There are no control decks in the top end of the Stormwind meta, Blizzard professionally killed off that archetype. If you think a deck is control because it has 1 removal card in it, i don't know what you've been doing in all those mtg years you claim to have had....
The single deck that has a control style play is Quest priest and that one is currently low tier 4. Please look at https://hsreplay.net/meta/ and tell me any control deck that is in tier 1 or 2. Hint: there isn't, it's all aggro, midrange or combo decks.
Quest Shaman is a control deck through and through.
When you say "or combo decks" at the end, it shows that you don't even understand the terminology. There's no "or." A combo deck can be aggro, midrange or control, depending on how it behaves until it achieves the combo.
Quest shaman is not a control deck, at all, it's a classic aggro/burn type deck. I think you are the one not understanding terms here. Combo just aims to get to their win combo in the fastest way possible, in HS this usually resorts in exorbitant amounts of carddraw, now with the quests added into it. Control decks, in the terminology that has been established since the early days of MTG, are purely decks that aim to outlast/outvalue everything the opponent does until they can start putting their pressure up or wining through fatigue.
A Combo deck is not midrange, aggro or control. a combo deck is a combo deck and it's solely build on a draw engine to enable firing off the combo as quick as it can.
No, a control deck controls the game until it can achieve its win condition. That's literally where the name comes from. It cannot outlast anything unless it takes control. In Hearthstone, that usually means controlling the board. Quest Shaman does this through removal spells and some minions. An aggro burn deck would not bother with minions on board because it hopes to burn the opponent's face off before the opposing minions can win.
And also, no, if you think combo is an entirely separate category unto itself, you have NO idea what you are talking about. All "combo" means is that the deck exploits a massively strong synergy of some type as its win condition. This affects its play style but does not solely define it.
If there's no such thing as aggro-combo or control-combo, you need to ask yourself why there are so many articles written about these different types of combo decks.
Yeah exactly. In MTG most control decks are combo control decks.
The amount of viable decks is the single dumbest argument and metric that exists for evaluating the health of a meta and OCG/TCG as a whole, and should be entirely disregarded. It is absolute nonsense. In fact, in trying to use it as your metric, you have instead just made an attempt to counter an ACTUAL argument and metric for the health of the game: How much variability is there.
Right now, the game has only 2 different decks. I give 0 shits about whether or not the deck is a priest, a hunter, a paladin, mage, warlock or whatever. That's arbitrary, and it doesn't matter at all. In standard right now, there are 2 decks: Extreme aggro, or OTK combo.
First, let's remember what OTK means: One-Turn Kill. That means the deck has to be capable of dealing at least 30 damage in a single turn. Anything less than that, and it's just a combo burst, which is not nearly as unhealthy. In many cases, it may just be a control deck with an actual win condition.
Here are some Tier 1 and 2 decks that are not aggro or OTK:
Secret Paladin, the top deck at the moment, is not aggro. It is midrange.
Deathrattle Demon Hunter is the most midrange deck you'll ever see.
Handbuff Paladin plays like midrange. (Battlemaster certainly makes it capable of OTK damage, but it can win without that.)
Quest Shaman is a control deck. It may get bursty at the end, but it does not usually take you from 30 to 0 in a single turn.
Rush Warrior is midrange.
Quest Warrior is midrange.
Quest Mage, which isn't even a top deck but is one everyone likes to complain about, is arguably a control deck. It is designed to keep the board clear and deals a big burst at the end, but not usually 30 in a single turn unless you let the game go on forever. That's not so different from the way control has always played -- inevitability is a hallmark of control archetypes.
Some Warlock decks, with their massive healing and heavy removal, are control. The ones people hate most are combo, for sure, but there are viable Warlock decks that do not use combos or OTK.
I think a big part of the problem is one of terminology. People don't really understand the difference between OTK combo and the inevitability of control.
Control now has real win conditions, and it reaches them faster. That can feel like an OTK, but it's usually not even technically a combo. And hey, guess what -- in control vs. control, the winner is the one that reaches its win condition first. That's why really slow control decks are having trouble these days. They still lose to real combo decks, and now they also lose to faster control decks.
You are simple wrong here, yes an ideal combo aims to kill your opponent in one turn, however any deck that is not capable of doing so is not automaticly not a combo deck. The "combo deck" term has been established long before hearthstone has even been a thing (and combo doesn ot mean anything different in hearthstone)
Combo deck is a term for a deck of (usually sixty) Magic: The Gathering cards that aims to win the game using a relatively small number of cards that instantly or very quickly win the game when combined (hence the name "combo").[1] Because of this win strategy, a common motif among combo decks is an emphasis put on the ability to find specific cards quickly and win as fast as possible.
Almost all current quest decks are by definition combo decks, it only happens so that you start with one piece of the combo in your starting hand. The difference between a control and a combo deck usually comes in the form of value, a typical control deck aims to play the "null game". Answer everything your opponent does until you reach a point in the game where you can start dropping your own threats, which in contrast to combo decks dont just end the game the moment the card is played or even the turn after, Rattlegore is a perfect example of this.
I was very careful to define OTK, not "combo." So thanks, you've just proved how pervasive the terminology problem is.
Many of the hated decks are indeed both control and combo (because the two are not mutually exclusive), but they are not "OTK" as so many people call them.
And, of course, my main point went unnoticed because people think they can "win" a thread by nitpicking ... But I'll re-state it in case you missed it: There are plenty of decks out there that are not Aggro or OTK -- in fact, the front-runners in this meta are neither of those.
Combo and Control are mutually exklsuive, i dont know how many times this cnversation ahs been had in the past but jsut because a face hunter plays for board against shadow priest does not mean he is playing a control deck, he plays his aggro deck in a control style manner.
Quest decks are by definition combo decks, once you get your reward done, the game is either over the moment you play your reward or 2-3 turns later in most cases. This gets even more obvious if you ever played against someone that mileld their quest reward by accident, no win possible after that happens except very fringe caes (opponent also mills his reward e.g.)
Also control decks have nothing to do with being inevitable, control decks win with card quality, they run you out of ressources until their average card quality trumps yours, rattlegore is not inevitable, there is counterplay to it, same for N'Zoth, Ysera or any other card run as top end in standard control decks, cards that are inevitable however are warlock quest reward and ignite, even if you were to paly a card that granted you 1000 armor every single turn, you would still lose, and there is absolutely nothing you can do against it (except killing your opponent before he does)
You are right by saying there are many non OTK decks out there, agree on that, but almost every single deck that is played right is either combo or aggro, you also might look up the definition of midrange while you are at it, only deck that currently fits that description is secret paladin.
Completely shutting down one of the games basic archetypes (control) threw the deckbuilding experience in the dumpster then set fire on it. Thats probably why this expansion has been so polarizing:
People who enjoy deckbuilding got the fattest middle finger (sorry Kibler), while the ones who dont care about it and just netdeck everything are having a blast with super fun, powerful decks who win fast and with style.
So in MtG terms: pure Johnnies got kicked in the balls, while pure Timmies got multiple orgasm jerkoffs. Spikes never care, they just play whats good anyways.
I for my part enjoy deck building and the meta
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Or maybe people dare to have different opinions then yours?
Yeah exactly. In MTG most control decks are combo control decks.
In magic every control deck has a combo finisher
So nobody can have a different opinion? I like the meta too.