A new season of Hearthstone Grandmasters has started with the launch of United in Stormwind! We already posted the full details on where to watch the games and how to get some free packs while doing so, and in this article, I will take a look at what is being played and what interesting card choices players have made. I assume that you have met some Quest Mages and Quest Warlocks at this point, but what else does the game have to offer?
Grandmasters Deck Archetypes
The first rounds of games were played off-stream, and this is what the 192 deck archetypes brought by the 48 Grandmasters looked like:
- 38 Demon Hunters (all of them Quest OTK)
- 36 Warlocks (all of them Quest decks of different varieties)
- 28 Mages (20 Quest Mages with Wand Thief, 6 Quest Mages without minions, and 2 Quest Mages with Gadgetzan Auctioneer)
- 27 Hunters (all Face)
- 16 Paladins (15 Handbuff, 1 Secret)
- 15 Shamans (7 Aggro, 5 Elemental, 3 Quest)
- 14 Rogues (10 Quest, 2 Garrote, 1 Poison, 1 Kazakus)
- 13 Priests (9 Shadow, 4 Control)
- 3 Druids (2 Anacondra, 1 Quest)
- 2 Warriors (both Control)
Overall, 55% of the decks were Quest decks, and only 50 decks (26%) represented archetypes that existed before United in Stormwind, so the expansion has truly reshaped the meta!
The Warlock Quest decks can be a little difficult to categorize, but they basically follow one of three plans: Zoo (21), Flesh Giant and Battleground Battlemaster (8), or quick Questline completion and OTK with Stealer of Souls (7).
For the streamed rounds, players had an option to change their decks, and most of them did, as 58 decks were changed! For streamed rounds, the 24 qualified Grandmasters brought these 96 deck archetypes:
- 20 Warlocks (all of them Quest decks, now the majority of them with Giants and Battlemaster)
- 18 Demon Hunters (17 Quest OTK, 1 Fel Deathrattle)
- 16 Hunters (all Face)
- 14 Mages (all Quest)
- 10 Paladins (5 Handbuff, 5 Secret)
- 8 Shamans (6 Aggro, 1 Elemental, 1 Quest)
- 4 Rogues (all Quest)
- 3 Druids (all Anacondra)
- 3 Priests (all Shadow)
- 0 Warriors
With a few more days of experience of the new expansion and a bit more experience of playing this expansion in Conquest tournament format, we are starting to see the best archetypes come on top. In Warlock, there has been a major shift from Zoo to the Giants style pioneered by NoHandsGamer. Shamans are relying more heavily on Doomhammer, and Druids on Lady Anacondra. Control Priests are gone, but some Shadow Priests remain. Secret Paladin, pioneered by WuLing in this expansion, has gained ground from the slower Handbuff build.
And then there’s Monsanto bringing the spice with a Fel Deathrattle Demon Hunter when everyone else wants to OTK. I’m not yet sure how that fits the narrative of the best decks coming on top, but it will be something interesting to watch this weekend.
The Most Interesting Decks
For the most interesting decks, I’m looking for off-meta decks, decks with interesting tech cards, and new upcoming archetypes that may become meta but are not that popular yet. You can already find out how to build a Quest Mage on this website, so I’m not going to repeat that once again.
Let’s see what the Grandmasters have brought us!
Bozzzton’s Secret Paladin
7,080
While Handbuff Paladin has been the most popular Paladin archetype in early United in Stormwind, Secret Paladin has actually been the stronger performer. WuLing’s list is the most common Secret Paladin on the ladder and it has a great track record. Bozzzton’s list is a more recent development similar to Otsuna’s list that includes Blessing of Authority in combination with Battleground Battlemaster for some insane damage potential starting from turn six.
Compared to Otsuna’s list, Bozzzton’s deck lacks two copies of Noble Mount and includes Avenge and Hand of A'dal.
A fun and strong deck that can also perform well on the ladder.
Bankyugi’s Control Warrior
- 1Shield Slam2
- 2Bladestorm2
- 2Corsair Cache1
- 2Minefield2
- 3Bulwark of Azzinoth1
- 3Heavy Plate2
- 4Kargath Bladefist1
- 4Outrider’s Axe2
- 4Rancor2
- 5Brawl2
- 5Shieldmaiden2
- 9Rattlegore1
Control Warrior seems completely dead on the ladder with the best lists performing at below 40% win rates. Nonetheless, two players brought Control Warrior to Grandmasters! Obviously, in a tournament, you can target specific decks and you have a ban, so decks that are unplayable on the ladder can be valuable in this different environment.
How well did Control Warrior do? Sadly, we did not get to see them played, as Control Warrior was banned every time, and none were brought to the weekend’s games.
If you want to take this one to the ladder, be prepared to lose a lot. On the other hand, if you find the right matchups, you just might win a few games as well. Who doesn’t love high-risk, low-reward!
Monsanto’s Fel Deathrattle Demon Hunter
When everyone else brings OTK Demon Hunter and you bring Fel Deathrattle Demon Hunter, you’re guaranteed to get some coverage. Well played, evil corporation, well played.
The Fel variant of Deathrattle Demon Hunter works in a similar way to the regular list in the early game, but it includes Jace Darkweaver as its finisher instead of Illidari Inquisitor: Jace can recast your Chaos Strike, Fury (Rank 2) (or in some cases even Rank 3), and Fel Barrage for some impressive burst damage that comes a little faster than Illidari Inquisitor.
The archetype has seen some play on the ladder and it looks like a viable alternative to the regular Deathrattle Demon Hunter list.
Seiko’s Giants Quest Warlock
The Flesh Giants variant of Quest Warlock comes with two threats: completing the Questline allows you to transfer your damage from your Hero Power, fatigue, Raise Dead, and Backfire to your opponent, and on the way there you can drop some cheap or free Flesh Giants and give them Windfury with Battleground Battlemaster.
There is no Stealer of Souls here, nor are there cheap minions that could flood the board early, but the power of the Questline and the Giants makes this deck a serious contender.
In Seiko’s version of the archetype, there is also a bit of anti-aggro tech in the form of Lion's Guard: you take a lot of damage early on anyway, so a 6/10 Taunt for five mana seems perfectly reasonable.
J4YOU’s Celestial Anacondra Druid
Anacondra Druid, built around Lady Anacondra and Druid’s excellent selection of Nature spells, was invented in Forged in the Barrens, but it has grown stronger in United in Stormwind. The ability to play almost insurmountable boards with cheap Nature spells is a powerful win condition that comes online a lot faster than corrupted Carnival Clowns, which are too slow for the current meta.
J4YOU’s version of the deck comes with a twist: Celestial Alignment that makes it more difficult for your opponent to play cards, whereas Lady Anacondra can still go strong despite the effect.
There are some statistics available of this style of Anacondra Druid on the ladder, and it looks like a viable variant even if it is not stronger than the usual version without the ability to limit your opponent’s plays.
J4YOU’s Bearshark Face Hunter
I’m a simple Hearthstone writer: I see a deck with Bearshark in it, I put it in an article. Bearshark is one of my favorite cards of all time, but it has seemed too slow to play, especially after Houndmaster rotated out of the Standard format. However, seeing how Robes of Protection has become a successful tech card, maybe there are some metas where Bearshark is also playable. Current meta includes a lot of direct, single target removal and Bearshark seems like a good counter for that.
Nalguidan’s Quest Shaman
Quest Shaman has recently become more popular, so if you haven’t followed closely, you might not have noticed it yet.
You play a number of Overload cards to get through your Questline, and at the end you receive Stormcaller Bru'kan, who makes all of your spells cast twice for the rest of the game. From there, you have some direct damage spells, and you also have Charged Call for some huge minions. The fact that you Discover the minions from Charged Call instead of getting a random one is a big deal, as you can almost always steer clear of the bad ones.
Have fun!
You may be able to catch some of these decks in action during the weekend, and several of them should be viable for ladder play as well. While competitive Hearthstone often consists of 20 identical versions of the top meta decks, there are some novel deck choices and tech cards that give an interesting twist to some of the decks brought to the competition, some of which may end up going strong on the ladder as well.
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 remember some years ago, how I was looking for some specific builds on different websites and was collecting HS info from various parts of the internet. Since the creation of this website, I find everything valuable here.
This is the best HS website! In combination with hsreplay for stats, d0nkey for newest results and yaytears for lineup showing, nobody needs anything more.
All info, I would need, even something I would just have a dream about, everything is here! I was planning to try to put the GM lineups into a table, look for differences, try to find the “jewel” that not everybody is playing, but someone tried. And it is here!
Thank you!
Who played the Quest Druid? Can’t find the decklist but I’m really curious
McBanterface. I think it’s the same decklist that’s on here with regular Guff.