Arena tips thread

[Klaus]

Hunter last night and I pretty much got every staple hunter card in my draft. Went 9-3 and probably could of done better but I got a bit crazy the last couple games because it was getting late. Such a difference when you get the good cards

[Ender]

I have played GvG enough now to give some feedback at least on Arena (still figuring out ranked, and need more cards for that).

The relative strength of classes hasn't changed much in my opinion, but here is how I would rank them:
1. Mage - some really strong additions to this class in Flamecannon, Goblin Blastmage, Unstable Portal, and Snowchugger (one of my fav cards) keep mage on top of the arena class ranking.
2. Paladin - also some really strong additions here in Shielded Minibot, Muster for Battle, Scarlet Purifier, and Coghammer. I had Paladin 2nd before as well, and it stays there now.
3. Shaman - I moved this class up a bit because of some really nice additions in Whirling Zap-o-matic, Crackle, and Powermace.
4. Warlock - This is the biggest change from before GvG, when I had this class ranked last. Warlock has some really great additions in Darkbomb, Floating Watcher, Fel Cannon, Imp-losion, and Demonheart, so this class definately improved the most for arena. Antique Healbot really helps as well. Also, simply having more cards available means you have less chance to get crap cards, which makes the hero power better. The key to this class for arena is still to have a very low mana curve so you can tap and play in the same turn.
5. Priest - Moved down a little, but has some decent additions in Shrinkmeister, Velen's Chosen, and Upgraded Repair Bot.
6. Rogue - Some good additions in Goblin Auto-Barber, Tinker's Sharpsword Oil, Cogmaster's Wrench, and Sabotage. However, it is simply harder to kill stuff now with this class because of the strong 3 drop minions now available, and you take a lot of damage trying. Rogue has too few board clearing cards, blade flurry being the only one, which requires other card synergy.
7. Druid - This class really got no help for arena in GvG. The only decent additions are Anodized Robo Cub and Mech-Bear-Cat, and they are marginally good at best. It is still an okay arena class if you get the right cards, but can be bad otherwise.
8. Warrior - Also not very good additions to this class, but Screwjank Clunker and Crush can be really good. Warrior wasn't a great arena class to begin with though, but I enjoy playing it.
9. Hunter - Hunter really relies on getting beasts, and now there are a much lower percentage of them in the overall card pool. Steamwheedle Sniper is an amazing addition, but with it being an epic you won't see it often. Glaivezooka and Metaltooth Leaper are the only other good additions. The nerfs to Flare and Starving Buzzard also really suck.

Here are the top neutral card additions for arena: Mechanical Yeti, Piloted Shredder, Spider Tank, Bomb Lobber, Piloted Sky Golem, and Enhance-o-Mechano. Enhance-o-Mechano is quite simply overpowered in a low curve deck with lots of 2 and 3 drops. Tinkertown Technicion and Mechwarper can also be really good, but they are dependent on having a lot of mechs, which you might not get. You should generally take the first Tinkertown Technicion you see, but only take another if you have enough 2 and 3 drop mechs. It is just an average card without a mech on the board.

If you get a legendary pick, the best new ones are Dr. Boom, Foe Reaper 4000, and Sneed's Old Shredder.

[Klaus]

Mage.... I went 0-3 with a Mage for the first time last night. I do like Shaman and Paladin a lot. Hunter is bad now for the exact reason you state (lower % of beasts).

[Ender]

Hmm... bad cards maybe? I went 11-3 over the past couple of days with this deck (a couple cards might be wrong, but most of it is what I had):

Mage Arena 11-3

• 3 x Flamestrike
• 1 x Raging Worgen
• 1 x Wolfrider
• 2 x Frostbolt
• 1 x Ice Lance
• 1 x Youthful Brewmaster
• 1 x Mana Wyrm
• 1 x Flamecannon
• 1 x Unstable Portal
• 1 x Snowchugger
• 1 x Arcane Intellect
• 1 x Fireball
• 2 x Polymorph
• 1 x Goblin Blastmage
• 2 x Water Elemental
• 1 x Elven Archer
• 1 x Bluegill Warrior
• 2 x Harvest Golem
• 1 x Spider Tank
• 1 x Tinkertown Technician
• 1 x Mechanical Yeti
• 1 x Azure Drake
• 1 x Argent Commander
• 1 x Sea Giant