A new set release is always the most exciting time for TCG players – so many new cards, so many new brews! This particular release is made even more exciting due to the fact that all of the most hated cards are rotating out of standard or getting nerfed, meaning it’s a brand new world to explore. Hearthstone has never looked better.
The rotation has two big effects in particular: there are no longer any dominant and ubiquitous 2-drops. Haunted Creeper, Knife Juggler, Nerubian Egg, Shielded Minibot, and Mad Scientist are all gone or nerfed. There is no longer a go-to 2-drop to provide board presence and card advantage, so I predict a lot fewer of them in decks as a whole, and the ones that are played won’t have nearly as much of an impact in the games, meaning that players will have the chance to grab back initiative with 3 and 4 cost plays. Loot Hoarder might be the best card to turn to when looking for a 2-drop minion.
Board clears are now powerful and effective. Similar to the last point, all of the powerful minions that instantly re-build your board after a sweeper or trade without losing much value like the aforementioned 2-drops and Piloted Shredder are out, so ‘clearing the board’ now actually clears the board. Harvest Golem is not strong enough to see widespread play with all of the cards available to us. Control decks will correspondingly be stronger, and likewise decks with strong swing plays on turns 4, 5, and 6 like Cabal Shadow Priest, Fire Elemental, and Wild Pyromancer will be more effective.
Now, on to reason you’re here: the brews!
C’Thun Decks
C’Thun is the obvious first place to look when brewing decks with Whispers of the Old Gods – you even get a copy of the card for free when the set releases! The core of C’Thun decks will most likely be:
2 Beckoner of Evil
2 Disciple of C’Thun
2 C’Thun’s Chosen
2 Crazed Worshipper
1 Twin Emperor Vek’lor
1 Doomcaller
1 C’Thun
Beckoner, Disciple and Chosen are the best curve of C’Thun-buffing minions (henceforth known as ‘cultists’). They aren’t great, but they will usually trade on curve while providing a late-game payoff that should catch you up. Crazed Worshipper is a playable 5-drop that buys time against aggro (strictly better Fen Creeper, woot woot), Twin Emperor Vek’lor and C’Thun himself are the big neutral payoffs, and Doomcaller is likely worth it as a one-of for games where one C’Thun is not enough and you go to fatigue.
Three classes in particular stick out as being good places for our new tentacled overlord.
C’Thun Priest
2 Circle of Healing
2 Northshire Cleric
2 Power Word: Shield
2 Beckoner of Evil
2 Wild Pyromancer
2 Disciple of C’Thun
1 Twilight Elder
2 Shadow Word: Death
2 C’Thun’s Chosen
2 Hooded Acolyte
2 Auchenai Soulpriest
2 Crazed Worshipper
2 Twilight Darkmender
1 Sylvanas Windrunner
1 Entomb
1 Twin Emperor Vek’lor
1 Doomcaller
1 C’Thun
Hooded Acolyte can pump C’Thun to absurd levels with Wild Pyromancer and Circle of Healing, and Twilight Darkmender provides an absurd amount of healing if you’ve played merely two cultists, and lets you be very greedy with pushing for face damage once your C’Thun will be lethal. I think Shadow Word: Death and Entomb will be very valuable in a world with more larger minions, but if the metagame shapes up to be too fast Shadow Word: Pain and Holy Nova are easy swaps.
C’Thun Warrior
2 Execute
2 Shield Slam
2 Fiery War Axe
2 Slam
1 Revenge
2 Bash
1 Shield Block
2 Disciple of C’Thun
2 C’Thun’s Chosen
2 Refreshment Vendor
2 Crazed Worshipper
1 Brawl
1 Arcanite Reaper
2 Skeram Cultist
1 Twin Emperor Vek’lor
1 Gorehowl
2 Ancient Shieldbearer
1 Doomcaller
1 C’Thun
This is likely not the best Warrior deck in standard (standard control Warrior is still fine, if not improved by the format change), but it certainly looks fun. Ancient Shieldbearer provides so much armor that you can definitely survive to play C’Thun, Doomcaller, and Gorehowl. Refreshment Vendor and Arcanite Reaper are attempting to fill the void of Death’s Bite. It’s possible this list isn’t greedy enough and wants Ragnaros the Firelord and/or Grommash Hellscream in addition to C’Thun and his cultists, but I’d try it as-is before the metagame shakes out.
C’Thun Druid
2 Innervate
2 Wrath
2 Wild Growth
2 Beckoner of Evil
2 Mounted Raptor
2 Disciple of C’Thun
2 C’Thun’s Chosen
2 Klaxxi Amber-Weaver
2 Swipe
2 Crazed Worshipper
2 Druid of the Claw
1 Nourish
2 Dark Arakkoa
1 Twin Emperor Vek’lor
2 Ancient of War
1 Doomcaller
1 C’Thun
Druid has likely the best cultist in Dark Arakkoa, a finely-statted minion even without the enormous +3/+3 buff to his master. Klaxxi Amber-Weaver is another waaaay above the curve minion if you have C’Thun at 10 attack, and a fine vanilla if not. The Ancient of Wars should help soak removal so your C’Thun is more likely to survive to use his massive attack, and the myriad of taunts will keep you alive until you find him. A singleton Nourish is included for late-game card draw or a quick Ancient of War. I think Mounted Raptor is the best early-game board control option, but Twilight Elder could be superior.
Midrange Shaman
2 Rockbiter Weapon
1 Earth Shock
2 Lava Shock
2 Totem Golem
2 Loot Hoarder
2 Tuskarr Totemic
2 Hex
1 Mana Tide Totem
2 Lightning Storm
1 Elemental Destruction
2 Flamewreathed Faceless
2 Master of Evolution
2 Defender of Argus
1 Hallazeal the Ascended
2 Thing from Below
2 Thunder Bluff Valiant
2 Fire Elemental
Shaman got an absolute embarrassment of riches in Whispers of the Old Gods. With the Big Game Hunter nerf, Flamewreathed Faceless should be dominant in the midgame and almost always trade at least 2-for-1. Hallazeal the Ascended with either Lightning Storm or Elemental Destruction is basically Reno Jackson, and even with smaller spells like Lightning Bolt and Lava Shock he can provide a nice health boost. Master of Evolution and Thing From Below are just great rates of stats-to-mana spent, and they both get even better if you have board control, which all of Shaman’s great removal should help enable. Old cards like Totem Golem, Tuskarr Totemic, and Thunder Bluff Valiant should get their time in the sun now that the game isn’t dominated by overpowered sticky deathrattle minions. The curve is very condensed around 3-6 cost cards, but you want to hero power as much as possible, so you should have good uses for mana throughout the game. If you find yourself running out of cards, a Ysera or Azure Drake can easily solve the problem. Conversely, if you find yourself getting run over a lot, Doomsayer is the minion to turn to. Some variant of this deck will be a force to reckon with in standard.
Midrange Hunter
2 Tracking
1 Hunter’s Mark
2 Injured Kvaldir
2 Freezing Trap
1 Bear Trap
2 Loot Hoarder
1 Huge Toad
2 Quick Shot
2 Eaglehorn Bow
2 Animal Companion
2 Unleash the Hounds
2 Desert Camel
2 Infested Wolf
2 Houndmaster
1 Princess Huhuran
2 Savannah Highmane
2 Call of the Wild
Call of the Wild is an absolutely absurd card, and the main motivation for this deck existing. The new Hunter legendary, Princess Huhuran, is a solid body with occasional insane upside if you have a Savannah Highmane or Infested Wolf in play, so she’s earned a spot as well. The rest of the deck is solid, core Hunter cards, including the criminally underplay Tracking (the card is just insane) and the still good even after getting nerfed Hunter’s Mark. Hunter traps are great even when you can’t get them for free from Mad Scientist, so get used to playing Freezing Trap from your hand again. The Huge Toad might be too cute, but Hunter plays much better from ahead and it has the beast tag, unlike Flame Juggler.
Conclusion
There’s never going to be a better time to try out new decks than the first few weeks after Whispers of the Old Gods comes out. I hope you’ll give a couple of these decks a try, and I hope I’ve given you a few ideas to jump-start your own decks. There are tons more decks out there that I don’t know how to build yet, like midrange deathrattle Rogue, Warlock Zoo, and control Paladin. What are you brewing up? Let me know in the comments!
Please don’t hesitate to ask any questions in the comments, and all comments are appreciated. Thanks for reading!
Until next time,
LightsOutAce
