With Whispers of the Old Gods coming out in just over a week, we’ve seen quite a few cards released, and it’s clear that Blizzard is pushing for several new decks to exist after the expansion launches. With so many cards cycling out of Standard, there will be voids left for a lot of new decks to emerge. Let’s take a quick look at the archetypes we may see emerging in the next few weeks.
C’Thun Druid
With the release of Dark Arokka this week, Druid now has two class specific C’Thun cards which are both quite good. Since most of the other playable C’Thun cards are common, this leaves Druid in the best position to build a C’Thun based deck at the moment. The only thing they are missing is the Warrior hero power for sustain, but they do have a lot of taunt creatures and the ability to gain life spectacularly if they are forced into sticky situations. They also will always have that nice ability to ramp up, so ten mana isn’t nearly as difficult to get to in Druid. Plus the combo is clearly getting nerfed next week, so there’s a hole in the Druid class that needs filling.
Beast Druid
Well, the hole left by combo is big! With Mark of Y’Shaarj and several strong beasts being announced in this expansion, the potential for a real Beast Druid deck may finally be here. Cards like Druid of the Fang, with lots of potential, may finally be able to see play. This comes on the back of cards like Mukla, Tyrant of the Vale, which are simply the strong beast cards that Druid was missing. Hopefully there will be a bit more synergy to come, really pulling the deck together. However, Mark of Y’Shaarj alone is strong enough that we may see a Beast Druid deck pull together competitively.
Deathrattle Rogue
This one is a bit odd, because a lot of the Deathrattle minions are leaving Standard. However, there have been several strong Rogue cards released to fill the void left. Undercity Huckster, Shadowcaster, and Xaril, Poisoned Mind all have extremely strong Deathrattle synergy, and they all have a lot enough cost (or produce a card with low cost) to synergize well with Unearthed Raptor. With the meta looking like it might be a lot slower, cards like Cairne will also likely remerge, synergizing perfectly here.
Midrange Shaman
This doesn’t really surprise anyone, Blizzard has been trying to push for a Midrange Shaman deck for a while now. However, with the cards revealed already, Shaman is looking like it will be incredibly powerful in the upcoming expansion. Cards like Thing from Below, Hallazeal the Ascended, and my personal favourite, Master of Evolution, are all extremely strong cards for a Midrange Deck. And they don’t have Overload! I believe these three cards alone are enough to push Midrange Shaman to be viable after Standard hits, I think anything else will just be icing on the cake.
You May Like
Value Mage
This is a push we saw with Ethereal Conjurer from the last adventure, but there has been more of a push for it this time around. Faceless Summoner and Cabalist’s Tome provide strong value, while Twilight Flamecaller allows for decent boardclear (as an improved Explosive Sheep + Ping, which many Value Mages were already doing). This one is a bit iffy since both Duplicate and Echo of Medivh are rotating out of Standard, but I’m confident that the popularity of Value Mages will not diminish entirely, as many are fascinated by the neverending stream of spells they have access to.
Casino Mage
Just like Value Mage, this isn’t a new deck, but it is getting some new cards. And boy is it getting some new cards. We thought Spellslinger was bad RNG? How about Servant of Yogg-Saron? Or better yet, how about Yogg-Saron, Hope’s End himself? This is one of the decks I look forward to the most. Not playing, or even playing against, but to watch all the videos that arise from the insane combos coming out of this Old God. Unlike the old variants of Casino Mage which were used once or twice in competitive play, I feel like this one won’t make it to tournaments, unless Yogg-Saron proves to be a lot more beneficial than his text implies. Time will tell, but it will certainly be interesting.
Dragon Decks
Okay, I don’t know what class this is going to be, although Warrior, Priest, and Warlock make the most sense. However, there’s been a small push towards Dragon decks in the form of the meta getting slower, and one big card being released. Deathwing, Dragonlord. The potential value behind this card is incredible, playing a 12/12, your opponent managing to deal with it, and having a Ysera pop out from your hand, or even another 12/12. It’s a slow card, and playing it may simply be too difficult since it has no impact on the current board, but if Deathwing, Dragonlord ever does hit the board… good luck other player!
