Shine 144 Report post Posted March 2, 2018 (edited) Hi, This weekend I'll be at a big LAN gaming event called Area fifltyLAN. At this event I will play a hearthstone tournament for the first time. I was wondering if anyone here has any tips going into it. you can assume I've been playing on ladder for over 4 years now. never gotten any higher than rank 9 though. (never had the time to put in to reaching legend. The decks I currently have are as follows: Jade druid Recruit (4 or less) druid Big hunter Secret mage Big spells mage Elemental mage Dude paladin (silver hand recruits) Big priest Big spells priest Deathrattle priest Mill rogue Jade rogue (No shaman, warlock or warrior decks atm) Note that a number of these decks miss certain key epics/legendaries, to make it a bit easier I will also list all my legendary cards. Druid Fandral Staghelm Malfurion the Pestilent Hunter deathstalker Rexxar Kathrena winterwisp mage pyros Aluneth frost lich jaina paladin tirion fordring priest awaken the makers lyra the sunshard (unfortunately no highlander package) rogue xaril poisoned mind Valeera the hollow Shaman Thrall deathseer warlock lord jaraxxus warrior grommash hellscream neutral bloodmage thalnos prince keleseth barnes the darkness aya blackpaw cairne bloodhoof marin the fox the lich king ysera C'thun N'zoth the corruptor Y'shaarj Rage unbound I realize that there is little chance of me actually winnign the tournament. It's not about that though, it's more of a test to see how far I can get. I'm hoping to finish top 25% (tournament will probably be around 100 participants, could be up to 250 though) Also note that I have about 1000 dust on hand to craft any missing epics and such. well, that about sums it up, any tips. What decks are good? What should I look out for during playing? you get the idea ^^ Cheers Shine EDIT: thx for the tip on how to fix the post ^^ Edited March 2, 2018 by Shine Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Caldyrvan 377 Report post Posted March 2, 2018 (edited) I have no advice for your tournament questions but for the other, just click "Edit" at the end of your post and there you go :) Light gray text color with white background isn't really fun to read :D Edited March 2, 2018 by Caldyrvan Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FanOfValeera 253 Report post Posted March 2, 2018 (edited) 1) Secret mage, dude paladin, jade druid & something else. Ban warlock. This is my primary suggestion. 2) Secret mage, mill rogue, big spell priest & something. Ban paladin or mage if you expect secrets. This is my secondary suggestion. Unfortunately you don't have Kingsbane. BUT, if you wanna go with target warlock, ban aggro lineup, you can play spiteful druid, as another midrange option, instead of mill rogue. If you have experience, big spell mage may beat warlocks. Play eater of secrets if you don't ban mage. I keep editing; you don't seem to have Tarim, Tirion might be a good addition against control decks. But he is very questionable (never thought I would ever say this about him) Edited March 2, 2018 by FanOfValeera 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Caldyrvan 377 Report post Posted March 2, 2018 Don't say something bad about our beloved Tirion :D 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Shine 144 Report post Posted March 2, 2018 (edited) Thank you very much for the replies, this is definitely helpful. Also, I am giving up on editing the original post. apparently the system doesnt like multiple spoiler brackets in succesion or somthing. anyhow Ill check out what the options are with your advice. thx for the reply EDIT: Ok so I ended up going with Spoiler secret mage 2x Kabal Lackey 2x Mana Wyrm 2x Arcanologist 2x Frostbolt 2x Medivh's Valet 2x Primordial Glyph 2x Sorcerer's Apprentice 1x Arcane Intellect 2x Counterspell 2x Explosive Runes 1x Ice Block 2x Kirin Tor Mage 1x Potion of Polymorph 2x Fireball 1x Spellbreaker 1x Aluneth 2x Kabal Crystal Runner 1x Firelands Portal dude pala 2x Argent Squire 2x Lost in the Jungle 2x Righteous Protector 1x Acidic Swamp Ooze 2x Dire Wolf Alpha 1x Drygulch Jailor 2x Equality 2x Knife Juggler 2x Divine Favor 2x Rallying Blade 2x Steward of Darkshire 2x Unidentified Maul 2x Call to Arms 2x Lightfused Stegodon 2x Stand Against Darkness 2x Crystal Lion Jade druid 2x Jade Idol 2x Lesser Jasper Spellstone 2x Wild Growth 2x Wrath 2x Jade Blossom 2x Branching Paths 1x Fandral Staghelm 2x Ironwood Golem 2x Oaken Summons 1x Spellbreaker 2x Swipe 2x Nourish 1x Aya Blackpaw 2x Jade Behemoth 2x Spreading Plague 1x Malfurion the Pestilent 2x Ultimate Infestation and Big spells priest 2x Northshire Cleric 2x Netherspite Historian 2x Shadow Ascendant 2x Curious Glimmerroot 2x Kabal Talonpriest 2x Tar Creeper 1x Twilight Acolyte 2x Duskbreaker 2x Twilight Drake 2x Cobalt Scalebane 2x Drakonid Operative 1x Kabal Songstealer 1x Cabal Shadow Priest 2x Spiteful Summoner 2x Free From Amber 1x Grand Archivist 2x Mind Control So, ban warlock you say, works for me ^^ Edited March 3, 2018 by Shine Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VaraTreledees 138 Report post Posted March 3, 2018 (edited) You really have to decide how to approach the tournament, everyone, and I mean EVERYONE will be bringing warlock, it is the strongest class currently, most if not all will also bring some sort of aggro paladin and a priest deck, the last slot will most commonly be mage, but I could see a world with mill shaman or miracle/mill rogue taking up this last slot, maybe even jade druid or spell hunter. So you either have to build your line up with the intent to beat warlock, or just decide to ban it out right. If you ban warlock, DO NOT take secret mage, it loses to so many of the popular aggro decks, ie paladin, and has a poor match up vs combo dragon priest, another popular deck. On the other hand, if you do ban warlock, take an aggressive paladin deck, I would suggest murloc paladin, it snowballs the board a lot harder, but loses big to warlock due to the sheer amount of board clears they have, and dude paladin is just more resilient to that sort of strategy. I would run something along the lines of Control Warlock, Control Mage, Murloc Paladin, Spiteful Priest. Control mages biggest weakness is control lock, they have a strong match up vs aggro decks and is, in general, just a very good deck agaisnt everything that doesn't include a mill deck in its line up (assuming no warlock), Murloc paladin has better match ups then dude paladin vs most meta decks, barring warlock, and spiteful priest is just a strong all around deck that handles a lot of the field, especially the mill decks which might show up, you could also run face hunter or another aggressive deck in this slot simply to dodge these sort of strategies, or jade druid would also work. If you are determinted to ban warlock, I would change out control lock in the above line up for jade druid and dude paladin for murloc. Going to be a lot worse imo, because the paladin will be the deck most banned in your line up, and you are essentially playing a similar line up to what most people will be playing with a similar strategy (ban warlock will be the most popular), but you won't have access to the second strongest deck in the game, paladin, because yours will be banned where as you are forced to ban warlock. However, in light of your decks, I would chose to ban out paladin and not warlock then run something along the lines of Secret Mage, Dude Paladin, Big Priest, Jade Druid. Every deck in the line up has game into warlock, as well as plays decently into the rest of the field, big priest is incredibly strong when aggro paladin doesn't exist, and worse case scenerio you can hope to draw the nuts, you can beat most matches, even unflavored ones that way. If you are leaving warlock open, tempo mage is a no brainer, it ruins warlocks of all variety, and tends to have decent matches against decks that are not stupid aggressive, Aggro Paladin is probably the second best deck in the game next to warlock, it doesn't have an amazing match up into them, but with the amount of refill it has you have a decent amount of resiliency vs board clears, always run 2 spell breakers if warlock is open as well. You also might consider changing out jade druid for something, it is definitely the weakest part of the line up, since geist will be a popular tech card for combo priest and warlock, and it really doesn't add much to your line up, however, it is a resilient deck and has decent match ups if you can play it well, also beats big spell mage pretty handedly which might be a popular deck for those who wish to ban out warlock. Ideally you would want to run a warlock deck, if for no other reason then to bait out the bans, but that doesn't seem to be possible. I would expect paladin to be the target ban against you. Even though this seems a little counter intuitive given what I said above about you being disadvantaged by not having either of the strongest decks, this strategy attempts to circumvent it by playing a line up heavily favored into the one deck almost everyone will be bringing, and banning the other one. While some of the above advice ins't particularly relevant to you, it is mostly there to give you a framework for how I came to my conclusions. Edit: if anyone is particularly curious, I would take control lock, double MC control priest, miracle rogue, and control mage. I would ban mage. Cube lock would be ideal here, but I can't play it, hence control warlock. Control priest with double MC handedly beats warlock, and has enough aoe to beat paladin, especially if you tech in spirit lash, miracle rogue beats most control decks, loses hard to murloc paladin and tempo mage, still unfavorable into dude paladin, but FoK helps a lot, plus it beats most priest decks. Control mage loses to only warlock, has a pretty favorable match up vs the rest of the field. Might consider control warrior in the slot as well, but probably not. Edited March 3, 2018 by VaraTreledees Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FanOfValeera 253 Report post Posted March 3, 2018 He doesnt have a control warlock. Playing jade druid or dude paladin (any token based strategy for that matter) is outright suicide against warlock, it sometimes works in ladder but in tournament I dont trust a aggro deck if I am not banning warlock. This is except aggro mage, which is still question ble against cubelock. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Shine 144 Report post Posted March 3, 2018 (edited) Quote However, in light of your decks, I would chose to ban out paladin and not warlock then run something along the lines of Secret Mage, Dude Paladin, Big Priest, Jade Druid This is effectively my lineup except the big spells priest becomes big priest. I also have loads of experience with big priest. Seems like this is the line I will choose, banning pala it is. And Ill make sure to run multiple silence/weapon removal cards. I'm going to assume that weapon removal is not going to be needed in Big Priest, seems to me both ooze and sludge would be cripplign the deck more than helping it, running 2 silences ofc so those will have to do is maybe mass dispel worth considering since Im not banning lock, seems like the best answer to a gul'dan turn The Big Priest deck is currently as follows: 2x Silence 2x Holy Smite 2x Mind Vision 2x Potion of Madness 2x Shadow Visions 1x Shadow Word: Pain 1x Shadow Word: Death 1x Barnes 2x Eternal Servitude 2x Greater Healing Potion 1x Mass Dispel 2x Shadow Word: Horror 1x Dragonfire Potion 2x Shadow Essence 2x Lesser Diamond Spellstone 1x The Lich King 2x Obsidian Statue 1x Ysera 1x Y'Shaarj, Rage Unbound I used to run one sleepy dragon but I now replaced it in favor of mass dispel. Edited March 3, 2018 by Shine Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VaraTreledees 138 Report post Posted March 3, 2018 9 hours ago, FanOfValeera said: He doesnt have a control warlock. Playing jade druid or dude paladin (any token based strategy for that matter) is outright suicide against warlock, it sometimes works in ladder but in tournament I dont trust a aggro deck if I am not banning warlock. This is except aggro mage, which is still question ble against cubelock. Never said he did, as I stated in the post some of the above stuff was just to show the logic in my choices. Also, Jade druid tends to be slightly favored vs control warlock, its cube warlock that absolutely smashes it (which might be the favorite control warlock deck at the tournament). The problem I have with the ban warlock strategy is that it will be the most popular strat at the tournament by far, and that means that everyone who has that strat is going to get to ban his aggro paladin instead, so he has to play with an inferior line up to theirs most of the time because they will have access to there paladin deck and he wont. You could chose not to bring aggro paladin if you don't ban warlock, it certainly is an unfavorable match up, but I feel the general power level of the deck makes it worth it, plus dude paladin has a better match up vs warlock then murloc paladin, it has enough refill that a list with double spell breaker and possibly an ooze makes the match up, while not favorable, still winnable, especially if you are playing against the cube lock version. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Shine 144 Report post Posted March 4, 2018 (edited) well, most people ended up banning priest and pala more so than warlock. anyhow I didnt make it to the top half anyways ^^ thx or the advice though, tournaments like these are definitely something that will keep interesting me Edited March 4, 2018 by Shine Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VaraTreledees 138 Report post Posted March 4, 2018 (edited) 10 hours ago, Shine said: well, most people ended up banning priest and pala more so than warlock. anyhow I didnt make it to the top half anyways ^^ thx or the advice though, tournaments like these are definitely something that will keep interesting me I actually find that interesting, I wonder if people just felt warlock was more exploitable, especially with secret mage being a viable option if you leave it up, which makes paladin the easy ban. Also, I get the priest ban, there are so many viable priest decks right now it might be easier to ban it out then playing into a deck your not sure about. What was the line up of the top 4? Or at least the winner. Edited March 4, 2018 by VaraTreledees Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Shine 144 Report post Posted March 4, 2018 11 hours ago, VaraTreledees said: I actually find that interesting, I wonder if people just felt warlock was more exploitable, especially with secret mage being a viable option if you leave it up, which makes paladin the easy ban. Also, I get the priest ban, there are so many viable priest decks right now it might be easier to ban it out then playing into a deck your not sure about. What was the line up of the top 4? Or at least the winner. Oh I'm not too sure who the winners ended up being and I didn't see the top 8 battle it out in the end. Since I was already out by then I decided to enter an Overwatch tourny with a couple of rando's there. This should help https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ef3yZ6qRTYIPCkhupxiG0On_EuQBWkNGWLdhd1gJFyQ/edit#gid=435118585 My list is in there too (LORDmeSH1NE) because I submitted it before I even knew I wasnt supposed to, there seems to be one player missing in that list though Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
