It just sucks because I have no finishing cards, if I can't maintain board control in usually ****ed and have nothing intimidating to catch up.

Meanwhile opponents all have ragnaros, sylvannas, giants, Dr boom etc.

I'm still at lvl 15 and can't seem to get over the hump.

Yeah I think the days of a full FTP making it to legend are over.

Trump's FTP series were awesome (the shaman one basically taught me how to play) but will never really be re-done, decks are too strong now (typically because of follow the doggy mentality with even people at rank 10-15 netdecking)

I bought naxx but it doesn't help, they see zombie chow and spiders come out and they are expecting kel to come later, and the only other one card removal targets I have are the ogre and loatheb.

Did get to 14 using a paladin but I don't have the key cards for it, only have 1 mini bot and no equality which is pretty essential.


Basic strat is to play many good value minions with death rattle or summon another minion battle cries and then buff them and throw a stormwind on turn 7 with a full board


Perfect example, I have a game where I have a couple minions and a consecration and he's down to 2 health. Around turn 10.

He plays jaraxxus followed by a bunch of other legendaries (boom, 2 I don't remember), BGH to kill my buffed ogre, etc and I slowly become helpless as every turn he throws another 9/9 big card and I'm playing dragonling mechanic

Unfortunately going Free to Play is a long grind to get the necessary cards.

Naxx is a good start and at least gives you the start to a decent Paladin deck. At the start I mostly grinded arena to get GvG cards, at the very least Piloted Shredder is a pretty necessary card from GvG. I think it's close between playing arena and buying classic packs for what is "better". I think as a new player, playing arena with your gold can just be more fun because you feel less underpowered and you get a better test of what your skills are like.

The other issue now is anyone who has been playing for a while even if they suck has all the good legendaries--there aren't that many. Maybe if they release a new set of cards that are good, the set of available cards will change but right now most rank 10-15 have Dr. Boom, Sylv, Emperor, Loatheb, Rag and alex and probably their classes top legendary.

I just found my new favorite thing about Faceless being back in a bunch of my decks.

Playing vs Face Hunter. They arcane golem and go face of course. Faceless the Golem for perfect legal. "My Thanks to YOU!"

Facelessing a 16 attack frothing bezerker with charge is also a good time.

Yeah I've been just buying packs... I have one piloted shredder at least.

I did arena 5 times and won 2, 2, 2, 2, 3 so thought I was wasting gold.

As someone who did free to play to legend after naxx was out, arena is essential. It's significantly more difficult to get the best cards now though, since arena only awards gvg packs.

I still strongly recommend arena, because it teaches you all the cards and interactions, how to maximize value and minimize risk, you are on the same level as your opponents so it shouldn't be as frustrating, and eventually it's a great resource of gold and dust.

Playing a priest

Turn 1- coin + lightspawn
Turn 2- double lightspawn health
Turn 3- +2 health, attack equal to health

I concede

FTP players won't enjoy anything but arena now imo

Have dropped 11 straight games this afternoon. Unreal how hard it feels to win right now.

I'm right there with you zimmer. 4** to 6****, might be worse

This.

I started playing a couple months ago. Decided I'd spend $ to buy naxx & gvg but would never spend $ on a pack or anything else.

Since then I've basically transitioned into a fulltime arena player. I reroll all 40 gold quests and complete 90% of them in arena. The only time I venture outside of arena is to complete a quest that I can't do in arena.

The big aha moment for me was figuring out how to sign up on the EU & AZN servers. Once I did this, I basically always have enough gold for 2-3 arena runs per day.

Another big inflection point was doing a arena side-by-side with donjonnie a few weeks ago. I literally went from a 3-4 win/arena player to a 5-6 win/arena player just from sponging his wisdom and experience.

He's mean! He told me my druid deck was dumb

I just got a thaurissan off with both frostbolts, both ice lances, and malygos in my hand

had alex in my hand but didn't even need her

I never dealt any damage to my opponent until turn 10

Every single ****ing person is playing facehunter. 4 in a row...4 times leper gnome into glaivezooka. The game is really fun when played this way....especially when they just keep drawing into weapons and keep going face.

Topdecked DEATHWING staring at lethal in arena

**** yes my 2nd golden legendary (first was antonidas)

I got a gruul, is that any good

Unfortunately no. Nobody has ever run him in any competitive deck.

The best legendaries give you value right away typically.

Everybody is pretty much forced to run instant removal for big minions, so the vast majority of time you will drop Gruul, then he gets instantly removed or neutralized by a much cheaper spell/effect, and you wasted your whole last turn.

The best legendaries give you value even if they are removed right away, for example look at Dr. Boom, even if your opponent removes him instantly he still leaves behind 2 boom bots, which gives you 2 bodies that you can buff and/or make efficient trades with, plus the up to 8 random damage they give you.

Same story with Rag, you drop him, you're ensured of getting off at least 8 damage to something.

Alexstraza, you get the battle cry. Grom, you get the charge. Thaurissan, you get at least 1 round of reduction. Loatheb, you get the battle cry. Ysera, you get at least one card (and she's very tough to get rid of at 4/12). etc.

If you drop a big legendary (like Gruul) and your opponent can't remove it within a turn or two, it typically wins you the game, however that's true of all big legendaries. The common theme among the most useful legendaries is they typically give you value even if they are removed right away.

Very informative post. If I don't have a lot of cards (like, I have none of the cards you listed) should I just dust it?

The very next game I won from Deathwing topdeck, this happened...

Should've take a screenshot.

Ok so mage has a secret up and her board is empty. I have Deathwing up. My turn. I draw a Shredder. Yeah, you know what happens next already. I hit face, pass. Doomsayerments. Still won since I was so far ahead face damage wise. Still, lol.

Deathwing won me 3 games. Like, I would've lost with any other card. Haha.

I wish I had a golden antonidas

I disenchanted a golden Gah'zrilla, lol. It pained me. Looks so ****ing cool with the fire animation.