Weekly Hearthstone Roundup #1 (8th-15th December)

Introduction

HSP is going through a series of changes – the servers will be updated, the site will be more clear, a lot of things to make your access easier and smoother (soon). As a part of the changes, we also want to start bringing you not only the guides, but also some Hearthstone-related news. We know that many of you visit this site daily, but we also know you need to look for the latest news elsewhere. Hopefully this series is going to fix that.

Final look of this series is still up in the air. During this one, and probably the next few installments, we’d like to gather as much feedback as possible to improve it. So if you have any suggestions – about the content, about the date and frequency (right now it’s every Friday, but it may also be subject to change) or pretty much about anything, please share in the comment section below. Help us make HSP great again!

General/Game News

• PC Gamer: Chinese law will force game makers to reveal loot box drop rates. – This includes Hearthstone packs. After May 1, 2017, Blizzard will have to give official drop rates for the Card Packs in China. While we have already estimated the drop rates (and pity timer) a long time ago, it’s always good to have an official confirmation!
• New Hearthstone TV commercial was released – The ad’s reception was largely negative, most of the people criticizing it for being “silly” and “not representing the game properly”. Reddit users have said that they, as the Hearthstone players, wouldn’t like to be associated with this ad. However, at the same time, it’s one of the most discussed things of the last week and quotes like “take this inside” or “Guac Boi” already became Hearthstone memes.
• Gosu Gamers: Chinese players get access to the “tournament mode”. – Not in-game one, but it’s the closest one we have so far. Hearthstone BOX is a Chinese HS app released by NetEase (Blizzard’s official Chinese partner). It’s very similar to the deck trackers we have – it tracks your deck, win rate, it has Arena card suggestions etc. – with one big difference. It’s “official” and – it seems like – sanctioned by Blizzard. The app is getting a new feature – tournament mode. It’s still in Beta, but once it takes off, we would LOVE to see something similar in the west too!
• PC Gamer: Matt Place’s, Senior Game Designer’s for Hearthstone, talks about the process of creating probably the strongest Gadgetzan card – Patches the Pirate.
• This week’s Tavern Brawl is “The Battle for Gadgetzan” – Brawl has 3 pre-made decks that are assigned randomly – Jade Druid, Buff Paladin and Dragon Priest. It’s impossible to face mirror matches. There are some bug reports of games not counting for their respective classes quests, but counting to other classes (most notably Hunter) instead.
• Mike Donais, Principal Game Designer, announced that Blizzard is hiring a Game Designer!
• Blizzheart: Blizzard announces a new book-publishing label: Blizzard Publishing

Ladder/Decks/Meta

• Official ranking for November 2016 Standard Season was released for Europe and Americas – You can find names of top 200 players from those regions, including a lot of the popular pro players & streamers.
• Vicious Syndicate has released their Data Reaper Report #29 – It’s their first one since Gadgetzan’s release. With over 100k games sample size, it’s the most reliable source of Hearthstone statistics (deck’s popularity, matchups etc.) we have right now. No matter if you’re a stats nerd or you want to take a look at the current meta to find the best deck to play, it’s a great place to visit.
• Similarly, Tempo/Storm has released their first post-Gadgetzan Meta Snapshot. – This one, however, has met a wave of criticism for sloppy, recycled content, deck descriptions/tech cards often not matching the deck lists and matchup statistics being way off. Still, if you’re interested in a different view on the meta, based more on feelings of the high ranked players than stats, you should check this one out.
• We have two new compilations of budget decks with some new Gadgetzan cards. First one created by Pawgon and second one created by Stonekeep. – If you’re a relatively new or F2P player, if your collection isn’t huge, those decks can be a great starting point in your ladder climb.
• Tyleroot has kept #1 Legend on NA, #1 Legend on Asia and #5 Legend on EU at the same time. He was playing the Spo’s version of Jade Aggro Shaman deck.

Tournaments

• Batstone #2 took place between December 6th and 8th – The first tournament series where the community is really involved – extra rules aren’t only decided by the organizers, but also by everyone who wants to vote. First time we voted for the card bans and this time around for how many Gadgetzan cards each deck needs to include – the magic number was 10. We could watch 8 pro players fighting with their interesting, early deck creations, while the whole invitational was casted by Firebat and Zalae. You can find all the VoDs on Firebat’s Twitch channel.
• Esport Superstars took place between December 9th and 11th – Another invitational, where 16 players have fought for their share of €25,000 prize pool. Tournament was casted by Lothar, C4mlann, Sottle and Barbie. You can find all the VoDs on elcgamingtv Twitch channel.
• SEA Majors 2016 – Malaysia took place between December 9th and 11th – This offline event gathered the best players from Malaysia. Hundreds of players fought through the open bracket, with $5,000, Razor gear and HCT points to grab. You can find all the VoDs on HearthstoneSEA Twitch channel.
• SeatStory Cup VI started yesterday (December 15th) and will take place over the weekend. – One of the longest running series of Hearthstone tournaments is often praised for the high quality production and very casual atmosphere. It’s an invitational with 32 well-known Hearthstone names fighting for their share of $20,000 prize pool. You can watch the tournament on TaKeTV_HS Twitch channel.
• Gosu Gamers: Third China vs North America battle was announced. – It will be a 5v5 event, with best players from each region clashing against each other. Previous two fights took place in 2013 and 2015. NA came out victorious both times – will the region be able to succeed again?

Community

• New episodes of the most popular Hearthstone podcasts were released: Value Town #99, The Angry Chicken #187, The Innervated #68, Golden Wisp #104
• Trolden has released three new Funny And Lucky Moments episodes: 203, 204 and 205.
• Rage Orc’s Epic Hearthstone Plays #141 is out.
• Disguised Toast has released a video showcasing a way to play infinite Weasel Tunnelers in a single turn.
• Reddit user KricketyRicket has made a highlight video/montage of him playing “Scrooge McDuck Rogue”. 
• Tib has recreated yet another Hearthstone trailer (Gadgetzan) – replacing the graphics with his own (high quality!) drawings.
• Hippy Guppy has made a compilation of Animations and Sounds of every new Gadgetzan Legendary.
• Viva La Dirt League has released a song about Jade Druid – Ten Ten For One.
• Esports Heaven: Interview with Pavel, 2016 Hearthstone Champion.

Closing

If there are any more news from last week we might have missed, let us know in the comments. And, once again, if you have any suggestions for this series (or for the site in general!) we’d really appreciate if you’d let us know.

Good luck on the ladder and until next time!