by JR Cook - 10 years ago     show comments

I will never, ever condone netdecking, even as I sit here thinking about all the fun I’m having playing Yong Woo’s Hunter Secret deck. I’ve invested too much time discussing the evils of it and, rather than change my stance on the hotly debated issue, I’m going to just declare myself a bad person for doing it. It’s vile. We should all be out there creating our own unique, interesting decks. All of that out of the way, utilizing Woo’s Hunter deck has taught me a lot about the kind of deck I enjoy playing.

That’s an important distinction, because one of the questions I get asked all the time via e-mail, DM or even in-game message is, ‘Rob, what’s the strongest deck right now?’. I don’t know, at this point, FWIW. I also don’t know why anyone would go into a game like Hearthstone looking to powercreep with the perceived strongest deck in the game. Why wouldn’t fun be your primary concern? Is there a huge payout for getting to Legendary status these days? I don’t understand the mentality. The fact is, most of the people at the top are playing decks that someone else created, and doing so incredibly well. They tend to play decks that suit their particular playstyle, and it shows as they take these cookie cutter decks from the realm of strong to, ‘oh my god, please stop doing this to me.’

Misdirection took this Faerie Dragon from zero to betrayed inside of five seconds.

I’ve realized over the past couple of days that I love dropping traps on the board. It is nothing short of hysterical watching people try and figure out what’s going on. Just today I forced Thrall to murder his own Faerie Dragon with a Stormforged Axe through the use of Misdirection. That’s hilarious to me, and provides me ample reason to play beyond just doing my dailies. My question to you is, what sort of deck do you enjoy playing? Do you want to purge someone with fire? What about a deck that features a bunch of weapons? There are a lot of options.

Once you have the basics of Hearthstone, I honestly believe that the key to enjoying the game long term is deciding what sort of cards appeal to you. If you create a deck solely to win and rank up, you’ll likely find your enjoyment rapidly dissipating in the face of eventual losses. Conversely, if you play a deck that you enjoy the flavor and style of, you’ll likely still be okay with losing because, at the end of the day, you really enjoy playing the deck.

So, do yourself a favor. Don’t look for the by the numbers strongest decks. Take a look at the classes, the cards, watch some matches.  Look for, or even create the deck that most suits what you want to do. It’s the secret to a happy, healthy Hearthstone career.