What to do now?

[zbroxv 0]

So I'm still relativity new to hearthstone. I played a tiny bit last year, a bit this summer, and now I am just starting to really get into the game. After leveling my classes to 10 and making the basic decks suggested in the deck guides I bought the three available adventures. I also bought the $5 Welcome bundle. I have completed the adventures and updated my decks but now I don't know how I should continue to build better decks. I was fine with spending the $70 for the adventures and welcome pack because it is about how much I would pay for any other full price game. I am a little weary to spend any more. 

My questions are:

1. What are some good cheap decks I can build right now with just the three expansions, basic, and some classic cards?

2. Should I focus on arena to increase my card library or should I just buy card packs with my gold?

3. If I was to spend any more real money, how much and for what card expansions?

4. What more expensive decks should I work on building?

 

Thanks!

[Shine 144]

1 hour ago, zbroxv said:

So I'm still relativity new to hearthstone. I played a tiny bit last year, a bit this summer, and now I am just starting to really get into the game. After leveling my classes to 10 and making the basic decks suggested in the deck guides I bought the three available adventures. I also bought the $5 Welcome bundle. I have completed the adventures and updated my decks but now I don't know how I should continue to build better decks. I was fine with spending the $70 for the adventures and welcome pack because it is about how much I would pay for any other full price game. I am a little weary to spend any more. 

My questions are:

1. What are some good cheap decks I can build right now with just the three expansions, basic, and some classic cards?

2. Should I focus on arena to increase my card library or should I just buy card packs with my gold?

3. If I was to spend any more real money, how much and for what card expansions?

4. What more expensive decks should I work on building?

 

Thanks!

 

Hi,

1. generally hunters, shamans, druids (up to an extent), and paladins have reasonable cheap decks. I advise you to go take a look at our own decklists. there are some decks in there that should suit your collection. Keep in mind that often certain legends can easily be replaced by more common cards. a good example would be Bloodmage Thalnos which can easily be replaced by either Loot Hoarder or Kobold Geomancer. If you need any advice on specific replacement cards, there's loads of people here can help out.

2. I would steer clear of arena until you have a general understanding of all the class mechanics/cards and generally how the game works. often the most obvious play will be wrong and these sorts of things matter double in arena. (both during drafting and playing) That said arena is by far the best way to get cards fast, but this only happens when you consistently make at least 3 wins per run.

3. If you are going to spend money your best bet is always classic packs since they will never rotate out of standard play. Besides that the newer an expansion is the safer it is to buy packs from it. so currently you will be safe with 'mean streets of gadgetzan' cards for the next two years.

4. that is entirely up to you. I would start by running a few cheaper decks and pay attention to what your opponents are playing. if theres anything you find interesting, start saving for it. The most expensive classes in general would be warrior priest and rogue although any class has good legendary/epic cards. keep in mind that rogue decks often require somewhat of a learning curve, at least more so than others. they are however very strong when played properly.

 

I would personally try and go for agro shaman and/or face hunter since they are cheap, fairly easy and fast paced.

Let us know what you are missing for whatever you decide to play and we are more than happy to help you out.
 

Legendaries are all fun and good but in early stages it might be better to spend dust on staple epic cards since every class has at least one epic that they will need in almost any situation.

 

Deckbuilding takes practice and I started out myself with netdecking in the early stages.

Hope this helps

Shine

 

P.S. please dont make the mistake of disenchanting cards before being absolutely certain they will not be needed. I disenchanted 2 legends that seemed weak to me that are still defining the meta today. I was very ignorant.

Edited December 14, 2016 by Shine

[zbroxv 0]

@Shinethank you very much! This really helps me out. I think I'll start working on the face hunter deck. Thanks for giving me a good starting point! Also thank you for the info in that brawl thread.

Edited December 14, 2016 by zbroxv

[KingMe 289]

57 minutes ago, zbroxv said:

@Shinethank you very much! This really helps me out. I think I'll start working on the face hunter deck. Thanks for giving me a good starting point! Also thank you for the info in that brawl thread.

Face Hunter was my first "Competitive" deck when I first started playing so I agree with @Shine that it is a good starting point. 

[Shine 144]

1 hour ago, zbroxv said:

@Shinethank you very much! This really helps me out. I think I'll start working on the face hunter deck. Thanks for giving me a good starting point! Also thank you for the info in that brawl thread.

haha, glad to help m8, figured I'd throw you a tag ^^

[positiv2 950]

To add a few thing, hunters are in a (very) bad condition right now. They get out-aggroed by pirate warriors, and outlasted by all the reno decks, even reno mage. I recommend you not to play any hunter deck.
We also have a lot of cheap decks on our site, such as cheap C'thun druid or cheap aggro warrior.

I recommend you to try arena at least once, using Heartharena to help with your draft, to just get the feel and know what to expect.

Buy whatever you need, except for TGT, LoE and BrM - they will be rotating out quite soon. 

You should play decks that you like playing. For me the decks are extremely gimmicky, such as beast priest or rager rogue. If you do not know what you like yet, you should aim for the strongest decks. As of now, those decks are renolock, pirate warrior and dragon priest.

[Shine 144]

2 hours ago, positiv2 said:

To add a few thing, hunters are in a (very) bad condition right now. They get out-aggroed by pirate warriors, and outlasted by all the reno decks, even reno mage. I recommend you not to play any hunter deck.
We also have a lot of cheap decks on our site, such as cheap C'thun druid or cheap aggro warrior.

I recommend you to try arena at least once, using Heartharena to help with your draft, to just get the feel and know what to expect.

Buy whatever you need, except for TGT, LoE and BrM - they will be rotating out quite soon. 

You should play decks that you like playing. For me the decks are extremely gimmicky, such as beast priest or rager rogue. If you do not know what you like yet, you should aim for the strongest decks. As of now, those decks are renolock, pirate warrior and dragon priest.

Thx for that, it's been a long long time since I had to rely on cheaper decks so I wasn't sure what other archetypes exist in the 'cheap' category. It can't hurt to try out arena, its a great way to learn the mechanics of the game and to evaluate each decision both in deck building and on each turn. also teaches you to think ahead. I mainly discourage new players from doing it since your collection will grow faster with just buying packs with gold until you manage to really be consistent in getting at least 3 or 4 wins each arena run. at that point arena is definitely the best way to expand your collection.

Those 3 decks mentioned as the strongest are indeed just that. Pirate warrior is extremely fast and usually seals the game by turn 5-7, while both renolock and dragon priest take much longer but have amazing control over the game. My personal fav is dragon priest, especially if I manage to draw a few cards early. Feels great to just sit there looking at your opponent thinking: 'there's nothing you can do I don't have an answer to'. again, those decks are all a bit more expensive in terms o dust since they rely on quite some epics and legends to truly be competitive, reno lock probably most of all.

 

EDIT: I just thought of something I forgot to mention though, it might be an idea to install Hearthstone deck tracker or something similar. it helps keeps track of what cards are left in your deck, it also tracks your opponents cards (always good to know your opponent played both his copies of certain removal to be sure your cool legendary wont turn into a 1/1 sheep. additionally the add-on will save your replays meaning that we can analise your games simply by clicking a link. this might be very useful to unlearn some bad habits ^^. This is an example of what that looks like (me beating a reno lock into the dirt with dragon priest ^^)

Edited December 15, 2016 by Shine

[gummy 1]

 If you are going to spend money your best bet is always classic packs since they will never rotate out of standard play. In addition, the newer an expansion is the safer it is to buy packs from it. therefore, you will be safe  for the next three years.

[VaraTreledees 138]

On 12/15/2016 at 6:01 AM, positiv2 said:

To add a few thing, hunters are in a (very) bad condition right now. They get out-aggroed by pirate warriors, and outlasted by all the reno decks, even reno mage. I recommend you not to play any hunter deck.
We also have a lot of cheap decks on our site, such as cheap C'thun druid or cheap aggro warrior.

I recommend you to try arena at least once, using Heartharena to help with your draft, to just get the feel and know what to expect.

Buy whatever you need, except for TGT, LoE and BrM - they will be rotating out quite soon. 

You should play decks that you like playing. For me the decks are extremely gimmicky, such as beast priest or rager rogue. If you do not know what you like yet, you should aim for the strongest decks. As of now, those decks are renolock, pirate warrior and dragon priest.

Dragon priest is no where near top 3.  Pirate miracle rogue, reno lock and probably combo druid are the three strongest, aggro shaman and pirate warrior are also quite strong.

[FanOfValeera 253]

1 hour ago, VaraTreledees said:

Dragon priest is no where near top 3.  Pirate miracle rogue, reno lock and probably combo druid are the three strongest, aggro shaman and pirate warrior are also quite strong.

Aggro shaman and renolock are the best decks in the meta right now and they are followed by pirate warrior and miracle rogue (cant believe it, thinking nearly all new rogue cards suck), and I can tell jade druid could be more consistent than combo druid. Just like all combo decks, it has its moments, but mostly its hard to do the right things somehow. And it is too slow for the meta I believe.

[Shine 144]

1 hour ago, FanOfValeera said:

(cant believe it, thinking nearly all new rogue cards suck)

I do agree except I think something can be said for the counterfeit coin. Also, the jade cards seem to do well in n'zoth rogue. (don't know i theres much play for it in higher ranks)

 

I have had much success with dragon priest even on ranks 10 and above (which is about as high as I manage to get with my awesome skills.

[FanOfValeera 253]

1 hour ago, Shine said:

I do agree except I think something can be said for the counterfeit coin. Also, the jade cards seem to do well in n'zoth rogue. (don't know i theres much play for it in higher ranks)

 

I have had much success with dragon priest even on ranks 10 and above (which is about as high as I manage to get with my awesome skills.

Yeah, Counterfeit Coin is a good card and Jade Swarmer is also not bad with N'Zoth, the Corruptor, but still, jade cards in rogue are weaker than their equivalents in shaman and druid, unfortunately. 

Also, do we count Aya Blackpaw as a rogue card? If so, it is good too.

 

[positiv2 950]

4 hours ago, VaraTreledees said:

Dragon priest is no where near top 3.  Pirate miracle rogue, reno lock and probably combo druid are the three strongest, aggro shaman and pirate warrior are also quite strong.

If I use winrate as a measurement of deck quality (which is arguably the best way), I can see that, according to vS Data Reaper spreadsheet, dragon priest is #4 in quite a lot of ranks (and #1 in ranks 20-17) as of now, together with pirate warrior and miracle rogue. There is not a single druid deck in the top 5 even. So, saying that dragon priest "is no where near top 3" and that "combo druid" is, is a bit bold statement in my opinion.

[Shine 144]

27 minutes ago, FanOfValeera said:

Yeah, Counterfeit Coin is a good card and Jade Swarmer is also not bad with N'Zoth, the Corruptor, but still, jade cards in rogue are weaker than their equivalents in shaman and druid, unfortunately. 

Also, do we count Aya Blackpaw as a rogue card? If so, it is good too.

 

I'm sure running aya in my deathrattle jade rogue build aswell as bran. makes for an interesting hybrid. useless against pirate warr but interesting results against other decks. personal winrate 57%

Spoiler

 

[Goldlink 0]

So how long does it usually take to reach such a solid level of play, regarding your deck? 

[Shine 144]

I would say the first half year was just me learning all the classes and their general playstyles/cards. after that I started laddering (this was before there even was any standard play) and I got up to about lvl 13. took me maybe another half year to get good enough to reach rank 5+.

I always considered myself a fast learner when it comes to these things (being autistic can be very good for certain things) but generally after 1 year of casual play you should have a very decent collection and should have a least 1 or 2 decks maxed out in terms of legendaries/epics.

don't be too overwhelmed, especially with the existence of standard you dont really need to worry about being too far behind or a long time.

[VaraTreledees 138]

On 12/20/2016 at 7:41 AM, positiv2 said:

If I use winrate as a measurement of deck quality (which is arguably the best way), I can see that, according to vS Data Reaper spreadsheet, dragon priest is #4 in quite a lot of ranks (and #1 in ranks 20-17) as of now, together with pirate warrior and miracle rogue. There is not a single druid deck in the top 5 even. So, saying that dragon priest "is no where near top 3" and that "combo druid" is, is a bit bold statement in my opinion.

Win rate does not really tell how strong a deck is.  Patron was considered to be the best deck in the game for months, yet it had a very bad win rate due to skill intensity.  Multiple high profile streamers are playing Kun C'thun druid and Reno lock to great success and commenting on the overall power level of those two decks (Trump and Savjz are the two that come to mind immediately), plus the high win rate of miracle rogue, a rather skill intensive deck, speaks to how broken pirate miracle rogue is right now.  Dragon priest has a relatively high win rate because it isn't super difficult to play well.  It has super strong plays on curve for almost every mana cost, and can generate an absurd amount of value very easy through brann + netherspite, drakanoid op, and the priest hero power.

Edited December 22, 2016 by VaraTreledees

[peekaboo 10]

I started 3 months back and faced the same problem as the topic starter .. I realised few things really quickly .. Please note I love the game just hate meta decks and I'm not looking to discourage you

1) HS is a F2P game disguised as freemium game, it was F2P probably during the initial years but that doesn't hold true anymore. This game is extremely harsh on new players who dont have $ to spend (as Toast puts it "I was rank 25 before buying packs now I'm rank 20")

2) In the next 3-4 months cards from the expansions LOE, TGT and BRM will rotate out of standard so avoid crafting those cards.

3) The adventures are really fun so if you do muster enough gold it might not be a bad idea to unlock just the first wings because Blizzard might close out LOE & BRM with the next adventure/ expansion.

4) Try to play Tavern Brawl as much as possible when its RNG oriented and not meta deck oriented. Use Hearthpwn to get some really cheap decks.

5) Try to cycle your quests so that you dont end up doing the 40 gold quests.

6) Most importantly this game will make you tilt at times like no other so try to enjoy the games as much as you can.

[positiv2 950]

6 hours ago, VaraTreledees said:

Win rate does not really tell how strong a deck is.  Patron was considered to be the best deck in the game for months, yet it had a very bad win rate due to skill intensity.  Multiple high profile streamers are playing Kun C'thun druid and Reno lock to great success and commenting on the overall power level of those two decks (Trump and Savjz are the two that come to mind immediately), plus the high win rate of miracle rogue, a rather skill intensive deck, speaks to how broken pirate miracle rogue is right now.  Dragon priest has a relatively high win rate because it isn't super difficult to play well.  It has super strong plays on curve for almost every mana cost, and can generate an absurd amount of value very easy through brann + netherspite, drakanoid op, and the priest hero power.

I'd say that winrate is exactly what decides whether a deck is powerful. What use is a theoretically powerful deck if nobody can play it optimally? Strong deck should be able to carry you even if you play suboptimally. That's why I used to play secret paladin when multiboxing. It's undeniable that secret pally was extremely powerful, and that is was very forgiving. I even recall Sottle complaining about it a few times (read: quite often) on stream. Dragon priest is similar - you can make a few suboptimal plays and still win, which makes it a strong deck with a good winrate, even on higher ranks (currently #4 in legend).
That said, miracoli might be stronger than dragon priest in theory, but when an average player (or even top 0.5% player, as seen in legend) has to choose one, dragon priest is the better choice.

[VaraTreledees 138]

1 hour ago, positiv2 said:

I'd say that winrate is exactly what decides whether a deck is powerful. What use is a theoretically powerful deck if nobody can play it optimally? Strong deck should be able to carry you even if you play suboptimally. That's why I used to play secret paladin when multiboxing. It's undeniable that secret pally was extremely powerful, and that is was very forgiving. I even recall Sottle complaining about it a few times (read: quite often) on stream. Dragon priest is similar - you can make a few suboptimal plays and still win, which makes it a strong deck with a good winrate, even on higher ranks (currently #4 in legend).
That said, miracoli might be stronger than dragon priest in theory, but when an average player (or even top 0.5% player, as seen in legend) has to choose one, dragon priest is the better choice.

Sure.  Some strong decks can carry you if you play sub optimally, but that shouldn't be the sole consideration on its overall power level.  If you put the time in to learning a harder to play but stronger deck, it is often very rewarding.  I am also somewhat biased as well, because I hate curvestone, I think it is an incredibly boring way to play, which is why I play a lot of miracle rogue, or at least did before meanstreets (right now I am playing a reno control priest).  Even at rank 5, my win rate in the kara meta against midranged shaman was something like 70% with maly miracle rogue (I would have to check my exact stats but it was close to there with a not insignificant sample size).  I mean if you are looking for the most viable deck to jump on the ladder with, win rates are a good thing to go by, but that doesn't necessarily mean its the best deck, just some combination of strong, easy to pilot and forgiving.

[positiv2 950]

3 minutes ago, VaraTreledees said:

I mean if you are looking for the most viable deck to jump on the ladder with, win rates are a good thing to go by, but that doesn't necessarily mean its the best deck, just some combination of strong, easy to pilot and forgiving.

Agreed, but in the context of this thread - the author being "still relativity new to hearthstone" - that's exactly what we're looking for, I believe. If the thread's author was (almost) a pro player, my suggestions would definitely be different.

[VaraTreledees 138]

31 minutes ago, positiv2 said:

Agreed, but in the context of this thread - the author being "still relativity new to hearthstone" - that's exactly what we're looking for, I believe. If the thread's author was (almost) a pro player, my suggestions would definitely be different.

Fair point.  I just get triggered when people point to win rates as an indicator of how good something is.  On the topic of good decks for new people, slower style mid range decks tend to be the easiest in my opinion, in the current metagame that would be dragon priest, but it remains to be seen how viable the deck will be in a few months when BRM and TGC cycle out, midrange shaman is still very playable and strong as well, and just as mindlessly easy.  Aggro shaman and pirate warrior are easy to play I guess. but the decks can be surprisingly nuanced.  Most of the other strong decks currently are both very expensive and fairly hard to pilot (miracle rogue, Kun C'thun, the various reno decks).  There are some other popular decks, like jade druid, but right now the meta is somewhat unfavorable for them, but that doesn't mean it won't change.

[math123 0]

If you are going to spend money your best bet is always classic packs since they will never rotate out of standard play. Besides that the newer an expansion is the safer it is to buy packs from it. so currently you will be safe with 'mean streets of gadgetzan' cards for the next two years.Click here  and here  and here to  see more .

Edited July 26, 2017 by math123

[positiv2 950]

8 minutes ago, math123 said:

If you are going to spend money your best bet is always classic packs since they will never rotate out of standard play. Besides that the newer an expansion is the safer it is to buy packs from it. so currently you will be safe with 'mean streets of gadgetzan' cards for the next two years.

Mean Streets of Gadgetzan will rotate out with the first expansion of the next year. Newer expansion doesn't necessarily mean safer investment, as the expansions for one year rotate out all at once - they are equally safe.

[Allegro 40]

What are your short and long term goals for the game? 

Do you want to make legend?  Make rank 5 every month? Just have fun and collect the monthly card backs?

I knew when I started I wouldnt have the time to play enough to be a top player, I probably wont ever make legend. I'm fine with that! I usually make rank 5 if I have the time, or at 10. I'll drop $50 on the new expansions, but no more. 

So when I started playing last year, I found the type of decks I liked and started bulding on those, and ignored the rest. I love playing priest decks, I'm fairly good with warrior and shaman, passable with paladin and hunter, and I just ignore the rest. 

 

I agree, aggro shaman is a great deck for the meta right now. Its my go to when I'm not playing priest. There are several versions that dont require many expensive cards.