Hearthpwn

Introduction

So I've been playing this game now for 2 months, maybe more, and I'm one of the 44% of the players who got to Master 3 without spending money. Also, haven't spend too much time on Arena because I simply don't like it. So that obviously forces me to play on an extremely short budget. And that's what I've been doing for quite a while, and now I've decided to share a few of my experiences here. This guide is intent for beginners, who doesn't have almost any advanced card, and general players who aren't that great at building decks.

Keep in mind, the term "budget" will be taken into its extreme here. Sometimes I see some "budget" decks with epics, even legendaries, and that's not budget at all. So you won't see more than 3 or 4 rares in the decklists (they will be coming in the near future, as I keep building and playtesting them).

First thing first - Basic Concepts of General Deck Building

Every deck, budget or not, must have a main concept, be it Aggro, Control, Combo, or whatever. That's the main game plan, and you must not diverge from it. For example: On a very aggressive deck, don't try to add 2 or 3 taunts because it lacks defense, most case scenario it will only hault your aggression. Simply follow its gameplan, ignore said fault and focus on winning before your opponent takes advantage of that.

Ok, so you have a plan. But which cards are better to accomplish it? Simple, the cards that can give you more value, or add more value to your deck in general. This brings us to some important concepts:

Card Value - A card has value when it does something and forces your opponent to play something to counter it, does something extremely useful or just give you more cards to play. Two basic cards with amazing value: Shattered Sun Cleric and Sen'jin Shieldmasta. Also some of the class specific cards, like Fire Elemental, Northshire Cleric, Novice Engineer are pretty good value as well. Basically, you want all of your cards to generate value somehow.

Card Synergy - Sometimes, bad cards can do great things. For example, in one of the managrinds, the champion was a rogue using a very interesting combination: Knife Juggler + Elven Archer. While the archer is considered a bad card on its own, it contributes so much to the Juggler that it becomes great value. There are other examples as well: Elven Archer + Execute is a very interesting combination for taking out a big threat.

Card Advantage - Whatever makes you have more cards than your opponent, generates you card advantage. In general, cards with great value are good at doing it. Some cards can generate card advantage on their own, like Arcane Intellect or Acolyte of Pain when properly used. Keep in mind, some cards actually work on Card Disadvantage, like Soulfire and Naturalize. While they can win you the game when properly used, especially Soulfire, be VERY CAREFUL when using them, as in try to use them only when you absolutely have to.

Board Control - The board is an extremely important part of the game, and you must always try to control it, since the player who doesn't have board control (and is playing reactively) can end up being overwhelmed if he doesn't have anything to change the situation, like a Swipe or Frostbolt. Every deck must have a way to control the board, be through removals or tempo cards, like Flamestrike and Freezing Trap, or through value minions.

Turning Water into Wine - Budget alternatives to heavily played cards

If you started playing recently, most likely you won't have all the amazing cards that lots of players use, like Blizzard, Pyroblast, Argent Commander, Feral Spirit, Knife Juggler and so on. But it's ok, here I'll help you pick some basic or cheap alternatives to those. Keep in mind: They're kind of subpar, and sometimes, there's simply no alternative.

Neutral cards:

Azure Drake - Replace with Gnomish Inventor. It lacks the spellpower, but has the same health and comes a turn earlier.

Argent Commander - Stormwind Knight or Reckless Rocketeer can do the job. While knight only offers 2 atk, it comes 2 turns earlier and if you increase his attack through buffs (Shattered Sun Cleric and Dark Iron Dwarf have amazing synergy here), he does his job and also becomes a major threat. And Rocketeer will pretty much always get the job done, but also die in the process as well. Use this one carefully.

Knife Juggler - Sadly, there's no alternative here. You could go for minions who have said ability on their own, like Elven Archer or Ironforge Rifleman, but they have a very low cost/benefit (raw stats, attack/health per mana spent). But I'd definitely recommend Stormpike Commando in a budget deck.

Sunwalker - Your best bet would be a Sen'jin Shieldmasta, or Lord of the Arena. though Sen'jin has much better value. If you play Paladin, a good synergy here would be with Argent Protector.

Twilight Drake - Chillwind Yeti is the way to go here. He's even immune to silence, while Drake isn't.

Imp Master - No alternative here as well, but you can play swarm minions, like Razorfen Hunter and Dragonling Mechanic.

Defender of Argus - This guy is just insane value. No wonder there aren't any alternatives, but you can play Shattered Sun Cleric for the same +1/+1 buff in a single minion.

Abomination - Unfortunately, this one has no alternatives at all. You'll have to use something else for the AoE damage effect.

Class specifics:

Blizzard - You could use Cone of Cold.

Pyroblast - No deal, but Fireball + Frostbolt + hero power do the same damage for the same mana.

Sword of Justice - Minions that can buff others can do something similar, like Shattered Sun Cleric and Dark Iron Dwarf (they're both really good value). But they also cost a lot more mana and lack the flexibility that this card has.

Divine Favor - You probably should get one of those if you intend to focus on Paladin, since there are no replacements. You could maybe try Acolyte of Pain, but he's a very subpar option, especially in Paladin decks which tends to be all about early game aggression, which Acolyte doesn't really contribute to.

Aldor Peacekeeper - Humility does the same for less, but it has little value since it doesn't come in a 3/3 body like Aldor.

Mass Dispel - This card tends to be kind of overkill, so run Ironbeak Owl and Spellbreaker, they'll get you covered most of the time.

Holy Fire - Not much here as well. You won't find anything that deals damage AND heals in a single card when running on a budget, but you can drop the heal and focus on the damage with some charge minions like Wolfrider, which can be useful for removal as well.

Blade Flurry - Your best bet would be using a Fan of Knives with some spell damage, like Kobold Geomancer and Ogre Magi.

SI:7 Agent - Ironforge Rifleman and Elven Archer don't need to combo, but they do less damage and have lower stats.

Lava Burst - You could use Wolfrider for lower damage but no overload cost.

Mana Tide Totem - Sweet, sweet card draw on a simple package. You'll have to use minions with similar, one-time effects, like Novice Engineer and Gnomish Inventor.

Earth Elemental - Venture Co. Mercenary is your best friend here, even though he's not a basic.

Felguard - This guy is a Sen'jin Shieldmasta that comes a turn earlier, with a disadvantage. I'd actually pick the senjin over him, except in some very specific decks.

Shadowflame - You'll have to work with Hellfire, though be careful. It can destroy you as well. If you must use it, build your deck in such a way that it doesn't kill your entire board.

Doomguard - Same for Argent Commander.

Frothing Berserker - Can be replaced with Raging Worgen and Gurubashi Berserker.

Lord Jaraxxus - You could... No, just kidding. :P

Hunter and Druid have some very specific cards (beast dependant and multi-purposed), which I couldn't find ideal replacements. Feel free to suggest some.

Weapons of War - Budget and Basic Deck Lists

Mage decks:

Warrior decks:

 

I will post more decks in the future, as soon as I'm able to playtest them. I try every deck with the help of some friends before posting, to be sure it's consistent with the meta you're going to be playing against.

To save Princess Zelda - Useful Links

http://www.hearthpwn.com/forums/hearthstone-general/general-deck-building/829-list-of-basic-only-decks - List of basic only decks, made by soulzek. Great job!

http://www.hearthpwn.com/forums/hearthstone-general/general-discussion/2318-hearthstone-on-a-budget-guide - Really cool guide made by my friend, Pridestark! Be sure to read it as well, he has some great tips involving playstyle and progression with budget decks. Also, follow his links as well.

Trump's Arena card Rating - Look it up on Google!

Hope you enjoyed the read, in case you have any questions, my btag is Ihmo#1421, feel free to add me. Something I could improve here? Do you want me to add another useful link? Do you have a list of a nice deck that I should add here (so long as it's budget)? Feedbacks and constructive criticism are always welcome.

Good luck out there!

Awesome, really good.

it helped me a lot

up!!

Shammy is a very specific case. He actually needs a lot of his rares (and even some epics). So you'll have to craft Lightning Storm ASAP, no real way around it.

Thanks for the feedback, and you're right, I'll try to update it whenever I have the time :)

Murloc Raider seems to be an odd choice for the basic deck. wouldn't a Voodoo Doctor give more value in a non murloc deck? Since it's basically the same card but with +2 heal.

As a turn 1 drop, it doesn't really matter that much. You could go with whatever, unless healing mechanincs really have a strong synergy with your other minions. In that case, doc is definitely the way to go. (ex: having Northshire Clerics or Lightwarden).

Quote from Ihmo »

As a turn 1 drop, it doesn't really matter that much. You could go with whatever, unless healing mechanincs really have a strong synergy with your other minions. In that case, doc is definitely the way to go. (ex: having Northshire Clerics or Lightwarden).

Of course it doesn't really matter that much, but 2/1 and +2 health is still nicer than just 2/1. It's not really about importance.

Actually, wouldn't Murloc Raider be buffed by enemies' Murloc Warleader? That way this useless murlock will be a nice counter to murloc rush. Weird though. =)

That's a good point. It's not like the heal is extremely valuable unless as imho said it has synergy with your deck. But that's so situational that it really makes no difference which one you take i guess.

The budget mage aggro deck is really nice. I only slightly modified it and I've won about 16/20 games. I've gone from rank 20 to 14 with it in one night.

Good to hear that! I'll be sure to post some more decks when I have the time :D

Thanks! :D

Just another little update, played with it a little today, won straight up to rank 10 without a loss. Pretty solid deck haha

Ihmo: You're awesome, thanks for providing this for people. STICKAHH

Thanks, man. Really appreciate it :D

I'll update it soon, probably before the open beta.

*Request Sticky*

really amazing post :)

Great guide, as a newbie it helped me to understand fundamental concepts of the game.

Thank you :D