Published , by Ozzie Mejia
Published , by Ozzie Mejia
It's time for another Hearthstone Standard year to come to a close. The Year of the Wolf will conclude with the game's latest expansion, Hearthstone: Showdown in the Badlands. It adds 145 cards across all 11 of the game's classes, which introduces some fascinating new keywords that shake up the game in some big ways.
As Showdown in the Badlands goes live, it's time once again to look at some decks from Hearthstone's most recognizable pros and streamers. Shacknews recently had a chance to play against some of these decks ourselves during last week's Hearthstone Theorycrafting day. We didn't quite get killed this time as much as recent expansions, but regardless of our results, we learned a lot. Here are some decks worth trying out on day one of this new expansion.
There are decks that are "unfair" and "broken," but nothing may be more busted than the new Excavate Warlock. Here's the win condition: Excavate multiple times using cards like Smokestack and Mo'arg Drillfist. Eventually, the Warlock player will pick up The Azerite Snake.
The Azerite Snake is flat-out evil. It steals 10 health from the opponent, meaning they can never heal it (because they technically aren't inflicting damage) and it makes Armor totals irrelevant. Unless the opponent deploys an effect that increases their hero's base health, this will kill in three plays. And while it's a Legendary treasure, the new Saloon Brewmaster ensures that it keeps coming back to the Warlock's hand.
Expect this to get nerfed fast, but in the meantime, enjoy it while it's out and get to Excavating.
This Rogue deck has the Mayor of Value Town's name all over it. Trump is the master of getting the most out of what's available, so use this deck to pack your hand with Coins and use them for the new Wishing Well minion.
As you can see by our own experience, the Wishing Well can pay some heavy dividends. Toss a Coin for your Wishing Well and win some games.
Earlier, we discussed the new Excavate Warlock and how it's a killer in three plays on most classes. The Death Knight is not most classes, though. The Death Knight can ramp up its health with the new Maw and Paw legendary, but that isn't the only idea behind this deck.
A few expansions ago, the Death Knight got the Climactic Necrotic Explosion spell, which is capable of one-hit killing based on how many Corpses the Death Knight spends. That's the main win condition, but an alternate one involves new legendary Reska, the Pit Boss. Reska's cost lowers based on how many minions died, which is a pretty easy task with cards like Crop Rotation. Either way, the Death Knight has the tools to stay standing long enough to deploy its winning legendary spell and give the Excavate Warlock some fits.
Alliestrasza's Excavate Mage doesn't rely totally on the Excavate mechanic to win, but more to carry players through to their real victory condition, which involves using Sif and a slew of generated spells.
Of course, that's not to say that the Mage doesn't have plenty of good Excavation rewards. The Azerite Hawk will offer a 1-Cost Titan, which can sometimes be enough to turn the tide of any game. Plus, once you've Excavated twice, Reliquary Researcher can make the opponent sweat with a pair of Secrets.
Frogs don't sound impressive on paper, but as RegisKillbin learned, they can be daunting once they get bigger and bigger. The new Doctor Holli'dae legendary offers a new weapon with a whopping 9 durability. It deploys a Frog with Taunt every time the Shaman player attacks and the Frogs get perpetually bigger. That means the Frogs can go all the way up to 9/9.
Shaman also has enough tools to get through the late game thanks to the new Reno, Lone Ranger and Walking Mountain. That makes Shaman one of the better classes to wield a Highlander deck.
The Warrior is going back to his old tricks of building massive walls. This deck from Brian Kibler uses numerous Taunt minions, spells and minions that generate Taunt minions, and also effects that buff those minions.
New minions like Detonation Juggernaut and Unlucky Powderman are especially good for powering up minions in both the Warrior's hand and deck. If the Warrior starts to get low on life, the buffed-up Zilliax will fix that right up. Wish the opponent luck, because they'll need a lot of removal spells to get these big boys out of the way.
Clark HELLSCREAM's new Demon Hunter uses some of the expansion's best new mechanics, but the MVP is once again Saloon Brewmaster. Your main hitters are going to be Gunslinger Kurtrus and Kingpin Pud, but be ready to deploy them more than once thanks to Saloon Brewmaster and Zola the Gorgon.
There's room for improvement with this one (only one Forge card is here to activate Ignis), but it still looks like a lot of fun, especially once you start throwing down cards like Reno.
Judge somehow managed to put together a deck that fits the Highlander and the Pure Paladin archetypes. That means you can run wild with cards like the new Spirit of the Badlands and some old favorites like The Countess and The Purator.
This does mean you'll be running without Reno, but there should be enough to work with here that you won't need him. That'll especially prove true if you're able to get Spirit of the Badlands out early.
The Hunter is getting some big handbuff tools for this expansion. While it's tempting to go big with something like King Krush, Funki Monki is keeping things small. The Bovine Skeleton should be more than enough to keep the Hunter on the attack. It simply needs a single Attack buff to keep it coming back again and again.
If your Cattle Rustlers go down, all is not lost. Cards like Defense Attorney Nathanos can bring them back for another round.
Full disclosure: You'll probably find better Dragon Druid decks out there, but I'm using this one here because it was good for my highest winrate across my time with the Theorycrafting session. New cards like Splish-Splash Whelp can complement Nourish to help the Druid player ramp up fast.
That can help pave the way for the Rheastrasza play that can carry players the rest of the way. Even the biggest Dragons like Ysera can come relatively cheap with Rheastrasza's effect. Pick up whatever Dragon helps your situation, whether it's a board-clearing Deathwing or the new Fye, the Setting Sun that can grant a quick Lifesteal pick-me-up.
Those are just some of the decks that you're welcome to use on day one of Hearthstone: Showdown in the Badlands. What are you planning to use? Join the conversation and give us your best decks in the comments.