Been playing a lot of Arena, with better then average, but still shaky results. After a couple matches I started recording my deck building to identify bad choices and compare with a friend to see what he would do different, would be interesting to hear some feedback here as well, so if anyone is interested:
Hearthstone Arena Deckbuilding - Warlock - Final Result 0:3
My own thoughts about the selection process:
1) The Azure Drake is pretty good, but the ability to kill anything, no matter its health, and even shielded enemies is just too good to pass up
2) I prefer cheaper, aggressive minions, especially with the Warlock. The Spiteful Smith can be good in Warrior/Rogue decks, but it's effect is useless on me, and the Archmage is just so slow...
3) Frost Elemental and Lord of the Arena are good defensive choices, but again - I want to try to go a bit faster (in the later game, if able to use my Class ability, I want to be able to play 2 cards in one turn)
4) Demonfire - great versatility
5) Tough choice - I love the portal, since again, it will allow usually to not just draw my extra card but actually play both cards each turn. Voidwalker is a great first turn drop (especially when followed up with 2nd turn Demonfire). Could have gone either way, but I think
6) Hellfire - easy choice, board clear for when the opponent is outnumbering you
7) Nothing great here - Mortal Coil seems to be best of the lot, decent early removal that replaces itself, not very useful later on
8) Another tough choice - 2nd portal would make it much more consistent play, another board clear or a single target removal?
9) I think I should have taken the Panther here - the Stormpike Commander can be good, but doesnt really match my goal of good/fast early drops
10) Big Game Hunter and Blood Knight both depend on the opponents deck to be extra useful - big creatures are more common than Divine Shield, so BGH it is
11) Again, slow choice - probably should have taken the Frostwolf Warlord
12) Scarlet Crusader - trades it's divine shield with another create and still remains to do more damage
13) Succubus and Demonfire both good choices - Demonfire better overall, but I felt like I needed to speed the deck up a bit, so went for Succubus
14) Twilight Drake can be good (but doesnt match the idea of playing fast), the other 2 are very reliant on other cards and thus not very arena friendly
15) Situational Removal, but still removal.
16) Should have gone for the Demonfire
17) I like the Golem, but again - Demonfire! (Starting to worry about a lack of actual Demons though)
18) Need some early drops, deck getting to expensive overall
19) I love the Tauren Warrior, though it tends to get killed by some 3/2 2nd turn drop more often then it actually gets enraged, it works great against druids/rogues/paladins
20) Probably should have gone for the Giant - I dislike the randomness of the Bane of Doom
21) Silence, 'nough said
22) Looking back I probably should have taken the Panther as i needed more low cost creatures, but removal is always useful as well
23) Owl would have been great too, but again - removal, always useful
24) Already have 2 Hellfires, to many of these is overkill and actually hurts your own rush
25) A little Spellpower to boost the Demonfires and other removals
26) Maybe the Faerie Dragon would have been a better choice, could have used more 2-cost creatures.
27) More creatures, more Spellpower - to much 3 cost stuff though
28) Raptor could have been useful too, but the Dark Iron Dwarfs usually help one of the early small creatures take out something big - quite useful
29) Finally more demons, and a 2-drop even.
30) Bad selection all around. Pit Lord looks good on paper for a "fast aggressive" deck, but there are just to many spells to take out a single minion. Tried it in earlier Decks but it usually hurt me more than the enemy. No Pirates in the deck. The crab at least has the small chance to take out an enemy Murloc and if not, it's at least something to play in turn 1.
Final Thoughts: While it wasn't a great deck, it seemed decent enough and should have done better than the 0:3. At least one loss was a clear play error where I could have won during my last turn but missed the opportunity, but the other 2 it got beaten down pretty bad. Warlock as a whole seems to do either really well or really bad for me though, no middle ground.
Hearthstone Arena Deckbuilding - Druid Arena - Final Result 9:0
1) I love the Oracle - when my opponent plays it. Easy decision here, no Murlocs for me.
2) Questing Adventurer, really easy choice.
3) Don't like the Rocketeer, to expensive for a creature that will drop dead pretty much as soon as someone touches it. Soul of the Forest is good, but I like the Knight better.
4) Claw is great, cheap removal, and works great if I manage to get a Savagery.
5) The randomness of the Mad Bomber is annoying, but it's a great way to get rid of that early drop your opponent played, while sometimes keeping your own.
6) The Stormwind Champion is good, but expensive.
7) Druid of the Claw is one of the Druids best minions, very versatile (though it will end up in Bear Form 90% of the matches), will take as many as I can get.
8) Core Hound is strong but expensive, Mercenary is strong but will end up by itself, the Warlord is strong when with friends - seems like the better deal to me.
9) Removal and card draw, what more can you want.
10) The Sunfury Protector is playable, the Cobra is good, but the Argent Commander comes with build in card advantage.
11) Mark of Nature is good, allows for some versatility. Naturalize can be good - I started drafting some of them recently to take out the big guns, but giving your opponent two extra cards can be devestating late game when things are stalling a bit. The Commando is good - but I think I would take the Mark of Nature now.
12) Panther or Beserker, both good choices
13) Brewmaster is good, but we need some protection.
14) Dwarfs and Knight are both good minions at 4 mana, both can be used offensively the turn they come out, but the dwarfs need some help for that, so Knight it is.
15) Ogre is too expensive, Wild Growth is mostly useless. Spellpower is always good.
16) Knight or Mark of Nature? Already have 2 Knights, and the two actually work really well together, so Mark.
17) Already have 2 Knights, could have used a third, but still very low on 2-cost creatures. Plus, Spellpower
18) More protection in form of the Tauren Warrior, or with the Mark of Nature? Both good.
19) Could have gone for the Claw here.
20) Cobra is good to kill stuff. Wraith is good to screw with the opponent. Alchemist is situational, but can be useful.
21) Easy choice, need more removal
22) Could have gone for the Grizzly here.
23) Tough choice. Weapon removal is great to have. Mark of the wild is both offensive and defensive at the same time, Mark is at least flexible.
24) Swipe - another druid card I will take as many as I can get
25) Silence!
26) Can always use more protection
27) Yeti isn't bad, but the deck could have used a 1-drop.
28) See 7)
29) Corsair is to expensive for a no-weapons class, Acolyte is mostly good for a single draw only, dealing 1 damage in the process (could actually have been of use with some of the druid buffs though). Brewmaster is a great card though, whether he is saving almost dying minions or allowing for extra use of Battlecries
30) Demolisher is great. Bite is better.
Final thoughts: The deck seemed decent, but a bit too slow/expensive for me. Never would have expected this one to go 9-0, and have to admit that it involved a lot of luck, between topdecking and bad plays by my opponents.
Hearthstone Arena Deckbuilding - Rogue Arena - Final Result 6:3
Actually my first time playing Rogue in the Arena I believe, so I wasn't as familiar with what could show up as with other classes.
1)Sunwalker is great defense. At the time I felt i would be playing to fast/aggressive to make good use of the Twilight Drake, but after getting some games in with the rogue, I think it might actually be useful, as the first few rounds are often spend on your Class ability, so you build cards up in your hand naturally
2) The other two are decent minions, but AE-damage that replaces itself is better then either.
3) Could have gone for either really, but for the long game, the Dwarf has the better additional effect
4) Could have gone for Murloc as well, but as we can always use our weapons to at that point, squire seemed the better choice.
5) Probably should have gone for the Bodyguard (for same reason I avoided Murloc in the prior choice)
6) Really not sure about Vanish - could be a good Panic-Button, but I'm not sold on it. May give it a try at some point, but for now, went for the Dark Iron Dwarf again.
7) Not a fan of the Nightblade, to expensive for a 4/4 with a not that great effect. Raging Worgen and Stormpike Commando are both good, but the Commando goes for the 2-for-1 card advantage.
8) Same choices as in 3), but since I already have 2 Dwarfs by now, evening things out a bit on the mana curve.
9) Ringleader is great (especially when going 2nd thanks to combo triggering from The Coin)
10) All 3 are pretty good - Violet Teacher probably the lowest quality of them all. Master of Disguise can be really great with minions you want to protect to keep their effect active (or at least, until they can attack next turn) - maybe a bit to specific for Arena, kind of wish I had gone for the Azure Drake, but a 4/4 for 4 with a good Battlecry is far from bad.
11) For 3 cost, I like a 3/3 better then a 2/2, since it will mostly encounter other 3/3 or at least, 2/3s. Even with the 1 extra damage. Shieldbearer might be ok as well to slow the opponent down a bit.
12) Tough choice - Raid Leader and Frostwolf Warlord are both good minions.
13) All good cards, but the Assasins Blade is just too good to pass up.
14) Already discussed Vanish, and the Dragonhawk is just to weak by itself. Seems better suited for a Paladin, Shaman or Druid deck, where it can be buffed up easily.
15) Again the choice between Raging Worgen and Stormpike Commando. Already have one of each at this point, but as i have more 3 cost cards then any other cost atr this point, went for the Commando.
16) The Harpy is a strong card, in theory. In practice, I rarely see it do much. Again, to slow. Going for another 2-cost minion. The Battlecry of the Brewmaster works well together with the Defias Ringleader/Dark Iron Dwarfs as well
17) Maybe it's my inexperience with the Rogue, but being on the receiving end of the Sap rarely decided games so far, so I didn't want to take it. Farseer isn't bad, and again, works well with the Brewmaster
18) Shiv is good, Fan of Knives is better.
19) Dalaran Mage and Stormwind Knight both good choices at this point. Maybe should have taken the Knight, since I already have so many 3-cost cards, but the Spellpower buffing up the Fan of Knives...
20) I like the Mana Wraith to screw with the opponents play, but more AE-damage is rarely the wrong choice
21) The Sen'jin Shieldmaster is great, might have been the better choice, looking back. The Betrayal didn't have as much use as I had expected
22) Eviscerate, really easy choice
23) I like the Scarlet Crusader for his built-in card advantage, but some Silence effects are very needed (and against buffing classes can be card advantage as well)
24) The Abusive Sergeant is great for a 1-drop, of which I don't have much at this point, has lots of use even later in the game. Might have been the better choice, but the Knight is good too.
25) Again, Betrayal...Could have taken the Loot Hoarder but i even with the little use I got out of it, i think it was the right choice.
26) Preparation is really more use for a constructed deck, so it's between the assassin and the Kidnapper. After having played with the Kidnapper, it clearly was the wrong choice, to expensive (thus not that great to trigger it's Combo) and the effect had limited use. Should have taken the Assassin
27) Questing Adventurer is pretty much a no-brainer, very strong minion.
28) More Silence!
29) Not much to choose from here, though the Gnome isn't actually bad either.
30) Similar to 1st pick, the Twilight Drake would have been more use then I expected originally. But the Argent Commander is pretty good as well.
Final thoughts: Solid deck, performed well. Went 6-1 before getting its ass kicked twice in a row by a really good Warlock deck.
