Hello everyone and welcome to another Touchstone Tavern, our weekly roundup of everything that happened in the world of Hearthstone (Free). This past week, the topic that dominated was – of course – the new expansion, Mean Streets of Gadgetzan. The expansion, which arrived with a quickly-fixed bug, has been so far quite positively received and people have been having fun experimenting with silly decks. It looks like Blizzard has designed a strong expansion that should rejuvenate the game. Of course, we’ve heard this story before, so we’ll have to be a bit patient before crowning Mean Streets a success. After all, maybe in a couple of weeks a super-powerful deck will emerge that will spoil everyone’s fun. So far, though, so good. This week’s Touchstone is all about the expansion, so step right through the door.
Mean Streets Came With a (Quickly Fixed) Bug
When Mean Streets expansion dropped on December 1st, everyone jumped in to open their new packs only to soon discover that there was a bug that affected tri-class drops. The result? People ended up with tons of those cards and many disenchanted them immediately. And then Blizzard came out and said that the drop rates were buggy and moved to quickly fix it and give free packs to those affected. All well that ends well, but for a moment there a storm was brewing in a Hearthstone cup. Read our story about the fix here.
The Latest Expansion is Full of Personality
This story is all about how the expansion has given the game a life beyond just the grinding and the familiar combos because of the cards’ playfulness and personality. The tri-class cards and the unique factions have helped make this expansion feel worth exploring much more than previous ones. It also goes into questions of how the meta will change – or won’t change – and which cards seem to be already standing apart from the rest. Dragonfire Potion, Kazakus, and Kabal Courier are cards that in their way have opened interesting possibilities for the new meta. Overall, the writer sees Mean Streets as a robust and defining expansion that will both provide an interesting meta but also build a lore apart from the World of Warcraft one.
Mean Streets New Archetypes
This story is one of many that talk about the new archetypes already emerging in Mean Streets. The writer talks about Pirate Warrior (long live Patches the Pirate), Jade Golem Druid (which everyone knew was coming), and Dragon Priest. You can read about the most important cards in each archetype and how the decks play out. Of course, it’s still early days so these decks might end up being super powerful or a joke.
10 Best Mean Streets Cards
Another premature evaluation in this story, but this time it’s about individual cards rather than archetypes. The story talks in some detail about (in descending order) Jade Idol, Kazakus, Inkmaster Solia, Aya Blackpaw, Don Han’Cho, Wrathion, Dragonfire Potion, Dopplegangster, Counterfeit Coin, and Finja the Flying Star. How many of those do you have? I didn’t find many of these cards in my 50 packs, so I guess I was just unlucky. Check out the story here.
Best and Worst Cards for Your Deck
And yet another premature evaluation, but this one goes over bad cards, too. The worst cards are Weasel Tunneler (I actually like this troll card), Gadgetzan Ferryman, and Worgen Greaser. On the other side, the best cards are Kazakus, Aya Blackpaw, Dispatch Kodo, Don Han’Cho, and Jade Idol. What do you think about these choices? Do you agree?
Cards to Craft and Cards to Dust
Personally, I always avoid crafting or dusting any cards before the meta has settled a bit, but I know many who prefer to quickly craft popular cards and ride the early wave. If you are one of those, read this story. The writer says you should craft Aya, Drakonid Operative, Doppelgangster, Freezing Potion, Hobart Grapplehammer, Inkmaster Solia, Jade Idol, Kazakus, Shaky Zipgunner, and Wrathion. On the other hand, he says you should dust Gadgetzan Ferruman, Genzo the Shark, Greater Arcane Missiles, Mayor Noggenfogger, and Weasel Tunneler.
Mean Streets Takes Cues From Adventures
This writer talks about how Mean Streets seems to have taken many ideas from previous adventures rather than expansions, especially in using various characters early that dress up the early Mean Streets quests in a bit of lore that makes the whole experience feel more like playing an Adventure than just opening packs loosely based around a theme. By using the factions theme, Blizzard has managed to make a very entertaining expansion that should satisfy those enjoying the lore side of Hearthstone.
Is Hearthstone Going to Imitate Heroes of the Storm?
In this interesting story, the writer talks about how Blizzard seems to be considering bringing lore from other Blizzard games to Hearthstone. By dropping Heroes of Warcraft from the title and introducing new card backs that seem to point to Diablo, Blizzard might be hinting at Hearthstone getting stories and characters from its other IPs just like Heroes of the Storm has been so successfully doing. If that is true and Blizzard is indeed considering doing what this article is speculating, what would you be most excited to see in Hearthstone?
Is Mean Streets the First Anti-Aggro Expansion?
Let me save you the suspense; according to this writer, the answer is no, the meta isn’t going to slow drastically after Mean Streets. He believes that the nature of the game (where the attacker dictates the play and the defender can’t really interact outside using secrets) always favors the aggressor. He does have some interesting analysis of the various decks that might be coming out of the expansion, but overall he doesn’t see Mean Streets as the silver bullet that will take those aggro decks out of business.
The Winners and Losers of Mean Streets
This story talks about which classes will benefit and which won’t from the new expansion. According to the writer, Druid is the class of choice for Jade Golems, Paladin is best for Aggro, Mage is the new Reno of choice, and the losers are Rogue and Warlock. Who is the winner? Well, predictably it’s Priest thanks to all the new weapons it has received. Do you agree with this assessment?
BatStone #2 Tournament To Showcase Mean Streets
Firebat is planning on making the second BatStone tournament all about Mean Streets cards. Players and the community will get to vote on how many Mean Streets cards player decks will have to include. That way, we’ll get a taste of how specific Mean Street cards might influence the pro scene. Voting is already open, so check out the story for more details.
Kripp’s First Mean Streets Arena
Infinite Jade Golem
WTF Gadgetzan Moments #38
Noxious’ Evolved Gangsters
Best of Kazakus
Trump’s Reno Priest Potion Madness
Mythbusters Gadgetzan Edition
Trump’s OP Dragon Priest
Best of Gadgetzan Combos
Amaz and Priest Potions
As always, we have some good resources on the site for you in case you are new to the game or simply want to sharpen up your game. There’s never such a thing as too much help in Hearthstone, so check out our guides.
Hearthstone Deck-building Guide
