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Yogg-Saron, Unleashed Has Changed The Way Hearthstone is Played – The Best Yogg Decks for Standard

By: Old Guardian - - Updated:

The Fall of Ulduar mini-set has been the most influential mini-set in the history of Hearthstone, and all of that comes down to one card first and foremost. Yogg-Saron, Unleashed is incredibly strong and in a way that promotes specific types of decks. Because Yogg becomes cheaper as you cast spells, and you can discount it all the way down to zero mana, it heavily promotes decks that play a lot of spells. Consequently, players are searching for new ways to build spell-based decks to make the best possible use of Yogg’s powers.

In this article, I will showcase a wide variety of decks that make use of Yogg in different ways. Finally, I will try to figure out whether Yogg has been good for the game or not.

Meet Yogg-Saron’s Best Friend, Druid

Druid is the class that most obviously benefits from Yogg-Saron. Druid’s fundamental class weakness is its lack of board clears. Druid can ramp up and unleash devastating assaults faster than any other class, but aggressive decks have been able to keep Druid in check because when they take over the board, Druid cannot get rid of their minions and will perish. This has been a fundamental aspect of Druid’s balancing, the fine line where Druid can fight to get to its win condition but cannot always get there in time.

Yogg-Saron, Unleashed has changed this dynamic. If Druid can cast spells fast enough, it can discount Yogg to a point where Yogg arrives at the board sooner than any answer Druid has had available before. It is also a devastating answer because it can steal an individual huge threat or clear a board of multiple threats. No board is safe from Yogg-Saron. Compared to Druid’s previous tools that still see play in Wild, like Spreading Plague and even Poison Seeds, Yogg is far stronger and usually faster.

Blizzard was scared enough of the sudden rise of Tony Druid to temporarily ban The Jailer to prevent the deck from working. Of course, both Tony, King of Piracy and The Jailer were available in Hearthstone before the mini-set, but Druid was still unable to build a competitive deck around them. The introduction of Yogg-Saron for survival was instrumental in making the deck possible.

Likewise, we can now see the effect of Yogg-Saron even without The Jailer. Amazingly enough, Ramp Druid remains a viable deck even after losing its original win condition. The deck has found a new win condition in Ignis, the Eternal Flame and Eonar, the Life-Binder together with Photographer Fizzle to create even more weapons and Titans. Exactly as in Tony Druid, it is Yogg-Saron that enables the deck to function. Without Yogg, the deck would not be able to defend itself, but Yogg opens up the path to success. You can replace win conditions in Druid, but you cannot replace Yogg.

Yogg Druid – #1 Legend (TicTac) – Fall of Ulduar (TITANS)

Deck Import

The Control Shaman Dream, the Madness of Yogg-Saron

Yogg-Saron has also enabled archetypes that had been completely written off as failures. Do you remember JIVE, INSECT! and Criminal Lineup?  The Control Shaman dream is real thanks to Yogg. Again, we have a spell-heavy deck, as the Criminal Lineup Shaman only runs four minions, and the deck makes good use of Yogg for survival and also as a target for JIVE, INSECT!.

Here is a version that Jambre played in the top 50 Legend:

Criminal Shaman – Top 50 Legend (Jambre) – Fall of Ulduar (TITANS)

Deck Import

You want to turn one of your minions into Ragnaros the Firelord, and then make multiple copies of it. You can make up to seven copies by using the Ring of Tides spell copy card from Queen Azshara and Jazz Bass. Any minion can act as the initial target, even a Totem from your Hero Power. However, a zero-cost Yogg is particularly effective because it can act as a board clear first and then turn into Ragnaros the Firelord once all obstacles are out of the way.

Shaman also finally has enough good targets for Cold Storage. Do not let your memes be dreams! Cold Storage on Yogg-Saron, Unleashed can be phenomenal, as you can clear multiple boards with your Yogg copies, or you can play multiple Yoggs on a single turn to steal multiple minions. Once again, no board is safe from Yogg.

Shaman lacks the powerful card draw capabilities of Druid, but it makes up for it with tutoring capabilities: Prescience is able to draw Yogg from the deck quite reliably.

All that said, Shaman’s win condition is more conditional than Druid’s and the consistency of the deck is lower, so it is not at the same power level. Nonetheless, it is a deck that has been made possible thanks to Yogg-Saron. Praise Yogg!

Rogue Can Perform Miracles Once Again

Rogue and spells, name a more iconic duo. In TITANS, Rogue players have largely been relegated to Magnetizing their Mechs, which is not like the usual Rogue playstyle of trickstery and rapid card draw. However, Yogg Saron, Unleashed loves trickstery and rapid card draw. Rogue has multiple ways to play Yogg over and over again. Whether it is through Shadowstep or through Breakdance, these Yoggs are all over the place. In combination with Astalor Bloodsworn and Sinstone Graveyard, Rogue has some scary threats at its disposal.

Yogg Miracle Rogue with Breakdance

Deck Import

There is also another new-old Rogue archetype made possible by Yogg-Saron. Weapon Rogue is ready to strike with Yogg and Prison Breakers available to clear any pesky Taunt minions out of the way. What is curious about the current Weapon Rogue is that the deck does not run any weapons. You just buff your Hero Power Dagger to push on.

Yogg Weapon Rogue – Early #122 Legend (Calmax) – Fall of Ulduar (TITANS)

Deck Import

Same, But Different

Yogg-Saron, Unleashed has also found its way into many existing archetypes that make heavy use of spells. Decks like Control Warrior, Arcane Hunter, Rainbow Mage, Drum Druid, and Control Priest are all enhanced by the presence of Yogg-Saron. The decks have not changed their game plan as such, they are merely spell-heavy decks and reap the benefits of including Yogg-Saron regardless of anything else.

There are practically no Control Warrior decks without Yogg left. Even though Warrior does not play as many spells as many other slow decks, and it plays cards at a more moderate pace, it is still spell-heavy enough to support Yogg. Consequently, Yogg-Saron, Unleashed is one of the best cards in the deck. In Warrior, Yogg can also clear a board for almost zero mana, which allows the Warrior to attack face with its armor-powered onslaught.

Odyn Control Warrior – #57 Legend (Nightwolf) – Fall of Ulduar (TITANS)

Deck Import

For Arcane Hunter, Yogg-Saron, Unleashed has changed the deck a bit. Secrets are now worse than the good old Bunch of Bananas and Barrel of Monkeys. The more spells, the merrier! Prison Breakers have come along for the ride, and Arcane Hunter is downright scary in how strong it is.

Arcane Hunter – Early #82 Legend (WuLing) – Fall of Ulduar (TITANS)

Deck Import

Drum Druid has lost at least as much as it has gained from the appearance of Yogg-Saron, Unleashed into the game. On one hand, Drum Druid now has a comeback mechanic and a board clear. On the other hand, Drum Druid is the one who wants to build an intimidating board, and Yogg is not easily scared. Drum Druid cannot win games with its first board nearly as easily as before. Luckily for the deck, it can use Yogg to win games too, so that compensates for some of its losses.

Drum Druid with Yogg-Saron

Deck Import

Yogg-Saron, Unleashed has become ubiquitous in Rainbow Mage. The synergy is obvious, as Mage uses lots of spells, and Yogg-Saron is one of the best-performing cards in the deck. Yogg-Saron has helped Mage return back to the meta.

Rainbow Mage – #33 Legend (glory) – Fall of Ulduar (TITANS)

Deck Import

Control Priest still struggles in the meta, but Yogg has found a place in that deck too, and it is one of the better cards in the list. Priest also has ways to create more Yoggs thanks to Creation Protocol and Power Chord: Synchronize. Even in a class that is already full of removal options, Yogg adds more power to the deck.

XL Control Priest – Early #40 Legend (Mills) – Fall of Ulduar (TITANS)

Deck Import

Is Yogg Good For Hearthstone?

What does it even mean for something to be good for the game? Yogg has definitely changed the meta. If you want to play a slow game, you want to play a spell-heavy deck. The more spells, the merrier. Giving up on the power of Yogg is too much of a compromise. Aggro decks need to be fast to succeed, but the best of them can still challenge Yogg’s power.

Yogg-Saron once again showcases the power of mana cheating in Hearthstone. A card that can cost zero mana can be back-breaking in many situations. Not only is Yogg a powerful defensive tool but it can also be used while doing something else. Druid can keep ramping up while playing Yogg. Shaman and Warrior can clear the board with Yogg to enable their final assaults to connect to face. Miracle Rogue can clear any threats while developing a huge threat of their own from Sinstone Graveyard. Whether cards should be able to be discounted all the way to zero mana is a major question for the game. It creates powerful, flashy turns, but also moments that you feel powerless against in a game with no interaction on the opponent’s turn.

Yogg-Saron also showcases the power of Neutral Legendary cards. It has extremely potent abilities that do things that should be unavailable to some classes. Druid and Rogue, in particular, are thrilled by the new capabilities Yogg provides them with. Yogg is so strong that it even finds room in classes that have usually been strong at clearing boards. Should the most effective board-clear tool in the game be available to all classes, including ones that usually have access to none?

Yogg really showcases some of the key design challenges in Hearthstone. For now, the team at Blizzard has chosen to unleash these powers on the ladder, and Yogg has had a major effect on the meta. There are valid concerns about the card, both from an overall design point of view when it comes to mana cheating and board clear powers to all classes, as well as from a power-level point of view, as Yogg is just incredibly good.

As an upside, Yogg is a neutral card. All classes have access to it, and we have already seen innovation inspired by Yogg in multiple classes. I am not yet tired of the card, and it has brought something fresh to Hearthstone. As it makes an appearance in the majority of games, it is probably at least a little bit too powerful right now. But this is the ride we’re on for the time being, so praise Yogg and grab a Yogg deck from this article!

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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