Across the Timeways Relaunched and the Best Decks in the New Meta

This is becoming more of a rule than an exception. Across the Timeways had a pretty flat launch. Old decks remained dominant in the meta. It was not as bad as Lost City of Un'Goro, because the new cards also showed some promise, they were just a little behind established decks.

Now, the first balance patch, 34.0.2, has arrived, and it has arrived guns blazing, shooting down one old powerhouse after another. Essentially, we are now getting the actual expansion launch. Therefore, I get to ask, once again, is this new expansion any good?

You Get a Nerf, and You Get a Nerf, and You Get a Nerf

First, let's talk about some of the nerfs a little. We now have some statistics on card performance, and can answer questions about their viability better than after simply seeing the new card text. Let's dive in to some of the big ones.

Fyrakk the Blazing. The Fyrakk nerf is obviously a big deal, and as a Legendary card, it is a major consideration on whether to disenchant it or not. As a general rule, you can always disenchant any nerfed cards and then hold onto that dust for a while to recraft them if they turn out to still be viable. Fyrakk was hit hard: +1 mana cost (admittedly, it doesn't hurt it as much as other cards because of Naralex), and it now only shoots 15 mana worth of spells instead of 20. The effect is clear. Fyrakk is much less reliable as a finisher, and in many decks, it is now one of the weakest cards.

Fyrakk Rogue looks dead, as Fyrakk went from being a game-winning card around 60% of the time to only wrapping things up 45% of the time. Aura Paladin, as another example, uses Fyrakk less as a main win condition, and Fyrakk has managed to stay more relevant in the deck. If things go wrong, Fyrakk is only able to make them right around 35% of the time now, as compared to almost 50% before the patch.

Fyrakk still has some power to turn things around, but it cannot stand as a sole win condition anymore, and it is probably replaceable in all other decks as well, even ones where it is still able to serve a role as an emergency button.

Ancient of Yore is fine. It's weaker, but it still does the same thing. Many decks that used it are dying, but the Ancient nerf is one of their lesser worries.

Arkonite Defense Crystal is dead. Without Taunt, it cannot defend, and it is so not worth five mana anymore.

Dive the Golakka Depths - in other words, Quest Paladin - is dead. It was a low-rank menace that was not competitive higher up on the ladder anyway, and now it is too slow even on lower ranks. Boom.

Escape the Underfel - Quest Warlock - is dead. Warlock already had multiple good decks competing for attention, and Quest Warlock lost way too much to survive in such a competitive class. It lost too much to survive in any class, to be honest. Guns blazing, I tell you, Blizzard is on a killing spree.

Testing Dummy is very, very dead. It's dead beyond any reasonable measure. It is one of the least useful cards now, there's no way to build a deck around it. That is how badly Blizzard wanted to kill it.

R.C. Rampage is fine. It is clearly weaker, but it was a phenomenal card. Now, it is just OK. Still a solid inclusion in the decks that wanted one before.

Corpsicle still offers long-term burn damage. It is weaker, but if you wanted it before, the odds are good that you still want it. You usually played it in the late game when +1 mana cost matters, but not to the same extent as on an actual 2-drop.

The effect of the patch can hardly be overstated. Blizzard was willing to completely kill a whole bunch of decks to free up space in the meta. This was not your usual small changes patch, this was Hearthstone's November 2025 massacre. And as the dust settles, a new dawn rises. For some of the classes, anyway.

Death Knight

Death Knight is doing well. Blood/Unholy Control Death Knight is one of the better decks on the ladder. It also happens to be one of the decks that still uses Fyrakk the Blazing, because it uses the card in more flexible ways than just a win condition. Meanwhile, Herenn Death Knight has been cutting Fyrakk from the list, or the non-Fyrakk lists have overtaken the ones that have used it, as it does not serve that archetype as well anymore.

The best Death Knight deck at the moment is this Control Death Knight list:

As for Herenn Death Knights, there are two variants: Blood/Unholy that runs Bwonsamdi, and Frost/Unholy that does not. The Bwonsamdi list is far more popular and stable. The sample size of the Frost/Unholy list is small, so it is hard to say exactly how good it is. It has more weaknesses but also more potential for strong matchups, so I look forward to seeing more of it and how well it can do.

This is the Blood/Unholy Herenn list:

And this is the the Frost/Unholy Herenn list that does not include Bwonsamdi:

Demon Hunter

Demon Hunter is doing extremely well in the new meta. Aggro Demon Hunter is extremely popular and a top-3 archetype on the ladder. Cliff Dive Demon Hunter has appeared to challenge it for the top spot of the class, but we do not know enough about its performance yet to fully evaluate if it can become another top-3 deck. Peddler Demon Hunter is also still around and capable of climbing the ladder, even though it is in the shadow of the two top archetypes of the class.

Aggro Demon Hunter looks crazy strong. The class that puts up the best fight against it is Shaman, potentially the best class on the ladder right now (spoilers). Anyway, this is what people are playing:

Cliff Dive Demon Hunter looks like an interesting challenger. It may even solve Demon Hunter's Shaman problem, so it is definitely something to keep an eye on as more games get played.

Peddler Demon Hunter is behind the other two with no obvious path to properly challenge them, but it is a viable climbing deck regardless.

Druid

The patch did little to help Druid. If anything, Druid decks are a bit less of a disaster now, and some of them are actually pretty close to a 50% win rate. Not a glaring endorsement for anyone but Druid enthusiasts, but I suppose it is at least possible to play the class without losing all the time.

Aviana Druid is the most reliable Druid archetype on the ladder. The deck has been simplified through refinement, making Aviana the sole central figure of the archetype.

There are also some attempts to make use of the new Druid cards, although Krona Druid does not look too good. It is slim pickings with the class though, so if you really want to play Druid, it is an option.

Honorable mention to Taunt Druid with Greybough. It cannot quite reach 50%, but it gets surprisingly close.

Hunter

Discover Hunter has exploded in popularity after the balance patch, and it is a strong archetype. Not quite at the level of Demon Hunter, Shaman, and Warrior, but not far behind either.

While Discover Hunter is in the limelight, No Hand Face Hunter is also still going strong.

Mage

The new Mage cards do not offer enough power fast enough. While Arcane Mage can be fun, it is not viable. Instead, Mage keeps looking at the past expansion with both Elementals and Protoss to bring it success on the ladder. Both are doing an OK job. Not top tier, but viable.

Here is the current Elemental Mage deck:

And this is what the top Protoss Mage list looks like. It took the place of Dummy Warrior as the new "Deios OTK" deck, but it's definitely not as strong.

Paladin

Quest Paladin is gone, but Aggro Paladin is still a strong deck right behind Shaman, Demon Hunter, and Warrior.

The new Paladin cards are focused on Auras, and Aura Paladin is also a viable deck, even though it is a tier lower than Aggro Paladin. As is the case with many Paladin decks, it suffers from very linear gameplay and predictability - it can do much that opponent doesn't expect.

Priest

There have been no major changes to Priest after the patch. The same Zarimi Priest list is still the best-performing deck of the class with Protoss Priest right on its tail.

This is the current Protoss Priest:

Rogue

With Fyrakk Rogue gone, Rogue has been left looking for other options. There are several ideas that may yet become something, but nothing looks great so far. This Combo Garona list is the best the class has to offer:

Shaman

Shaman has risen to be the most dominant force on the ladder. Midrange Shaman was invented before the patch, but its refinement is still in the early stages. There are lots of different variants on the ladder. The successful ones are generally dropping Fyrakk now after the patch, but refinement is far from over.

This is the best deck on the ladder:

Warlock

After the nerfs, Shredlock is now the best Warlock archetype. In the overall meta, it is a tier 2 deck, so it is a fine choice for climbing the ladder.

Zoo Warlock has also appeared and is very close to Shredlock in performance.

Warrior

Dummy Warrior is gone, dead, and forever buried. However, Warrior has found a new life with another midrange approach, the return of Dragon Warrior!

Dragon Warrior is currently a top-3 deck in the game alongside Midrange Shaman and Aggro Demon Hunter.

There are also interesting challengers being brewed.

First, a Handbuff Warrior. It cuts a lot of the Dragon Warrior's late game/card draw and instead focuses on a big Keeper of Flame handbuff turn.

And for the Control Warrior fans, there are signs that Quest Warrior is not quite dead yet. In fact, it even reached #1 Legend!

Conclusions

The balance patch effectively relaunched the expansion. The meta is so different, it barely resembles the previous meta. New cards are now played in many of the best decks, and while there are still some old decks that are competitive, the ladder is a completely different place. This is the launch we deserved, and now we finally got it!