GvG’s effect on classic meta decks

Thanks to Blizzard's unexpected announcement of the first expansion to Hearthstone, the entire community was completely thrown off. Goblins vs Gnomes would add over a hundred new cards to the still relatively new game. The cards were new and definitely exciting, and have so far added a lot to the experience of the game in terms of new deck and card choices, and some downright zany RNG. Thanks to GvG, the overall experience of Hearthstone has increased substantially in terms of fun and diversity. Looking at Hearthstone right before the release of GvG, the community was experiencing a golden age in terms of viable decks. At the Blizzcon World Championships, every class was played, and with the exception of Mage and Paladin, all classes had strong representation. Despite this, with GvG and the accompanying nerfs at the release of the expansion, none of the decks seen just weeks ago are left in their exact same state. Therefore, this article is going to go through some of the more prominent decks that were popular before the release of GvG, and how the new cards have affected their decklists.

Control Warrior

Control Warrior has been a popular deck for a while now, gaining massive amounts of popularity during the reign of Hunter just a few months ago. Since then, it has proven to be a great all around deck, and a solid counter to most aggro decks. With the announcement of GvG cards, most of the hype and attention was around the new Warrior Legendary, Iron Juggernaut, and the new Bouncing Blade spell, which had some potential. However, Control Warrior has largely remained untouched. If we look at the decklist provided, which was used to reach Legend on both NA and EU by compLexity's Sjow, only three cards changed from the deck used just months ago, Shieldmaiden replacing both Shield Blocks and Dr. Boom taking Ysera's place.

Shieldmaiden was a card largely ignored by most of the Hearthstone community when announced, seen as a strong Arena card, but not fit for Constructed where Shield Block and Armorsmith were seen as more than enough armor for Warrior. However, while Shield Block was great for gaining some quick armor and a good cycle card, a solid 5/5 body on the board is often worth much more than a card draw, especially with the amount of spells Control Warrior already runs. Shieldmaiden may have been one of the most underrated cards in GvG, and she will make her appearance in many Warrior decks from now on.

In addition, Dr. Boom is one of the strongest cards in the game right now. A solid 7/7 body spawning two 1/1s out onto the field with their only drawback being an RNG deathrattle. I fully expect this card to be in almost every non aggro deck, its just an insanely solid card, especially for a neutral minion.

Iron Juggernaut on the other hand, was one of the most overrated cards of GvG. When the card was leaked before the actual announcement, community members scoffed at the existence of such a card, saying it would be much too broken to ever exist. However, the battlecry has just proven too unreliable and does not have enough impact on the board when you play it, with the impact instead usually coming several turns later. While an interesting concept for a card, its Battlecry just doesn’t have the impact needed for a deck already packed with strong legendaries.

Handlock

For the most part, Handlock has stayed the same, with the core of the deck, Giants and Drakes, staying the same. However, this beauty of a card above has increased Handlock’s survival power tenfold. Since the release of Goblins vs Gnomes, we’ve largely seen Earthen Ring Farseers move over in way of Antique Healbots for survivability in both Freeze Mage and Handlock. Although a higher mana cost, 5 additional points of health for two mana is more than worth it, and the minion really is a great answer to the problem of Handlocks always being at such low health.

In addition to Antique Healbot, we’ve also seen Darkbomb fully replace Soulfire as the direct damage spell of choice. This is kind of a combination of events, as Soulfire’s mana cost was nerfed to a cost of 1, and although Darkbomb offers one less damage for one more mana, the card loss can be too potentially devastating for Soulfire to be worth it at one mana cost. In addition, Dr. Boom has made his way into many Handlock decks to the surprise of very few.

As GvG evolves Handlock, expect to see more types of this deck. Already in the few tournaments after the release, multiple iterations of Handlock have appeared, including one with Voidcaller and Mal’Ganis. The “Demonlock” deck was attempted after Voidcaller’s release, but Mal’ganis made it a much more viable option due to another strong demon than just Doomguard and Jarraxus being available. Also, getting a 9 mana minion on your board from a deathrattle is some unbelievable value. Furthermore, we’ve seen a small comeback of "combo" Handlock, which has largely remained unviable since the nerf of Leeroy Jenkins. Arcane Golem, two Power Overwhelmings and a Faceless Manipulator makes 24 damage, one of the highest damage combinations in the game. While unreliable, it certainly is fun to pull off.

Undertaker Hunter

Probably the strongest deck in the meta before GvG, Undertaker Hunter has remained consistent since the release of the new cards. Largely, the deck has remained exactly the same, with the nerfed Flares being taken out for – surprise! - more deathrattle minions. Other versions of the deck have been shown, with Glaivezooka, Piloted Shredder, Mechanical Yeti, and sometimes even Jeeves making their way into the deck. However, the deck has remained incredibly strong and reliable for ladder. As long as Undertaker remains viable, so will Hunter.

Zoo

In the past couple of weeks, Warlock Zoo has completely changed. Three main types have emerged, all radically different from one another.

Sea Giant
This form of Zoo uses almost no GvG cards other than Darkbomb and Imp-losion. With the new deck, Zoo has become even more true to its name, with Echoing Oozes and lots of Imps making just as many minions as possible. The core of the deck is still the same, lots of cheap, cost efficient minions. The addition of one Sea Giant rounds off the deck nicely in terms of power as well. The deck is very strong, but still very new and experimental, and time will tell if one Sea Giant and lots of tokens will actually make for a consistent deck.

Undertaker

The type of Zoo most popular before the release of GvG, Undertaker Zoo has largely remained the same, but a couple of new, stronger minions have taken the place of other minions. Piloted Shredder has proven to be an incredibly cost efficient card, with the majority of two mana minions being worth the two health that you sacrifice if you played a comparable four drop Yeti. Clockwork Gnome has also proven to be a solid card, and an auto include in any Undertaker deck.

As for the rest of the deck, its just full of strong, cost efficient minions that we saw before. In terms of Micro Machine, the card has proven untested and unreliable, but with the staunch board control that a zoo deck brings, the card can quickly snowball a game.

Hobgoblin Zoo

This deck is ridiculous. The basis is simple, select Warlock, put in two Hobgoblins, two Darkbombs, and then every single one attack minion. Yes, that includes Wisps. Mulligan for Hobgoblin, win if you get it, lose if you don’t. Really, this deck is just incredibly fun, and actually deceptively strong. Have you ever seen two 3/3 Wisps come out on turn 3? Now you can! What about a ¾ Micro Machine that keeps gaining attack, or a ¾ Annoy-o-Tron? I can’t recommend this deck enough if you’re looking for a fun Hearthstone experience.

Conclusion

Goblins vs Gnomes was a great start for Hearthstone’s expansions, and we already see a lot of diversity in terms of decks. Despite this, some of the decks that were popular before are sticking around after some adaptations, and Control Warrior, Handlock, and Undertaker decks are most likely going to be sticking around for a long time.