Hearthstone Deck Selection
Even with the huge amount of cards that Hearthstone has in play, there are relatively few combinations of them that turn into effective decks. During any collection of matches in Hearthstone’s ranked game mode, one could encounter possibly any type of deck. However, in reality, one faces mostly the best archetype decks that have the highest win rates. When facing these, it can get frustrating. They are the most common decks on ladder for a reason. But, each deck has a weakness, something that players can exploit. However, it is hard to reason through this problem completely. If the most powerful deck is the most commonly used, should one choose to play the deck that does the best against that deck? But then it might be weaker against the other decks, or the rest of the player base could catch on and choose the deck that is most effective against the deck that is most effective against the most powerful deck. After all, if it is actually a good strategy, a lot of other people will most likely find out about it as well due to the size of the playerbase. It is easy to see how this type of abstract reasoning cannot get far.
In his article (https://articles.hsreplay.net/2020/05/22/game-theory-and-deck-choice/), David Pepper attempts to utilize game theory, namely attempting to find Nash and mixed-strategy equilibria to find out what decks are most effective to play in the current meta. He looked at the current most powerful decks in play and researched how often each deck was played. Then, taking into account the strengths and weaknesses each deck had against another, he estimated a Nash equilibria for the usage rate of each deck. He then discovered that some decks were being overused, or being played much more than they were being effective. On the flip side, he discovered that some of the less popular decks could actually do quite well, with the model showing that they should be played a lot more. Playing these under-used decks is one of the more obvious conclusions that one can draw from his data that could lead to a higher win rate.
Most obviously, this relates to the course material because it directly references concepts that are being taught in the course. However, another important detail is that it demonstrates how concepts such as game theory can be used in the real world, and even for fun. In the game Hearthstone, it is much more fun to win than lose. Utilizing game theory to gain an edge over more players could definitely allow someone to improve their chances at winning and climbing the ladder. The skills that the class is learning in this class can extend far beyond the purely academic into the real world and even our recreation.