[Updated on August 8]
The first 24 hours after the launch of the newest expansion were pretty eventful, with dozens upon dozens of fresh decklists available for pretty much every class. Admittedly, some of them enjoyed far greater popularity than the others - a trend we have only noticed becoming stronger over the past few days that followed.
As Day 1 established the early Castle Nathria meta, we've seen some further refinement of the promising decks, and perhaps even more attempts to counter the dreadful imps or exploding skeletons. Naturally, things could still take a different turn even by the end of this first week, but there are a few rough directions to follow.
Since then, we've been continuously monitoring for all relevant updated decklists, and will continue to do so by adding more as they come up. In this new Celestial ranked season, the following options should deserve your due attention.
Murder at Castle Nathria - Notable Early Standard Decklists
By now, we are privy to some initial data via HSReplay, plus the ladder experiences of numerous top players. There is some of the usual serious analysis being done (just don't expect everyone to agree on any single take). Numerous calls for early nerfs always appear at the start of any expansion, yet a number of people would be just as happy to hear about buffs. Make no mistake, however - in general, the early impressions of the set land very much on the positive side.
As for the very early meta facts: Demon Hunters and Warriors are struggling to maintain even a 40% winrate overall, with Rogue not faring that much better (high skill cap?) despite no shortage of recordings showing huge stealthed minions or daggers with Attack value at double digits. There isn't a whole lot of appreciation for Paladin or Priest either. Expect the class sections for some of these to be notably thin.
You can find some inspiration for your ladder climbing below, ideally aligning with your current collection. As always, we advise you don't commit too heavily to crafting all the cards you don't own at the moment - the present meta landscape might shift again after the weekend! Especially if you are playing on a budget, it might be wise to hold on until the first balance patch. When would that be? As it happens, we actually talked about this already.
Quote From Aleco No standard balance changes are coming with 24.0. We are planning to patch as soon as we can after the new set is out, which is ~2 weeks.
Demon Hunter
It's been really barren and not looking too promising for the class after the Day 1 interest has faded away. It's like there was nothing more to add.
We've only just seen one new idea floating around, hailing from the stream of resident class expert and talented singer DracoCatt (with the deck being navigated by PigPen; full list below). Will some buffs still be required to take any further steps towards establishing a solid archetype, or is it only a matter of finding the right (relic) combinations? Or perhaps just waiting for the targeted nerfs to happen across the field.
Druid
As Lady Prestor builds quickly started fading away with the new set, Celestial Alignment remained. Cue much lamentation from many a player. The other builds rely more on the good ol' "Ramp and Big Stuff" strategy, with the Nature spell school focus due to Topior the Shrubbagazzor (a name clearly used just to make our lives more difficult).
Prince Renathal seems to be a staple nowadays, and more people are starting to embrace Theotar, the Mad Duke. We hear your Sire Denathrius is free to be borrowed for a dinner party. Otherwise the Infuse mechanic plus tutors plus tokens (and perhaps one Brann Bronzebeard with his pal Kael'thas Sinstrider) can be a downright deadly combo to have to face against.
Ramp/Big/Nature
Celestial Alignment
Hunter
Good time to hunt down some suspects. One of the top classes this early on, with a number of viable routes. Nope, Questline Hunter did not go away after all. Big Beasts remain (Zeddy also hit Legend with the list from HattriK that you can find below), and the midrange Face approach has been revitalized. The Wildseed package appears in pretty much every archetype.
Sidisi took a different creative direction by embracing Sire Denathrius and some Infuse cards. If that looks tempting to you, we can recommend a very detailed Twitter thread going into the mulligan, gameplay, and matchup commentary.
Quest
Face
Big Beast
Infuse/Beast
Mage
One of the most popular classes following the launch of Murder at Castle Nathria, and still holding its ground. It's all mainly built around the newest Volatile Skeleton package. Since the good takes have been established almost immediately, there haven't been any particular great shifts.
While the community cannot quite decide whether to actually call the archetype Skeleton Mage or Spooky Mage (we kind of like to alternate), there isn't nearly as much doubt when it comes to the most successful early decklists. Vicious Syndicate's ZachO has confirmed Meati's version (shown below) not to be bait, which is always very good to know.
Ping/Big Spell
Infuse
Tempo/Secret
Paladin
There wasn't a great interest in Paladin on Day 1, and that hasn't really changed. A few stalwart players are doing their thing, the rest is pretending the class more or less doesn't exist.
A lot of the gameplay here remains fairly familiar and reliable; perhaps because of this also not particularly exciting. The early hopes for a full blown killer Questline/Dude Paladin haven't manifested so far.
Holy/Control
Pure/Dude
Priest
A ton of interest in the class on the launch day hasn't translated into any greater momentum. In fact, players seem to have dropped most Priest variants as soon as they could. If variety is your desire, then the Day 1 decks are still your best bet.
What remains is the Elwynn Boar Priest a.k.a. same-as-always (no, really, no new cards to be found in here), and perhaps the only thing that can carry the class for now - Nagas and their Serpent Wigs. According to HSReplay's data, it's actually overperforming as the meta contender with nearly 60% winrate.
Off Curve navigator and devoted Priest follower WickedGood came up with a list that Dcon most recently piloted to Top 10 Legend. Murder at Castle Nathria might've delivered just the right tools that the deck was previously lacking (whenever it couldn't snowball off early buffs and board presence).
More recently, the likes of Thijs and Bunnyhoppor have been seen dabbling in larger Quest/Thief packages.
Naga/Wig Priest
Thief/Quest
Rogue
Obligatory 'high skill cap' warning. Or at least that's the line we always hear whenever a deck that's supposed to be strong-yet-complicated to navigate (especially when racing against the clock on certain turns) presents less-than-stellar winrate. Thus far, Miracle(-s) aren't happening often enough. But you are still bound to see some reports of crazy minion stats or Attack values.
As expected, nobody seems to be particularly interested in the Secret package. Beyond that, there just isn't much more left. A handful of players are still trying and sometimes even getting decent results (Jesse Alexander revisited that Questline concept, where Door of Shadows seemingly belongs). Furyhunter doesn't even think the deck he used is any good (fun matters!), but when did that ever stop him from climbing.
Deathrattle/Miracle
Thief
SI:7/Questline
Secret/Tempo
Shaman
Lots of options at our disposal, the class seems to be in good standing.
Evolve shenanigans came back once again, trying to break the meta - supposedly in a 'less toxic' fashion than what we might recall from the past. Various Control variants can't complain either, often relying on that small Murloc package with a dash of new evolve cards sprinkled in. Primordial Wave occasionally becomes just a single copy inclusion, with Theotar, the Mad Duke enjoying even greater recognition.
Habugabu's greedy version (as shown below) apparently paid off for another player. And yes, there is a Murloc Holmes in there. I don't know about yours, but my copy has been dusted for the time being. Serves him well for crashing our games, it's a crime that cannot be so easily forgiven.
Evolve
Control
Warlock
The undisputable Imp King Rafaam of the early Murder at Castle Nathria meta, and the prime candidate for the first round of nerfs. Hearthstone's most renowned (?) original villain can enjoy his current superiority. Apparently Imps were the key, even though technically they aren't being considered a (new) tribe. And yet, we are going to get a way to search for the relevant imp-ish subset cards in our Collection Manager.
Many of the successful lists have already been found on Day 1 (Shady Bartender certainly had to wait for this moment), so instead we saw some more creative mixing and matching in the recent days. You can always count on Ike in that regard.
Imp/Zoo
Imp/Curse
Mine/Phylactery
Warrior
As it begins, so it ends. So far nothing new, really. Only the ideas that've already been shared before.
How are your own very early impressions of the meta and the Castle Nathria expansion in general? Anything that's been working for you in particular, maybe there's something we're still sleeping on? Let us know in the comments!
Comments
I see lots of decks on this list (and in my experience on ladder) running Sire Denathrius. Yet not a lot of Taelan Fording. Isn't this exactly what he is best at, drawing your big minion so it's in your hand while you sacrifice all your minions? What am I missing?
In theory, but in a meta where Theotar, the Mad Duke exists, it's also quite a tell. And it can be hard to justify dropping a 3/3 with Divine Shield if you are facing strong tempo board on the opposing side. But still a handful of folks using Taelan presumably for the reason you mention.
Update(-s): Been adding a few decks here and there, from the likes of Habugabu, Thijs, Bunnyhoppor, etc. Mainly something extra for Thief Rogue/Priest enjoyers. Might throw in a couple more later; we'll likely turn our attention to another larger compilation once the 1st week of Castle Nathria is fully over.
It's been a fun climb with Naga Priest for me so far ^_^
Alright, first impressions after about 5 days of the new expansion.
Best class currently is hunter. I dont think we need any explanation here. The game plan is simple, whether quest, big beast, or face, you're very likely not making real decisions but instead just dropping stuff and hp face. Basically as long as you're alive youre probably only ever losing to a big Sire Denathrius play, assuming of course the hunter games ever reaches 10 mana at all. Overwhelm with spirits, beasts, and hit face. What else is there?
After hunter, mage, warlock, and druid tugs it out for 2nd place and its again not very difficult to see why. Implock basically wins or lose around turn 5 and if you dont have a board clear by turn 4 you're probably dead. Mage plays a slower game, but with Nightcloak Sanctum and the plentiful of skeletons everywhere chances are good you'll either swing board or stall long enough to build up your hp to ridiculous levels and win there. And if that's not enough, there's lists playing the sire or modresh with Kael'thas Sinstrider, I think that's more than enough said.
Druid on the other hand is like all druids post AoO. Just draw the cards you need and win. Basically druids only loses to itself. Even implock can't fully deal with a druid that draws like god. I havent had the displeasure of playing against many Celestial Alignment druids but I pretty much expect the same result. Ramp, guff, scale, denathrius, win. Replace denathrius with whatever bs the deck is build with.
The other classes. Shaman, sometimes too slow against imps and hunter, basically a DoA if you dont scam a board out of nowhere, either via Clownfish or evolve cards by turn 4. Priest is good, but one board clear and its practically over. Paladin is dead, haven't played against one or with one. But based on my experience if the other party is faster with board paladin is dead and so happens we're in such a meta. Dhunter is also dead for the same reason. Even worse now, because if you ever see renathal trigger you're probably going to lose. Warrior is the only class I think can get better as the lists improve, but I havent got round to trying it myself.
In my opinion at some point of time, team5 would probably do something about Prince Renathal because Im getting increasing concerned over the power level needed to commensurate with 40 health.
Nerf targets (probably too early, but here's my take)
Something something quest hunter, druid might take a hit somewhere because Im 100% sure they will nerf everything else before actually nerfing Wildheart Guff, Impending Catastrophe or Vile Library might get moved to 3 mana, Nightcloak Sanctum might get its uses nerfed to 2.
Likely buffs are more needed this time rather than nerfs. But I think team5 would more likely do buffs at a later date than the usual first wave 1-2 weeks in.
I always suspected you might be from the future, as at the moment of your post it wasn't even 4 full days with the set! I know, I know, who would be keeping such an exact count.
Some solid points. I still can't believe we've gone two full expansions without Wildheart Guff getting hit. Nightcloak Sanctum feels like so much value for so little. I didn't have time to play enough with imps or against imps to see what the hype was all about.
In a way, Prince Renathal has certainly made the whole deck compilation business trickier than it used to be. And now there is always that question of whether it actually improves any of the existing archetypes compared to their 'base' 30-card versions, which only seems to encourage players to keep testing.
I think its fairly unanimous that the card is mostly beneficial to both hunter and druid. Quite a niche for other classes as it stands currently.
Renathal might as well be an exclusive druid card because I cannot imagine druid playing without it. The class has always, in my opinion stupidly, had 'inconsistency' as part of its identity so team5 justifies printing loads of OP cards for this one class because druids tend to die before they play them anyway. That 40 health helps a ton, and since druid tend to draw well enough and their cards are insane anyway the extra 10 cards might as well be part of the benefits.
Same with hunter. Loads of great end game stuff but without healing and only 30 health I think team5 calls it balanced. But here comes 40 health and suddenly hunters can actually ignore board, hp face, and play their end game so its all benefits to them. Suffering only the mild inconsistency, but high rolls make it insufferable nevertheless.
Im only afraid that team5 would now turn their attentions to dhunter's power level (or lack thereof) next and suddenly we're facing 15 damage to face on turn 6. And where does that end? 8/8 divine shield turn 4 for pally next? Rogue drawing their deck turn 5? Whatever it is, 40 health is not trifling, and a lot more difficult to balance without upping power levels.
I really feel Prince Renathal should grant 10 health but at the same time shuffle 10 random cards into their deck. That to me is a more balance card, but admitably I dont think its going to happen. And druids would probably still play it anyway.
Early Imp-ressions indeed...
I haven't played Imp warlock yet as I'm missing 2 crucial cards but definitely enjoying this Big Beast list that was provided and any druid deck with Topior, coz that card is Tops 😜
And the meta is still shifting coz Hunter is now No.1 at the time of writing
I would discourage you from playing implock despite its hsreplay stats.
Every one and their mother's dog is playing around implock its not even funny. Ive seen decks play Wild Pyromancer just because of it. Feels really terrible to be honest, to see your deck being hard-targetted. The deck can still win of course, but every now and then you feel like a worm at the end of a fishing pole.
If you have the cards, definitely try minelock or curselock instead. Since practically no one is running viper right now it feels incredibly broken just playing rod on 5.
Implock is as overrated as Pirate Warrior. It has like 4 good cards and the rest is just filler that falls apart if they run into one too many boardclears.
It legitimately feels like a trashy Zoo deck from a few years back that has no way to get back on the board once they lose it and is only carried by a handful of slightly unfair cards.
Pretty sure that Beast Druid is probably a better swarm deck as of now.
Its likely pre-nerfed quest pirate is still better than implock, but only because its minions are more resilient to answers and it has a scam late game. I wouldn't say implock is a trashy zoo deck because you simply can't ignore any of the tokens it creates on board. Try not having a board clear by turn 4 and you just die. And even then if they answer with rafaam after that, that's another board clear needed or you die.
Of course, it doesn't help that every deck on earth is teching against it, and the deck has absolutely no burn plan or late game. But I wouldn't be too surprised if the deck gets nerfed at some point in the future.