Hearthstone Theory: Strategy and Timing 

Where’s the meme-range decks?

This is what makes token Druid so frustrating. It’s beefy enough that aggro can’t kill it most of the time, but it also beats control (minus quest warrior)

Hey Penniless, I've known of several other RU-vidrs facing delayed monetization by posting videos as private, then getting them remonetized and changing to public. This way, you avoid losing a majority of your ad revenue.

5:40 "strong 1 drop" neverforget ;(

So twisting nether is a perfect fitting name because it neutralize all midgame ressources on the board for 8 mana?

Just started playing this game and I’m in love. Thanks for taking the time to make this video, much appreciated man.

Also, I would like to note that while the general principles behind this apply to any card game with an equivalent to the +1 mana crystal per turn, there are games that kinda make it a bit of a mess. For example, in PVZ heroes there are many one-cost minions with 2-2 and an effect, half the people playing have to play their cards in two separate steps, and cards attack at the end of the turn instead of during it - oh, and you have cards that simultaneously fit into multiple categories, such as the Tennis Champ, which is a 1 cost 1-1 that gains +3 attack on the turn it is played, granting it twin uses as quick aggro damage and as cheap 4-damage removal and a turn of chumplocking for a control deck, as well as some mid-cost cards that can be used for both offense and defence, and a few mid-cost cards like the Picanolith that you could build a control deck around or build a midrange deck around (the Picanolith makes all minions attack with their health instead of their attack), as you could either play it with a bunch of high health minions on a late turn, or build up a stock of high health minions and play it as soon as you can afford it on turn 5.

I'm definitely a control player through and through. My favorite feeling in Hearthstone is stabalizing. I.E. When playing a control deck against an aggro deck and realizing that you have survived the initial onslaught or waves of minions, you have more cards in hand, and you've taken over board control or have started healing/armoring up.

your videos are great, hope you get a lot of subscribers soon, because you definetely deserve a lot more! keep it up!

Incredible how I hit legend every season and none of this is news to me, and yet I find this content extremely entertaining

SMOrc hunter is and always will be my only true calling

There is another kind of deck the miracle rogue. It works Middle late and sometimes even early game lol

This a really well thought out and simple video. I'm curious what's everyone's favorite and least favorite archetype of deck is. My favorite are Control but least are Aggro. Also, i would like video talking about minion tribes, considering the new update on Molten Giant and Mountain Giant coming up.

I love this channel so much. I actually have an idea for a theory video talking about something similar, the four values that can be looked at tell wether a player is winning : health, board, cards in hand, and cards in deck, and how each type of deck attacks each of these values in its own way.

You should make a HT on ultimate infestation

Sometimes Control decks don't wipe the board, for example druid has LOTS of health/Armor gain, to the point where I had 100 health vs shudderwock shaman. Anyway, druid is a strong class right now because it can ramp up to ultimate infestation (probably one of the most broken cards in the game, and when the opponent plays a fast deck there are cards like spreading plague, usually aggro decks cannot kill all of the 1/5 taunts and then druid can savage roar and branching paths

Really nice format

Good job. Well explained in an easy to understand fashion.

This is why i love spell hunter cuz its all three deck types at once with the right hand

Control isn't just about hoping you have the right answers to tie. Of course luck makes a big difference, but a good control player knows how to maximize thier resources (board clears, card draw etc.) while a worse control player would be more wasteful and require more luck to win. For example a really good control player might be able to survive the early game by setting up the board and baiting thier opponent into a rlly juicy board clear, while a bad one might just use the board clear when it firsts becomes available, and then get run over without any way of defending themselves

Wait! You were demonetized?! For what?! Creating unic content?!

This is great info. Thanks for your hard work.

I like them all. I am at heart a "Johnny" and this has never been so prevalent than in the current meta. I build most decks around Glinda Crowskin. I started off playing tempo mage (my own weird c'thun one back in old gods as it was all I could really build, and the game starts you out as a mage as well so I just stuck with it) i then moved on to zoo, and it wasn't until I could build up enough cards to play control decks that I graduated to control warlock. Now i'm more into combo decks, but I love playing control, I love playing tempo and aggro and mid range as well. I'm not the type of player who is like "I hate aggro" because I prefer control or combo decks, I embrace all deck archetypes.

I hope these terms become used in tournaments

I like control decks most. I think,i manage resources,i dont play all cards i have trying to kill opponent. Also i like those moments when i clear 7 minions someone like even shaman placed with a single aoe. Just imagine their face that particular moment. Also lategame combinations are damn cool to play.

Combo decks are a thing. Combo isn't always control. It has control cards, but loses to aggro more than control. It goes half and half to midrange. If you draw the combo, you beat midrange. If not, you lose. Control beats aggro. Aggro beats combo. Combo beats control. Midrange goes back and forth with all of these decks. Midrange plays as a control deck against aggro and aggro against control and combo decks

I wish I had this video three years ago when I started playing

Very nice video thank you

Good Content. Well put together videos. Not uploading pointless videos ever 24 hours. Ya subscribed

The only thing lacking in your videos are the visuals other than that your vids are amazing and deserve more of a audience

good stuff very helpful video

Well done! Really enjoyed the vid!

You actually can love deck types and play them from time to time. I like decks that win. All decks require a lot of thinking, specially in different match ups.

Trying to get in to this game now that I need to create my own decks. Please create more current videos on basic deck building for noobs like myself.

Great video. I really enjoyed it. Keep up the good work :)

I loved the video. Great job! I personally love control druid.

Interesting channel, subscribed

You forgot about combo decks, decks that try to draw through as fast as possible to get to their win condition. I wouldn't necessarily call them control just like i wouldn't call fatigue decks control. Maybe "control" can be used as a broad spectrum to cover these decks

I always make my own decks and always end up with semi-control decks, either Aggro-control or late game- control.

If this is made on power point... that is amazing!

What are people's thoughts on the stat lines of one drops? It's pretty well known that for the majority of Hearthstone's history the meta has favored aggressive decks. I've always thought a big reason for this was the fact that one drops are some of the most over statted minions in the game. Take any one drop that sees play (dire mole, argent squire, mana wyrm, northshire cleric, etc.) make it a two drop and give it +1/+1 and it becomes painfully obvious. A perfect example of this is shielded mini bot. It was exactly a 1 mana +1/1 stat increase to argent squire but is one of the most powerful 2 drops we've ever had. What is the reasoning behind giving these cards that are not only easier to play, but also come out earlier than other cards such powerful effects combined with incredible stat lines?

I am confused, I thought it was midrange beats aggro because once aggro runs out of resources, midrange stabilizes and kills them. Control beats midrange because it can easily outmaneuver them the late game with powerful combos that midrange cannot beat, and aggro beats control because of control in its effort to maximize for the late game has a weakness of power in its earlier slots. Though it might be because i am an MTG player and thats how it works in MTG.

Very nice and thoughtful analysis! How would you place combo decks? As control?

great video thank you!!

Loved the intro

Quest Rogue?

I feel that the hearthstone meta often takes on a much slower meta than you outlined here, with "aggro decks" often making their strong push somewhere near turn 5.

I never realised the one drop 2 attack thing I assumed that all 1 hp minions were just the worst. Hehe

Is fatigue a separate archetype or just an extreme version of control?

What about combo decks, do they fall under control or are they a separate class

one of the best decks I've ever built was a mid range hunter

I use aggro hunter with zombeasts in the late game

I have played HS for nearly every expansion and this is the first time I have considered quitting. They are simply making too many cards you can't defend. Take this mechanic of a card doing something before the game even begins. It has become stupid with these odd/even cards. As an opponent, you literally can't prevent them from doing that and the "sacrifice" they make by not being able to use certain cards is so weak, it barely matters. Plus, having your opponent buff their entire deck of minions is again absurd. There is literally no way to prevent this or weaken those buffed cards. There is zero chance HS will make a "silence your opponent's deck" card or anything like that so I fear this lame trend will only get worse. It's fine, there are plenty other things out there for me to amuse myself.

Instatantly hit the subscribe button! Wow this is an awsome video!

Hey Pennyless! Do you have a discord server? I wanted to ask you some questions about one of my decks :)

Personally, I don't quite recognize the archetypes I myself create, since I try to be malleable with the cards I put in my deck, but I also put having fun above it all, so I currently made a Heavily armored Wounded Warrior deck which has a weird focus on drawing cards via Acolyte of Pain, has spot removal but also cards with berserker effects like Gurubashi and Frothing and also cards which enable them to use said effects like Inner Wrath and that Warrior 2 drop. It's weird and my win condition is either stalling out with armor or hitting face with Ice Garrosh in the late game. Another deck I am running and having fun is a value hunter which runs Countess Ashmore, 1 mana 2 1 Leech with life Steal, that 3 drop spell which gives your beasts +3/+3 and shuffles buffed copies into the deck which are later drawn via those Ungoro 5 drops which fetch 1 drops from your deck. It's quite fun to get the combo off, and I was astounded by how well it performed. Sorry if I wasn't the best at conveying which cards I run penniless, but I really enjoyed the video so I just wanted to give examples of a control and Midrange deck I run respectively.

NICE

Is it really set in stone that control beats aggro? I consistently beat control mage with odd rogue because I pressed lot of damage before they could clear. Or would you say that tools like Argent Squire, Hench-Clan Thug, Vicious Fledgling and King Mukla are just so effective at preventing the ties control is looking for?

We usually the call turn 3 and 4 . But I like the Push more haha

Let me make a guess : I'd say most people who watched this video favor control decks. People who watch videos about HS theories usually enjoy deckbuilding and control gives more opportunity to do so as it can have a variety of win conditions, from playing a bunch of very big stuff to OTKing the opponent or making them run out of ards. In comparison, aggro and mid-range are more straightforward, the game plan simply being to win on the board from the start and never let the opponent stabilize until you wiped them out. But the thing is, if you want to win a lot, aggro and mid-range are better choices. After all, it's easier to be on the offensive than to draw all the right answers until you can take the advantage. And even if an aggro deck and a control deck have the exact same winrate, the aggro deck will play shorter games on average, allowing you to win more in the same amount of time. Thus, we end up with a state where a part of the community plays fast decks to win while the rest plays slow decks to have fun with the mechanics. (Well... Actually there isn't such a clear-cut divide, most people go back and forth between the two) That's not a bad thing, the existence of fast decks is healthy for HS as long as they are not completly dominant, but that explains why people who go on forums and videos seem to hate aggro so much while it keeps prospering, those who are the most involved with the game, and thus, its community are the most likely to enjoy playing control. Please, correct me if you think I'm wrong.

Dude, i started to watch your videos and realized that we have a similar vision about the game, now you tell me that you love math i can understand why... I am a mechanical engineer undergraduate. Do you have a bachelor or something?

Is OTK Control?

There aren't that many mid-range decks these days. The 3 archetypes are actually aggro, control and combo. Furthermore, fuck druids.

You're amazing. I wonder why you have so few subs

is cubelock mid-range or control? i feel this is obvious but i don't know

Btw there is no longer Hearthstone Heroes of Warcraft, only Hearthstone.

Dear penniless, does this model still hold up? Thanks!

So you're telling me that Tiller (my favorite card) could be a good card? What I mean is that it's kind of a 3/1 if it gets to attack face?

"Everyone else beggs for Likes so i have to too". Dont do it, it sucks!

Just curious what would you call zoo warlock?

Maybe if you have better format for your ui

How do I subscribe twice

What about OTK decks? I think you consider OTK a subdivision of control decks but i dont think that is the case. OTK decks objective in the early stages of the game is in fact the same as a control deck, but they lack some of the cards that control decks have use because they need their OTK combo to kill the opponent which usually is 6 to 9 cards. In the Rock/paper/scissors match OTK Loses to Aggro, Wins against Control, and its 50/50 against midrange decks.

tl;dr - Go for face.

Much like athletes or much like people that play a lot of computer

you should talk about mirror .matches

So when you play Renounce Darkness Warlock, what type of player are you then?

You do good work. If you’re interested in making this your career, let me know and I can point you to some helpful resources.

The video only really starts at 2:35. An introduction is fine but that is just too much.

Im more concern about my luck in drawing cards than this

Real aggro beats players on turn 5 to 7. So you cant really say control beats aggro most of the time unless although I know the rock paper scissors is widely accepted.

5:03 Wouldn't Frostbolt beat both of those?

" Brainiac for Hearthstone." A toast disguising itself is ready to deal 2 damage to you

this theory is way too general and hearthstone is much more complex than that there are decks which include all three aspects and decks that dont fit into these 3 paradigms

WTH?? No combo?

nic vid

Im not using almost any meta decks. Odd mage buff paladin dragun priest... Im finding this decks funnier.

the more i thod abow did

여러분의 자막 추가를 부탁드립니다ㅠㅠ 영잘알 없나요

Hey some feedback, not on the content itself (which is good), but for the presentation: your music choices are really boring. The whole thing is already quite heady, combine that with the incredibly boring downtempo piano music makes for a whole lot of potentially "boring". Try some more upbeat music, keep your audience engaged not only with your script but your presentation too. Another note is that cards often stay on screen very briefly - which is fine for me since I know the cards by heart, but if I was newer I'd be pausing and reading a lot.

I think control not tries to be in twist and late game. I think they tries to be in all of the parts of the game. Lets take control elemental mage. Using fire flies and maybe even phoenix to survive until mid. Using cards like bonfire or servant to stay in the game until twist and to not go out of value with these card’s help. Using frost mage jania to stay in the game and getting most value from only 1 card even your cards starts to go low in your hand and deck. And using more synergies with other value cards. For me control is get most value from every card. Thats why they destroy aggro. Aggro uses minions attack face. Not value trades. So if a deck survives first, they start to lead the game. Control loses against mid-range because they are getting to much value at mid game part by using every card for this part and not leaving ant value for future turns. But control tries to make game longer to make their enemy come out of value. And thats why control loses to mid-game Thats my way of thinking if you are not thinking like this, thats normal.

In ur next video can mention something about Exodia or OTK decks. I think they counter control and are countered by aggro.

I respectfully disagree.

2:19 Everybody else says it, but shouldn't. The more you see those kind of things the less you actualy remember or bother to do them. Either get creative or stop saying that phrase completely.

Great video! Your overall presentation is pretty...uhhh...lack of a better word, is kinda boring lol. That and the music makes me want to fall asleep. You didnt do it much this video, but in general i noticed you have the cards say funny things through text while you speak...and it kinda clashes and makes it hard to pay attention to your point. Reading and listening to two different things is rough. You clearly put a metric fuckton of effort editing these videos with like one edit per second, so I hope you get nothing but success! Stay awsome :D

however in turn 2 3/2 are better than 2/3.

I bet reynad is watching your videos thinking as a he copy HS for his card game haHAA

Pls when you talk about yourself like that. It came out as you being narsicist js :P

I dislike the name "spoiler season", it's Reveal Season people, even if a few are leaked, over 90% of the expansion is revealed through official channels.

First for once Pog