Published , by Ozzie Mejia
Published , by Ozzie Mejia
The first Hearthstone expansion of this Standard year saw players explore the training grounds of the Horde. For the second expansion, it's time to gather the armies of Stormwind for the Alliance. United in Stormwind is Hearthstone's new expansion and it's set to release later today. Those playing Hearthstone may want to know exactly what they're getting into, because the Standard meta is about to become a very interesting place.
Blizzard quietly (for obvious reasons) held its usual pre-expansion theorycrafting session last week, offering an idea of what's coming in United in Stormwind. There were some amazing decks on display, as well as some mind-blowing new combos and deck strategies. We have a few decks to help you get started, in case you're jumping in on this first day.
Before going any further, we wish to acknowledge the continuing situation at Activision Blizzard. As a show of respect to the employees, we would like to take a moment to repost their demands that they made public prior to last week's walkout. Furthermore, we would like to encourage our readers to donate to the following charities: Black Girls CODE, FUTURES, Girls Who Code, RAINN, Women in Animation, and Women in Games International.
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Token Druid has undoubtedly lost steam since the start of the Standard year when several major class staples moved to Wild. However, Hearthstone Grandmaster NoHandsGamer is experimenting with an amalgamation of the Token Druid and the Taunt Druid. That means taking new cards like Vibrant Squirrel and mixing them together with Greybough.
This is more of a test of whether the Druid will have enough resources to go toe-to-toe with most other decks and there's a good chance it doesn't stand up to the newer Quest Druid, but for those looking to fill their board fast, this deck will be the way to go.
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How does the Hearthstone team add Shadow Priest without adding a new class? How about through a new Legendary? Darkbishop Benedictus turns your Priest into a Shadow Priest, provided that your deck's spells are only Shadow spells. Naturally, Brian Kibler was going to be one of the first Hearthstone personalities to take a crack at this and he looks to have found a pretty good deck that balances an aggressive approach with some fallback contingencies.
Shadow Priest doesn't have any healing available to it, so players will mainly rely on Discover effects for that. The new Pandaren Importer, Palm Reading, and Venomous Scorpid are good for finding healing spells to keep the Shadow Priest in the game. The new Void Shard's Lifesteal effect is also good for staying alive.
Make no mistake about it, though. This is all about hitting hard with aggressive minion and spell effects, so prepare to hit hard with cards like Shadowed Spirit and Psyfiend.
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Every now and then, the Hearthstone team will try and buff up the Paladin's Silver Hand Recruits in a significant way. They might have outdone themselves with the new Paladin Quest. Rise to the Occasion's Questline will upgrade the player's Hero Power and eventually buff up all Silver Hand Recruits going forward. Combined with Pursuit of Justice and Lothraxion the Redeemed, the goal is to summon multiple 5/3 Silver Hand Recruits with Divine Shield each turn, which is downright terrifying.
RegisKillbin shows just how to play this deck and also uses new Legendary minion Lady Prestor. Once the Paladin Quest is complete, those 1-Cost cards become clutter, so Lady Prestor will turn them all into presumably-more-helpful Dragons.
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I won't lie, the video above isn't the best indicator of this deck's effectiveness. However, Jeffrey "Trump" Shih has put together something solidly workable here. The obvious objective is to complete the Mage Questline, with the goal to have Arcanist Dawngrasp up all of your remaining spells to Spell Damage +3.
From there, the keys to victory are the new Ignite spell, which will cycle repeatedly into the player's deck, and Sanctum Chandler, which will act as a card draw tool.
Speaking of card draw tools, going to permanent Spell Damage +3 makes Cram Session especially dangerous in the late game. If you draw one early, hang on to it!
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Sway is a newer face on the Hearthstone content creation scene and she was among the streamers to give the new Warrior Questline a try. This deck is mainly reliant on playing Pirates and, fortunately, United in Stormwind offers a lot of new Pirate cards. Pirates serve a variety of purposes in this deck with Bloodsail Deckhand discounting weapons, Harbor Scamp drawing more Pirates, Cargo Guard offering an Armor boost, and Stonemaul Anchorman acting as the powerhouse.
The ultimate objective is to summon The Juggernaut!
No, not that Juggernaut! The Juggernaut is a Dormant token that cannot be removed and is summoned alongside Cap'n Rokara. This will put a new Pirate on the board, equip a new Warrior weapon, and fire two cannons at random enemies for 2 damage a piece at the start of every Warrior turn until the end of the game. The Juggernaut is not only a value monster, but it can also be a lifesaver. I went up against the Juggernaut a few times during my Theorycrafting session and was surprised by how many times a random Bulwark of Azzinoth would essentially make the Warrior invincible until their next turn.
Do not underestimate how much damage a Pirate Warrior can do in this expansion. Sway's deck is a great place to get started.
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It wouldn't be one of these features without Grandmaster Thijs Molendijk. He was among many trying what may be the strongest deck on Day 1 and that's the Quest Warlock. Quest Warlock is all about taking self-damage until you're able to get Blightborn Tamsin on the board. At that point, any self-damage taken during your turn hits your opponent instead. That includes the Warlock Hero Power, cards like Backfire, and also Fatigue damage.
Once the Blightborn Tamsin is on the board, it's a race to get to Fatigue. Backfire and Altar of Fire should help get there, while cards like Touch of the Nathrezim and Blood Shard Bristleback should help keep the Warlock's health total high.
Whatever you decide on for your Quest Warlock, know that you're in for quite a ride. This is going to do a lot of damage and unless there's some sort of disruption at the ready, like a Mutanus the Devourer, once the Warlock Quest is finished, it's going to be bad news for the other player.
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Admit it. You looked at this Elwynn Boar and you immediately thought, "This is a meme card." You're looking at this deck and saying, "Ozzie, this is a meme deck. Why are you giving us a meme deck?"
First off, it's a Day 1 deck feature, so hey, why not have some fun with it? Secondly, this is much better than it looks.
See, here's the thing about the Elwynn Boar. If all goes right and you can kill seven Boars using cards like Devouring Swarm and Animated Broomstick, you can get the Sword of a Thousand Truths. Sometimes, your opponent's health will be low enough that one strike can end the game outright. If not, it wipes out all of their Mana Crystals. That's worth taking a risk on.
But, here's the other thing. Even if you don't get the Sword of a Thousand Truths, one thing that's going to be greatly overlooked is that these Elwynn Boars can get... kinda big. Northshire Farmer, Dire Frenzy, and Warsong Wrangler can buff the Elwynn Boar stats to the point that they become actual threats in themselves. The key to this deck is making sure that the Elwynn Boar is your only Beast. Don't muck up the Beast pool. Just stick to the Boar and card draw. Leave your supporting tools to do the rest.
You won't get the Sword of a Thousand Truths a lot. It'll feel great when you do, but don't expect to see it. However, the Boars can sometimes win you games on their own. That's what makes this deck worth trying out.
Hearthstone: United in Stormwind is available today. For more on this expansion, be sure to click on the Hearthstone topic. If you have any decks you'd like to share, join the conversation and let us know in the comments.