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Just Two Cards Nerfed and Look at the Meta Now! Life After Goldshire Gnoll and Construct Quarter

By: Old Guardian - - Updated:

After the Return to Naxxramas mini-set, I had two wishes for balance changes. Please, Blizzard, I begged, please nerf Construct Quarter to four mana and do something to Evolve Shaman. It is a little scary when your wishes come true. I think we are at the beginning of an interesting new meta journey now. It is hard to see where it will lead, but the tyrants are dead and it is time for new contenders to rise.

Blizzard Actually Killed a Deck

I had a hard time coming up with a specific nerf suggestion to Evolve Shaman. It looked like the deck could just brush off most things, and other changes would simply kill it. Knowing that Blizzard no longer kills decks, the best I could hope for was some change to Blazing Transmutation. But Blizzard had a different plan in mind. They went straight for Goldshire Gnoll.

Sure, they wrote nice things about Evolve Shaman in the patch notes. That’s what you do in an obituary. “Goldshire Gnoll is an important enabler for the deck’s bad play patterns, and this makes those play patterns slower and less powerful, while still allowing Evolve Shaman to play with the exciting new cards they got in the mini-set.”

Truth is, they killed it. Evolve Shaman is dead. I think it was the only way, really. I tried to figure out a nerf that would bring balance to the deck, but I could not come up with anything. The big surprise is that Blizzard actually killed a deck in 2023. This is the brutality of giving your Charge minions +1 Attack. Sometimes that is what it takes.

Frost Death Knight’s Armor Has Cracked

Before the balance changes, Frost Death Knight had risen to a dominant position. After the bug that allowed Shaman to Discover Neptulon the Tidehunter with Blazing Transmutation was fixed, Frost Death Knight was left with no unfavorable matchups. None. The best you could hope for when going against them was a 50/50.

With the nerf to Construct Quarter, this has finally changed. Cracks have started to appear in the ice.

Frost Death Knight is still a strong deck. You can bring your old list and have a good time on the ladder, unlike with Evolve Shaman. But you will also find opponents that feel comfortable taking you on. Spell Demon Hunter, Quest Druid, and Undead Priest no longer flinch when confronted by the freezing winds.

Frost Aggro Death Knight – #1 Legend (PocketTrain) – Return to Naxxramas

Deck Import

With the more diverse meta we are experiencing in these early days after the balance patch, my main recommendation if you want to play with Frost Death Knight is to pick a list that includes Brann Bronzebeard. While Brann is ineffective in fast matchups, it gives Frost Death Knight a better shot at beating slightly slower decks, which makes it a great fit to a meta that is still looking for its shape and where you can meet many kinds of opponents.

A New Questline Rises

Quest Druid. Seriously? This is a deck I did not see coming.

Questline Druid – Early #1 Legend (Youth) – Return to Naxxramas

Deck Import

The nerfs left a bit of room for Druid to ramp up and develop its game once again, and the current top contender for this style of gameplay is Questline Druid.

The name of the deck is perhaps a bit misleading because the Questline is not the only or even the main win condition of the deck. What your opponents will really be destroyed by is none other than the good old Brann Bronzebeard, Anub'Rekhan, and Astalor Bloodsworn. The Questline provides some convenient Armor along the way.

Bonus points for the beautiful Lingering Zombie and Spammy Arcanist board clear combo. The Zombie keeps dying and ensures that Spammy will always get at least four explosions off.

Questline Druid has been doing well in these early days, but it is by no means a meta-tyrant. It is great against Frost Death Knight, Spell and Fel Demon Hunters, and Aggro Mage, but it has its fair share of weaknesses too. Pure Paladin, Imp Warlock, and Undead Priest are among its most unfavorable matchups. Therefore, I am not yet sure how long Questline Druid will be able to succeed on the ladder, but for the time being, it is a novel solution to the meta.

Undead Priest, Maybe This Time?

The rise of Undead Priest has been… Slow? Non-existent? Unlikely? Regardless of the words that you would choose to describe the performance of the deck in March of the Lich King, this patch will see it rise up the ranks. For sure.

Undead Priest

Deck Import

There are multiple variants of Undead Priest that look competitive on the ladder right now. I still prefer the burn variant that runs a limited Undead package. Of course, Incorporeal Corporal and Whispers of the Deep make the cut, as their effectiveness has been amply demonstrated over the past few weeks.

This variant does not run a package large enough to support Rotting Necromancer, but there are also slightly different lists with a few more Undead that can make use of the mini-set card as well. It is unclear which style is the best as of yet.

Either way, Undead Priest looks more promising than ever after the nerfs. It has a good number of strong matchups, including Quest Druid, Frost Death Knight, and Curse Imp Warlock. While the deck also has some clear weaknesses, such as Aggro Mage and Quest Hunter, those do not look like they would be crippling.

More Questlines?

Speaking of Quest Hunter, yes, it looks like a real deck again.

XL Questline Hunter – #11 Legend (LvGe) – Return to Naxxramas

Deck Import

Questlines are rotating out of the Standard format with the next expansion, and they look set to go out with a bang. At this early stage, I do not have enough data on Questline Hunter to evaluate its odds of staying in the meta. It has done really well in the first couple of days, but as more people pick up the deck, we will start to see where its weaknesses lie and whether those will prevent it from becoming a main meta contender.

The Purator is a Mech Now!

I just thought you should know. The deck where it is currently wreaking havoc does not make any use of its Mech tag though. The nerfs opened just enough space for Pure Paladin to shine again, and what would be a more fun new toy for the archetype then The Purator from the mini-set:

Pure Paladin – Early #1 Legend (Jambre) – Return to Naxxramas

Deck Import

Pure Paladin being able to shine brings me hope for the meta because Paladin is typically one of the more fair classes in Hearthstone. Sure, there’s the Blood Crusader and The Countess wombo combo, but the deck is by no means dependent on it. It’s just a strong deck that overwhelms you with good cards.

Something New, Something Old

What is beautiful about this balance patch is that there is now a good mix of new and old on the ladder. People are experimenting again, making use of the new-found freedom after the terror of Frost Death Knight and Evolve Shaman has passed. Yet, Frost Death Knight is still a part of the meta, just not an oppressive part anymore. Likewise, a number of old meta staples are still around and performing well, but not so well that they would shut down new innovations.

One of the decks people were concerned about before the patch was Big Spell Mage. Turns out that Big Spell Mage is indeed good, but by no means oppressive.

Big Spell Mage – 12-2 (Gerben) – Heroic Brawliseum March of the Lich King

Deck Import

The nerf to Grey Sage Parrot was directed at Wild Quest Mage and has no effect on the current Big Spell Mage in Standard. Spells are recast according to their original mana cost, and the Standard version does not play any five-mana cards, so the change from five mana to six mana means nothing to it. Big Spell Mage will rotate out of Standard almost completely when the next expansion arrives, so if you want to play it, now is your chance. Accordingly, it is not a great deck to craft from scratch right now.

Demon Hunter is also happy with the current meta. Most Demon Hunter decks are built around Relics, either with the Scythe or with a Fel focus, both work.

Fel Relic Demon Hunter – #140 Legend (Helve187) – Return to Naxxramas

Deck Import

Finally, decks like Shockspitter Hunter, Aggro Mage, Imp Warlock, and Curse Imp Warlock have found reasonable success in the new meta. You can still play many of your old favorites, but none of them dominate the meta at the expense of other decks.

Where to from Here?

The realist in me says that the only direction from here is down. Just two nerfs. Just two nerfs, and they really opened up the meta. There is a major wave of experimentation going on in the ladder at the moment, and these are some of the finest moments in Hearthstone. Perhaps a new meta-tyrant will be found as early as next week. Or perhaps this is one of those metagames where a wide variety of decks can succeed? That would be nice. Either way, the patch had a major effect and right now it is a good time to play 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!

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One Comment

  1. Strangiii
    March 5, 2023 at 9:42 AM

    I’m pretty concerned about the rotation.
    DK will lose just a couple of neutral minions, but besides that, the decks will remain intact.
    So either blizz is going to nerf the hell out of DK and revert them, as soon as other classes found a solid base again, or we will have DK stone for at least the whole of April.