As is tradition by now on HearthPwn, the first day we scour the web for lists of the best and most fun decks the pros have been playing around the release of the expansion. These are the best Showdown in the Badlands decks that we found, with the common factor being that the pros had fun playing these decks. Check them out and see if you do too!
What is also somewhat of a tradition is that not every class is represented and that some feel overrepresented. This is just the nature of competitive games, where people flock to the new fancy and usually strong decks. If a class has no or little interesting or strong new options, it often gets ignored somewhat in favor of the new hot class archetypes.
Druid
Druid is back, or maybe never really left. It got a Dragon package, and a Highlander Dragon package, and both seem to be very strong and a lot of fun to play. We have 3 versions here, 2 Highlander versions from Meati and Feno, and a duplicate version from McBanterface, that PaperNinja piloted to Rank 1 legend.
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Demon Hunter
Another deck that is doing well at high legend is Naga DH. The deck wants to play Blindeye Sharpshooter and then pop off and kill the opponent. The issue here is getting Sharpshooter, but with the amount of draw DH has available, that's not actually as much of a problem as it is for other classes to find their 1 keycard.
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Death Knight
This is the third and last Feno deck we feature. It's a Frost DK deck that incorporated an Excavate package, and somehow, that just works perfectly to fill out the archetype. Oh, and on the topic of DKs, if you are getting upset about the amount of Highlander decks you face, then old school Plague DK is your friend.
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Hunter
Class specialists in Hearthstone are usually an important part of the community, because they play their class through good and bad and know how to refine decks for their class. HattriK is a Hunter. He made an initial and then an improved version of this deck, and of course we bring you the more refined version.
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Paladin
This will be relatable. Alliestrasza got a signature version of the Paladin Highlander Legendary Spirit of the Badlands and felt the need to use it. Some time later and with an 80% winrate, she found herself at Legend rank. Having fun AND ranking up is the best combo.
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Priest
Sometimes the early prognostications about classes or archetypes are wrong. But at the same time, sometimes an early expansion unrefined meta means that decks that are not meta, will pop off, and go on a run. We're not sure which of these is true for this Priest deck, but TonberryBlue went 4-0 vs Naga DH and 3-0 vs Excavate Warlock. Impressive!
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Rogue
Rogue is one of the most versatile classes, and rarely has an archetype made for it that both doesn't work and is unfun. Even at the worst of times in the meta, Rogue seems to usually know how to have fun decks. And that's why we bring you some Rogue decks that try to generate a ton of coins for random cheap legendaries or feature a bunch of resurrected and bounced Ogres.
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Warlock
The Deck below was created by NAGON who said (translated) that "Excavation Warlock is so strong that I don't feel like using other decks even though it's a new expansion". And parts of the community seem to feel that the Warlock Excavate legendary treasure The Azerite Snake is super OP and needs to be nerfed.
Meati had thoughts on the subject though. He tweeted "This has to be the most overrated card of the set. I’m seeing so many players complaining about it.…but let’s be honest. If you let your opponent excavate 4 times, then play, bounce and replay a 4-drop with 0 immediate impact THREE TIMES, either you or your deck just suck". And well, he's not wrong there.
We'd love to hear in the comments on which side of the debate you fall!
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Posted Nov 15, 2023 (Showdown in the Badlands)demon hunter feels like a wet paper bag most games right now.
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Posted Nov 15, 2023 (Showdown in the Badlands)best way to fix The Azerite Snake is to have a passive end of turn effect of dealing 10 damage so it gives the chance of bouncing back to be useless if they want to have the minion to take effect.
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Posted Nov 15, 2023 (Showdown in the Badlands)Meati thinks a 20 hp swing battlecry is “0 immediate impact”?! If your opponent had 10 or less health and somehow had Ice Block up, they still die to the Snake. If a Paladin was using that spell to give the hero divine shield, or had the Immovable Object equipped, pretty sure the Snake says “fuck that” and takes the 10 hp regardless. So, “0 immediate impact”?!?! Really?!?!
Not saying there aren’t other things that beat the deck, but to make that statement is ridiculous!
And to be clear, I’m not saying the above can/will happen. Especially since Ice Block and Cariel hero card are Wild only, and Wild is likely too fast for Snake Lock. They are simply examples of how the Snake very much has an impact immediately!
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Posted Nov 15, 2023 (Showdown in the Badlands)In what world is "permanently deal 10 damage to the enemy hero and heal yourself for 10" zero immediate impact?
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Posted Nov 15, 2023 (Showdown in the Badlands)Right? Worth pointing out that it can be done as early as turn FOUR as well. Baffling design, and feels really gross to play against.
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Posted Nov 15, 2023 (Showdown in the Badlands)Just play blood deathknight dumbass lol
[This is a joke post please remove the snake from the game]
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Posted Nov 15, 2023 (Showdown in the Badlands)To be fair, it has zero immediate impact on the board state. They haven’t removed your minions or played any of theirs. It doesn’t mean it is weak or sucks to lose against, but he is technically right. Playing a card for it’s battlecry and returning it to hand without a change to the board state is zero immediate impact.
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Posted Nov 15, 2023 (Showdown in the Badlands)I think that's the part most people seem to not get. It's about board state and what you do as a player to force the Warlock to do something about it. If the Warlock is busy dealing with what you throw at him instead of bouncing a zero board impact snake, he gets nowhere.
The snake might be one of those old Paladin conundrums, where the deck does really well at lower ranks but the higher the ranks, the less you see it cause it's game plan and game play is so static as to be easier to counter.
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Posted Nov 15, 2023 (Showdown in the Badlands)That perspective assumes the Warlock is solely focusing on the snake and isn't also playing cards that address the board, or creating a board that needs to be immediately addressed themselves. At 4 mana, The Azerite Snake leaves plenty of space for Warlocks to play other cards, even if they do bounce/zola it. Of course a player who's blindly focusing on a single play isn't going to do well at higher ranks, but a smart player isn't going to do this. As the deck gets more refined, it's going to become harder and harder to put a Warlock in a place where they don't have an opportunity to weave this into their plays.
Additionally, Meati's tweet seems to imply that The Azerite Snake has to be bounced to be overpowered. I'd argue that even playing it a single time puts you at a vast advantage, as your opponent is limited to 20 hp for the rest of the game, while you're capable of healing up to 40. Playing it this way provides space for other gameplan options for Warlocks -- something we're seeing being developed in other lists playing alternate wincons like the curse package or Sargeras, the Destroyer.
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Posted Nov 15, 2023 (Showdown in the Badlands)I just want to say in the few Rogue games I had time to play yesterday: The power level of The Azerite Snake compared to The Azerite Scorpion is insulting. Like, what children are designing this game.
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Posted Nov 15, 2023 (Showdown in the Badlands)Azerite scorpion is garbage. It’s not the point of excavate rogue though. It’s actually draka and sinstone in disguise. It would rather have Azerite chunk or shard give 0 mana cards or have two coins from excavating and consider Azerite scorpion a dead draw.