Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Table of contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Part I Beginner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1. Getting started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2. Building your collection and earning gold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3. Crafting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4. Game fundamentals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
5. Hidden rules and exceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
6. Common mistakes and misconceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
7. Building your first deck constructed play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
8. Basic arena strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
9. Naxxramas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Part II Intermediate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
10. Tempo and value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
52
11. Synergy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
12. The correct order of actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
13. Foresight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
14. Finding the hidden play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
15. Tile and decision-making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
16. Focus and mindset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
17. How to improve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
18. Tracking your results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
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Introduction
I view playing games at the highest level as a form of art. Players express
themselves through their playstyles, and their gameplay paints a picture which is admired
by their fans all over the world. When you reach a high level of proficiency at a game, you
discover a completely new dimension. You can finally play around and still be successful.
You can start meta-gaming and outsmarting your enemies. This is what I most enjoy about
games and that's why I help other players to get better.
I'm giving this e-book away to everyone who wants to become a better Hearthstone
player than they're currently, with the hope of adding just a little bit to the Hearthstone
community, and elevating the average skill level of Hearthstone player-base just by a little
bit.
This e-book is designed to to help players of all levels, become better at
Hearthstone. If you're a beginner it will speed up the initial learning curve by a lot. You
will learn how to avoid the most common mistakes and find some decks and advice that
you can follow step by step, right away. If you're an intermediate player, you'll learn about
the most important concepts of the game and what is the difference between you and the
best players. More advanced players will find resources and methods of getting small
advantages, and finding their strong points, to maximize their wins.
Remember that everyone in Hearthstone starts from the same place, so have fun
playing and learning, and enjoy the rest of this e-book!
-Asmodeus
Part I
Beginner
Chapter 1.
Getting started
When you log in to Hearthstone for the first time, you'll be guided by the innkeeper
through the very basics, and after playing a few matches against AI you'll be left on your
own to explore and discover what the game has to offer.
My first advice to you, is read everything! It will save you a lot of time,
confusion and effort if you just read everything you encounter. When you see a new card,
take a while to read the text on it. Nobody wants to sit down and learn card descriptions
one by one. This is playtime, not school, so spare yourself the effort and get to know every
card as soon as possible, one at a time. Before you know it, you'll be familiar with most
playable cards, and ready to take the next step.
Next, you can jump into practice mode and fight against the expert AI. Beating all
of the expert AI opponents will grant you another 100 gold. Focus on playing 1 class at a
time, and become familiar with their cards and hero power. Once you hit lvl 10 with your
first class, you'll be rewarded with a pack of expert cards. Pick another class that you
like, and one by one get them to lvl 10. Once you do that, you will unlock all basic cards,
and get another 100 gold.
After you defeat every expert AI hero, go to the Play mode, to be matched against
real players, of approximately your skill level. You will get more experience points by
playing against other people than by playing against AI, and on top of that, for every 3
victories in play mode, you will receive 10 gold (maximum 100 per day). Your first game
in this mode will also grant you 1 pack of expert cards, and first 3 games, regardless of
the result will give you 100 gold.
This is all the "free" gold you're getting until you hit 100 and then 1000 wins in any
game mode, which will both reward you with an additional 100 gold each. Don't spend it
all on candy!
Read everything
Unlock all basic cards
Complete unique quests for gold
10
Chapter 2.
Unless you're prepared to spend a fortune on card packs, building your collection
will take some time, but many people have already proven that you can get access to every
competitive deck, while going completely "free to play" on any account.
Everything mentioned above can be acquired with real money or the in game
currency. The best use of your gold, in the beginning of your Hearthstone journey is by far
the Arena entrance fee, but in order to get the required 150 gold first, you'll have to get the
gold from play mode first.
11
12
Try to get 60 and 100 gold quests by re-rolling the 40g ones
Save gold for arena
Get a second account or alternate servers to get faster gold for arenas
Get Naxxramas before buying card packs
13
Chapter 3.
Crafting
"I solemnly swear to uphold the dust, and never disenchant a card without thinking"
The Argent Dust Oath
Crafting cards is one of the most rewarding features in Hearthstone. The more
patient you will be, the bigger the rewards and satisfaction. You can craft most cards using
arcane dust, which you will get either from arena rewards or disenchanting other cards.
You can disenchant only the cards which you can also craft.
Before you start crafting, it's important to understand as much as you can about the
cards and the crafting process itself
He thought disenchanting Hogger was a good idea, until control warriors showed that
Hogger really is super powerful!
14
The table below will show you the cost and reward for crafting and disenchanting a
card of each rarity type:
Rarity
Cost of Crafting
Regular
Golden
Regular
Golden
Common
40
400
50
Rare
100
800
20
100
Epic
400
1600
100
400
Legendary
1600
3200
400
1600
Tirion Fordring
Edwin VanCleef
Lord Jaraxxus
Grommash Hellscream
15
Archmage Antonidas
Cenarius
Al'Akir The Windlord
Class specific legendaries rarely played limited use, not recommended:
Prophet Velen
King Krush
Secondly, we have to consider legendary cards that fit in most decks, either because
of their versatility or sheer power. I ordered the neutral legendary cards so that you can see
which ones you should consider crafting first, and which ones are not even worth keeping.
Top tier neutral legendaries played in many of the best decks:
Sylvanas Windrunner
Cairne Bloodhoof
The Black Knight
Good legendary cards definitely worth crafting:
Bloodmage Thalanos
Ragnaros the Firelord
Alexstrasza
Ysera
Baron Geddon
Situational legendary cards for specific decks good in their niche:
Malygos
King Mukla
Harrison Jones
Leeroy Jenkins
Optional legendary cards there is use for them but they're never needed:
Deathwing
Hogger
Onyxia
The Beast
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Nozdormu
Gruul
Illidan Stormrage
Elite Tauren Chieftain
Captain Greenskin
Gelbin Mekkatorque
Tinkmaster Overspark
Nat Pagle
Millhouse Manastorm
Lorewalker Cho
How ironic that the most powerful of ogres Gruul sees much less playing time than a
simple boulderfist ogre
Hunter:
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Mage:
Paladin:
Priest:
Rogue:
Kidnapper (0)
Patient Assassin (0)
Preparation (2)
Shaman:
Doomhammer (2)
Earth Elemental (0)
Far Sight (0)
Warlock:
Warrior:
Gorehowl (1)
Brawl (2)
Shield Slam (2)
18
And now for the neutral epic cards, which you can craft and disenchant. There are
certain neutral epics, which are widely used in many decks and on the other hand there are
those which you almost never see. Here they are, divided into 3 main categories:
Neutral epics which are useful for more than one deck:
Blood Knight
Murloc Warleader
Sea Giant
100 dust:
Hungry Crab
Southsea Captain
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Crafting decks
In the beginning, you'll play around with the basic decks, but they can only get you
to a certain point. After that, if you want to progress in constructed ranks, you'll have to
build a stronger deck, using the expert cards. Until you develop a strong sense of the
game, card interactions and the metagame, it's best if you just copy a deck that's tested by
experienced players. Popular streamers and top pro players often keep their decks
available to the public and after every tournament, new decks are released for everyone to
copy and take advantage of the deckbuilding talent and expertise of pro players. You can
also find current, popular decklists on various websites. There is often an option to sort the
decks by the crafting cost so that you can find something affordable for yourself.
At the start it's best to stick with cheap aggro decks, because you can craft them
fairly quickly and earning gold in play mode with them is faster. Hunter and "zoo" warlock
are currently the most popular of the cheap aggro decks that are capable of reaching
legend rank in the hands of a skilled player.
20
Chapter 4.
Game Fundamentals
"Mrrraggglhlhghghlgh"
21
Having some card draw mechanics in your deck is very important, but too much of
it, can lead to clogging up your hand if you can't empty it out fast enough. Balancing the
amount of card draw in a deck comes with experience. You can also gain card advantage
by playing bigger minions, which are able to trade for two or more smaller minions played
by the enemy, or you can play AOE (Area Of Effect) spells, that deal damage or kill
multiple minions at once, such as Flamestrike.
22
Chapter 5.
In this chapter you will learn about some not-so-obvious rules in Hearthstone. Often
times the in-game situation gets complicated with multiple trigger effects in play and
sometimes you can get lost in it all. Hearthstone takes the card descriptions very literally
(in most cases molten giant is one of the exceptions).
Hidden rules
There are many rules in hearthstone, which are not obvious to the new player, and
at first it may seem random, or that something didn't work as intended, but at this point,
Hearthstone went through so much testing, that bug's are incredibly unlikely and there is
probably some hidden rule you might not be aware of. Here are some of the most
important ones:
23
1. Deathrattle triggers after the combat happens in the order in which the minions
were played, one by one.
2. Playing a card, or a minion means playing it from your hand. Minions and effects
summoned by other means, do not count as "Played".
3. Battlecries work only when the minion is played from your hand.
4. Destroying a minion for example using Shadow Word: Pain on it, doesn't deal any
damage to the minion, so it doesn't trigger any effects that happen when damage is
dealt.
5. The maximum mana pool you can have is 10 if you're at 10 and want to play a
coin or innervate you have to spend some of your mana first.
6. You can have maximum of 7 minions on board at once, and when the board is full
you cannot play any more.
7. Secrets such as mirror entity are triggered after battlecries occur.
8. Secrets trigger in the order they were played.
9. Destroying divine shield does not count as dealing damage.
10. Spell damage affects every card that is a spell and deals damage, and it affects only
that.
Silence
Silence is one of the most confusing game mechanics for many players. The easiest
way you can look at it, is to think of silence simply as an eraser or a rubber. When you
hover over a minion you can see the description and various buffs or debuffs if they're
present. Silence removes all of that. The only thing that stays is the minion statistics, such
as mana cost, attack, health and the minion type (Beast, Dragon, etc.)
You can silence enemy buffs, taunts, divine shields, deathrattle and trigger effects,
but you can also silence debuffs from your own guys. Silencing a minion that has been
frozen, will remove the freeze effect and let you attack with it this turn, just make sure that
the minion doesn't have other beneficial effects, because silence will remove all of them.
You can even silence minions after equality to restore their hp or minions affected by
Aldor Peacekeeper to bring back their attack power.
24
Polymorph and hex turn creatures into completely different minions, they're not
counted as debuffs, and thus you can't silence them to get your original minions back.
Silencing Ragnaros the Firelord will let the owner attack with him like with a simple 8/8
giant, it can be sometimes used to finish the enemy off by avoiding the random effect
Card descriptions are simplified but almost always precise with their wording
Try to remember the order in which secrets are played
Remember the order in which minions with deathrattle were played
When silencing a creature, remember that all effects are silenced, not only the ones
you want
25
Chapter 6.
26
Hey man if I pick this Alarm-o Bot I could get like a really big creature or even a
legendary and get it on board for free, that would be crazy! Let's pick it.
That scenario is possible, but it's so unlikely that it's absolutely not worth picking a card
like an Alarm-o Bot in arena. You have to look at all the possible options and try to guess,
how likely it is that the one you're imagining is going to happen.
This is especially important for the new players, who are overestimating combo's
and synergies. Before you gain a lot of experience with these cards and get a firm grasp on
what usually happens, you should try to stay very realistic and go with the choices that
seem the most solid and consistent.
27
Think about the future turns and try to anticipate what can happen. It's better to use
spells to protect your minions, because your minions can hit the enemy face multiple
times, while spells are gone after you cast them.
Lethal refers to having enough damage to kill the enemy hero right away
28
Chapter 7.
At the beginning, in order to earn your gold from daily quests and victories in the
play mode, you will need some starting decks. On the next page you'll find a list of decks
created entirely out of basic cards which are available to you once you hit lvl 10 with that
class.
Play mode, just like the name suggests should be a playground, here you can try
things out and get familiar with cards, game mechanics and the flow of the game. Get
comfortable playing against all classes before you move to arena.
These basic decks, will help you learn the fundamentals and gain some experience.
You will have an advantage over new players who are just starting, and trying to play with
their own decks, but it can only take you so far. When you face decks with legendary and
golden cards, don't get discouraged, everyone in Hearthstone was a beginner at first, and
had to deal with strong competition. With time, you'll develop your skills and your card
collection and you'll be able to take on the best decks in higher ranks.
29
30
31
Once you get more cards that you'd like to put in your original decks, you can consult the
arena tier list, to see which cards are better than the ones you were using.
Become familiar with every class in play mode before you go into the Arena
Start with the basic decks from this chapter and upgrade them as you earn cards
Basic decks can take you only so far, but probably much further than you think,
Stay positive, everyone in Hearthstone started from the same place
32
Chapter 8.
The Draft
Drafting is incredibly important in arena. There are many things to consider, but the
first choice you'll be faced with is always picking one of three random classes. For
advanced players, the strength of every class will be relatively close, and classes like
Rogue or Hunter become much stronger at the top level. You can perform well with all of
them.
For beginners however I recommend that you go either with a class that you have the most
experience with or use this simple tier list:
Tier 1:
Mage
Paladin
Druid
Tier 2:
Rogue
Shaman
Tier 3:
Hunter
Priest
Warlock
Warrior
33
You should have at least five or six 2-drops (you can count the 1 drops as well)
Good 3-drops are hard to get, when you have a hard choice, lean towards them. You
should have at least four 3-drops
There are some great 4-drops, you can be more picky about them.
Don't pick too many cards that cost 6+ mana, the peak of your mana curve should
be around 4 mana.
Mana curve is the distribution of your cards mana cost across the deck. For example - a
lot of cheap cards makes for a low mana curve.
Every few picks, you should take a look at how many cards you have left and how
your deck looks so far. Try to identify strong and weak points in it so that you can proceed
with the draft accordingly. It is important to have a plan and think about how you will try
to win the game. If your deck consists of many small minions, you should get a little more
draw power when given the chance and if your deck seems very top heavy, with multiple
big creatures you should look to fill your early game holes.
Around pick 15 and even more after 20, you should prioritize a little weaker cards
in order to balance your mana curve. Even legendary cards won't save you if you lose
badly the fight over board control in the first 4 turns.
Removal spells, such as Fireball and Swipe are very versatile, pick a lot of them.
On the other hand, situational removal, for example Shadow Word: Death, can sometimes
be a dead card in your hand. It's very important to have one or two of them, but any more
will hurt you more than help.
34
Just like with removal, you can consider every card in that sense. Minions and
spells that are versatile and good in every situation, should take priority over niche and
situational cards that require special conditions to work well.
Good way to balance your deck is to have just enough draw, just enough removal,
just enough big threats and a lot of ways to win, or stay even in the early game (turns 1-4).
The more experience you have playing arena, the easier it will be for you to identify these
thresholds.
Synergy in arena
Synergy and combo's are very often overvalued by new players. Whenever you're
trying to build a deck around certain synergies, like Houndmaster or Mad Scientist, you
should look at what you already have in your deck, rather than trying to think about what
you can get in future picks. You can't predict what the draft will give you, that's why you
need to focus on the information that you already know. Look to the future, but rely on the
deck that you already have. You can also expect specific mana cost minions more reliably
than spells.
Try to remember, or better yet screenshot your decklist before you jump to your first
match in arena
AntiGrav1ty's list
JerkyGunner's list
35
Chapter 9.
Naxxramas
Bring it on Kel'Thuzad!
36
Anub'Rekhan
37
38
Maexxna
Fight against Maexxna is a very interesting
one. There are many ways of beating her, but the
easiest one is by using minions with battlecries,
charge and small token minions that will play
around her hero ability. On normal difficulty you
can fairly easily overrun her with low cost
minions and paladin hero power. Once she returns
a minion with battlecry or charge to your hand,
you'll be able to benefit from it again. Flooding
the board with small guys is better than playing
one large minion.
39
40
41
Loatheb
Playing against Loatheb can be very fun.
The finish is always very explosive due to
the spores which buff your creatures. Try to
flood the board as much as you can with
small minions and your hero ability. When
you manage to keep several minions on the
board you can use one of them, or
something like consecration to gain the
attack buff and finish loatheb in 1 turn so
don't worry about his health untill you fill
your side of the board with minions.
42
Instructor Razuvious
This boss is all about preparation. If you
know what's waiting and you come with
correct deck, you can win without any
problems, otherwise Instructor can destroy
you in just a couple of hits. Make sure to
get your water elementals and oozes early,
they're the key to winning this battle. You
don't need to activate the crystal until after
you take 1 hit from his weapon, feel free to
develop your board by playing the early
minions. Once you can hit him with the
water elemental and prevent his weapon
from obliterating you, it's just a matter of
playing minion after minion and killing him
with them.
43
44
45
46
Patchwerk
Patchwerk is a very unique boss. He doesn't
have any cards except his giant hook. Just
like in the Instructor Razuvious encounter,
you will rely on mages ability to freeze,
mirror images and Acidic Swamp Ooze.
Pay attention to his mana costs and plan
your turns accordingly. Flooding the board
with small minions will play around his
hero ability and with this deck you should
have no problem beating him.
47
Grobbulus
This hideous fellow will try to AOE your
creatures down, that's why priest is again
the right choice. Your holy nova should deal
with the slimes and echoing oozes, while
your beefy minions endure his hero power
miltiple times. Getting the Gurubashi
Berserker in play is a very quick way to
victory.
48
Gluth
Gluth is one of the harder opponents in
Naxxramas. His weapon can become a
problem over time, so try to clear the board
when it's not equiped or when you can play
the Ooze afterwards. Pay attention to the
deathrattles and use them to your
advantage. You can heal yourself by killing
the zombie chow's and clear the board with
unstable ghouls after he uses his hero power
and you buff your minions with Stormwind
Champion.
49
Thaddius
This encounter can be very fun and
unpredictable. You can take advantage of
the AOE buff auras from mnions like Raid
Leader and Stormwind Champion, because
your minions will gain stats permanently
after Thaddius uses his hero ability.
Remember when planning your next move
that each turn the health and attack of all
minions will change.
50
Frostwyrm Lair
Sapphiron
The encounter with Sapphiron can last a
long time and even take you to fatigue, but
it's only due to Sapphiron freezing your
minions and the limitation of his hero
power that will let only 2 of your minions to
survive each turn. The fight is actually very
easy, it just takes a while to finish the
mighty frost-wyrm.
Try to keep 2 biggest minions that are
available to you on the board, one on each
side of the Frozen Champion. Keep healing
them and killing off Sapphiron's threats.
Once he runs out of cards you can just keep
healing and attack whenever your creatures
are not frozen.
51
Kel'Thuzad
Definitely the most challanging boss in all
of Naxxramas (he would like me saying
that). The most important card against KT is
Flamestrike. You can survive a lot of his
Frost Blasts, just try to develop your board
and kill his armor once you'll have at least 7
mana and a flamestrike or Frost Nova
available. He will play a lot of minions at
the same time and you'll have to catch up by
using AOE. If you manage to successfuly
cast at least one flamestrike the final boss
should fall to the onslaught from your
bigger minions.
52
Part II
Intermediate
53
Chapter 10.
Tempo
The understanding of tempo is incredibly important in Hearthstone. In the most
basic sense, it refers to how much you can do with the same amount of mana as your
enemy. Playing faster, or having better tempo, means that you can put in play more
meaningful stats (health and attack) by using efficient minions or deal more damage by
using cheap spells.
Decks based on tempo rely on playing lots of cheap cards and dealing a lot of
damage, very quickly (for example Miracle Rogue) or overrunning the enemy with a
board full of minions which are able to trade efficiently (such as Zoo Warlock).
The trade-off for playing faster decks is the fact that you would be spending cards
too fast to stay relevant for more than few turns. Because of that, decks that rely on tempo
require much more draw power.
Miracle Rogue is able to recover its hand size by using the Gadgetzan Auctioneer, and
Zoo Warlock supplements his natural draw with the hero ability Life Tap.
Value
Value refers to how much a card can accomplish in terms of gaining card advantage
and in relation to its mana cost. For a simple example, let's take a look a 2/4 Gnomish
Inventor vs. 4/5 Chillwind Yeti. Both cards cost 4 mana, that's why it's easy to compare
them. Gnomish Inventor is a good card, it allows you to put a minion in play and draw a
card, however you would need three Gnomish Inventors to take out the Chillwind Yeti,
and he would kill all three of them in the process. In a vacuum, this situation would give 1
card advantage to the player who chose the Yeti and we can say that the Yeti has
significantly higher value than Gnomish Inventor.
54
You can also compare the combined value of all the cards in your deck with your
enemies deck. If you're playing a ramp druid vs. an aggro deck consisting of small and
cheap creatures, you will probably need only 15 or 20 of your cards to kill off the entire 30
card deck of your enemy (the difficult part is surviving long enough to draw and play
them).
Hero power
Hero abilities are another way to gain value. By killing off a damaged creature with
your hero ability you can eliminate enemy card from play without spending any cards of
your own. Same with healing your injured minions. If you keep them healthy, they'll be
able to trade for more than 1 enemy minion and put him at a disadvantage. Hero ability
lets you gain value, for the cost of tempo.
Ramp Druid is a deck that uses mana gain mechanics in order to play many big minions,
turn after turn until the enemy has no answers to them and gets out-valued.
55
On the other hand, when you have stronger board than your enemy, and you're not
in immediate danger of dying, but you're behind on cards, compared to your enemy, you
should utilize the tempo advantage (you already have more minions or stats in play than
your enemy so he needs to catch up) and make the most efficient trades possible. Try to
save your creatures, use your hero ability, but make sure to not overextend against possible
AOE.
Always evaluating your position in game with regards to tempo and value/card
advantage will let you pick the best play in any situation. With time and experience, you'll
be able to see it more clearly and make finer distinctions that allow for even more optimal
plays.
Always try to be aware if you're ahead or behind on cards and board position
Hero ability provides value at the cost of tempo
Faster decks require more draw power
Identify your opponents deck, so that you know if value or tempo is more important
56
Chapter 11.
Synergy
Many players, including me, are initially attracted to Hearthstone, because of all the
cool combos and synergies. When the stars align, you can make some incredible plays.
You can even kill your enemy with a single attack from an Angry Chicken. The drawback
of any combo deck, is inconsistency. Currently the only combo deck that works very well
is Miracle Rogue, and that's due to the incredibly powerful draw engine Gadgetzan
Auctioneer, which allows the player to draw so many cards that having the necessary
combo pieces is almost guaranteed.
In the beginnig, try to rely on the expertise of seasoned players, when it comes to
building decks based on synergy between specific cards or complicated combinations.
New players often overestimate how good these decks are, because they don't have any
kind of refference. They don't know how likely it is to draw specific two, three or even
more cards. In order to know that, you need to play enaugh games for the luck factor to
even out across them all, that way you'll know what to expect on average.
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Powerful, multiple card combos are unlikely to work, unless you can draw many
cards consistently
Multiple small synergies are better than one big combo
Use versatile cards that can synergize with more than 1 piece of your deck
When adding cards to your deck, check for cards that benefit or become worse
through adding that new card
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Chapter 12.
You already know from previous chapters, how important it is to cultivate good
habits and avoid creating bad ones. Even if the situation doesn't call for it, you should
exercise the correct way of playing, just to practice and make it automatic. That 5% of the
time, when it actually matters, will make the difference in your win-rate.
Here is a list you can use to make sure you're doing everything right on your turn.
You can develop your own mental checklist, but these are the general guidelines you
should be using.
1. Make a mental list of all your options when your enemy takes his turn.
How much mana will you have next turn?
Which cards can you play?
Can you use your hero power together with some of them?
Are you likely to have lethal damage and finish the game?
Are you ahead or behind in cards?
2. When it's your turn to act, sit back and don't touch the mouse. You have 90
seconds to make your move. In a game based around decision making, time is
your friend.
If you hover of the cards that you can play, your enemy can guess what's in your
hand.
Imagine the entire turn in your head before you start doing anything to make sure
you have enough mana
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3. In most situations this is the order in which you should act during your turn.
Draw cards if you decided on doing it this turn they may change what you
ultimately do this turn
Roll the dice for example if you play shaman, getting a specific totem might
affect what you can do this turn, or hitting certain targets with Mad Bomber could
allow you to trade more efficiently.
Play minions with triggered effects first Questing Adventurer or Knife Juggler
will benefit from playing them before other minions.
Play the rest of your cards or use hero ability.
Attack enemy minions or the hero.
4. End the turn after you make sure there is nothing else you can or want to do.
If there is no possible plays, you'll hear the Job done. sound bite and the End Turn
button will turn green.
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Chapter 13.
Foresight
Yarrrr! Blood and plunder! I hope you thought about good insurance!
This ability alone is the difference between an average player and the top of the
ladder. Without it, most games would be determined purely by luck of the draw and which
deck counters which.
"- the ability to predict or the action of predicting what will happen or be needed in the
future."
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To better predict the enemy, take note of the most popular cards in arena and learn
the most popular ladder decklists
Always keep your next turns in mind when making a decision
Know the deck your playing, take a screenshot if you have to
Try to calculate or estimate the percentages of possible outcomes to predict what's
most likely to happen
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Chapter 14.
Deceptive simplicity
On the basic level, Hearthstone is a very simple game, this creates an illusion that
the game is simple in every aspect. This causes many players to never find out about the
depth to which they can push their ability to make the best decisions.
Sometimes the mark of a superior player is playing the game slower instead of
faster. There are many traps for players who are easily satisfied with the first convenient
play they see. Gaining small, incremental advantages every few turns really makes the
difference. There are many things to look out for, when you're searching for the most
optimal play.
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Don't be satisfied when you find a good play, always try to look for something even
better
Keep in mind all the changes that will happen when you take each action during
your turn
Watch out of unusual mechanics you don't normally interact with
Pay special attention to dynamic effects such as buffs, debuffs and battlecries
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Chapter 15.
Tilt
Being on tilt means that you make poor plays, which you know are wrong, but the
emotions interfere with your ability to stay focused and think clearly. Nobody is immune
to tilt, even the best and the most calm of players will sometimes be affected by it.
The most common cause of tilt is having specific expectations. If you play a card
with randomized effect, when you're 80% favourite and lose the roll few times in a row,
you might get frustrated, because you expected the outcome to be different. That's why
understanding probability and statistics helps a lot when it comes to expecting specific
outcomes.
Losing streaks
Another way of becoming frustrated because of your expectations is simply losing
many games in a row. If you're focused on winning each particular game, you may become
angry when you don't reach that goal over and over again. The simplest way to deal with
it, is focusing on how you play, instead of the end result.
You should be satisfied as long as you played to the best of your ability. Don't try to
control things which are outside of your reach, instead, focus on things that you can
influence directly. I'll explain more about that in the next chapter.
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Simple remedy
Everyone will tell you this when you're on tilt take a break. People often ask
What should I do when I'm on a losing streak?
First of all, stop the streak instead of extending it. Playing more and trying to chase the
loses never works. If you can record your gameplay, it can be very helpful to watch the
lest few games or better yet, let someone else watch it, so that they can look at it with a
fresh eye.
Staying healthy through good nutrition and regular exercise WILL make you play better!
Try to notice the triggers for your frustration. Knowing yourself helps just as much
as knowing the game.
Staying in good physical shape reduces your tendency to go on tilt
Record your games or let someone watch you play when you're not sure why you're
losing
Taking a break always helps when you're on a losing streak
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Chapter 16.
In order to succeed at anything you need two things. Clear and compelling vision or
goal, and focus. You cannot hit a target that you can't see, that's why having a specific,
measurable goals is incredibly important.
Focus
In order to stay on top of your form with regards to decision making, you have to
feel well.
After each game, take a short break, you can reflect on the game or do something
unrelated
Daily exercise will help with bringing more oxygen to your brain that's a good
thing!
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These are the obvious things you can do, but often overlooked when players
wonder why they sometimes play better and sometimes worse.
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Chapter 17.
How to improve
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Did he clear the board without losing as many minions as you did?
After some time, you'll find that you can often make the exact same decission as the player
you're watching, this is a good sign that you're improving.
If you learn more about the popular decks and how they play out your
probabilities of winning are greater.
If you keep learning about tiny advantages you can get with your deck your
probabilities of winning are greater.
It's not just luck anymore. If you trace it back, you'll find out that there are certain things,
just the smallest changes that affected many of your wins or losses.
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Copy the things that great players do, and try to understand why they do them
Instead of giving up - be motivated by plateau's and challange yourself to raise
above them
Try to make decisions and choices together with the player you're watching during
the stream and compare them
Try to get as many small advantages as you can they accumulate over time and
help you win more
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Chapter 18.
This Alterac Valey battle is going on since yesterday, has either side made any
progress?
The tips and advice I'm going to give you in a moment, apply not only to
hearthstone, but to virtually any activity that can be measured and tracked over time.
Whether it's for other games, like League of legends, StarCraft 2, or real life activities
such as working out.
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Tracking software
First step is to chose 1 method of tracking and stick with it. It's important to use 1
method of tracking consistently, because the more data you can gather, the more accurate
it becomes. You can simply write everything down in a word file or on paper, but it would
be a huge waste of time considering there is already plenty of tools you can use.
I personally use Hearthstonetracker which captures the results automatically and
lets me overview them any way i want. Feel free to check out any number of those tools
and pick one that suits you the best.
You'll find more links in recommended resources at the end of this e-book.
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Remember, that it's not always the deck that needs changing. Sometimes your
playstyle needs to be adjusted. Maybe you have some bad habits or tendencies that make
you lose more against certain decks. Now you can see which decks are the hardest for you
to beat and what you should focus on.
Another interesting tip if you notice your win rate with and without The Coin you
can see how well you're using it. The percentages should be around 50/50, so if you're
losing significantly more games whene you go as the second player, you can look at
improving your usage of coin and gain additional edge to win more games through that.
Unless you're not human, you can't track your results accurately in your head
Find the best tracking method for you and stick to it
Regularly check your win percentages against each class to find your biggest
weakness that you can fix
Make sure to gather a lot of date, the more data you have the more accurate it
becomes
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Part III
Advanced
Chapter 19.
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Mulligan is one of the most overlooked parts of the game. You can win or lose
matches right then and there if you mulligan incorrectly. Basic strategy is to throw away
cards which can't be played in the early turns to ensure smooth mana curve and have
something to play on each turn. Mulligan is more important than you might think.. even if
you already know that.
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Arena mulligan
In arena, early game is incredibly important. The first 3-4 turns, will often dictate
how the game goes, that's why you need to know precisely how many minions you have,
that you can play on each turn. If your deck lacks in the early game, you should generally
keep anything that costs 3 or less mana. If you have a lot of early game, and you're offered
some of your best cards for the midgame you can keep some of them.
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Chapter 20.
Experienced players are able to guess fairly accurately what cards the enemy is
holding. Often when you play, you can name the card that the enemy is about to play
before its revealed based on how fast he reached for it. If he did it fast it's most likely the
most obvious response to the current situation.
What would be the best card my enemy could have to respond here?
Keep track of the possible scenarios during the game and when it's time to commit
to the board either with a big threat or multiple minions, you'll know if your enemy is
likely to have a response to it.
If you already played a big creature and he had to run his smaller minions into it,
putting you in the lead, that means, he probably doesn't have the appropriate removal and
you're safe to play the next big threat.
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Keep track of the board situation for both sides to see if your enemy has
opportunities to play important removal or AOE
Unless you're playing against someone you know is a top player, they will do the
most obvious plays
Keep track of the positioning of enemy cards as much as you can
Pay attention to enemy hovering over his cards, they're usually an obvious reaction
to what just happened in the game
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Chapter 21.
Small advantages
I mentioned before, that Hearthstone is deceptively complicated, even though it
seems very simple on the surface. Once you get to higher level of play, it stops being about
finding a good play to make, and starts to be about avoiding mistakes and making
marginally more optimal decisions.
When everyone is playing well, you have to gain small advantages and accumulate
them to win the game. They won't win you every game, because of the significant factor of
randomness, but over time, that one small thing that you learned to do, can give you 0.1%
better win-rate. Find ten ways to get small advantages and that's 1% higher win-rate. Do
that in each matchup and you'll get almost 10% more wins, just from doing these tiny
adjustments that seem very minor and irrelevant.
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Everything matters
From how well you eat and sleep to the specific ways you play the game,
everything can give you an advantage. These are the things that you don't notice. These are
the things that you'd like to know when you go on a losing streak and have no idea why it
happened. It's very hard to look at yourself and what you do in a a very broad spectrum. If
you can do something better, to increase your chances of winning the game, there is no
reason not to do it.
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Chapter 22.
Don't try to coin me, your dirty gambling money has no power over me.
Hearthstone may be a very popular game, but it's not as popular as poker. Poker
games have been around for much longer, they've been studied more extensively. With
money on the line, people went to great lengths to find every possible way of getting an
advantage, that's why learning from poker can help you immensely.
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Statistics
Statistics can get very complicated, but all you need to know are just the basics.
You need to know that data, or outcomes will vary a lot in small numbers, and the more
data you collect and the more outcomes you observe, the more accurate the distribution
will be. Which means that when you're trying a new card, deck or a strategy you'll need to
try it more than a couple of times to see whether or not it works.
Just because something you did gave you a positive result doesn't mean it's the
right play. Think what would happen if you made the same play 10 000 times? Would you
win most of them? It works both ways, so don't get discouraged when something doesn't
work. With large amounts of randomness in Hearthstone, you have to be patient and see
more than just few examples to learn what works best.
At the end of this book you'll find some recommended resources to learn more about that
Take some time to study the basics of poker if you haven't already
Many aspects from poker overlap with other games, especially games focused on
decision making that involve random elements
Remember that not everything is the same in both games
Check out the recommended resources at the end of this e-book to learn more
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Chapter 23.
Calculating probability
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RNG cards are not so random, you can often control your chances to get the desired
effect
Use the calculator if you don't know the basic chances to draw cards yet
When taking a risk try to see if you can calculate the probability first
Cards kept by your enemy in his hand are over time more and more likely to be
situational removal and end game finishers
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Chapter 24.
Deckbuilding
I am The Black Knight, sent by Lich King himself... putt me in your deck, pretty please?
Synergy
Synergy between cards is often the premise behind the deck, but it's also often
overvalued. If you want to build a deck around a certain combo, remember that the more
cards required for the combo the harder it is to pull off.
The best combo decks either have lots of synergies, so that you can use any of the
many combinations that are within the deck, or they draw nearly the entire deck, to
guarantee getting the essential combo pieces.
More cards that synergize with the core of the deck is usually better than super
powerful combos that can be rarely pulled off.
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Win condition
Every deck has to have a win condition. Sometimes it's not obvious, like for
example in control paladin or priest. In their case, the win condition is having more value
in their cards than the enemy, thus, if they survive to draw most of their deck, their cards
will simply beat the entire deck of their enemy.
In aggro decks like mage or hunter, the win is achieved by dealing enough
damage to kill the enemy before they can take control of the board and finishing off with
burst damage from burn spells like kill command and fireball and miracle rogue relies on
Malygos or Cold Blood/conceal combos. Always make sure you understand the win
condition of your deck, so that you know the correct playstyle in each matchup.
When copying a deck, make sure it's well suited for ladder
Make sure you understand the win condition of your deck
Include cards that synergize and support your win condition
Adjust the amount of draw to the mana curve of your deck
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Chapter 25.
Adjusting decks
Did you run out of cards before you could take enemy hp low enough?
Were you stuck with multiple copies of high cost cards at the start of the game
Whatever it is, try to find out which scenario happens the most and adjust for that first.
Always try to keep in mind your win condition and make changes that support it.
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Always test the decks. A great idea in theory might not work so well in practice
Pay attention to the decks that beat yours, what do they have in common?
Track against which classes you're playing the most, and change your deck to boost
your chances against them
Always keep evolving your deck and keep an eye for things to improve
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Chapter 26.
Innovating
Everyone is creative. Have you ever had this experience where you had a cool idea,
and then weeks, months or years later you see someone who made that idea into a real
thing? The great secret to being innovative is asking questions and not taking anything for
granted. If you're able to take a step back and go to the basics of the game, you can find
many unexplored paths to the victory.
During the time when I played StarCraft 2 I was able to stay ahead of everyone else
in my league by innovating completely different style of playing, it was so much better
than the standard way of playing that I could take on and beat Masters and Grand Masters
players who had much better mechanics and more experience than me, and a couple
months later I saw more people using these styles.
Hearthstone is still a young game and many classes are not yet fully explored in
constructed play. With new cards on the horizon this is the best time to be creative.
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It's fun
Innovating and trying to make things work can bring you a lot of joy, especially
when you find something that works. That's why I always encourage people to experiment,
because the more fun you're having, the faster you learn.
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Recommended resources
Arena tier lists for drafting in arena:
AntiGrav1ty's list
JerkyGunner's list
For learning arena I recommend you check out the Arena Coop series:
youtube.com/adwcta
For poker related matters check out:
forumserver.twoplustwo.com
The Monty Hall problem:
wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Hall_problem
For tracking your stats:
hearthstonetracker.com
hearthstats.net
arenamastery.com
Simple hearthstone calculator for draw probability:
http://pusio.linuxpl.info/hearthstone.html
Other related websites:
http://www.hearthhead.com/
http://www.hearthpwn.com/
http://www.liquidhearth.com/
http://ihearthu.com/
http://tempostorm.com/
http://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone
http://www.reddit.com/r/competitivehs
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Personal Coaching
I hope you enjoyed this e-book and I wish you good luck on your way to reach any
goals that you may have set up for yourself. If you'd like a little shortcut to get there
however, I'm offering personal coaching for both - arena and constructed in Hearthstone.
I've coached enough Hearthstone (and not only Hearthstone) players already, to
know beyond a shadow of a doubt how helpful it is to have someone take a fresh look at
your gameplay from someone who understands the game.
The only thing required of you, when you book the coaching is that you want to get
better at the game, and have Skype for the screen sharing.
First, I always find out what is it, that you want to accomplish in Hearthstone.
When I've got that I'm able to fit the session plan to your needs and give you the most
important information and techniques to target the sticking points and affect the most
crucial areas needed for improvement.
It's also a great way to ask all the questions, that are very specific and relate to you,
that you can't find answers to, on the internet. I like to stay in touch with everyone I coach
by adding them on Battlenet, so that they can ask questions and I can see them climbing
the ranks afterwards.
You can always find up to date information about my coaching rates and availability on
coaching-with-asmodeus or simply contact me through coaching.asmodeus@gmail.com
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