hunter today. I was really happy and got very excited, when one of the cards from the deck I won (is it called deck? the one where you get 5 random cards) was an epic. I guess that was very lucky, too bad it was for rogues. I hate playing rogue, so I won't be able to use it often. It was this little guy.

[ファブリス]

That Patient Assassin looks like a powerful card, an alternative to the Emperor Cobra although it could die easily to Arcane Blast, Arcane Missiles, things like that. Beats Hungry Crab epic I just got today!

I wonder how you'd use that card. Rogue is powerful and more balanced and flexible than Hunters imho. I swear every Hunter I play against has the exact same style. >_> Oh lookies Timber Wofl on turn 1! Oh I really wonder what's coming on turn 2, oh lookies it's a Starving Buzzard! Turn 3 Animal Companion or Hunter's Mark followed by Kill Command... Turn 4 Multi Shot or Hyena and Buzzard or Unleash the Hounds if it didn't come yet... yawn.

That Rogue card hmmm. It sounds like something you'd keep in your bag of tricks for the mid/late game, when the opponent has already worn out on his aoe spells and you're in a bad spot... haven't seen it played yet.

riogray Wrote:Wow that's good! How did it go?

2/3 >_> I don't know if my deck is just bad or lack of experience with the Druid. I definitely wasn't lucky though. Priest did the "double Northshire Cleric" trick on turn one with the Coin (2x 1/3)... which is really nasty. Have to kill them in one blow, and if you drop a 2 attack for next turn he will use it to hurt himself, heal, and get more cards. He had tons of cards. I managed to get rid of them... then he dropped a third Northshire Cleric later. Ugh. EDIT: Oh and now I remember he managed to get a good use of a couple Young Priestess as well. Those can be nasty if you can't get rid of them quickly, especially behind a Taunt.

A Hunter game was really, really close... he put on a Secret late game. I suspected it was Explosive Trap, which got rid of half my creatures... I did a Swipe to his Hero and nothing happened, so then I attacked with a minion and it triggered. Still a mistake since I guessed the Secret, but the Swipe confused me. Otherwise I would have waited it out to put out bigger creatures. He was smart and didn't overplay that Savannah you mentioned earlier... dropped it when we were both 6 life or so. Still at least that match was an interesting game.

In retrospect Starfire isn't all that great. It's 6 mana so late game you drop that and you can't do much else. Next Druid round in Arena I would get only one. Starfire is bettr as ut's 5 mana you can still drop a Frostwolf, or another 5 drop. And I needed more card draw.

Outside Arena the Druid did actually really poorly for me, wow.. I need the rares though: Starfall, Keeper of the Grove, Savagery, Bite... it felt really weak without those. Or maybe I don't understand how to play it yet. I guess Innervate (+2 Mana this turn at no cost) is a key part of the class? I'm guessing that's the way to go with basic cards to gain an advantage?

Haha true buzzard and hyena are the best cards you have as a hunter. They are incredibly strong in combination with a snake trap, but I haven't been able to get one outside of arena yet. Today I tried another run and so far it doesn't look good. 1:2 and my hunter (again) deck is not very good. Once I was just really unlucky and my druid oponent (with no hand cards) drew a savage roar, I probably would have won, if it had been any other card.
I have made all my arena runs with a hunter so far, but once (after watching the video you linked to, I tried druid). I will probably try another class soon, hunter is a lot of fun, but I want to try another class. I did a couple of testsgames with the warlock, but that went terribly. Lost 10 matches in a row.
The crab doesn't look too promising, but it might be interesting, if you play a murlock deck . I will try this next time, alas without crab . Have you tried the crafting system? I got some dust from my 5:3 arena run, but I really dislike disenchanting any card, so I haven't been able to create any.

[ファブリス]

riogray Wrote:Have you tried the crafting system?

Oh definitely. The first time you disenchant a card, you get 95 dust. So disenchant any Common Expert card for 5 dust and now you have 100 dust and you could be making a couple Common or one Rare. I started off making Common cards based on seeing it played against me, and articles like Eight must have neutrals to craft or Trump's Arena Card Rankings (note Trump's article is outdated, Shattered Sun Cleric for example is 3/2 not 3/3).

The first two I made were Amani Berserkers which are always fun to drop early since Mages avoid pinging them with Fireblast. Likewise Faerie Dragons are great 2 drops that you can use on most classes I think? They can not be targetted by Hero spells and abilities (but they CAN be targetted by equipped weapons apparently).

I disenchanted a Rare Gold card which I already owned on the Mage. I think it was Ethereal Arcanist. I don't like Secrets all that much and it's class specific and not a very common card so I figured it was worth disenchanting, for 100 dust then, which let me craft another Rare card instead. In that case it's a good trade I guess since you trade the "foiled" look for another Rare of your choice.

I also disenchanted an epic Mountain Giant and that's the only one I regret disenchaning. I wasn't fond of the card because as a newbie I tend to always run out of cards and it seemed not very useful for me early on (my philosophy basically is: disenchant to create cards that will help me in many different decks, to create a solid set of good basic cards). ... Anyway since I started enjoiying the Warlock on retrospect, I figured even if I didn't use it on Warlock... I shouldn't have disenchanted an epic just because it's an epic.

I guess Gold cards are fairly no-brainer when it comes to disenchanting unless you really like the card animation or want to collect them all (in which case I would imagine you are not against spending money on the game, or are very good at Arena). Basically if you disenchant any Gold card, you can craft another "non gold" card of the same rarity. So eg. disenchant a Gold Epic for 400 dust, lets you craft an "plain" Epic for 400 dust.

I got dust too yesterday, which is not bad I suppose if you get 40-50 dust at least you get to choose which Common Expert card to craft. I really didn't like getting a card through Arena though since I couldn't chose and it wasn't good. And... with 2-3 wins if you get Gold you've already recovered since you get your pack and the extra 50 gold for the Arena ticket back.