Alongside the release of the Forged in the Barrens expansion to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Hearthstone comes a ream of new decks. The game has undergone one of its largest transformations in recent times♉ - a total redesign and re-release of the core set. This, alongsꦐide the new Forged cards, has obviously had an impact on what type of decks are dominating.
Following the nerfs within the first couple of weeks of the Forged expansion (which we saw coming after 1♛68澳洲幸运5开奖网:we looked at the best new car🦩ds in the expansion), here are the most successful decks in Hearthstone's competitive constructed modeಞ at the time of writing.
Control Warlock - In The End, You Just Can't Beat Jaraxxus
The Control Warlock is an age-old Hearthstone archetype and it's returned with a bang in Forged in the Barrens. It's a deck that runs a lot of removal cards, including Hysteria (which first made an appearance in Darkmoon Faire and received a subsequent nerf, but is still a great control card), and of course, the ultimately powerful Twisting Nether.
In terms of new cards that make the cut for this Control Warlock deck, Tamsin Roame is a card that sticks out. The 3-mana Legendary card returns cast Shadow spells, so those tricky control cards like Hysteria or Siphon Soul are sent back to your hand at the cost of 0 mana. There's also a new neutral card that is very strong - Venomous Scorpid. The 3-mana 1/3 Poisonous card (with a dওiscover spell mechanic) is incredibly powerful.
Other than that, the deck remains largely unchanged. While the new forged cards do make an appearance in the deck, it's hard to call this Control Warrior deck a Forged deck. It relies far too heavily on ꦯthe late-game power spike of Jaraxxus to be anything other than your typical old-school Control-lock.
Sample Control Warlock Deck:
- Animated Broomstick x1 (interchangeable)
- Armor Vendor x2 (ideal for extra health to hero power with)
- Spirit Jailer x2
- Drain Soul x2
- Soul Shear x2
- Hysteria x2
- School Spirits x2
- Tamsin Roame
- Venomous Scorpid x2
- Cascading Disaster x2
- Ogremancer x2 (good card against spell Mage and Secret paladin)
- Siphon Soul x2
- Tickatus
- Soulciologist Malicia
- Strongman x2
- Twisting Nether x2
- Lord Jaraxxus
- Y'Shaarj, The Defiler
Other cards that perform well in this deck include Taelan Fordring, the 5-mana Legendary that draws your highest-cost minion (hopefully an Alexstrasza, a new addition for extra burst or necessary healing.) It might also see the removal of the Animated Broomstick, replaced with Luckysoul Hoarders for extra Soul Fragment healing.
Secret Paladin - Currently Destroying The Ladder
Secret Paladin managed to secret itself away 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:from many of the early nerfs, and the deck is currently dominating the meta. It's fast, frustrating to play against, and does make use of multiple brand-new Forged cards, which is pretty cool.
The key cards here are Oh My Yogg! from Darkmoon Faire, a card that acts as a counterspell, but with the added potential to go seriously wrong for your opponent; the Sword of the Fallen, a Forged weapon that plays a secret from your deck (yep, it's broken), and the killing blow of Alexstrasza, the 9-mana legendary that deals a flat 8 dam⭕age.
It's such a successful deck because it gets underway fast. The majority of the cards in the entire deck are less than 2-cost. Secrets spammed early, especially secrets like Galloping Savior, Avenge, and Noble Sacrifice, can out-tempo your opponent a💟nd slow down t𝓀heir advantage.
Sample Secret "Kazakus" Paladin Deck:
- First Day Of School x2
- Avenge
- Conviction x 2
- Galloping Savior
- Knight of Anointment x2
- Noble Sacrifice
- Oh My Yogg! x2
- Argent Protector x2 (this was a later addition to the deck and made an impact post-nerf)
- Crabrider x2
- Hand of A'dal x2 (awesome card in this deck)
- Sword of the Fallen x2 (get two of these in your starting hand and that's it, you win, game over)
- Mankrik
- Northwatch Commander x2
- Venomous Scorpid
- Kazakus, Golem Shaper (specific to this deck with no 4-cost minions)
- Ogremancer x2
- Taelan Fordring
- Hammer of the Naaru x2
- Alexstrasza
There are very small modifications that can be made to this deck, such as removing a Hammer of Naaru and replacing it with a Cannonmaster Smythe, the 5-cost Legendary Paladin card that turns your secrets into 3/3 soldiers. Others have opted for removing one of the Oh My Yogg! secrets and replacing it with another Avenge, i💜deal if you're aimin꧂g for a more minion-heavy start to the game.
Rush Warrior - Meta-Friendly Deck
The Rush Warrior is a deck that fits right into the current meta of constructed. It does very well against decks like the dominant Secret Paladin. By far the most important card in your Rush Warrior deck is the 3-mana Legendary, Rokara. She is a rush minion with the adde🥃d bonus of giving a 1/1 boost to minions that attack, and survive that attack.
Initially, Rokara did not look that strong: it was a small stat-line, and no one knew how powerful Rush was going to be for the Warrior in Forged in the Barrens. However, even if Rokara doesn't buff any other cards, she has the opportunity to buff herself. That paired with Shield of Honor, the 1-mana card that provides damage and a divine shield, and you've got aꦓ formidable minion.
Other very powerful cards for this deck include the Crabrider, the 2-mana Rush/Windfury card (probably one of the best Rush cards in the game); the 1-mana Imprisoned Gan'arg, a classically good Dormant card, and other Rush synergies with cards like Playmaker and Overlord Runthak.
Sample Rush Warrior Deck:
- Athletic Studies x2
- Imprisoned Gan'Arg x2
- Shield of Honor x2 (excellent to keep your rush minions alive)
- Stage Dive x2
- Bumper Car x2
- Conditioning x
- Crabrider x2 (like we said, just a great Rush minion)
- Parade Leader x2
- Playmaker x2
- Rokara
- Warmaul Challenger x2
- Blademaster Samuro x2
- Sword Eater x2
- Overlord Runthak
- Ringmaster Whatley
- Tent Trasher
- Troublemaker x2
- Alexstrasza
There are few other decks that are performing well with modifications. You might remove both Imprisoned Gan'Args are replace them with an E.T.C., God Of Metal Legendary card for more Rush synergy, or add in the powerful 3-mana Forged in the Barrens card Far Watch Post, that slows do🃏wn your enemy significantly and acts as a mini-taunt to protect your Rush minions.🍰 Experimentation is key!
Face Hunter - Hunter Has To Do What The Hunter Has To Do
Forget any sort of complicated Hunter deck you thought you might see in Forged in the Barrens: this Face Hunter deck is keeping it old-school, and is doing pretty well in the current meta. How does it happen? Well, the deck deals massive damage to the face, can control the board, and features Trampling Rhino. Yep. This Rhino is king right now.
The 5-mana Trampling Rhino is a Rush card that deals any excess damage dealt directly to the hero. Up against some of the decks that like to play small minions (the currently very powerful Rush Warrior and Secret Paladin) the Rhino is incredibly good. It arrives on the scene when your opponent is likely still playing minions with one, two, or three health total an🦩👍d its five health pool means you might even get to attack twice.
Other cards that stick out include Imprisoned Felmaw, a powerful Dormant card that attacks random enemies (it can hit face); the suicidal Knife Vendor that deals four damage to each hero, ideal for a finishing blow, and the Legendary Rinling's Rifle weaꦚpon, ideal to get out some Hunter secrets while also doing a tꦜiny bit of extra damage.
Sample Face Hunter Deck:
- Adorable Infestation x2
- Demon Companion x2
- Intrepid Initiate x2
- Tour Guide x2
- Tracking x2
- Wolpertinger x2
- Wound Prey x2
- Headhunter's Hatchet
- Imprisoned Felmaw x2
- Quick Shot x2
- Scavenger's Ingenuity x2
- Knife Vendor x2
- Piercing Shot x2
- Rinling's Rifle
- Scrap Shot x2
- Trampling Rhino x2
Other cards that stick out from the typical Face Hunter deck include the new Forged card, Kolkar Pack Runner. This 2-cost minion is sticky on the board and will summon you a 1/1 Hyena if you can cast a spell. Barak Kodobane also fits right into the Face Hunter deck, and it can be used to draw Mankrik's wife literally on turn four if you have a Coin and get lucky with your draws. You want to be tapping your hero power often with this deck. Each bit of damage counts.
Token Druid - A Classic Deck Is Best
The Token Druid is a deck that dates back right to the early days of Druids in Hearthstone, and this Token deck applies all the same principle as it did back then: get minions out via spells and scale them. Fast. This deck has huge high-roll potential thanks to the Druid's ability to get loads of mana right at the start of the game: cards like Innervate and Lighting Bloom are important here.
Other cards that stick out in this deck is the new Forged card Pride's Fury, a 4-mana buff card that gives all your minions +1/3, the classic Arbor Up which summons Treants and gives other minions a stat boost, and the mid-game powerhouse of Glowfly Swarm, which spawns 2/2 Flies for each spell in𒊎 your han🌸d.
This Token deck is up there with the best, although does fall behind in certain match-ups if the Druid doesn't draw the crucial early game cards (Innervate, particularly) or is caught off-guard by a stacked Secret Paladin with early Oh My Yogg! secrets to destroy your sp🧜ell-plays. Fa𒐪ce Hunters will also give this deck a few problems.
Sample Token Druid Build:
- Innervate x2 (important early game card, should always mulligan for these cards)
- Lightning Bloom x2
- Adorable Infestation x2
- Gibberling x2 (only minion card in the deck)
- Nature Studies x2
- Guess The Weight x2
- Lunar Eclipse x2
- Power of the Wild x2
- Solar Eclipse x2
- Thorngrowth Sentries x2
- Fungal Fortunes x2
- Pride's Fury x2
- Soul of the Forest x
- Arbor Up x2
- Glowfly Swarm x2
This Token Druid deck is one of the cheapest to craft on this list, with the above sample build coming in at under 3,000 Dust total. Comparﷺed to the 6,000 or 7,000 dust requirements of some of the other decks, this is a great way to get yourself into the best position to climb ra🧔nks without having to spend much money.
Honorable Mentions
We couldn't offer a complete guide to the best decks without also mentioning some of these other decks that have been fun, if not that powerful, to play with during the Forged in the Barrens expansion. If you want to experiment with some of your own builds, check out our guide to the best Archetypes in Hearthstone construc⛄ted.
Spell Mage
Woah-oh, the Spell Mage was a deck that completely dominated before the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:most recent nerfs, and since then its win rate has been steadily decreasing. Deck of Lunacy saw a massive mana increase up from two to four. Honestly, this is just a good thing. That card was totally broken. Spell Mage is still playable, although it focuses on different cards like Cram Session, Apex Blast, and Mask of C'Thun to see out matches.
Poison Rogue
This aggro Rogue deck wants to prioritize face damage and hopes that the Poison draws from Apothecary Helbrim are decent. The deck doesn't have a fantastic winrate and is typically too slow to deal with the fast-paced meta. It also relies on the Hero dealing quite a lot of the heavy lifting, which means a deck like Face Hunter just wins by default.
Rally Priest
This Deck is focused on the 4-mana Rally! card that resurrects a one, two, and three cost minion, as well as the resurrect potential of Raise Dead. It's not a new deck concept for the Priest, and unfortunately, it doesn't perform too well in the current meta. Overall, the deck is too slow, and the final payoff of powerful cards like Xyrella and Power Word: Fortitude come far too late.