With possibly the most well constructed ladder system to come out in recent memory, Hearthstone has recently begun it’s second “season” of ranked gameplay. A system that goes from 25 to 1 and then a ranked called Legendary, Hearthstone does what games like League of Legends and Starcraft try to do with their ranked ladders also: reduce ladder anxiety. Ladder anxiety is a fairly common thing among games with ranked ladders, and many people will be quick to tell you that they suffer from it.
For Hearthstone, the implemented “star” system is a unique take on rating system that’s so simple it’s genius. 1 star is 1 win, 1 loss removes 1 star, however if you go a win streak you gain multiple stars per win. There is no loss streak equivalent and you can’t even lose stars until rank 20. Once you hit the top rank 1, if you earn the amount of stars you need to advance again (5), you advance to “Legendary”, which you are given a number ranking on the ladder and then your MMR is what matters to determine your placement. Overall, it’s a very satisfying progression system compared to most other online games at the moment.
Do you have what it takes to go Legendary?
What can you expect to see on the ladder? Currently, Rogue, Mages, and Murlocks (Warlocks) are popular ladder climbing decks. Most of them are able to be effect decks without large amounts of Legendaries, allowing people to not be restricted by a lack of afformentioned Legendaries in their ladder climb. Druids are also a popular deck, due to the fact they are best suited to playing loads of Legendaries in their deck with their ability to expand their mana pool quickly and tons of cheap early removal. Warriors also deserve a special mention due to their brutal One-Turn Kill Molten Giant decks and variants of it.
With everyone being reset to Rank 25 on January 9th, now is a good of a time as any to get to the grind of the rising in the Hearthstone ladder rank!
