I realize I’m a bit of a downer on these forums, I usually come here to discuss gripes with the game. I think that’s a little unfair, this game has given me some really fun moments and I thought it’d be good to reminisce. I’m at a point where I’ll be fading from playing this game altogether, as well as (probably) visiting these forums. I won’t elaborate on the reasons in this post.
Please feel free to join in and post some descriptions of your favourite moments playing this games. To me this is somewhat the equivalent of meeting up with friends to discuss the passing/loss of a good friend over beers or your drink of choice. It’ll help me close a chapter.
== Meeting Kibler the first time in game ==
I still remember the first time I faced a player called Kibler. I had no idea who he was until I stumbled across his posts on reddit some time later.
One fateful evening, we queued together. He was playing an off-meta Dragon Paladin deck, while I was running a Tempo Rogue when Shadowstep Pickaxe + Jenkins was peaking.
To give some context, we were playing in high legend, so meme decks were out of the question. The meta was at an inflection point: Tempo Rogue was peaking, and Control Warrior was on the rise. Control Warrior was a brutal counter to Tempo Rogue, rapidly becoming the dominant deck in the format.
Both our decks were teched to counter Control Warrior. My deck included the questionable Vanish tech, while Kibler’s deck—though I didn’t know his exact list—was undoubtedly built to stand a chance against Warriors.
As the game progressed, I managed to pressure Kibler and reduce his health significantly. I was confident I could close out the game with the classic Leeroy bounces (Shadowstep, Pickaxe, etc.). But then Kibler played Nozari, resetting the entire game! This unexpected move, a brilliant deck-building choice from a multi-time MTG champion (unbeknownst to me at the time,) threw my plans into disarray.
After removing the dragon and most of his subsequent threats, I realized Kibler was meticulously counting my resources (Shadowsteps and Pickaxes). He was attritioning me out—a strategy you rarely see in today’s Hearthstone. I estimated his remaining threats and realized my only chance was to leverage the Vanish I had been holding onto all game to bounce Leeroy.
Finally, an opportunity arose. Kibler developed a formidable board, but without taunts (I had removed nearly all of them from his deck by this point—this was before infinite discover and never-ending resources in Hearthstone). His board was terrifying, with lethal potential the next turn, and I had only a few cards left in hand.
I managed to close out the game with a Leeroy → Vanish → Leeroy multi-turn bounce. It was and probably is one of the most satisfying games I had ever experienced, where the tech choice made all the difference, and I had to adapt my strategy in-game.
Kibler emoted well-played that game when I dropped the Vanish. That stuck in my mind. Very few people emote well-played when they lose, and here was this guy where I had a crazy tough match, with both of us playing off-meta (I presumed at the time to counter control warrior,) and this guy actually said well-played. I like to think he enjoyed that game as well. I tell you reader, if I had lost that game, which I very well might have, I probably would of enjoyed it almost as much.
I’ve played most notable streamers at some point, some of them dozens or handful of times, but that one game sticks out the most. I think part of it was I had an innate sense the person I was playing on the other end was extremely good, and was pushing me to play my best.
