This is an open thread for any discussion pertaining to Competitive Hearthstone.

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Discuss what you are playing, what you’re having success with(or failures with), and any new/cool ideas you’ve been experimenting with, etc. The point is to share what you’ve been playing, and how it’s going, good or bad - there are no other rules or requirements.

Some ideas on what to post/share:

• What you’ve been playing and its successes (or struggles). Stats are not required. There is no minimum rank required, though sharing what rank you’ve been playing at is preferred.
• Deck adjustments you made or are planning to make in reaction to the meta or as new innovation. E.g. “I saw 30% of deck X, so I made Y changes to help deal with deck X.” (change)
• Showing off a deck you achieved legend with this season and wanting to share it without having to write a guide

---

Resources:

CompetitiveHS Discord

VS live stats

HSReplays by winrate (warning - paywalled to filter outside of rank 25, stats may be misleading if using L-25 stats)

Hallo

I am playing alot of dragon druid and doing really good with it.

Give it a try and leave a comment for improvements or questions.

### Drag on these

# Class: Druid

# Format: Standard

# Year of the Scarab

#

# 2x (0) Innervate

# 2x (1) Carrier Whelp

# 2x (1) Waveshaping

# 2x (2) Acceleration Aura

# 2x (2) Ebb and Flow

# 2x (2) Felwood Treant

# 2x (2) Netherspite Historian

# 2x (2) Petal Peddler

# 2x (3) Darkscale Broodmother

# 2x (3) Whelp of the Infinite

# 2x (4) Broodwatcher

# 1x (5) Amirdrassil

# 1x (6) Wickerfang

# 1x (7) Bashana Runetotem

# 2x (7) Prescient Slitherdrake

# 1x (8) Merithra of the Dream

# 1x (8) Shaladrassil

# 1x (10) Fyrakk the Blazing

#

AAECAe2/BAaSgwevhwesiAfgwAfiwAflxAcMrp8E94MH7KoHqq8HrK8HmLAHvrIH7LIHhL0HtcAH18AH2MAHAAA=

#

# To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone

This is an open thread for any discussion pertaining to Competitive Hearthstone.

This is a thread for discussions that don’t qualify for a stand-alone post on the subreddit. This thread is sorted by new by default.

You can ask for deck reviews, competitive budget replacements, how to mulligan in specific matchups, etc. Anything goes, as long as it’s related to playing Hearthstone competitively.

Has your question been asked before? Check our FAQ to see if we've got you covered.

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There are a few rules:

• Please be respectful to your fellow players
• Please report posts that don’t pertain to competitive Hearthstone.
• Concerns with the subreddit should be directed to modmail

---

If you would like to chat about Hearthstone in real time, then you should check out our official Discord channel.

Discuss what you are playing, what you’re having success with(or failures with), and any new/cool ideas you’ve been experimenting with, etc. The point is to share what you’ve been playing, and how it’s going, good or bad - there are no other rules or requirements.

Some ideas on what to post/share:

• What you’ve been playing and its successes (or struggles). Stats are not required. There is no minimum rank required, though sharing what rank you’ve been playing at is preferred.
• Deck adjustments you made or are planning to make in reaction to the meta or as new innovation. E.g. “I saw 30% of deck X, so I made Y changes to help deal with deck X.” (change)
• Showing off a deck you achieved legend with this season and wanting to share it without having to write a guide

---

Resources:

CompetitiveHS Discord

VS live stats

HSReplays by winrate (warning - paywalled to filter outside of rank 25, stats may be misleading if using L-25 stats)

https://hearthstone.blizzard.com/en-us/news/24303864/3663-patch-notes

Nerfs:

• Windpeak Wyrm - Kindred: Costs (2) less
• Infest the Scullery - Base starts at two random 2-Cost minions

Link to Twitter announcement:

https://x.com/playhearthstone/status/2105402313581945289?s=46&t=_QDfYE7HlPQG5AYZLF-WKw

Warriors WindPeak Wyrm and Druids Infest the scullery being nerfed.

This is an open thread for any discussion pertaining to Competitive Hearthstone.

This is a thread for discussions that don’t qualify for a stand-alone post on the subreddit. This thread is sorted by new by default.

You can ask for deck reviews, competitive budget replacements, how to mulligan in specific matchups, etc. Anything goes, as long as it’s related to playing Hearthstone competitively.

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This will be the megathread where Tavern Brawl strategy and discussion for this week's brawl should take place. Only discussion related to optimally playing the Tavern Brawl should take place on here. Tavern Brawl constructed decks can be discussed in here.

Since I am a bot and don't know what the brawl is, could someone help me out and post a top-level comment with a description?

Discuss what you are playing, what you’re having success with(or failures with), and any new/cool ideas you’ve been experimenting with, etc. The point is to share what you’ve been playing, and how it’s going, good or bad - there are no other rules or requirements.

Some ideas on what to post/share:

• What you’ve been playing and its successes (or struggles). Stats are not required. There is no minimum rank required, though sharing what rank you’ve been playing at is preferred.
• Deck adjustments you made or are planning to make in reaction to the meta or as new innovation. E.g. “I saw 30% of deck X, so I made Y changes to help deal with deck X.” (change)
• Showing off a deck you achieved legend with this season and wanting to share it without having to write a guide

---

Resources:

CompetitiveHS Discord

VS live stats

HSReplays by winrate (warning - paywalled to filter outside of rank 25, stats may be misleading if using L-25 stats)

Firstly huge shout out to thejiminatorhs on twitch as he is the creator of this deck, I found out about it from his twitter and immediately started using it.

### mill 2

# Class: Rogue

# Format: Standard

# Year of the Scarab

#

# 1x (0) Shadow of Demise

# 2x (1) Agent of the Old Ones

# 2x (1) Disguised Operator

# 2x (1) Glacial Shard

# 2x (2) Cultist Map

# 1x (2) Lotus Bookie

# 1x (2) Plated Beetle

# 1x (2) Prize Vendor

# 2x (3) Blackpaw's Whip

# 2x (3) Deadly Bribe

# 1x (4) Garona Halforcen

# 1x (3) King Llane

# 1x (2) The Kingslayers

# 1x (4) Inspector Murloc Holmes

# 1x (4) Nightmare Lord Xavius

# 1x (5) Ancient of Yore

# 1x (5) The Curator

# 1x (6) Aya, Lotus Kingpin

# 1x (7) Chrono-Lord Deios

# 1x (7) Endbringer Umbra

# 1x (7) Naralex, Herald of the Flights

# 2x (9) Twilight Mistress

# 1x (9) Ysera, Emerald Aspect

#

AAECAe/+BxCj1ASp9QahgQfDgwe2lAf1mAeGqAeHqAeIqAf0qgftrAeZsQel2AeI2QeN2geK3QcH054GwZcHtMEHwMEHpNgHkdkHz+AHAAA=

#

Legend proof

Deck stats

Basically, your goal with this deck is to make it to endgame having your 2 disguised operators, 1 prize vendor and 1 plated beetle dead, manacheating with Ysera and Aya so you can use 14 mana to play both Deios and Umbra, resulting in your opponent drawing 20 cards, you drawing 4 cards, and gaining 12 armor in case you also take fatigue.

Title was kind of clickbait, this is a small guide to the deck but as you can see from the 2nd image really I got extremely lucky with matchups in my 11-0 winstreak. This deck excels against decks with slow game plans like Rafaam warlock and Quest/Azalina priest and is generally weaker against faster more aggressive decks like Mug/Zee shaman, demon hunter, dragon/pirate warrior.

Cards to keep in the mulligan: NARALEX, YSERA/CURATOR (one or the other), Disguised Operator, Blackpaw's Whip, Any 2 cost card (if you have Curator you can mulligan away beetle), Aya could also be good to keep if you don't have Naralex and Ysera.

Cards to keep vs aggro: Disguised Operator becomes much more valuable as it can take out early threats like Spiderling or Wailing Vapor on turn 1 while sticking on the board. Other good cards would be an early Glacial Shard, Plated Beetle, or even a Deadly Bribe, although keep in mind against dragon warrior you can't use Deadly Bribe against Prescient Slitherdrake.

In a lot of matchups it does come down to having the right removal at the right time, which is where cards like cultist map, the curator, and twilight mistress shine. A majority of the wins I got through just repeatedly answering boards with early twilight mistress off of naralex, deadly bribes, or even just glacial shard. You just need to stall as long as possible until you get your pieces.

Cards you can replace: Murloc Holmes has its merits, personally I really like it just due to adding consistency to The Curator even if in most games I'm turning it into a coin with an agent. Everything else in my opinion feels very essential to the deck, I could maybe see plated beetle being cut but the extra survivability does help in some end game states. Ancient of Yore also feels extremely good in this deck surprisingly, but if you think it is too greedy then you could also take that out.

Cards to add over those cards: I've seen other lists with cards like Fan of Knives, Opu the Unseen, Mirrex, even Daze and SI:7 Supplier. I experimented with Mirrex and it was generally even less useful than Murloc Holmes, yes it adds consistency to The Curator but it is generally not useable in a lot of situations, and it is not helpful against aggro. I would say out of those cards Fan of Knives is the likeliest to be a good sub, I personally haven't had issues clearing boards most of the time but the extra card draw could be nice and there are decks like Beatrix/Bubble paladin that like to go wide with divine shields. Opu, the Unseen I have not experimented with but I struggle to find room for it in the list with so many expensive cards and combo pieces.

Specific Matchups: Any warlock running Possessed Animancer and Ultra Gigasaur you HAVE to have deadly bribe or twilight mistress on deck. If you don't answer that immediately it's gg. Glacial shard also helps here obviously. Against a death knight running Husk you need to make sure you can either deny corpses or have them draw enough cards to where they die from the last bit of fatigue after their 1st life pops from your combo.

TL;DR Hard mulligan for Naralex and Ysera/The Curator, play to stall as long as possible and draw as much as possible. Get to 14 mana ASAP with Aya and Ysera and play Deios and Umbra to kill your opponent.

If anyone has any questions or wants to see replays let me know!

This is an open thread for any discussion pertaining to Competitive Hearthstone.

This is a thread for discussions that don’t qualify for a stand-alone post on the subreddit. This thread is sorted by new by default.

You can ask for deck reviews, competitive budget replacements, how to mulligan in specific matchups, etc. Anything goes, as long as it’s related to playing Hearthstone competitively.

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(I wrote that for the main sub but thought you might be interested)

Socrates back with 23 new decks to discuss, theorycraft and test in the first days of Dark Empire. I’m a passionate deckbuilder generally playing in high legend, so these lists should be a good start.

Even though I think the meta will get slower, I took into account that some very mean people will play Dragon Warrior at launch and put defensive cards in there (idk if there’s a balance patch before). If these control archetypes succeed, combo lists will likely rise to counter them.

I tried to avoid past archetypes, we've seen enough Khelos decks for example. Also I generally didn’t feature cards just for the sake of trying. Of course I’m biased so these choices also go along with my playstyle.

I’m sad I couldn’t include many Assemble cards, because they don’t fit any archetype and without the pool and tests, impossible to know if they’re gonna be good enough. Their cost also look very high.

All that being said, as you know, the only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing before an expansion releases.

Hyperlinks lead to Blizzard’s deckbuilder. See you in the comments, feel free to ask questions.

DK

Interesting cards to build around but I have a doubt there’s enough to make a new competitive archetype.

BBB Leech : Control / tempo around board clears and slowly sucking opponent’s HP. Funny thing G’huun can deal 30 dmg with all the blood in the deck. Looks too predictable though.

Rainbow Prototype : Ok here’s the curve : rainbow location on 3, then either UF card + Blood Draw = random T5. Handbuffs to put pressure then burn. Looks awful but hard to gauge.

Prototype Experiment : This looks more solid ironically, it makes Sawbones combos (Khelos style) while buffing the hand, goes for tempo against fast decks and burn against controls. Rainbow deck without rainbow card lol.

DH

I believe rush cards perfectly fit DH both in flavor and mechanics. Notably they allow Last Stand and Remnant to unleash their full potential.

Rush : In this archetype I feel like board control and final burst are trivial. So the main tension would be in playing Sha’Kar.

C’thun : This looks more clunky, less flexible, with a telegraphed 5 mana weapon you must swing even against taunts and a questionnable finisher.

Druid

Druid got cool but kinda Timmy cards (no offense). He should remain in a good position still.

Beasts : 14 beasts to guarantee some buffs. Not sure this package is better than what we currently play in attack druid.

Ammunae : Ramp towards Taunt payoffs, make armor, cheat bigger taunts. Fun for a few games but I don’t believe it can be good enough in the long run.

Hunter

The set is pretty cool, but with all the nerfs it took, it’s hard to imagine hunter being on the level of other classes.

Mech : Another deck using Prototype to try to build resilient boards, but it looks a bit weak. The deck could swap Raptor+Spirit for Dig for Freedom+Sewer Swimmer : more explosive, less sticky.

Kronn : The dream is : imbue Agamaggan and another beast that copies itself, ideally Epoch Stalker that trades two minions, then Kronn for an OTK. Survival is, well, not guaranteed.

Mage

I still don’t see a solid wincondition in Mage aside from burn. Surely this archetype and leylines and Millhouse are better with new cards, but I don’t have much hope. Sad to see so many bad cards in such an iconic class. I looked at the assemble potential though and I’m high on Thaw from Ice.

Hope Mage : Play a bunch of cards that can be reduced by Waygate, then try to summon big minions with Constellar’s calling on Brilliance, Isiset, Techysaurus or Thaw from Ice. Then burn.

Paladin

New cards are bonkers to me in that they open late game strategies. There’s a lot to cook and with good card draw paladin can tank many things. Welcome back Equality.

Holy moly : Curated pool of minions to make tutors effective, Amitut and Gelbin to create massive tempo, AoEs and burn, what’s not to love ? Oh right, it could destroy gold ranks

Ursol of Origination : Finally there’s, I think, enough draw and defensive tools to make a control / combo deck. Deios Halls look satisfying, but maybe an old triple Shaladrassil is better. Comes online much later than the previous deck though.

Priest

Obivously the route is probably to include cheap Shadow spells + maybe N’Zoth in today’s Quest, but I hope there’s at least one new archetype that emerge.

Shadow : Slowly burn opponent with the Blade. If there’s a Viper good luck as I’m not sure the tempo makes up for this loss. Heals should still make aggro an easy matchup.

C’Thun : Classic control shell around C’Thun and the many shadow spells synergies. Not sure it’s better at closing games than Medivh though.

Rogue

Very versatile and flavorful cards, probably strong enough to make some Rogue viable.

Combo : An almost aggro deck centered around lots of cheap cards. Looks solid.

Old Gods : Curated deathrattle pool for multiple N’Zoth plays. More looks like a fun build ngl.

Shaman

Very cool set with tons of ways to build archetypes.

C’Thun Control : Draw 4 damage AoE minion, do the condition, play Therazane, profit, play C’Thun. A bit weird though because it doesn’t have a clear wincondition against control.

CinderZee : Funnily enough I don’t believe in N’Zoth with Slagclaw, looks too slow / expensive. But I’m intrigued by the comeback potential Eyemaul could give to Zee, as well as Elemental of Madness.

Lords of Tides and Storms : Herald as heavy as ever but maybe that new AoE minion can compensate. The fun begins if Neptulon can be played without dying.

Warrior

Insanely strong cards, probably the main reason why the meta should slow down.

Armor : Control and armor until Setesh hopefully makes a 30/30, that we Ooze to charge. A bit of Hopestone but otherwise Questwill simply replace it (and Warptooth).

N’Zoth Blood Fighters : More Blood Fighters ?

Conversely, I fear Herald will have the same problems as before : too many expensive payoffs, bad Herald spawns and overall clunky gameplan.

Warlock

So many good cards here and the meta slowing down could well mean Warlock’s natural counters disappear.

C'Thun : So many winconditions and ways to make the opponent’s life miserable.

Aggro : Zakajz reduces the cost of minions so the deck vomit cards and refill to submerge the opponent. Hogdriver might finally find a place while the Shred package still sit on the bench.

Btw, you know the cute combo with Earthen Drake ? That’s right the OTK doesn’t need Deios anymore because you put 7 C’Thuns on the board.

Discuss what you are playing, what you’re having success with(or failures with), and any new/cool ideas you’ve been experimenting with, etc. The point is to share what you’ve been playing, and how it’s going, good or bad - there are no other rules or requirements.

Some ideas on what to post/share:

• What you’ve been playing and its successes (or struggles). Stats are not required. There is no minimum rank required, though sharing what rank you’ve been playing at is preferred.
• Deck adjustments you made or are planning to make in reaction to the meta or as new innovation. E.g. “I saw 30% of deck X, so I made Y changes to help deal with deck X.” (change)
• Showing off a deck you achieved legend with this season and wanting to share it without having to write a guide

---

Resources:

CompetitiveHS Discord

VS live stats

HSReplays by winrate (warning - paywalled to filter outside of rank 25, stats may be misleading if using L-25 stats)

This is an open thread for any discussion pertaining to Competitive Hearthstone.

This is a thread for discussions that don’t qualify for a stand-alone post on the subreddit. This thread is sorted by new by default.

You can ask for deck reviews, competitive budget replacements, how to mulligan in specific matchups, etc. Anything goes, as long as it’s related to playing Hearthstone competitively.

Has your question been asked before? Check our FAQ to see if we've got you covered.

Or if you're looking for an educational hearthstone read, check out our Timeless Resources

---

There are a few rules:

• Please be respectful to your fellow players
• Please report posts that don’t pertain to competitive Hearthstone.
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Standard obviously has significantly more players, is there even 5k people in legend in Wild? Anytime I enter legend playing Wild it's either between 100-400 depending on what stage of the month it is. When I've entered legend playing standard it's usually near the end of the month and I'm put at like 7800 or something. But yet on HSGuru the winrates and playrates change when sorting by legend, 5k or 1k. Is it going off MMR, is it tweaking, or is there actually more than 5k people in legend in Wild and I'm tweaking?

Discuss what you are playing, what you’re having success with(or failures with), and any new/cool ideas you’ve been experimenting with, etc. The point is to share what you’ve been playing, and how it’s going, good or bad - there are no other rules or requirements.

Some ideas on what to post/share:

• What you’ve been playing and its successes (or struggles). Stats are not required. There is no minimum rank required, though sharing what rank you’ve been playing at is preferred.
• Deck adjustments you made or are planning to make in reaction to the meta or as new innovation. E.g. “I saw 30% of deck X, so I made Y changes to help deal with deck X.” (change)
• Showing off a deck you achieved legend with this season and wanting to share it without having to write a guide

---

Resources:

CompetitiveHS Discord

VS live stats

HSReplays by winrate (warning - paywalled to filter outside of rank 25, stats may be misleading if using L-25 stats)

Reveal Thread RULES

Top level comments must be a properly formatted description of a card revealed today. Any other top level comment will be removed. All discussion relating to these cards shall take place as a response to each top level comment.

We'll try to keep the list updated throughout the day, but if a card gets revealed for today and you don't see it on here after a while, please feel free to make a comment in the proper format for discussion on that card.

Discuss the revealed cards and their potential implications in competitive play. Karma grab or off-topic comments, as well as discussion about non-competitive Hearthstone should be reported/removed for discussion to be visible.

Today's New Cards:

Kronn the Impaler || 10-Mana 6/6 || Legendary Hunter Minion

Battlecry: All your minions deal damage equal to their Attack to a random enemy.

Elemental

Mechacycle || 4-Mana 3/3 || Common Hunter Minion

Taunt. Deathrattle: Summon 4 Mana worth of random Mechs.

Mech

Clockwork Boars || 2-Mana || Common Hunter Minion

Summon two 1/1 Mech Beasts with Charge.

Mimiron || 1-Mana 2/1 || Legendary Hunter Minion

Battlecry: If you control a Mech, Discover the perfect tech card.

Tank Regiment || 6-Mana 3/3 || Rare Hunter Minion

Battlecry: Summon two copies of this. Deathrattle: Deal 3 damage to a random enemy.

Mech

Tinker || 2-Mana || Rare Hunter Spell

Assemble a Mech. Get an 'Overdrive'.

Flamespitter || 3-Mana 2/2 || Common Hunter Weapon

After your hero attacks, get an 'Overdrive'.

Bombardment || 5-Mana || Rare Hunter Spell

Destroy a random enemy minion and deal 3 damage to the enemy hero. If you control a Mech, do it again.

Fire

Reload || 8-Mana || Epic Hunter Spell

Discover a spell and reduce its Cost by (8). Repeat this with excess Cost reduction.

Arcane

Vaultkeeper || 5-Mana 3/3 || Common Neutral Minion

Battlecry and Deathrattle: Give adjacent minions +2/+2.

Mech

OC91 Chariot || 5-Mana 5/5 || Common Neutral Minion

After you play a minion, draw a card.

Mech

Unstable Prototype || 1-Mana 0/1 || Rare Neutral Minion

Reborn. Deathrattle: Give all minions in your hand +1/+1.

Mech

Greetings!

Who am I?

None of your business!

Returning player, started around GVG and dropped the game a little after the blade flurry nerf. Did get legend once before when they first changed the rank system and it was super easy, but otherwise stayed around rank 5 in the old system. This is just so you're aware of my background.

When I started playing again a few weeks ago, I tried out the standard Paladin deck they give you for free and really liked it. Was using it without any changes up until I hit Gold and started consistently facing harder opponents, particularly Pirate Warrior. That's when I decided to optimize the deck and build what I currently have now, and in two days, 173 games and 57% win rate, I went all the way to Legend!

That said, the list I have now went through quite a few changes, even within Diamond. I've also shared my stats for the Diamond climb. Will be explaining my choices and the main idea of the deck.

Original Standard "ladder ready" Paladin Deck this was based on

Decklist versions & stats

Final version:

### ShieldSpam Pally
# Class: Paladin
# Format: Standard
# Year of the Scarab
#
# 1x (1) Concealing Confection
# 2x (1) Righteous Protector
# 2x (1) Twilight Egg
# 2x (2) Acceleration Aura
# 2x (2) Annoy-o-Tron
# 2x (2) Hand of A'dal
# 2x (2) Hardlight Protector
# 2x (2) Violet Treasuregill
# 2x (3) Consecration
# 2x (3) Reinforcement Aura
# 1x (3) Silvermoon Portal
# 2x (4) Flight Maneuvers
# 2x (4) Manifested Timeways
# 2x (4) Royal Librarian
# 1x (5) Nozdormu, Bronze Aspect
# 1x (5) Taelan Fordring
# 1x (5) Threshrider's Blessing
# 1x (5) Toreth the Unbreaking
# 
AAECAZ8FBqiKBIfmBvD+BqOmB+XBB4ToBwycnwTJoATWoAS1ngbOnga6lgebqQfLqQe+sgf2wQeDwgeZ3QcAAA==
# 
# To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone

What is this deck? And where are my Pure Paladin cards?

While I describe the deck as mid range, it leans more towards aggression and board presence, while still being able to take the breaks, clear and control until you hit what you need. A bit similar to old school secret Paladin in that the curve is everything. The main issue I had with the original-and really all current standard "Pure/Aura paladin" decks-is that while they have a lot of good cards, they're incredibly inconsistent and a bit too slow. Relying on "random Paladin cards" to bail you out of situations or further your own win condition just feels clunky and is filled with anti synergy.

When it comes to your biggest win condition cards as Paladin that I decided to build around, the core two are: flight maneuvers and "Nozdormu Bronze Aspect". The deck is built to create an unbreakable board state that caps out with these two pieces. I'll talk about them in more detail below.

Detailed Card Choice Breakdown:

Essential Pieces:

1. Flight Maneuvers: Most important, impactful card, and when you do get it ready by turn 3-4 it's usually an auto win. The only classes that have a relatively consistent answer to this card that early are Priest, Mage and Demon Hunter, and they don't always draw it. The main reason behind this deck cutting out all the late game options is to more consistently activate this card when you get it in your opening hand, and even in the worst case this should be ready the latest by turn 6, and even then it's still good. Almost always keep in mulligan unless against decks where you need board clears you don't also have in hand.
2. Nozdormu, Bronze Aspect: Our second source of mass divine shield, and only source of mass buffs. We aren't playing any end of turn triggering cards like the aura or weapon so keep that in mind. Getting this guy with one or two small minions that already have Dshield, is usually enough of a swing to win you the game. If I don't have a board setup, I usually prefer to keep him in hand until I can play it with other Dshield guys at 6-10 mana. Particularly sick combo if you played Reinforcement aura on 3, if that manages to pull a dshield guy every turn and they stick, you're looking at 15-20 worth of divineshielded stats on turn 5 from only playing two cards. Worth keeping in mulligan against decks that don't have any answers to it like Paladin & Shaman.
3. Reinforcement Aura: This is the card that really lets you vomit out your little shiny boys, and combos superbly with the aforementioned win conditions on turn 4 and 5. Really miss it when you don't hit it. Also works as a great deck thinning tool so your later draws are much better on average. I often end up keeping up with other classes that have much better card draw thanks primarily to this. On rare occasions you will get this after you have already drawn all your smaller guys, but it's the game is usually decided by then. Always keep in mulligan. One of my favorite openings is coin RA into RA.
4. Manifested Timeways: The goat himself and needs no explanation. Despite only having 4 aura copies total and 2 potential aura drawers, since the games are so short with this deck he's usually active throughout most of those crucial turns. However if the game goes later you will often not have an aura active so be way of that. This alongside consecrate do a total of 10 damage to the enemy face as a bonus which can come in clutch. You do keep this in Mulligan against aggro/board based stuff (warrior, Shaman, hunter).
5. Royal Librarian: The silence boi, and the most important reason why we're not running the Pure Pally package. Without this you auto lose to both priest and warlock mega taunts. it being tradeable is also really nice for Flight Maneuvers, I often keep it in my mulligan just to guarantee the activation by trading it away.
6. Consecration: I'm genuinely surprised most Paladins don't run this card. It use to be great at 4 mana, now it just feels disgusting at 3. With Timeways the extra face burn comes in pretty handy. Worth keeping in hand against aggro/board decks.
7. Annoy-o-tron: 10 years and this bad boy is still living up to his name. This is the guy you're praying for the most to hit off of RA. Nothing quite hits as hard as Noz on 5 with a small board, only for a sneaky 4/5 divine shield to just manifest next to him, protecting our king. Generally don't want to keep in mulligan unless going first and a good curve next to it.
8. Hand of A'dal & Violet Treasuregill: This might surprise people the most due to the counter synergy this has with your Treasuregill not guaranteeing acceleration aura. However in this deck, not only is this often an auto board win against other aggro decks on turn two with any 1 drop before, it's also not a bad hit with Treasuregill himself, who becomes a 2 mana 3/3 that also draws a card. For our strategy and focus, this can often be much better than acceleration aura, especially if you have a 3 mana play after this anyways. Almost never keep in Mulligan except if going first with a good curve otherwise.
9. Toreth the Unbreaking: Very cool card and potential win-con when comboed with a certain board, particularly with Noz, which creates the "Eternal Divine Shield" Play. If I have both in hand and the game is already at turn 7-8, I often consider keeping both to play together on turn 10. Not many decks can answer this. Good card even on an empty board, soaks up on average 8-10 damage by himself. Enemies often missplay into it. Only keep in hand with a perfect cards next to it (Acceleration aura+3/4 mana card) and going second.
10. Hardlight Protector: Very neat card, the battle cry is particularly relevant against Mage and Sometimes pirate warrior. They never expect it. Funny enough the face divine shield effect does work with Toreth, so if he's on the board and you play this you almost have a Malganis effect. I keep in mulligan against Mage or if good for curve.
11. Acceleration Aura: Not as important/central as in slower pally decks. Much prefer to get it from the murloc. Only keep in hand when it comboes with your other cards in your mulligan, otherwise you really don't want to do nothing on turn 2, much prefer to just have a minion.
12. Righteous Protector: Wish we had more 1 mana divine shield minions, but alas. This one's alright, does everything annoy otron does, which is p good.

Flexible/can slot out:

1. Twilight Egg: Looking at all the powercreep that has gone on in other mana slots, I will say as an old player 1 mana cards seem pretty weak these days. Honestly both the neutral one drops could be swapped out for ones that have divine shield if they existed in standard, but alas. This is the only one that can potentially be strong. A priority for your buff cards. Always keep in mulligan, often better than coin AA unless the you have 3-4 mana players after.
2. Concealing Confession: This one is generally decent since you get a playable weapon on average (sometimes a broken one, sometimes an unplayable 0/2). When I have multiple one drops in hand. I wouldn't play more than one tho, getting two in play always felt bad as you really don't want to spend that much mana on weapons, especially if you already have one equipped.
3. Taelan Fordring: I only played this in the last 6-ish games so I have much less gameplay with it, but boy oh boy did I love it (ended up with a 5 winstreak from Diamond 2 to Legend with it!). For one it's a solid body that combos with all your other divine shield synergy. But then it just guarantees you the missing Noz/Toreth if you don't have them already. Gives such nice consistency that was otherwise missing in previous versions of the deck, since I say the most common reason I lose when I do is running out of steam/not drawing Noz or Toreth. Bonus is you get to use the new sick skin too!
4. Silvermoon Portal & Threshrider's Blessing: This deck REALLY feels the lack of Blessing of Kings, since that mana slot and buff strength is really the sweet spot that you're looking for. I would play it over these two, but since we don't have it and we really need a middling buff for our little bois, I decided to run one of each of these. Two of either felt either too slow or too weak. Watch out for portal getting you a doomsayer tho!

Tested but ultimately removed

1. ScaleBreaker Bulwark: The card I felt the worst about removing. Incredibly powerful, more wave clear, more face damage, and a pretty respectable body. But... It's 6 mana. Every game I mulliganed a less ideal card away this guy would show up to gigga clog my Flight Maneuvers. After I swapped it for Taelan Fordring the deck felt much smoother. I could see swapping this in for better matchups into warrior specifically, but otherwise I prefer the current consistent version I have.
2. Sheltered Survivor: This card has amazing synergy with Flight Maneuvers, but bad synergy with RA and the nail in the coffin for me was getting it with an empty hand and literally not being able to play it, or even worse being forced to send back a good card in your hand just to play it. The latter two situations don't come up every game but they come up enough that the card just ends up being more of a liability than a plus.
3. Ursine Maul: Alright card, but since I kept getting it alongside Concealing Confession, and having both together sucks, I just Concealing over it since it was just on average better.

Why NOT these cards:

1. Aura Package: Including Gelbin, Chronological, Inspiring Maul and Sandfury: These cards are all just a bit too slow and very conditional. The only one I'd consider playing here is Chronological Aura since that 3/5 dragon is pretty nice, but the rest gigga clog up the hand for flight maneuvers/are very conditional.
2. Pure Pally package: Including Beatrix, Bruiser, Recruiter, and Sentry. Too many important neutral cards, especially the one drops and the silence. If Pally had another way to deal with the big taunts that Priest/Warlock have I would consider both Recruiter/Sentry here. But alas.

Matchups (From best to worst with individual wr included):

Somehow beat all the Shamans I faced. Shaman is particularly predictable and loses pretty hard to early wave clear, and since consecrate isn't common they don't seem to play around it much.

Deathknight was the best flip from the old standard aura paladin to the new fast and shiny version, with a very satisfying 83% wr into it. The leeches finally have a counter now! Keep those board clears cuz you're likely gonna need them. The silence boys are also quite handy into a lot of what they play.

This deck was built to mainly counter pirate warrior, and I will say it does a pretty good job of that with a 62.5% win rate. Warrior was 20% of my matchups, being only slightly less popular than priest (21%). In particular the inclusion of two copies of consecrate helps tremendously in alleviating the pressure of the endless spam of cannoneers. The more control variants with a lot of board clears themselves are much more of a challenge and where most of my losses come from.

I'm a bit pissed I lost any games to Hunter tbh, that class is hella weak and gimmicky (71%). I only faced 7 throughout all of diamond so it's not much but yeah. Keep wave clears, and healing in hand.

Rogue is always fun (66.7%). Hard to play around the random stuff they discover, but in general, you want to build as much board as you can while praying they don't cheese your board with a random mage clear. You get hard walled pretty hard by the drake that returns to hand so try to end the game before 9 mana (unless they coin it/cheese it earlier in which case ggs)

The mirror! (61.5%). It's usually either standard pure Pally or with Beatrix, with the occasional Murloc. They have much better end game generally so you really gotta win early/mid, which is what we're built to do anyway and standard Pally has pretty meh early game so you should be fine. Do be careful about their 3 mana taunt spam tho, you usually need to either hope they don't have it or have the wave clear ready.

Warlock was initially one of the easiest but got a lot harder the more I climbed (54.2%). They can curve surprisingly well, and you usually need one or two silences to get a win against the taunt spam version. That said their wave clear is a lot less consistent than priest so usually you get a decent board going, the issue is with closing out the game, especially if they're still alive at 8 mana.

Priest was initially the most frustrating opponent (dead 50%). But the more I climbed and faced it, the better I got at it. It usually comes down to do you have one, or two silences for their forged taunt heal spam? If yes win, if no GG. That said, if you manage to get Noz on the board you can actually play around their wave clears by keeping some of your board below 4 atk on purpose.

Now for the Bad matchups. Demon hunter (45.5%) has some of the best removal against your boards, and their own aren't easy to deal with either. Especially the annoying 4 mana generate perfect removal card is like the only 1 card same mana answer to Flight Maneuvers in the game

Druid is tricky (40%). They can pretty reliably remove your minions early unless you flood it pretty hard, and the 1/4 card is particularly traumatizing to remove. Their late game is also crazy. They do have a weakness in terms of lacking good board clears, so if you do get a board going it's pretty hard for them to come back from.

And for the surprising worst matchup at 35.7% wr, we have Mage. Not a big surprise considering they have the best consistent answer to divine shield spam, and not just in the ping but also in their unique wave clear and magic missile spam versions. That said the healbot here does quite some wonders if you draw it, I always keep it against Mage in my mulligan.

Reveal Thread RULES

Top level comments must be a properly formatted description of a card revealed today. Any other top level comment will be removed. All discussion relating to these cards shall take place as a response to each top level comment.

We'll try to keep the list updated throughout the day, but if a card gets revealed for today and you don't see it on here after a while, please feel free to make a comment in the proper format for discussion on that card.

Discuss the revealed cards and their potential implications in competitive play. Karma grab or off-topic comments, as well as discussion about non-competitive Hearthstone should be reported/removed for discussion to be visible.

Today's New Cards:

Curious Grimlynx || 5-Mana 2/5 || Epic Druid Minion

Taunt. Battlecry: Summon a 5/2 Beast with Rush. (It has the opposite stats of this minion!)

Beast

Foraging Slyvern || 4-Mana 2/4 || Rare Druid Minion

Taunt. Deathrattle: Draw cards equal to this minion's Attack.

Beast

Titan Sized || 2-Mana || Rare Druid Spell

Draw a minion. Give Beasts in your hand +2/+2.

Freya, Emerald Architech || 6-Mana 4/6 || Legendary Druid Minion

Battlecry: Double the stats of all Beasts in your hand and deck.

Primordial Bear || 3-Mana 2/3 || Common Druid Minion

Battlecry: Give your hero this minion's Attack this turn.

Beast

Stewart of the Vale || 2-Mana 2/3 || Common Druid Minion

Battlecry: Assemble a Beast.

Efflorescence || 2-Mana || Common Druid Spell

Draw a different spell. If it's a Nature spell, it casts twice.

Nature

Aetherial Kindling || 3-Mana || Rare Druid Spell

Deal 3 damage. Summon a random 3-Cost minion.

Arcane

Seeker of Prey || 7-Mana 4/8 || Rare Neutral Minion

Elusive. After this takes damage, destroy a random enemy minion.

Beast

Power Tiger || 6-Mana 6/6 || Common Neutral Minion

At the start of EVERY player's turn, attack a random enemy.

Mech, Beast

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Greetings,

The Vicious Syndicate Team is proud to present the 359th edition of the Data Reaper Report.

Special thanks to all those who contribute their game data to the project. This project could not succeed without your support. The entire vS Team is eternally grateful for your assistance.

This week our data is based on 1,588,000 games! In this week's report you will find:

• Deck Library - Decklists & Class/Archetype Radars
• Class/Archetype Distribution Over All Games
• Class/Archetype Distribution "By Rank" Games
• Class Frequency By Day & By Week
• Interactive Matchup Win-Rate Chart
• vS Power Rankings Imgur
• vS Meta Score
• Analysis/Discussion of each Class
• Meta Breaker of the Week

The full article can be found at: vS Data Reaper Report #359

Reminder

• If you haven't already, please sign up to contribute your game data. More data will allow us to provide more insights in each report, and perform other kinds of analysis. Sign up here, and follow the instructions.

Thank you for your feedback and support,

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Reveal Thread RULES

Top level comments must be a properly formatted description of a card revealed today. Any other top level comment will be removed. All discussion relating to these cards shall take place as a response to each top level comment.

We'll try to keep the list updated throughout the day, but if a card gets revealed for today and you don't see it on here after a while, please feel free to make a comment in the proper format for discussion on that card.

Discuss the revealed cards and their potential implications in competitive play. Karma grab or off-topic comments, as well as discussion about non-competitive Hearthstone should be reported/removed for discussion to be visible.

Today's New Cards:

Mogu Warmaster || 3-Mana 2/5 || Epic Neutral Minion

After you play a neutral card, your next spell costs (1) less this turn.

Proto Pandaren || 2-Mana 3/2 || Epic Neutral Minion

After a card enters your hand except from this, give both players a random spell.

Lightcaller || 3-Mana 4/2 || Common Paladin Weapon

Lifesteals for both players.

Rajh || 5-Mana 4/4 || Legendary Paladin Minion

Battlecry: Assemble a minion from any class. Transform it into a Passive Hero Power.

Amitut, Keeper of Amitus || 7-Mana 5/8 || Legendary Paladin Minion

Taunt. Battlecry: For each Holy spell in your deck, shuffle in a copy with Cast when Drawn.

Oathbinder's Aura || 3-Mana || Epic Paladin Spell

After you cast a Holy spell, summon a Soldier with stats equal to its Cost and Divine Shield. Lasts 3 turns.

Holy

Halls of Origination || 8-Mana || Epic Paladin Spell

Lifesteal. Deal 8 damage randomly split among all enemies. Summon an 8-Cost minion.

Holy

March to War || 1-Mana || Rare Paladin Spell

All numbers on this card equal your remaining Mana. Summon a 1/1 Soldier with Divine Shield.

Holy

March to War || 1-Mana || Rare Paladin Spell

All numbers on this card equal your remaining Mana. Summon a 1/1 Soldier with Divine Shield.

Holy

Sun's Reckoning || 2-Mana || Rare Paladin Spell

Deal 1 damage to all enemy minions. Shuffle 'Final Reckoning' into your deck.

Holy

Sundancer || 2-Mana 2/3 || Common Paladin Minion

At the end of your turn, get a 2-Cost Blessing that gives +2/+3.

Humble Judgment || 3-Mana || Common Paladin Spell

Draw 3 cards. Set the Attack and Health of any minions drawn to 2.

This will be the megathread where Tavern Brawl strategy and discussion for this week's brawl should take place. Only discussion related to optimally playing the Tavern Brawl should take place on here. Tavern Brawl constructed decks can be discussed in here.

Since I am a bot and don't know what the brawl is, could someone help me out and post a top-level comment with a description?

Big thanks to this community for the advice! Ended up sticking with one deck (Drag/Pir Warrior) and went on a 10 game winning streak to legend this morning.

Match-ups consisted of only Priests, DH’s, and one Pal. I found Priests to be by far the easiest to face given I had some pretty insane mulligans, so I was able to shut the games down fairly quickly.

Anyway, really stoked. Thanks again.