The one around the corner is a new and crucial week: on October 22nd we will receive not one, not two but three announcements, regarding the new expansion (probably Darkmoon Faire themed and bound to be released in early December), the new game mode and the achievements system.
The next few days are going to be exciting, but in the meantime don't forget to actually play the game and climb some ranks: after all, the end of the month is near and you don't want to miss your rewards in your seasonal chest!
Fortunately for you, HSReplay has posted on Twitter the 5 top-performing decks (Diamond to Legend) of the last week: enjoy!
Broom Paladin
The first of the two Paladin decks we're showcasing today: it gives up the Lightforged package (Lightforged Zealot and Lightforged Crusader) in order to obtain neutral tools such as Wild Pyromancer (great synergy with Libram of Justice and with Libram of Wisdom), Pen Flinger (again, great synergy with Libram of Wisdom) and especially Animated Broomstick (for more initiative and board swings).
Face Hunter
You know the drill: take control of the board, keep dealing cheap damage and eventually clutch the win before they can stabilize. It's been working for the last 6 years, and it doesn't look like something's gonna change.
Highlander Hunter
Highlander Hunter has been around pretty much since its release, back in Uldum: it's rarely been the deck to beat, but has always performed very well, regardless of the meta. Here's the mid-Scholomance version of this archetype.
Pure Paladin
Good ol' reliable Libram Paladin. What else should we add?
Soul Demon Hunter
A deck that has gone through various iterations since August, and here's what the meta acknowledged as one of the top dogs.
Comments
Bomb Warrior all the way dude. Only really struggles against Paladins (which I barely see) but absolutely CRUSHES Mages and Priests like the rats they are
Until you run into a weapon rogue, 0% win chance :)
Kinda Crazy how Libram paladin hasn't changed since this expansion began.
Yet they nerfed Mage, again. Briliant.
I know right?
I don't even play cyclone mage. I play highlander casino mage. It's just a fun deck to mess around with.
Sure it isn't super consistent, but the plays can make for some laughably fun games. But instead of nerfing paladin's ability to win if they stick a minion to the board, soul DH's ability to draw their their deck and ignore minions while going face, or face hunter "I never TRULY get nerfed" deck, they decide to nerf mage for reasons I can't fathom. (yes I read the blizzard article and their "reasons" for nerfing, still doesn't exactly justify mage nerfs with other decks performing BETTER than mage is).
Other decks aren't performing better than Mage at every rank. You need to look at the entire meta in detail to understand the nerfs, not just take an overall average.
My take aways from this article: It’s a great time to play Hearthstone if you enjoy playing as Paladin or Hunter!
Maybe I’m just getting bad matchups or bad draws when I tried the Highlander list in this article (or similar), but I’ve had better luck with my Pre-SA Highlander Hunter lately than the current variation.
Just wanted to mention a control counter to some of these climbing decks as well ;)
https://outof.cards/hearthstone/decks/19848-aggro-blaster-control-shammy
This one worked really well for me over the past week, and who doesn't love racking up some wins with a misfit like Shaman?
Don't know if I'd classify shaman as a misfit except for first 2 years of hearthstone when shaman was considered super bad. Once they got overload synergy and overcosted overload minions (4 mana 7/7) they haven't really been a meme.
I agree with you when looking at the overall lifespan of Shaman. I was just talking about the current meta within Standard. They are quite low tier, but I also think they are being overlooked, particularly on the control side.
Two questions regarding the stream:
1) When will it start? The announcement mentions two times within half an hour of each other. My best guess is that the first one is when the "waiting screen" appears and card pack drops via twitch are already possible, while the second one marks the start of the actual content.
2) Are you sure we'll see the announcement of the achievement system this week? I thought it was about the reward system which doesn't necessarily have to be the same thing. Reward system could be about monthly progress on the ladder, while achievements are a longterm thing imho, like 500/1.000 wins portraits and similar stuff. Or did they actually tie those two together?
Your guess should be correct, at least that's what I'm expecting.
The Logo over the "System revamp" is the same as the "Achivements and progression rework" one from the roadmap, so I'm 98% certain those two are the same and they just wanted to shorten the text. I can also totally see some Achivements rewarding xp for the pass since it seems to be a big part of the rework.
Says 7:30 - 9am PST on the game loader. Not sure about the waiting screen you mention though. For me, I'll just get them packs and catch the highlights later.
This is what I meant:
2x Pala 2x Hunter in top 5. (Especially Pure and Libram Pala more or less a variation of a similar deck).
Sadage