Hearthstone 23: The Evil League of EVIL

[Geno9999]

Oh my god, release it already, I have 4K gold saved up! I want to spend them on packs already!

Good news, it's just going to be released next Thursday. Like the old Adventures, it's going to release with a chapter every week afterward, though from the video it does sound like we start off with 2 (1 Free chapter, Chapter 2 is unlocked when you play through the first chapter.)

[Resileaf]

Okay. You have my interest, Hearthstone. This looks like fun.

[Rodin]

They've FINALLY addressed my biggest problem with the Dungeon Run format! The annoying preset deck you get when you start the game! Always getting the same deck was deeply irritating, as the decks were always pretty crap to start with and you often wound up losing when you drew a very basic card that you were stuck with right from the start. The ability to tune your deck mid-run looks great as well, and the hero power change looks like a refinement of the shrine system from Rumble Run.

All in all, it looks pretty impressive.

[Zevox]

Huh. I legitimately forgot the single-player content was even a thing, honestly. Weird that they're only launching it a good month+ after the set itself.

Anyway, I'll probably just play the free wing. I've liked each iteration of the Dungeon Run concept less and less, to the point where I barely played Rumble Run because I found it so miserable when I did, so I'm not inclined to spend real money or gold on this. If the gold cost was equivalent to what the number of packs it gives you normally cost maybe, but IIRC they announced that the pricing was higher than that back before the set even launched, and that is not good enough for me.

[Seerow]

Huh. I legitimately forgot the single-player content was even a thing, honestly. Weird that they're only launching it a good month+ after the set itself.

Anyway, I'll probably just play the free wing. I've liked each iteration of the Dungeon Run concept less and less, to the point where I barely played Rumble Run because I found it so miserable when I did, so I'm not inclined to spend real money or gold on this. If the gold cost was equivalent to what the number of packs it gives you normally cost maybe, but IIRC they announced that the pricing was higher than that back before the set even launched, and that is not good enough for me.

If you buy with gold the deal is pretty bad (2800g total so compared to 28 packs), but with real money it's actually a pretty good deal ($20.00, comparable to buying 15 packs).

For your 20 bucks you get 12 regular packs, a bonus golden whizbang equivalent, and a golden classic pack.

If the Zale decks are even remotely playable, it's overall a pretty good deal. The golden pack is probably worth about 4 packs in terms of raw dust value, so just from packs alone you get your money's worth, the bonus card puts it over the top.



That said, I am not a fan of the weekly release schedule. Like, you're already making us wait more than a month after set release, now we have to wait 3 more weeks after that for everything to be unlocked? I get they're trying to draw out the high engagement time period for hearthstone, but this is just annoying.

Mostly bitter because I happened to have an entire week off work starting on the 20th, but from the sounds of it I'll only be able to enjoy playing 2-3 wings of the adventure rather than getting to clear the whole thing while I have the free time. Ah well guess I can play some more Pathfinder Kingmaker or WoW instead.

[Zevox]

If you buy with gold the deal is pretty bad (2800g total so compared to 28 packs), but with real money it's actually a pretty good deal ($20.00, comparable to buying 15 packs).

Real money spending is something I keep to a very controlled minimum when it comes Hearthstone. And I already spent more on this expansion than I normally do when I bought the $10 9 packs + an arena run bundle back at launch, mostly because I liked that they were actually offering such a cheap deal instead of just the $50-$80 ones that I'd never touch and wanted to support that, to hopefully give them the message to do more like it. (My usual spending pattern is $20 every second expansion, and Rise of Shadows was going to be a no-spending expansion for me until I saw that bundle.)

So yeah, no chance they're getting that out of me for this.

[Psyren]

For me the preorder is worth it because I get several months of entertainment out of that bundle and the price per pack is at a hefty discount. Add in the fact that I get many more packs for free on top of the bundle thanks to the the various quests and ladder chest with the decks I've built and I'm pretty happy with the results. (And unlike Magic, I'm not stuck with a million basic lands and commons. I hope they come up more gameplay modes though.)

Speaking of Ladder, my preorder packs and dust on hand enabled me to build a couple of contenders:

Control Warrior
Mecha'thun Warrior
Murloc Shaman
Wall Priest
Midrange Hunter
Mech Hunter

I haven't gotten to try the Priest or Mech Hunter yet, but so far Murloc Shaman has been the most fun. Rogues currently feel too commonplace for my Johnny sensibilities.

[Geno9999]

So turns out that with the patch being released 2 days ahead of the adventure, Zayle Shadowcloak (the Legendary you can either craft or get a golden for owning all 5 chapters of the adventure) has been showing up in Rise of Shadows packs.

He, like Whizbang before him, is a deck in a card; put him in a deckslot, and he'll give you 1 of 5 different decks to play at random when you queue with him.

Spoiler: Zayle Shadowcloak Decks

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As found on Reddit:

Inner Fire Silence Priest

AAECAZ/HAgTtAfgC0P4C65sDDd0E5QT2B9UIpQnRCtIK8gyDlAOHlQOYm wOumwOCnQMA

Tempo/Battlecry Rogue

AAECAaIHCLICzQPtBef6AqCAA7SGA5KXA9KZAwu0Ae0CmwWIB9 0Ihgmm7wLOjAO0kQOPlwOQlwMA

Control Shaman

AAECAfWfAwqyBqfuAu/3Apn7AqCAA8GJA9KYA7mZA8WZA4adAwqBBPUE3gX+Ba2RA7SRA 4qUA5WUA7SXA8aZAwA=

Control/Plot Twist Warlock

AAECAfqUAwrbBvMMwvECnPgCzfwCoIADj4ID0oYDl5cDiZ0DCp IHtgfECMwIxfMCtPYC2pYDwpkD2psDg6ADAA==

Bomb Rush Warrior

AAECAQcKuuwCze8Cm/ACkvgCjvsCoIADmocDm5QDkpgDwJgDCp3wApfzAtH1Ap77ArP8 AvH8AvWAA5eUA5qUA4OgAwA=

Spoiler: Thoughts on decks

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Silence Priest is playable, though Silence is hardly Priest's strongest archetype atm. Doubt the tech choice of 1 Auchenai Soulpriest, or Wild Pyromaniac without his roommate Acolyte of Pain makes this deck any better than what's already been made before.

The Tempo Rogue deck doesn't have the Raiding Party + Waggle Pick package, which imho is the biggest reason why Tempo Rogue is so powerful and consistent right now, but the Battlecry/COmbo package that it does have along with Spirit of the Shark does make me think this is a pretty good list, probably the best or second best of the five with Warrior.

Control Shaman is a thing, but I'm surprised that this didn't go for the Muckmorpher/Big Bad Summoner package. Seems good at outlasting any deck that isn't a Control Warrior, but on the other hand this doesn't have any endgame spikes outside of Archivist Elysiana or a questionable Shudderwock.

Plot Twist Warlock is not a good archetype according to HSreplay, and I'm don't think this version is any better. Wants to go all in on the Dollmaster Dorian/Fel Lord Betrug value, but I don't think Soularium is the way to go, especially when most of the deck has such a high mana cost. And who put Shriek in this list?! Most likely to be the worst of the five.

Bomb Rush Warrior, unlike the other decks, I can't seem to find a comparable archetype on HSreplay. While the Bomb Package has seen success, Rush Warrior had been a fringe deck in the previous meta. While Rush Minions in general should help to control the board, there's no Warpath or Brawl for wide boards, and big minions can be difficult to deal with no Executes or Shield Slams. There's also no Omega Assembly, even though Hero Dr. Boom is in the list, which really hurts the late game for this midrange deck. That said, I think it's fighting with Rogue as the best deck of the five. Just realize that you're pretty unfavored in a Warrior mirror.

[Rynjin]

Had a quest to win 3 games as Shaman and was bored of Murlocs, so I threw this together:

Spoiler: Angry Breeze

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### Angry Breeze
# Class: Shaman
# Format: Standard
# Year of the Dragon
#
# 1x (0) Ancestral Healing
# 1x (2) Acidic Swamp Ooze
# 2x (2) Ancestral Spirit
# 2x (2) Doomsayer
# 2x (2) Rockbiter Weapon
# 2x (2) Windfury
# 2x (3) Far Sight
# 2x (3) Feral Spirit
# 1x (3) Haunting Visions
# 2x (3) Lightning Storm
# 2x (4) Hex
# 1x (5) Zilliax
# 2x (6) Eureka!
# 2x (6) Safeguard
# 2x (7) Rabble Bouncer
# 1x (7) Ravenholdt Assassin
# 2x (8) Walking Fountain
# 1x (8) Whirlwind Tempest
#
AAECAaoIBoYBlQGKB6CAA4qFA6adAwwzigHuAe8BlAP1BP4Fsg af/QLbiQOKlAPAmAMA
#
# To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone

Kind of a meme OTK but pretty satisfying to pull off and has decent matchups against not-Control Warrior. Control Warrior just generates too much armor, since your OTK "only" does max 40 damage unless you somehow stick two minions against Warrior.

[Rodin]

Spoiler: Thoughts on decks

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Silence Priest is playable, though Silence is hardly Priest's strongest archetype atm. Doubt the tech choice of 1 Auchenai Soulpriest, or Wild Pyromaniac without his roommate Acolyte of Pain makes this deck any better than what's already been made before.

The Tempo Rogue deck doesn't have the Raiding Party + Waggle Pick package, which imho is the biggest reason why Tempo Rogue is so powerful and consistent right now, but the Battlecry/COmbo package that it does have along with Spirit of the Shark does make me think this is a pretty good list, probably the best or second best of the five with Warrior.

Control Shaman is a thing, but I'm surprised that this didn't go for the Muckmorpher/Big Bad Summoner package. Seems good at outlasting any deck that isn't a Control Warrior, but on the other hand this doesn't have any endgame spikes outside of Archivist Elysiana or a questionable Shudderwock.

Plot Twist Warlock is not a good archetype according to HSreplay, and I'm don't think this version is any better. Wants to go all in on the Dollmaster Dorian/Fel Lord Betrug value, but I don't think Soularium is the way to go, especially when most of the deck has such a high mana cost. And who put Shriek in this list?! Most likely to be the worst of the five.

Bomb Rush Warrior, unlike the other decks, I can't seem to find a comparable archetype on HSreplay. While the Bomb Package has seen success, Rush Warrior had been a fringe deck in the previous meta. While Rush Minions in general should help to control the board, there's no Warpath or Brawl for wide boards, and big minions can be difficult to deal with no Executes or Shield Slams. There's also no Omega Assembly, even though Hero Dr. Boom is in the list, which really hurts the late game for this midrange deck. That said, I think it's fighting with Rogue as the best deck of the five. Just realize that you're pretty unfavored in a Warrior mirror.

Spoiler: Thoughts on Decks

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The reason the Shaman deck isn't the Muckmorpher one is because that's a deck recipe. Probably the best deck recipe they've ever made, in fact - the version I run is like
2-3 cards different. As such, Muckmorpher Shaman is already getting pulled by Whizzbang, which meant they had to come up with something different for it.

Personally, I would have liked to see them make the strongest possible version of some of the Tier 2 decks rather than watered down versions of Tier 1 decks (and Plot Twist Warlock). Get some Big Duel Paladins and Gepetto Hunters in that list, get people excited about off-beat decks that are still really competitive.

[Yael]

Welp I came back for more card games~

I completely missed the troll and boomsday expansions, so I got really behind on what decks to play. As such, I'm looking for a nice budget deck for ladder play, what would you recommend?

I was thinking mech Hunter, as it is fairly cheap, but so is murloc Shaman. I am actively playing Spell Mage (mana typhoon one), and somewhat play Khadgar Spell Mage (I do not have all the dragons for a propper Khadgar Dragon mage, too many epics and Harrison Fords).

Thoughts? Also, I'm back from the old list, looking for friends

[Joran]

Welp I came back for more card games~

I completely missed the troll and boomsday expansions, so I got really behind on what decks to play. As such, I'm looking for a nice budget deck for ladder play, what would you recommend?

I was thinking mech Hunter, as it is fairly cheap, but so is murloc Shaman. I am actively playing Spell Mage (mana typhoon one), and somewhat play Khadgar Spell Mage (I do not have all the dragons for a propper Khadgar Dragon mage, too many epics and Harrison Fords).

Thoughts? Also, I'm back from the old list, looking for friends

Currently the meta is Rogue, then Warrior (to counter the rogues) and then whatever can beat Warrior (Mech Hunter, Conjurer Mage). If you want a not F2P guide to how the meta is shaking out: https://www.vicioussyndicate.com/vs-...er-report-129/

Here's a few budget decks:
https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone...ingle_epic_or/

In terms of crafts from Boomsday/Rastakhan, the card that sees the most play is Zilliax. It's not the sexiest craft, but it's by far the most versatile. UNITY, PRECISION, PERFECTION.

Spoiler: Thoughts on Decks

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The reason the Shaman deck isn't the Muckmorpher one is because that's a deck recipe. Probably the best deck recipe they've ever made, in fact - the version I run is like
2-3 cards different. As such, Muckmorpher Shaman is already getting pulled by Whizzbang, which meant they had to come up with something different for it.

Personally, I would have liked to see them make the strongest possible version of some of the Tier 2 decks rather than watered down versions of Tier 1 decks (and Plot Twist Warlock). Get some Big Duel Paladins and Gepetto Hunters in that list, get people excited about off-beat decks that are still really competitive.

Thematically, it has to be 5 classes to match the 5 members of the Evil League of Evil (Warlock, Warrior, Shaman, Rogue, and Priest).

Also, it has to not overlap with Whizbang decks. Finally, it has to not be a tier 1 deck because Blizzard doesn't want to give you decks without you needing to pay for them.

I like the ideas that you mention (Duel Paladin, Gepetto Hunter) since they aren't covered in Whizbang and sound like fun, but alas, they aren't in the EVIL LEAGUE OF EVIL.

[Thomas Cardew]

This week's brawl. Pick a hero, your deck is random legendaries cloned 4 times, every (other?) turn you get a 0 cost spell make the next legendary and all copies cost (3) less. Blergh. It's a RNG fest but at least it completes class quests.

[Rynjin]

I played my one game, started with three Millhouse Manastorms.

3 0 mana 4/4's on turn 1 later, I win.

Balanced.

[The Glyphstone]

Getting Fel Lord Bertrug on-field as Warlock is immense fun though. Value for days.

[Hamste]

Turn 1 Vargoth who then recasts the reduce the cost of a minion by 3 spell is pretty good. At one point I got -9 on the next minion I played because of Varhoths. It is too bad I had nothing good to discount.

[Rodin]

I played my one game, started with three Millhouse Manastorms.

3 0 mana 4/4's on turn 1 later, I win.

Balanced.

I got my one and done by getting Glinda Crowskin and Brann Bronzebeard. Filled my board with Branns on turn 3 and then just went face.

I like almost all the Tavern Brawls that don't require building a deck. Cloneball is the exception, because unlike the other RNG-fests the winner is usually determined on turn 1.

[Joran]

Enemy doesn't play his 0 mana card turn 1.

Turn 2: Loatheb
Turn 3: Loatheb
Turn 4: Loatheb

Fun and interactive.

[Resileaf]

I waited four turns to discount Y'shaarj to 4 mana.

[Requizen]

Random Tavern Brawls Are Stupid: More News at 11

I for one, can't wait to try the solo player on my lunch break, only to see the servers crash and then curse Blizzard. As is tradition.

[otakuryoga]

Random Tavern Brawls Are Stupid: More News at 11

I for one, can't wait to try the solo player on my lunch break, only to see the servers crash and then curse Blizzard. As is tradition.

not sure about that...
was just playing and checked single player and it said "available in one week"

so..maybe they found some massive bug in the you-tuber pre release event and pushed it back a week?

[The Glyphstone]

Random Tavern Brawls Are Stupid: More News at 11

I for one, can't wait to try the solo player on my lunch break, only to see the servers crash and then curse Blizzard. As is tradition.

Pretty much. I don't know why anyone is surprised by this point, the RNG-brawls are...well...RNGfests. The bright side of them is that because they snowball so fast, your time investment in a bad setup is minimal - concede and re-roll, costs you nothing.

Solo servers aren't out for another week though, IIRC.

[Requizen]

Pretty much. I don't know why anyone is surprised by this point, the RNG-brawls are...well...RNGfests. The bright side of them is that because they snowball so fast, your time investment in a bad setup is minimal - concede and re-roll, costs you nothing.

Solo servers aren't out for another week though, IIRC.

I've only seen May 16th anywhere, which is today, though as otakuryoga said they may have pushed it back? We'll see in an hour I guess.

I'm paying for the whole thing, I want to support them for single player content and honestly the rewards are not bad for the price.

[Rodin]

I've only seen May 16th anywhere, which is today, though as otakuryoga said they may have pushed it back? We'll see in an hour I guess.

I'm paying for the whole thing, I want to support them for single player content and honestly the rewards are not bad for the price.

The preview event yesterday was still saying today for it, so I'm pretty sure it'll be out today. Just late in the day as usual, especially for those of us on the other side of the pond.

The event's up on Youtube if you're interested, it's a lot of fun if you enjoy watching Hearthstone and don't mind spoilers. There's a heck of a lot of memeing going on, and there are penalties for the team in the lead like "pop every bubble in this roll of bubble wrap before playing another match." They're constantly skipping around between the streamers so it's not even a problem if you don't like one of the competitors.

[Requizen]

Solo player is up!

[The Glyphstone]

And it genuinely looks awesome.

[Gandariel]

Yup, it was surprisingly fun.

Played it twice, won twice. It was also pretty easy, honestly. At least the normal mode.

It's very certainly the most fun Dungeon Run-esque mode so far. The multiple starting hero powers and decks are a great idea for replayability, the periodic encounters at the bar are very good design.. but to be honest, the custom cards are really inspired this time around.

There's a boost that "Occasionally gives good advice" randomly troughout the games, such as recasting spells, giving you an extra turn, summoning random legendaries, and more.
There's a 1 mana "Discover a quest reward", and a spell that summons an Immune, untargetable 5/5.

In short, very very fun.
I played twice with the first two decks and hero powers, ended up rushing every boss down very fast (first time i had goggles that reduce the cost of your leftmost card by 2. Super broken. Second time I had the hero power, plus "spells cost life").
I wanted to try heroic mode once but it looks like you have to re-unlock everything? That's kinda dumb.

[Rodin]

From what I've gathered from the preview event as well as what I've played myself, it appears the difficulties are as follows:

Normal starts off Chaper 1 at the level of the old Adventures, where you can have your cat play and still win. As it goes up to chapter 5, it begins approaching the difficulty of the regular Dungeon Run where you need a good deck and decent strategy to be able to win.

Heroic starts off at the level of a regular Dungeon Run and ramps up from there. They did Chapter 5 Heroics for the final event, and most of the players were dropped by boss 3 or 4 and only a couple made it to the 5th boss.

I kinda like having both, because you can screw around a lot more on Normal and still be successful where the previous Dungeon Runs would straight up kill you for anything less than utterly broken decks with a perfect curve.

Spoiler: Most fun moments for me so far

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Picking the Hunter quest for my very first bucket, and then pairing it with the "get a random Death Knight hero power" and double battlecries. Can you say Valeera's Shadow to double up on Springpaws to get 6 one mana minions from a single card? Then using the coins to complete the quest turn 4, allowing me to get 4/3 Raptors that draw 2 cards for the rest of the game? Absolutely hilarious.

With that same deck, Galliwix played a Fel Reaver. I had a 10 card hand consisting of 1 mana minions and coins. Do the math.

Easiest Heroic boss ever? The lady that doubles all healing, who used her turn 5 to play the minion that makes all healing into damage for the rest of the turn, played Spirit Lash, then Binding Healed her remaining minion. She didn't survive the resulting 15 damage to her own face.

[Zevox]

Well, that first wing was very easy, for sure. Was kind of worried about the last couple of bosses, since they started with extra mana on you and seemed to be making strong early plays, but their decks overall just turned out not to be very good.

Still, I think I'm taking my three packs and calling it done. I'm not seeing any reason I'd want to play this for anything but the rewards - sure they've added more stuff to it, but it's still Dungeon Run at its core, and the novelty of that wore off long ago for me, and it never had much more than novelty to recommend it as far as I'm concerned. And since the rewards aren't worth the gold cost and I'm definitely not spending real money on it, well, it's done for me.

That's okay though, standard has been so much nicer than it was almost all of last year anyway, I don't really need another mode to play.

[otakuryoga]

beat bank on 2nd run
got rafaam double cursing them before the start which is pretty powerful as it knocks off 8-?? hp and slows em down
unlocked one hero power and 2 decks(hunter)

can absolutely see this being something that occupies some time to go through and unlock everything
beating each stage with all hero/power/deck/twist combinations? no thank you but i can certainly see complete completionists doing so