Arena Picks with Rongar – Part 3
by JR Cook - 10 years ago show comments
This is a continuation of a multi-part series. You can read part 1 and part 2 before finding out about the final set of cards I picked for my Arena deck.
As I am tentatively stepping into the Arena, I wanted to chronicle and share with you my process of selecting cards for my deck. On the first day, I chose the hunter as my Arena hero along with the first set of cards. Yesterday, I picked cards 11-20, and today, we will finish out our deck. I am hoping that sharing this process of going through Arena drafting will be of value to fans of Hearthstone who are not yet playing the closed beta, and also give others to opportunity to discuss and debate the right- or wrongness of my choices. At the end of this week, we’ll give this deck a test-drive.
Here are the results of my final ten picks.
Round 21: Kobold Geomancer, Houndmaster, War Golem
I made the decision yesterday to focus more on picking beast minions. Neither one of these satisfies that need, but I am keeping my fingers crossed that the Houndmaster won’t be a wasted pick.
Round 22: Amani Berserker, Harvest Golem, Mogu’shan Warden
I didn’t make my previous picks around an aggressive deck building philosophy, so the Amani Berserker likely won’t do me any good. I have no taunt cards yet, but I think I will roll the dice on Harvest Golem with the minion spawning deathrattle.
Round 23: Angry Chicken, Injured Blademaster, Murloc Tidecrawler
With no Murlocs in my deck, the Tidecrawler is rather worthless. The Angry Chicken is a beast… heck, these picks today are going so hilariously off the rails, I might as well count on an Angry Chicken with a Houndmaster buff. Why the heck not?
Round 24: Acolyte of Pain, Scavenging Hyena, Tundra Rhino
Well then. The Acolyte of Pain would offer a much needed card pick, but combined with the Angry Chicken, the Scavenging Hyena suddenly doesn’t look half bad. Tundra Rhino is a must-have for me in constructed hunter decks, but in this case I will bank on Unleash the Hounds to do the trick for me.
Round 25: Grimscale Oracle, Scavenging Hyena, Nightblade
Well, well, well! Hello Scavenging Hyena, we meet again. I didn’t pick Murlocs earlier, and I am not about to start. I normally like Nightblade, but at this point, I am very curious how two Scavenging Hyenas will play out.
Round 26: Shattered Sun Cleric, Dragonling Mechanic, Arcane Shot
I am a huge believer in minions over spells. The Dragonling Mechanic is great with its two-for-one ability, but I have a real soft spot for the Shattered Sun Cleric. This wasn’t an easy pick, though.
Round 27: Magma Rager, Timber Wolf, Reckless Rocketeer
I had every intention of going beast heavy, but the Timber Wolf by itself isn’t particularly strong, and played early it simply has a huge target on its back. It might be less of an issue if I had more card picking abilities (now Nat Pagle is surely laughing at me for skipping him over in Round 1). I like the Reckless Rocketeer a lot, she’s saved my hide quite often when I had to deal with a bigger minion later in the game.
Round 28: Tracking, Stormwind Knight, Dire Wolf Alpha
If I wasn’t playing a hunter deck, the Stormwind Knight would have been my pick, however I still feel low on beast minions overall. I do like the Dire Wolf Alpha, because he buff other minions, not just beast minions.
Round 29: Ancient Brewmaster, Cult Master, Boulderfist Ogre
I have been desperately needing card pick options, and the Cult Master fits that bill.
Round 30: Pint-Sized Summoner, Argent Commander, Angry Chicken
One Angry Chicken per deck is funny. Two Angry Chickens is just plain mental. Two Argent Commanders however is a nice way to hedge your bets for later rounds.
Recap: I went into the final round hoping for more beast cards, and for some cards that would offer some card draw abilities. Overall, we did better getting some beasts in, and I am happy with two Argent Commanders and at least the minion that lets me draw more cards (fingers crossed). We also have a silky-smooth Mana curve.
I may be wrong, but I think I had more opportunities to pick an Angry Chicken than I had cards with Taunt ability.
What are your thoughts? Do you agree or disagree with my final picks?
Hi, silly question, but how do get the links to the cards to pop-up on the site? would love to do the same. Keep up the great work!
Not a silly question at all: it’s because of to the brilliant magic of the great folks at Hearthhead.com. There’s a snipped of Javascript added to each webpage, and all I have to do is look up the card, then use the page reference as the direct URL link.
The folks over at Hearthhead.com explain it much better here (with actual code for you to download): http://www.hearthhead.com/tooltips
They have a TON of great tools there, worth checking out. Especially if you are really into the stats and the number crunching behind your cards and deck builds.
Wow awesome thanks! Will definitely use it!
Holy crap 9 out of 10 we’d have picked the same 🙂
21. Houndmaster. With 4 Beasts in tow, and hopefully a few more to come, this guy should do just fine. The Geomancer is an interesting choice with Multi-Shot, Explosive Shot, Snipe, and potentially more to come, but my 2-slots are pretty full and some strong beasts some in “2” making the Houndmaster the better choice.
22. Harvest Golem. Clear choice here as the other options were poor and the Golem is fantastic.
23. Injured Blademaster. 4/3 for 3, and the other 2 options are basically undraftable. Trying to force a Beast deck in the last 7 picks with Angry Chicken is really sub-optimal. Turn 2 Coined Blademaster + turn 3 Shattered Sun Cleric is a pain to deal with.
24. Scavenging Hyena. Beast #5. While it was tempting to pick a 2nd Rhino, the Hyena can really bring the pain. Acolyte of Pain is not great in a Hunter deck, as it rarely does more than replacing itself, in which case why not just have that better card in your deck already 🙂
25. Scavenging Hyena. Beast #6. These guys are really good. Thrilled to get a 2nd one, and the other cards in the pack were terrible anyways. I’m actually curious as to why you like the Nightblade … I’ve always considered him poor statistically at the 5 slot, and the Battlecry is mediocre at best.
26. Shattered Sun Cleric. The Mechanic is really solid, and would have been the better pick if this deck had something that abused having extra minions, like: Knife Juggler, Flesh Eating Ghoul, Cult Master, Stormwind Champion, etc … And to be honest, I also LOVE the SSC, and like you snap it up.
27. Reckless Rocketeer. With 15 creatures 3-cost or under, Charge can lend that finishing punch, and at worst it takes out something nasty clearing the path for the Beasts!
28. Dire Wolf Alpha. This would be my most agonizing pick of the draft, due to already being high on the curve at 2, and low at 4. With 2 Hyenas, Rhino, and Houndmaster, I feel like Alpha lends to a pretty solid Beast synergy, and like you said, his boost isn’t limited to Beasts. Not only that but it isn’t a Battlecry, which can lead to multiple advantageous swaps if you position minions well.
29. Cult Master. Wow does this guy fit in like a glove. One of my favourite 4-slot commons, fits the mana curve, and replaces itself at worst. Much more if played well …
30. Argent Commander. Always a solid pick, but with Rhino covering the Beasts, 2x this guy + Rocketeer, there is going to be some serious beatdown here.
Wrap up … While I had hoped for some kill cards to supplement the ones already drafted, this has turned into a real aggro onslaught. Solid early drops, tons of stat boosters, Charge minions, 2 Traps … What I love about this deck is just the pure ability to deny your opponent the stability of predictability, which should lend to tons of favourable creature trading.
Deck Stats:
26 Creatures / 4 Spells
1- 2
2- 10
3- 6
4- 5
5- 3
6- 5
7+ – 0
1 Timber Wolf
1 Elven Archer
2 Nat Pagle
2 Freezing Trap
2 Snipe
2 Bloodfen Raptor
2 Scavenging Hyena X2
2 Youthful Brewmaster
2 Faerie Dragon
2 Pint-Sized Summoner
2 Dire Wolf Alpha
3 Questing Adventurer
3 Harvest Golem
3 Injured Blademaster
3 Animal Companion
3 Shattered Sun Cleric X2
4 Dark Iron Dwarf
4 Cult Master
4 Houndmaster
4 Spellbreaker
4 Multi-Shot
5 Tundra Rhino
5 Explosive Shot
5 Stormpike Commando
6 Reckless Rocketeer
6 Sunwalker
6 Argent Commander X2
While not without end-game shortcomings, this deck should be able to press the pace relentlessly. The only pick i’m not thrilled with in hindsight is the Timber Wolf, as I could have picked the Crocolisk, which would have maintained my Beast count at 7, but with a sturdier option. Splitting hairs no doubt.
In terms of your final deck, I think Unleash the Hounds and Angry Chicken are pretty much dead cards, and Hunter’s Mark is almost a guaranteed 1 for 2 trade. All in all though, the pool of cards to pick from was one of the weaker ones I’ve seen, and think you did well overall. I don’t know your skill level, but I’d predict 3 wins.
Anxiously awaiting the match details !!!
new fan of your awesome site,
Shtanky
Thanks, Shtanky!
I’m posting a full deck tomorrow (which is probably a bit “meh” for you, considering how much you’ve been keeping track), and the match results on Saturday. Minor spoiler: I’ve already played through all my Arena matches.
One thing I can give away is that Angry Chicken pairs rather beautifully with Houndmaster, and an early play of two Scavenging Hyenas with an Angry Chicken sacrifice buffs those two cards beautifully.
While the Angry Chicken wasn’t a match winner for me, the card is absolutely hilarious, and rather potent when played in the right combination (either because it gets buffed to high heaven, or because it’s a cheap sacrifice that buffs others or leads to card draws, and so on).
I will definitely try to work one into my beast hunter deck, especially considering it has the highest enrage bonus of all cards available (with the exception of Grommash Hellscream, who is limited to Warrior decks). No one wants to see a +12 enraged Chicken on the board. No one.
Haha I am so thrilled to hear you managed to pull off Houndmaster/Chicken! The only thing better would have been to see your opponents reaction!
Seeing your deck list in full is definitely not meh for me 🙂 … sometimes you really can’t see the gaps without the eagle eye view. While I am drafting I always pause before every pick and review my mana curve, even if I’m certain of my favourite of the 3. I also Pen/Paper any “kill” type spell I get, just to keep line of sight to that.
In my own journey I managed an 8-win Paladin deck last night, 1hp from my first 9-win Arena … only to get Pyroblasted in the face for 10 :p … so close yet so far 🙂
Regarding the draft, can you abandon the draft after 10 cards and resume the next day, or did you just draft at one time and space it out for forum posting purposes?
I did in fact draft over a number of days so the post wouldn’t be crazy long to read, but also to give myself writing breaks (and to milk this thing for an entire week).
You can end an Arena draft session at any point, but the next time you log in, it will present you with the same three cards it originally left you with. There’s no way for players to cheat the system by logging off and coming back to a fresh set of three cards they like better.
Another minor spoiler: in retrospect, Nat Pagle would have been a better pick over Ragnaros, just like you did. Lack of card draw capabilities in Arena is no good. I would now rate it even more critical than taunt cards.
Regarding the Nightblade, I’m a sucker for free shots at the other hero, but that’s just me. I may rethink my position after losing a few more games with Nightblade in hand.
As you say, it isn’t the greatest of the 5 Mana cards, but I like free hits against my enemy almost as much as I like free ice cream.
I am excited to hear how this turned out. Apparently I am absolutely terrible at Arena and have recently been going 0-3 and 1-3 constantly.