Looks like we might be heading to Aggrostone in a few days

Multiplayer Discussion
21

Imma look at each class and see which deck type is likely their best bet or most popular

DK - aggro seems to be the one for either frost and unholy; blood might be played as that control deck that tries to counter aggro, but that’s likely the more of a counter deck option than the “mainstream” choice

DH - combo is losing jace and kurtrus hero among some stronger pieces, while the outcast stuff seems to lean towards aggro. But relics is and some big demon stuff still around so maybe combo will still exist alongside new aggro DH?

Druid - the asta or even sire stuff will probably still be attempted, but without guff the token stuff may be their best bet (even though token druid is gonna have to rebuild itself after rotation

Hunter - there are new big beast stuff, but they may take more time to develop, so hunter will likely do normal hunter things which is tempo/aggro

Mage - no more rune of archamge, no more varden and ping, so the big spell late game stuff is likely to take back seat to arcane burn/aggro

Pally - no more cariel, the new big pally stuff likely takes time to develop, so yeah, pure pally it is

Priest - shadow priest should still be good, naga stuff is still around, but this is priest so the class may find some new control deck to annoy people with

Rogue - combo class is likely going to stay combo.

Shaman - haven’t seen many murloc or other aggro shaman. While their slow decks lose stuff like the hero, they do get new greedy stuff like JIVE INSECT

Warlock - they lose a bit of imp stuff, but not all, and the new take fatigue damage cards seem to push more aggro. I think Rin and/or symphony decks will be the new tickatus though (as in, it’ll be a popular deck but not necessarily meta)

Warrior - I’m not sure what the latest opinion the community has on warriors, but last I heard things still don’t look good for the class. Talk of tony warrior range from meme to it’s the best the class has to offer.

So to recap…

Dk, Pally, Hunter, Mage - very likely to go aggro, only a few would try control or combo
Druid, DH, priest, wariock - likely to go aggro, but control or combo deck types may still be popular
Rogue - combo
Shaman, warrior - unlikely to go aggro

22

Vicious syndicate Card review article link here btw https://www.vicioussyndicate.com/the-comprehensive-festival-of-legends-preview/

I disagree, and vicious syndicate does as well. They specifically state this in their article about the matter.

Team 5 has very clearly attempted to help Undead Priest endure rotation. Darkbishop Benedictus, which was about to rotate out of Standard, was kept in the Core set and given both Tour Guide and Idol’s Adoration. Most of the Undead Priest shell is available, with both the burn variant and the swarm variant looking like viable options on paper. However, Voidtouched Attendant, the archetype’s very best card, is gone. This has massive ramifications for the deck both in its early game snowballing and late game reach. Can a deck recover after losing its best card? Not a lot of them do.

Additionally, another card they lost was shadowcloth needle, which was one of the deck’s top 5 cards, and Najak hexxen is also gone, which was yet another one of the decks top 5. So while the deck is largely inctact, out of the few cards they lost… every one of them was one of the most important to function. Without needle the deck dies hardcore to wide aggro, and without attendant they lack the needed reach. I’m calling it now… undead shadow arrgo is going to be far weaker than people expect because of that. I’m expecting it to fall straight down to tier 3 from tier 1, and possibly even as low as tier 4. That’s how much power those few cards held in the archetype, and there are no suitable replacements.

4 Likes
23

I expect this exact thing as well. The deck drops significantly in power, all while its rival (Unholy DK) only gains in power.

It will be lucky if it even survives at all. Voidtouched Attendant is extremely important in the deck. Remember when we were experimenting with the deck and we couldn’t get it to take off? We had pretty much the exact same deck list except we hadn’t yet incorporated Voidtouched Attendant. That’s how much impact that card has. It changes everything.

1 Like
24

I think folks are sleeping on mech decks. Both existing mech decks and some new ones. Even handbuff mech warrior and dk seem good to me.

I think aggro/midrange blood dk looks good too.

Warlock and Mage might match up well into unholy/frost dk. 3 mana hellfire is gonns be nuts.

2 Likes
25

There’s also Svalna control priest, which will lack win conditions but if aggro is ever dominant it will just win by doing what it does best. Be toxic and lock you out of the game.

There’s mage with wide removal, freeze and multiple Solid Alibis that can be discovered over and over again until it gets its Rommath.

There’s good old Blood DK.

Warrior has a few decent control tools and if it manages to pull Stalwarts out it’s pretty much game over for aggro.

Other classes, like shaman and Warlock also have a fair bit of board control.

I think the best performing classes (likely DK and DH) will probably be aggro, but I also think there is plenty of control and disruption in the game to stand up to it if the meta is ever dominated by them.

26

Vs syndicate also thinks that control priest is likely to be the strongest archetype in the class. They list several reasons why, but it boils down to control always being stronger with the lower lethality in a 4 set meta. The reasoning is sound, and control has both dirty rat and plaguespreader to break up tony combs now. There’s an extremely high chance control priest has a very strong ladder presence. I anticipate it being tier 2.

It’s possible aggro ends up being too fast for even it though. Control priest lost a lot of healing options, and the vs article mentions that as well. Light shower resses are gone, and cannibilize is kinda trash on wide token-y boards. So we’ll see what happens.

27

To be fair, Plaguespreader rezzing is one of the most anti-fun ways to disrupt your opponent. You’ll forgive me if I’m happy that it can only happen ~4 times now instead of dozens…

28

I get slightly annoyed at the environment where aggro is strong, and maybe a control deck or two could keep it all in check, but there are so many ways to just decisively end the game that you can’t reliably control that control can’t be particularly good, as it just creates breathing room for dumb combo plays.

29

Honestly, if Warrior had gotten back Warpath instead of Bladestorm, I’d be less intimidated by our Pure Paladin overlords. But Bladestorm is so unique that I might be underestimating its ability to clear boards alongside things like Execute, Slam, and Bash.

30

You forgot they need to play the 2 mana Armor giving cards on the previous turn if they are unable to stack armor so they can have enough to pay for the Jailer and Tony.

31

Well…

People are sleeping on the real level of lethality mages gonna pull off.

Aggro mage can very well end building UP a even more agressive aggro deck than it has now with the new tools.

One good example is mech decks for mage using metrognome. The sheer amount of draw is ridiculous at minimal.

32

That sounds dreadfully boring.

1 Like
33

but its normal for people to focus on aggro decks on expansion release

many players like farming the ones testing new decks

1 Like
34

While this is obviously true, but I would be careful with prediction, because this cards that are now gone didn’t achieved the goal to make Shadow Priest a thing, but the miniset did, so there is a chance that this deck still survive. In fact I played Shadow Priest before the miniset a bit successful, but without the weapon and with more minions, so my version only loses Voidtouched Attendant, which is surely a hit, but I still see a chance to be strong for this deck.

Bonecaller, Catrina and High Cultist Basaleph will be in standard, so the chance is there they revive more than 4. And since Catrina is changed to undead resurrection the chance is there to exacty resurrect Plaguespreader. Just be sure to have only few undead minions to increase your odds.

1 Like
35

Don’t put that evil on me.

36

You’re an warrior player and warrior can be evil too, when the new expansion hits with Tony. Also the revival of Warsong Commander + Beserker gave Warrior new hope in wild to be an evil beast. :stuck_out_tongue:

It was frightening to see Dane playing Warsong+Skipper and Beserker combo to hit enemys with 40+ damage, but I think it’s fine for wild.

37

Don’t get me wrong - I don’t need Warrior wins, I got those golden portraits years ago. I just prefer metas where decks like classic Control Warrior or supposed BRnR Warrior can thrive. AKA, there’s not a bunch of unanswerable things flying around.

Tony Warrior seems like it’s part of the problem. But it may also be a thing that prevents other, more degenerate strategies from thriving. Hard to disrupt something more vividly than removing a deck entirely.

38

Warrior has always been my favorite class in hearthstone but i wouldnt ever want a deck like tony warrior being a tier 1 deck because i think that would be another reason for team 5 to gut the class with massive nerfs again. If the win condition was black rock and roll i think it would be ok as that card was meant to be warrior’s long game win condition.

39

That isn’t really a big deal for Druid though. Chitonous plating banks 4 armor on the previous turn. Anubrikan gives 8 when you drop him, and with the additions in this set he can gain 5 more from a hero power just by playing and killing off cheap minions he’s gonna run anyway. That right there is 17 armor at the start of turn, which is enough to pay for the combo. There’s also the possibility he just has armor banked. Overking is still here. Point is… Druid gets a ton of armor options. Malfurion is better at tanking up than garrosh is… a LOT better actually. With a refined list tony jailer Druid could be a real menace.

Yeah… no way tony lasts two years before getting nerfed. He’s the safest day 1 craft in the games history. He WILL be nerfed eventually, so there’s no reason not to craft him day 1 if you wanna play shenanigans.

Edit: I forgot to add that flower child reduces the cost of druids top end. So with flower child as a tutor Druid may not even need chitonous plating to bank armor. Jailer will cost 9 and anubrikan will cost 7 with a finale discount, making the combo even easier to activate. Tony is gonna be a much bigger threat in Druid than in warrior. I’m calling it now.

40

i feel like the aggro problem is going to be

  1. divine shield paladin
  2. any aggro mid range deck that runs bronze warden/zilliax especially warrior
  3. naga spell hunter is very aggro as well