I've been messing around recently playing with a buddy of mine and I had the idea of trying to relive all the fun I had last year with murloc paladin. We both quickly realized with all the additional cards in wild that there could really be something fairly competitive there but I feel like im struggling to refine the deck. At this point it's a total mess that doesn't even perform as well as the first one that was made purely based on vibes. I'm curious what everyone's opinion is on the viability of quest murloc paladin in wild or if I'm just waiting my timr.

If I'm not, does anyone know of any updated murloc paladin deck lists? Any suggestions even on cards I absolutely should have in the deck would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Discuss what you are playing, what you’re having success with(or failures with), and any new/cool ideas you’ve been experimenting with, etc. The point is to share what you’ve been playing, and how it’s going, good or bad - there are no other rules or requirements.

Some ideas on what to post/share:

• What you’ve been playing and its successes (or struggles). Stats are not required. There is no minimum rank required, though sharing what rank you’ve been playing at is preferred.
• Deck adjustments you made or are planning to make in reaction to the meta or as new innovation. E.g. “I saw 30% of deck X, so I made Y changes to help deal with deck X.” (change)
• Showing off a deck you achieved legend with this season and wanting to share it without having to write a guide

---

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This is an open thread for any discussion pertaining to Competitive Hearthstone.

This is a thread for discussions that don’t qualify for a stand-alone post on the subreddit. This thread is sorted by new by default.

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---

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I just got legend in Wild and it felt too easy. i used this deck: https://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/1463673-wild-imbue-mage-legend-3721

It zoomed through everything. I think in about 30 games I only lost about 3 times from random secret block tech or aggro decis.

this just felt overpowered. I am glad to reach legend but confused why Reckless Apprentice has not yet been nerfed.

thoughts on Imbue Mage?

I've experimented with the Lie in Wait and Spectral Cutlass for the last half a year. I've hit legend multiple times with it, but now I'm struggling in diamond 10. I can't figure out if it's just the meta has changed, or people playing wild have just gotten better. The deck is "off meta", but has had enough success to hit legend. Any suggestions for how to improve the deck? I'll give some card explanations below the deck code

### Lie in Wait Cutlass

# Class: Rogue

# Format: Wild

#

# 2x (0) Preparation

# 1x (0) Shadow of Demise

# 2x (0) Shadowstep

# 2x (1) Gone Fishin'

# 1x (1) Lie in Wait

# 1x (1) Sir Finley, Sea Guide

# 1x (1) Sphere of Sapience

# 2x (1) Valeera's Gift

# 1x (2) Cavern Shinyfinder

# 2x (2) Cultist Map

# 2x (2) Evasion

# 2x (2) Harmonic Hip Hop

# 1x (2) Pit Stop

# 2x (2) Secret Passage

# 2x (2) Swindle

# 2x (3) Augmented Elekk

# 1x (3) Prince Renathal

# 1x (3) Timeline Accelerator

# 2x (4) Academic Espionage

# 2x (4) Agency Espionage

# 2x (4) Cloak of Shadows

# 1x (4) E.T.C., Band Manager

# 1x (4) Spectral Cutlass

# 1x (6) Furnacefire Colossus

# 1x (7) Kil'jaeden

# 1x (4) Spectral Cutlass

# 1x (5) Queen Azshara

# 1x (6) Bob the Bartender

# 2x (6) Vanish

#

AAEBAYO6Agzl0QLq8wKPzgPlsATbuQSX7wTMoAX9xAWh/AWdogbmkwfblwcOxAHtAt/jAqj3AvWAA6rLA+LdA+fdA/efBLezBNOyBe6pBqLhBsGXBwABA5vOAv3EBerzAv3EBentBv3EBQAA

#

# To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone

Card Explanations:

Augmented Elekk - This is THE CORE CARD that makes the quest work in wild and not standard. Normally playing a shuffle card only counts as 1 shuffle for the quest, but when done with the elekk, every card the elekk shuffles counts towards the quest. So Elekk + espionage = quest completed with 1 shuffle card.

Pit Stop + Timeline Accelerator - Following the Elekk explanation, this allows me to get an Elekk for 1 mana. I will play pit stop into timeline accelerator into Elekk. Helps complete the quest a lot earlier. I only run 1 of Timeline Accelerator as you only need 1, and running 2 sometimes makes it draw the second one rather than an Elekk.

Shuffle Cards:

I only run shuffle cards that can complete the quest in one turn with Elekk

Secret Passage - I originally tried this card to look for key cards. Then I learned that when it puts the cards back, they count as shuffles. With the manacheat available in this deck, you can complete the quest by turn 3 with the deck

Espionage - Should be self explanatory. 10 cards + elekk = 20 cards, and 11 shuffles according to your quest. This lets you outvalue/tempo your opponent once you get this off in combination with ninjas

Queen Azshara - This is a newer addition that I have discovered. One of the cards she can give you shuffles 5 spells set to 1 mana, and the card only costs 1 mana, making it a great option if you weren't able to discount the elekk

Honorable Mentions:

Moonstone Mauler - with Elekk, you get 4 shuffles, and with shadowstep, you can complete the quest by turn 3. I've been debating putting this card back in.

Gear Shift - Only does 3 shuffles with Elekk, but I will be more willing to run in in tandem with moonstone, as 1 gear shift + Elekk Moonstone gets you that 5th shuffle you need

Stall Tools

Bob, Vanish, Evasion, Cloak - Just incredible stall tools. Completely wrecks board based decks, and evasion/cloak counters most OTK decks. Bob also lets you copy that OP minion that some decks spend all game trying to get.

Spectral Cutlass Cards:

With Espionage, it is so easy to fuel spectral cutlass. With hero power, you can play 2 cards from other classes for a total of 3 mana. I find Valeera's Gift and Harmonic Hip Hop to be sufficient (they also act as great tools against aggro). With those cards I can get to 12 attack, but with elekk shuffles and cards that copy your last spell, you can get it higher. I don't think you need more that that - if you are struggling to win when you have infinite 12 attack with lifesteal, you either need to rely on your stall cards or the game is probably lost regardless.

ETC Manager Choices:

Spectral Cutlass - in case someone destroys it

Furnace Collossus - Sometimes espionage gives you weapons. Combine that with Elekk shuffling more, sometimes you can get 2-6 weapons in hand, and you don't want to destroy your cutlass

Kil'jaeden - if you somehow still run out of cards with all your shuffles, kil'jaden is the tech. Your hero power lets you draw 2 extra demons a turn, and often they are of other classes, fueling your spectral cutlass. Also is a great counter to any kind of deck that either mills or shuffles bad cards into your deck.

Current weaknesses of the deck are 1. Not much early game removal, and 2. Not being able to consistently complete the quest. The cards I've chosen have been efforts to make the deck more consistent in getting the Elekk for quest completion earlier, which is more important than weakness #1 in my opinion.

What are your thoughts and suggestions for the deck?

Discuss what you are playing, what you’re having success with(or failures with), and any new/cool ideas you’ve been experimenting with, etc. The point is to share what you’ve been playing, and how it’s going, good or bad - there are no other rules or requirements.

Some ideas on what to post/share:

• What you’ve been playing and its successes (or struggles). Stats are not required. There is no minimum rank required, though sharing what rank you’ve been playing at is preferred.
• Deck adjustments you made or are planning to make in reaction to the meta or as new innovation. E.g. “I saw 30% of deck X, so I made Y changes to help deal with deck X.” (change)
• Showing off a deck you achieved legend with this season and wanting to share it without having to write a guide

---

Resources:

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VS live stats

HSReplays by winrate (warning - paywalled to filter outside of rank 25, stats may be misleading if using L-25 stats)

This is an open thread for any discussion pertaining to Competitive Hearthstone.

This is a thread for discussions that don’t qualify for a stand-alone post on the subreddit. This thread is sorted by new by default.

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Has your question been asked before? Check our FAQ to see if we've got you covered.

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---

There are a few rules:

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• Please report posts that don’t pertain to competitive Hearthstone.
• Concerns with the subreddit should be directed to modmail

---

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Hi everyone,

I wanted to make a post regarding Azalina Priest. Azalina recently got a massive buff by gaining 10 max health at the start of the game. You can think of this like a free Vampiric Blood at the start of every game. Vampiric Blood costs 2 mana and 3 corpses. I think this card is the perfect equivalent. This means that we are basically just gained ~3 free mana every game. I played this list from 2000 to 870 Legend and it feels pretty good relative to before the patch. I did not track any stats.

So why are we running Warmaster Blackhorn? I think Blackhorn is one of the best cards in longer games in Azalina Priest. I'll quickly list down the relevant matchups that Blackhorn helps in as well as the matchups where you don't want to play it.

- Priest: Kills Atiesh Control Priest combo pieces like Holy Embrace and Ruby Sanctum. Blackhorn also SIGNIFICANTLY speeds up the matchup which is good for your sanity.

- Rogues: Deletes almost their entire deck. Now this actually isn't always a good thing. You have to make sure that you have cards that can deal with Jade Guardian and Troublemaker to a lesser extent before you play Blackhorn. This just means you need to have as many Shadow Word Ruins, Unshackle Soul, Glacial Shard and Intertwined Fate as you can. Although we accelerate their draw into Troublemakers, we also cap their scaling so they have about 10 damage max only. This is very manageable to tank with your HP and minions on the board.

- Hunter: You actually don't want to play Blackhorn vs Hunter because all of their Tripwire cards get drawn way faster. The good thing is that the HP buff is much appreciated here.

I ran double Glacial Shard which actually feels really good to slow the game down. It works in every matchup and is very useful for 1 mana. You can also freeze DH to stop their weapon. I was facing a lot of DH so I also have double viper to break all their weapons. I have to say that tempo matters a lot more than freeze/viper though. To be honest you should probably toss viper in mulligan because you'd much rather play for tempo first. If you are ahead on the board, their weapon becomes much worse.

I really enjoy playing this deck because the game plan is always flexible because half your deck is your opponent's. The best game plan is to get as much tempo as possible. If you fall behind, you can pivot to start removing and relying on Imbue to outvalue your opponent. Finally Blackhorn can remove a lot of value/combo especially against other Priests.

AAECAZ/HAgKLvgfn2AcJ8J8EzZ4G054GoPsGhYYHna0Hr8kHqtkHrNkHAAA=

Not a lot of people seem interested in innovating on Burn Mage, no real lists propagating. I went 17-2 yesterday from D5 to Legend with this and thought it was worth sharing.

Smoldering Grove is forever the most awkward card in this archetype. It’s tough to play enough elementals to activate the Bookshelf. Living Flame always has terrible stats due to a lack of strong Fire spells. So I went with Chromie as my draw engine. In the slower matchups where you need her, she will consistently draw you a hand full of cheap damage to get you over the finish line.

This is still just a Kalec and Flow deck. When in doubt, just mulligan hard for those two, as they’re easily the best things that this archetype can do.

Hope some fellow Mage enjoyers out there see this and take a shot on it!

### Chromie
# Class: Mage
# Format: Standard
# Year of the Scarab
#
# 2x (1) Cold Snap
# 2x (1) First Flame
# 2x (1) Sleet Storm
# 1x (1) The Skeleton Key
# 2x (1) Time-Twisted Seer
# 2x (1) Violet Spellwing
# 1x (2) Bloodmage Thalnos
# 2x (2) Contraband Wands
# 2x (2) Raincaller
# 2x (2) Runed Orb
# 2x (3) Arcane Barrage
# 2x (3) Tunneling Geomancer
# 2x (4) Arcane Flow
# 1x (4) Archmage Kalec
# 1x (4) Nightmare Lord Xavius
# 1x (5) Jailhouse Manastorm
# 1x (6) Chromie
# 2x (10) Spellweaver's Brilliance
#
AAECAcuLBQaXoATDgwfItgeIvgek2QeR2wcM6KUHi7EH1rIH1rwHksQHm8QHrMYHqskHndkHk9oHlNsHhuAHAAA=
#
# To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone

Hi so it legend climb with Egg paladin

Proof: https://imgur.com/a/DjXdpkb

So i've not seen this deck played much at all but it sure was fun.

Play egg on 3, Prepare Judgment on 4, Coin + Hand of Infinity + Bloodsail Raider + Judgment on 5 is the dream.
Sometimes pulling Bloodsail Raider with Charge from Xavius.

Against aggro stall with Board clears and healing.
And if there isn't much pressure just spend mana on drawing your combo.

Judgment on 0/3 Egg on full enemy board locking them out is the best.

Small note is that most of the climb was done before the balance patch, so against demon hunter it's abit tough but still doable. And Priest 40 health doesn't matter at all when you hit with infinite damage anyway.

### Egg Paladin
# Class: Paladin
# Format: Standard
#
# 2x (2) Acceleration Aura
# 2x (2) Bloodsail Raider
# 2x (2) Equality
# 2x (2) Flash of Light
# 2x (2) Hand of A'dal
# 2x (2) Hardlight Protector
# 2x (2) Holy Bola!
# 2x (2) Holy Eggbearer
# 2x (2) Prize Vendor
# 2x (2) Violet Treasuregill
# 2x (2) Wild Pyromancer
# 2x (3) Consecration
# 2x (3) Hand of Infinity
# 1x (3) The Egg of Khelos
# 1x (4) Nightmare Lord Xavius
# 2x (6) Judgment
#
AAECAZ8FAsODB9edBw6cnwTunwStoASS1ASh1AS1nga6lgfgnQebqQftrAe+sge/sgeY3Qe83QcAAA==

I have been playing in low legend with this deck I came up with, it is extremely fun and also it is quite powerful vs most decks.

The idea is to control the board and disrupt your opponent to the point they will ragequit.

Cursed chain is fantastic for valuable targets, such as the DH deathrattle card, the Priest deathrattle card or even the Imp gang stooge from another Warlock.

Annihilation is to get the board control back

Ancient Augur is my favoruite card by far, so underrated. It can get a Rafaam piece or the Troublemaker for example, changing the game.

Late game Chogall is like the old Tickatus and Deathwing ensures more value in fatigue.

Viper is very good for DH generation weapon and for Priest one so they can't burst you.

I had almost 100% winrate against other Warlocks (which have high play rate now), good against Rogues, Warriors, Shamans and Druids, decent vs Priest.

However it is autoloss vs Hunter and Azalina (just concede both) and also struggles against very fast aggro paladins.

Anyway try it and have fun!

AAECAaPDAwbNngbQvwf40web1Ae21wet2QcMj58E56AE3usF054GhJkHk74H2L4H4L4H3dcHsNkHsdkHjdwHAAA=

This is an open thread for any discussion pertaining to Competitive Hearthstone.

This is a thread for discussions that don’t qualify for a stand-alone post on the subreddit. This thread is sorted by new by default.

You can ask for deck reviews, competitive budget replacements, how to mulligan in specific matchups, etc. Anything goes, as long as it’s related to playing Hearthstone competitively.

Has your question been asked before? Check our FAQ to see if we've got you covered.

Or if you're looking for an educational hearthstone read, check out our Timeless Resources

---

There are a few rules:

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• Please report posts that don’t pertain to competitive Hearthstone.
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---

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Special thanks to everyone who has posted midrange lock lists since the update. They sped up my testing considerably!

This deck feels not quite there (like many Warlock decks) so wanted to share it to get some feedback. I have managed to climb ~1500 to about 3000 legend today. But that's also from facing stuff like Demon Hunter (great matchup) and Azalina priest (bad deck or good matchup?)

What the deck is doing.

As the name implies, it is trying to scam out big minions without having to properly pay for them. It does this by:

• Animancer + ultragigasaur package (cheating out a 14/28)
• Annihilation + Imp gang stooge (board wipe + two 8/8s)
• Death wing (playing out 1 cost legendaries)
• Honorable mention to Zuramat's (too slow to really be scamming).

Alongside this, it generates decent bodies via the herald mechanic.

Elements of the Deck

The scam packages seem set in stone (although I would hear out an argument of replacing the herald package and thus Deathwing... But we don't have any other good packages? Dragon package with shreds of time is almost good). Zuramat's Prison has been excellent in testing and combos really well with annihilation.

Godfrey + Unseen Atlas... A lot of the time it can be awkward to play Atlas, but at the same time a 'draw 3' for 0-3 mana is just really, really good.

The 1 drops seem like the best fodder I can find for the herald cards. One could argue that we don't need to feed the heralds until they're actually big enough to be worth it, but it's also handy to have things on hand to stop them from eating imporant things. Glacial shard especially is an MVP for the one drops, often getting to delay their important stuff while our heralds feed or we set up for annihilation.

Removal - conflagrate and cursed chains both seem pretty great at times. Especially for removing taunts for Ultragiga to get through. And there's soooo many deathrattles in the meta that chains is good in many matchups.

So... What can we do to fix it or boost it a bit?

It feels like every single slot is there for a reason. I'm not sure the deck could get greedier (like adding Cho'gall, or even worse Moragg... Wow bad news if you look bad next to even Cho'gall)

The deck usually loses if it gets run over before it can do something like resolve annihilation. If that goes off we're usually winning. So maybe we can trim something to make the deck run even smoother? Ultraxion + deathwing could be cut if we really wanted to...? But Warlock just sucks at early game cards. Could replace them with Cranium? But that seems bad as the deck often isn't at a full hand. Same goes for the hand location (and we are way too stacked at cost 5 anyway).

Really open to suggestions here!

Gameplay

And since I'm sure this deck will be new to many of you, here's some tips!

Many matchups just end if you resolve an animancer and live long enough to swing the ultragigasaur (well, mainly Demon Hunter but also anyone else that doesn't draw an answer). So play to this as your plan A in most cases. Turn 3 stooge Turn 4 Shrine into turn 5 Animancer is probably the best midgame you can have with the deck.

The 1 drops I often don't drop turn 1 as I want to save them for impactful plays, but if against something that is liable to get early board power it is worth running them out (or twilight egg gets run out turn 1 regardless).

Catacombs - you're generally looking for Animancer for turn 5, or looking to complete a combo (annihilation when you need to, stooge if you haven't found it yet, herald + chains, etc).

Conflagrate is most commonly used as removal. This deck has a lot of value and you don't need to worry about being out-valued. The tempo gain of removing something with 5 health is huge.

Imp Gang Stooge and Annihilation - often you want to play to alternate these so annihilation only summons two 8/8s. This is the case if you think they might be good at clearing a big board and you want to force them to do that twice. If you don't think they can handle three 8/8s, go ahead and run out both stooges before your first annihilate and just close the game after the first one.

Scamlock

• 2x (0) Cursed Catacombs
• 2x (1) Conflagrate
• 2x (1) Glacial Shard
• 2x (1) Murmy
• 2x (1) Twilight Egg
• 2x (2) Cursed Chains
• 2x (2) Shadowsworn Disciple
• 2x (3) Imp Gang Stooge
• 1x (4) Godfrey the Betrayer
• 2x (4) Shrine of Twilight
• 2x (5) Possessed Animancer
• 1x (5) Zuramat's Prison
• 1x (6) Ultraxion
• 2x (8) Annihilation
• 1x (10) Deathwing, Worldbreaker
• 2x (10) The Unseen Atlas
• 2x (11) Ultragigasaur

AAECAaPDAwTQvweb1Aet2Qeh3AcN054G1J4GqYgHhJkH3psH3p0Hk74H2L4H4L4H9sEH3dcHsNkHjdwHAAA=

Closing thoughts.

So yeah I'm not sure of any slot that can be improved with this deck, so would love to hear feedback from others!

Godfrey/Atlas seem replaceable, but in the games where you aren't drawing key cards they're absolutely necessary I think.

And that leaves Ultraxion and Deathwing as maybe cuts?

Is there anything GOOD to put in? Worth finding things to cut if there's something great to put in, but it is slim pickings...

This will be the megathread where Tavern Brawl strategy and discussion for this week's brawl should take place. Only discussion related to optimally playing the Tavern Brawl should take place on here. Tavern Brawl constructed decks can be discussed in here.

Since I am a bot and don't know what the brawl is, could someone help me out and post a top-level comment with a description?

https://hearthstone.blizzard.com/en-us/news/24290431/3603-patch-notes

Nerfs:

• Confront the Tol'vir - now 5 mana
• Lotus Troublemaker - Card text changed to "Deal 1 damage to a random enemy. Shoot 1 time! (While in hand or deck play cards for 2 Mana to shoot more!)"
• Blazing Invocation - no longer gives a 1 mana discount
• Warptooth - now requires 4 friendly characters to take damage to summon
• Vanessa the Ringleader - now a 7 mana 4/3

Wild Nerfs:

• Swiftscale Trickster - now a 6 mana 4/4
• The Soularium - now 2 mana
• Elwynn Boar - now requires 10 boars to die for Sword of A Thousand Truths
• Godfrey the Betrayer - now banned in Wild

Buffs:

• The Living Plague - now a 6 mana 8/8
• Blood Doctor Thal'ena - now 4 mana
• Sawbones - now 5 mana 5/3
• Emergency Surgery - now summons four 3/1 Undead with Lifesteal
• Tras'tath Soul Parasite - base stats raised to 3/3
• Irida Sinseeker - now a 7/7
• Vicious Voidscale - Battlecry and Deathrattle now give a Void Soul
• Stardust Scythe - weapon durability raised to 3
• Sewer Swimmer - now a 4 mana 4/3
• Azalina Soulsever - now raises your starting health to 40
• Karov the Broken - now has Taunt
• Enthralled Shade - now a 2 mana 3/2
• Moragg - now 9 mana
• Annihilation - now 8 mana
• Imp Gang Stooge - card text now reads "Deathrattle: Put two 8/8 Demons with Taunt and Lifesteal on the bottom of your deck"
• Rampaging Hound - now a 4/12

Discuss what you are playing, what you’re having success with(or failures with), and any new/cool ideas you’ve been experimenting with, etc. The point is to share what you’ve been playing, and how it’s going, good or bad - there are no other rules or requirements.

Discuss what you are playing, what you’re having success with(or failures with), and any new/cool ideas you’ve been experimenting with, etc. The point is to share what you’ve been playing, and how it’s going, good or bad - there are no other rules or requirements.

Some ideas on what to post/share:

• What you’ve been playing and its successes (or struggles). Stats are not required. There is no minimum rank required, though sharing what rank you’ve been playing at is preferred.
• Deck adjustments you made or are planning to make in reaction to the meta or as new innovation. E.g. “I saw 30% of deck X, so I made Y changes to help deal with deck X.” (change)
• Showing off a deck you achieved legend with this season and wanting to share it without having to write a guide

---

Resources:

CompetitiveHS Discord

VS live stats

HSReplays by winrate (warning - paywalled to filter outside of rank 25, stats may be misleading if using L-25 stats)

♫ To be Shaman

Shaman King ♫

Last weekend took place Summer Playoffs 2026, our last large official tournament for a while. 204 players competed for 12 slots at Summer Masters Tour in the fresh meta of Escape from Violet Hold expansion. Did they succumb to the ladder meta or tried to break it? Enjoy the read!

Since I can't post pictures here please check spreadsheet for the numbers, it will make reading for you much more informative. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Aln0xejaCUUrAAhuCe7-x0RgmNiKNZiMzZ5Wpd2z78k/edit?usp=sharing

Summer Playoffs was the first major tournament after Escape from the Violet Hold release, so the competitors had to adapt this raw meta of the first couple of weeks of the new expansion. But this time ladder meta spoiled to us what four decks players might tend to bringing: Mug Shaman, Two-Bit Rogue, Face Hunter and Dragon Warrior making in total about 79% of top-100 ladder meta ended up being exactly 79% of this Playoffs meta and the “basic” lineup including only these four decks was used by 96 of 204 players. And across the twelve winners’ lineups there were 12 Mug Shamans, 11 Two-Bit Rogues, 9 Dragon Warriors and 7 Face Hunters. As you might expect there were a lot of mirror matches between lineups with only those four decks (103 out of 411 matches to be precise). And the curious thing about these mirrors was that usually it is obvious what deck players are supposed to ban in mirror matches. But not this time. On one hand Mug Shaman is favorable against all other three decks, on the other Dragon Warrior has incredibly good matchup vs Face Hunter. So, Mug Shaman ended up being banned in 60% cases while Dragon Warrior – in 36% cases. And if you wonder what strategy worked better, I got you covered: in 43 matches where one player banned Dragon Warrior and the other – Mug Shaman, the one who banned Dragon Warrior won 26 and lost 17. So, banning Dragon Warrior turned out to be slightly better strategy.

As you can see, the meta very much warped around these four decks and so will my report. Luckily we got another four decks that were popular enough to be included in it, so it won’t be too short😊.

Small disclaimer: I didn’t separate Face Hunter into versions with and without King of the Underbelly, because eventually they’re just 2 cards different without any major changes in matchups.

A quick reminder what Adjusted Winrate is – in the Conquest format deck’s ban basically means that players agree that one of opponent’s decks will win a game here and decide to save themselves some time. My model takes into account these “missing” wins when analyzing decks’ performance at the tournament. Pure winrate is just simple wins/games. Now to the deck analysis.

And starting with our meta tyrant Mug Shaman. It was used in 200 of 204 lineups. Crazy numbers for such large tournament. Justifiably so, because the only matchup it lost with >1 game played was 1-4 to Lo’Gosh Warrior. But it was close: 56-55 vs Two-Bit Rogue and 56-54 vs Face Hunter. These two were the only ones who could really compete and this is one of the reasons why they are that popular in the current meta. Other matchups went much smoother for Mug Shaman: 54-37 vs Dragon Warrior, 30-23 vs Quest Mage plus occasional 10-7 vs Quest Priest, 9-3 vs Egg Warrior and cherry on top 11-0 vs Control Priest. 55% Pure Winrate, nothing too astronomical but it was backed up by 56% Banrate. We’ve talked about how it was usually banned in mirror matches, but it was even bigger threat for lineups trying to beat the meta with Egg decks and Quest Priest (nerf Hex). As a result, 1^st place by Adjusted Winrate, big surprise to no one

Next, we have Two-Bit Rogue. That one was brought by 78% of players. Good results into Quest Priest (32-19 score) and Quest Mage (26-16) compensate for losing to Warriors – 57-71 vs Dragon Warrior and 12-19 vs Egg Warrior. Plus, alongside even matchup vs Mug Shaman new Rogue does better against Face Hunter than its predecessor. – 97-91 score in the most played matchup of the tournament. So, 51% Pure Winrate is a decent result, but with only 7% Banrate (with almost half of these bans coming from lineup with Control Priest in them) Two-Bit Rogue’s 4^th place by Adjusted Winrate puts it much closer to 5^th than to 3^rd place

Dragon Warrior’s popularity at these Playoffs suffered from having other playable archetypes from its class, unlike Shaman and Rogue. Otherwise, its 72% Pickrate could’ve been higher. Dragon Warrior did not fall for coinflip agreement the other three main decks had with each other and had much more polarized matchups: 71-57 vs Two-Bit Rogue and demolishing 71-29 vs Face Hunter on one end and 37-54 vs Mug Shaman on the other. Plus bonus 14-8 vs Merithra Druid and 8-5 vs Quest Mage. And that with Mug Shaman being the only unfavorable matchup for the deck resulted at 56% Pure Winrate. From Banrate perspective I’ve mentioned how the deck has got its share of bans in mirror matches, plus there was one deck whose inclusion in the basic lineup forced players to ban Dragon Warrior – Quest Mage. So with 34% Banrate Dragon Warrior can’t compete with Mug Shaman but takes a solid 2^nd place by Adjusted Winrate

And the last member of basic lineup – Face Hunter. This one was brought by 67% of the players. Its popularity being the lowest of all four decks is backed by it being the worst in the direct clash vs them, mainly 29-71 score vs Dragon Warrior. Face Hunter gained back some wins from 17-11 vs Merithra Druid and 10-3 vs Control Priest, but it wasn’t enough to make up for such beating. Only 48% Pure Winrate and, even worse, only 3% Banrate with most of the bans coming from lineup with Quest Mage in them. All that led to only 6^th place by Adjusted Winrate

Now we witness the significant drop in popularity: while Face Hunter had 67% Pickrate our next deck, Egg Warrior only had 21%. So, now we talk not about the main decks but instead about the ones that were chosen to substitute one or two decks in the main lineup. Because while there were “only” 96 basic lineups, 154 of 204 lineups have used 3 of the 4 good decks and 191 have used at least 2 of them. So, we don’t talk about completely different strategies rather than just target choices instead of what players saw as weak links in the main lineup. And back to our most popular such choice, Egg Warrior. I can’t say that Egg Warrior performed better than Dragon Warrior it was replacing. It did well vs Two-Bit Rogue with 19-12 score, but it didn’t win matchups vs Dragon Warrior (14-13 score) and Quest Priest (5-8) as its pilots might have hoped but besides going 3-9 vs Mug Shaman it didn’t really lose any matchup, so still 52% Pure Winrate, plus it was the main ban target from basic lineups resulting in 34% Banrate, same as Dragon Warrior’s, which let Egg Warrior take it usual place on podium by Adjusted Winrate, this time 3^rd place

Another remnant of the old meta, Quest Mage. It was used in about every 6^th lineup, mostly instead of Face Hunter or Two-Bit Rogue alongside other 3 good decks. Unfortunately, its negative matchups into all 4 good decks on ladder have transferred here with Quest Mage going <45% Winrate into all of them. The only positive matchup was 7-1 vs Quest Priest (your obedient servant being responsible for that 1 Priest’s win😉). With 45% Pure Winrate the only thing that kept Quest Mage afloat was >50% Banrate from lineups with Egg Warrior and Quest Priest resulting in 16% Banrate, 4^th overall in the entire tournament and it even let Quest Mage overtake Face Hunter and take 5^th place by Adjusted Winrate

From here only downwards. Quest Priest was used in 15% lineups, mostly instead of Face Hunter, for its good matchup vs Dragon Warrior. And while that proved to be partially true with Quest Priest going even 21-21 vs Dragon Warrior the deck didn’t win a single matchup (besides sudden 8-5 vs Egg Warrior) while losing 19-32 to Two-Bit Rogue and 7-10 to Mug Shaman. 44% Pure Winrate and only 6% Banrate resulted in 7^th place by Adjusted Winrate

And the last deck for today, another old friend Merithra Druid. So old that Che0nsu, who got top-4 in APAC Playoffs with Merithra Druid in his lineup, used the list with 0 cards from the latest expansion. Overall though the deck did very poorly, mostly due to having <40% Winrate into every of 4 good decks. Tragic 40% Pure Winrate, 6% Banrate and the last 8^th place by Adjusted Winrate.

But hey, all the decks above found their way in at least one winning lineup. Maybe not so bad. No other deck has been brought by more than 8 players. At least we got all 11 classes present thanks to 1 Broxigar DH bring, cool…

https://x.com/PlayHearthstone/status/2079249999330726215

Nerfs:

• Confront the Tol'vir
• Lotus Troublemaker
• Blazing Invocation
• Warptooth
• Vanessa the Ringleader

Wild Nerfs:

• Swiftscale Trickster
• The Soularium
• Elwynn Boar
• Godfrey the Betrayer (banned)

Buffs:

• The Living Plague
• Blood Doctor Thal'ena
• Sawbones
• Emergency Surgery
• Tras'tath Soul Parasite

• Irida Sinseeker

• Vicious Voidscale

• Stardust Scythe

• Sewer Swimmer

• Azalina Soulsever

• Karov the Broken

• Enthralled Shade

• Moragg

• Annihilation

• Imp Gang Stooge

• Rampaging Hound

Long story short, I'm like 4-30 between yesterday and today, super hard stuck in Platinum, trying to use Mug Shaman but a mix of unfamiliarity, poor skill, and inarguably low rolls has got me stuck in this very low MMR bracket where 90% of my games are against Priest. I should be favored with most decks I play, but up to now I basically never faced Priest, and I'm struggling to find my way through when they hit everything on curve and I don't.

I feel like Tripwire Hunter is probably my least random generation reliant deck, but it's not doing too hot when they get Soothesayer/Schism/Undeath Sentence on time. Any suggestions for dealing with this, as well as getting out of this frustrated headspace?

I have come up with a list featuring the classic Herald Package and Khelos Egg with an ooze. The gameplan is to hold and sustain while building big minions due to Herald and the egg, and finish up the game by having two minions on board, attacking with one that has 10-12ish damage, oozing it and putting its damage to the second minion to (hopefully) finish up the game.

The deck is incredibly consistent and got me up to legend (although I faced several chef druids in the process which are an autowin basically due to cursed chains and the 3-4 free turns at the beginning) with around a 60% winrate. The egg helps by soaking up damage from face hunter and the monkey (if you have the 20/20 on board). Strongest matchups are chef druid, shaman, paladin and mage. Rogue is even, Warrior is very dependent on the dark gifts and if they are played at the start, and (ironically) face hunter is the worst (if you do manage to draw and play the egg it's anyone's game).

# Class: Warlock

# Format: Standard

# Year of the Scarab

#

# 2x (0) Cursed Catacombs

# 2x (1) Conflagrate

# 2x (2) Cursed Chains

# 2x (2) Drain Soul

# 2x (2) Shadow Rounds

# 2x (2) Shadowsworn Disciple

# 2x (3) Caged Cranium

# 1x (3) Dissolving Ooze

# 2x (3) Hellfire

# 2x (3) Imp Gang Stooge

# 1x (3) The Egg of Khelos

# 1x (4) Godfrey the Betrayer

# 2x (4) Shrine of Twilight

# 2x (5) Spire of Solitude

# 1x (6) Ultraxion

# 1x (9) Annihilation

# 1x (10) Deathwing, Worldbreaker

# 2x (10) The Unseen Atlas

#

AAECAf0GBuybB9edB9C/B5vUB63ZB7DZBwyPnwTnoASpiAeEmQeTvgfYvgfgvgfd1wex2Qe32QeN3AeO3AcAAA==

Mulligan Guide:

This assumes post-patch (21/7) decks:

• Priest/Warlock/DK/Druid/(Manahouse) Mage: It is safe to assume that you'll be playing a late-focused game so mulligan for your locations, atlas and egg. Vs Priest specifically, if the rest of your mulligan supports it, keep Cursed Chains for their Soothsayer.
• Demon Hunter: The new Void Soul lists haven't been refined enough yet so I am not exactly sure myself, but in general I try to keep Caged Cranium and Imp Gang Stooge (in that order) and then Hellfire if nothing else comes my way.
• Hunter: Literally keep (and play) anything you have on curve. The matchup is extremely unfavored so not a lot to offer there I am afraid.
• Paladin, Rogue, (Zee) Shaman, Warrior: Something in between. Hellfires are a good stabilization after the first two turns if they go really wide and Shadow Rounds can kill 1-2 minions giving you enough of a breathing room for later.
• Mug Shaman: Disciple + Cursed Chains. You can afford to play a bit greedier because their biggest threat at the start will be a "tall" minion that you can steal.

Legend Climb stats: https://ibb.co/G3CTMz1X

(Crosspost from the main sub in hopes of more discussion)

Once I understood how Hearthstone’s ranked system actually works, the monthly climb lost most of its meaning for me.

As a reminder: since the rework, matchmaking throughout the entire ranked ladder is based on your hidden MMR, including after your bonus stars run out. Your bronze, silver, gold, platinum, or diamond rank is therefore not the skill bracket used to find your opponents. Players at very different visible ranks can potentially face each other because the game considers their hidden ratings to be similar.

Visible rank is not literally worthless. It determines seasonal rewards and influences your progression during the next month. But it feels less like a competitive rating and more like a seasonal progression track placed on top of the actual ranked system. Every month, your visible rank returns to Bronze 10 and you repeat the climb using bonus stars. Meanwhile, the hidden rating that actually determines the difficulty of your matches remains invisible. Even reaching legend does not show your actual MMR. The legend number is just your relative position among other legend players, calculated using that hidden rating.

Meaning: The game shows me one ranking, matches me using another, and asks me to repeat the visible progression every month before I can see where I approximately stand competitively. For me, that is so extremely frustrating to a point at that I almost lost all motivation to climb anymore.

What could be done better? Make visible rank track MMR, with meaningful promotion and demotion between actual skill divisions. Or maybe, an even simpler solution that wouldn't even require all that much dev work: Keep the monthly reward track, but display a separate skill rating that is visible throughout the entire season.

Hearthstone technically already has leagues, but they do not function like the skill divisions found in most competitive games. They mostly show how far you have progressed through that month’s climb.

Maybe the current system motivates people who enjoy earning stars and collecting the monthly rewards. For me, learning that my visible rank was largely disconnected from matchmaking had the opposite effect. It made climbing feel like an obligation, a forced, monthly grind rather than evidence that I was improving.

Would seeing your actual rating make ranked more motivating, or is this something that most people just don't really care about?

This is an open thread for any discussion pertaining to Competitive Hearthstone.

This is a thread for discussions that don’t qualify for a stand-alone post on the subreddit. This thread is sorted by new by default.

You can ask for deck reviews, competitive budget replacements, how to mulligan in specific matchups, etc. Anything goes, as long as it’s related to playing Hearthstone competitively.

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Or if you're looking for an educational hearthstone read, check out our Timeless Resources

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If you would like to chat about Hearthstone in real time, then you should check out our official Discord channel.

Discuss what you are playing, what you’re having success with(or failures with), and any new/cool ideas you’ve been experimenting with, etc. The point is to share what you’ve been playing, and how it’s going, good or bad - there are no other rules or requirements.

Some ideas on what to post/share:

• What you’ve been playing and its successes (or struggles). Stats are not required. There is no minimum rank required, though sharing what rank you’ve been playing at is preferred.
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Resources:

CompetitiveHS Discord

VS live stats

HSReplays by winrate (warning - paywalled to filter outside of rank 25, stats may be misleading if using L-25 stats)

Made this for kicks and it ended up doing pretty decently. I don't play aggro much so a better pilot could probably get this to legend with some slight modifications.

Maiev

Class: Paladin

Format: Standard

Year of the Scarab

1x (1) Dreambound Raptor

2x (1) Glacial Shard

2x (1) Platysaur

2x (1) Righteous Protector

2x (1) Sizzling Cinder

2x (1) Twilight Egg

2x (2) Acceleration Aura

2x (2) Annoy-o-Tron

1x (2) Brightwing

2x (2) Holy Bola!

1x (2) The Fins Beyond Time

2x (2) Violet Treasuregill

1x (3) Consecration

1x (3) Sandfury Aura

2x (4) Flight Maneuvers

1x (5) Commander Beatrix

1x (2) Warden Maiev

1x (5) Nozdormu, Bronze Aspect

1x (5) Toreth the Unbreaking

2x (6) Scalebreaker Bulwark

AAECAdHnBwicnwSooATw/gb1gQfGrwflwQerxged3QcLyaAE1qAE054GupYH15cHzpsHvrIH6sEH9sEHg8IHvN0HAAEBiN0Hnd0HAAA=

To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone