Hearthstone (PC) (2014)

Overview: A free-to-play digital card game by Blizzard Entertainment with multiple game modes.

Mage

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20200226:
Today I played again for the first time in a long time.* The game had it so that I first had to play against three different heroes. I can't find any documentation of when players have to do this and unfortunately I don't have a recording of it.

Gameplay Log:
Played three intro games.
: Technically I played four, because I accidentally played the second one twice.
Played Galakrond's Awakening, Story, League of E.V.I.L., Chapter I: Battle of the Frozen Coast.
Played The Boomsday Project, Puzzle Lab, Board Clear, Dexter the Dendrologist
Played The Boomsday Project, Puzzle Lab, Survival, Boomnician Breena

*According to some screenshots, I first signed up for the game in November or December 2013. It's unclear if I played the game at that time.

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20200227 Gameplay Log:
Played Standard.

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Opening a Pack of Cards

20200228 Gameplay Log:
Played Standard.
Played The Boomsday Project, Puzzle Lab, Mirror, Test Subject #362
Played The Boomsday Project, Puzzle Lab, Lethal, Poisonmaster Pollark
Played The Boomsday Project, Puzzle Lab, Lethal, Astromancer Arwyn

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20200302 Gameplay Log:
Played Standard.
Played The Boomsday Project, Puzzle Lab, Lethal, Electra Stormsurge
Stuck on The Boomsday Project, Puzzle Lab, Lethal, Blast Dr. Boom, 1/4

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20200303 Gameplay Log:
Played Standard.
: Got the Warlock class to level 10. Warlock is difficult for me to play because there are these calculated risks (e.g., hero power lose health to gain a lead, discard a random card, etc.). There's also the fact that I don't have many demons or dragons. For the most part, I was shaping my deck around invoking Galakrond.
Played The Boomsday Project, Puzzle Lab, Mirror, Astromancer Arwyn
Played The Boomsday Project, Puzzle Lab, Mirror, Stargazer Luna
Played The Boomsday Project, Puzzle Lab, Mirror, Zerek_ Master Cloner
Played The Boomsday Project, Puzzle Lab, Mirror, Mirror Dr. Boom
: After identifying the main ingredients to solving 4/4, the difficulty was in making the space for all the pieces. Create two 3/3 copies of the minion that gives hero immunity. Each with immunity. One is given to the opponent.

Demon Hunter (this class was newly added in April 2020)

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20200304 Gameplay Log:
Played Standard.
: Got the Hunter class to level 10. The deck is currently built around beasts and a little rush.
Played Standard.
: Got the Rogue class to level 10.

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20200305 Gameplay Log:
Played Tavern Brawl.

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Impression:
Thus far I'm having fun with the game. With that being said, I have yet to play ranked or arena. I read that most players will not win enough games (3) to break even on arena so it's better just to spend gold on packs. I also read it takes a lot of time.

[20200305]

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20200306:
Today while playing I played Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron and it was still resolving but the game started counting down the end of the turn. I thought this was annoying.

Gameplay Log:
Played Standard.
: Got the Priest class to level 10. It was already almost level 9.

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20200321 Comment:
Since my last entry, I've been mostly playing Battlegrounds with games of Hearthstone (e.g., Casual and Tavern Brawl) just for quests and rewards.

Choose a Starting Hand (keep or replace cards)

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20200421 Comment:
Since my last entry, I've only been playing Casual and Tavern Brawl to complete quests and the weekly Tavern Brawl win, respectively. See also my Battlegrounds post for additional information.

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Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Free-to-play
+ Various game modes

Neutral:
~ The game has two primary formats, "Standard" and "Wild." "Standard" only allows the most recent card sets. Players who purchase cards must keep in mind that eventually those cards will only be usable in "Wild" (with the exception of Classic which may have several cards rotated in and out).
~ Cards get buffed and nerfed as necessary. This can be thought of as the modern way of balancing a card game, where more traditional card games would probably just ban game-breaking cards.

Cons:
- (Android) Large file size for a phone
- (Android) Sluggish on my phone
- (Android) Hard for a beginner like me who needs to "hover" over the cards to get information.

[20200304][20200421 Edit]

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Hearthstone (PC) (2014)

Queue Screen (the opponent is always a "Worthy Opponent")

Relevant Links:
Hearthstone Website
Hearthstone (Wikipedia.org)
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (PC) (MetaCritic.com)