Hearthstone Top Decks F2P BTW Challenge: Week 2 Update

Introduction

Week 2 of the Hearthstone Top Decks F2P BTW Challenge is done! Here, you see my end of week rank, keep up with my current decklist and get a sense of how I spent my time, gold, and arcane dust for the second week of the challenge.

End of Week 2 Rank

Current Deck List

I will continue to update my decklist as I gather new cards during the challenge. You can see my current build below:

Week 2 Summary

The second week of the challenge was a bit slower than the first. Rank gain, as expected, took more time due to the sheer number of stars required to climb at higher ranks. After completion of the Introductory Quests, resource accumulation seemed to grind to an immediate halt. Worse yet, I was still in a position where the only Daily Quests I was offered were the 40 gold beginner’s quests. Fortunately, Knights of the Frozen Throne Missions provided me with some much-needed, supplemental card packs.

Each new card that I add to my deck continues to significantly improve my ladder experience. Even something seemingly minor like swapping River Crocolisks in favor of Golakka Crawlers made a noticeable difference. If nothing else, this endeavor has revealed to me how detrimental even a couple card slots can be to a deck’s success.

During the end of the week, real life obligations meant my time played dropped dramatically. I still managed to rank up efficiently when I was able to log in to Hearthstone, easily surpassing my goal for the week. By Sunday evening, I was sitting comfortably at Rank 6 and a few measly wins away from the target I set at the F2P BTW Challenge‘s onset.

In upcoming weeks, I should have no issues reaching Rank 5 and, given the pace I’m on, I may be able to make a push for Legend (time permitting, of course).

Knights of the Frozen Throne Missions

As planned, my challenge for Week 2 was to take on the Knights of the Frozen Throne Missions. Each wing completed rewarded ever-important card packs and, as a result, helped fill out some suboptimal card slots I was settling for in my deck.

My intention for the missions was to use exclusively Basic Cards and I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I was able to complete the first two wings. There were certainly some fortunate moments (including Deathbringer Saurfang gifting me a Forge of Souls) but the first six missions were all completed on my first attempt. You can find the decks I used, along with mini guides, on the Hearthstone F2P Guide: How to Get Cards without Spending Money article.

The Lich King himself proved to be too great a challenge to complete with Basic Cards alone, but I may revisit this encounter in coming weeks.

While the payout of these missions wasn’t necessarily a great time investment (especially after both packs had an Arcane Dust value of 40), the solo adventures provided a nice break from the Standard ladder grind.

Ranks 15-10

In the early stages of my time in the 15-10 Rank range, I found myself getting more frustrated than I had at any point in the challenge. Because it was still very early in the season, powerful (and well-piloted) decks were quite common in this stretch. Highlander Priests,  Tempo Rogues, Token Shamans, and Zoo Warlocks (all of which are unfavored for Hunter) made up nearly 75% of my matches.

At peak saltiness, I found myself seriously questioning the decision to ladder with Hunter this season and began looking up other potential decks I could build. Hunter, despite boasting a reasonable win rate at lower ranks, is not well-positioned in the current meta.

These bad matchups (and a worse attitude) notwithstanding, eventually I was able to make my way out of this rank range thanks to a series of win streaks. This bad mindset, however, was a severe detriment to my focus, which led to several misplays (such as this one) that certainly decreased my win rate even after I made it beyond Rank 10.

Tavern Brawl

The Tavern Brawl for Week 2 was Spellbook Duel. With my limited card collection, I was a little disappointed to see another Brawl that required me to build a deck. However, I was able to cobble together the list of cards below and sneaked in a quick victory earning the free Classic Pack from the game mode.

Roffle’s F2P Spellbook Duel Priest:

• Holy Smite
• Northshire Cleric
• Mind Vision
• Power Word: Shield
• Inner Fire
• Mind Blast
• Radiant Elemental
• Divine Spirit
• Shadow Word: Pain
• Holy Nova

Additionally, due to the low deck size, Spellbook Duel turned to be a great place to complete class card Daily Quests and unlock more of the Basic Cards for each class. While I’m still hoping for a Brawl with a preconstructed deck next week, the game mode continues to be helpful to my new account when it comes to accumulating resources between ranked play sessions.

Ranks 10-5

A forced break from Hearthstone towards the end of the week was beneficial to both my outlook and matchups in the 10-5 rank range. During this rank span, I was still running into several Rogues, but the inclusion of Golakka Crawlers made this (and the Shaman match up) much more winnable.

Compared to the previous range, Ranks 10-5 seemed to fly by. Here, allowing other typically high ranked players catch up with my pace was incredibly beneficial in terms of making progress. While my win rate is still nothing to write home about (and in fact was lower than the previous range), these ranks seemed significantly easier to climb than ranks 15-10. This goes to show just how much attitude contributes to both success and enjoyment in gaming.

The importance of win streaks, once again, cannot be overstated. The Midrange Hunter I’ve been running continues to have several unfavorable match ups among some of the popular decks on the Standard Ladder. As a result, stringing wins together has become something of a necessity for making my way up the ranks.

Week 2 Statistics

Throughout the F2P BTW Challenge, I’ll be collecting detailed statistics related to Win Rates, Pack Openings, Card Crafting, Quests Completed, and Time Played.

Win Rates

Thanks to the inclusion of additional cards and longer breaks between laddering, my win rate has increased over last week despite playing at higher ranks.

My opponents for the week were unfortunately made up of predominately Rogues, Priests, Warlocks, and Shamans. Still, very few Mages and Druids have been encountered in my grind, both of which would likely help improve my win rate.

I do feel more confident in many of the matchups than at the start, including some of those that are unfavorable. This confidence may be at least partially responsible for my improved win rate.

Week 2

Ranks 15-10

Rank 10-5

Week 2 Pack Openings

Week 2 consisted of significantly fewer pack openings than the first week of the challenge. If it weren’t for the completion of the first Knights of the Frozen Throne wings, I’d have only opened 5 packs. Despite this, I stuck with the plan of opening packs until I find a Legendary for the set. Doing so has continued to maximize the dust value of my packs, despite a streak of 40 dust packs this week.

Better still, I finally found a Legendary I’d be able to disenchant in Soggoth the Slitherer, which provided me with a far more valuable 400 Arcane Dust.

By the end of Week 2, the only set I had not yet opened a Legendary for was Mean Streets of Gadgetzan. If I open another Legendary on the Safe to Disenchant list, I should be able to complete the crafting portion of my deck. Here’s hoping I pull something bad!

Classic Packs

• Number of Packs: 1
• Average Dust Value: 40
• Legendary: None

Knights of the Frozen Throne Packs

• Number of Packs: 2
• Average Dust Value: 40
• Legendary: None

Whispers of the Old Gods Packs

• Number of Packs: 4
• Average Dust Value: 138.75
• Legendary: Soggoth the Slitherer

All Sets

• Number of Packs: 7
• Average Dust Value: 96.42

Card Crafting

New cards added to the deck continue to have a massive impact on my success on the Standard Ladder. Eaglehorn Bow and Bearshark were the first to make their way into my list, giving me a consistent tempo swing and sticky early threat, respectively. At the end of the week, Golakka Crawlers joined the party to chow down on a few early game pirates found in the increasingly popular Shaman and (more so) Rogues lists.

At present, I feel I’m two Bittertide Hydras and Kindly Grandmothers short of an optimal list. Unfortunately, the latter card cannot be obtained by crafting and will require a significant amount of gold to include. I’m not sure two weeks will be enough to accrue 1,400 gold, but after I receive a Legendary from my Mean Streets of Gadgetzan packs, I’ll start pursuing this goal.

Rare

• Eaglehorn Bow x2
• Golakka Crawler x2

Common

• Bearshark x2
• Dire Wolf Alpha x2

Total Arcane Dust Spent: 560

Quests Completed

Quests this week were a bit of a disappointment compared to Week 1. Since all of the Introductory Quests had long been completed, I found gold accumulation to be a little slower than at the start. Fortunately, however, I finally received (but did not complete) my first 60 gold quest at the very end of the week. The additional gold from these now available advanced quests should provide me with some decent momentum going into the last half of the challenge.

Daily Quests

• Destroy Them All: 40 gold
• Druid or Hunter Victory: 40 gold
• Dark Soul: 40 gold
• Righteousness: 40 gold
• Priest or Paladin Victory: 40 gold
• Shadow and Light: 40 gold

Time Played

Due to IRL weekend plans, time played this week was dramatically lower than in Week 1. This may have been to my benefit, however, as my focus and attitude were much better during the games I played this week.

Perhaps equally important was the fact that grinding away less frequently meant the ladder was a bit less chaotic. As the season progresses, more players commit to their climb and get closer to their true ranks. For me, this means that I was matched up against players with more comparable decks giving me a better chance to find long streaks of wins.

• Monday: 2.5 hours
• Tuesday: 3.5 hours
• Wednesday: 1.5 hours
• Thursday: 0.5 hours
• Friday: 0 hours
• Saturday: 1.5 hours
• Sunday: 0.5 hours

Week 2 Total Time Played: 10 hours

Overall Statistics

Win Rate

Pack Openings

• Total Packs Opened: 28
• Average Dust Value: 112.68
• Legendaries Opened: 4

Card Crafting

• Total Dust Spend: 1080

Time Played

• Total Time Played: 26 hours

Week 3 Goals

Rank Goal: 3

Given that I’m currently just a few wins away from reaching Rank 5, it seemed silly to make that the goal. Rank 3 shouldn’t be too difficult to accomplish, especially if I’m able to gather the dust for a pair of Bittertide Hydras. Reaching Rank 3 in the upcoming week will leave me in a reasonable position to push for Legend, even with a few suboptimal cards remaining in my deck.

About the Author

A card game veteran, Roffle has been infatuated with Hearthstone since closed beta. These days, he spends most of his time tinkering with decks on ladder or earning gold in Arena (f2p btw). In particular, Roffle has a wealth of experience in competitive Wild Hearthstone, including a top 16 finish in the inaugural Wild Open Tournament and numerous high end of season finishes since the format’s inception. Follow him on Twitter or check out some of his articles on Roffle.net.