HSTD Meta Breakdown – The Best Decks for the Ladder (Late May – Early June 2016)

Midrange Shaman has quickly become the most popular deck of the Shaman class and for good reason. Midrange Shaman is capable of mimicking many of the best starts from the aggro builds and has some of the best on-curve cards in the game. Hex also returns as an easy answer to any minion in the game, solving the issue where the early game could get out of hand for the Shaman player via unchecked Edwin VanCleef or Darkshire Councilman while providing easy answers to cards like Ragnaros the Firelord.

Instead of Secret Paladin, this deck is closer to Tempo Mage with a more spread out curve. The basic principles remain the same, though: your minions are better than average every step of the way, and you have enough utility to make people miserable for trying to interact directly with you. As a result, it has very few outright bad matches and doesn’t fall into the same ‘early curve or die’ trap that Aggro Shaman and Tempo Mage both have.

What interests me most is the variation we’ve seen in the Midrange lists. Cards like Fire Elemental, Master of Evolution, Thunder Bluff Valiant, Bloodlust and even the number of Flamewreathed Faceless and Doomhammer are all up in the air. My own view is that, unlike Hex, Fire Elemental is the bad kind of throwback card. Fire Elemental is good when you get to pick off threes and fours, and the 6/5 body is scary. Nowadays, the bulk of minions you want to kill are two mana or less or too big to kill without help from another minion. The 6/5 is also vastly outclassed by other late-game threats and even in the mirror, Flamewreathed Faceless is a far scarier card.

How to Beat Midrange Shaman?

While Midrange Shaman is good at keeping control of the board and pumping out threats, those threats don’t have the same resilience as the best decks from past seasons (thanks deathrattle, enjoy ruining Wild). A deck like Zoo can easily match you in the early game and then get ahead due to favorable trading and hitting the button early and often. Without the threat of getting burned out, they can afford to spend two cards on your biggest threats and not worry about it. If the Shaman player lacks Lightning Storm, often they can never regain board control from the Zoo player.

Tempo Warrior can play out the same way, but it’s far more dependent on Fiery War Axe into a three-drop. Still, the Warrior decks absolutely beat the slower Shaman hands, and if they can keep cards like Tunnel Trogg and Mana Tide Totem in check, it can be difficult for Shaman to ever gain enough board presence to win. Execute and taking advantage of good snowball minions like Frothing Berserker and Bloodhoof Brave go a long way.

Finally Midrange Shaman gives up some points to Miracle Rogue because of the reduced clock. Tunnel Trogg is the biggest factor in this match, since without it you have a pathetic clock and Miracle can largely trade minions and go off at leisure. The Rogue player can also trade with their daggers more often due to the lack of burst from this deck.

Midrange Shaman Gameplay Videos

• VS. Control Warrior
• VS. Renolock
• VS. Aggro Shaman
• VS. Warlock Zoo
• VS. Tempo Warrior
• VS. N’Zoth Priest

Featured Deck

Loyan’s Midrange Bloodlust Shaman – Hearthstone EU Spring Prelims 2016

Recent Midrange Shaman Deck Variations

• Midrange Shaman – #142 Legend (Kibler) – Fall of Ulduar (TITANS)
• Midrange Murloc Shaman – #383 Legend (BroElephants68) – Return to Naxxramas
• Midrange Murloc Shaman – #29 Legend (Bunnyhoppor) – Return to Naxxramas
• Midrange Murloc Shaman – #80 Legend (Jambre) – Return to Naxxramas
• Midrange Murloc Shaman – #102 Legend (Azyrte) – Return to Naxxramas

On the other side of the Shaman totem is Aggro Shaman. This deck feels much closer to a Face Hunter deck than a Secret Paladin or Zoo and has burst many decks can only dream of. We may lack sticky minions, but the stats for every creature are as good or better than you can get in any other class. You also have the highest quantity of cheap removal outside of Mage and, possibly, Rogue.

What people hate about this deck is how often the deck makes you feel like you fell into a quagmire and there’s nothing you can do about it. Every time you answer a card in their deck, it feels one turn too late. Killing all of their minions isn’t a win condition like it is against Midrange Shaman. You have to actively try and clock the opponent or have a huge burst heal, or you will just die to hoarded burn spells or the Doomhammer – Rockbiter Weapon take 10 special.

As an Aggro Shaman player, your goal should always be figuring out how to best setup a future lethal. If you treat the deck like Face Hunter you’ll do fine but that’s more the deck bailing you out than anything special. You need to be able to figure out when you can’t win a race or when the opponent is actively clocking you back in such a way you could just lose. Against Zoo, this is the hardest skill because Life Tap makes face always look like the place. However the amount of easy trades they can get and damage they can assemble means you have to think carefully about attacking a Flame Imp or casting Lava Burst on a Darkshire Councilman. I took out plenty of Shaman on my legend climb who left me with a board at a lower life total, I then traded and simply killed them in two turns while they knocked me down to 1-3 life.

Against decks with burst healing like Reno Jackson or Forbidden Healing, it is massively important to figure out how much you want to commit to a two-turn lethal. Sometimes you want to commit those burn spells to force a heal instead of a board clear, because you know you’ll net 10-12 of the damage back on your following turn. If your opponent has eight cards in hand though, you might just throw down every minion you have to entice the clear and hope to draw the last burn spell or Doomhammer you need to burst the opponent from 10+.

How to beat Aggro Shaman?

Play a board control deck with hard removal and heals. N’Zoth Paladin and Control Warrior are both excellent at healing out of range of burn and forcing the opponent to start off strong. Aggro Shaman leans heavily on that opening burst of damage and if the control opponent gets past turn six with double digit life and a reasonable hand you aren’t going to win.

Zoo and Midrange Shaman can also play board control better than you and both have some burst potential, though Zoo has far more than the latter. Against Zoo, you often want to rack up the early damage, but Power Overwhelming, Abusive Sergeant, Dire Wolf Alpha and Crazed Alchemist make trading really easy if you leave Zoo with any real board. One of the easiest ways for Zoo to win is keeping a minion heavy-hand and overestimating just how much damage those minions can do. Totem Golem may have some survivability, but everything else is easy for Zoo to beat. You also have no good answer to Forbidden Ritual in the midgame, which gives them the initiative on how to trade and makes Defender of Argus a serious concern.

Midrange Shaman is a case study in traditional CCG roles compared to how aggro vs. midrange usually plays out in Hearthstone. Normally in the mirror for HS, the faster deck has the advantage. Midrange Shaman is fast enough and has enough removal that it can blunt most of the good Shaman hands and then cards like Thing from Below and Feral Spirit can make life miserable for the aggro player. God forbid they run Earth Elemental or some other ridiculous taunt threat.

Aggro Shaman Gameplay Videos

• VS. Freeze Mage
• VS. Freeze Mage 2
• VS. Miracle Rogue
• VS. Miracle Rogue 2
• VS. Renolock
• VS. N’Zoth Paladin
• VS. Aggro Shaman

Featured Deck

Amaz’s Aggro Shaman – Hearthstone Americas Spring Prelims 2016

Recent Aggro Shaman Deck Variations

• Aggro Totem Shaman – Early #15 Legend (Pace) – Twist S05 (Commons)
• Overload Aggro Shaman – Undericepirate – TITANS
• Aggro Elemental Shaman – #289 Lenged (HattriK) – Throne of Tides
• Aggro Elemental Shaman – #63 Legned (고블린졸개) – Onyxia’s Lair
• Drek’thar Aggro Shaman – Early #7 Legend (DankestDad) – Onyxia’s Lair

Draw your deck and win the game, it’s that easy! Actually, it turns out Miracle Rogue is pretty tough to play, and the metagame has two top-tier decks that are rough matches for it. Climbing to Legend with Rogue is an achievement, while hitting high Legend or doing well in tournaments with it is even more impressive. What’s key with Rogue is being versatile in how you go about winning the game. Every random can usually slap together a win with an active Gadgetzan Auctioneer, 7-8 mana and a grip full of spells. The games the best Rogue players win are the ones where they bootleg a kill out of early minions, Conceal, Cold Blood and then tempo the opponent out of the game. The same goes for if they force a board clear out and follow it up with an Auctioneer with minimal resources and sequence their way to the end game.

Rogue lost Blade Flurry, a valuable tool against aggression, which makes focusing on how you play the early game even more important. Knowing when to Backstab, Fan of Knives and use your daggers are the backbone of getting a 50% or higher win rate against a deck like Zoo. Going all-in with Edwin VanCleef has also become a far more common opening line and knowing when it’s correct to get the extra +2/+2 or casting Edwin first and then Conceal is another small choice that can make a big difference over time.

How to beat Miracle Rogue?

Pressure, pressure, and more pressure. Force the Rogue onto the backfoot early and make them spend resources to deal with your threats. Aggro Shaman rolls Rogue because their answers don’t line up well against cards like Tunnel Trogg and Totem Golem. Even when they lose board, they can just chain some damage out of hand and close the game out the turn before Miracle turns the corner. Zoo can also setup unbeatable board presence if you don’t draw the necessary tools early. However they have far better options against the low toughness minions that Zoo presents.

Control Warrior and Freeze Mage are both scary as well, because they do such a good job of mitigating your burst potential. Once that happens, you have to play Miracle as a fair deck, and both decks punish you for showing up with one of those. You have to be very careful with how you spend your resources and win conditions (Edwin VanCleef and Cold Blood especially) or you could easily be left in an unwinnable game state.

Miracle Rogue Gameplay Videos

• VS. Tempo Mage
• VS. Miracle Rogue
• VS. Midrange Hunter
• VS. Midrange Hunter 2
• VS. Midrange Shaman
• VS. N’Zoth Paladin

Featured Deck

Dog’s Miracle Rogue – Hearthstone Americas Spring Prelims 2016

Recent Miracle Rogue Deck Variations

• Giant Miracle Rogue – #1 Legend (xx04) – Wild S121
• Giant Miracle Rogue – #1 Legend (Corbett) – Wild S121
• Miracle Rogue – #1 Legend (Furyhunter) – Badlands Deepholm
• Giant Miracle Rogue – #407 Legend (Wraxius) – Wild S119
• Miracle Rogue – #99 Legend (Bewilder) – Badlands Deepholm

Take Patron Warrior, cut Grim Patron and Inner Rage and suddenly your deck gets better–that seems to be the takeaway from the most popular Warrior variant on ladder. By taking a more proactive approach, you can better make use of Battle Rage and Slam while still having games where you casually crush the opponent with a 10 power Frothing Berserker.

What’s of note about this version of the deck over others is just how well it lines up against other midrange and combo decks. It can generate a genuine clock early in the game and then follow it up killing opponents with Ragnaros the Firelord or Grommash Hellscream before they can fully recover. The lack of strong heals in the format actually really helps this deck since you can easily chain together the last four to eight points of damage without any minions at the start of the turn.

It loses some points against aggro, but still has a favorable Zoo match because of all the Whirlwind effects left in the deck. Not a bad trade-off at all.

How to Beat Tempo Warrior?

Aggro Shaman. You absolutely need Fiery War Axe to have a chance here, and even then unless you back it with three drops or Armorsmith, things can spiral out of control. The problem is your early minions don’t line up well, and unlike Midrange Shaman, you don’t have that precious turn to breathe. Good hands from them are going to put you on the backfoot and force you to fight for board control while they get free damage on you. Their burn suite can also wipe all your early minions with minimal fuss, at least the fourth toughness on many of your minions can force them to throw away an Argent Squire or Sir Finley Mrrgglton.

Midrange Hunter also lines up well against Tempo Warrior because they can pressure early and not care if you wipe their early minions. They don’t mind getting dragged into a late-game, because their removal trades evenly with your tempo drops. Freezing Trap is disgusting to try and play around with this deck. Savannah Highmane and Call of the Wild are both cards you have no good answer too. You need to take initiative and hope you haven’t lost enough life that they can ignore board and just burn you out.

Any N’Zoth list with lots of spot removal can be an uphill battle, though this depends on how many and which end game minions Tempo Warrior has. It also relies heavily on the Tempo Warrior player not setting up a Battle Rage turn for three or more. Unlike Patron which can create a board that demands a full board clear, this deck can be kept in check by just killing the biggest minion on board every two turns or so until we get into Ragnaros the Firelord / Varian Wrynn territory.

Tempo Warrior Gameplay Videos

• VS. Aggro/Midrange Shaman
• VS. Tempo Warrior
• VS. Control Warrior
• VS. Midrange Shaman
• VS. Warlock Zoo
• VS. Miracle Rogue
• VS. N’Zoth Paladin

Featured Deck

Chessdude’s Tempo Warrior – Hearthstone Americas Spring Prelims 2016

Recent Tempo Warrior Deck Variations

• Tempo Warrior – #10 Legend (Unknown) – Twist S05 (Commons)
• Tempo Warrior – #23 Legend (FTP_Bust) – Twist S05 (Commons)
• Tempo Warrior – #9 Legend (MagmaRager) – Twist S05 (Commons)
• Tempo Charge Warrior – #147 Legend (BanditKeith) – March of the Lich King
• Tempo Warrior – #4 Legend (harapeco) – Sunken City

Ah Zoo, one of my favorite decks in the game, and one of the best to ladder with. Even when ladder is teched toward beating Zoo and you run into unfavorable matches, you always have a shot because your hero power and burst are so good. Recently, the ladder has moved toward decks that match up well against Zoo but even then Zoo remains a powerful option. I went 41-18 on my way from Rank 5 to Legend and went 10-5 against Warriors along the way. The majority of my matches were various flavors of Shaman (with Lightning Storm) and Warrior (Primarily Tempo and C’Thun).

What’s nice is how strong your 3 and 4-slot is against sweepers now. Darkshire Councilman and Imp Gang Boss both live through the majority of removal and Forbidden Ritual gives you an instant recovery. Being able to generate four 1/1s means any pump can let you regain board control even if they have an existing minion on the board post-sweeper. The other big reason to play Zoo right now is the consistency of the curve. You have so many hands that mirror one another that you have a pretty uniform plan in many matches. It makes certain common junctions of the game easier to learn because they come up so often.

Zoo is a deck that rewards repetition and is very easy to tech out. There  are two to three slots you can do whatever you want with. Doomsayer and totems everywhere? Crazed Alchemist is excellent right now and even has bonus value against opposing Darkshire Councilman, Tunnel Trogg, and Mana Wyrm. You also have one of the better Shaman matches in the game and very few outright atrocious matches.

How to beat Warlock Zoo?

Multiple board clears combined with a clock is a nightmare for this deck. Shaman, Tempo Warrior, Rogue and Mage all beat you in the same way. You both build up a board, but yours gets wiped out by a single clear or a chain of spells into Flamewaker or SI:7 Agent. One board clear is recoverable but multiple is very tough to deal with unless your opponent is just doing nothing. This is why Control Priest and N’Zoth Paladin need to work so hard to close out a game compared to say… Tempo Mage. You have a never-ending stream of cards and threats as long as you can freely burn through your life total.

The worst matches for the deck are Tempo Warrior, Tempo Mage and Miracle Rogue draws with Backstab / Fan of Knives. Both Shaman decks are beatable even with Lightning Storm; in fact, you’re favored against Midrange Shaman regardless of the number of sweepers and about 50/50 against Aggro with teched in Lightning Storm. The difference between these and the other decks is that both of the Shamans require substantial early board control to win while the other three can win off a single minion while chaining spells.

Tempo Mage is also an unfavored matchup for Zoo. You roll their bad hands but so does a good Arena deck. Any of their good hands start fighting you for board control on turn two, and it’s very difficult to kill a Flamewaker if they clear your board for even one turn. Half the Zoo builds have cut Doomguard outright if you just want a minion that eats FW or similar and then takes a burn spell like a champ, so good luck with that. Meanwhile now if you don’t close them out, while previously Azure Drake was their last real threat, Faceless Summoner can give them board with legit stats.

Freeze Mage is supposedly a dumpster fire but that’s never been the case for me. If they don’t chain all their freezes, they have a hard time staying alive. You have multiple ways to clear Doomsayer, Darkshire Councilman is a serious threat that survives Frostbolt + ping or AOE, and they lack the consistency in heals they had before with Mad Scientist and Antique Healbot. Maybe at the top level, this match is horrible but on the ladder your average Freeze match is a 50/50 at worst.

Warlock Zoo Gameplay Videos

• VS. Renolock
• VS. Midrange Shaman
• VS. Midrange Shaman 2
• VS. Aggro Shaman
• VS. Aggro Shaman 2
• VS. Warlock Zoo

Featured Deck

Rdu’s Top-10 Legend Warlock Zoo (May 2016, Season 26)

Recent Warlock Zoo Deck Variations

• Zoo Sludge Warlock – #114 Legend (Ormendo) – Showdown in the Badlands
• Zoo Sludge Warlock – #494 Legend (BanditKeith) – Showdown in the Badlands
• Zoo Warlock – Sezoklo – Stormwind Deadmines
• Questline Zoo Warlock – #119 Legend (Ajani) – Stormwind Deadmines
• Questline Zoo Warlock – #73 Legend (ThisIsChris) – Stormwind Deadmines

Welcome to the control club Paladin, I know you briefly stopped by to pick up your intro packet around the time everyone thought Troggzor the Earthinator was going to be the next big thing but then you never came back. With the printing of Forbidden Healing, Ragnaros, Lightlord and N'Zoth, The Corruptor, we have some great support to Paladin’s board control. This deck was the toast of the town the first couple of weeks after Standard hit, but it seems to be on a downswing currently.

There are three main focuses of the N’Zoth Paladin deck-

1. Don’t die
2. Run enough huge drops that you can chain 6+ drops into N’Zoth or win without ever seeing it
3. Draw cards to get to Equality clears and N’Zoth in the majority of games

Most recent builds have ignored #3 and focused extra on #2 with more Stampeding Kodo and cards like Eadric the Pure. Originally, the decks all had double Solemn Vigil and at least one Acolyte of Pain and Lay on Hands, with some copying Anyfin combo and running 5-6 draw spells. We’ve now hit the other extreme with many only running two or three draw cards in the deck.

Unfortunately for ladder, the deck now feels like a worse Control Warrior. Yes, you have Equality fueled hard clears, which is excellent, and massive burst healing with Forbidden Healing and Ragnaros, Lightlord that is also a major bonus. The problem is you don’t have the sheer amount of useful removal that Control Warrior has and that you have to load up on lots of late-game cards to beat other midrange and tempo decks. When people were misplaying around your N’Zoth or had no way to answer your upgraded hero power then life was easy. When people know how to beat your ultimate trump and Zoo decks can just race you down because you only drew one Consecration and one Equality – Wild Pyromancer, then everything goes to hard mode.

It isn’t that this type of deck can’t be good, just that everyone assumed the way to build it would be making it heavier. Reading draw like Solemn Vigil would help the cycling issue a bit. I do understand overloading on card draw isn’t the answer because nearly half the deck costs five mana or more. However, there’s a happy middle ground, and I’ve seen so many games go nowhere because the Paladin players cards do nothing until later in the game.

I could even see moving back to Harvest Golem or Rallying Blade just to give you a a couple more early game options.

How to Beat N’Zoth Paladin?

Miracle Rogue is the obvious answer as you have so few points of relevant interaction, and you can’t clock the Miracle player effectively. All you can do is use your early minions and hope to draw Cairne Bloodhoof / Sylvanas Windrunner to start pressuring on turn six without being easily handled by spot removal. Sap demolishes every relevant minion play you have and Shadow Strike isn’t much better for you. Ultimately, the Miracle player can generally pick and choose spots for how much they want to commit to the board and hamstring your mana by forcing removal on your otherwise best turns.

Zoo is actually favored in this match due to the limited amount of early interaction Paladin has and Crazed Alchemist negating Doomsayer. The first real piece of interaction they have with you, if they lack Doomsayer, is Acolyte of Pain (which half the time you can ignore) or Truesilver Champion / Consecration. Aldor Peacekeeper is effectively irrelevant in this match unless they hit a Doomguard or Sea Giant with it. Much like Earthen Ring Farseer, his job is just to be a 3/3 body and hopefully trade effectively. The Zoo player doesn’t have to respect normal clears as much because of Darkshire Councilman, and the amount of burst they have available. Obviously, if it gets to the point where cards like Ragnaros, Lightlord are a factor, the Zoo player isn’t winning, but it usually that requires at least two board clears and a heal or a ton of 1-for-1 interaction the Paladin deck isn’t great at making.

Renolock is another control deck with a bunch of huge end game threats, sweepers and powerful burst healing. Many of them also has a burst combo with Leeroy Jenkins, Lord Jaraxxus and a hero power that draws cards. Good luck.

N’Zoth Paladin Gameplay Videos

• VS. Dragon Priest
• VS. N’Zoth Paladin
• VS. N’Zoth Paladin 2
• VS. Midrange Shaman
• VS. Control Warrior
• VS. Freeze Mage
• VS. Freeze Mage 2
• VS. Beast Druid
• VS. Aggro Shaman

Featured Deck

StrifeCro’s N’Zoth Paladin (Standard, Season 26)

Recent N'Zoth Paladin Deck Variations

• XL N’zoth Anyfin Paladin – #66 Legend (Starrissm) – Twist S02 (Wonders XL)
• XL N’Zoth Control Paladin – #33 Legend (Bruud) – Twist S02 (Wonders XL)
• N’Zoth Secret Paladin – #453 Legend (Turtle) – Onyxia’s Lair
• N’Zoth Secret Paladin – Early #129 Legend (DankestDad) – Fractured in Alterac Valley
• N’Zoth Paladin – #293 Legend (Charon) – Fractured in Alterac Valley

I actually think Freeze Mage has hit its nadir in the current format. On ladder, there’s very few reasons to play it over Miracle if you want to play a combo deck. In tournament play, it consistently has one of the lowest win percentages of any deck, culminating with it being the worst performing America’s Spring Prelim deck (out of decks with 100+ games played). Decks that Freeze used to thrash like Zoolock and Paladin are now only 60/40 or arguably even 50/50 matches.

If you are willing to take it out on the ladder, your top deck matchups are: one favorable (Miracle Rogue), one even to good match (Zoo), two unfavorable (Shaman) and one auto-loss (Tempo Warrior) out of our best decks.

How to Beat Freeze Mage?

Pressure them early and play Crazed Alchemist. Eating their Doomsayer is a huge tempo loss for them, and if they don’t have it, then they have to waste precious burn resources on the scarier ones and twos. Against Shaman you can’t afford the Freeze player can’t afford to leave Tunnel Trogg alive with the lack of healing. The loss of Mad Scientist really hurt the consistency of the early game Freeze once had and you need to plan and play accordingly.

Freeze Mage Gameplay Videos

• VS. Renolock
• VS. Warlock Zoo
• VS. Warlock Zoo 2
• VS. Aggro Shaman

Featured Deck

Ostkaka’s Freeze Mage – Hearthstone EU Spring Prelims 2016

Recent Freeze Mage Deck Variations

• Freeze Mage – Early #11 Legend (ko10rino082) – Twist S01 (Wonders)
• Freeze Hero Power Mage – #194 Legend (RenoJackson) – Wild S111
• Freeze Mage – #141 Legend (Phenomenal) – Classic
• Freeze Hero Power Mage – FunkiMonki – Sunken City
• Freeze Mage – #8 Legend (Emirates) – Wild S85

After some dalliances with C'Thun, most of the Control Warrior players have seemingly switched to Tempo or gone back to the OG. One of the upsides of playing Control Warrior is how adaptable it is to any given metagame. Too many Zoo decks? Run more Whirlwind effects and Baron Geddon. Shaman giving you issues? Doomsayer and Fierce Monkey do a good job of shoring up the early game, and then you can leverage your high card quality in the late game. Miracle Rogue? Tech in a Soggoth the Slitherer alongside your Brawls and Ragnaros the Firelord to help force Valeera into awkward interactions.

Metagame tech? Baron Geddon is pretty good right now. Doomsayer is also the favorite for early game clears and can even replace Armorsmith outright if you feel your two-drops are too low impact. Even N'Zoth, The Corruptor is being tested out in a few lists to steal the end game that’s made Paladin so successful as of late.

Evident’s Notes: It’s kind of a toss up right now about which deck is better between C’Thun Warrior and Control Warrior. We’ve decided to lean towards Control Warrior, but both decks are strong.

How to Beat Control Warrior?

There’s no one surefire way to beat Control Warrior. It has answers to every threat you can throw at it and has an amazing late-game that’s only rivaled by a few decks. What usually does in Control Warrior is its own consistency. Unlike other card games, cantrips are at a premium, and there’s not a lot of deck space to fit them in. Shield Block and Acolyte of Pain are all you really have room for and your early game effectively consists of Fiery War Axe and whatever two-drop defensive minion you threw in. This means it’s all too easy to get a clunky opener and fall far behind before ever having a chance to really engage your game plan.

On the merits of decks like Aggro Shaman and Zoo they should get rolled by a well positioned CW list, but that’s rarely the case due to the aforementioned consistency. Control Warrior can also be trumped by N’Zoth out of Priest or Paladin unless you save a Brawl for the end game. It is crucial you never use both unless you’d otherwise lose the game.

Midrange Hunter is surprisingly good against CW due to the deathrattle minions and high toughness or cards like Carrion Grub. Call of the Wild gives it the late-game boost previous versions lacked and some go so far as to run Ragnaros the Firelord as another end game threat. There are only so many good ways you have to deal with their minions when Execute and Shield Slam are both finicky to turn on and Brawl is rarely better than a 2 for 1.

Control Warrior Gameplay Videos

• VS. Midrange Hunter
• VS. Tempo Mage
• VS. N’Zoth Paladin

Featured Deck

Firebat’s Control Warrior (Season 26, May 2016)

Recent Control Warrior Deck Variations

• Brann Control Warrior – #2 Legend (fydds) – Whizbang’s Workshop
• Brann Control Warrior – #4 Legend (Tobyka) – Whizbang’s Workshop
• Brann Control Warrior – Early #14 Legend (Stinzy) – Whizbang’s Workshop
• Odyn Control Warrior – Early #1 Legend (MrYagut) – Whizbang’s Workshop
• Odyn Control Warrior – #4 Legend (Unknown) – Badlands Deepholm

Play ramp cards. Play Swipe and Wrath to not die. Then play giant minions to win the game. This is the easiest deck in the game to play, and one that exists just to punish slow control and bad tempo draws. There’s not much to say about this deck other than to debate C'Thun vs. non-C’Thun. I think if we’re stuck playing the ramp, I want to maximize my giant threats so I prefer ignoring the C’Thun minions. I’d rather play cards like Soggoth the Slitherer and Hogger, Doom of Elwynn as extra defensive threats than bothering to play mediocre three and four drops.

You aren’t winning the games where you don’t see early ramp, and you will lose games where you draw your middling minions instead of your actual end-game. I’d rather take the Druid deck to the extreme of all ramp, removal, taunts and huge threats instead of pretending to play a midrange deck with Ragnaros the Firelord, Cenarius and C'Thun thrown in. Nobody has really showcased a slam dunk default build for either one, so right now you can do whatever fits your fancy in regards to a build.

How to Beat Ramp Druid?

Zoo, Miracle Rogue and Aggro Shaman all feast on this deck. Midrange or tempo decks are on the faster end of spectrum, such as Hunter, Shaman and Mage, which can all can do a number on Ramp Druid as well. This is best used when targeting a very specific control metagame or in ban formats.

Featured Deck

Dodje’s Ramp Druid – Hearthstone EU Spring Prelims 2016

Recent Ramp Druid Deck Variations

• XL Reno Ramp Druid – #50 Legend (Panacea) – Badlands Deepholm
• XL Beetle Ramp Druid – #130 Legend (Unknown) – Badlands Deepholm
• XL Beetle Ramp Druid – #1 Legend (mlYanming) – Badlands Deepholm
• Beetle Ramp Druid – #7 Legend (Unknown) – Badlands Deepholm
• Beetle Ramp Druid – #81 Legend (DRILL) – Badlands Deepholm

Draw Mana Wyrm in opener. Play Sorcerer's Apprentice. Chain spells until victory.

All these removal spells Tempo Mage has line up very well against the current meta, which is full of minion-centric decks. You also have enough of a clock to be able to potentially race Miracle. Control Warrior and Renolock have issues keeping your minions in check, and Cabalist's Tome keeps the gas flowing against them. Mirror Image is actually back in flavor because of how many top decks can’t easily clear them and it provides another one mana spell to use. Cult Sorcerer has also given a big boost to how good Arcane Blast and Frostbolt are in a meta where being able to deal four to Totem Golem or Imp Gang Boss is a big deal.

How to Beat Tempo Mage?

Clear out their early minions, and close them out before their hand full of spells gain traction with +1 Spell Damage minions or clearing the way for Faceless Summoner/Archmage Antonidas/Ragnaros the Firelord. Tempo, Pirate Warrior and Dragon Priest both do a good job of this with durable minions and spot removal for random X/2s. Good Zoo and Shaman draws can also take over the board early and just pick off opposing minions at leisure with pump while leaning on either Darkshire Councilman or Faceless Summoner to close the game out.

This deck loses to itself more so than any specific deck in the format. It’s designed in a very snowball-like fashion which means you can end up with openers that look exactly like Freeze Mage–but without the survivability. It also means that certain hands have a lynchpin like having that one Sorcerer's Apprentice or Flamewaker surviving, which is just unrealistic. Outside of Miracle, this deck benefits the most from The Coin, since it primarily wants big combo turns to swing the early game back to the Mage and obvious Flamewaker synergy.

Tempo Mage Gameplay Videos

• VS. Freeze Mage
• VS. Tempo Mage
• VS. Warlock Zoo
• VS. Warlock Zoo 2
• VS. Patron Warrior

Featured Deck

APXVoid’s Tempo Mage – Hearthstone Americas Spring Prelims 2016

Recent Tempo Mage Deck Variations

• Tempo Mage – #47 Legend (lowseeker) – March of the Lich King
• Tempo Mage – #186 Legend (D0nkey) – March of the Lich King
• Tempo Mage – #257 Legend (egraz) – Classic
• Tempo Mage – #144 Legend (Ramza) – Classic S87
• Tempo Mage – #184 Legend (Punto) – The Barrens

Call of the Wild* is the best reason to bother with Hunter in the new Standard format. The only card in the game that provides immediate board presence with both charge and taunt minion in a single package–practically everything else regarding Hunter got nerfed or is now done better by another class. It doesn’t trade particularly well, has no amazing one or two-drops and Unleash the Hounds is the worst it has been in a year.

*Boom, Balanced, Huffer and friends

Infested Wolf is OK but nothing to write home about now that you aren’t trading with Piloted Shredder all the time. Carrion Grub, of all things, is your three-drop of choice simply to buff Houndmaster and ensure you may have some board presence moving into turn four. I was skeptical of how well those stats would play out, but much like Darkshire Councilman, the fifth toughness shouldn’t be underestimated. Savannah Highmane got a minor buff in this format and is still one of the best six-drops available. Unlike Fire Elemental, the Dr. Six still trades well with commonly played minions and gives some much needed resiliency against Control Warrior and Paladin decks.

Evident’s Notes: You can also successfully run this list with Doomsayer. MrYagut ran such a list and has been doing quite well on the ladder with it.

How to Beat Midrange Hunter?

Either take board control away from it early and force the Hunter player to rely on Call of the Wild and burn to win or curve your removal and have access to burst healing. Unless you run Doomsayer, Explosive Trap and Unleash the Hounds I feel Zoo is pretty favored in this match. All of Zoo’s minions trade reasonably well and Power Overwhelming / Doomguard still solves any issues you may have with Grub into Houndmaster. If you don’t nuke the board with a clear early Zoo usually runs away with the game.

Aggro Shaman is very hard to race or defend against successfully with this deck. Either you have to try and use a worse clock or take a bunch of early damage and hope they don’t burn you out. At least the few extra taunts in the deck help against Doomhammer. Midrange Shaman is much easier to deal with because of the lack of burst finishers which means once you do take board control you can go straight to racing. Same thing if you just chain Call of the Wild into Kill Command on the following turn. You can afford to burst Midrange Shaman out over two turns.

Midrange Hunter Gameplay Videos

• VS. Renolock
• VS. Midrange Hunter
• VS. Warlock Zoo
• VS. Tempo Warrior
• VS. N’Zoth Paladin

Featured Deck

Xzirez’s Rank 3 Legend Midrange Hunter

Recent Midrange Hunter Deck Variations

• XL Midrange Beast Hunter – #9 Legend (chen) – Wild S120
• Midrange Hunter – #95 Legend (Jambre) – Castle Nathria
• Midrange Hunter – Orange – The Barrens
• Budget Midrange Hunter – Legend (Old Guardian) – Outland
• Midrange Hunter – wiRer – Galakrond’s W1

Much like Freeze Mage, Renolock has typically seen the majority of its success at the tournament level. It can still ladder effectively and has access to everything a control deck needs to succeed. Sometimes the inconsistency can catch up with the deck but having the best hero power in the game goes a long way toward solving that issue. If the deck draws a hand that can put up some resistance in the early game, then it can be very difficult to ever take board control or out-resource the Reno player.

For tech choices, Cult Apothecary has started to pick up steam as Zoo has been picking up popularity at high legend ranks. Doomsayer now seems to be a staple in Renolock instead of a tech option. Faceless Shambler is an interesting option, which I assumed would be too situational to really see play. Getting a taunt copy of Mountain Giant or Twilight Drake is obviously the dream, but just jamming it on any random five toughness minion can be enough against aggro.

In the current meta, Demonwrath also feels like a slam for the deck and I would advise not just blind copying the various tournament lists if you plan on laddering. Much like the N’Zoth Paladin lists, you want to slant toward beating aggression and tempo strategies unless you’re playing in top 100 legend territory. Even then, it hasn’t felt slanted back toward control decks all that much compared to the breakdown you see in tournaments as of late.

What Beats Renolock?

Druid can do a reasonable job of clocking with tough to kill minions, and if they run C'Thun it can force an early Reno Jackson to stay out of burst range. The problem is you don’t have as many giant minions needed to fight for board control so you lean heavily on your few big removal spells. They can also keep up with your drawing if they see Nourish and just generally make your life difficult. The Yogg Token strategy is easier to beat, but a lot of that match comes down to keeping Violet Teacher in check and getting fortunate Yogg RNG.

Midrange Hunter would be favorable if not for Call of the Wild, but we live in a world where that card exists, so good luck. If you can maintain board control and draw enough healing to stay above 10, then things aren’t so bad. They can never out-value you, but they certainly can beat you in tempo in the early game and do a hell of a lot of damage to you. Tempo Mage is similar in that if you can avoid taking a ton of damage early you can run away with the game, but otherwise you risk dying to a bunch of burst damage around the 7-8 mana point.

Freeze Mage is a complete joke match, either you draw your heals and can run them out of relevant cards or you just get rolled over.

All aggro matches come down to seeing a sweeper early or chaining a bunch of early heals while fighting for board. Zoo and Aggro Shaman are favorable if you can deal with the first few threats without taking tons of damage, but if you fall below 15 by turn four you only have Reno Jackson to pull you back. If you don’t have the early clears, even gaining 20+ life may not be enough if they just face you for 12-15 of it right back.

Renolock Gameplay Videos

• VS. C’Thun Warrior
• VS. Warlock Zoo
• VS. Renolock
• VS. Beast Druid
• VS. Tempo Warrior
• VS. Aggro Shaman

Featured Deck

Bradfordlee’s Renolock – Hearthstone Americas Spring Prelims 2016

Recent Renolock Deck Variations

• XL Reno Warlock – #158 Legend (Unknown) – Wild S120
• XL Reno Warlock – #67 Legend (Unknown) – Wild S119
• XL Reno Warlock – #490 Legend (Rea) – Badlands Deepholm
• XL Reno Warlock – #250 Legend (tayloreve) – Wild S118
• XL Reno Warlock – #8 Legend (chenmo) – Wild S117

This is a deck where all my experience against it has been on the opposing side of the board. What interests me is that it has more options than old Face Warrior and can actually play board control early if that’s the best option. N'Zoth's First Mate is sweet against all these Zoo decks and you can clock with the best of them. The deck is still linear–you have to be attacking face early and often to win–however, you can actually contest board control with the increased weapon utility and both N'Zoth's First Mate and Bloodsail Cultist added drops on the curve which were previously lacking.

More refinement is necessary before I’d want to bring this into a tournament setting but for laddering, it seems solid. You can race any slower deck without needing to gain board control first, contest board early against Zoo and Shaman and take advantage of opponents mulliganing against all the slow iterations of Warrior.

Evident’s Notes: This choice was between a bunch of other Warrior decks. The Warrior class seems so insane right now, because it has TONS of options at its disposal right now: C’Thun, Control, Tempo, Dragon, Patron, and Pirate. These are all strong viable legend decks that the class can choose from.

Pirate Warrior Gameplay Videos

• VS. Midrange Hunter
• VS. C’Thun Druid
• VS. Warlock Zoo
• VS. Tempo Warrior

Featured Deck

Chakki’s Aggro Pirate Warrior – Hearthstone Americas Spring Prelims 2016

Recent Pirate Warrior Deck Variations

• Pirate Warrior – #270 Legend (Unknown) – Twist (Wonderful Un’Goro)
• Pirate Warrior – Izam – Twist Season 1 (Wonders)
• Questline Pirate Warrior – #410 Legend (Dillusion79) – Wild S113
• Questline Pirate Warrior – Early #194 Legend (Eltinho) – Sunken City
• Budget Pirate Warrior – Voyage to the Sunken City

This is the most recent deck, and one I’m not familiar with outside of VODS. If Evident has something to say about it, I’m sure he’ll add his own notes here. From what I’ve seen, Savjz took Miracle Druid and Token Druid and mixed them together while throwing in Yogg-Saron, Hope's End for funsies. What’s surprising about it is how effective the deck has actually been at the high legend ranks. Some of that is obviously surprise when people didn’t know what was happening, but the continued success of it is something to take note of.

Perhaps Token Druid with a real end game is something worth exploring even if you dislike the RNG that Yogg brings to the table. Unlike Ramp Druid, you rarely run out of cards with this deck, and you can actually run away with the game if you keep board control and they don’t have an answer to a card like Violet Teacher or Gadgetzan Auctioneer. Besides, casting Yogg for 10+ spells is just sweet.

Evident’s Notes: I know this deck might seem crazy, but Savjz had an insane winstreak with his version of the deck and at one point made it to top-10 legend. J4CKIECHAN’s version, which I’ve included here, was bouncing around the top-10 all stream and nearly claimed the #1 spot multiple times. This may literally be a case of the deck surprising people, but Druid token decks have been strong in the past and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a version of this deck floating around in the days to come.

Yogg-Saron Token Druid Gameplay Videos

• J4CKIECHAN’s Stream to #2 Legend
• Savjz’s Stream to Top-10 Legend

Featured Deck

J4CKIECHAN’s Yogg-Saron Token Druid Deck List Guide

Recent Yogg-Saron Token Druid Deck Variations

• Token Druid – #109 Legend (KBACAMP) – Twist S05 (Commons)
• Token Druid – #1 Legend (Silence2104) – Twist S05 (Commons)
• Token Druid – #48 Legend (Unknown) – Twist S05 (Commons)
• Token Druid – #40 Legend (トゥーーン) – Twist S05 (Commons)
• Token Druid – #45 Legend (Pelthune) – Twist S05 (Commons)