The Wild Brawliseum – 12 Wins Decks Roundup

Giants Warlock is the bane of Wild format, and one of the most powerful decks in the game right now. Its power comes from a massive swing provided by Naga Sea Witch and Giants. A while ago, the card was changed to apply the 5 mana cost to all cards BEFORE any cost reductions/increases. Which means that all the Giants have 5 base mana cost, and their effects are applied on top of that. What does it mean? Well, it’s quite simple – they are very cheap.

Molten Giant costs 0 as long as you’re at 25 or lower health (which is nearly always the case on Turn 5). Mountain Giant costs 0 as long as you have at least 5 other cards in your hand (also very easy, thanks to the Hero Power). Clockwork Giant costs 0 as long as your opponent has 5 or more cards in his hand (not always the case vs Aggro, but nearly always vs slower decks). And finally, Sea Giant costs 0 as long as there are 5 or more minions on the board. Given that you usually play him with 2-3 other Giants, your opponent needs to have only 1 or 2 minions on the board.

As you can see, those “requirements” are incredibly easy to meet, which often results with a 5/5 and a board full of Giants as soon as you draw Naga Sea Witch. Most of the decks have no way to answer that massive swing – some of them can stall, but most of them just crumble under the pressure. Other than that, the deck can also swing the game quite nicely with the Demon pulls. It’s not as good as CubeLock when it comes to that, but Voidcaller can still pull out Voidlord or Mal'Ganis, which is obviously amazing.

All in all, the deck is very powerful and rather easy to play. However, given that all of the Giants and Naga Sea Witch are Epic, you will probably need to do quite a lot of crafting if you’re a Standard player.

This is the list I used in my 12-0 run. It’s a generic CubeLock list, it’s really hard to say whether it’s the best one, but I think that it’s one of the best decks to run, because of how consistent it is. For example, Giants Warlock has a way bigger swing, but it absolutely needs the Naga Sea Witch to perform it. What I like about CubeLock is that it has just so many ways to get out your big Demons. Between 2x Voidcaller, 2x Possessed Lackey and Skull of the Man'ari, and the fact that you spend your first few turns cycling, the chance to not have anything in the mid game is incredibly low. And the thing is that even one of those cards can swing the game if not Silenced (minions) or removed (weapon).

Because of that, CubeLock didn’t really feel like a Control deck – it felt more like an aggressive, Midrange deck. Only against Aggro I’ve really tried to control the board – against most of the decks I was just dropping a big Demon after big Demon and going face. Mal'Ganis was an MVP in most of the games – dropping it down “for free” in the mid game is already a big swing, but the card synergizes incredibly well with Cubes and Faceless Manipulator. Getting one from Voidcaller and then immediately copying it with Faceless Manipulator was often way more than my opponents could handle. Even if they could kill one of them (and it was already quite hard at 7 health), I still had a 9/7 that made me immune and buffed all of my Demons.

Now this is a fun deck if you’re into Combo builds. And it’s very close to the Standard version, it doesn’t run a lot of Wild cards, even though they’re pretty important.

The basic premise of the deck is to stall until the late game with removals, Armor gain and Taunts, and then combo your opponent down. The basic combo involves Aviana into Kun the Forgotten King. That combo puts two powerful bodies on the board, but that’s not the best part – you now have full mana to work with AND your minions cost 0 mana. Now, Malygos + 2x Faceless Manipulator (you often don’t even need the second one) leaves you with a lot of room to play burn spells. In the best case scenario, Moonfire becomes a 16 damage nuke, Living Roots – 17 damage, while Swipe 19 damage to face + 16 AoE damage. Of course, you usually don’t need that much, the combo is pretty flexible in a way that you can do it in multiple ways.

Another way to activate the combo might be Twig of the World Tree (not every list runs it, mind you) – this one is even easier, you just hit with it until there is 1 charge left, then play Malygos, hit the with the last charge and have 10 mana to work with.

Heck, sometimes you don’t even need any extra mana. Malygos + Innervate + 2x Moonfire + 2x Living Roots is a 26 damage combo, which is often enough to win the game. As you can see, the deck has a lot of ways to kill the opponent.

One of the cards that the Standard version misses most is actually Poison Seeds. Not only it’s a nice removal against big minions, but it also combos the revive effects. If you face a Big Priest, or Cube Warlock, preventing them from reviving their minions is very powerful.

It’s not a big surprise – Murloc Paladin is a great deck in Standard and it’s also a good deck in the Wild. Compared to the Standard version, it doesn’t play a lot of new cards, but the ones it does are quite impactful. Muster for Battle is by far the best one, as it’s one of the strongest cards ever printed. To be honest, it’s even better than Call to Arms most of the time. Speaking of Call to Arms, Shielded Minibot is making it even better, as it’s one of the best minions you can pull from it. Then, Old Murk-Eye gives the deck a solid finisher – if you play it on a board with a few Murlocs, especially if one of them is Murloc Warleader, it’s like a much better Leeroy Jenkins that you don’t even have to use as a finisher, as it doesn’t summon anything for your opponent. And finally, Loatheb is a counter to the deck’s biggest weakness – AoE removals. If you have a solid board and drop Loatheb, your opponent can’t even AoE it down. It’s a great card to curve out after Call to Arms too.

Overall, great deck if you’re looking to finish the games quickly.

Secret Paladin used to be one of the most dominating decks back around TGT / League of Explorers, however it nearly disappeared from Standard after the first rotation. It was still played in the Wild, and while maybe not the highest win rate deck, it’s really solid pick.

Deck’s main strength is a very strong curve. From the first turn, you can drop a solid minion after solid minion on the board, including a massive Turn 4 swing thanks to the Call to Arms. It’s actually one of the best decks to run Call to Arms in, given the density of high power 2-drops. And finally, the deck’s powerful curve ends at 6 mana with Mysterious Challenger – a massive swing. Not only you put a 6/6 minion on the board, but you turn your opponent’s turn into a nightmare. He has to proc the Noble Sacrifice, worry about Avenge and Redemption, and then still try to clear as much as possible to play around Competitive Spirit. It’s often too much for your opponent to handle, and then you just win the game.

Some of the builds go further, with cards like Dr. Boom or Tirion Fordring, but the aggressive approach is probably better. If you want, though, you can make a more Midrange build.

Probably one of the most hated decks, but if it works, it works. Big Priest heavily relies on so-called “high-rolls” – Barnes is an incredibly powerful card if you only play huge minions you can revive right after playing it. The deck is basically full of removals, big minions and ways to cheat them out early and revive.

Your game plan is to hit one of the big minions and keep reviving it, then play more, then revive all of them with Lesser Diamond Spellstone and put so much pressure that your opponent can no longer handle it. When compared to the Standard version, Resurrect and Ragnaros the Firelord are two biggest additions. First one adds an extra, cheap way to revive your minions. While there is a chance to low-roll and get a Barnes, it’s actually not the end of the world – in the end you still got a 2 mana 3/4 (but yes, it’s bad). Ragnaros, on the other hand, lets the deck have much more pressure. Normally, even if you revive a big board, you still have to play around the board clears etc. etc. Now reviving Ragnaros multiple times basically wins you the game even if your opponent was constantly playing removals, simply because each revive means 8 extra damage.

The deck is pretty easy to play, but also not necessarily consistent. Not getting Barnes or Shadow Essence can result in the opponent killing you before you can actually drop your big minions. Not to mention that there is always a chance that Aggro will rush you down if you don’t get your removals or pull out your Taunts.

Combo Priest is a good deck to run in the current Brawl if you’re playing on a budget. It might be the cheapest competitive option, as you can run it for below 2,000 Dust and with only two Wild cards – Deathlord and Velen's Chosen. This Wild version drops the Dragon package and focuses on the Combo itself. It’s much faster and more explosive – instead of waiting patiently for the full combo, you often end up buffing your early game minions and putting on constant pressure, partially thanks to Velen’s Chosen, which is a great card in a deck like this.

Your basic win condition is obviously Divine Spirit + Inner Fire combo, but it’s not uncommon to get a really solid curve and simply run your opponent down.

Aggro Shaman is another good deck to play on the budget. It’s main power comes from early aggression, which can be followed by A LOT of burn damage. Between Lightning Bolt, Crackle, Lava Burst and Jade Lightning, there is a lot of damage you can deal from your hand, even through the Taunts. And in case your opponent does not Taunt up, it’s even better – Doomhammer is a really deadly weapon, adding 4 damage per turn, and turning Rockbiter Weapon into a 2 mana Fireball into the face.

It’s a blast from the past, as very similar decks were popular back in 2016.

So, basically, just play your minions, go face and finish the game with burn. Easy, cheap and powerful.

Another Aggro deck, and another deck that’s pretty cheap and can be played by most of the Standard players without a big Dust investment.

The deck’s main advantage over the Standard version is Jeeves. A card that was pretty underrated at first, but quickly become a mainstay in some of the Aggro builds, mostly Aggro Druids. Unlike Paladins with Divine Favor, or Mages with Arcane Intellect & the more fresh Aluneth, Druids have a relatively hard time refilling their hand. Once you’ve pumped out everything, you’re mostly done and you rely on top-decks. However, thanks to the Jeeves, you can drop your whole hand onto the board and then draw 3 for 4 mana, while putting a 1/4 minion on the board.

The best part about Jeeves is that if it stays on the board, you can try to play as much as you can again and draw even more. Even though the effect is mirrored, you will usually benefit from it more than your opponent, as you can control the timing, and when you play against a slow deck, they will rarely get below 3 cards anyway.

Good option if you want to play something fast and similar to Standard.

One of my favorite decks ever, Combo RenoLock is a nice balance between the mid game aggression, board control tools and the late game combo potential.

Unlike in the case of CubeLock, in RenoLock the combo isn’t based around Doomguards – its main piece is Leeroy Jenkins. To be more specific, after just one discount on any of the combo pieces, you can play Leeroy, buff it to 10 attack with Power Overwhelming and then copy it with Faceless Manipulator for 20 damage in total. The combo is more consistent and easier to pull off than Doomguards and Cubes, but realistically, it can only be used as a finisher, and not as a board control/board presence tool like Doomguards & Cubes.

Still, the deck is quite powerful and takes advantage of another thing – Highlander cards. Kazakus is an amazing and flexible card, which can be used as a board clear, burn damage, board refill or even life gain. But more importantly, a slow Warlock deck heavily benefits from using Reno Jackson – a card that can win a lot of the matchups by itself. For example, Cube Warlock struggles against Secret Tempo Mage because of how much burn the deck can pull off. But RenoLock just needs to draw Reno and it’s basically game over.

Fun and quite a strong deck, although it might be hard to play for people who have never used it before.

And now something more fun. But given that the deck got to 12 wins, it’s more than just “fun” – it’s actually viable. The meta in this Brawl seems to be a bit slower than the ladder meta, making this deck an even better pick.

Kingsbane Mill Rogue mostly prays on slow, Control decks, especially Warlocks, for a few reasons. Without the early game pressure, it has time to develop the weapon and start buffing it. Coldlight Oracle not only is playable (because you don’t mind your opponent drawing cards, unlike when playing vs Aggro), but often mills opponent’s cards. And finally, Valeera the Hollow is amazing in slow matchups – it gives you more options every turn and lets you duplicate Saps, weapon buffs or even minions like Sludge Belcher.

Yes, you will probably still lose majority of your games against decks like Murloc Paladin, but you will end some CubeLock or Big Priest runs in return.

Another deck with a nostalgia factor. Back in Gadgetzan, before Reno Jackson rotated out, Reno Mage was one of the more popular and interesting decks, and one of the last “classic Control” decks we’ve seen (as in, decks that win mostly by simply outvaluing the opponent, not with different kinds of combos or cheating out big minions).

The deck packs lots of value, but it’s also much harder than just “play minions on the curve”. You need to time your cards correctly, know when to use your Duplicate, be careful about not throwing removals left and right (because you run only one copy of each) etc. But if you play correctly, you can get rewarded – I feel like it’s one of those decks that can beat almost anything if you play it right.