When that happens, you start to see the most popular meta matchups as probability trees that stretch out in all directions. The satisfaction Hearthstone gives me isn’t rooted in watching egregiously unlikely outcomes happen-though obviously that does appeal-but comes from seeing such scenarios unfold hundred of times until the variance evens out.

But I don’t want to do that, because zeroing in on Hearthstone’s most spectacular moments obscures what makes the game special.įor me, it’s always been about the big picture. I could also talk about the thrill of finding the two best Legendaries in a new set from my first five packs, or how I once drafted the perfect deck in Arena only to lose three times in a row to obscenely unlucky draws. Or perhaps I could pick one of the occasions I pulled off an unlikely win from behind, drawing the one card in my deck that could pull me out of an otherwise hopeless hole.

It would be easy for me to recall three Arcane Missiles all improbably hitting my precious face, which I’d thought was safe behind a full board of possible targets. It’s tempting to start this review with some anecdote about a time I've had a game decided by Hearthstone's notorious RNG.

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