So I was playing Guardian Druid vs a Priest and at some point he played Mindrender Illucia and proceeded to play some of my cards. On my turn I played a Renew which offered me a choice of 3 druid spells and his Galakrond, the Unspeakable and afterwards we switched hands and decks again.
Next 1-2 turns is when things started getting weird. First I played an Emerald Explorer and 3 three offered options where 2 neutral dragons and a Skeletal Dragon which is a priest minion. Later I played Nature Studies and it offered me a choice of 3 Priest spells.
I wonder if that has to do with the fact that I have played the Priest Galakrond, or is it some buggy code related to Mindrender Illucia. Anyone else with a similar experience?
I'm also D5, I'll let you know once I have more games against Druid. Regarding Priest, at least before the SA expansion, they way to beat them was to not treat the deck as control as this way you will indeed reach fatigue first and lose. Rather try to put as much pressure on the board as possible and hope that they run out of removal.
Hi all. First of all I think the new expansion has been a big success so far as it shook up the meta quite a bit and gave rise to completely new decks. Of course some classes got a lot more support than some others, something that is reflected in the current win rates. Here are some thoughts/opinions on the various classes right now:
Druid: Druid entered the new expansion with a bang. Lightning Bloom + Kael'thas Sunstrider allow the Guardians Druid deck to do some silly stuff way too early. The deck is not totally OP and there are quite some counters actually, but I understand it feels extremely frustrating to play against since when they draw the nuts they humiliate you and there is nothing you can do against it. In my deck I only run 5 beasts (2x Lake Thrasher, 1x Teacher's Pet and 2x Twilight Runner - no Escaped Manasaber or other beasts) so that I get more consistent draws from Guardian Animals and I've added 2x Emerald Explorer in order to have some more value generation and activators for Breath of Dreams Gibberling Druid is another deck that can do some broken things as early as turn 1 if you happen to have Gibberling, Lightning Bloom and maybe something like Power of the Wild in your starting hand. I have played a few games with a deck that doesn't run a million 1-drops and other tokens but rather the Treant package (Force of Nature, Runic Carvings, Aeroponics, Goru the Mightree). So even if you don't draw Gibberling early on you still have a very solid mid-game and the added bonus that your opponent does not expect these cards to be in your deck. I am 5-3 with it so far. Spell Druid is no longer popular as it is just not as strong as Guardians Druid and other Druid archetypes (Big Druid etc...) are not even close to the level of the above decks
Warlock: Warlock got lots of new stuff. The soul fragment package fits very well in a Control Galakrond Warlock deck (perhaps also in Questlock?) and Flesh Giant is an amazing card that is at least playable in every single Warlock deck. Tour Guide is also a great addition. I have tried two variants of Zoolock decks: one with Disciplinarian Gandling and a bunch of 1-drops (mostly with battlecry) and one with the self-damage package (Diseased Vulture, Neferset Thrasher, Darkglare) + a few of the cheap soul fragment cards as this combination of self-damage and healing allows me to cheat out the Giants extremely early. I've had more success with the latter. I don't know how they stack up against other aggro decks (as I mostly faced Paladins), but they are decent enough in the current meta against Druids and Paladins that do not have many ways of dealing with wide boards or 0-mana 8/8s.
Shaman: I love playing Shaman and I got to legend with some Highlander Shaman decks last month. Highlander Spell/Control Shaman got some support (Instructor Fireheart is an amazing card and Devolving Missiles is a great tech card against Druids and Paladins) and in general it has lots of removal and other spells to deal with big minions so I will keep playing this deck as long as the meta is full of Druids and Paladins. I haven't played Highlander Quest Shaman yet this expansion so no opinion on it. Apart from that I've also tried 2 variants of Spell Damage Shaman: a more mid-range one where I try to get value out of Ras Frostwhisper, Sorcerous Substitute and so on and a zoo one where I try to rush down my opponents with Arcane Watchers and Molten Blast into Storm's Wrath. Both decks are fun to play, I'd rate them as tier 3.
Mage: The new spell damage mage deck with Mozaki, Master Duelist looks like tons of fun and I'd like to try it. I am just missing a few key cards (such as Evocation), but if the deck remains viable once the meta settles a bit, this is my first priority for crafting and trying out.
Hunter: Haven't played any hunter and the few that I have faced are Highlander Hunter with only 1-2 new cards from the latest expansion. I wonder if some other Hunter archetype will arise soon (deathrattle?)
Rogue: Also haven't played any, the new aggro weapon Rogue seems to be the least fun of all aggro decks I've seen, I wonder if Galakrond Rogue is still playable, perhaps with Lorekeeper Polkelt to tutor your Wand or Galakrond draws?
Priest I haven't played any priest but it is the third more popular deck I face. Wave of Apathy + Cabal Acolyte or Cabal Shadow Priest is a very frustrating combo. I often win because Priest eventually runs out of fuel (meaning removal spells) due to the lack of card draw
Warrior: I haven't played any Warrior yet this expansion. I was only playing some Enrage/Egg Warrior before. Warrior also got lots of new goodies, but they don't all fit together. Lord Barov is a great board clear in decks that run Risky Skipper, replacing Rampage with Shield of Honor is a nice improvement for Enrage Warrior, Coerce is a nice addition for control decks, Troublemaker is in general a strong late-game card and there is quite some support printed for Big Warrior with Commencement. I think the class will have multiple viable archetypes this expansion, I have no idea about their relative strengths though
Demon Hunter: Thankfully, Glide has not been a problematic card so far, but Aggro DH is still one of the best aggro decks out there. I am not convinved that the various Control DH decks are that good though. Finally Star Student Stelina has my vote for the worst legendary of this expansion
My Highlander Spell/Control Shaman seems to be doing quite well right now even though my sample size is very small (6 games). I updated the deck by getting rid of Transfer Student (who had replaced Lady Vashj), Twilight Drake, Lightning Breath, Witch's Brew, Vulpera Scoundrel and Waste Warden (not so good now that Murloc Paladin is no longer around) and added Lightning Bloom, Devolving Missiles, Instructor Fireheart, Diligent Notetaker,Groundskeeper and Tidal Wave. I kept Cobalt Spellkin as in the current meta both Devolving Missiles and Earth Shock are extremely key cards (against Libram Paladin or Guardian Druid) and I want to have the chance to generate more of them. I even considered adding Wandmaker but don't know what else to cut. Groundskeeper is a better healing option than Witch's Brew as it doesn't concede the tempo since you get to play a premium-statted 4-drop as well. I am not so much into Tidal Wave but I keep it for now as I need more activators for Groundskeeper. Instructor Fireheart is an amazing card. Before playing it I thought that his effect is one-time only (discover a spell, play it and discover a 2nd one), but now I realize that as long as you play the spell that you discover, you can keep discovering more. Play it at 10-mana and you can easily generate 3-4 spells from him, insane value. I saw of course Kibler playing this deck, he includes Speaker Gidra who also seems to be a great card, I don't have it but maybe I should craft it and add it (it would also fit in the Guardian Druid deck so it is in general a good craft). He is also running Headmaster Kel'Thuzad, but with only 1 spell capable of killing a big minion (Torrent) it seems a bit situational as well as too greedy.
OTK decks mostly lose to aggro and therefore I don't see the value of Divine Favor in your list. Also with Beardo + Tour Guide you can OTK with exactly 10 mana, therefore why Thaurissan? Maybe adding the new 0-mana First Day of School is enough?
I understand why you don't add the other cards from the Libram package (you want to draw Beardo quickly after playing Polkelt), but I am thinking whether Exodia Paladin would work just as well with just the Tour Guide + lots of card draw
This is the first time i have enough dust and many of the new cards at the first days of a new expansions and I've never enjoyed playing HS more. The meta is not even close to settled, I've been fooling around with 5-6 decks and I have to constantly adjust them based both on what works/doesn't work and on what decks I face out there and there are still so many new cards with a lot of potential where nobody has discovered the deck that makes them great yet
I only play very little wild on my 2nd account where I have only 1 deck - Maly Druid. I replaced Innervate with Lightning Bloom as it makes the OTK combo quite more consistent (I now don't need to draw Kun as I can play Aviana + Lightning Bloom + Jepetto + Kun), but other than that I don't think there is anything else worth touching on this deck. How is it with other decks? Any new ones showing up? I played a Kingsbane Rogue today and they seem to have gotten some support with the 5-mana draw-2 which is easily a 0-mana draw 2, as well as with Secret Passage, but I haven't noticed any other decks running many new cards
The thing with Druid is that when it draws its ramp cards early and cheats out its big spells, it doesn't just win the matchup, but it completely steamrolls the opponents who have no chance at all and thus get frustrated and come here asking for nerfs. For sure it will take some days for some sort of quasi-stable meta to be formed where we can judge how strong Druid actually is, how does it fare against the best aggro decks out there, or against control decks that might be specifically designed to counter it and so on.
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Ah ok so everything worked as intended then
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So I was playing Guardian Druid vs a Priest and at some point he played Mindrender Illucia and proceeded to play some of my cards. On my turn I played a Renew which offered me a choice of 3 druid spells and his Galakrond, the Unspeakable and afterwards we switched hands and decks again.
Next 1-2 turns is when things started getting weird. First I played an Emerald Explorer and 3 three offered options where 2 neutral dragons and a Skeletal Dragon which is a priest minion. Later I played Nature Studies and it offered me a choice of 3 Priest spells.
I wonder if that has to do with the fact that I have played the Priest Galakrond, or is it some buggy code related to Mindrender Illucia. Anyone else with a similar experience?
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I'm also D5, I'll let you know once I have more games against Druid. Regarding Priest, at least before the SA expansion, they way to beat them was to not treat the deck as control as this way you will indeed reach fatigue first and lose. Rather try to put as much pressure on the board as possible and hope that they run out of removal.
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Hi all. First of all I think the new expansion has been a big success so far as it shook up the meta quite a bit and gave rise to completely new decks. Of course some classes got a lot more support than some others, something that is reflected in the current win rates. Here are some thoughts/opinions on the various classes right now:
Druid:
Druid entered the new expansion with a bang. Lightning Bloom + Kael'thas Sunstrider allow the Guardians Druid deck to do some silly stuff way too early. The deck is not totally OP and there are quite some counters actually, but I understand it feels extremely frustrating to play against since when they draw the nuts they humiliate you and there is nothing you can do against it. In my deck I only run 5 beasts (2x Lake Thrasher, 1x Teacher's Pet and 2x Twilight Runner - no Escaped Manasaber or other beasts) so that I get more consistent draws from Guardian Animals and I've added 2x Emerald Explorer in order to have some more value generation and activators for Breath of Dreams
Gibberling Druid is another deck that can do some broken things as early as turn 1 if you happen to have Gibberling, Lightning Bloom and maybe something like Power of the Wild in your starting hand. I have played a few games with a deck that doesn't run a million 1-drops and other tokens but rather the Treant package (Force of Nature, Runic Carvings, Aeroponics, Goru the Mightree). So even if you don't draw Gibberling early on you still have a very solid mid-game and the added bonus that your opponent does not expect these cards to be in your deck. I am 5-3 with it so far.
Spell Druid is no longer popular as it is just not as strong as Guardians Druid and other Druid archetypes (Big Druid etc...) are not even close to the level of the above decks
Paladin:
Definitely the biggest beneficiary of the new expansion. Argent Braggart, Goody Two-Shields, High Abbess Alura and Blessing of Authority are all insane cards (and all big nerf candidates), that make Libram Paladin the best deck right now. Any other deck needs to seriously consider playing tech cards against it (such as Devolving Missiles)
Warlock:
Warlock got lots of new stuff. The soul fragment package fits very well in a Control Galakrond Warlock deck (perhaps also in Questlock?) and Flesh Giant is an amazing card that is at least playable in every single Warlock deck. Tour Guide is also a great addition. I have tried two variants of Zoolock decks: one with Disciplinarian Gandling and a bunch of 1-drops (mostly with battlecry) and one with the self-damage package (Diseased Vulture, Neferset Thrasher, Darkglare) + a few of the cheap soul fragment cards as this combination of self-damage and healing allows me to cheat out the Giants extremely early. I've had more success with the latter. I don't know how they stack up against other aggro decks (as I mostly faced Paladins), but they are decent enough in the current meta against Druids and Paladins that do not have many ways of dealing with wide boards or 0-mana 8/8s.
Shaman:
I love playing Shaman and I got to legend with some Highlander Shaman decks last month. Highlander Spell/Control Shaman got some support (Instructor Fireheart is an amazing card and Devolving Missiles is a great tech card against Druids and Paladins) and in general it has lots of removal and other spells to deal with big minions so I will keep playing this deck as long as the meta is full of Druids and Paladins. I haven't played Highlander Quest Shaman yet this expansion so no opinion on it.
Apart from that I've also tried 2 variants of Spell Damage Shaman: a more mid-range one where I try to get value out of Ras Frostwhisper, Sorcerous Substitute and so on and a zoo one where I try to rush down my opponents with Arcane Watchers and Molten Blast into Storm's Wrath. Both decks are fun to play, I'd rate them as tier 3.
Mage:
The new spell damage mage deck with Mozaki, Master Duelist looks like tons of fun and I'd like to try it. I am just missing a few key cards (such as Evocation), but if the deck remains viable once the meta settles a bit, this is my first priority for crafting and trying out.
Hunter:
Haven't played any hunter and the few that I have faced are Highlander Hunter with only 1-2 new cards from the latest expansion. I wonder if some other Hunter archetype will arise soon (deathrattle?)
Rogue:
Also haven't played any, the new aggro weapon Rogue seems to be the least fun of all aggro decks I've seen, I wonder if Galakrond Rogue is still playable, perhaps with Lorekeeper Polkelt to tutor your Wand or Galakrond draws?
Priest
I haven't played any priest but it is the third more popular deck I face. Wave of Apathy + Cabal Acolyte or Cabal Shadow Priest is a very frustrating combo. I often win because Priest eventually runs out of fuel (meaning removal spells) due to the lack of card draw
Warrior:
I haven't played any Warrior yet this expansion. I was only playing some Enrage/Egg Warrior before. Warrior also got lots of new goodies, but they don't all fit together. Lord Barov is a great board clear in decks that run Risky Skipper, replacing Rampage with Shield of Honor is a nice improvement for Enrage Warrior, Coerce is a nice addition for control decks, Troublemaker is in general a strong late-game card and there is quite some support printed for Big Warrior with Commencement. I think the class will have multiple viable archetypes this expansion, I have no idea about their relative strengths though
Demon Hunter:
Thankfully, Glide has not been a problematic card so far, but Aggro DH is still one of the best aggro decks out there. I am not convinved that the various Control DH decks are that good though. Finally Star Student Stelina has my vote for the worst legendary of this expansion
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Since you said you liked Kingsbane Rogue, it seems to be once again all over the wild meta right now thanks to Secret Passage and Cutting Class
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My Highlander Spell/Control Shaman seems to be doing quite well right now even though my sample size is very small (6 games). I updated the deck by getting rid of Transfer Student (who had replaced Lady Vashj), Twilight Drake, Lightning Breath, Witch's Brew, Vulpera Scoundrel and Waste Warden (not so good now that Murloc Paladin is no longer around) and added Lightning Bloom, Devolving Missiles, Instructor Fireheart, Diligent Notetaker,Groundskeeper and Tidal Wave. I kept Cobalt Spellkin as in the current meta both Devolving Missiles and Earth Shock are extremely key cards (against Libram Paladin or Guardian Druid) and I want to have the chance to generate more of them. I even considered adding Wandmaker but don't know what else to cut.
Groundskeeper is a better healing option than Witch's Brew as it doesn't concede the tempo since you get to play a premium-statted 4-drop as well. I am not so much into Tidal Wave but I keep it for now as I need more activators for Groundskeeper.
Instructor Fireheart is an amazing card. Before playing it I thought that his effect is one-time only (discover a spell, play it and discover a 2nd one), but now I realize that as long as you play the spell that you discover, you can keep discovering more. Play it at 10-mana and you can easily generate 3-4 spells from him, insane value.
I saw of course Kibler playing this deck, he includes Speaker Gidra who also seems to be a great card, I don't have it but maybe I should craft it and add it (it would also fit in the Guardian Druid deck so it is in general a good craft). He is also running Headmaster Kel'Thuzad, but with only 1 spell capable of killing a big minion (Torrent) it seems a bit situational as well as too greedy.
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Nice! Have you managed a turn-1 kill or not yet?
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OTK decks mostly lose to aggro and therefore I don't see the value of Divine Favor in your list. Also with Beardo + Tour Guide you can OTK with exactly 10 mana, therefore why Thaurissan? Maybe adding the new 0-mana First Day of School is enough?
I understand why you don't add the other cards from the Libram package (you want to draw Beardo quickly after playing Polkelt), but I am thinking whether Exodia Paladin would work just as well with just the Tour Guide + lots of card draw
1
This is the first time i have enough dust and many of the new cards at the first days of a new expansions and I've never enjoyed playing HS more. The meta is not even close to settled, I've been fooling around with 5-6 decks and I have to constantly adjust them based both on what works/doesn't work and on what decks I face out there and there are still so many new cards with a lot of potential where nobody has discovered the deck that makes them great yet
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Gibberling Druid, but more midrange-y:
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I only play very little wild on my 2nd account where I have only 1 deck - Maly Druid. I replaced Innervate with Lightning Bloom as it makes the OTK combo quite more consistent (I now don't need to draw Kun as I can play Aviana + Lightning Bloom + Jepetto + Kun), but other than that I don't think there is anything else worth touching on this deck.
How is it with other decks? Any new ones showing up? I played a Kingsbane Rogue today and they seem to have gotten some support with the 5-mana draw-2 which is easily a 0-mana draw 2, as well as with Secret Passage, but I haven't noticed any other decks running many new cards
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I take that back. Aggro DH can still kill you by turn 5 with a nice hand and the right minion of Demon Companion
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I think you need to add more Freeze spells, Doomsayers, more card draw and get rid of some of the big minions that are not part of the OTK combo
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Error 404 - Demon Hunter not found:) We all thought DH would be broken again, but right now the class has been powercreeped out of the meta
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The thing with Druid is that when it draws its ramp cards early and cheats out its big spells, it doesn't just win the matchup, but it completely steamrolls the opponents who have no chance at all and thus get frustrated and come here asking for nerfs. For sure it will take some days for some sort of quasi-stable meta to be formed where we can judge how strong Druid actually is, how does it fare against the best aggro decks out there, or against control decks that might be specifically designed to counter it and so on.