Tales From Hearthstone Battlegrounds - Tamsin and Her Dragons

Hearthstone Patch 22.4.3 brought us a couple of changes, among them adjustment to Tamsin's Hero Power and her Buddy.

• Fragrant Phylactery
  
  • Old: [Costs 1] Start of Combat: Destroy your lowest Health minion. Give its stats to all your others.
  • New: [Costs 0] Start of Combat: Destroy your lowest Health minion. Give its stats to four friendly minions.
• Monstrosity
  • Old: [Tavern Tier 3] 0 Attack, 12 Health.
  • New: [Tavern Tier 4] 0 Attack, 14 Health.

Tales From Hearthstone Battlegrounds

Today we're bringing you some stories from Battlegrounds we've experienced and thought they were worth sharing. It might not always be a number 1 finisher, but let's start with a bang, shall we?

I was pondering before the patch hit what will the changes do to Tamsin's power-level since Monstrosity jumped up a tier, meaning it would take much longer to get it. But after this run, I will say that she is probably even stronger. The 0-cost Hero Power is a HUGE boost in the early-to-mid game, where you don't even have a full board yet, so the benefit is largely the same as pre-change, but you can use it for free.

Tamsin and Her Dragons

On first turn I was offered two Rockpool Hunters, so I decided right away to buy one and freeze the other. Ever since Buddies got introduced, I actually really like staying on Tavern 1 for a turn or two longer (depending on the Hero I play and some other factors) so I am more likely to progress faster towards my Buddy and with Tamsin, I certainly wanted that since Monstrosity is a huge carry and the sooner you have it the better.

Next turn, I bought the other Rockpool and rerolled into a token spawner, which on turn 3 allowed me to buy a minion, sell a token, upgrade to Tavern 2 and have three minions on the board leveling off with pretty much anyone who upgraded the Tavern turn earlier and also got a token on 5-gold to get there.

This turn 3 follow up used to be the gold standard you were striving for if you did your regular Tavern level up on turn 2. Not anymore with more and more people staying on Tavern 1 longer to give themselves a higher chance to get their Buddy asap. In a sense it stayed the same, if you can get the token on 5-gold turn, but the next Tavern tier is one gold more expensive, so it then slightly changes the turns you would naturally upgrade the Tavern compared to what you were used to.

On the following turn I got offered couple of Glyph Guardians, which are pretty decent tier 2 minions and there is always potential to maybe get a triple down the line, so why not. I already had one pair, two would give me a better chance.

After that came the most important moment, I believe. Spawn of N'Zoth. I was now sure that this run could actually have a shot at top 4 or better, hell, I was thinking about first place already. I had a pretty decent start, getting progress on my Buddy while not losing tempo and now getting probably the best minion Tamsin could ask for in the early game. Combined with her Hero Power, if you don't have any 1-Health minions, Spawn basically guarantees you a +3/+3 on four minions and at least +1/+1 on the rest.

One could argue that simply a minion with higher stats could do a better job, yes, but it isn't always easy to manipulate your board to a state where a minion you want to be hit by the Hero Power is, and Spawn has low enough Health to give you a lot of leeway while still giving a buff to your 2 left-over minions.

With this, I decided I would have enough to survive with what I had on the board already and just power-level to Tavern 4 to get ahead of the curve.

After reaching Tavern 4, I got a bit lucky again, instantly getting offered Tarecgosa. It wasn't exactly the direction I wanted to go in, but it was actually perfect, since the Hero Power would allow her to get buffed each turn even if I didn't have any other means to get in-combat buffs. With that said, soon after, I also got a pair of Prized Promo-Drakes and decided that I will indeed lean heavily into Dragons.

Buying those Glyph Guardians early paid off, because I was offered a triple. And was now faced with a decision: do I go to Tavern 5 and try for Kalecgos, or do I stay at Tavern 4 and try to look for another Tarecgosa?

I decided to freeze and tier-up next turn because at this point I also had my Monstrosity which was providing enough "free stats". Tarecgosa was getting stronger each round so I hoped it would be enough, and if not, I had a chunky Health pool to tank a loss.

The decision paid off again because I did land on Kalecgos and got a second one off golden Monstrosity turn after. Which brought about another relatively hard choice: do I actually sell my golden Monstrosity? It felt really bad, but at the same time, I really needed the board space to be able to utilize double-Kalecgos power fully, so there it went.

The top 4 was getting solidified by now, but I have breezed through most of my opponents without a hitch. Zephrys was a bit slow with the scaling, which is funny because at first glance, I didn't think I would win this fight. Especially with double snakes in there and my Glyph Guardian hitting Insatiable Ur'zul for painful 57 damage. But alas...

Maiev had a pretty damn solid scaling potential and was on the rise, but she fell as well.

The only hurdle on the road to the top at this point was Malygos and his Poison comp. He wasn't even fully there yet and already I couldn't beat him. But I was optimistic because my exceptional start left me with a lot of Health to work with, so I could afford to lose once or twice, getting to where I wanted - needed - to be to have a chance.

Funny story: Malygos was actually the only one to beat me up to this point, that 2 Health loss was from the very first turn, where he got a Murloc Tidehunter or Alleycat and turned both into a different tier 1 minion with his Hero Power, basically getting a full minion for free on turn 1. Well played.

Anyway, in two turns, I managed to get where I was going. I found Nadina the Red, which was the one thing that could have given me any chance at beating him. Nadina is obviously bread and butter of any Dragon comp, but as Tamsin, you can guarantee to have her die at the start of combat so you get your Divine Shields before your opponent can act, which is huge!

Unless they get an Unstable Ghoul, but if both players are going for Divine Shields, the one getting a Ghoul usually loses, because they have to sacrifice one board space for it.

Finding a Maexxna and giving her reborn along the way was just icing on the cake. I was going to have a last slot filled with something that wouldn't really fit into my comp or be as strong anyway, so why not use one of the most broken combos at the moment when offered, eh? Might as well!

Keeping Prestor's Pyrospawn "for later" proved to be useful too. It helped to save Divine Shield on my Glyph Guardian attacking into taunted-up Selfless Hero and later killing off 2/1 reborned Maexxna. To be honest, I expected him to be able to produce more Divine Shields at that point, but even getting this much value off Pyrospawn definitely contributed to my victory.

I really had a blast this run. I admit I got quite lucky at certain points with the minions offered but what I liked the most about this was that I actually got to lean into and rely on the strengths of the Hero I picked and was rewarded for it. That does not always happen. And also being able to come on top vs a Divine Shield + Reborn + Poison comp felt very satisfying. I'm sure many of you would share the sentiment given the state of the game.

Tell me in the comments if you enjoyed this kind of content, I have a few more (hopefully) interesting runs I could share with you if this gets positive feedback. Feel free to share your experience as well in the comments below!