Published , by Ozzie Mejia
Published , by Ozzie Mejia
Today is an anxiety-filled day in the United States for very obvious reasons. Hearthstone is hoping to keep people's minds off what's happening with the final expansion of the Year of the Pegasus. It's time to blast off into space with Hearthstone: The Great Dark Beyond. This expansion adds 145 cards across all 11 of the game's classes and introduces some exciting new mechanics.
With The Great Dark Beyond releasing today, it's time once again to peruse decks from Hearthstone's most recognizable pros and streamers. Shacknews had a chance to play against some of these decks ourselves during the recent Hearthstone Theorycrafting session. We once again fared poorly, but we did gain intel on some of the more interesting decks to play on day one.
Without further delay, here are some decks worth trying out on day one of The Great Dark Beyond.
One would think that taking both players' decks down to their eight most expensive cards would shorten the game, but The 8 Hands From Beyond is just a first step. This spell keeps the new Kil'Jaeden legendary in the Death Knight's deck, which will open a Demon portal and essentially make Fatigue impossible.
One of the keys to this deck is not to play Helya on Turn 4. If Helya is played after The 8 Hands From Beyond is dropped, it makes the neverending Plague cards much easier to draw. Similarly, playing The Headless Horseman after reducing both decks will put the Death Knight at an advantage in terms of resource.
Of course, keep in mind that Kil'Jaeden is a Neutral card, so if the strategy is Fatigue, the opponent can just as easily get their Demon portal online. Be careful!
Quasar was a curious spell at first glance. Would anybody really risk shuffling their entire hand back into their deck and leaving themselves with no tools? As it turns out, having card draw tools like Quick Pick and locations like Knickknack Shack already online can potentially create a perpetual card-drawing machine.
Once the card-drawing apparatus is up and running, it's time to start dropping Moonstone Maulers and letting the Asteroids rain down like no tomorrow. Shaman isn't the only class that can rain down rocks, as it turns out.
Oh, and we'll get to Shaman in a moment.
Guess what, long-time Hearthstone players! Librams are back!
Yes, there are all-new Librams for Paladin. More importantly, there are new ways to discount those Librams. Cards like Interstellar Starslicer and Interstellar Wayfarer reduce the cost of Librams for the rest of the game. That means cards like Libram of Faith can litter the board with Divine Shield 3/3 minions, which can be more daunting than you might think.
Yrel, Beacon of Hope can even bring old Librams back into the fold. There's only one of her, but if you have an Astral Vigilant ready to roll, it's possible to roll out copies and bring even more Librams onto the board.
Warlock has embraced strength in numbers and not just in the "zoo" kind of way. This new Warlock deck from MartianBuu takes advantage of the Demon's various Demon discovery tools, as well as the helpful new cards that discount those Demons.
Foreboding Flame is critical to the success of this deck, since it discounts any new Demons, including the ones that come from Kil'jaeden. Archimonde can then bring those Demons back for one more late-game push. At the very least, it can stall while those Kil'jaeden Demons gain bigger stats.
Hunter has a devastating new OTK combination and it comes through The Great Dark Beyond's most exciting new mechanic: Starships. Starships are built through certain Starship Piece cards and can be launched anytime for 5 Mana. With enough of the right pieces in place the Hunter's Starship can potentially kill in one strike, especially when combining the Arkonite Defense Crystal for Armor and the Biopod that hits for that Armor value. The other key card is Yelling Yodeler, which can activate the Starship's effect twice for a potential death blow.
Making sure you have the right pieces is key, which is where the new Exarch Naielle legendary comes into play. This turns the Hunter's Hero Power into Tracking, which can help pick out the right card for every turn and get the big win condition ready to roll.
It's not often that the Warrior gets to play the zoo game, but the new Draenei minion type has opened the door to this. Low-priced Draenei combined with spells like Through Fel and Flames, Cup o' Muscle, and Captain's Log draw and buff any Draenei in-hand while souped-up minions like Unyielding Vindicator can create tremendous early pressure.
The big win condition here is Exarch Akama. Once the board is filled with buffed-up minions, Akama gives them the ability to attack more than once, potentially swinging a game in a matter of seconds.
Druid can ramp up in more ways than one in this expansion. Starlight Reactor is a Starship Piece that allows for Arcane spells to be played twice. Used well, this can fill up the Druid's side of the board with some massive numbers. Distress Signal will add 2-Cost minions while Cosmic Phenomenon will give every +1/+1 once the board is full.
Combine this with cards like the new Final Frontier and Eonar, the Life-Binder from the Titans set and the unsuspecting opponent can become overwhelmed quickly.
If this deck looks familiar, that's because it's basically a variation of the Elemental Mage that's currently a big part of the meta. New Elementals help bolster that deck significantly, thanks to the addition of cards like Blasteroid and Saruun. While Saruun's Fire Spell Damage +1 buff can be a major key to victory when combined with Blasteroid's discounted Fire spells, it's not the only way to win.
Basically, Mage players should do what they're doing now. Lay down Elementals on every turn and then overwhelm the opponent with Overflow Surger en route to finishing with Lamplighter. By this point, there's been ample time to practice.
Demon Hunter players will likely be tempted by the new Crewmates being offered with this new expansion. Those Crewmates are sus. Don't be fooled by their tempting stats and effects.
Instead, why not utilize the new Starship Pieces to bolster what's already a pretty strong deck? Using minions like Felfused Battery, as well as Hozen Roughhouser from the last expansion, Demon Hunter can quickly overwhelm the opponent with Pirates. Thanks to Patches the Pilot and Sigil of Skydiving, many of those Pirates will have Charge and can go straight for the face.
Those 1/1 Charge Pirates will ideally be around at the start of the game, but if they show up late, a Starship comprised of Felfused Battery and Shattershard Turret can buff them up quickly. Hit hard, hit fast, and be ready to potentially finish with Aranna, Thrill Seeker and her damage redirection effect.
I'll confess, I didn't have too much success with this deck, but don't let that deter you from playing with Asteroids. Asteroids Shaman is disgustingly good and it's a matter of finding the tools that work best to take advantage of cards like Moonstone Mauler and Bolide Behemoth.
The wild card in this deck is the new Murmur, which reduces every Battlecry minion to (1) with the caveat that they all die at the end of their turn. The ideal play is to combine that with Shudderblock and either Incindius or the aforementioned Bolide Behemoth. At that point, it's a matter of drawing as many Asteroids as possible, ideally buffed up, to crush the opponent before they know what hit them.
I threw Zola the Gorgon in my deck in hopes of getting more than one Incindius or Kalimos, but that's probably a greedier way to go. Look around at some more successful Asteroids Shaman decks and then build one that works best for you and your play style.
Those are just some of the decks that you're encouraged to use on day one of Hearthstone: The Great Dark Beyond. The expansion is going live today. What decks are you planning to use? Join the conversation and give us your best ideas in the comments.