After the full reveal, I've done some theorycrafting and predict that the top of the coming meta will be a soulshard-based Demon Hunter, a pure libram Paladin, and a big resurrection Priest. Here are my early decklists for each:
Sadly, I think that this will polarize the meta, with decks trying to outrace the Demon Hunters or out-control the priests, so midrange decks will have a very hard time surviving in the meta. I do think a highlander mage might have an opening to be high-A Tier along with a very aggressive face Hunter. B Tier will likely have a menagerie (possibly highlander) Warrior along with some sort of big Druid and stealth Rogue. Shaman will likely be in absolute oblivion, stuck in mostly meme territory and D Tier (their identity right now is basically worse Demon Hunter with no draw).
The C'Thun feels out of place in the priest deck. Honestly I've never tried Resurrect/Big Priest but now seems like a good time. I feel like an idiot because I disenchanted Catrina and Vargoth, eh time to re-craft.
I agree with you generally on the points of soul demon hunter and pure paladin being top decks however I am not too sure about priest being much better than it is right now, especially not with C'thun. I do think that Yogg will make an appearance in any control deck out there.
The reason I put the C'thun into the priest deck is two-fold. First, for most of the game, the C'thun is just four control spells (basically an Assassinate, Unearthed Evil, and Avenging Wrath) that can be used against aggro but won't be a win condition; however, in a control matchup, it gives you 5 extra cards in your deck, putting you ahead on fatigue and can act as a finisher.
I agree with you generally on the points of soul demon hunter and pure paladin being top decks however I am not too sure about priest being much better than it is right now, especially not with C'thun. I do think that Yogg will make an appearance in any control deck out there.
C'Thun is great for Priest especially with all the spell cost reduction it has now...and Priest really lacks a finisher and C'Thun gives it one.
Unfortunately, Shaman no longer has anything it really does better than Demon Hunter in regards to aggro. Its minions are less aggressive, it lacks healing and draw, its hero power is just inferior, its weapons are worse, and, while the new legendary is powerful, it will die the turn it is played if you play it anywhere near on-curve; if you wait to play it off-curve, you are already dead to burn before it is useful.
Don't sleep on aggro DH making a comeback, DH got a couple of good class cards for this archetype and there are like other 2-3 very potent neutral cards for aggro to feast on.
Im qondering if that priest deck can survive the pressure of the meta. Dh in particular seems like it would just laugh at your meager defenses. I mean youll be at 12 health by the time you drop your first minion. And that is about nothing right now.
I wouldn't be so quick as to declare Soul DH king of the world. Paladin, Ctrl Shaman, and Priest all got better, and they all give soul DH a tough time.
I think Aldrachi + Il'gynoth is good, but being far overrated.
I am still not sure why HS developers would kill off all the other classes? Should people just quit the other classes? I am not really sure why they always make such an imbalance at the beginning of a new expansion?
Hunter is a lot like Shaman, being worse Demon Hunter with no draw. Shaman and Hunter being designed from the getout as aggressive classes but given 0 card draw for fear of them being too powerful has made both of them jokes in the face of Demon Hunter.
Demon Hunter basically ruined what Hunter had left of an identity.
I would love to hear your thought process on completely ignoring warlock but mentioning shaman instead as the worst (Where are you ranking warlock?). Warlock got a lot of tools this expansion and I expect to see it be relevant in the meta. I believe it is a safe bet for tier 2 with multiple viable decks from a tempo demon zoo to straight control decks with Tickatus or some of the Old Gods.
I didn't try to place it because I honestly don't know where Warlock will be. It appears to have a fairly strong demon zoolock core now (if you can reliably hit the bonus on Free Admission, you can really catapult yourself into a tempo game), but I'm worried that Demon Hunters get so much burn that the life-sacrificing strategies that enable these decks will be suicide; that said, I agree with you that we will likely see at least one high tier 2 aggressive Warlock deck. Unfortunately, control warlock hasn't been a thing for a while now and the "best" non-aggro Warlock decks are sitting at around 35%-40% winrate. I would LIKE to see questlock as a viable deck, but am not really hopeful, despite the fact that Plot Twist can power you through the quest and then you can draw up free old gods (ie. free C'thun played on the same turn as Twisting Nether to ensure all 30 goes face).
They should have made Deck of Chaos hit everything in hand as well--this would actually make it a very powerful combo enabler that could do some really strange things in a control matchup--for example, they could run a deck similar to an old Malygos Druid which controls and draws towards a finisher of Malygos + 2x Nether Fire + Soulfire = 9 mana for 27 damage. Ironically, it would also enable a 3-cost Jaraxxus, which is pretty good as a final health stabilization tool.
Warlock got some nice tools, but its worth mentioning that some SA cards will be better with MDF, like Demonic Studies is now a real card with a good demon pool and Felosophy can copy discounted demons from Free Admission.
I dont think its gonna be tier 1, but Im gonna try to make a midrange demonlock work.
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After the full reveal, I've done some theorycrafting and predict that the top of the coming meta will be a soulshard-based Demon Hunter, a pure libram Paladin, and a big resurrection Priest. Here are my early decklists for each:
Sadly, I think that this will polarize the meta, with decks trying to outrace the Demon Hunters or out-control the priests, so midrange decks will have a very hard time surviving in the meta. I do think a highlander mage might have an opening to be high-A Tier along with a very aggressive face Hunter. B Tier will likely have a menagerie (possibly highlander) Warrior along with some sort of big Druid and stealth Rogue. Shaman will likely be in absolute oblivion, stuck in mostly meme territory and D Tier (their identity right now is basically worse Demon Hunter with no draw).
The C'Thun feels out of place in the priest deck. Honestly I've never tried Resurrect/Big Priest but now seems like a good time. I feel like an idiot because I disenchanted Catrina and Vargoth, eh time to re-craft.
Rogue will definitely be on top as well
I agree with you generally on the points of soul demon hunter and pure paladin being top decks however I am not too sure about priest being much better than it is right now, especially not with C'thun. I do think that Yogg will make an appearance in any control deck out there.
The reason I put the C'thun into the priest deck is two-fold. First, for most of the game, the C'thun is just four control spells (basically an Assassinate, Unearthed Evil, and Avenging Wrath) that can be used against aggro but won't be a win condition; however, in a control matchup, it gives you 5 extra cards in your deck, putting you ahead on fatigue and can act as a finisher.
C'Thun is great for Priest especially with all the spell cost reduction it has now...and Priest really lacks a finisher and C'Thun gives it one.
Aggro shaman will be on top.
Unfortunately, Shaman no longer has anything it really does better than Demon Hunter in regards to aggro. Its minions are less aggressive, it lacks healing and draw, its hero power is just inferior, its weapons are worse, and, while the new legendary is powerful, it will die the turn it is played if you play it anywhere near on-curve; if you wait to play it off-curve, you are already dead to burn before it is useful.
Doom hammer Aggro Shaman FTW
Don't sleep on aggro DH making a comeback, DH got a couple of good class cards for this archetype and there are like other 2-3 very potent neutral cards for aggro to feast on.
Im qondering if that priest deck can survive the pressure of the meta. Dh in particular seems like it would just laugh at your meager defenses. I mean youll be at 12 health by the time you drop your first minion. And that is about nothing right now.
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I wouldn't be so quick as to declare Soul DH king of the world. Paladin, Ctrl Shaman, and Priest all got better, and they all give soul DH a tough time.
I think Aldrachi + Il'gynoth is good, but being far overrated.
I am still not sure why HS developers would kill off all the other classes? Should people just quit the other classes? I am not really sure why they always make such an imbalance at the beginning of a new expansion?
Control Warlock will be TIER 1.
Hunter is a lot like Shaman, being worse Demon Hunter with no draw. Shaman and Hunter being designed from the getout as aggressive classes but given 0 card draw for fear of them being too powerful has made both of them jokes in the face of Demon Hunter.
Demon Hunter basically ruined what Hunter had left of an identity.
please don't bully my son
I would love to hear your thought process on completely ignoring warlock but mentioning shaman instead as the worst (Where are you ranking warlock?). Warlock got a lot of tools this expansion and I expect to see it be relevant in the meta. I believe it is a safe bet for tier 2 with multiple viable decks from a tempo demon zoo to straight control decks with Tickatus or some of the Old Gods.
Deck of Chaos is literal Garbage for now but with a few expansions dont be surprised if it pops up like Luna's Pocket Galaxy did.
:)
https://hsreplay.net/replay/27u2NJTZZJgToJ6k6n5BTM
Rogue players are smarter than other players, so rogue will be top tier as always. :P
The new achievements really have me hyped. May actually buy that overpriced thing that gets you more stuff. Whatever it's called.
I didn't try to place it because I honestly don't know where Warlock will be. It appears to have a fairly strong demon zoolock core now (if you can reliably hit the bonus on Free Admission, you can really catapult yourself into a tempo game), but I'm worried that Demon Hunters get so much burn that the life-sacrificing strategies that enable these decks will be suicide; that said, I agree with you that we will likely see at least one high tier 2 aggressive Warlock deck. Unfortunately, control warlock hasn't been a thing for a while now and the "best" non-aggro Warlock decks are sitting at around 35%-40% winrate. I would LIKE to see questlock as a viable deck, but am not really hopeful, despite the fact that Plot Twist can power you through the quest and then you can draw up free old gods (ie. free C'thun played on the same turn as Twisting Nether to ensure all 30 goes face).
They should have made Deck of Chaos hit everything in hand as well--this would actually make it a very powerful combo enabler that could do some really strange things in a control matchup--for example, they could run a deck similar to an old Malygos Druid which controls and draws towards a finisher of Malygos + 2x Nether Fire + Soulfire = 9 mana for 27 damage. Ironically, it would also enable a 3-cost Jaraxxus, which is pretty good as a final health stabilization tool.
Warlock got some nice tools, but its worth mentioning that some SA cards will be better with MDF, like Demonic Studies is now a real card with a good demon pool and Felosophy can copy discounted demons from Free Admission.
I dont think its gonna be tier 1, but Im gonna try to make a midrange demonlock work.