Hearthstone boss Ben Brode gives me new insight on what ‘casual’ means

Hearthstone doesn’t give players a great place to goof around. The Ranked modes for Standard and Wild, Hearthstone’s two main formats, are filled with people that are mostly focused winning (climbing the ladder, as they say). Casual mode, which doesn’t track wins and losses the same way Ranked does, should be a place where you’d find more interesting, experimental creations. But it isn’t.

Often one deck in Hearthstoneraises above others — as Secret Mage and Pirate Warrior did before Knights of the Frozen Throne, or as Jade Druid had before the Hearthstone development team’s recent round of card changes (aka nerfs) — the ladder can get rather boring.