The talk of the town after the Demon Hunter nerfs has no doubt been the re-emergence of Shamanstone as Evolve Shaman has risen to be the most popular deck in the game. In Legend, Miracle Rogue starts to appear in numbers that challenge Shaman’s dominance, but everywhere else on the ladder there is no contest as to which deck is the most popular one.
However, for me, the Demon Hunter nerfs meant something else entirely. After the nerfs, I have played nothing but control decks, and it has been a wonderful experience. Sure, Shaman can be frustrating to deal with, and so can Rogue, but any non-Warrior control decks were just so utterly demolished by Demon Hunter’s pressure and their ability to OTK should you somehow survive it that playing control was limited to playing Warrior who can amass enough armor to survive any damage-based combos.
Now, despite the appearance of Shamanstone, there is a whole new world of control decks available to be played! Shaman and Rogue can beat you before you stabilize, but they can also be controlled, unlike pre-nerf Soul Demon Hunter.
I am by no means the only one who has noticed this. If you have watched our coverage of top meta decks, you have probably noticed that we have highlighted a wide variety of high-Legend control decks recently. In this article, I take a look at the various control decks that have been built recently, so if you’re looking for a control deck to play, you have come to the right place!
Mage
Control Mage experimentation has pursued two paths: Archmage Vargoth combo and Highlander Mage.
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The combo approach is fun, but it does not look viable: the combo deck wants to play Archmage Vargoth with Potion of Illusion and the one-cost Archmage Vargoth to get up to four one-cost copies of Vargoth into hand and then play three of those together with Mask of C'Thun for 40 damage to random enemies.
Nice idea, but almost impossible to execute in the current meta, so you’re optimistic if you think you could win 40% of your games with the combo deck. The combo works a little bit better when added to a Highlander Mage list, but even then, a regular Highlander Mage deck is just better.
- 1Arcane Breath1
- 1Magic Trick1
- 1Ray of Frost1
- 2Ancient Mysteries1
- 2Astromancer Solarian1
- 2Frostbolt1
- 3Counterspell1
- 3Firebrand1
- 3Ice Barrier1
- 3Imprisoned Observer1
- 3Netherwind Portal1
- 3Rigged Faire Game1
- 4Ring Toss1
- 5Malygos, Aspect of Magic1
- 5Rolling Fireball1
- 6Reno the Relicologist1
- 6Sayge, Seer of Darkmoon1
- 10The Amazing Reno1
Speaking of Highlander Mage, it is not quite what it used to be. Remember, we are trying to compete with Shamans and Rogues here, so we simply do not have the time to wait for tons of expensive cards to be playable. Highlander Mage can still use some expensive cards, and some of the most popular versions of the archetype are running two Old Gods – C'thun, the Shattered and Yogg-Saron, Master of Fate – but they have also gone for a wide variety of early-game survival tools in the form of a bigger Secret package and cards like Firebrand and Imprisoned Observer.
- 1Arcane Breath1
- 1Ray of Frost1
- 2Ancient Mysteries1
- 2Astromancer Solarian1
- 2Frostbolt1
- 3Arcane Intellect1
- 3Combustion1
- 3Firebrand1
- 3Flame Ward1
- 3Frost Nova1
- 3Ice Barrier1
- 3Imprisoned Observer1
- 4Ring Toss1
- 5Malygos, Aspect of Magic1
- 5Rolling Fireball1
- 6Blizzard1
- 6Reno the Relicologist1
- 8Kalecgos1
- 10The Amazing Reno1
I had more success without any Old Gods, just relying on the good Mage cards and a slightly lower mana curve. This approach can defend against Shaman and Rogue even better, but you might run out of value in a mirror. In a largely Shaman/Rogue meta, I have not worried too much about control mirrors, but they may become more common as people find out that control decks are viable again.
Warlock
Warlock was punished by Demon Hunter more than any other class: you’re already damaging yourself and then you’re getting hit for 10, 11, 12 points per turn on top of that. It was a bad time to queue up as Gul’dan.
To a lesser extent, this still applies when you’re up against Shaman and Rogue. They still hit you in the face and you have to find a way to defend. Most Control Warlock decks continue to fail. Warlock is actually the class I have played the most while looking for viable decks, but I could only barely get above 50% win rate with the class despite several attempts.
The strongest, and only viable, Control Warlock deck at the moment seems to be Tickatus Galakrond Warlock:
Plague of Flames provides the deck with some early hard removal against huge Edwin VanCleef or evolved Shaman boards, Dark Skies and School Spirits add some early area-of-effect damage, and Galakrond, the Wretched may give you a big swing turn to win the game.
Against slower decks, there’s Tickatus and Y'Shaarj, The Defiler, which can remove up to 10 cards from the opponent’s deck and provide with a huge advantage when going to fatigue or remove key combo pieces so that they cannot be used against you.
Tickatus Warlock is not a great deck, but it can consistently hit an above-50% win rate, which makes it a playable deck in the current meta.
Priest
Priest decks are still looking for the right mix of cards. The Priest rework in spring left the class with no good card draw, and that is a major obstacle to overcome: Priest has to rely on stealing and randomly generating resources, and it is hard to find consistency with such a gameplan.
Control Priest decks are slowly moving away from Nazmani Bloodweavers, as they have proven to be too unreliable. Sethekk Veilweaver is stronger alone than in combination with the Bloodweaver, as you are betting too much on the single huge random swing turn when you try to use the two together.
Almost everyone needs a Kobold Stickyfinger in this meta, and Yogg-Saron, Master of Fate adds a little spice to the deck.
- 1Cleric of Scales1
- 1Draconic Studies1
- 1Holy Smite1
- 1Renew1
- 2Penance1
- 2Sethekk Veilweaver1
- 2Shadow Word: Death1
- 2Thoughtsteal1
- 3Apotheosis1
- 3Breath of the Infinite1
- 3Holy Nova1
- 3Madame Lazul1
- 3Mindrender Illucia1
- 3Palm Reading1
- 4Cabal Acolyte1
- 7Galakrond, the Unspeakable1
- 7Soul Mirror1
- 8Murozond the Infinite1
- 9Plague of Death1
Highlander Priest is the more common Priest archetype right now. Between Kobold Stickyfinger, Acidic Swamp Ooze, and Zephrys the Great, the deck has some of that anti-Shaman vibe that you really need right now, and the rest of your win condition you’re just going to steal from the opponent.
Shaman
Control Shaman is also back, at least almost. I had a lot of fun playing this list by wirer, but its overall statistics are just short of a 50% win rate.
Two copies of Kobold Stickyfinger are better than one, and sometimes the deck can just exhaust its Evolve siblings. Galakrond, the Tempest is good even without any Invoke cards, because it turns your Hero Power into an endless stream of useful minions that help you deal with many threats and also slowly become a threat themselves.
The deck also has some anti-combo techs included in the form of Hecklebot for ETC Warriors and Archivist Elysiana for Tickatus Warlocks and Bomb Warriors. I actually managed to meet a Bomb Warrior while playing this deck, and I can confirm that destroying eight Bombs from your deck with Archivist Elysiana is still exhilarating.
Paladin
While the meta Paladin decks are Pure Paladin and Broom Paladin, Paladin can also play control in the current meta. There is no particular reason why you should because Broom Paladin is really good right now, but Control Paladin is one of the more successful control decks at the moment and it can easily reach an above-50% win rate.
I played this version of Control Paladin with some success: between Lord Barov, Libram of Justice, Wild Pyromancer, Consecration, and Yogg-Saron, Master of Fate, the deck has tons of hard removal to succeed against big minions.
Yogg-Saron, Master of Fate is easy to activate as Paladin thanks to Libram of Wisdom, and it was experimented with in Broom Paladin early in Darkmoon Faire, but it was eventually cut from that archetype for being too slow and reactive. Being reactive may be a downside in a midrange deck, but it fits right in a control gameplan!
Two copies of Kobold Stickyfinger make yet another appearance, a sign of the times for sure.
In the end, Control Paladin also wins games with Librams, it just takes the scenic route before crushing its opponent.
Warrior
It is not possible to talk about control decks in Hearthstone without mentioning Warrior. Thanks to an abundance of removal tools – especially two copies of Brawl – and a huge pool of armor, Warrior is ready to take on anything. You have the luxury to choose from a wide variety of win conditions, and it looks like Warrior just succeeds with any of them: Silas Darkmoon OTK, ETC OTK, Big Warrior, C’Thun Warrior, anything goes.
The current flavor of the month win condition for Warrior is ETC, which can be used in at least two different shells: Enrage or Control.
In a control shell, you play the usual defensive Warrior game with two copies of Brawl and a Bulwark of Azzinoth thrown in for good measure.
As long as your opponent plays minions, you will get to a position where you can play E.T.C., God of Metal, shoot it with Pen Flinger, make two copies of it with Bloodsworn Mercenary, and give them all Rush with Animated Broomstick for an up to 42 damage combo. Fun and interactive!
The enrage shell keeps your opponent guessing whether you’re going for some huge Kor'kron Elites, against which they’d like to have some Taunt minions. or the ETC combo, against which they’d rather not have any minions on the board. It seems to be weaker than the control shell overall, but the opportunity for deception can make it stronger if you successfully bluff your opponents.
Looking through the statistics of various control decks, I noticed that even Big Warrior has had some success lately:
Just to prove the point on how strong the Warrior’s defensive toolkit is, the class can succeed even with only big minions. Fine, there is Kargath Bladefist in the deck, but it can be tutored with Stage Dive before summoning random minions with Commencement or Dimensional Ripper. As long as you’re playing Warrior, playing control is easy.
Control Decks in the Post-Nerfs Meta
The very best Hearthstone decks are usually midrange or tempo decks: attacker’s advantage in choosing targets and the lack of interaction during the opponent’s turn are major advantages for fast decks that are at the very core of Hearthstone’s game design.
However, there are usually also some control decks in the meta. In this regard, the early days of Madness at the Darkmoon Faire were unusually bad times for control decks as Warrior was the only class that was able to succeed with control.
The post-nerfs meta is much better for control decks! While Warrior remains the strongest control class, and one that has the widest variety of possible archetypes, playing control versions of other classes is finally possible again. Highlander Mage and Tickatus Galakrond Warlock have a justifiable position in the meta as some of the best archetypes for their respective classes, and Control Paladin is a perfectly capable archetype as well, albeit one that is eclipsed by the midrange variants of its class. Control Priest and Control Shaman are also playable, even if they are lower-tier archetypes in general.
While Warrior is the only top-tier control deck, there are currently plenty of viable control decks, so it is a good time to be a control player.
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
hi @OLD GUARDIAN marry christmas and a happy new year!
are guys going to release new crafting guides for us f2p players?
some legendary and epic cards crafting guides would be greatly appreciated by us.(community)
Hey, I’m waiting to see if they announce a nerf patch over the next few days, and if not then I’ll cover it this week.
Affirmative, Thanks a lot, your work is greatly appreciated!