Was bored of standard recently so blew basically all of my accumulated dust to craft Dr. Boom as I didn’t manage to pack/craft him before he went out of rotation … old skool Mech Mage is absolutely insane for this brawl – especially with Antonidus in the deck.

Goblin Blast Mage + Free Fireball, yeah, why not.

“The large number of aggro decks on ladder just makes it appear that it is the deck that is broken, when it is really the ladder system that is broken by taking way too long!”

Amen to that, even down the scrub-end of the ladder where I normally reside it’s nearly all aggro or Reno – oddly I’m actually finding Wild more fun at the moment even with the odd Dr. Boom mech-mage splattering me all over the floor (I never did pack/craft Dr. Boom) 🙂

Played a few as I had a “win 5 tavern brawls” challenge – used Rogue/Grobbulus and only came up against 1 Shaman.

Turn 1: Coin > Echoing Ooze > … > … > Your opponent has left the game

It’s not that pirate decks are unbeatable but that they’re cheap, fast, consistent (the RNG is less likely to screw you over as you’re never waiting for “that one card”) and tactically simple – you can’t really go too wrong. Basically, ideal for grinding the ladder.

Personally I find extremely aggressive play kinda boring, both to play with (prefer Miracle Rogue and Ramp Druid) and against – so I tend to only ladder up to get the card back, maybe a little more, then call it quits.

If you want some fun – take that Krul the Unshackled and visit Wild-land… if you’ve got Mal’ganis.

The fact that the attacker chooses targets makes Hearthstone an inherently aggressive game – taunt aside, the aggressor always has the options; face or kill minions (MtG is the opposite, the defender generally chooses what to block with, or not, and how to allocate damage – but then MtG is a much more nuanced game).

If you’re grinding the ladder you want quick wins, faster games means more per hour, and as long as the win rate is consistent with slower decks you’ll climb the ladder faster.

This means that anything Blizzard does that improves aggro will always have more impact than anything that improves, say, control – that’s why Patches and Small Time Buccaneer are so powerful. It’s also partly why Priest was so weak (it’s predominantly a control class) and why Blizzard could create Drakonid Operative which, in any other class, would be OP as hell.

Essentially – if you don’t like aggro, you’re playing the wrong ccg.

Having said that, I actually find extreme aggro really boring to either play with, or against – I generally don’t ladder much. I’ve been having more fun in Wild lately than Standard… I know I’m playing the wrong ccg but I keep playing anyway (though less since MSG was released).

Even when Tunnel Trogg, Totem Golem and Thunder Bluff Valiant all go out of rotation in a couple of months? We’ll see – we may just end up with a tonne of Jade Shamans instead.

Since Reno is eminently do-able for this… and it’s Wild format… I figured Krul the Unshackled and Mal’ganis. You just need to survive until turn 9.

Flame Imp
Darkbomb
Deathlord
Demonwrath
Crystalweaver
Imp-losion
Doomguard
Reno Jackson
Krul the Unshackled
Mal’ganis

https://twitter.com/ComethTheNight/status/822157672233500673

I run Medivh in a Ramp Druid deck with Rafaam; it’s not going to get you #1 Legend rank or anything but sometimes you get to give a minion +10/+10 *and* summon Deathwing simultaneously… which is nice.

… and since it’s Ramp Druid could could be doing that on about turn 7 or 8 (if you’ve survived the early aggro rush).

The introduction of Big Time Racketeer kinda screwed with Moonglade Portal though by adding another 6 mana card that’s complete trash without the Battlecry :\

Yeah – I agree that some Wild cards should be moved into Standard play.

Tunnel Trogg, for instance, is about to leave rotation – granted Shaman is pretty badass these days but it’s just such a good card for the Overloady-Shaman and fits that 1 cost 1/3 slot like Mana Wyrm, Void Walker, Northshire Cleric or Vilefin Inquisitor (which will also leave Standard eventually).

Bring back Warbot! 😀
(and make Vilefin Inquisitor Standard and Common like the others)

… though maybe that’s the point, maybe they’ll be moving staples like Mana Wyrm and Northshire Cleric out of Standard.

Pirate Warrior is very newb friendly – it’s viable without Finley, Patches and Leeroy, and doesn’t even require any epic cards so it’s absolutely cheap as chips. It actually looks like something built up with new players in mind.

Tedious as hell to play against (or with), granted – but not really any worse than Mech Mage or Facehunter back in the day… hell, when I was just starting out I spent a while Facehuntering my way to victory for exactly the same reasons a new player would now use Pirate Warrior – extreme aggro is the easiest way to win when you’ve only got a very limited card collection.

Wish I’d read this first – I went into it blind with a really old skool Mill Rogue which was pretty hilarious for trouncing the Dark Wanderer but it wasn’t until the 3rd game where I actually triggered all of his secrets and turned him into the Cow King O_O

Suddenly he’s got a load more cards and infinite Hell Bovines – bum! Nearly milled myself to death, saved only by Vanish and getting a weapon that gave me just enough damage to finish him off.

My entire wishlist can be summarised in 3 words… less random bullshit.

For added lulz – try something along these lines in Wild with Mal’ganis and Krul the Unshackled for the most hilarious turn 9 ever.

Old skool, taunt-heavy ramp druid consistently beats Jade Golem Druid – especially if you chuck in Medivh, Rafaam and a couple of Moonglade Portals.

Most suitably aggressive decks beat Jade Golems as well – but you have to play them extremely aggressively to kill your opponent before they can really get ramped up.

Jade Golems seems to be a bit of a C’Thun like gimmick to me; it’ll be popular for a short while then the meta will settle back to almost exactly how it was before – but with more Dragon Priests (until TGT and BRM rotate out in a few months anyway).

I’m still gonna call the deck braindead but, to quote “I’m absolutely convinced that it’s not the players who you should fault for playing the deck, it’s the system (however silly it sounds).”

Never a truer word was spoken.

I don’t really enjoy playing as, or against, extremely aggressive decks but that fault is mine – essentially I’m playing the wrong game. The mechanics of Hearthstone are skewed towards much more aggressive play than say MtG… but it’s too much fun (most of the time) to quit – though I mostly just play casual games.

I’m fairly convinced that since the release of the “Mean Streets” expansion the meta has actually sped up rather than slowed down as Blizz might have intended… and this is one of the reasons.

The best way to lock down a Jade Golem deck – or any other late-game, big minion focused deck for that matter? Kill them before they can snowball; if you can survive the first few turns and heal back up, you’ve generally got a pretty good chance of beating this deck – Kazakus Renolock I’ve found fairs relatively well.

… but it should get an award for the deck most likely to make me mutter “yeah – f*** you, you brainless aggro motherf*****” at the monitor when I win.

I didn’t really overthink it so several of the cards could probably be replaced but the basic plan was Nerubian Egg or Jade Swarmer into Unearthed Raptor – then drop a Defender of Argus or Sunfury Protector. Worked pretty well for me so far: http://www.hearthstonetopdecks.com/decks/rogue-double-deathrattler-brawler/

Now that Discard Zoo is actually viable there is a spot for this guy…

… actually that curves nicely into Holy Nova or Excavated Evil as well.

Hmmm looks like Shaman’s not the only deck to get a 4 mana 7/7 now – Priest with Inner Fire, granted it requires the combo.