For new sets to be relevant there are only two options:

1.) eternal power creep

2.) nerfing the old cards so they are weaker than the new ones.
The problem blizzard has with this is that by nerfing the old cards (that players already own) they have to give the players a lot of dust refunds, so standard players will just disenchant the old cards, craft the new cards and they do not need to spend any money this way.

I still think that 2.) would be the better option if timed correctly, and if the refund window closes 3 weeks before the new set is released, the strategy above would be thwarted because it would mean 3 weeks without competitive hearthstone for anybody who disenchants their standard collection in expectation of the new set having superior cards.

The only ones who would benefit from this policy would be the players who spend real money for large bundles that give them 10 of every common and 4 of every rare card, so blizzard would reward those who spend real money for the game.

Blizzard mainly fails in identifying the different groups of player preferences.

Arena is the best example:
There are those who like to play play arena on and on, and there are those who want to mix gold+playing effort to more packs and cards than opneing packs alone.

A smart marketing division would offer players a choice between card/pack-heavy payout and ticket/gold heavy payout, so e.g. at a certain point you would get either a epic card or a tavern ticket depending of which payout style you chose beforehand.

Another example are players who want to climb the ladder quickly (playing quick decks that allow for more games) vs. others who want to play longer games with control style decks or game-ending but mana-heavy combos vs. achievement hunters who maybe have less interest in climbing the ladder upwards (where harder opponents await them)
Giving players choices to adapt the way they are rewarded for playing (eg: high number of wins / high number of turns spent in games that have been won / high number of games or turns played regardless of outcome) could make them feel happy about the way they like to play the game without forcing them into a certain play style to reap the rewards.

I agree

Last week’s brawl (Ragnaros’ Fire Festival) would have deserved its own month of Twist (just give the mini-rag more starting power), but this one is just … random

new cards:
City Defenses fit it there well.
Stonecarver probably too, but I do not own it yet

this time the most important innovation is customs enforcer.

either you have a quick answer for it, or you lose in short manner.

thanks for the article!

do you know by any chance from which sets the rewarded epics are chosen from?
last expansion?
standard?
any expansion?

what happens if i have a full standard epic collection, but wild epics are missing – will i get a duplicate standard epic, or a new wild epic?

i beg to differ.

cooperative brawls really need good understanding of the game and gives you many options to decide correctly or incorrectly. the only downside is that you sometimes get paired with an unskilled teammate.

there are a lot of awful brawls, and this is definitely not one of them

“always pick the cheaper card” still holds true in 2025.

since hearthstone developers did not eliminate the draw step for this brawl, everyone effectivley draws 3 cards per turn. from turn 4 on you never get the card you pick, because you start the turn with a full hand. you still get to give your opponent a bad card, and now he has a full hand and loses his pick too. both players see their draw step card explode, end only get the bad cards their opponents gave them. oh what fun! does anybody ever playtest these brawls?

druid has access to inervate, overgrowth and sometimes wild growth, making it the superior class in this brawl.

ways to fix that brawl (ideally all four suggestions are put into effect):
– eliminate the draw step !!! (players still get 2 cards per turn)
– give all players 2 extra mana from the start (as they did it with the zombeast brawl)
– make the offered cards of equal mana cost (otherwise the cheaper card will automatically be picked)
– limit the mana cost of offered cards. (I would radically suggest a limit of 3 mana, because the brawl only makes sense if you can play multiple cards per turn). Another option would be that only cards are offered that can be played with the available mana, but that would still make hands full quickly.

maybe he has superior equipment so his animations run faster?

i think that turns with many cards played / many attacks declared should get some extra seconds of time, and turns with no action should lose some seconds to spare waiting time for the opponent, but the game is as it is

p.s.: wildfire replaced ice lance in the ice block deck

pounce druid has two weaknesses.
the first is that you never have the time to win T1, because time always runs out.
the second allows me to win every time agianst pounce druid if i am warrior, priest or druid

also works well with embalming ritual and raise dead

the real patches deck was druid – embiggen + patches.
that was really broken

but while i get the patches ban, i do not get that soularium and pogo hopper (and automaton to a lesser extent) can roam around unharmed.
if you want to try a strategy that is slightly off, then you have to auto-concede whenever the first card your opponent plays is a soularium or a pogo (or an automaton), which at times seemed to be 90 % of all games

thanks for the update!

coldlight oracle should be replaced by prize vendor in the naturalize deck, now that it has been buffed.
prize vendor is cheaper, bigger, and gives the same amount of cards to both players.

it is hard to find a deck for hunter in this format, but metaltooth leaper is even outmatched by the neutral security automaton, now that mechwarper is nerfed and galvanizer has to take its spot.
–> the best galvanizer deck in this format is currently mecha-shark imho, but that is only available to mage.
–> the best hunter deck is probably stonetusk boar + birdwatching

in other news:
given how popular it is, astral automaton (+animate dead / embalming ritual / raise dead) should definitely be on the list of example decks, which lacks a priest deck anyway.

given how popular it is, aegis of light + dragonscale armament should definitely be on the list of example decks, which lacks a paladin deck anyway.

warrior – anima extractor + risky skipper has game against anything outside of soularium / pogo hopper / automaton and is a blast to play – should definitely be on the list of example decks, which lacks a priest deck anyway.

mage – elemental evocation + thunderbringer
multiple elemental invocations being played, each discounting thunderbringer by 2. actually a good strategy, because the thunderbringers have taunt and spawn more thunderbringers when they die
theoretically possible T1 on the draw (coin + 3 invocations + thunderbringer) – should definitely be on the list of example decks, which lacks a mage deck anyway.

rogue – tendrils of chaos + shadowstep looked like fun

as stated in the forum, “counterfeit coin + flik skyshiv is a thing that people do” (but not very often)

honestly i cannot believe they did not ban soularium.
if you combo it with soul barrage you win most games on T2, and on T3 your win is almost inevitable, there is no real way to stop it. I have tried irondeep trogg, eternium rover, armorsmith and oh my yogg with no success, and those cards fail miserably against every minion-based deck.
with fist of jaraxxus instead of soul barrage it is less severe because you can deflect much the damage to small minions and win with some luck, but it still makes for very un-interactive games.
the perfect foil against soularium is death knight – horn of winter + frozen over, but all the other decks that are currently played do not draw extra cards and therefore win against that strategy

Thank you for this article Old Guardian!

I think the question what makes the game enjoyable and fun for the players is the most important question for all parties involved, the players, the developers and the company that wants to earn players’ money by giving them interesting new game content.

Winning may be one important factor, but it only fully applies to a certain percentage of the player base. The best thing blizzard ever did to the game is allowing players to get to diamond 5 with a constant 40-45% win rate as long as they play often enough. This allows players to EXPERIENCE THE SENSATION OF SUCCESS. This can be winning, but is not limited to it. It can be just executing a certain plan successfully after trying several times, or playing that special combo that you were tinkering with for days.
Personally, I have spent a lot of time recently trying to complete as many gameplay achievements as possible. Of course I liked the puzzle achievements best, but even the grinder achievements had the appeal that I had to find out ways to accumulate the vast numbers quicker, e.g. by copying cards or by bouncing battlecry minions. The only achievements that I do not enjoy are the casino achievements (snake eyes, oh my yogg, party up, and several others) that are completely rng based and have to be played over and over again, frustrating me every time the stars do not align.
That being said, the big question for developers has to be: how can the game be fun for a player that loses more games than he wins? Well, achievements are one option. Another important thing is making the games different, a.k.a. keeping the meta diversified. I do not mind losing 4 out of 7 games if I lose to 4 different strategies, but I do mind if all 4 losses come against the same decks or the same cards. Overpowered neutral cards are the worst, because you will face them against multiple classes and strategies. Recent offenders include Reno Lone Ranger, Yogg-Saron Unleashed, The Ceaseless Expanse, all cards that seemed to be in almost every deck and were quite frustrating to play against. I did not mind Marin the Manager and Gorgonzormu that much, because despite being powerful cards their effect was not that immediately gamebreaking.
Faster and more frequent nerfs against excessively played cards (especially neutral ones) to keep the meta fresh are very important to keep the playing experience entertaining.

in a format where games last only 1-3 turns Lorekeeper Polkelt will not trigger its battlecry very often

some new decks popped up this time:
– Paladin buffing Stonetusk Boar to OTK size
– Priest summoning Prophet Velen/Malygos from their deck and burn you with Mind Blasts
– Crane Game Warlock now has access to Rotten Apple, which greatly

However, the easiest way to kill your opponent on turn 1 is playing big burn spells and adding a sprinkle of crad draw. Stargazing into Lightshow (or Greater Arcane Missiles) is hilarious, so i cut one Volume Up (replacing it by Jania’s Gift) to make it happen more often. Maybe you could increase your chances by adding defensive tools like Aracne Artificer or Solid Alibi, but this pure version has definitely more first turn kills:

### Blood Magic Draw Burn Mage
# Class: Mage
# 2x (1) Ice Lance
# 1x (1) Jaina’s Gift
# 2x (2) Frostbolt
# 2x (2) Stargazing
# 2x (3) Burndown
# 2x (3) Forgotten Torch
# 2x (3) Lightshow
# 2x (4) Fireball
# 1x (4) Volume Up
# 2x (5) Apexis Blast
# 2x (5) Manufacturing Error
# 2x (7) Firelands Portal
# 2x (7) Greater Arcane Missiles
# 2x (7) Mask of C’Thun
# 2x (9) Sunset Volley
# 2x (10) Pyroblast
#
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the rank 3 bundle would be a pretty good deal if you could purchase it right away, but since the rank 2 bundle is so mediocre, i probably would not bother.

who needs hundreds of card packs if you can complete the collection afterwards with offers like 2 legends for 8 $/€ and the quest chain that gives you epics – both from the previous (!) expansion

One deck strategy I wanted to share is weapon rogue. Most opponents do not play weapons, so all the weapon buffs are useless for them. Rogue can activate their hero power on turn 2, proceed with Swarthy Swordshiner, Sharp Shipment etc. The options are manyfold, just play what suis you.

This deck could also use Mindbreaker (hero powers are disabled) or Sideshow Spelleater (copy your opponent’s hero power), because it does not need its own hero power and could really shut down totem shaman and silver hand paladin with Mindbreaker after clearing the board with Blade Flurry, or it could use all that buffs after acquiring the totem/silver hand hero power through Sideshow Spelleater.

weapon rogue:
2x (1) Deadly Poison
2x (1) Leeching Poison
2x (1) Shadestone Skulker
1x (2) Blade Flurry
2x (2) Fogsail Freebooter
2x (3) Swarthy Swordshiner
2x (4) Sharp Shipment
2x (5) Cutting Class

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