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[Max White]

Auchenai Soup Peas + Circle of healing = KILL EVERYTHING WITH HEAL!!!! So much fun, and great reversal when you are otherwise boned for only four mana + 2 cards. Take THAT murloc scum!

Also, one day I will Harrison Jones an undamaged Doomhammer while holding no other cards... One day.

[Something Evil]

No one in their right minds runs Doomhammers. They're like Truesilver Champions that make you take double damage instead of healing you for 2.

Jaraxxus' Blood Fury, on the other hand...

[Max White]

Oh man, a Harrison Jones on Jaraxxus...
I've got to start actually running that card and wait for a Warlock... Except the only time they ever use Jaraxxus is as late as possible, so by that point I may not even have eight cards left to draw and put myself deep in fatigue! Oh the cruel irony!

Anyway, the advantage that Doomhammer has over Truesilver is firstly the attack is split in two, allowing you to kill two low health minions instead of wasting your entire attack on one, and secondly it gives your hero windfury, meaning that Rockbiter and Spiteful Smith are both twice as effective. It takes some setup, and you will take some damage, but getting a good combo with it can be pretty devastating.
In other words, don't pick it in arena.

[Criptfeind]

Doomhammer is amazing in all cases and you can't make me think otherwise. "Fireball self. Kill minion. X4" Best weapon 2014.

Anyway, Cthulhu,  if you made a good deck and were rocketing up the rankings wouldn't you eventually make it to the point where other people have figured out the game as much as you and you were not longer facerolling everyone? Although I guess at that point it becomes a game of predicting and breaking the meta and luck of the draw. Which doesn't sound fun to me.

Also Arena is the way to go if you don't like laddering and it's the only thing I play nowadays. It's just pure luck and skill and a touch of mind reading. Quite fun.

[WealthyRadish]

Figured I would try this out, been having some fun with Rogue. Gotta say, I hate constructed. Arena can be fun.

I think I pinpointed why I hate Mages/Priests, and spells for that matter. The (arguably only) thing that's really fun about Hearthstone is managing the minions, using their attack/health combinations and varied traits to efficiently gain control and options. Completely goes out the window for a Mage, who can spend the whole game with their finger in their butt reacting to whatever their opponent plays, coming out with a card advantage. Playing a minion means thinking about how that minion will trade with enemy minions, ways the opponent can react, and building towards some kind of a plan that synergizes with what's in the hand/deck. A spell just ignores all existing minion mechanics, and instantly reacts to the current situation, rarely with any need to care about the next turn or the overall strategy for the match. The game would be much better if the focus were heavily shifted towards minions, IMO. There's some other incidental stuff like the existence of pyroblast and the laughable mana cost of shadow word cards, but at its core I think spells should be made much less efficient and viable.

Rogue doesn't feel as braindead since spells usually need to be combined to be effective, and they lack the easy-mode two damage AOE so many other classes have. I also like the emphasis on weapons, which feel much more balanced than spells.

[baruk]

I think I pinpointed why I hate Mages/Priests, and spells for that matter. The (arguably only) thing that's really fun about Hearthstone is managing the minions, using their attack/health combinations and varied traits to efficiently gain control and options. Completely goes out the window for a Mage, who can spend the whole game with their finger in their butt reacting to whatever their opponent plays, coming out with a card advantage. Playing a minion means thinking about how that minion will trade with enemy minions, ways the opponent can react, and building towards some kind of a plan that synergizes with what's in the hand/deck. A spell just ignores all existing minion mechanics, and instantly reacts to the current situation, rarely with any need to care about the next turn or the overall strategy for the match.

My take is that perhaps the "blow up the enemy side of the board" cards are a little undercosted, and the mage gets too many of them: arcane explosion, blizzard, cone of cold, flamestrike etc. The shadow word cards for priest are very cost effective, but as a priest player I hate the way it leaves you vulnerable to the four attack creatures, it just seems like a pretty cheesy bit of game "balance": I would prefer a more expensive shadow word death that kills anything four attack and up.
 I've found myself using charge creatures quite a lot in my aggro decks as a sort of quasi-direct damage spell - especially in the Shaman deck, who seems to get almost no creature removal in his basic set. One of the main differences between hearthstone and magic the gathering is that it presents board control with minions as a central theme of the game, since your grunts can directly attack each other. It creates an environment where to be useful, creatures need to either act right away, be tough/elusive enough to survive for a turn, or be completely expendable cannon fodder.

 I've been writing up my Arena rounds - it seems like a way of learning the game and identifying mistakes whilst staving off frustration and burnout. Here's one I played last night, a not especially notable 3-3 run with hunter (didn't edit it too much, hopefully my notes aren't too cryptic):

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

game 1 loss vs hunter

Slow start, no one drop, replaced savannah highmane (maybe a keeper?) + other fattie, only to get king crush. I shoot him turn two, he plays a 2/3 then turn 3 knife juggler. I drew explosive traps which only managed one for one trades - his juggler lived through the first one due to a +1/+1 buff from cleric.
 One mistake, playing explosive trap AND 3/3 taunt, should have gambled that he couldn't buff his 1 hp guys anymore, instead he just trades off the taunt with 4/1 juggler.
 Ironbeak owl + kill command took out his 6/6 warlord. 4 damage to new minion (Snipe) hit a rhino for 4, not quite enough.
Couldn't stop a 6/1 boulderfist ogre in the end. I copied the 6/7 with faceless manipulator, but he killed mine, an unleash the hounds providing the extra point of damage - hounds also accounted for owl and timber wolf. Deadly shot hit the rhino instead of ogre, but academic as he had enough direct damage for the finish anyway.

game 2 win vs warrior

 Better start: snipe, and a 2 and 3 drop (vulture?)
 He gets board control for a couple of turns, swings in for a bit of damage and I'm down to half health. He likes hitting me directly with arcanite reapers.
 Crucial decision: I have faceless manipulator, king crush and alarmobot. He's just played spiteful smith. I decide to copy it, since it will just kill my alarmobot if I play that out and try for copying king crush (50/50 chance since faceless might get summoned instead for a 3/3). I'm able to trade off his smith for 4 damage on mine and a buffed boar.
 Endgame: I drop King Crush turn 9 and swing in. He can't deal with it right away. Turn 10 I play out my hand, adding a blood fen raptor to the table. However, I've forgotten BRAWL exists, he plays it, killing everything except the raptor (lucky I didn't end up with the silenced alarmobot). He kills raptor with arcanite reaper, but even with armour it drops him from 3 to 2 hp so I just shoot him with my hero power to win.

game 3 loss vs mage

 Great opening hand: secretkeeper, explosive trap, a couple of 2 drops. I end up trading off secretkeeper for sorc apprentice turn 2. I play buzzard + owl to at least get one card - he just kills both with worgen and fireblast. I then trade worgen for a boar, so he gets pretty good card advantage from this exchange (effectively a 2 for 1 as the owl was "free").
 My snipe gets wasted killing a novice engineer - good use for them!
I remembered flamestrike this time!
Tried to bait it out with alarmobot, bloodfen raptor turn 6, but he just kills the bot with violet teacher.
His first secret is a mirror entity that copies my timber wolf, phew.
I played 7/7 war golem later, expecting his new secret to be another mirror entity. Luckily its not. However, he used flamestrike + 3/3 violet teacher to trade it off.
Then I play king crush - his secret turns out to be 8 bonus armour.
He has big game hunter to kill king crush - typical. Then a pyroblast to finish me off.

game 4 win vs hunter

 Hand from the GODS: starving buzzard, timberwolf and explosive trap. I'm going second, my draws on turn 1 and 2 are another timber wolf and another starving buzzard!
 I coin out a buzzard turn one, play both timberwolfs turn two and swing in for 4. I expect an explosive trap, but he does not play any secrets and just shoots me turns two and three.
 I keep swinging in, playing the 3/3 taunt bear. He does multi-shot turn 4, killing bear and a timberwolf. I play the weaponsmith and shoot him.
 Turn 5 is hazy. I suspect I play out another buzzard and hero power perhaps, think he kills the first buzzard.
 I'm able to kill him turn 6 or so. He's on 11 life and has played a lord of the arena. I deadly shot the taunt, then swing in for about 8 and finish him with kill command.

game 5 win vs rogue

 Early buzzard/owl in hand: played both out turn 4 so rogue would have to choose which one to kill.
 Alarmobot MVP - turn 4 it bounced out my core hound, enemy had to coin out an assassinate for it.
 New tactic: the alarmobot bait - just play it out to soak up some damage or removal (only works if you draw it early-mid game). It saved me 4 damage as he had to kill it with his yeti.
 Penultimate turn - he used a second assassinate on my savannah highmane. not too bad for me since I could trade a 2/2 hyaena for his taunt pirate, and he was then lacking removal for king crush who turned up the following turn.
Very close finish, he reduces me to 1hp on the final turn from 15 hp: 5 from frost elemental (it froze king crush, saving him for a turn), 1 from weapon, 8 from double casting the 4/2 charge divine shield (shadowbounce, return creature to hand it costs 2 less, nice trick).

game 6 loss vs mage

Slow start as I draw war golem and core hound in early turns. He has acolytes of pain for card advantage. I have too many 1 hp critters to keep anything on the board. I play out alarmobot just as a damage soak. He doesn't have to use removal early on. My snipe hits a water elemental, knocking it to 3/2.
 I get a good 3-for-1 clear with an explosive trap after I hunter's marked a 2/4 acolyte of pain (so 2 for 2 overall as he gets to draw off it). This take out 3/2 elemental, 3/2 cleric, 2/1 acolyte.
Turn 8: Polymorph on my war golem. Core hound is traded for shieldmaster and acid blob, I trade the sheep for a hunter's marked azure drake. Pyroblast finishes me on turn 10. Not sure that he even had to use flamestrike!

Here's the deck I used (two hunter's mark and a secretkeeper were also in there):

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

If this is interesting to anyone, I've got a bunch more arena run write-ups I can deposit here.

[sambojin]

Shamans have plenty of removal (and quasi-removal) in their extended decks though. All with overload, but it's a very nice mechanic for these somewhat undercosted cards.

I actually still think that it's the most varied and fun deck to play in constructed. Not only are normal things like board and card advantage, removal, trades, win conditions, etc important features of the deck, simple board position, order of attacks, order of card-play, distorted mana curve and ramps are very important as well. It feels more strategic, even with a random hero power. It's not the most powerful deck, but it is the one where wins either feel solid or clutch plays. Or both. Either way, I'd prefer hearthstone went the shaman way than many others. It has enough options to construct a wide variety of decks and strategies, with all of them being pretty viable. I'd love the full set of cards eventually to see what I could do with it.

The most powerful? No.

The most varied builds, mechanics and enjoyment? Yes. At least for me.

[engy]

I was talking with some people in the DFC Chat the other day and realized a lot of people hadn't heard of it so:

http://hss.io/

https://github.com/JeromeDane/HearthStats.net-Uploader/releases

Its a place to track your hearthstone stats and a java autouploader for it.  Kind of neat and useful.

[Max White]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

If this is interesting to anyone, I've got a bunch more arena run write-ups I can deposit here.

Stonetusk boar is 1 mana + 1 card to do one damage. Not really worth it. I guess as a hunter it can be justified with buzzards, hyenas and buffs, but even then it is questionable. Still, you did have a few of those cards, so it may have been a strong choice. Just a shame you didn't have any "Release the hounds"
Explosive trap is deal 2 damage to all enemies, similar in scale to holy nova, but much cheaper. The problem is that as soon as you play a trap as a hunter people expect it, so they are careful about their health totals, and also they control when it is triggered. Any good player will play around it. I wouldn't get more than two of them.
War Golem isn't amazing. It isn't bad, but don't get sucked in by the 7,7. Nothing wrong with having one of them, but there is a good chance you had a better choice and didn't realize.
Core hound is too top heavy and too easy to deal 5 damage. It would be a decent card if they lowered mana cost and attack by one, but such it life. Not bad, but also look at your other options.
Alarm-o-bot, what are you doing buddy? You don't belong in an arena deck!

[baruk]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

If this is interesting to anyone, I've got a bunch more arena run write-ups I can deposit here.

Stonetusk boar is 1 mana + 1 card to do one damage. Not really worth it. I guess as a hunter it can be justified with buzzards, hyenas and buffs, but even then it is questionable. Still, you did have a few of those cards, so it may have been a strong choice. Just a shame you didn't have any "Release the hounds"

I stand by stonetusk boar. It's effectively one direct damage, a beast, and a one drop - this is enough to justify a slot in a hunter arena deck - I feel that 3 or 4 one drop creatures seems to be about the right amount (I had 4). I suspect the alternative choices were murlocs.

Explosive trap is deal 2 damage to all enemies, similar in scale to holy nova, but much cheaper. The problem is that as soon as you play a trap as a hunter people expect it, so they are careful about their health totals, and also they control when it is triggered. Any good player will play around it. I wouldn't get more than two of them.

I also had one copy of the Snipe secret (deal 4 damage to a newly summoned minion) to keep them guessing. Area damage seems quite valuable, but explosive trap is perhaps not the best form of it, but perhaps the best a hunter can manage. My opponents did indeed work around it for the most part, and it usually only managed a 1 for 1 trade.

War Golem isn't amazing. It isn't bad, but don't get sucked in by the 7,7. Nothing wrong with having one of them, but there is a good chance you had a better choice and didn't realize.
Core hound is too top heavy and too easy to deal 5 damage. It would be a decent card if they lowered mana cost and attack by one, but such it life. Not bad, but also look at your other options.
Alarm-o-bot, what are you doing buddy? You don't belong in an arena deck!

  I stand by these choices - war golem in particular seems like a decent arena card for a late game slot. I genuinely wasn't offered anything better. Alarm-o-bot's relative value goes up when you have a bunch of big creatures, so if I'm going to play it at all, this was the just the deck for it. It's definitely a "fun" card, and the first time I've tried it out - there's nothing like testing a card in the field to get a sense of how it works, and how opponents react to it. However, one of the main things I discovered was that it has terrible synergy with faceless manipulator and ironbeak owl, cards that want to sit in your hand until just the right moment.

[Max White]

You should check out Trumps tier list for some advice from a professional. He does add the qualifier that cards are situational and actual value does vary, but it is a good starting point. I disagree with a few of his rankings (Bloodfen Raptor is average at best) but for the most part some useful insight.

[baruk]

 According to Trump, I picked a couple of terrible rares (alarm-o-bot and secretkeeper), but arguably these are situational picks that work ok in this deck. I didn't make a note of what the alternative options were at the time, certainly nothing memorable. It could be an idea to note down every draft option for the next arena run - probably worthwhile to pick based on gut feeling, then refer back later to a tier list to see where you went "wrong".

[baruk]

 Well, I did it - I made a screenshot of every card selection I got in a draft, I'll get around to transcribing them later - lots of controversial choices to argue over! I chose Druid from the selection as I haven't played them much in arena (Mage and Warrior were the other options). For now, here's the deck - very importantly, there's also 2 innervate (0 cost, gain two mana crystals this turn only) in the deck, cut off from the top of the list:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Any predictions on how I will fare? I haven't played any games with it yet. Since I went to this trouble, I fully expect to fall flat on my face and post a 0/3.

[tryrar]

Question:why in the world did you take an arcane golem?! a 4/2(which can die to many one/two cost creatures) is NOT worth giving your opponent a free mana crystal. Chances are, he'd use that extra crystal to play something that makes the golem irrelevant, charge or no charge

[baruk]

Question:why in the world did you take an arcane golem?! a 4/2(which can die to many one/two cost creatures) is NOT worth giving your opponent a free mana crystal. Chances are, he'd use that extra crystal to play something that makes the golem irrelevant, charge or no charge

Great question! The choice in that case was between mana addict, arcane golem and mana wraith:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I eliminate mana wraith because it actively works against my minion-based deck. I pick arcane golem over mana addict as I think it will have more impact, I just didn't anticipate carrying enough spells in the deck for the mana addict to be that effective. 4 points of quasi-direct damage is not too bad. Probably not something I'd bust out first turn with innervate, I'd probably hold it in reserve until I need to either trade off something nasty or crank up the beatdown.