Fractured in Alterac Valley, the third expansion of Year of the Gryphon, has been released yesterday. The set did not come with a rotation, but it did introduce a bunch of powerful cards, such as a new take on the Hero cards for all classes. So it’s only natural that it has shuffled the meta (at least the early one). Just after Day 1, we’ve already seen a bunch of new, interesting builds. But are they any good? Did we already see any huge surprises, or maybe the new Tier 1 decks are yet to be discovered? And, maybe most importantly, what about Questlines – do they stand in the way of new builds and innovation will be stifled until they get nerfed?
Check out our Fractured in Alterac Valley early meta decks for every class!
I’ve spent most of the first 24h of expansion watching pro player streams and social media, adding their decks to the site (as well as playing some matches with the most promising builds myself), so I have a quite good idea of what’s commonly played, which decks get solid results and which builds have a chance to become a part of the meta. Below, I’ll list some of the lists that caught my attention. Just like every new expansion, remember that the early meta is very chaotic and it might look completely different in a few days. Decks are chosen based on my ladder experience, watching the steamers & pros, talking with other high ranked players and early statistics from sites like HSReplay.net.
These decks are only example lists – meta is adjusting very quickly and more optimized builds might be out at the time you’re reading it! The order of decks below is not indicative of their strength. Also, keep in mind that there might be bias against builds that were already good before Alterac Valley, because players usually try to test new stuff first (but then it turns out that many older builds with 1-2 new cards are strong).
OwlTK Warlock
6,820
Let’s first talk about an elephant in the room. The expansion that was supposed to slow down the meta has brought an insanely powerful Combo deck that destroys most of the potential slow builds that could be played right now. Many thought that it will be just a meme before Alterac Valley launched, but here we are, with OwlTK Warlock being one of the most popular and seemingly strongest decks from the new set yet.
If you don’t exactly know how it works – it’s pretty simple. Humongous Owl deals 8 damage on Deathrattle. Tamsin's Phylactery lets you pick a Deathrattle that died this game and give its effect to your entire board. So all you need to do is play Owl, possibly sacrifice it yourself (so it can’t be transformed e.g. with Devolving Missiles), then play a wide board (Wicked Shipment is your card of choice most of the time), Phylactery to give them 8 damage Deathrattle and AoE them down with School Spirits. The regular, full board OTK deals 56 damage in total – but 8 damage can hit minions, so you need to think about that too. You can also do a massive, double Phylactery OTK with Tamsin Roame, and that’s up to 112 damage – which, as you can imagine, is more than enough. Very often you will get your OTK even earlier – like if you stick a minion or two, get an extra Imp from Portal, then drop two Tour Guides and do your thing. The earliest OTK I’ve seen was on Turn 7, but that was after some heavy Runed Mithril Rod discounts. However, given the amount of removal the deck has, surviving until the late game to pull it off isn’t usually a big problem. The deck is really consistent.
I would honestly expect a nerf. And not just to this OwlTK Warlock in particular – if Team 5 wants slower decks to flourish, they need to get rid of Questline Warlock too, particularly the “Fatigue” variant (Combo-oriented, with Hand of Gul'dan instead of Giants).
Buff Paladin & Libram Paladin
I will put those two decks together, because they are in a similar boat. They were both Tier 1 or Tier 2 decks last expansion (depending on the exact time and the meta), and while neither of them got a big “redesign”, they both got a few new cards that made them stronger. For the record, I usually called the “Buff Paladin” deck simply an Aggro Paladin, but it looks like that Buff Paladin is a more common name now, and it makes sense given how buff-focused the deck is.
When it comes to new additions, Irondeep Trogg has to be an MVP in both cases. It just needs to catch one or two buffs without getting removed and now it’s very, very difficult to deal with. Yes, there are still some ways, like straight-up minion combat (but it’s not like you will leave it unprotected) or removal spells that kill it in one hit, but I’ll be honest – the meta hasn’t adapted much to it yet and it’s pretty hard to deal with. Something like a 5/3 Trogg with Divine Shield can run away with the game, because you often lock your opponent out of doing anything before they deal with it – and because of Divine Shield, they might not be able to just deal with it easily. Not to even mention Trogg + Blessing of Authority, that combo is incredibly powerful.
Other than Trogg, both decks run new Cariel, just because she’s… good. The weapon alone is amazing – reducing all the damage you take is a big deal, and then having a weapon you can swing every turn adds a nice extra reach to Paladin decks that normally don’t have such luxury. The last card from the trio is Stonehearth Vindicator – drawing a 0 mana Hand of A'dal or Noble Mount and playing it immediately works really nicely.
The Buff version also took a liking to Ram Commander (a solid card made even better by curving into Alliance Bannerman) and Hold the Bridge (another good spell to draw with Vindicator + Lifesteal comes handy in some matchups). Overall, both versions seem to be doing very well right now, possibly even outperforming OwlTK Warlock (but it’s hard to say given that the data we have so far is limited).
Freeze Shaman
Moorabi has finally been redeemed. Frost Shaman has been a meme among Hearthstone players for long years, ever since Blizzard tried to push it, but only a tiny bit, resulting in a deck that neither works well nor is fun to play. But those days are long gone, and it looks like Freeze Shaman will finally shine in Alterac Valley. And come on, Blizzard made sure that the deck will be at least playable. After all, every single card from the new expansion supports Frost synergies in some way – other than Bru'kan of the Elements Hero, but he’s actually fitting right into the deck anyway.
Freeze Shaman looks like a pretty regular Midrange deck, but it can also survive very well in long matches with multiple value generators (Bolner Hammerbeak, Instructor Fireheart), card draw (Multicaster) and of course the Hero card, which is maybe not an amazing win condition per se, but it definitely helps you with your late-game resource management (and if you roll a couple of “6 damage to face” Hero Powers, it will help you with closing out the game too). However, where the deck really shines are board-based matchups thanks to the Wildpaw Cavern and Snowfall Guardian. The former starts off pretty slow, but once the second 3/4 Token hits the board, it already paid itself off tempo-wise. Then the third one is summoned and you’re gaining so much extra board pressure that it’s hard to quantify. But the real MVP has to be Snowfall Guardian. For 5 mana, you get to freeze the whole board and you get a big minion yourself. But what’s even better is that you can then repeat the same effect with Brilliant Macaw. But what’s EVEN better is that if you drop Cheaty Snobold before, it will serve as an AoE.
Talking about Cheaty Snobold, this little fella really helps with board control AND face damage. If you have a couple of 3/4 Elementals that Freeze on the board and you drop him, their damage is doubled – including face damage, which is important in many matchups. But he also works great with all the Windchills you might have – turns them into a 3 damage removal that also draws a card.
The deck still might still need some optimization, but for the most part it builds itself given that you just put in all the best Freeze synergies and then fill the rest few slots with your “good Shaman cards” (like Cagematch Custodian or Serpentshrine Portal). Some players are trying out a more aggressive version with Doomhammer, others are trying out a more Control-oriented build with slower curve, but the Midrange version has been working the best for me so far.
Old Decks: Questline Warrior & Questline Warlock
Those Questline decks didn’t really get any new bangers this expansion? It’s no biggie – an unquestionable Tier 1 deck from the last expansion is still good in a new expansion, it’s the tale as old as time. I won’t even link any specific decks, because you can just run some Storwmind list card for card and you will be doing just fine. There are some other examples like Lifesteal OTK Demon Hunter or Garrote Rogue, but you get my point.
On the one hand, I’m not a big fan of people playing the same, optimized decks from the last set when the new one launches. It kind of ruins the fun. But on the other hand, I understand that some players might not have enough Gold/money to buy new packs and they will slowly grind them throughout the expansion, or maybe they don’t want to craft anything on Day 1 because many of the Day 1 crafts turn out to be… to put it bluntly, a waste of Dust.
So if you’re in those camps, then yes – Questline Warrior or Warlock is a good, relatively cheap deck that doesn’t require any new cards to be successful.
I already think this will be a good expansion, why just need some nerfs for the not so balanced synergies(both old and new). Hero cards are already doing work (atlest in standard) and are combined with the new set seemingly making the game more “value” oriented than last week. I like it!
Some propositions for nerfs, so that this expansion can truly shine!
Warlock: Owl DR only targeting minions, Soul rend going to 5 mana, Raise dead going to 1 (but only 2 damage?), Touch of Naz going to 2 (but 5 health?). Maybe the hero card to 7 and scavenger to 8 cards (but very unlikely, considering other hits).
Warrior: Play 3 pirates to shoot 2 cannons (questline part 2). Maybe hatchet to 2 mana and smite (charge, other pirets have rush).
Trogger going to 2 (very likely, first turn 1 this + turn 2 buff = win).
I’m to poor to play wild, so i can’t really relate to the situation with odd questline hunter.
Yeah I do like this expansion too especially the hero cards. Talking about nerfs on day 1 is a bit early but if you do, what about (libram) paladin? Also leave trogg alone!
Librams are rotating out in 3 months, so i don’t know if it’s really worth it.
In the case that the nerf becomes relevant, i think the “study session” 4/5 taunt with Divine shield should cost 7 and that the aldor attendent should me changed in some way, sadly idk how.
And m8, i do love trogg as the meta breaker, but come on. He is currently way to strong in the way he is used, however, i can see it relevant to alter the stats to 2/3 if he goes to 2 mana.
Too much to nerf Trogg to 2 mana, hence killing the card outright.
I believe Trogg gonna get Saronite Chain Gang nerf. Summon only original 1/2 trogg, and not a copy of buffed Trogg.
Soul Rend not a problem, Warlock Hero card is not a problem, infinite fatigue damage is.
Owl is not a problem, Phylactery is.
Raise Dead not a problem, heavy card draw shenanigan is.
But I agree with one part. Warlock got too much healing tools.
Quest pirate is not a problem, it’s struggle against some decks.
Plus we haven’t explore all control deck yet. Give it time.
First of, handlock:
Soul rend is a problem, as it abuses the infinite damage combo by chipping thru the deck . Sure you could hit backfire instead, but that card doesen’t “render” (see what i did there) the opposing player to play minions (5 damage is alot for 4 mana). It is also common to play a scavenger or 2 shortly after the rend, meaning you have almost minions to deal with a lethal comp from BG battlemaster (why was the card even printed…)
Raise dead is also major problem, think about. For zero mana and advancing you’re quest, depending on the state of the game, you get a combination of 0 mana flesh giants, 1 mana scavenger, but most frequently, multiple goldshire gnolls, sometimes combined with an extra antherathon(for a staggering 1 mana, again!). You could if you “lowroll” still render you’re opponents ability to play spells, draw MORE cards and even obtain 6 more health.
Also because the card gives back 2 minions, it also increases you handsize, which warlocks want right now. How is this not the most broken card in the game?
Sure again, the raise dead synergies mostly come from massive card draw, but raise dead in itself also gives a ton of “not so balanced” synergies, and it does’nt have any draw back whatsoever, both mana and damage wise.
For the fatigue version of the deck, they need to change backfire to 4 mana, and half the damage done by fatigue (like cariels weapon, with the rounded up effect). Then opponents with more value would have time to get through the warlocks defense and healing, before they die from almost unpreventable damage.
Still gonna stick with the Owl as the problem for now, but the Phylactery may need to be fixed in the future…
QL Hunter does NOT have an answer for turn one Trogg. That is basically GG.
I really really want to play with more Hero cards than ever. But it seems luck isn’t on my side.
I was able to open 5 legendaries from 90 packs, minus 1 goes to Drek’thar (Sh*tty poor odd, 1 of 24), none of it was Hero cards.
Level 20 track rewards me with Ivus. Gonna push to lv.50 for another.
I made the full Buff Paladin and Freeze Shaman (plus token DH) but I am struggling at platinum. I guess these decks are not easy to pilot.
I’ve been messing around with a deathrattle control priest list a little. It seems quite fun and seems very able to win near enough any value game but is as yet untested Vs aggro or combo. I doubt it stands a chance against OwlTK ‘lock in its current incarnation though, but I’ll attempt to deal with that hurdle once I start encountering them.
I’m one of those players that plays the same optimized deck (aggro druid). I would love to try out some new decks like Freeze Shaman, but I need 6.600 dust for the missing cards. OwlTK? 4.860 dust. It will take me a while, but eventually I will get there.
I disenchanted my aggo taunt druid deck, it was hopeless in the new meta. Crafted OwlTK and having fun!