“There would need to be a way for the competitors to access the tournament servers from their own machines or they’d be locked out of practicing the old patch matchups.”

That’s how it works in League of Legends. Pro players also have access to the tournament client, which they can use to scrim on the tournament realm.

It wouldn’t be that difficult to just give players who are participating in official tournament a way to access the tournament client a while before the tournament happens.

I understand your point, and thanks for the extensive comment to illustrate that. On the one hand, I agree with you, but on the other, you need to understand something.

The thing is, previously I’ve tried to put Legendaries that “might see play in the future”, ones with lots of potential, higher than those who are clearly played only because X decks is doing good right now. And I’ve got a lot of criticism for doing that – I’ve got a lot of messages saying that “X is not a great craft, it doesn’t even see that much play right now, the deck it’s played in is not even that good” etc.

And there is a point to that. It’s impossible to reliably predict the future meta. Even a few balance changes have completely messed it up. For example, recommending Frost Lich Jaina in the “best” category because of her potential while in reality she might see zero play next expansion (because it might happen).

That’s why this time around I’ve decided to recommend the best Legendaries IN THE CURRENT META and put the ones with future potential into “good crafts”. Is it a better approach? Maybe yes, maybe not. But it’s definitely the safest approach, because you clearly have stats to back up the best Legendaries in CURRENT meta. And you have no clue which ones will be good or bad in the future, you can only make educated guesses (and given that I have zero insight in what Blizzard is planning to release or nerf, it’s almost impossible to make those)

Also, if we agree with your approach, I think that Shudderwock definitely deserves a spot in the best crafts. The card has insane potential and it’s not only that combo deck. It’s amazing in any deck running a bunch of Battlecries, not necessarily this specific combo deck. It was shown nicely by the Elemental version of the deck that didn’t even run Lifedrinker. We just need one or two strongest Battlecries that are great to replay with it and it can actually serve as not necessarily a finisher, but a great value/tempo tool in that kind of deck. Same for Spell Hunter, I believe that this deck will only get better as the year goes by, unless Blizzard decides to completely drop the idea and not print any good Hunter spells… but those are the things you just can’t predict.

I also disagree with your assessment of Keleseth. The card sees play in more than Shudderwock. It’s just that the meta currently has slowed down and there are less high tempo decks that would want to play it, but it doesn’t mean that he’s bad. Recruit Hunter, Zoo Warlock, Spiteful Druid (which is better than a lot of people think, but nearly no one plays it, because people have dusted their Spiteful Summoners, lol). Keleseth has seen play in every expansion since it was printed, so I don’t know what makes you think that it won’t see play in the future expansions.

Sometimes even the most unexpected Legendaries become meta, while the best ones fall from the top after just a single expansion.

P.S. I kind of agree with Grumble recommendation as the best craft. Because you’re right, this card is not a great standalone card, at least it does not appear to be.

Lots of them are too strong and look sort of like scrapped ideas. But some of them would be really cool to have in Constructed too!

It’s situational, basically. You can look at it that way – you can draw a certain card that might be very useful in the situation you’re in, but you have to pay 1 more mana for it (and discard the other two, but that’s usually irrelevant).

If you need reach – pick Bow or Kill Command. If you need AoE, pick Explosive Trap or Unleash. If you need DK Hero to outvalue your opponent.. well, pick Deathstalker Rexxar.

But I’d say that Lesser Emerald Spellstone is overall the best pick on average, especially if you’re holding some Secrets in your hand. That card is just nuts.

Another note: Ironbeak Owl used to cost 2 mana back then.

Yet another note – in pre-GvG lists, Soulfire used to cost 0 mana 🙂

You might be doing something wrong. Token Druid is a GREAT matchup for Taunt Warrior if you know how to play it, of course, and don’t waste your AoEs when you don’t need to. So is Odd Rogue – you just run them out of steam by Taunting it up and removing everything they play, then they have no reach because your HP negates theirs. Spell Hunter is also a positive matchup…

Of course, it’s not perfect. Cube Warlock is a bad matchup (but not very common outside of Legend yet), Shudderwock Shaman is a bad matchup, slow combo Druid decks like Devilsaur/Mill/Taunt Druids are bad matchups. But it has even more good matchups than bad ones. That said, it’s not a very easy deck to play, because you really need to adapt your strategy to the specific deck you play against – unlike some decks which you can just play the same way against pretty much anything.

After climbing with it yesterday, I already went from R4 to R2. Right now I’m trying out the Malygos Druid, but I’m sure that I would easily hit Legend with this deck if I had more time over the weekend.

The latest Vicious Syndicate report (it’s probably the most reliable source) lists it as the #1 deck on the ladder in terms of win rate.

Of course, the meta has already shifted a bit, e.g. Malygos Druid got very popular on the first days of June season, so Quest Warrior might not longer be #1 in the next report, but it’s definitely a great deck.

Source: https://www.vicioussyndicate.com/vs-data-reaper-report-92/

If you want to play Zoo specifically, Keleseth would be a better craft. However, Gul’dan can also be played in slower Warlock decks if you’re into that.

Good job, that’s an interesting deck choice indeed 🙂

I agree, a slower meta means that more creative decks can get played. Normally those are usually punished hard by Aggro, and they have no place on the ladder.

The only downside of a slower meta are game times. Sometimes when you play a slow deck and you queue into another slow deck, the games are horribly long. Especially bad for pooper players, lol.

Good job, hitting R4 with Miracle Rogue is a nice achievement 🙂

Correct about the turn limit, but the game ends in a draw.

The “higher health total” rule was set in official tournaments so they don’t have to replay those games, lol.

Mirrors are nightmare. Probably the second worst to the Fatigue (Dead Man’s Hand) Warrior. In case of Priest, at least if both players draw Benedictus (and neither copies it), the game won’t last forever. In case of DMH Warrior, if both players play the matchup well, the game will 100% get to the turn limit.

Good job! 😀

If you’re asking which card to craft, in this list, Gul’dan would probably be the best one of the three. However, The Lich King is a better craft in general, as it’s one of the best Neutral Legendaries and fits into multiple decks.

Again, Dread Infernal vs Argent Commander is a tech call. Argent Commander is a better reach card, while Infernal provides a bigger body, small AoE (which comes handy sometimes) and most importantly get revived by Bloodreaver Gul’dan.

Both options are valid, but most of the higher win rate lists have dropped Commanders in favor of Dread Infernals. Just give it a go!

She’s not a bad option, but the main problem is that she doesn’t really fit the deck’s game plan. This is no a slow, control deck – it’s a beatdown deck. You usually want to kill your opponent as quickly as you can by putting constant pressure. Playing a 6 mana 3/6 and then 5 mana 2/2, 5 mana 3/3 and a 5 mana 4/4 doesn’t really fit the “pressure” theme.

In the end, some of the builds use her, others don’t, in the end it really depends on the decks you face. If you play against a really slow meta, like lots of Taunt Druids and Quest Priests, then she’s great. If you don’t, then she’s mediocre.

This specific list is the one Sjow used to get #1 Legend. She didn’t need her on the way up there, but she might be better at other ranks (because the high Legend meta is sometimes different than e.g. R5-R1 meta or e.g. R15 meta).

That’s a bad idea IMO. Not only Call to Arms is still a great card (it’s one of the highest win rate cards in the deck!), but Level Up is just not good in this list. You rarely Hero Power, and Hero Power only summons a single 1/1. Comboing Lost in the Jungle with Level Up is not good at all – you pay 6 mana and two cards to get two 3/3 Taunts. You would need to consistently get at least 3-4 buffs for Level Up to be good.

It’s good in Odd Paladin, because you want to Hero Power every often there. Having 4+ Recruits on the board is common. Just play Murloc Paladin and start counting – how many times you have more than 2 Silver Hand Recruits up in the mid game?

It’s still one of the best cards in the deck, there is no point in swapping it.

You know, bad draws happen in a card game. If you play an Aggro deck and don’t draw your early game at all, you often just lose. If you play Control Warlock and draw your Voidlords before Lackeys, you often just lose. If you play any combo deck, and combo pieces are the last cards in your deck, you often just lose.

That’s how the game works, and you’re not the only one affected. You would be surprised how many games you (or anyone, for that matter) won not because you were playing great, but because your opponent had poor draws.