Legend of the Innkeeper : A Hearthstone Podcast for Casual Players

LOTI #019 – Legend of the Innkeeper – “Warlock Strategy Guide”

Intro:

Welcome to the Legend of the Innkeeper.  I’m Vastidious and I’m Ariannwyn.  We’re glad you could join us for our 19th episode.

This week we are talking about…

Updates:

What did you do this week?

Top 3 of the week – Warlock Cards

Vastidious – Lord Jaraxxus, Void Terror, Power Overwhelming

Ariannwyn – Bane of Doom, Voidcaller, Twisting Nether/Void Terror

News

1. Blizzard sending out mysterious cards prior to Blizzcon about Hearthstone

http://toucharcade.com/2014/10/30/blizzard-teases-hearthstone-demolisher-plans-for-blizzcon/

 

* Amaz leaves Liquid

 

http://www.liquidhearth.com/forum/hearthstone/470310-short-but-sweet-amaz-and-liquid-part-ways

Getting Better – Warlock!

Just what Vastidious has been waiting for!  Warlock week!  Whether he believes it or not I’m convinced that Warlock is his favorite class.  And I must say that Warlock is really fun to play!  But why do you like it so much dad?  

Because of the hero ability?  Specific cards?

When I started playing Hearthstone and was taking a look at all the different heroes, the Warlock absolutely confused me.  Why in the WORLD, would someone harm themselves over and over again to draw cards!  It makes no sense whatsoever!  I mean the ultimate point of the game is to win by not running out of health yet here was a class that was using up health as if it meant nothing at all.  Honestly at that point I avoided the class and moved on.

Eventually I tried it out and started seeing how the hero ability could benefit someone occasionally but wasn’t quite convinced.  Then I came across a murloc rush deck.  As I think we’ve mentioned before, I’m kind of a rush kinda a guy and a murloc deck really was pretty cool.  Next thing I know I’m hooked and I completely get the hero power and I abuse it fairly regularly.  It wasn’t until I started playing with a Handlock deck that I REALLY got into using it, but that’s a different story.

The Warlock is all about self-abuse (As Ariannwyn learned this week).  Most of the cards revolve around the use and abuse of demons and direct damage.

The Warlock hero is Gul’dan (Another Orc!  Though he looks dead or undead, or dead-alive? whatever you want to call it.) who was responsible for the creation of the Death Knights.

The Warlock hero ability is called “Life Tap” which gives you 2 damage and you draw a card.  This is an amazing ability.

Warlocks do well with rush decks and control decks.

Combos

Most of the combos that work well with the Warlock involve cards that aren’t Warlock cards.  For example, one of the most popular cards to combo with is Power Overwhelming (1 mana, Give a friendly minion +4/+4 until end of turn. Then, it dies. Horribly.)  This card will frequently be found used with minions that have charge, such as Leeroy Jenkins.  It’s also used with other cards you have on your board already that can take out other large minions with it’s help in a time of trouble.

Another common use for Power Overwhelming is to combo it with Void Terror (3 mana, 3/3 minion, Battlecry: Destroy the minions on either side of this minion and gain their Attack and Health).  This combo is amazingly awesome!  However, if you do use this combo, remember to attack with the Power Overwhelmed minion before you use Void Terror to destroy it, if you can without destroying that minion.  It makes this combo even more valuable if you do.

One more Power Overwhelming trick, is to use Power Overwhelming on a minion, attack with that minion and then play Shadowflame (...

LOTI #018 – Legend of the Innkeeper – “Rogue Strategy Guide”

Intro:

Welcome to the Legend of the Innkeeper.  I’m Vastidious and I’m Ariannwyn.  We’re glad you could join us for our 18th episode.

This week we are talking about…

Updates:

What did you do this week?

Top 3 of the week

Vastidious – Betrayal, Eviscerate, Assassinate

Ariannwyn –  Defias Ringleader, Backstab, Vanish

News

1. Mobile Development Update

http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/16421347

* Trolden (HearthTrolden “Funny & Lucky Moments”) denied BlizzCon Visa

http://www.gosugamers.net/hearthstone/news/28879-youtuber-trolden-denied-blizzcon-visa-not-a-real-media-embassy-says

*  Hearthstone wins big in the Golden Joystick Awards! – http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology-science/technology/golden-joystick-awards-2014-recap-4499861

 

* Best Online Game: Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft

* Best Mobile Game: Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft

* Best Game Of The Year, Runner Up: Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft

 

* Last week’s show

I want to say, I’m a bit shocked.  Last week we covered the Warrior.  To date, that is the least downloaded show EVER!  Did everyone see Warrior in the title and go Eww!?!

 

* Another upcoming Milestone

I also want to mention that we’re about to hit another major milestone.  We have one episode that is about to break 1,000 downloads!  Episode 15, the Paladin guide is a 992!.  Two more shows are at 900+, #13 The Hunter Guide and #10 The first Arena Guide.

Getting Better – Rogue

According to Hearthstats.net, the Rogue is #2 in Arena and #9 in Constructed currently.

The idea behind the rogue class is one of direct damage using combos and light weapons.  Where the Shaman has totems, the Hunter it’s beasts, the Rogue uses combinations and stealth to achieve victory.  Sure other classes have combinations of cards that work well with their class abilities, but the Rogue has cards that are rogue only that take the combo idea to a whole new level.

The cool thing about the rogue is that it is fairly adept at numerous different playstyles.  I think this is what has kept the rogue at the top of the win list pretty much since the game came out.  It seems like that the Rogue and Mage are constantly rotating between #1 and #2 on the Arena rankings.

The primary style that is prevalent in the Meta today is what is called the ‘Miracle’ Rogue.  It’s named this because of it’s ability to do a lot of damage quickly, using the combo cards with their weapons.  Another common playstyle is the Tempo Rogue.  This strategy is all about controlling the tempo of the game.  It usually utilizes being able to remove threats from the board of the opponent while still doing damage to the opposing hero.

The hero ability just adds to the power of the rogue, even though it appears to be a rather weak ability.  Having the ability to summon a 1/ 2  weapon isn’t that powerful, but when you have cards like Deadly Poison (1 mana, Give your weapon +2 attack) that then can be used with Blade Flurry (2 mana, Destroy your weapon and deal it’s damage to all enemies) or Bloodsail Raider (2 mana minion, Battlecry: Gain Attack equal to the Attack of your weapon) it starts to show it’s true potential.

Combos:

When we start to look at the Rogue combos, you will quickly find that there are lots of them.

LOTI #017 – Legend of the Innkeeper – “Warrior Strategy Guide”

Intro:

Welcome to the Legend of the Innkeeper.  I’m Vastidious and I’m Ariannwyn.  We’re glad you could join us for our seventeenth episode.

This week we are talking about…

Updates:

What did you do this week?

Top 3 of the week – Warrior Cards

Vastidious – Brawl, Frothing Berserker, Mortal Strike (Grommash Hellscream)

Ariannwyn – (Brawl) Commanding Shout, Armorsmith, Death’s Bite

News

* TidesofTime had his winnings from China confiscated

http://www.gosugamers.net/hearthstone/news/28811-tidesoftime-had-wec-prize-money-confiscated-but-wec-promises-to-pay-him

Getting Better

Warrior

We decided to do Warrior this week, partly because I had a quest to win 5 games with Warrior.  Warrior is the class I’ve played the least.  When I went to look at Warrior decks to make, besides having a ton of cards I didn’t own, the decklists I found were… boring.  But then I made my Pyromassacre deck, and have been having a blast with Warrior since.  (Not a lot of wins, but lots of fun!)

The Warrior’s hero is Garrosh Hellscream (whom I don’t like!) who was Warchief of the Horde before the Siege of Orgrimmar.  His hero ability is called “Armor Up!” which “Gains 2 armor”.  This is essentially a way for you to gain extra health.  Having the ability to gain armor allows you to be more efficient with Weapons, since it protects your from losing health when attacking enemy minions.

The Warrior class is based on two main components:  Charge minions, and Weapons.  It is a class that often fits nicely with the “Enrage” mechanic.

Combos

Let’s go over some of the combos for Warriors.

One card that is used a lot in combos is Cruel Taskmaster. (2 cost 2/2/ Battlecry: “Deal 1 damage to a minion and give it +2 attack) you can either use him to buff one of your other minions (Works great with “Enrage”) or to damage an enemy minion.

Cards like Whirlwind that does 1 damage to ALL minions works great with minions that benefit from taking damage (Frothing berzerker, Armorsmith, Acolyte of Pain, etc)

If you have Grommash Hellscream, using the Cruel Taskmaster on him work great.

Another combo that I discovered this week is Wild Pyromancer + Commanding Shout (2 mana, Your minions cannot be reduced below 1 health this turn) .  That way you don’t have to worry about your Pyromancer’s health when clearing the board.  It also allows you to benefit even more from your minions that benefit from taking damage.

Special Cards

Since the Warrior is very much an aggressive class, most of the cards that are class specific are all about doing direct damage.

Cleave (2 mana, Deal 2 damage to two random enemy minions) – This card is similar to the Hunter’s Multi-Shot, which does 3 damage.

Slam (2 mana, Deal 2 damage to a minion.  If it survives, draw a card) – With this card, it’s not just a direct damage spell but also card draw.

Whirlwind (1 mana, Deal 1 damage to ALL minions) – Decent removal spell but better if you can get some spell damage on the board prior to using it.  It’s more useful when used in combination with the Armorsmith (2 mana, 1/ 4 minion, Whenever a minion takes damage, gain 1 armor) or Frothing berserker (3 mana, 2/4 minion, Whenever a minion takes damage, gain +1 attack)

Commanding Shout (2 mana, Your minions can not be reduced below 1 health this turn.  Draw a card.) – As already mentioned earlier, it’s a great combo card with Wild Pyromancer.

Mortal Strike (4 mana, Deal 4 damage.  If your hero has 12 or less health, deal 6 damage instead.) – This is a card that one tends to hold until you can get the 6 damage.

LOTI #016 – Legend of the Innkeeper – “Shaman Strategy Guide”

Intro:

Welcome to the Legend of the Innkeeper.  I’m Vastidious and I’m Ariannwyn.  We’re glad you could join us for our sixteenth episode.

This week we are talking about…

Updates:

What did you do this week?

Top 3 of the week – Shaman Cards

Vastidious: Earth Shock, Hex, Lightning Storm

Ariannwyn: Fire Elemental, Ancestral Spirit, Earth shock

News

 

*

Top 16 players going to BlizzCon

Getting Better

Bot Discussion

Playing around bots

How do you know you are playing a bot?  No movement over the cards.  No target arrow.   They don’t emote.  Several seconds between minions attacking.

Article by BlizzPro

http://hearthstone.blizzpro.com/2014/09/21/an-opinion-on-botting-in-hearthstone/

How should I feel if I’m beaten by a bot?  Well, it all depends on your personality type.  Let’s analyze this a little bit.  The basics of this situation is that someone is paying a program to do their job for them.  Does it change the game?  Not at all.  You still played a game of Hearthstone whether there was a real person on the other end or not.  You played your best with the cards you were dealt.  Is that different than being beaten when someone IS on the other end of the game?  Are you upset that you’re putting effort into a game and someone else isn’t?  That’s everyday life.  We all have situations where we work harder than someone else, yet they reap better rewards.  That doesn’t mean it’s right, but it shouldn’t be a huge shocker.  I can tell you that bots ARE beatable.  The program is good but it doesn’t work 100% of the time.  You’ve likely beaten bots and didn’t even know you were playing them.  Does the win feel the same or different when you beat a bot?  Did the game react any differently to your win or loss?  I ask these questions so you can sit back and think about “why” you’re mad at people botting.  Blizzard is upset because that affects their booster pack sales.  That’s why 3rd party programs like this are against the Terms of Service.  Also, it affects “fair play” in Blizzard’s eyes, which is completely agreeable. But, if you can go to bed at night and wake up with a fist full of gold in the morning, why would this not sound appealing?  That’s the mindset of the community and player base.  A lot of people have the opinion that “It doesn’t matter what has to happen, as long as my name is in the “W” column”.  It’s called Greed and it’s a trait we all share to some extent. Good dependable botting programs can cost anywhere from $20-$50.  Realistically, you aren’t out the money; they are.  You get to play the game normally and to the best of your ability.  Your gaming experience is unchanged.  Lastly, bots don’t get you to Legend.  They get weeded out around ranks 5-7 as players who can plan in advance for future turns overtake them.

Beating the shaman bot deck:

http://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/2ieslj/sick_of_shaman_bots_beat_them_knowing_their_ai/

Getting Better – Shaw-man

When I first heard about Hearthstone and what it was going to be, I immediately made up my mind that I was going to play a Shaman.  As with Ariannwyn was with the Druid, I played a Shaman in World of Warcraft.  I love the class and couldn’t wait to play it in this game.  When we got into the beta, they start you out with the Mage class and I got hooked on the mage early on.  I did try the Shaman but I liked the Mage better.  I just couldn’t get my mind wrapped around the way the Shaman played.

Now that I’ve played all the classes quite a bit, I’ve got a better understanding of how to play ea...

LOTI #015 – Legend of the Innkeeper – “Paladin Strategy Guide”

Intro:

Welcome to the Legend of the Innkeeper.  I’m Vastidious and I’m Ariannwyn.  We’re glad you could join us for our fifteenth episode.

This week we are talking about…

Updates:

What did you do this week?

Top 3 of the week – Paladin Cards

Vastidious: Equality, Consecration, Avenging Wrath

Ariannwyn: Avenging Wrath, Sword of Justice, Equality

News

 

* Amaz Class Concept: Monk http://www.liquidhearth.com/forum/hearthstone/467568-amazs-monk-class-concept (His previous concept was Death Knight http://www.liquidhearth.com/forum/hearthstone/463593-amazs-death-knight-class-concept )

 

* Blizzard Bans Bots

http://www.gosugamers.net/hearthstone/news/28689-blizzard-issue-a-massive-ban-campaign-against-hearthstone-botters-in-china

 

*

Mile stone to be reached this next episode?  – 10,000 downloads!

Getting Better – Paladin

I’m not going to start off this guide saying that the Paladin is another unique class to the game.  What I will say is that two of the differentiations with the Paladin would be combos and divine shield.  Blizzard has done a great job of making the Hearthstone version of the Paladin match very closely to the WoW version, by including AOE, healing and defensive powers to the class.  One other feature that sets the Paladin out as unique is their ability to use secrets, one of three classes that can do that.

Your hero is Uther Lightbringer, the founder of the Knights of the Silver Hand in WoW.  His hero ability is called Reinforce and for a cost of 2 mana he summons a 1/1 Silver Hand Recruit.  This doesn’t seem like much of a power however tied to some of the cards that are available for this class they can become extremely useful.

I’ve always had a passing fascination with the Paladin class and I’ve never really sat down and focused on them individually before.  Having the opportunity to do so this week has been a fun experience.  They can be fun and rewarding to play.  Playing against them can be frustrating and annoying.

Combos

Equality + Consecration or Equality + Wild Pyromancer

One of the most dreaded combos in the game come from the Paladin.  Until recently there wasn’t a really good way to counter this combo either.  That’s the Equality + Consecration combo.  Equalty (2 mana, Change ALL minions health to 1) is a powerful card even on it’s own.  But when you combine it with Consecration (4 mana, Deal 2 damage to all enemies) it’s downright destructive.  I love it when I am able to use it on a full board especially if there are cards like Ragnaros, Sylvanas or the Sludge Belcher out.  It’s a board clear combination in most situations.  It also combo’s well with Wild Pyromancer and Avenging Wrath.

The counter I mentioned for this combination is Loatheb (5 mana, Battlecry: Enemy spells cost (5) more next turn.).  It’s not completely a counter but it prevents the Paladin from playing the combo on the next turn.  Another counter would be the Mage’s Counterspell (Secret: When your opponent casts a spell, Counter it), but you don’t see a lot of these in decks very often, plus it’s Mage only.

There are many people on both sides of the fence about Equality and whether it’s overpowered or not.  Obviously I’m a big fan of the card right now since I’m playing Paladin so much.  But I can understand the concerns from other players who feel it’s too powerful for such a low cost card.

LOTI #014 – Legend of the Innkeeper – “Druid Guide”

Intro:

Welcome to the Legend of the Innkeeper.  I’m Vastidious and I’m Ariannwyn.  We’re glad you could join us for our fourteenth episode.

This week we are talking about…

Updates:

What did you do this week?

Top 3 of the week – Druid cards

Vastidious:  Innervate, Starfall, Swipe

Ariannwyn:  Innervate, Starfall, Mark of Nature

News

 

*

Tickets in NYC are free http://www.pcgamer.com/2014/09/25/rsvp-for-blizzcon-qualifier-tickets-in-new-york-city-to-score-free-hearthstone-card-packs/

*

Hearthstone physical knock-off http://www.polygon.com/2014/9/26/6849017/hearthstone-blizzard-board-game-physical

* EU Regionals are underway! http://www.pcgamer.com/2014/09/24/hearthstone-eu-regionals-are-now-underway/

* Death of Titan http://venturebeat.com/2014/09/23/titans-death-may-leave-blizzards-future-in-the-hands-of-hearthstone-and-heroes-of-the-storm/

 

Getting Better

How we search for decks

Go to HearthPwn.com.   Click on Decks and choose the class you are interested in.  On the page that comes up you have a TON of options to filter out decks.  If you don’t have a lot of cards, I would recommend that you go down to Additional Filters and choose ‘Basic’.  This will select decks that are primarily made up of basic cards.  Click on Filter to apply your new options.  Look at the first few decks that come up on the list and see what cards it has that you don’t have.  For example, if they have Cairne Bloodhoof.  Then on the filter area on the search page, click on the box under Doesn’t Contain and then add Cairne Bloodhoof.  Do this for the cards you don’t have and that will eliminate a bunch of decks that have those cards.

Class Overview – Druid

The Druid is another unique class in that it’s the only class that has some cards that give you choices when you play them, a mechanic called Choose One.  For example, when you play Druid of the Claw, you choose one of two options.  Charge or +2 Health and Taunt for that specific minion.  The end result is either a Druid of the Claw that is a 4/4 minion with charge or a Druid of the Claw with 4/6 and Taunt.

One way that I look at the Druid class is a mixture between a Priest, Warrior and Hunter.  The Hero power adds Armor, they can heal themselves and they are frequently fast and aggressive.  Plus they have lots of beastial minions but they don’t get an advantage with Beasts.

The Druid Hero ability is called Shapeshift.  It costs 2 mana and adds +1 attack this turn and +1 Armor.  The nice thing about the hero ability is that the Armor will stick around after the turn and can stack up like a Warrior’s does.  The 1 attack doesn’t sound like a major amount of damage, but when combined with the 1 shield, you can take out smaller minions without worrying too much about it.

Druids are a lot of fun to play and they add a ton of options with the Choose one mechanic.  Another major advantage is their ability to clear the board.  Using cards like Wrath (Choose one: Deal 3 damage to a minion or 1 damage and draw a card), Swipe (Deal 4 damage to an enemy and 1 damage to all other enemies) or Starfall (Choose one – Deal 5 damage to a minion or 2 damage to all enemy minions) you can keep your opponent uncomfortable and unsure what is going t...

LOTI #013 – Legend of the Innkeeper – “Hunter Guide”

Intro:

Welcome to the Legend of the Innkeeper.  I’m Vastidious and I’m Ariannwyn.  We’re glad you could join us for our (lucky) thirteenth episode.

This week we are talking about…

Updates:

What did you do this week?

Top 3 of the week – Hunter cards

Vastidious – Flare, Snake Trap and KING CRUSH

Ariannwyn – Eaglehorn Bow, Savannah Highmane, (Love/Hate:) Scavenging Hyena

News

1. You’re better than you think… maybe

http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/15955974/hearthside-chat-youre-better-than-you-think-9-18-2014

2. Hearthstone hits 20 million!

3. A fan made up some Starcraft Hearthstone cards. Neat to look at.

http://kotaku.com/what-starcraft-cards-would-look-like-in-hearthstone-1635946658

4. Hearthstone microtransactionshttp://www.gamespot.com/articles/blizzard-wants-you-to-play-hearthstone-for-the-nex/1100-6422031/

The desire to keep the game running for a long time motivates Blizzard to price items in the free-to-play game fairly.

“Universally we’ve been getting feedback that our pricing is very generous,” Yong told IGN in an interview. “To us, that’s important. For us, we’re here for the long run. We’re not here to make a quick buck. I want to be playing and working on Hearthstone 10 years from now and from that end, instead of focusing on maximising immediate profit, Hearthstone is really about being able to play it how you want to.”

 

* Reminder: Hunter Nerf coming this week!  

 

I know it affects more classes than the Hunter, but it’s primarily targeting the Hunter dominance.  The changes are Leeroy Jenkins is going to cost 5 instead of 4.  And Starving Buzzard is changing from 2 mana to 5 mana.  This will change things up but how drastically we will see.  My suspicion is that it’s going to change a lot just because players are going to move away from the Hunter for a period of time because of the changes.  I think there will be a few purists that might stay around and make it work again.  But you should see a drastic difference in the amount of Hunters in Constructed.

 

* Patreon Goal:  Live show at 100 $5 Subscribers!

 

If we get to 100 $5 patreon subscribers we will be able to to get the equipment we need to make LOTI a live podcast!  (And we will update the patron pledges) http://www.patreon.com/LegendoftheInnkeeper

Class Overview #1 – Hunter!

The Hunter class is a unique class in Hearthstone.  Unlike the other classes in the game, one of the biggest benefits to playing a Hunter is the cards that are “Hunter only” encourage the use of beasts and traps.  No other class in the game is quite the same.  This allows for some extremely unique combinations that you won’t see anywhere else.

This is a tough time for Hunters, which is exactly why we decided to go with this class first.  Even though the starving buzzard/unleash the hounds combo is dead, we believe there is still potential to Hunter!  (For one thing, if you play Hunter you have the element of surprise going for you!!)  So let’s jump in and examine this so-called “dead class”.

As a Hunter your hero ability is 2 cost “Steady Shot” which deals two damage to the enemy hero.  It is an amazing ability,

LOTI #012 – Legend of the Innkeeper – “Arena Wrap Up”

Intro:

Welcome to the Legend of the Innkeeper.  I’m Vastidious and I’m Ariannwyn.  We’re glad you could join us for our twelfth episode.

This week we are talking about…

Updates:

What did you do this week?

Top 3 of the week –  Heroes

Vastidious: Hunter, Warlock, Shaman, Priest, Paladin, Druid and Warrior.  Sometimes even Mage and Rogue.

Ariannwyn: Priest, Priest, Priest

News

1. The Big Nerf

Zeriyah from Blizzard posted on Thursday:

http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/forum/topic/14279128810#1

“Both before and after the release of Curse of Naxxramas: A Hearthstone Adventure, we have been monitoring card balance as more Hearthstone games are played along with the new cards that have been added. After careful consideration we have decided to make balance changes to Leeroy Jenkins (Neutral) and Starving Buzzard (Hunter).

The following balance changes will be made in an upcoming patch:

* Leeroy Jenkins now costs 5 (up from 4)

* Starving Buzzard now costs 5 (up from 2) and now has 3 Attack and 2 Health (up from 2 Attack and 1 Health)

Leeroy Jenkins created a strategy that revolved around trying to defeat your opponent in one turn without requiring any cards on the board. Fighting for board control and battles between minions make an overall game of Hearthstone more fun and compelling, but taking 20+ damage in one turn is not particularly fun or interactive. This was occurring when Leeroy was used in combination with other cards like Power Overwhelming, Faceless Manipulator, Cold Blood, Shadowstep, and Unleash the Hounds, among others.

The amount of cards Starving Buzzard allowed Hunter players to draw ultimately ended up being too excessive for its low cost. This change will allow the Hunter’s opponent more time to react to both the Starving Buzzard and the cards drawn by its power.

Expert cards that are being changed can be disenchanted for their full cost for a limited time once this balance change goes live. The currently targeted date of this balance change is September 22nd.

After these balance changes go live on September 22nd, we will not be making additional card changes between September 22nd and the Hearthstone World Championship at BlizzCon.

We will continue to make balance changes to Hearthstone only when we feel they are completely necessary in order to increase the variety of cards seen at all levels of play and make Hearthstone a more fun and interactive game for everyone.”

Getting Better – Arena Wrap Up “What we have learned”

Deck Building

1. Quality minions (Importance of Chillwind Yeti)

2. Removal removal removal

3. Mana curve

Gameplay

1. Board control  (Reddit comment: “The most common mistake I see (as someone who averages 6.5 wins) is people trying to sneak damage in when they should be making a favourable (or even) trade. The damage will come later when you have board control. There are definitely times where you should be going face, but most often that should be when you have a clear finish in mind (pyroblast/fireballs in hand, etc). When in doubt, simplify the board.”)

2. Keep in mind the stages of the game (Mulligan, Early game, Mid game, Late game)

3. Making wise trades/ Mana efficiency

Pushing for Lethal Damage

The only reason why you should choose to attack your opponent rather than trade minions is to push them within the kill range. When pushing for lethal, you should always have a finisher or a backup plan (strong removal, direct damage, silence to break through taunters) in your hand if you consider your opponent capable of finding a solution to the current state of the board.

Each time you allow your opponent to have priority when t...

LOTI 011 – Legend of the Innkeeper – “One Hump Or Two?”

Intro:

Welcome to the Legend of the Innkeeper.  I’m Vastidious and I’m Ariannwyn.  We’re glad you could join us for our eleventh episode.

This week we are talking about…

Updates:

What did you do this week?

Top 3 of the week – Naxx Bosses

Vastidious – The Four Horsemen, Thaddius (Polarity shift) and Gluth (turns all to 1 health)

Ariannwyn: The Four Horsemen, Thaddius, and Maexxna (Return a random enemy minion to the opponents hand)

We also had several listeners send in their top 3 Naxx cards from last week.  We love to hear from you your thoughts.  So send those in.

News

1. Pax2014 story says over 100 cards in next expansion

http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/09/01/pax-prime-2014-hearthstone-eyes-an-expansion/

“But instead of following it up with another solo adventure pack, the team is working on a proper expansion with a new type of pack, over 100 additional cards, and a bigger impact on the game.”

2. Hearthstone Nominated For The Golden Joystick Awards

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/joystick/

Hearthstone has been nominated for the 32nd Golden Joystick Awards in the following categories.  Best Visual Design, Best Online Game, Best Mobile Game, Studio of the Year: Blizzard and Game of the Year.  Go vote for the game and you will be entered to win an iPad Air.

3. Rumors

Getting Better

Part 2

http://hearthstoneplayers.com/beginners-guide-arena-winning-games/

 

As we dig further into the Arena, there are several things that players overlook when drafting cards.  These are having a good understanding of card value, importance of board control and how card advantage will help you win games.  If you are like me, I have problems with bright shiny things.  Those bright shiny things being cool combos, cards that are really cool and large minions.  With our last episode we tried to address the concept of card value.

One of the items we didn’t really dig into much last week was what a good mana curve looks like.  Unfortunately, my answer is “it depends”.  And I know that we’re going to get lots of different opinions on this subject, but let me lay out a basic thought process.

First, what does mana curve mean?  The mana curve is a visual representation of how many cards you have in your deck with each amount of mana.  So on the bottom of the chart is how much mana each card costs from 0 to 7+.  On the side you have how many cards are in your deck with that cost.  The curve is what the top of the bars look like when you’ve finished drafting your deck.  Normally the curve will start out low and rise as you get to 2-3 mana cards.  Then as you progress the curve will move back down.  The mana curve is just a way to represent the cards you have currently in your deck.

Overall, the mana curve changes depending on which class you are playing.  For example, a rush deck tends to have a mana curve that peaks out between 2-3 mana cards, where as the control deck will often peak out between 4-5 mana cards.

However, I’ve heard many discussions about how the mana curve between constructed and arena are different.  With constructed you really focus on the class abilities and dig into what is effective for that particular class.  With Arena you really don’t know what cards you are going to get so it’s often recommend to keep a nice mana curve with peaks between 3-5 mana cards.  The main reason behind this is so that you have a good opening,

LOTI #010 – Legend of the Innkeeper – “Double Digits – Arena Strategies”

Intro:

Welcome to the Legend of the Innkeeper.  I’m Vastidious and I’m Ariannwyn.  We’re glad you could join us for our tenth episode.

If you didn’t notice we have a new intro song thanks to a good friend of ours, James Marantette. We put out a call for some ideas and he came through as our hero!  We are also adding in some new features based off of feedback from listeners.  James Marantette – https://soundcloud.com/james-marantette

This week we are talking about…

Updates:

What did you do this week?

Vastidious’ Hunter Deck:  

News

1. Some details about the next expansion

In an interview with Senior Designer, Mike Donais, on the ValueTown podcast, he said that the next expansion is current in the works and actively being worked on.  The expansion is “…not exactly 100, but it’s a lot of cards”.

http://hearthstone.blizzpro.com/2014/08/25/a-glimpse-of-things-to-come/

2. Icy Veins Interview – Deck Slots are mentioned

http://www.icy-veins.com/forums/topic/6827-gamescom-interview-hearthstone-observer-mode-coming-soon/

Q. Maybe more deck slots? Like when we design decks and we have to test them, we keep deleting and remaking decks.

A. Totally, especially people like you guys. You are absolutely a Power User. Whenever people ask me if they can have more than 9 deck slots, the question I ask them is whether or not they use more than 9 decks actively at the same time. Probably for you guys, the answer is yes, because you are trying out all this crazy stuff.

One example I like to bring up is that I grew up playing games like King’s Quest. If you grew up playing PC games, they let you have an infinite number of save files. When I finished King’s Quest, I ended up with 2500 savegames, even though I only really cared about 3 of them, which I do not even remember which they are among the 2500. So, that is an extreme, but there is that balance between 9, which I am not sure it is enough, but we currently feel it is, and infinite. For most readers, I would challenge them with his question: “Are you really using more than 9 decks actively? If not, delete the ones you are not using anymore, you would save yourself a lot of headaches in the future.“. But you know, for you guys and content creators, that is a pain, so maybe there is something we can do in the future. But let’s face it, you guys are like the elite or the top few percents.

Straw Poll has been created : http://strawpoll.me/2428746

And another straw poll: http://strawpoll.me/2429111

And a Petition:  https://www.change.org/p/blizzard-entertainment-add-more-deck-slots-to-hearthstone

3. Unofficial Poll of Players

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/10KTs96KN61abo3AZYh4-7lvktP7G3UXgbrWzsAAK14c/viewform?usp=send_form

Top 3 of the Week:  Naxxramas Cards

One of our listeners suggested we have a “top 3 of the week” segment

Vastidious – Undertaker, Webspinner and Baron Rivendare

Ariannwyn – Zombie Chow, Kel’Thuzad, Nerubian Egg

Getting Better

Arena

Roles in Arena reverse in an instant. You could be up in cards when your opponent plays an Azure ...