What Will Happen to the Current Combo Decks in the Next Standard Rotation?

Hearthstone has seen an unprecedented rise of combo decks during the last two expansions. United in Stormwind and Fractured in Alterac Valley have largely been defined by their early aggro-combo metas and the subsequent balance patches that have aimed to slow down the combo decks to enable more midrange decks to participate. Most of the power of the current midrange decks comes from Questlines and Hero cards, which are going to be here for another year unless Blizzard pulls off a mass nerf or another Baku/Genn style early rotation.

But what about the combo decks? The Standard format card pool is at its largest this late in the rotation cycle, so combo decks have a lot of potential tools to draw from. There are balance patches to slow them down, but the next Standard rotation is also coming in spring, and that will remove many key tools from combo decks.

What exactly will happen at the rotation? Will any of the current combo decks survive that? In this article, we’ll take a deep dive into the current combos and what will be left of them after the rotation.

Mozaki Mage

The key card of Mozaki Mage is its namesake, Mozaki, Master Duelist. Mozaki is from Scholomance Academy, so it will rotate out of Standard in spring. Without a significant chunk of Spell Damage, the burn spell OTK is not possible.

Mage does not currently have a viable substitute for Mozaki. Imprisoned Phoenix, which sees play in Burn Shaman decks, is from Madness at the Darkmoon Faire, so it is also rotating out in spring. The draw engine Cram Session is from Scholomance Academy and will also rotate. Incanter's Flow is the oldest card in the list, from Ashes of Outland, and it is also on its way out.

Like many combo decks, Mozaki Mage was assembled piece by piece over multiple expansions, and the rotation will ruin it.

Siphon Mana, Ignite, and Refreshing Spring Water will remain, but they’d need multiple other pieces to assemble a winning combination. With Ignite in the Standard format for another year, anything is possible, although it is not likely that there will be enough support in a single expansion.

Garrote Rogue

Is this too dead of a horse to beat anymore? Garrote Rogue win rates have finally fallen below 50% even in top Legend, and while the deck can still theoretically pull off some OTK moves, they are becoming too difficult to actually perform in practice.

Garrote itself is here to stay for another year, so the damage potential is there. However, it needs support. A card draw engine, additional Spell Damage, and probably some mana cheating on top. As it happens, Field Contact and Efficient Octo-bot are here for another year! Guild Trader is also not going anywhere.

The deck will lose Secret Passage, Ethereal Augmerchant, and Pen Flinger, so it clearly needs some replacements to have a chance, but its list of needs is far shorter than Mozaki Mage’s.

Can Garrote Rogue actually rise again? It will be interesting – and a little scary – to see the toolkit provided for it in the next expansion.

OwlTK Warlock

The newcomer from Fractured in Alterac Valley was almost instantly nerfed, but it remains somewhat playable. Humongous Owl and Tamsin's Phylactery are of course brand new and not going anywhere, and Wicked Shipment is from United in Stormwind, so the deck will retain its ability to build a full board with the Owl’s Deathrattle. Tamsin Roame is also staying, so make that double Deathrattle. And with Runed Mithril Rod also remaining legal, mana cheating is not a problem either.

The deck will need a new activator as School Spirits is rotating out of Standard. Hellfire? Explosive Sheep? Spammy Arcanist? The Core set cards could change for next year, so this part remains unclear, but finding a way to deal some board-wide damage as a Warlock should not be too difficult of a task.

OwlTK Warlock looks very likely to survive the rotation.

Quest OTK Warlock

OwlTK Warlock largely displaced the Questline OTK from the meta, but completing The Demon Seed and emptying your own deck to deal your fatigue damage to the opponent is not going anywhere.

All the deck needs are some survivability, card draw, and ways to damage itself.

The biggest question for Warlock’s survivability is next year’s Core set. Currently, Drain Soul is playing an important role in providing Warlock with healing, but it can be taken away at will. Touch of the Nathrezim was already nerfed a little, but it is still good and will stay together with Blood Shard Bristleback and Spice Bread Baker.

Card draw is rarely an issue for Warlock, but self-damage might be. Raise Dead and Backfire are both rotating out, and they have been the most convenient self-damage cards in the deck. Sure, there’s still Unstable Shadow Blast and Bloodbound Imp, but they are not quite the same.

Overall, there are lots of questions about Questline OTK Warlock, especially whether it can compete with OwlTK Warlock, but the basic ability to turn fatigue into an advantage is only reliant on a single card, The Demon Seed, so this combo is not dead with the rotation either.

Bolner OTK Shaman

The one-turn-kill with Bolner Hammerbeak, Lightning Bloom, and Y'Shaarj, The Defiler creating infinite amounts of Dunk Tanks and Circus Medics was possible already in United in Stormwind, but it only rose to prominence in Fractured in Alterac Valley, as the freeze package made it easier for Shaman to stall games and survive.

This one is going to be very dead with the rotation, as Bolner Hammerbeak is the only card from the combo that remains. There is some potential to cheat mana with Bolner and Auctionhouse Gavel, but there is no finisher for the combo so far.

Burn Shaman

While not a full combo deck in its current iteration, Shaman has the potential to burn opponents down directly from hand.

Lightning Bloom and Imprisoned Phoenix are on their way out, so the deck’s ability to cheat mana will be more limited in the next expansion. It will also lose some burn with Molten Blast and Serpentshrine Portal on their way to Wild only.

It is unknown what will happen to the Core set cards like Novice Zapper and Lightning Bolt.

Therefore, with Overdraft and Frostbite the only burn spells guaranteed to remain in Standard, it does not look like Burn Shaman can turn into a full OTK deck within one expansion.

Quest Lifesteal OTK Demon Hunter

Lifesteal Demon Hunter was already nerfed to below 50% win rate, and it will lose Il'gynoth in the rotation. There will be nothing left of the deck.

Kurtrus Demon Hunter

While it is not currently used in a pure OTK deck, Kurtrus, Demon-Render has a Hero Power that can theoretically give it infinite attack. However, its current support pieces, Felfire Deadeye and Expendable Performers are both rotating out of Standard, so it will most likely not be part of an OTK combo in the next expansion yet.

Anacondra Druid

While Anacondra Druid has been more known for its ability to build a big board and lock the opponent down to one mana crystal, the more recent versions have included an OTK package with Mr. Smite, Germination, Survival of the Fittest, and optionally Solar Eclipse, resulting in up to 56 Charge damage from hand.

Lady Anacondra and Celestial Alignment will still be here to support the archetype, but the OTK package is all gone apart from Mr. Smite, so the deck would need fresh ways to copy and buff Smite if it wants to maintain an OTK option after the rotation.

Silas Darkmoon and Soulbound Ashtongue

There are some potential OTKs around that give your opponent Soulbound Ashtongue with Silas Darkmoon and then deal 30 or more damage to it. However, both of these cards are rotating out of Standard, so those combos will be dead. Whether you preferred to do it with Shield Slam as a Warrior or with Ivus, the Forest Lord as Druid, those days will be gone.

Captain Galvangar Warrior

The combination of Captain Galvangar, two copies of To the Front!, Faceless Manipulator, and Battleground Battlemaster has the potential to deal 36 Charge damage in a single turn, but the combo has not been viable in Fractured in Alterac Valley. It is currently unknown whether the combo will be available after the rotation, as Faceless Manipulator is from the Core set and can be rotated out.

If it stays, a Control Warrior deck with this combo finisher is an option. Rattlegore is on its way out, so it’s not like Control Warrior has a lot of win conditions available. A five-card combo in a class that is not great at drawing cards right now might be a bit too difficult to pull off though.

How Combo Will the Next Meta Be?

Amazingly, there are currently more than ten ways to kill your opponent from hand in Standard format Hearthstone!

The next rotation will destroy most of them, but it will mostly ruin the ones that were not part of viable decks right now anyway.

In particular, OwlTK Warlock, Questline OTK Warlock, and Garrote Rogue will all get to keep their most important pieces. Mage will lose Mozaki, but Ignite is here to stay. Captain Galvangar is my dark horse in case Warrior’s removal package will be strong enough to enable a control/combo deck instead of a rapidly drawing pure combo deck.

Overall, inevitable win conditions will remain. If you just chill, Ignite will eventually kill you. So will The Demon Seed. Slow control will not become viable with the next Standard rotation, but combo decks losing bits and pieces will make them less consistent and promote a more midrange meta again.