Falling up the Stairs (11) - Trying my luck with Warrior Decks... yet again.

I suppose that's true with everybody - there are some some classes you just can't play well in Hearthstone. Whether it's lack of cards or just not having the mindset necessary.

For me, Warrior is one. I can easily get behind the concept of full-on aggro of a Zoo Hunter or Warlock, or the control powers of Magician or Warlock, or the powerful minions of Shaman and Druid. I have issues with making Paladin and Priest work. And don't ask me about Rogue, I can't play that except in premade-deck Tavern Brawls. I mean, I can play it, but I can't really win reliably.

Warrior, even though omitted in the above list, has been particular frustrating. It always felt like it should work, it's not like there was an obvious misbalance in the decks I made... but it just wouldn't work to any satsifiable degree.

It doesn't help when the arguably strongest Warrior Deck at the time is also fittingly labelled "Wallet Warrior". Recently, through an article over at Mana Crystals, I came across a Warrior Deck that gave me another one of those "You know... I kinda have the cards for that..." moments. Read all about it after the break!

Falling up the Stairs (07) - Day of the Tentacle

For this post, I want to present a "fun" deck. It's not necessarily good - it may be, though, with some tweaking, I guess.  Maybe. ;-)
It basically came into its own with the "Forbidden Ritual" card and the Tentacle of "N'Zoth"

It's for the Warlock. I call it "Day of the Tentacle".
Yes, I'm that 80's.

Falling up the Stairs (06) - Waiting for C'thun & Lulz of Yogg Saron

As promised in the last posting, I want to talk the deck that - surprisingly, I gotta say - took me to 14(**). I'm still kinda proud of that achievement, even though it certainly was a matter of getting the right games/matchups at the right time.

It's a Magician deck featuring our Lord and Saviour C'Thun! See you after the break!

Falling up the stairs (05) - WotoG deck changes

In this second post on the "Whispers of the old Gods" set, I want to go into which deck changes this has inspired (for me, at least), how I think they fare in comparison to their earlier forms, and how I would evolve them (if the opportunity presents itself).

But before all that, let's have a small break, shall we?

Falling up the stairs (04) - WotoG initial thoughts

   At the time of this writing, we've had "Whispers of the old Gods" (WotoG) and Standard Play for four/five days, I've had my 13 free packs and reached Rank 14 (More on that in a later article) - and am about to dust the free golden cards b/c my computer may run HS, but all special/golden (i.e. shiny) graphics are just black spots.
   I also think that the idea of golden cards, or at least collecting those especially, is a silly waste of time and energy. And no, I had no particular fondness or desire for foil cards in M:tG, either.

   In this significantly longer article, I want to talk about WotoG, my thoughts on things related to the set, the set and the cards I got out of it. But before all that - we're gonna have a break.

Falling up the stairs (03) - Shaking things up

   As I communicated in former posts, I did the first wing of "League of Explorers". And one of those cards was/is the "Rumbling Elemental", a Shaman card. He's obviously big on the elements, but this Elemental was really different - has no "active" ability of it's own, but one that reacts to other cards by flinging two damage whenever a card with a battlecry is played.

   I've been pondering a deck build around it for some time. Quick interjection: That's a ridiculous idea, by the way, building around two cards out of thirty. I then went ahead and did it - a basic suite of Shaman spells, the Elemental, and then as many Battlecry cards as I could grab.

Short warning: As per the most recent BattleNet update, I can't access the BN anymore, and thusly can't play Hearthstone, which is very sad, as, even though my Graphics card wasn't "supported", the game ran fine enough for me. This enrages me! I'm working on a solution, but that'll take a while.

List after the break.

Falling up the stairs (02) - Somebody's hurtin'

   Continuing on in this opening series of posts about my currently favoured Hearthstone decks, we are arrive at the one I've had ... considerable success (it got me from Rank 20 to 19 in a streak, that's kinda saying something!)*.

   It's a Warrior deck that, like the Pain & Response one, builds off of profiting from your own minions being damaged. Turns out, Garrosh is better at this than Jaina. And it's more fun, too. List after the break. Oh, and I don't play Hearthstone in English, so please forgive me when I... retranslate the names wrong. I'm learning.

Falling up the Stairs (01) - Djinni Paladin, Budget Style

I promised a look at the decks I'm currently liking the most, so here we go. Gotta start somewhere.

Just to remind you, I'm playing Hearthstone for two-and-a-half months, and without spending money on it. So a lot of decks are, for the foreseeable future, quite budget in a bunch of card choices, out of necessity.

This deck I'm going to talk about is based on the same idea as the deck presented here. And while I know it's definitely inferior to the deck presented there - let's just say that I managed to defeat Baron Geddon (heroic) with it. Not the most impressive feat, but my first heroic victory anyway, and on the first run with the deck. ;-)

Less bragging and more talk after the break.

WM/H's long 2015, Part 03 - When a wolf drops dead in the forest...

...and anybody is left alive to testify - might it still have been Sorscha2?

Whenever I built list pairs, Circle is always on my mind. For some reason, they - as a faction - frighten me the most. Too make matters worse, you are guaranteed to run into them since they are such a good faction. In addition, their playstyle is (or appears, at the very least) to be the polar opposite of the Khadoran playstyle (Hit & Run v. Kill everything that isn't us) - with some powerful exceptions.

So, in my strife to find a 'Caster (and list) that can deal with this, I've come around to Sorscha2.
More of my thoughts after the break.

Khador 2015, Part 19 - ClogCon Roundup

Most important things first: Harkevich and Krüger1 fall to Lady pZ. That's two things crossed of the World Domination List, boo-ya! *cough*

Yeah, so ClogCon happened from the 11th to the 13th, and which lists I brought, you're probably already aware if you read any of the lasts posts on this blog. ;)

Follow on to read about my games, thoughts and observations on these, as well as an evaluation of the list pair, mixed with potential changes.

Mind the gap.

Khador 2015 - Part 18: Conquest v. Behemoth Juxtaposition

In the last article, I did a little preparation for ClogCon by running my two lists through a theoretical gauntlet. I might do that again.

However, in this article I want to compare the Conquest to the Behemoth with regards to my lists - because I've heard a bunch of good arguments  for swapping them around.  And afterwards, I might just do another round of Irish Roulette.

Khador 2015, Part 16: eZ, pZ, lemon sqZ

   You probably wouldn't have guessed, but what if I told you that I'm seriously considering (as in: there's no if, and certainly no other option) to pair Lady pZ and Lady eZ together for SR tournaments? If you're regular reader of this blog, listened to me on Murder of Crows, or even watched my videos on Youtube, you're probably not exactly surprised.

   I think that it's very well possible, especially since her two incarnations are so different. Follow me beyond the gap (and down the rabbit hole) to figure out list theory for this specific pair. And also, for lists of Warcasters they can one-shot in a pinch.

Khador 2015, Part 15 - Observations on the Competitor Countries

Last time, we defined who qualifies as a Core Country for WTC (any country with a team in the top ten ('14) AND the top 6 ('13)), and looked at their team compositions faction wise.

This time, we'll look at the Competitor Countries - made up out of all those that had a team in EITHER the top 10 ('14) or the top 6 ('13). The Competitors are:

Australia*, Austria, Denmark, Germany, Scotland, Slovakia

Expected are greater swings in Faction choices, just to regurgitate that info.

*I am very well aware that the Australians did not, in fact, attend '13 WTC. So did about ten other countries. Neither Austria nor Slovakia DO attend in 2015. It may seem slightly injust, however we have to draw the line somewhere. This year's data will be vital to determine something more akin to a proper standing for those teams.

Follow me beyond the break for diachronic and synchronic analyses of these team's faction choices.

Khador 2015, Part 14 - Observations on the Core Countries

   So, after we established last time that Khador is not the most rail-roaded faction with regards to listbuilding (that's Trollbloods), we'll do sth more sophisticated this time around. We'll arbitrarily group the participating countries into three categories, to make it a) easier to choose whom to bet money on, and b) observe the choices made by the more successful teams regarding list pairings, team composition and other drivel.

   Follow me beyond the gap to the shenanigans, and hopefully, interesting graphics.

Khador 2015, Part 13 - WTC Khador lists

... a semi-outsiders totally unbiased and omniscient observations. As if.

You know, there's something good to be said about me having done this last year - I have something to compare to. It's like getting the second result of an experiment under lab conditions! So, to reiterate:

Keeping that in mind - I think there are too many people playing Khador for that to be a valid statement (thirty, to be precise). I'll judge the list by the following colour chart - and a number of KMIs (key model indicators) that'll reveal itself throughout the essay), and give my reasoning later.

Really Boring
Very Boring
Boring
Kinda Interesting
Interesting
Very Interesting

   That's professional, objective research right there! But since I'm the scientist, I set the parameters by which the data is analysed - so let's bring it on!

For safety reasons: I'm not judging the lists to be "done well" or "done badly", I'm merely going by how much reading the lists makes me want to see it played.

In addition, we'll compare observations made between last year and this year (and if I can manage, 2013), as to make some purely theorymachinical (that's a word if there ever was one) predictions.

Khador 2015, Part 10 - Lady E-to-the-m*****f***ing-Z

Third day of Lock & Load, third article in the series "Stuff Khadorans get for Christmas". As before, I'll only cover a single type of item per article to keep it clean, and this has thusly resulted in these three:

• Victor revisited
• Berserkers in Arms
• Lady E-to-the-m*****f***ing-Z

So join me as we look at the spoiled Zerkova2, do a little silly comparison to her first self, evaluate that, think about shit she can get done, her theme force as well as other lists and "drop targets" for her.

Khador 2015, Part 05 - Strakhov in ADR

So, on the last Murder of Crows (found here), Lee and Niek talked about the second half of the Khadoran ADR roster. Having spoken about Butcher and Zerkova before, this time it was Harkevich's and Strakhov's turn, so, basically, the bottom of the ADR, and the two 'Casters that will most likely remain in the roster for a time.

Ignoring the f***ing disgrace that Harkevich is to the Motherland [that's how I feel, at the time of this writing], and because I also spoke about Harkevich's ADR options before, I have to say that I quite liked their Strakhov list. Follow me beyond the breach if you want to hear my thoughts on the matter.

Khador 2015, Part 04 - Whispering Occult Secrets

So, on Murder of Crows Ep 9 we got all giddy about Zerkova2 (man, that still feels strange to type) possibly having Spell Piercer... ...and a day later, there's a spoiler from the Riven Bonds league, showing us this:

It's nowhere near the greatness that would've been Spell Piercer (which still is up in the air), but it IS good. Follow me beyond the break to preliminary list considerations based on this spell alone.

Khador 2015, Part 2: Steamroller '15 and Masters '15 thoughts

So, Steamroller '15 is out long enough that everybody saw it, and all the notable people (PwMJ, RFP, MoC) talked about it, so what is there that I can add?

Well, a bit. Maybe less so on Steamroller, but there are some thoughts I have for Masters.

After the break I'll tell you which objectives I'd consider with the 'Casters I think about the most, what to put in with 20 pts of specialists, and which scenario will no longer be there come 2016!

Khador 2014, Part 10 - WTC '14 Khadoran Army Lists

... an outsider's totally unbiased and professional omniscient judgement. As if.

   So, Lamoron, great Danish Cryx player posted his review of the WTC's Cryx lists over at The Overseer, and I thought that would be sth that should be done with the Khadoran lists as well - especially since both Jamie P. and Trent D., perceived Paragons of the Khador faction, have abandoned it for the WTC, and you hear the argument that Khador, even after Butcher 3, isn't being feared.

   Keeping that in mind - I think there are too many people playing Khador for that to be a valid statement (thirty, to be precise). I'll judge the list by the following colour chart - and a number of KMIs (key model indicators) that'll reveal itself throughout the essay), and give my reasoning later.

Really Boring
Very Boring
Boring
Kinda Interesting
Interesting
Very Interesting

   That professional, objective research right there! But since I'm the scientist, I set the parameters by which the data is analysed - so let's bring it on!

For safety reasons: I'm not judging the lists to be "done well" or "done badly", I'm merely going by how much reading the lists makes me want to see it played.