by JR Cook - 9 years ago     show comments

Building your own unique deck is one of the most interesting things to do in Hearthstone. Assuming that all of you possess basic Hearthstone knowledge, I would like to share some advanced techniques that might help you reach a higher rank or even Legend rank with your own unconventional deck.

I believe most of the Hearthstone players copy their decks from professional players and streamers. This is undoubtedly a smart choice, because those decks are products of thorough analysis and experiments. The meta is ever-changing, however. For example, a Zoolock deck may vary among different professional players: some may play Demons, such as Mal’Ganis, whereas some may not. Here are three keys to building a deck that match your playstyle while also working out best for you.

Statistics

Professional Hearthstone players tend to keep track of their performances. For instance, to test whether Druid of the Flame or Shade of Naxxramas works better in your Combo Druid deck, it might be best to try them each out in ranked games while tracking wins and losses. Statistics don’t lie; they almost always reveal the better choice. Track-o-Bot and Hearthstone Tracker are two programs that can automatically track your win rates for you while you play.

Adjustments

An unchanged deck rarely works well throughout the whole year. New cards are often introduced, and the meta is always changing. Because of this, it is wise to adjust your deck periodically. For example, I used to put two Freezing Traps and one Snake Trap in my Midrange Hunter deck. Recently, due to the popularity of Zoolock, I substituted the Snake Trap with an Explosive Trap so that my deck works better against Zoolocks.

Counter-logic

Don’t be afraid to build your deck in an uncommon way that no professional player does. It is often advantageous to play a novel deck because your opponent might mulligan the wrong starting hand or fail to play around your cards. Ask yourself some questions – do you usually play around Betrayal against a Rogue? Do you play around Twisting Nether against Warlock? Do you play around a second Brawl from Warrior? If the answers are negative, these may be good cards to play because they are unpredictable and might surprisingly destroy your opponents!

Let me employ a successful example to illustrate how this theory works: last season when Zoolock started to become extremely popular again, my friend put Shadowflame in his Zoolock deck (which is unconventional) so that he could dominate most of the mirror matches. Eventually he reached Legend from Rank 4 quickly with this special deck.

Verdict

Building a unique and successful deck requires practices, analysis and experiments. Don’t be deterred by defeats, because they are necessary preludes to the creation of a successful yet unique deck!