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[Count Dooku]

Hungry Dragon is not a great arena card. The best case scenario is that your opponent gets Elvish Archer, it attacks your Hungry Dragon, and you have a 4 mana 5/5, which is usually just as good as a 4 mana 4/5 and often as good as a 4 mana 3/5. Then there are lots of scenarios that are worse than that, including your Webspinner example.

I would take, for example, Refreshment Vendor over it.

But that is not the best case scenario.
1. You have an Enrage (especially Raging Worgen) minion on the board. -> 4 mana 5/6 with an upside
2. You were going to clear the board with Consecration/Holy Nova etc. anyways. -> 4 mana 5/6
3. You have MC Tech in hand and your opponent had had only 3 minions. -> 4 mana 5/6 with an insane upside
4. You have Sea Giant in hand. -> 4 mana 5/6 with a minor upside and a minor downside
5. You have Cabal Shadow Priest/Shadowmadness in hand. -> 4 mana 5/6 with an upside

I am sure that there are other insane situations, but it's all I have in my mind right now.
And yes, I know, that Sea Giants and Cabals are pretty damn rare cards in arena. But the first 3 examples are not that rare, I have already triggered a Worgen with it. And I've already stolen something with MC, because I put down Hungry dragon.

So yeah, I would take it over Refresment Vendor for example. but I might be wrong

[Glork]

...he's talking about just Hungry Dragon. The scenarios you're bringing up are multiple card combos that cost 8-10 mana. Just Hungry Dragon, as a 4-drop, is the context we're talking about. And in that context, it's not so good.

[Sudo_Nym]

Hungry Dragon is fine, but it's hard to play. You basically have to be in a position to handle the 1-drop immediately; if you're not, then it's not good. And if you are in a position to handle to 1-drop immediately, you probably would have been fine with any 4-drop.

[Count Dooku]

...he's talking about just Hungry Dragon. The scenarios you're bringing up are multiple card combos that cost 8-10 mana. Just Hungry Dragon, as a 4-drop, is the context we're talking about. And in that context, it's not so good.

...well, the best case scenario is still not what pops said. That may be the best case scenario when you drop it on turn 4. But you will rarely ever play it exactly on turn 4.

[Count Dooku]

Oh, and I guess when you pick a card you don't only think about the scenario when you play it on curve. You have to consider the scenarios when you draw it later/have other, better cards to play.

[popsofctown]

On curve play is the most important aspect of a minion. A good arena deck is picking the minimum number of 2's, 3's, and 4's you need to curve out consistently, and then after hitting that minimum drafting nothing but ogres because ogres have better card efficiency.

But, I mean, we can talk about how a 4 mana 5/6 with "Battlecry: Frost Shock a friendly minion" is a great card on turn 8 if you want to.

[DeathNote]

I had drafted it with mage expecting to deal with the 1 drop. The problem was the one drop just spawned an even better option.

[chamber]

On curve play is the most important aspect of a minion. A good arena deck is picking the minimum number of 2's, 3's, and 4's you need to curve out consistently, and then after hitting that minimum drafting nothing but ogres because ogres have better card efficiency.

But, I mean, we can talk about how a 4 mana 5/6 with "Battlecry: Frost Shock a friendly minion" is a great card on turn 8 if you want to.

I don't think hungry dragon is the best 4 drop, but I think in the majority of decks its way better than refreshment vendor.

[Ellibereth]

its good in rogue

[popsofctown]

It's probably at its best in rogue, still way worse than yeti in rogue though.

[Glork]

Sometime in the last week I got terrible at Patron Warrior. Or just shitty luck. I haven't gotten to play much lately (work + cancer = no energy), so today I had three quests, all of which could be achieved by winnning Warrior games. Decided to play Patron Warrior, and I lost some 15-20 games before I won the 5 necessary to complete my dailies. Really frustrating. :/

[xRECKONERx]

Holy shit, yeah, that's ridiculous. Even on my worst days I got 50/50 with the deck.

[chamber]

I've had terrible loss streaks before, just happens sometimes.

[popsofctown]

You've probably lost a lot with other decks too, but it feels terrible to lose using patron warrior. It also feels terrible to win using Patron Warrior. It also feels terrible to lose against patron warrior. It also feels terrible to win against patron warrior.

I don't think the deck brings much happiness.

[chamber]

It also feels terrible to win against patron warrior.

I normally feel pretty good when I win against patron. Can be tricky to play against it at times. Rewarding when it works out.

[Count Dooku]

a 4 mana 5/6 with "Battlecry: Frost Shock a friendly minion"

That is pretty accurate, you are right. But I would change the battlecry to "Frost Shock a friendly minion (8 out of 10 times) OR do absolutely nothing bad (or even something good) (2 out of 10 times).

We also should talk about how it does in real game situations when dropped on curve.

I play Hungry Dragon on turn 4 on A) an empty board/ B) he has something like a Dark Iron Dwarf for example. It gives him an average minion, say, a C) Lowly Squire / D) Southsea Deckhand.

My opponent plays an average 5 drop, like Clockwork Knight (let's say it cannot buff anything), and
A) since the Hungry Dragon is my only minion, and the 1-drop is his only minion, he attacks my face with the Squire.
B) -> C) He still cannot kill my Dragon with them, so still goes for the face.
B) -> D) he can kill my Dragon with DID and the Deckhand. If he chooses to do so, the Hungry Dragon was the same as an Ogre Magni for example, which is bad, but it is a "bad case scenario" since he had the board control already before turn 4.

If it was not ( B) + D) ), the Dragon is still alive, so it can trade very effectively with the Clockwork Knight. And even if he kills the Dragon next turn with the 1-drop, the Hungry Dragon traded 1 for 1 with a 5-drop. Which is pretty good I should say.
So the Hungry Dragon don't even need to be combo'd with other stuff. It can be very good on its own, too.

Sure, sometimes it gives your opponent a Dust Devil, a Zombie Chow or a Webspinner... But the Shredder may give you Doomsayer or Lorewalker Cho. And Ragnaros can kill your opponent's Sylvanas who then steals Ragnaros. And the Boom Bots can trigger Patrons and Eggs. I still pick all of them all the time if I can.

TLDR I think Hungry Dragon is a little bit underestimated by most players. Of course I pick Yeti and Shredder and stuff over it, but when I end up with 2 Hungry Dragons in my arena deck I am not like "What the hell am I going to do with these piece of shit cards?!"

[popsofctown]

"A-D" is the frightening "Lost Tallstrider that gives my opponent a buff receptacle" scenario.

Yeah I agree sometimes Hungry Dragon is ok. I don't know how often opponents in the 7+ win range will willingly throw a 5/5 onto the board to hang out with a 5/6 if their hand has any other available plays. And that initiative issue is kinda the problem with Hungry Dragon. You can throw an Ogre onto the board against a guy who controls a Water Elemental, and it's reasonably likely he can't do anything about the Ogre eating the water elemental. He might do 4 damage in advance to make sure it's a trade, but he'll pay a fair price for it. Throwing down a Hungry Dragon because you see a 3/5 or 5/5 you want to eat with it is almost impossible to actually succeed with because the spawned minion can help disrupt the trading process, it can get Sarge'd and paired with Darkbomb to kill the dragon, or it can attack another needs-to-be-removed thing from your board to free up mana for answering Hungry Dragon or taunting. Or occasionally the 1 drop is just Ready for Action himself.

[Ellibereth]

You've probably lost a lot with other decks too, but it feels terrible to lose using patron warrior. It also feels terrible to win using Patron Warrior. It also feels terrible to lose against patron warrior. It also feels terrible to win against patron warrior.

I don't think the deck brings much happiness.

I got golden warrior from 250ish wins in less than a week when the deck was first getting popular kappa.

[DrDolittle]

Assume that eaxh warrior game is conservatively 10 minutes and you didnt lose a single game, thats 2500 minutes which is a full time job lol

[Ellibereth]

I kinda played like 10+ hourish a day for a period of my life. I think I'm almost at 10k wins through all my accounts now zzzz.

[popsofctown]

That seems a little excessive..

[Iecerint]

He wanted to be the very best.

[popsofctown]

Like no one ever was?

[DeathNote]

Whoa... Foe-reaper has got to be one of the best legendaries you can get for arena... I couldn't deal with it at all. He just kept eating cards and buffing it.

[Brandi]

This fucking brawl lmao