It’s time again to dive head first into some Hearthstone(Free) news! This week we’re seeing some small changes to Arena as well as the card dubbed by former Lead Developer Ben Brode as ‘The Craziest Card in Hearthstone.’ We also got to see a few examples of new decks that have been performing well at legend rank. The Year of the Raven is now in full swing and we are continuing to see really amazing decks shine through and wow us.
What’s Happening in Arena
Arena has long been lauded as the place that you can go to stretch the value of your gold to its absolute limit. It’s the mode that will most directly reward you for doing a little extra legwork and reading up on the game. Whether you study general deck building principles, peruse tier lists, or check those sites that will suggest each card one at a time for you, the pay off can be really huge for a small gold entry fee. For players that enjoy the general format of Hearthstone but might not want to face off against the same top tier standard decks each time they play, Arena can also serve as a respite from the flavor of the month style decks you tend to run into in ranked. This week we got info that in an effort to keep this mode as well balanced as possible, the currently over performing Paladin class had an adjustment made to appearance rates of certain cards. While this is a little obtuse it basically means card draw got a little worse for Paladins in Arena.
Hadronox OTK Druid
Disguised Toaat has a completely ridiculous Druid build that utilizes Abomination’s deathrattle to deal well over 30 damage in a single turn. A Deathspeaker’d Spiritsinger Umbra combined with Hadronox getting raised from the dead with a Witching Hour all costs exactly 10 mana and is the catalyst that turns a 2 damage deathrattle into a game ending barrage. The only caveat is that the damage gets dealt to you too, so make sure you keep that health pool nice and high if you take this deck for a spin!
Shudderwock Battlecry nerf?
I’ve already had some adventures with the ghastly Shudderwock and his insane battlecry. Sadly it looks like the reins are being pulled in on the potentially ludicrous number of effects he can trigger. Now capped at 20 battlecries per ‘wock, this really should not have too much of a negative impact on the card and what we get in exchange is an improvement on how quickly the battlecry animation plays. While they were at it, Lifedrinker’s battlecry also got a faster animation. Does this kill the card? To be honest, after playing a few games, the deck doesn’t quite feel competitive enough. It is, however, a great gimmicky deck that will be sure to generate fantastic moments if you decide to pilot this one.
High Ranked Winners
The Blizz news team, whom I feel must bear some resemblance to the team in Anchorman, gave us a peek at the good life last week. Showing off some decks performing well was a great way to inspire players to see just what it takes to make it to the big leagues and still come out on top. EU player Moxis, NA player evans, and Asia player trahison were all given the stamp of approval from our friendly neighborhood newsfolks. So just remember, if you ever feel like you are trapped in a glass case of emotion, you can always take a look at what people are succeeding with and get yourself out of a slump!
Togwaggle Druid
Kripparrian takes a walk on the wild side with a Togwaggle Druid wild deck. The deck functions by stalling out your opponent and waiting til the Aviana->Kun combo comes out. At that point you can drop the Togwaggle to trade decks and also the Azalina to ensure you can keep hold of your opponent’s deck afterwards. The deck has enough card draw to run pretty close to dry by the time you want to drop the combo, leaving your opponent with a small or non-existent deck. It’s a safe deck that has a real mean finish once you weather the early and midgame onslaught. Check out the vid for more details and examples.
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