Update: The decks got updated for Into the Emerald Dream expansion. It’s been only a couple of months since the last update, but they had to do another one, because previous decks included cards that would rotate out of Standard (so they obviously could no longer be offered as Standard decks). At this point we don’t know if another update will happen mid-expansion or with the second set of the year.
Back in 2020, Blizzard started giving away free decks for new and returning players as an extra incentive. More recently, they changed it from picking one deck right away to “loaning” 6 decks for a week. This way players have access to all 6 options for 7 days and can playtest them during that time. After the week ends, they will have to select one of the 6 to get for free, the other 5 will no longer be playable.
Loaner decks aren’t always top-tier meta options, but they are often good enough to play at lower ranks, and after a few adjustments they can even be taken all the way to Legend. However, usually, their quality varies quite a lot – sometimes we get hidden gems (like a full-fledged, expensive Tier 1 meta build) and sometimes real stinkers (like very cheap builds or weak decks that no one plays). And it might not always be clear which is which if you aren’t familiar with the current meta (and you probably aren’t if you’re reading this).
So, if you just started playing Hearthstone or haven’t been playing in a while and you’re wondering what those decks are and which one you should pick, this article is for you!
How to Get Them
There are two kinds of players who are eligible for free decks – new and returning players.
New players get to pick the deck when they reach Bronze 10 rank for the first time (which is the rank every regular player is reset to at the start of the season). To get there, they can either play through the apprentice ranks (special ranks reserved for new players) or straight-up skip them. We don’t recommend the latter option, because if you’re a truly new player, playing on those separate ranks will make you understand the game better and also offer a bunch of extra rewards.
Returning players are those who were inactive for at least 90 days, which is roughly 3/4 of the expansion. In the past, you had to complete a so-called “returning players experience”, but now just logging in is enough to get your shiny, new deck.
After one of those two conditions is met, players get 6 temporary decks for free on log-in. Then exactly 7 days later they will have to choose one out of 6 to keep permanently.
It’s also important to note that this is not a one-time offer. If you have already received a free deck in the past, then you stay inactive for over 90 days again, you will be eligible for another free deck. So if you only play at the start of each expansion, you can technically get a new free deck every set.
Full List of Loaner Decks
- Format: raptor
- Posted By:
4,080
- Format: raptor
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- 7,500
- Format: raptor
- Posted By:
- 11,640
- Format: raptor
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- 7,020
- Format: raptor
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- 1Lock On2
- 1Murloc Growfin2
- 1Pop-Up Book2
- 2Missile Pod2
- 3Turbulus1
- 5Siege Tank2
- 6Shudderblock1
- 1SCV2
- 2Birdwatching2
- 2Parrot Sanctuary2
- 2Starport2
- 4Ghost2
- 4Gorgonzormu1
- 4Lift Off2
- 5Arkonite Defense Crystal2
- 8Jim Raynor1
- Format: raptor
- Posted By:
- 12,680
Sideboard
Which Deck To Pick
As always, that’s the most important question. What I usually like to do is to look at it from two angles – deck power level and deck cost. Deck power level means the deck that is the strongest right now (or closest to the meta version), while deck cost is, well, how much Arcane Dust it would cost to craft it (so the “value” you’re getting by picking it).
First, let’s look at them in terms of value. If we disregard Core Set cards, cards that you can pick up for free etc. then the winner is very clear. Warrior is by far the most valuable deck of the bunch, with multiple Legendaries and Epics. Maybe most importantly, the deck has three strong Neutral Legendaries – Kil'jaeden, Zilliax Deluxe 3000 and The Ceaseless Expanse. The last two were just nerfed, but I can guarantee that they will still see play after nerfs. The second-best is Hunter, once again offering three strong Neutral Legendaries – Griftah, Trusted Vendor, Incindius and The Ceaseless Expanse. Both decks also include some good class cards.
On the other hand, Death Knight is by far the cheapest deck, with only a single Legendary and two Epics. Not to mention that the Legendary is from the mini-set, so it’s lower value (it costs the same amount of Dust, but it’s much easier to get, as you should be spending your Gold on mini-sets anyway). The other 3 decks are all somehwere in the middle, around the same value. Worse than Warrior, but better than Death Knight. They mostly focus on class cards and don’t really stand out in terms of strong Neutral Legendaries.
Now, the second way to judge the decks is power level. And this is much harder right now for two reasons. First – we just had a massive balance patch with tons of nerfs. Most of those decks include some nerfed cards. We still don’t know how big of an impact those nerfs had. And second – we’re on the cusp of a yearly rotation, with well over 600 cards leaving Standard. It’s safe to assume that the meta after the rotation will look quite different than the one we had before it. So I have to make some guesses in order to rank them as such.
However, I think that Hunter might be the strongest out of those decks. Discover Hunter has been a real meta contender for a while now, and while it’s been nerfed a bit, the nerfs weren’t major enough to destroy it or anything. Also it doesn’t lose a lot of important cards in the rotation, so it should stay relevant. The second strongest deck is probably Terran Shaman – again, another deck that was just nerfed, but it should still be good after the rotation, even if you need to make some adjustments by adding new expansion cards. Protoss Mage might also be surprisingly strong. It was already almost playable and with it not losing much in the rotation + other decks getting nerfed, it might finally be its time to shine.
However, ultimately the choice is up to you. The most important thing is for you to have fun. If you like any of those classes or playstyles in particular, pick that deck. Since you can play all 6 decks for a week, you have enough time to test all of them before committing.
You mention discover hunter might be the strongest among those loaner decks but my expierience is the exact opposite. Either Im doing something wrong or its not really doing well in current meta. On the other hand I had best luck with protoss mage deck.
I’m sorry to hear it. Discover Hunter was nerfed pretty hard in the last patch, which happened a couple of weeks after I wrote this post. Right now it should still be playable but no longer nearly as strong as it was early in the expansion.
I’d have to take a closer look at those decks again in the current meta and edit the post.
And all the asteroid shaman cards are here to stay? I feel like I wasted my loaner decks by coming 4 weeks before a new expansion…I don’t want to pick something that will be unplayable in 4 weeks
Great Job. Thank you !
2 littles question though if you a little time to answer please :
• Is there a link to see old loaner decks ? Just to have an idea what Blizzard gives in the long term
• Is there a took to know the cost dust of the decks excluding Core Set or Uncraftable cards in loaner decks ?
Thank you in advance ^_^
Hey! What happens if I do have some legendary cards from the free deck I choose? They will give me a second copy or I would lose it? If this last one is the case, I would have to disenchant the cards before picking the deck to get all of them. How does it work? Thanks!
Sorry about a late reply. You will just get extra copies of the cards you already own. You don’t have to disenchant anything in advance. You can do it afterwards if you so wish.
But if we’re talking about a powerful and popular Legendary, it might be worth it to not disenchant it right away. When a card gets nerfed in a patch, players can disenchant it for its full crafting cost for a period of time. A good example is Zilliax Deluxe 3000, which has been nerfed multiple times already, and after each nerf you could get 1600 Dust from it instead of the regular 400. If you just disenchanted it right away you would get 400 Dust, but if you waited you might have gotten 1200 extra.