So, patch 33.2 dropped on Tuesday. The update was mostly focused on Battlegrounds, but it had a few Standard changes – two nerfs and two buffs. Unsurprisingly, the nerfs made a big difference. Dorian/Agamaggan Warlock is pretty much dead, as it can no longer consistently hit the right cards with Cursed Catacombs. And while players are trying to salvage Cycle Rogue (some play the deck as it was, some replaced Playhouse Giants with Red Giants, and others have dropped the Giants altogether), it is now significantly weaker than it was before the patch, and it’s harder to win through early Giant scams.
Buffs, on the other hand, didn’t matter that much. Quest Mage buff was definitely more relevant and it at least made players try out the deck again. It’s actually one of the most popular decks in the game, but it’s still Tier 3. You can technically climb with it if you’re good enough or get lucky, but it’s clearly not top tier. It’s pretty fun to play though, so if you already have the right cards, give it a try. And honestly, 1 or 2 more buffs and it might get there. On the other hand, the Quest Demon Hunter buff made literally zero impact. Which wasn’t hard to predict, because it was more of a QoL change that didn’t address the issues with the deck. In reality, if you can complete the Quest and play a reward without dying, you’re generally in a good spot already – but most of the time it’s just too slow.
Some of the most powerful decks after the patch are Handbuff and Beast Hunter, Aggro and Cliff Dive Demon Hunter, Aggro Paladin, Owlonius Druid, different flavors of Priest (Bandate OTK, Protoss, Menagerie)… and, surprisingly, Big Spell Mage. I’m honestly not sure why, but the deck has suddenly started popping off on the ladder and it works quite well. It runs Tsunami (obviously) as well as Huddle Up as the spells it wants to cheat. It’s hard to say if it’s just flavor of the month deck, or if it will stick around, but seeing it again was very surprising.
Other decks that are somewhere around Tier 2 (so still very much viable, but not top contenders) include stuff like Dummy Warrior, Elemental Mage, Fyrakk Rogue, Quest Paladin (still the only really viable Quest deck), Starship Demon Hunter and Nebula Shaman (the deck has gained a few win rate % after the patch). A few Death Knight decks are sitting on the edge between Tier 2 and 3 – mostly Blood Leech/Starship builds (but Stegodon version is surprisingly okay too).
One extra deck worth mentioning is Aviana Druid. It’s one of the most popular decks on the ladder, despite performing pretty poorly in terms of stats (low Tier 3). It’s yet another “scam deck” that relies on playing an early Aviana with no other minions in the deck and then winning the game with 1-Cost Legendaries. The deck is incredibly RNG-heavy, if you hit the right Legendaries you can often close out the game around Turn 5-6. But then you might get a bunch of useless stuff and just die. The deck has no real alternate game plan. Your experience will probably vary wildly – one player can win 10 games in a row after getting lucky, and another might not hit any viable minions and not be able to win a single game. That’s why many people are hitting #1 Legend with it even though the win rate is very low overall (this is not an example of a “high skill cap” deck that only a few can master).
As you can see, we actually have a pretty healthy number of different decks in the meta. However, players still aren’t very happy with it. I’d say that there are two big problems. First one is that many of the decks are still relying on “scam tactics” (usually cheating out big stuff or some OTK combo in the mid game, hoping that your opponent can’t answer it). That’s what two of the nerfed decks also relied on, but we still have many others. To answer to those decks you often have to play Aggro – this type of deck often lacks proper defenses. So the meta is mostly centered around those two strategies. And the second problem is that The Lost City of Un’Goro expansion is still incredibly underpowered. We’re over a month into it, but most of the new decks are still nowhere to be seen. If you look at the ones I listed, pretty much all of them are old decks with maybe 1-2 new cards added (which I already covered when discussing last week’s meta). I feel like it’s one of the lowest impact expansions in history, maybe even worse than Rastakhan’s Rumble in that aspect.
Our only hope right now is that the mini-set is going to fix stuff. And we won’t have to wait TOO long. We don’t have any exact dates, but it should be out around late August or early September. I hope that the upcoming cards are better tuned and that Quest decks get some support in there.
Oh, and sorry, I focused so much on Standard that I forgot about Wild. There’s a Wild version of Heroic Brawliseum going on right now, so the decks I featured are from it (gonna post a few more before it ends next Wednesday). As usual, I wouldn’t recommend playing it unless you’ve very confident in your skill/luck. The average score of 3-3 is a net loss when you compare rewards to the entry cost (you need around 5 wins to come out very slightly ahead). At the same time, I WOULD recommend trying Wild. I honestly think that the current Wild meta is better than the Standard one, which is pretty… wild.
Below is a full list of the Legend decks from last week, sorted by the highest placement.
If you want to see all of the current top meta decks, go to our Hearthstone Meta Tier List post!
Hearthstone Standard Legend Decks of the Week
Sideboard
Sideboard
Sideboard
Sideboard
Sideboard
Sideboard
Sideboard
- 1Lock On2
- 2Missile Pod2
- 2Triangulate1
- 3Fairy Tale Forest1
- 3Hex1
- 5Farseer Nobundo1
- 6Shudderblock1
- 9Nebula2
- 0Wisp2
- 0Zilliax Deluxe 30001
- 1Beaming Sidekick2
- 1Fire Fly2
- 1Murmy2
- 1Platysaur2
- 1Vicious Slitherspear2
- 2Busy-Bot2
- 2Coconut Cannoneer2
- 2Maze Guide2
- 2Rockskipper1
Sideboard
Sideboard
Hearthstone Wild Legend Decks of the Week
- 1Potion of Madness1
- 1Psychic Conjurer1
- 1Shadow Word: Devour1
- 2Papercraft Angel1
- 2Serena Bloodfeather1
- 2Spirit of the Kaldorei1
- 3Cathedral of Atonement1
- 3Chillin’ Vol’jin1
- 4Glowstone Gyreworm1
- 4Najak Hexxen1
- 4Puppet Theatre1
- 5Darkbishop Benedictus1
- 5Mass Hysteria1
- 5Raza the Chained1
- 5Spawn of Shadows1
- 7Aman’Thul1
- 8Shadowreaper Anduin1
- 9Aviana, Elune’s Chosen1
- 0Raise Dead1
- 1Miracle Salesman1
- 1Nightshade Tea1
- 1Sir Finley, Sea Guide1
- 2Cult Neophyte1
- 2Dirty Rat1
- 2Fanboy1
- 2Parrot Sanctuary1
- 2Zephrys the Great1
- 3Mixologist1
- 3Prince Renathal1
- 3Razorscale1
- 4Blademaster Okani1
- 4E.T.C., Band Manager1
- 4Elise the Navigator1
- 4Griftah, Trusted Vendor1
- 4Hysteria1
- 4Nightmare Lord Xavius1
- 5Loatheb1
- 5Magatha, Bane of Music1
- 6Reno Jackson1
- 6Theotar, the Mad Duke1
Sideboard
Sideboard
- 0Devouring Swarm1
- 0Serpentbloom1
- 1Awakening Tremors1
- 1Sneaky Snakes1
- 1Thornmantle Musician1
- 1Trinket Tracker1
- 1Wound Prey1
- 2Bloodseeker1
- 2Doggie Biscuit1
- 2Observer of Myths1
- 2Patchwork Pals1
- 2Selective Breeder1
- 2Spirit Poacher1
- 2Titanforged Traps1
- 2ZOMBEEEES!!!1
- 3Acidmaw1
- 3Dreadscale1
- 3Exarch Naielle1
- 3Ramming Mount1
- 3Wild Spirits1
- 4Theldurin the Lost1
- 6Beaststalker Tavish1
- 6Hope of Quel’Thalas1
- 1Miracle Salesman1
- 2Cult Neophyte1
- 2Far Watch Post1
- 2Greedy Partner1
- 2Troubled Mechanic1
- 2Zephrys the Great1
- 3Mixologist1
- 3Prince Renathal1
- 3Razorscale1
- 3Smothering Starfish1
- 4Blademaster Okani1
- 4E.T.C., Band Manager1
- 4Lorekeeper Polkelt1
- 4Speaker Stomper1
- 5Boompistol Bully1
- 5Loatheb1
- 6Mojomaster Zihi1
Sideboard
- 1Sir Finley, Sea Guide1
- 1Sphere of Sapience1
- 2Astalor Bloodsworn1
- 2Dirty Rat1
- 2Zephrys the Great1
- 3All You Can Eat1
- 4Aftershocks1
- 4E.T.C., Band Manager1
- 4Lorekeeper Polkelt1
- 4Nightmare Lord Xavius1
- 6Bob the Bartender1
- 6Theotar, the Mad Duke1
- 7Marin the Manager1
- 8Reno, Lone Ranger1
- 9Ysera, Emerald Aspect1
- 125The Ceaseless Expanse1
- 1Scrappy Scavenger1
- 1The Forbidden Sequence1
- 2Ancient Mysteries1
- 2Heat Wave1
- 2Hidden Objects1
- 2Infinitize the Maxitude1
- 2Rewind1
- 2Smoldering Grove1
- 2Vast Wisdom1
- 2Void Scripture1
- 3Buy One, Get One Freeze1
- 3Frost Nova1
- 3Ice Block1
- 3Objection!1
- 3Solid Alibi1
- 3Storage Scuffle1
- 3Watercolor Artist1
- 4Pocket Dimension1
- 4Varden Dawngrasp1
- 5Mes’Adune the Fractured1
- 5Sleet Skater1
- 6Coldarra Drake1
- 1Devolving Missiles1
- 1Sir Finley, Sea Guide1
- 2Dirty Rat1
- 2Tidepool Pupil1
- 2Zephrys the Great1
- 3Card Grader1
- 3Prince Renathal1
- 3Reverberations1
- 3Tide Pools1
- 4E.T.C., Band Manager1
- 4Griftah, Trusted Vendor1
- 4Lorekeeper Polkelt1
- 4Nightmare Lord Xavius1
- 4Sleepy Resident1
- 6Bob the Bartender1
- 6Reno Jackson1
- 6Theotar, the Mad Duke1
- 8Reno, Lone Ranger1

















































































































































































































































































































































