Reno Jackson is Bullshit

reno jackson troll face

Have you ever spent a lot of time working on a project and then when it is almost complete something happens and then suddenly you are back to square one with nothing to show for it and none of the resources you had at the beginning? That is Reno Jackson. He is the late night computer crash when you forgot to save your twenty page term paper. He is the upper management suit that cancelled your year long project and put you out of a job. Reno Jackson is bullshit.

Some say that Reno Jackson is the card that Hearthstone needs. His super heal only triggers if there is no more than one copy of any card left in your deck. Sure, this promotes Highlander decks (where there can be only one!…copy of a card in a deck) and therefore forces players to use cards that they would otherwise ignore. That’s great, but let’s rephrase. It forces players to use cards that they would otherwise ignore when playing competitively. Aggro decks, burn decks, sligh decks, whatever you call them work by throwing as much crap at the other person’s face as quickly as possible and hope it is enough because you will run out of steam by turn four or five.

Yes, Reno Jackson counters this, but he does so much more. Now, death by attrition is a very viable strategy. Survive for as long as possible so the other player draws himself to death. I have played around with Priest decks that did this, and it was fun because I was always hanging on by a thread. But with Reno Jackson, healing to full at the drop of a card removes all excitement from shooting for the long game. The only nerve racking thing about a Reno Deck is, “Am I going to draw him in the first 10 draws of my deck?” . And since  the card has no counter play whatsoever except a extremely situational (and that situation is Reno) counter only available to Rogues, it makes any match against him unfun, especially if you are playing aggro.

Reno doesn’t just counter aggro, he removes it from the meta completely. A potential 29 point heal with the drop of one card is something aggro just can’t deal with. And considering that he is a neutral card and most classes have plenty of tools to stay alive, almost anyone can try their hand at a Highlander deck. Blizzard may well have intended that Reno Jackson would help balance the meta, but it will probably mean a total shift from aggro to control/fatigue decks. This means longer matches, more luck based gameplay, and more expensive decks.

There have been 3 adventures released so far for Hearthstone and each one had a neutral 5 mana legendary that became a staple because their effect was just so good. Loetheb, Thaurissian, and now Reno. However, the previous two were strong but not game changing cards. None of them can turn a match completely on its head like Reno. The problem with this is that you have to pay to get access to the adventures (and thus the cards they offer) or you have to grind for about a week, at least, for each wing. This definitely adds a strong “pay to win” feeling, depending on how important Reno becomes. To add to that, aggro decks are usually the cheapest, viable decks.

And that is the thing. It is still relatively early to measure just how strong or what kind of effect Reno will have on the meta. At first, I was extremely frustrated playing against Reno Decks because, well, I play mostly some form of aggro. Trying my hand at creating my own Reno deck, sans netdecking (as if!), I found it much harder than it seemed playing against them. To be fair, I am a free to play player, so my collection is not the best. Playing my Reno decks against other people’s Reno decks, it is very clear that I am at a huge disadvantage.

If Reno Jackson decks pick up and the meta switches completely to long, drawn out games, I am going to be very disappointed.

But I might quit my Hearthstone addiction!

 

 

PS. There’s a great write up about Reno Jackson’s pros and cons on hearthstoneplayers. However, I feel that it was written a little too early and that the real effects of the card are still to be seen. 

 

Comments

  1. I don’t play Hearthstone, but this was a fun article to read. Especially the first paragraph. 😀

    If you haven’t already seen it, you may enjoy this video on power creep in Hearthstone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3b3hDvRjJA

    • I’m much newer to the game than any of these posts. FRACK! I saved and saved for this card. Its Battlecry will NOT Proc if you have made duplicates of ANY cards AFTER the game has begun. Make 3 copies and shuffle fracks Reno over.

  2. yes Reno Jackson is the biggest bullshit card in the fucking world one time I got someone to 1 health then he used it then I got him to 1 health and I still FUCKING LOST! WHY HEARTHSTONE

  3. Agreed Reno is bullshit, I’ve been conceding when played, now I’m going to rope.

  4. 45 mins games? no thanks says

    fuck reno jackson, can’t wait to see that shit disappear from the standard

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