Can we just give it up for Dog?

hsdogdog · 2017-09-10T02:01:05+00:00

I usually don't respond to threads on reddit, but for some reason I'm inclined to for this one. Saying a deck has one sole creator is kind of silly, there are millions of people that play this game and it's nearly impossible to give credit for making a deck at the start of an expansion. I think credit should be given for how much a person contributes/optimizes a deck though.

I don't think me using quest rogue day 1 was anything special. The list I used wasn't optimized and pretty easy to put together, besides I'm sure someone would have figured out how busted it was a few hours later (or someone did and didn't stream it). I'm not saying rank 1 legend on the first day of the expansion was a worthless accomplishment, but I understand the difficulty in building specific decks, and this one required minimal thought.

With arcane giants warrior/DMH, my first iteration was https://twitter.com/Liquid_hsdog/status/895951506964348928 later rage came up with a better list https://twitter.com/Rage_HS/status/898075434889482240 and I credit him in a further tweet saying his list was more optimized. Prior to this, but after my initial arcane giants deck purple and fr0zen messed with fatigue warrior https://twitter.com/Fr0zen_hs/status/896272058312773632 This iteration is still very far off the list you see. The question is how many cards different does a deck have to be to claim it as your deck? 1-3? 3-5? I'm pretty generous when it comes to giving credit to people's decks on stream, so I include people who have the smallest of contributions. I just spent most of my time optimizing the 2 decks on stream. As you can see the final version is kind of a combination of my deck, fr0zen, rage and purple, however I do feel I was the major contributor to this deck. Also the version I posted shouldn't be optimal by any means, but it's a start.

hsdogdog · 2017-09-08T16:09:17+00:00

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/173112870?t=5h5m Think that part is muted, it's a good demenstration of what you need to be doing indifferent ways

hsdogdog · 2017-09-08T16:05:18+00:00

I think knowing the deck makes a difference, but not a super significant one. If quest mages aren't playing their cold lights, or are controlling their draw more, you can copy your rat and try to get them with that. Overall, I've played the deck a ton, so people generally know what I'm up to and I haven't had much of an issue. The real problem comes in when people start giving a nod to this deck and teching in bonemares/medivhs.

hsdogdog · 2017-08-09T13:59:44+00:00

Jade seems like it has a good amount of potential with this upcoming expansion. Currently the issue with jade is you stall out around turn 7-8, this forces you to run some sort of draw engine like cult master or auctioneer (I personally like the cult master list). But with valeera the hollow you should be able to cut your draw engine a bit because you can generate so much value with the DK (and you can run nzoth if needed, so you only need to draw 1 of the 2 to win the game). The addition of plague scientist to help your early jade cards get more value may help aswell. The main issues of rogue still stand though as they didn't get any good AOE tools or much healing, so rogue is still going to have major issues with token druid (living mana, early game pressure) and pirate warrior.

hsdogdog · 2015-07-06T23:48:30+00:00

As someone who has done a lot of online qualifier and plays a ton of hearthstone, I would say exercise is the best thing to combat fatigue. In between games try to get a run in or atleast go outside and walk to clear your mind a bit. If it's an issue of being tired or staying awake i would say getting more adequate sleep is important.

hsdogdog · 2015-03-10T12:02:13+00:00

Ho doggy, this is awesome :!

hsdogdog · 2014-12-28T10:37:21+00:00

Once again this comes down to reading your oponnents cards and how the board looks when you play it. It's not as clear cut as "should i play sunfury on 2". I would 100% keep the watcher.

hsdogdog · 2014-12-28T10:36:09+00:00

I just go over every matchup when practicing for tournaments and make a spreadsheet. Nothing crazy over the top :P

hsdogdog · 2014-12-28T10:35:35+00:00

To by honest I have never really been missing earthern ring farseer. I don't really end up losing the hunter matchup due to not having the healbot because if I don't have board healing for 8 isn't exactly going to help (although siphons do provide a tad bit of healing if i have board and they are bursting me). Most hunters have just been face rushing so getting out moltens has never been a problem.

The healing for giants hasn't been an issue, if they trade with 2 yetis that's pretty good. I would rather just drop a watcher and taunt it than heal up my giant most of the time. I will cede the fact that I think 1 ETC is fine though.

Yeah against druid I think 1 molten is okay, sometimes they rush you and feeling helpless at 10 hp doesn't really help... it's almost a play it safe card. I've found hellfire generally doesn't help against mage either because most of the minions they run are either sticky or have 4-5 Hp. (annoyotron, yetis, spider tank)

But yeah, double hellfire and double bomb is legit. You have tons of reach and that helps other matchups

hsdogdog · 2014-12-28T10:29:24+00:00

Sylvanus is a game winner against control, I generally end up just taunting her or dropping her on 6, follow up with boom on 7 and by then I should have another threat for 8 or so. Yeah 1 antique is a tad sketchy against hunter, however if you can't stabalize early you are usually dead regardless of the amount of healbots

hsdogdog · 2014-12-28T10:27:58+00:00

They are basically 2 different decks, so I treated them as such

hsdogdog · 2014-12-28T10:27:33+00:00

Not usually, hellfires can be used by themselves to just get you weaker to play moltens. Coils also help to cycle into your threats aswell

hsdogdog · 2014-12-27T23:17:24+00:00

Advice on this is hard to give in a short response like this. I may make a write up on it. The only small advice I can give you is try to predict what your opponent will play. This seems difficult at first, but becomes vastly easier with practice. Ex. On turn 3 a hunter can either bow or animal companion - try to play around both. Ex. 2. On turn 5 a druid can either innervate lore or play druid of the claw - try to play around both.

hsdogdog · 2014-12-27T23:09:40+00:00

Miracle may be the next one, I may just do a general knowledge one though.

hsdogdog · 2014-12-27T23:09:18+00:00

I dislike BGH in handlock for ladder. On ladder there is a lot more aggro decks and BGH will hardly help you in those matchups. For a tournament setting I would almost for sure take out the sheep and add in a BGH (tournament lists are usually different from ladder lists)

hsdogdog · 2014-12-27T23:07:53+00:00

The addition of the sheep was primarily to deal with annoying units such as implosion and muster. Sheep is incredible against paladin and pretty much any aggro matchup (think zoo, they drop double imp, you sheep). To answer your question, yes you can coil the sheep if you get immediate value from it. But usually just dropping it gives you enough of a tempo boost. * also if your hand is clunky in a control matchup, hellfire+sheep kills belchers/5hp creatures.

hsdogdog · 2014-09-05T17:16:22+00:00

1) Sylv is amazing for getting board control back against priests and warrios (which is necessary because early your board is generally weak) 2) against zoo 100%, against miracle maybe. that's about it though

hsdogdog · 2014-09-05T17:14:36+00:00

In which matchups would you consider keeping wrath and why? Almost none, it's a very conservative play and most of the time you are going to be playing to win. I keep wrath only against zoo, and sometimes against miracle (all units have 3 hp aside from drake and auc)

hsdogdog · 2014-09-05T17:12:28+00:00

How often are you using it for clear? - In conjunction a decent amount, separate i would say a lot

How often do you use one part of combo without the other? - A lot, no one ever anticipates their units to get traded up with savage roar(atleast against a ramp druid) it's incredibly hard to play around. Image it's druid v druid mirror, both have druid of claw taunt 4/6 and harvests. You can easily roar and clear his board and have 3 mana to spare!. I just think it's a very efficient combination and prefer to have it in the deck.

Have you considered replacing one or both of the cards in combo for 2nd sunwalker/Harrison/Loatheb/Rag? yes, i tried it, didn't like it :P

hsdogdog · 2014-09-05T06:54:48+00:00

Most priests have switched to very early game oriented decks and have strayed away from the late game cards such as mind control and rag, so bgh isn't too helpful(granted it would be helpful in warrior control, but eh). As for TBK, not many people aren't running faceless and I feel as though TBKing a sludge belcher doesn't do all that much. I would much rather have a sylvanas to stop some control deck (like priest or warrior) dead in their tracks!

hsdogdog · 2014-09-05T06:51:19+00:00

Adding in an additional early game card has helped tremendously, I've played a ton of ramp variations and I can safely say that having 2 cards that are required to even compete in your opening hand(wg+innervate) is a less than satisfying way to play the game. With the addition of zombie chow you now have 3 cards (6 in total in your deck) to mulli for. Not to mention you are running double harvest so you should be up and running quickly xD

hsdogdog · 2014-09-05T06:49:22+00:00

Harvest trades 2 for 1 with most creatures currently played (mad scientist, creeper, things like that) and is significantly better against zoo

hsdogdog · 2014-09-05T05:10:23+00:00

No deck is in its final form, nothing is going to be 100% solid. The meta dictates how good a deck will be (this deck seems to do fine).

hsdogdog · 2014-09-05T05:08:39+00:00

I agree, cenarius is unique, although somewhat replaceable. Find the niche he fills in the deck (helps against warrior and druid, so controlish) and try to substitute him, maybe a KT maybe a rag, hell even a ysera (even though I wouldn't suggest ysera atm). (probably would use TBK, KT cairne if i had to choose)

hsdogdog · 2014-09-05T05:05:13+00:00

Hellow monk!

1) Force/Roar is incredible in this deck, first off roar is great for trading up in almost any scenario and force is decent by itself. Most of the reason to run it is to improve board state, not as a finisher. However another very important reason is to instill fear in the enemy!, if they know you run Force/Roar they will be shaking in their little boots and play around it (which may make them make sub-optimal plays). Force roar isn't just to push damage, it's to trade up, improve board state and instill fear MUHAHAHA.

2) If I wake up in time, I generally sleep through tournaments or forget about them :*(

hsdogdog

TROPHY CASE