10 Standard Hearthstone Decks to Start the Season Right

It's been a few days since the recent balance patch that nerfed Death Knight Discovers while buffing a host of other cards, and with the new season almost upon us it's once again time to take a look at the decks at the top of the Standard meta. Here are the 5 decks for you to take out on the ladder and win with!

Or, if you're a contrarian, we've once again included a counter-pick for each meta deck, an off-meta (or off-off-meta) strategy that appears to do well against it - this brings our total to 10 decks for your viewing pleasure.

Pure Paladin

Pure Paladin remains at the top of the Standard meta this week, which isn't too much of a surprise, considering that nothing in the deck was nerfed. The lists that got Pure Paladin to the peak remain pretty tight, without a lot of variation - but this version of the deck runs a copy of Order in the Court to help get to those juicy finishers faster.

Counter-pick: Miracle Rogue

The deck that can reliably outclass Pure Paladin is once again Miracle Rogue, which leans on cheap spells and bouncy minions to beat the most dominant deck in Standard. New to the deck for this week is Legendary minion Pozzik, Audio Engineer, who brings both hand disruption and potential free tempo. As an added benefit, Audio Bot is notably not a Paladin card, and thus will not reduce the cost of Lightray if played - so it's a win either way.

Undead Priest

Undead Priest has gotten even more into the tribe to lean on the damage output of Rotting Necromancer, and thus finds itself near the top of the meta (the nerfs to Death Knight also helped). The additional Undead that have been added to the deck also serve to feed High Cultist Basaleph and Shadow Word: Undeath.

Counter-pick: Spell Demon Hunter

The pick to beat Undead Priest is a spell-heavy Demon Hunter deck that can control their aggression with its multitude of cheap removal and Lifesteal spells while using the Souls munched by Souleater's Scythe to find the right minion for the occasion, whether it's Felerin, the Forgotten, Silvermoon Arcanist, or Lady S'theno.

Big Demon Hunter

Big Demon Hunter is the freshest face of the bunch and while it remains to be seen whether this deck has staying power, a good matchup against the ever-popular Frost Death Knight gives it some hope for the future. The deck's plan is to use the power of Raging Felscreamer and Felscale Evoker to cheat big Demons like Brutal Annihilan or Xhilag of the Abyss into play, then bring them all back with All Fel Breaks Loose. Xhilag's Stalk is a Demon, which is great for feeding the Infuse, but might not be so great when it comes to resurrection.

Counter-pick: Face Hunter

Face Hunter, we'll have you know, is alive and well in the current world of Hearthstone, and just so happens to be pretty good against Big Demon Hunter. The free-range, spell-fed damage of Nagas Arrow Smith and Ancient Krakenbane is great for finishing off an opponent put on their last legs by an aggressively low curve and Hope of Quel'Thalas.

Frost Aggro Death Knight

Rumors about the demise of Frost Death Knight were greatly exaggerated: its overall win-rate may have been shaved off by a few percentage points, but the matchups remain robust across the board and it's still one of the most popular decks to play in Standard. Pozzik, Audio Engineer is proving his worth in a lot of aggressive decks, and is at home here, while the nerf to Rowdy Fan hasn't completely destroyed his effectiveness.

Counter-pick: Tony Druid

When you have the option to gain massive amounts of Armor over and over again, you'll likely have a solid winrate against the burst-dependent Frost Death Knight. So Tony Druid has, and does. The matchup appears to hinge on the cheap survivability of Chitinous Plating to go alongside the extra HP Armor from Free Spirit. The bandmates of E.T.C., Band Manager are Crazed Alchemist, Photographer Fizzle, and Smothering Starfish.

Mech Paladin

With the help of Festival of Legends cards Frequency Oscillator and Disco Maul, Mech Paladin has risen from the sunken depths to emerge near the top of this week's Standard meta. The resurrection of the Magnetic keyword hasn't hurt, either. Whether this is the case of a reliable curve taking advantage of a brief window of opportunity caused by the recent balance changes, or whether Mech Paladin actually has the legs to go far, remains to be seen.

Counter-pick: Menagerie Rogue

The epitome of off-meta, Menagerie Rogue is a fun counter-pick for Mech Paladin. Built to abuse the buff of Party Animal, this Rogue deck runs representatives from an impressive variety of minion types and can used the recently-buffed MC Blingtron to chip in a little extra damage.

What top decks are you planning on playing in Hearthstone this season? Share them in our deckbuilder and show them off in the comments below.