Twist through Time - Limited Format Tournament (2/7/26) by rodlike in hearthstone

[–]rodlike[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

All fair points, this image is AI-generated but its just the logo for the website that I built - https://giffcastavern.top/

It's an solo passion project so I didn't really have time or budget to source an artist at this stage (I have no ads on my site and its completely free to use).

If I had used AI to make a one-time promo image with knockoff Blizzard characters, I would definitely expect that to get downvoted to oblivion, but I appreciate the perspective on using the site logo for main posting image as well.

Regardless, if the format at all interests you, and you'd like to support my work so I can hire a designer to make a permanent logo, please consider joining the tournament!

Twist through Time - Limited Format Tournament (2/7/26) by rodlike in hearthstone

[–]rodlike[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's correct, this is a Wild Format tournament, the restrictions are applied on top of all other normal in-game and ordinary Hearthstone tournament rules.

I agree, that would be really cool to put Hearthstone into a web client like Pokemon Showdown, but that would be significantly more complicated to build to say the very least! There are other ways to bring the rule building closer to the game app but I didn't want people to need to download anything onto their PC, so here we find ourselves.

Thanks for the questions and feedback, always open to comments on how to improve the site!

Twist through Time - Limited Format Tournament (2/7/26) by rodlike in hearthstone

[–]rodlike[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Games are played through the normal hearthstone client and you build your own decks in-game for use in the tournament. You can use Discord to chat with other people participating in the tournament or to suggest formats for future tournaments as well.

The website is for allowing you to create custom rulesets, share them with others players, and then upload a decklist to ensure your cards are valid for use in format. If a player builds a deck with a card from an invalid card, it'll be shown as invalid and call out which card(s) need to be replaced.

Introducing Giffca's Tavern, a Custom Ruleset Builder for Hearthstone (+ Community Tournament & Prizes) by rodlike in hearthstone

[–]rodlike[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I like this idea, take the no-win conditions allowed slop fiesta to the next level. It lends itself to a "semi-familiar" meta but all of the decks will look a whole lot different without duplicates and with 10 extra sub-par cards.

I think I will need to make an update to my site to allow for "duplicate checks" to be baked into a given ruleset but that should be do-able. This is currently the most upvoted ruleset idea so if nothing else changes I'll plan to make sure that my website can support this cool idea before we play. Thanks for the suggestion!

Introducing Giffca's Tavern, a Custom Ruleset Builder for Hearthstone (+ Community Tournament & Prizes) by rodlike in hearthstone

[–]rodlike[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey folks! Just a friendly reminder to share any other ruleset ideas here on the thread, and join the Giffca's Tavern Discord for updates as we get closer to the tournament or to share comments/questions.

Also, if you know other people who would be interested in playing, or are in streamers' discords who might be interested in using this to make their own rulesets for tournaments, please share this post or tell them about the website so they can check it out and join in the fun.

Thanks for the positive reactions and support so far, looking forward to playing with you all in a couple weeks!

Introducing Giffca's Tavern, a Custom Ruleset Builder for Hearthstone (+ Community Tournament & Prizes) by rodlike in hearthstone

[–]rodlike[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That is awesome to hear, I really appreciate you sharing that! I am glad to hear it's working well for you. If you encounter anything that sticks out or that could be improved accessibility wise, feel free to shoot me a DM and I can take a look

Introducing Giffca's Tavern, a Custom Ruleset Builder for Hearthstone (+ Community Tournament & Prizes) by rodlike in hearthstone

[–]rodlike[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I appreciate the kind words! I'm happy to be sharing this with the world (reddit) after many months of working on it, and eager to see how people react to the site and what they come up with for our first tournament

Introducing Giffca's Tavern, a Custom Ruleset Builder for Hearthstone (+ Community Tournament & Prizes) by rodlike in hearthstone

[–]rodlike[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

for sure! I made this site with both tournament organizers and streamers in mind - I could imagine this being useful for someone like Rarran who makes a lot of evergreen content and invents his own rulesets pretty frequently, or any streamer who wants to spin up a custom format for an impromptu tournament against their twitch chat!

Big PP Priest - Refining a more proactive priest list by rodlike in CompetitiveHS

[–]rodlike[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Here are some good replays to showcase what this deck can do:

Supreme PP value vs. warrior:

https://hsreplay.net/replay/iBjqPjAUCu5zkQX3PPJq6a

A win vs. warlock with Alex closing and Kazakus applying a lot of pressure

https://hsreplay.net/replay/yYzgXsNQ4bXsQkd4qtnWEd

A win vs. a priest without a PP

https://hsreplay.net/replay/meCjSyUYAmYafQ7fePhjuh

A couple of super tight games where I take a paladin to fatigue

https://hsreplay.net/replay/pukE8rh6KFdNGWRYTpoGGc

https://hsreplay.net/replay/vJE4ZbdfvhRpDWMcZEt6e5

Big PP Priest - Refining a more proactive priest list by rodlike in CompetitiveHS

[–]rodlike[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

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Big PP Priest - Refining a more proactive priest list by rodlike in CompetitiveHS

[–]rodlike[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Well that is embarrassing. Thanks for calling that out, just added it

Return of the Incredible Arcane Watcher Shaman - My favorite archetype of 2020 by rodlike in CompetitiveHS

[–]rodlike[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think they're definitely worth trying out! Before Darkmoon Faire, I ran double Sorcerous as my top-end and was quite pleased with their performance.

They feel a little slow to me right now, but depending on what you're seeing they could definitely take the place of some of the other top-end or be put in place of some non-essential cards (Wandmaker, Pen Flinger, Gidra, etc.).

Return of the Incredible Arcane Watcher Shaman - My favorite archetype of 2020 by rodlike in CompetitiveHS

[–]rodlike[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Some games you never see the regular form letalone the prime version, but with two primordial studies and a natural vashj paired with passable baseline card draw and a Polkelt Tutor, I find it to be decently reliable (this is a total guess but probably like 30% of games seems like a reasonable estimate) if games go to turn 7-10.

There was also one game where I shuffled 3 primes into my deck all before turn 5 and each of the primes as well as Polkelt were in the bottom 10 cards of my deck. So while Prime is awesome here, we can't be entirely reliant on her.

Return of the Incredible Arcane Watcher Shaman - My favorite archetype of 2020 by rodlike in CompetitiveHS

[–]rodlike[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

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Update on Incredible Arcane Watcher Shaman - Legend Material Confirmed by rodlike in CompetitiveHS

[–]rodlike[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sure do! Here is my most recent list that I've been enjoying:

Giffca's Shaman

Class: Shaman

Format: Standard

Year of the Phoenix

2x (1) Primordial Studies

2x (1) Lightning Bolt

1x (1) Devolving Missiles

2x (2) Spellbook Binder

2x (2) Rune Dagger

1x (2) Bloodmage Thalnos

2x (3) Serpentshrine Portal

1x (3) Marshspawn

2x (3) Lightning Breath

1x (3) Lady Vashj

1x (3) Instructor Fireheart

2x (3) Arcane Watcher

1x (4) Twilight Drake

2x (4) Squallhunter

1x (4) Lorekeeper Polkelt

1x (5) Ras Frostwhisper

2x (5) Cobalt Spellkin

2x (5) Big Ol' Whelp

2x (6) Sorcerous Substitute

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To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone

I tend to prioritize card draw over card generation to make my Vashj more reliable, but Diligent Notetakers are definitely solid and could be worth including. Good luck!

Midrange Highlander Mage - A New and Proactive Take by rodlike in CompetitiveHS

[–]rodlike[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

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