It's new expansion time in Hearthstone, and more importantly it's an entirely new Standard. A new (and improved) Core Set has been added to the game, and with three expansion rotating out it might be a good time to sit on all that Dust you've been collecting to see what Legendaries are worth a craft. With that in mind, we've cooked up 11 Budget decks for you to try out on the cheap. Whether you're a returning player light on funds or a cautious crafter, we hope you can find something to have fun with.
Here's a reminder of some things you may want to check out.
- Read our guide to get up to speed with all the changes to Hearthstone's new Core Set.
- Plunge the depths of the newest expansion with our Voyage to the Sunken City guide.
- You can build decks with all the new cards in our deckbuilder.
- Test your luck on our Voyage to the Sunken City Pack Opening simulator.
Dragon Priest
Voyage to the Sunken City isn't the only new thing coming to Hearthstone when the rotation happens; we've also got a brand-new Core Set! While many of the cards are familiar faces from last year's Core, there are plenty of (old) new additions to this year's Core to increase both the number of cards and power level of the Core Set. Nowhere is this power-boost felt more than in Priest, with the class getting back some of the most powerful cards of its sordid history.
Don't let the Dust counter fool you, this Core-only Dragon Priest has plenty of punch. It features two Hall-of-Famers in Northshire Cleric and Azure Drake, and the value generation of Drakonid Operative, who pairs well with Brann Bronzebeard and Zola the Gorgon for even more cards. Not enough stealing for you? Have some Murozond the Infinite! What's more fun than beating your opponent with their own cards?
Mech Mage
Possibly the most anticipated archetype coming to us from Voyage to the Sunken City, Mech Mage returns from the days of GvG to bring Mage back to good ol' curve-based tempo decks chock full of minions. Trench Surveyor is a fantastic Mech tutor, pairing especially well with the Sunken Sweeper generated by Azsharan Sweeper. This spell-light deck also makes good use of Frostweave Dungeoneer to tutor Seafloor Gateway to make our mid-game explosive with some pings from Mecha-Shark. In a pinch, the Dungeoneer can also find a dead wife (though nobody asked them to).
Gardens Druid
Not since Embiggen was in Standard has Aggro Druid had such a powerful deck-buffing spell, but Azsharan Gardens and, more importantly, Sunken Gardens are here to do the job well. Thanks to Dredge effects from Aquatic Form and Tuskarrrr Trawler, we can more easily find our Sunken buff, then use those extra stats to our advantage with good cheap minions like Razormane Battleguard, Twin-fin Fin Twin, and Drek'Thar. New core addition Injured Tol'vir seems tailor-made for Drek'Thar (and ain't too shabby with the Battleguard, either).
Naga Hunter
The new minion tribe plays well with spells: the cheaper, the better. Good news! Rexxar has a bunch of cheap spells, and stellar spells like Conch's Call can tutor both a spell and a Naga to make sure our spell-dependent Battlecries trigger. Speaking of tutoring cards, we've got Crushclaw Enforcer and Tracking for even more consistency. Getting Animal Companion back into Standard is so nice, Twinbow Terrorcoil wants to cast it twice. We're also running a copy of Devouring Swarm for board control and to get extra bites at the Naga apple.
Smokescreen Cheat Rogue
Blizzard saw fit to print Swiftscale Trickster, which is basically a challenge for us to find a way to break it (in Standard. It's already broken in Wild). Any student of Deathrattle Rogue knows that the card that got Necrium Apothecary nerfed was Anubisath Warbringer, since cheap handbuffs that make all your minions way too big for their Mana is generally very good.
So, with that in mind, we're running the Swiftscale Trickster Smokescreen combo to attempt to draw into Legionnaire with a Snowfall Graveyard active. We're also running Plated Beetle and Burning Blade Acolyte for more Smokescreen procs, and Goldshire Gnoll to take advantage of all the cards we'll draw. Tuskarrrr Trawler, Gone Fishin', and Crushclaw Enforcer exist to make it easier to find our combo pieces so we can force Blizzard to nerf this minion that probably never should have been printed.
Murlock
Add Murlock to the list of old archetypes that Voyage to the Sunken City is bringing back to Standard, and oh boy does Murlock have quite the number of pushed cards. Apparently Blizzard really wants us to play Murlock, because Rock Bottom and Bloodscent Vilefin are tremendous Dredge effects for the deck, at their best when they need to find Sunken Scavenger for that buff. If we want more buffs, we can play Voidgill because we guess handbuffs are a thing for Murlocs. It's just a thing they do now. Well, at least Twin-fin Fin Twin can use it.
Burn Shaman
Burn Shaman is a familiar face, but it's getting a little bit of a face-lift with new cards coming in and old cards going out. Azsharan Scroll and Sunken Scroll are powerful spell generators that play well with Scalding Geyser. Fans of Diligent Notetaker will be pleased to see that Krag'wa, the Frog is more than ready to do that job, and synergizes more readily with Brilliant Macaw, anyway.
Multicaster will quickly learn that he's not the only minion in this deck that cares about spell schools, as Coral Keeper will summon a board of 3/3s and can be tutored by Crushclaw Enforcer. Also, let's give a hearty welcome back to Maelstrom Portal, probably Shaman's best AoE ever.
Mechadin
Mage isn't the only class that gets to play with Mechs. Paladin, as usual, is butting its head into tribal synergies of all kinds like a college sophomore who's trying to major in six different fields. Just pick one, Uther! You can't get a degree in Programming AND Medieval Studies!
Anyway, Mechs. Paladin's got 'em. This Buff Mech deck takes advantage of the fact that most of these Mechs have Divine Shield (or can get them from Bubblebutt) that it's running Prismatic Jewel Kit for handbuffs to make our minions even bigger. Seafloor Savior is great at passing those buffs along, while Shimmering Sunfish is just a good card if you've got Holy spells in hand.
Pirate Rogue
Pirate Rogue is back, and it's angrier than ever. Thanks to Swordfish, this list is both consistent and aggressive with its curve, making sure it gets good use out of Attack triggering effects from Cutlass Courier and Pufferfist. Other than the sword, this deck runs cheap Dredge effects from Gone Fishin' and How many 'r's are in this stupid name? to make the deck good at finding just the right pirate at the right time.
At the top of the curve, we've got a minion that will make your opponent ask, "Blademaster, oh can I play this removal spell?" The answer, of course, will be, "No."
Miracle Priest
Blizzard seems to want to see just how far they can push Priest's ability to draw cards, seeing as how they gave the class Handmaiden then followed that up by bringing back Northshire Cleric to a Standard where Gift of the Naaru exists. To add card draw to card draw, they've also given the class back the Wild Pyromancer Acolyte of Pain combo that goes really well with Bless and cheap spells like Illuminate.
So, the gameplan is to use the mana discount of Radiant Elemental to chain a lot of spells, either with Lyra the Sunshard on board or leading into a massive Queensguard. Obviously, this would probably go better with Priestess Valishj, but it's still good enough for a budget deck.
Big Demon Hunter
Finally, we're looking for more consistency in Vanndar Stormpike Big Demon Hunter, and we might have found it with Abyssal Depths. The Depths can tutor us a nearly on-curve Vanndar, as well as either Taelan Fordring or Faceless Manipulator. Once the discount is ready, we can start to draw into big bodies like Illidari Inquisitor (didn't expect that in the new Core set), Taintheart Tormenter, and Mo'arg Forgefiend. Spells like Flanking Maneuver, Eye Beam, and Metamorphosis can help us control the board while we wait to draw them.
What archetypes are you most interested in trying out when Voyage to the Sunken City goes live? Share your thoughts in the comments!
If you have your own theorycraft decks to share, be sure to add them to our site via the deckbuilder and write up a guide to help others achieve success.
More Out of Cards Year of the Hydra Reviews
We've got more to talk about for Hearthstone's Year of the Hydra that officially begins on April 12. Check out all of our Standard class reviews!
More Wild Reviews for Voyage to the Sunken City
We've been hard at work preparing additional insights into the new Voyage to the Sunken City cards with a Wild spin. Check out all the classes released so far down below.
Comments
no lol
I like the idea of the Big Demon (Demon) Hunter. It will be probably turn out really slow so I then I move on to the very aggresive rogue deck.
Dragon Priest was one of the few Priest decks I liked to play in the past. :)
I would love to play Dragon Priest again - but this list... I can't see, what the point of playing Dragon Priest should be.
It is no aggro deck, it is no combo deck, it is no control deck, it is no "big minion" deck... what is the way this deck wants to win realistically?
If a deck wants to be good in Hearhtstone nowadays it must have "unfair elements". This decks looks "way to fair" for me for 2022.
It's a midrange deck I guess where you try to steal your opponents win-con. I'm trying to roll it in a Reno shell, maybe using the quest as an additional win-con, but let's see how the meta will go.