Analytic, educational Hearthstone
Hearthstone China versus Europe Championship 2017 was played over the past two weeks, and what a tournament it was! Top-level players and lots of good games.
In this post, I will take a look at the decks and results of the playoffs stage (top 8), including class distribution, archetypes, archetype performance, and ban decisions.
Continue reading “Hearthstone CN vs EU 2017 Top 8 decks, results, and analysis”
The annual EU vs CN invitational tournament is underway in China with a number of Europe’s and China’s best Hearthstone players competing for a huge grand prize.
Fitting the level of play, the production value of the tournament has far surpassed its Western counterparts, and features a number of spectator-friendly elements that I can only hope other broadcasters will take note of.
In this blog post, I will take a look at all the little details in the broadcasts. All images are from the official stream, and are used under fair use for discussion purposes.
Continue reading “Broadcasting Hearthstone: Lessons from EU vs CN 2017”
In this Hearthstone Journey to Un’Goro deck tech, I take a look at C’Thun Warrior. Wait, what? C’Thun is not a new card! True, it isn’t. However, it is interesting to see how old decks can be modernized for a new meta, and whether they can perform there.
In case of C’Thun Warrior, if you want to play a Warrior deck that can really armor up a lot, C’Thun Warrior is an attractive option – perhaps your only option. With the rise of Discover Burn Mage (PsyGuenther Mage), such a Warrior deck can do some nice things.
Continue reading “Journey to Un’Goro Deck Tech: C’Thun Warrior”
In this Hearthstone Journey to Un’Goro card spotlight, I take a look at Spirit Echo. Shaman has limited means to generate additional resources, and Spirit Echo can often create multiple cards, so it seems like a powerful addition to the class’s repertoire. It is also a lot of fun to play with!
Continue reading “Journey to Un’Goro Card Spotlight: Spirit Echo”
In this Hearthstone Journey to Un’Goro deck tech, I take a look at one of the hotter new Mage decks in the expansion: PsyGuenther’s Discover Burn Mage and its many variants.
As is often the case, a new deck has many names. It’s called Guenther Mage or Gunther Mage according to its original creator, Discover Mage because of the abundance of discover mechanics in the deck, or just Burn Mage as it is quite aggressive and has mostly replaced the earlier, Hemet-running pure aggro Burn Mage.
Be that as it may, it is a very interesting deck that is able to play an aggressive game or a long value game depending on the matchup and game state.
Continue reading “Journey to Un’Goro Deck Tech: Discover Burn Mage”
The first major open Hearthstone Journey to Un’Goro tournament took place at Dreamhack Austin. With more than 200 players, including known pro players from around the world, competing over nine rounds of Swiss followed by top 16 playoffs, this tournament really put the meta to the test.
Obviously, as this tournament will be heavily analyzed, the meta in the following tournaments will probably look a lot different, but we nonetheless have a nice snapshot of things that work in a tournament environment right now.
Dreamhack published the decklists of the top 16 players – here they are, if you are looking for the lists themselves – so it is possible to get started with analysis straight away.
Continue reading “Dreamhack Austin 2017 Hearthstone Top 16 decks and analysis”
In this Hearthstone Journey to Un’Goro card spotlight, I take a look at Vicious Fledgling. It is a high-risk, high-reward card that has largely flown under the radar, but that can really win games.
Continue reading “Journey to Un’Goro Card Spotlight: Vicious Fledgling”
In this Hearthstone Journey to Un’Goro card spotlight, I take a look at Primordial Drake. The only new dragon card in Journey to Un’Goro, Primordial Drake has found a place in many decks and is one of the most influential cards of the expansion.
Continue reading “Journey to Un’Goro Card Spotlight: Primordial Drake”
In this Hearthstone Journey to Un’Goro budget deck tech, I take a look at a cheap Midrange Hunter build that I used to climb to Rank 4 on the NA server with a 23-12 record from Rank 7.
That’s right, thanks to numerous good commons Hunter received in Journey to Un’Goro, you can build a perfectly viable deck for mere 1260 dust – no adventures, no epics, no legendaries, just cheap stuff that wins games.
Continue reading “Journey to Un’Goro Deck Tech: Budget Midrange Hunter”
In this Hearthstone Journey to Un’Goro deck tech, I take a look at Dragon Priest!
Thought Dragon Priest was dead with so many dragons rotating out into the Wild with the most recent Standard rotation? Think again, as it turns out that the power of Drakonid Operative together with the only dragon from Un’Goro, Primordial Drake, is enough to save the archetype.
Continue reading “Journey to Un’Goro Deck Tech: Dragon Priest”