Legend of the Innkeeper : A Hearthstone Podcast for Casual Players

Intro:  

Welcome to the Legend of the Innkeeper.  We’re glad you could join us for our 86th episode.  

This week we are talking about…

Updates:

What did you do this week?

Quests?  Ranked play?  Fun Guaranteed with friends?

News

Apologies

Reddit thread about the Random Changes – https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/4bg0wk/please_bring_back_the_deck_randomizer/  257 comments so far

New Overwatch Trailer (shows Hearthstone

Intro:  

Welcome to the Legend of the Innkeeper.  We’re glad you could join us for our 85th episode.  

This week we are talking about…

Updates:

What did you do this week?

Quests?  Ranked play?  Fun Guaranteed with friends?

News

Patch 4.2 is live

Pre-orders are live in the US

Lady Liadrin can now be unlocked

This is an achievement that you get when you level a ‘new’ character to level 20 in WoW.

Can be done on a trial account as long as it’s the same account as your Hearthstone account.

Does not come with a cardback. New hero with new emotes

GvG packs will soon be unavailable for purchase

3 new card backs added – C’Thun, Hogger (obtained at end of March for rank 20 or higher) and Overwatch (obtained by pre-ordering Overwatch)

New shop UI screen

New Tavern Brawl chalkboards discovered during data mining

New Tavern Brawl cards added (lots of them)

Collection Manager updates

Deck Recipes added to the game – When crafting a new deck, you can choose one of 3 prebuilt decks or build a custom deck. 3 decks per class.

Deck building – Suggest a card is much improved

Right clicking on cards reveals a new improved display

Can now search for cards using ‘Attack, Health, Cost, Golden’ and more.

Deck Slot changes – Here we go…

New Players – Rather than starting with 9 slots, new players unlock a basic class slot for each Hero they’ve unlocked. They can be edited but each is dedicated to a specific hero. Once you unlock all 9 Heros, you will get nine extra deck slots and you can now delete and replace the original basic decks.

Veteran Players – Slots are likely unlocked already. Open collection manager and you should see 9 new ‘basic decks’. You can delete these to open up 9 new slots. You can scroll through the list using the slider.

When selecting your deck to play, there are new arrows to page between the two pages. They can be used for casual, ranked, friendly challenges and adventures.

Whispers of the Old Gods – Revealed

Comes out late April/Early May. My guess is after the first weekend because of Dreamhack

134 new collectable cards – available through card packs

The first pack you open from the expansion will give you C’Thun

Promo period – everyone who logs in gets 3 free packs from the expansion

Standard and Wild formats launch with expansion

When launched, GvG and Naxx will no longer be available and can’t be used in Standard format.

All new cards will be available in Arena when the expansion launches (except for C’Thun and the cards that interact with him. Those are excluded from the Arena)

Pre-order 50 packs for $49.99 USD on March 14th. Includes exclusive card back.

New Card Discussion

Reviews and Emails

iTunes Reviews: 0

Emails: 2

First message from a listener – Audio

———

Hello again LOTI.  Thanks for answering my questions last week.  

My question for the week is: we know that blizzard is planning on changing 10-12 cards at least.  I know they are looking at Big Game Hunter and most likely Savage Roar.  I hear some people talking about force of nature, but I think by fixing savage roar, force of nature isn’t really that powerful.  What other cards do you want or think are going to be changed?  

Dusharmo

Proud Patreon Supporter

Rumors I hear are, knife juggler,

Twitter:

William Richardson ‏@willred1977  Mar 13

Intro:  

Welcome to the Legend of the Innkeeper.  We’re glad you could join us for our 84th episode.  

This week we are talking about… Faint sounds of an upcoming announcement.

Updates:

What did you do this week?

Quests?  Ranked play?  Fun Guaranteed with friends?

Introductions: About us :  See Email

 

1) If its not too personal, what do you guys do outside of hearthstone?

2) What made you want to do a hearthstone podcast?  

3) What are your favorite classes/decks/archetypes?

4) Do you guys like any other games or play other games?  If so what games?  

News

Announcement coming this Friday (March 11)

Rumors abound

Name: Whispers of old gods (http://www.powned.it/nuova-espansione-hearthstone-old-gods/)

Release Date: April 24th (http://www.powned.it/nuova-espansione-hearthstone-old-gods/)

New Heroes? A while back we talked about a list of voice work done in Japan. (http://www.hearthhead.com/news=251690/hearthstone-leaks-resurface-name-paladin-priest-and-rogue-alt-heroes-potential-c)

Tyrande Whisperwind – Priest

Lady Liadrin – Paladin

Maiev Shadowsong – Rogue

Potential Cards –

Khadgar (Archmage Khadgar)

Captain Scaleblade

Dark Iron Weaponsmith

Dark Summoner

Sinister Cultist

Blackrock Summoner

Bloodaxe Ritualist

Bloodsail Swashbuckler

The carousel has changed to display Faceless Manipulator, Cult Master, Mind Blast, Void Terror and Dark Wispers is probably the strongest evidence that we’ll get something Old Gods-related.

Deck Recipes (http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/20056279/let%E2%80%99s-get-brewing-with-deck-recipes-3-8-2016)

From Collection Manager, select “New Deck” option under “My Decks” and pick your class. You’ll see Deck Recipes on the left side. Starting out there are 3 for each class, 1 classic and 2 themed recipes.

If missing cards, click on the greyed out card and the ‘greatly improved’ “Suggest a Card” feature will help you replace it with a card from your collection.

Hints and Tips

Buy the first wing of Naxx while you can.

Reviews and Emails

iTunes Reviews: 3

Casual – Spider9080

And I love it for that!!!

LOTI rocks – Ir1sh Jedi

Been listening to the show for well over 8 months now and really enjoy it. The show is excellently produced and the sound quality is fantastic. Love the banter between the hosts. Keep up the great work!

Most Fun Guaranteed – FakeFakeSquishieDragon

Love the show and the community. As a fairly new player it’s always great to get expert info. Love the hosts. They are all Golden Legendaries to me

Intro:  

Welcome to the Legend of the Innkeeper.  We’re glad you could join us for our 83rd episode.  

This week we are talking about… ideas for what to craft

Updates:

What did you do this week?

Quests?  Ranked play?  Fun Guaranteed with friends?

Favorite Hero Art

Vastidious – Mage (Jaina Proudmoore)

SquishieDragon – Rogue (Valeera Sanguinar)

Espo –  (Hunter)  Alleria Windrunner

News

Updates made to the new Standard Format FAQ’s

Reward and Promotional cards will not be playable in Standard mode. (Old Murk-Eye, Captain’s Parrot, Elite Tauren Chieftain and Gelbin Mekkatorque)

Old Murk-Eye and Captain’s Parrot no longer rewards for achievements after Standard mode goes live. Can only be crafted

Early reports are that cards that might have changes made to them from the classic set are the following: Knife Juggler, Leper Gnome, Ancient of Lore and the Druid combo (Savage Roar, Force of Nature)

Quote of the week – Zeriyah, Blizzard Community Manager, “The content we’re working on is really exciting… if anything, we may have gone a little too crazy with the next set!”

Newest fun toy – Hearthpwn has created a Pack Opening Simulator. Can’t get enough pack opening? Can you open up the best pack?  http://www.hearthpwn.com/packs

Espo Mode

Clash of the Minions – “No time for cowards, spoiler! Playing minions gives them Charge and Taunt! Ok, here’s the Mulligan… go, go, GO!”

Another aggro deck creation Brawl.  Using your own collection.  Can’t we get back to some of the crazy pre-made decks that include even crazier cards?

Getting Better

See Email below with questions

—–

So I want to craft a Legendary card! What should I craft?!?

Suggestion #1 – Save your dust and wait. Standard mode is coming. We don’t know what the synergy is going to be like. Will there be new mechs, dragons or deathrattle cards? In fact, I would even suggest you wait for 4 weeks after it releases before deciding what to craft.

If you must, suggestion #2

Craft one of the strongest Neutral Legendaries

[Sylvanas]

[Ragnaros]

[Harrison Jones]

[Alexstrasza]

[Ysera]

Consider one of the stronger Class-specific Legendaries

[Tirion Fordring]

[Archmage Antonidas]

[Grommash Hellscream]

[Al’Akir the Windlord]

[Lord Jaraxxus]

Other Legendaries that might be good:

[Baron Geddon] – Dr. Boom is gone as is many of the deathrattle minions. This might become a good replacement.

[Cairne Bloodhoof] – With the Sludge Belcher gone Cairne might make his way back into play.

[The Black Knight] – Possible that he might make it back into a few decks depending on how the meta shapes up.

[Bloodmage Thalnos] – Might be seen more in the future. Spell damage + draw a card for 2 mana.

[Leeroy Jenkins] – Could he find his way back into aggro decks?

Now that we’ve given you some ideas about what legendaries to craft, let’s talk a bit about some commons, some rares, and some epic cards that you might want to add to your collection.

Druid:  [Wrath], [Keeper of the Grove], [Ancient of Lore]

Hunter: [Explosive Trap],  [Eaglehorn Bow], [Snake Trap]

Mage: [Sorcerer’s Apprentice],  [Blizzard],  [Pyroblast]

Paladin:  [Argent Protector], [Aldor Peacekeeper], [Avenging Wrath]

Priest: [Thoughtsteal], [Auchenai Soul Priest],  [Cabal Shadow Priest]

Rogue:  [Eviscerate], [SI7 Agent], [Preparation]

Shaman:  [Earth Shock], [Feral Spirit], [Doomhammer]

Warlock:  [Power Overwhelming], [Shadowflame], [Bane of Doom]

Warrior:  [Cruel Taskmaster],  [Armorsmith],  [Brawl]

Intro:  

Welcome to the Legend of the Innkeeper.  We’re glad you could join us for our 82nd episode.  

This week we are talking about…

Updates:

What did you do this week?

Quests?  Ranked play?  Fun Guaranteed with friends?

 

Top Card Art From League of Explorers

Vastidious – Ethereal Conjurer

SquishieDragon – Murloc Tinyfin, Mounted Raptor, Fossilized Devilsaur

Espo –  Sir Finley

News

Ben Brode is streaming on Twitch with a F2P account – www.twitch.tv/bbrode

Espo Mode

Getting Better

Deck Building Tools

There is a lot of study and strategy behind crafting decks. And some people are naturals when it comes to the art of crafting decks. One good comparison, is playing the auction house in WoW. It’s a game within a game. Some people are good at it others just want more gold or in Hearthstone’s case, more wins.

As Hearthstone matures and continues to evolve, there are many people out there who enjoy refining their skills in crafting decks. But there are also many who enjoy either teaching how to build decks, building tools to help the process, or even those who just provide resources to find decks without all the hassle of building them.

One of the best resources to do just that, is a website called Hearthpwn.com. We’ve mentioned it many times on the show. Recently they’ve upped the ante and created a new tool called, Innkeeper. Innkeeper is a software program you can download to your computer that will scan through your Hearthstone card collection and automatically upload it to your account on Hearthpwn.com. Currently it’s only available for Windows computers, but they are working on a Mac client.

Innkeeper : http://www.innkeeper.com/

Once your collection is synchronized with the website, it allows you to do some really cool things. The first thing is does is allows you to view your collection by card types, class and expansion. You can also share your collection with friends. My favorite portion of this information is where it breaks down how many cards you have from each expansion and adventure. For instance, I’m 20 cards away from completing all of GvG and 19 away from all of TGT. I am 22 away from all the classic cards.

The second major feature is the ability to search for new decks. Start by clicking on Decks on the website while logged in, select Mage (since you are awesome), and you will see a new button below all the filters that says, “Only show decks I can create”. This will remove any deck that has cards you don’t ALREADY have in your collection.

Ahh, but what if you have some dust burning a hole in your pocket and you are interested in crafting a few cards that will complete a new deck? You are in luck. Uncheck that box, press filter and the list will include decks you will need to craft cards to complete along with the ones you won’t. For any deck that has a card(s) that you need to craft, it will have a small red mana vial next to the name. When you click on the deck name and go to the page itself, you will then see the same vial next to any cards you will need to craft to complete that deck.

Additionally, in the upper section of that deck’s page, you will see a line that shows the Dust Needed to craft the deck, showing a total amount of dust you will need to craft that deck. Isn’t that easy?

Well, another problem players face is the process of adding these new decks directly to Hearthstone. You have to take a screenshot, write down the card list, or have the web page open as you select one card at a time to build the deck. Then when you want to change something, you have to do it all again. You are in luck! We can fix that too!

There is an awesome tool, called NetDeck (https://netdeck.n4ru.

Nothing funny about Hunters

Intro:  

Welcome to the Legend of the Innkeeper.  We’re glad you could join us for our 81st episode.  

This week we are talking about… deck building with SQ

Updates:

What did you do this week?

Quests?  Ranked play?  Fun Guaranteed with friends?

Top Art From The Grand Tournament

Vastidious – Frigid Snobold

SquishieDragon – Chillmaw

Espo –  Wilfred Fizzlebang

News

Activision Quarterly Earnings – Hearthstone surpassed 40 million active users. 20% more units sold of League of Explorers than previous adventures over the same time period. (6 weeks)

151 participants for the EU Winter Preliminaries.  A step on the road to Blizzcon for the EU players.

Hearthstone Hacks could compromise your PC – http://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/hearthstone-add-ons-cheating-tools-come-data-stealing-malware

Hearthstone Hack Tool v2.1

Hearthstone Deck Tracker.exe (bittorrents)

Getting Better

When starting to build your deck, typically you will have a theme or what we call Victory condition in mind. Are you thinking that you will maintain board control and whittle down your opponent? Find a way to produce an unexpected burst of damage or momentum that kills your opponent? Or even swarm the board and going to face? This helps you know what the end goal is for your deck. It also helps you to better choose cards that will help you pull that off.

So the biggest part of deck building is choosing the cards you think are going to help you win the game. One of the hardest things to avoid doing as a new player is picking all the ‘great’ cards for your deck. Part of the reason that is a problem is that frequently new players will choose cards that they feel are ‘great’ when in fact they are just middle of the road cards. And the cards that they think are middle of the road, might actually be great for their deck. You have to keep your excitement and expectations in check during this process. Yes the card might have been great in that last deck you built, but does it fit the theme and purpose of this one?

Mana Curve

One important aspect of deck building is keeping an eye on your mana curve. This is the distribution of cards in your deck by mana cost.You need to keep enough cards for each stage of the game to ensure that you have good chances that they will be available when you need them. This is impossible to tell you an exact formula for doing because each deck is going to be different. But the basic formula is have enough cards for early game, mid game and late game.

Core Cards

Start off by identifying the core cards of the deck. Cards you HAVE to have to make the deck work. If you wanted to create a Rogue deck that relies on doing massive burst damage, using Leeory Jenkins, Cold Blood and Shadowstep, then you HAVE to have these cards. A Reno deck needs… RENO. Some decks will have more core cards than other but typically you will not have more than 10.

Class Specific Cards

Next step is to include the most suitable class-specific cards for the situation. Most of the high-end decks will use less than 10 class specific cards in them. The key here is limiting yourself to only those cards that will be amazing in your deck.There are still two more steps to take so you don’t want to fill your deck up too soon. If you have more than 20 cards at this point, you might need to reevaluate.

Neutral Minions

Next add the best ‘appropriate neutral minions that fit with the theme of the deck. For example, if you need to draw cards, you might include Loot Horder or Azure Drake. If you have a rush deck, maybe Abusive Sergeant or Argent Squire. Late game deck? What about Ysera or Ragnaros.

How to build your SquishieDragon

Intro:  

Welcome to the Legend of the Innkeeper.  We’re glad you could join us for our 80th episode.  

This week we are talking about…

Updates:

What did you do this week?

Quests?  Ranked play?  Fun Guaranteed with friends?

~Shaman

Top Card Art from Goblins vs Gnomes

Vastidious – Unstable Portal

SquishieDragon – Puddlestomper

Espo –  Velen’s Chosen

News

Wild and Standard Modes

Ben Brode in an interview with Shacknews (http://www.shacknews.com/article/93108/hearthstones-ben-brode-on-new-heroes-druid-nerfs-and-why-standard-is-solution-for-now)

“It’s something we could be changing more frequently even, we could experiment with an all Grand Tournament Arena. The way Arena is set up we already mess with the percentages on the new stuff so you actually get to see it in the Arena, since there are so many other cards there.”

BB seemed to indicate that anything is still open to change – even the structure of the formats themselves.

The feel that Hearthstone is different every year, that things are changing and this year won’t be like the last year, that’s what Standard is meant for.

When asked about new heroes, Ben Brode said “I think you’ll hear about new heroes in the not-too-distant future,” Brode said. “We definitely haven’t given up on them, it’s something we think is exciting. We just haven’t made any new ones yet.”

Listener Map

On our website I setup a Listener Map. It allows our listeners to tell us where they are from so that we can see where everyone is at. Listener Map http://www.legendoftheinnkeeper.com/listener-locations/

Getting Better

Deck building with Squishiedragon

Deck building is a very complicated subject. For a player who is new to the game or who isn’t having a lot of success, it’s overwhelming. However, to better understand deck building and to be successful at it, there are some core tenets that you must be aware of before you can really tackle it effectively. With that said, I thought it would be a good idea to cover some basic concepts before starting to dig into the actual process of deck building. Because if you don’t understand the core fundamentals, you will have difficulty consistently building good decks. It might seem that we’ve stepped back to the very basic concepts but bear with me.

Threats

Threat Superiority

Inevitability

Clock

Answers

Binary Interactivity

Incomplete Interactivity

Combination

Reviews and Emails

iTunes Reviews: None

Emails: None

Twitter:

Espo ‏@XcMtbGamer  Feb 4

@PlayHearthstone @bdbrode Will the new players still have the opportunity to enjoy the old Adventures after they cycle out of standard mode?

Yong Woo ‏@ywoo_dev  Feb 4

@XcMtbGamer @LotiPodcast @PlayHearthstone @bdbrode we’re excited to make use of that content in the future.

Espo on Tilt

Intro:  

Welcome to the Legend of the Innkeeper.  We’re glad you could join us for our 79th episode.  

This week we are talking about…

Updates:

What did you do this week?

Quests?  Ranked play?  Fun Guaranteed with friends?

Top Artwork from Blackrock Mountain

Vastidious – Dragon’s Breath

SquishieDragon – Druid of the flame/Dragon egg/Dragon Consort

Espo –  Axe Flinger

News

Blizzard announces significant changes coming

New Play Modes

Wild – What we play today. Includes cards from all expansions.

Standard – Includes current cards (Basic, Classic and cards released in the past year and the prior year)

Available for Friendly Challenges, Ranked and Casual play only (Not Arena, Solo Play or Adventures)

When the first expansion is released in a year, that’s when everything resets

Ranking Changes

You will now play ranked in either Standard or Wild. You can choose or even do both.

Your lowest ranking is what counts at the end of the season regardless of which mode you achieve it in.

The Developers will revisit cards to consider ‘balance changes’. Balance will be for both Standard and Wild modes.

More Deck Slots – Going from 9 to 18 – Useless?

All game boards will remain in the rotation

First Standard Season will include the following Expansions/Adventures

Basic

Classic

Blackrock Mountain

The Grand Tournament

The League of Explorers

 

* The Spring 2016 Expansion

NOTE: Curse of Naxxramas and Goblins vs Gnomes are NOT included

Expansions and Adventures not a part of that season will no longer be available for purchase through the store. BUT you can craft them instead with dust for their normal value.

Interesting comment:

Ben Brode said in an interview with PC Gamer, “Well Standard is going to grow and shrink over time because we’re going to launch that first new set—it’ll be a big set—and then the next couple of sets that release in 2016 will just go into Standard and nothing will be removed. “

FAQ:

How do random effects work in Standard mode?

Random effects (including summoning random minions or cards, the Discover mechanic, transformations, or any other similar effects) will only summon cards that are eligible for the format you are playing. Thus, random effects in Standard will summon only cards that would be usable in the Standard format. All cards are legal in Wild format, so such effects will function as they always have.

Will Tavern Brawls use formats?

Tavern Brawls have different rules each week, so some Brawls will be in Wild format, while others could be in Standard format, but they’ll all be crazy fun!

Can I earn Hearthstone Championship Tour points by competing in Ranked in both formats?

No. Standard will be the only format that offers Hearthstone Championship Tour points for 2016.

Will all official Blizzard esports events be played in Standard format?

Yes. Standard is the official format of the Hearthstone Championship Tour and the Hearthstone World Championship in 2016.

Significant Cards That Will Be Removed From Standard

Mechs – Annoy-o-Tron, Mechwarper, Clockwork Gnome, Spider Tank & Mechanical Yeti

Neutrals – Sludge Belcher, Deathlord, Nerubian Egg, Piloted Shredder, Kezan Mystic, Mad Scientist, Haunted Creeper, Shade of Naxxramas, Zombie Chow, Unstable Ghoul, Antique Healbot, Hobgoblin, Mogor The Ogre, Kel’Thuzad and Dr. Boom

Paladin – Coghammer, Shielded Minibot, Muster for Battle, Avenge, Quartermaster

Warrior – Death’s Bite, Shieldmaiden

Warlock – Imp-losion, Darkbomb, Voidcaller, Mal’Ganis

Shaman – Powermace, Crackle,

How To Frustrate Your SquishieDragon

Intro:  

Welcome to the Legend of the Innkeeper.  We’re glad you could join us for our 78th episode.  

This week we are talking about…

Updates:

What did you do this week?

Quests?  Ranked play?  Fun Guaranteed with friends?

Top 3 of the week – Naxxramas

Vastidious – Kel’Thuzad

SquishieDragon – Duplicate

Espo – Loethb

News

Espo-damus predicts Expansion at Pax-South

Espo will talk about something here, if he remembers

Espo: ……………………………  Espo “I think I mis-typed”

Espo Mode

Miniature Warfare  “That pesky Shrinkmeister turned all your Hearthstone cards into toys!  Now all your minions are 1/1 and only cost (1) mana!”

Hobgoblin

Emperor Thaurissan

Wobbling Runts

Ragnaros

Arch Thief Rafaam

Alexstraza (Alex-straw-za)

Coldlight Oracle  + Chromaggus

Onxyia

Getting Better

Topic Tonight – Frustration

I don’t know the cards

Horrible player until you ‘get good’

Only way to learn how to play is to lose, a lot!

Hints and Tips:

Watch and Learn quest. How to do it?

Navigating your collection

Tournaments

The tournament of the mighty SquishieDragon!!! *Raaaawr*

Reviews and Emails

iTunes Reviews: 0

Emails: 0

Twitter: Fake Fake Espo ‏Get…. double double combo’d…. for exact lethal…..

Facebook Shoutout: MattyJMania posted a link to his lapel pins Here

Patron shout-outs

Matty J Mania

Nightfall

Kalia

Zerotio

Noober

Outro

That does it for this episode.  You can email the show at [email protected].  You can also visit our website at legendoftheinnkeeper.com where we will post the show notes with the episode that has links to all the information we discussed.

Our YouTube channel is www.legendoftheinnkeeper.com/YouTube

You can follow the show on Twitter @LOTIpodcast.  However since I never check this twitter, Follow SquishieDragon (@SquishieDragon) and Espo (@Xcmtbgamer) on twitter also!

You can support the show through Patreon at :  www.patreon.com/Legendoftheinnkeeper

Be sure to subscribe and rate us on iTunes!

Until next show, Happy gaming!

Credits:

Music by James Marantette – https://soundcloud.com/james-marantette

 

Liked it? Take a second to support Legend of the Innkeeper on Patreon!

How to train your SquishieDragon

Intro:  

Welcome to the Legend of the Innkeeper.  We’re glad you could join us for our 77th episode.  

This week we are talking about… Squishie’s interest in the game.

Updates:

What did you do this week?

Top 3 of the week

Vastidious – Booty Bay Bodyguard – You can hire him… until someone offers him enough gold to turn on you.

SquishieDragon – Ironforge Rifleman – “Ready! Aim! Drink!”

Espo –  Elven Archer “Don’t bother asking her on a date. She’ll shoot you down.”

News

None

Espo Mode

Captain Blackheart’s Treasure ~ The captain left treasure for Everyone, but mostly for you!  Each turn, open a chest of three random cards and choose one to put in your hand.

You start with a deck of 30 pirates that are 2/3.

You don’t draw a card from your deck at the beginning of your turn, instead you choose.

The cards that you’re choosing from are from the entire collection, not just one’s you’ve collected.

Reveal is a fun, yet disappointing, mechanic for this brawl.

Fel Reaver is amazing in this!

Getting Better

New player woes and feeling overwhelmed.  Easy ways to grow your collection.

* Quests! On average, you should be gaining 50 gold a day from playing and that’s even if you don’t play each day!  Almost never complete the 40 gold quests, reroll them until you get a 50 or higher.  If you don’t, leave it until you have only three 40 gold quests and must complete one in order to gain a new one.  Always do the 7 wins and Watch and Learn quests with friends.  These are worth 100 gold and are extremely easy to complete.

* Tavern Brawl! You may have to involve a friend or the internet’s advice, but try your best to complete this for the free pack.

* Save your gold for Adventures! They may seem like a long ways off, but the fun and cards that you get will far outweigh the wait.  And the encounters and bosses can easily be beat with just basic cards. Do a simple Google search for the encounters you are wanting to beat and you’ll find a basic deck build for defeating that boss or encounter.

* Dust golden cards! Craft all the common cards first. Most of these can be used in some way, either for fun or profit, or both! Again, Google is your friend.  Research some of the most popular common cards that are used in viable quest completing decks.

Hints and Tips

Designer Insights with Ben Brode: Basic Cards

Tournaments

Blizzard has a “Hearthstone Tournament Watch”  page where they compiled a list of Hearthstone tournaments.

Reviews and Emails

iTunes Reviews:

Nose4Ah2

They care about casual- and that’s good  ***** 5 stars

Love the show! Been listening since I started playing Hearthstone and I always learn something new. Great move with adding new host SquishieDragon, who has just started playing. The problems she faces reminds me of when I started, just hoping I could get past level 20 and trying to build a decent deck with basics and a few other cards. Can’t wait to hear more!

Zargon0225

Great show, great hosts, great FUN! – 5 stars

I have been a listener for about 6 months now. I have listened back through episode 60 (through today), and cannot get enough of the show. I think you guys are great hosts, and fun people. Thank you for not talking down to new players; I love to recommend the show. I have been playing CCG’s for over 20 years (when MTG came out), and Hearthstone has me hooked! Even though I am not new to the CCG genre, I enjoy your show that caters to new players. I like to play for FUN, more than I like to play competitively, which is what your show is about!!