Published , by Ozzie Mejia
Published , by Ozzie Mejia
After 10 years, it's time for Hearthstone to take a well-earned vacation. As part of the Year of the Pegasus, Blizzard is hitting the tropical climate for Hearthstone: Perils in Paradise. It adds 145 cards across all 11 of the game's classes, adding some new keywords that will change the way the game is played. It's also going to mix and match some classes in new and exciting ways.
With Perils in Paradise releasing today, that means it's time 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 session. We fared... quite poorly this time, but we did gain some valuable intel on some of the big decks to check out on Day 1.
Without further delay, here are some decks worth trying out on day one of Perils in Paradise.
We're leading off with the Paladin for one big reason and that's because it'll probably be one of the most broken decks on Day 1. That's mainly because of Sunsapper Lynessa, which grants access to the Rogue cards for this set. More importantly, she makes it so that cards that cost (2) or less are cast twice. That also includes, as it turns out, the Coin. So once you fill your hand with Coins from cards like Greedy Partner, you can refresh your mana count handily to set up spells like Oh, Manager and Holy Glowsticks to go straight for the face.
I encountered this deck frequently during last week's Theorycrafting session and it almost always finished on Turn 6. It's brutal to deal with and it's going to have a wildly high success rate. Get in on the ground floor for this one, because I would expect some nerfs on key cards sooner than later.
Incindius is a fascinating new Legendary that adds five Eruptions to your deck, each of which do more damage to your opponent the longer that Incindius stays alive. At the very least, if you end your turn without drawing more cards, the Eruptions will do two damage each. That's a decent 10 damage value. Now ask yourself what happens if Shudderblock gets added to the equation.
The result is utter catastrophe for your opponent, who now has the spectre of 15 Eruptions, each doing two damage a piece, for a whopping 30 damage total. The trick will be keeping your Shaman alive long enough to make this combo work, but there's potential for havoc here and it's a lot of fun.
"Wait a minute, Ozzie!" you might be saying. "Where's the deck code?"
Well, we've hit an unprecedented moment in the history of this feature. There isn't one! With the launch of this expansion, Blizzard has done something extra cool and added deck recipes for each class crafted by certain Hearthstone content creators. BabyBear recently got a chance to toss in her input and came up with a fabulous new Pirate Demon Hunter deck. Simply hit the "New Deck" button and select BabyBear's Pirate Demon Hunter deck from the list and you're ready to go.
The important thing about Pirate Demon Hunter is for it to strike fast, as is usually the Demon Hunter's method. Patches the Pilot and Sigil of Skydiving will set up a multitude of Pirates with Charge hitting the board. At 1/1, they seem harmless until you get stat-boosters like Southsea Captain and Zilliax Deluxe 3000 on board.
Try this recipe. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
It's gone under the radar with the meta being what it is over the last few months, but does anyone remember that Spectral Cutlass came back into Standard this year? That makes it a great weapon to use alongside the new Maestra, Mask Merchant Legendary. Maestra will offer a Hero card from the past. Playing that Hero card will change the player's class, meaning any Rogue played from that point forward will add Durability to Spectral Cutlass.
Add Attack power to Spectral Cutlass using cards like Deadly Poison and Harmonic Hip Hop and the new Legendary helps make this weapon a potent one and one that's not to be messed with.
There's a new Amalgam on the block this expansion and we get a good look at it courtesy of DenimBlue by way of Kris O Five. Adaptive Amalgam is a 1-Cost card with properties of all tribes with a Deathrattle that puts it back in your deck with all enchantments retained. Hunter has some sickening tools that can make this Amalgam quite dangerous, like Cup 'o Muscle, Birdwatching, and Camouflage Mount.
The trick to getting Amalgam to work is to get back on the board as often as possible. Fortunately, tools like Trusty Fishing Rod and All You Can Eat make that totally possible.
Even without the Guff Hero Card, the Druid keeps finding new and creative ways to ramp up. New Heights is the latest hotness in ramping tech, giving Druid an increased Mana cap of three every time it's played. When combined with the new Mistah Vistah card, the Druid's Mana total can get out of control, leading to big hits from cards like Hydration Station and Tsunami.
Keep the pressure going with Greybough, who can attach himself to numerous Taunt cards to keep that wall up. If you plan accordingly, you can even get one off of a Hydration Station play and keep up the pressure.
And speaking of ramping...
Don't look now, but those helpful ramp tools that the Druid just got? They're also accessible by the Warrior thanks to Hamm, the Hungry. A ramped-up Warrior is a frightening thing, because suddenly those Botface plays don't seem so inefficient.
Keep tossing Testing Dummies at your opponent and then be ready to simply bring them back with Inventor Boom. The new Warrior meta looks a lot like the old one, but why fix what isn't broken? Just give it more ramp tools.
Big Spell Mage has been a reliable archetype across Hearthstone's 10-year history, but one that's often undone by the hefty costs of those big spells. Fortunately, Perils in Paradise is offering a few ways to fudge those numbers a bit. King Tide is the Legendary to watch for, as he'll set the cost of all spells to (5) until the end of the Mage's following turn. That can help wreck the plans of some Rogue and Paladin players, who suddenly won't have those cheap spells at their disposal anymore. More importantly, for the purposes of this deck, it makes those big spells a lot more playable.
A 5-Cost Tsunami or Sunset Volley can do some heavy damage. If they don't set the table for a win on the next turn, that's ok, because DJ Manastorm and The Galactic Projection Orb can help keep the party going. Even Marin the Manager can do some work in this deck, potentially drawing three big-time spells that all cost (0).
It's the revenge of the Astral Automaton! The Priest has some new ways to keep the Astral Automaton assembly line rolling. A lot of those tools come courtesy of the Hunter and Hunter Tourist Chillin' Vol'jin. With Vol'jin in your deck, you can use cards like Pet Parrot and Sasquawk to put down more Automatons.
Plus, don't forget that Priest has Automaton duplication tools already. Keep throwing down Creation Protocol, Power Chord: Synchronize, and Pip the Potent and watch the robots get bigger.
For my usual contribution to this feature, I kept it simple. Fatigue Warlock is already an incredible deck in the current meta and the Warlock is getting some new tools to keep those Fatigue effects rolling. Tidepool Pupil is the most solid way to get more Crescendo spells into your hand and keep the opponent's board clear.
Plus, if you're taking extra damage, it feeds into the new Party Planner Vona Legendary, which suddenly puts the specter of an 8/8 Ouroboros into play.
Those are just some of the decks that you're encouraged to use on day one of Hearthstone: Perils in Paradise. What are you planning to use? Join the conversation and give us your best decks in the comments.