What decks do you predict to be better than others once the expansion goes live…Thoughts on what might be best tier? Which legendaries should I be hoping for?
I’ll probably be playing aggro combo rogue. I think the deck will be very good at least for the first few days into the expansion while everything else is still very unrefined.
Evolve shaman, leech dk, imbue druid will be competing for the top spot, I am sure of it.
Leech dk bypassing armor is much more important than people think. Especially when you put leeches on play that early. Permanent damage that can go out of hand pretty quick.
Imbue druid is the new buffed version of jade druid. I think I dont have to say anything else other than “Larger and larger men”.
Evolve shaman is something that people sleep on. The merithra-nebula combo is extremely consistent and overwhelms any class if the draw is not unfavorable.
Wallow warlock, dragon pali, wisp mage seem to be working but they are definetely a tier below the aforementioned.
Armor dh is a really strong deck but I dont include it because it uses more cards from previous expansions.
Rogue and priest are in a really bad spot unfortunately, as expected. Weak legendaries, archetypes without a clear or consistent win con.
Legendaries that you should focus on are merithra, ursoc, nythendra, nightmare lord xavius,malorne, hamuul and cenarius.
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I can guarantee you will be very wrong in a couple of days lol. You just didnt even acknowledge how strong dragon control warrior looks. Also, rogue will be a lot better than you expect. Both aggro and protoss rogue look very good with the addition of the new cards, and rogue also got probably the best core set for this year.
Imbue druid and wallow warlock also might end up being very good after refinement.
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Control Leech DK might be Tier 2 area I think. Strong, but not the best deck but definitely in the running for a great deck to get to legend with.
Warlock definitely looks pretty strong as well pumping out big minions early, as does Imbue Druid.
It’s really hard to tell because the Brawl has a very limited card pool so lots of discover things there look better than they really are.
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Aggro rogue will boast insane WRs over the first few days that’s almost guaranteed. It will eat the experimenters alive.
Leech DK will be a solid option to run with, might even feel very strong early-to-mid week, particularly as people start switching to aggro. I think it will decay later ln
Control Warrior (not dragons) will be very strong initially, but I don’t think will easily survive the aggro rogue onslaught in the early game. I think it will soon become unfavored at first and then pick back up as a menace in the more stabilized meta.
Imbue Druid, Imbue Shaman and Imbue Mage will be garbage bait. Free wins farming until people start building decks without building heavily around imbue. Maybe even after that.
Imbue paladin and Warlock in general will have a hard time against the aggro rogues at first, then probably pick back up as answer to control.
Imbue control priest and Armor DH might actually be the best counters to aggro rogue? Not really sure. I really like the VS theorycrafting list for Imbue priest and I will be playing that on release. I think both decks will struggle once the meta settles but I see them doing well initially.
Hunter I honestly don’t know and couldn’t care less. Will do ok as always and few people will really care imo. Kinda boring what it has going for it.
In general I see the meta starting off as an aggro rogue dominance, slowly switching to control, then becoming greedier until a few combo decks establish themselves and things start to settle down. What will come up on top specifically is hard to say.
So there’s my prediction 
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Rush Warrior. It’s ALWAYS rush warrior. Mostly because predicting this is silly for the first two weeks after rotation.
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I think it’s easier to predict for the very first week or so. Where the meta will settle specifically that’s almost impossible to predict.
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One could say it’s literally impossible, as the act of predicting the meta has the effect of changing it, usually 
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I am going to guess Paladin will be the strongest class out of the gate. I will be on ladder playing Deathrattle DH on Day 1. I’d play Warlock but the class has such an easy packaged set I will give it a moment to play the class once I figure out if DH can compete or not.
I like Rogue’s new 3 mana 3/3 trap a card guy, but I noticed we don’t have cards like Arcane Giant coming to Core set which is how I’d want to play a deck like that, trap cards, plop down massive scam threats and end the game. Maybe the Whizbang 8/8’s could work but will prob need a second or 3rd expansion before it becomes super good.
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I agree with most of what you said except I believe Imbue Druid will be better than Imbue Shaman and Mage, but it will likely still be tier 3ish.
And also obviously disagree with Imbue Priest. Imbue Control Priest will get eaten alive by other late game decks, so I don’t know what it’s going to be good at…if it’s good at beating aggro, that likely will be the only thing but Imbue package is counterintuitive to beating aggro so I don’t see that even working well.
Armor DH will likely be the better aggro killer but will likely have issues beating anything else late game as it can’t clear boards.
From experience in the Tavern Brawl (something Imbue Priest is better at doing now than it will be release because card pools will be much bigger), I was able to single handedly beat Imbue Priests left and right with Kiljaeden. So Imbue Priests might need to run a way to get Kiljaeden or they won’t be winning any late games that run it.
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I don’t think so. Both 4-drops (especially Priestess) are great aggro stoppers and the 2 drop has lifesteal + is good to trade early. Then it has drink, multiple AoEs, can draw and taunt face with the neutral dragon (see VS’s list, I really like their idea), and by turn 5-6 they can start pumping out answers comfortably through imbue or their own tools. Against late game inevitability yeah I 100% agree, but they can run KiJaeden themselves for the control matchups and they can actually lean more on Tyrande for more proactive wincons. Do see the VS theorycrafting article for priest. I think they had some great ideas.
I am generally very skeptical of their theorycrafting decks but they did have some solid takes there. Of course, I do think the pure control imbue direction will ultimately struggle to compete in the more settled meta but there’s plenty of promise with Priest this set imo. A few different promising directions to explore.
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Well, I will be glad if I will be proven wrong. These 3 are my least favorite classes, while mage, rogue and especially priest are my most played ever and they seem horrible.
It’s just my experience from the 20 tavern brawl runs but they cant be taken too seriously with all the limitations.
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You cant make your mage, rogue and priest predictions based on the tavern brawl. The card pool there is much smaller than what will be available after release. Yes, if you look only into the brawl, rogue looks terrible. But when you consider what the class is getting from rotation together with the new set cards, it does look very promising.
On the other hand, i really think mage and priest will still be both bad even after release.
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The problem here is that the smaller card pool is highly beneficial to Imbue Priest.
You would have a point for classes who are missing specific cards to be good, but he’s right that Priest with the lower card pool is a major benefit and it’s still very mediocre there.
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I’m curious if the gimmick of this new set will carry over into the rest of the season or if it will be a one off like they have been for the last few years. It would be a very interesting season if all the mechanics stayed relevant throughout the entire season.
It certainly has the potential to.
I don’t predict, and I don’t read VS predictions because they were bad in the past and I don’t want to be burned again.
I will “predict” by reading the stats 3 days later.
PS anyone know, if hearthpwn predicts well?
Good enough. They usually predict 2-3 decks every expansion.
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Better than VS? Because VS’ was terrible.
My opnion is that this season Will start different because of tortolla.
This time taunt Warrior gonna be the First deck to beat with that Giant wall on the face of the usual aggro decks.