Hearthstone Arena Walkthrough: 12 ways to make your arena run last longer

Buckle in everybody, this one is going to be loooooooooooooooong. I did a shaman arena run and recorded EVERYTHING. We're going to start with the draft portion then subsequent posts will cover the match results. For each pick I'm also including what AntiGrav1ty (of https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0AifXEOqTcGcLdFVvWk1GRjVJTHJUaTVLcGViR1RRTFE&gid=17 fame) would do. And by that I mean all things being equal - I'm just stating his pick order preference, not taking judgment calls into account. Let's Go!

Pick Difficulty: Easy; AntiGrav1ty's Pick: Feral Spirit; My Pick: Feral Spirit

The other two cards are below average.

 Pick Difficulty: Moderate; AntiGrav1ty's Pick: ; My Pick: Windspeaker

The Venture Co. is clearly the correct pick here. But I'm not turning down doublestrike. No siree-bob.

Pick Difficulty: Super Easy; AntiGrav1ty's Pick: Bloodlust; My Pick: Bloodlust

The other two are below average.

Pick Difficulty: Easy; AntiGrav1ty's Pick: Molten Giant; My Pick: Molten Giant

 The other two are below average. I'm starting to sound like a broken record.

Pick Difficulty: Super Easy; AntiGrav1ty's Pick: Bloodlust or Rocketeer; My Pick: Rocketeer

 We already have a bloodlust and Magma Rager are unplayable.

Pick Difficulty: Easy; AntiGrav1ty's Pick: Stormforged Axe; My Pick: Stormforged Axe

The elemental is conditional the axe is not.

Pick Difficulty: EASIEST PICK EVER; AntiGrav1ty's Pick: Fire Elemental; My Pick: Fire Elemental

Always pick Fire Elemental, always. There is never a reason to pick something else.

Pick Difficulty: Hard; AntiGrav1ty's Pick: Bolt or Shieldmasta; My Pick: Lightning Bolt

Anti ranks them the same. This one is tricky. Bolt is undercosted and goes to the face. Shieldmasta is slightly above curve. Taunt isn't a good as you think it is

Pick Difficulty: Easy; AntiGrav1ty's Pick: Ooze; My Pick: Ooze
The other two are below average.

Pick Difficulty: Easy; AntiGrav1ty's Pick: Sea Giant; My Pick: Sea Giant
The best of the giants versus two shitty cards. Next.

Pick Difficulty: Easy; AntiGrav1ty's Pick: Crusader; My Pick: Crusader
Corsair is bad unless you have the deck for it. Fen Creeper is behind the curve. Crusader is on curve.

Pick Difficulty: Easy; AntiGrav1ty's Pick: Jungle Panther; My Pick: River Crocolisk
I've only got one 2-drop. So curve makes me take the croc. I agree with anti grav that panther is more powerful.

Pick Difficulty: Easy; AntiGrav1ty's Pick: Spellbreaker; My Pick: Spellbreaker

Squire is lame and we already have a Bloodlust. Spellbreaker is the real deal.

Pick Difficulty: EVEN EASIER THAN the EASIEST PICK EVER; AntiGrav1ty's Pick: Fire; My Pick: Fire

Pick Difficulty: Easy; AntiGrav1ty's Pick: Worgen; My Pick: Worgen
The other two aren't even cards

Pick Difficulty: Easy; AntiGrav1ty's Pick: Storm; My Pick: Storm

The other two aren't even cards.

Pick Difficulty: Moderate; AntiGrav1ty's Pick: Ooze; My Pick: Ooze

This is the pick that separates the men from the boys. It is the ooze all day long. The dragon's ability isn't actually that good, it just can provide some leverage early and dodge some targeted AoE blowouts. The Commando is ok, not great. Plus curve.

Pick Difficulty: Easy; AntiGrav1ty's Pick: Totem; My Pick: Totem

The totem is just way more powerful. You need to play it correctly though.

Pick Difficulty: Easy; AntiGrav1ty's Pick: Rockbiter Weapon; My Pick: Rockbiter Weapon
Again the elemental can work, but that's not what this pile is up to. The boar is a non-starter.

Pick Difficulty: Hard; AntiGrav1ty's Pick: Drake; My Pick: Protector

This one is real. Antigrav puts the Drake at "Great" and the Protector at "Average". The Drake is sexy but you gotta remember your curve.

Pick Difficulty: Easy; AntiGrav1ty's Pick: Wolf or Berserker; My Pick: Wolfrider

This one is a play style and judgement call. I prefer to have something that does something the turn I play it. Therefore the wolf rider. Raid Leader can work but you need the starts to align and guess what, you were already winning those games anyway.

Pick Difficulty: Hard; AntiGrav1ty's Pick: Rocketeer; My Pick: Grunt

Ugg, curve. Gross.

Pick Difficulty: Easy; AntiGrav1ty's Pick: Ooze or Biter; My Pick: Ooze
Again curve, don't get sucked in by the sexy cards, you need 2 drops (at least if you play the way I do). Also I think he over values the forked lightning, that card is trash.

Pick Difficulty: Super Easy; AntiGrav1ty's Pick: Hex; My Pick: Hex
Hex is critical, that card is awesome. Don't forget that sometimes it's best to go to their face and then hex their dude.

Pick Difficulty: Easy ; AntiGrav1ty's Pick: Biter; My Pick: Totem
Don't forget that Totem really isn't a 2 drop. The Hunter is much less powerful than the others. They way I play I like to build up some huge swings and totem hands out potentially a ton of power if you chain it.

Pick Difficulty: Easy; AntiGrav1ty's Pick: Venture Co.; My Pick: Venture Co.

Venture Co. Merc is a superb card. But you have to watch out. You can screw yourself over hard if you do it wrong. Mage is wrong for this deck and the Healer is just ok.

Pick Difficulty: Easy; AntiGrav1ty's Pick: Axe; My Pick: Axe

They are really trying to get me into an elemental. I prefer the sure thing.

Pick Difficulty: Hard; AntiGrav1ty's Pick: Bolt or Biter; My Pick: Mechanic
I need the 4-drop, bummer.

Pick Difficulty: Easy; AntiGrav1ty's Pick: Ooze; My Pick: Ooze

When it rains it pours

Pick Difficulty: Easy; AntiGrav1ty's Pick: Totem; My Pick: Totem

The other two aren't good.

and that's the deck. Tune in next time to see how it goes. Also check out this gif that google made for me: