Turning point

I have been playing a ton of Hearthstone this past week.  I always loved Magic and only stopped playing that game because of the logistical and financial commitments so it makes sense that I get involved with a game very much like it that lacks those issues.  Hearthstone has much of the same appeal that Magic does with discussing decklists online, finding interesting combos, and figuring out metagames.  However I don't have to give up entire weekends to play competitively nor drop thousands of dollars to get into the game.  I can just squeeze it in whenever I have time and instantly play against people of my own skill level.

The thing that stopped me from liking Hearthstone the first few times I played it was that I had no interesting cards or decks.  I got the starter stuff but that contained very few decent cards and I pretty much ended up playing every game the same.  I only had a couple playable cards for each class so even swapping around to different classes didn't change the feel much - I was just playing out the same ogres and yetis as before.

I did okay considering how terrible the starting cards are but it was always sad to watch people throw down cards that were so superior to mine and getting blown out.  I would drop my 6/7 critter for 6 mana and then watch them drop a 5/5 for 6 mana that steals an enemy minion in addition and then I would be very sad about my chances.  Even more extreme would be my 2/1 for 1 and their 2/1 for 1 that also draws a card!

But Mogor saved me.

Mogor the ogre is a mediocre card that sees no play anywhere as far as I can tell.  I got a sparkly foil Mogor and it made me sad to see that the rare card I got was such a waste.

Thing is though, Hearthstone lets you melt cards down to dust and buy other cards with the it, and Mogor is both rare and sparkly so he is worth 1600 dust.  Random commons only cost 40 dust to make so suddenly I was loaded.  (Loaded for a newbie, obviously.)  I bought a big stack of good common critters, mostly a bunch of Mechs that all synergize nicely, and now all of a sudden I can build decks.  I don't have to be sad every time I look at my cards, and if there is something I want for my Hunter deck, I have enough dust to just buy it.

I certainly don't have all the things.  Most if not all decks have a few legendary minions in them that do crazy things and I don't have those minions.  However, that doesn't bother me overly much as I can just substitute something reasonable and be competitive anyway.  What I wanted was some options and to have a collection of the cheap and simple staples that decks all rely on and now I have them.  My current plan is to use my gold to buy Naxx wings as I get enough and slowly work my way through the solo content to get all the cards you get from clearing Naxx out.

I might have a new addiction on my hands.  Hearthstone is great fun with a mix of hilarious random blowouts and careful strategy that really works for me.  I love that I can do it with a minimal life commitment and without pouring money down the drain endlessly.

And it is all thanks to Mogor the Ogre.  Cheers Mogor!