Greetings, dear new players. Eternal here with a new guide and this one is just for you.
It is not a rare occurrence to encounter a thread where a new player is asking what deck to play, which deck is most effective for them as a new player who currently isn't thinking about investing any money into the game. A lot of new players feel intimidated when the pass rank 21 and encounter a lot of farmers on rank 20 who go at them with decks which are far too powerful for new players to handle. In order to try and help you, I made this guide with 9 decks, one for each class, that are effective and quite cheap.
Before I go deeper into this guide allow me to explain my thought process:
- I operate under the assumption that those who are in need of this guide are completely new players with no card pool.
- I operate under the assumption that these new players are f2p players who aren't looking to invest money into the game (yet).
- I operate under the assumption that these new players have the basic understanding of how the game works.
- I operate under the assumption that none of these new players have any of the adventures.
- I operate under the assumption that all of these players have at least the gold that they get from achievements.
- It is important to understand that these decks are NOT fully optimized for reaching high ranks.
They are made to work for new players, not for reaching legend rank.
Note: There will be two different types of each deck in this guide. The beginner budget friendly version where I operate under the assumption that the reader can accumulate enough dust and the extreme budget version which barely costs anything but still can get the job done.
How to improve the budget version later on section has been added to the guide to help new players improve their budget decks even further. I've made this section by keeping in mind that new players don't have too much dust to spare so even after they improve their budget decks there is always more room for improvement. Most of the improved decks also require Blackrock Mountain and League of Explorers adventures. The order of cards that go into the deck and the order of cards that go out of the deck is the way it is simply because I wrote it that way and it doesn't present any kind of crafting priority nor switching the exact X card for Y card. It is my hope that this new section of the guide helps new players later on in the game.
Edit: I've never thought that I would be editing this guide after only a couple of months but a huge change has recently happened. Several cards from the deck lists were nerfed in the recent patch and as mentioned before I would make changes to the guide if I deem it necessary and I think that the nerfs are big enough to change a couple of things. Rockbiter Weapon and Tuskarr Totemic were removed from both shaman lists and replaced by cards such as Earth Shock, Primal Fusion and Stormforged Axe. Call of the Wild was kept in the section of the guide because I believe that it is still a pretty powerful card. Thank you for your understanding :)
Warrior:
The deck that I have found to be the most effective for new players and most budget friendly is pirate warrior. My reason for this is very simple. Pirate warrior has a low dust cost, especially in the extreme budget version, and it is a deck that is really easy to play and to understand.
The only card that I feel the need to explain in this budget version of the deck is Orgrimmar Aspirant. I wanted to go for Bloodsail Cultist but I wanted to make this extreme budget deck even more budget friendly without losing the weapon buff. Aspirant is the only cheap card with a similar effect as the Cultist. If you have a Cultist I strongly recommend that you replace the Aspirant with it as it is a bit better card.
How to play:
Pirate warrior is a deck that looks to finish its opponent quickly by dealing huge amounts of damage directly to face really quickly. Pirates work really well in warrior due to all of the weapon synergy. Playing the deck is really easy. At the beginning of the game try to get the fiery war axe and your low cost pirates (1-2 drops). After that simply start hitting your opponent in the face until they are dead and trade only when you really feel that you need to.
How can you improve the budget version later on:
In order to improve this budget pirate deck you will need the third wing of League of Explorers adventure. Cards that you should add to this deck are the following:
When it comes to shaman a good face deck can be made for very cheap but I wanted to change the play style a bit so I made a midrange shaman that is semi budget friendly for the new players. I say semi budget friendly because, unfortunately, some of shaman's key cards are rare cards so the deck is a bit more expensive than the pirate warrior but it should still be just as fun to play.
The extreme budget version lacks the all of the totem synergy but it compensates for it with a little bit more power in the early game with the addition of Argent Squire, Flame Juggler and Bilefin Tidehunter. Luckily for us a decent portion of some very good shaman cards are common cards and they basically make the extreme budget version work. The only rare card that I simply couldn't exclude is Lightning Storm simply because there are no other common or basic AOE options.
How toplay:
As a shaman you have some very good high value early game minions with Totem Golem and Tuskarr Totemic. You also have the arguably most overpowered minion in the game, Flamewreathed Faceless. Your strategy is to gain early board presence with cheap removal spells and strong minions like totem golem. Once you've established early board presence you can start smashing face for a quick kill. Shaman has a lot of ways to gain value from minions and to buff them with cards like Flametongue Totem and Bloodlust so try to make sure that you can get some value out of those cards.
For the budget version you should always try to get Thing from Below for as low cost as you can so don't be afraid to use your hero power every now and then. The budget version relies far more on token generation than the extreme budget one and it can easily win you the game with a couple of totem on board and Thunder Bluff Valiant.
How to improve the budget version later on:
To improve the budget version you will need the the second wing of Blackrock Mountainadventure and the second wing of League of Explorers adventure. Cards that you should add to this deck are the following:
2x Tunnel Trogg (can be obtained in the second wing of League of Explorers adventure)
''Hey, Eternal, I'm a new player and I've heard about this miracle rogue deck. Is there any budget version of it?'' it is you lucky day because there is a budget version of miracle rogue which is new player friendly. It is not the real deal since this is a budget version but it is not bad either for its cost and it doesn't requirer a large card pool.
Friends, I'll be real with you, there is really not much reason to go with this budget list because both versions of budget miracle rogue deck are extremely cheap to make. The extreme budget list is only good if you lack the cards from the budget list but if you can get the budget list I would strongly recommend that you go for that one because 120 dust really isn't that much.
How toplay:
Miracle rogue is the hardest deck on this list to play but it is really rewarding when you manage to get it work. If you are a player who wants to use crazy card combos to beat your opponent then this is the deck for you. Your main goal, with both versions of the deck, is to get Gadgetzan Auctioneer into play, play conceal to make sure that he lives for another turn, and then cast your low cost spells to draw even more spells which you will cast at your opponent to kill him and/or to clear his board. A good way to win is to buff your weapon, play Southsea Deckhand and aim to draw both copies of Cold Blood and both copies of Shadowstep for crazy amount of damage.
How to improve the budget version later on:
Cards that you should add to this deck are the following:
You know, I'm really trying not to include too much smorc decks on this list but paladin is one that can only have a smorc budget deck because all of his really powerful cards are either rare or above or from adventures. Regardless, here is the aggro budget paladin, a deck that should net you a good amount of wins and is completely beginner friendly.
Both decks follow a similar strategy. Apply as much pressure as you can to your opponents health and finish them off. The extreme budget version lacks the ability to give your minions divine shield but compensates for it with much more direct damage.
How to play:
The strategy for these decks is really simple. You start the game with as much low cost minions as you can. After that you play everything that you have in your hand and hit face with it. This is called vomiting a hand. If you have Divine Favor in your starting hand keep it and use it to draw more cards when you play everything else. With the budget version just try to aim to get the most value out of Steward of Darkshire as you can.
How to improve the budget version later one:
To improve the budget version you will need the second and the third wing of League of Explorers as well as the first wing of One Night In Karazhan adventure. Cards that you should add to this deck are the following:
I can already here you saying that face hunter is a really cheap deck to play. However, knowing this, I went for something that I believe might be more fun for new players and that is a midrange budget hunter deck. The face deck will be the extreme budget one. New players, here it is, the budget midrange hunter that you've been looking for.
The extreme budget deck is a face deck simply because it is much cheaper to make than a midrange deck because it requires only two copies of Eaglehorn Bow, unlike the midrange version which requires a lot more rare cards. Face version is easier to play than the midrange one but I prefer the midrange one and I would strongly advise you to try that one because you can learn much more about the game than just how to hit face. No, I don't hate hunter.
How to play:
For the midrange deck you fight for presence in the early game while using your hero power to deal direct damage to the face. After turn 3 you can start slamming your more powerful minions onto the board, use hound master to buff your beasts and use tracking to dig for cards that you absolutely need in certain situations. Try to get the most value out of your hyena by playing it with unleash the hounds for a board clear which results in one huge minion. For the extreme budget deck just always hit face and you will be fine.
How to improve the budget version later on:
Cards that you should add to this deck are the following:
Druid is, in my opinion, a class that has a very good budget deck for new players in the form of token druid. You can build a token druid with both low budget and extremely low budget and it will still preform quite well. There are also two other versions of druid which are ramp druid that revolves around getting as much mana as you can really soon and start slamming huge minions onto the board and beast druid that revolves around durid's beast synergy but ramp druid is not a budget deck and beast druid needs cards from adventure. Anway, here are the decks.
Why Bilefin TIdehunter? Simply because it generates a token and I had no better options. Now that I've gotten that out of the way I can explain how these decks are played.
How to play:
Token druid can be a lot of fun to play. You goal is to get as much minions on the board as you can by using Violet Teacher and then buff them with your spells like Power of the Wild and Savage Roar. Soul of the forest is a very useful and a very important card. I run it even in the non budget versions of token druid because it gives you insane value if your opponent manages to clear your board. Basically, the game plan is to generate as much tokens as you can than use Savage Roar and Power of the Wild to swing for lethal.
How to improve the budget version later on:
To improve the budget version you will need the first wing of Blackrock Mountain adventure. Cards that you should add to this deck are the following:
Warlock is a bit troublesome. There are three viable decks for warlock which are zoo, reno and murloc decks but all three of those require expensive cards and cards that are from adventures. Can a zoo deck be made without cards from adventures? Is it possible for beginners to play a zoo deck? Yes, of course it is, why wouldn't it be possible?
See, there is a way to build an effective budget zoo deck without adventures :p What is that you say? What is Reckless Rocketeer? It is an old card that I used when I've started playing Hearthstone and I didn't have Leeroy. Are these decks as effective as the real deal? Not exactly since the real deal has cards from adventures and these decks are meant for completely new players, but they will net you a good amount of wins and are quite fun to play.
How to play:
When you play a zoo deck what you're aiming at is board control mixed with face damage. Board control and board positioning is the key to victory with these decks. Be very careful where you place your minions, in which order do you play them and try to trade as effectively as possible. Always look for your low cost minions at the start of the game and use your hero power often to draw more minions. Since most of your minions are cheap you will more than often always draw something that you can play immediately.
How to improve the budget version later on:
To improve the budget version you will need the first wing of League of Explorers adventure and the second wing of Blackrock Mountain adventure. Cards that you should add to this deck are the following:
Priest is the class that has been struggling to find its place in the standard for a very long time. The class has two very powerful decks in the form of ressurect priest and dragon priest, but both of those deck require cards from adventures, which leaves us with the only logical option, the only budget priest deck that we can make and it will still be viable for beginners..C'thun priest.
Out of all nine classes priest is the best one for a budget c'thun deck because others simply have better budget options or need far more expensive and far more powerful cards to make a C'thun deck work. Nevertheless the deck is fun to play and it is really effective at low ranks regardless of being a budget deck.
How to play:
With this deck you fight for board control. You use your minions to destroy enemy minions and you use your hero power to make sure that your minions stay alive. The goal of the deck is to survive long enough until you draw your C'thun and make it big enough that you can defeat your opponent with it.
How to improve the budget version later on:
To improve the budget version you will need the second and third wing of League of Explorers adventure. Cards that you should add to this deck are the following:
Mage has one great option for beginners and that is to play a casino deck without Flamewalker because it is an adventure card. This is the cheapest deck that I've made in this entire guide, it is insanely cheap. However, although this is a deck list without Flamewalker, I strongly suggest that you put it into this deck if you have it. There is one important thing to note about these decks. They do include one adventure card, Firelands Portal, but that is only because the prologue of One Night in Karazhan is free so anyone can get it.
Crafting cost is 440 dust. 440 dust, are you kidding me?! This deck is so cheap that it is insane. Cheapest deck in the entire game by far and I should know since I've been sitting here for hours making cheap decks for you guys. Why C'thun in both versions? Why not? It is free,
How to play:
Casino mage is an extremely simple deck to use. You use your spells to clear the board and deal face damage. You use your mirror image to protect your minions and you use your spell power minions to deal even more damage and, in budget version, to buff C'thun. You also pray to your lucky stars that RNG is on your side because there are so many random effects here that it is insane!
How to improve the budget version later on:
To improve the budget version you will need the second wing of League of Explorers adventure and the fourth wing of Blackrock Mountain adventure. Cards that you should add to this deck are the following:
Good god, was this a long writing session. I hope that at least someone finds this useful. Thanks for reading guys :)
If you have any questions feel free to post them here, I am lurking here every day, and I will try to answer them as best as I can or in case that you have questions that aren't regarding this specific guide and you want/need quick answers you can hit me up on this new thing that I'm shamefully just learning how to use...the thing over*here*. If you're looking for beginners guide to wild format it can be found right here!
Speak about yourself at 3rd person, creepy. Upvote because a good guide tho.
Hahaha, sorry about that xD English is not my native language and I'm still learning how to write these guides. Thanks for the upvote and the feedback, I will try to be less creepy next time :P
If you are going to spend 1200 dust on hunter, it should be 2x cotw, 2x highmane, and 2x bow. You can throw 24 basic cards/random commons you get from free packs and have a highly functional deck. Especially for beating rank 20 portrait farmers.
That is a great post, Its good to see someone is taking the time to think of new players. These decks also provide a great building block for more developed deck lists.
Just one thing I noticed about the Rouge decks, I think adding 2 Questing Adventurer's would be good, also Shadow Strike.. They are cheap cards but would give you a possible win condtion and some cheap removal respectively.
Good effort, I hope this does stay in a place visible. The only thing I'd like to say is although these decks are cheap & legit, some are more competitive than others (or can be improved from additions easierly as opposed to the others) so maybe put them in some sort of a tier list. For instance it's smarter to spend 1000 dust on Zoo Warlock (if you want to play competitively at some point) than on C'Thun Priest.
Thanks for the feedback! :) I also hope that it will remain in a visible place :) That is definenetly a good point. I like that idea and I will most likely implement it into the original post as soon as I decide on how the list will look like.
If you are going to spend 1200 dust on hunter, it should be 2x cotw, 2x highmane, and 2x bow. You can throw 24 basic cards/random commons you get from free packs and have a highly functional deck. Especially for beating rank 20 portrait farmers.
Thanks for the feedback :) You do have a very valid point here. Cotw is definitely a very powerful card that is being used quite often and it will definitely net new players a good portion of wins on rank 20. The main reason why I haven't included is because I wished to, due to the budget nature of the decks, make decks with basics, commons and rares. I don't like making exceptions for certain decks because I feel like then I would have to make them for all other decks. For example, if I add cotw to hunter then I will have to add preparation to miracle rogue. Both decks will be a lot better with those cards but then I would need to update other decks. I know it probably sounds like I'm too lazy to do it, but I'm not, I'm just not sure on the right way to implement such a change. You see, what bugs me most about adding cotw to the hunter list is the 24 basic/random commons which will still make the deck work, but if I am looking to teach new players something about deck construction I should not fill the deck with random cards just to be able to stick to the budget. Every card in the deck should serve a purpose and new players should learn and understand what purpose does that card serve.
With all of this being said, I still like your proposition and I see your point. While typing this I am considering the idea of adding a section after each deck where I could add the cards that players can later implement into these decks to make them better. Cards like cotw for hunter, Doomhammer for shaman and preparation for rogue. Yes, I like that idea, now it is just a matter of execution.
To be perfectly honest with you guys I'm mostly worried about the length of this guide. Thanks to your feedback I am well aware that there are some new things that can be implemented to make this guide even better but I fear that new players might be discouraged from reading it simply due to its sheer length.
Please let me know does the length of this guide bother you and do you think will increasing the length to add several new features like ''cards to add later'' and ''deck tier list'' repel new players from reading all of this information or will it be not be a problem?
That is a great post, Its good to see someone is taking the time to think of new players. These decks also provide a great building block for more developed deck lists.
Just one thing I noticed about the Rouge decks, I think adding 2 Questing Adventurer's would be good, also Shadow Strike.. They are cheap cards but would give you a possible win condtion and some cheap removal respectively.
Thanks for the feedback :)
I'm glad that you liked the list. I did consider adding Questing Adventurer and Shadow Strike but I ended up cutting them out in the final version of the build. I remember that shadow strike was cut out to make room for the Earthen Ring Farseer because I've realized that the deck lacks healing but I don't remember what ended up replacing Questing Adventurer. Those cards are still very viable options, especially the adventurer because it is another potential win condition, and I will give this recommendation though to see how can I put it to best use because I really like it (I have some ideas in mind). Thanks a lot for your input :)
when I had a very small collection I had always wanted to try Rogue, paladin and warrior, but never felt like I really could, since then I have gotten the ability to do so, but I really appreciate people taking the time to come up with decks that let new players experience different classes.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Just fill your deck with one drops, that is creative deck design, right?
when I had a very small collection I had always wanted to try Rogue, paladin and warrior, but never felt like I really could, since then I have gotten the ability to do so, but I really appreciate people taking the time to come up with decks that let new players experience different classes.
Thanks for the feedback! :) I know the feeling. I've started playing at the start of the open beta and back then control warrior was one of the strongest decks in the game. There was no other warrior deck that was remotely as strong as the control variant and I've always wanted to play it but the deck had required so much stuff that it was crazy. It took me several months to finally got everything that I needed.
Great post! Did you think about put this guide on Reddit???
Thanks for the feedback! :)
Yes, the thought did cross my mind but I have never used reddit (blasphemy, I know) so I don't have a reddit account. I guess I'll have to make a reddit account soon and figure out how posting there works. I know that there is a good part of the community that is using reddit but not hearthpwn so it would be good idea to post the guide for new players there.
I'm hooked to almost every social platform but I am still a complete caveman when it comes to reddit xD
I enjoyed it! Though would it be hard to include some part where you include things from Adventures? I may only speak for myself here but I feel if you pay for anything pay for the adventures so you can have fun while getting guaranteed cards, again, idk how hard that would be to do but it'd be nice, I honestly still can't find much use for the cards apart from legendary spamming lol
great guide, advising people which race to start with especially. i feel you may need to explain a bit more about mechanic of card game and costs included, as well as blizzard severs. i lost about 30 games in a row and disenchanted most of my cards, which i regret now a lot.
however, it was my own fault for not drafting zoo or some chaep deck and sticking with it. having a single strong deck means a lot. having 20 weak ones that resemble strong ones is no good at all.
my advice to new players is to draft a good deck and stick with it. when you are close to another deck that beats you regularly, spend a bit of dust and gold and try to get it. don't be afraid to disenchant cards you never see.
I enjoyed it! Though would it be hard to include some part where you include things from Adventures? I may only speak for myself here but I feel if you pay for anything pay for the adventures so you can have fun while getting guaranteed cards, again, idk how hard that would be to do but it'd be nice, I honestly still can't find much use for the cards apart from legendary spamming lol
Thanks for the feedback! :)
I've decided to do this guide without Adventures simply because it is aimed for completely new players who have no advnetures, players who have just finished getting all classes to level 10 and completing all achievements and players who don't plan on spending money on the game (yet). However I am planning on making more guides for beginners and there will most definitely be one that will revolve around adventures.
very nice guide! great job.. question: someday will u make a upgrade for thats decks with some epics cards? (sorry for my english)
Thanks for the feedback!
Yes, I will make an update to this guide, probably today or tomorrow. I won't change the decks but I will include a section with cards for each deck that a new player can craft later on to improve these decks.
great guide, advising people which race to start with especially. i feel you may need to explain a bit more about mechanic of card game and costs included, as well as blizzard severs. i lost about 30 games in a row and disenchanted most of my cards, which i regret now a lot.
however, it was my own fault for not drafting zoo or some chaep deck and sticking with it. having a single strong deck means a lot. having 20 weak ones that resemble strong ones is no good at all.
my advice to new players is to draft a good deck and stick with it. when you are close to another deck that beats you regularly, spend a bit of dust and gold and try to get it. don't be afraid to disenchant cards you never see.
Thanks for the feedback!
I will write more guides for beginner where I will go through other things in much greater detail. I've excluded those things from this guide simply because it is too big as it is.
good deck to new player to learn. the new player can try the deck instead of pay $ 500 to make stupid gimmick deck with 20 legendary and loses every games in ranked. and change to casual to bully budget deck player that doing daily quest or newbie that lack of card.
Why did you include c'thun in those mage decks? They would be much better without, that second one doesn't even have any c'thun cards xD
Thanks for the feedback! :)
These decks were created for new players who have just started to play and with the idea that they have no adventures. I don't know what can they pull from packs but they will get a c'thun, 100% guaranteed, so with that in mind it is a safer bet than anything else for those who have next to no cards
Greetings, dear new players. Eternal here with a new guide and this one is just for you.
It is not a rare occurrence to encounter a thread where a new player is asking what deck to play, which deck is most effective for them as a new player who currently isn't thinking about investing any money into the game. A lot of new players feel intimidated when the pass rank 21 and encounter a lot of farmers on rank 20 who go at them with decks which are far too powerful for new players to handle. In order to try and help you, I made this guide with 9 decks, one for each class, that are effective and quite cheap.
Before I go deeper into this guide allow me to explain my thought process:
- I operate under the assumption that those who are in need of this guide are completely new players with no card pool.
- I operate under the assumption that these new players are f2p players who aren't looking to invest money into the game (yet).
- I operate under the assumption that these new players have the basic understanding of how the game works.
- I operate under the assumption that none of these new players have any of the adventures.
- I operate under the assumption that all of these players have at least the gold that they get from achievements.
- It is important to understand that these decks are NOT fully optimized for reaching high ranks.
They are made to work for new players, not for reaching legend rank.
Note: There will be two different types of each deck in this guide. The beginner budget friendly version where I operate under the assumption that the reader can accumulate enough dust and the extreme budget version which barely costs anything but still can get the job done.
How to improve the budget version later on section has been added to the guide to help new players improve their budget decks even further. I've made this section by keeping in mind that new players don't have too much dust to spare so even after they improve their budget decks there is always more room for improvement. Most of the improved decks also require Blackrock Mountain and League of Explorers adventures. The order of cards that go into the deck and the order of cards that go out of the deck is the way it is simply because I wrote it that way and it doesn't present any kind of crafting priority nor switching the exact X card for Y card. It is my hope that this new section of the guide helps new players later on in the game.
Edit: I've never thought that I would be editing this guide after only a couple of months but a huge change has recently happened. Several cards from the deck lists were nerfed in the recent patch and as mentioned before I would make changes to the guide if I deem it necessary and I think that the nerfs are big enough to change a couple of things. Rockbiter Weapon and Tuskarr Totemic were removed from both shaman lists and replaced by cards such as Earth Shock, Primal Fusion and Stormforged Axe. Call of the Wild was kept in the section of the guide because I believe that it is still a pretty powerful card. Thank you for your understanding :)
Warrior:
The deck that I have found to be the most effective for new players and most budget friendly is pirate warrior. My reason for this is very simple. Pirate warrior has a low dust cost, especially in the extreme budget version, and it is a deck that is really easy to play and to understand.
Crafting Cost: 1040
Here is the extreme budget version of the deck.
Crafting Cost: 600
The only card that I feel the need to explain in this budget version of the deck is Orgrimmar Aspirant. I wanted to go for Bloodsail Cultist but I wanted to make this extreme budget deck even more budget friendly without losing the weapon buff. Aspirant is the only cheap card with a similar effect as the Cultist. If you have a Cultist I strongly recommend that you replace the Aspirant with it as it is a bit better card.
How to play:
Pirate warrior is a deck that looks to finish its opponent quickly by dealing huge amounts of damage directly to face really quickly. Pirates work really well in warrior due to all of the weapon synergy. Playing the deck is really easy. At the beginning of the game try to get the fiery war axe and your low cost pirates (1-2 drops). After that simply start hitting your opponent in the face until they are dead and trade only when you really feel that you need to.
How can you improve the budget version later on:
In order to improve this budget pirate deck you will need the third wing of League of Explorers adventure. Cards that you should add to this deck are the following:
2x Upgrade!
1x Sir Finley Mrrgglton (can be obtained in the third wing of League of Explorers adventure)
1x Leeroy Jenkins
Total dust cost: 1800 dust with League of Explorers, 3400 dust without League of Explorers.
You can swap the following cards to add these new cards:
1x Wolfrider
2x Bash
1x Shield Block
Shaman:
When it comes to shaman a good face deck can be made for very cheap but I wanted to change the play style a bit so I made a midrange shaman that is semi budget friendly for the new players. I say semi budget friendly because, unfortunately, some of shaman's key cards are rare cards so the deck is a bit more expensive than the pirate warrior but it should still be just as fun to play.
Crafting Cost: 1460
Here is the extreme budget version:
Crafting Cost: 900
The extreme budget version lacks the all of the totem synergy but it compensates for it with a little bit more power in the early game with the addition of Argent Squire, Flame Juggler and Bilefin Tidehunter. Luckily for us a decent portion of some very good shaman cards are common cards and they basically make the extreme budget version work. The only rare card that I simply couldn't exclude is Lightning Storm simply because there are no other common or basic AOE options.
How to play:
As a shaman you have some very good high value early game minions with Totem Golem and Tuskarr Totemic. You also have the arguably most overpowered minion in the game, Flamewreathed Faceless. Your strategy is to gain early board presence with cheap removal spells and strong minions like totem golem. Once you've established early board presence you can start smashing face for a quick kill. Shaman has a lot of ways to gain value from minions and to buff them with cards like Flametongue Totem and Bloodlust so try to make sure that you can get some value out of those cards.
For the budget version you should always try to get Thing from Below for as low cost as you can so don't be afraid to use your hero power every now and then. The budget version relies far more on token generation than the extreme budget one and it can easily win you the game with a couple of totem on board and Thunder Bluff Valiant.
How to improve the budget version later on:
To improve the budget version you will need the the second wing of Blackrock Mountain adventure and the second wing of League of Explorers adventure. Cards that you should add to this deck are the following:
2x Tunnel Trogg (can be obtained in the second wing of League of Explorers adventure)
1x Doomhammer
2x Lava Shock (can be obtained in the second wing of Blackrock Mountain adventure)
1x Mana Tide Totem
Crafting cost: 500 dust with the adventures, 780 dust without adventures.
You can swap the following cards to add these new cards:
2x Unbound Elemental
2x Fire Elemental
2x Flamewreathed Faceless
Rogue:
''Hey, Eternal, I'm a new player and I've heard about this miracle rogue deck. Is there any budget version of it?'' it is you lucky day because there is a budget version of miracle rogue which is new player friendly. It is not the real deal since this is a budget version but it is not bad either for its cost and it doesn't requirer a large card pool.
Crafting Cost: 840
Here is the extreme budget version:
Crafting Cost: 720
Friends, I'll be real with you, there is really not much reason to go with this budget list because both versions of budget miracle rogue deck are extremely cheap to make. The extreme budget list is only good if you lack the cards from the budget list but if you can get the budget list I would strongly recommend that you go for that one because 120 dust really isn't that much.
How to play:
Miracle rogue is the hardest deck on this list to play but it is really rewarding when you manage to get it work. If you are a player who wants to use crazy card combos to beat your opponent then this is the deck for you. Your main goal, with both versions of the deck, is to get Gadgetzan Auctioneer into play, play conceal to make sure that he lives for another turn, and then cast your low cost spells to draw even more spells which you will cast at your opponent to kill him and/or to clear his board. A good way to win is to buff your weapon, play Southsea Deckhand and aim to draw both copies of Cold Blood and both copies of Shadowstep for crazy amount of damage.
How to improve the budget version later on:
Cards that you should add to this deck are the following:
1x Leeroy Jenkins
1x Bloodmage Thalnos
1x Questing Adventurer
2x Preparation
2x Azure Drake
1x Shadow Strike
Crafting cost: 4140 dust
You can swap the following cards to add these new cards:
1x Earthen Ring Farseer
2x Kobold Geomancer
1x Southsea Deckhand
1x Sprint
2x Sinister Strike
Paladin:
You know, I'm really trying not to include too much smorc decks on this list but paladin is one that can only have a smorc budget deck because all of his really powerful cards are either rare or above or from adventures. Regardless, here is the aggro budget paladin, a deck that should net you a good amount of wins and is completely beginner friendly.
Crafting Cost: 1320
Here is the extreme budget version:
Crafting Cost: 920
Both decks follow a similar strategy. Apply as much pressure as you can to your opponents health and finish them off. The extreme budget version lacks the ability to give your minions divine shield but compensates for it with much more direct damage.
How to play:
The strategy for these decks is really simple. You start the game with as much low cost minions as you can. After that you play everything that you have in your hand and hit face with it. This is called vomiting a hand. If you have Divine Favor in your starting hand keep it and use it to draw more cards when you play everything else. With the budget version just try to aim to get the most value out of Steward of Darkshire as you can.
How to improve the budget version later one:
To improve the budget version you will need the second and the third wing of League of Explorers as well as the first wing of One Night In Karazhan adventure. Cards that you should add to this deck are the following:
1x Sir Finley Mrrgglton
1x Moroes
2x Keeper of Uldaman
2x Selfless Hero
Crafting cost: 200 dust with adventures, 3480 without adventures.
You can swap the following cards to add these new cards:
2x Wolfrider
1x Stand Against Darkness
2x Seal of Champions
1x Truesilver Champion
Hunter:
I can already here you saying that face hunter is a really cheap deck to play. However, knowing this, I went for something that I believe might be more fun for new players and that is a midrange budget hunter deck. The face deck will be the extreme budget one. New players, here it is, the budget midrange hunter that you've been looking for.
Crafting Cost: 1200
And, of course, here is the extreme budget version face hunter deck:
Crafting Cost: 840
The extreme budget deck is a face deck simply because it is much cheaper to make than a midrange deck because it requires only two copies of Eaglehorn Bow, unlike the midrange version which requires a lot more rare cards. Face version is easier to play than the midrange one but I prefer the midrange one and I would strongly advise you to try that one because you can learn much more about the game than just how to hit face. No, I don't hate hunter.
How to play:
For the midrange deck you fight for presence in the early game while using your hero power to deal direct damage to the face. After turn 3 you can start slamming your more powerful minions onto the board, use hound master to buff your beasts and use tracking to dig for cards that you absolutely need in certain situations. Try to get the most value out of your hyena by playing it with unleash the hounds for a board clear which results in one huge minion. For the extreme budget deck just always hit face and you will be fine.
How to improve the budget version later on:
Cards that you should add to this deck are the following:
2x Call of the Wild
Crafting cost: 800 dust
You can swap the following cards to add these new cards:
1x Carrion Grub
1x Tracking
Druid:
Druid is, in my opinion, a class that has a very good budget deck for new players in the form of token druid. You can build a token druid with both low budget and extremely low budget and it will still preform quite well. There are also two other versions of druid which are ramp druid that revolves around getting as much mana as you can really soon and start slamming huge minions onto the board and beast druid that revolves around durid's beast synergy but ramp druid is not a budget deck and beast druid needs cards from adventure. Anway, here are the decks.
Crafting Cost: 1200
Here is the extreme budget version:
Crafting Cost: 880
Why Bilefin TIdehunter? Simply because it generates a token and I had no better options. Now that I've gotten that out of the way I can explain how these decks are played.
How to play:
Token druid can be a lot of fun to play. You goal is to get as much minions on the board as you can by using Violet Teacher and then buff them with your spells like Power of the Wild and Savage Roar. Soul of the forest is a very useful and a very important card. I run it even in the non budget versions of token druid because it gives you insane value if your opponent manages to clear your board. Basically, the game plan is to generate as much tokens as you can than use Savage Roar and Power of the Wild to swing for lethal.
How to improve the budget version later on:
To improve the budget version you will need the first wing of Blackrock Mountain adventure. Cards that you should add to this deck are the following:
1x Emperor Thaurissan
1x Yogg-Saron, Hope's End
1x Fandral Staghelm
2x Azure Drake
1x Mulch
Crafting cost: 3800 dust with the adventure, 5400 without the adventure
You can swap the following cards to add these new cards:
2x Harvest Golem
2x Druid of the Saber
1x Healing Touch
1x Feral Rage
Warlock:
Warlock is a bit troublesome. There are three viable decks for warlock which are zoo, reno and murloc decks but all three of those require expensive cards and cards that are from adventures. Can a zoo deck be made without cards from adventures? Is it possible for beginners to play a zoo deck? Yes, of course it is, why wouldn't it be possible?
Crafting Cost: 1520
And here is the extreme budget version:
Crafting Cost: 880
See, there is a way to build an effective budget zoo deck without adventures :p What is that you say? What is Reckless Rocketeer? It is an old card that I used when I've started playing Hearthstone and I didn't have Leeroy. Are these decks as effective as the real deal? Not exactly since the real deal has cards from adventures and these decks are meant for completely new players, but they will net you a good amount of wins and are quite fun to play.
How to play:
When you play a zoo deck what you're aiming at is board control mixed with face damage. Board control and board positioning is the key to victory with these decks. Be very careful where you place your minions, in which order do you play them and try to trade as effectively as possible. Always look for your low cost minions at the start of the game and use your hero power often to draw more minions. Since most of your minions are cheap you will more than often always draw something that you can play immediately.
How to improve the budget version later on:
To improve the budget version you will need the first wing of League of Explorers adventure and the second wing of Blackrock Mountain adventure. Cards that you should add to this deck are the following:
2x Imp Gang Boss
2x Dark Peddler
Crafting cost: 0 dust with adventures, 160 dust without adventures.
You can swap the following cards to add these new cards:
2x Harvest Golem
2x Soulfire
Priest:
Priest is the class that has been struggling to find its place in the standard for a very long time. The class has two very powerful decks in the form of ressurect priest and dragon priest, but both of those deck require cards from adventures, which leaves us with the only logical option, the only budget priest deck that we can make and it will still be viable for beginners..C'thun priest.
Crafting Cost: 1040
Here is the extreme budget version:
Crafting Cost: 840
Out of all nine classes priest is the best one for a budget c'thun deck because others simply have better budget options or need far more expensive and far more powerful cards to make a C'thun deck work. Nevertheless the deck is fun to play and it is really effective at low ranks regardless of being a budget deck.
How to play:
With this deck you fight for board control. You use your minions to destroy enemy minions and you use your hero power to make sure that your minions stay alive. The goal of the deck is to survive long enough until you draw your C'thun and make it big enough that you can defeat your opponent with it.
How to improve the budget version later on:
To improve the budget version you will need the second and third wing of League of Explorers adventure. Cards that you should add to this deck are the following:
1x Brann Bronzebeard
2x Entomb
1x Excavated Evil
1x Twin Emperor Vek'lor
Crafting cost: 1600 dust with the adventure, 3380 dust without the adventure
You can swap the following cards to add these new cards:
2x Hooded Acolyte
1x Shadow Word: Death
1x Beckoner of Evil
1x Darkshire Alchemist
Mage:
Mage has one great option for beginners and that is to play a casino deck without Flamewalker because it is an adventure card. This is the cheapest deck that I've made in this entire guide, it is insanely cheap. However, although this is a deck list without Flamewalker, I strongly suggest that you put it into this deck if you have it. There is one important thing to note about these decks. They do include one adventure card, Firelands Portal, but that is only because the prologue of One Night in Karazhan is free so anyone can get it.
Crafting Cost: 640
Oh boy, here is the extreme budget list:
Crafting Cost: 440
Crafting cost is 440 dust. 440 dust, are you kidding me?! This deck is so cheap that it is insane. Cheapest deck in the entire game by far and I should know since I've been sitting here for hours making cheap decks for you guys. Why C'thun in both versions? Why not? It is free,
How to play:
Casino mage is an extremely simple deck to use. You use your spells to clear the board and deal face damage. You use your mirror image to protect your minions and you use your spell power minions to deal even more damage and, in budget version, to buff C'thun. You also pray to your lucky stars that RNG is on your side because there are so many random effects here that it is insane!
How to improve the budget version later on:
To improve the budget version you will need the second wing of League of Explorers adventure and the fourth wing of Blackrock Mountain adventure. Cards that you should add to this deck are the following:
2x Flamewaker
2x Ethereal Conjurer
2x Arcane Blast
2x Forgotten Torch
1x Firelands Portal
Crafting cost: 800 dust with the adventures, 1200 dust without the adventures
You can swap the following cards to add these new cards:
2x Spellslinger
2x Water Elemental
2x Mirror Entity
1x Polymorph
1x Psych-o-Tron
1x C'Thun
Good god, was this a long writing session. I hope that at least someone finds this useful. Thanks for reading guys :)
If you have any questions feel free to post them here, I am lurking here every day, and I will try to answer them as best as I can or in case that you have questions that aren't regarding this specific guide and you want/need quick answers you can hit me up on this new thing that I'm shamefully just learning how to use...the thing over*here*. If you're looking for beginners guide to wild format it can be found right here!
Nice job dude!
Really cool initiative to help new players get acquainted with different decks than Trump's Basics and Blizz own starter decks.
'Hope some moderator pins this post, I'm surely recommending it to my friends who recently started playing HS.
Speak about yourself at 3rd person, creepy. Upvote because a good guide tho.
Hahaha, sorry about that xD English is not my native language and I'm still learning how to write these guides. Thanks for the upvote and the feedback, I will try to be less creepy next time :P
If you are going to spend 1200 dust on hunter, it should be 2x cotw, 2x highmane, and 2x bow. You can throw 24 basic cards/random commons you get from free packs and have a highly functional deck. Especially for beating rank 20 portrait farmers.
That is a great post, Its good to see someone is taking the time to think of new players. These decks also provide a great building block for more developed deck lists.
Just one thing I noticed about the Rouge decks, I think adding 2 Questing Adventurer's would be good, also Shadow Strike.. They are cheap cards but would give you a possible win condtion and some cheap removal respectively.
>>>Check out my Latest Card Design Competition Entry<<<
That is definenetly a good point. I like that idea and I will most likely implement it into the original post as soon as I decide on how the list will look like.
You do have a very valid point here. Cotw is definitely a very powerful card that is being used quite often and it will definitely net new players a good portion of wins on rank 20. The main reason why I haven't included is because I wished to, due to the budget nature of the decks, make decks with basics, commons and rares. I don't like making exceptions for certain decks because I feel like then I would have to make them for all other decks. For example, if I add cotw to hunter then I will have to add preparation to miracle rogue. Both decks will be a lot better with those cards but then I would need to update other decks. I know it probably sounds like I'm too lazy to do it, but I'm not, I'm just not sure on the right way to implement such a change. You see, what bugs me most about adding cotw to the hunter list is the 24 basic/random commons which will still make the deck work, but if I am looking to teach new players something about deck construction I should not fill the deck with random cards just to be able to stick to the budget. Every card in the deck should serve a purpose and new players should learn and understand what purpose does that card serve.
when I had a very small collection I had always wanted to try Rogue, paladin and warrior, but never felt like I really could, since then I have gotten the ability to do so, but I really appreciate people taking the time to come up with decks that let new players experience different classes.
Just fill your deck with one drops, that is creative deck design, right?
Great post!
Did you think about put this guide on Reddit???
Always rank 15-20.
I know the feeling. I've started playing at the start of the open beta and back then control warrior was one of the strongest decks in the game. There was no other warrior deck that was remotely as strong as the control variant and I've always wanted to play it but the deck had required so much stuff that it was crazy. It took me several months to finally got everything that I needed.
Excellent guide, I've been playing over a year and still feel like a noob. Thanks!
I enjoyed it! Though would it be hard to include some part where you include things from Adventures? I may only speak for myself here but I feel if you pay for anything pay for the adventures so you can have fun while getting guaranteed cards, again, idk how hard that would be to do but it'd be nice, I honestly still can't find much use for the cards apart from legendary spamming lol
just to make things clear Ethereal Conjurer is an adventure card and you put in the mage deck
very nice guide! great job.. question: someday will u make a upgrade for thats decks with some epics cards? (sorry for my english)
great guide, advising people which race to start with especially. i feel you may need to explain a bit more about mechanic of card game and costs included, as well as blizzard severs. i lost about 30 games in a row and disenchanted most of my cards, which i regret now a lot.
however, it was my own fault for not drafting zoo or some chaep deck and sticking with it. having a single strong deck means a lot. having 20 weak ones that resemble strong ones is no good at all.
my advice to new players is to draft a good deck and stick with it. when you are close to another deck that beats you regularly, spend a bit of dust and gold and try to get it. don't be afraid to disenchant cards you never see.
good deck to new player to learn. the new player can try the deck instead of pay $ 500 to make stupid gimmick deck with 20 legendary and loses every games in ranked. and change to casual to bully budget deck player that doing daily quest or newbie that lack of card.
Adding this video since a lot of new players might be perusing this thread. Good work supporting new players!
Building Quirky Decks Every Week, Loving Life at Rank 15!