Climbing Hearthstone Ranks

All journeys start with a single step

With the start of the first official season and welcoming in Hearthstone’s official release, I have decided to try and climb the ranks and attempt to obtain the elusive legendary Hearthstone rank. The following article covers the trials and tribulations, deck changes and personal challenges I have endured thus far. Currently, I have managed to claw my way to rank 12 and plan to continue climbing the rest of the season. Hopefully my experience will help others on their way to the higher ranks and (with any luck) to the golden place of legendary status.


The first deck I used to climb to rank 14 was a tempo Rogue deck. After various changes and tweaks the final variation that got me to here is listed below. The utility offered by shadow step proved to be very handy either for bursting through extra damage with Leeroy Jenkins, or simply bouncing a Defender of Argus for some more taunters and increased attack/health. The other handy little trick I found myself often relying on, was dropping a Novice Engineer to draw, then bouncing it back to my hand to have a reliable 0 drop to aid in the triggering of combo cards. This deck may well have the potential to climb higher than I have obtained with it, but I have been struggling to deal with the vast amount of control Warriors I ran into around at the rank 15-16 mark, so I switched things up.

What the tempo deck deals well with is aggro, by removing a lot of the threats efficiently with backstab and SI:7 Agent before they get off the ground, the deck works well against Zoo Lock, Murlocs and the other various forms of aggro.

The problem is control Warriors, Hand Lock and even Paladin control, these decks give Tempo rogue some real problems. With Hand Lock you have to try and play a fast and aggressive game, as you're only answers to their giants are Sap and Big Game Hunter. Although Big Game Hunter can be Shadow Stepped to hit twice in a tight spot.

Tips and Tricks Tempo Rogue

This deck requires a lot of planning ahead, whether to hold back in order to trigger a combo, or to try and get some board presence. A common problem I encountered was the decision whether or not to drop Defias Ringleader on turn 2 if I couldn't trigger him with the coin. This again comes down to your opponent, if they are running aggro, sometimes you’ve got to bite the bullet and drop him anyway. However, if your opponent is playing the slow control game, it can be beneficial to wait and have two creatures instead of one. This can is a difficult decision to make, but you will begin to get a feel for it when playing this deck enough. It's also important to note that in times of need, don't desperately be looking to always combo. While the combos are nice, board presence or removal can be more viable than waiting on a trigger.

Hitting A Plateau

It was at this point at rank 15 I hit a rather hard losing streak, with my tempo Rogue pushing me back down to rank 16. After pretty much chaining wins to get to this rank it was more than a little bit disheartening to suddenly be beaten back down. It got to the point where I was becoming worried to even play again for fear of losing more rating and plummeting further, but after reading up a bit on other peoples experiences on Reddit and various guides around the hearthstone community, I decided to grit my teeth and try again.

I continued to lose, but kept a positive attitude making small notes on difficult decisions and misplays I had made. After making some adjustments to my play style and slowing down my plays, I was able to climb again to rank 14. Unfortunately loosing is part of learning, even if you lose a game make sure you try to take something from it. Think about it constructively, as it's easy to blame bad luck, money cards, cheap tactics, etc - while these may well have been a factor, there is something to be taken from every game. So even if you lose, you're still getting match experience.

On my journey to Rank 14 once more the amount of control Warriors continued to pour in, with this current meta I decided to look into what was strong against a control Warrior. This is when I stumbled upon the controversial and often despised ‘Zoo Lock’. I had found after a little research, not only was this an exceptionally strong deck, but one that could be built on a small budget not requiring vast amounts of legendary's. So after looking at a few examples that other people had constructed, I decided to piece together a version of it below.

Whilst I'm still not completely happy with the deck, I managed to climb comfortably from rank 14 to rank 12 where I'm currently sat. During these games I came across a fair amount of Ramp Druid, ‘Hand Lock’ and other control decks. The aggro decks I faced ranged from Face Hunter to Murlocs (and even the odd mirror match). So with a bit of deck tweaking, I found a single copy of Mind Control Tech and a single copy of Big Game Hunter to often be handy when facing off against the current meta.

Tips and Tricks Zoolock

A common problem with this deck is that you will often end up with Soulfire and Doomgaurd in your hand, two cards which both force you to sacrifice. More often than not, it's rare that Soulfire will be better value than a Doomgaurd, as he provides a lot of health and is a step up of 1 damage compared to a Soulfire. Either way, this deck can require some serious risk taking - but with potentially big pay off's.

Playing around the discards and dropping your creatures carefully isn't easy, and will take some practice to get right. While the deck can definitely be played as a face rush deck, this will only get you so far before you need to play more tactically. Overextending your reach and dumping your hand into a sweeper like Flamestrike will quickly spell your doom. Likewise, in a mirror match up you have to decide what it is you're going to trade and what will hit your opponent as you need to keep pressure on your opponent, as well as attempt to keep board dominance.

It will also pay off to try and keep track of how many sources of burst you have left in your deck and the total amount of cards left, this can help you gauge when to attempt to put pressure on and reduce the opponents health to a point where your deck can produce the burst needed to win. The only problem is drawing into two sources of burst that require discard, it's always a gamble but sometimes it's better to just dump your Soulfire into the enemy instead of waiting and drawing into another discard burst card, as it will lead to in efficient use of your cards.

Zoolock

Tempo Rogue

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Hearthstone Legendary Spotlight: Bloodmage Thalnos

We hunger for vengeance! 

On first glance, the power of Bloodmage Thalnos can be extremely underestimated. Although he is a 1/1 with little chance of surviving more than one turn, he is without a doubt, one of the most powerful cards in the game. As he only costs 2 mana, his +1 spell damage ability makes him a must have in any spell heavy deck, especially Mage and Druid. In a Mage deck he combines well with Mana Wyrm and Arcane Missiles for quick spell damage and early creature presence. He is generally a great pick for arena decks too, as he fits in well with most classes. Even if you don’t manage to draft many spells, his draw mechanic will make up for this.

He can also help you out early on to get rid of big creatures such as the Chillwind Yeti ,who’s 5 health normally cause a bit of a problem. For example, the Druid spell Swipe can suddenly deal 5 damage to one creature and 2 damage to all other creatures. Or you can use Starfall to deal 6 damage to one creature, or 3 damage to all creatures. He can be combined with many other sweeper spells such as Arcane Explosion, to take out any waves of small creatures which you normally face against aggro decks (or combined with Flamestrike for bigger creatures). He is also a massive damage dealer in the Warlock deck when combined with Soulfire, giving you 5 damage for only 2 mana !!

Not only does he help with spell damage, but his deathrattle ability allows you to draw a card. This means that even if you play him early on in the game, you will have a creature and the chance to draw. Although this will mean you can’t take advantage of the extra spell damage later on. He is a great replacement for the Novice Engineer and Loot Hoarder, as your opponent will always have a sense of urgency to get rid of him. Leaving a creature with +1 spell damage on the board for too long is never a good idea. And if he manages to stick on the field somehow, you could follow up with a Kobold Geomancer giving yourself +3 spell damage total.

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Kick, Lick and Baa

Have you ever wanted to be a little furry bi-pedal whirlwind of destruction? I know I have, and my dreams have now be realised in this completely pointless and hilarious game. You will spend your time in goat simulator running around head butting people, cars, shops, bbq's and even other goats! In this gloriously buggy and broken virtual town.

What started out as a 'joke' at an indie game jam has turned into a phenomenon, when they showed a broken buggy game that was only made as a bit of fun, the developers had no idea how popular it would become.  The initial videos showed a goat running around and glitching into walls, causing it's head to stretch all over the place and generally causing carnage. The internet loved it and demanded that it was released for all to play and waste time on. After a lot of pressure, the game company caved and made Goat Simulator into a full title (side-splitting funny bugs and game breaking moments intact). 

The game developers themselves have described the game as follows: “Goat Simulator is a small, broken and stupid game. It was made in a couple of weeks so don’t expect a game in the size and scope of GTA with goats. In fact, you’re better off not expecting anything at all actually. To be completely honest, it would be best if you’d spend your $10 on a hula hoop, a pile of bricks, or maybe a real-life goat.”

With no heirs or graces taken, let alone pride in the product they have produced, they have managed to make a truly unique hilarious and genuinely fun game. In a game industry where grey pallets and knee high wall covered based shooters are your AAA bread and butter and about as bland as it comes. This game goes to show that you don't need the best graphics and your game doesn't even need to work properly! For all those sat on the fence about whether to buy goat simulator or not, we highly recommend this title! Take that money you were going to spend on your Call of Duty map pack, or that fancy hat you want in Team Fortress 2 and buy this game. Probably the most retarded fun you will have, and a great way to relieve stress.

Watch Durr play this disgracefully fun title below:

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Warlock "Titan" Deck

 

 

 

HOW TO PLAY THE DECK
The way I play this deck is to defend for as long as possible, this enables you to get to the late game and use Jarraxxus as the finisher. This is sometimes a risky strategy, as it means you getting down to very low health. If you are playing against an aggro deck or a deck with sudden burst damage, you will need to be more careful. You will also want to be wary of using your hero ability when playing Hunters or Mages, otherwise you may find yourself with a sudden Fireball or Unleash the Hounds chipping away at the last of your health. This deck can also be chopped and changed around, for example Molten Giant fits quite well into this deck, as would the Mountain Giant. On the other hand, if you are looking for a more budget option then Argent Commander is a must have.

REMOVAL

There is a lot of removal packed into the deck, will Hellfire, Drain Life, Shadow Bolt and Mortal Coil. These are further enhanced with the implementation of the Azure Drakes. Shadow Bolt and Mortal coil are great for taking out the pesky Chillwind Yeti and other creatures with 5 health. Siphon Soul is used for taking out the big creatures and anything which has been buffed to hell, or annoying legendarys such as Ysera. Do not waste Siphon Soul on a smaller creature unless absolutely necessary.

BACKBONE OF THE DECK

The main basis of the deck is the Ancient Watchers, which when combined with Defender of Argus or Sunfury Protector, can be used as powerful defence. And if you silence them with Spellbreaker, they can become a powerful attacking unit. These are also useful late game, as they only cost 2 mana and can greatly slow down your opponent. The downside is, if you don’t draw Defender of Argus/ Sunfury Protector or Spellbreaker, then you have the difficult choice of either dropping an Ancient Watcher to use later, or using the Warlock hero ability.

EARLY GAME

Most of the early game with this deck is using Sunfury Protector, Earthen Ring Farseer and Hellfire, along with the other removal cards. This should allow you to maintain control of the board and using the Hero ability when needed. Earthen Ring Farseer is surprisingly good early game and it’s healing ability can be used on either your hero or your minions. Even if he isn’t needed for healing, it’s still a great 3 drop. A lot of the time in this deck you may have a buffer card that you are forced to play by itself (for example, Spellbreaker with nothing to silence), but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing and having a creature is better than no creature.

LATE GAME

When moving into the late game, the aim is to set yourself up to use Jarraxus. Ideally you want to have some form of taunt or at least a creature. This will prevent things like Leeroy Jenkins ruining your day. You should also be careful when playing against mages, Pyroblast followed by a Fireball can take out Jarraxus in 2 very painful turns. You can try to wait them out, but generally if the mage has only a few cards in hand it’s safe to transform.

WEAKNESSES

Probably the main weakness of this deck is aggro, especially if you are unlucky enough not to draw hellfire. I find that the Dread Infernal works well against aggro, but with this being a 6 mana drop creature, you will probably have lost a lot of health by then already. Your best chance is to draw until you get Hellfire then when you get to about 15 health, think about using Jarraxus. You may also be forced to throw a big creature under the bus to try and slow them down. Don’t be afraid to Shadow Bolt a creature with less than 4 health if they are buffing creatures, for example Warsong Commander has 3 health – but you want to get rid of that as soon as possible.

 

 

STRENGTHS

This deck has an unbelievable amount of defence, and is extremely difficult for someone to break through. The Ancient Watchers combined with Spellbreaker/Defender of Argus are a sudden major problem for your opponent to deal with. The amount of removal also allows you to maintain board control, while buying yourself more time to draw the cards you need.

 

 

 I have had a lot of fun playing this deck, and with the exception of Jarraxus it’s not that difficult to build as most of the rare cards such as Ysera can be replaced with other cards and still be a viable deck.

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Rogue Legacy: Heirs have their uses!

Rogue legacy as the title of the game suggests, is a 'Roguelike' game. This game genre is defined by random level generation, permanent death and generally (but not always) 2-D style tile based environments. If done poorly, this will lead to frustrating and short lived play, due to the perma-death feature. However if done well, a roguelike game will offer hours of fun and a unique sense of progression, albeit with some frustration still.

Considering I have no sunk 80+ hours into Rogue Legacy, it safely falls into the 'good' category for myself. It's unique approch to the perma-death of a character is that you can choose 1 of 3 heirs for the death of your previous character. You earn gold throughout your characters life which can be spent on upgrades which in turn are then passed onto your heirs, these range from base health increases, to access to new weapons and even new classes with unique abilities. As you spent your gold your castle will grow adding more towers with further choices on what to spend your gold on giving you a physical representation of your progression!

When you choose to be succeeded by one of your 3 hiers it's interesting to note that not all heirs are created equal! Not only is each heir assigned a class with their own unique play style but there are smaller traits which can be beneficial or a complete handicap to them (not to mention hilarious). These range from dwarfism making your character tiny, shortsightedness meaning enemies at range appear blurry. A personal favorite is being clumsy meaning any destructible object you touch will explode! so rather than landing on a table over a spike pit safely, if your character is clumsy he will crash straight through it onto the spikes!

Each time you enter the dungeon it will be randomly generated but will have the same rough lay out with the tougher areas being joined to the starting area, I won't go into to much detail as to how as part of the joy of this game is exploring and getting your head around the mechanics. There are some really tough boss fights to which can be incredibly tough to get past considering even reaching them can be exceptionally challenging! Luckily very early on you will get the ability to 'lock' the dungeon down preventing it from randomly spawning again and enabling you to jump straight to the door outside a boss fight.

This game is an incredible amount of fun and considering how often you die very fast paced! if your looking to dip your toe into the roguelegacy genre this is a great place to start! check out Durr's failed attempts in the video below.

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Rogue Hearthstone Deck: K.Q.D

Knives. Quest. Draw.

Knives, Quest, Draw (or K.Q.D for short) is a deck I designed using Miracle rogue as the back bone e.g. Gadgetzan Auctioneer. Thus drawing lots of cards using rogues 0-1 cost cheap cards to keep drawing more cards. There are a few centrepiece combos which I will explain later on, with a rough play guide and complete deck list. At the bottom of this Article you can see the deck in action, although the first game I played was a loss, the 2nd game shows how quickly you can recover with this deck, as long as one of the centrepieces sticks.

Knives: A small but very powerful early game combo is getting a Knife Juggler down who combos well with Elven Archer, Elven Archer will give you 1 targeted shot then your Knife Juggler will throw out 1 random dagger. This combo can be further improved upon by using Shadow Step to bounce your Elven Archer giving her 2 targeted attacks and throwing out 2 knives. Although there is only a single copy of him in the deck, another very valuable combo is using Defias Ringleader to summon 2 creatures, throwing 2 random knives again - you can also Shadow Step him to throw another 2 random knives totalling 4, which is nothing to be sniffed at. The other aspect of knives comes from Fan Of Knives which provides a mild sweep, but when used in conjunction with Preparation will enable you to play 2 cards for 0 and draw 1 card. This will allow you to buff your Questing Adventurer twice! or drawing 3 cards total if a Gadgetzan Auctioneer is in play, all for 0 mana!

Quest: The main damaging combo is Questing Adventurer, he can level up quickly using the rogues access to cheap spells, ideally you’re going to want to play him after your Gadgetzan Auctioneer  however you can play him earlier if you can keep him alive with Conceal. As long as he can survive 1 turn you will often end up with 10/10 under your control or even higher depending on how well you take care of him. He benefits from any card entering the field so using Shadow Step on a creature and re-casting it will count as 2 cards being played and give him +1 +1 for each of these.

Draw: The other centre piece creature in this deck is the Gadgetzan Auctioneer and the main piece in Miracle Rogue, ideally you’re going to want to play him on turn 5 where possible then hide him with Conceal, again fishing for conceal and waiting till turn 6-7 may well be needed to make sure he stays alive. If you manage to keep him alive for 1 turn the next turn your going to be drawing a lot of cards and Ideally looking for the previously mentioned Questing Adventurer getting both of these cards down in play is an exceptionally powerful combo and will snowball very quickly. Another small draw combo is Novice Engineer used in conjunction with Shadow Step allowing you to draw 2 cards for each time she enters the battlefield, If a Gadgetzan Auctioneer is in play this effectively becomes draw 3 cards for 2 mana which is obscene.

A few other notable cards in this deck are Bloodmage Thalanos who provides a bit more draw and spell power to help with all the damaging spells packed. Leeroy Jenkins to help drop opponents when combined with Sinister Strike or Cold Blood you are suddenly able to burst out 9-10 damage which is often enough to finish off a weakened foe. Eviscerate is also noteworthy as removal to help keep your creatures safe but can also double up as a bit more burst damage ideally though you’re going to be looking to use this for removal purposes. 

Single cards, there is currently  a single copy of Sinister Strike and Cold Blood which strikes a better balance of damage and flexibility Cold Blood requiring you to combo and Sinister Strike being useful for setting up a combo or even finishing off an opponent or draw should a Gadgetzan Auctioneer be in play.  There is also a single copy of Sap, I was initially running 2 but found this to clog the hand, sap is great for removing blockers in your attacking creatures way in the late game but a dead draw early on. Again I found 2 copies of Defias Ring Leader to not work as well with my deck late game but they are handy nut draw early game pressure or when combed with 1 of the 2 Knife Jugglers in the deck.

Ideally I’d like to have a copy of Edwin Vancleef in place of my Defias Ringleader but still lacking the dust/luck required to obtain him but if you access to him I highly advise slotting him in over Defias Ringleader.

Hearthpwn Link
Deck List Below: 

• 1x Bloodmage Thalnos
• 1x Leeroy Jenkins
• 2x Preparation 
• 2x Gadgetzan Auctioneer
• 2x Knife Juggler
• 2x Questing Adventurer
• 2x Cold Blood
• 2x Conceal
• 1x Defias Ringleader
• 2x Eviscerate
• 2x Shadowstep
• 2x Elven Archer 
• 2x Fan of Knives
• 2x Shiv 
• 2x Backstab
• 2x Novice Engineer
• 1x Sap  

K.Q.D In Action:

   

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Defying a 21st century business model: why Wii U is not Wii 2.0

 

 

 

Written by @anujitkaur of thewonderwound.blogspot.co.uk

The Wii’s initial success owes so much to the simplicity of the console and the engineering that went into it, that we recognise it as a phenomenal landmark within gaming and technology. However, it is this same success that has created the bar, a bar too high, a bar that all other consoles are measured by.

Despite all the technological advances that surround us, we recognise that we are in a ‘reinvent and tweak’ culture. A tablet is launched, bugs are fixed, tweaks are added, and a new version lands. A smartphone is launched, bugs are fixes, tweaks are added, and a new version lands. An application is launched... And it goes on and on. The model is replicated all around us, and partnered with the ‘wants firsts, needs second’ attitude many adopt, the updated phones, tablets, programmes, and applications, continue to sell.

So, what happened with the Wii U? Let’s not sugar-coat it, it tanked. Yes, it is early days and knowing Nintendo, the brand that bought gaming back to life in the late eighties, a future comeback is anticipated. But, shares have plummeted, stars fell to earth, Ganondorf conquered Hyrule. The Wii was the clear winner of the last generation console war, triumphing over the Xbox 360 and PS3, so reason follows that the Wii U would continue the legacy. But, and one kicks themselves here, Nintendo did such a bang up job the first time round, that this isn’t Wii round two, it is the launch of something completely different. And this is where we take a step back.

Remember that engineering I spoke about a little earlier? It is bloody brilliant. The motion control was excellent, and the software reliable. It hardly fails. The design was clean and tight – a small console, about three DVD covers thick. An easy user interface for casual gamers to explore. First party games, allowing adults who played Nintendo as children to play those same games, those same characters with their own children, shaping future generations of gamers. Simplicity, reliability, nostalgia. Check, check, and check. It seems that Nintendo got it so right the first time round (and Nintendo fan Sheldon Cooper would agree despite believing right and wrong are not subject to gradation), that the launch, fix, tweak, launch 2.0 model becomes redundant. It is considered something new.

The console will recover from a weak launch. There is a nostalgia attached to the Nintendo brand that encourages older gamers to gravitate towards it, and the simplicity accommodates casual gamers, widening the audience demographic. It is a shame that the newer console is standing as a new product against improved consoles – improvements allude to a better experience as it is built upon something that has already launched, but it will do fine. It is not Wii 2.0, it is another product perfected by Nintendo to mark the latest console war.

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