Hello!

Ryan is on the show this week

Topic: How to win Arena

Reasons to be happy this week

News: One Night in Karazhan!!!

Our Previous Arena Guide

Episode 52, almost exactly one year ago

Was focused on basic tips and general strategy and advice. Most of it is still extremely relevant today.

7 wins let you play infinitely for free.

Choose your most comfortable class (when in doubt: Mage, Paladin, Priest)

For your first 10 picks, just take the best cards regardless of mana

Arena meta was aggressive, so 1-drop and 2-drops were very important

You can’t have too many removal spells, and you always want 2-3 AOEs

Watch your opponent’s mulligan to make better choices with yours

How to use the Coin in early-game

When to face and when to trade

State of the Arena in 2016

Releases since the last update: The Grand Tournament, League of Explorers, Whispers of the Old Gods

Mechanics since the last update: Inspire, Joust, Discover. C’thun and his cultists are excluded from Arena.

Game system updates: Reveal of the increased chance to be offered class cards and cards for the newest set. Your newest class cards will always be offered most. Draft guarantees Rare or better on picks 1/10/20/30. The odds of being offered Epic or Legendary choices are very low (10%/2%).

Meta Report: Meta is shaped by newest Neutral Commons and Class Commons. Old Gods meta is SLOW b/c of addition of good neutral taunts (Infested Tauren, Psychotron, Bog Creeper). One or two of these will usually stall out aggro decks. Additionally, OG neutral cards aren’t that aggressive in nature. Meta will naturally become faster in next Adventure by removal of OG offering bonus. Enchanted Raven may be enough to move Druid to top 3.

Best classes right now: Mage and Rogue. Consistency is why: they have the best hero powers and best basic class cards and OG common class cards. Mage: Twilight Flamecallerand Faceless Summoner. Rogue: Shadow Strike and Southsea Squidface.

Worst classes right now: Priest and Hunter. Worst hero powers (along with Warrior), in that they don’t impact the board directly. Their strong cards are too reliant on synergy to succeed. OG common class cards. Priest: Darkshire Alchemist and Hooded Acolyte is N/A because it’s a C’thun card. Hunter: Fiery Bat and Carrion Grub

Arena Warriors got big love after being in an awful place for a long time, with N’zoth’s First Mate and Ravaging Ghoul.

The Best Classes in Arena

From best (Mage) to worst (Priest). You should pick the highest class on this list, if you feel comfortable playing all of them.

Mage

Rogue

Warlock

Shaman

Warrior

Paladin

Druid

Hunter

Priest

The Best Arena Strategies for Each Class

Druid: Tempo/Mid, Removal, Buffs, Beasts

Hunter: Aggro/Tempo, Charge, Damage, Beasts

Mage: Tempo/Mid/Control, Removal, MOST FLEXIBLE

Paladin: Mid/Tempo/Control, Weapons, Buffs

Priest: Tempo/Control, Removal, Buffs, Taunts

Rogue: Tempo/Mid, Removal, VERY FLEXIBLE

Shaman: Tempo/Mid, Removal, Totem, Buff, Evolve

Warlock: Aggro/Tempo, ZOO!

Warrior: Mid/Control, Weapons, Taunts, Removal

The Best Arena Cards for Each Class

If every class card was offered on pick 1, which card should you take?

Druid

Basic/Common: Swipe

Rare: Savage Combatant

Hunter

Basic/Common: Glaivezooka

Rare: Savannah Highmane

Mage

Basic/Common: Ethereal Conjurer or Flamestrike

Rare: Flamewaker

Paladin

Basic/Common: Keeper of Uldaman

Rare: Muster for Battle

Priest

Basic/Common: Velen’s Chosen

Rare: Auchenai Soulpriest

Rogue

Basic/Common: Sap

Rare: SI:7 Agent or Dark Iron Skulker

Shaman

Basic/Common: Fire Elemental

Rare: Master of Evolution or Lightning Storm

Warlock

Basic/Common: Imp Gang Boss

Rare: Imp-losion

Warrior

Basic/Common: Fiery War Axe

Rare: Frothing Berserker

The Best Neutral Arena Cards

If every neutral card was offered to you on Turn 1, and you only know what type of deck you hope to make, which do you take?

Aggro

Basic/Common: Bog Creeper

Rare: Sludge Belcher

Mid-Range

Basic/Common: Dark Iron Dwarf

Rare: Bomb Lobber

Control

Basic/Common: Haunted Creeper

Rare: Defender of Argus

Attrition

Basic/Common: North Sea Kraken

Rare: Sunwalker

Bonus Arena Tips

Draw first. Always.

When to face and when to trade: “Once you run out of good trades, go face” – Merps 2016

Dilution of the card pool over time and the lessening likelihood of removal. (Lots of good stuff that’d take way to long to type up here — listen to the show!)

Check out the Lightforge Tier List

Listen to the Lightforge podcast!

Community

Questions: Buying the new Adventure

iTunes Reviews

Donations (More info)

Card of the Week

Farewell

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What do you want to see in future episodes?