The Beginner Guide Part 2, another installment of The Happy Hearthstone Competitive Hearthstone articles. Are you curious about how to spend your gold? Have you thought you’re not good enough? Are you surrounded by people who are salty? Hopefully, the following tips will help you build a stronger foundation for competitive play.
3. Spending Your Gold Wisely
In the first 30 days of a new expansion, Arena is the best possible investment, and you should work hard at getting better at playing it. When you’re able to get an “Arena Run” with three wins or more, you’re essentially breaking even with the gold you’re investing. Until you can consistently get to 3 wins every time you play, you should buy packs with your gold. In the last article, we explained that time is the most valuable asset you have to invest in Competitive Hearthstone.
Bonus Tip: Never Play When You’re Tired.
Buying a pack instead of playing Arena is an excellent way to reward yourself after a grind when you’re feeling fatigued. Sometimes it’s just best to slow down. If you want the most value, play Arena and learn to win.
A limitation of the Arena is that you will always receive packs from the latest expansion. In the beginning, you want to throw all or most of your investment into Classic card packs. The Classic cards will not rotate out of Standard play, outside of the occasional Hall of Fame addition. Having a complete set of Classic cards will also ensure that when you win a Tavern Brawl and receive a Classic Pack that you’ll be more likely to have something to dust which you can later use to craft certain cards you’ll need.
There is usually an expansion in April, August, and December each year. If it hasn’t yet been 30 days after a new expansion release, it’s satisfactory to invest in the latest set. As a general rule, if you’re around the 30-60 day mark, you should start saving gold for the next set and consider playing Arena less.
2. Do you have to Grind to Legend?
In the first article Competitive Hearthstone article published on The Happy Hearthstone, it states that:
The Competitive Hearthstone player can find satisfaction in one or both of these accomplishments:
1) playing in tournaments, achieves accolades, wins money and competes in events
2) pushing to the highest rank they can attain for their self-fulfilment
If you haven’t read that post, go over there and check it out. (Beginners Guide)
An Urban Legend Debunked.
It’s time to dispel a widespread urban legend for you: You don’t have to be a Legend Player to play competitive Hearthstone. Many mistakenly think that only players who are Legend can play competitively. For the most part, when you get to ranks lower than five, you have demonstrated a good understanding for the game. Getting to Legend is a grind. With a positive win rate, a lot of time and favorable RNG on your side, you will get to Legend. It’s only a matter of time.
Getting to Legend rank for your first time can take a ton of games.
According to Primedope.com, the average “Number of Games to Reach Legend in Hearthstone” at a 55% win rate is 206. Lasting anywhere between 5 and 20 minutes per game, you’re going to need at least 20 hours of play in the season, but more likely many more.
It’s impossible to get to Legend with less than a 50% win rate. With a 51% winrate, it will take over 480 games on average to reach Legend. If the games are 8 minutes each, that is 64 hours, and even if you have a win rate of 60%, you have to play over 120 games. If you’re good enough to have a high winrate than you’re good enough to play Competitive Hearthstone. Just because you can’t dedicate tons of hours to a Legend grind doesn’t mean you can’t compete.
Reaching Legend is incredible.
However, it doesn’t guarantee that you’re more skillful than a Rank 5 player. There is any number of things such as cards available, matchups you had, or quality of opponents that may have affected your wins or losses.
Remember, you have to practice, so use Rank 5 to Legend as your training ground to try different decks. It’s a great time to hone your skills in playing multiple classes against better players. Of the many skills you have to learn are resilience and staying away from tilt. Always see grinding as a chance to improve, and if you happen to pull off Legend, you’ve achieved a fantastic accomplishment. The following is easier said than done; try not to feel bad if you don’t get there.
1. Forget the trolls.
When studying and researching, steer clear of negativity. A competitive Hearthstone player should surround themselves with players who have a positive mindset. Your network of positive people and friends will unlock sources of information where you can improve your game.
The Troll is not your Friend.
The Happy Hearthstone podcast has a great community where you can find like-minded people to share ideas, help one another, and continue to grow as a competitive Hearthstone player. Here are a few links where you’ll find good conversation about Hearthstone. Trolls beware.
- Discord – If you’re unfamiliar with Discord, think of it as a group chat where you can meet new friends who share your same passion! Where we’re sharing decklists, talking about the ins and outs of our daily games, and more
- Facebook group – This community is just getting started! Be on the ground floor of connecting, working on strategies together, and more
Are you ready to move to a more Intermediate level in Hearthstone?
A quick tip on the toughest question in the game: When do you trade and when do you go face? You can learn so much by watching Hearthstone streamers. By joining The Happy Hearthstone newsletter, you’ll receive a free download which has a comprehensive list of streamers who talk out their moves and explain their thinking behind their decisions. After you download the list, the next article will cover this question more indepth and take you to an intermediate level.
Competitive Hearthstone | Beginner’s Guide
