I just wanted to echo link's sentiments @cavestuck and give another endorsement for considering mental health support. 

I resisted taking that step for years until I was feeling very much as you describe and things came to a head at work and in my personal life.  It can feel daunting, but I found podcasts to be a safe/accessible first step to learn about different approaches and what might work best for me and my situation.  There are a ton out there, but I found the volume of guests and topics on Shrink Rap Radio to provide great food-for-thought and eventually settled on ACT / found someone trained in that approach in my area.  Here's one I remember resonating:  https://shrinkrapradio.com/422-finding-true-refuge-in-mindfulness-with-tara-brach-phd/

Wishing you love and kindness cavestuck!  And if you haven't seen it (lately), DFW's commencement speech always hits home for me:  https://youtu.be/ms2BvRbjOYo

<3

It's nice to see some hype and hopefully this will bump the thread!

I mainly play off-meta Hunter brews and am not sure the Titans class cards will move the needle much for me personally...other than throwing Aggramar, the Avenger in everything to start the season, haha.  However, they've given us a lot of tools lately (e.g., Hollow Hound, Star Power) so I'm happy that fans of Face Hunter and secret synergies got some love.

The archetype I'm most looking forward to trying is Mechrattle Hunter with Ravenous Kraken (+ Yelling Yodeler, Defense Attorney Nathanos) triggering discounted Containment Units, Mecha-Leaper, and the classic Mothership.  Flame Behemoth also looks like a fun card for that deck.

In terms of Neutrals, the cards I'm most hyped for are: 

• Sharp-Eyed Seeker - See a lot of potential for fun (e.g., Ambassador Faelin, Photographer Fizzle) as well combos such as a discount from Harpoon Gun and then summoning four 8/8s via Son of Hodir
• Watcher of the Sun - Fits the theme of my current casino spell Hunter and the healing could be useful if they nerf Hollow Hound at some point
• Algalon the Observer - I enjoy value / control decks, so swapping out an aggressive HP for something that can help you stall until the late game is appealing
• I also like the future dragon potential they're adding with cards such as Time-Lost Protodrake and Starlight Whelp
• Lastly, I'm looking forward to a buff to Prison of Yogg-Saron (trying to wish it into existence, haha) - Yogg and Reno are all-time favorites (e.g., played different versions of Reno Quest Hunter for most of the previous year) so I was looking forward to building around Yogg all season.  Unfortunately, the current iteration doesn't hit the Yogg power fantasy, imo, and I'm hoping they give it a slight buff.  For example, what if it would cast 1 extra (random) spell for each spell you've already cast that turn so that you could dial up the Yoggness?

May Yogg be with you all for all of your pack openings!

Great read as always, thanks sule!  Loved the puns and would like to add:

• Beyond a Reasonable Mount - Rogue spell that adds 2 random Mounts to your hand
• Flea Bargain - Warlock spell that reduces the cost of Imps that turn
• Plight to Remain Silent - Druid spell that silences all minions until your next turn
• All Rise - Hunter spell that resurrects 1 deathrattle minion from each class that died this game (from both players)
• Tort-ollan Claims Lawyer - Neutral Tortollan (new tribe?!) that casts random 5+ mana spells (all classes) until you cast a damaging spell (tort law connection)

Bonus for Destiny 2 fans:

• Leading the Witness - Picture of The Darkness on the stand being cross-examined (was thinking of the art as a Jeopardy question, but you could also have The Darkness as the lawyer for a more literal interpretation)

Ya know, I had a feeling this was going to be a fun read just by looking at the title ;D  Thanks as always for an enjoyable article and I appreciate you taking the time to check out the Dino exhibit!

What are you having fun with these days?

I find myself mixing in more Lady Prestor and RNG decks which usually corresponds to lulls in an expansion.  Discover is relatively consistent atm so I've been leaning into it with something like this:

Enjoyed theorycrafting yesterday and see a lot of meme potential between the new expansion and core set. 

• First builds were Deathrattle Hunter, Naga Spell Hunter, and Reno Hunter.
• Unsurprisingly, faced much more aggro on the ladder than in Casual.

Brann Bronzebeard has been an engine of fun with Monstrous Parrot / Selective Breeder, Queen Azshara, Ambassador Faelin (+ Harpoon Gun), and School Teacher (or rather the token weaved in with one of the above combos).

Also just feels great to have back some old favorites like Doomsayer, Tar Creeper, Zola the Gorgon, Houndmaster Shaw, and Reno Jackson.  Though I do miss dear old Yogg :(

Hi Sammy!  My experience is extremely tangential, but maybe it will spur on others to respond.

Last year I finally upgraded my phone from an S6 to an S21.  I only play HS on my phone and haven't noticed a big difference while playing in Standard.  However, the shop, achievements, and collections pages all load much faster on the new phone.  Unfortunately, I don't play enough BG to confidently say if it improved performance there, but the animations run smoothly atm.

FWIW, I started playing ~6yrs ago and my friends mostly played on iPads at that time.  Even those old versions ran the game beautifully well, though there was no BG back then.

TL;DR - I think your GF will love playing on any modern tablet.

In the exact same boat - miniset did very little to bring me back and have been absolutely loving ER.  Ranni's questline alone has been a fantastic adventure.  Good luck out there Tarnished!

One place to start would be this collection on Reddit Competitive HS; in particular the "Building or Choosing a Deck" sub-section.  You can also search that subreddit for deckbuilding guides and a few more should pop up.

To see applications in real time, you could try searching "Deck Doctor" on YouTube.  Firebat used to upload the ones he did on stream and I learned a lot from them.  It looks like one of the guys that posts decks here (FunkiMonki) still does them so that might be worth checking out.

Personally, I really enjoy the trial and error process so I typically start with a super greedy core and then slowly remove the weakest cards with on-curve answers to how I've been losing and/or more draw/tutors to get to my win condition(s).

I hope you have fun turning your deck building dreams into memes!

Thanks for 2 great reads today sule!  I had to go team Stormpike but my Maxima Blastenheimer dreams have so far been nightmares.  That Hunter deck looks right up my alley though!  May Yogg be with you always.

This hasn't been my favorite meta either OP.  Didn't bother to hit Diamond last month and joined the dark side a bit to hit D5 and regain my star bonus this month.  Despite the downvotes, I've been enjoying this for ladder quests:

Deck ID Not Found

Otherwise, I've had some fun in Casual with memes and have played more Arena and BG than usual.  Would love to see them try like a 2 - 3wk rotating labs mode with meta card bans to diversify the experience more.  

I'd give it a Budgy :D

I can vouch for the shell being strong enough to win games on its own and I like the changes you made to churn through the deck.  I took a more control-oriented version of this to D10 D5 this season and I feel like yours is more competitive so try it out folks!

Both the article and these comments have been a good read; thank you to everyone and especially Frosty as this is a tough topic to tackle well!

As a control player in Standard, I'm fine sitting out a season to let other people enjoy combo decks.  However, what concerns me is similar to what others have already said better:

1)  The powercreep required going forward to overcome these decks (plus the delicate balance needed to somehow not make the quests stronger)

2)  The solitare nature of the current combos - that feeling of helplessness combined with the frustration of long turns watching card draw/animations 

3) The combination of quick quest completion PLUS mid-quest rewards.  I think the latter was a really cool addition, but that it'd work better as a way of softening the blow of longer quests.  

4)  The ease of piloting + completing meta quests makes them both popular and strong in the lower ranks + Casual.  I understand the rationale of balancing a game from the top down (e.g. Mindrender Illucia nerf), but I also care about the metas not covered by VS where the majority of the playerbase experiences the game.  Again, one expansion of an aggro + combos meta is fine by me, but pushing out the slower strategies until Quests rotate doesn't feel sustainable.

Lastly, on a design philosophy note, I love it when quests open up an alternative playstyle for a class and/or give life to underused cards.  For example, Queen Carnassa gave Hunters card draw and an Unsealed Vault made Swarm of Locusts super useful.  By comparison, some of the current quest rewards just feel kinda boring to me in the sense that we're doing the same old same - Mage spell dmg, Demon Hunter card draw/OTK, Hunter ignoring board to go face with spells + hero power instead of spells + rhino, etc.

Quote From dapperdog

Show Spoiler

Kolkar Pack Runner makes the coin very dangerous. If it gets off early on with coin and Adorable Infestation or Wound Prey its very likely you're going to win unless your opponent has a convenient board clear, that is if they can clear the pack runner as well too.

Of course, I don't agree with this change myself, because I never really got the opinion that this card is causing any trouble. Its only very strong now because no one plays any early board removal, and everyone is jamming Cult Neophyte and Far Watch Post instead. But I expect that to change after mage gets nerfed.

But I can see why people dont like it. It not only snowballs in a very aggressive match already, it also plays for tempo well enough that face hunter can get away with just going face with their minions every turn. The nerf will kill it, in my opinion, unless they overhaul the deck entirely.

Thanks dapper! 

I definitely agree that it's a strong card and I think you've sold me on its versatility making it a better nerf target than wrangler + rhino. 

You also made me realize that I'm probably biased because I mainly play control decks with early answers so Kolkar doesn't spiral as often.

Thanks again and I hope your prediction comes to pass!

I'm cool with the Kolkar nerf and know that people smarter than me predicted it so it's probably the right target, but can someone sell me on it making a meaningful change to the Face Hunter match-up?

I just honestly feel like I get run out of the game much more often by Warsong Wrangler into Trampling Rhino that I would've loved the former to only buff the card drawn and the latter to be increased to 6-mana.  The fact that both the Rhino and Piercing Shot punish value trading is the problem I run into more frequently than Kolkar shenanigans.  But again, I'll trust the devs, Viscious Syndicate, and the knowledgeable folks here over my gut reactions.

I know I'm a little late to the party, but I just wanted to say thanks for posting this as it helped me tinker with my own Our Lady of Prestor meme and I hadn't found a deck for Jaxon yet.

I also just wanted to give a shout out to Magtheridon as another neglected card that synergizes pretty well with Prestor.  Getting a 4-mana 12/12 dragon is great, but even if you draw it early you can often combo it with a cheap copy of Deathwing later.

Congrats to Flux & the entire OOC content team for great coverage and analysis of the reveal season!!

I agree with a lot of the cards listed already so I'll add just one sleeper pick:

SI:7 Skulker

It's not strong on its own, but I fear it's one of those cards that limits the design space of future expansions (while in Standard).  By that I mean it'll always be lurking skulking in the corner ready to make an inherently strong card/combo busted when you can tutor it (or if there's ever a cheap battlecry draw minion for Bolner Hammerbeak to exploit).

For when you're determined to experience the highroll that is Tavish, Master Marksman + Hand of Fate :D

I agree that it'd be nice for T5 to change their policy on updating pre-built decks within a season.  For example, I'm guessing that they don't update the pre-made decks that new players can choose after conquering the beginner ranks which seems at odds with the goal of those decks.  

Unfortunately, I also agree with dapperdog that it's unlikely that they'll ever make this a priority given that Whizbang and Zayle didn't spur them into action.  However, maybe the new $20 "battle-ready" decks will cause this change if they think enough people would purchase them later if they weren't outdated.

Updating decks raises at least 2 hassles:

1. How frequently do you update?
   • The improved "autocomplete" deck algorithm makes it seem like they have the technology to keep decks fresh on a weekly basis, but this seems impractical from the dimensions of developer time, player confusion, and deck optimality (more likely to land on a "local maximum" than the eventual meta picks).
        
   • Alternatively, you could re-balance them after each round of nerfs/buffs, but the more you update them the more FOMO/claims of unfairness you might face from players who earn a pre-made deck/buy a battle-ready deck at the beginning of a season.  This leads into question #2...
        
2. How should they handle complaints by people who purchased/earned a deck earlier in the expansion? 
   • Say tough luck and just deal with the negative feedback?
         
   • For the "battle-ready" decks only - allow people to purchase the cards that changed at a low cost? (e.g. $5)
         
   • Add a certain amount of dust (e.g., 1,000) to the new player decks and battle-ready decks as a form of insurance against future changes?
     • This would presumably raise the cost of the battle-ready decks.
          
   • Offer full insurance to those decks by giving out all golden cards which means they can be exchanged for any other card as the meta shifts? 
     • Would this be too generous for the new player decks? 
     • And how expensive would this make the battle ready decks?  (would probably have to institute tiers where you could purchase the current $20 deck or the golden version for like $60 or whatever the value equates to)
          

My answer for #1 - I think pushing out one update per season a couple weeks after the mini-expansion would be a reasonable starting point.

My answer for #2 - If you only release 1 update, then I think you don't have to offer any compensation to those that already chose/purchased their deck.

• The current rewards track is pretty generous so I think that most people should be able to update their pre-built deck fairly easily if they really want.
  • What could help in this regards is updating the "autocomplete" deck algorithm to show you the best possible deck and not just the best possible deck given your current collection.
    • For example, they could make it so that if you click autocomplete while having the "crafting" button selected it builds the best possible deck and then you can decide whether to craft the missing cards or replace them with something from your collection.  

Quote From PopeNeia

Speaking from experience, after the first summon, the DH usually does not have any deathrattle minions to summon from their hands so I usually just clear them out. After playing a lot of control Warrior, I just demolish demon hunters because Bulwark of Azzinoth is an absolutely amazing card.

Thanks for sharing your experience!  It's great to hear that clearing the board has worked well for you and it sounds like I gotta try that strategy more often!  Sadly, I think I'll get plenty of practice as I've been running into a bunch of them on the ladder lately :\