So because individual class reviews and theorycrafts take a lot of time and usually end up being pointless, I thought I'd try something more compact this time around.
I'm gonna be ranking the 10 classes from best to worst and explain why and which decks they'll use. Before I do that I'm gonna explain some general assumptions that I base these things on:
Overall
So after looking at the set in its entirety and considering all the rotating stuff I came to the conclusion that there will be 3 types of decks that will succeed in the coming meta:
-very aggressive ones
-very defensive ones
-those using Zephrys the Great
the reason for this is that, aside from the addition of Demon hunter who looks to be very aggressive in general, we lose both Leeroy Jenkins and Zilliax.
Leeroy Jenkins means that aggressive decks will have to double down on their aggression because they no longer have an easyy finisher. It also means that slower midrange decks won't have this finisher either, meaning their kill potential is severely reduced, making them weaker against both aggro and control. Finally, without Zilliax, one of the best anti-aggro and comeback tool is gone. It's actually frightening to see how many successful decks relied on being able to recover at least some health and swing the game back in their favour to win. Zilliax was the main reason why we had very few actual aggro decks and the ones we did have were average at best (for instance Face Hunter, despite having ridiculouss aggro potential, was inferior to the much slower, but far more efficient Dragon Hunter)
The last point is that Zephrys the Great becomes the single most effective comeback tool in the game. He allows you to heal, clear the board, deal with a minion or find lethal. As explained above, matchups will become much more polarized and having acccess to a flexible finisher or emergency fallback is probably the best thing to improve your winrate.
These are the assumptions I'm going into this with and all my judgements below are based on them. So let's get into it:
#1 Demon Hunter
So let's explain this. Demon Hunter is overpowered, there is no way around it.
However, this is absolutely necessary. When they designed a new class they not only had to put it together from scratch, but also introduce it to a completely new meta, meaning there's very little to actually build upon balance-wise. This left them with two choices:
-make DH op and nerf them later
-play it safe and buff them if necessary
The second option would be downright idiotic. Buffing cards is so much harder to do than nerfing. Basically, if Demon Hunter turned out to weak they'd have to guess which cards would improve their performance if buffed. NOt only that, a weak class would see significantly less play, meaning less data to go off.
Instead, they chose the best option and just made the class clearly busted. This way they can accurately assess where the intended strengths and weaknesses are and nerf them accordingly.
That being said, I think the most aggressive Demon Hunter builds will be the most successful, both initially and in the long run. Kayn Sunfury makes it so you can reliably finish your enemies and don't get walled off by Taunts that you can't remove. Skull of Gul'dan is just broken in general´and will probably be the first card on the nerf block.
Other archetypes like Token and Big Demons will probably pale in comparison, but still see play somewhere down the line, depending on how the meta develops and which cards get the nerf hammer.
Highlander DH is also an options that has been experimented with. I'm personally not convinced that it's better than just running all your good cards twice, but as explained above, Zephrys is pretty nuts.
#2 Paladin
Paladin is an interesting case, because they come into this expansion with basically nothing, but received a set so strong it's on par with K&C Warlock.
Librams are nuts and will be the defining shell for Paladin for a while (until something even better comes around). The question is how to optimally use the Libram package?
Some people are adamant about Pure Paladin finally becoming a thing, but I don't really believe it myself. The thing about Librams is that they work well with a select number of Neutral cards that I really don't want to pass up on, mainly Wild Pyromancer, Argent Squire and the new Replicat-o-tron. The upside of Pure Paladin is the tempo boost fromLightforged Zealot and the reload of Lightforged Crusader. However, I don't think either of those are necessary. Lady Liadrin is the only reload you'll need, and Crusader tends to fill your hand with clunky stuff, which has anti-synergy with Liadrin herself. Zealot is more appealing, but only really makes sense in a deck that tries to put on pressure, which i don't think Paladin needs to be. In this new meta, Healing will be a very powerful tool to stop aggro (especially DH, because they bypass taunts). As such you can actually sacrifice tempo and swing back with Libram of Justice and Libram of Hope as well as generally good cards like Amber Watcher. Another reason is the fact that Pure Paladin doesn't really have a good sticky 1-drop to capitalize on Hand of A'dal which is the main reason I wanna run neutral 1-drops like Argent Squire or Murmy
Just in general, Paladin has received one of the best lategame value engines currently available while also having a very solid earlygame package.
Another option is Murloc Paladin. Murgur Murgurgle is just great in general and will probably see play outside of tribal decks. Imprisoned Sungill is very underated as delayed triple murloc ready to receive buffs (and a good way to play around removal and still have a board). Felfin Navigator speaks for itself.
Highlander Paladin, despite using Zephrys, is probably too slow (and can't use Librams as well as regular Pally, so I feel that rules them out by default)
this might be the meta were Control Paladin finally shines.
#3 Hunter
Hunter is here because of Dragon Hunter and Face Hunter, not necessarily because of the new set. Both decks lose effectively nothing and gain EVERYTHING from Zilliax rotating. Face Hunter is probably the best counter to aggressive Demon Hunter, who has some real trouble dealing with Leper Gnomes and Secrets. Dragon Hunter on the other hand will probably work decently all around and not lose that much to decks with healing or taunts because Rotnest Drake is busted.
Highlander Hunter will be around in some capacity, but I'm not sure how strong they'll be. Once again, Zephrys might pull through, but overall I'm not sure if Hunter can wait until turn 7 and 9 for the big powerspikes.
The new Hunter cards are definitely interesting but I fear the might be a tad too slow. Handbuffing is historically awkward, and even when efficient options are available. Zixor, Apex Predator might be good enough to carry the archetype, but it heavily depends on how common Rogue is in the meta because boy oh boy will Flik Skyshiv fuck you up.
I think there might also be a way to play Beastmaster Leoroxx efficiently by runnig King Krush and Octosari, and using them as a massive tempo boost and reload in some sort of midrange deck. You don't actually need to summon all 3 beasts for it to be worth it.
Finally I wanna point towards Vereesa Windrunner and say that despite her not having seen much play in recent times she's still a very powerful effect that has also received indirect support via Corrosive Breath and older cards have a tendency to be forgotten even when they could potentially shine.
#4 Rogue
Now I'm gonna go out and bring you a very bold and controversial prediction here: I don't think Galakrond Rogue will be very good.
Yes, I'm being serious, I think that what is currently one of the best decks in the game will fall almost completely out of relevance. The reason being that Galakrond Rogue is VERY SLOW. We've kinda gotten used to the meta being a lot slower in the last year, thanks to Zilliax and a few other tools that allowed classes with limited defensive options to have an answer to aggressive decks. This is no longer the case.
Galakrond Rogue depends on being able to play Invokers early and mostly just respond to stuff while shitting out lackeys for tempo and value. Outiside of that it relies on Heistbaron Togwaggle and Galakrond, the Nightmare for the big swing turns. HOwever, Demon Hunter won't let you get to those turns...like ever. At the same time heavy control decks will just simply outheal or outtaunt you, which is even more relevant now that the Leeroy + Shadowstep burst is gone.
This doesn't mean that Rogue is out of the game though. One of the main benefits of Galakrond was big draw through consistent Galakronds and Togwaggles. This was necessary because Rogue didn't really have good enough draw outside of them (Neither Sprint nor Gadgetzan Auctioneer are particularly great anymore). However, we have perfect substitutes these days with Dirty Tricks and Greyheart Sage. Not only that, but both Secret and Stealth Rogue seems to go in a much more promising direction tempo wise, even though in the theorycrafting streams it seemed a bit subpar, which I feel was due to suboptimal deck building (for fuck's sake Kibler, you're playing an Aggro deck, you need to run Eviscerate)
Overall the future of Rogue is a bit uncertain, but just the sheer amount of good cards they received leads me to believe that they'll worm their way into at least tier 2...as they always do.
#5 Warlock
In another bold prediction I'll claim that Warlock is actually looking pretty good. They already benefit a lot from Leeroy leaving as we speak and the have at least decent healing options (especially [Hearthstone Card (Sacrifical Pact) Not Found], which hurts Demon Hunters a lot and also any other aggro deck, because they all run Frenzied Felwing).
Galakrond Warlock will probably stick around in some capacity. If I'm not mistaken Blizzard has removed dormant minions from the random summoning pool (or maybe it's just The Darkness and I have false info) so the card won't be significantly worse.
However, what I am really looking forward to are two "new" archetypes, namely being Control Handlock with Shadow Council as well as Plot Twist Warlock.
Let me explain:
I very much agree with Trump (no, not the orange one, the one with barcode for hair) and his assessment that Shadow Council is a legit play in a control deck that mostly draws cards and accumulates reactive tools. Essentially you'd be playing Embiggen Druid but with control tools. Additionally you can set up your Imprisoned Scrap Imp to buff your hand even further, and since we now have a decent amount of proactive demons (or just ones with taunt) you should always have something useful to play after using Council. As said above, Control will have to go very defensive, and Warlock doesn't really have simple lategame win conditions, so this might genuinely be a good way to take over the board in the midgame, as well as having a realistic answer to other control decks. Do not underestimate the power of dropping overbuffed minions turn after turn.
Plot Twist Warlock would be a twist indeed, but far from an unrealistic one. Aranasi Broodmother gives us more heal, which is great, Enhanced Dreadlord is just good in general and a great target off Fel Lord Betrug. Even better, we get Kanrethad Ebonlocke who gives us a legit lategame powerbomb that will most likely summon taunts, lifesteal or another Betrug (who is great because we also run Supreme Archaeology). we can even double up on Ebonlocke if we summon him from Betrug. If all that still isn't enough you can run Zzeraku the Warped and combine him with fatigue damage to create a last ditch effort (or just run Chef Nomi, idk, whatever works). AlsoKeli'dan the Breaker is pretty lit and makes it so we don't necessarily need two copies of Siphon Soul or Twisting Nether
Overall I think there will be some form of Control Warlock, if only because Sac Pact beats Demon Hunters hard.
Oh yeah, and Zoo is also a thing I guess...they didn't really get much support. Don't believe in the Discard hype, it sucks.
#6 Warrior
Now I'm really uncertain about the actual strength of Warrior. They lose A LOT. Both [Hearthstone Card (Eternium Reaver) Not Found] and Town Crier were essential in taking the early game, and now we only have....Imprisoned Gan'arg...yay. Also the loss of Acolyte of Pain is crippling.
I don't think Galakrond Warrior as we know it can stick around. You were already at the mercy of drawing your Galakrond and Invokers in time, and now you basically lose half your draw. Battle Rage might have to be a genuine buildaround if the deck wants to be playable.
However, not all is lost, because the taunt package could pull through. Kargath Bladefist is a great recovery tool so I'm fairly certain some form of defensive Warrior will be played.
On the other hand we also have Enrage Warrior, who still has Bloodsworn Mercenary, which is still busted.
I don't see Warrior taking the lead on anything, but rather them responding to whatever the meta throws at them.
If everything fails, Pirate Warrior can probably do something decent. Face is the place.
#7 Mage
Much like Warrior, Mage could go either way. Spell-only Mage looks to be garbage. It's an RNG fest and probably a fun deck to play, but there's no way it actually gets above 50% winrate. The biggest problem is the fact that MAge has so little efficient draw that it's hard to capitalize on Incanter's Flow. Arcane Intellect is alright, but just not enough and generated spells aren't nearly as good.
This pretty much leaves only Highlander Mage, which still has a bunch of powerful cards and the new Evocation to keep them afloat. The main problem is the rotation of Luna's Pocket Galaxy. this was the card that actually won game, because while MAge would usually just go even normally, being able to play a bunch of big guys for 1-mana was how they overwhelmed opponents in the lategame. Now you just play a bunch of big dudes one by one and see them removed by Control decks or ignored by Midrange ones. I'm not familiar enough with the deck to judge it accurately, but I think it will be so much weaker without Luna's.
There are however at least two other Archetypes that I think might see some resurgence. One is Big Spell Mage, which got Deep Freeze as another way to swing the board, and the other is...yes...Cyclone Mage. I can't tell if either of those is nearly good enough, but I can say that Starscryer helps them both A LOT.
Also there is technically a version of Cyclone Mage that uses Incanter's Flow and Gadgetzan Auctioneer to do....something, I'm not sure what yet.
Mage will be "fine", but don't expect them to have much of an impact.
#8 Druid
Druid is the prime example of a class that will probably be really strong later in the year, but so far we only have the set-up without the payoff.
Embiggen Druid sounds like it would stick around, but I'm skeptical, mainly because of Demon Hunter. Embiggen Druid is very slow early if they don't get the explosive early with Strength in Numbers and Breath of Dreams. This means that DH can set up on you and punch face and by the time you get a big taunt out they just play Maiev Shadowsong or Kayn Sunfury and sm0rc you to death.
The deck could still be a thing thanks to "Evasive" being a really powerful keyword against Control decks relying on spell removal, but I think they'll be much worse because of their polarized matchup spread.
Quest Druid behaves similarly. They didn't really get any new tools and they are still as slow as ever, which will lead aggro decks to exploit them. Steel Beetle could be key to surviving long enough to turn the game around, but I don't believe the deck gets any better. Ysiel Windsingercould be pretty strong in the future, but we don't really have the spells for her yet.
Imprisoned Satyr could be a real sleeper (heh) hit. I'm not entirely sure on the mechanic, but I believe the Satyr awakens before you draw at the start of your turn, making it very easy to set up, especially if your deck is thin on minions anyways. Moreoever, you can just play both Satyrs at once (or over two turns) and enable some strong combos (currently Malygos + double Germination for an easy 32 damage burst with Moonfire...or even use Elise the Enlightened). The main problem is that Ramp combo druid will be too slow and too easily rushed down. The more combo piececs you include the less consistent your deck will be and Quest Druid lives and dies by its consistency.
On the other side there's the potential for Spell token Druid. Most of the token summoners are spells and Glowfly Swarm is nuts. Fungal Fortunes could be used with a very minimal minion package (Keeper Stalladris and [Hearthstone Card (Goru the Might Tree) Not Found] is waht I'm talking about mostly) so there might be something here. Probably won't be a very consistent deck though.
#9 Priest
Poor Priest. We got the class overhaul we always wanted and it changed very little....at least for now. Yeah, maybe removing ALL card draw from the class wasn't such a good idea. Much like Mage, I dislike the idea of trying to win off of random cards instead of actually playing what's in our deck. It doesn't help that Reliquary of Souls is by far the worst Prime in this expansion and will probably see more play in a different class (more about that later).
Rez Priest will stick around, but will be so much weaker. Zerek's Cloning Gallery and Zilliax are huge losses, as is Mass Hysteria. Additionally there are now so many Rez counters that even if the deck was good it would just get countered to hell. None of the new cards really support it either.
There is a glimmer of hope though. I think Galakrond, the Unspeakable will be much better than previously seen. It's already become a decent addition to Rez Priest, but I honestly think there could be some form of Control Priest that will be able to utilize him better than ever. Let me remind you that infinite ressource generation is very powerful and there's currently nothing to compete with that (outside of LIbram Paladin, which Priest conveniently counters with Mass Dispel). Even better, some of Priest's worst minions are rotating to Wild, so you get a decent selection of playable minions to generate.
Even further, Control Priest can actually use some of the few draw cards left, that being Cleric of Scales (which encourages a Dragon control package, which doesn't look too bad thanks to Aeon Reaver and maybe even Chronobreaker, and they also can make best use out of Kronx Dragonhoof to fetch their Galakrond and start outvaluing their opponent early.
Finally, Priest has some very decent healing tools, which should be relevant against Aggro decks and Soul Mirror is probably one of the best swing cards for any Control deck and complements the idea of a Priest deck that tries to control with both spells and minions.
Overall Priest is looking uncertain, but not completely dead. It's just gonna take some out of the box thinking to make it work, and even if it doesn't, there's some set up for the future.
#10 Shaman
We've reached the bottom. I guess this is where The Lurker Below lives.
Much like Paladin, Shaman enters with basically nothing...and gets nothing in return. No win conditions, and very little support to the remaining archetypes. Let's break this down:
Aggro Overload Shaman is gone. Thunderhead was the backbone of the deck and it's gone. It still has some great cards but nothing to really hold them together.
Quest Shaman was already dead. Mind Control Tech leaving cements that fact. Now any deck that can go wide or tall just runs over them.
The biggest bummer is the lack of support for Control Shaman. Hagatha the Witch is gone and with her the only chance of having a decent lategame value engine. Spirit of the Frog is gone, so no more good draw. Finally, there's the lack of efficient healing. As mentioned before, healing is going to be king for control decks. Shaman now only has Witch's Brew (which is way too slow) and Walking Fountain (which is good, but comes out way too late and probably only heals for 8).
What they do still have is a barrage of boardclears and powerful single target removal. Technically a control shell is still possible...but what for? We don't have any lategame bomb anymore. The best we can muster is Galakrond, the Tempest, who, at this point, is probaby the weakest of all the Galakronds. Compared to other lategame plays, two 8/8s with Rush aren't really that impressive anymore, and you can't really win just off of those (especially since Shudderwock is gone as well). I still believe Galakrond will be a necessary package to succeed (and who knows, maybe some of the cards will get unnerfed eventually), but we still need some sort of lategame plan...and maybe there is.
So a fellow user on this site pointed out that in the current set, the only 1-mana legendary is Reliquary of Souls. Now look at [Hearthstone Card (Fist of Ra-den) Not Found]. Here's the deck they came up with:
Basically the idea is to use Fist to summon a bunch of Reliquaries with 1-mana spell.
Additionally I would consider the possibility of adding Ancestral Spirit to really double down on the idea of (awkwardly) building a huge wall of taunt lifesteals, which at least somewhat deals with the healing issue. This is where Lady Vashj comes in as an actual draw engine. Since we shuffle a bunch of primes in the deck fatigue isn't that much of an issue.
Will this be good? Probably not. But Shaman can't exactly be picky and any lategame plan is better than none.
Aside from this memery and any other variant of Galakrond Shaman that may or may not include a spell package we also have Murloc Shaman. This will probably be the only "good" Shaman deck, purely based on the fact that Felfin Navigator synergizes extremely well with Scargil and Underbelly Angler is still nuts.
there's also Evolve Shaman, but....come on, have you seen the cards? You're going to be playing against opponents with big removal or ones that just trade away everything you play, so there's never going to be time to develop a board, value trade it and then evolve it. If Evolve Shaman sees any play it's because someone figured out a hidden strategy to glue it together and it's most certainly going to involve abusing Bloodlust.
Yeah, Shaman doesn't really look that promising. It's not that their cards are terrible, but rather that everyone else is just so much better. It's gonna be hard to build a Shaman deck that actually outperforms any of the meta decks.
Conclusion
I already said everything I needed to. Go away now.
