New Player looking for matchup advice

[SnakesAgain]

Hey guys,

In my anticipation for Blizzard's Hearthstone, I found this diamond in the rough, Shadow Era. I was big into the Magic tournament scene back in the day (type1 (vintage) player) and have a good grasp of TCGs in general. That said, I have put some money into this game to support it, and have been amazed at how far our money actually goes in this game.

Anyway, after realizing I absolutely love playing Zhanna iterations and slow control decks, I'm using a similar deck to Kylt. Being pretty low in the ranks, anytime I face a competant player using Amber or Zala I feel kind of useless. Technically the deck has answers, but I can't seem to get board control against the Zala who doesn't overextend into tidal wave.

And I have no idea how to begin to approach facing Amber players and their ability to recycle Jewelers and the other weapon (forget the name but you know the one.. steals cards). With only 3-4 copies of focused prayer, and a forgiveness (if i pitched one first turn), I don't feel like I have enough answers.

If it helps, I'm running sandworms over KnightofGD, no tainted oracles, and have only managed to pull 1 Champ of Irum from a pack, the merchant has not had any thus far.

I'd love to get some deep strategy discussion going. Help me out!

Edit: Here's current list ~

Zhanna

4 Jasmine
2 puwen
2 Aldon
3 Sandworm
2 Aeon
1 Champion of Irum
3 Elizabeth
2 Layarian Seductress

4 Tidal Wave
2 Ice Storm
4 Focused Prayer
3 Retreat
1 Forgiveness
1 Mass Pure

2 King's Pride
4 Wizient Staff

[Shadowborn]

I think you should post your deck first. It's a lot easier than for us to spot any holes . Sorry hut I can't really help much with Zhanna since I rarely play her. Maybe 5,6 times only since I'm more of a aggro player

[Natethegreat]

Yeah, decklist would help us a lot, if you don't mind.

[Warr Byrd]

It helps if you post your deck, but off what you wrote you are going in the right direction with Sandworm (which will block the card stealing from Dimension Ripper if it isn't buffed) and Focused Prayer, but should probably add Tainted Oracle and Wizent's Staff if you haven't already. Depending on your exact problems and your deck, you might also consider King's Pride armor, allowing you to deal more damage and hopefully get your allies out of the killing range for buffed weapons and Zaladar's ability.

[Kylt]

Unfortunately, my deck cost quite a lot If you could post your current deck list, people here can give you advices which cards to get and how to play them.

CoI is crucial in my Zhanna deck because its survivability synergises with Zhanna's heal to secure the board early. I hope the merchant start selling it again soon.

[SnakesAgain]

Wow thanks for the quick responses guys! Did not expect such quick feedback.

Added the list to my first post.

As I mentioned, it's basically Kylts deck more or less... I didn't think the decklist was causing my troubles, more-so my inexperience. I really like the deck and have been familiarizing myself with all the cards everyone runs, so I'm pretty comfortable in the game and the tempo of this deck.

With that said, I think my choice of sacrifices needs work on a match by match basis, and I'm just not sure I have the timing down on my opponents ideal drops and when I should wipe the board/retreat, etc.

Is it all just a matter of experience, or are there some basic principles versus specific heroes? Thanks in advance.

[Kylt]

Moves

t2 CoI
t3 Aldon/Seductress/Ice Storm

e.g. when you are going second against shadow

t2 Karash, CoI
t3 Morbid Acolyte, Ice storm and attack MA with CoI, and heal CoI.
then you will have CoI 2/4, opponent will have MA 2/1.

If opponent is Mage or Zaladar, then s/he will use Lightning Strike or Shadow Font. So Zhanna will take 5 damage (3 + MA's 2). But Zhanna can heal herself later!

then t4 Staff to kill MA (2/1). Here you have a Staff on the board, opponent has nothing on the board.

t5 Fatty - Retreat + Jas, Seductress + CoI etc.
or t5 Draw engine - Sandworm

If you can't do the above, or opponent 3cc ally is Gargoyle, then I tend to use Tidal Wave unless I have ways to deal with it.

Some other moves

t3 jas
t4 W.staff - attack with weapon first (1 damage) and Jas attack (3 damage) to kill opponent health 4 ally.

t2 CoI
t3 Jas
t4 Elizabeth
t5 Sandworm or Brax Soldier (after majiya's t4 portal)
t6 Aeon
t7 King's Pride - When going first. These consecutive plays are very strong against slower heroes.


Sorry this is messy But hopefully you can imagine the flow in your head

[Jolly Breaker]

IMO add atleast 2 Banish and maybe 2 A Lengend Rise to make ur 5cost ally more hard to deal with

[Natethegreat]

I'd remove the forgiveness and maybe remove the Elizabeths, but I am no Priests expert, but I am not sure of her viability. Also the Ice storms. Put in some A legend rises and maybe some sacred firewalkers and/or banishes. That is just personal opinion though.

[Cyph3rX83]

I don't play priest to often, but a good way to not overextend your self to tidal waves would to play 2-3 allies Max from turns 5-6. Before those turns you should be countering what your opponents play. The great thing about Zhanna is the longer she lives in the game, the harder it is for your opponents to beat you before they run out of cards.