Hearthstone

Yes, basic and common cards can be very effective. Things like the Yeti and Shattered Sun Cleric are really good. However, you still need a lot of experience with the game to learn how to make effective use of everything. There's a learning curve involved and watching streams/videos, while useful and helpful, won't turn you into a Legendary player over night.

Basically my point, and advice, is to just keep playing games and learn what does and doesn't work while building up your collection however it is you do (Arenas, straight gold purchases, or real cash).

So by far the class I've spent the most time with has been Shaman. I've even crafted a few commons in order to satisfy that deck. Used it to get to rank 13 last season and 16 this one. Then all of the sudden, I run into and endless stream of Warriors and Druids and derank all the way back to 20. So out of frustration I switch to the one class I've played the least, Warlock, and have just gotten myself back up to 16 with it.

I think I liked the novelty of the Healing Totem too much and was beginning to push it a bit too far with my Imp Masters and Light Wardens. It is a ton of fun to watch that combo work itself out but if the opponent is wise to it, you're left dangling. I think it was working very well for a while because the holy scripture of the meta-game states that Light Warden is a terrible card and people would routinely ignore it while I would routinely NOT trade it. They could have a 4/1 creature and I would elect to take 4 to the face and build behind the Light Warden rather than trade it out which they would always assume I would do. But lately, I'm seeing people Coin into cards to get rid of Light Warden asap. And making what would have previously been considered by the meta-world as unfavorable trades to kill it which is exactly the right way to play against my deck. I gotta go back and re-tweak it. Maybe just one Light Warden and one Imp Master and introduce other avenues of victory.

The Shaman deck for those interested. I'd welcome any advice. The Legendaries not in the deck are Bloodmage Thalnos and Onyxia. I have two Lava Bursts but they always seem like they sit in my hand forever.

Honestly just drop light warden, it is too conditional, you have to hope the light warden stays alive, hope you get a healing totem, and hope you have a damaged minon on the board, way too conditional. Lightning bolt is one of the best removals in the game, drop forked lightning and get 2 lightning bolts. I would also drop the master swordsmith for another 2 drop, such as faerie dragon, and you could use at least one more 2 drop with only 4 2 drops in the deck and one of them being flametongue, again a conditional card because it requires you to have minions on the board to effectively make use of it. Drop imp master, its 1 power makes it too easy for your opponent to trade with a minion with it and live, harvest golem is a good drop, or for shamans they have unbound elementals. Your deck doesn't really have a focus, cards like stormwind champion, al'akir, and ysera are late game cards, but windspeaker and bloodlust are typically used as mid game finishers, too often you will have dead cards sitting in your hand. Your only good targets for windspeaker come late game so he will be sitting in your hand a long time and any late game cards you draw will just sit in your hand until you can play them. If you want to keep those late game cards in there you need to focus on early removal/efficient minions to get to late game.

Just used your advice to win 3 games in a row and get rank 15. Thank you! (Though I still kept the Bloodlust. This card absolutely punishes those aggro players that ignore my totems and go to the face.)

Btw the idea behind so few 2 drops is that my 2 drop plays were going to be totems. The deck was originally intended to fully exploit all the totems but has since, I admit, strayed from that path.

Had a hilarious match with a shaman last night, which is the worst matchup for handlock. Finally boils down to my turn, all i have in play is an argus and jaraxxus, staring down an argent commander and 9/9 taunted molten giant, he's at 6 health. So I suicide my argus, hellfire and soulfire on the giant to clear the board. Then I realize I can swing to his face for 3 and win!

Wasn't til I was going over it again in my head a few minutes before posting this that I realized I could have just sent that soulfire to the face for the win. Missed lethal twice in one turn, yeah buddy.

AngryGerbil_sl said:

Just used your advice to win 3 games in a row and get rank 15. Thank you! (Though I still kept the Bloodlust. This card absolutely punishes those aggro players that ignore my totems and go to the face.)

Btw the idea behind so few 2 drops is that my 2 drop plays were going to be totems. The deck was originally intended to fully exploit all the totems but has since, I admit, strayed from that path.

Click to expand...

Don't do that. Two drops are actually some of the best cards in the game for when you can play them. A Faerie Dragon or Knife Juggler that isn't able to be removed can, basically, win you the game. If the opponent can't remove them right away, they are on the defensive and that gives you a big advantage. The other problem is that Shaman Totems are too random and too conditional. I understand the hope of using them for an eventual bloodlust or other Totem synergy but you'll get more mileage out of some of the solid 2 drops.

Rolled up a paladin in Arena. Put up redemption then rammed an Azure drake into some 5/4...... never got revived!!? lol... I don't play pally much but when something dies, whether I make it die or the other guy does, he should come back to life, no??

They just changed it so secrets can only trigger on your opponents turn. Big nerf to the already mostly unplayable paladin secrets.

Gavinrad_sl said:

They just changed it so secrets can only trigger on your opponents turn. Big nerf to the already mostly unplayable paladin secrets.

Click to expand...

No idea why they did this, redemption was so much fun.

Yeah, it's represented in game too. The Secret is purple on your opponent's turn meaning it's active and able to be revealed. On your turn, the Secret turns black indicating that it cannot be activated. The color change really only helps if you're aware of the change that was made though.

Angelwatch_sl said:

Yeah, it's represented in game too. The Secret is purple on your opponent's turn meaning it's active and able to be revealed. On your turn, the Secret turns black indicating that it cannot be activated. The color change really only helps if you're aware of the change that was made though.

Click to expand...

Silly me. I did notice the color changes but honestly just chalked it up to some kind of beta bug. Thanks for the info.

Angelwatch_sl said:

A Faerie Dragon or Knife Juggler that isn't able to be removed can, basically, win you the game.

Click to expand...

I just won this game...

At the risk of spamming the board I'll go ahead and make what happened today a good thing. I hit a wall, posted here about it, got some advice, followed it, and have been doing much better with my Shaman. I am not exactly looking to make 'everyone else's deck' but sometimes you just need a new set of eyes. Above I posted where my deck was at the start of the day. This is where I'm at at the end of the day.

AngryGerbil_sl said:

At the risk of spamming the board I'll go ahead and make what happened today a good thing. I hit a wall, posted here about it, got some advice, followed it, and have been doing much better with my Shaman. I am not exactly looking to make 'everyone else's deck' but sometimes you just need a new set of eyes. Above I posted where my deck was at the start of the day. This is where I'm at at the end of the day.

Spoiler

Click to expand...

I think you really want 2 rockbiters if you're running Al'Akir, but yeah it looks much improved.

I just opened a 2nd golden frothing berserker in literally back to back packs, what are the odds of that? And it was my 3rd one overall!

I got tired of getting rushed like hell in ranked so I made my own. 6 straight wins so far.