The State of the Game

It's safe to say that Hearthstone's gotten more fun since the release of Standard. While most of the top decks were figured out pretty quickly, there still remains space for experimentation. I was a little let down by how quickly the top decks were solved but this is to be expected given the sheer volume of matches played.

Even though the decks were solved quickly the games themselves are more fun than in pre-Standard Hearthstone. Games of Standard are generally played at a slower pace and allow for more decision making beyond simply how you curve in turns one through three. Instead, games these days tend to drag out longer and enable more impactful choices going late. Overall, aggro decks have been brought back in line after the nerfs.

The rotation of Mad Scientist also certainly helps but the nerf to Leper Gnome was very "successful": successful in the Blizzard sense where he no longer sees play. Knife Juggler is surviving now as a 2/2 but he's no longer an auto-include for aggro decks. In fact, most of the aggro decks currently doing well are being carried by their class cards.

Zoo and Aggro Shaman are the last remaining aggro decks on ladder. Other decks have tried but these two remain due in large part to their strong class cards. Pirate Warrior appeared briefly—and infrequently makes appearances in tournaments—but it mostly exists to counter Rogues and never made a huge impact on ladder. A heavy reliance on class cards is not, however, only an issue in aggro decks.

The Whispers of the Old Gods set has shied away from powerful neutrals. This may have been a reaction to Piloted Shredder and Dr. Boom. It could also have been a bid from Blizzard to ensure decks looked different between the classes. In the case of the latter, they accomplished this goal. Zoo and Shaman are notable examples when it comes to aggro decks but Tempo Warrior and Rogue also generally use 20+ class cards. At the end of the day, Whispers didn't bring much for neutrals outside of the gods themselves.

Recent Decks

When it comes to what I've been playing, it's no secret that I'm a fan of combo decks. My one critique of Standard so far has been that the combo archetype died with Blade Flurry. Miracle and Malygos Rogue used to be a combo player's go to but they've evolved now into tempo decks more than anything. As such, I've been experimenting with various Druid builds.

I've recently been working on decks which use broken synergies such as Power of the Wild with Violet Teacher or Fandral. This strategy seems powerful given the lack of AoE in the meta and I've settled on this core so far.

Fandral and the cheap Druid spells also play very nicely into this strategy. Since these combos are mana-thirsty, however, I find the need to run a bunch of ramp. And when that's the case just playing fatties may be a better strategy.

I'll conclude this wrap up by saying that Standard—so far—has been a success. Even the initially written off Hunter is making a comeback since they always draw both Call of the Wilds! The only downside of Standard is for those poor Priest players...