Voyage to the Sunken City is right around the corner, and with it comes the Standard rotation that will take away the cards from Ashes of Outland, Scholomance Academy, and Madness at the Darkmoon Faire (as well as at least some of the Core Set). Because we likely won't see a lot of these cards on the other side in Wild (and, if we do, it won't be in the same decks), we're putting together a short series of articles featuring decks that you can play one last time in Standard before the rotation comes.
- Miss last week's look at legendary cards to play before they rotate? Catch that here!
- We highlighted some additional decks you should play yesterday.
- Looking for some last-minute budget decks? We've got you covered!
Yogg-Saron's going home.
Every Win Condition Everywhere All at Once
Why run one win con when you can run all of them? This decks says goodbye to OTK All-Star Il'gynoth, as well as the Soul Fragments mechanic that gave Demon Hunter its first Control archetype. If that's not enough overload for you, we're also saying goodbye to Darkmoon Faire's Expendable Performers and Felfire Deadeye combo that lets Kurtrus, Demon-Render win games all on his own.
And don't forget the Questline, which benefits from all the extra spells we're shuffling into our deck.
Speaking of Beasts
Speaker Gidra is a minion with a lot going for them: Rush, Windfury, and the ability to get very big in a hurry. The Speaker has seen a moderate amount of play in Standard, but not so much that they ever took over the meta. For their send-off, we're getting a little too meta with a Beast Druid deck that can probably win games just fine without Gidra, but which runs jsut enough cheap spells to trigger their Spellburst and make it worth your time to play it.
And, while we're saying goodbye, let's give a hearty cheer for Umbral Owl, Adorable Infestation, and Nature Studies. One of them will be missed.
Just Keep Copying
If we're sending Zixor, Apex Predator to Wild, then we're going to do it in style with a deck designed to draw Zixor, shuffle more copies of him into the deck, then repeat his Deathrattle until all your opponent hears is: "Hi, I'm Zixor Prime. You might remember me from such turns as 'last turn,' and 'the one before that.'"
This deck has everything to make that little engine go: Selective Breeder and Warsong Wrangler to Discover Zixor. Dire Frenzy and Northshire Farmer to copy Zixor. Monstrous Parrot to repeat Zixor's Deathrattle. Just picture that scene from The Last Jedi where Kylo Ren keeps screaming, "More!" and you might get the idea for this deck.
Two Can Keep a Secret If One of Them is Mage
Occult Conjurer is a very good card for Tempo Secret Mage decks, and Sayge, Seer of Darkmoon is great at drawing lots of cards, so there doesn't seem to be any reason why we wouldn't want to play Secret Mage in Standard one more time. Rigged Faire Game is still one of the more powerful Secrets you can put into a deck, but you don't have to take our word for it.
And, thanks to Blademaster Okani, it's finally possible to run three copies of Counterspell! Our opponents will be thrilled!
Liadrin's Last Dance
Hearthstone players didn't know the meaning of the word "value" until Lady Liadrin showed up. Now, if you're not refilling your entire hand with 0-Cost +1/+1s and 8/8s with Taunt and Divine Shield, can you even really call that card generation?
Everything that ever made Libram Paladin good is in this deck: 1-Cost Aldor Attendant, 0-Cost Devout Pupil, and board-flipper Blademaster Samuro. If you're looking for your last chance to play Libram Paladin, look no further.
Teron Boarfiend
Teron Gorefiend never really stuck in the meta, and he's not really part of it in this deck, either. Elwynn Boar is a good build-around, don't get us wrong, and I think everyone would agree that the Sword of a Thousand Truths is very powerful. That doesn't stop this deck from being just very slightly off-meta (mainly because it doesn't run Kazakusan), but we think that's just fine.
Teron Gorefiend never wanted to be the center of attention anyway, he just wanted to be loved. Sure, he hurts those who get close to him, but he always brings them back around with a small buff and a Hallmark card. Say what you will about this Legendary, but it's clear that he cares.
Make 'Em Bleed, Empress
I know what you're thinking. "Did I shuffle two Bleeds into my deck, or three?" Grand Empress Shek'zara knows the answer to that question, and all you need to do is put her in your deck to find out. This aggressive Weapon Rogue pairs the Empress with Garrote for reliable damage on demand, while the rest of the deck is all about buffing your weapons and hitting the opponent in the face.
Doctor Krastinov (who, let's be honest, is a terrible doctor) plays well with your bevy of weapons by giving the deck yet another buff to its potential damage output.
Tiny Evolves, Big Minions
Not everyone loves Evolve Shaman, mainly because the deck gets very polarizing when it's good. Luckily for just about everyone, Evolve Shaman isn't very good right now, and its outlook appears even bleaker with key cards like Boggspine Knuckles and Revolve heading into Wild.
Cagematch Custodian sticks out as the minion that will most be missed by Shaman players, as they'll no longer be able to reliably tutor Doomhammer or Whack-A-Gnoll Hammer. Considering how much it's done for the class over the past year, the Custodian deserves to clock out for good, but not before we give it one more mess to clean up.
Willow She, or Won't She?
Big Demons are the order of the day, especially if you're playing Archwitch Willow and want the biggest, swingiest turns possible from her Battlecry. We're talking Mo'arg Forgefiend. We're talking Enhanced Dreadlord. We're definitely NOT talking about Tickatus. Plus, after a few of those Demons die, we can get Kanrethad Prime to summon them back for us. Did we mention that Felosophy can copy any of our Demons, including Envoy Rustwix?
All that and more can be found in this Big Willow deck. It's probably not a good idea to tell people about your big Willow, though.
You Can Only Say It If You Shout It
RRRRRAAAAAATTLEEEEEGOOOOOOOORE! is a fantastically persistent big body for a Warrior deck that wants to cheat out one of several large minions with either Commencement or Cowardly Grunt. In the meantime, we can gain armor, remove enemy minions, and generally just do cool Warrior stuff like use our Hero Power and pass the turn. It's Control Warrior: if you're playing more than one card in a turn, you're probably doing something wrong.
What cards will you miss when the rotation happens, and what decks are taking for one last spin? Share your thoughts in the comments!
If you have your own Last Chance decks to share, be sure to add them to our site via the deckbuilder and write up a guide to help others achieve your success.
Comments
The Willow deck is actually playable, I won a few games with it after making a few adjustments (Silver rank tho). I tested also the Sayge one but 2 games only, and I don't have Ignite, anyway, my feeling is that it's too weak.