#71 - The Angry Chicken: “Title”
• Garrett • Jocelyn • Dills
Sponsors:
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Intro: Welcome to The Angry Chicken!
Thanks to everyone for continuing to support us on Patreon. Go to Patreon.com/TAC.
Has Zoo died? When is the last time you faced one? Why did this happen?
My newest fun deck, Rogue-o-bot!
http://www.hearthhead.com/deck=97901/rogue-o-bot
Giving away an overlay to help fund my Nerdtacular trip
http://tinyurl.com/annoyoverlay
http://amove.tv/news/2015/3/9/annoy-o-tron-overlay
News
You can submit stories and vote on the TAC subreddit at TACpodcast.reddit.com.
New Hearthstone Adventure: Blackrock Mountain
[PLAY VIDEO THEN SHOW LOGO IMAGE]
At PAX East this past Friday, Blizzard announced the next Adventure called Blackrock Mountain. This new Adventure will take players to all corners of the famous mountain which has housed a host of raids and dungeons over the years in World of Warcraft.
Wings include:
There will be a total of 17 bosses. As was the case in the Naxxramas adventure, players will unlock new cards by defeating bosses and completing class challenges, with a total of 31 new cards being added. Heroic modes will exist for all the bosses, and clearing the entire Adventure on Heroic mode will grant a special card back.
Wings will be unlocked once a week, starting sometime in April. Just to reiterate that’s NEXT MONTH!
(Heroic card back): http://media-hearth.cursecdn.com/attachments/10/504/cardback-brm-heroic.png
Pricing: [SHOW PRICING IMAGE]
[SHOW CARD BACKS IMAGE]
(preorder card back): http://media-hearth.cursecdn.com/attachments/10/505/cardback-brm-preorder.png
https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/gallery/QUO5QWNB52ZM1425590223024.jpg
Card features:
[SHOW CARDS IMAGE]
"Dragon" type cards will be affected by many of the new cards, and the new cards will also have some new Dragons.
Previewed cards:
http://www.hearthhead.com/cards=?filter=cs=14#gallery
New Game Board
[SHOW BOARD IMAGE]
There will be a Blackrock Mountain-themed game board added, and it will be placed in normal game board rotation.
https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/gallery/QNNXQ1X4NP1Z1425590205066.jpg
Official post: http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/18140859/blackrock-mountain-a-hearthstone-adventure-announced-at-pax-east-3-6-2015
Announcement Cinematic: http://youtu.be/jsH9w5HW-9w
File Under Big Fat Rumor: Card Leaks
Blackwing Technician - Neutral Rare Minion - 4 Mana 2/4
Minions that cost 5 or more cannot be played.
Chimaeron - 8 Mana Neutral Legendary (can’t see Attack)
When you draw this card, change the health of ALL minions to 1.
Mind Quickening - 5 Mana Epic Mage Spell
You can use your Hero Power once during your opponent’s next turn.
Hourglass Sand - Rare Mage Spell
Your opponent only has 5 seconds to take his or her next turn.
Links
Phone Preview
Also at PAX East, Blizzard showed off some possible Hearthstone for iPhone screenshots (courtesy of HearthPwn):
WCS Points Issue
Dills to summarize
Links
Strategy
For Cluckers looking for some practice before the TACO. Sign up for the Hearthlytics Open #2
http://hearthlytics.com/hearthlytics-open-2/
TAC Redditer “Psiconic” asked us to define the curve
We’ll do that and more! Some commonly used phrases and terms so our listeners have a better understanding of our discussions.
Curve - the collective mana cost of your cards in either your hand or your deck. A lower curve means you have more low cost cards, etc. “Curving out” refers to having a card to play each turn. Playing something “on curve” means you play a 5 mana card on turn 5, etc.
Tempo - essentially tempo is initiative. If you play a 1 drop then you have tempo. If the opponent then clears it and plays their own (rogue with backstab) then they now have tempo. This can swing back and forth during a game and is tied very closely to the term board control.
Value - getting the most out of your cards either thru trading up, drawing cards, etc to gain card advantage.
Meta - what decks/cards are popular and likely to be played by your opponents. There is a different meta game for constructed, arena and tournaments
Aggro - a deck built to kill the opponent as quickly as possible. Usually sacrificing things like card draw and late game minions to insure getting off to a faster start than the opponent
Control - a deck built around removal and late game threats. Usually a lot of card draw, sweepers and removal and then several big late game threats as win conditions.
Midrange - a more balanced deck that has a mix of early and late game and attempts to win by adapting to the opponents deck and having a play on every turn. Can play aggro vs. control and control vs. aggro.
Combo - a deck built around some sort of big damage combo that can end the game suddenly. Usually built around a lot of card draw and removal to survive and draw the necessary combo pieces. Can also refer to a specific combination of two or more cards like force of nature + savage roar
Sweeper/board wipe - an aoe damage spell or other card that can remove multiple creatures from the board at once. Examples are Flame Strike, Hellfire, Consecration or Brawl.
mulligan - the opening phase during which cards are kept or put back. A common misconception is that you cannot mulligan for a specific card. Even though you are not guaranteed to get that card you are giving yourself a higher chance to have it in your opening hand.
top deck - the card drawn from the top of your deck at the beginning of your turn. The single most salt-inducing mechanic in any CCG. Hearing people talk about getting “top decked” is like people telling a bad beat story in poker. It happens to everyone so guess what, no one cares.
We can do this more. Maybe we make a reddit post asking what terms people would like discussed. (OTK, Sideboard)
Crazy Game Stories
You can send your Crazy Game Stories to TACpodcast@gmail.com.
Sebastian
Dear angry chickens!
thank you for that awesome show!
I have listened to it since one of the first episodes. Unfortunately, it is 4 a.m. in Germany when your show is live, so I have to wait for it on the iTunes store. I was very happy when Willie mentioned my (german) iTunes review!
Here is my Crazy Game Story!
I played Face Hunter (a few times) when one match was very close.
I didn't have enough burst, so I only could bring my opponent to 2 life, while I'm at 5.
I drop my last card, a leper gnome, on the board and pass my turn.
The board was under his control and one of his minions was an knife juggler.
I normally don't concede, only if someone BM me, by playing all his cards instead of finishing me off.
In this game, my opponent could have attacked me with his minions for more than 5, but instead, he decide to play his minions from his hand first.
Before I realize what happened, his knife juggler hit my leper gnome, which took my opponents last 2 lifes.
Since then I hope for misplays to the last second of a game.
All of you, please stay awesome!
Emails
You can send your emails to TACpodcast@gmail.com.
Mark
Hail and well met you frenzied furious fowl!
Been loving the show for a long time now, thanks so much for all that you do, it’s really fun.
As much as I love the game, being a full time theatre professor, professional actor, director and choreographer of stage combat doesn’t leave me a great deal of time to read the blogs and keep up with the meta, etc. So when, on 2 episodes, TAC discussed what happened with MagicAmy it was a bit like hanging with your very favourite peeps but being left out of the conversation because you never actually said What Had Happened. For the future, dropping a 15 -30 second recap would be so appreciated by those of us with the passion, but not the time to stay on the cutting edge of our favourite game.
Also, I looked at Dank Whispers after it was mentioned on the show because I had thrown together a fun Druid deck of my own a couple of weeks previous. I was shocked by the similarity of theme between the decks even though many of the cards are different. I am sure my stack is far inferior, as in all things, I bow to the masters.
Keep on Cluckin!
Jamie
Dear Angry Chickens,
I am Jamie from Singapore.
Long time listener of the show and having just gotten to Legend for the first time, I could think of no one else to share my joy with other than the podcast which gave me the motivation to seriously attempt the climb this month (Feb - the shortest month indeed).
As someone who climbs to Rank 2-5 easily but usually stops there due to ladder anxiety, the past few shows about dealing with ladder anxiety, Jocelyn's push for legend this month and Amaz's interview made me understand that I HAVE to break through my mental barrier and play the last few games if I was ever to get to Legend.
I am currently listening to the episode with Frodan as a guest and I really enjoy these episodes where you guys get Hearthstone personalities to join in the discussion.
All the best and keep up the good work!
Caenelgren
(pronounced " kay nell gren " with whatever emphasized syllables you want)
A warm hello to the fine cluckle-men and fair cluck-ette who live in my ears!
First off, thank you so much for everything you do. Your show is the bright spot in my otherwise dull desk job day.
A few episodes back, a listener had written to TAC to share how they experienced extreme anxiety when thinking about trying to play Hearthstone against real people. I know exactly how they feel and wanted to share my recent Hearthstone session. I am a very shy/anxious person; I play "kitchen-table" Magic with friends but was always far too nervous to play at local stores or tournaments. My Hearthstone play-time was purely hitting rank 20 for my card back- usually while cradling some pepto on the very last night of the month.
Tonight I resolved to change that, purely because of recent shows you put together for your audience.
Jocelyn's recent run to Legend was fantastic; it was something to smile about with each update on the show and via Twitter, even if it made us worry for her health. No matter what rank Joce ended up at, the experience was positive and fun what with the outpouring of support from the community.
Dills gave me inspiration when he lambasted the ladder system. Even though I partly feel that Blizzard can do no wrong I do agree that things could be changed to make it more fun and less grind-y. But he also suggested to not worry about your rank on the ladder; just find decks that are fun and play them to have fun.
Garrett gave me the base I needed to get this thing started. Paladin is my class, and there was his Righteous Aggression deck on Hearthhead - different from all the aggro and the "see you in fatigue" decks that, while effective, would be decks I'd pick for tournaments and not for fun. This deck looked fun!
Tonight I took that foundation from Garrett into ranked to get my card back like usual. I started at rank 23. I hit rank 20 and that usual feeling of "rank 20, time to avoid people again" came to me.. but I also felt something else. I remembered Jocelyn's commitment, and I reflected on the mantra of Dills. I shook my head and said screw it, I'm going to keep going and have some fun. Let's do this!
I just hit rank 12 (best ever for me!) before stopping for the night. Despite my anxiety, all in all it was a blast. Yes it wasn't easy at first but playing with a fun deck without worrying about ranks definitely helped get over that initial hurdle. Yes I made mistakes, yes I didn't accept friend invites after games. Yes I had so much fun I'm now exhausted 7 hours later. But I hope others like me may be inspired by your recent advice and find having fun easier to do than grinding ranks.
Thanks again you beautiful cantankerous cluck-heads!
Outro
Patreon Thanks
TAC is supported by our epic Patrons. You can become a TAC Patron by going to Patreon.com/tac. Becoming a TAC patron gives you access to the TAC Skype account for the Patron Call-in episodes as well as the aftershow video.
Thanks to the patrons we do one extra episode a month where patrons can call in and ask questions live on the show. The next Patron Call-In episode will be Tuesday, January 27th at 9pm Eastern.
iTunes Thanks
The Angry Chicken is a production of Amove.tv and the Frogpants Studios. Past live shows and other videos can be found on Youtube.com/starcastshow. Get The Angry Chicken tshirt over on SlashLoot.com.
Follow the show on Twitter @TACpodcast.
Catch the live show Monday nights at 10pm Eastern on Twitch.tv/Amovetv. Mobile live stream provided by Alpha Geek Radio.
Thanks to Brian Griffith, the musician responsible for our intro music. He can be found at briangriffithmusic.com or @briangriffith on twitter.
Personal Stuff
Dill’s where else can everyone find you?
Follow Dills @WillieDills
The Instance - The World of Warcraft podcast so you don’t have to
TortureCast - A podcast by and for fans of the San Francisco Giants
Joce where can you be found?
Follow Jocelyn @GISgamer
The Gamers’ Inn
Follow Garrett @GarrettArt
NOMOONart.com for Garrett’s stream designs.
Into the Nexus: The Heroes of the Storm Podcast!
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