#254 - The Angry Chicken: “Calm Before the Card Storm”
3-20-18
• Garrett • Jocelyn • Dills
Sponsors:
Thanks to the Patrons over at Patreon.com/TAC
The Angry Chicken is directly supported by listeners like you via Patreon.com/TAC
Intro: Welcome to The Angry Chicken!
Thanks to everyone for continuing to support us on Patreon. Go to Patreon.com/TAC.
Big Wild Rogue
https://hsreplay.net/decks/10DxVmT5Oqy9gD351IVJcg/#gameType=RANKED_WILD
You no take TACO announcement!
Next Saturday, March 31st.
Patrons keep an eye on your messages.
News
First Card Reveal Livestream
Begins at 11:00 am PDT on March 26 on Twitch which will kick off reveals from press and members of the community.
Arena Adjustments
ICYMI: Concerns about the new system leading to this hotfix
Much of this covered in ADWCTA’s post from last week.
- Legendaries were being offered too often. HSReplay was reporting 9% of post-patch Arena decks had at least one Lich King.
- Offering too many strong cards hurt the quality of Arena. Similar to the issue of Legendaries being too common makes them feel less special. Apply this same issue with powerful Commons through Epics. Having to make underpowered cards work for you was part of the skill of Arena.
- Both of these concerns have been addressed in the recent update.
In Update 10.4, we rolled out some significant changes to the Arena. Now we’ve had a chance to see the effects they’re having and read your feedback.
We agree with the concern that many of you have expressed that there are slightly too many high powered cards appearing in Arena decks.
Based on that, we recently implemented two changes to Arena picks via hotfix:
- Legendary picks now appear less often.
- Below average picks will now appear more often.
We’re planning to keep a close eye on how these changes affect the Arena experience, so please let us know what you think.
Thanks for your continued feedback, and we’ll see you in the tavern!
Enrage is going away
But just the keyword.
Peter Whalen posted a new Designer Insights today announcing that the keyword Enrage is going away. Explaining that the functionality of current Enrage cards is not changing. Just their card text. Whalen even gave an example using the best card in Hearthstone. Angry Chicken will read “Has +5 Attack while damaged.”
“Our goal with this change is to clean up the game a little by removing a keyword we weren’t using much...”
- Enrage is currently on 9 cards.
- Whalen expects Poisonous and Lifesteal to be permanent keywords.
- They haven’t made any cards that key off of Enrage minions and aren’t likely to in the future
“Part of the reason we haven’t used it much is that it’s a difficult keyword to design for: minions in Hearthstone don’t survive very long, especially once they’ve been damaged. Instead, we’ve favored cards with triggered abilities that encourage you to damage them multiple times, like Acolyte of Pain and Rotface.”
Official Deck Tracking App exclusively for China
Replays
- A replay mode that can record up to 200 games. It even captures which cards you moused over, and enables you to skip straight to a particular turn.
- These replays can be shared with friends so long as they also own the app.
Tracker
- A deck tracker and recommendation tool, which also lets you know how much dust you're missing if you want to build a particular deck. There's even a brief guide to how to play each recommended deck.
- As with other deck trackers, the official one will even help you eliminate which Secrets your opponent might have in play.
StarCraft Brawl Incoming
https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/blog/21614310/tavern-brawl-event-portals-to-another-dimension
Portals are tearing open everywhere! What lies beyond is something alien, yet familiar. . . . Pick a class, begin with 10 cards, and then choose a special portal at the start of the game to fill the rest of your deck.
Tech – Mechs! Guns! Explosions! This portal brings victory via technology!
Swarm – If it stalks, oozes toxic sludge, or has jagged spines, it might slither from beyond this portal.
Mind – If it is psychic power you seek, find it by ascending through this portal.
After making your decision, 20 portals cards will be added to your 10 Class cards to complete your deck! Cast portals to add minions and spells to your hand that are all themed to the classic factions of StarCraft—and cost three mana less! Prove which Class and Portal combination is the most potent path to supremacy!
Win a match and you’ll receive THREE Kobolds & Catacombs card packs as a reward!
Big thanks to our sponsor Harry’s - Harrys.com/TAC
To get your Free Trial set go to Harrys.com/[TAC] right now! That’s Harrys.com/TAC.
Witchwood Card Talk
Big thanks to our sponsor HelloFresh.com
This episode of TAC is sponsored by HelloFresh.com. For $30 off your first week of deliveries, visit HelloFresh.com and enter the code TAC30 when you subscribe!
Crazy Game Stories
You can send your Crazy Game Stories to TACpodcast@gmail.com.
Mike
Greetings my angry feathered friends,
Long time listener, first time clucker. My crazy game story comes to us from the wild arena event. I'm drafting Warlock, building a pretty decent midrange/control deck with solid minions and really good removal, including 2 copies of defile. I get towards the end of the draft when I see a pick that makes me raise an eyebrow: "Mediocre rare that doesn't matter.....mediocre rare that doesn't matter.....and that card everyone used to love to hate (Yes, I'm talking about Grim Patron)." Having not played back in the days of Patron Warrior, I decide to pick it because what do I have to lose right?
Fast forward to my second match of the run, I'm playing against a Druid player, doing the usual Druid thing, get a bunch of mana, fill the board with creatures. I'm managing to stall the board decently well, but I'm no match for the constant pressure being put on me, I need an out. Draw: Grim Patron...useless against his big minions. Survive another turn, draw: Defile. I laugh with glee as I setup the board to have a 1 and 2 health minion, then cast Grim Patron followed by defile and watch and listen as my speakers explode with the sound of "EVERYONE, GET IN HERE" over and over as I destroy my opponent's board and leave behind an army of 3/3s that go on to win me the game!
Patreon Thanks Before Emails
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 at the end of this month.
- John White
- Simon Foster Fishel
- Michael Sim
Emails
You can send your emails to TACpodcast@gmail.com.
Mike Y
Hello furious fowls,
My favorite type of deck to play is one with an alternate win condition (cards that say "you win the game"). Currently, the only one in the game is the paladin DK.
In the WoW TCG, they had an adventure-sized expansion about the Darkmoon Faire. It had a card that read "At the start of your turn, if you control cards with costs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, you win the game." (It matches the decks you can turn in at the DMF in WoW.)
Do you think that Blizzard will ever experiment more with alternate win conditions? Also, what do you think about the flavor of a Darkmoon Faire expansion?
Allan
Hail and well met Furious Fowl!
With the latest changes to Arena shifting the emphasis onto the power of the card rather than the rarity gemstone, does this mean that constructed players are likely to see a shift in the sets where there are fewer meme or fun epics and legendaries (Explore Un'goro, Mayor Noggenfogger etc) and more must have cards (like UI) as Team 5 will not have to balance out the quality of each rarity pool.
Kyle G
Hello Furious Featherballs,
You talk about rotating the class legendarys and getting a new set. I am curious what you think the compensation should be for this rotation. The precedent for the Hall of Fame would mean a full dust refund for all 9 or a whopping 12600 dust. I have thought a good compromise would be to transform a set into a different set. Say they decide they want to make the un'goro set the new standard class legends. If I have Tirion, I get a free Tarim. This prevents Blizzard from losing a large amount of profit and still finds a happy medium. I would love to hear your thoughts! Thanks for all your hard work and putting on a great podcast.
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.
If you dig the show drop us a 5 star review on the iTunes. Helps TAC find new listeners!
Thanks to our Patreon producers Declan H, Michael N, Sean C, Johnny S, and LVE! TAC coffee mugs and glasses are over at etched.amove.tv and our t-shirts are for sale at shirts.amove.tv.
The back catalogue of TAC can be found over on Amove.tv and Youtube.com/Amovetv. Follow the show on Twitter @TACpodcast!
Catch the live show Tuesday nights at 3pm Eastern on Twitch.tv/amovetv. Catch the live show from virtually any device thanks to AlphaGeekMedia.com. And big thanks to briangriffithmusic.com for our music.
Personal Stuff
Dill’s where else can everyone find you?
Follow Dills @WillieDills
Check out my stream at twitch.tv/williedills
The Instance - The World of Warcraft podcast so you don’t have to
WRESTLING!
Joce where can you be found?
Follow Jocelyn @JocePlays
The Gamers’ Inn
Follow Garrett @GarrettArt
NOMOONart.com for Garrett’s stream designs.
Into the Nexus: The Heroes of the Storm Podcast!
The Angry Nerd: Amove.tv/angrynerd
Don’t forget to check out our sponsors:
Sign up for a Free Trial Set at Harrys.com and enter the code the TAC at checkout to get a post shave balm added to your order for free.