This is my first post in a series I want to call “For the Record.” Oftentimes, I see a comment or a post that might have misunderstandings based on a story he may have heard through a friend or on stream. I’ll summon this series whenever I feel there is something cool to share or a need to address misconceptions. Leave a comment or question. Enjoy!

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I know I put up topics to write about and I promise I’ll get to them, but I wanted to do a warm up post to get the writing juices working before I dive into some deeper topics. Besides, today is probably the last day I can write this as we are on the eve of The Grand Tournament which releases sometime in the next 30+ hours from now.

As I write this, I am finishing up the card reviews from all the players and personalities in the Hearthstone scene. I think they’re fun to listen to and they always are cool conversation pieces. It’s an opportunity for people to also educate themselves and learn more about how to see Hearthstone from a more advanced perspective.

One player regarded highly is StrifeCro. Known for bringing Combo Druid, Mech Mage, and Grinder Mage to popularity, Strife doesn’t really need much of an introduction, but if you need one click on this Liquipedia link.

 The legendary CroFist

How do you not like this guy? LOL!

Anyways, I was diving through some older prediction threads and saw something that caught my eye:

This is not true. Everyone submitted their rankings before GvG released. However, this is a cool opportunity to talk about why I consider StrifeCro as a core member of the Hearthstone think tank. After reading this, I decided to take a look back at his actual rankings. Now, I don’t think people properly appreciate how right StrifeCro was in his predictions.

I recall listening to him talk about it for nearly 15 minutes straight at Dreamhack Winter 2014. Boom wasn’t just a good card, but it was an INSANELY powerful and probably a broken card, he said.

Going back to his rankings, it’s almost scary how on point he is on card predictions.

Credit to Monk and Team Liquid who gathered these rankings prior to GvG

Pretty spot on if you ask me haha! I also want to take a look at his prediction on what mechs would be highly effective, most notably Antique Healbot, Annoy-o-Tron, and Shielded Minibot. They were surprising and accurate picks that went against the grain. Today, they are some of the most useful (and aggravating cards) in the meta.

Why do I even bother writing this post when StrifeCro is generally well loved and praised? Because I want to take the opportunity to recognize greatness in a game/scene where it’s easy to diminish other people’s accomplishments and talent. If by reading this blog, only one person becomes convinced what what I write to be a fan of this guy then

Also worth noting that Gnimsh, StrifeCro’s teammate, put Dr. Boom as his #1 choice as well. Most everyone else rated Troggzor and Voljin as the best legendaries of the set.

In closing, I suggest you take a look at his top 10 card prediction for The Grand Tournament. Looks like I’ll be playing lots of Shaman tomorrow and testing it out.

Best,
Dan