Just curious. Are you supposed to tech against secrets (if that would even be enough) and worsen all of your other matchups? Or just accept fate?
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U deserve to face 4 iceblock if u play time warp
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No I am saying, the time warp mage played 4 ice blocks I had them at 1 hp but between several turns of freezes, and several turns of triggering their ice block via hero power, they finished their combo, I was just curious what you are supposed to do besides tech secret? Are you supposed to just accept the loss from turn 1? There was nothing I could do.
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Kezan Mystic or Secret Eater.
I’m personally not huge on these guys though, just because they’re more dead in other matchups. I’m a bit more of a fan of Loatheb at the right time to prevent a recast, and with certain classes like Rogue, there’s the possibility of multiple duplication or replaying of them, with Zola if not Rogue. A little less directly effective (Mage can still play the Block on 8 mana unless it’s a Brann’d battlecry), but Loatheb and Zola are alittle more generally useful in other matchups.
Of course, it depends what you play. If I’m a Renolock, yeah, I probably have a spot for a Secret Eater somewhere, and I’d probably be running Zola anyways. If I’m rocking an Evens Shaman, a tech card is harder to fit due to the poor draw and aggro nature of the deck. If I’m a Secret Mage, I don’t even need to tech; a Potion of Poly+Explosive Rune, and I’ve got an off-turn lethal.
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Yes exactly if you use those you suffer greatly in other matchups, so…Loatheb is great except they had incanter’s flowed twice and etc so it wouldn’t have even mattered much. Appreciate the thought tho
Team5 created the perfect solution to all these balance issues since beta, it’s called the Concede button. Usually, it can be found after pressing the settings button on the screen.
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Well, the last option is unorthodox, but if you set up a way to deal lethal on your opponent’s turn, they can’t do crap against it. Naturally, the options for this are far, far different based on class; a Secret Mage does it fairly easy through Potion of Poly+Explosive Runes, whereas a Paladin would have to run Eye for an Eye, one of their historically worst Secrets. Hunter could do it through an Explosive Trap easily, though there’s an option for a Misdirect, and - dare I say it - Dart Trap (but no, don’t run that one).
Neutral options include giving a Leper Gnome taunt, or an Abomination. Those are more of a reach, but it does mean they’d need a Poly effect to get through since Quest Mage never runs silences.
Last option is just blocking and clearing the Giants. I found the damage survivable via a Deathrattle Razakus Priest (40 health, multiple taunts, instant clears), but like with the off-turn lethal bit, this is going to be class dependent.
Which brings me to the question we should have led with in the first place: what deck are you playing?
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I mean, I did as soon as they started their archmage, sorcerer, molten, etc then time warp then antonidas etc combo. But since they were at 1 health for 5 turns I was curious if there was anything one could do about that
@Teo these are all fine suggestions the problem is, it’s all tech vs one specific deck, which would lower my winrate significantly against all other decks
You accept fate.
Hearthstone “balance” is built on having some match-ups you simply don’t win and others where you crush your opponent. On paper, it results in a nice near 50% winrate, even though it feels frustrating to actually play.
You could target the deck itself. Double Dirty rat with Brann and immediate removal just puts the deck at a loss with no other win con if you pull their Antonidas or double apprentices.
Otherwise Concede. Most Mages don’t even rely on multiple Ice Block Abuse nowadays with Waygates skipping that process entirely.
I don’t think that would be wise, since I’d only face them like between 1 in 10 or 1 in 20 matches, so that seems wrong…I guess once I see the turn 1 quest I just concede? Because I was playing my fastest aggro deck and even that couldn’t finish them in time. Seems strange there is such a powerful deck out there that is only countered by…mech’thun decks or something, maybe? And tech you don’t want to use…
Some decks have matchups where there is nothing you can do no matter what. In your case your best option was to go face. It just so happened that ice block was discovered 4 times and you lost. That’s the whole reason why they Hall of Famed that trash.
However, teching is a valid counter for other decks to use when linear playstyle alone won’t be enough. Decks like MechaThun and Exodia Mage can reliably be destroyed with one or two cards at the right play. It’s not ideal that every deck has to tech in something, but having the option to is always something to be considered.
Another thing about tech is to choose a card that doesn’t deviate too far from your original plan. Loatheb in an aggro or Midrange deck like Demon Hunter can really dampen a counterplay on control decks while maintaining a threatening 5/5 presence at the same time. Kezan Mystic is a 4/3 that costs 1 more for a potentially ending swing.
Another thing to consider is Smart Teching, or putting cards that consequently counter other plays without the original intention of doing so. For example, Coldlight Oracle in a combo/control deck to draw resources can then be paired with Brann to force mill a MechaThun Warlock to their death when 90% of the time it’s just to refill your own hand or to put added value (i.e. Brann Zephrys). In that instance, an otherwise one sided matchup highly in favor of MechaThun suddenly becomes a loss because cards like these throw curveballs without destroying the deck that used it.
Smart teching is often overlooked by players because many times it requires intuition and thinking beyond the usual context.
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You dont. Just like you dont counter mage clearing your early game board with flamewaker whilst simultaneously completing their NERFED quest in all but 2 turns. Thats right, turn 6 mage casts a total of 5 spells in a row with help of evocation and finishes quest next turn then boom turn 8 giants ggwp.
I agree Loatheb and Coldlight are techs I actually use. But there’s no way I can tech in specific to one-two classes like getting rid of secrets (once) obviously there’d still be 3 ice blocks and obviously you would have to draw into it and all that, and obviously you’d suffer in other 7 matchups, just doesn’t seem worth it. But loatheb and coldlight I use in some decks because they are decent even on their own and can be used against many opponents/classes. Also Owl seems to be good tech right now against all the bs happening (in wild anyway) wish it was still 2 mana lol
@mortius yeah lol…I feel like lets see…mage is auto lose, priest is usually auto lose, warlock is usually auto lose, warrior is usually auto lose, shaman is usually auto lose. The only classes I actually think I have an even or positive winrate against are rogue/paladin/dh/hunter but even those are iffy. Wish there were some way to win more consistently.
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Flare and punch them.
That’s only available to one class…
If you measure the value of that matchup as not worth improving with deck changes then you have to accept it as a bad matchup.
If it’s to small of the meta to be worth teaching against, you shouldn’t even be playing g against them that often let alone losing to them.
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Then Eater of Secrets and punch them.
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And not-insignificantly lower my winrate against all the other classes? …I’d rather just take the L and win more against everything else.
Then don’t complain about the 1 matchup if you refuse to run the tech that counters the infinite Ice Block situation.