Hearthstone: Heroes of Free to Play is a series in which I document my adventures starting off fresh with a new account and playing the game without ever paying any real money. In my first week, I unlocked all the basic class cards and got a few choice pulls from packs that helped decide what class I’ll start off playing. Previous parts: One. Two.
This week went in a completely new direction. I decided to scrap the priest deck for being too slow and because I managed to pull two copies of Doomguard and a copy of Imp-losion. With the first two wings of Naxxramas unlocked, I can now run a semi-decent Warlock Zoo deck.
As the week started out, I again grinded quests and Arena to reach the requisite gold total to buy another wing. Unfortunately, it takes a huge amount of time, so I won’t be able to repeat the practice next week. However, I will still be able to grind out the rest of the adventures pretty quickly, and then I’ll have a much better fighting chance to reach Legend rank.
The Warlock Deck
The Warlock deck fared pretty well, but even its winrate was only around the 50% mark. I could rush down many players, but the abundance of Secret Paladin decks on ladder absolutely crushed my chances of streaking to a high rank.
Nerubian Egg has several triggers that allow an early 4-attack minion and provides insurance against board clears in the later parts of the game. Ironbeak Owl allows me to avoid pesky taunt minions to be able to find lethal damage. After that, the other minions in the deck all have high value for their cost while Doomguard acts as a finisher, even if I do happen to always draw both at the same time.
Similarly to games such as Starcraft, to be able to win, I have to cheese because I don’t have the cardpool (“experience”) to preform “macro” (control)-style play. As my collection grows, I’ll be able to play more of my favourite decks, such as Patron Warrior, Freeze Mage, and Handlock.
I’ve created a video of me playing three games with the deck. The first is against a Secret Paladin, and the deck, as always, just outpaces me drastically. The second is against a Mech Mage, and despite some misplay, Zoo is just too much for him. Finally, a Freeze Mage deck gets completely overrun by Zoo’s stream of tiny threats.
As can be seen, I’m working on some concept decks with Warrior and Hunter as well. Depending on how this next week’s arena runs go, I may just have some new decks to play.