Hearthstone: Now playable. The words we had all been waiting for finally appeared on the client on Tuesday, and what a day it was. People were playing The Rat King Hunter, Ping Mage with the buffed Mordresh Fire Eye, Pirate Warrior with the buffed Warrior Pirates, and even Wolpertinger Hunter with the newly improved Selective Breeder.
Alas, not all of those things survived to the third day of the new patch. We are still in the early days of the new meta, but the effects of the balance changes are major, there is no denying that. The popularity of Warlock collapsed overnight. Aggro Shadow Priest all but disappeared from the ladder. Quest Mage is the most popular deck in the game.
Taking a bit wider perspective into the meta, the big winners of the patch are midrange decks. Early United in Stormwind was characterized by a race between aggro and combo: can hyper-aggressive strategies beat combo decks before something like turn seven when the one-turn-kill happens? Now, that inevitability has been pushed back a little, and that in turn reveals some weaknesses in the aggressive strategies. We are witnessing the rise of decks that can defend themselves against the fastest aggro decks but still push enough damage to end games before combo decks are able to complete their plan.
This is what the patch set out to do. If you’ve lamented the absence of control decks as an archetype from the game, there are some tiny glimmers of hope, but nothing resembling top tier. However, if you’ve longed for some more board interaction, but are still a fan of fast games, the patch has delivered. A third archetype has entered the game. In addition to aggro and combo, midrange decks are back!
The Top Midrange Decks in the Post-Patch Meta
There are three classes at the top when it comes to midrange decks, each with its own strengths and weaknesses.
Deathrattle Demon Hunter has been the strongest midrange deck early in the patch, but I expect its performance to fall. It is the best midrange deck to bring against Quest Mage, and as Quest Mage has been very popular early in the patch, Deathrattle Demon Hunter has benefited from this great matchup. However, it is the weakest midrange deck in midrange mirrors, so as other midrange decks become more popular, it will have a harder time.
The main decklist for the archetype has not changed throughout United in Stormwind: this has been played since day one of the expansion, and it is still going strong!
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Libram Paladin is the polar opposite of Deathrattle Demon Hunter. It is the weakest midrange deck to bring against Quest Mage, but it is the strongest against other midrange decks. Libram Paladin looks promising, and there is potentially room to increase threat density in the deck to improve its Quest Mage matchup: many of the current lists are not running Battleground Battlemaster, for example. Handbuff Paladin is slightly more moderate in its matchups but it loses the mirror to Libram Paladin.
This is the standard approach to Libram Paladin at the moment. The main variations differ by two cards, which in this list are the Noble Mounts. There are also attempts to build Libram Secret Paladin. Librams are back and being fine-tuned constantly.
Elemental Shaman is the most well-rounded midrange deck. It is unfavored against Libram Paladin, but has a good time against other midrange decks and can easily defeat aggro decks while maintaining a 50/50 matchup against Quest Mage. Not much is happening with Elemental Shaman builds, the archetype is quite refined. The main question is whether you run one Auctionhouse Gavel or two, and maybe use the other slot for a Menacing Nimbus or something.
How Good Is Quest Mage?
Quest Mage quickly jumped to be the most popular deck in the game after the patch, but this popularity is not completely warranted. Sure, it has good matchups against many midrange decks, and the fast aggro decks that prey on it have become less common, but its main targets, other Quest decks, have also become less common. Midrange decks are not helpless against Quest Mage either and can be teched to be better in the matchup if needed.
Quest Mage is OK, but it is not the best deck in the game.
Aggro Druid and Face Hunter Would Like to Have a Word
Aggro decks are not completely gone, either. In fact, the best-performing deck in the early days of the balance patch has been Aggro Druid, followed by several midrange decks. WuLing’s list has been doing great, but you can also play with Park Panthers instead of Kazakus, Golem Shaper, and do fine. The deck is rather consistent and has no terrible matchups – even the worst ones like Quest Shaman or Big Warrior are manageable, which is a good thing for an Aggro build.
Face Hunter struggles more with midrange decks than Aggro Druid, but it can also still climb the ladder. There have been no notable changes to Face Hunter decks so far, players are using the same lists they were for the last few weeks, such as this one:
The Dark Horses – Will They Find Success?
Did the patch bring anything new to the game? Ping (Hero Power) Mage was really popular on the first couple of days, but sadly its results have been abysmal and the archetype is rapidly fading away. Wolpertinger Beast Hunter looked slightly promising on the first day, but it has not adapted well to people playing more good decks again. Those two might still be optimized, but I don’t suspect they will become a permanent part of the meta.
Warrior looks alive: the midrange meta suits the class a lot better than the OTK meta, and with the buffs to Pirates, Questline Pirate Warrior has managed to breach 50% win rate and become a real deck. There is no doubt that the archetype still requires a lot of refinement, but the old standard build is doing well on the ladder right now. There are also some attempts to build a control-style Quest Warrior, and the early results are promising. It will be interesting to see what will happen with the class.
In addition to Pirates, there is another Warrior archetype that has breached the 50% win rate for the first time in United in Stormwind: Big Warrior! Big Warrior is in some ways more straightforward to build, but there is still work going on with the minion package. For example, the choice between Mo'arg Forgefiend and Scrapyard Colossus is not trivial, and some versions of the deck even opt to run both!
What about Rogue? Garrote Rogue was not nerfed, but it has not been able to reach mainstream success anyway. The best-performing Rogue deck right now is Quest Rogue! It is comfortably over 50%, but whether it will stay as a real contender remains to be seen.
Can Questline Decks Return?
There have not been a lot of Quest Warlocks and Quest Shamans on the ladder now, but are they truly gone?
Early statistics show that Giants Questline Warlock is still a strong deck, especially builds that can handle a midrange meta the best. People may be a little tired of playing with it, but there is nothing wrong with the fundamentals of the deck that would prevent it from becoming a contender once again. Keep in mind that Tamsin was only an alternative win condition in the slow matchups anyway, and it’s still relevant in those. Giants version won most of the games with a big board swing (clearing opponent’s board while dropping Giants + 6/6 Taunts). The OTK variant looks dead, though.
Questline Shaman is not unplayable either. The deck still has plenty of good matchups and should Quest Mage numbers go down a little, it stands ready to come back to the meta.
However, even if the Questline decks remain viable, they will not become as popular again unless they are the best decks, and the nerfs made them just slow enough for midrange decks to contest them properly, so while they are viable, they are not dominant.
The Most Diverse Meta in United in Stormwind!
We have Aggro Druid at the very top, then a bunch of midrange decks right behind it, then there’s Quest Mage and Face Hunter, the old meta tyrants Quest Warlock and Quest Shaman are still alive, and even Warrior has found its way back into the meta with Pirate Warrior and Big Warrior showing some signs of life even if they are nowhere close to being top tier.
By United in Stormwind standards, this is the most diverse meta we have had. Aggro, midrange, and combo are all present, and there are even tiny signs of control life out there.
Now, these were only the first days of the new patch, so there is plenty of refinement ahead. Some of the new decks that turned out to be bad, like Ping Mage, are already out, but others may end up getting pushed out as well as decks are refined, and the battle for the #1 spot is by no means decided.
Regardless, if you enjoy relatively fast, board-based Hearthstone, this patch may have just made the game playable for you.
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
I love this Libram Paladin comeback. I’m trying a Questline version, so fun.
Looking back, for a long time i din’t feel this “fun” or joy, whatever. Good patch! <3