Hearthstone Tech Cards Explained

Successful deck builders know that even the strongest deck needs a little change, especially from month to month to adapt to changing meta. No particular list deck is always absolutely strong, but they are strong in comparison to other decks.

Of course, class cards like Mortal Coin can be added or removed, but tech cards provide situational solutions and they’re also fun in the deck building process. Tech cards are useful in limited (but not uncommon) situations. Big Game Hunter used to be very popular when Dr. Boom and when it wasn’t nerfed, Loatheb was still used to counter spell-heavy decks in Wild, Golakka Crawler also appeared a lot in the Patches the Pirate meta – and in addition, the most popular tech card right now is Spellbreaker .

Tech cards are a necessity these days, but that doesn’t mean all decks should play 2 cards with the Silence effect. In fact, regardless of the context in which they are played – the decks they are in, the main opponents in the meta – most tech cards are pretty bad. If you crafted 2 Hungry Crab last summer against Murloc Paladin, they are now completely useless in your collection.

Good tech cards require a close look at the meta, especially where you stand in that meta: are aggro, control or combo decks dominating your opponents? Is there a particular deck that is consistently beating you? If so, how can you force your opponents to pay for their unique playstyle while giving you a certain edge? You can do it through deck prediction, hand prediction, and trial play – all to increase your chances of winning.

New players often misunderstand that tech cards directly counter a type of deck. The fact is that even playing 2 Hungry Crab in Tempo Rogue does not guarantee you victory against Murloc Paladin. It doesn’t even increase win rate in an all-Murloc meta – it just increases the chances of an effective answer to certain threats. It’s not as simple as “x presence means victory over y”. What cards are you willing to cut from the deck? Does that change weaken your deck? Are you sure you’ve played enough to correctly judge that a change is necessary?

When evaluating tech cards, players need to consider the cases where they show the highest value as well as the cases where they are completely useless, and how often do they show that usefulness or uselessness. any. Please rate Golakka Crawler. Let’s say you’re playing a tempo deck and have it in hand on turn 3, your opponent just Coins, plays Southsea Captain and summons Patches the Pirate from the deck. Then your crab will show its maximum value: play around the curve and get the most out of the effect in a match determined by tempo. If you find yourself in such a situation, you will be glad that you used Golakka Crawler.

Picking up Golakka Crawler at the end of a match against an opponent who doesn’t play Pirate at all is quite the opposite, this card doesn’t mean much. This doesn’t mean it shouldn’t have a place in the deck – unless you’ve encountered Raza Priest 80% of the time. This is a matter of context. In fact, if you look at the whole picture, Golakka Crawler is not a reasonable choice, even if it helps you win 10% – 15% of the games you play. Perhaps adding 2 Cobalt Scalebane will be better when you wait for the Pirates to reappear. If you play a deck with a good draw like Raza Priest, picking up a 2 mana 2/3 late game won’t be too bad compared to playing a deck that needs to draw cards at the end of the game like Aggro Paladin – runs out of cards and doesn’t. Picking up the Divine Favor will make the player despair.

One of the most misunderstood tech cards is the Skulking Geist. Every time Brian Kibler loses to Jade Druid when streaming, many people will ask, why don’t you try playing Skulking Geist in this deck? However, the matter is much more complicated than that. This card needs to be viewed based on the meta situation and win conditions of the decks. Kibler explained the usefulness of the Geist to be rather limited in this video.

Spellbreaker

We’re in a meta with lots of buffs, Divine Shield and Deathrattle, and two decks that feature a lot are Aggro Paladin and Cubelock. Therefore, the Silence effect becomes especially necessary by dissolving many different threats. Many versions of Raza Priest currently play Mass Dispel and/or Kabal Songstealer alongside Silence, while tempo and aggro decks use at least one Spellbreaker. Potential Spellbreaker targets include Possessed Lackey, Canivorous Cube, Voidlord, Acolyte of Pain, and Edwin VanCleef. This versatility plus providing effective countermeasures against Cubelock explains why Spellbreaker is so popular.

Golakka Crawler

While Patches the Pirate is still in the Standard, Golakka Crawler will still be the most popular and effective tech card. The potential to take tempo from the opponent’s hand can be the key to a tempo match, while slower decks like Raza Priest use it as a tool to buy time to get all of their key cards. decks. When played as a regular tempo card, Golakka Crawler’s stats are pretty decent and the cost of its effects is minimal.

Hungry Crab

In the Murloc-filled meta, playing Hungry Crab turn 1 can end the match in an instant. But when facing any opponent that doesn’t use Murloc, its stats are too bad. Only Hunter and Druid can somewhat alleviate this limitation thanks to Beast interoperability, specifically Crackling Razormaw and Mark of Y’Shaarj. Any other class that wants to use Hungry Crab should consider it carefully.

Dirty Rat

Dirty Rat proved effective when encountering aggro decks and combos. Against aggro, Dirty Rat’s stats are quite good and the summoning effect from the hand to the table is usually not too bad, especially when the opponent is Aggro Druid or Paladin. But the fact that Corridor Creeper could be available early when mulligan reduces Dirty Rat’s effectiveness in this matchup. This card is still strongest when encountering combo decks like Raza Priest, the mouse breaks the win condition or at least prevents the opponent from drawing cards; and when encountering Exodia Mage, the chance of calling up Sorcerer’s Apprentice or Archmage Antonidas (and winning immediately) is quite high when entering the stage around turn 10 onwards.

Acidic Swamp Ooze

The more players rank up with Paladins, the more valuable the weapon breaking techs become (some decks play up to 5 weapons). If you’re lucky, you can even destroy the Skull of the Man’ari on turn 5 when you meet Cubelock. However, while Raza Priest is still dominant in the meta, you probably don’t need any weapon-breaking cards. Another option is Bloodsail Corsair, which destroys weapons while calling Patches to the table and can get Aggro Paladin in big trouble, but this pirate is only suitable for playing in aggro decks. Either way, it’s worth considering when climbing ranks.

Strange tech cards

There are some really weird tech cards out there, but that doesn’t make them any less effective. Even the surprise when launching them on the field can make the opponent panic. Recently, Xixo played 2 Nerubian Unraveler in the Zoolock deck he used to climb the Legend high rank, to limit the clearing cards and combos of Tempo Rogue. Note that these 2 cards can make it difficult to play a deck that uses minor spells like Tempo Rogue (which can be interpreted as countering itself).

Tech and Kobolds & Catacombs

There are a few very special tech cards in the K&C expansion, but not a single one of them is being played commonly. Kobold Monk looks like a good match against Raza Priest, however Priest has too many ways to deal with this 3/6: Silence, Mass Dispel, Shadow Word: Pain. If its attack stat was 4, we’d probably see it somewhere in the meta. The same, similar, The Darkness is an interesting (but not very reasonable) tech but easily countered by decks that draw many cards. The cards Shadow Word: Death, Psychic Scream, and Shadowreaper Anduin make The Darkness very ineffective against Raza Priest (perhaps it can only slow down playing Raza the Chained or Kazakus).

Corrosive Sludge is also a K&C tech card, but its potential is lowered because it costs 5 mana to play. Aggro Paladin uses a lot of cheap weapons, while decks that want to deal with Cubelock often play the Silence effect to deal with some threats, not destroy weapons just to deal with Skull of the Man’ari. Currently, the above tech cards cannot be compared with other available options. We can expect something from the next expansion as well as some cards getting nerfed, and K&C tech cards possibly finding their way.

The constantly changing Hearthstone meta means that tech cards will only be seasonal, so when playing, keep an eye on new trends and ways to capitalize on them. Just remember, consider whether the benefits of a tech card outweigh its downsides, especially its interaction with your deck and the meta situation.

That means, even though Spellbreaker is the most popular tech card, new techs can emerge at any time. In your opinion, what is the most interesting tech card you have ever seen? Do you want a specific tech card that we don’t have yet? Please leave your thoughts!

Source: hearthpwn