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Digital Playground

Hearthstone Battlegrounds May 2023

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Introduction

I learned from my mistake in my previous Hearthstone review. You probably noticed that I never mentioned Battlegrounds once. Previously, I complained that they neglected Battlegrounds in their update. Heck, they lost a chance to add an all new minion type to the pool. Then, they released the Battlegrounds update separately and I wished they forgot to include Undead in the minion pool. After Festival of Legends, they performed a huge overhaul of Hearthstone Battlegrounds May 2023.

They removed, reworked, and added minions to every type. They released a new rewards track and restarted as a new season. Heck, they even put together a plan to roll out certain minion types instead of releasing them all on the same day. Supposedly, that move came in response to not wanting to overwhelm players. I firmly believe that because nobody play tests anymore, they anticipated a large amount of bugs and unintentional interactions and wanted to limit their exposure to support tickets.

New Hero

Hero Power: Passive. At the end of every 3 turns, get a plain copy of the left-most card in your hand.

I played him a few times. I think, as I often do, I became too enamored with greed in trying to triple with his hero power that I lost track of the actual game. If I remember correctly, I shame conceded the first game I played and then went out in 5th the second time. Oh well, plenty of time to figure out the play style and get that first place achievement.

New and Reworked Mechanics

In keeping with the spirit of Voone’s hero power, they added “upbeat” minions. These minions do something after a certain number of turns on the board. Sometimes they add other minions to your hand. They might turn a minion in your hand golden. Still others add stats to the minions in your hand. I don’t know why they called them upbeat. There must be some sort of musical pun in there.

In addition, they reworked poisonous into venomous. As another page said, in addition to being more accurate, it provides an autokill with only the first time a minion deals damage. So, no more losing your big minions to cheap poison boards. A final change, they removed mega-windfury as a mechanic on golden windfury minions. Of the three, I like the venomous change best and find the mega-windfury decision a bit perplexing at best.

New Reward Track

The only reason for me to care at all about this change is the rewards track. Last season I made a minor push to see how high my rank got. Just under 7000 is my peak. Other than that, I saw no reason to play the game mode at the end of the season. Those who follow the page know that I have a bit of a checkered history with Hearthstone.

However, I finally grew up and grew into the same familiar pattern as with MTGA. I play the game to finish quests, gain cosmetic rewards, and not much else. Hell, with the most recent MTG set, I only recently even opened my packs. I mainly wanted the sleeves and avatars. Oh, I also wanted the rewards track.

The Verdict

If you came here for an in depth analysis of the patch, you must be new here. In that case, welcome! Look around and I hope you enjoy your stay and come back soon. However, I promise to come back in a month or so when things slow down for the summer and give my second impressions of Hearthstone Battlegrounds May 2023.

Digital Playground

Hearthstone Festival Part 4: Great, Good, Decent

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Introduction

We made it to the end of Hearthstone Festival of Legends! In Hearthstone Festival part 4, I cover Warlock and Warrior. What about neutrals, you ask? Well, first, I rarely ever run neutrals. Look at my decks over this series and ask me that question again. I think in one or two of them, I used only class cards. Who knows? Maybe I write a bonus article talking about the neutrals at some point. I need a break, so on to Magic the Gathering starting tomorrow.

Narrator: He will never write any such article.

My history with Warlock starts and ends with control. I loved playing during the Handlock days and remember inviting Chris to watch me end the career of several players back when we were able to get together on a monthly basis. I reluctantly played Implock a couple of times recently to finish a quest, but I’m a control player. Same with Warrior. I have a wild Krontrol deck that I play and built a standard a set or two ago that I revisit every now and then. With that in mind, let’s look at some cards.

Warlock

demonicgd
despairgd

Decent: Not knowing enough about demons in Standard right now, all I think of when I see these cards is some ridiculous combo involving them that either ends with a full board or in wild, a full board and your hero gaining immunity.

ringr
soloistgr
sinsgr

This is a mish mash hodge podge of cards that makes almost no sense. But, that’s what we like around here, so they get tossed into the good bucket. Likely, never to be heard from again. Hey, you don’t come here for meta. You come here for the inconsistency of the memery.

Crazed Conductor

Image 1 of 5

Great: I think they started this trend with the last expansion of taking fatigue damage without actually exhausting your deck. I like the idea of bending mechanics in new ways, so of course I chose to build around that. Now, time to see if I’m right about there being more cards to support this terrible build

Warrior

dec1
dec2a

Decent: A card that increases the amount of armor that you gain plus a card that benefits from that armor gained? Hey, we got a combo over here! Combo right here! There’s a combo here. See, nobody cares.

Reference for those who need it.
riff3
riff1
riff2

Good: (a) I have no idea what these cards mean when they say play your last riff. (b) I refuse to look up what these cares mean when they say play your last riff. (c) They might be great cards, but because there are three, I put them in the good section.

Blackrock 'n' Roll

Image 1 of 5

Great: Menagerie build in Battlegrounds remains my favorite to this day. Looking at the statistics from the webpage, others copied me because it always ranks as the top build for nearly every hero. Now, they took that and brought it into standard with these cards. Shove every stupid minion type into your deck. ????? Profit?

The Verdict

I take no credit or blame for that warrior deck. This series is over with Hearthstone Festival part 4 and I’m officially done with these cards. It might actually be a decent deck. It probably just sucks. I return tomorrow with a review of March of the Machine and I don’t entirely know the format yet, so I will either think about that tonight or just repeat the format from the last set. Come back tomorrow to see!

Note: I used Hearthstone Top Deck builder for the decks. I know it isn’t the best, but it works and I like it aesthetically for the screenshot of each deck.

Digital Playground

Hearthstone Festival Part 3: Great, Good Decent

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Introduction

I admit that the last article wrote much easier than the previous article. Hopefully, this one follows suit. Next week, I scheduled the new MTG set review, so more easy pickings to keep ramping into our summer schedule. Though, admittedly, the end of June and beginning of July bring the Germany trip, so not much in the way of updates for about a month there. But, that’s a couple of months off. Maybe I’ll figure out a way to schedule updates for that time. Right now, I need to discuss Hearthstone Festival part 3; priest, rogue, and shaman.

I play a lot of priest and shaman in wild. Usually, I play Galakrond priest (yes, still) and Highlander Shaman. For a while there, rogue was public enemy number one again. I saw some of those decks, but mostly I just autoconcede when faced with something like that. I have no interest in climbing the ranks. I simply want to finish quests and get as many collectibles as possible in the game.

Priest

love
syncronize

Decent: The legendary spell might just be great and find its way into numerous standard and wild decks. Saving two mana is a big deal. However, as I’ve hopefully expressed over the years, I am not about great decks. I’m about jank and just plain bad decks. So, you want to min/max? There are plenty of other web pages for that. Here, I’m all about “Love Everlasting” into Power Chord: Synchronize.

pop
distort
fight

Good: Definite removal vibe in these cards. When I play priest, usually I play for removal. So, more likely than not, all of these cards will be included into my next priest Wild deck. I especially like the idea of the fight card. Not only is it removal, but it gives card advantage, too. The budget dismember seems fun, too.

Heartbreaker Hedanis

Image 1 of 5

Great: These cards pushed for heal and overheal, which makes sense. They introduced the mechanic in this set and added it to some of the cards from the new “core set” available to Standard players. Overall, these cards underwhelm me more than any of the other cards in the set. I often say that I don’t care about good decks, just fun decks. But, this one feels like neither. Who knows? Maybe it will surprise me.

Rogue

Mixtape
hip-hop

Decent: Remember, just a paragraph ago, when I said how underwhelmed I was by those priest cards and deck? Well, apparently, that’s going to be a theme in this article. Because these cards stink on ice. Sure, deal damage and buff your weapon has utility. But, how many times do I have to say it? We aren’t looking for utility here. We want jank!

mc
bounce
return

Good: Rogue bounce card annoy the hell out of me. These ones seem less annoying, other than maybe the one that makes them all cost 1. I’m sure somebody somewhere already came up with a way to exploit that card along with all of the other mana reducers available to rogue. But, I have no interest in that, so into the good bucket it goes.

Beatboxer

Image 1 of 5

Great: Ever since the beginning of Hearthstone, Combo defined rogue cards. Hell, one of those cards launched the career of one of the most famous streamers of all time. At the very least, it gave him a clever name to call himself. So, why not try to piggy back off that success and jam all of the new combo cards into a deck?

Shaman

chill
chord

Decent: As with most of the cards in this set, these are decent but not great. Both are costed okay with upside depending on the finale or overloaded clause. But, they just don’t “WOW” me, you know what I mean? And, so, I deem them decent.

brass
house
melo

Good; This is the part in the review where I start to feel like I repeat myself. Because after just repeating myself above, I’m going to repeat myself about repeating myself. Or, I can just wrap this thing up, walk away for a little bit, and come back to it tomorrow.

Flowrider

Image 1 of 5

Great: Like rogue, Blizzard focused on an oldie but a goodie…hey, wait a minute. Was this music themed expansion just a long con by Blizzard to get people to say that phrase? If so, well played. In any case, they focused on an oldie but goodie Shaman keyword. Quite possibly the most maligned and misunderstood evergreen of the entire game; overload.

The Verdict

Hearthstone Festival Part 3 contains possibly the most underwhelming collection of cards so far. None of these cards made me interested in playing the game other than maybe “Jive, Insect.” And I just like that one for the stupid fun potentially involved. Other than that, I’d rather just forget that Hearthstone Festival Part 3 never happened.

Decks created with Hearthstone Top Decks. I know it isn’t the best builder, but it works and I like the screen shots for aesthetic reasons.

Digital Playground

Hearthstone Festival Part 1: Great, Good, Decent

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Introduction

We last wrote about Hearthstone in the traditional sense of the game during the Barrens expansion. Since then, I meant to write reviews of the Sunken City expansion, but things got busy. And, so, we join Hearthstone nearly a year later with the release of Festival of Legends. Hearthstone Festival Part 1 brings cards from 3 classes; Death Knight, Demon Hunter, and Druid.

Speaking of things getting busy, I’m sure that I will repeat this several times this week during the various projects I need to update. I already discussed it in the finale episode of the podcast. Now, I write about it here. My days over the last few weeks go like this; I wake up, I go to work, I pick up Quinn, take him to play, watch play, come home, maybe work out, cook dinner, take Aiden to soccer, come back home, play around on the computer or watch TV for a half hour or so, rinse and repeat. So, things have been busy.

A Note Before The Review

Having last reviewed Hearthstone cards about a year ago, I went to look at that article. It surprised me how in depth I made the review. I split the cards into the decent, good, and great categories. Then, I built a deck around the great cards. Quite the undertaking, to be sure. But, a good idea is a good idea. Plus, I’m on vacation now, so I have a bit of time over the rest of the week to make it happen.

Death Knight

pit
gorwl

Decent: Both of these cards are pretty good, but situational. Immediately, I think of something like Sylvanas for either or both of them as an absolute eff you to opponents playing big minions. As I look now, I think we can have fun with Saurfang or Cage Head (more on him in a bit) shenanigans.

cage
cultist
metal

Good: Hardcore Cultist is a fun little card. If you pull off the finale (spend your last mana on the card), you get consecration on a stick for one less mana. Harmonic Metal becomes Dissonant Metal every other turn where the numbers swap, which is a cool little effect. Cage Head works very well with the other cards mentioned in the decent category, so maybe I’ll make an extra deck with some deathrattle effects.

Great: As I look at these cards, I think I might have tried to combine two strategies. One involves manipulating health to advance cards and the other uses corpses in a similar manner. In my limited experience playing Death Knight, corpses are plentiful and can be worked into any strategy as a secondary win condition. We all know that whatever I build won’t win you any tournaments. But, hopefully it plays fun and brings joy.

Health/Corpse Manipulation Death Knight

Demon Hunter

security
chaos

Decent: As expected, the finale cards have decent upside. Taste of Chaos is no different. You know I like a discover card, too. Unfortunately, I don’t play enough Demon Hunter to even consider any kind of control strategy, which is where that fits. 2 mana for 2 1/1 dudes and the opportunity for a third with outcast just doesn’t do it for me.

rush
darkraven
snakebite

Good: These cards push you in a definite rush direction. Even while writing this, I considered that direction. After all, I more or less admitted in the last section that I have no idea how to build control Demon Hunter. I know it’s possible. I played a minionless control Demon Hunter through last expansion. I just can’t build it myself. So, why not the rush minions? I don’t know. Too obvious, I guess.

Glaivetar

Image 1 of 5

Great: After all that crap I talked about not being able to build a control Demon Hunter deck, it sure looks like I picked cards that lend themselves to control. I think my thought process for this article is trying to build around the legendary spell for each class. In this one, I saw a weapon control deck with some lifesteal thrown in. That’s the one thing i always wished for as a rogue when I started playing Hearthstone.

Demon Hunter Weapon Control?

Druid

no images were found

Decent: Well, the druid cards broke the streak of building around the legendary spell. I tried, but there’s just no synergy between the card and anything else that I might want to do with my deck. It’s a fun card with some utility, but just not what I want. Same with Peaceful Piper. A decent card with pretty good utility. So, they both fit in this section.

drum
flower
tambourine

Good: These three cards work very well together. They do what big druid wants to do and make big dumb creatures to wallop your opponent. I think they might find a place in a Prince Highlander Druid deck if that’s even a thing. If not, I might just make it a thing. I know I say these things and then I never follow through. But, let me make a note of it now. Big dumb druid deck and whatever I said for Death Knight earlier. Ha!

Zok Fogsnout

Image 1 of 5

Great: All of these cards either improve attack or armor or take advantage of that improved attack and armor. That led to an obvious deck idea similar to the Demon Hunter above. You can either use your attack and armor as removal and play more control or just try to race the opponent. Not knowing what the current meta is, I’m not sure which is more likely.

Druid Attack/Armor Manipulation Deck

The Verdict

Hearthstone Festival Part 1 gives us Death Knight (first time we reviewed the class), Demon Hunter, and Druid cards. Overall, the decks seem fun and decent. The druid deck is a bit of a mess, so I definitely want to revisit the class with another deck, probably in wild. After I finish the series, I will consider coming back to any other ideas that I have. Well, i’ts late, but I powered through to finish the Hearthstone Festival Part 1. Here’s hoping the rest of the series goes quicker and more smoothy.

Digital Playground

Battlegrounds February 2023 Second Impression

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Introduction

I gave a first impression//preview of all of the new stuff in Battlegrounds at the beginning of the month. Even though I wrote it within a week of release, Blizzard still put out an emergency balance patch because the new Undead tribe came out a bit too spicy. At the time, I only played enough to know that much and that, as a consequence, the reworked hero Putricide followed in that OP-ness. So, after having played quite a few more games, I return to give a Battlegrounds February 2023 second impression.

I come into this article without much of a plan, to be perfectly honest. Is this a list of the strongest tribes? Doubtful. When have you ever known us to give tier or meta lists? What about my impressions of the game mode and thoughts about the longevity going forward. Getting warmer and I might include that as a bonus. Let’s just go with the obvious 2 Generations Gaming standby of my favorite new minions.

Favorite New Minions Honorable Mention

I picked these minions as either situational minions or ones that I think might be good if I ever figure out the situation for them. I actually end up taking General Drakkisath often. It gives two triggers for two of my favorite minions, explained below. Twitch chat loves Felemental. I see how repeated triggers might be beneficial. I always feel like I’m losing tempo though when I play it. Maybe the game offers me at the wrong time. We all know that I think these games have it out for me. I only take Deathswarmer when I think that I might go Undead.

Sinrunner Blanchy falls into the category of “haven’t figured out the situation yet”. What makes me laugh is that it should be easy. Beast and Undead both have numerous buffs available. And, yet, I continue to field a 4/4 with reborn and no buffs to be reborn with. Finally, Titus Rivendare only drops into this territory because it requires a very specific strategy. They reworked him so that multiple copies give extra triggers. But, let me show you the dumb build that got me second place.

And there you see in my hand, the horsie doing little.

Favorite New Minions 10 through 6

10 – Ghoul of the Feast – I probably rate this one too highly because I generally like to go Menagerie with my builds and this one ticks that box for me. But, if you’re here, it isn’t for my strategic analysis.

9 Possessive Banshee – This one buffs the Eternal Knight and the Horsie. But, as mentioned, I almost never get to take advantage of the best buffs on the horsie. If I ever get that one to work, though, you all will be the first to know.

8 Eternal Knight – Speaking of Eternal Knight, I always take the first one in hopes of getting the second one or the Banshee. Playing one without either of those cards just feels bad.

7 Blazing Skyfin – I love these minions that trigger based on other mechanics. Murlocs alone have an almost monopoly on good battlecries, so if I see this one early in the game, I pick this one without hesitation.

6 Colossus of the Sun – A larger Bronze Warden with the Undead tag? That fits so nicely in with my menagerie builds. Plus, the few times I run undead, he gives me the warm and fuzzies.

Favorite New Minions 5 through 1

5 Mecha-Jaraxxus – I remember when Chris first encountered Jaraxxus in game. He texted something about his opponent turning into a demon something or another and then he swore. He swears a lot when playing Hearthstone. I never got the Mecha-Jaraxxus skin. I guess I make up for it by picking this card every time.

4 Cyborg Drake – Second only to my enjoyment of menagerie is divine shield build. This card fits right into that build. Not much more needs to be said.

3 Felstomper – Like many of the six drops, I don’t encounter Felstomper very often. But, the couple of times I played him, the game went well and I enjoyed the hell out of it. See the silly build above. Plus, just look at that art. How can you not smile when you see that?

2 Thorncaptain – Dear god, that one drop makes me giggle. I pick it every single time, often double it, and then hold on to both copies for way too long in the hopes of a triple. But, that’s the exact janktastic gaming you come to the page to see.

1 Magmaloc – This comes as no surprise if you read my other article earlier in the month. They nerfed him down to a 4 drop and I think they nerfed his drop rate. But, I still force him into every single build as soon as I see the card.

The Verdict

I think I adequately figured out this Battlegrounds February 2023 second impression article. It truly captures the essence of our page. Just enough strategy to make you wonder. A heaping helping of jank that makes you wonder the other way. Thanks for reading. Another update tomorrow.

Battlegrounds February 2023 minion pictures taken from the main Hearthstone page.

Digital Playground

February 2023 Battlegrounds Update

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Introduction

I wrote an article about Battlegrounds at the beginning of the Lich King set release. I came away from that update severely underwhelmed. They gave us nothing in Battlegrounds aside from a new hero. I honestly don’t know why they waited to release the update because it certainly wasn’t to properly balance. They turned nerfs and buffs around so quickly, we can cover them in this February 2023 Battlegrounds Update.

Improvement #1: New Hero

Granted, they gave us Enhanc-o-mechano with the set release. And, I played him a couple of times and enjoyed every time. But, I expected an undead theme in Battlegrounds and, with it, a new undead hero. That never happened until this update. But, boy oh boy, did they give us a hero.

Because I play in 4-8k plebeian territory, the cries of “OP! Plz nerf” went right over my head. I tried playing the new Putricide and failed miserably both times. But, he utilizes my favorite mechanic in the game, Discover, and I think I can have some fun with him eventually.

Improvement #2: Rewards Track

I wrote in that December update that one of my biggest problems with the release of the new expansion was that nothing reset. I knew a new season of standard loomed on the horizon. No such luck with Battlegrounds. As far as I knew, they killed the mode without telling anyone.

There is precedent for such a thing after all.

Without a new season and no Battlegrounds specific quests, only weekly quests kept me playing the game. I got so bored, I even tried Mercenaries. Actually, pretty fun, and I worked it into my daily rotation. Who knows how long that lasts.

Thankfully, Blizzard released the new Battlegrounds season and, with it, a new rewards track. I get to earn new strikes, hero skins, and other cosmetics that make the game worth playing.

Improvement #3: New Tribe, New Minions

Last, but certainly not least, they gave us the new minion type I hoped for back in December. Yes, undead crashed the party big time. Many of the nerfs involved undead and I swear to god, somehow lobbies for a couple of weeks showed 7/8 playing undead. I admit that I tried playing undead a few times, but also farmed them a little bit with elementals, mechs, and the occasional pirate build. Some players, as they do, pissed and moaned about the monotony. In spite of the repetitive gameplay, I found the games mostly fun. While, I don’t have a problem with the balances, it made no difference to me.

A final bonus in the whole ordeal surprised me but, at the same time, I saw it coming. You might even argue that I inspired them to make this change. Blizzard introduced dual type minions! Actually, they created one dual type minion a while ago and I extrapolated then that more were on their way. Well, they’re here. There’s dragon murlocs, undead mechs, and an elemental murloc that warms my heart.

The Verdict

Overall, I like the update to Battlegrounds. As I said, some people cried until Blizzard rolled out the nerfs, but I found the game fun in spite of the fact that every game looked the same. We know the new tribe always ends up overrepresented in the beginning. But, yeah, it was pretty damn ridiculous with undead this time. I hope you enjoyed my February 2023 Battlegrounds update and I’ll be back with more Hearthstone content around the release of the new standard season.