Introduction
Hi! I’m Asmodeus, multiple times Legend and infinite arena player. I’m also the author of The Complete Guide for Hearthstone Player. I specialize in learning and improvement and today I will show you exactly what to do if you want to push for Legend or just a higher rank than ever before, and do it by the end of 2015.
Reaching Legend rank for the first time is an incredibly gratifying experience. Your hard work pays off, you get the card back to show off and of course you receive the best possible reward chest at the end of that season.
Choosing Your Deck
I will address this first, not because it’s the most important aspect of climbing to Legend, but because that’s what people are most eager to find out. So let’s get it out of the way.
First of all, you should pick just one deck. Make sure it’s something that other people had success with and stick with it. The reason for playing one deck is that you will need to improve along the way, and having only one deck makes it much faster. It’s faster to learn how to mulligan, it’s faster to learn all the matchups and you get a better understanding of how to win games with one deck.
For the easiest climb I suggest a deck that can close games early but doesn’t necessarily put you all-in from the start. Here are examples of such decks:
Regardless of which deck you pick, before you start playing, make sure to read the guides. It will give you a better idea of how you should pilot the deck, what to mulligan for and how to approach specific matchups. Players who wrote these guides often have great insights from piloting the deck to Legend rank themselves.
Tracking Your Results
The second thing you need to take care of is picking a method of tracking your games. Use any method or software you like. I personally use and recommend Harthstone Deck Tracker. It not only tracks your win rates, which you can sort any way you like, but it also provides you with a very helpful overlay. Tracking your results is incredibly important. You need to know which matchups are your strongest and which are the weakest so that you can adjust your deck and focus on improving where it matters the most.
You also need to know your overall win rate to see how you’re doing. After playing a lot of games, you will not be able to remember exactly how many were wins and losses and against which classes. It will also let you see the bigger picture. Winning streaks or losing streaks don’t matter as much as your win rate over a long period of time. Your rank will naturally fluctuate, going up and down, which is perfectly normal. This may however make you doubt in your deck or your ability to play it. Don’t worry about the rank too much, but try to instead focus on your win rate. It’s the most accurate way to measure how you’re doing.
Making the Grind Pleasurable
Reaching Legend can be challenging for a couple of reasons. First of all, you have to play well enough, which we addressed by picking one deck to learn and tracking how you’re doing with it. Secondly, you have to play a lot of games.
Don’t expect a quick run to the Legend and be prepared to play a lot of matches on your way to higher ranks.
Make sure you’re enjoying the process, because you’ll spend a lot of time immersed in it. If you’re not feeling well, or for some reason you’re getting frustrated, just take a break. Try to organize your environment and your time to make the climb something you can enjoy.
Pushing for more games when you’re very tired, on tilt or have someone distracting you can often set you behind. It’s better to deal with the situation first, take a nap or do whatever is necessary, then come back to the game when you can focus on playing as well as you can.
Taking the climb seriously
If you laugh too much on the ladder you’re bound to fall off it. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have fun playing, but don’t make it only about having fun. Make it about winning, and having fun doing it. Decide to completely focus on the game when it’s time to climb.
If you want to goof off, do it in casual mode, not on the ladder. If you want to watch streams or YouTube videos, don’t play ladder at the same time. It will seriously hurt your results.
If you focus just on the match at hand, you’ll be able to pick up all the little signs that your enemy shows, which will let you read him more accurately. You will remember more cards from your opponents deck and that will help you beating the same deck next time you meet it.
Decide to pay attention and challenge yourself to find one little thing you can improve or one mistake you can fix after every single game, whether it was a win or loss. It could be a simple adjustment to your deck, maybe you need to include antique-healbot against aggro decks or you notice that one of your cards is very good in the matchup and you’ll keep it in the mulligan next time. There is always something you can improve.
Summary and What You Can Expect
The steps you need to take if you want to push for Legend have been laid out before you.
1. Choose one deck
2. Track your results
3. Prepare for playing a large number of games
4. Play when you’re feeling well and can focus on the game
5. Keep increasing your win rate by making small improvements each game
If you apply everything I described above, I can guarantee you’ll reach a higher rank than ever before. Whether you get to Legend or not will depend on your skill level and dedication, but some of you will certainly achieve it by the end of this year. The rest of you will simply need a little bit more time to learn and practice but you will get it eventually if you keep trying.
Closing Words
Getting Legend for the first time will bring you a lot of satisfaction and I hope you succeed at getting it, or at least you’ll reach a higher rank. Good luck to all who will attempt the climb to Legend before 2015 ends. If you manage to achieve it, share your story and let me know!
Share your opinions and post your questions in the comments, I’m always happy to answer them.
You can also find more of me through my social media:
I’m available for Hearthstone coaching – you’ll find all the info you need here: Coaching with Asmodeus
