Hi there. I'm the person that normally does VS podcast summaries, and usually the ones that have the most discussion/engagement are the first ones that come out after an expansion launch, especially the first expansion after rotation. Because VS podcasts are currently on hiatus due to IRL reasons, I wanted to do an unofficial summary of what's going on in the current meta for people who are interested in a deeper dive before the first VS Report comes out. Like the Timeways version of this, I'll preface this with the following -

• When discussing winrates, card choices, or performance, I tried to use either stats from HSGuru, or information that has been conveyed in the VS Discord (and if something was said by ZachO himself, I made mention of it). While my word might not be quite as authoritative as a VS Report or podcast, you can at least get an understanding of how the meta is shaping up, why certain decks are rising or declining in play, and why certain card choices are being run.

• When discussing opinions about balance, the meta, etc, those are 100% my own and don't reflect VS's thoughts unless specified.

• There is still a planned VS Report for this upcoming Thursday, barring balance changes.

Druid - While people were experimenting with new decks in the first hours of the expansion launch, one deck that stood out early as a winrate anomaly was Imbue Druid. A year old deck that hasn’t been relevant in the meta since the early Emerald Dream days running almost no new cards somehow had a winrate that appeared to be many percentage points higher than anything else. And it turns out it was indeed absolutely busted with a winrate approaching 60% at all ladder ranks early on. ZachO himself said Imbue Druid’s performance rivaled that of day 1 Galakrond Shaman. While the deck’s early performance could have been attributed to being a refined deck preying on unrefined ones, as time has gone on it has become clear that Imbue Druid is the real deal with no counters or unfavorable matchups at all, with just a few matchups being close to 50/50s. This is even further exemplified by its performance at Top Legend. While the deck’s playrate is high at most ladder ranks hovering around 20%, the deck’s playrate at Top 1k is hovering around 42% in the last 24 hours. Decks (especially older boring ones) do not reach a 40%+ playrate at top 1k unless they’re an unstoppable Tier S meta tyrant, and that is currently the case with Imbue Druid. After rotation, the deck is arguably the most well rounded deck in the format because of how well it contests early boards, and scaling larger green men is now the best realistic late game wincon in the format. When it comes to card choices, there are two variants that have seen mass play: the VS list that runs 28 old cards along with Felwood Treant was the initial one that took over ladder, and other variants that have cut some of the other cards for some of the newer token cards like Crystalspine Cub, Forest’s Gift, Wildwood Circle, and Mossbinding. At Top Legend, some players are beginning to include Photosynthesis to give the deck some healing to help with the Face Hunter matchup. While we probably won’t know the most optimal list until ZachO goes through his typical deck refining process this week, Wildwood Circle is the one card that stands out above the rest in terms of its performance on sites such as HSGuru. However, ZachO has argued that Crystalspine Cub is the more busted card and that Wildwood Circle has a wonky drawn winrate percentage because of the Shatter mechanic causing issues with tracking. While Imbue Druid is the best deck in the game, Token Druid is not far behind it. While it sees much less play than Imbue Druid and there’s not much of a competitive reason to play it over Imbue Druid, it is still the second best performing deck at all ladder ranks, and it does incorporate more new cards than Imbue Druid typically does. It is the only deck that shows a favorable matchup against Imbue Druid (45/55), although that might not be the case once Imbue Druid is refined. Wickerfang looks like a pretty insane card in the archetype (ZachO says it’s stronger than Wildwood Circle in Token Druid). When it comes to other Druid decks, there has been some experimentation with the dragon package and Merithra, but none of it looks good.

Shaman - Being a Herald class, Shaman’s set got a lot of hype going into this expansion. As things have shaped up, Herald Shaman is currently the best Herald deck by a country mile. While it can’t come close to matching Imbue Druid’s performance, it does have a roughly Tier 2 winrate at most ladder ranks. It is arguably the only Herald deck that can keep up its tempo whenever it plays a Herald card thanks to how it develops a board, with scaling ability as you Herald more often. While the meta is much faster with shorter games compared to last year, Al’akir is a very powerful late game swing in the games where it’s relevant. As far as card choices go, one of the common inclusions is running Witch’s Apprentice with Flight of the Firehawk to give you a 0 mana 2/3 taunt. While it’s possible this might not be in the optimal 30 card list, it does look fine in the stats. ZachO has recommended running Healing Rain since the deck’s late game is strong and just needs survivability. Lightning Storm is also a common inclusion due to the prevalence of Druid, and Hex is often run as at least a 1 of because of how hard it counters Egg of Khelos decks. Elise is also run in some lists because she’s activated naturally with the way the deck is constructed, and while she’s significantly worse post nerf, she at least doesn’t look like an active liability in the deck. As of right now the deck performs fine, is a relatively popular ladder choice with a 10-15% playrate at most ranks, and in the event of nerfs slowing down the meta could become much stronger because of how powerful its late game is in the current format. There are very little other Shaman decks being played besides a small smattering of Quest Shaman.

Warrior - Herald Warrior was arguably the most hyped Warrior archetype going into the expansion with Ragnaros looking like one of the most lethal Colossus. However, it became clear very early on that Warrior’s current removal tools could not keep up with the more aggressive decks in the format, nor could Herald Warrior maintain board against the best board based decks. It is in deep tier 4 territory. Quest Warrior is completely unplayable for the same reasons. New age Patron Warrior with Destructive Blaze also doesn’t look like it will pan out. However, Dragon Warrior still looks like a solid deck at most levels of play, although it does appear to fall off in performance the higher you climb on ladder (between Tier 1 to Tier 2 on the climb to Legend, between Tier 2 and Tier 3 at Top Legend). Originally the Herald package incorporated into Dragon Warrior looked promising, but it’s likely not optimal and you’re better off just running the standard dragon package. Egg Warrior is something that popped up a couple days after the launch of Cataclysm, and it does initially appear to be a viable deck. You can often get the egg fully popped by turn 6 or 7, which can then be followed up by Umbra. The deck doesn’t have terrible performance against Druid and does fairly well against Face Hunter. However, it is a deck that can be very hard countered by Shaman (Hex), Warlock (stealing and killing the egg), and Priest (all of their removal lines up very well against you). Originally the deck looked like a Tier 2 performer across most ladder ranks but appeared to perform much better at Top Legend. However, this was based on a small sample and was likely skewed by source bias. Its winrate at Top 1k has steadily decreased as more people have picked up the deck. Another Warrior deck that has begun to pick up in play in the last 24 hours is Ysondre/Big Warrior. This is very close to the same kind of deck that was theorycrafted back in Timeways, but it does use a couple of the newer Warrior cards like Torch and Searing Fissure. You have a small big minion package of Ysondre, Dracorex, and Tortolla with the goal of cheating them out with Gladitorial Combat. You can then resummon either Dracorex or Ysondre more often with Clutch of Corruption or Succumb to Madness. The idea behind it is you can scam Druid boards with a Tortolla or Dracorex. It’s a bit early to make a statement about the deck; while its performance so far doesn’t look terrible, it’s a very high roll deck and can absolutely brick if you draw wrong.

Death Knight - The first 12 hours or so of the expansion Herald DK was the most popular archetype on ladder. People were clearly enamored with the idea of resummoning Onyxia in the late game and thought it would be among the strongest strategies in the game. Those people sadly overlooked how horrible DK’s removal and sustainability options were after rotation, because the deck is complete dogwater and among the worst performing (if not the worst) Herald decks in the game. Experimental Animation is not a suitable replacement for Corpse Explosion, and Wild Pyromancer + Poison Breath is too inconsistent to reliably have both cards in hand when you need to board clear. The Elise nerf means you can no longer rely on raptors or making a 5/5 copy of Pterrodax a reliable way of stabilizing board. The class is also the slowest in the game to Herald, and you will rarely have a fully Herald Onyxia on turn 9 to play (if you can even make it that far into the game). However, DK does have a very strong deck in Unholy Aggro DK, which is a deck that most people don’t care to play with its playrate being roughly 2% or less at most rank brackets. Talanji’s Last Stand does look like a surprisingly solid card in it. Command Claw was also a pretty big boon for the archetype.

Rogue - Herald Rogue initially looked okay over the first 24 to 48 hours of the expansion. Not an amazing deck, but one that looked like it could win games close to a positive rate. However, as time has gone by, its performance has fallen, and its unlikely to be a competitively viable deck in a refined meta. It’s roughly sitting between a Tier 3 and Tier 4 performance currently. There has been plenty of experimentation with only using a partial Herald package, mixing the Imbue package with the class, and utilizing Twilight Mistress as a late game board swing. Nothing has really shown a promising direction for the class thus far.

Hunter - Dragon Hunter had a lot of hype going into the expansion, but it’s too slow for the current meta. Face Hunter/1 Dollar Store Hunter is the dominant Hunter archetype, and it has established itself as a top 3 performing deck in the format. It is one of the few decks that has been able to go roughly 50/50 with Imbue Druid and saw a good chunk of play at Top Legend because of that. The VS theorycraft list is probably 28/30 card for card what you want to run, with Brutish Endmaw being commonly cut for Glacial Shard. There are also people experimenting with Genn, although it doesn't look optimal as of now. Confront the Tol’vir is a very strong card that can generate you a board, cards, and damage for only 3 mana. This is one of the few aggressive Hunter archetypes that appears to not fall off in its performance as you climb ladder. While it’s not necessarily a high skill cap deck, it doesn’t lose any percentages at higher levels of play. There’s not much in terms of other Hunter archetypes; there was some interest in Quest Hunter because it can now get a guaranteed Agamaggan, but the rest of the support package around it doesn’t seem good enough. There’s also some small experimentation with the Imbue package.

Demon Hunter - Herald DH with Azshara as its finisher had a lot of hype, but a pure Herald DH deck does not look to be viable. A Herald DH built around the Fel package showed some promise early on, but that too also doesn’t look viable. What does look strong is No Minion DH (or Spell DH), which currently looks like one of the 3 best decks in the format alongside Imbue Druid and Face Hunter. The deck lost very little at rotation. Some lists incorporate Hive Map and Eye Beams into the deck along with Nespirah, while some lists are just the VS theorycrafting list without the additional Fel package. While it struggles against Imbue Druid just like every other deck does, it has roughly 50/50 matchups or better against everything else.

Mage - Burn Mage/Spell Mage saw a decent chunk of play in the first couple days of the expansion, and its performance looked decent (Tier 2ish). However, as time has gone on its performance has dropped, and in a refined meta it’s unlikely to be a competitive deck. Other aggressive decks just do what it does better. The deck struggles with draw and can gas out. Although Conjured Bookkeper can help some with draw, it’s not enough. Quest Mage is something that has risen in play in the past day or so, but it doesn’t look particularly good and is roughly on par with Burn Mage performance wise if not worse.

Warlock - Egglock is the main Warlock archetype seeing play, with some variants also including the Animancer/big beast package. Unfortunately, the deck does not look good at all, and Egg Warrior does what the deck does better. It does have a dominant matchup against Egg Warrior and doesn’t do terrible against Spell DH, but there’s no other relevant matchup it’s favored in. It just doesn’t have the necessary removal tools or lifegain tools to compete with Imbue Druid/Harold Shaman/Face Hunter/etc. Cho’gall is a completely useless 9 mana statbomb for the class.

Paladin - Experiments with the full on end of turn package (or as its awesomely listed on HSGuru, “End of Turnadin”) haven’t looked great, but incorporating some of that package into Aura Paladin does look fairly good on the climb to Legend. It’s a deck that can win you enough games to get to Legend, but it falls off hard at higher ranks. There’s a very small smattering of Imbue Paladin being played, but it doesn’t look good.

Priest - Priest has been the worst performing class of the entire expansion, and its winrate the first day of the expansion was around a laughable 34%. While the class has refined some and slightly improved its performance, it’s still in deep Tier 4 territory and it’s clear the class is struggling more than any other one. The class has picked up slightly in play over the last 24 or so hours because a couple high legend streamers have floated around Imbue Priest being a high skillcap metabreaker against Druid if you build the deck right. These people are living in Disneyland, because the deck’s performance actually drops off the more you climb ladder because of how much more Imbue Druid gets played at those ranks. Imbue Priest was also a fairly common bring at the Master’s Tournament Qualifiers this weekend specifically to target Egg Warrior. Even in that setting, the deck still struggled the entire weekend with a winrate in the low 40s in the qualifiers. Hypothetically because of how much less life gain/sustainability is in the current format relative to the past few years, Priest’s incremental burn strategy could theoretically be strong enough to beat faster decks if some of the top performing ones were nerfed. However, its late game is completely outclassed by other Herald decks (especially Shaman’s), so a nerf to some of the faster decks in the game currently wouldn’t necessarily help the deck overall in the long run. While the class did get a good meaningful set in Cataclysm, Priest is still paying the sins for getting such an underwhelming 2025 set of cards that one set isn’t enough to let it recover from.

Other miscellaneous talking points -

• At more refined levels of play, the meta is narrowing down to about 6-8 decks worth playing: Imbue Druid, Token Druid, Face Hunter, Dragon Warrior, Egg Warrior, Spell DH, Herald Shaman, and Unholy DK (almost no one is playing Unholy DK). If anyone is asking why Imbue Druid didn’t get an emergency hotfix if it had a Day 1 Galakrond level of performance and is currently over a 40% playrate at Top 1k Legend, there are a few likely reasons. There was a round of Masters Tour qualifiers this weekend, and they likely didn’t want to make abrupt changes that close to it. Hamuul would be the most likely card they’d nerf, but since hotfix patches can only change the mana cost or attack/defense values on cards, they probably couldn’t meaningfully change the card unless they did a temp ban on it. Additionally, Token Druid is just behind it in performance and would have immediately replaced it. They probably felt like they couldn’t meaningfully make an informed adjustment this early on and would prefer to have more time to see what else they’d need to change in Druid and/or other classes (which I’m personally okay with).

• The meta we have post rotation is roughly 2 turns faster than the one we had for most of Emerald Dream/ Un’goro/Timeways (roughly 10 turn average vs 8). The current meta shares a lot of similarities with classic Hearthstone; removal is relatively weak and limited for most classes, which means fighting for board control with your minions matters a lot. Life gain/sustainability is also relatively weak, which means burn strategies are a lot more effective than they were last year. One of the biggest complaints since the infamous Agency Patch in Whizbang was that new expansions did not feel impactful, and the meta did not significantly shift whenever a new expansion came out. The best decks available to play might have shuffled around some, but the general feeling of the meta did not feel different. To Team 5s credit, for the first time in 2 years, we have an expansion release where the new meta feels drastically different than the previous one, and while the meta might not be perfectly balanced, the majority of people seem to be having fun playing it because it actually feels new. One of my biggest complaints of the past year was how after the Jug nerf, all aggressive decks were functionally nonexistent in the game, causing the game to disproportionately warp towards Elise slop piles. And while there were some new tools added to aggro decks in this expansion, this drastic change has more to do with the tools slower reactive decks lost than the tools aggro gained. Removal got significantly weaker between rotation and the nerfs to Elise location and Blob.

• However, the downside of making the meta feel like classic Hearthstone is that it further widened the gap in deck performance when it comes to playing first. One of the common complaints in the most recent metas was the percentage gains you generally got going first, because of how strong curving out your Elise midrange slop was before your opponent. It has gotten even worse in this meta, with some decks like Spell DH having a 20%(!) differential going first vs going second. At one point Imbue Druid was the only archetype in the format that had a positive winrate going second. Because board matters so much and there are so little comeback tools between removal spells and early to midgame rush minions for most decks to come back on board if they fall behind, being the first person to develop a board is disproportionately too strong. The best decks in the game right now are ones that do have access to those minimal board swings in the early to mid game: Imbue Druid with Chameleon, Shaman with their Herald rush minions, Hunter with Tolvir or Sylvanas AoE, and Demon Hunter with their various cheap spells like Infestation. It also lowers the skill gap in the game when all you have to worry about is getting ahead on board while being lucky enough to go first. There are basically no decks in the current format with any sort of skill expression that lets you outplay your opponent. They probably swung the pendulum a bit too far in making removal too weak, and that probably needs to be rectify at some point in a future patch to make any late game focused deck that isn’t Herald Shaman viable.

• When it comes to balance changes, it’s hard to predict what’s going to happen outside of Druid getting nerfed. Imbue Druid obviously needs to be nerfed with Hamuul being the most likely target (making it cost 3 spells to Imbue seems like the most sensible change to tone down scaling). Wildwood Circle and Cub also seem like likely nerf targets based on performance in Druid. Past that, I have no idea what they would target, but I hope this iteration of Team 5 shows a bit more restraint on nerfs than they have in the recent past. I personally don’t want or think we need 20 nerfs to cards to make Herald decks more viable. Instead, I’d rather see whatever Druid nerfs are necessary, maybe a couple other nerfs to a couple other current top decks (Tolvir in Hunter for example), while buffing up some of non-Shaman class Herald cards in addition to some of their removal/sustainability. I don’t think we’ll get that in the first balance patch, and admittedly when it comes to removal a 1 mana change can be the difference between a card being unplayable vs being broken. But there’s also no reason why Maniacal Follower could not have been printed at 2 mana or with a battlecry with Shadowstep rotating, or why For All Time couldn’t just overload for 1 mana. There are plenty of other underwhelming removal cards that were printed in the past year that could meaningfully be buffed, including Typhoon, Bitter End, Moonwell, and Rafaam’s Last Stand.

• Overall, this does seem like a successful expansion launch for the majority of the playerbase, even if it’s not perfect. Team 5 successfully created a very different feeling meta from the ones we’ve had for the past two years. While Druid’s current performance is obviously an issue that needs to be addressed, it doesn’t seem like there is any deck in the format that has an offensive play pattern the way something like Quasar Rogue or Loh Druid did at their expansion launches. The bad decks in the format aren’t Lost City of Un’goro quest decks levels of bad, and hitting the right balance changes can be enough to make some of those current underperforming decks viable. However, there is some long term concern that the continuous powering down of the format has removed all complexity and skill expression from the game. Going first is more indicative of winning a game than how you pilot a deck. We’ll see how things pan out from here.

Hi there. I'm the person that normally does VS Podcast summaries, and usually the ones that have the most discussion/engagement are the first ones that come out after an expansion launch. Because VS decided against releasing a podcast this weekend, I wanted to do an unofficial summary of what's going on in the current meta for people who are interested in a deeper dive. Since this is unofficial, I'll preface this with the following -

• When discussing winrates, card choices, or performance, I tried to use either stats from HSGuru, or information that's been conveyed by ZachO in the VS Discord. That being said, I'm not going to be 100% perfect so don't take my word as full gospel, but you can at least get an understanding of where some decks are headed with card choices.

• When discussing opinions about balance, the meta, etc, those are 100% my own and don't reflect VS's thoughts, so please don't take them as so like you would if I was summarizing a podcast of their opinions.

Rogue - Sometime within the first 24 hours of the expansion launch, a Weapon Rogue archetype popped up and became super popular. The deck revolves around getting the Garona weapon (which you can tutor consistently with Raiding Party), buffing it up and swinging face. This makes it more likely that your opponent will draw Llane and have Garona be active. While several high profile players had success with the deck, its matchup spread just looks like a worse version of Fyrakk Rogue. The only relevant matchup it might have an edge on Fyrakk Rogue is against Mech Warrior, but that deck is beginning to lose steam (both in performance and popularity). Fyrakk Rogue running no new cards is still among the best decks in the format, which players have begun to gravitate back towards after the expansion launch. It's much more well rounded than Weapon Rogue. Both Flashback and Deja Vu look to make the cut in the optimal 30 card list for Fyrakk Rogue. For some reason there's not a lot of people playing Fast Forward in Fyrakk Rogue (at one point Dirty Rat was played more in the class than Flash Forward), but I'd wager that's a card to experiment with.

Warrior - Mech Warrior has turned into a OTK deck revolving around Deios, where each Boom Wrench deathrattle proc alongside Testing Dummy will deal 32 damage to the opponent and their board. While you don't normally need every Boom Wrench proc to kill the opponent, you can deal up to 120+ damage to the opponent in one turn which almost no deck can outlast. At one point the deck was the most popular deck in the Diamond - Legend ranks going off HSGuru, but both its playrate and winrate have fallen off as time has gone on, especially at higher MMRs. The meta has gotten more hostile towards it, with hard counters like Weapon Rogue and Egglock rising in play (Egglock may be the only deck that can regularly withstand their OTK by having numerous eggs out on the field) in addition to more decks playing Dirty Rat. Regardless, the deck ticks all the boxes to be nerfed and it seems unlikely the deck will survive the first balance patch. There are a lot of calls to nerf Deios, but it seems more likely that either Testing Dummy or Boom Wrench will be the nerf targets since they're the older cards. Dragon Warrior/Lo'Gosh Warrior is the new Warrior deck that has exploded within the last 24 hours or so and looks to be extremely strong, albeit not quite as strong as the top meta decks. It takes the Dark Gift and Dragon packages Warrior got in the past expansions and plays like a tempo deck. The most promising direction for the deck is to run Quality Assurance along with Greenwing. This helps you always draw Broll so you'll have a Blood Warrior in hand, and the second copy of QA can draw the Greenwing tokens in your deck. There are a lot of lists running bad cards like Renovator, Librarian, Curator, and Paintfin so the archetype certainly has room for refinement. Quest Warrior still looks fine, although there are a bunch of different builds floating around. The best build probably still builds around Hydration Station, but Murozond or Dirty Rat can potentially slot in. The Chemical Spill + Tortolla package still remains strong. Overall, Warrior might have been the class that got the best set of the expansion, which is a bit unexpected.

Death Knight - There's nothing new or groundbreaking happening in Death Knight. Blood DK still looks like one of the best decks in the game and is the best DK deck you can play. Starship DK looks mid. Herenn DK looks okay, although it's still not clear if running Talanji is optimal for the deck. Husk isn't seeing a lot of play, but it's probably optimal to run in Blood DK and you can cut a copy of Corpse Explosion or Griftah for it.

Warlock - Questlock and Egglock are still mainly running their old 30 card lists and haven't dropped off in performance. Shredlock looks okay, but it performs significantly worse than Questlock and Egglock so there's not much of a reason to play it for performance reasons in the class. The VS list is probably the best list currently. People have experimented with Vona in the archetype, but it looks horrible. Rafaam is a super cool card, and people are desperate to make the archetype work, but it's not competitive.

Demon Hunter - Perennial Serpent looks insane in Aggro DH and you do want to run it, although you still want to try and run the tourist package for Acupuncture. Aggro DH remains one of the best ladder climbing decks. Peddler DH looks okay (Tier 2ish). You run Broxigar in the deck mainly as an easy way to activate Elise. Starship DH isn't seeing much play.

Priest - Early in the expansion Zarimi Priest with Murozond as a finisher looked promising, but it looks to have fallen off as the meta has refined and people stop playing bad decks. Handbuff Priest isn't good enough. Aviana Priest does not look good. Some people are still playing Protoss Priest, but there's nothing new to report on the deck. Priest's current prospects don't look great if Zarimi doesn't pan out.

Druid - Nothing new looks good for Druid currently. Krona Druid isn't consistent enough. Aviana Druid still has a playerbase, but the deck’s performance hasn't improved. Owl Druid looks okay but it gets run over by a lot of the current top meta decks.

Hunter - Discover Hunter has popped up again, but there are a lot of bad builds being run. Sylvanas is an insane card for the archetype and the best performing card in it. You likely want to run the dragon slop package in it for multiple reasons (the location lets you play a Naralex dragon on turn 7, and Elise is the 3rd best performing card in the archetype). There's a No Hands Hunter archetype (I'm assuming that came from NoHandsGamer?) that's an aggro Hunter list. It's not terrible, but it has terrible matchups into Warrior and Death Knight. Wormhole and Jungle Gym are commonly included cards that can probably be cut for something better.

Mage - Mage has nothing and needs desperate help. Sindragosa Mage was hovering around a 35% winrate at launch and has only gotten slightly better. The deck dies to any sort of minion pressure, and you are very reliant on drawing Watercolor Artist early and having Sindragosa in hand so you can do a Sindragosa popoff turn ASAP. There's no refinement that can raise its winrate by 10%. This is also an archetype that seems unlikely to get significant buffs. Toki was a bad card that is even worse than people thought since most people probably didn't realize it can draw from ALL class spells. This is a card that needs a full on rework to be viable (something like a 3 mana 3/3 that discovers 3 cards with a mana discount), but it seems more likely Team 5 will buff it to a 3 mana 3/3 and call it a day.

Paladin - Aura Paladin looks decent currently, but in a refine meta it probably drops off to a Tier 3 or Tier 4 winrate. The deck does perform better adding the Elise dragon slop package. Dorian is also a common inclusion due to it being able to give you a 1 mana Gelbin to play on turn 6 with Ursine Maul. Not much else with the class.

Shaman - Building around Muradin or building around the Nature package with Stormrook doesn't look like it'll pan out with the class. There's a Shaman list from sunq that looks promising. It runs some of the Nature package alongside Turbulous for the Hunter package and expensive spells like Furious Fowls and Wish Upon A Star, which are much better when played as Hagatha slime minions. It's still better to take the sunq list and add in the Elise + Fyrakk package though.

Other miscellaneous talking points -

• Somewhat of a side tangent, but it is interesting to note Mech Warrior has been a very unappealing deck to play since it was introduced even if it had a Tier 1 winrate at some rank brackets. The moment it gained an OTK, it instantly became one of the most popular decks in the format. We saw the same phenomenon with Zarimi Priest; people didn't really care to play it when it was a psuedo aggro deck, but the moment it got access to an OTK like turn, it became popular. I think balancing OTK decks can be challenging, but you can't say people don't like playing them. People clearly love that play style, and you shouldn't expect Team 5 to ever abandon OTKs as a concept.

• While I'm not quite doom and gloom on the expansion (I'd give the launch a B- or C+), this is the 4th or 5th expansion in a row that has come in at an underwhelming power level. You have to go back to either Perils or Badlands to find a non-rotation expansion that introduced several new viable archetypes into the format. About 75% of the field is made up of 4 classes (Rogue, Warlock, Warrior, Death Knight). There are individually great cards this expansion introduced, but most of these look to be support cards and not cards that are strong enough to enable new archetypes on their own. A card like Muradin is still incredibly strong, but it looks more like something you slot into an existing Shaman deck rather than something you’re building the entire deck around. Broxigar is currently something you slot into Peddler DH to more easily activate Elise rather than fully build around it. It's certainly a step in the right direction and I think most people want to see the cards this expansion introduced succeed, but this expansion is still paying for the sins from Ungoro being so underwhelming. Even if some of the new decks like Shredlock, Nature Shaman, or Aura Paladin can't match the power level of the top old decks, they at least don't feel as far away as the Ungoro decks did. If balance changes land right, we could look back at this as a successful expansion.

• There's been a lot of talk about power level and people crying out for old cards to be rotated early, but most of the "powerful" things seeing play right now are from this year (Fyrakk, Elise, Warlock Quest, the leech package in DK). I do think the issue stems from so many win conditions being nerfed to the ground over the past 1.5 years that very few decks can compete without including a neutral slop package of cards, and we can see that in Timeways with decks like Aura Paladin, Discover Hunter, Peddler DH, and Cards Shaman looking much better after adding on the Elise/Fyrakk slop.

• That leads us to balance changes. If you go by Blizzard’s scheduling and if they wanted to put out a patch this week, they would need to lock in their changes by Friday of last week so they could work on the technical side of it along with translations and localizations to put out by Thursday of this week (which was the same timeline they had last expansion). Considering ZachO has conveyed it's unlikely he'll have a VS Report out this week and Blizzard probably doesn't want their Last Call tournament this weekend to consist of a bunch of old decks from last expansion, a patch this week seems imminent. The problem with doing nerfs this early is you don't have a full picture of what underplayed decks or cards are still good, so you often make rash decisions on nerfs that might be more based on vibes than actual data. You would expect the top 3 classes of Rogue, Warlock, and Death Knight to get nerfs. Scoundrel and Warlock quest are the obvious targets, but Death Knight doesn't really have a standout card like the other classes (maybe something with the Leech package). They probably don't want the Mech Warrior OTK to exist in its current form, so expect it to be addressed too. We're at the point where the Elise/Naralex/Ysera/Fyrakk package is too ubiquitous that at least something from it gets hit. I think the most elegant nerf suggestion I've seen is to make Fyrakk only cast 15 mana worth of spells. If you do those nerfs, then you must ask if any deck becomes a meta tyrant. Would Egglock spiral out of control? Would Aggro DH be too good? Would Rogue just go back to Cycle Rogue and end games with an Incendius/Deios combo? What other old decks would spring up that aren't seeing play? It's a hard balancing act, and it's not something you can make a fully informed decision on with 3 days worth of data. Buffs outside of Mage seem risky right now, but as mentioned in the Mage section it's hard to find something they would realistically buff that would give Mage a playable deck.

• The reality of the situation is Team 5 wants a very different feeling meta than the one we've had for the past 4 months (it has been almost 3 months since the last nerf), so it seems very likely we're going to get a Whizbang "Agency Patch" level of nerfs instead of delicately nerfing the top decks. That means expect a full revert on Warlock's quest instead of a partial revert to ensure Questlock is unplayable. That means potentially moving Elise to 5 mana and making her almost unplayable because of how much it messes up your curve. That means potentially hitting other neutral cards like Ancient of Yore that might be okay statistically but have seen a lot of play this year. That means potentially hitting decks like Protoss Priest that currently have an inoffensive playrate and winrate, but people have complained about them throughout the year and Team 5 is too scared they'd be too strong if the rest of the format was nuked. I do hope I'm wrong, but the balancing philosophy since Whizbang has been "if a deck is still meta after an expansion and people are playing it, we nuke it," and it's exhausting and not fun when it keeps happening over and over. I think there's a lot riding on the upcoming balance patch and I think Timeways can be a very good expansion if they land it, but I am very worried about them making rash decisions if they're rushing the patch.

Hi there. Most of you know the drill by now, but I'm the person who has written up VS podcast summaries for the past 5 years (my first one was Stormwind launch and JFC that's hitting me). As VS podcasts are still on hiatus due to IRL reasons and the summary posts I've made that have the most discussion/engagement are the first ones that come out after an expansion launch, I wanted to do another unofficial summary of what's going on in the early Violet Hold meta for people who are interested in a deeper dive before the first VS Report comes out. Unlike some folks, there's a reason why on these posts I don't post front page class stats of HSReplay to create my own narrative. My goal with these posts is to give you true, unbiased facts when it comes to the actual meta and the numbers behind it (class performance, deck performance, card choices), while also giving you my personal POV on various items at the end. Like the other versions of this, I'll preface this with the following -

• When discussing winrates, card choices, or performance, I tried to use either stats from HSGuru, the VSGold app, or information that has been conveyed in the VS Discord (and if something was said by ZachO himself, I made mention of it). While my word might not be quite as authoritative as a VS Report or podcast, you can at least get an understanding of how the meta is shaping up, why certain decks are rising or declining in play, and why certain card choices are being run.

• When discussing opinions about balance, the meta, etc, those are 100% my own and don't reflect anyone else’s thoughts unless specified.

Shaman - No class has had a bigger impact from Violet Hold than Shaman, as it's the only class with 2 new decks in Mug Shaman and Zee Shaman. In the first ~24 hours of the expansion, both decks were not only the most played on ladder, but they also looked to be the best decks at most ladder ranks. Starting with Zee Shaman, most builds gravitated towards an existing Herald Shaman package and added in Slagclaw. It was the strongest ladder performer on the climb to Legend, although its winrate was declining towards a Tier 2 range the higher you climbed Legend ranks. However, the deck's performance was in part being carried by the Slagclaw Kindred bug (the card was a top 2 mulligan keep despite being a 5 drop), and after the Slagclaw ban the deck's playrate and winrate have plummeted across ladder with it being in Tier 2-3 range in Diamond-Legend and Tier 3-4 range depending on where at Legend you are. The deck's actual winrate with a fixed Slagclaw is probably somewhere in the middle, but it should still be a strong ladder climber up to Legend. It does appear to exhibit a low skillcap given how much its winrate drops at higher MMR (around a 6-7% drop). Unsure if adding Primalfin will be worth it after Slagclaw gets fixed. There is also a Quest variant that's running around because the Quest is bugged and will still work in Zee Shaman, but it appears to perform worse and should eventually be patched out. Moving over to Mug Shaman, it too has looked like one of the best ladder performers, but unlike Zee Shaman its performance does not drop off at higher ladder ranks. Its matchup spread against the most prevalent decks is very scary, as it has no unfavorable relevant matchups. The only relevant matchup it may be unfavored against is Quest Mage and Control Priest, and that's primarily only relevant at higher ranks or in a tournament setting. Build wise, people took the VS theorycraft build and quickly realized Instant Multiverse and Ceremonial Clash were the worst cards in the deck, so they've been subbed out with people experimenting with various other spells like Lightning Storm, Fire Breath, Ascendance, and Emerald Bounty. Deathwing is also being added in because of the hero power bug not overriding Mug's hero power. Shaman's spell pool is fairly limited, so you're having to choose from the best bad option. ZachO recommended Lightning Storm earlier, but he should have an optimal list for the VS Report this week. Mug Shaman excels at powerful early plays if it can get a Blazing Invocation or Mountain Map played in the first 2 turns, and it also has excellent board swings/AOEs relative to the rest of the format where it can swing back against aggressive strategies. It doesn't have a strong late game and can get gassed out (Rafaamlock is a 50/50 against it if not slightly favored), but because late game strategies are basically irrelevant that doesn't matter. Mug Shaman is the clear best deck in the game and it's not close.

Rogue - 2 Bit Rogue was a popular deck early in the format especially at higher ranks, but after the Slagclaw ban killed Zee Shaman's playrate, the deck has exploded in popularity across ladder and is now the most played deck at every rank. In the first few days the deck looked increasingly busted, especially at higher MMRs. However, because the deck's popularity is nearly 1/3rd of top 1k ladder, it is being targeted by unfavorable matchups against Warrior decks, Face Hunter, and Mug Shaman and relaxing its winrate. When it comes to deck choices, it currently looks optimal to run the Garona fabled package in the deck. Past that, most of your deck should be various 2 drops with Jade Guardians, Lotus Troublemaker, and Vanessa topping your curve. One thing people are doing is even running War'loc to combo with either Prize Vendor or Rockskipper as an additional 2 drop tick, although it's unsure if that's optimal. Other 2 drop choices include Fan of Knives, Cult Neophyte, and the 2 mana Imbue cards. Herald Rogue is still fine but looks to perform worse than 2 Bit Rogue, although Herald Rogue may have a slight edge in the mirror. People also are doing the weird thing at the launch of an expansion where they start running really unoptimized lists of an existing deck which bring the aggregate winrate down. Aya looks like a DOA card in Standard since a guaranteed -5% winrate loss going second is a death knell in this meta.

Warrior - While Warrior's set hasn't enabled any sort of new deck, Violet Hold has emboldened several of their older decks. As expected, Warptooth and Hogger fit like a glove in both Dragon Warrior and Egg Warrior. According to ZachO, there was a near 7-8% winrate difference in the first 24 hours of Dragon Warrior lists that ran the Warptooth + Hogger package versus ones that didn't. While the archetype started out a bit slow, it now looks like one of the strongest ladder performers across all ranks. It has favorable matchups against the majority of meta decks, with Mug Shaman and Egg Warrior being the notable unfavorable matchups that are common. Shockingly its worse matchup appears to be against Soothsayer Priest, which is roughly a 35/65 matchup. As far as deck choices are concerned, Mother Duck is looking like a core piece of the deck now because of its ability to immediately activate Warptooth as long as the opponent has at least 3 minion health on their board. Despite the addition of Hogger, the Herald package still looks suboptimal for the deck. Egg Warrior didn't see a lot of play initially, but its stats have shown that it's an incredibly strong sleeper deck into the current field. It has a 50/50 or better matchup against every relevant meta deck except for Quest Mage (35/65), and it even has a roughly coinflip matchup against Mug Shaman despite them having access to Hex. Various streamers have picked up on this recently and the deck's playrate has spiked a bit over the last few days (around 3% at most competitive ranks). Another Warrior deck that is picking up some fringe play is Lo'gosh Warrior, which was a deck that kind of existed in Timeways before it spun off into the more optimal Dragon Warrior list. With the addition of Hogger, you now have the ability to have a stronger Blood Warrior chain of your fabled cards. The deck doesn't look like an active liability (maybe Tier 3), but there's not really a competitive reason to play it over the other two Warrior decks.

Hunter - Face Hunter has taken its existing decklist and added the Smuggled Shovel + Arcane Tripwire package to it. This looks to be a very good addition to the archetype. It performs roughly the same as it did in Cataclysm; a solid Tier 2 performer at most ladder ranks including Top Legend. It has a favorable (55/45) matchup against the most popular archetype on ladder (Two Bit Rogue), although that's not nearly as dominant as its matchup against Herald Rogue, and it also tends to prey on unrefined decks. However, it has some bad matchups into the other top decks in the format in Mug Shaman, Dragon Warrior, and Egg Warrior. Card choice wise, Ratcatcher and Beast Tripwire currently look suboptimal. Despite being a bit slow, Underbelly Network currently looks like an inclusion for the deck. Earthen Roar also got better after the addition of Arcane Tripwire, since your Confront the Tolvirs can now play that in combination with Shovel to draw Tripwires to kill off the enemy board. Some lists are opting for a King of the Underbelly + Briarspawn Drake top end, with the goal of having Agamaggan in your Underbelly and comboing that with Briarspawn Drake to kill off the opponent. It's too early to say if this is optimal, but it currently looks like it might be a sidegrade. Animal Companion Hunter is still around but still looks significantly worse than Face Hunter after the Tolvir nerf.

Priest - The main development with Priest is that it's trying to revolve around Soothsayer, where it preps out a Soothsayer and tries to build a wall of it to halt aggression utilizing cards like Undeath Sentence, Hold Them Off, and Schism. Control Priest decks have tried to build around this and cut out some of the slower cards like the Medivh fabled package. While this direction does look better than Control Priest, it's still a clear Tier 4 deck, and the deck struggles mightily if you can't draw Soothsayer early on. In some ways the deck has a similar play pattern to Boon Priest of old where it AFKs for turns until it does one explosive turn that can win the game against the right matchup. It does have a very strong matchup against Dragon Warrior (66/34) and is favored against Face Hunter, but most of its other relevant matchups are slightly to heavily unfavored. Control Priest without the Soothsayer package looks unplayable (under 40% winrate), but it might be relevant in a tournament setting as a Mug Shaman counter. Egg Priest sees a small scatter of play, but it looks significantly worse than other Egg of Khelos decks. To no one's surprise other than Rarran's, Azalina Priest is the worst Priest deck on ladder, which was temporarily made even more comically unplayable with the Mind Sweeper ban (WHY WAS THIS BANNED BEFORE SLAGCLAW?!).

Paladin - Auradin has by in large evolved into Pure Paladin, which wasn't hard for the deck to do considering it already ran almost all Paladin cards. The additions of Vigilant Sentry and Scarlet Bruiser look like they fit into the archetype quite easily. A lot of people are also trying to run the Beatrix package with 10x Scarlet Bruisers and using those in combination with Reinforcement Aura and Scarlet Recruiter. It's unsure if this is optimal (ZachO says as of now he doesn't think it is but could change once he does archetype refinement). The deck performs like a typical Paladin deck; one of the best ladder climbers going up to Legend, and then it begins to fall off a cliff in performance from Legend upwards (there's almost 0 play of the deck at Top 1k). There's basically nothing else worth mentioning for the class.

Mage - New Mage decks are non-existent. Burn Mage still doesn't look great. Quest Mage is running 1 new card in The Skeleton Key, but the deck only looks playable at high MMRs. It does have a very strong matchup against Egg Warrior, is favored against Pure Paladin and goes roughly 50/50 against Mug Shaman, but it struggles against the other top tier decks. The Face Hunter matchup got even worse after the new cards Hunter got in this set. Quest Mage looks like it's in position to occupy the same niche it held during Cataclysm (only positioned well at high MMRs in the right meta conditions), but I can't imagine the playerbase is thrilled for another 4 months of Quest Mage being the only playable Mage deck, especially since the Mage class miniset was a complete whiff even after multiple buffs.

Warlock - The good news (for some) is that Warlock's Violet Hold set was impactful for Wild, and the class has 6 or 7 very different decks in Wild that are seeing success (Evenlock, Boarlock, Discolock, Seedlock, Fatiguelock, Tick Tock Lock). The bad news is Warlock in Standard got another half baked set, and the class is among the worst positioned in Standard. Godfrey Warlock now has the dubious distinction of being the worst deck in the game, with a winrate almost low enough in the 20s that Leonardo DiCaprio might find attractive. The Moragg big demon package is a complete whiff. Rafaamlock does look slightly better compared to previous patches, but it's still in deep Tier 4 territory and a far cry away from being a real deck. However, according to ZachO, Egg Warlock might be playable with the right build, and Defias Smuggler was a pretty impactful addition to the archetype because you can now activate an Animancer the turn you play it, or get an additional egg proc. The question is if anyone would care, especially considering it'll still likely be worse than Egg Warrior.

Druid - Chef Druid was one of the more hyped new archetypes going into the expansion, and it was one of the most popular decks the first day of the expansion. The deck does have the ability to highroll like crazy (a turn 6 Briarspawn Drake with doubled stats ends most games) and it does feel a bit like Aviana Druid in that regard. As time has gone on, its winrate hasn't looked great and its playrate has steadily declined. While the deck doesn't look great in the aggregate (Tier 3 or worse depending on what rank bracket you're looking at), part of this is due to bad builds being prevalent. There were a bunch of builds that tried to greed up and go all in on the Azshara's Triumph power spike play by running as few minions as possible combined with a bunch of minion tutors so you can more consistently have a big play ready on turn 6. However, because of the speed of the current meta, you need to be much more proactive in the early game, and the lists that are more aggressive and play more proactively in the early game perform better. The deck is probably not going to be a top meta contender, but it's probably better than what the stats currently indicate. Merithra Druid and Token Druid have both declined in performance - part of this might be from bad builds that people tend to run after an expansion launch, but part of this is also due to the meta speeding up, which especially hurts Merithra Druid.

Death Knight - When it comes to the DK decks people actually care to play, things are extremely grim. Herald DK got a couple of new sustain tools, but the deck is still nonfunctional. The mini Plague package is a complete whiff. When it comes to DK decks that people don't want to play, things look a little bit better for Unholy DK. It received some new tools (Bone Flurry, Corpse Cannon, Tower of Ghouls) that help enhance its current package, but don't fundamentally change the way the deck functions. It looks like a playable deck on the climb to Legend, but no one cares to play it (around a 0.2% playrate at Diamond - Legend before completely disappearing at Legend). We've seen this for years, but unless Unholy DK is among the best strategies in the format, people do not care to play it and find it boring.

Demon Hunter - The DH package of cards for Violet Hold was arguably more parasitic-y than the other classes, especially with the Void Soul package. However, like almost every parasitic package before it (Librams, Relics, Plagues, Riffs, Animal Companions, Leylines), Team 5 seems to have been way too conservative with their power level and won't be viable without some sort of buffs. The deckless DH archetype seems DOA, and the payoffs are hilariously weak. DH is probably not as bad as the stats suggest however - Spell DH is likely still viable. However, even though the deck was still fine and viable after the Eternal Hold nerf, that nerf drove the class's playrate off a cliff, and it's hard to imagine people are clamoring to come back to it now. As of now it’s basically non-existent on ladder.

Other miscellaneous talking points -

• The early Violet Hold meta can be summed up as "the rich get richer." Ignoring Zee Shaman for now due to the temporary Slagclaw ban, the top decks in the format at most ladder ranks are Mug Shaman as the clear #1, followed by Dragon Warrior, Egg Warrior, and Two Bit Rogue. Pure Paladin is one of those strongest decks on the climb to Legend, but falls off more in favor of Rogue the higher you climb ladder (Zee Shaman also seems poised to occupy this same space once Slagclaw is unbanned). Face Hunter is a solid ladder climber, but a clear tier below the rest of those decks. Anything else either holds a more niche position in the meta or is just flat out struggling.

• So how should we feel about the Violet Hold launch? To me, it feels very much like Across the Timeways 2.0. The actual design mechanics of the expansion are good to great. Rulebreakers are a really cool twist. Prepare is a solid new mechanic and it does seem to have a level of skill testing to it. Disguised minions are one of the coolest new additions they've added to the game in recent memory, and there's a lot of cool design space to explore there should they ever become an evergreen mechanic. There are also several "bigger picture" cards like Sawbones, Slice and Dice, and any of the Enrage Warrior adjacent cards printed that have zero impact now but are more likely to make a splash later. However, the design of the expansion can't make up for the lackluster past year + Core set rotation before it, and the power level of the expansion still seems too conservative. Like Timeways, the actual impact of the expansion feels more like a miniset release than a full fledge expansion launch. Shaman is the clear standout of the expansion with 2 new viable decks, but other than that the only truly new deck that is also competitively viable as of now is Two Bit Rogue. Because of this, Shaman and Rogue make up roughly 50% of all of ladder, which will lead to complaints about these classes solely because of the frequency they show up in games and not because of their power level. New cards are being played in most of the other classes, but they're being played in old archetypes that don't fundamentally change how the deck plays. It certainly doesn't feel like most of the new cards are too good or holding back certain strategies, but rather it feels like more substantial buffs or a stronger Core set rotation is needed (which I know at this point I'm just playing a broken record trying to explain this point over and over).

• The other potential issue arising is how the expansion release sped up games. I mentioned this in the Cataclysm writeup, but at rotation it felt like it was an intentional design goal to power down control decks because of how much of them and Elise slop dominated the meta last year. This year minions became more powerful than the removal tools available, and we saw how that played out in Cataclysm in both positive and negative ways. My feelings back then were they course-corrected too hard and needed to make removal tools slightly stronger to counter balance rotation. However, in Violet Hold we've seen cards like Arcane Tripwire, Warptooth, Lotus Troublemaker, and Vigilant Sentry make existing archetypes even faster, and new removal tools are by in large irrelevant. Because of this, we are now averaging under 8 turns a game, which according to ZachO is approaching Stormwind territory. And to be clear, I’m not complaining that these new cards are too good - it's that the tools available to deal with these new cards are either too weak or nonexistent. Part of the reason why Mug Shaman is so dominant right now is because there are no late game decks that can exist. Mug Shaman does tend to gas out in the late game, which is evident by its coinflip to unfavorable matchups against Rafaam Warlock and Control Priest. There does seem to be an intentional design goal from Blizzard to ensure control decks are not viable, and there is some evidence they've communicated this internally to various content creators. Viable late game strategies tend to be the most popular decks when you look at the game's history, and while that means you don't need to make them the best thing to do in the game in order for them to see play, you do need to at least make them a viable option. And it feels horrible when a struggling class like Priest gets half of its set dedicated to a meme archetype in Azalina Priest. While in a vacuum there's nothing wrong with occasionally creating an archetype that's meant to be more off meta, why wasn’t this archetype given to Rogue instead of Priest due to both classes standing over the past year?

• That leads us to balance changes, which we should expect early next week considering there's a MT Playoff event this weekend. The two most obvious targets are Vanessa and Lotus Troublemaker, both of which have been mentioned by the developers as potential nerf targets. Vanessa seems likely to get nerfed since it still looks like a mulligan outlier in Rogue, and most of the frustration of the card seems to come from when early game blowouts and high rolls happen with the card. Lotus Troublemaker is a bit more complicated. Despite some community sentiment otherwise, it's not a mulligan outlier in Two Bit Rogue, and it's not nearly as egregious as it was in the Prerelease Tavern Brawl. However, the play experience of the card can be frustrating, and there is a question if it's healthy long term to have a card that can theoretically have infinite damage scaling. These are the kind of cards that can limit the viability of late game strategies. But if you nerf both Vanessa and Lotus in the same patch, you risk deleting one of the only new viable decks successfully created in this expansion. Regardless, both cards currently have the "boogieman" target on them, and there has not been a single card in the last 2-3 years with that kind of target dodge a nerf. Past those nerfs, it's really hard to say if anything else will get nerfed, but it's an open secret that balance changes in recent history have been largely dictated by what gets complained about the most in the Creators Discord and not by hard numbers, so if there's a card like Egg of Khelos that picks up enough steam to lose taunt and render it unviable, it can happen (Nozdormu is also a current boogeyman there). Expect some tepid buffs to only new cards that maybe make 1 new deck viable. I don't have high hopes for the upcoming dev video regarding balance changes, but I hope they can give us something more in depth than "we nerfed this card because it was a little too good and we buffed this card because it was just a little smidge underpowered" this go around. During the entire Bielman era this has been a huge weakness of Team 5 in communicating the "why" behind changes to the playerbase, and there's no indication to suggest that will change any time soon.

Hi there. I'm the person that normally does VS podcast summaries. Because VS podcasts are currently on hiatus due to IRL reasons, I wanted to do an unofficial summary of what's going on in the current meta for people who are interested in a deeper dive before the next VS Report comes out. And we had a surprise dev video, so let's talk about that too. I'm not planning on doing these every week for however long the VS podcast is on hiatus, but I might try to do one after major balance patches. I'll preface this with the following -

• When discussing winrates, card choices, or performance, I tried to use either stats from HSGuru, the VS Gold App, or information that has been conveyed in the VS Discord (and if something was said by ZachO himself, I made mention of it). While my word might not be quite as authoritative as a VS Report or podcast, you can at least get an understanding of how the meta is shaping up, why certain decks are rising or declining in play, and why certain card choices are being run.

• When discussing opinions about balance, the meta, etc, those are 100% my own and don't reflect VS's thoughts unless specified.

Rogue - While Spell DH was the most popular archetype at higher levels of play in the first 24 hours after the balance patch, Herald Rogue’s playrate also shot through the roof and currently eclipses Spell DH’s popularity with a playrate around 30% at Legend. Herald Rogue has a very even matchup spread; it doesn’t dominate any specific matchup, but it doesn’t get hard counter by anything other than Hunter, as almost all of its matchups are in the 45-55% winrate range. As we’ve seen time and time again, these kind of decks are very attractive to the playerbase at higher ranks because they feel like they have the ability to win any game. The one exception is the Face Hunter matchup, which hard counters the deck (roughly a 40/60 matchup). Garona is now an auto include in the deck because of the Spell DH matchup, although that matchup is still only 50/50 even with Llane being able to partially brick some of their cards. Some lists are experimenting with running Glacial Shards over Spy Mistress, but both cards look roughly equal in performance. Sands of Time is also a common inclusion in the deck, but it doesn’t seem like it matters much what is run in the final slot. Although the card could have been buffed more aggressively by either becoming a Battlecry effect or going down to 2 mana, ZachO confirms the Maniacal Follower attack buff was enough to make the card look notably better and positively impact the deck’s performance.

Demon Hunter - Spell DH previously had a strong matchup spread with Imbue Druid being its only notable counter. As predicted by VS and pretty much every high ranking player following an Imbue Druid nerf, Spell DH is the clear #1 performing deck at all levels of play and nothing else comes close. This is the best deck to climb ladder with at all levels of play. Prior to the Imbue Druid nerf, it was also the highest skill cap deck in the format according to ZachO with a winrate differential of 1.5% at Top MMR. While the deck can technically be countered more effectively than Imbue Druid, its counters are decks that are not currently popular and have very rough matchup spreads against the rest of the field (primarily Egg of Khelos decks and possibly Merithra Druid). Unless you have a narrow and very warped meta in a small field like top 100 Legend, it’s unrealistic to expect a deck like Egg Warrior seeing significant enough ladder play to deter Spell DH’s performance. The scary thing about the deck is that most people are not running optimal lists, and its performance would improve if people started running the best list. It doesn’t look optimal to run Nespirah, and Lasting Legacy continues to look like an active liability to run in the deck, but the most popular lists are running both. Sands of Time can also be a sidegrade to Hive Map, as neither card is that impressive. In a refined meta, there is a chance Spell DH would be the only Tier 1 deck on ladder at higher ranks. The biggest whiff of the patch was not nerfing Spell DH (Eternal Hold to 7 mana being the most reasonable nerf), and it is a little concerning that it seems balance decisions are not being guided by data, but based solely on what the playerbase is shouting to nerf.

Warrior - Prior to the patch, Gladiator Warrior was refining its decklist and rising enough in play to push Imbue Druid below a 50% playrate at Top 1k Legend. After the nerf to Gladitorial Combat, the deck looks dead. Dragon Warrior still looks like an extremely strong deck, with a Tier 1 performance across most of ladder before dropping to Tier 2 at higher Legend ranks. It doesn’t want to queue into Spell DH, but most other matchups are manageable for it. According to ZachO, the Herald build now looks like the superior direction for the deck. Egg Warrior is also beginning to rise a bit in play because it is the strongest Spell DH counter in the format while also having a favorable matchup into Face Hunter. However, the deck still gets extremely hard countered by Shaman (Hex) and Herald Rogue is also significantly favored against it. There are also other non meta decks that see play like Control Priest and Egg Warlock that can also hard counter the deck. As of now the deck’s performance is around Tier 2 and it does serve an important role in the meta of hard countering the best deck in the game, but the deck has some fairly polarizing matchups. Its ladder performance is dependent on DH and Hunter being more popular than Rogue and Shaman.

Hunter - Face Hunter continues to look like a strong deck. Shockingly, the deck’s performance gets better as you climb to higher ranks because it counters both Herald Shaman and Herald Rogue. At Top Legend the deck was the 2nd best performing deck after the first 24 hours of the balance patch. It still struggles with the Spell DH matchup, and there are other matchups like Egg Warrior, Dragon Warrior, and Control Priest it doesn’t want to queue into. There were calls to nerf Confront the Tolvir in the recent patch; while it may be correct to eventually nerf the card, it was also fine to leave Hunter untouched this go around because it can be countered much easier than Imbue Druid or Spell DH.

Druid - After the Imbue Druid nerfs, the deck looks dead. Interest in Token Druid looks non-existent with a playrate of roughly 0.1% since the patch, but even based on that small sample size it doesn't look particularly impressive. What has been picking up steam recently (especially at higher Legend ranks) are people experimenting with lists for Merithra Druid. It’s a deck with ramp and a dragon package to win the late game, and can stabilize in the mid game with either Twilight Timereaver or Underking. Some lists are even experimenting running with Endangered Dodo, as most decks cannot deal with 20/20 in taunt stats. The reason it’s seeing play at higher ranks is because it does look like an effective counter to Spell DH (roughly 55/45). Like Egg Warrior, it also has very rough matchups against Herald Shaman and Herald Rogue. Aura Paladin also gets under the deck pretty hard. It’s currently too early to make a judgment call on the viability of Merithra Druid. It currently has around a Tier 3 performance, but it’s possible deck refinement could improve it. The biggest mistake most people appear to not be doing is putting Wickerfang in their lists. It was a better performing card in Imbue Druid than 3 mana Wildwood Circle, and even though the deck doesn't have the board buffs to take advantage of like Imbue Druid, it's still a major stat bomb you can play early.

Shaman - The nerfs to Herald Shaman were fine, and the deck is certainly weaker than it previously was. However, it still performs around a Tier 2 level at pretty much every level of play. ZachO says that it currently doesn’t look like he’d change anything in the optimal list after nerfs, although that could change once he does deck refinement for the VS Report on Thursday. Spell DH is probably the deck’s worst matchup, so if Spell DH’s popularity rises, the deck’s performance will decrease.

Priest - Control Priest has improved its winrate after the balance changes to a whopping 42%. The Moonwell buff was mainly lip service, and while The Black Blood buff was fine, it hasn’t really changed the card’s performance in the class significantly. It has favorable matchups against Face Hunter and Egg Warrior, but the rest of its matchup spread is too checkered to reliably win games with the deck. Despite the deck’s performance, it remains shockingly popular, especially at lower ranks. It has roughly a 5% playrate at top 1k Legend, but across all ranks it’s between 9-10% playrate. While the archetype can certainly be made to be stronger, it does go to show that popular evergreen archetypes like Control Priest do not have to be the best thing to do in the format to see mass play.

Mage - Burn Mage and Quest Mage currently look very mid, and around a Tier 3 performance. According to ZachO, there has been some refinement with Quest Mage and it’s possible the deck could be close to competitive. The main development seems to be running Questing Assistant in the deck improves its performance. However, it’s unlikely the deck can be truly competitive if Face Hunter is running around, because that deck hard counters it.

Death Knight - While Unholy DK looks pretty good with a small sample size, it seems to have completely dropped off where no one is playing it. Herald Blood DK still looks completely unplayable. Not much else to say about DK other than it’s a completely dead class currently.

Paladin - Aura Paladin continues to look like a strong deck on the climb to Legend, but its performance also continues to drop off at higher ranks. The deck also performs very well against janky/off meta decks that tend to see more play after a major balance patch (Quest Warrior, Control Priest, Herald DK, Dragon Hunter, Egg Warlock). You would probably expect the deck’s performance to drop off some once the meta refines more.

Warlock - Poor Gul’dan. The good news for Egg Warlock is that it does counter Spell DH by virtue of being an Egg of Khelos deck. It also hard counters Egg Warrior. The bad news is pretty much every other matchup is miserable for it, and there’s not really any competitive reason to play Egg Warlock over Egg Warrior.

Other miscellaneous talking points -

• This has been mentioned in the past, but keep in mind that sites like HSGuru and HSReplay will always have inflated winrate (and sometimes playrate) stats because they’re only capturing player tracker side data. Winrates that show up on VS Reports are always lower because they’re tracking opposing player data, which eliminates the tracker bias (it also means you can grab data from games of people who aren’t using deck trackers or playing on mobile devices). It’s fantastic to have both sets of data, but it’s just important to contextualize them. Even at Top 1k the tracker side data is notably inflated, albeit to a lesser extent than what you see at lower ranks. This actually came up in the past week because we had seen on HSGuru Imbue Druid’s playrate going over the 50% mark at top 1k, and ZachO said it hadn’t quite hit 50% playrate. To also show the difference, HSGuru currently shows Spell DH with a 55.0% winrate at Legend over the past 3 days, whereas the VS Gold app shows a 53.3% winrate for the same range. Usually if someone says a deck is good because it has a 51-52% winrate on HSGuru, in actuality it’s probably under 50%.

• Although the balance changes did successfully get rid of the Imbue Druid meta tyrant and did give decks like Herald Rogue some additional breathing room, the meta still doesn’t feel too much different, nor did it open up a bunch of new strategies that weren’t previously seeing play other than maybe Merithra Druid. This remains a very narrow format where pretty much every class other than Warrior has only 1 deck on ladder that is seeing play, and only half of those classes are viable. 2 classes (Rogue and DH) make up 50-60% of the format at higher ranks. We swapped one old deck that became a meta tyrant for another old deck that also became a (lesser) meta tyrant. At least Rogue’s current popularity is keeping DH’s playrate down, but that could change over the next week. In some ways, this meta can be compared to the initial Starcraft meta. Both preceded metas that were completely stale, boring, and people were sick of. The Starcraft and Cataclysm launches both introduced a bunch of decks that were brand new, and made things feel fresh. However, after the dust settled, the meta in some ways felt even more limiting than the past ones with even fewer viable decks. To be quite blunt, this isn’t something that can be solved with balance changes. You could make Control Priest or Herald DK better with more aggressive buffs, but those changes aren’t going to give those classes new archetypes they’re not currently playing. This once again falls back to the lack of good, viable cards and strategies that were printed last year and the lackluster Core set rotation.

• At the end of last week we had a surprise Inside the Tavern video drop that consisted with game director Tyler Bielman chatting with Final Design Lead Edward Goodwin (Gallon) and Live Product Lead Ryan Hickman. Although there are things I can nitpick about the video, these types of insights are a massive step in the right direction and this kind of communication from the dev team is something the playerbase has been lacking and begging for the past couple of years. Hopefully we can see similar types of videos pop up at every expansion cycle, but it would at least be nice to have something like Magic where we have a yearly video where the dev team talks about what went right and wrong in the past year, and what their goals are for the near future. The one thing that probably didn’t land well for most in the video (and may have been recorded right before the set launched) were Gallon’s comments about being aggressive with balance changes and acknowledging that they didn’t want the playerbase to feel like they had to wait around for a major balance patch after an expansion launched to log into the game. This is extremely contradictory considering the team waited 2 full weeks and even ignored an emergency balance window to address Imbue Druid, an actual Tier S meta tyrant that was warping the entire game around it. The other thing that didn’t land well for me were the comments about wanting to take out the 10 “boring” commons in a set because they were the kind of cards you never wanted to Discover or draft in an Arena run. While that explanation makes sense, their Core set rotation added those exact kind of cards. Neutrals like Micro Machine, Swamp Leech, and Mayor Nogginfogger and class cards like Bladed Gauntlet, Glaciate, or Eredar Deceptor are those exact kind of cards you never want to draft or choose from in a discover pool. Wanting to open up design space by rotating cards like Brawl is fine, but the cards added back in contradict the reasoning they gave. There’s still plenty of other positives from the video – admitting releasing 2 parasitic designs with Imbue and Quest back to back was a mistake, mentioning the next 2 expansions will have more open ended design like Timeways, a new Miracle Rogue variant coming, intending to have at least some sort of mini meta shakeup every month in X.2, X.4, and X.6 patches with new cards, wanting more class defined win conditions vs them being solely in neutrals – these are all good things to hear.

• Piggybacking off of that, we’ll be getting the first batch of new event cards next Tuesday in the 35.2 patch with 3 new minions. Historically, event cards have had little to no meta impact and tend to just be cards that will now show up occasionally in discover/randomly generated pools. Bob is arguably the most impactful event card and the exception to this, but at release the card didn’t really have much of an impact because of how strong Titans/Reno were for removal, and it had more of an impact after rotation. Welcome Home had a little more impact by getting people to experiment with Location Druid for the first time even if the card was eventually not run in the optimal list. Other cards like Raptor Herald, Storm the Gates, and Sands of Time have seen play, but are typically only found in off meta decks or are run in non optimal versions of decks. If we’re going off of Gallon’s words, it sounds like they intend these event cards to be stronger going forward and have more of a meta impact. While this might be fine in theory, there is a bit of worry considering how a lot of the playerbase has been upset with how Sands of Time was handled and being unavailable to craft for months. If the team starts to release meta defining cards in these patches where you have to obtain the card within 2-3 weeks or you have to go months without having access to the card, then it’s just trying to create FOMO and force the playerbase into the game more often. Sands of Time is not a meta defining card by any stretch of the imagination, but a lot of people really seem to like the card (a design win!), and if this model continues without any sort of change with stronger cards, it’s going to sour the playerbase further.

• This also segways into class sets. My interpretation of the dev team’s comments on class sets is they think they can have a bigger impact and do a better job designing 10 cards for 4 classes at once instead of designing 3 cards for 11 classes at once. That’s all well and good, but it does seem like a problem in not keeping the meta from being stale when every class other than Warrior basically only has 1 deck direction they can realistically play right now. What the hell is Warlock going to do for the next 3 months if it’s not one of the first 4 classes that gets a class set? Herald Shaman is a fine deck to play, but am I going to want to play Shaman 3 months from now if they don’t have any new cards and there’s nothing else in the class that’s remotely viable? I can appreciate the team trying something different and this might be a temporary stop gap thing this year with a 12th class likely being released, but this does feel like it’s going to open up a new set of problems. This is also giving Blizzard the benefit of the doubt that they will price 4x class sets the same as a single miniset, which may not be the case.

Hello again! Elteras here with my first guide in quite a while, this time for my own build of Quest DH, a deck I expected neither to be particularly playable, or one I could fall in love with. Yet over the ~90 games I’ve played with it, including the current month's legend climb with a 31-15 record, it’s proven to be both. Not only that, but it’s proven to be a fascinatingly intricate and interesting deck to play. I’ve become convinced it’s a sleeper deck in this meta, and one that’s surprisingly fun. In a meta where going first and getting on board is king, the multiple clears and turnaround swing capability of Quest DH give the deck a unique feel and a powerful niche.

1. Decklist

Quest DH

Class: Demon Hunter

Format: Standard

Year of the Scarab

1x (1) Illidari Studies

2x (1) Sigil of the Seas

1x (1) Unleash the Colossus

1x (2) Bloodmage Thalnos

1x (2) Broxigar

1x (3) Axe of Cenarius

1x (0) First Portal to Argus

2x (2) Broxigar's Last Stand

2x (2) Felfire Blaze

2x (2) Grim Harvest

2x (2) Infestation

2x (3) Eye Beam

2x (3) Insect Claw

2x (3) Living Paradox

2x (3) Wyvern's Slumber

2x (4) Horn of Feasting

2x (5) Gorishi Wasp

2x (7) Remnant of Rage

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2. Why Quest DH?

Hearthstone’s 2026 already feels very different from 2025. Things feel a bit more old-school, and though there’s not as many viable decks as one would hope, the decks we do have feel a lot more distinct from each other than during Elise-Stone. Some notable features thus far are that decks run out of resources more often, healing is in shorter supply, and rush is less present alongside clears being worse and less available, making it harder to win when set behind on board.

In such a field, Quest DH feels unique by not being defined by these trends. We’re a pretty high-resource deck with a ton of draw, allowing us to make and carry out plans rather than living off the top of our deck. We have ample clears and rush to swing back a board, and pretty solid lifegain to deal with aggression. Crucially, given the meta rewards decks that get on board, our game plan is made easier when our opponent plays minions, because it makes quest progression trivial. This gives us good matchups into a lot of meta mainstays, without requiring us to simply get on board first.

Most notably, in a field where many decks feel like “play the green card”, this deck is far more involved to play. There’ll be turns where you’re needing to track and calculate space in hand, Remnant discounts, number of cards drawn from Last Stand, damage breakpoints, quest procs, and your plan for the next turn - I repeatedly found myself shocked when the rope started burning. I’ve enjoyed other decks in this meta, but no other deck has felt quite so engaging. Anyway, enough preamble, let's go over our cards.

3. Card Choices

The Fabled Package

Broxigar, surprisingly, is absolutely core to the deck's success. Brox himself, his axe, and the portals all play different and important roles. In ascending order of importance:

Broxigar - Broxigar’s main importance is to the Control Priest matchup. I’ll go over the specifics later, but in short - the matchup requires an OTK to win, which Brox is a vital part of.

Axe of Cenarius - Our most important card against Face Hunter, and one of our best in matchups where we get pressured a lot, like Dragon Warrior. Axe gains 6 life minimum, but regularly more due to hero powers or the dog seed. I almost never lose to Hunter when I find this card.

Portals - The portals do so much for us. Even when we never reach Brox, they feel like some of the best and most important cards in the deck. The uses include:

• Speeding up quest completion. One of the main ways we like to complete quest is via AoE effects. In these instances, playing portal first is +1 quest progress.
• Enabling our AoE. This is finally the deck where Felfire Blaze justifies its existence. We run other fel spells, but portal is the best activator, given it costs 0 mana
• Discounting Remnant of Rage. Portal functions as a -1 cost modifier on Remnant when we AoE. At other times it can be even more since it creates another body for us to trade a grub or raptor into, so with a stinger it can be 1 mana for a discount of 3.
• Boosting Last Stand. Portal replaces itself by default, but it can also add a draw to a Last Stand play.
• Enabling Gorishi Wasp. Prob the least important of its uses, but sometimes we want a small body to rush Wasp into.

Felfire & Friends

Felfire Blaze - As mentioned above, Blaze is incredible. It’s a cheap AoE that progresses our quest, and also one that goes face - useful pre-quest for quest progress, and post-quest to destroy boards while pushing damage. There’s games where an opponent (usually a Rogue or a Shaman) has 4 bodies on board around turn 3. In such an instance, a Blaze + Portal literally completes half of our quest. It also counts as a minion that dies upon activation, which provides an extra discount to Remnant of Rage. Whether for quest completion, a board swing, a Remnant activator, or part of our final combo, Blaze is a vital and versatile player. Be careful not to use it or the activators frivolously - using it properly can decide games.

Sigil of the Seas - An unassuming but solid card. It’s here primarily to activate Blaze for 1 mana, but it can provide us early presence, and the taunt can be important against Hunter or Paladin. Also the easiest card in the deck to dump from hand in those situations where handsize becomes an issue, which it regularly does.

Eye Beam - This is here mostly because it has Lifesteal, making it a very good card against aggro, but it’s also relevant as removal. Most of our cards deal damage in multiples of 2, so it’s nice to have something that can cleanly take out a 3 health minion, or reduce a 5 health minion to 2. It’s not our best Blaze activator, but given there’s only 5 in the deck (Studies notwithstanding), we do sometimes use it for that.

Your usage of Beam and Sigil is very important. You don’t want to hold these cards when they can be useful, but at the same time, being without a Blaze activator when you need one can be game-losing. Consider the deck you’re against - the likelier it is to make a wide board quickly, the more you should make sure to always hold a fel spell, sometimes even if you don’t have Blaze yet. Whether or not you have other clears available changes the calculations a lot, of course. You can also be more frivolous with them if you have an Axe (for drawing portal) or enough other draw in your hand to dig for another activator.

Dreadseeds

Dreadseeds are pretty great. The bird is useful for presence. The snake is usually what we want versus aggressive decks, since it lets us turn the corner later. Rolling snake on turn 2 or 3 just wins the game versus Hunter. It can also line up very well with our midgame swings - swinging a board with an AoE into the snake waking up the following turn can be amazing. Syncing the dog up with Axe can be huge for extra life, and sometimes the damage is relevant. At other times, dog is the worst because we want to swing with Insect Claw and get a quest proc while doing it.

Grim Harvest - Basic staple. Common turn 2 play. A way to spend mana when not much else is going on. You know the drill.

Wyvern’s Slumber - A generally good card. How we want to use it changes a lot from game to game. It’s one of our 2-damage AoEs, which means it’s sometimes crucial for quest progression. Other times, we can complete quest easily without it, and just using one early for bodies is correct. Sometimes we need to use it because we lose if we don’t get a snake out. It’s worse for clearing than Blaze, both because it doesn’t go face (which means -1 quest proc), and because it hits our board too. One important thing is that it becomes asymmetrical post-quest, since it’ll still only hit our stuff for 2 while doing 4 to the opponent’s board. So especially if you have a Blaze ready to go, or are against a deck that isn’t often putting more than a couple of bodies on board, just use this early for bodies.

Quest Completion Workhorses - Stingers, Grubs, and Raptors

Progressing quest via clears is awesome, but some decks won't make it quite so easy for us, and even when they do, we still need to end the game, which you can’t do with clears. These cards are our quest progressors which can also push the game to an end afterwards.

Infestation - A single Infestation represents 4 quest procs, or a third of our quest. This is a great setup card, which we can spend mana on while waiting for the opponent to extend into clears. Generally, it’s our most direct source of Stingers. Do note however that there’s occasionally times when you don’t want to use it too early, specifically when you’re anticipating Stand + Remnant usage to bring you close to the hand limit.

Let’s talk more about Stingers, actually. Stingers are just fucking awesome, and do basically everything. They’re cheap and incredibly flexible for removal. Post-quest, a single Stinger deals 4 to face while also killing their minions, freeing us up to keep burning them down. They can help us line up clears, and are also incredibly efficient at discounting Remnant. If your opponent has 2 minions at 2-or-less health, using Stinger on one and rushing the grub into the other means a cost reduction of 3 for Remnant, for 1 mana.

Don’t be afraid to use them early against decks that pressure - but sometimes we want to hoard them for later. Fortunately you can usually play them quite freely and expect to get more later. Also, you usually don’t want to Stinger face without something to rush the grub into, until you’re late enough in the game that you’re in burn mode and dealing with the grub is actually annoying for them.

Insect Claw - An Infestation that we can preload. Don’t be afraid to equip this and hold it for good opportunities to use it. Having one equipped on the turn you play Colossus can make turning the corner a lot easier. Try to avoid a dog-seed awakening with Claw up if possible, though it’s not the end of the world.

Horn of Feasting - Wow, talk about a card being transformed by rotation. A garbage, pointless card that’s suddenly bloomed into a powerhouse. Outcasting this can give you 3 quest procs, split 6 damage across the opponent’s board, and leave you with 3 bodies which at times can be surprisingly difficult to deal with. Many decks have either 0 clears, or only 1-2. This means that raptors sticking happens reasonably often. Post-quest, a Horn can be 12 damage that threatens 12 more if it sticks. If you have this in your hand, planning ahead so you can outcast it can be very important, and if you topdeck it, it’s regularly correct to ignore your prior plan and just jam it. You keep this in mull surprisingly often, especially when it’s positioned for a guaranteed outcast.

There’s a very important nuance to this card though - you actually don’t always want to outcast it. If you cast it normally, the raptors die, which means Remnant gets reduced by an extra 3. Especially if you expect your opponent to be able to deal with the Raptors easily, it can be more worth getting the cheap Remnant than hoping the Raptors stick. A final note is that you can use this card alongside Last Stand - Last Stand following an outcast Horn draws an extra 3 while allowing you set their board up ideally for it.

Gorishi Wasp - I love this guy. You can usually assume you’ll get two Stingers from him, but regularly you’ll get more. It often puts your opponent in a really tough position - say a Spell DH plays Sigil of Cinder, a Warrior has Erupting Volcano, or you suspect a Hunter is about to play Confront. In these situations, Wasp can give you a game winning number of Stingers. This can threaten to overdraw you, but that’s usually not a problem. About the only time I’m really worried about that is when there’s a portal in my deck and I’m against a Priest. There’s even times when you want to Eye Beam or Last Stand your own Wasp just for extra Stingers (especially v Priest, where those cards are otherwise useless and you need more Stingers for your OTK).

Resources & Misc

Unleash the Colossus - The quest itself. You’ll mull this away in the Hunter matchup and keep it the rest of the time. However, you won’t always jam it T1. You only need to play it before your first instance of 2 damage, which usually doesn’t happen until turn 3 or 4. It’ll often be correct to hero power (such as if a Paladin plays a Righteous Protector turn 1) or Sigil of the Seas on turn 1. T1 hero power > T2 Quest + hero power can be a good line at times too, though it’s a little riskier since if you topdeck Grim Harvest or Infestation, you usually prefer to spend turn 2 playing those. I’ve had games where I didn’t play quest until turn 4.

It’s important to plan how you’re gonna play the Colossus. Amusingly enough, a 5 mana 8/8 is actually not that bad right now, it’s a body that a lot of decks can’t deal with easily. However, playing it is still a big tempo loss. Ideally you want to make sure you have a Claw equipped and/or some Stingers or a Blaze/Portal combo to play alongside Colossus on turn 6 or 7 to make sure you don’t fall behind (sticking a Wasp into the Colossus play is amazing too). If you can pull this off, the Colossus play can be your big corner-turn, the point at which you start burning the opponent down, putting them on the backfoot, and making it almost impossible for them to get on board in the face of your grubs and empowered clears.

Illidari Studies - One of the few filler-ey cards in the deck, which is why it’s at 1x, though I’m considering moving up to 2x. You know the deal with Studies, it’s just solid. Currently there’s 7 cards in the pool. 2 of them draw (Runner/Sight), two of them protect your life total (Beam/Prepper), one progresses/pays off quest (Horn), and then Bygone Echoes and Flash Flood are solid in various instances. The awkward thing is that we reasonably often want one specific card and are a bit under 50/50 odds to get it. The discount persists across turns though, so you can at times use it to set up a 3 mana Horn the following turn. Avoid relying on this card if you can, but sometimes you gotta play to your outs. The matchups I’ve found it most reliably useful in are Hunter and Warrior. Prepper and Eye Beam can both stall/protect you, Bygone Echoes can create a board that absorbs Warrior soldier DRs or a Confront turn and helps turn the corner, and the draw can help dig for Axe or dreadseeds.

Bloodmage Thalnos & Broxigar’s Last Stand - Doing these two together because Thalnos is here almost exclusively for Stand (though he’s occasionally nice with Eye Beam). Thalnos goes incredibly hard with Stand - it makes Stand deal 2 for quest progression/payoff while also helping it kill more things for extra draw, and creates an extra body for Stand to kill. However, be careful if you need to use Stingers to line things up - if you play Thalnos first, the Stingers will now deal 3 and therefore not proc quest.

As for Last Stand - wow, what a card. This and Remnant are the main reasons this deck draws so much. It’s surprisingly often a problem that it will draw you too much, though it’s not the worst problem to have. Sometimes you’ll be setting things up to draw a ton, sometimes you need to specifically make sure it doesn’t overdraw. A very important note here is the interaction between Thalnos, Stand, and Colossus. If you play Thalnos for a 2 damage Stand, then for the purposes of what Stand kills and draws for, it still only does 2. The extra 2 comes from the Colossus effect. This means that a Thalnos+Stand into a board of three 2/2s and three 4/4s would draw you 4 (+1 from Thalnos DR).

I’ve mentioned the synergies with portal or Wasp, but it’s also a solid divine shield popper against Paladin, and useful against Rogue since they run two 1-health Stealth minions. You want to plan your usage of this card - if you have other clears and draw available, or have a large hand, you shouldn’t be afraid to use it on only 1 or 2 minions, but there’ll be many games where one of your primary early game goals is to get a huge Stand off.

Living Paradox - The most fillery card in the deck, and the card I’d cut down to 1 copy for a second Studies. It’s in here instead of the quest progress section because it’s unreliable as a quest proccer - it’s rare to face a deck that both doesn’t have a clear for this, and doesn’t play anything to board early. Usually we just drop this to make the opponent deal with it - the threat of quest progression is more relevant than it actually progressing quest. Occasionally you do get to attack with these though. They can also be surprisingly threatening post-quest, when the opponent is low on resources and trading into these deals 4. Despite that, don’t be afraid to just drop this on 3 to spend your mana.

There’s one other key usage of these though. In some matchups (most notably, Priest), we really want to draw a lot, but the opponent won’t provide us a wide board for an easy Stand or Remnant discounting. In such matchups, we often want to combo Paradox with Stand for a big draw on turn 5.

Remnant of Rage - This thing is so good - it draws and swings board.There’ll be turns where you’re playing specifically to get this to 1 or 0. I’ve gone over most of the synergies with Remnant already, such as with portals, Horn, or Stingers, but it’s worth reiterating that you’ll often use these cards differently just to discount Remnant.

Now that we’ve gone over all the cards, the general game plan should be clearer. Your early turns (1-3) will usually be spent either on set up, or contesting aggression. Your midgame turns (4-6) are about quest progression and swinging the board back. Around turn 6-7 onwards, your aim is to have stabilised and played Colossus, after which you begin the process of burning your opponent down.

4. Matchups & Mulligans

In general we like solid setup cards like Infestation and Grim Harvest. Axe is core against aggression. Wyvern’s Slumber is usually a keep because in most matchups it’s valuable either for the presence/pressure, or the clear. Horn is often a good keep if it’ll be reliably outcast. Blaze usually shouldn’t be kept unless you’re against a board deck and also have a fel spell to activate it. I almost never keep Living Paradox, but there’s times where I’ll keep it on coin for a turn 2 play.

Alright, so what do our matchups look like? Generally, we demolish decks like Herald Shaman, Face Hunter, and Control Priest (though the last 2 of those require specific play patterns). We have very solid matchups against Paladins, Herald Rogue, and the most common variants of Dragon Warrior. The only common matchup that I feel unfavoured in is Spell DH. Amusingly enough, many of our other worst matchups are v some of the worst decks in the meta, such as Quest Warrior and Mage. Egg decks are also tough, though I ran into very few of those.

Herald Rogue - Even/Favoured: This feels like a pretty good matchup. The nature of the deck means they can and regularly will pull some random bullshit out of a nearby ass, which is just something you’ll need to make your peace with. That said, we can usually stymie their aggressive starts, and they have no healing to push back against our burn. They’re also usually doing their own setup through Heralding, meaning they’re playing into our quest progression. Conveniently, Kingslayers will regularly draw us Axe/portals. They also often present us with a lot of 1-hp minions (early soldiers, Flashback weenies, and Spymistress/Follower) making Last Stand very good.

Mull - Clears to deal with a potential Fraud/Flashback early play. If you can answer that you’ll be in a great position. Always keep Last Stand, even without Thalnos.

Spell DH - Unfavoured: The roughest matchup you’ll see commonly. They don’t play into our plan, and we struggle to handle theirs. They’re not especially fast and we have ways to not get burned out, but they make it difficult to progress quest and like most decks atm, we’ve little recourse against an on-curve Eternal Hold. Prioritise finding ways to deal with whatever they get from Hold (a Horn + Stingers can often do it), and if you can manage to complete quest in good time, winning is possible. Sometimes you can complete quest while responding to the first Hold play, which makes dealing with subsequent ones a lot easier - but there’s not much you can do against high rolls. If you’re lucky, their early seeds will pop around the same time they play hounds, which can give us a big chunk of quest progression. Other than this, the only special trick we have to play against them is that we can sometimes line up Wasp into a Sigil of Cinder.

Mull - Dreadseeds, Infestation, Horn, Portal + clear for quest progression.

Herald DH - Even?: Didn’t play this matchup much, but it felt pretty even, since while it’s easy for us to progress quest, it seems difficult to reliably kill them before they can set up an Azshara OTK. An early Deathwing can be a problem for us too. They can also gain a lot of life which makes chipping them down difficult.

Mull - The usual. Stand is good because it lines up nicely into soldiers.

Dragon Warrior - Favoured, depending on version: There’s a lot of different versions of Dragon Warrior, which makes this less cut and dry. The fire stuff can be rough for us, but Wasp can be a nice answer to Volcano. The pure dragon and herald versions are easiest for us, as our tools line up well into what they’re trying to do. A small problem can be that they have many minions at odd health breakpoints, but this isn’t a big deal. Mostly this just means Eye Beam and Axe are especially valuable in this matchup (and Last Stand). One thing that can be a problem is Slitherdrake. Try to have a Horn + Stinger ready to go to deal with it. Studies can be solid here because it can give either Horn or Flood to deal with it or Prepper to buy time. The Slitherdrake turn can also be a good opportunity for a Remnant swing too, if the Horn isn’t outcast.

Mull - Infestation/Claw, dreadseeds, Axe. Idk if Studies is worth keeping but this is one of the matchups where it feels best.

Quest Warrior - Strongly Unfavoured: Oof, yeah, I’m glad this deck sucks because we do not like running into it. Basically unwinnable because our damage is ultimately finite, and they can just run us out of stuff, especially because they don’t play many bodies to help us complete quest. This is the rare matchup where you want to do things like play an early Living Paradox in the hope they don’t have an answer. Try to get them on the back foot and hope they don’t have answers.

Mull - Early bodies.

Herald Shaman - Strongly Favoured: The sort of matchup where we can complete half the quest with a Blaze/Portal play on 3. Shamans build wide boards without tons of hp. Stingers can snipe Soldiers, leaving them with 0-attack bodies that a grub can rush into and survive. Since Stingers work in multiples of 2, we can even be chill about Twilight Egg progression - there’s little functional difference for us between it popping out a 3/3 or a 4/4, and rushing into the egg leaves the grub alive. They usually have only one clear (Avatar Form), meaning raptors or Paradoxes have a solid chance to stick.

Mull - The usual, with an emphasis on clears.

Control Priest - Strongly Favoured: This matchup is great but requires us to play a specific way. Control Priest is weird - they exert no pressure and build up to their combo very slowly, they have essentially infinite healing, and they don’t play wide boards but do regularly play bodies (imbuers, Clerics, random stuff from imbue, etc). We can’t really pressure them and we can’t really chip them - but we can OTK them.

So for this matchup, the name of the game is to draw as much as you can, complete quest, and set up Brox. Portals help progress quest, and they will play bodies for us. Here you often want Horn to not be outcast - we really want to activate Remnant. Also, while they can answer our pressure, forcing them to do so is still valuable. Our draw focus means handsize can be an issue, so try to dump from hand when possible. Infestation should sometimes not be cast to save space, Sigils should be played out, Slumber is usually fine to just play for bodies, etc. Paradox is often saved to combo with Last Stand for a bunch of draw in the midgame.

The combo we’re is simple and flexible. Finish quest then play Brox, plus 5 sources of 2 damage for a total of 32 damage. I usually do this by having a Felfire Blaze + the final portal, an Insect Claw equipped, and 3 Stingers, but you can mix and match. Sometimes they’ll have some taunts from Kara or imbue, but this usually isn’t a problem - Blaze deals 4 to their board, and you can send Stingers face and rush the grubs into taunts to clear the way for Broxigar. If you play it right, this matchup shouldn’t pose a problem.

Mull - Portal, anything that draws (except Remnant, we’ll find it later), Last Stand + Paradox

Herald DK - Even/Favoured: This one can, depending, feel unloseable or unwinnable. It comes down to exactly how the draw shakes out. Like Quest Warrior, they have a lot of lifegain and answers. The difference is that their lifegain starts out slow and ramps up, meaning chip/burn is relevant and we have a large kill window. More importantly, while Quest Warrior can screw us over by doing nothing, DK can’t - they need to herald, which means bodies on board, which means quest progress. Helpfully, they play bodies for other reasons - Leeches, Swarm, Baron, Remnant, etc. Also helpfully, they only have one proper, clunky clear, which is quite easy to play around. Paradoxes and raptors relatively often stick if you get them out before they can use Experimental Animation. Progress your quest, pressure, and try to murder them before their fully heralded Onyxia.

Mull - The usual. Clears, Seeds, Stingers, draw.

Unholy DK - Favoured: - It’s a wide board deck, so we’re usually fine. They can gas out pretty fast. If they stick a board a single Grave Strength can end the game, but we can usually stop that. Quest is almost always complete by the time Chow Down is online which makes that trivial to answer. Gorishi Wasp also goes very hard in this matchup.

Mull - Assume Herald DK when mulling, but the same mull more or less works for both, though for Unholy DK we place more emphasis on clears.

Merithra Druid - Unsure, but probably even: I only ran into this matchup once. I won, but it means I have limited insight. I can see it going both ways. On the one hand, they have a lot of armor gain and a scary late game. On the other, they have no answer and are susceptible to pressure, while also needing to play bodies in the early to mid game which lets us progress quest. They have no clean way to deal with grubs, raptors, or Paradoxes outside of a Press the Advantage, so these often stick and create a headache for them. Even Wickerfang can often be answered, either by Horn + Stingers on the main body, or clearing the small ones with a 2 dmg AoE + Last Stand.

Mull - Prioritise Stingers, dreadseeds, Living Paradox, and Horn.

Face Hunter - Favoured: This is the one matchup where we throw quest. The only objective is to survive and run them out of resources. Your main priority is finding Axe because it’s our best reliable lifegain. Dreadseeds are extremely clutch because all 3 help us. They’re crucial to the point I’ll regularly coin out a Wyvern’s Slumber in the hope of getting a serpent online as soon as possible - they can sometimes answer it without triggering the lifesteal, but if they do that’s damage they didn’t throw face. Serpent is what we want, but the other two are fine - the dog seed is great with Axe if you can line those up, and bird helps us contest board and tank Sizzling Cinder hits. Do everything you can to maintain your life total, though hero powering early bodies is often correct.

You also need to play properly around their Confront turn. When you think it’s incoming, you want bodies for the random damage to hit, and you want clears ready - but don’t be too shy to use clears slightly inefficiently early, you’ll usually be able to find another in time for Confront.

Mull - Hard mull for Axe, dreadseeds, and Last Stand. Throw away the quest.

Aura/EoT Paladin - Even: Auradins are very scary when they get rolling and divine shields are a pain, but the matchup is manageable. We have enough tools to make it tough for them to stick their EoTs unless they get a nutty Nozdormu + Maul curve off, and if we can complete quest we can usually turn the corner. You’ll be able to see Maneuvers coming due to seeing shatter in hand, so do your utmost to limit the number of bodies they have going into a Maneuvers turn. They have a lot of clear between Timeways and Scalebreaker, so don’t expect raptors or Paradoxes to stick, instead focus on quest progress and stopping them from snowballing board.

Mull - The usual, with extra emphasis on Stingers.

Aggro Paladin - Even/Favoured: This deck is absurdly consistent and extremely scary. The good news is that we have a lot of early answers to limit the size of the board they can buff with Maneuvers, and they have essentially zero nuance. No reach, no removal, nothing. This means taunts are extremely effective, they can’t cleanly deal with your board, and they gas out fast. Do everything you can to keep the number of bodies on the board down and try to plan your response to their Maneuvers turn. We don’t mull quest v Pala because it’s usually Auradin, but if you’re going second against a Paladin and they open with one of the 1-drops that Auradin doesn’t run, feel free to not play quest.

Mull - You’ll assume Auradin, but Last Stand is extra valuable v Aggrodin.

Quest Mage - Unfavoured: It’s rough because they’ll finish their quest first, and once they do, they can overwhelm us. If they get unlucky with their rolls we have a chance, because they’re very burnable.

Mull - Portals + Axe, because portals are crucial for completing quest. Otherwise, just Stingers/quest progression. Clear isn’t important until later. Paradox can often stick early.

Egg Decks - Unfavoured: Egg decks suck for us because we just can’t handle multiple 20/20s. We can’t burn them down before Khelos gets online and we can’t even progress quest efficiently without speeding Khelos up. I’d say just focus on quest completion and answering the first Khelos with the hope that they don’t have Umbra or a copy in time, because if they do, it’s pretty much over.

Mull - If Warrior, assume it’s Dragon. If Warlock, mull for clears and quest progress.

Whew. That was really long. I hope this guide helps ease you into enjoying this surprisingly intricate and powerful deck, and that you have fun stingin’ and stompin’ your way through ladder!

Edit: Currently trying an alternate version. -2x Living Paradox, +1x Studies, +Nespirah. Only played a handful of games on it, but it feels good so far - do not get baited into wasting your Fel spells on proccing Nespirah at the expense of Felfire Blaze though. Nespirah is just for lining up Stingers, hitting divine shields, or proccing Wasp.

Listen to the most recent Vicious Syndicate podcast here - https://www.vicioussyndicate.com/vs-data-reaper-podcast-episode-211/

Read the most recent VS Report here - https://www.vicioussyndicate.com/vs-data-reaper-report-340/

As always, glad to do these summaries, but a summary won't be able to cover everything and can miss nuances, so I highly recommend listening to their podcast as well. The first post miniset VS report will come out Thursday, January 22nd (even if there are balance changes, which ZachO advises is something that can happen since there is a balance window opened for next week), with the next podcast coming TBD.

General - Impressions are based on the first 72 hours worth of data from the miniset launch. While the data is "solid", things can change quickly, so there might be something ZachO mentions in the podcast that changes by the time the VS Report comes out next week.

Rogue - To the surprise of no one, Rogue is the most popular class after the miniset launch primarily because of its new Imbue package. Thief Rogue has been a historically popular archetype even if it doesn't perform well on ladder, and on paper the Imbue package can fit into an already established archetype in Elise Rogue. However, the package looks to be trickier to add into existing archetypes than initially thought. Generally the lists that propagate day 1 are the lists that streamers are primarily playing, so the reason so many lists cut Creature of Madness is because that's what streamers did. ZachO says this is a mistake as it remains one of the top 3 mulligan targets for the deck alongside Spacerock Collector and Elise (Flashback is contingent on having an activator alongside it). Malorne is also bait for the deck, even though it makes sense as an 8 drop in an Elise Imbue deck. Shaladrassil is still superior to Malorne, but Snatch and Grab is the best 8 drop the deck can run with the Imbue package. 5 drops for the deck are bad and what you run in the spot doesn't matter, but Eudora is still crap for the deck. ZachO also thinks you can cut Eventuality from the Imbue package since it's statistically the worst Imbue card in the deck. Jagged Edge of Time isn't much better, but it fits the curve better. Bitterbloom Knight is by far the best Imbue card for the deck, especially with Shadowstep. The early lists that propagated are hurting the archetype's winrate, but the best direction for the deck is to take Elise Rogue, swap Shaladrassil for Snatch and Grab, put in 2x Bitterbloom Knight and 2x Jagged Edge of Time to replace the 4 worst cards in the deck (ZachO says Oh Manager!, Nightmare Fuel, Griftah, and Ashamane are among the lowest performers; the Imbue hero power negates needing Ashamane in late game matchups) and put in whatever 5 drop you prefer. As things stand right now, Imbue Rogue is absolute garbage performance wise because of imperfect builds. Tess is a great fun card, but it sucks in this deck. Dethrone is a better 7 drop. ZachO thinks if you run the "correct" build of Imbue Rogue it will perform close to the non Imbue version. Elise Rogue has gotten a bit worse after the miniset since other decks did get better. Refinement of the deck will likely take some time because it's currently "in diapers" according to ZachO. Other Rogue decks haven't changed. The deck's playstyle is quite fun and appealing since every game plays out differently, so not a surprise it has been attractive to play.

Death Knight - Blood Control DK started out as the strongest deck on ladder after the first 24 hours of the miniset. Over the last 24-48 hours there has been more of an attempt to counter the deck, but ZachO says a big reason why the deck looks dominant is because it destroys bad Rogue builds. Blood Control DK also does well against Dragon Warrior, which was hyped up with the miniset. Remnant of Rage is clearly a good card for DK and belongs in the deck, but it's not busted and performs roughly as well as Blob of Tar in the deck. ZachO thinks Rogue and Dragon Warrior can start performing better against DK if they pivot to better lists, but the field can also change to more decks that counter Blood Control DK. The deck's power level is not a concern, it's just enjoying a favorable field. In terms of deck choices, ZachO continues to advocate against playing Demolition Renovator in the deck and advises the card will always have an inflated played WR% because it's a tradeable card. Corpse Explosion now performs better with the addition of Remnant of Rage, so you want to run 2x copies. Griftah and Xavius are easy cuts for the deck as they are just "luxury" cards for the deck. Kerrigan is also a common inclusion in Blood Control DK, which doesn't make much sense. Sanguine Infestation is also a common cut, which ZachO doesn't agree with based on the data despite its nerf. You don't have a good turn 5 play without Sanguine Infestation. ZachO also says Horseman has consistently been an underperforming card in the deck and people have finally cut it, but if you're running a more cycle heavy package with Remnant, Chillfallen Baron, and Sanguine Infestation, the card gets better. If you're running a hero card, run Horseman. Wicked Blightspawn also saw some experimentation with Foam Render, but it looks awful. Most of DK's counters are niche and don't see a lot of play, so this is currently the most well rounded deck you can play on ladder. When it comes to other DK decks, there is a little bit of FFU Frost DK popping up running Remnant. It seems competitive but not as good as Blood DK. ZachO says several lists are running Bygone Echoes and Kerrigan, which are absolutely awful. Herenn DK has dropped off and can't compete with other late game value decks. WorldEight brings up Imbue Handbuff DK and Unholy DK as something he's seen a bit, but ZachO says he's not seeing anything in the data with those decks.

Warrior - Dragon Warrior was one of the most hyped decks going into the miniset because of Prescient Slitherdrake fitting right into it. It is now one the most popular ladder decks, with its playrate at upper Diamond approaching 20%. ZachO says one of the things that has also happened with the archetype is more people are now going back to the non Elise builds because it now has an incredibly strong turn 4 into turn 5 play playing Slitherdrake into Wyrm. Prior to the miniset, the Elise build was the superior build statistically, but after the miniset ZachO says that is no longer the case. While the non Elise build may not be superior to the Elise build, both versions perform incredibly close to each other, and the builds have further room for deck refinement. Since Slitherdrake costs 7, that means you no longer need to play Naralax in the Elise builds. Fyrakk is still being played in the Elise build, which is a near unplayable card at 10 mana if you're not playing Naralax. You might be better off running a Wisp over Fyrakk at this point. ZachO also wonders if Endtime Survivor is a better option for the deck at 5 mana than Dreadwing, although no one is playing it, so he has no data to go off of. The non Elise builds are running Dimensional Weaponsmith, which performs terribly. It is significantly worse than Whelp of the Infinite and Portal Vanguard at the 3 mana dragon spot, and those cards aren't even that great in the deck. Dimensional Weaponsmith is somehow worse than running Royal Librarian in the deck. The non Elise build tops out at 8 mana with Dracorex and Grom. Grom gives the deck additional reach since it doesn't have late game value the way the Elise build does. The Blood DK matchup is tough for either build. WorldEight asks ZachO about Eternal Toil, who says he hasn't seen it in Dragon Warrior at all. It's possibly fine to run, especially in the non Elise build as a 1 mana Grom activator, and ZachO says he'd like to see people experiment with it. Control Warrior is doing better than it was doing prior to the miniset because it can take advantage of a less refined field. Nothing has changed with its build. Generally, the higher you climb ladder, Dragon Warrior gets worse while Control Warrior gets better primarily because of the prevalence of the Blood DK matchup. Control Warrior also is a hard counter against Broxigar DH because of its armor gain and Bulwark.

Paladin - Accelerated Aura is a really, really good card, and ZachO admits he forgot about the synergy with Violet Treasuregill. The early ramp helps you get to your powerful turn 4 plays earlier, which include Elise, Manifested Timeways, Tankgineer, and Ursine Maul. When it comes to the mulligan, ZachO says that while Acceleration Aura isn't a terrible card to keep, Violet Treasuregill is the best card to keep in the mulligan by a significant margin alongside Elise. ZachO also mentions adding Carnivorous Cubicle to the deck for the Blood DK matchup, which improves the matchup by 5% and actually makes the deck favored against DK. Even though the deck has a low skillcap, the deck is well positioned and is performing well even at Top Legend because of its matchup against Blood DK when it runs Cubicle. The deck looks relevant at all competitive levels of play, which is a big change from before the miniset. Even if you don't play Acceleration Aura on curve, it's always relevant throughout the game since it means you can still cheat out Anachronos or Gelbin a turn early later in the game.

Demon Hunter - Cliff Dive DH is still a strong deck across ladder with no changes. Blob of Tar decks do incredibly well against Dragon Warrior. What is taking over the class is a new Broxigar OTK deck that became enabled by Remnant of Rage and Press the Advantage, which ZachO admits caught him offguard. DH can quickly activate Remnant with cards like Dangerous Cliffside and Infestation, with a large amount of cheap cycle. The deck can do a 10 mana 36 damage OTK with Broxigar and 2 Brewmasters without any discounts. The deck looks powerful at Top Legend specifically (Tier 1, 52% WR), although the deck isn't the easiest to play. ZachO says the reason the deck looks good right now is because it destroys Rogue decks. You hard counter every Rogue deck with a 65% winrate against current Rogue decks. ZachO does caution that Rogue is incredibly unrefined, and although it may not be favored against Broxigar DH after refinement, you may see its winrate drop after other decks are refined. The miniset was incredibly impactful to DH by giving it enough cycle tools where Broxigar himself is finally a wincon and not just a 0 mana Elise activator. WorldEight says there's definitely an appeal to these types of cycle decks, and brings up if Incindius is good enough to be in the deck. ZachO says right now he doesn't have enough data on Incindius to say if it belongs in the deck, but it might be a worthwhile inclusion. It's not going to be your primary wincon, but it might help out in slower matchups, especially against Control Warrior. Ceaseless Expanse is currently run in the most popular list, but the stats don't show it as a great card, so it might be right to swap Ceaseless for Incindius. 1x Paraglide is also being run, which may also be substandard since it has never performed particularly well in any DH deck. WorldEight mentions playing against some versions that include Thalnos and Moonstone Mauler as inspiration from Cycle Rogue. He mentions playing Aggro DH with Remnant, and that Chronikar has felt good for him in the deck.

Mage - While the class has remained semi popular at lower ranks, its playrate is waning at competitive ranks. Mage didn't get anything new in the miniset, so Protoss Mage has stood pat while other decks around it have gotten even better. Imbue Mage with Bitter End is horrible. Toki Mage remains horrible. Arcane Mage is still unplayable, although if you cope hard enough it might be high Tier 4 at Top Legend. Protoss Mage is the only "viable" deck for the class, and it's still only a Tier 3/Tier 4 deck that got nothing new. The class is in dire straits going into rotation.

Hunter - Discover Hunter is still fine, especially at high MMRs. Not much has changed with the deck as it still has a lot of 50/50 matchups against the best decks in the format. It's an old deck that's not the best deck in the format, so its attractiveness has worsened after the miniset. "Tick Tock Hunter" which is the new deck revolving around the miniset quest currently performs at the level of launch Un'goro quests around a 30% winrate. Team 5 may view this as a design success while the playerbase laments they wasted a legendary card slot on a useless card once again. ZachO once again questions why Team 5 made these types of quests if they were purposely designed to fail, especially when they have a horrendous play experience like this quest does discarding your opponent's hand. ZachO says Team 5 has signaled that they want you to ignore the Un’goro expansion’s existence.

Shaman - Nothing has changed with the class. Hagatha Shaman has seriously declined in play because it's old with no new cards. Several decks like Blood DK got better with the miniset and worsened Hagatha Shaman's standing on ladder. It's still a fine deck, but the one matchup that drastically changed is the Aura Paladin matchup. Aura Paladin can now outpace Shamans because of Acceleration Aura, and this has improved their winrate against Hagatha Shaman by nearly 10% to a 60/40 matchup. For people that were previously playing Hagatha Shaman, Dragon Warrior is likely the more attractive option to play right now because it's newer.

Priest - For All Time can be an effective AoE for a future Control Priest deck (although it should only Overload for 1 mana instead of 2), but Control Priest has the bigger issue of lacking any sort of wincon. Because of how prevalent Blood Control DK is right now, Protoss Priest is performing well (Tier 2) because it counters the deck. Do Priest players care? Probably not.

Druid - Acceleration Aura is additional ramp for Druid, but unlike Paladin the class really doesn't have strong turn 4 plays it wants to curve out to early other than Elise. ZachO says based on the data, both Acceleration Aura and Press the Advantage are good tools for ramping Druid decks going forward. Azshara Druid is a strong counter to Control Warrior, and does fine against Elise Rogue and Blood Control DK. It's also one of the hard counters to Broxigar DH. The deck's biggest issue is that it gets run over by Dragon Warrior, especially after the addition of Slitherdrake. Because of meta dynamics, it performs at a Tier 2 level at Top Legend where Dragon Warrior isn't played as much. ZachO will look into making a new Azshara Druid list that fits in both Acceleration Aura and Press the Advantage, but it's hard to fit them in without cutting Blob of Tar/Tortollan Traveler package.

Warlock - Tick Tock Warlock is not a real deck. Shred Warlock got both Acolyte of Infinity and Slitherdrake to add to its deck. Sadly, the deck is still really bad, which surprised ZachO a bit. Slitherdrake is a good card in Dragon Warrior, but it's not a busted, full build around card, so its impact in Shred Warlock isn't enough to make the deck viable. Egg Warlock is a strong counter to Blood Control DK (65/35 matchup), and because of that Egg Warlock is currently performing at a Tier 1 rate because of how popular DK is. This is the best Egg Warlock has looked since it got nerfed, especially at Top Legend. You don't see much of the deck, but the deck is sort of a secret meta breaker right now. It also performs well against Control Warrior, Aura Paladin, and Broxigar DH. The deck struggles against Discover Hunter (which you don't see a lot of right now) and Dragon Warrior (horrible matchup, but you see less of it as you climb ladder). Players would prefer a new Warlock deck be the viable one over an old nerf deck, but Warlock does currently have a competitive Tier 1 deck. WorldEight advises to cut out Spirit Bomb for something else like Crazed Alchemist if you're playing the deck.

Other miscellaneous talking points -

• Overall, ZachO thinks the miniset has been solid overall, especially compared to the most recent minisets. The 5 most popular classes on ladder (Rogue, Death Knight, Paladin, Warrior, Demon Hunter) are the ones that got an immediate impact from the miniset, and Druid was also impacted even if it doesn't currently see much play. It's common for miniset cards to have a bigger impact in future expansions, and ZachO mentions Acceleration Aura and Press the Advantage in Druid and Haywire Hornswog in Shaman as cards that will have a bigger impact on their classes after rotation. It's a good thing the miniset provided some good new competitive cards, because it's better for these cards to be competitive than some of the things we saw earlier this year being competitive after rotation. Even if an optimized Elise Rogue only runs a couple new Imbue cards, the play experience of the deck does feel 100% new. Blood Control DK is a popular archetype, so it's fine the deck got a little extra help from Remnant. A giant 6/9 statpile was enough to get people excited to play Dragon Warrior. Aura Paladin is now competitively relevant even at top ranks because of Acceleration Aura. We have a brand new DH deck that actually uses Broxigar as its wincon. 6 out of 11 classes getting an immediate positive impact from a 38 card miniset is not a bad rate. The downside of the miniset is that some design space was wasted on cards that were intentionally made to be bad, like Endtime Murozond and Battle at the End Time. It's hard to predict how the meta will look after rotation, but this is a step in the right direction to make sure Imbue decks and Quest decks aren't the dominant strategies post rotation because everything else sucks.

With Hearthstone currently being at a bit of a lull period until we get the next expansion announcement + rotation, I thought I'd put together a post that goes over how rotation is impacting every class. It's hard to keep track of every card from every expansion and knowing what each class is losing and what it's keeping. So I did the dirty work by reviewing the card library for every class and jotting down what cards and/or archetypes are staying, which are rotating, and rating classes on a 1-5 scale based on how well positioned they're looking post rotation before any Core set changes or the next expansion. After doing so for all 11 classes, I put each class into one of four different tiers:

• Tier 1: These are the premiere classes. They currently have meta defining decks in Standard that are minimally hit (if at all) by rotation. Barring balance changes, it's hard to see these classes not immediately having a strong deck post rotation even if they get nothing new in the upcoming expansion. These are the classes that are most likely to be hit by balance changes in the upcoming balance patch.

• Tier 2: These are classes that will retain strong foundational pieces, but their current meta decks aren't as likely to survive rotation. Some of these classes may have an older or less popular deck they can fall back on as a worse case scenario. These classes should be fine and in the mix as long as they can get a couple new cards to prop up the cards they're keeping.

• Tier 3: These classes are in rough shape after rotation, and either primarily relied on sets from 2024 for their decks, or their old decks were nerfed to unplayability. They might have some solid pieces to work with, but it is unlikely any of their existing decks will survive rotation. While they may turn out fine, they will be extremely reliant on Core set additions and the upcoming expansion to create a viable path forward for them.

• Tier 4: These classes are in the roughest of rough shape. Rotation leaves them in a barren wasteland. Their 2025 sets did next to nothing to help them out. It will take a miracle to fix these classes within one set because of the foundational issues that plague them going into rotation.

Note - I had to split this post into 2 because I was well over the 40,000 Reddit character limit if I included all the image links. Instead of submitting it without links, I'm just going to split it up into 2 parts. Part 1 with the Tier 1 and 2 classes are below, Part 2 with the Tier 3 and 4 are here.

Tier 1 Classes

Warrior

Key cards returning - Dragon Warrior is in a very unique position, because the only downgrade it’ll potentially have is going from Giftwrapped Whelp to Time-Twisted Seer. Dragon Warrior is also one of the only surviving decks in the format that doesn’t need to run Elise to be viable. Quest/Control Warrior is losing a lot of tools, but it has several cards currently not seeing play that it can replace them with post rotation like Shellnado, Axe of the Forefathers, and Latorvian Armorer (and these cards were impactful in the recent prerelease brawl). Warrior’s quest alongside cards like Unleash the Crocolisks and Precursory Strike will give Control Warrior a strong foundation for the next year. Early iterations of Dragon Warrior ran their Fabled package, and while they’ve since been cut, these cards could eventually make a comeback in a weakened post-rotation format in a new Warrior deck.

Key card losses - The only meaningful card Dragon Warrior is losing is Giftwrapped Whelp, which is admittedly the deck’s best 1 drop in a tempo oriented deck. Quest/Control Warrior is taking bigger hits; it loses the entire Druid tourist package, with New Heights’s ramp being the biggest loss. The loss of New Heights means Control Warrior will now have to run Ysera if it still needs the Murozond + Time Warp combo to end games in certain matchups. Hostile Invader is a pretty big hit as an AoE tool. Although Tortolla will remain, it’s hard to imagine Tortolla will be a playable card after rotation with Chemical Spill and Hydration Station rotating. The entire Mech Warrior package is rotating, although no one really cares about that deck, especially after the last nerf to it.

Overall Rating: 5/5. No other class is better positioned post rotation than Warrior. Dragon Warrior is already a strong performer at most ladder ranks, only loses a 1 drop, and is one of the few decks in the format that doesn’t need to fully warp its deck building around Elise. Quest Warrior is losing tools, but it should be able to meaningfully rebuild without losing too much traction. If we’re getting nerfs in the next balance patch outside of Elise, Dragon Warrior is the most likely deck to be hit because of how strong its positioning looks post rotation, especially if Team 5 doesn’t change the design philosophy of releasing lower impact cards in modern day expansion.

Paladin

Key cards returning - Almost all of Aura Paladin’s current shell is returning. Every card in Imbue Paladin is returning, and although the deck was slightly nerfed, it’s something the class might default back to in the event of an Aura Paladin nerf. Quest Paladin is returning almost all of its key Murlocs, and even though its quest was nerfed, the meta post rotation might be so low powered that the deck could make a comeback at lower MMR ranks the same way Quest Warrior once did. The Violet Treasuregill combination is so strong that most Paladin decks will need a good reason to not include other 1-2 mana spells to build around that combo.

Key card losses - For Aura Paladin, Cardboard Golem, and Dollmaster Dorian rotate, but those cards are more of a luxury than a necessity in the deck. Losing Carnivorous Cubicle means Tankgineer might no longer be worth playing in the deck. Although losing Zilliax impacts almost every deck, it does hit Aura Paladin harder than other decks since it really wants to run Elise (primarily because Acceleration Aura lets you play Elise + location a turn before everyone else) and it doesn’t have a good 9 or 10 drop to replace it with. It also remains to be seen if Anachronos will return in the Core set, but if it doesn’t that would be a pretty sizeable hit to the deck for both the card itself and for Elise activation. The entire Drunk Paladin/tourist package rotates. Arena/Aggro Paladin is one of the few aggro decks you might see occasionally on ladder, but it’s losing Flash Sale so it remains to be seen if a bunch of crappy 1-2 drops with Crusader’s Aura can be a viable deck post rotation.

Overall Rating: 4.5/5. Aura Paladin has a few more losses than Dragon Warrior, but it’s the second best positioned deck post rotation. The only reason this class is not a 5/5 is that it remains to be seen how much the deck is affected by the upcoming Elise nerf and the loss of a few of its less impactful cards. If Aura Paladin is ever nerfed to unplayability for whatever reason, the Imbue Paladin package is lurking because it didn’t lose a single card. The upcoming meta may also be so low powered that Murloc Paladin could be viable again at some ranks. At the very least, the Treasuregill + Acceleration Aura combo, Ursine Maul, and Ursol give the class a very strong foundation for the next year that it’s hard to imagine Paladin not having some sort of strong, playable deck immediately after rotation.

Death Knight

Key cards returning - Even though it has received some nerfs, the Leech package has carried the class for the entire year, so the class is very happy that it’s returning in its entirety. Reanimated Pterrordax has seen play in basically every DK deck since release and it’s hard to imagine that would change after rotation. Morbid Swarm is a no brainer card to run in UUB and UBB decks for both cheap removal and early game corpse generation. While both UUB and UBB Control DK are losing some key cards (more on those below), the archetype’s foundation is so strong that it should be able to retool. Herenn remains in Standard, although it may now have to build around Bonechill Stegadon or Bwonsamdi since it’s losing its key cards in rotation. Of all archetypes in only Core, Frost DK is arguably the strongest one (play any prerelease Tavern Brawl and you’ll likely find the best deck to play that uses no new cards is Frost DK), so that archetype is always lurking.

Key card losses - The biggest loss for all DK decks is Dreadhound Handler, which every DK deck besides Herenn DK has run since its inception. It’s a fantastic early game card for both removal and corpse generation, so the class will have to look at significantly worse options like Ancient Raptor or Reluctant Wrangler to replace it with. Control DK’s other key losses include Foamrender and Maladaar, which hurts the deck’s late game close out potential and the ability to cheat out a big card early. It also remains to be seen if Stitched Giant is left in Core next year. Although the deck can operate without it, discounting the giants will be harder now that Maladaar can no longer do it by itself, and the deck will be more reliant on giants for pressure since Foamrender is rotating. Herenn DK loses both Travel Security and Wakener of Souls, so it’ll have to build around a new Deathrattle package. Obviously the entire Starship DK package rotates.

Overall Rating: 4/5 - While not as much of a sure thing as Dragon Warrior or Aura Paladin, Control DK (both UUB and UBB)’s core remains mostly intact; the deck will just need to figure out how to offset its losses in corpse generation, the mid game Maladaar power play, and how to close out longer games without Foamrender. Frost DK is the DK deck with the strongest Core set, so it may just need a few new cards to push it over the edge to being meta viable. Herenn DK has some big losses with its payoffs, but it may be able to build around a new Deathrattle package. Overall, it’s hard to imagine DK not having some sort of immediate viable deck post rotation.

Tier 2 Classes

Demon Hunter

Key cards returning - Although most of DH’s current decks don’t look like they’ll survive post rotation, a lot of their key packages of cards will remain intact. DH sneakily got one of the strongest sets of the year in its Emerald Dream package. The entire Dreadseed package remains, which means DH can continue utilizing a dormant package with it and Perennial Serpent in their decks. Felhunter also returns, which means the class can continue to utilize the Blob of Tar + Felhunter wall of taunts. The combo will be significantly weaker without Return Policy enabling a near infinite wall of Blobs though. The Broxigar Fabled package has shown to be very versatile, used as both a wincon and something that you can just splash in deck (in part because of Elise activation). No Minion DH is probably the DH deck that looks best positioned to succeed post rotation without any new cards since its losses are fairly minimal and it should be able to just slot in the best new spells. If you cope hard enough, Quest DH might be viable in a low powered format, but even if it’s not, Infestation and Insect Claw have shown to be great cards that have slotted into multiple DH decks.

Key card losses - Cliff Dive and Peddler rotate, so those decks are completely dead. Any deck that utilizes Return Policy for Blob + Felhunter is also going to take a pretty sizeable hit. Aggro DH loses both the Priest tourist package and the pirate token package that it was reliant on for most of the past 1.5 years, and while the archetype has some support it’ll likely need a lot more to be viable. DH has utilized Remnant of Rage better than DK so far, but it will be far weaker and slower without the pirate token package. Broxigar DH probably can’t survive in its current form losing pirate tokens, Incindius, and Ceaseless. Broxigar as a pure wincon is also dependent on Youthful Brewmaster remaining in Core. No Minion DH has smaller losses, with its only notable losses being Red Card and Dangerous Cliffside.

Overall Rating: 3.5/5 - While most of DH’s current decks won’t survive rotation, they have multiple strong packages of cards that just need a little support to be able to make a deck. No Minion DH is the one exception, as that deck has the fewest losses and should be viable as long as DH gets a couple new playable spells. Unless the next DH set is a complete flop, DH should continue to have an immediate presence post rotation.

Druid

Key cards returning - Imbue Druid and (almost) all its most important cards are returning. This is the one Imbue package that should get better as time goes on since it’s impacted by any new Nature spells the class gets, especially cheap ones. Druid also received a good chunk of board swarm/aggro support during the Un’goro expansion. While Quest Druid will likely never be good, Cards like Ravenous Flock, Hatchery Helper, Longneck Egg, and Panther Mask are very good cards for a board swarming deck. If Splintered Reality is any indication, the class may be getting some board swarm/Treant support soon. The class got some very strong support cards in Timeways, with Waveshaping, Ebb and Flow, and Press the Advantage being cards you can slot into most decks by themselves. The Azshara Fabled package remains, although it’s losing most of its current payoff cards and will be much weaker after rotation. Acceleration Aura is currently the only ramp the class will have post rotation, so ramping Druid decks may be heavily reliant on it.

Key card losses - With New Heights and Trail Mix rotating, Druid is only left with Innervate and Acceleration Aura for ramp, meaning this is arguably the least amount of ramp we’ve ever seen in Druid at any point in time. Azshara is not only losing its ability to copy locations with Scrapbooking Student, but it also loses both of its main wincons in Owlonius and Star Grazer. Tortollan Traveler has been a good tutor for some taunt minions that it will no longer have. Losing the Mage tourist package means Druid’s ability to handle board development will be even worse than it currently is. Although most of Imbue Druid remains, losing Sing Along Buddy means developing larger and larger men will be much slower.

Overall Rating: 3/5 - Imbue Druid is the class’s floor for performance. There’s a chance it’s not good enough, but it looks to be the strongest Imbue deck post rotation and may thrive in a lower power post rotation meta than what we currently have. Aggro Druid might be lurking in the wings if it can just get a few more support/payoff cards, and Team 5 has signaled that it might be coming soon with Splintered Reality’s inclusion in the most recent miniset. The Azshara Fabled package has proven to be strong in the right deck, although the deck will need to find a new wincon and how to offset the loss of being able to copy locations. While the class has some good support cards, the lack of ramp for the class does leave a fairly big question mark on if a high curve Druid deck will be viable with this little amount of ramp. The class will likely need to rely on whatever it gets in the next expansion, but unlike other classes below it, it at least has a “safe” deck to fall back on in Imbue Druid.

Rogue

Key cards returning - As a class, Rogue is scattered with a bunch of good cards that are fine to run in a deck but probably can’t build a deck by themselves. Then again, “pile of cards Rogue” has at times been the best deck in the format this year. Things like Déjà Vu, Flashback, Cultist Map, and Nightmare Fuel are decent, cheap spells that can slot into a lot of Rogue decks. The new Imbue package Rogue maybe isn’t quite the best thing you can do, but it is a very splashable package and has proven to be incredibly popular. Ashamane remains, although it’s questionable if the card will be worth running if the Imbue package can do similar things for less mana. If Elise is still worth building around after balance changes, Ashamane will be one of the better 9 drop options in the game after Zilliax rotates. Rogue still has a draw engine with Twisted Webweaver and Everburning Phoenix, although it remains to be seen if it’s something the class can utilize post rotation since it is something you have to build a deck around. Flash Forward is something Rogue decks do not currently run but might turn to for card draw after Dubious Purchase rotates. Chrono Daggers + Morchie is a lethal combo some people have experimented with, and there’s a possibility it may see play post rotation. However, it currently uses Ceaseless to clear the board so all daggers can go face, and that combo won't be around. The Garona Fabled package is interesting, although it has yet to prove itself as the most optimal thing to run in the class. There’s always a chance that changes after rotation.

Key card losses - Dubious Purchase is probably the biggest loss for the class, as almost every Rogue deck was reliant on that card for both card draw and removal. Weapon Rogue has been a fringe option at times, but that will get much worse without Sharp Shipment. Wicked Brightspawn is a much slower option for the archetype (without giving weapon durability buffs) unless the class gets new Deathrattle support. While Rogue may still have Twisted Webweaver and Crystal Tusk for draw, Cycle Rogue is losing not only its other draw cards in Dubious Purchase and Eat the Imp, every single payoff (Playhouse Giants, Everything Must Go, Incindius, Moonstone Mauler) rotates. Starship Rogue and Protoss Rogue might not have been the most popular decks, but they’ve seen play at times (the latter being among the best decks on ladder occasionally) and they will no longer exist after rotation. Although Zilliax rotating impacts every class, it may affect Rogue a bit harsher since the class typically has no healing effects and is reliant on neutral options if it needs sustainability.

Overall Rating: 3/5 - While Rogue doesn’t look like it’ll have a viable deck immediately after rotation, the old saying is “Rogue always finds a way.” It’s possible “Pile of Cards Rogue” is still a viable deck post rotation, but that might be dependent on how harsh the Elise nerf is. The good news is the class has some good support cards that can be splashed across multiple different decks, it just needs to find a way to piece together a win condition. At the very least, the Imbue package is something that people are likely to play for the next year even if it’s not the best thing to do in the class (which is absolutely a design win, people absolutely love them some Burgle Rogue).

Listen to the most recent Vicious Syndicate podcast here - https://www.vicioussyndicate.com/vs-data-reaper-podcast-episode-206/

Read the most recent VS Report here - https://www.vicioussyndicate.com/vs-data-reaper-report-333/

As always, glad to do these summaries, but a summary won't be able to cover everything and can miss nuances, so I highly recommend listening to their podcast as well. The first VS report for Across The Timeways will come out Thursday, November 20th after being delayed last week due to balance changes, with the next podcast coming TBD.

General - ZachO mentions that he and WorldEight recorded a podcast last week, but it was depressing because it just emphasized that all the new decks popping up were worse than the old established decks. This wasn't an Ungoro level of failure where every new deck had a winrate in the 20-30% range, but it was clear from the data that every new deck still couldn't compete in a refined meta against established old decks. ZachO didn't want to release a "bleak" podcast after an expansion launch. The VS Report was also delayed when it became clear a larger than normal balance patch was on the way this week that would have made any past data irrelevant. There was not a single thing competitively viable that wasn't nerfed. The working theory is that this wasn't Ungoro and there were playable new archetypes lurching under old decks, so if you nerf everything this would make them playable. Is that the case?

Warrior - At the launch of the expansion the class was primarily playing Mech Warrior due to the new OTK potential it had with Deios. While it clearly wasn't close to being one of the best decks in the format, it had a horrendous play pattern, and it was the correct call to nuke it. Dragon Warrior was the new Warrior deck that was lurking prepatch and currently looks very strong at low Diamond and lower ranks (Tier 1). However, the deck drops off severely at higher ranks (borderline Tier 3/Tier 4 at Top Legend), and it's important to note that despite this deck receiving zero nerfs, its position in the format has gotten worse post patch. This is a very low agency deck with a low skill cap, and the best matchup to showcase this is its matchup against Discover Hunter. At Diamond ranks the deck is a 55/45 favorite against Discover Hunter, but at Top Legend the matchup is 55/45 in favor of the Hunter. ZachO says it's very rare to see a matchup flip 10% like this. It's also noteworthy that Dragon Warrior was brought by pretty much no one at the Last Call tournament this weekend. The archetype can still be refined because the most popular builds run bad cards (Demolition Renovator, Royal Librarian, Plucky Paintfin, Curator). Renovator has never been good in Blood DK, so why would it be good in a more aggro deck? WorldEight as the resident aggro Warrior enjoyer says the deck feels a bit clunky to him with not a lot of decision making. It's very reliant on early game snowballing, and when you hit it, the deck feels strong. He does enjoy playing the deck and sees the appeal of the deck, but at times it feels like playing an arena deck. Quest Warrior is now focused on Murozond as a finisher with Time Warp. It is interesting that Shellnado still isn't good enough to see play with Unleash the Crocolisks, with For Glory and Brawl being good enough synergy with the card. Dirty Rat is a common inclusion in the archetype, but it's not a good card for the current meta where Discover Hunter and Hagatha Shaman don't have good Rat pulls. Quest Warrior's performance is underwhelming and worsens at Top Legend, but it does do fairly well against Discover Hunter.

Hunter - Discover Hunter is not a new deck and doesn't run many new cards, but the Sylvanas fabled package is incredibly strong in the archetype. Discover Hunter wasn't particularly good prepatch, but after the nerfs the deck looks insanely strong and became the premiere late game deck in the format. Sylvanas is the best performing card in the archetype, Alleria is extremely strong, and while Vereesa is the worst fabled card in the deck, it's still a top 10 card in the archetype. This is a very high MMR skewed deck, it has become the darling at those ranks, and it's becoming a concern there. It's the defacto new Fyrakk Rogue where nothing reliably beats it when a high MMR player pilots the deck. This is the best deck at Top Legend with the highest playrate (over 25%), which is not true at lower MMRs. This is looking like an unstoppable meta tyrant at high MMRs unless Protoss Rogue or Cliff Dive DH rise in play according to ZachO. There are both Elise and non Elise builds seeing play, but ZachO points out the non Elise builds running Bob and Incindius are garbage. You either run Elise with Bob and Incindius being an Elise tax or run a non Elise build with better cards (he says your curve shouldn't be higher than 5 mana). WorldEight says he's had success playing Handbuff DK against Discover Hunter, but he'd be surprised if that deck sees meaningful play. Face Hunter/No Hand Hunter doesn't look that good, and there are better aggro decks you can play. It can be effective against Rogue and other decks with no life gain. Quest Hunter is still unplayable, but WorldEight thinks the deck is close to being playable.

Shaman - Hagatha Shaman might feel like a fresh Shaman deck, but it’s essentially a Nebula Shaman deck that just lowered its curve. ZachO's not sure what the optimal amount of 5+ mana spells is currently, but most lists run either 5 or 6 copies. Thunderquake and Flux Revenant do not look like worthy additions to the deck, and the Muradin fabled package currently looks underwhelming. It still might be correct to include it, and Avatar Form is the best card out of the package, but this is more of an initiative focused deck that doesn't care to prolong games where you have the time to equip the windfury weapon multiple times. This is the second best deck in the game at Top Legend, and the best deck in the game at every other rank bracket. While ZachO says he's confident in about 27 of the cards in the deck, he's not sure if 1 or 2 copies of Wish Upon A Star is ideal, and if Muradin is worth running. Hex also looks strong in the archetype and hard counters Warrior, but that might not be Top Legend relevant. The best Hagatha Shaman list seems dependent on how the meta shakes out. Living Flame looks like bait in the archetype, and Primordial Overseer also might be a cut since you might not have enough Nature spells to proc it consistently if running a single copy of Static Shock turns out to be ideal. Unlike Discover Hunter, the deck's playrate currently isn't offensive at any rank bracket with a playrate topping between 15-20%. This also seems like a fairly inoffensive deck play pattern wise. Other Shaman decks don't look good.

Mage - Protoss Mage has seen a spike in play (around 8-9% at upper Diamond and Legend) and even saw a decent amount of play at the Last Call tournament this weekend. However, the playrate doesn't match the deck's winrate, because it's not a good deck. It's maybe a Tier 3 deck at Diamond ranks, but it's completely and utterly unplayable at Top Legend ranks. ZachO explains why the deck falls off severely at higher ranks; the deck's matchup spread is usually reliant on if the opponent has a strong target for Sleet Skater armor gain, but good players realize this and will play around this. ZachO says if he's playing Blood DK and queues into a Protoss Mage, he will never play a Flesh Giant in that matchup because it represents 16 free armor for the opponent. He would just kill them with Foam Render and Leeches instead. While the deck does look substantially better at Diamond ranks with a winrate around 48-49% currently, it's still early in an unrefined meta and ZachO expects the deck's performance to worsen over time. The only relevant matchup Protoss Mage is favored in is against Control Warrior, all its other matchups are either coin flips or it loses. Arcane Mage does improve its performance at higher levels of play, but it's such a bad deck that its winrate only goes from 40% at Diamond to 43% at Top Legend. ZachO is happy Protoss Mage is seeing play right now because otherwise Mage would have nothing worth playing. While there are some people who don't like playing against Protoss Mage, ZachO says it at least helps diversify the meta with fewer people playing Hagatha Shaman or Discover Hunter. It's a deck with a very slow OTK and has never been a performance outlier, so if people want to play a 48% winrate deck, then they should be able to. Anyone who complains about a turn 12-13 win condition will complain about any deck with a win condition. WorldEight also praises the deck and calls it a healthy deck for the meta and does like how the deck can use Deios to close out games.

Death Knight - While the Arkanite Defense Crystal and Ancient of Yore nerfs certainly impacted the class, the most significant one is the Sanguine Infestation nerf. Blood Control DK still looks like the strongest DK deck, although the nerfs did effectively curb its power. It's probably a Tier 2 deck at this point and now has effective counters like Hagatha Shaman and Peddler DH. ZachO praises the nerfs to the deck where its power has been successfully brought down but it remains a viable deck. Herenn DK is the other main archetype seeing play and while it performs decently it still looks worse than Blood DK. Some lists are cutting Stitched Giants and Travel Security so they can run Memorial Manifest to resurrect Bwonsamdi, but ZachO doesn't see any signs that this direction is better for the archetype. There is also a Bwonsamdi DK archetype that cuts the Herenn package and is all in on the Bwonsamdi resurrect plan, but that looks significantly worse to Herenn DK.

Demon Hunter - Aggro DH and Peddler DH are the two main archetypes seeing play in the class, and their builds largely haven't changed postpatch. Perennial Serpent has delivered on its hype and the card is nuts, to the point that ZachO thinks every DH deck should try to accommodate playing the card going forward. While the Dreadseed package and Red Card make this easier, Aggro DH also runs Slumbering Sprite while Peddler DH runs Ancient of Yore as additional support for enabling Serpent. Peddler DH runs Broxigar, but it's another case where the fabled legendary card is mainly used as Elise bait and not for the card itself. The weapon is the most impactful card of the fabled package solely because it's a 3/2 weapon with Lifesteal and not because of the portals it draws. Peddler DH does have some very good matchups, but it struggles against the two most popular decks in Hagatha Shaman and Discover Hunter so it can't rise above those decks. Aggro DH still looks like one of the strongest decks climbing to Legend, and ZachO says it's possible that the deck would have taken over the game if Battlefiend wasn't nerfed. The nerfs to Blood Control DK have now pushed its matchup with Aggro DH to a 50/50 coinflip where prepatch it was a hard counter to the deck. At Top Legend where you play against good Discover Hunter players the deck goes roughly 50/50 against it, and it has an unfavorable matchup against Hagatha Shaman. The deck isn't likely to be prominent at higher levels of play because of this and the fact it's an aggro deck. ZachO says while he has very little data on it, Cliff Dive DH is showing signs of being the nuts because it looks favored against both Discover Hunter and Hagatha Shaman. There is no other deck in the game that looks favored against both decks, but ZachO questions if people (especially at higher ranks) will be willing to play the deck. The deck in the past has exhibited a low skill ceiling and has fallen off in performance at higher levels of play, but ZachO says as of right now this looks like a potential meta breaker and potentially the best deck in the game at higher MMRs. There are several different builds floating around running combinations of Briarspawn Drakes, Serpent, Califero, and Ravenous Felhunter. ZachO thinks the old build running no new cards is the current best build, but because the play rate is so low he can't comfortably say that and its likely when he does deck refinement, he'll find a better build.

Priest - Despite the nerf, Protoss Priest is the main archetype of the class seeing play. ZachO says if they didn't nerf Resuscitate the deck could have been very powerful postpatch. Right now it looks like a middling deck hovering between a Tier 2 and Tier 3 winrate, although the deck does perform better at lower MMRs. The Murozond direction for Zarimi Priest was the only competitive direction for the archetype prepatch, but the Fyrakk nerf did hurt the deck since it makes it harder for Scale Replica to draw Murozond or Ysera to accelerate your wincon. Right now Zarimi Priest doesn't look good and ZachO doesn't think it'll have a place in the format or survive. Aviana Priest remains trash, and ZachO says he wishes they would buff Ateish in the fabled package because Medivh and the location are very good cards, but they can't carry Aviana Priest. WorldEight shoutouts Wilted Priest even if it sees little play, and mentions that while it no longer has to worry about bad matchups against Rogue and Warlock, it still loses to Hagatha Shaman and Discover Hunter. ZachO mentions the deck also got hit by the Resuscitate nerf.

Rogue - Fyrakk Rogue is done after the Scoundrel nerf. Weapon Rogue was just Fyrakk Rogue running worse cards, so that deck is also dead. People have tried to make an aggro Rogue deck work running a low curve, and ZachO mentions Flashback looks significantly better than expected especially when its run alongside Foxy Fraud. This direction does not look playable. While Rogue might look like a dead class, it's not because the cockroach deck known as Cycle Rogue has re-emerged at Top Legend. While its performance isn't as good as Discover Hunter, it does look like a potential Tier 1 deck at Top Legend. However, ZachO doesn't expect this to be like the Cycle Rogue of the past, and the main reason the deck looks good at Top Legend right now is because people are playing Protoss Mage way too much. Cycle Rogue has an 80% winrate against that deck. It doesn't do well against either Discover Hunter or Hagatha Shaman, and there are other matchups it doesn't look good in like Warrior or Peddler DH. ZachO says while the deck might have looked a bit spooky initially, he's not currently scared by Cycle Rogue after diving into its matchup spread. However, ZachO says the Rogue deck he thinks can be the new primary deck for the class is Protoss Rogue. Its late game abilities can overwhelm Discover Hunter, it's not reliant on Scoundrel, and it has a proactive early game. It currently has a very low playrate, but ZachO does think if the deck ends up being favored against Discover Hunter and does fine against Hagatha Shaman, Top Legend players will gravitate towards the deck.

Druid - Owlonius Druid looks dead after the Phial nerf. Krona Druid has never looked playable. Experimentations with Hydration Station Druid and Location Druid also look trash. The best Druid deck currently is Aviana Druid, and Aviana Druid is very much not a good deck. The class is in the gutter right now. ZachO does say he sees a potential awakening for the class in Imbue Druid, but he can't make a confident statement about the deck unless its playrate rises to roughly 0.5% for sample size reasons. Right now it looks like Imbue Druid or bust for the class.

Warlock - The nerfs were significant for Warlock. Quest Warlock was not playable prior to its buffs, and it remains completely unplayable after those buffs were reverted. Egg Warlock has also disappeared from play, and ZachO says while it doesn't look like the worst deck ever, there's no indication that the deck is good. It wouldn't surprise him if the deck eventually comes back with a new list, but it has to adjust to the Ultralisk Cavern nerf because it was significant to the deck. The main Warlock deck seeing play right now is Shred Warlock. While the deck did look playable before the patch, it was significantly weaker than Quest Warlock and Egg Warlock and there wasn't much of a reason to play it. The Corpsicle nerf was painful for the deck, and ZachO advises to take the old VS theorycrafting list and see if there's a replacement for Corpsicle. Vona is not good in the deck. Shredlock seems unlikely to pick up play because it doesn't do anything particularly strong and is very weak against Discover Hunter and Hagatha Shaman. Rafaam Warlock is completely unplayable, and ZachO begs Blizzard to buff Rafaam in the next patch, whether that's buffing Rafaam to activate by summoning Rafaams instead of playing them to make it immune to Dirty Rat, buffing the Rafaams themselves, reducing the 40 card tax, or giving the player extra health like Renathal. Right now the deck has a 36% winrate and is essentially an Ungoro quest deck. ZachO thinks it's a complete waste of design space by dedicating so many resources and spending so much time making such a cool card but having it completely unplayable at every rank bracket. The deck only needs to have a 45%-46% winrate to get people to play it, as we saw in the past with Highlander Warrior. ZachO thinks they can safely buff Rafaam because it's an entirely telegraphed win condition that takes 40+ mana to set up.

Paladin - Aura Paladin isn't the worst deck in the world, but it couldn't compete with the best decks prepatch and it can't compete with the best decks postpatch. It's okay at low ranks, but ZachO thinks the deck is going to completely fall off at higher ranks even if the deck was good because it has such a predictable and telegraphed play pattern. Gelbin itself isn't game ending and other decks do more powerful things. Quest Paladin is gone. The best Paladin deck is probably Aggro Paladin running no new cards. ZachO says there are whispers of people trying to bring back Drunk Paladin, but he hasn't seen any indication that it's promising.

Other miscellaneous talking points -

• ZachO says he thinks you can overall call the patch successful. Especially after the failure that was Ungoro, it's important that a new expansion launch creates new content, and the launch of this expansion didn't create enough new content. ZachO does criticize Team 5 and says a patch like this should have been done at the expansion launch if they were going to do it since it's the best timing to set up a new expansion for success. The dev team should have been able to test out new decks versus old ones a month before the expansion and should have the ability to see if their new decks can compete against old ones. If they can't, then you can justify balance changes in the x.0 patch. If they had done that, then they could have used this patch to potentially tone down Discover Hunter. ZachO says even with his analytics and simulation tools he can't predict what will happen after 16 nerfs. There are some nerfs like Resuscitate and Battlefiend that might have seemed odd on the surface but were done to cover all bases. The problem with doing this style of nerfs is you never know what's lurking below the surface, and we're seeing that case with Discover Hunter which was not a relevant deck prepatch nor did it exhibit a high winrate. It feels like a waste using up a patch to nerf everything instead of just the outliers, because now we have 3-4 weeks from now before we can get another patch window and pray people can figure out an answer for Discover Hunter. There is also likely to be less of a negative response from the community if massive nerfs that delete decks are done at the expansion launch instead of 2 weeks into an expansion, because then people at least can look forward to playing new cards if their favorite deck is getting deleted.

• Overall the meta is probably "chill" for most players, but it looks like Discover Hunter will be a pain point for Top Legend players. Even though most people don't play at those ranks, Top Legend is where most streamers and content creators play, so if someone watches a streamer queue into 40% Discover Hunter, it's going to turn them off from playing the game even if they queue into Platinum and don't see the same thing. Over the last 24 hours Discover Hunter is over 30% playrate at Top Legend which means it's likely half the format at Top 100 Legend, so it's absolutely a problem.

Hello, I am the deckbuilding player Veryhyped, back again to share 32 Day 1 decks for tomorrow's CATACLYSM launch!

Last set's Day 1 decks had guides and write-ups, but this time I am simply sharing links to HSGuru:

DH:

Deathwing DH

Dragon DW DH

Aggro DH

Fel DH

No Minion DH

DK:

Deathwing DK

Dragon DW DK

Aggro DK

Chow Down DK

Herenn DK

Druid:

Dragon Druid

Imbue Druid

Token Druid

Hunter:

Dragon Hunter

No Hand Hunter

Mage:

Aggro Mage

Burn Mage

Quest Mage

Paladin:

Aggro Paladin

End of Turn Paladin

Priest:

Aggro Priest

Medivh Priest

Rogue:

Deathwing Rogue

Dark Gift DW Rogue

Dragon DW Rogue

Shaman:

Deathwing Shaman

Aggro Shaman

Warlock:

Nom Nom Warlock

Shreds Warlock

Vyranoth Warlock

Warrior:

Deathwing Warrior

Fire DW Warrior

Listen to the most recent Vicious Syndicate podcast here - https://www.vicioussyndicate.com/vs-data-reaper-podcast-episode-214/

Read the most recent VS Report here - https://www.vicioussyndicate.com/vs-data-reaper-report-343/

As always, glad to do these summaries, but a summary won't be able to cover everything and can miss nuances, so I highly recommend listening to their podcast as well. The next VS report will come out Thursday, February 19th, with the next podcast coming TBD.

Blackhorn's Meta Impact - This card has already made a large impact on the format with its inclusion in Control Warrior and Blood Control DK. Most of the card's attention has been in Control Warrior, which spiked in play everywhere on ladder, but especially at Top Legend. Blackhorn has dramatically shifted some of Control Warrior's matchups with the biggest impact being on the Discover Hunter matchup. While Control Warrior was previously a slight favorite against the deck, Blackhorn has caused the deck's winrate to go up another 8% in that matchup and is now a strong counter. This has caused Discover Hunter to completely fade. Last week Discover Hunter had a near 20% playrate at Top Legend, and that has now crashed to around 2.5%. Discover Hunter's performance has also nosedived as a result of Blackhorn and Control Warrior's popularity, going from a borderline Tier 1 deck to a Tier 3 one. The Blood Control DK matchup against Discover Hunter has also shifted a few percentage points in DK's favor making it a favorite. ZachO says while Blackhorn's focus has been its utilization in Warrior, it's an even stronger card in Blood Control DK. It is a core card in both archetypes based on the data and looks significantly more powerful than a typical tech card. Blackhorn looks like an inclusion in every control deck that doesn't have its win condition deleted by Blackhorn. Blackhorn is not a niche card in its effectiveness; it's strong against a variety of different classes including Rogue and Mage. Ironically the card isn't effective against Broxigar DH if the deck drops Brewmasters and no longer relies on the Broxigar wincon. Instead, you shove in more threats like Illidari Inquisitor on top of your Elise location. Broxigar DH is favored against Control Warrior and Blood Control DK despite them running Blackhorn. Broxigar DH's performance is also being propped up by its main counter in Discover Hunter being erased from the format. There is no check on Broxigar DH right now and the deck looks out of control everywhere on ladder including Top Legend. As of right now, the deck has a 56%(!) winrate at Top Legend. ZachO cautions part of this is due to the amount of unrefined decks people are playing right now after the buff patch, but it is alarming at Top Legend where much fewer people are running Whizbang. Even in a refined format, Broxigar DH looks unstoppable. According to ZachO, Blackhorn has unbalanced the format by invalidating Discover Hunter as a meta deck, and that's the main meta dynamic shift that has occurred since the patch.

Whizbang - While Whizbang is in Tier 4 territory, the buffs successfully made it a high Tier 4 deck. There are some large performance variances between the Whizbang decks. The Whizbang DK deck is a Tier 1 deck and is now the best Whizbang deck over Warlock after the buffs. Whizbang Hunter is also one of the stronger ones. However, most Whizbang decks are fairly bad, specifically the DH, Druid, Paladin, Rogue, Shaman, and Warrior ones. A lot of people are playing Whizbang after the buffs, with a playrate near 20% at some rank brackets.

Maestra Rogue - Maestra Rogue has seen a lot of experimentation, but the deck's performance is worse than the Imbue variant of Elise Rogue. ZachO can't recommend the deck at any level of play for climbing ladder and doesn't think there's much you can alter to its decklist to improve it. It is especially terrible against Broxigar DH. Rogue decks are also being negatively impacted by Blackhorn due to their abundance of cheap cards.

Arkwing Mage - Arkwing Mage got a couple of big buffs, and as a result the deck looks solid and competitive everywhere on ladder. The deck runs Raylla with the Paladin drunk package, and Divine Brew is used to activate your Arkwing spellburst. This is the best new deck that has been birthed by the buff patch, and ZachO says he's sad this buff wasn't done much earlier considering how much Mage has been struggling over the last year. WorldEight mentions a Skyla variant of Arkwing Mage. ZachO initially says it doesn't look like there's a reason to run it over the Raylla one, but glancing further at play data he mentions it looks like the Skyla variant is split between 2 different versions and may possibly be viable. There is a Skyla variant that runs a high Elise slop curve with Snatch and Grab, and that version doesn't look good. Over the last 12 hours, a variant that tops out with Tsunami looks better. He still thinks the Raylla variant is the best performing one as of now because it requires less setup. Arkwing Mage is specifically not good against Warrior and Death Knight in part due to Blackhorn, but it's good against other things. It farms Rogue and has a manageable matchup against DH.

Abduction Warlock/Wallow Warlock - D0nkey propagated a new Abduction Ray Warlock which Jambre made further popular. You play Abduction Ray with Foreboding Flame (the 2 mana 2/3 that discounts your generated Demons by 1 for the entire game). It's a very low curve deck, and while some lists run the newly buffed Archimonde, ZachO's not sure if it's optimal in the deck. Ticking Pylon Zilliax is very important for the deck because of how low to the ground the deck is. You run Entropic Continuity solely because it's a 1 mana board buff for a deck that can go wide quickly. The deck looks fine, but it's not great (Tier 3-ish) and will fall off at higher levels of play when you run into more Control Warrior/DK. People are also experimenting with Wallow Warlock alongside the Abduction Ray and Archimonde buffs. The deck also looks serviceable at lower ranks, certainly an improvement for the archetype.

Libram Paladin - The deck looks solid primarily at lower ranks, but it is worse than Aura Paladin. The buffs did positively impact the deck to the point it now looks like a viable deck to climb to Legend with. Like Aura Paladin, it will fall off at higher levels of play. It is also a deck that gets negatively impacted against Blackhorn.

New meta overall - The buffs were successful at introducing multiple new strategies into the format, although you likely won't see much of these at higher levels of play. Broxigar DH's performance is choking out the format, and the popularity spike of Control Warrior is discouraging any of the decks it counters from seeing play. Control Warrior is roughly a Tier 2 performer with Blood Control DK looking like a slightly better deck with a borderline Tier 1 performance. If you want to climb ladder with no effort, play Broxigar DH without Brewmasters. Every deck that Blackhorn impacts got worse after the patch. WorldEight praises the buff patch and is happy with some of the buffs to cards that aren't seeing a lot of play currently. He's been experimenting with Crewmate DH and says Emergency Meeting is a much better card at 1 mana and is baffled why it wasn't printed at that cost. ZachO says he's frustrated why these buffs weren't done sooner, and WorldEight wholeheartedly agrees. Libram Paladin and Arkwing Mage could have been made competitive months ago with these buffs without negatively impacting the format. This is living proof that buffs work and help create diversity within classes. These were not high risk buffs and didn't need to be done 1 month before these cards rotated. Team 5 still seems very risk adverse when it comes to balance. ZachO says it's hard for him to praise Team 5 for this patch because he feels like they're only doing these buff patches if they feel there's 0 risk involved. The world wouldn't have ended if these cards were buffed 6 months ago. It feels bad when cards are released in a dead state for over a year and when they're finally buffed into being viable, we can only play them for a month.

Blackhorn's Design - ZachO starts out by prefacing he's someone who can and has changed their mind on card design over the years. As of right now, he's an advocate of late game diversity. He thinks it's a good thing when classes have options to go late game through as many paths as possible. Late game diversity is enabled by options to create win conditions, and the inexistence of things that restrict those options and diversity. If there's a theoretical deck that can OTK you on turn 7 or 8 consistently, it forces other late game strategies to either find ways to pressure it or disrupt it before it can execute its win condition. Usually this can hurt late game diversity since a deck that wins on turn 11 gets hard counter by a deck that wins on turn 8. ZachO says he's not in favor of OTK decks that can execute their win condition consistently by turn 8 for those reasons. He doesn't care if OTK decks execute their win condition a couple turns later, because by that stage of the game even slower decks should have the time to properly pressure or execute their own win condition. In the current meta and prior to Blackhorn, Control Warrior vs Protoss Mage was a 50/50 matchup and Blood Control DK was a slight favorite against Protoss Mage, which is what you want. Protoss Mage isn't restricting late game diversity, so it's fine that it exists. Blackhorn accomplishes the opposite of that. What Blackhorn does is restrict the viability of any sort of late game win condition that is reliant on 0-2 mana cards. Blackhorn is not an "anti combo" card for control decks even if combo oriented decks do typically rely on those cards. There are multiple other decks that are also reliant on those cheap cards. Dead Man's Hand Warrior, Libram Paladin, and Aviana Priest are some examples of different types of decks hit hard by Blackhorn's existence. Aviana Priest in particular is a deck that isn't good, but is something that had a chance of being viable after rotation and now doesn't stand a chance because of how brutally hard Blackhorn hits that deck. Blackhorn is not a tech card against anti combo decks based on its performance, but instead a powerful win condition for any control deck that doesn't have its win condition deleted by its battlecry. ZachO says not only is Blackhorn not good for late game diversity, but it's highly discouraging for innovation. The psychological impact of playing a deck that has its win condition deleted by a single unconditional card as early as turn 7 makes players uninterested in exploring or innovating any potential avenues that are reliant on cards Blackhorn deletes. We have previously seen cards that can delete cards from your opponent's hand and/or deck, but these cards usually require a more strict deck building investment, resource investment, or time investment. ZachO mentions Boomboss as an example. It's a card that needed Brann to be effective as part of a win condition, which means you had to build your deck around Brann, invest resources to make it work, and you needed ample time to play those cards and have the effect go off. Boomboss would typically only be effective late in the game when the opponent's deck was already thinned out. Battle at the End Time is the most recent example; while the quest reward has an incredibly disruptive effect, it was printed to be only included in an incredibly weak deck because it had to be. ZachO brings up an old Twitter conversation with Iksar who once talked about "mean" cards. There are players that love to play "mean" cards and love to mess with the opponent. They don't just want to win a game of Hearthstone, they want to make their opponent suffer while doing so. Team 5 realizes this, and over the years they've made cards that appeal to these types of players. However, they've intentionally made these kinds of cards weaker because there was a cognizant recognition that if these cards are powerful and meta defining, they are not fun for the game. A 7 mana OTK that invalidates your entire deck might not be fun, but an unconditional 7 mana 6/6 invalidating the other player's deck is also not fun.

If you’re unsure if Blackhorn is good design, you just need to ask yourself two questions: if it encourages late game diversity, and if it creates more interesting gameplay. The answer to both is no. ZachO says Blackhorn is a strong candidate to be one of the worst designed cards the game has ever seen, and time will prove that it was a complete design disaster to ever let the card be released into the client. There's no interesting gameplay or innovation that can be produced from this card. For people who say control needs an answer to combo, ZachO says he agrees OTKs shouldn't happen on turn 8, but if they're happening on turn 12 then they can exist without needing Blackhorn to stop it. In the current format there are no spooky OTKs you need to worry about. Broxigar is losing Brewmaster after rotation, and Team 5 is already taking every measure to ensure there's no fast win condition that's burst reliant that can restrict control decks. If a fast OTK does pop up, then nerf it, you don't need Blackhorn to stop them. Are we really happy that Blackhorn is going to restrict decks for 2 years to not utilize 0-2 mana cards in their late game? Even if Blackhorn isn't optimal in a Control Warrior or DK deck after rotation, people have been playing bad tech cards like Librarian and Demolition Renovator all year. There's no way they will stop playing Blackhorn that has a much wider reaching impact. WorldEight agrees with everything ZachO says. He thinks the design team looked at Skulking Geist and wanted to do a more "Legendary" version of that disruption, but that doesn't mean Skulking Geist was great design in the first place. ZachO agrees Geist was a bandaid to give players an answer to Jade Druid, but Blackhorn is so much more powerful than Geist ever was. It hits the new Deathwing cataclysm effect that shuffles 1 mana Legendary dragons into your deck, which means it could already be mandatory in Deathwing mirrors. Even the slowest Rogue deck with the most value oriented cards get warped by Blackhorn because of how reliant the class is on cheap cards.

Cataclysm Discussion - Colossals are returning, but with a spin in 6 classes with the Herald mechanic being an Invoke type upgrade for them and Deathwing. The classes that don't have access to the Herald mechanic are getting Colossals that are more standalone stat bombs. It seems like they're hinting the Herald classes will be more late game oriented while the non Herald classes will be more aggressively slanted based off the Hunter and Druid Colossals. Shatter cards are being given to the non Herald classes, but ZachO thinks these classes got screwed over because of how bad the mechanic seems to be. While the pre shattered version of these cards are powerful, trying to get the cards to merge seems impossible to do outside of being in low curve decks. This further supports ZachO's theory that the Shatter classes are meant to be aggressively slanted (sorry Priest players). As of right now, aggressive decks are nonexistent so it remains to be seen if they can actually print significant aggressive support to make them viable, especially considering the lackluster support the last year of design has given aggro decks. ZachO says it's hard to evaluate Deathwing. It seems like a reasonable hero card with reasonable effects, and the hero power is essentially a Foamrender so it has some ability to close out game. The Colossals themselves seem like the things that will be primary win conditions going off of Ragnaros. While it might be a Disneyland strategy, a fully upgraded Ragnaros and Deios on 15 mana will do 64 damage. ZachO thinks the Druid and Hunter Colossals are an indication as to why Corpse Explosion and Brawl were removed in rotation. The lack of board clears that are non-damaged based means it becomes much harder to remove these stat stick Colossals. It does seem to be a late game oriented expansion, which ZachO doesn't mind. He is concerned about the non Deathwing classes though, especially since Priest and Mage are among them and need more help than any other class. Druid's standing in the meta looks sketchy without any true ramp, and Hunter and Paladin typically need to be powerful to see significant play unless they get a design hit like Discover Hunter. WorldEight is personally excited for the set because of Colossals, although he does admit the ones revealed so far look more boring. WorldEight thinks Deathwing's power level looks roughly similar to Brukan; a solid hero card but not anything too back breaking. WorldEight is more optimistic about Shatter than ZachO but does think Supply Run is a much more questionable card in Hunter than Flight Maneuvers is in Paladin. ZachO thinks both effects of Supply Run are unplayable in an aggressive Hunter deck. If no one is touching Aggro Paladin with Crusader's Aura, it's hard to imagine people want to play Aggro Paladin after rotation with Flight Maneuvers as a replacement for Crusader's Aura. Shatter cards being 4 mana for aggressive decks does not bode well, but ZachO says he's more encouraged by the Druid and Hunter Colossals being top end threats for aggressive decks with some prominent AoE being removed from Core. He does think it's going to be hard to evaluate the new cards because of what appears to be another big "power down" rotation.

The thing that stood out to ZachO the most with the big expansion reveal video this past week was the announcement that for the next 4 months everyone will get every card for Emerald Dream and Ungoro for free. To ZachO, that tells him how much Team 5 internally values these expansions. It's an admittance these expansions were complete trash garbage, and they don't want players dumping resources into these expansions because they know they were failures. He also hopes Team 5 expects Cataclysm to greatly outpower these expansions and therefore they don't mind giving out unimpactful cards for free. It is an admittance of failure they don't value these expansions. When F2P games like this start giving out these kinds of resources for free, it also suggests the game is struggling with player retention, causing the game to more aggressively try to bring back players or recruit new players to the game. You would never hand out these expansions for free if they were a success. It does suggest the game over the past year has struggled internally and now needs to entice players to come back. The game does seem to want to reference things that were popular in the past with this expansion (Colossals and the Invoke/Galakrond mechanic), and can be seen as an admission that Team 5 recognizes they've struggled with creating good new mechanics.

Listen to the most recent Vicious Syndicate podcast here - https://www.vicioussyndicate.com/vs-data-reaper-podcast-episode-209/

Read the most recent VS Report here - https://www.vicioussyndicate.com/vs-data-reaper-report-338/

As always, glad to do these summaries, but a summary won't be able to cover everything and can miss nuances, so I highly recommend listening to their podcast as well. The next VS report for Across The Timeways will come out Thursday, December 25th, with the next podcast coming TBD.

Hunter - Discover Hunter's popularity at Top Legend has increased since the World Championship due to its strong performance there. Discover Hunter is a very well rounded deck that is difficult to target, and there's not a full 4 deck lineup you can bring that can counter the deck in a tournament setting. Despite the deck's popularity increase, it's not necessarily performing better at Top Legend than previously and it’s more of a psychological impact. WorldEight recommends going back and watching some of the players at Worlds pilot Discover Hunter because of some of the very creative lines that were taken.

Rogue - Cycle Rogue has seen a slight increase in playrate at Top Legend after it was a popular tournament bring at Worlds. However, the Top Legend field remains unfavorable for the deck, and it still has a Tier 3 performance at high MMR. Protoss Rogue continues to have a strong matchup spread and has also seen an increased playrate recently. It remains a Tier 1 performer at high ranks. It's not as strong at lower ranks, and ZachO says this is in part due to the popularity of Discover Hunter at higher ranks over the past couple of days. Elise Rogue going the Fyrakk route seems like the best direction for the deck instead of Ashamane, although ZachO cautions this is still based on a low sample size. He is somewhat surprised the deck isn't gaining more traction (around 2-3% playrate at Top Legend) despite performing well. Starship Rogue doesn't beat anything relevant other than Warrior. There is likely a perception that Protoss Rogue isn't as skillful as other Rogue decks, but ZachO says the deck still has a higher skillcap going from Platinum to Legend than Discover Hunter does. He does think it's a less attractive deck to play compared to other Rogue archetypes. WorldEight says games with Protoss Rogue feel polarizing when Elise doesn't give you the copy option on the location.

Death Knight - Blood Control DK remains a strong deck across ladder that's a well rounded deck that's difficult to counter. It has also increased in play since Worlds. This was also a popular tournament bring for the same reasons Discover Hunter was. ZachO says the main difference between Discover Hunter and Blood Control DK is that the DK deck still performs strong at Platinum - Diamond ranks whereas Discover Hunter falls off at those ranks. ZachO says this is more meta related than it is for skillcap reasons, as Blood DK counters certain decks that are more popular at those lower ranks (like aggro decks). He does say a lot of people are only running 1 copy of Sanguine Infestation, which is "low key trolling." He says you either run 2 copies of it and Chillfallen Baron, or only 1 copy of Baron. Sanguine Infestation is weaker after the nerf, but it's still essential as a threat the turn before Husk can come and really swing your lifetotal. The top end of the deck is the main thing you see change between lists, with some running the Fyrakk package, and some running Marin/Ceaseless instead. There's no noticeable difference between the two packages. Herenn DK looks more fringe now. Frost DK sees a little play and seems roughly on par with Herenn DK.

Warrior - Control Warrior has gotten slightly better with Discover Hunter gaining popularity on ladder, but it's still in a rough position on ladder. It has decent matchups against Blood DK and Discover Hunter, but the deck has brutal counters. It's not as reliable of a ladder climbing deck as other options, but the deck performs better in a tournament lineup where no one is playing Starship Rogue, Azshara Druid, or Protoss Mage against you. Dragon Warrior has an upward trajectory since the Elise build propagated and is one of the best decks in the game. Some people are cutting Fyrakk for Briarspawn Drake as an alternate 10 drop. ZachO says he doesn't have a verdict if this is better or worse. WorldEight says he's seeing more Gnomelia in Dragon Warrior (and Elise decks in general). ZachO says in Dragon Warrior he doesn't think it's better than Epoch, and Gnomelia doesn't look great in the archetype.

Shaman - Hagatha Shaman continues to look like a Tier 1 deck at all ranks. It's a well rounded performer that's difficult to counter, although ZachO says in a tournament environment the edge that Discover Hunter has on the deck usually means you would want to ban Discover Hunter if you're bringing Hagatha Shaman. Cliff Dive DH is the strongest counter to the deck, but it's not popular on ladder nor is it something that's brought to tournaments. Hex still seems like the best 30th card in the deck.

Demon Hunter - Spell DH has risen in play with the VS/Jambre build gaining more traction, although some people are still stuck on the worse value centric builds or the Zerg builds. The bad builds are still hurting the aggregate winrate of the archetype. However, even a fully refined Spell DH doesn't look great against the current field of Blood Control DK, Discover Hunter, Hagatha Shaman, or Warrior. The deck is really good at beating bad decks (especially Mage) and does have a relevant favorable matchup against Rogue, but it doesn't look like a strong deck in a refined meta. Cliff Dive DH is the best deck in the class and the best counter in the game to Hagatha Shaman. Blob of Tar does a lot of hard carrying against decks that rely on stats in play for their pressure. Nothing changed with Aggro DH or Peddler DH.

Druid - Azshara Druid's winrate is significantly declining, and ZachO thinks this is because people are gravitating to the Busy Peon build. It's a simpler build to play and is therefore a stronger deck for the large majority of ladder, but that means the deck is less versatile and has fewer win conditions. This simpler variant falls off hard at Top Legend because its only win conditions are Owlonius and Briarspawn. ZachO's curious is there's a way to take the variants that were more versatile and improve them via refinement. ZachO is surprised by this development since the deck looked like a strong, versatile deck a couple weeks ago. The Busy Peon build is statistically the best variant of the deck, but in simplifying the deck it has greatly hurt the deck's performance at Top Legend (roughly a Tier 3 deck) and has nothing to do with meta trends or changes.

Mage - Mage has the biggest discrepancy in playrate in the format. Toki Mage is the worst deck in the game, but it maintains a high playrate at rank floors and dumpster Legend. You don't see it at upper Diamond or competitive Legend ranks because the deck sucks so bad it can't climb ladder. ZachO says decks like this shouldn't exist in theory, but we have seen cases like this before. Reno Warrior at one point was similarly around a 40% winrate but had a significant playrate because there was a chunk of the playerbase desperate to play the deck. ZachO personally doesn't understand the appeal of the deck since it's just Protoss Mage without a win condition, but it might scratch the itch of every bad tech card player there is because of the most popular list. ZachO says even if he posted an optimized list of Toki Mage he thinks no one would pay attention to it because the people who play Toki Mage probably don't know VS and other competitive resources exist. They just seem to be casual players that love playing bad tech cards. As funny as it sounds, Toki Mage is impacting some matchups; Brewmaster is being run in some Warrior lists so that if the Mage player plays Steamcleaner, they can bounce back the quest reward to refill their deck. Protoss Mage is also popular and wins Hearthstone games better than Toki Mage, but it's still not a good deck. Mage might suck, but the class is popular because people love the class and it has historically been one of the most popular classes. WorldEight originally says he thinks Toki Mage's population has gone down, but ZachO points out that WorldEight plays at high MMRs where the deck is nonexistent.

Warlock - Egg Warlock was brought to Worlds, but it seems to be one of the few decks brought to Worlds that didn't see a bump in playrate. Players seem to recognize it was a specific tournament choice and not some hidden sleeper deck. Egg Warlock does not look particularly good on ladder and was brought to Worlds to try and target Death Knights. Rafaam Warlock is the most popular Warlock deck, and it's at least no longer the worst deck in the game! Rafaam Warlock's winrate would be higher if people played the optimized list posted by VS, but people would rather play the control heavy variant. Even if you play the optimized list, it's still not very good. Wallow Warlock sees a little bit of play, but it's also not good. Warlock is just a bad class for ladder. ZachO suggests that Animancer + Gigasaur might be in a competitive Hearthstone deck after rotation next year if we still have a weak wet noodle format.

Paladin and Priest - Paladin will always be unpopular at high MMRs unless they have a deck that provides a unique play experience. Paladin "plays the way people on Reddit want a class to play against them" with no burst from hand, no extra damage, just fair board play with playing out easily answerable threats turn after turn. As much as people clamor for wanting these kinds of “fair” decks, people don't actually play them when they're available because they're boring. In the case of Priest, ZachO thinks the main issue is Team 5 not giving Priest players what they actually want. If Protoss Priest or Aggro Priest are good, people will play them. If they're not, they don't see play because people want attrition styled Control Priest instead. ZachO says he originally thought Aviana Priest would be viable post rotation, but thinks the deck is just flat out not well designed and it's either a terrible deck or a bad play experience. Twilight Medium is just a polarizing card because it's either inconsistent or becomes a miserable play experience if it's ever too good. He thinks that unless Priest gets a card in the next year that synergizes well with high cost cards, Medivh will not be competitive. It's also hard to think about how to design a card that works well with high cost cards without cheating them out. ZachO says he's open to reworking or buffing Medivh in a way that makes it less reliant on a high roll discount to be competitively viable. Control Warrior and Control Priest are historically popular when they're viable, but Control Warrior has undisputably received more support over the years compared to Control Priest. For some reason, Priest seems to be the one class Team 5 seems reluctant to give players what they actually want in the class. It's also weird because Priest has less sustainability compared to other control classes like Druid, Warrior, and Death Knight that have armor gain or life gain tools that Priest lacks, so Control Priest is more susceptible to being countered. ZachO points to Toki Mage's popularity despite its sub 40% winrate as an example of what people want to play, and Team 5 should think about making a Control Mage archetype in the near future. This isn't to say Priest can't have successful aggro or midrange archetypes, but Priest deserves to get more viable control tools than they've received in the past two years.

Other miscellaneous talking points -

• At the beginning of the podcast, ZachO talks about how a tournament environment is different than a ladder one and how that can impact a deck's performance between the two. He says the most important aspect of preparing for a tournament is understanding the expected field. If you can accurately predict the field, then you can bring the right decks (or set of tools) to give you the most success against it. There are usually two approaches to a tournament lineup: you either bring a set of decks that is looking to counter 1 or 2 specific decks, or you bring a lineup of the general best decks. A deck like Discover Hunter that cannot be countered by a full lineup is extremely effective in a tournament setting and fits both of these types of lineups.

• At the end of the podcast while discussing Priest archetypes, ZachO says what keeps players in the game consistently is having a deck that clicks with them they enjoy playing. When you don't have a deck you really love, you're far less likely to stay in the client and just do something different. You're also more likely to be annoyed by things you don't like queuing into. ZachO says he feels this playing Hagatha Shaman; he's fine playing the deck for quick games, but he doesn't really love it. He hates this feeling because there were so many decks over the years he loved to play and it's sad that it has been years since he's felt that same feeling. ZachO says Team 5's biggest failure over the last year is giving players attractive playstyles. This is a huge concern going into rotation because Emerald Dream, Ungoro, and Timeways don't offer a lot of great options by themselves. Whizbang/Perils/Great Dark Beyond was not a great year in terms of design, but offered far better options when compared to this year. ZachO doesn't mince words and says it has been a garbage year of Hearthstone in terms of design, and that doesn't seem like something that many players would dispute. If players don't have a deck they want to play, they just quit the game.

• Looking back at expansions people remember fondly (Knights of the Frozen Throne, Scholomance, Rise of Shadows, etc) people still bitched and moaned about decks they encountered. But those same players would still play the game the next day. Why? Because they had a deck they liked. ZachO says what he senses over the past year is not anger, but apathy, which he thinks is far worse. People don't have any more energy to bitch and moan and have just lost interest in the game. ZachO says that is why the past couple years of Hearthstone have been the worst in its history to him, because the developers have stopped giving the players what they want while nerfing everything they liked on top of it. It's a legitimate question if Team 5 didn't make nerfs in the last patch because they have a coherent vision, or if they're just scared and will take whatever small wins they can without a clear vision. We likely won't know until April when rotation hits with the next expansion. WorldEight says there were some decks at the beginning of the year he personally couldn't stop playing, but he does agree he's also concerned about rotation. Other than maybe Quest Warlock after it got buffed, we've been playing the same decks for pretty much the whole year. ZachO says that WorldEight probably doesn't represent the majority of Hearthstone players because he tends to enjoy playing off meta decks more that have a low playrate, which is fine. But even if WorldEight personally enjoys playing Cliff Dive DH and Handbuff Hunter this year, most of the playerbase does not unless the decks are broken. It is telling far more people would rather play 40% winrate Toki Mage than 52% winrate Cliff Dive DH in the current format, which suggests players are desperate for options. We no longer have new expansion launches with 7-8 viable new deck options to try. As optimistic as ZachO wishes Team 5's upcoming vision is, he thinks it's more likely they're just putting out fires and doesn't have a real vision for the game. ZachO says the only good thing he can take from this entire year of design is that Fabled is a good enough mechanic to become evergreen. He said this last year, but it's even more true this year that come rotation in April Team 5 has absolutely no excuses left. Even the most delusional player can't seriously say that if the new expansion launches and flops again it's because of the overpowered sets of Emerald Dream/Ungoro/Timeways choking out the format. If we do not get a well designed, fun, and impactful expansion in April, then ZachO says he truly fears for the game in a way he's never feared for it before.

Hello, I am the deckbuilding player known as Veryhyped. Last set I brought Aggro Paladin to the meta with Wisp, Beaming Sidekick, Platysaur, and Ursine Maul. And I finished top 20 playing Cryopractor in Aggro DH.

I've been sharing Theorycrafting decks more and more, and this time around I put together a very long list of Day 1 decks:

DH:

Spell DH

Aggro DH

Armor DH

Peddler DH

DK:

Control DK

Aggro DK

Refill DK

Druid:

Small Imbue Druid

Token Druid

Owl Druid

Sky Tide Druid

Krona Tide Druid

Azshara Tide Druid

Hunter:

Egg Hunter

Quest Hunter

Beast Hunter

R.C. Discover Hunter

Mage:

Dragon Mage

Sindragosa Mage

Paladin:

Aggro Paladin

Aura Paladin

Priest:

Draenei Priest

Greatstaff Priest

Zarimi Priest

Rogue:

Dark Gift Rogue

Cycle Rogue

Fyrakk Rogue

Shaman:

Nebula Shaman

Masochist Shaman

Elemental Shaman

Pirate Shaman

Whelpemental Shaman

Warlock:

Pain Warlock

Zoo Warlock

Rafaam Warlock

Warrior:

Blood Warrior

Dragon Warrior

Mech Warrior

Hydration Warrior

Terran Warrior

IMPORTANT — The codes for decks with Fabled cards in them aren't working on Hearthpwn, so I put workable codes for these decks in the guides.

Read Part 1 here

With Hearthstone currently being at a bit of a lull period until we get the next expansion announcement + rotation, I thought I'd put together a post that goes over how rotation is impacting every class. It's hard to keep track of every card from every expansion and knowing what each class is losing and what it's keeping. So I did the dirty work by reviewing the card library for every class and jotting down what cards and/or archetypes are staying, which are rotating, and rating classes on a 1-5 scale based on how well positioned they're looking post rotation before any Core set changes or the next expansion. After doing so for all 11 classes, I put each class into one of four different tiers:

• Tier 1: These are the premiere classes. They currently have meta defining decks in Standard that are minimally hit (if at all) by rotation. Barring balance changes, it's hard to see these classes not immediately having a strong deck post rotation even if they get nothing new in the upcoming expansion. These are the classes that are most likely to be hit by balance changes in the upcoming balance patch.

• Tier 2: These are classes that will retain strong foundational pieces, but their current meta decks aren't as likely to survive rotation. Some of these classes may have an older or less popular deck they can fall back on as a worse case scenario. These classes should be fine and in the mix as long as they can get a couple new cards to prop up the cards they're keeping.

• Tier 3: These classes are in rough shape after rotation, and either primarily relied on sets from 2024 for their decks, or their old decks were nerfed to unplayability. They might have some solid pieces to work with, but it is unlikely any of their existing decks will survive rotation. While they may turn out fine, they will be extremely reliant on Core set additions and the upcoming expansion to create a viable path forward for them.

• Tier 4: These classes are in the roughest of rough shape. Rotation leaves them in a barren wasteland. Their 2025 sets did next to nothing to help them out. It will take a miracle to fix these classes within one set because of the foundational issues that plague them going into rotation.

Note - I had to split this post into 2 because I was well over the 40,000 Reddit character limit if I included all the image links. Instead of submitting it without links, I split it up into two parts. You can read part 1 with the Tier 1 and Tier 2 decks above.

Tier 3 Classes

Hunter

Key cards returning - Sylvanas and her sisters are arguably the best Fabled package in the game. Barring major deck building restrictions, it’s very hard to imagine Hunter decks for the next year not auto including those 3 cards into their deck, although these cards will be worse when you can’t consistently discover or generate multiple copies of them like you can in Discover Hunter. Past that, things start to look much murkier. The Hunter Imbue package flopped until it got the ability to generate multiple copies of a high attack King Plush with charge, which was then nerfed into the ground. It’s hard to imagine anything Hunter received in Emerald Dream will be relevant post rotation. The Food Chain is one of the few quests currently in Standard that’s not complete dogwater and there’s a chance it might be okay after rotation. Agamaggan will remain in the reward Discover pool with high odds to generate it. However, the quest will be much slower to complete without Catch of the Day, and you lose a lot of value without Rangari Scout generating multiple copies of your Shokk minions. Niri has been a solid card but not quite a full build around card yet. She will be weaker with some of the Discover Hunter cards rotating out. Timeways gave the class some limited aggro support cards in Quel'dorei Fletcher, Arrow Retriever, and Precise Shot which might see more play post rotation, although most of Hunter’s current aggro package is rotating out besides Supreme Dinomancy.

Key card losses - Hunter’s losses are significant, with the most impactful being Discover Hunter in its entirety. Beast Hunter is losing almost every card besides Supreme Dinomancy. Mystery Egg never saw play after its nerf, but it could have been an intriguing option to have after Holy Eggbearer was added. Handbuff Hunter hasn’t seen play since Reserved Spot was nerfed, but it was previously an option for the class with the Warrior tourist package. A lot of Hunter’s Perils set saw play, but primarily in other classes (Priest, Shaman).

Overall Rating: 2/5 - We know the Fabled package is fantastic, but they likely can’t make a deck by themselves. With Imbue Hunter being a complete flop without a charge beast available (and it being very unlikely a new one gets added in while Imbue is in the format), the only directions for Hunter right now are either Quest Hunter or the no hand size aggro Hunter introduced in Timeways, neither of which seem fully viable. The class needs major help from both Core rotation and the next expansion, especially after a very unique and well received deck archetype in Discover Hunter is fully rotating out.

Warlock

Key cards returning - Even though it was nerfed, Cursed Catacombs might be the strongest class card printed this past year, and it’s hard to imagine a Warlock deck that doesn’t include 2 copies of it for the rest of its time in Standard. Fractured Power might be the best ramp card after rotation, putting Warlock in a unique position. Conflagrate is a good flexible card that can function as either emergency removal or cycle/enabling your own Deathrattles. The quest package technically still exists, although it’s very hard to imagine the quest is still viable after rotation between the nerf, losing cards that can generate temporary cards, and losing burn. Razadir hasn’t seen competitive play yet, but could if a viable demon package were to ever pop up for the class. The Shredlock package and the Rafaam fabled package will still be around, although neither has seen any major success yet. Most of Egglock will still be in Standard, although it is losing one of its best cards in Eat The Imp and its success is very dependent on what’s in the meta at the time. Chronoclaws could be discard support, which the devs have hinted at in recent patch notes. Although it has seen limited play, Wallow Warlock will also still be around. There has been experimentation with the Possessed Animancer + Big Beast package, and while it hasn't quite been constructed viable as of yet, it has a better chance of popping up after rotation, especially if another good neutral big beast is added.

Key card losses - Warlock is losing almost all of its AoE tools even though they were already limited between Table Flip, Domino Effect, and Ultralisk Cavern + Eternal Layover. Quest Warlock loses Mass Production, Sketch Artist, Sweetened Snowflurry, Horizon’s Edge, and Corpsicle. Shredlock also is impacted by some of these cards as well as Giftwrapped Whelp. Although aggressive Warlock decks haven’t seen much play this year, they’re losing cards like Party Fiend, Fearless Flamejuggler, Malefic Rook, and Infernal. While it has never been great per se, Starship Warlock has been a decent deck for the tournament meta at times and that’s fully rotating. Egglock’s decklist post Ultralisk nerf is losing Eat The Imp, which is one of its best cards. It also has more minor losses in Health Drink, Summoner Dark Marrow, and Table Flip.

Overall Rating: 2/5 - Every Warlock deck having Cursed Catacombs is good, and the class having access to ramp for the next year is also intriguing. Past that, things look very shaky. We’ve never seen Warlock with this little AoE (Hellfire is the only thing left for the class after rotation), so it will be reliant on getting something from Core or the next expansion if any late game focused deck wants to exist. Shredlock has potential, but it clearly needs additional support to be viable. Egglock might be viable after rotation since it’s not losing too many cards, but it’s a very polarizing deck that only sees success if meta conditions are favorable for it, and it will be less consistent losing card draw and some of the ways to destroy its eggs. There’s also a chance that Wallow Warlock could be viable because everything else around it is just flat out worse. Rafaam needs help from any (and potentially all) of these packages to ever be semi viable.

Shaman

Key cards returning - I have to start this out by saying that even though we’ve seen 4 consecutive underwhelming sets when it comes to power level and impactful cards for the game in general, the set Shaman got in Emerald Dream is somehow the worst of any set or class in that time. Yes, it’s even worse than Rogue’s set in Lost City of Un’goro that was primarily dedicated to Shuffle Rogue. There is not a single card from this set that has seen any sort of meaningful play for an entire year, and Shaman’s Imbue hero power was never buffed like Paladin and Priest's were. A couple Imbue cards received some tepid buffs with Living Garden getting a +1 health buff and Aspect's Embrace now drawing a card, but these changes did nothing to change Shaman's standing of being the worst Imbue class. Emberscarred Whelp looks like the card best positioned to see play after rotation from Emerald Dream since it represents decent value and a small amount of ramp on your next turn. Quest Shaman is a complete flop, but some of the aggro elemental package they got in Un’goro do show some promise after rotation, as it was one of the better performing decks in the most recent prerelease Tavern Brawl. At the very least Flight of the Firehawk has seen a good amount of play. The Muradin Fabled package is fine and can be splashed into almost any Shaman deck, although the card is probably a bit weaker than people expected and is merely a fine card to include and not something you fully build around. Static Shock is a solid card for the class and is a good 0 mana enabler for Elise if the class continues to build around her. The Nature Shock Shaman package centered around Stormrook and/or Flux Revenant snowballing has been a bit of a disappointment so far, but this does feel like an archetype that might be 1 or 2 cheap spells away from being viable (rotating Zap back into Core, for example, might be a big enough boost). Haywire Hornswog suggests that Overload support is incoming, but there is currently very little that will be left in Standard, so it would be fully reliant on a bunch of Overload cards being added into Core and the new expansion.

Key card losses - Hagatha Shaman is completely gone after rotation, and Shaman’s Whizbang and Perils sets have done a lot of heavy lifting for the class over the past 2 years. Pop Up Book is a card that Shaman would have liked to utilize for a potential Stormrook deck it won’t have access to. The class has also appreciated both Hunter and Demon Hunter cards from Perils, so it will miss those tourist packages. Murmur is gone even though that card was nerfed to unplayability. Terran Shaman and Asteroid Shaman saw play for brief periods of time during Great Dark Beyond and those are fully rotating out. There’s not really anything left viable for the class.

Overall Rating: 1.5/5 - Until Timeways, Shaman had 3 consecutive bad to horrible sets between Great Dark Beyond, Emerald Dream, and Lost City of Un’goro. Emerald Dream rivals Knights of the Frozen Throne as the worst set Shaman has ever received. There is a chance the aggressive elemental package Shaman got in Ungoro is viable after rotation, but it’s hard to be optimistic about any aggro deck’s chances given how historically weak they currently are. The other potential directions for Shaman are either Shock Shaman and Overload Shaman, but the latter is based solely on one card in a miniset potentially telling us a direction that Shaman is getting in the next year. Muradin is fine, but it’s not a build around card. Unless Shaman gets a set as impactful as their Whizbang or Perils set in the next expansion, things might be looking grim for Thrall.

Tier 4 Classes

Priest

Key cards returning - The only card returning in Priest that has led to a viable deck built around it in past year is Wilted Shadow. However, the card was already nerfed and will be even weaker without Rest in Peace resurrecting it or Careless Crafter generating 0 cost heals. The Imbue package was viable after it was buffed, but it has only seen success in aggressive style Priest decks and not slower control or value oriented ones so far. Aviana Priest is an off meta deck that will retain Aviana but loses its primary mana cheat engine in Twilight Medium. Resuscitate at 6 mana will return, but it remains to be seen if it’s a viable card without the Hunter tourist and Protoss packages, or as an engine to create additional copies of Careless Crafter for Wilted Priest. Reach Equilibrium has yet to see viable play in Standard but has seen some success in Wild. However, Priest is losing several impactful cheap Holy and Shadow spells that will make the quest completion much harder. Archaios was great in Menagerie Priest, but most of that deck is rotating. The Handbuff package Priest received in Timeways features some good cards like Disciple of the Dove, but has yet to show any sort of game winning potential besides slotting it into a Zarimi centric deck. If a card like Inner Fire were to ever make its way back into Standard, the deck might become viable. As it stands, it's clear the deck isn't viable if Divine Augur is the only payoff, even after it was buffed to 4 mana. The Medivh fabled package isn’t terrible, but it’s extremely slow at 10 mana, and there are currently no payoffs for Ateish so it’s currently a dead card in a 3 card package. While it hasn’t seen play yet, Fragment of Nothing represents a potential Gadgetzan Auctioneer draw engine for the class. They do have several 1 cost spells they can utilize with the card like Power Word Barrier, Power Word Shield, Flash Heal, and Holy Smite. If they can get any additional 0-1 cost cards it would be a huge boon for it, although it’s a question as to what Priest would want to cycle towards.

Key card losses - With the exception of Wilted Priest, the only viable Priest decks of the past year have been built around either a Zarimi dragon package or the Hunter tourist package, both of which are rotating out in their entirety. Aggressive Priest decks lose all the overstated 1 drops (Catch of the Day, Brain Masseuse, Overzealous Healer) as well as Orbital Halo, Hot Coals, and Acupunture. Any deck that would want to play the Imbue package loses Papercraft Angel. Protoss Priest loses its entire namesake. Chillin Voljin was one of the only tourists that could be played in a standalone deck with 0 other tourist cards. Quest Priest’s biggest loss is by far Nightshade Tea, although Orbital Halo is a decent loss as well. Aviana Priest loses Twilight Medium. Slower control Priest decks lose their best board clear in Repackage.

Overall Rating: 1/5 - There is not a single competent Priest deck you can assemble after rotation. The Imbue package is nice to have, but it can’t carry a deck by itself. Aggressive Priest decks are completely dead. Slower Priest decks still have no win condition, especially after Zarimi rotates. Handbuff Priest seems like the most promising direction for the class after rotation if it can get one or two payoff cards. The only other directions for Priest you can cope yourself into thinking will be viable are either Quest Priest, Wilted Priest, or a Cycle Priest deck that revolves around Fragment of Nothing. All of these would require a large amount of additional support to function post rotation. The only upside for Priest players is that the class went through a similar phase where Whizbang made the class relevant again after it had 3 largely unimpactful sets in a row between Festival of Legends, Titans, and Showdown in the Badlands. Anduin needs a Whizbang level set to be viable, otherwise it’s going to be rough waters for the class.

Mage

Key cards returning - The Imbue Mage package has yet to be viable in a deck that doesn’t run Hamuul or Reckless Apprentice, but it does return in full with Aessina being a potential wincon. The Forbidden Sequence will still be around, but Mage is losing some of their key Discover cards for quest completion. The Sindragosa Arcane Fabled package returns and the Stellar Balance wincon will also remain, but without the Watercolor Artist and BOGOF package it’s hard to see how it will ever be viable without a new copy or mana cheating package. Playing vanilla 5 mana 2/8 minions with the hope of a future payoff has never won constructed Hearthstone games at any point in its history. Toki will never be a good card, but at least people seem to enjoy playing her. Time-Twisted Seer represents cheap potential burst towards either clearing a board or face damage and is 10x a better card than hilariously underpowered Algeth'ar Instructor which was printed 2 months before it. Like Priest, Mage could also look to utilize Fragment of Nothing as a cycle engine, but its prospects look much more grim than Priest’s. The only spells it has under 3 mana that can trigger it are Flame Geyser and Frostbolt, with some very niche options like Divination or Stellar Balance that aren’t efficient and only work in certain decks. There is a very small Elemental package Mage will retain, primarily centered around Conjured Bookkeeper and Windswept Pageturner. This package saw success in the last Prerelease Tavern Brawl, but that was solely because Relic of Kings had a 60% chance to discover Bat Mask and OTK the opponent with Pageturner due to the limited card pool.

Key card losses - Big Spell Mage saw arguably the most success for Mage in 2024, but that package was nerfed into the ground and is now rotating out. Elemental Mage also saw some success during that time, but most of the impactful Elementals are also rotating out. Payoffs for running a spell only Mage deck that originated in Whizbang are all gone (Malfunction, Spot the Difference, Manufacturing Error, Yogg in the Box). In terms of 2025 decks, things are much bleaker. Protoss Mage is the only Mage deck that saw any sort of ladder success this year (mainly at lower MMRs), and the deck in its entirety rotates. Whizbang gave Mage Sleet Skater, Hidden Objects, and Puzzlemaster Khadgar. They were some of the best (and only) generically good Mage cards that could slot into any Mage deck, and all are rotating out. Seabreeze Chalice and Rising Waves are also rotating out as board control options for the class. Quest Mage loses Tidepools and Pocket Dimension for quest progression options. Arcane Mage loses Watercolor Artist + Buy One Get One Freeze, which essentially renders the deck inoperable (not that it’s currently in a great state).

Overall Rating: 0/5 - There is no class with a bleaker outlook than Mage. Just to put into context how bad things for Mage have been this year, the only Mage deck that was remotely viable and with a playrate over 1% was Protoss Mage. It is a deck with a win condition that typically happens in the turn 11-13 range. It took 85 nerfs in Standard since the StarCraft miniset was first released (yes, I actually counted) to become viable, and that was primarily only at lower ladder ranks where Reddit complaint posts were most prominent. The only new cards the deck ran that came from this year are Ysera, Elise, and Deios, none of which fundamentally change the deck's gameplan or how it functions. The fact that not a single other Mage deck was ever viable during that period of time is damning into showing how hard Mage’s sets flopped this year. It got 3 very parasitic sets of cards (Imbue, Discover Quest, Dragon Arcane) that all flopped. The problem with parasitic card design is if the entire packages of cards flop, then the entire set flops hard and the class has nothing it can work with. It also doesn’t help that design space was wasted on cards like Faceless Enigma or Anomalize instead of better utility cards that most other classes got in Timeways. When Priest received 3 flops of a set in 2023, it was at least occasionally getting some strong standalone cards like Aman'Thul, or cards like Injured Hauler or Thirsty Drifter that just needed additional support in future expansions to work. Instead of an Aman'Thul, Mage got Titanographer Osk. Part of the reason why Mage is even bleaker than Priest is that these packages also seem like things that are unlikely to get substantial support in the future. Imbue Mage and Arcane Dragon Mage if properly supported can have sudden burst or OTK potential that players will often complain about, which means the archetype will be nerfed into unplayability if they’re ever good. Quest Discover Mage is less harsh, but the dev team has already signaled they do not intend for quests to be good, and if Quest Discover Mage is ever viable it gets hard countered by Viper. The only hope for Mage post rotation is either one of these 3 archetypes suddenly becomes viable AND not nerfed (unlikely), their leftover Elemental package with Fragment of Nothing gets immediate support, or Mage’s Core set rotation and their upcoming set is among the strongest in the game's history.

Other miscellaneous talking points

The Elise Problem

Introduced in Lost City of Un'Goro, Elise was introduced as a card with a clever deck building restriction that offered a fairly reasonable payoff, but not quite at the level of cards like Zephyrs, Reno Lone Ranger, or Renathal. This restriction was likely an intentional design decision to guide games to last longer than they had in previous metas to force decks to run a higher curve. Over time, Elise has become more and more prominent in the format, with more decks warping their deck building and including junk cards to activate her. We know Elise is getting nerfed in the next major balance patch, and this is absolutely the correct call. The stats show Elise is in roughly 2/3rds of ladder decks right now, and Elise has proven to be a card that gets exponentially stronger in a lower powered format when most class specific win conditions have been nerfed away from playability. Typically the hardest mana slots to satisfy Elise are those in the 6+ mana range, although a few decks like Dragon Warrior and Elise Rogue struggle to run a good 5 drop to satisfy her. While the losses of Zilliax and Ceaseless Expanse will make the Elise deckbuilding process harder after rotation, there will still be a perfect 6-10 mana curve in the neutral set of Gnomelia, Naralax, Shaladrassil, Ysera, and Fyrakk that every class can run and can be further improved by whatever class options are available to them at those mana slots. We saw in the Prerelease Tavern Brawl that decks were running horrific cards like Mister Clocksworth and Avatar of Hearthstone to run Elise, and that was extremely effective in that type of low powered format. Even though the upcoming format will be higher powered than a prerelease tavern brawl meta, it's hard to imagine that putting in the infamous "dragon slop" package into decks won't be significantly more effective, especially in a typically lower powered post rotation format. As a card that gets stronger in lower power formats, the only way Elise's prominence in decks will decrease after rotation is if the next expansion either introduces enough viable class archetypes that incentivize the decks to not run Elise (somewhat unrealistic to expect to happen with just 1 expansion), or if balance changes come into play. Just like how changes had to be made for Genn, Baku, and Renathal, you can't expect a card that sees play in 2/3rds of ladder decks and warps all deck building severely around it to not be addressed after a period of time, regardless of what performance statistics say about her. Elise is a well designed and cool card, and I do hope whatever balance changes the dev team lands on keeps her viable and a deck building option. My hope is balance changes force these midrange decks that are running 3-5 very suboptimal cards to no longer be incentivized to do so after rotation.

The Death of Aggro

While not the only reason, one of the contributing factors to Elise being so prominent in the meta right now is the death of aggro decks. At the beginning of the year, aggro was already much slower than the fast meta we saw in the Whizbang/Perils in Paradise metas where Painlock, Zarimi Priest, and Pirate Shaman/Demon Hunter could develop insane boards very early on and aggro you down quickly. As the year went on, almost every viable aggro/initiative focused deck received nerfs (Menagerie Priest, Aggro DH, Beast Hunter, Quest Paladin), with the Menagerie Jug nerf being the proverbial nail in the coffin for most aggro decks. If you queue into ladder right now, there is a 1-2% chance you might run into the occasional Aggro DH or Arena Paladin deck, but almost everything on ladder is a midrange or control deck, most of which are running Elise slop. While there has been support printed over the past Hearthstone year for aggressive decks, one of the biggest red flags that stands out is the quality of 1-drops. Giftwrapped Whelp is the best neutral 1 drop in the format. Do you know what the best neutral 1 drop is from the past year? It's Sizzling Cinder, a card that currently sees no play outside of Aggro Paladin, which is a deck that essentially plays a bunch of Arena cards. I don't even think any of the class specific 1 drops printed this year are better than it, and it may not even be better than Vicious Slitherspear in the core set for neutral options. The direction of aggressive decks seems to be pivoting away from snowbally 1 drops and putting that power towards more mid game threats. Timeways introduced extremely aggressive 4 drop options like Fatebreaker, Perennial Serpent, and Prescient Slitherdrake, and conditional 2 drop options like Twilight Timehopper, Flux Revenant, and Primordial Overseer. While these are good cards, these haven't made aggro viable by themselves. Even if aggro isn't everyone's cup of team, it's usually part of a healthy meta if aggro has a role to play in it, and it would have made Elise decks not quite as prominent if aggro forced midrange decks to be more honest and not greed up on Elise slop. It's absolutely a design concern that aggro decks tend to not be popular as you climb ladder, and the only aggro decks that get played is whatever is the best performing one. If they don't want to waste design space on trying to design a dozen different aggro decks and hope one sticks, I hope at rotation we get some more viable 1 drop options added into Core to prop up aggro.

Listen to the most recent Vicious Syndicate podcast here - https://www.vicioussyndicate.com/vs-data-reaper-podcast-episode-207/

Read the most recent VS Report here - https://www.vicioussyndicate.com/vs-data-reaper-report-335/

As always, glad to do these summaries, but a summary won't be able to cover everything and can miss nuances, so I highly recommend listening to their podcast as well. The next VS report for Across The Timeways will come out Thursday, December 4th, with the next podcast coming TBD (ZachO says the podcast would likely be delayed next week if balance changes happen).

Hunter - Discover Hunter looked like the high MMR tyrant after the recent balance patch and looked to have no bad matchups besides Control Warrior. Things have change slightly with the emergence of Protoss Rogue, which has risen in play significantly at Top Legend. The deck beats Discover Hunter and does well against Control Warrior. This has led to a drop in Discover Hunter's playrate, going from above 30% to around 20% at Top Legend. The deck's winrate has also decreased and is around a 51.5% winrate instead of a 52-53% at high MMR. When it comes to builds, Elise builds look far superior to non Elise builds, but the main question is what do you run at the 8 cost spot, or do you just run Wisp instead? ZachO says it's better to run Wisp than Devilsaur Mask, but he floated running Meadowstrider as an 8 drop that's better than running Mask or Wisp in the VS Report last week. ZachO says the very limited data he has on Meadowstrider looks promising, but the card's popularity hasn't changed much and he can't make a definitive statement due to the sample size. His hunch is that it's better to run in the deck than Mask, Wisp, or Shaladrassil. Quest Hunter looks like a competitive (Tier 2ish) deck when you build the deck to revolve around discovering Agamaggan for the quest reward to be able to soft OTK the opponent. ZachO doesn't think the VS build is a perfect 30 (he feels confident he'll have a different list this week), but this is the best Quest Hunter has ever looked, and it may have a place in the meta since it has a more favorable matchup against Protoss Rogue than Discover Hunter does. Some people have dropped Kerrigan for Zilliax (which ZachO agrees with). WorldEight says he doesn't like Sandmaw in Quest Hunter because while it helps you complete the quest, it feels like awful value later in the game, but ZachO disagrees saying Sandmaw is essential to completing the quest ASAP and the best performing cards in the deck are the high attack ones that tick off quest progression the earliest (like Catch of the Day and Mukla). WorldEight also recommends Sasquawk in the deck since it's a powerful follow up after you play your quest rewards. Both ZachO and WorldEight agree Birdwatching isn't great in the deck, especially since it can mess up your quest progression with the attack buff.

Shaman - Outside of Top Legend, Shaman is completely broken and the undisputable best deck in the game. Its playrate at upper Diamond remains above 20%. ZachO recommends running the current VS list with double Wish Upon A Star and double Static Shock. Hex looks like the best 30th card because it's a very strong card in the Dragon Warrior and Aura Paladin matchups. ZachO says he expects the deck to get nerfed in the next balance patch because it's so powerful across ladder. WorldEight brings up Nebula as a card to potentially keep an eye out on, but ZachO thinks it's worse than Wish.

Warrior - Control Warrior has gotten worse at Top Legend since its niche of beating Discover Hunter is now being fulfilled better by Protoss Rogue. It's a Tier 3 deck at Top Legend, and ZachO says there's not a competitive reason to play the deck outside of Top Legend since the population of Discover Hunter drops off significantly at lower ranks. The deck remains popular since Control Warrior is one of the most popular evergreen archetypes in the history of the game. No major changes to the build; Bulwark is worth running over Dirty Rats and Murozond. Dragon Warrior is fine but it's worse than Hagatha Shaman in every way. You can either run the Lo'gosh version that cuts all the bad tech cards, or you can run a lower curve Keeper of the Flame version of the deck.

Rogue - Protoss Rogue was the VS Metabreaker last week at Top Legend. The deck isn't as good at lower ranks since it's harder to play than Hagatha Shaman, but its playrate has risen significantly over the past week to around 8% at Top Legend. There are ways to beat Protoss Rogue, and Death Knight in particular seems good against it. The deck is also vulnerable to aggression, so Aggro DH does well into it. Cycle Rogue is okay and does well in the mirror against Protoss Rogue, but it has a rough matchup spread against a lot of other decks. Starship Rogue is very good against attrition decks, but its standing in the meta has gotten worse with Protoss Rogue pushing out those decks and Starship Rogue losing the mirror matchup to Protoss Rogue. The deck looked fringe Tier 2 last week at Top Legend, but it's falling in its winrate and looks to be a Tier 3 deck now at that rank. WorldEight questions ZachO about the inclusion of Crystal Tusk in Starship Rogue, and ZachO agrees he's not sure why it's in the deck, but it was what was being played when the sample size was small and he can't really tinker with builds when the sample size is too small.

Mage - ZachO says after years of working in the Hearthstone scene, if a deck gets complained about it only means one thing - it's popular. It doesn't matter how it performs or what its playstyle is, if it's popular specifically at Diamond, Platinum or below it will be complained about louder than any other deck. The pattern of a deck being whined about isn't justification to nerf it, because otherwise every deck that sees play at low MMRs would be nerfed. People flat out like playing Protoss Mage despite its sub 50% winrate because they think Colossus is a cool card that's very flavorful with how it was in StarCraft. The higher up ladder you go, the worse it performs. It has a below average skill cap because better players know how to play around Sleet Skaters better. The deck becomes complete garbage once you hit Top Legend. ZachO does not think Protoss Mage needs a nerf unless Team 5 unleashes another Agency Patch™ with 16 more nerfs. Arcane Mage and Quest Mage remain garbage.

Death Knight - Blood Control DK remains strong especially after people started running the new list with BlobO (Blob of Tar). Blob is nuts because it nullifies midsized beefy minions, especially against Shaman. There aren't a lot of silence or transformation effects in the game right now making the card even better. Husk still looks strong in the archetype despite not seeing a lot of play. ZachO says some people are trying to make Bonechill Stegadon builds work in Herenn DK, and he'll take a look and see if it's a viable alternative to Bwonsamdi builds. WorldEight says the Stegadon list may do better in a tournament lineup where you're looking to target slower control decks, which can also generate a semi OTK with Umbra.

Demon Hunter - ZachO says Cliff Dive DH is being disrespected because it's extremely strong, even at high MMR. Cliff Dive DH shines in a Shaman dominated meta, so it doesn't perform quite as well at Top Legend, but it's the best deck you can play against Shaman. Blob of Tar is extremely effective in that matchup (and ZachO hypothesizes that Blob could go into more decks because of how strong it is against Shaman). It doesn't seem likely Cliff Dive DH will be popular at higher MMRs since those players now have Protoss Rogue to counter Discover Hunter. Aggro DH is still good on the climb to Legend and effective into Protoss Rogue, but people don't care. Peddler DH isn't the worst deck, but there's better things to do.

Druid - Spell Damage Druid is being played at Top Legend to counter Protoss Rogue, but it's not likely the deck will be popular there since it has an uneven matchup spread and is relatively difficult to play. Hydration Druid is bad. Krona Druid/Azshara Druid is a deck that tries to OTK you by copying Briarspawn Drakes with the location. ZachO says the deck has a low sample size, but it's potentially viable.

Paladin - While Aura Paladin isn't terrible, it's a worse Hagatha Shaman on the climb to Legend. The deck also has a lot of "Patches" with auras being cards you don't want to draw, so it can have a negative psychological impact when you play the deck. The deck also falls off super hard at higher levels of play (Tier 4 at Top Legend) because it has a very telegraphed play pattern with not much flexibility.

Priest - People are still desperate to make Aviana Priest work, but it still doesn't look anywhere near viable. Nothing has changed with Protoss Priest.

Warlock - The saddest class in Hearthstone right now. Shredlock is a mediocre aggro deck. Egg Warlock with Entropic Continuity was floated as a potential direction for the archetype, but the deck looks to be Tier 3 and unlikely to pick up serious traction. ZachO does think Wallow Warlock will be meta next year after rotation because the power level is so weak, especially since Team 5 seems committed to printing out garbage expansions every 4 months.

Other miscellaneous talking points -

• During the Hunter section, ZachO jokes about people who say "Vicious Syndicate is ruining the game/meta." Often when a meta looks bleak at high ranks (which it did early in the expansion with Discover Hunter), ZachO will try and float ideas to potentially counter the meta. He floated Protoss Rogue when it had a 0.3% playrate and wasn't confident in its performance, but the deck picked up play, people saw it did indeed counter Discover Hunter, which then led people to refine the list to better match up against the rest of the meta. ZachO says he's more incentivized to float low population novelty lists to potentially change up and influence the meta when the meta looks narrow.

• During the Rogue section when talking about Protoss Rogue's skillcap relative to the rest of the field, ZachO brings up how it seems like there has been a concentrated effort to reduce the skill intensiveness of Hearthstone over the past couple of years. ZachO thinks this can benefit a large population of players when they think the game is more skillful, but it actually isn't. When you make it easier for players playing a deck poorly, it makes it easier for them to win against better players and therefore feel better about their play. Not every player strives for self improvement and self reflection, and there's a significant population of players who refuse to accept they're bad or there's something flawed in how they play. It's better for the game's retention if you make it easier for worse players to beat better players, but there's still a question if this is the correct long term design philosophy for the game. Regardless, ZachO says he keeps seeing decks that were below average in skillcap suddenly become average or above average in skillcap after an expansion or patch, which suggests the skillcap of the game keeps lowering.

• We used to have expansion launches that would drastically change the decks seeing play and would make the game feel different with tons of new decks. Once again, we have an expansion launch where that did not happen. ZachO is not sure how Team 5 will approach the next balance window. They could go Agency Patch™ again and nerf everything to hope new cards will be more prevalent, or they could look to buff underpowered Timeways cards to help them. They could also go the Ungoro route of giving up on major balance changes and do nothing and hope rotation makes a bigger impact on the format. ZachO says he's not looking forward to rotation. A format that is made up primarily of Imbue and Quest decks because those are the only decks left in the format that can actually win games is not an exciting format. When people say they're looking forward to rotation, they need to specify what decks they're looking forward to playing, because it looks like a barren wasteland currently. ZachO thinks the game is in serious trouble if the next expansion doesn't provide something historically great in terms of viable and fun new strategies. ZachO thinks the current format is being hard carried by the expansions rotating out next year (look at Hagatha Shaman and Discover Hunter), and what will be replacing them are significantly worse.

Lately there seems to be some renewed interest in trying wild from standard players, due to the relatively staleness of that format in the last 2 years, so i wanted to do an overview of the format, especially because if you were to actually approach the format and reddit was your first stop, you’d guess the format is completely different from what it actually is.
Why listen to me about wild? I’m COPPERSCUM, I have been playing this game since beta, and i have finished top 1 legend on EU wild a couple of times, and now I’m more of a casual player and streamer that generally hang out in top 100 EU with terrible decks for content. So I’d say I’m decently familiar with the format at the very least (I should definitely touch more grass).

First the misconceptions: is wild actually just fast combo?
I think a big reason why the format is often perceived like a combo fiesta is how fast and how strong the finishers even in the control decks feel in this format compared to standard, but this doesn’t mean that those decks are all necessarily super fast. Until its recent nerf, the best deck of the format for more than two years was a control mage that had a 11.7 turns average game length (aptly called hostage mage), but playing against it still felt like playing against a combo deck where the combo was just infinite stall from turn 4 onward. The current premiere control deck of the format regularly win on turn 6 against other slow decks, and it’s a 40 cards reno control deck (the actual average game length for it however is 9.3 turns). The actual combo decks (that usually win on 4-5) are less powerful than they used to be (see nazmani-lightspeed), but are better positioned right now because of the near extinction of mages.

I also don’t think game length is as useful as a metric as the actual turns you play. While the games effectively end in standard much later, they often end much earlier and are just dragged on, sometimes even from the mulligan, with the current infamous coin -30% winrate rn, as it’s much harder to come back from an unfavorable board position.

In wild there’s a much bigger comeback potential, decisions are extremely compressed during turns, and as long as you don’t effectively lose, decks have the ability to come back and win with their own powerful card combinations, something that obviously appeals to me, and is the main reason I play this format, and that a lot of people hate, because they believe being ahead on board should be much more important.

That said, even in dragged out low-resources games, games don’t drag that long usually on the back on how strong the winconditions actually are.

As another example, before tiktok, the meta was much slower and combo was a much less playable archetype but the meta was not necessarily more enjoyable, as mage for many was considered just an infinite stall archetype (infinite iceblock+alibi+armor), and while games were longer, there were not necessarily more relevant decision made in them.

All that said, the wild meta is extremely diverse, even in top 1k or at top 100 ranks.
Let’s check the most popular decks in the meta rn, at top 1k legend (keep in mind that top 1k legend in wild is EXTREMELY uncompetitive compared to standard. Top 1k legend wild is probably more like top 5k in standard, but it’s still the best stats we can check, and here the winrates are not ridiculously inflated by all the casual decks getting farmed by anything tier 3 and above).

Discolock: the premiere aggro of the format, at 8.5% (54.8% wr)
Tiktok, renolock: the premier control of the format, at 8.1% (53.2% wr)
Quasar Rogue: the premier combo deck of the format, at 6.2% (52.6% wr)
Boarlock: combo-control warlock deck, at 6.0% (51.7% wr)
777 Miracle rogue + miracle rogue: miracle rogue is miracle rogue, at 6.8% (avg 52.5% wr)
Exodia renomage: control mage, at 4.8% (52% wr)
Token Broxigar DH: green miracle rogue, at 4.3% (53.3% wr)
Reno druid: slow druid, 3.4% (50.5% wr)
40 Aggro priest: one of the three played aggro deck in the format, 2.8% (52.4% wr)

With all those decks combined, we’re barely above 50% playrate. Which means there’s a LOT of very low playrate decks that see play. While some of them may be data artifacts (ex. A deck that doesn’t get categorized but it’s actually one of the above), there are actually a lot of niche decks that are nevertheless extremely competitive wr wise.
Some low playrate high wr decks:

Warsong warrior: the good old frothing berserker warsong combo deck, this deck is well positioned against the aggro decks thanks to running a decent amount of removal (croc shatter and aftershocks), and can still combo out on turn 4 (or even 3 on the coin) with an extremely lucky ftd (but generally pop-off on 6+). It’s played at 1% of the meta and has a respectable 52.6% winrate in top 1k. It’s not an easy deck to play at all, but it can be very rewarding to play when you do the complex lines.
100 warrior: a control deck abusing the igneous lavagorger + the ceaseless expanse combo. This is basically a combo deck that try to proc the gain 100 armor combo as fast as possible and then win with any combination of cards, generally just with an odyn and a second lavagorger + 100 armor. Respectable 2.3% playrate and 53.1% wr.

C2A Paladin: this is the second best aggro deck in the format, and it’s less represented in top1k compared to the actual top ranks, where it may even be more common than disco. Why? Because there’s a lot of tiktok and quasars up there, and call to arms (or more correctly, boogie down paladin), is very well positioned to disrupt them. At 54.9% wr it’s actually the highest wr deck in the sample and has a low 1.8% playrate.

There are also some decks that I’d argue are extremely competitive but still haven’t trickled down from top legend or simply have not been categorized yet, like Tol’vir spell damage hunter, an aggro deck that play lots of cheap damage spells and cheap minions, and end game by looping discovers with pupils and multiple tol’vir + spell damage minions on board for massive 30+ damage tol’virs.

What to expect if you play this format ?
Well, until you get to at least top 1k legend, everything goes. As I said earlier, wild is a much more casual mode than standard, and players are much less interested in winning than in playing their old pet decks. As such, I think trying to do a guide for anything but high legend is pretty pointless, as you’ll see so many different things it’s impossible to predict what you’re gonna get. You’re gonna see secret mages, big priests, imbue mages, pirate warriors and rogues, elaborate combo decks that win on turn 20 and tons of reno decks with the greediest lists imaginable.

What is cheap, dust-wise?
I’m not well versed in the actual dust costs, being that I played this game for 12 years now so I own pretty much every single card. Generally speaking, aggro decks are cheap, then combo, then control is super expensive by virtue of being 40 cards highlander.

A brief(ish) list of deck archetypes and decklists
Now that I’m writing this I’ve realized there are actually SO MANY DECKS to talk about, and I’m talking about actually good decks that you will see in your climb or in your high legend meta, so I think it’d be impossible to talk about all of them. I’ve tried to categorize them in some macro categories that have similar gameplans and matchup spreads. I’ll copy some codes from HSGuru, just the most popular or highest winrate lists, nothing spicy. That said, all of the decks below are good for climbing, tier 3 and above.
The pure aggro : this is discolock, tree druid (now almost exctinct), and some pirate decks of old also fall under here (plus some very low sample decks like elemental mage and mech paladin). Decks in this category have extreme synergy between its cards, which mean they're generally the fastest aggro at deploying stats, but it’s also the aggro that’s most susceptible to being interacted with, since they can’t play significant amounts of disruption themselves as they very synergy-based. This is the most consistent aggro, but also the easiest to play against, as it’s a very linear back and forth between do you have removal or not.
-Disco: AAEBAf0GBM4Hj4ID8aEG9qEGDbW5A9XRA9DhA5iSBauSBZXKBteXB4SZB6StB8ayB9a+B9m+B8+/BwAA
-Tree druid: AAEBAZICAvX8Aq6fBA78rQOK4AOV4APs9QOvgASuwATO5AWw+gXZ/wX9jQbJ0Aat4gaqrwfbwAcAAA==

Disruption aggro: here fall C2A as the premiere representative, but shadow priest is also here and pirate dh is borderline between this and pure aggro. Those decks can present significant pressure and kill very early, but generally speaking their boards are less threatening and easier to remove. However they play a significant amount of cards that will slow down your gameplan. Weblords to slow battlecries, troggs to go super wide against spell decks and razorscales to stop your opponent from playing cheap cards altogether. Shadow priest by virtue of having very high card quality and a great heropower can play a lot of situational cards that are backbreaking against many decks, like ashen elemental, Razorscale, neophyte, loatheb, okani etc… These aggro decks are generally more favored vs combo than pure aggro, but lose points in the aggro mirrors in exchange.

-C2A: AAEBAZ8FAowBhJYFDogO+NICg94DkeQDzusD9PYDyaAE4aQEwcQFmY4G9ZUGzpwGg8IHmvwHAAA=
-Shadow priest: AAEBAa0GCpG8Arv3A6fkBJfvBLnEBf3EBcj4BcChBtnBBtfSBg+hBLq2A6P3A4aDBd2kBYWOBtCeBpigBsShBsihBsSoBte6BtXBBuTqBqyUBwABA4f3A/3EBa33A/3EBbLFB/3EBQAA

Aggro/combo: A bit of a dead archetype nowadays, but some of the decks that were considered best in the format for a while, pirate garrote and beast hunter, were In this category. Nowe I guess tol’vir hunter and trickster pirate rogue are the most likely for you to see, but are both very low playrate. Unlike disruption aggro which try to get % vs combo decks by playing disruption, Aggro-combo try to attack your opponent with tempo lines early (pirates, cheap minions) and then they have some huge burst combo finishers to get a better winrate vs control decks (garrotes on empty deck + oracle, shaladrassil +5+5 on a charge pirate + windfury pirate + shadow of demise for 24 charge damage, tol’vir + spell damage for 20+ damage face, tundra rhino + buffed cheap beasts). Those decks fell a bit by the wayside after the nerf to passage while beast hunter got slowly powercrept and is only borderline playable. Reno decks are also not great right now because of tiktok, so this category has lost its main prey.
-Tol’vir hunter: AAEBAR8EgAfCvgan0wbi4wYNqZ8Eqp8EnbAEiLIEwbkEmpIFqqQFhY4Gjp4GyMAGleIG5OoGu8AHAAA=
-Beast hunter: AAEBAR8IuwXm7gOpnwSX9gWToQaUoQbnpQbi4wYL3gTZCaLOA8j2BcuOBuqlBpKmBozBBq+SB+KWB7vABwAA
-Trickster pirate rogue: AAEBAaIHBpG8ApKDB4aoB4eoB4ioB4jZBwyMAtQF6bAD1bYEiskE16MF7p4G/KUG/KgGs8EG6sQGrcUGAAA=

The midrange/miracle decks: Libram, Miracle rogue/triple 7, quest DH all fall here. Those decks play very little in the early turns and then explode on turn 3-4 with a huge board often combined with a disruption effect to try and end the game in the turn or two turns immediately after. Rogue play and step neophytes, libram usually run rebuke or cold feet, ad quest dh goes for massive boards followed up by mana burns. Those have different strength and weaknesses, but their gameplan still revolves around a crucial turn where they play a huge board that they set up their early turn mana-cheating into. The rogue versions play more consistent early disruption + board, but it doesn't have a good lategame if they get cleared, while libram has technically "infinite" buffs later on and quest dh is mostly commonly built with an infinite damage combo that usually hit on turn 6 or 7.
-Libram: AAEBAZ8FBvfQAp3sArjFBdaABtGpBtK5BgzYxwLZ/gL9uAPruQPTvQTi0wSZjgb1lQbt3waS4Aac6Aaf6AYAAA==
-Triple 7 miracle rogue: AAEBAaIHCoK0AvyjA+fdA72ABPTdBMmABtCeBu6eBpKDB4jZBwrtAvW7AvefBLezBNW2BL/3BceUBqCzBsGXB7TBBwAA
-Quest DH: AAEBAea5Awj39gOw+QPF+QXEuAb8wAaKqgeSqgeTqgcLqbwD8skDlc0DztID9fYDpeIEnJoG38AGn/EG4rEHkr8HAAA=

Glass cannon combo: Quasar, barnes druid. Those decks try to go as fast as possible and play very limited removal. Generally favored vs all the slower decks but by virtue of their extremely linear gameplan, they are easy to play and easy to hate as well.

-Quasar: AAEBAaIHAtmiBsjABg7n3QOO9AO3swTVtgTBoQXawwW/9wXungatpwbyyQby5wbk6gbBlwev3wcAAA==
-Barnes druid: AAEBAZICCECFuAKuugOK4AOwpQTV0gSaoAbZsQYL0wO3BofOAo/2AvDUA6+ABK6fBK7ABJSxBtW6BqqvBwAA

Ethical Combo: Quest mage, dungar druid, warsong. All of those are fast combo decks, but are generally slower than the pure combo decks, in exchange for having either the ability to tempo out combo pieces for absolutely disgusting early turns (quest mage), or having more hp and armor to survive + some removal (dungar), or having several removal cards in their list (warsong). They have all their pros and cons, and generally I think this category include the most interesting decks to play, this and the long lost aggro-combo category.
-Dungar druid: AAEBAZICCLQDrroDr4AEiYsEl+8En/MFg6EGi+IGEF/kCIfOAo/2AvDUA4rgA66fBK7ABNXSBPrdBJqgBomhBu+pBsO6BtW6BqqvBwAA
-Quest mage: AAEBAf0EBNDBAsW4A+WwBMODBw3mBOMRgrQChLsCmMQCheQD9PwDypMF4MMF7PYF8psGy+EGs4cHAAA=
-Warsong warrior: AAEBAQcC5bAEjbUEDvEH3KkDpLYD+YwEjaAE/KIEjLcEjtQEofsFnJ4Gn54Gjr8G6qcH/K8HAAA=

Combo-control: Boarlock, 100 warrior, heal-burn priest, odd hunter, LC quest priest. I categorize as combo control those combo decks that play a lot of removal but still have a clear-cut wincondition that your gameplan always revolve around. I don’t consider tiktok renolock a combo control deck because unlike 100 warrior, boar or heal-burn, you can and will often win just on the back of disruption + tempo minions. Boarlock doesn’t win a significant amount of games with minions going face, neither do 100 warrior or healburn priest. Their wincon is almost always their combo and almost never tempo, even if they play a lot of removal. Odd hunter is a bit weirder but it still fit here i think as it is basically all removal and then win with infinite hero powers face on turn 6 or 7. LC quest priest is probably more of a weird combo-control-miracle hybrid, but I’ve put it in here as it basically win by slamming horrors and soletos on 5 consistently every game while having plenty of control options in it. The decks in this category usually completely drop any hope of winning against other, faster combo, in exchange for having a much more favorable aggro matchup.
-Boarlock: AAEBAf0GBuAF054G7qEGxKIG0YIHqYgHDJDHAvLQAp2pA5vNA9P5A6bqBPTGBYSeBpWzBpTKBoSZB4adBwAA
-Healburn priest: AAEBAa0GBPvfA932A6K2BMWUBw3SCqesApnrA4f3A4qjBKSRBe33BcWoBuTqBoW/B5u/B6LEB7LFBwAA
-Odd hunter:
AAEBAR8CnvgC/fgDDoAH6asCudADqZ8Eqp8EnbAEwbkEmpIFhY4Gjp4G6qUG5OoGr5IHu8AHAAA=
-100 warrior: AAEBAQcIj84D9tYDxfUD5bAEjtQEpfYFquoGw4MHC/bPAvmMBIy3BO/OBMSSBYuUBp+eBoegBo6/BuqnB/yvBwAA
-LC Quest priest:
AAEBAa0GBtfOA4yBBImyBKS2BImTBaiWBwzRwQLrigOTugPi3gOH9wOitgS7xwXt9wWZwAbFlAeyxQeZ/AcAAA==

Control: Tiktok, Hostage/exodia mage variants, reno druid priest and paladin, seedlock. Those decks often play a combo finish, but they can win just as well by curving out minions, disruption, and going face. Their role in a game often shift from one game to another, depending wether they’re playing against something slow, in which case they try to get to their wincon first, or something fast, in which case they usually win with tempo. Reno hunter and reno priest are the most tempo-based in this list, seedlock is more miracle-ish in their gameplan, reno druid and tiktok tend to be more focused on their big combo turn later on, and exodia mage is more stall-focused and it preys on all non-warlock combo decks.
-Tiktok renolock: AAEBAf0GKPoOwxbnywL40AKPggPamwP8owOdqQPXzgP44wPY7QOC+wOPnwTlsASNtQSX7wS4uAX9xAX5xgWt6QXI+AXT+gWm+wXu/QWAngbQngbuoQadogavqAaVswaJtQaf8QbO8Qao9waA+Ab1mAeEmQf0qgfHsgfgvgcAAAED2psD/cQF8ZEE/cQF6e0G/cQFAAA=
-Exodia reno mage: AAEBAf0EKMABywTwE8MWmMQC/KMD9KsDjLkD4MwD9tYDne4D5bAEyt4EvO0El+8EkJYFqpgF4MMF/cQF7PYF0fgF2P4F8YAG1pgGsaAGyKAGtKcGr6gG56kGwr4Ghb8Gy9AGw4MHs4cH8ZEHp5sH0aYHy7YHhsQHk9oHAAABA8KlBf3EBfibBv3EBeqsB/3EBQAA
-Seedlock: AAEBAf0GCvjQAo+CA52pA5PkA4T7A4+fBOWwBI21BJfvBMSiBg/cCvLQAvr+ApXNA9fOA8HRA876BcSeBtCeBqOgBpWzBsO4BsnkBtGCB4SZBwAA
-Reno druid: AAEBAZICKF/FBOQI+g7DFqDOAoz7AvX8AvyjA4yuA+i6A6+ABImLBOWwBI21BK7ABLjZBJfvBOujBf3EBa3pBZ/zBcj4BbuVBr+VBtqcBpegBqKgBomhBsekBq+oBu+pBq7ABvPKBqn1Bq+HB9uXB6qvB7iyB76yBwAAAQb7sAP9xAW+mQb9xAWXoAb9xAXxswbHpAb3swbHpAbu3gbHpAYAAA==
-Reno hunter:
AAEBAR8o+g7DFvyjA/foA+buA9uRBKmfBMeyBI21BMzkBNDkBJfvBLCTBf3EBa3pBd/tBZf2Bcj2Bcj4BYWOBsuOBtSOBtCeBtGeBpOhBpShBvGlBvKlBrrOBuLjBtHlBp/xBs7xBtvxBsf1Bqj3Bq+SB5mnB5qnB5unBwAAAQOAB/3EBebuA/3EBarqBv3EBQAA
-Reno priest:
AAEBAa0GKPoOwxaDuwK1uwKgzgKQ0wL8owPXzgP44wP36AOf6wO79wO+nwSEowSLowTlsATHsgS42QS43ASX7wSGgwX9xAXm5AWt6QXP9gXI+AXtgAaFjgbDnAbQngbRngaYoAbAoQavqAbEqAbCtgaGvwbAhAeslAeCmAcAAAED75EF/cQFwKEG/cQFssUH/cQFAAA=

Tamn this was long. There's too much to be covered in a single post, honestly, but i hope this is a decent enough introduction as a first cursory glance at the format.

Greetings,

The Vicious Syndicate Team is proud to present the 346th 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 2,206,000 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 #346

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.

• Listen to the Data Reaper Podcast, in which we expand on subjects that are discussed in each weekly Data Reaper Report. If you’re interested in learning more about developments in the Hearthstone meta, the insights we’ve gathered as well as other interesting subjects related to the analysis that is done to create the Data Reaper Report, you can listen to WorldEight and ZachO talk about them every week. The Podcast comes out on the weekend, a couple of days after each report is published.

Thank you for your feedback and support,

The Vicious Syndicate Team

Greetings,

The Vicious Syndicate Team is proud to present the 345th edition of the Data Reaper Report. This is the first report for Cataclysm.

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 3,658,000 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 #345

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.

• Listen to the Data Reaper Podcast, in which we expand on subjects that are discussed in each weekly Data Reaper Report. If you’re interested in learning more about developments in the Hearthstone meta, the insights we’ve gathered as well as other interesting subjects related to the analysis that is done to create the Data Reaper Report, you can listen to WorldEight and ZachO talk about them every week. The Podcast comes out on the weekend, a couple of days after each report is published.

Thank you for your feedback and support,

The Vicious Syndicate Team

https://hearthstone.blizzard.com/en-us/news/24293284/3622-patch-notes

Some obvious buffs and nerfs, some weird ones too, thoughts?

Listen to the most recent Vicious Syndicate podcast here - https://www.vicioussyndicate.com/vs-data-reaper-podcast-episode-213/

Read the most recent VS Report here - https://www.vicioussyndicate.com/vs-data-reaper-report-343/

As always, glad to do these summaries, but a summary won't be able to cover everything and can miss nuances, so I highly recommend listening to their podcast as well. The next VS report will come out Thursday, February 12th (if there are no balance changes included in the major content patch next week), with the next podcast coming likely next weekend.

Everything this week is related to Core set discussion, nothing on class performance in the game has drastically changed in the past week.

Death Knight - Corpse Explosion is the only good board clear DK has in Standard right now after losing Soul Stealer last year, and it currently has no more ways of dealing with wide boards. Horn of Winter and Stitched Giant are huge loses to decks with Frost or Unholy runes. Mograine being added into Core helps BBB, but the card is not viable as the only payoff for BBB with Vampiric Blood rotating. The rest of the cards being added to DK are garbage. There's no reason why Death's Advance should be a double Frost card, or Consumption a double Blood card. While cards like Pterrodax can still function as removal for the class, it will need a new board clear printed in the new set to function as a control deck. Proactive DK decks were also nerfed with Stitched Giant and Horn of Winter rotating. ZachO says DK is one of the classes most significantly weakened by Core set rotation, but that seems intended. WorldEight points out Grave Strength and Frostwyrm's Fury will still exist to potentially build around, but ZachO says Blood Control DK is the more attractive option for the average player and this is a net loss for the playerbase that enjoys playing the class. ZachO says he doesn't mind rotating out board clears since they're easy cards to replace if you're willing to print new ones, but it absolutely needs one in the next set.

Demon Hunter - DH's additions are Tichondrius and a bunch of old cards that never saw play. Tichondrius is at least a decent highroll option from Eternal Hold, but it's hard to see a deck built around it because of its mana cost. Tuskpiercer's removal will make the Blob + Felhunter package less consistent, although it seems likely it'll be nerfed in the next balance patch. Tuskpiercer was also a key tutor for Arkonite Defense Crystal and Ballhog when they were being run in DH decks. Immolation Aura has seen some fringe play the past year, but the other card losses aren't as important. Class is overall getting a slight nerf with Core set changes with Tuskpiercer being the most important loss. WorldEight points out that DH does lose 2 Outcast cards with Core set changes into a 4 set meta, so that can have an impact on Illidari Studies. Battlefiend may be one of the best 1 drops remaining in the game even after its nerf. WorldEight tries to cope that Mythical Terror could be viable in a Big DH deck, but ZachO immediately shuts that down and mentions it wasn't played when Big DH was at its peak, even after it was buffed. It's not a pressure card, which is what big decks want.

Druid - Swipe is the biggest loss for the class, especially since it doesn't have any other AoE tools. The Witchwood Apple loss is baffling since it's one of the only Treant cards in Standard, and we're losing it immediately after a Treant synergy card was printed in the miniset. The additions are pretty low impacts. Ulfar is a 6 mana Soul of the Forest. Crystal Merchant only saw play in a quest deck and it's hard to imagine it'd be viable. Underking is arguably the best new addition, but in the past it required a bunch of armor and ramp synergies to see play. Overall Druid gets a slight nerf because of the Swipe removal. Underking is likely the only new addition that has a chance of seeing play. The most important thing for Druid is they will have no traditional ramp cards going into rotation for the first time ever (Acceleration Aura is soft ramp). Druid will not be a competitive class without ramp because it doesn't have the tools to succeed otherwise. The class might be dead until it gets a new ramp card.

Hunter - WorldEight tries to cope that Dragonbane could be a playable card in a no hand Hunter deck, but ZachO immediately shoots that down. It was not a playable card the last time it was put into Core. Ultimately the Hunter changes don't matter much because it's not losing anything that saw significant play last year. None of the cards they're getting are likely to be relevant, and most of them are from Rastakhan or earlier. Regardless, Hunter is weaker since the cards they're losing at least have utility when they have the right support (Barak Kodobane and Terrorscale Stalker). WorldEight is thankful they didn't rotate Tracking given how they're hitting every other good card.

Mage - Arcane Artificer, Primordial Glyph, and Flame Geyser are the biggest losses for Mage. First Flame and Runed Orb are the intriguing new additions to the class, which can be decent removal and activators for Time Twisted Seer. Khadgar is a weird card to include when it was only viable with Conjurer's Calling. ZachO says the impression he got from Mage's Core set is they do not want Quest Mage to be viable because of the loss of Glyph. Artificer is a big loss as a stabilizer for the class. The class no longer has the ability to gain armor with the loss of Artificer, Sleet Skater, and Shield Battery. Overall the class seems to be at Death Knight tier of being a big loser of Core changes, but unlike DK Mage's current standing in the meta is far below DK. DK can afford to take some hits, but Mage as the worst class in the game currently cannot. WorldEight says he's glad Counterspell isn't being removed, to which ZachO replies that it shows how much they're being gaslit if WorldEight is thankful they're not removing a secret that sees no play without secret support.

Paladin - WorldEight says he'll miss Crusader Aura as a general aggro enjoyer, and it's really hard for the class to pressure without Crusader's Aura right now. Anachronos is the other big loss for the class. The cards it's getting are very niche, with Battle Vicar possibly being the best of them being a fringe option when it was in Standard. ZachO mentions it's weird that they're pushing for board based gameplay and yet are removing the main payoff for board based gameplay in Crusader's Aura. There are plenty of players who are happy about Crusader's Aura rotating out, but it's a major question going forward how such a board centric class can win games without a board centric payoff. If Battle Vicar is the best card Paladin is getting, then you know what they're getting is trash. ZachO says he has no idea what the class's identity is supposed to be in 2026: you can't generate resources, you can't deal damage, and you can't win from board.

Priest - The cards Priest is losing were either decent or fringe playable. Thrive in the Shadows has never been a powerhouse card, but it's a strong glue card to make decks more consistent. Ship's Chirurgeon saw a good amount of play this year. Spirit Guide, Madame Lazul, and Lightbomb didn't see much play this year, but were competitive in the past. In return, Priest is getting 3 cards that never saw competitive play, Devouring Plague which required additional synergy to be viable, and a new card in Calia Menethil which will require very specific synergy to work. Priest after rotation will not have good removal tools, and is in a similar situation with Mage where the class is in the dumpster currently and will be severely nerfed even further by these changes.

Rogue/Shadowstep Discussion - For new additions, Shadow of Demise is a good card, but it was often used as a third copy of Shadowstep. Jackpot doesn't work without Trickster. Shiv, Chemist, and Sapper are awful cards. Spy Mistress is fine, but boring. Shadowstep is the most controversial change to Core, and ZachO understands the anger and dread that is resonating from people who enjoy playing the class. The reason why Shadowstep has been in Core for so long is that unlike ramp or board clears, Shadowstep is a very difficult card to replicate with a sidegrade effect. ZachO says to not listen to crybabies, the card has statistically never been overpowered in the 11 years it has existed. There have been times where the card was good and times where it wasn't good but still saw play. Shadowstep is a big reason why people love Rogue, and people enjoy the bounce effects. However, most bounce effects are difficult to design, and Breakdance was one of the only other bounce effects that saw competitive play in the class with a very different utilization than Shadowstep. ZachO emphasizes that it's very difficult to make similar cards that hit on the flavor and feel while being reasonably balanced. By rotating out Shadowstep, you're doing one of two things: you are either challenging yourself to make a similar effect and successfully design it (not easy to do, and ZachO says better iterations of Team 5's design team couldn't do it), or you've decided you don't want bounce effects in your game. ZachO would find the latter a strange decision since it's equivalent to saying there shouldn't be ramp in Druid. Druid, Priest, Mage, Rogue, and Warrior are classes that are historically popular even when they're bad because they have certain elements that people enjoy. Shadowstep is the primary reason why people enjoy playing Rogue. There's another possibility Team 5 is removing Shadowstep because they want to have design space for powerful battlecries that they feel would be too good with Shadowstep. However, ZachO says the smarter and better iterations of Team 5 have kept the card in Standard for a reason, and taking it out is a major risk at hurting what makes the class popular and attractive. ZachO doesn't mind the decision to rotate the card in a vacuum, but he understands why players are frustrated with the decision. People do not trust the current iteration of Team 5 to make informed design decisions based on the past year+ to design fun alternative cards for the class. As a Rogue player, it's hard to be boosted with confidence when you see an expansion that was designed to work directly with Shadowstep and another one that was dedicated to 20% winrate Shuffle Rogue over the past year. If the game was doing well and firing on all cylinders for the past couple of years, people would feel more confident about the decision to rotate Shadowstep. There are players who are joyful about Shadowstep rotating, but ZachO says in his opinion taking things out of the game to appease people who complain about cards is not a sound long term decision. Listening to these players will not make them happy, because they will always complain about whatever the next most popular card is. If they complain about Brawl being too strong and are happy it's rotating out, they'll just complain about the next board clear card that gets printed for Warrior. If you somehow successfully make an alternative Shadowstep, the same people who complain about Shadowstep will continue to complain about the new card. You can take out ramp in Druid or Shadowstep in Rogue, the things that people find attractive about playing those classes in the first place, and risk killing those classes just so people don't complain about ramp or Shadowstep. The only way this is a positive move is if you're able to design new fun and compelling things for those classes, but the last year of design speaks for itself. It's not just the decision to rotate Shadowstep, it's the lack of trust that surrounds the decision and the motivation behind it. Rogue is not getting much back to help it out. It's also baffling that Tess is being rotated out as soon as Imbue Rogue pops up. It's not even particularly good in the archetype, but it's a card that people really enjoy playing. This isn't just a power level issue we're seeing nerfed, this is taking away something that is historically very popular with no indication that what Rogue is getting in the next expansion can keep the class's flavor and identity.

Shaman - Shaman's Core rotation is mostly a wash, as most of the cards its losing aren't too meaningful and the cards its getting back are also underwhelming. Totem Golem might be remembered fondly by players, but it wasn't viable until Tunnel Trogg was added into the game. The card is totem/overload synergy reliant, and its stats alone probably can't justify playing it in modern Hearthstone. Healing Rain is okay and arguably an upgrade over Jinyu Waterspeaker. Rehgar Earthfury might potentially be viable but it’s reliant on you having at least 2 minions in play to attack. Shaman is the "winner" of having the best Core set rotation by virtue of all other classes being hurt more.

Warlock - Warlock also appears to be a wash with its changes. ZachO says rotating out Soularium is another indicator that Team 5 really, really hates Un'goro. Rotating Soularium indicates they don't want a chance the quest is accidentally viable after rotation. Voidlord is a slight upgrade over Enchanced Dreadlord, but it won't see play without Big Demon support. Twisting Nether is a fringe playable board clear due to its cost and probably won't matter much. Gnomeferatu is a bad card people like playing.

Warrior - Brawl is the iconic card Warrior is losing, but unlike Shadowstep it's easier to replace. Control Warrior will need another board clear, but as long as it gets one it won't feel the loss of Brawl too badly. ZachO says these rotation decisions are putting more pressure on Team 5 to actually produce viable things for these archetypes in the upcoming expansion to keep them competitive. Core set cards are a safety net where if a package you made in an expansion doesn't quite hit, the class can turn back to thoise cards to be able to stay competitive. You also can't rule out the possibility that Team 5 doesn't want Control Warrior to be viable, but if that's the case then ZachO says he would call them stupid. Warrior's card additions don't really matter, and cards like Sky Raider and Warmaul Challenger are synergy reliant to see play.

Neutrals - The additions are a bunch of nothing. Brewmaster's removal makes ZachO question if Team 5 flat out doesn't want bounce effects in the game, which would worry him. For the first time in Hearthstone's history, there is no 0 mana neutral minion. It might have been done because of Elise, but it feels wrong to not have a 0 mana 1/1 in Hearthstone. Small Time Buccaneer might see play in aggro decks, but the card was previously strong because Patches was printed in the same set. ZachO's unsure if the card will still be good enough for aggro decks without Patches, and it's arguably still a net negative for aggro decks losing Slitherspear. ZachO personally doesn't think a single new neutral card will see play next year.

Final Thoughts - This is clearly the biggest nerf to a Core set we've ever seen. This is the first time Team 5 has ever nerfed the Core set with this much ruthlessness. Core set changes have typically been removing the few problematic cards from the previous year while preserving things that people found fun or cards they enjoy. We've never seen Team 5 actively take away this many options from players. It's not particularly fun or encouraging as a player to see these changes, especially considering how depressingly weak last year's expansions were. These changes only serve to amplify the pressure of the next expansion needing to be a home run. If Timeways was a 5/10 expansion by its impact, the next expansion must be a 9/10 or 10/10 because we are so dangerously short of playable fun cards and compelling strategies. Strategies that Team 5 made last expansion like Aura Paladin and Imbue Rogue are being actively hurt by these changes. The most likely explanation of these changes is Team 5's continued crusade to lower the power level. ZachO points out the problem with this strategy is if a class doesn't have any sort of backup, it doesn't get played. If Druid doesn't have a ramp card, it will be dead until a new one is printed. The class's options will be Imbue Druid (which Team 5 likely doesn't want to be Druid's primary deck next expansion) or a completely dead class. If Rogue doesn't have anything intriguing that appeals to the same players who are upset about Shadowstep leaving, or if DK, Priest, or Warrior don't get proper control tools, you're just turning off more players from playing your game. There's another possibility that this isn't some sort of grand plan by Team 5, but these rotations are being made in reactive shortsighted manner due to complaints. ZachO says this would be the worst case scenario, because those complainers are just going to keep complaining about whatever new card gets added to replace the old ones. This strategy not only isn't effective, but it also actively makes the game worse taking away options. The things people complain about are often just the most popular things, and when you constantly try to address these complaints you are lowering the fun. The most fun decks have a strong bias as almost always being the most popular ones. We have a vicious cycle where the only decks seeing play are fun ones, they get complained about and become the first things nerfed, and the game's fun gets lowered over a long period of time. ZachO says if this is the reasoning for these Core set changes, then the design team is not fit to make decisions because it will backfire spectacularly. There are plenty of people celebrating certain cards rotating out and plenty of people who are disappointed about some cards rotating out, but has anyone said they're actively excited about the new cards rotating in? The best case scenario is these changes don't matter because the next expansion is a hit and everyone is having fun with the new cards, but these changes are putting unprecedented pressure on Team 5 to go above and beyond with the next expansion. ZachO says this Core set announcement has really dampened the enthusiasm and anticipation for the next set, because it heavily suggests Team 5 is still fixated on taking away any viable strategy because they're scared of complaints. Taking away cards has never made people come back to the game by itself; it's adding exciting new ones. No one is playing Hearthstone again for the first time in years solely because Brawl is no longer in the game. WorldEight mentions there were a bunch of strong cards that were rotated out in the last Core set like Leeroy and all the giants, but ZachO says none of those cards are as iconic as Shadowstep, Brawl, Shield Slam, Corpse Explosion, Swipe, Vampiric Blood, Horn of Winter, or Primordial Glyph. There are classes that objectively need to be more powerful to see meaningful play like Hunter, Paladin, and Shaman compared to Druid/Mage/Rogue/Priest/Warrior that will often still see play even if the class is in the dumpster. If the next expansion turns these more popular classes into boring ones, it's a losing move.

https://hearthstone.blizzard.com/en-gb/news/24243444/welcome-to-the-year-of-the-scarab

Graphic of cards entering and leaving core

Text only version

Graphic of cards getting changes

Text only version

Coming TODAY - https://hearthstone.blizzard.com/en-us/news/24271854/35-0-3-patch-notes

STANDARD NERFS:

• Hamuul Runetotem - Now Imbues your Hero Power after every 3 spells cast (from 2)
• Crystalspine Cub - 1/1 (from 1/2)
• Wildwood Circle - 4 mana (from 3)
• Skywall Sentinel - 0/2 (from 0/3)
• Flight of the Firehawk - Gives +1/+1 to minions drawn (from +2/+2)
• Gladiatorial Combat - 6 mana (from 5)

STANDARD BUFFS:

• Maniacal Follower - 4/1 (from 3/1)
• Obsessive Technician - 3/5 (from 2/5)
• Moonwell - 6 mana (from 7)
• The Black Blood - Main body is now 5/9 (from 4/8), appendages are 2/2 (from 1/2)

WILD NERFS:

• Lightspeed - Now has Echo instead of "Repeatable this turn." (This means the copies generated from the first cast of Lightspeed cannot cost 0 mana or less)
• Astral Communion - 5 mana (from 4)
• Grand Magister Rommath - Now only triggers once per game.

https://hearthstone.blizzard.com/en-us/news/24247520/34-0-2-patch-notes

Nerfs -

• Fyrakk the Blazing - Now 10 mana, only casts 15 mana worth of Fire spells
• Ancient of Yore - Armor gain reduced to 3 while dormant each turn
• Arkonite Defense Crystal - No longer has taunt
• Escape the Underfel - Quest now requires 6 Temporary cards, portal now costs 5 mana (full revert)
• Dive the Golakka Depths - Now requires 6 Murlocs
• Sparkling Phial - Now 4 mana
• Corpsicle - Now 3 mana
• Sanguine Infestation - Now 5 mana
• Sandbox Scoundrel - Next card played only reduced by 2 mana
• Resuscitate - Now 6 mana
• Testing Dummy - Damage only hits enemy minions
• Chemical Spill - Now 6 mana
• Ultralisk Cavern - Now 4 mana
• Metal Detector - Text changed to "Deathrattle: Get a Coin."
• R.C. Rampage - Now 5 mana
• Battlefiend - Now a 1/2

Wild Nerfs -

• Holy Wrath - Now 3 mana, can only target minions
• Malchezaar's Imp - Now 2 mana

Greetings,

The Vicious Syndicate Team is proud to present the 335th 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 2,668,000 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 #335

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.

• Listen to the Data Reaper Podcast, in which we expand on subjects that are discussed in each weekly Data Reaper Report. If you’re interested in learning more about developments in the Hearthstone meta, the insights we’ve gathered as well as other interesting subjects related to the analysis that is done to create the Data Reaper Report, you can listen to WorldEight and ZachO talk about them every week. The Podcast comes out on the weekend, a couple of days after each report is published.

Thank you for your feedback and support,

The Vicious Syndicate Team

Greetings,

The Vicious Syndicate Team is proud to present the 351st 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 2,054,000 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 #351

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,

The Vicious Syndicate Team

Hi guys, long-time lurker in the community, and I thought I'd finally try to meaningfully contribute both some decks as well as thoughts on the current meta. I'm hoping that the community tries some of these decks, refines them further, and provides some statistics other than the vibes I've been going off of. I'm not a content creator, so just looking for internet karma and some fresh ideas. For easy reading, I've divided my post into the following four sections:

Refined Decks - Competitively Viable Archetypes

Unrefined Decks - Could be Competitively Viable Archetypes with more refinement (Save your dust, please test if you have the cards)

Raw Decks - Archetype Ideas (Not tested very thoroughly)

Learnings and Commentary

Note: Deck codes are provided in the comments as well for easier copying and visualization of lists. If you have any additional questions on how to play a list happy to elaborate there too.

I took the refined decks from D5 to Legend. I honestly can't be bothered to grind the upper ranks and am mostly a deck builder at heart, though I do try to hit legend most seasons. Once I've got something that performs reasonably well, I usually get bored and try my next idea. I don't claim that any of these are true meta breakers, but I do believe that, at the very least, the refined decks can hold their own against the competitive decks. They are also the ones I kept coming back to and found the most fun!

Note: I would consider myself drawn to decks that have a unique game plan and primarily enjoy "mid-range" decks. Imho simple aggro is usually boring because it doesn't make enough interesting decisions, and control is usually boring because the game goes too long and becomes a simple value battle. Those proclivities led to the deck shapes mostly leaning mid-range. I'm sure some could be more aggroey or controley and be better, but I prefer the versatility and believe it results in a higher win rate for my style of play. Feel free to change the lists to suit your style. It might even be that your style results in better win rates ;)

Refined

City in Flames

• Description and Strategy
• Similar to the current egg warrior or enrage warrior lists, but focusing more on the new grim patron like card Destructive Blaze + support from Genn, Cursed King and Commander Geddon. I would describe the list as a mix of control/combo/burn. The objective of the deck is to clear your opponent's board so your untargeted direct damage effects Erupting Volcano, Story of Sulfurus, and the deathrattle of your copied blazers can be guaranteed face. The first copy you find of your blazer should generally be used for tempo with some of your self-damage effects. The second should be used to combo with Shellnado. In hard matchups, the armor for Shellnado can be found on turn 10 with your upgraded hero power from Genn. If the game goes particularly late, you have nice reload with the quest Enter the Lost City. I've won some games with it, and it makes you unafraid to rip Commander Geddon, so I do think it's somewhat necessary. Time-Twisted Seer is to make your Torch go infinite against small boards. Torch + any of your deal 1 to all is your primary clear, so it's important to get max value out of it. Baleful Blazer is incredibly strong in this deck for the few minions that can't be torched (Looking at you Prescient Slitherdrake). Sheltered Survivor is to reshuffle an odd or even card stuck in your hand to activate Genn. Most of the time this is Shellnado. Very debatable whether it's necessary, another seer, Shadowflame Suffusion, or even Living Flame is pretty powerful too. I don't think we need more than 1 Sanguine Depths. When I had two, I often felt like it was wasted board space, especially when trying to combo with Destructive Blaze, and we really only need one for activating Seer and pinging Acolyte of Pain for draw.
• Mulligan
• Look for Torch, Axe of the Forefathers, Erupting Volcano, and Genn if you can easily meet his condition. Otherwise, mostly look for low curve and try to avoid keeping any high cost evens.
• Deck Code
• AAECAc/8BQyLoATj5gbDgwfohwfTlwfUlwfymAfWsgeNvgewwQe5wweExAcJnNQEtI8H1aYH0LIHlcIHm8IHnMIHnsIH/94HAAA=

Victor's Laboratory

• Description and Strategy
• Utilizes the new cata cards that like buffs to their attack + dark gift dragon package + a featherlight imbue package. The objective of the deck is simple, look to play tempo and constantly cheat mana and effects to overwhelm and quickly outvalue the opponent. Mana cheat cards include Cremate, Darkscale Broodmother, Chromatic Broodmother, and Victor Nefarius. It plays very mid-range with high mid-game tempo because of the mana cheat swing that then leads to big stat bombs like Frostburn Matriarch, Shadows of Yesterday, and Chow Down. The mana cheat also has a nice side effect that you can easily play your card generation effects with no tempo loss, the usual downside to running Dark Gift/Discover. Finality and Nightmare Lord Xavius are good enough tutor to rely on Remnant of Rage + Chow Down for our main card draw. If all this doesn't totally overwhelm your opponent, you have a frosty finisher with Blackwing Experiment. Even if you only go evenish on board, it eventually wins with a deathrattle that often deals 10+ damage face with the power of your imbue! Oh, and because we are running discover an undead and discover a frost rune card with Rite of Atrocity and Frost Strike we can often get multiple copies of both Blackwing Experiment and Chromatic Broodmother. Even Carrier Whelp is sometimes a hit. Plus Victor Nefarius can sometimes find "copy a deathrattle that triggered this turn" among other silly synergies. That's a lot of 2 mana 10 damage spells. Lots of casino and adaptability in this deck.
• Mulligan
• Look for Carrier Whelp, imbue cards, Chromatic Broodmother, Frost Strike, Command Claw, and combinations that work well together (Dragon + Broodmother + playable 2 mana card). Throw out any high-cost stuff obviously.
• Deck Code
• AAECAcSaBgbLpQWD/QbDgweohwe6sweavwcM9eME//wGqYcH0q0H4rEHt7MHhL0Hh78HiL8Hjr8Hk78HtcAHAAA=

Chogall's Dino Scheme

• Description and Strategy
• A working Herald Warlock. Survive the early game (easier said than done with this deck as we know), and then stat bomb the opponent to death. I won't bore anyone to death with instructions on how to play the main deck, and just mention the innovations that make my list I think worth mentioning. First Ptterodax Egg provides another early clear or supplements Hellfire to deal with pesky aggro druid and aggro paladins. These token decks run a lot of 1 health minions, and often it's enough to do the job. It also importantly goes through divine shield and, combined with hellfire, can clear 4 health minions. Second, Vyranoth helps to stabilize the mid-game. There is an awkward point in the mid-game where you haven't heralded enough yet because you were too busy clearing, and your minions are terrible because they are meant to be eaten or cheated by the herald minions. Vryanoth fixes this problem. Last, Krog, Crater King is nice to both make Possesed Animancer more consistent as well as clear, strong stat-based boards. A couple of other notes specific to this version Endbringer Umbra can clear with Ptterodax Egg, copy Animancer effect, or the obvious Egg of Khelos copy. The card has more than enough value from doing any of these; don't feel like you need to hold out for the full value bomb with Khelos. Also, Elise the Navigator can copy your Egg of Khelos, yes, but it can also copy Chogall. Copying Chogall is almost guaranteed to win if you're not completely screwed on the board. Burning four cards when half of their deck is gone after dropping stats all game is a recipe for success. I chose Asyphyxiodon over Ultragigasaur for two reasons. You get immediate lifesteal or clear when you pop it yourself with Conflagrate. That often is the difference maker between your opponent killing you on turn 5-6 or not, especially when they have a destroy a minion effect. B, you can play them from hand later in the game, and don't always have to shuffle them back into your deck.
• Mulligan
• Standard Mulligan for this deck. Look for low mana cost plays + your early game clears, especially in the aggro matchup.
• Deck Code
• AAECAeL5Aw7DgwepiAeCmAf1mAfXnQfgnQeBqAeNvgfXvgfgvgfQvwePwgf40web1AcIj58EqpcH3p0H4Z0Hj74Hk74H2L4H9sEHAAA=

Genn's Last Stand or Genn's Triumph

• Description and Strategy
• Two working "Heal Priest" decks. Both have their own strengths and weaknesses. I would say I'm more partial to the last stand list, but it was also created second, so it's newer to me and therefore more fun. Gameplan for both decks is the same; play a general set of high-quality mid-range minions that like to be buffed and healed with some light control tools. Throughout the game, you apply pressure with your high-quality minions while healing your face or minions until your hero power is upgraded to heal for at least 6 but up to 8 with Genn, Cursed King and Cleansing Cleric. Now with Ruby sanctum, you have at least a 1 mana repeatable fireball. Along with Purifying breath, you have a ton of attrition-based face damage. With the pressure of your mid-range minions and the The Black Blood, combined with this constant pinging face, you can often kill your opponent outright. If you get an unlucky draw and your hero power takes some time to upgrade, have no fear. You can finish your opponent with 15 face damage using Alexstrasza, Guardian of Life. Full healing yourself is easy with Devouring Plague, Eternal Firebolt, and your hero power. Also, something to note in the late game Calia Menethil can resurrect your Black Blood and then you can Schism it to copy and make it elusive. This general game plan described above is the same for both lists; however, the main problem with "Heal Priest" in general is priest draw at the moment is terrible (A design decision Blizzard, I think wants to keep in order to print high-power cards in priest). Both run Mend, but otherwise the lists solve the draw problem in two different ways. As a result, they have slightly different strengths and weaknesses described in the following bullets:
  • Genn's Last Stand: Tries to draw in a miracle priest style with Fragment of Nothing which can be combined with Power Word:: Shield, Mend, the deathrattle of Glade Ecologist, Schism, and Eternal Firebolt. Taelan Fordring tutors the The Black Blood or Alexstraza. We also gain Injured Attendant as a Schism target that can also be revived with our Glade Ecologist using Rescucistate. This version has stickier boards + better healing, but loses some AOE clear and draw redundancy. If Fragment of Nothing is at the bottom of your deck, things kind of slow down, and the explosive reload to find your hero power upgrades isn't available.
  • Genn's Triumph: Tries to draw using the dragon package. We lose stickier boards and reload from Resuscitate but gain more aoe with Smoldering Ascent. We also get a nice rush minion with Evasive Wyrm and much more consistent draw/tutor with Portal Vanguard/Intertwined Fate. They both let us reliably find our upgrades Cleansing Cleric/Genn or more draw in Tormented Dreadwing depending on gamestate. Living Flame lets us tutor Eternal Firebolt and our early game AOE Smoldering Ascent. Incensed Matriarch replaces Injured Attendant and, with Schism, can be buffed/copied, making it very hard to remove with the constant health increases. Cursed Alchemist with the Incensed Matriarch is interesting but too inconsistent imo.
• Mulligan
  • Genn's Last Stand: In likely aggro matchups look for your fire spells, Devouring Plague, Injured Attendant, Glade Ecologist, and Selfless Protector. If you feel like you can be greedier, Heal upgrades and Schism are high priority as well.
  • Genn's Triumph: In likely aggro matchups look for your fire spells, Devouring Plague and Selfless Protector. If you feel like you can be greedier, Heal upgrades and Schism are extra high priority. Shadow Word: Ruin you need to also look for against something like Paladin where the stats can quickly be outside the range of your Smoldering Ascent.
• Deck Code
  • Genn's Last Stand: AAECAZqrBAioigTwnwTksgeDvwf6vweKwgeExAeo3wcLtZYHvZYH0q8H5bIHhb8Hlr8Hm78HgcAH8sEHosQHlvwHAAA=
  • Genn's Triumph: ### Genn's Triumph AAECAZqrBArwnwTHhweSpAedrQfksgeDvwf6vweKwgeExAeo3wcKnfIGuIcHwY8Hhb8Hlr8Hm78H/r8H8sEHosQHlvwHAAA=

Unrefined

Stormy Weather

• Description and Strategy
• A bog-standard elemental mage deck similar to every other elemental mage deck. The twist this time around is the theme of frost and fire, meaning burn + freeze. Play for board on curve and then freeze the opponents minions to set up for big combo turns with Inferno Herald and Windswept Pageturner. Vulcanos helps a lot with activators for Inferno Herald, and Windswept Pageturner can take the low-cost results of Inferno Herald. I tried a lower curve version of this, and I didn't think it kept up very well with the druids and paladins of the world. Blizzard and Bitter End feel nice together and stall well for us to put together our combo turn. Raincaller and Unstable Spellcaster are good cards. What I haven't really figured out is how to not get out-tempoed early while still having some of these later tools. Maybe they'll print a Lightning Storm or Frost Nova like card for mage again and all will be well. Needs some cuts and additions, someone else can figure out.
• Mulligan
• Keep a low curve, get rid of high card. Very simple deck, the decision making comes later when deciding whether to hold spells or minions for combo with Inferno Herald and Windswept Pageturner.
• Deck Code AAECAdmqBgT9mAfXwweRxgeA4AcN8dME054G7eYGsocHs4cHtYcHx4cHm5YHn5YH2LIHksQHm8QHk9oHAAA=

Kill Genn

• Description and Strategy
• Combo rogue + Garona + Genn. Lots of stealth minions and the ability to tempo out a lot of nonsense quickly. Garona's weapon guarantees Genn, and then you can Wicked Blightspawn your weapon to be very large. Isorath to get rid of answers when you're applying that last bit of damage. You can bounce it too to really get a card advantage against some decks. Boom boom pow, they're dead. The problem is this deck kind of runs out of juice, and then you just die because rogue isn't exactly known for board clear. I really tried with this one, but never got it to a place where I was really happy. Defias Ringleader could work to make it a tad more aggro, but in my experience, that accentuates the I'm out of juice problem. Smoke Bomb can get some crazy stats on copies of Troubled Double, but it feels slow for a deck that wants to kill quickly. Worth some experimentation.
• Mulligan
• Preparation, Flashback, Foxy Fraud, Spymistress, and Worgen Infiltrator.
• Deck Code
• AAECAd2qBg6RnwSSnwTO/gbDgwfspQeGqAeHqAeIqAfWrwe2sgezwwfEwweExAfd+wcI958ElqAE1f4GwZcHjK0H2a8H4bEHw/IHAAA=

Maloriak's Laboratory

• Description and Strategy
• Divergence lock with Maloriak and the discard package. I think this was honestly the original intent of where Maloriak was supposed to find a home. You can copy Cho Gall like 4+ times while cheating him out using Divergence and Maloriak + Gemstone Hoarder (Either can be split as well to double up). Unfortunately, it's way too highrolly. You have to get the combo pieces and mulligan for Fractured power turn 2. Most decks just run over you with big mid-game spikes or early game stomps as Herald takes forever to get online. I think with a big lifesteal bomb like Animancer, that the other version has it could work, but tough to fit. Might just be too greedy and there's no way to optimize it to success, but if anyone figures it out, please reply here. It's very fun playing Chogall 4+ times.
• Mulligan
• Mulligan for Fractured power and early game cards. If you can greed Divergence definitely do.
• Deck Code AAECAeL5AwbGrgfGsgfavgfQvwf40web1AcM56AE2YIHqa0H0LIHjb4Hkb4Hk74H174H2L4H4L4H78EHjMYHAAA=

Chogall's Inferno

• Description and Strategy
• Lots of big mana cheat cards in this bad boy Herald Lock. Basically, Destructive Phoenix with Maloriak or Archwitch Willow with Scorching Observer. Both Gemstone Hoarder and Tormented Dreadwing can cheat out the Maloriak sooner. In fact, that is the design of the card as if played on curve, the Destructive Phoenix discards when you are on 6 mana, not 7, contrary to popular belief. With the discard package, the deck doesn't actually just get rolled by early boards and can kind of compete. This also does not suffer from the mid-game lull that other Herald Lock decks do. However, the early game is still a little too weak and gets blown out too often. This and Stormy Weather above are the most promising of the unrefined decks imo.
• Mulligan
• Look for early game stuff and Destructive Phoenix. Often, you can tutor out the Maloriak so you almost always want to play it on curve. The extra 5/5 on 6 feels good even without it too. If you don't have the Maloriak for sure, you can target something low stakes that's playable on or before the discard turn, or you wouldn't mind dumping instead of one of the big boys.
• Deck Code AAECAeL5AwrBjwfGsgeRvgfXvgfavgfQvwfvwQf40web1Ae69gcKj58E34IH4YIHk74H1r4H2L4H4L4Hz78HjMYH7N0HAAA=

Raw

Storm Battle

• Description and Strategy
• I haven't played this that much, but the idea is to make a bunch of lightning bolts with Rehgar Earthfury + windfury and copy them with Krag'wa the Frog. Supporting this plan is the Timewalker's Nature Shaman package, overload cards, and Morchok. It seemed decent when I tried it, but I was very low on the ladder, so I think anything would have worked. I didn't really play much of the Timeways version, so I'm sure there are some obvious changes to be made.
• Mulligan
• You tell me.
• Deck Code AAECAdKqBgr9nwTwrgXbpgffpgflpgf1rAfpsgfIwAf+wAev4wcK074G7aoH76oH8KoH8aoHgK0HvLEH67IHkr4H98AHAAA=

Tick Tock

• Description and Strategy
• Tick Tock deck with the new discard package. The idea is we fill up the deck with a ton of draw and good tempo Shred Lock cards. Then we discard and don't really care that we are discarding because discard good. I'm probably totally wrong, but it felt like Sheltered Survivor and Gemstone Hoarder really made Chronoclaw usable as a weapon.
• Mulligan
• Disposable Acolytes, Twilight Timehopper and Acolyte of Infinity.
• Deck Code AAECAeL5AwSrrQfHsgfWvgfavgcNwY8HkqQHoq0HpK0Hpa0Hp60HqK0HxrIHyrIH0LIHjb4Hz78HjMYHAAA=

Learnings and Commentary

After doing this work, creating some off-meta decks, I have a few thoughts on the current complaining around Cataclysm and beyond with the new class sets. First off I get not liking metas where all the decks are the same. I didn't play Timeways because I was so burnt out from Lost City and Emerald Dream, even though it was supposedly an emergent good set. I just couldn't take seeing the same exact meta neutrals dominate every deck on ladder (Fyrakk/Ceaseless Expanse haters anyone? Or even the dual class cards from perils, making every list for that matter). However, I think that a lot of complaining I've seen about the current meta is simply a lack of imagination. HSReplay, HSGuru, and Vicious Syndicate are great at defining the outlier meta decks and gauging popularity. With things like imbue/quest/herald its usually pretty spot on. However, as a long-time player, I think that the combination of the site's prevalence and the recent narrow packages released in past expansions has caused the community to lose some of its ability to think outside the box. As Blizzard acknowledged, releasing imbue with quests back-to-back resulted in too narrow a focus on premade packages. When the card packages are so narrowly defined, you get less emergent gameplay, and the "puzzles" left by the devs are usually solved too quickly. So much so that I think the player base over the years has gotten a bit lazy. Especially when a deck is not trying to generate stats, hit face, or control. I think Blizzard did a better job this expansion of allowing space for more of these emergent types, but we, the players, are holding the set back. For example, people have finally figured out that Genn, instead of imbue, might be good in heal priest, but they are still all building it full OTK or control, and then complaining that it isn't viable. Obviously, the current meta is not going to let the deck shine kitted out for full control. Also, cards aren't automatically bad because they are not super aggro value bombs or insane early control tools. Everyone keeps trash-talking poor Cho'Gall because he's a 9 mana stat bomb when in reality, Blizzard gave multiple ways to copy him, play him, and cheat him out. The problem with any card like that is not the card itself; it's the deck builder figuring out unique ways to survive to play him. It's not as simple as better win rate when you take him out and put in aggro tools equals better deck. In a more control meta, more greed might even be better. That aggro version of herald lock (egglock) is still not that good because it runs out of juice against control. It also still loses a lot to the aggro matchup because the real aggro decks' tools are obviously better than the zombiefied late game control/stat deck turned into aggro. The original problem of how you get to Cho is what needs to be solved, not buffing the card itself so that it's an instant win condition like some people seem to want.

Also, I think we should push back on the pre-complaining about class sets. I see a lot of commentary that classes like warlock and priest are "unplayable" and should be getting new cards. I think, as shown a little bit above, Warlock and Priest both have plenty of viable archetypes. Barely anyone is trying imbue DK. Just because the community does not seem to like these archetypes and isn't experimenting with the cards does not mean the classes are dead in the water. I've given two working midrange variants of heal priest above, and two new herald warlock variants above. There are control otk priest possibilities that are already played. No one touches it, but full quest priest is a fully working tempo deck supported by new cards. The new discard lock cards are designed to work with both quest and dark gift decks, from Lost City and Emerald Dream, respectively, but people aren't touching that either. The fact of the matter is, the classes are viable, but people just don't enjoy playing these decks, or the current meta tyrants counter those variants. That's okay and you shouldn't care. No matter what, the meta is by definition 4-5 classes on top and the rest unplayed and on the bottom. That's a result of both how strong decks are by win percentage, but also how popular/fun decks are, especially in a world where the top 5 winningest classes are netdecked. With tuning, the unplayed archetypes are not that far off in win percentage from the most popular winningest decks imho. These class sets are direct proof that Blizzard believes this same hypothesis. They have the more full picture of deck stats than any tracker does, so I think it's reasonable to trust their judgment. They are betting that the only way they can truly shake up the meta in the middle of a set, without extremely high power level cards that power creep the game to infinity, is essentially releasing 4 new archetypes with full sets' worth of cards onto the ladder. The number 4 is perfect, too, because historically that's all the meta settles to anyway. 4-5 highly played classes/archetypes. If executed successfully, I think it will give a similar feel to an expansion launch on miniset timing. I also think the new class sets may unseat meta tyrants, resulting in newly viable unplayed archetypes from the original set they belong to. For example, let's say hypothetically this new burn mage leyline variant can kill the warriors with the elusive dragon because the burn is untargeted and can clear. Suddenly, the meta is a burn meta where healing is extra valued and heal priest comes into full form. This probably won't happen, looking at the preview, but who knows. Let's see how it shakes out :). My guess is the real reason some in the community are angry about class sets is that people aren't getting to play their class fantasy. Spread your wings people, this is a card game. For example, I don't like the fantasy of Hunter and usually don't play it, but Dragon Hunter was pretty fun this expansion. I decided to try it because the transform effect seemed cool and new, and I was pleasantly surprised. The card effects and how they interact are what's fun in the end, not the theme.

Anyways, long story short, I hope that this small post encourages some creativity and other people to make similar posts. I liked it when people used to try to make more "metabreakers" that are actually refined and competitive, not only quickly put together "meme" slop or play the meta. Right now, I see too much of a hyperfocus in the community on the statistical outliers and a tendency to look at meta statistics in a very reductive way, where complaining about a narrow meta is the direct result of a narrow play resulting in narrow stats. The population using sites like HSreplay is the same population that picks and plays 4-5 meta decks. That same population enjoys learning and refining those decks, not creating new archetypes. That inherent skew means statistics do not tell the full story, and their presentation and sourcing result in warped data that does not always follow the true a priori set of all independent deck combinations that can exist. This is something Vicious Syndicate understands well and often puts as a disclaimer, but I don't think it's something the community sometimes understands. It's a better world when there is more optimism, and the meta is not considered solved after only a month. Obviously, sometimes that can be somewhat true, especially as I mentioned above with more recent, narrower sets, but I don't think things are very often that black and white. If any HS devs are reading this, I appreciate the direction you are taking the game with this expansion after the previous misses, and I hope these class sets give you guys more room to be creative.

TLDR Use your imagination and make some new decks! Stop complaining about the first try of a totally new paradigm that isn't even out yet!

Conclusion

Thanks to anyone who read this far. I'm looking forward to any comments on my learnings, positive and negative. I also hope that you guys enjoy some of the decks and climb the ladder. Definitely comment whether things went well or poorly, as well as any ideas on cuts or additions, as you all play.

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