Hey guys! It’s your friendly little buddy Fireflyer here with a brand new idea for 2017. I like to visit Reddit pretty much every day to check out the Hearthstone subreddit and my favorite things are Twitch clips where unique and funny things happen. Sometimes they’re informative and you can learn something from them, while other times they’re just funny and good for a quick laugh. So I figured why not share these gems with the rest of the Hearthstone community that doesn’t quite keep up Reddit and add a little insight into what’s happening in a new segment I like to call, FIREFLYER’S BEST OF REDDIT! Every 2 weeks I will bring you a compilation of clips that I believe were the best during that period and add some commentary so people who are confused can understand what’s going on.
Each clip will give credit to the streamer that it came from and due to not being able to embed Twitch clips into our articles, I would personally like to give a huge thanks to whoever runs the YouTube Channel “Hearthstone Clips” for taking all of the Twitch clips on Reddit and converting them into YouTube videos. This will allow me to embed the clips right into the article so you can watch them and then read my section below.
Ok well that’s enough introduction! Let’s get to it!
Best of Reddit Clips vol. 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-9AFR8LNRc
Credit:Â https://www.twitch.tv/thijshs
First up is professional streamer and good guy, Thijs. Here we see a hilarious play where he uses Brann Bronzebeard and Manic Soulcaster to double the Battlecry and put two Kazakus into his deck. What he quickly realizes is that this now disables his Reno Jackson until he draws one of them. Hilarious moment, since you get to see the exact second that he realizes what he’s done to himself. Lesson here: Don’t put multiple copies of things into a Reno deck.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psbayFluTLM
Credit:Â https://www.twitch.tv/thijshs
Here’s another clip from Thijs where he’s utilizing the Brann Bronzebeard + Dirty Rat + (Mind Control Tech) combo to his advantage. In order to find a way to deal with the opponent’s Archmage Antonidas he sees only one play possible, by pulling a Doomsayer from his opponent’s hand. Because they’re playing Reno you can kind of assume that they have one in the deck and if they haven’t played it yet, there’s a chance you can pull it with Dirty Rat. Lucky for him, he used Brann Bronzebeard to get double the activation and he not only got the Doomsayer but also the opponent’s Reno Jackson. Great play!
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sK3YgU56dHc
Credit:Â https://www.twitch.tv/lifecoach1981
This clip is from streamers Lifecoach and SuperJJ who seem to be playing a lot together lately. An important lesson to learn from this clip is this: The Wild Pyromancer + Equality combo does not work against minions that can give each other +Health, such as with Murloc Warleader. After the initial Consecration, the opponent uses Equality to make all of Lifecoach’s minions have 1 Health. What he doesn’t realize is that after setting them to 1 Health, the Murloc Warleaders will still apply their buffs and boost them back up to a higher health, ruining the combo.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMmXn_wwlZw
Credit:Â https://www.twitch.tv/itshafu
This clip is from Hafu who is playing some Arena against a Shaman. I wanted to highlight this clip because when Whispers of the Old Gods first came out, I believed Hallazeal the ascended was going to be a great card for a Control Shaman deck by combining his ability with things like Lightning Storm or in this case, Elemental Destruction. With no Spell Damage, Elemental Destruction will avoid killing Hallazeal the Ascended while also healing you for a crap ton of health, almost enough to have a Reno Jackson type effect on the game. Hafu’s opponent goes from losing the game to being at full health and wiping the board, quite the game changer.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrhC3F5pJbo
Credit:Â https://www.twitch.tv/amazhs
Here we see the wonderful Amaz playing some Arena and making quite a bad misplay. It’s small moments like these where you forget one little trigger and it ends up punishing you pretty bad. In this case where Amaz thought he would be killing a 5/5, he ends up swinging into a 6/6, taking damage, and now having to still deal with it. Everyone forgets little triggers like this once in awhile, especially in arena where you’re not used to seeing cards like Daring Reporter which isn’t used in Standard/Ranked, but what makes a great player is someone who pays good attention to the field and avoids a damaging misplay like this.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxfmpkcVmHY
Credit:Â https://www.twitch.tv/superjj102
Here’s a painful clip to watch of SuperJJ making a bit of a play mistake at a tournament. He puts Power Overwhelming on his Ysera and attacks, without also casting the Nightmare on it which ends up making him miss lethal damage. I’m assuming the plan was Ysera + Power Overwhelming + Nightmare + Ysera Awakens for 18 damage but for whatever reason, he attacked too early and ended up fudging his turn. Who knows what truly happened there but the lesson to learn is that you should always take your time and make sure you sequence your turn correctly.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJtg-ZtEAm4
Credit:Â https://www.twitch.tv/firebat
There’s not much of a lesson to learn here except DON’T BM (Bad Manners). In this clip, legendary Firebat decides he wants to be a little bit of a rude player and kill off his own Swashburglar with Backstab to add more damage to Red Mana Wyrm. What he failed to realize was that using the Backstab would trigger his Djinni of Zephyrs and end up killing it before he can attack with it. Lucky for him, the Red Mana Wyrm was big enough to finish the match but this just goes to show you, BM is never a smart play.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Pkg_f51cRA
Credit:Â https://www.twitch.tv/bmkibler
Here’s an unusual clip of Brian Kibler being owned by the rope that is supposed to limit turns. In certain situations where a player can cast a lot of spells or do a lot of actions, the queued up actions/commands will cause the rope to sit at the very end and wait for all the actions to finish, depending on how quickly you can do everything. The easiest way to see this usually is when someone casts Yogg-Saron, Hope’s End with a lot of spells at the end of their turn and the rope will sit at the very end while all of Yogg’s spells get cast. In this situation, someone got the Raza the chained + Coldarra Drake combo off and was spamming their Hero Power on Kibler, pinging him for 1 damage over and over. The player queued up so many hero powers that the rope was forced to sit there and wait for all of them to get done, lucky for the opponent, it was enough to finish Kibler off.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELHOBdw0_Zw
Credit:Â https://www.twitch.tv/asmodaitv
Once again we see the power of the Brann Bronzebeard + (Dirty Rat) + Mind Control Tech combo at work. This combo is being used a lot in Reno decks currently and this is a great example of why. With just a little luck, a Reno Mage ends up flipping the game from being more than likely dead, to an autowin/concede from Asmodai. I love this combo in my Reno Priest deck and I advise anyone running a Reno deck to put these three cards in immediately and try it out for yourself.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sr0Kd6CrU4I
Credit: https://www.twitch.tv/strifecro
Here’s a funny clip of pro player Strifecro falling victim to a card that isn’t played that often in Ranked/Standard, Saboteur. As he’s pondering his turn he fails to realize that his Hero Power is now 7 mana, even though Saboteur has an animation that shows your Hero Power getting changed. He decides to Hero Power for some reason, maybe to get 1 extra damage from Maelstrom Portal, but screws up his mana and now can only do one thing on his turn. Like the example above with Amaz and Daring Reporter, paying extra close attention to your board is really important to avoid situations like this.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRI9TQwKRsA
Credit: https://www.twitch.tv/disguisedtoasths
In this clip, the lovable Disguised Toast falls victim to a problem that Reno Priests face, Excavated Evil. This is also the reason I like to avoid using Excavated Evil in my own Reno Priest deck. Because his opponent was able to get an Excavated Evil and use it, it put a copy into Disguised Toast‘s deck and forced him to have two copies, ruining any of his Reno Jackson effects. Without even looking for a yellow border, Toast plays his Reno and ends up not getting the heal which could have been a game ender for him. Luckily, his opponent decides to concede. Lesson: ALWAYS look for a yellow border when you’re playing any of the Reno cards. If you’re playing a Reno Jackson deck, make sure this becomes a routine or you will end up making mistakes like this as well.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVcaegUSMHw
Credit: https://www.twitch.tv/justsaiyanhs
This clip is great to explain how Kazakus potions works. JustSaiyan ends up throwing out the potion without even reading the card which obviously shows that the Polymorph effect would happen first. Correct me if I’m wrong but I believe the order it’s written on the card is how the card will play, at least that’s how I play my kazakus potions and I haven’t had one prove me wrong yet. Pay close attention to how it’s worded and try to avoid a situation like this for yourself.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki4n78qYeWU
Credit: https://www.twitch.tv/ant_hs
This clip from Ant is a good example of why you shouldn’t go all out against a Dragon Priest deck. There was no way to know they picked up a Deathwing earlier from a Netherspite Historian but when facing against a Dragon Priest you should always keep in mind that a Deathwing can come up at any time. Some people may even put him in the main deck just because he’s a great finisher/board clear if your opponent ends up dropping their hand, like in this clip. Even keeping one card in your hand can force an opponent to not play Deathwing for fear of Hex or something like that, so just be careful against Dragon Priests.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEN5E_bhOiM
Credit:Â https://www.twitch.tv/disguisedtoasths
Here’s another clip from Disguised Toast which shows the current absurdity with Edwin VanCleef. I have personally gotten a 10/10 Edwin on Turn 1 before using two Counterfeit Coins but in this case, his opponent gets lucky with a Swashburglar and gets a free Innervate that does the same thing. Edwin VanCleef is pretty strong right now and is the reason I always put at least one Mulch in any of my Druid decks and also why I would consider having a single Execute in Pirate Warrior. If Toast had a Mulch in his deck, he could at least Wrath the Swashburglar and try to draw into it for Turn 3 to stop the Edwin but because he doesn’t, it’s basically a free win for his opponent.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0wLK_BTmYU
Credit:Â https://www.twitch.tv/itshafu
Here’s the lovely Hafu again in Arena with a sick play using Frothing Berserker and Whirlwind type effects from Unstable Ghoul. Just like in the old Grim Patron decks, she Whirlwinds the field twice using her Ghouls and makes her Frothing Berserker a huge 20/2. Oh and Grommash Hellscream is there too.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXvW3v9E80w
Credit:Â https://www.twitch.tv/thijshs
Here’s another clip from Thijs which highlights Kun the Forgotten King‘s effect. He drops it down and refreshes his mana, hoping to also play his 8/8 Alexstrasza but what he fails to realize is that Kun the Forgotten King refreshes your mana, not give you 10 mana. This means if you do something like Innervate into him, you’re not going to have 10 mana to mess around with on Turn 8, you’ll still only have 8 mana.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_HFmdl0IsU
Credit:Â https://www.twitch.tv/savjz
I LOVE this clip, mainly because it’s one of my favorite play mistakes that a lot of people make and also because of Savjz reaction. Just like with Reno Jackson cards, if you’re playing a Dragon deck you NEED to make it a routine to look for yellow borders before you play cards. Even if you think you have a dragon which a lot of people do with Blackwing Corruptor, just double check and make sure it’s yellow before you play it. For Savjz, he wastes his coin AND his Battlecry effect to get a 5/6 on Turn 4. Big minion, but not a big play. At least he feels bad about it and that’s the first step to getting better and remembering it for next time.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQqWcQBm8cE
Credit: https://www.twitch.tv/navioot
In this clip, NaviOOT is regretting playing his Elise Starseeker and Golden Monkey because of the randomness it gives you in the form of weird and sometimes unplayable Legendaries. Lucky for him, he was able to topdeck his Barnes and get into a useful legendary, Al’akir the windlord, which saves him. However, all because he got lucky doesn’t change the fact that playing Golden Monkey is risky. You lose your entire deck of useful cards and replace them with random legendaries so proceed to use it with caution.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgiMHCS-8_Q
Credit:Â https://www.twitch.tv/itshafu
Ok one last clip! Here’s Hafu playing some more Arena and making a bit of a misplay. I think that she was thinking the Mukla’s Champion would buff her minions before the damage but I had a feeling that the damage/death would trigger first. I’m not sure why she decided to just ragequit and concede, seeing as how she still had a decent hand with lots of health, but sometimes a bad play can ruin a whole game for you.
Conclusion
Well there you go! I hope you enjoyed Volume 1 of the “Best of Reddit”. I will be doing these regularly from now on so expect one every 2 weeks with a compilation of fun highlights for you to check out.
I’ve taken a little bit of a break from streaming since the current meta is kind of boring to me, but I should be starting back up soon to try and grind to Legend again. You can catch me on Twitch at Twitch.tv/ItsFireflyer or follow me on Twitter at @HS_Fireflyer.
Let me know which of these clips was your favorite in the comment section below and what you think about my new “Best of Reddit” clip compilation.
Have a great new year and I’ll see you again in 2 weeks!
