50th Episode Potluck Party!

Happy Hearthstone turns 50 today! We invited all of our classic guest hosts back on for one uber long, uber silly show all about Hearthstone and the fun strategies, tips, and advice we learned over our years of playing.

Sit back, pull out your beverage of choice, and join us for a little fun today in The Happy Hearthstone Inn.

Hello!

• Dan, Derrick, Chris, Adam, and Scott are on the show this week
• Topic: Strategy Potluck and Suprise Trivia show!
• Reasons to be happy this week
• News: Tavern Brawl, Hero Portraits, Deck Card Backs

Lost Potential

Served by: Josh

• How do you evaluate cards that have super high potential?
• Is it “bad” to lose potential, even if the card is efficient?
• Example: Aldor Peacekeeper is a 3/3 for 3
• You don’t NEED to get a big change from his effect for the card to break even. BUT it could do way more in ideal situations.
• Is using it on a 4/4 a waste because it could be used on a 8/8?
• Example: Flamestrike
• If Flamestrike kills 1 minion of the same cost, is that breaking even? If it kills 2, is that good?

Playing Casual

Served by: Chris

• Using pre-set build from Icy Veins is incredibly helpful. Sound like this should be straightforward, but I’ve been surprised by home many friends play hearthstone, max out at rank 21-22, and just figure that’s it.
• I was the same, just figured I wasn’t good enough, until I started using some pre-made decks for the classes.
• Now I regularly get to rank 15-16, and while its more challenging, it’s also more fun!

Dreaming Up New Ideas

Served by: Adam

• What do we want to see added to Hearthstone from bottom up (Card, Card Mechanic, Set, Feature)?
• Tons of ideas mentioned on the show.

Co-op Raids

Served by: Dan

• Like the WoW TCG.
• Onyxia, Molten Core,Magtherodon,Black Temple, Nax, Assault on ICC.
• Dungeons as well.

Health as a Resource

Served by: Scott

• Health is a resource that’s there to be ‘spent’, if it helps you get an advantage.
• Obviously can’t take it too low, or you’ll get yourself into trouble.
• Safer in arena than constructed.

Deck Velocity

Served by: Derrick

• Essentially, this is how fast you rip through your deck — and why WHEN you draw cards matters.
• When you’re talking card-draw (i.e. cards in your deck that make you draw cards) I’ve been playing around with the value in playing card-draw spells earlier vs. later.
• Tradeoffs: Developing your board is important, but so is seeing deeper into your deck sooner

• Chart above tracks how many cards in your deck you’ve seen, using examples of playing Arcane Intellect on Turn 7, Turn 3, and never.
• Notice that the earlier you play it the more turns with the realized benefit.
• My sense tells me this is better in a control deck (if you need to dig for removal/control cards).
• Not all bombs are expensive so seeing more cards sooner provides flexibility during gameplay that you wouldn’t otherwise have access to.
• No clear “rule of thumb” (i.e. always do one over the other) but i have seen some neat benefits with cards like Call Pet in my Hunter Beast deck due to its flexibility.
• (review Call Pet card) So look for openings where you can afford to play a card draw spell and take advantage of it
• The faster you dig through your deck the less variance you’ll see in your play leading to maximize your decks potential.

Community

• Josh gives a pop quiz!
• iTunes Reviews

Card of the Week

Tune into the show to hear our awesome quintet introduce the card!