April in Hearthstone means one thing right now: A whole new meta! Cards are being shifted out into Wild/Hall of Fame, and we have a whole new “Year” of content to come! This year we have “The Year of the Phoenix,” and by the Ashes of Al’ar, we already have some awesome cards coming! We can’t talk about how every deck is going to change, that would take all day! But instead, I want to discuss some decks that might stand out and be a hit as this new year of content comes to life. So this week, the focus is on Ashes of Outland decks in Hearthstone!

Not every card in Hearthstone’s Ashes of Outland is going to be a must-play, but there are surely some. I want to at least touch on every class if I can, with whatever deck I personally think is going to be a smash hit. Then, once the meta actually shapes up, we’ll come back and discuss which Hearthstone Ashes of Outland decks are really battering people in the tavern.

What better way to start than with Demon Hunter, the brand-new class?

Demon Hunter Token Rush (Aggro Demon Hunter)

Kayn Sunfury is one of my favorite cards in this meta, and it just so happens to be a Demon Hunter card. Of course, it is! The ability to have all friendly attacks ignore Taunt is not something to sniff at. When you combine it with a host of minions, whether they’re tokens or big demon dorks, you can really sneak out a win against defensive Hearthstone Ashes of Outland decks. Then you set things up via Teron Gorefiend. He destroys all your minions, but when he dies, they come back with +1/+1 on board. This will also have you trigger all your Deathrattles, and when they come back, all the Battlecries.

This is a deck that is equal parts control and aggro. You have lots of ways to deal damage to enemy minions, either all at once or at random. This deck looks like it’s going to be really frustrating to play against. Thankfully, some of the cards will come to you thanks to simply unlocking the Demon Hunter. Not a whole host, but some!

In this particular deck, we aren’t going to be too shy about seeing our friends die. In some instances, they’ll be back. In others, they’ll set up some tremendous damage for later in the game. This particular Hearthstone deck wants friendly minions to die as much as the enemy, thanks to Ashes of Outland. So, let’s get started!

How Does It Work?

Nethrandamus gives you two free X-Cost minions when you play him, but there’s a catch. It starts at 0! Every time a friendly minion dies, this creature’s Battlecry improves each time a friendly minion dies. Plus he’s an 8/8 dragon on top of that, so he’s a threat all on his own. He’s not our only way to win though. He sure packs a whallop, after a few friends die. So what do we do? How do we power up this monster, to make sure we have some 10+ allies for free?

Coordinated Strike gives us a trio of 1/1s with Rush for example. Satyr Overseer’s another good way to have a steady flow of jerks to fight with. After your Hero attacks, while he’s in play, a 2/2 Satyr is summoned. Thankfully, we have a few ways to swing with this Hero. Twin Slice is a 0-cost that gives you +1 Attack, and then there’s Umberwing to attack with. This deck doesn’t have Illidan’s weapons in it, but maybe we can squeeze them in. Umberwing also gives a pair of 1/1 Felwings when it comes into play.

After we use Teron Gorefiend to blow up our board, what do we do though? Command the Illidari summons six 1/1s with Rush, so you can send them to their deaths easily. From there, you make sure Gorefiend dies, and get all your allies back. That seems reasonable, yeah? That’s when we play Kayn Sunfury. You don’t want him necessarily to die in the bombardment (Teron) but you sure can. He’s the lynchpin against Hearthstone Ashes of Outland decks with Taunt. A ⅗ Charge that has your friendly attacks ignore Taunt. Oh yeah, that’s a blast, that is.

Nethrandamus is a fun way to win, that’s for sure. We could sure use a way to trigger his abilities again and again. Having him on the field when you cast Teron Gorefiend isn’t likely unless it’s in the late game. The same goes for Maiev Shadowsong, but if you do get her late (or bring her back late), she has a fun power. When she comes into play, a minion becomes Dormant for 2 turns. Now if this winds up triggering Battlecries, that’s going to be an absolutely evil late-game option.

But we need to make sure the other player gets as few minions out and available as possible. What are the options? Knife Juggler, for starters. When it’s in play, it deals 1 damage to a random enemy anytime you summon a minion. Command the Illidari, Feast of Souls, Umberwing, Coordinated Strike, Nethrandamus, and Rustworn Culprit all help you bring plenty of 1/1s into play. We’re only running one Rustworn Cultist as an example, but it gives your other minions Deathrattle: Summon a 1/1 Demon.

Wrathscale Naga deals 3 damage to a random enemy whenever a friendly minion dies. This means you’re going to be an immediate target because it’s a 3/1 for 3! If you can get it on the field with lots of 1/1s, you can clear the board. With luck, it will start shattering the defenses of the enemy player. We also have Altruis the Outcast, who will make board clearing much faster. Anytime you play the left-or-right-most card in your hand, you deal 1 damage to all enemies. I mean, he is the “Outcast” of the deck. We aren’t running any actual “Outcast” cards though. They’re sort of tricky to work around.

The overall strategy is that we want a nice-sized board of minions on the field, then to play Teron Gorefiend. He will kill them, and as soon as he passes on, they’ll be back and be stronger than ever. From there, we play Kayn Sunfury, and swing for the fences! Nethrandamus is your insurance policy and big damage. However, I imagine it only upgrades when it’s in your hand, like the various scheme cards. Summon your near-endless swarm of token creatures, have them kill enemy minions, or even the player itself if you have enough control over the board.

Key Cards

Dust Cost: 9,820

This is a deck that will probably at least have some cards that will already be given to you as a part of the starter set of Demon Hunter cards. Not all of them have that possibility, however. We’re running 23 class cards, but 7 neutrals. Two of those neutrals are legendary: Maiev Shadowsong and Teron Gorefiend. Knife Juggler and Faceless Corruptors aren’t new though and should be easy enough to get. Less than 10K Dust is a bargain for a solid deck though! But what makes winning a breeze?

Kayn Sunfury (Legendary 4-Cost Minion): One of the most frustrating things in an aggro deck is suddenly seeing mighty Taunt units. Especially right now, with the Galakrond-themed Taunt minions. They invoke, and have taunt, making them a double-threat. So, we need a way around them without insta-killing them or throwing minion after minion at them. Our answer? Ignore them! Kayn Sunfury has Charge, so he can attack right away. He’s only 4-cost, so we can get him in play pretty early. He lets you ignore Taunt in its entirety. That includes your Hero attacks! If you play him, attack all out, then play Teron Gorefiend, you can get him back later, with all his pals, even stronger than before. Kayn’s a more reliable game-winning bomb than Nethrandamus, but he’s great nonetheless.

Wrathscale Naga (Epic 3-Cost Minion): This is a minion that makes me wish I had some way to buff him. A 3/1 that deals 3 damage to a random enemy every time a friendly minion dies? If we can keep him in play, we have potentially dozens of minions that can die in this deck. I’d like to wait to play Wrathscale until we have already cleared the board of enemies. The longer he stays in play, the more control you have over the board. This, combined with Knife Juggler and/or Altruis the Outcast means you will stop foes from putting their foot in your mouth. I picked Wrathscale though because he outputs more damage per one target.

Satyr Overseer (Basic 3-Cost Minion – Demon): This deck does not run a whole lot of spells. We’re mostly dealing in minions that make other minions. Enter the mighty Satyr Overseer! We’re only running one, but it’s all we need. Whenever your Hero attacks, he makes a 2/2 Satyr. Shame it doesn’t have Rush, but that would probably be too powerful. We want him in the early game when you have access to Twin Slice and Umberwing. This gives us slightly bigger minions to see fall in their grave. Satyr Overseer’s an overall solid card, and its ability to give us minions for as long as we have the ability to attack the other player, that’s a godsend.

Final Thoughts

This is a nice, fast-paced deck with lots of damage, and ways to see it happen. It really has everything we need: Card draw, minion summoning, battlecries, deathrattle, you name it. In theory, we can let a host of minions die, and then Feast of Souls into a huge hand. Then we have Maiev. I want to like her as a way to save my own minions, but more than that, she can make your enemy have a Dormant minion! Then, you use Teron to have her die, and bring her back to do it again!

Do you need one thing out of the way so you can secure the win? She’ll aid you just like she did at Black Temple. Sadly, it won’t get rid of enchantments. When a Dormant minion returns, it returns exactly as it did. So it’s not a cheap way to heal a minion. This isn’t the only potential Demon Hunter deck, either. I might throw in another fun idea as we get closer to the launch of Ashes of Outland. I love this particular Ashes of Outland deck because we can flood the board with annoying minions, again and again, making it a frustrating Hearthstone game for everyone but me!

Shake, Deathrattle and Roll (Rogue Deathrattle)

We here at Esports Talk love, love Deathrattle. It’s an ability that triggers when a minion in particular dies. But what if . . . we could trigger them more frequently? What if we could get Anubisath Warbringer’s “give all minions in hand +3/+3” more than once at a time? We live in a time where that is definitely now possible. He’s the lynchpin of the deck. I know this is labeled as a “Deathrattle” deck, but in fact, we’re only running one very important Deathrattle creature! That’s right, Anubisath Warbringer is the big star here.

So we need to have lots of ways to make sure we trigger that creature and proc its ability as often as possible. This is a fun, obnoxious combo deck. Rogue Deathrattle is going to hit people out of nowhere with an RKO-style battering. We want as many weak, low-cost, but still useful minions to get into our hand as possible. Without further ado, I present “Shake, Deathrattle and Roll!”

How Does It Work?

If at all possible, you want, nay, need Necrium Apothecary in your starting hand, alongside Necrium Blade, if possible. If you don’t have the blade, you can pick that up later. We only have one Deathrattle minion, but we have Necrium Blade to copy a Deathrattle ability, and Necrium Apothecary to copy that deathrattle ability.

So what’s the plan? Necrium Apothecary has Combo: Draw a Deathrattle minion from your deck and gain its Deathrattle! So that means you’re sure to pick up Anubisath Warbringer, put it into hand, and then get Necrium Apothecary gets that power. When it dies (and Anubisath as well) will give all the minions in your hand +3/+3, regardless of its cost and current size. The major downside to Anubisath Warbringer is that it’s a 9-cost minion. Do you know how late in the game that’s going to be used? Far too late. But we have a solution for that too.

Anka, the Buried is a legendary minion that reduces the cost of your Deathrattle creatures down to (1) but makes them into 1/1s. Then you pair that with Magic Carpet! That’s a ⅙ that gives a 1-cost minion that comes into play Rush. So, you play Anka, the Buried with Anubisath (or two) in hand. They are now 1/1s with Rush. Play them, swing with them immediately so that they die to enemy minions. That will trigger their deathrattles, giving your other in-hand minions +3/+ minimum.

You want to keep a Necrium Blade equipped, with at least one charge, for the Necrium Apothecary too. The Necrium Blade has a Deathrattle: Trigger the Deathrattle of a random friendly minion. So your Necrium Apothecary still in play can trigger Anubisath’s Deathrattle it stole earlier. I’m sure you see the strategy now. We combo that ability as many times as possible, so the minions in our hand swell to uncontrollable levels.

Personally, my favorite cards to have in hand are Stonetusk Boar and Southsea Deckhand. The Stonetusk Boar has Charge by default, so if it’s a 10/10 or bigger, it’s going to blast the other player. Southsea Deckhand has Charge as long as you have a weapon equipped. So you use that last Necrium Blade charge, and then put another into play! Vicious Scalehide’s a good one too because it has Lifesteal and Rush. We have a lot of really cheap, easy to play minions to have in hand.

Then finally, Zilliax! Zilliax being buffed would be absolutely vile. Argent Commander’s another great should because while it’s a 4/2, it’s got Charge and Divine Shield. It’s somehow very satisfying to have our win-condition be common, easy-to-get cards. If you have other useful charge creatures you’d like to use, feel free. But we saved those slots for utility creatures, that are also useful when buffed. EVIL Miscreant to add two Lackeys to hand (if you Combo it anyway), Pharaoh Cat for a random Reborn minion, or Bloodsail Flybooter so you can make some pirates!

Deathrattle Rogue is so satisfying because it eliminates a lot of the chaos and random nature of “What deathrattle cards are we going to play?” because we only use one. It’s so great to see common cards be so useful, and this deck uses a mighty fine set of them. When dealing with aggro decks, you want to control the board so that Necrium Apothecary will be ready to go. If you’re worried about control decks and life-gain decks, you can buff those Charge creatures as many times as possible, so you can OTK someone right to death with a 1-cost minion.

Does it get any better?

Key Cards

This is a deck that has a lot of answers, and you want to hold the tide until it’s time to swing out all at once. We have a variety of options to do some fun stuff too. While there are lots of triggering and comboing with your Anubisath Warbringer, we need to last long enough to make that happen. We already know about the Warbringer, Anka, and the Necrium cards, that will see our path to victory lit up. But what about the cards that will hold us over until those happen? Luckily, here are some options.

Flick Skyshiv (Legendary 6-Cost Minion): Flick Skyshiv is still going to be in a whole lot of Rogue decks! Why is that? It destroys all copies of a minion, no matter where they are! Did your opponent run some sort of jerk that buffs, like, say, combo deck like this? You can use it to destroy all of their Anubisath Warbringers after they play the first, so they can’t get a second! Without the ability to make that combo, the mirror match suddenly becomes much easier. This is your answer to whatever ails you, be it common or legendary. If the other player is silly enough to run a one-card win-condition (like we are), get this out and see it done with.

Faceless Corruptor (Rare 5-Cost Minion): This is definitely a card you want to keep in hand for Anubisath Warbringer. He may not have Charge, but Rush is the next best thing. He also has a Battlecry that turns a minion into a copy of him! Say he’s a 14/13 due to buffing. Then, you have a 1/1 Pirate in play, thanks to the Bloodsail Flybooter. Now it becomes a 14/13 that you didn’t have to pay for! Batter down those weak minions, and then next turn swing for lethal! It’s such a sight to see, that 1/1 pirate becoming a tentacled monster of death.

Magic Carpet (Epic 3-Cost Minion): This is again, not a very spell-heavy deck. I’m sure Mage will more than make up for that though. We’re only running one spell, as it happens, and that’s Backstab. A rogue deck just wouldn’t be the same without it. What makes the Magic Carpet so great is that it’s a ⅙ with a very special ability. After you play a 1-Cost minion, give it +1 Attack and Rush. This is what you need to play with Anka, to make certain those Anubisath Warbringers get to the battlefield as soon as possible. But you can also do it with your Bloodsail Flybooter, and Pharaoh Cat. Heck, Stonetusk Boar and Southsea Deckhand will also gain an extra +1 attack. It might be the difference between victory and defeat.

Final Thoughts

I don’t really play Rogue decks all that much, but this one feels just disrespectful enough for me to give it a whirl. I love the idea of having a deathrattle/clone deck, where I don’t have to worry about chance, or chaos getting in the way. As long as I get one of a few cards, I can start the pain train rolling. It’s fun, it’s relatively low-cost (Mana and dust costs), and I love OTK decks. We aren’t running a ton of complicated combos.

We just want to do one thing, and that’s “get Anubisath Warbringer”. This particular Rogue deck is not complex, and it’s very easy to see what you need to do. I feel like the most important card to have in the opening hand is Necrium Apothecary. Even if you can’t cast it, knowing that it is there, and ready for you is the important thing. In a game where you don’t have to stress about being countered, just play it as soon as you can, and get the combo going!

Warlock Handlock: Big, Beefy Demons! (Handlock Midrange)

Handlock has some pretty major choices to go through in the coming expansion. There are two essential routes to go with. First, you can stick with the Galakrond Handlock, using an Imp army, and Plague of Flames. That’s neat, and it’s fun, don’t get me wrong. But I’d rather try some of the new cards! The above Rogue deck doesn’t really use anything new, so I might add a second one, we’ll just have to see.

If you want something new, Kanrethad Ebonlocke is your new hero of the day. Instead of the weak, simple Imps, we’re going to go with Big, Beefy Demons. That’s the new strat. Sadly, I don’t think Magtheridon works in this kind of deck, mostly because he comes into play Dormant. That’s not what we want. We want results without having to wait.

There are so many fun new cards to use with Handlock though! Lots of pretty awesome demons both old and new to put into the deck. It’s not an incredibly expensive deck, but it’s going to be a lot of fun I think if you enjoy the Handlock style of gameplay.

How Does It Work?

Sadly, this deck does not feature one of my favorite cards for Warlock: Shadow Council! I want to find a spot for it in this deck, but it can be risky to use. You could lose some really fun stuff, and if you haven’t already triggered Valdris Felgorge, you won’t get him with that card (he doesn’t have the “Demon” minion tag). Maybe replace one of the Mortal Coils with a Shadow Council. We’ll have to see. I’m going to let someone much more skilled than me experiment and see what happens.

So, today we’re going to talk Handlock! The idea behind Handlock is to build up a nice beefy hand of cards, thanks to Valdris Felgorge. He lets you have a maximum of 12 cards in hand so we really really want that. Then you abuse cards like Dark Skies to deal damage to enemies on the board (1 damage per card in hand). You also have Twilight Drake to potentially become a 4/13 for 4 mana, which is major value.

But that’s not new! What’s new and crazy in this deck? Kanrethad Ebonlocke is our new best pal in the whole, wide world. Kanrethad Ebonlocke makes all the demons you have cost (1) mana less, and when he dies, which won’t take long, shuffle Kanrethad Prime into your deck. Best part about Kanrethad Prime perhaps? He has “Demon” as a tag! That means he can be pulled via The Dark Portal, and synergy with Fel Lord Betrug could be hilarious.

Kanrethad Prime, when he comes into play, summons 3 friendly Demons that have died this game. So, you put some Demons into play that have awesome, useful abilities, and then pop Keli’dan the Breaker. If you play him the same turn you drew into him, you destroy all minions except him. Then, The Dark Portal or some other card draw nonsense to get Kanrethad Prime. We also really want to take advantage of Fel Lord Betrug in this deck. He’s not new, but he’s awesome.

Whenever you draw a minion, you summon a copy of it with Rush that dies at the end of turn! Draw into Kanrethad Prime, and get his stats twice! That also means if you get the original while Fel Lord is in play, you get two Primes shuffled into the deck. Sadly, you don’t get to trigger their Battlecries, but I imagine other abilities like Deathrattle still work like a charm.

Fel Lord Betrug also goes great with Plot Twist! With him in play, any minion drawn gets a copy for that turn. Plot Twist shuffles your hand into your deck and you draw that many cards. He’s also why I want Shadow Council in the deck. If I could get that kind of full hand of demons, I could flood the board (even if some don’t get used, due to limitations of space on the board).

So, we use Valdris Felgorge to increase our hand size, Kanrethad to lower the overall cost of Demons. Then we have another new card, The Dark Portal. This lets you draw a minion, and if you have at least 8 cards in hand, that new demon costs (5) Mana less. Once you’re set up and have a giant hand of cards, The Dark Portal can get you some nightmarish moves.

If you’re worried about a Demon actually dying, don’t! That’s what Sacrificial Pact is for! That has you sacrifice a demon to restore 5 health to yourself, keeping you in the game. Dark Skies can also assist in putting things away. Sadly, Kanrethad Ebonlocke is not a Demon, so he can’t be sacrificed.

The rest of our deck is built around survival and doing as much damage as possible. We have Nether Breath, Dark Skies, Shadow Bolt, Mortal Coil for spells to affect the outcome of your opponents board. Maiev Shadowsong will slow them down, and Alexstrasza can be played on them to lower their health, but more likely, to bring you back to 15 health to extend a game much longer than the other player wants it to be.

Aranasi Broodmother’s another fun demon for this deck, too. She gives you 4 health when drawn into, and is a 4/6 Taunt. She’d be great to see a second time. Zzeraku the Warped’s another fun late-game option, even if it’s not a demon. Whenever your hero takes damage, you receive a 6/6 Nether Drake. Come on, this is Warlock! Dealing damage to yourself is no big deal; just look at your hero power! This deck is all about lasting as long as possible until we start hammering home the damage. Even though this is a “Demon” deck, several of our options for The Dark Portal are non-demons. Here are a few of my favorite picks.

• Enhanced Dreadlord (5/7, 8-Cost)
• Aranasi Broodmother (4/6, 6-Cost)
• Fel Lord Betrug (5/7, 8-Cost)
• Kanrethad Prime (7/6, 8-Cost)
• Zzeraku the Warped (4/12 8-Cost)
• Alexstrasza (8/8 9-Cost)

So they’re all high-cost, big results type cards. Perhaps that’s why we don’t have Shadow Council in the deck. The other minions have no typing or are Dragons. But that’s okay, they’ll still trigger Fel Lord Betrug because he only requires it to a be a minion, not a specific typing.

Another positive for Keli’dan the Breaker is if you’re in a bad position and the board is clear for you. Draw into him, and play him to just wipe your opponent’s board! Can’t beat that. Thankfully you have card draw options. Mortal Coil if it kills a minion for example. Plot Twist works, and so does The Dark Portal.

The goal here is to build up a huge hand of cards and punish people with them. Abyssal Summoner’s one of my favorite cards to drop post-12 card hand. There’s a lot of good to be said about hitting someone with an 11/11! So what’s our win-con? It’s not spells or tricks. Get lots of Nether Wings, or huge demons into play, and punch the other player with them until they submit. You have an army of unholy, inhuman monsters. Let’s put them to good use.

Key Cards

I guess I have to walk back using Shadow Council in this deck. Just not enough demons for it! But this deck has lots of cards that are just so key to success. We know that Valdris Felgorge is a requirement since he gives you that all-important 12-card hand. He also lets you draw 4 cards, so that’s another must. But once you’re doing all that awesome card drawing, what helps you get to the end state?

Fel Lord Betrug also helps you win, because he lets you have clones of creatures. While they only last one turn, he’s a sure-fire way to help you remove creatures that would otherwise harass you. That Taunt minion is nothing when you throw a 10/10 at it that is going to disappear at the end of turn anyway. Then, you simply play the real version and reap the benefits!

Kanrethad Ebonlocke/Kanrethad Prime (Legendary 2/8-Cost Minion): Kanrethad Ebonlocke is great because he lowers the cost of your demons, and since that’s not a Battlecry ability, it might trigger from Fel Lord Betrug. I’d have to see it in action though. Consider him with Fel Lord though: His clone would still Deathrattle, and put a Kanrethad Prime into your deck. Then you have the other to cast again, or cast later! But Kanrethad Prime, when he hits the field, summons 3 demons that have died this game (that were yours). So consider this: Fel Lord Betrug is in play, and you draw into Kanrethad Prime. He triggers the clone and then dies. Next turn, you play Kanrethad Prime as normal. He’s not legendary, so you can have him summon himself! If you control the narrative of what demons die of yours, you control what comes back to help you. Think about it.

The Dark Portal (Rare 4-Cost Spell): Want Kanrethad Prime to cost 3 Mana instead of 8? Well, if you have at least 8 cards in hand when you cast this, you have that potential! The Dark Portal lets you draw a minion for 4 mana, and again, if you have 8 cards, its cost is reduced by (5) Mana. Keli’dan the Breaker for 1? Enhanced Dreadlord for 3? Zzeraku the Warped for 3?! That is pure, unadulterated value, no matter how you slice it. It makes any minion, if you have that one simple requirement, much faster to cast. Want to cast Alexstrasza early? Then do it! That could mean you can play her, put your opponent to 15, and swing for lethal if you have enough damage to do so! The Dark Portal is going to see a fair amount of play this year, I’m thinking. No matter what creature you pull, it’s going to be worthwhile.

Zzeraku the Warped (Legendary 8-Cost Minion – Dragon): Here’s another one that might trigger for Fel Lord Betrug; Whenever your Hero takes damage, summon a 6/6 Nether Drake. Then, if you have the mana, use Life Tap (Hero ability) to deal yourself 2 damage, and draw a card. THEN you also get a 6/6 Drake! Then next turn, you play Zzeraku. He’s going to be a must-deal with because anytime you take damage for any reason, you gain a 6/6 to fight with. Having a non-stop flow of awesome threats is fantastic, and if they don’t have any taunt creatures, that means pure value. You can use those to ping away at your opponents creatures, and force your opponent to fight Zzeraku instead of you. Use that time wisely!

Final Thoughts

Handlock’s not my personal favorite style of Warlock deck. But I really like the idea behind these new cards and how they’ll synergize together. As time goes on, we’ll see if this is the right way to go, or if there are other options available to us. This deck has a ton of options though! We have board wipe with Crazed Netherwing (potentially), and cards to gain life (Nether Breath, Aranasi Broodmother, Alexstrasza). I like that everything in the deck isn’t 100% based around one creature – Valdris Felgorge. Sure, you need him to make things move as fast as possible, but you can still batter people down with Zzeraku and Kanrethad Prime!

You have lots of creatures that, while they’re expensive, you can get them with patience. Ideally, I think you want that Valdris as quickly as possible though. Everything about this deck feels like it’s going to be fun. I can’t wait to see what the ultimate Handlock build is going to be though. I am worried this particular one is going to be a little slow, but I’m still excited about the possibilities. Hearthstone isn’t a game for me that is solved in three turns, so this can still very much pop off. MTG Arena has many matches that are over by turn 2, but I doubt that will be the case. At least, not yet. Anything can happen!

That said, I’m very excited to try this one for myself.

Druid: Spam Moonfire! (Druid Malygos Combo)

I’m still not really sure what to do about Embiggen in this expansion, as far as Druid goes. But there’s one thing I do know, and that’s spell damage! Thankfully, there are still plenty of things we can do with a Druid deck that sneaks in a singular neutral card: Malygos! Why would we need anything other than the Aspect himself? After all, Malygos gives us +5 spell damage.

When we pair that with Quest Druid’s very own Ossirian Tear, the world is our proverbial oyster. With Ashes of Outland, Hearthstone decks have a wealth of new things to look at, and we’re using quite a few of those new Druid cards here. In fact, our new Prime, Archspore Msshi’fn takes advantage of Ossirian Tear in spectacular fashion.

For those that don’t remember, that’s the Quest Reward of “Untapped Potential”. The Ossirian Tear lets us take those spells that say “Choose One”, and “Choose Both” instead. So Msshi’fn Prime would give us the 9/9 Prime, alongside a 9/9 Fungal Giant with Taunt and Rush. That’s 18 damage! There are a lot of really fun cards in this expansion for Druid, and that’s only one of them. Let’s take a walk into the woods, and commune with nature.

Quest Druid doesn’t change a whole lot with this expansion. If I can find a space to squeeze in the new Ysiel Windsinger, I’d like to. She could pair nicely with Malygos, to make all those 4-5 cost spells drop for virtually nothing. All told, this is a beastly deck full of violence, high-octane, useful spells, and offering one of my favorite things: Not having to choose between two things! Why “Choose One”, when you can instead “Choose Both”? Why pick between drawing a card or summoning a 3/2 Eagle, when you can just do both? Your opponent won’t like it, but who cares?

How Does It Work?

Malygos is one of the big lynchpins of this deck. Having +5 Spell Damage turns Moonfire from a 0-Cost 1 Damage to a 0-Cost 6 damage. Pew. Pew. Spam Moonfire. If you have Ossirian Tear in play, your Wrath would deal 8 damage to a Minion, and then 6 damage to something else while also drawing a card. That factors in Malygos, mind. You could also be an absolute troll of the highest order, and make a clone of Malygos and give it Taunt, using Germination. Want +10 Spell Damage? Well, there you go!

Maly isn’t your only win-condition though. He just makes things significantly faster, that’s all. What we absolutely need if not in the starting hand, or as soon as humanly possible, is Untapped Potential. That’s what makes this whole mess go. All you have to do to complete the quest is end 4 turns with unspent Mana, any amount at all.

This synergizes nicely with Crystal Merchant, which lets you draw a card if you have unspent Mana left at the end of a turn. From there, you just play patient, making sure you have unspent Mana somehow. Worst case, you can burn Innervates to give you a Mana Crystal for a turn, and then simply not use the mana it provides.

Once you have Ossirian’s Tear, the rest of your power unlocks. Archspore Msshi’fn will give you a pair of 9/9 brutes, once he dies, and you draw into his more powerful form, Msshi’fn Prime. The catch is that Msshi’fn Prime is a 10-cost for 9/9. What I’d like to put in this deck is Ysiel Windsinger to make all my spells cost (1) Mana.

I would hold all of your “Choose One” spells, of which you have many until you get Ossirian Tear. In particular, Nourish and Hidden Oasis. Those are my personal favorites. Nourish adding both 2 Mana Crystals and 3 cards to draw helps you fish out that Msshi’fn Prime much easier. You can turn Germination into a one-turn kill with patience. If you use it with Msshi’fn Primes 9/9s, you can on the next turn swing for 27 damage minimum, if you have everything set up how you want it.

Those are admittedly ideal conditions, but it’s still very much a possibility. If you want, you can just use those massive Fungal Spores and Ancients to defend, while you spam Starfall, Swipe, Wrath, and Moonfire to clear the board and also ping away at the other player. Malygos turns every spell into a dire threat.

If you’re worried about the cost of your minions though, that’s what Imprisoned Satyr’s for. This new demon lays dormant for two turns, and when it awakens, a random minion in your hand’s cost is reduced by (5). If you keep only one or two minions in hand at a time, you can really shape what you get for a reduced cost. Having a 4-cost Malygos, or a 5-cost Msshi’fn Prime is going to blow someone away when it happens.

Another fun positive about this deck is that it only runs three legendaries! That’s right: Untapped Potential, Malygos, and Archspore Msshi’fn! This is a very reasonable deck to put together, and once you get that Quest completed, it should likely be all uphill for your opponent. No matter the situation, you have answers for it. 12 life on a card, tons of huge tokens, and ludicrous amounts of damage. Since we’re only running one Germination, I think I’d save it for one of our legendary creatures. Personally, I’d rather see it go to a pair of Malygos. I doubt it will trigger battlecries, so you want it to go to something that will immediately offer value. Msshi’fn Prime is valuable because of its stats, but Malygos gives +5 spell damage.

That +10 means you could probably finish someone off with a pair of Moonfires, with the right timing. I can see people just giving up in matches because of how much board control you have. How would you like to have a pair of Malygos and then cast Swipe? An enemy minion will take 14 damage, and the rest will take 11! Ka. Boom. So our win condition comes in a few flavors.

Either we batter someone to absolute pieces with spells that deal +5 more damage, or we summon gigantic, unrealistic creatures, clone one of them, and swing for lethal at the first opportunity. You also have Anubisath Defender as a temporary taunt creature to distract people. If you paid out for a 5-cost spell this turn, he costs 0, so that’s double your value. Everything about this deck screams “maximum value”. Once you have your Quest completed, everything you do practically is valuable and powerful.

Key Cards

Dust Cost: 7,620

Whew, this deck! Ashes of Outland brought us some fun new cards to the already good Quest Druid deck! They don’t change the way the deck is played, but they offer some fun new options to get you where you’re going. We have new cards that make things cost a bit less, or simply give us more stopping power. In a way, Ashes of Outland gives us a potential new win-con with Archspore Msshi’fn’s Ultimate Form, Msshi’fn Prime. Combo Imprisoned Satyr into him, and with Ossirian Tear, you get what I call the “Big Beef Platter Wombo Combo”. I’m still working on that; get back to me. Regardless, you get a pair of mighty 9/9s, and then the Primeval himself. It’s absolutely rotten what you can do with good card draw. Thankfully this deck has that too!

Imprisoned Satyr (Common 3-Cost Minion – Demon): One of the major downsides to this deck is that your big stuff is so costly – Malygos, Msshi’fn Prime both are in the 9-10 Mana range. Now, some might say “Well this is Druid, so you have mana ramp up the wazoo!” and I’d say “Ehh… sorta”. This deck has Nourish and Innervate. Innervate’s only temporary, too! This deck doesn’t have a bunch of ways to ramp, sadly. That’s where Imprisoned Satyr comes in. You have two turns where it lies dormant. When it triggers, a minion in hand now costs 5 less, so you have time to make sure it’s exactly what you want it to be. Make that Malygos come way faster. This demon just makes nature so much better.

Archspore Msshi’fn (Legendary 3-Cost Minion): Archspore Msshi’fn was built for this deck, that much I’m certain of. He was built for Ossirian Tear. The first form is a ¾ Taunt for 3, and that’s okay I suppose. His Deathrattle shuffles Msshi’fn Prime into the deck though, and with all our card draw, that’s great. But a 9/9 Taunt for 10, that also gives you at least one more creature for that cost? You cannot beat it. Then you pair it with Imprisoned Satyr. For 5 mana, you get a 9/9 Taunt and a 9/9 Taunt/Rush (with Ossirian Tear). That is the whole reason Imprisoned Satyr’s in the deck: to make Maly and Msshi’fn happen so much faster.

Germination (Rare 4-Cost Spell): We’re only running one Germination, but I’d love to find room for two if I’m being honest with you. For 4 mana, you make a clone of a friendly minion, and give it Taunt. You have so many token creatures you can use this on. You can make a second 6/6 Ancient with Taunt (but it already has it), another Malygos, Msshi’fn Prime, Fungal Giant, or even Crystal Merchant (for additional card draw). At 4 value, it’s pretty great value for what it can do. If you use your Satyr to make one of your huge creatures come out early, following up the next turn with Germination can really cause havoc.

Final Thoughts

Oh I love this deck, I really do. I think it’s solid against a lot of decks, without too many holes in its game. Board wipe hurts, as does silence/deep control. But overall I think it’s a deck that can come back from a variety of situations. As long as you get that Quest completed early, there’s nothing your opponent can do about “Choose Both” being the new order of the day.

The longer you can stall, the easier it’s going to be to come back. When that Hidden Oasis drops, and you gain 12 life and a creature with taunt? That puts you right back in the driver’s seat, in many situations. You have so many ways to board wipe without actually hurting your own creatures, and that’s the best board wipe.

It’s a deck that has a lot of early game options, with low-cost spells. You can hopefully deal with aggro decks by simply knocking their minions off the board, and coming into the mid-game hot with huge beefy minions. That’s one of the things I love about this particular Ashes of Outland deck, is how many answers we have. Lots of small minions? Swipe. Starfall. Need cards? Crystal Merchant, Nourish, Wrath, Rising Winds.

You can really do a lot with this deck, and you aren’t confined to waiting on just one creature to seal up the game. Sure you can wait for Malygos, and bombard someone with a ton of spells out of nowhere. But it’s also very satisfying to build up an army of gigantic minions over the course of a turn or two, and then just swing out for lethal if they have no Taunt creatures. They likely won’t either, since you’ve got so many options to bombard the other player’s board state. This game is whatever you want it to be. Bring the other player peace and tranquility, through Moonfire and Starfall spam.