Hearthstone
Top Decks

The Patch That Changed Everything – The Best Decks in the New Whizbang Meta!

By: Old Guardian - - Updated:

Blizzard set some big expectations for patch 29.2.2. It is not your usual balance patch, but a patch “about the general design direction of the game” –  an incredibly ambitious goal. With more than 30 nerfs or buffs, the patch certainly has the means to deliver a major change, but how much has truly changed? We are just a couple of days into the new patch, and I can already say that a lot has changed and players will need to figure out a brand-new meta. The impact is somewhere between the start of a new expansion and a more minor mini-set.

But has this been a change in the design direction of the game? I am more hesitant to say that. Let’s take a look at what the early meta looks like to understand this better.

Death Knight

Death Knight was hit with both direct and indirect nerfs. The nerfs to Threads of Despair and Sickly Grimewalker slowed down Death Knight’s board clears by a turn and the change to all Badlands Highlander cards to make them based on the starting deck removed the ability to counter them with Plagues.

As a result, Death Knight is now slightly weaker across the board. Rainbow Death Knight is a roughly 50% win rate deck now. Plague Death Knight dips into 49%. Yes, Plague Death Knight player count is largely unaffected. It has always been overrepresented compared to its results, and it continues to be a deck that many people simply enjoy playing. It is close enough to 50% to not become too frustrating, but as its ability to slowly climb the ladder becomes inability to climb at all for many players, its popularity faces a new challenge.

The old handbuff list has seen a bit of a comeback, but it also looks set to hover at around a 50% win rate. The problem is that it has a really bad matchup against Highlander Warrior, which is increasing in popularity, so it may fall in the near future. All Death Knight decks are unfavored against Highlander Warrior, with Plague Death Knight still performing the best in the matchup despite the nerf.

Handbuff Rainbow Death Knight – Legend (Kibler) – Whizbang’s Workshop

Deck Import

So far, nothing new for Death Knight. None of the current Death Knight decks are good for climbing, but three different Death Knight archetypes (Rainbow, Plague, Handbuff) are at least close to 50%.

Demon Hunter

Demon Hunter was not hit with any new nerfs, so Aggro Shopper Demon Hunter is now slightly stronger than it was before the latest patch. It is still nowhere near the power it had before the Umpire's Grasp nerf to four mana, but you can climb the ladder with it.

Aggro Demon Hunter – Early #1 Legend (ice) – Whizbang’s Workshop

Deck Import

The not-really-Highlander Demon Hunter is now impossible to play after the changes because it was running duplicates of Umpire's Grasp and Window Shopper. It had already fallen out of favor as the aggro version was stronger, but now it is completely gone. There are no signs of any other Demon Hunter decks rising up.

Druid

Druid is one of the most interesting classes on the ladder right now. Not because it would be overpowered because it is not, but simply because it is alive and buzzing with activity. Druid was almost dead before the balance patch, but as the patch made the game a turn or two slower, all of a sudden ramping up and playing some stuff on the board has become a much more viable strategy. There are Dragon Druid decks, Reno Druid decks, and especially Hero Power Druid decks on the ladder, and all of them seem to have potential.

The early top performer is Hero Power Druid! (Although without the freshly buffed Zok Fogsnout.)

Hero Power Druid

Deck Import

Reno Druid is also doing well.

Reno Druid – Legend (Moquai) – Whizbang’s Workshop

Deck Import

Druid decks will have a lot of refinement ahead of them as these archetypes have not been viable recently, so if you are a fan of Druid, there are reasons to be excited!

Hunter

If you tried to name a meta tyrant from the early post-patch days, Hunter is the top contender. The deck is doing incredibly well and seems to be countered only by Flood Paladin. Hunter was already one of the top decks before the patch and it got off easy with just a small nerf to Jungle Gym, and with board clears slowed down everywhere, its board-based dominance is the new thing to beat.

Small Beast Hunter – #22 Legend (러블리즈화이팅) – Whizbang’s Workshop

Deck Import

Mage

Mage is in a lot of trouble. The nerf to Snake Oil from Miracle Salesman has crippled Sif and there are no good contenders to take her place. Spell Mage received some buffs, but they seem too little to make it competitive. It is at around 50% win rate now, so it has clearly improved, but not enough.

Spell Mage – #48 Legend (Anartica) – Whizbang’s Workshop

Deck Import

Paladin

In addition to Hunter, Flood Paladin has been dominant in the early post-patch meta. The deck was actually built early in Whizbang’s Workshop, but it was not strong enough until some balance patches weakened the competition enough. It became a major contender after the Demon Hunter nerf, and it was not touched in the big patch at all. It also happens to be the top counter to Small Beast Hunter, which makes it all the better.

It is more vulnerable to control decks than Hunter, so Highlander Warrior and Highlander Shaman can challenge it, but it is blasting through most of the ladder.

Aggro Paladin – #185 Legend (Puchacz) – Whizbang’s Workshop

Deck Import

Priest

With the nerf to Timewinder Zarimi, Priest is no longer dominant. Zarimi Priest still looks playable and there are some attempts to build Reno Priest decks now that Highlander cards have been given a new life, but nothing really stands out so far.

Zarimi Priest – #1 Legend (Ice) – Whizbang’s Workshop

Deck Import

Rogue

Zilliax Rogue is dead. The deck was built around the idea of a Stealth Zilliax, and with the Stealth removed in the patch, the win condition crumbled. That said, there is a bunch of experimentation going on with Rogue: Excavate Rogue, Wishing Well Rogue, Weapon Rogue, Playhouse Giant Rogue, Mech Rogue… There are lots of ideas around on what Rogue’s future direction could be, but none of them look too convincing so far.

Weapon Rogue looks the best so far, but I am not fully convinced by it.

Weapon Rogue

Deck Import

Excavate Rogue is still hanging on as well, but it is hard to imagine what it would need to become a major meta contender.

Excavate Rogue – #9 Legend (Homi) – Whizbang’s Workshop

Deck Import

The buff to Treasure Distributor encouraged people to try aggressive Pirate Rogue decks, but they have largely failed.

I actually played some old school Mech Rogue that was suggested to me on the ladder, and it felt pretty good, but there are no stats available for it, so try at your own risk.

Neru’s Mech Rogue

Deck Import

Rogue is one of the more interesting classes right now when it comes to the sheer variety of ideas that are being attempted. It is just unclear whether any of them will work well enough. Pirate Rogue is the only clear failure so far, and Zilliax Rogue is dead, but all others show at least some promise.

Shaman

Nature Shaman looks too weak after the nerfs. The deck can still try to reach a 50% win rate, but its climbing days are over. It has been replaced, again, by Highlander Shaman.

Reno Shaman – #15 Legend (Theo) – Whizbang’s Workshop

Deck Import

Highlander Shaman is the true jack-of-all-trades, master of none. It has a bit of everything in its tool box, and with the reduced lethality of the post-patch meta, a generalist tool box is able to grab quite a few wins. It is also one of the few decks that has a good matchup against Flood Paladin, so it looks like Highlander Shaman may be here to stay.

Warlock

Wheel Warlock is completely dead. One extra turn to get the Wheel effect, Reno no longer works in the decks, and the Boomboss nerf actually gave Warrior a win condition against the deck. Yeah, it’s gone.

The current top Warlock deck is Excavate Warlock of all things. However, this is unlikely to last. The best version of Excavate Warlock works because of a bugged card interaction. The version that does not utilize the bug is also playable, but only barely above 50%.

Excavate Warlock – Legend (Clark) – Whizbang’s Workshop

Deck Import

Beyond that, Sludge Warlock still looks moderately competitive. It is the deck that has stood the test of time the best in Whizbang’s Workshop, being capable of climbing to Legend at all times since day one of the new expansion. It is not a top-tier deck, but it keeps delivering results.

Doomguard Sludge Warlock – #56 Legend (ChaboDennis) – Whizbang’s Workshop

Deck Import

Pain Warlock is alive mainly because it has two excellent matchups: Zarimi Priest and Highlander Warrior. Sadly, it loses quite badly to both Hunter and Paladin, so there is no good reason to play it over Sludge Warlock in the current meta.

Pain Warlock – #8 Legend (yLn) – Whizbang’s Workshop

Deck Import

Warrior

Warrior is all about one archetype now, but it is the third-best deck in the game behind Hunter and Paladin. Highlander Warrior is doing better than ever despite most Warrior board clears being made more expensive and Boomboss Tho'grun now shuffling T.N.T. into the opponent’s deck instead of your own, so you can no longer draw them rapidly to blow things up.

In fact, Boomboss looks better than it was, so maybe the change ended up being a buff instead. It is lethal against Wheel Warlock, but it should have been weaker against many other decks in the meta. I guess it actually is, but it was not that good before and now it is actually good against Warlock, Rogue, and Demon Hunter. Even if it contributes little in other matchups, it is now devastating in some.

Reno Warrior – #30 Legend (NoHandsGamer) – Whizbang’s Workshop

Deck Import

Deepminer Brann is the card that makes the deck tick. It is such a huge buff to Zilliax and Inventor Boom. The sheer versatility of Reno Warrior is quite amazing, really.

Hunter and Warlock (but not Wheel Warlock) are the main counters to Warrior.

Is This a New Design Direction?

I would not really call this a new design direction for the game. Some other card games have done major revamps, and those have been far more extensive. Hearthstone is still largely the same. The uninteractive win conditions in the game were slowed down by a turn or two. But we have been here before. Rastakhan’s Rumble had a brief combo-dominated meta that was quickly patched away. This is not new.

The patch was a big one though. I do not recall there being as big of a Standard balance patch before. Several decks were killed. Multiple classes are now searching for new paths, and there seems to be space for new innovation in the meta. I even expect some brand-new decks to appear over the next week.

For now, the top three decks are ones that existed before the patch: Small Beast Hunter, Flood Paladin, and Highlander Warrior. It is notable that Flood Paladin itself was still fresh at the top and had not fully spread around the ladder before the patch. It is still a rare sight, but one that is becoming more common by the hour.

So, while Hearthstone did not become a new game overnight, the patch was a major one and there is now more room to brew new decks on the ladder than there has been at any point during Whizbang’s Workshop. It is not a bad time to play some Hearthstone!

Old Guardian

Ville "Old Guardian" Kilkku is a writer and video creator focused on analytic, educational Hearthstone, and building innovative Standard format decks. Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/OldGuardian Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/old_guardian

Check out Old Guardian on Twitter or on their Website!

Leave a Reply

4 Comments

  1. Mimeoplasm
    April 28, 2024 at 11:56 am

    Sorry, so Blizzard just made the “biggest patch ever” and the results are the following:

    1. The top three decks prior to the patch, are still the best three decks
    2. All the other decks are ruined and now looking for new decks to play?

    Oh, and they want to increase player urgency, so they make toxic cards cost one more?… Why in the sweet hell would that increase player urgency? Lol

    How does the Hearthstone team still have jobs? This is embarrassing

    • Funguin19
      April 29, 2024 at 10:42 am

      …because it costing 1 extra mana gives you an extra turn to execute your counterplay. 1 mana is huge. A lot of DK’s efficient board clears are delayed by a whole turn. Priest can’t slam Zarimi on 5 and win immediately. Warrior can’t play Reno on 8, giving you an extra turn to put on pressure.
      Sure, we can clown them for the whole agency thing but the meta will settle and the three top decks will not be dominant for long because the other classes will refine and adapt. Those three are all old decks which are highly refined.

      • Mimeoplasm
        May 3, 2024 at 7:55 pm

        The issue with player agency wasn’t what turn people cast Zarimi or Reno, it was on the effect itself. The other player is powerless to stop a Zarimi, turn 5 or turn 8. And a Reno shuts down any board based deck just as hard on turn 9, as it did on turn 8. The issue with player agency hasn’t been changed at all, just delayed by one turn… which is pointless.

        So far, the only thing this patch did is maintain the already top decks and push everything else down further. One mana cost increase isn’t going to help spur a new set of decks that will suddenly become viable lol

        Things that can increase player agency:

        1. Reno doesn’t lock board down to 1 for a turn
        2. Reno doesn’t affect locations (petrified dragon nest is useless because of Reno atm)
        3. Sarina give other player an extra turn first, then extra turn for casting player after. Allowing opponent to prepare for potential double strike.
        4. Stop nerfing cards from already middling decks…
        5. Playtest internally before releasing. It’s a shame that the public pay to beta test Hearthstone on what seems like a constant basis now.

  2. DemianHS
    April 27, 2024 at 2:02 pm

    Really nice and refresh changes. I hope HL Warrior don’t become a plague. xD