Hi guys! Recently Adam hosted a Hearthstone competition and seems like it has garnered quite a bit of attention!
Some of you guys may have just downloaded the game recently. So i hope i could create a guide that would help you guys understand the mechanics of the game better and make better decision be it in deck building or game play !
Note: I may not be a top notch player, but i hope my guide could still help who ever reading in some way or another.
p.s i have no idea how to use all the fancy editors beside spoiler, so i apologize for my ugly format.
Introduction!
This is one hero, where Edwin VanCleef is her class specific legendary. So the idea of this game is to create a deck of 30 cards to defeat an opposing player that has 30 life too! easy peasy 
The basic terminology for the game! (try out the in game tutorial before going on if you have not. It would be clearer)
Well its easy to think Hearthstone is a simple game. And on some level it is, however it gets dastardly complicated as your knowledge of the game improve. but here are some basic terminology of the game you have to know and which of some i might use at the later part.
Mulligan - At the start of the game, you are given the option to replace some of all of your starting hand, that's mulligan.
Play - A play means an action or set of action one would carried out in given situation. For an example, during the 4th turn, you could do a two 2 Mana-drop play or a 4 mana drop play. A play could be considered a combination of cards, most plays could be considered as good or bad depending on how well you achieve towards a given purpose, for example board clear or neutralizing a threat
Board control - This usually refers to a situation where one of the player has the 'dominance' over the board (where you drop monsters) Usually it means that the player who had the dominance would have creatures down on board whereas the opponent does not. Having Board control is highly crucial to game play as it would most likely to be a lost case if you lose. Board control.
Example of board control - The enemy has 2 (3 hp/ 3 attack) creature, and you have none, during your turn you drop a (4/3) creature, however due to summoning sickness , you could not attack. After which the enemy could use one of his monster to kill you and summon one more. So he is technically trading a card for a card, where he would try to make sure you do not have monster on board.
Card Advantage - Card Advantage refers to a situation where one player has more cards then the other, in general, players having card advantage have more option of dealing with different situation.
Mana Curve - The mana curve means the way the deck is build according to the mana cost of each card. Mana curve is important for the smoother turn drops and efficient draw RNG.
Example of bad mana curve - A deck with maybe more then 16 cards of 6 mana and above. (unless you are druid) where most of the time you would be only drawing high mana requirement cards, which result the first few turn not having any thing to use. which could equate to lost of board control
Example of Good mana curve - A deck with an even distribution would have a better RNG mulligan and draw that allows you to draw low mana drops and draw into higher mana drops as the game goes on, allowing an smoother play. However some decks thrive on low mana Curve ( zoo warlock) to high mana Curve ( Ramp druid). However they are quite specific based decks.
Early/Mid/late game - To put it simply Early game are turns 1-3. Mid game turns 4-8. Late game turn 9 and more
RNG - This stands Random number generator, Where there are some cards that produces effects that are random, examples of cards such as Knife Juggler to Ragnaros.
Synergy - Synergy is one of the important factor of a deck, Decks with Synergy between cards allow cards to trade more efficient and allow beneficial interaction between each other. Thus increasing the individual value of cards,
Example of Synergy- If you have a cheap 2 attack minion on board, and the enemy used all his mana to drop a 4 hp minon, and you have Dark iron Dwarf ( battle cry, Give a minon +2 attack this turn.) if you cast it on the 2 attack minion, it means u have effective increase the value of this cheap card by trading it with his 4 hp minion at a higher level.
Trading - Refers to situation where a minion attacks another minion and both of them dies, favorable trading would be an example from Synergy.
Drawing power - Have you ever wonder why some of the time in the game, you run out of card and have to rely on turn draw which resulted 1 card play per turn? it is most likely you lack drawing power, cards that allows you to draw cards. for example Acolyte of pain. To be able to maintain a good size hand, you would need good drawing power which results in hand advantage, which means more solution, more combos.
General types of deck!
A friend once told me, HS in general could be split into 3 kind of decks - Aggro , Control , Combo.
I would try to define these 3 groups into further sub groups, but that's for another day!
i would be linking some of the decks examples here. however they are just examples to follow from! you can change it to compliment your play style.In this game, there is no deck that could be defined as the best. it is how you play it.
so first off-
AGGROO (RAWR) - As the title would describe, aggro decks, or aggressive decks functions on having monsters swarming on the board, in bid of trying to maintain board control. It is usually the easiest to create and play with as the method of this play is straight forward. The main idea of this deck is to just dump monsters to control the board and hit his face and hope he dies before you.
Classes that play good aggressive decks are Hunter, Warlock, Paladin, Rogue, Shaman.
Examples of such decks -
Zoo lock - http://hearthstone.i...aggro-rush-deck
cycle hunter - http://reynad.com/de...er#.U4eJuvmSx38 ( could be outdated due to the nerf on unleash)
Beat your face with sword paladin - http://hearthstonepl...-paladin-aggro/
Tempo Rogue - http://hearthstonepl...rogue-sipiwi94/
aggro shaman - http://2p.com/515889...ck-by-flord.htm (abit outdated)
video of a zoolock made simply ( this is not even the best version i feel)
CONTROL - Like it said, this types of deck focus on controlling the board, you do not see them drop much monsters, however they use spells and monster with high trading values to dominate you. They are mostly reactionary decks, where they would react to the enemy's play and counter it. Whilst maintaining board control and hitting you slowly with one huge ass creature. Decks like this require more define sets of cards as compared to Aggro decks.
Classes that play good Control decks. Warrior, warlock, Priest, Druid, Mage, Shaman. ( to be honest, most decks could be made into control decks. beside paladin.)
Examples of some famous decks
very commonly used control deck ( newcomers beware, they do very well against aggro decks) Its advisable to understand how it work.
THE HANDLOCK...
http://www.hearthpwn...endary-handlock
http://hearthstonepl.../list-handlock/
Some others -
Control warrior -http://www.gosugamer...warrior-revised
Control Priest - http://hearthstone.b...priest-control/
Amaz Priest - http://www.hearthhea...amaz-f2p-priest
Ramp druid - http://www.hearthpwn...dary-druid-ramp
aggro control mage - http://www.hearthpwn...iticism-welcome
tides of time shaman - http://www.hearthpwn...-control-shaman
some may be out of date, but the idea could be still there unless the meta shifted.
COMBO!!!! - The name says it all. This type of deck relies HEAVILY on synergy between cards and Drawing power! This kind of decks requires one of the higher skill cap. where one mistake could delicate if you win or lose the game, Combo decks rely on have a certain set of cards to combine and deal insane amount of damage.
example -
One of the most famous decks is the miracle rouge..
there are tons of variation to this build.
here are some samples
-http://www.hearthpwn...7-miracle-rogue
-http://www.hearthpwn...o-miracle-rogue
other combo decks.
myalgo rogue - http://www.hearthpwn...-rogue-elegance
combo priest - http://www.hearthpwn...34-combo-priest
to be honest, rouges are the best in combo, seldom can other class compete with them. =]
Overall
Aggro beats Combo, Combo beats Control, Control beats aggro. However it does not mean a Control deck will always win an aggro deck, it just has a more favorable odds.
The way you play is more important, As different type of decks have different objectives and path to win the game, thus there is no one deck that is unbeatable. Just one unbeatable player with good decks.
Handy tips to play hearthstone.
VALUE
I feel one of the most important thing about playing a good deck is understanding the values of each card. i will give u an example of a bad value card as it is extremely situational. This card might look great! as you might have the chance of swapping a random big card with it. However notice it says start of your turn. So this card is actually vulnerable if there are monsters on board, if it dies before it does anything. you just wasted 3 mana to do nothing as it does not even have an attack value. Also What if you have no cards in your hand and u drew this? it would meant the only use of the card would be after 2 turns of drawing if it survives that is. another example of extreme low value cards are like If you are a mage, and your enemy use 3 mana to cast this card. You could use your hero ability to deal 1 damage and kill it. it would be extremely favorable trade as you did not waste a card and you did not take damage from it and you use lesser mana to kill something for more. so that is an example of a bad card. GOOD CARDS. the trick to spotting good cards are either they have instant effect during your turn, or they are persistent, or finally it changes the whole board with it. cards like. display extreme value. for 3 mana, its persistency on board is immense early game. as the enemy would have to trade at least 1 or more card with it to remove it from game. it does well too as it discourage enemies to drop 2 health create as u could trade for it and come out with another 2 attack creature . this card is probably the highest non class value card around. As its ability allows it to deal 8 damage to enemy or his creature. if the enemy is unable to remove it, it does 8 damage every turn without damaging itself. thus allowing you to trade super efficiently. Spells Spells are power commodity in this game, this time around i am focusing on damage spells. examples are like This 3 spells are some of the most flexible spell cards you could get. they are simple and yet efficient. however imagine the value of Arcane shot at turn one on opponent? the value would be diminishing as 2 damage out of 30 is not alot. however if you have a creature on board and when enemy cast a monster with 2 health? arcane shot would take care of it and you creature would provide you a consistent source of damage!. this is board control! same applies to the other 2 spells and many more! 
Deduction ability!
This may sound cheesy, but it is very important to think like your opponent. As just playing your own cards would not result in victory. You have to try to deduce what your opponent is trying to do. As you could be very well walking into a trap! The key of being able to deduce what enemy is trying to do is to first have the basic idea of what deck he is ( aggro control combo) and know what cards he most probably like through that.
examples of easy tells of what they are trying to do.
Mage has a card which is
An obvious tell would be he would be trying to lower all your monster hp to 4 and below and he uses
to delay your monsters, and allowing you to put more monster up thinking you have board control.
which then he trades 1 card for everything u have 4 health below on the board...
that would be devastating.
Others!
For newer players, do not try to be too fancy with your decks, trying to put combo together without proper card draw or board control. This would almost always result in a lost. as you keep holding on to cards and trying to link them together.
Have a good mana curve, it is important your deck is balanced with suitable drops every turn, if your deck has no 5 mana cards, your 5th turn play would be weak as the most you could do is a 3 mana with 2 mana drop play. which could result in losing the board control.
Do not overextend yourself! You might be winning. but keep some cards in hand. Do not put everything down unless you are ensured of victory as there are cards that change the tides of the battle with just one card itself. a prime example
Practice! being good does not come from having awesome cards! If a player plays his or her deck long enough, he would be more experienced with his plays and results in better trades and having more win rates, having 10 legendaries in your deck does not equate a win.
general idea of each class
Crafting and Real cash spending in game
Getting cards you need from packs in game are hard, as each pack cost 100 gold, and if you do not intend to spend any real cash on it, your card pool is quite limited, so crafting is the way to go. this is a good crafting guide i found . Whereas for people who spend in game, i suggest always get 40 packs, its all or nothing, as compared to the players who buy 1-7 packs now and then, they do not realize they are spending more then they think. So if you are addicted to open card packs, do it at one go, or u tend to spend more money =] Gold from achievement ( one time only ) http://hearthstone.w...ki/Achievements To earn gold, it is better to use the a deck you prefer and challenge yourself in ranked match, where you will actually know how good you are with your deck, and with every 3 wins. you earn 10 gold =] My advice is to play Arena to earn gold to open decks once you are familiar with the game.
Edited by Leeroy, 30 May 2014 - 02:20 AM.
+rep
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