Now that the Hearthstone meta has had time to settle and figure out where the power lies, it’s time to look at the absolute best decks for June 2021! Some of the concepts we wrote about a week or two ago are actually around! For example, Big Demon Hunter is in the meta, but it’s Tier 2 instead of Tier 1. Deathtouch Demon Hunter is the preferred deck, but Big Demon Hunter exists and is thriving. I’m glad to see some of these Wailing Caverns cards succeeding in the present-day meta. We’re looking at the Hearthstone decks that presently have the highest win rate, making them the “best” decks in June 2021

Since right now it looks like there are about four decks in the top-tier (Tier 1), we’ll also look at a handful of the Tier 2 decks, because they’re still very viable. This number may change though. When I began writing, there were three Tier 1 decks, and now there are four (two being Shaman). The other is just another flavor of Elemental Shaman, Aggro Elemental.  The difference in win rates is only a few percent. So I’m going to look at those also. Hopefully, many of these decks are utilizing the Wailing Caverns cards, but that’s not the focus per se’. I want to see what decks are topping Hearthstone’s meta right now in June 2021. 

What stands on top of the pile? What are the best of the best Standard decks in Hearthstone in June 2021? Well, I’m glad you asked!

Elemental Shaman is all about keeping a steady tempo of minions. We want to dominate the board as long as possible, and utilizing our mulligan to make sure we start strong. We’ve got quite a few low-cost minions to start the game, to lead us into the bigger Elementals in the later parts of the game. We can also do stuff like play Bru’kan and make Dunk Tank into a very powerful direct damage spell that also serves as a pseudo board wipe. That “Nature Spell Damage +3” makes the 4 damage into 7! Then if it’s Corrupt, our opponent’s minions all take 5. 

We just hit the other player in the face as much as we can, keeping a strong minion presence the whole time. We can combine that Bru’kan combo with Fire Elemental to drop another 4 damage on our opponent’s face. The opponent will get nickel and dimed by elementals, and those spell combos. We’ll finish it off with Al’Akir the Windlord, with its 3/6 Charge/Taunt/Divine Shield/Windfury. That’s another at least 6 damage. We also hopefully get to keep the Wailing Vapor long enough to harm the other player.

It’s important to have a strong early start. That comes from our 1 and 2 cost Elementals in particular. Kindling Elemental, Wailing Vapor, and Cagematch Custodian are all important in the first few turns. If we turn 1 have both of Kindling/Wailing Vapor, we can play them both! Kindling Elemental’s Battlecry makes our next Elemental cost 1 less, making Wailing Vapor cost 0! If we have The Coin, I wouldn’t be averse to playing Wailing Vapor first, then Kindling (and maybe a third 1-cost Elemental if we have one), just to make Wailing Vapor strong. It gains +1 Attack for each Elemental we play.

Following up with Cagematch Custodian is nice because it draws a weapon – giving us Wach-A-Gnoll Hammer. Sure it’s a 3-cost, 3/2 weapon, but after our Hero attacks, it grants a random friendly minion +1/+1. Yay, bigger minions to hit with! Another great early Elemental is Arid Stormer, but we don’t want to play it until we played an Elemental the previous turn. That grants it Rush and Windfury (two attacks!). 

This deck is very similar to a recent deck we published as well. There are a few major changes though, like the Earth Revenant. Its Battlecry deals 1 damage to all enemy minions and is a 2/6 with Taunt. But adding Al’Akir the Windlord and Bru’kan are great picks. We can easily deal lots of spell damage and then follow it up with Al’Akir and our other Elementals. If we get/keep Bru’kan, it even makes Lightning Bolt amazing. A 1-cost 6-damage spell? That’s insane. This also goes for our Serpentshrine Portal spell. Now it does 3 damage and summons a random 3-cost minion! Who cares about Overload?

Most of our cards can be played early to set up damage and combos, but Instructor Fireheart we want to hold onto as long as possible. Preferably in the 10 mana range. A 3-cost legendary, she Discovers a spell that costs 1 or more. If you play that spell this turn, repeat this effect. We can get a nice chain of spells! In a perfect world, Bru’kan is in play and we can level someone with Nature Damage. 

We have the power to clear the board at our leisure, and keep playing minions over and over. We have direct damage too on top of that. This isn’t a deck that wins in one turn, but we slowly push someone over until we win. If you’re worried about aggro, then we make sure we corrupt Dunk Tank to wipe out a full field of minions. 

Decklist

Lightning Bolt (1) x2

Wailing Vapor (1) x2

Kindling Elemental (1) x2

Cagematch Custodian (2) x2

Menacing Nimbus (2) x2

Archdruid Naralex (3) x1

Arid Stormer (3) x2

Instructor Fireheart (3) x1

Primal Dungeoneer (3) x2

Serpentshrine Portal (3) x2

Whack-A-Gnoll Hammer (3) x2

Bru’kan (4) x1

Dunk Tank (4) x2

Earth Revenant (4) x2

Lilypad Lurker (5) x2

Fire ELemental (6) x2

Al’Akir the Windlord (8) x1

Deck Code

AAECAaoIBJzOA+LsA8jvA4CgBA3buAOn3gOq3gOr3gPg7APh7AOt7gOv7gPj7gOU8AOMnwT5nwTjoAQA

 

I’m glad that one of the decks I found wound up on top! It’s got the top win percentage right now that I’ve seen. It’s not a huge combo deck, but it has reliable, turn-after-turn actions. We gain extra cards from the new Archdruid Naralex, which can buff one of our big, damaging allies (Hi, Al’Akir)! Menacing Nimbus gives us a random Elemental, which could be anything (but always useful). It’s a strong deck with fairly quick match times. We start off strong and never let our foot off the gas. It’s reliable and incredibly fun. It has a strong match-up against pretty much every class, and that’s brilliant.

Face Hunter is a hyper aggro deck, built around, not surprisingly, going face. That means we’re targeting the player directly with damage as much as possible. It’s another deck that we were already talking about, and the most recent updates have been very good to the deck. We’ll cover it in brief, but there are changes from the previous version of Face Hunter. It still keeps Trampling Rhino as a solid game-winner, but it’s not running the Hunter Prime, which is fine. It doesn’t really need it, to be honest. In fact, this is a better deck, because we are only running one legendary and no epics. 

There is an alternate version of the deck that is closer to what we used previously. It has Barak Kodobane and Mankrik in addition to the Rinlings Rifle, and a pair of Epics (Kolkar Pack Runner and Warsong Wrangler). I personally prefer this less expensive deck because it’s powerful and can easily batter people. It’s truthfully up to you, but I like this version. We pair direct damage, quick striking minions, and our Hunter Power to also pick away at someone.

Intrepid Initiate is one of the most powerful cards for decks like this. As a Neutral, it can be used in any deck. But what does it do? It’s a must-play for the early game. We want as fast of an early one or two as possible. That means we want Demon Companion, Intrepid Initiate, and Imprisoned Felmaw. They are our fastest, most powerful moves for my money. If you are thinking the other player’s deck is slow, hopefully, you pull a Scavenger’s Ingenuity. Since it draws a Beast and grants it +2/+2, that would be beautiful.

Whether you pull Wolpertinger or Trampling Rhino, it’s going to be a boon for you. A 7/7 Rush/Trample Rhino is brilliant, and we can focus some weaksauce 1/1 as a target to get as much damage as possible. In the early game though we want to summon allies. Imprisoned Felmaw (which goes Dormant for two turns), and Demon Companion. Summoning a random Demon is never a bad thing for us. But Intrepid Initiate is the big breadwinner in the first few turns for me. It has Spellburst and is a ½ for 1. When you cast your next spell, you gain +2 Attack! Now you can start just hitting the other player in the face directly.

These cards let you either make smart early trades (eliminating your opponent’s minions) or just hitting the other player right in the face. If your opponent has nothing worth targeting, just hit them in the face. That’s our goal, lowering the other player’s health as fast as possible. That’s why this deck also runs Knife Trader. It hurts us too, but that’s fine. It’s a ¾ for 4, that deals 4 damage to each Hero. Hopefully, we’ve been hitting them far harder than they were doing us.

We’ve also got the mid-range Piercing Shot. It deals 6 damage for 4 mana to a minion, but the excess goes to the enemy Hero. So we target something weak, pick it off, and deal 4-5 damage to the other player. Scavenger’s Ingenuity hopefully pulls us that Trampling Rhino, so we can do again, a ton of damage. A little to a minion, and a bunch to the other player’s face. We’re not after doing game-winning damage in one turn. Instead, we nickel and dime away, wear them down. A fantastic follow-up to Trampling Rhino (provided we have one Beast in play) is Scrap Shot. It deals 3 damage to a target (enemy Hero), and then grants a Beast +3/+3. If we used Ingenuity, now it’s a 10/10, minus damage taken. That could easily finish the game off, or we can fire off a Quick Shot. That’s another 3 damage, and if our hand is empty, we draw a card.

We’ve also got a few weapons on board. Rinling’s Rifle for 4 mana is great in the mid-game. It’s a 2/2, and after our Hero attacks, we Discover a Secret and cast it. The Headhunter’s Hatchet is a more common weapon and has an extra point of Durability if we have a Beast in play. They’re both 2/2s though, but the Rifle costs more thanks to its power. We can also use Tour Guide to make our next Hero power cost 0. Anytime you’ve got the spare mana to use the Steady Shot Hero Power (2 damage to enemy Hero, 2 mana), do it. We don’t want the other player to get too comfortable. Pay attention to how much damage you need to win, and drop spells and minions at the right time. The key is to learn what order you need to play things to win. It’s not hard though, I promise.

Decklist

Adorable Infestation (1) x2

Demon Companion (1) x2

Tracking (1) x2

Wolpertinger (1) x2

Wound Prey (1) x2

Intrepid Initiate (1) x2

Tour Guide (1) x2

Headhunter’s Hatchet (2) x1

Imprisoned Felmaw (2) x2

Quick Shot (2) x2

Scavenger’s Ingenuity (2) x2

Piercing Shot (4) x2

Rinling’s Rifle (4) x1

Scrap Shot (4) x2

Tour Guide (1) x2

Trampling Rhino (5) x2

Deck Code

AAECAR8Cj+MDv6AEDqK5A/m6A/+6A9zMA5vNA6LOA4LQA7nSA7ThA4biA9zqA9vtA6mfBLugBAA=

Alternate Decklist

Adorable Infestation (1) x2

Arcane Shot (1) x2

Demon Companion (1) x2

Intrepid Initiate (1) x2

Tracking (1) x2

Wolpertinger (1) x2

Wound Prey (1) x2

IMprisoned Felmaw (2) x2

Kolkar Pack Runner (2) x2

Quick Shot (2) x2

Mankrik (3) x1

Knife Vendor (4) x2

Piercing Shot (4) x2

Rinling’s Rifle (4) x1

Warsong Wrangler (4) x2

Barak Kodobane (5) x1

Trampling Rhino (5) x2

Deck Code

AAECAR8EtOEDj+MD5e8D5/ADDaK5A9zMA6LOA4LQA7nSA4biA9zqA5/sA/DsA9vtA6mfBKqfBLugBAA=

What a satisfying deck! We can use early cards like Adorable Infestation and Tracking to get an edge. In particular, Tracking lets us Discover a card in the deck. It does a ton of damage and is frankly incredibly low cost on the dust side of things. It’s different enough from the other decks, and it in no way takes away from the efficiency of the deck. I’m going to drop the other deck below too. It will look fairly similar to the older deck. We can use Warsong Wrangler into Trampling Rhino or for Wolpertinger. We can also consistently rush someone down (literally) with Kolkar Pack Runner, who makes for us a flood of 1/1 Rush Hyenas. No matter which you run, you can focus the other player down and just rush their face in.

Another popular deck that waffles between Tier 1 and Tier 2, it’s Deathrattle Demon Hunter! Some say it’s Tier 1 (as it has a 57% winrate right now), and others think it doesn’t quite stand up to some of the other top decks in the meta, putting it at Tier 2. I think it’s incredibly powerful, and we’ve sort of discussed this in the previous blog. This is a more expensive version of the deck though. It’s running 7 different legendaries, so you know it’s not going to be cheap. We’re pulling some old but familiar Demon Hunter cards back too, like Felsteel Executioner, which I genuinely love. The ability to have it cast as a weapon instead of a minion is just awesome. Plus it does a lot of damage. A 4/3 weapon? Oh, that’s a hoot.

It also utilizes several of the newer cards from Wailing Caverns, like Mutanus the Devourer and Archdruid Naralex. Archdruid Naralex’s ability to grant us a few Dream Cards can make or break games, considering the wide variety of powers those cards have. Then we add Mutanus’ potential as an absolute face breaker, there’s a lot of damage on tap here. We can play Illidari Inquisitor a bit cheaper, but it’s not the focus of the deck.

The other deck we talked about conveniently had Deathrattle minions in it, but it was a Big Demon Hunter Deck, which is a whole other kettle of fish. Our bread and butter come from Deathrattle in particular. Even if it’s just attacking with Al’ar, having it die, and be resurrected by the Ashes of Al’ar next turn. It’s a powerful deck, and I think it’s worthy of being Tier 1.

It’s all about Deathrattle here! I know that’s not a big shock. In the beginning, we’re looking to see a Tuskpiercer in hand hopefully. It’s a ½ weapon with Deathrattle: Draw a Deathrattle minion. There are so many great options in this deck too. There are also early ones we could start off with, like Razorboar. We can certainly use Tuskpiercer to help us out with Razorboar. Its Deathrattle summons a Deathrattle minion from your hand that costs 3 or less. 

Out of the Deathrattle minions in the deck, we have Razorboar, Sneaky Delinquent, Felrattler, and Razorfen Beastmaster that fit the bill. My favorite for pure damage is Sneaky Delinquent. We’re trying to harm the other player, after all. It’s a 3/1 Stealth for 2, and when it dies, it adds a 3/1 Ghost with Stealth to your hand. So it’s a solid, reliable 6 damage. Fel Rattler has Rush and is a 3/2, and when it dies, all enemy minions take 1. So it’s a potential board clear for us.

Razorfen Beastmaster is the next card in the Razorfen chain. A 3/3 for 3, its Deathrattle summons a Deathrattle minion from your hand that costs 4 or less. Now we add Fishy Flyer and Renowned Performer to the list of possible cards we want in hand. So much of the deck is Deathrattle, so it greatly increases our odds. We just have to play carefully, and make sure the cards we need are around. Don’t throw a Deathrattle that summons away, unless you have a proper card in hand.

Renowned Performer also has Rush, and when this 3/3 summons a pair of 1/1 Assistants with Taunt when it dies. So it slows people down, forcing the opponent to block those first. Raging Felscreamer is so important to a combo in this deck. It doesn’t have Deathrattle, but it’s fine. We talked previously in the last Hearthstone blog where we use Illidari Inquisitor. He’s here too. An 8/8 for 8, it attacks an enemy when your Hero attacks them (including the opponent). Raging Felscreamer, when it perishes, makes your next demon cost 2 less (making this 6).

We can also push people around with Fishy Flyer if it comes out for free (or if we summon it). It’s a 4/3 with Rush that creates a 4/3 Ghost with Rush when it dies. You’re probably sensing a pattern by now. Nothing is permanent in this deck. We want our allies to die, so they can do something useful like create another ally. Al’ar, for example, is a 7/3 for 5 with Deathrattle. It summons a 0/3 Ashes of Al’ar when it dies, and that resurrects Al’ar the next turn of yours. 

As long as the opponent has no answer for the 0/3, that 7/3 is coming back in a big way. Everything else in the deck are big power cards. Like Death Speaker Blackthorn. He summons 3 Deathrattle minions from your deck upon summoning, which cost 5 or less. In a perfect world, we get Al’ar, Taelan Fordring, and Fishy Flyer. 

I’ve mentioned Taelan Fordring so many times this year. But his ability to draw the highest Cost minion from your deck as a Deathrattle is serious. It could be Mutanus, Blackthorn, Illidari Inquisitor, or even N’Zoth, God of the Deep! He will resurrect a friendly minion of each type, so a clear board is a good board. There is just so much pressure and damage in this deck. We attack the other player relentlessly, constantly hitting them with minions. 

Your opponent might even hesitate to fight back against them because death only grants us rewards. That hesitation means free damage. It’s a very aggressive deck and it rewards your death with more power. If you can get a Fellsteel Executioner on at the same time as an Illidari Inquisitor is in play, you could end the game with that combo. That’s 12 damage right there, before any other attacks. You combine those with Stealth minions, summoning minions, and all the rest. Once N’Zoth is in play, it will summon a few more allies for you to pal around with, and surely it will be enough to get lethal damage. 

Deathrattle Demon Hunter is a deck with a powerful tempo. You start a ball rolling, and it smashes over people like in Indiana Jones. Just make sure you take the time to plan and make sure your Deathrattle effects never go to waste. Even if it means taking some damage, it will be worth it in the end. 

Decklist

Tuskpiercer (1) x2

Illidari Studies (1) x2

Sneaky Delinquent (2) x2

Razorboar (2) x2

Razorfen Beastmaster (3) x2

Mankrik (3) x1

Felsteel Executioner (3) x2

Felrattler (3) x2

Archdruid Naralex (3) x1

Renowned Performer (4) x2

Raging Felscreamer (4) x1

Fishy FLyer (4) x2

Taelan Fordring (5) x1

Al’ar (5) x1

Skull of Gul’dan (6) x2

Mutanus (7) x1

Death Speaker Blackthorn (7) x1

Illidari Inquisitor (8) x2

N’Zoth God of the Deep (9) x1

Deck Code

AAECAea5AwjrvgOb2AO/7QOm7wPI7wPn8AOoigTUnwQL2cYDh9QDitQDyd0D194D8+MDu+0DvO0D/e0Dr+8DgIUEAA==

You can really put someone in their place with this deck. Don’t underestimate the Felsteel Executioner either. It’s a great card to play Corrupt, because it’s essentially a free 8 damage to your opponent. You’re likely going to target them with it and make sure they don’t get away unscathed. We’ve got non-Deathrattle minions in here too, like Mankrik, Illidari Inquisitor, and N’Zoth, but they all serve a similar purpose. They’re incredibly aggressive, wildly powerful cards. We just push the other player around, and make those Deathrattles count.

Paladin was arguably one of the most powerful decks at the start of Wailing Caverns. This is thanks to the power of Hand of A’dal and First Day of School, both of which got nerfed. Despite that, this deck still uses both of those cards, and it’s not hard to see why. Even after the nerfs, they’re powerful! Menagerie decks use creatures of a wide berth and variety. With the addition of N’Zoth, God of the Deep we can easily bring back a bunch of creatures instead of just a few, and win with an overwhelming slam of force. One deck the deck is missing that I think we should consider is Seedcloud Buckler. It grants your allies Divine Shield when it goes away (as a ⅔ Shield). 

Now, it’s hard to set up a perfect situation for it, but I think it provides a lot. It’s just something to consider if I’m honest. We’re running quite a few legends though, and many of them provide near game-winning situations. Alexstrasza the Life-Binder can target any character to heal or harm. Murgurgle Prime can bring to life some ferocious Murlocs with Divine Shield, or we can use the various dream cards afforded by Ysera the Dreamer to make sure we can win the day. We can also use Kazakus, Golem Shaper to make a huge 10/10 Golem with say, Stealth.

It’s a fairly aggressive deck without being traditional aggro. It feels more like a midrange deck to me. We’ve got low-cost early threats, some removal, a handful of secrets, and we can pull them to hand and cast with Sword of the Fallen. There’s so much we can do with this deck and all of it puts the hurt on the enemy player.

The early game is likely going to be used to set up success. First Day of School is still one of the best turn-1 moves you can make. It adds 2 random 1-Cost minions to your hand. Knight of Anointment also helps, as its Battlecry draws a Holy Spell. Reckoning and Hand of A’dal are our options here and both are solid. Reckoning is a Secret for 1, and triggers after an enemy minion deals 3 or more damage. Then we destroy it when this triggers. This is amazing when your opponent plays a huge Rush creature, that easily smites down one of our allies. 

Hand of A’dal in general is just one of the best cards in the deck. Even nerfed it’s powerful. You grant a minion +2/+1 and draw a card. We don’t want to drop it on just anyone though. In the early game, I’d like to cast it on Redscale Dragontamer, turning it from a ⅔ to a 4/4. When it dies, this creature draws a Dragon out of your deck. I just want to get some more damage out of it. When it dies, we get one of two options: Alexstrasza the Life-Binder or Ysera the Dreamer. Both are extremely useful.

Our big game-winning cards are expensive (Carousel Gryphon, our Golem, etc) but most of the cards, in general, are very inexpensive. If we’ve got a handful of cards that we aren’t doing much with, for example, we can use Safety Inspector. A ⅓ for 1, triggers Battlecry and shuffles the lowest-Cost card in your hand back into your deck and draws a card. A great way to potentially get something we need. For example, When Murgur Murgurgle is a 2/1 for 2 mana, and it has Divine Shield. When it dies, it shuffles Murgurgle Prime into your deck, which we want to draw soon! Of course, Murgurgle Prime is expensive, at 8 mana. A 6/3 with Divine Shield, it summons four random Murlocs and gives them all Divine Shield too. It’s a great way to get a sudden amount of damage. We’re going to use those low-cost minions to get a little damage on the board, but once the mid-game starts happening, we play the big cards that can wipe someone’s health in a few turns.

This deck also utilizes some of the stuff we’d find in a Secret Paladin deck. We run a few secrets and a few cards that synergize with them. Sword of the Fallen casts a Secret from your deck after your Hero attacks (½ Weapon for 2). Then, if we have a Secret in play, the ¾ for 3 Northwatch Commander draws a minion out of your deck. 

Truthfully, we don’t run a ton of minions, so at this point, we could easily pull one of the big cards to set up for later. Which secrets do we use though? Oh My Yog! For 1 mana, it triggers when your opponent casts a spell. Instead, they cast a random one of the same cost. Great, because it fouls up whatever they were going to do, but it could backfire and get something better.

Galloping Saviour triggers after your opponent plays three cards in a turn. It grants you a ¾ Steed with Taunt. So we do have a few useful Secrets and the previously mentioned Reckoning. We want to play Kazakus, Golem Shaper as soon as possible too, so we can get that Golem in our hands. I typically make a 10-cost Golem, so we have a 10/10. The first Herb Effect I give it will probably be Stealth so it can’t be blocked, or if I’m low on life, Lifesteal or Taunt. The second Herb Effect for it is going to likely be Wildvine, so it grants other minions of mine +4/+4. With a healthy board of big minions, this suddenly becomes a game-ender.

Around this time, we also want to get ready to Corrupt a Carousel Gryphon. A 5/5 for 5 normally, if you cast something higher first, it goes from a 5/5 Divine Shield to an 8/8 Divine Shield/Taunt. That’s incredible. So just drop Hammer of Naaru the turn before. That also grants a 6/6 Holy Elemental with Taunt. The mid/late game is filled with huge creatures like these. Alexstrasza, N’Zoth, and Ysera are all 9-drops, and we’ve talked about them more than once already I feel. N’Zoth summoning allies of all types that have died, Ysera dropping all the Dream Cards, we can end the game here. Even better if we cast Nightmare on an already big creature. Say, on that 10/10 Golem, making it a 14/14. It would die the next turn, but we should be hitting for lethal at this point.

A 6/6, an 8/8, a 14/14, possibly another 8/8 with Alexstrasza? At this point, if your foe has no Taunt minions and you have enough damage to win, just win. There’s no sense in dragging it out if you don’t have to.

Decklist

First Day of School (1) x2

Galloping Savior (1) x2

KNight of Anointment (1) x2

Oh My Yogg! (1) x2

Reckoning (1) x2

Safety Inspector (1) x2

Hand of A’dal (2) x2

Murgur Murgurgle (2) x1

Redscale Dragontamer (2) x1

Sword of the Fallen (2) x2

Northwatch Commander (3) x2

Venomous Scorpid (3) x2

Kazakus, Golem Shaper (4) x1

Carousel Gryphon (5) x2

Hammer of the Naaru (6) x2

Alexstrasza the LIfe-Binder (9) x1

N’Zoth, God of the Deep (9) x1

Ysera the Dreamer (9) x1

Deck Code

AAECAZ8FBvy4A5vYA/neA/zoA7CKBLSKBAzKwQOezQOD3gOF3gON4QPh5AOW6APM6wPO6wPP6wPb7gPQ9wMA

I like this more than Secret Paladin, I think. I’m not a big fan of Secret decks just in general. This deck has some of that but is way more about hitting for huge numbers when the late game starts happening. It’s very flexible, and we don’t have to use any particular combo. You’ve got options, is what I’m saying! You set up for success early, and cackle as massive damage overwhelms your opponent. Then, as we have swung hard, we can bring back allies who perished with a very consistent N’Zoth. We have a fair variety of minions in the deck, so it will almost always bring back useful stuff to just win with.

Oh, Rush Warrior. You still stick around and people still hate you. But not me. Sure, I prefer Control Warrior, and you both have stuff in common. You both can still use Blademaster Samuro to board wipe your foes. There’s a lot of really fun stuff in this deck where pretty much every minion has Rush. Rush lets a minion attack when it comes into play, but only can target minions. It can’t attack the enemy player – that requires Charge. It’s also a deck that can draw or resurrect plenty of minions of varying styles.

Ringmaster Whatley for example, draws a Mech (Bumper Car), Dragon (Tent Trasher, Alexstrasza the Life-Binder), and a Pirate (Sword Eater, Stonemaul Anchorman). Then we also run the all-too-familiar N’Zoth, God of the Deep. It feels like it’s in every deck by now. It’s perhaps most potent here. We have Murlock, Beast, Pirate, Mech, Dragon, Demon, Quillboar, and No-Type. Ringmaster’s for the early game, and N’Zoth’s the game-winner. Depending on what the board state is, that Tent Trasher can be summoned for 0/1 mana. It costs 1 less for each friendly minion with a unique type and is a 5/5 Rush. 

Can you imagine? We’re going to pull a never-ending stream of minions that control the flow of the game. In its own way, it’s a control deck, just a. . . very angry one.

If your opponent can’t keep minions in play, they can’t fight back. That’s ultimately our strategy. Rush minions can just immediately fight something down. We’ve also got minions that buff when we attack, buff minions in our hand, minions that damage the enemy when they’re stuck, just so much nonsense. We also have minions that grant us weapons to attack with! Hopefully, our early game contains Atheltic Studies and Stage Dive. Athletic Studies costs 1 and Discovers a Rush minion, and makes our next one cost 1 less.

Stage Dive draws a Rush minion out of our deck for 1 mana, and if it’s Corrupt (cast literally any 2+ spell), it also grants it +2/+1. My ideal pick for this point in the game is Parade Leader. After we summon a Rush minion, it gains +2 Attack. So if we Parade Leader, then Stage Dive a minion and cast it, it gains +4 Attack. My favorite combo for this is Blademaster Samuro. This ⅙ with Rush/Frenzy would then become a ⅚. Then, when he takes damage, he’d then blast all enemy minions for 5 damage!

There’s never a bad draw for Stage Dive/Parade Leader though. An early Playmaker is also amazing. It doesn’t have Rush, so we won’t draw it this way. But, after you play a Rush minion, you summon a copy with 1 Health remaining. This allows us to safely batter people and also enhance other combos. If we have Overlord Runthak, for example, it doubles up the buff he grants. A 3/6 for 5 with Rush, whenever it attacks, all minions in hand gain +1/+1. You can swing on something, swing again, and buff everything in hand for +2/+2. 

There are so many amazing early plays too. Like Rokara, who surprisingly enough, also has Rush. A ⅔ for 2, after a friendly minion attacks and survives, it gains +1/+1. Cards like this and Runthak, I think are best served after you’ve already cleared the board. That’s the strategy after all. Constantly attack the other player’s minions, and with whatever you have left (and with whatever weapons you get), swing on the other player’s face. 

We’re using two of the new Legendaries, too. Kresh, Lord of Turtling (3/9 Frenzy/Deathrattle) and Mutanus (4/4 Battlecry). Kresh simply grants us a bunch of Armor (8) and a ⅖ weapon when it dies. Mutanus has a chance to be gigantic, as we’ve said before. We can’t forget the late-game Overlord Saurfang either. A 5/4 Battlecry, he resurrects 2 friendly Frenzy minions, and then deals 1 damage to all other minions. Razormane Raider (⅚ Frenzy, Attack a Random enemy), Blademaster Samuro, Stonemaul Anchorman (⅘, Rush, Draw a card) are our likely picks.

The late-game will again, be Alexstrasza and N’Zoth, and battering someone into bits and pieces. We can do constant, never-ending damage with this deck, and with time/patience, we buff our cards in hand. Suddenly, those Rush minions are way more dangerous. They’re more likely to live and then hit the other player in the face. 

Decklist

Athletic Studies (1) x2

Imprisoned Gan’arg (1) x2

Stage Dive (1) x2

Bumper Car (2) x2

Conditioning (2) x2

Parade Leader (2) x2

Playmaker (3) x2

Rokara (3) x1

Blademaster Samuro (4) x1

Sword Eater (4) x2

Overlord Runthak (5) x1

Razormane Raider (5) x1

Ringmaster Whatley (5) x1

Stonemaul Anchorman (5) x2

Tent Trasher (5) x2

Kresh, Lord of Turtling (6) x1

Mutanus the Devourer (7) x1

Overlord Saurfang (7) x1

Alexstrasza the Life-Binder (9) x1

N’Zoth, God of the Deep (9) x1

Deck Code

AAECAQcKm9gDwN4D++gD7ekDle0Dqu4Dj+8Dpu8DqooEsIoECry5A+LMA93NA7PeA7XeA7reA8HeA8TeA5jtA9XxAwA=

Once we’ve got 10 mana, we can also use Conditioning to buff the allies in our hand once again. It’s just non-stop aggression and damage. Once we start playing Rush minions and defeating threats, it never stops. We have the stuff to play on pretty much every turn, but sometimes, you’ll want to hold back if you have hand-buffing on the way. Think about those kinds of things, and never let off the aggression. Another deck where you want to make sure your opponent is constantly having to stress about playing cards at all.

Filling the board with 8/8 Taunt minions and then just hammering away at the other player? Then when they die, we just cast Y’Shaarj, the Defiler as a 10/10 and do it all over again? That’s a winner if ever I’ve seen one. The downside to this deck sounds like it’s incredibly expensive. We need a 10-mana spell (Survival of the Fittest), a 9-cost creature (Carnival Clown), and the Y’Shaarj, the Defiler at 10 mana as well. But we’re neglecting one important thing: This is a Druid deck! They still mana ramp like nobodies’ business. 

No matter what, we want as much mana as possible. We’re after hitting 10 mana before the other player. Several turns faster. We play Guardian Animals quick as possible and use those to hold out while we set up the final, powerful killing blow. In most cases, we’re just going to play the same way. The only major difference for me is against Aggro decks. Then we want to use our Strongman or Carnival Clown without waiting on corrupting them, just so we can stay in the game. But we build a gigantic board of minions, and lock the other player out, and beat them at our leisure.

I’d hold Y’Shaarj, the Defiler until there are no more clowns on board. That way we get the maximum benefit out of him. So what’s the story here? How do we ramp up for maximum effect?

No matter what, if you ask me, you want the same cards in your starting hand. Overgrowth, Nature Studies, Wild Growth are the best spells, with Lightning Bloom coming in after it. Overgrowth costs 4 and gives you two empty Mana Crystals, and Wild Growth gives you one empty Mana Crystal. You also use Nature Studies to discover a spell and makes your next one cost 1 less. If you’re running a bit shy on mana, you can use Lightning Bloom for 0 mana, to gain 2 Mana Crystals for this turn. Nature Studies could land you a 0-mana Innervate, which gives you a temporary Mana Crystal. 

In theory, you could use them to cast Guardian Animals a little earlier. It’s what we want to cast major as first as possible. An 8 mana spell, it summons two Beasts that cost 5 or less from your deck and gives them Rush. That’s what I want to see, a turn-four big cast. For example, if we cast Guardian Animals with Strongman in our hand, now we get a 6/6 Taunt that costs 0! That’s the power of Corrupt. This could ideally get us Twilight Runner, which is a 5/4 Stealth that now has Rush. On top of that, whenever it attacks, you draw 2 cards.

This and Lake Thresher are my favorite Beasts to pull with Guardian Animals. Lake Thresher is a 4/6 that also damages the minions next to whomever this attacks. If we don’t get it, it’s going to be amazing after our big play. These aren’t our only sub-5 Minions to pull. Teacher’s Pet is a ⅘ Taunt with Deathrattle. When it perishes, you summon a random 3-Cost Beast! It could be something useful, or not useful! Any body is good though. Those are our only Beasts, but we also include Animated Broomstick to give our other minions Rush, which can be nice. In addition, Taelan Fordring is here to pull our most expensive minion from the deck when it dies (Deathrattle). It also has Taunt and Divine Shield for 5 mana (as a 3/3). We already talked about Strongman as well. We just have three Beasts though, to narrow down the possibilities for Guardian Animals. For 6 mana, we also have Nourish, which either gives us 2 mana crystals or draws 3 cards. If you need the mana, get it! It’ll put you at 10 much faster. 

Thanks to all of this Mana Ramp, we should hit 10 way before our opponent. Our big combo, when we have it is Survival of the Fittest and Carnival Clown. Ideally, we have the Clown in our hand, for Corrupt. Survival of the Fittest is a 10-cost spell and it gives +4/+4 to all minions in your hand, deck, and battlefield! Every minion you have is going to be massive. This isn’t a deck that uses a ton of minions though. Our focus is entirely on getting as much mana as possible. 

From here, hopefully, the end is night. We want to have Carnival Clown cast as Corrupt, so it’s imperative to have it in your hand. Normally a 4/4 for 9, with Taunt, its Battlecry Summons 2 copies of it. Or, if it’s Corrupt (you cast something that costs more while it’s in hand), you fill the board with Copies. When you pair that with Survival of the Fittest, now it’s a whole board of 8/8s with Taunt. You can be as aggressive as you want with these, especially if you have another of them in hand.

Then, in the event you need a little more aggression somehow, you can cast the other Clowns, or simply play Y’Shaarj, the Defiler. That way, you add a copy of each Corrupted card you’ve played this game to your hand, and now they cost 0 mana for the turn. So you play the 10/10, play the Carnival Clown, and re-fill your board. Nothing but anger on the field. From there, you just win! There should be no stopping you in this scenario.

Decklist

Lightning Bloom (0) x2

Nature Studies (1) x2

Animated Broomstick (1) x1

Guess the Weight (2) x2

Wild Growth (3) x2

Overgrowth (4) x2

Teacher’s Pet (5) x2

Lake Thresher (5) x1

Taelan Fordring (5) x1

Twilight Runner (5) x2

Nourish (6) x2

Strongman (7) x2

Primordial Protector (8) x2

Guardian Animals (8) x2

Carnival Clown (9) x2

Survival of the Fittest (10) x2

Y’Shaarj, the Defiler (10) x1

Deck Code

AAECAZICBJXNA7zQA/zeA6iKBA3ougOSzQObzgO60AOT0QPe0QPw1AP+2wPR4QPm4QPe7AOJnwTanwQA

It feels like a slightly risky deck since we have no real minions for the early game, but we’re playing the long game. Remember, your life total is a resource, just like Mana is. Our goal is to mana ramp to exclusion of all else until we get the mana to do what we want early. We do have some minions to play in the mid-game in case we need them though. I’ve seen this deck just bowl people over easily though. The other player can’t stop us from mana ramping, so we have a full hand of big (normally late) mid-game threats. It’s so satisfying to just hammer someone with 8/8 Taunts over and over. Even if they have taunt minions, they probably won’t be as strong. We can also bring them back with our Old One, Y’Shaarj. It’s probably my favorite Druid deck.

Even though Mankrik got a nerf (a mild nerf), and Leeroy Jenkins rotated out, Miracle Rogue is still going to be a deck worth playing. Often cited right now as a Tier-2 deck, it can still make some absolutely bonkers plays. It’s a deck that runs a very powerful card draw engine, and that used to be Gagetzan Auctioneer. We have something better these days though. Field Contact uses Battlecry and Combo instead of spells, and that will work out just fine for us. 

In essence, we’re going to draw just about our entire deck and make sure we always have an answer. When you combine heavy card draw with Efficient Octo-bot, we can do some absolutely devastating moves. That’s why it’s a “Miracle” deck. We’re going to make miraculous plays that we have no business doing. We want lots of cards in hand, and the ability to keep bouncing Efficient Octo-bot back out and into play. But why? To what end? What can we possibly do with it? Well, I’m glad you asked!

Efficient Octo-bot is a 2-cost ¼ with Frenzy. When it takes damage the first time, Frenzy triggers, and it reduces the cost of all cards in your hand by 1 mana. So we get the Field Contact into play first. A 3/2 for 3, after you play a Battlecry or Combo card, you draw a card. So much of this deck is low-cost, Combo, and Battlecry. There are so many low-cost Battlecyr/Combo cards in this deck, so getting Field Contact out early is key.

I also want to cast Guardian Augmerchant after. A 1-cost with Battlecry, it deals 1 damage to a minion and give it Divine Shield. That will prevent the next damage your Field Contact takes. It will likely be a target. If we’ve played a spell first, we can use Brain Freeze as a Combo card. It freezes a minion, and if a combo, deals it 3 damage. A great way to remove a threat and draw a card at the same time. Wand Thief also has Combo, and Discovers a Mage spell. A cheap little ½ for 1, I love how useful it is. Then there’s Fozy Fraud, which has a Battlecry that makes our next Combo this turn cost 2 less. Play that wisely, for something like a 0-cost Swindle (draw a spell and a minion). 

A mid/late game Vanessa VanCleef can’t be undervalued either. It has Combo:  add a copy of the last card your opponent played to your hand. A ⅔ for 3, you can get some truly mighty moves this way. So we can easily make this start off. Heck, we can slow the other player down with Cult Neophyte to make the other player’s spells cost 1 more for the next turn. We can only get that Octo-bot ability once though! Right? Of course not!

We can Shadowstep it back to our hand to make it cost 2 less. Then we cast it for 0, trigger Frenzy again, and reduce the cost in our hand even more. We build up a powerful hand of cards thanks to Field Contact, and cast things with reduced costs, thanks to Efficient Octo-bot. We want to bounce it out a few times if possible, so Shadowstep helps. We can also use Tenwu of the Red Smoke to bounce it if we really want, but that’s not ideal. There’s a better combo.

Alexstrasza the Life-Binder deals 8 damage to a foe or heals 8 to a friendly character when summoned. So we can cast her (hopefully cheaper through Octo-bot), and then bounce her back with Tenwu of the Red Smoke. This is even better if it casts for 0. Tenwu of the Red Smoke, its Battlecry returns a friendly minion to your hand, and makes it cost 1 mana this turn. So with careful planning, you can hammer someone for 16 damage easily. We want to partner this with a hopefully 0-cost Wicked Stab (Rank 3) for an easy 6 damage. 

You could also get an early-game Kazakus, Golem Shaper to make a 10-drop monster Golem (say with Stealth), and use the Octo-bot shifts to make it cost a little less each time you return it into play. We do also have two Octobots, so there are even more chances to make it happen! That’s the combo! We play low-cost/free spells to draw more cards, and use Octobot respawns to make all the stuff in hand cost less, making it so we can do more and more. Hopefully, we get those expensive cards in hand early, so we can make them cheaper! 

Decklist

Shadowstep (0) x2

Brain Freeze (1) x2

Guardian Augmerchant (1) x2

Prize Plunderer (1) x2

Secret Passage (1) x2

Wand Thief (1) x2

Cult Neophyte (2) x2

Efficient Octo-bot (2) x2

Foxy Fraud (2) x2

Swindle (2) x2

Tenwu of the Red Smoke (2) x1

Vanessa VanCleef (2) x1

Wicked Stab (Rank 1) x2

Field Contact (2) x2

Mankrik (3) x1

Kazakus, Golem Shaper (4) x1

Jandice Barov (6) x1

Alexstrasza the Life-Binder (9) x1

Deck Code

AAECAaIHBtnRA8PhA5fnA/zoA+fwA7CKBAzevgOqywPHzgOk0QOL1QPf3QPn3QPz3QOo6wOq6wOr6wP2nwQA

What makes this deck so great are the possible huge turns you can make. Most of the deck costs 2 mana or less, so one or two Efficient Octobots makes most of our cards very good. There’s a lot to be said about a turn 6 or 7 Alexstrasza followed by Tenwu and another Alexstrasza the next turn. We’ve got a lot of useful big damage cards, from Mankrik to Jandice Barov who gives us a pair of random 5-cost minions onto the field. There’s no telling what they’ll be, but for sure, they’ll be useful. When you combine the efficiency of Octo-bot and the drawing power of Field Contact, you can pull off some absolutely unreasonable turns. That’s what makes it so great. You draw a ton of cards, and suddenly, you can do anything. This deck can even give some of the most destructive decks in the meta a run for their money, and I love to see it.