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Hearthstone
Going Back to the Zoo: The Rise of Demon Zoo Lock
The Zoo Lock has been around in Hearthstone for quite some time now and has had many iterations and its share of ups and downs. Zoo has been the undisputed king of the ladder and has also completely disappeared for long stretches of time. Players like Xixo have proved that Zoo Lock has a ton of potential as he has used it several times to reach Legend first in multiple seasons and has found success in tournaments with the deck as well. Trump used a free-to-play version of the deck to reach Legend without spending a dime proving that there are ways to make the deck work with limited resources. Of course, Reynad is often credited with popularizing the deck and introducing cards like Doomguards and, at one point, even Shieldbearer to the mix. Needless to say the deck has seen some action (unlike poor ol' Goldshire Footman) and has changed more than any other archetype in the game. That trend continues with the emergence of the Demon Zoo Lock after the addition of one key card from Black Rock Mountain.
Let's take a look at the deck and break down each card's place in the deck and then we'll discuss some important combos and possible replacements as well as general game strategy.
Hearthstone
The Return of the Freeze Mage: The Emperor Strikes Back
Once upon a time the Hearthstone meta was dominated by Mages. Every archetype of Mage was top tier and that was because of the pre-nerf mana cost of some powerful spells as well as the lack of healing in Hearthstone. It seems crazy these days to think that not only did Mages have access to 8-mana but that all of the spells cost one mana less. This meant that Freeze Mage could start freezing your board on turn 2 and never let a single minion attack go through. Needless to say this was incredibly frustrating to play against and Blizzard decided to nerf all of the freeze spells by one mana in the name of fun. Freeze Mage was still viable but definitely became a much more balanced deck.
Enter the Black Rock Mountain adventure and a single Dark Iron Dwarf by the name of . His ability is one that was looked at as potentially game breaking before anyone had a chance to play with the card as he can essentially un-nerf certain cards. However, in practice, the card has not proven to be overpowered but does in certain decks provide a large amount of value. In my opinions Freeze Mage is the best equipped deck in the game to take advantage of the mana reduction that Thaurissan provides for a few reasons. Freeze Mage often has a very large hand since it features a high amount of drawing cards and also, the power of the Freeze Mage is in the ability to do large amounts of burst damage using a sequence of burn spells. Those spells costing less mana means that more of them can be fit into the same turn allowing for larger amounts of sudden damage.
Let's take a look at the deck and break down each card's place in the deck and then we'll discuss some important combos and possible replacements as well as general game strategy.
Hearthstone
New Cards, Same Ol' Savagery - A Guide to the New GvG Druid
Druid has consistently been at or near the top of the meta for longer than any other class since the beginning of the Hearthstone Beta. The addition of the Goblins vs. Gnomes card set did nothing to slow down the versatile class and, in fact, has increased its power. While other classes, such as Mage and Paladin, have benefitted a little more, saving them from the depths of the rankings, Druid didn't need much help to begin with. In fact, no Druid class cards have been added to the standard aggressive Druid deck but the neutral cards that were added to the game fit very nicely into the existing deck and have really upped the power level.
Let's take a look at the deck and break down each card. Then we'll discuss some important combos and possible replacements as well as general game strategy.
Hearthstone
Strike It Rich and Discover Oil Rogue
Ever since the nerf to , the Rogue class has been struggling to find a viable deck utilizing the new GvG cards. Popular pro players and streamers tested and tinkered with ideas that had worked in the past but the Miracle Rogue seemed to have been finally crushed under the weight of nerfs, s and tiny trains that say "chugga chugga". Luckily, the player base of Hearthstone does not give up easily and a viable Rogue deck sprung up in several forms and from several different prominent players. In this article I will discuss the Rogue deck that I have landed on after playing it a bunch during the end of last season
and now into the February season.
Let's take a look at the deck and break down each card. Then we'll discuss some important combos and possible replacements as well as general game strategy.
Hearthstone
To Battle! A Guide to Mid-Range Paladin
Prior to the release of Goblins vs. Gnomes the Paladin class was in a rough spot and considered the worst class on the ladder. The main issue was that there were not enough quality early game cards and even though Paladin had some of the best catch up mechanics in the game it was often to late to stabilize by the time they could be played. Luckily, for all of you Paladin enthusiasts out there, GvG introduced some great cards that added an early game arsenal to the class and have opened up a new viable archetype. Midrange Paladin is seeing a lot of play on the ladder and is actually proving to be successful.
This version of Paladin is also seeing some tournament play with both finalists on the recent
Pinnacle tournament
,
Firebat
and
Xixo
, bringing their takes on the deck. Checkout the deciding game 5 to see a similar deck in action and the sheer amount of pressure it can apply to decks as controlling as Warrior. One of the biggest advantages that the deck has is the ability to have a fast start and still compete with late game control decks as well. For that reason it is a very consistent deck which makes it a fantastic one to play on the ladder.
Let's take a look at the deck and break down each card and how to play it.
Hearthstone
Mage Mech Deck: Popular Mage Mechanics
It has only been a week since Goblins vs. Gnomes was released and, as predicted, the meta blew up. It’s the wild west out there right now, if the wild west consisted of tiny humanoids and crazy gadgets, and people are playing every deck under the sun on the ladder. A few cool decks have already popped up and today we’re going to discuss one that is fairly cheap to create and utilizes the main theme of GvG, mechs.
Let's take a look at
the deck
and break down each card and how to play it.
Hearthstone
How to Win $100k and Influence People with Druid
Druid has gone through so many iterations at this point and had many players refine and innovate around the fantastic class cards that are available to it.
StrifeCro
is one of the first players credited with creating a powerful Druid deck with his old school Watcher deck that relied on silencing or taunting up . More recently we have seen
Kolento
take an updated Token Druid to the top of the ladder that included cards like and . This is a leaner and more solid version of Druid that has several strong opening hands, some hard to deal with creatures and a lot of burst potential to pressure the opponent's life total and control the board.
Let's take a look at the version Firebat used to win it all at Blizzcon and break down each card and its place in the deck.
Hearthstone
Maly Goes West
This last weekend was spent recuperating from the heavy drinking that occurred while watching my favorite baseball team, the Giants, win the pennant, by watching some Hearthstone tournaments. And we had a damn fine Hearthstone tournament to watch with the
Seatstory Cup II
event that took place. I knew that I would likely write up one of the decks used by the winner but I had no idea it would be the Malygod deck that shined brightest.
Savjz
, from Team Liquid, (pronounced SAV-EEE.....eh, I have no idea) has a special place in my heart since he was the winner of the first ever
Angry Chicken Invitational
, so it was quite entertaining for me to watch him do so well with such a fun deck.
Continue Reading for a full list, card explanations and more!
Hearthstone
Hunter: Not Dead Yet
After the nerf to Starving Buzzard many predicted that Hunter was about to fall to the bottom of the totem pole. A lot of people were excited for this shift and what it would mean for the ladder and the overall balance of Hearthstone as Hunter had been on top for quite a while at that point. Hell, I was one of them. The first night after the nerfs went live I played Handlock all night and had a blast. Little did I know that almost instantly Hunters would make their triumphant return. Sure, the deck list has changed and the mid-range Hunter isn't nearly as good as it was with the Buzzard/Unleash combo but the class is going as strong as ever.
In this article we'll take a look at what a modern Hunter deck looks like without Starving Buzzard or Leeroy Jenkins and break down each card and its place in the deck.
Continue Reading for a full list, card explanations and more!
Hearthstone
The Burn Shall Burn You! A Guide to Aggro Mage
Last week we discussed the mighty Handlock which is a deck full of huge minions and AoE spells that can control the board and win in the late game. It's a very popular deck on the ladder again and in tournaments and we witnessed the power of Handlock this last weekend in the Road to Blizzcon EU tournament in particular. Kolento was able to 3-0 TheFishou after being down 2-0 to an incredibly fast Aggro Mage. In this article we'll talk about that fast Mage deck and why it could be a good deck for tournaments and, depending on the meta, the ladder as well. Mage has been mostly absent from the meta game for a while now mostly due to the prevalence of Hunter and Control Warrior but as the meta shifts, decks like this become viable again.
This deck relies on getting minions out quickly that can be buffed on subsequent turns to get a bunch of damage to the face in the early game, then burn the opponent out with the large amount of Mage spells that can get past popular taunts like . There are some very favorable match ups that are popular right now, especially Handlock, but a deck this fast can really beat anything if the draws come in correctly. The early damage potential combined with mid-game burst means that this deck can just run people over. This style of Mage deck is not new by any means but with some of the Naxx cards that have been added recently it has improved quite a bit.
Continue Reading for a full list, card explanations and more!
Hearthstone
Leeroy? Handlock Don't Need No Stinking Leeroy
September 22nd marks the end of an era. The era of at least still having chicken. The era of time being up so just doing it. The era of 5 mana filling up the hand of a Hunter because somehow it's balanced. The era of certain card emotes leading to insta-concedes. At least it seems that way as I write this. Most people believe, and I agree, that the nerfs to Hunter and Leeroy will likely kill Hunter's dominance on the ladder and lead to a meta with much less burst potential and I for one welcome our new Handlock overlords. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention in all that the return of the Handlock!
These nerfs do a lot to help Handlock become incredibly powerful on the ladder again but we also have some great Naxx cards that can be added as well. The reason Handlock was a liability when Hunter was so prevalent is the combination of Hunter burn spells and hero power as well as the ease of taunt removal with Hunter's Mark. The idea behind Handlock is to fill your hand up at the expense of life and then use the large hand and low life to enable cheap giants. This deck was not viable when Mage was popular and wasn't viable against Hunter either. Now with Hunter likely going the way of the dodo, unless Mage comes back, Handlock will crush a lot of the minion based decks that are left.
Continue Reading for a full list, card explanations and more!
Hearthstone
Holy Undertaker, Batman. Priest is Back!
While I was away we have seen the explosive return of the Priest class. This was not a surprise to a lot of players since Priest got one of the better class cards in Naxxramas. What is surprising is how much some of the other Naxx cards have accelerated this resurgence. Undertaker is a key component in the new Deathrattle Priest deck. Yong Woo is calling it Donut Rush but I'll go with for this article as that is how this deck wins and donuts are fattening.
Continue Reading for a full list, card explanations and some overall deck strategy.
Hearthstone
Hearthstone is Officially Naxxed Out
We did it, you guys. We killed all of the bosses in the Naxxramas solo adventure. We out-dpsed Patchwerk, charged through Thaddius and cooled off the Frostwyrm Lair. Now that Kel'Thuzad has been put down and all of the cards are in play it's time to review the last two sets we have earned. This is the moment we were all waiting for as now all of the exciting new combinations and decks are possible. The last weekend of tournaments and ladder play were a great example of the life that 30 new cards breathed into the meta game.
Winning decks featured plenty of s, s and s. The tournament scene is no longer being overrun with Zoo Warlocks and Miracle Rogues, although Hunters have stepped up to replace them. It is an exciting new era and now that this first major content expansion has completed we can start delving into specific decks again next week. For now let's look at the rest of the Naxx set and grade each card individually.
Keep reading for a full evaluation of the Construct Quarter and Frostwyrm Lair cards.
Hearthstone
Go Ahead, I Riven-Double-Deathrattle-Dare You!
The Military Quarter has marched in and with it comes another 6 cards. The boss fights in this wing are actually some of the toughest so far and are a lot of fun and challenging. That being said I think this might have be the smallest shift in the meta we have seen from a single wing so far. While some really cool cards were added this week they have not yet broken through and made waves in the meta game. That's not to say that changes didn't happen. They did. This set of cards, however, has some interesting choices and some cards that only apply to specific decks.
We are getting close to having the full set and that is when the meta game will really start to accelerate as all of the new combinations will be available. For now we will discuss each of the cards that were introduced this week and some decks that have been changed to include them. I’ll assign a letter grade to each one as well based on my current evaluations. The value will change as new cards come out and offer new synergy and combo potential. Let’s get started.
The Cards
Of course, a 4/4 for 3 is strong but the downside is only really worth it for aggro decks which are willing to sacrifice card advantage for tempo and damage. That leaves this card in an awkward spot in a meta that has become very tough for aggro. The Shockadin (Aggro Paladin) can make great use of this card, however, as the deathrattle actually helps get more value from , so this card fits very well into that deck. As far as other aggro decks I don't believe this card will replace any of the charge and damage dealing deathrattles and battlecries that already exist often enough times to make a huge dent in the meta.
Constructed: C+
The decks it does work in will make great use of this card but for the most part it will be rare to see in my opinion.
Arena: C
This is a pickable card but there are many common cards that will get picked ahead of it. It's mediocre at best as you will need to get at least 2 for 1 to get a 2 for 2.
The 5-drop slot is getting crowded with , , and now Spectral Knight but that's a good thing. This was once a tough slot to fill after the nerf and now the options abound. Decks that have trouble against Miracle Rogue can make great use of this card as well as classes without their own 5-drops. So far I'm seeing this card in Shaman the most but all midrange decks can make use of this card as it is a on steroids. Plus its 6 health increases the odds of getting a 2 for 1 as the opponent is forced to trade minions into it. The downside of course is that your own buff spells cannot target it so to buff it requires minion battlecries and proximity buffs.
Constructed: B
I don't feel this card belongs in very many decks but the ones it does belong in are vastly improved with its inclusion. It's tough for a lot of classes to deal with and when played onto an empty board can take over a game.
Arena: B+
This will be a great pick in arena since beating Mage and Rogue is such a big deal. This card doesn't die to Fireball and cannot be Sapped or Eviscerated meaning it will stick and get value in almost every situation.
Ah, Deathlord. What do we do with you? This card has a lot of upside but will sometimes lose you the game so be careful. It has been used in a lot of decks to counter those pesky Zoolocks but against other decks it can be hard to get enough value to make up for the awful deathrattle. That said this card does have its uses. In a Priest deck you can heal the huge health pool and get a lot of value by trading and drawing cards as you heal outweighing the drawback with positive value. Sometimes the deathrattle can actually benefit you as the opponent loses out on battlecries. This is fairly rare, however, and the times it pulls a Ragnaros for free makes that a wash. Play this card at your own risk.
Constructed: B-
Very good in one deck and possibly very bad in others. It does counter Zoo fairly well so I predict you will see it in tournament play fairly often.
Arena: C
It is so hard to get value out of a card like this in arena. Sure, it will annoy the opponent while it's out there but the tempo will swing back once a free minion hits the board and so it's kind of like blowing your nitro boost too early. The other guy just catches up and passes you and you lose.
This guy is supposed to make all those deathrattle decks everyone has been dreaming of a reality. Unfortunately, I don't think we're going to see this very often in high level ladder or tournament decks as the end result is just a bunch of gimmicks and cool combos that don't happen enough to win games. This is coming from a guy who has already experienced the Rivendare + Cairne + Reincarnate dream. While that was incredibly fun to do and very satisfying it happened maybe twice over the course of about a dozen games and that is just not consistent enough to climb the ladder. I recommend you try for yourself but until we get the I think this will remain a gimmick that you will get crushed by on occasion. That said, come on, this is just a damn fun card.
Constructed: C+
It can work. It just won't work often enough to make it worth building a deck around.
Arena: C-
There is no way to know that you will draft enough deathrattles to take this so I recommend staying away in arena. In the Legendary slot there will often be a much better option anyway.
I really want cool Demon decks to become all the rage and some have started to pop up. Until that perfect mix of Demons and good neutral cards is found, however, this card will be rare on the ladder.
Realz
did play a cool Demon deck in the latest
VGVN Tournament
with some success. The drawback is that the stats are weak for 4 mana so if there is no Demon in your hand when the Voidcaller dies you basically just played a worse Yeti.
Constructed: B-
The Demon decks will be coming and when they do this will be the MVP. For now there hasn't been enough play time to know its true power but this is a very cool card.
Arena: C-
Unless you have already drafted a bunch of Demons this card will be a pass. The problem is that most of the Demons are already weak in arena so you will be passing on them anyway. I don't see this card being a strong arena pick.
Everyone looked at this card and though of all of the crazy combos and awesome plays that can be done. After playing with it for a while I can confirm that awesomeness can be achieved with this card. The issue is that the awesomeness is inconsistent and requires some setup to pull off but if you can get there just once during a game then you will likely win. An example of this is the Earth Elemental/Cairne + Ancestral Spirit + Reincarnate play. The problem I ran into was that I spent the game fighting for the board and by the time a play like this made sense it felt as though I could have just pushed for damage with other cards instead of waiting for one big turn. That said, I did get the combo off a few times and there was no coming back for the opponent. Don't give up, dear reader. This card will find its way into competitive decks.
Constructed: B
It can shine and shine brightly but it can also lay dormant in your hand. I believe in this card though. The potential is through the roof.
Arena: C-
This card is akin to Ancestral Healing in arena. You will find it difficult to make work without cards around it that are meant to take advantage of what it does well which is exploit deathrattles.
Final Thoughts
I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that the Priest is having a bit of a renaissance lately as some of the new cards have really allowed the class to shine in a control heavy meta. The bad news...Miracle Rogue is back and back with a vengeance. It's just too hard to counter this deck even with some of the new Naxx cards like and Spectral Knight. Ultimately it's okay that one deck is just really powerful since the new wings will shake up the meta again but for the time being it can be very frustrating to play against. The best advice to those having a hard time dealing with Miracle Rogue is to save that Loatheb for the turn you think they are about to go off. Sometimes it is tempting to slam it down on turn 5 but then you miss the chance to disrupt the big drawing turn.
This week's Military Quarter did bring some fun new cards and has added to the already rich nature of the current state of the game but this was an incremental shift at most. We should see some interesting changes next week with the addition of and but for now we're inching along as things have stabilized a touch. A lot of creative decks are right around the corner and I'll bet some of you have concocted some already. If you have some decks that have made use of the new cards feel free to link them in the comments section. I will also be streaming the release of the construct quarter at midnight on Tuesday so check out
my Twitch channel
to see me make attempts at the new Heroic bosses.
The construct wing includes one of my favorite bosses ever,
Thaddius
, so I look forward to streaming the fun.
Until then, job’s done!
Hearthstone
The Plague is Here…and its Name is Loatheb
The Plague Quarter hit last week with a bit of a whimper as many players could not participate for about 72 hours due to some issues with the purchase process when using gold. Luckily for me I was able to play it the first day as I purchased all of the wings with real money as a package. The boss fights were quite fun in this wing and the Heroic versions did offer a bit of a challenge. Here are links to the decks I used for each Heroic boss if anyone is still having issues:
We’ll discuss each of the cards that were introduced this week and some decks that have been changed to include them. I’ll assign a letter grade to each one as well based on my current evaluations. The value will change as new cards come out and offer new synergy and combo potential. Let’s get started.
Keep reading for a breakdown of each new card and it's place in the current meta.
Hearthstone
An Itsy-Bitsy Meta Shift
The heavily anticipated first wing of Naxxramas finally hit last week and with it came 6 new cards to shake up the meta game of Hearthstone. Many people have been complaining that the meta had been stale for some time so Naxx is here just in time. While there are 30 cards coming in the Naxx expansion eventually we only got 6 this week and the cards will be introduced over the next 5 weeks in smaller groups which means the meta will evolve each week by a smaller amount.
Let’s go over each of the cards that were introduced this week and what decks have started to utilize them. We’ll also grade the cards based on what we’ve seen so far. Keep in mind that even though these cards are out now their value will change each week as new cards come out and the meta shifts again. For now we are only worried about how these cards have affected the existing meta game.
Keep reading for a breakdown of each new card and it's place in the current meta.
Hearthstone
Zetalot Priest: For Fun and Prophet
There will always be a class that is at the bottom of the totem pole in Hearthstone and for a while now that class has been Priest. While this means that many people will avoid playing the class entirely it also encourages those players who enjoy a challenge to come up with ways to solve the Priests inherent issues and thrive playing only the “worst” class.
Amaz
is one of these players and has made a name for himself as one of the most popular streamers as well as a Priest specialist. He is known for sniper shots and having fun on stream but also for winning some big tournaments. A bit lesser known but equally as skilled at the ways of the Priest is an EU player named
Zetalot
. He plays a very different deck that features the Priest legendary but with a similar board control style and has found success on the ladder. Since more people know of the Amaz version of Priest let’s take a look at Zetalot’s deck and discuss its play style.
Continue Reading for a full list, card explanations and a video of some gameplay.
Hearthstone
I Will Taunt You a Second Time...and a Third and a Fourth time
Control Paladin has been in a rough spot for a long time and has virtually disappeared from the ladder. The Giants decks that were created by players like
Koyuki
just don’t have enough good match-ups in the current meta to compete but recently
Kolento
used a very slow Paladin deck to reach rank 1 legend and has started a small Pally resurgence.
In this article I will take a look at the deck and discuss the place each card has in it, as well as how to play the deck and why it works. It is not a fast deck by any means and is not one I would recommend for climbing the early ranks of the ladder but once you reach rank 5 a deck like this can be very consistent.
Continue Reading for a full list, card explanations and a video of some gameplay.
Hearthstone
This Pally Deck is Bananas
I was playing an older version of the Shockadin deck when I came across a player by the name of Viix. He appeared to be playing the same deck as myself so I prepared for the mirror match up when all of a sudden he dropped on me. I looked at my hand and noticed I had no way to clear Cho with out casting spells and suddenly I realized I was playing a God. I dropped a recruit and passed and then I got hit with a bombshell. , followed by . It was glorious. Viix is love, Viix is life.
In this article I’ll go over the deck I made immediately following my shellacking by this Hearthstone mega-mind and how to play it. I can honestly say it is one of my favorite decks in all of Hearthstone and it always catches people off guard. It also wins handily against Miracle Rogue and Handlock and does decently well against almost everything else, making it a great deck for the ladder. Enjoy!
Continue Reading for a full list, card explanations and a video of some gameplay.
Hearthstone
Victory or Death!
Control Warrior has been a staple on the ladder for several seasons now and continues to be strong. Face Warrior, on the other hand, has seen a dramatic decrease in play as it tends to run out of steam to any deck running taunts or a lot of removal although it is still a viable option in tournament play as it matches up well with Miracle Rogue. OTK Warrior was destroyed by Blizzard when and were nerfed which really only leaves Control Warrior although a new Tempo Warrior may be gaining popularity soon.
In this write up I’ll discuss one version of the Control Warrior that I have been running on the ladder and give some options for alternative cards that can be used instead. This deck has many variations and utilizes a bunch of early removal and late game legendaries but the flavor of Control Warrior can be tweaked to fit each player’s style. It is not a cheap deck by any means as it usually runs between 6- 8 legendaries. It is not a fast deck either and many games, especially the mirror match-up, can go to fatigue before a winner is decided. What this deck does do well is provide a consistent win rate at almost any rank on the ladder and absolutely smashes some popular decks like Freeze Mage or Aggro Hunter.
Continue Reading for a full list and card explanations.
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