I’m going to take a quick first glance at which decks will be most affected by the upcoming format changes in Hearthstone. This list could likely be obsolete when the Basic and Classic sets are nerfed, but it should be fun to look at how decks are going to be different in the future.
What it Loses: Imp-losion, Haunted Creeper, Nerubian Egg, and Loatheb.
The problem for Warlock Zoo is that the deck flat out loses its protection from AOE. Haunted Creeper and Nerubian Egg are very effective at limiting your opponent’s ability to completely clear your board. You would largely lean on cards from the very old school Warlock Zoo, e.g., Argent Squire, Harvest Golem, Scarlet Crusader, and Shattered Sun Cleric. You could also see the return of Argent Commander due to the removal of Sludge Belcher.
What it Loses: Lightbomb, Zombie Chow, Deathlord, Vol'jin, and Sludge Belcher
I’m really curious how Priest will fare without Zombie Chow and Deathlord. Priest also loses Dark Cultist, which could have been a potentially good card to use as a replacement. I’m guessing we’re going to see a heavy resurgence of Dragon Priest, as the deck is largely unaffected by the set restriction and any cards it lost can easily be replaced.
What it Loses: Avenge, Shielded Minibot, Coghammer, Muster for Battle, Haunted Creeper, Piloted Shredder, Sludge Belcher, and Dr. Boom
Secret Paladin is absolutely getting gutted by the Standard format. Paladin in general is losing two of its strongest cards in Shielded Minibot and Muster for Battle. I could see this deck sticking around largely on the back of how powerful Mysterious Challenger is, but it is also losing Avenge which is arguably Paladin’s best secret.
What it Loses: Tinker's Sharpsword Oil, Piloted Shredder, Loatheb, Sludge Belcher, and Dr. Boom
Well, it loses its namesake, so it won’t be known as Oil Rogue anymore. I think Rogue will be okay though, the other cards it loses are replaceable. You might just see a turn to something closer to what LifeCoach is using which is more midrange and doesn’t rely on burst damage to finish the opponent. We might even see something like what Dog was running which uses Southsea Deckhand, Cold Blood, and Faceless Manipulator to generate big burst combos!
What it Loses: Death's Bite, Unstable Ghoul, and Dr. Boom
The outlook for Patron Warrior might be a bit dire. I’m not sure it can function without two of its three AOE cards. The deck finally had found a reasonable power level, and is now likely going to be obsolete! Death's Bite is a huge loss for Warrior, it was premiere removal that also cleaned up pesky one health minions with ease. Maybe with Muster for Battle leaving the game it won’t need it as much anymore.
What it Loses: Death's Bite, Shieldmaiden, Sludge Belcher, and Dr. Boom
Control Warrior is losing a lot of its defensive capabilities. Sludge Belcher is going to be tough to replace, and Death’s Bite is crucial to controlling boards and taking out 5-health minions like Emperor Thaurissan and Sylvanas Windrunner. If Warrior is lucky, maybe they’ll find new OP legendaries to take advantage of in the next expansion!
What it Loses: Shade of Naxxramas, Piloted Shredder, Loatheb, and Dr. Boom
Druid is the scariest class heading into the Standard format. It doesn’t lose much, and if it wasn’t for talk of Basic and Classic cards receiving a balance pass, it would be clear to me that Druid would be the strongest class going into the new formats. Now it all depends on how big of a nerfing is unleashed on the class.
What it Loses: Webspinner, Haunted Creeper, Mad Scientist, Piloted Shredder, Loatheb, and Dr. Boom
Midrange Hunter is losing a lot more than I expected. Losing Webspinner is not a huge deal, but Haunted Creeper and Mad Scientist are big parts of this deck. Piloted Shredder is also hugely important in this deck where tempo plays a major role. I could see this deck resurfacing with more beast synergy, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Hunter class forsakes large minions and goes pure face!
What it Loses: Haunted Creeper, Glaivezooka, and Mad Scientist
This all really depends on how important Mad Scientist is to Face Hunter. It’s a really good card, but I don’t think it breaks the deck by losing it. It sure makes Eaglehorn Bow a lot weaker, but we’ll see if Hunter could make up the damage by re-adding in a card like Wolfrider.
I missed Glaivezooka before, which is actually a pretty big hit to Face Hunter’s damage output.
What it Loses: Everything… Unstable Portal, Snowchugger, Goblin Blastmage, Clockwork Gnome, Cogmaster, Annoy-o-Tron, Mechwarper, Spider Tank, Tinkertown Technician, Piloted Shredder, Fel Reaver, and Dr. Boom
Well, if you were curious what deck takes the most casualties, it’s likely Mech Mage. There will be no salvaging this deck, or any other deck that has the word “Mech” in it. Goblin Blastmage was one of the cards that really distinguished this deck from others, and now it, along with most of the other mechs are gone. Pour out a bit of liquor for Mech Mage…
What it Loses: Darkbomb, Antique Healbot, Sludge Belcher, and Dr. Boom
Handlock is a bit weak at the moment, but it has always come back to form at some point in the meta. I think because of the loss of Antique Healbot, and the introduction of Reno Jackson, we might have seen the end of Handlock as we know it. Renolock might be the future of the class, but Warlock is actually losing quite a few cards from the standard version of that deck as well, e.g., Mal'Ganis, Feugen, Stalagg, etc. We’ll have to wait and see what lies ahead for control decks in Warlock!
What it Loses: Mad Scientist and Antique Healbot
This all really comes down to how important Mad Scientist is to Freeze Mage. The deck existed without it before Curse of Naxxramas, so I think it will stick around. We’ll probably see more versions with Reno Jackson in it, or we’ll see cards like Novice Engineer fill the spot to generate more card cycle in the deck.
Did I miss something, or do you have something to add? Feel free to let me know in the comments below!
I’ve only played this game for about 9 months and I’ve bought all of naxx and one wing of Blackrock so all of my decks are dying Mech Mage, Midrange Hunter, Mech Shaman, Even my priest deck is dying. I’m pretty pissed because I bought naxx with my own money and now it’s wasted this update is really based on those people who have all the cards and arnt going to be affected because they can just build a new deck with their mass amounts of dust to craft whatever they need and all of us new players are getting thrown out of the game
you will have the wild mode and that will not affect your decks. you are new so i think its normal that you can’t get into everything from the begining
I haven’t payed any money at all and I have only bought 2 adventures,well I may have good cards I play midrange druid Eli even may see druid dying this format so what?! This game becomes a lot more cooler with this ..if toy like this game then you should say OK come on I will create something better I cannot think of myself being in rank 2 or 3 without my druid deck but it’s OK it will workout Blizzard did the NICe call to kill naxramas they were broken and every single deck main Belcher haunted creeper ,and many more others
You missed Face Shaman which will be the dominant deck. All it will lose is crackle, yet the opposition will lose Antique Healbot and Sludge Belcher. Maybe Tournament Medic will see play.
I started to play 4 Months ago. I paied for naxx and i don’t think i have lost my money. Ok, I won’t play that cards in standard but i can still play them in wild. I don’t understand what people thing that now wild mode will be worst that actual play mode. I think that the problema is for new player, because will be so Hard for them to get ne naxx cards just with Dust. I would like that naxx still available. I expect a funny meta in standard if they nerf correctly. I think the same that the writter of the article. Druid is too strong. No sense to make that change for keep facing combo druid. If the nerf arrives would be better if they nerf force of nature. 600 of extra dust! I would also opten a lot of GvG untill the change. I repet, the naxx and GvG cards have t died!
I think this will be a good move. It will force folks to actually try new things that don’t necessarily do heh. I for one get tired of the same decks all the time, hell tired of seeing the same decks played against me. Yeah, yeah meta’s are what makes people win, but I enjoy the fun of just playing, so I only have a few meta decks made, the rest are just random things I’ve cooked up to have fun with. So narrowing the playing field a bit just brightens my will, to continue to try new things.
R.I.P Mech Mage…
Tempo Mage will be dead too. No Mad Scientiest, no Flamewalker (who is the core of this deck)…
But this will be interesting!
Flamewaker is actually Blackrock Mountain which will not rotate out.
I would be interested to see a list of cards that Tempo Mage loses as that is still a very popular deck and I am a Tempo Mage player.
From what I see, Tempo loses Unstable Portal (that’s actually huge) and Flamecannon (wasn’t in a lot of decks any more).
Echo Mage will completely cease to exist however as both Echo of Medivh and Duplicate will rotate out.
I feel like these are archetypes that should be covered in the article. They aren’t as niche as they seem.
Duplicate is a classic card.
Nope, it’s Curse of Naxxramas: http://www.hearthstonetopdecks.com/cards/duplicate/
I think we should all take a step back here. Magic is how old and they have had formats for how long? So when any magic player started hearthstone they knew they would either start formats or go out of business, so this was inevitable. But very few people have actually played magic long enough to remember the introduction of formats. We should all just appreciate how we are getting to participate in a somewhat historic event for hearthstone and that we will get to tell people how it started.
Glaivezooka will also be missed in Face Hunter decks
Good point, I’ll add that in!
Egg ad Aggro Druid are both very good decks on the ladder. I am one of those players that spent money to build my collection. I only need 5 cards to complete everything. And I can;t wait for Standard to launch. I am so sick of seeing the same damn minions every game. This is really going to open up the deck design space. We might even see less net decks on the ladder. Well for the first couple of months anyway.
I was a MTG player when they broke that game into different groups. Standard, extended, and classic. I loved the move then, and I love it know. My desire to play a game that offers fresh design space every year far outweighs my desire to own all the cards.
This whole thing is pathetic. I can’t see anyone that’s spent some time building up their collection going anywhere near this new Standard mode. Also, what makes you think the Basic and Classic cards are going to be nerfed?
Just read the update. Jesus, poor Druid – combo Druid is pretty much all that class had and now they’re gonna screw that too….
Then don’t go near it lol stop crying. Theh are not touchin g wild format so why are you even nagging here?
I think the new format structure will be fun. I am a veteran player and pretty much have every card in the game and I am NOT even complaining about this new format. I think it will be up fresh format with a lot of new deck designs. I think the new format also allows more players to jump into the game a lot easier then previously before. Like the guy above I also played magic the gathering and remember when they broke everything down into formats. That is what kept the game alive and kept the game fresh. I see this doing the same thing for hearthstone
Ofc you’re not complaining, you have ALMOST ALL cards. People who don’t play this game for so long and happened to focus on Naxxramas and GvG are the ones pissed! Yes, I’m one of them.
Well, you still have the “wild” format which will keep all the cards and get its own ladder and everything. But since most of what came out of Naxxramas and GvG is pretty cancerous, I have a hard time feeling sorry for you.
I can’t wait to see some variations coming up and the overall strength of standard decks go down.
Farewell, OP Aggro bullshit 🙂