Arena Drafting Phase - Paladin 8 Wins

Introduction :

This is a new series I'm starting called "Arena Drafting Phase", where I will try to comment on my Arenas' drafting phase and why I picked certain cards over others, which will hopefully be helpful to you.

Okay so let's start.

Here are the classes that I got to chose from

I picked Paladin to try and follow my own guide that I put before on What class should you pick in Arena

Okay so let the drafting phase begging.

1-

Pretty easy first pick, Gadgetzan Auctioneer is a bad pick in Arena even before the 1 mana nerf, Emperor Cobra is not a very exiting pick but it is still better than many rare picks since at most cases it goes 1 for 1, but here we are going to pick Muster for Battle which is a great card both in Arena and in Constructed


2-

This one is not as easy as the first pick, and I spent a good 5 minutes thinking about this, Cogmaster is not a good pick unless you have already picked at least 7 Mechs so he's out of the question, it ended being a choice of getting a good early pick or a good mid to late pick, I decided I want to get the Venture Co. Mercenary over the Worgen Infiltrator because I think it's much harder to get a good mid to late pick than to get a good early pick since any 2 mana 3-2 card can do the job.


3-

This one is pretty close and any pick could be a correct pick, Antique Healbot is the weaker card of the 3 but it can be very useful sometimes when you're gaining board control back but you have low health and you're afraid to get killed by a spell or a charge, Stonesplinter Trogg is the pick that maybe most people would chose because they mistakingly value the Annoy-o-Tron as a 2-2 taunt
whereas I see it as a great tempo play, it allows you to set your board more freely and protect minions that are more important, it's also a great card to have when you have board control and you want to go for face.

4-

To me Aldor Peacekeeper is one of the greatest 3 drops in the game, it's a really solid card with great utility and I think I would pick it against most rare drops, Gnomish Experimenter is bad card to have in Arena since you will almost everytime get a chicken draw which is not very exiting, Mana Wraith is a weird card with bad stats, and it is rarely a good pick.

5-

Pint-Sized Summoner is a mediocre card because it's useful only if you play it at turn 2 and your opponent can't kill it right away, and you can't count on that happening.
Demolisher is an average card, it is bad if you have no early game to protect it, and consequently good if you can protect it, I only picked it here because the other cards are worse.
Lightwarden is still bad in Priest which has a healing Hero Power, so you should never pick it in any other class.

6-

Silverback Patriach, it's actually worse than Stonetusk Boar which is also very bad, so Raging Worgen it is, which is not a bad pick to be honest

7-

Thrallmar Farseer is out of the question since both of the other cards are so much better than it. Either of the two remaining picks could be the correct pick, I preferred Avenge over the Bloodfen Raptor because I was hopeful of getting better 2 drops, and the Avenge is really strong with a good early game decks

8-

Wolfrider is a below average card since most of the time it serves as a 3 mana 3 damage removal which is not so exciting. The Windfury Harpy isn't very exciting either and usualy it's only a 6 mana 4-5. Ogre Brute is a great card, especially in Arena, the stats are too good and the downside effect isn't that bad.

9-

As I said earlier, Hero health isn't that important in Arena, this is why you should only consider the raw stats these cards have, and this is why Bloodfen Raptor is the correct pick here over the Priestess of Elune and the Nightblade.

10-

Deathlord is rarely a good pick because of the downside effect which can be very punishing, and the fact that I have so many 3 drops makes this a worse pick. Divine Favor can be good sometimes especially with fast and agressive decks, but it just doesn't cut it here. Which is why Sunwalker is the best pick just because of solid stats and the divine shield effect.

11-

Holy Light is a bad spell and serves little purpose in Arena. Raid Leader is also a bad card even if you get to benefit from its effect on multiple targets. Archmage is not so exciting but it's a strong body and can fend for itself, and that's why it's certainly the correct pick here.

12-

Muster for Battle again, I love this card and I almost always pick it and this time is no different. Lightwarden is a bad card as stated before. Jeeves is only good on decks that have really low mana curves and this is not the deck for it.

13-

Truesilver Champion is one of the best cards in Arena and is the reason so many games are decided, it's a great value card which is what Arena is all about. The other cards don't even stand a chance.

14-

Tauren Warrior is a bad card and is out of the question. I picked Gnomish Inventor because I love the card and I thought I needed more card draw, and in fact it came very handy in many games, but now that I think about it, it wasn't actually as good as what could Spiteful Smith have been, which is a strong card in Arena just because of the stats, and the added bonus effect couldn't hurt in Paladin, so I think Spiteful Smith is the better pick here even though I picked the inventor.

15-

Blessing of Kings is a strong card in Arena, it's great at snowballing games out of no where, and at the worst case scenario you get to buff your Hero Power dude and have a strong body just like that. Priestess of Elune has bad stats for the mana cost. and Blessing of Wisdom is easy to play around, but it's not the worse card to have sometimes as it can give you great card advantage.

16-

I'm pretty sure that Shielded Minibot is the best 2 mana minion in Arena, it's just a solid and annoying to deal with card, and can go 2 for 1 in many cases and that's why there is no doubt that it's a better pick than Elven Archer and Seal of Light.

17-

Concecration is a smaller version of flamestrike, but it's not less annoying, it's great spell for catching up or for having good trades and is obviously a great pick here. Oasis Snapjaw isn't so bad in Arena and could be useful for killing 2 mana drops, while the Clockwork Gnome has no place in Arena since there are so many classes that can deal with it just with their Hero Power.

18-

Frostwolf Grunt is a bad card, since it can die for free against 2-3 2 mana minions which are popular. Undertaker is also bad especially in Arena where you can't constantly get deathrattle minions to buff it up. Worgen Infiltrator is a solid 1 mana drop, it serves the purpose of trading with a 3-2 mana minions and that is a great purpose, that's why it's the better pick here.

19-

Hammer of Wrath is an above average card in Arena, it's a value card and it's more value than the other 2 cards. Leper Gnome is okay in very aggressive decks and that's not even the case here. Blessing of Might gets the same treatment of the Leper Gnome.

20-

Faceless Manipulator isn't as good as it was once in this fast meta and it rarely gets a good target anymore. If this was an earlier pick or if I had more 2 mana drops I would've picked the Coghammer since it's a great Arena card and can get huge value, but I picked Recombobulator as I deemed necessary to have more 2 mana minions, and the added benefit of the transformation can be helpful sometimes.

21-

Again Concecration is a great card her too, and to be honest you can't get enough of it, in fact I've been beaten so many times in good Arena runs just because the opponent had 3 or more of this spell. Ironfur Grizzly is a below average 3 drop, and the Stormwind Knight falls short as it doesn't have good stats for a 4 mana drop.

22-

Yes I do need more 2 drops, but Explosive Sheep is not the one, as it can have worse effect on me than on the opponent. Cogmaster is bad especially since I have almost no mechs. and therefor Fen Creeper is the right choice, both because it has good stats and because I don't have many 5 mana cards.

23-

Piloted Shredder is so good I would pick it almost always even against a good 2 mana card here, it has great value and it's sticky and that's why you should pick it whenever possible. Gurubashi Berserker is an average card in Arena but it's not as good as the Shredder. Flying machine is horrible.

24-

Wolfrider is below average as stated before, same goes for Blessing of Might. Puddlestomper is okay just because it's a 3-2, it's better since I need 2 mana minions and that's why I picked it here.

25-

Southsea Deckhand is bad especially since I only have 1 weapon and therefor it's out of the question. as for which 3 mana drop to pick, I counted how many mechs do I have, and I found that 4 isn't enough, that's why I picked the Earthern Ring Farseer whose heal can be used effectively on minions over the Tinkertown Technician, but I also note that picking the other way around isn't wrong either.

26-

Seal of Light is below average and it's the worst card of the three. I picked Hammer of Wrath just because of the value, but I would've picked a better 2 drop if the chance presented itself since River Crocolisk isn't too exciting of a 2 mana drop.

27-

Sorry Voodoo Doctor, you are not worthy of being considered. I picked Ogre Brute, as I stated before, I love the card and consider it one of the best 3 mana minions, but picking Frostwolf Warlord isn't too bad here either since I needed late game anyway.

28-

Poor Southsea Deckhand wants to try his luck again but sadly fails to better cards. I picked Gnomish Inventor here, I really like this card as it's a free body that draws you a card. Mechwarper is above average and might have gotten in here had I had 1 or 2 more mechs.

29-

Magma Rager is out of the question because of reasons of badness. I picked the Youthful Brewmaster over Puddlestomper because I has some minions that could be brewed back like the Gnomish Inventors or the divine shield minions.

30-

Scarlet Purifier against the 2 bad cards of course (Secretkeeper, Alarm-o-Bot).


Over all it's an above average deck with some quality cards and an acceptable mana curve.

Result : 
8 wins and here are the rewards

I hope you guys enjoyed this, and found it useful. Please let me know if you have any feedback or suggestions. Thank you

Arena guide - what class should you pick?

Introduction :

First of all, You should know that Hearthstone is based on both skill and luck, sadly you can't control the luck part (unless you know some voodoo witch), but you can try to improve your skill level, hopefully this guide will help you improve at playing Arena by getting you to pick the best class possible at any draft.

 What class should you pick ? :

There are many things that goes into count in having good Arena scores, and one of the most important parts is picking a good class, and while you can have 12 wins with any class, it's all about consistency, especially if you want to keep your gold stash high.

What is Arena all about? :

First of all, you should never compare Arena with Constructed, therefor you should not make a picking decision on how the class does in Constructed because it has little significance to Arena.
In Arena you can't really chose what type of deck you're gonna have, sometimes you get to have a very aggressive deck and some other times you get to have a slow control deck, but most of the time you will have a random deck that's good on both fronts but doesn't excel at any of the two.
And this information is helpful because usually these types of random decks are tempo deck or control decks, and therefor you should pick classes that are good at those roles.

Also when picking a class you should think about two factors:

1- Hero Power :

In Arena you can't control the cards you pick that much, and sometimes how ever much you try to get a good curve, you find yourself more often than not with a bad hand, to remedy this, Hero Power comes to play, as we talked earlier, Arena decks are usually random tempo and control decks, so you should pick Hero Powers accordingly.



2- Common Class Cards :

In the drafting phase of Arena, you get to chose a card from a set of 3 cards of the same rarity, and obviously you have more chances of getting a set of basic or common cards than getting a set of rare, epic or legendary cards.
Therefor you should try to aim for classes that have good common and basic class cards.

My personal Arena Class ranking :

9- Warrior (3/10) :

Hero Power (1/5) : Health is not as important in Arena as controlling the board, and Armor has little to no play in doing so.
Common Class Cards (2/5) : While Warriors have some of the best class cards ever which are Weapons (Fiery War Axe, Death's Bite), but they are so few in comparison to the other cards, so more often than not you when picking Warrior you will get to pick from bad or very situational class cards.


8- Hunter (4.5/10) :

Hero Power (1.5/5) : The only reason I'm giving this a 0.5 more rating than the Warrior Hero Power is because in some cases you get to pick an aggressive deck and so you can benefit from your Hero Power at rushing your opponents down.
Common Class Cards (3/5) : Hunters have all around average common class cards. Sometimes you can get the occasional good "Animal Companion" or on of the weapons, but even if you don't, you will get to chose from cards that aren't actually all that bad.

7- Warlock (5.5/10) :

Hero Power (3/5) : Health is not as important in Arena as controlling the board, and Armor has little to no play in doing so.
Common Class Cards (2.5/5) : Warlock common class cards are a swing and miss, they are either very good like "Soulfire", "Flame Imp", "Dread Infernal" or really really bad like "Sacrificial Pact" or "Corruption".

6- Shaman (6/10) :

Hero Power (3/5) : Totems sometimes prove to be really helpful to give you some kind of board presence when you're out of cards, and the utility some of the totems may prove helpful in some cases.
Common Class Cards (3/5) : Almost the same problem that Warriors have, Shamans have some really awesome common class cards like "Stormforged Axe" and "Fire Elemental", but unfortunately the other cards are just plain bad or too situational and more destined for Constructed .

5- Druid (7/10) :

Hero Power (4/5) : Druids' Hero Power is solid, it helps at controlling the board, and while it's not as good as the Rogues' Hero Power that have 2 charges, it compensates a little of that with the armor it gives you that helps with not overextending with the trades.
Common Class Cards (3/5) : Druids have a great set of common class cards like "Swipe", "Druid of the Claw" and "Iron Bark Protector" but they do also have some average to below average cards that are not fit for Arena like "Savage Roar" and ".

4- Rogue (7.5/10) :

Hero Power (4.5/5) : Rogues' Hero Power is awesome, and is great for Arena, it helps a lot at controlling the board, and it can be combo'd with some common class cards. The only down side to it is maybe overdoing it and using too much health in the process or the ability to not go over taunt.
Common Class Cards (3/5) : Rogue common class cards are somewhat average, with the exception of Weapon enchantments who are above average, or the bellow average spells like "Shadowstep" and "Sinister Strike".


3- Priest (8/10) :

Hero Power (3.5/5) : You might think that this is like the Warriors Hero Power, but you're so wrong, while it can still serve the same purpose as getting 2 Armor, but it can also be used to heal your minions, which can be very helpful when doing beneficial trades.
Common Class Cards (4.5/5) : Priests have a great set of common cards, and the great thing about them is that they fit so well in Arena, either by being a great minion card like "Dark Cultist" and "Temple Enforcer" or by being a great spell like "Power Word: Shield" and "Velen's Chosen".

2- Paladin (8.5/10) :

Hero Power (4/5) : Most of the time Arena is all about board control and winning in Value, and Paladins' Hero Power is just great at doing that. The 1/1s are very helpful at giving you card advantage, and if your opponent can't handle them quickly they can get out of control.
Common Class Cards (4.5/5) : Paladins have one of the best 2 drops in the game "Shielded Minibot" and one of the greatest weapons in the game "Truesilver Champion", and the other cards that they have are above average like "Concecration" and "Blessing of Kings" which are very good in Arena.


1- Mage (9.5/10) :

Hero Power (5/5) : Mages' Hero Power is better than both the Druids and Rogues' Hero Powers because of the ability to avoid damage and going over taunt, so it's a great tool in Arena.
Common Class Cards (4.5/5) : Solid spells like "Frostbolt" and "Fireball" with the ability of going face and surprising your opponent with a fast kill not to mention the awesome "Flamestrike" which is one of the most toxic spells to play against in Arena, and the other cards are average to above average including some of the secrets.


I hope this post was helpful to you, please don't forget to post your feedback which would be much appreciated. Thank You.

How to improve at Hearthstone

Introduction :

A bit of introduction about me, I'm not a pro player by any mean, but I consider myself to be a good player, not at hearthstone in particular, but at any on-line video game I play, and I have played many video games, to bring up some examples I reached Diamond 1 in League of Legends, and I almost reached Legendary in hearthstone hadn't it been for my studies (excuses :p).
And from years of experience at playing games, I found out that I don't have a talent in being the best or anything like that, but I have a talent in improving quickly.
So if you're trying to improve at Hearthstone, this should be really helpful.

How to improve at Hearthstone ? :

1- Enjoy the game :

 

I think that this advice goes for anything that you want to improve or be good at in life, if you don't enjoy what you do, you will have a hard time learning and improving at it, luckily this is a video game, so the idea is that you already enjoy it if you are spending time on it, but sometimes you forget that this is the point of playing, especially when you set some goals in your mind (reaching legendary, winning 7 arena games, etc..) and you fail at them, or when you see that others are doing so good while you're stuck at what you consider "the bottom".
So I'm telling you, remember that this is a video game, and you're supposed to have fun playing it, Hearthstone is a great game, and it's easily one of the most fun games I've ever played and I've played a lot of them. Try to switch between play modes to not get bored, try a new constructed deck, try playing arena with a class that you have never played with, and also try to play the dungeons content (Naxx & Blackrock), this way you get to spice things up and you'll get to have much more fun.

2- Learn from the best : 

This is the best tip that you can ever get and you may have heard it before. Always learn from the best, it's easy to do since the Internet is so vast now and you can find anything you want so easily.
So what you have to do is find a good streamer or Youtuber, and not only does he have to be good, but he has to be informative, a good informative player will try to explain his plays and his picks, and you'll learn so much from him and you'll learn how to think like a good player does.
For me, I found out that Trump is the best informative streamer, I've learned so much from his videos, and I keep watching them everyday, he has a good Youtube channel so you can watch his videos if you can't watch his Twitch stream regularly, so try to watch his videos or the videos of any other good streamer that you like, and try to understand his plays and picks, try to copy them, and if you keep doing that, you'll find that you'll improve in no time.

3- Set yourself small objectives :

This is really easy to do but I don't see many people doing it. You want to achieve a big goal, well you can't do that if you keep thinking about it and how far you are from it, instead you can set yourself smaller objectives that will eventually lead to your big goal.
Let's me give you an example, You want to reach legendary, but you keep balancing at ranks 20 - 17, if you keep thinking about getting to legendary you will eventually get desperate and give up because you are so far from achieving it, instead what you should do is set yourself an objective of winning 3 consecutive games, getting to rank 15, then rank 13, then 10, and so on, this will be easier to achieve and you will feel so much better whenever you achieve a small objective, and before you know it you'll find yourself at rank 3 trying so hard to get to legendary and eventually succeeding in it.

4- Read and follow guides :

This should go without saying and I'm sure you are already doing it since you are reading this post, but just to make sure, I strongly suggest you keep reading guides especially if you're a beginner, you'll get to learn things that took people month to learn from experience, and you will find yourself learning so much new stuff about the game that will help you both immediately and in the long run.
I can't link any guides for you because they keep changing everytime the meta changes, but it's easy to find them, just head to a search engine (google.com) and look for whatever you want (How to play priest?, Shaman guide, Arena Draft guide, ....).

5- Don't give up and keep trying :

Success is never won over-night, it takes time and effort, so you must be strong enough to keep on trying, don't lose hope, eventually you will get there, as long as you believe in yourself.