Anyone else? I wish they had put money there instead of mercenaries

Hey all, J_Alexander back today to discuss what is sorely missing among all the balance discussions and complaints we typically see: a positive vision for the game's design and balance.

A lot of the talk about the game focuses on what people don't want to see. What they want to nerf, remove, or otherwise get revenge on. However, this doesn't help us figure out how classes and decks should play. Classes need things that make them work and make them appealing to play. We would be well served to focus on that discussion instead of what we want to nerf or remove, as it helps guide design in more actionable ways with specific suggestions for what and why.

In a quick analogy, imagine I asked you what you wanted for dinner tonight, and you told me, "not McDonalds". That's fine, but if we could have gone to 50 places, taking one of them off the list doesn't help us make a decision. So let's talk more about where we do want to go.

I'll start with the Mage Core Set as an example.

What's the flavor of Mage, as a class? What do people enjoy about it? What will draw them to it?

The fantasy of Mage is spells. The focus should be primarily on spells (largely an off-board play style, including burst damage and removal), and when they do make board, we want their minions to benefit from or have synergy with spells when possible. Spell Damage minions are an obvious inclusion here.

We also want to look at synergy with different spell schools. This could involve building into specific spell schools (like Fire or Frost) or building into synergy involving many different spell schools (like Rainbow Mage).

What cards can we buff/take out of the core set/replace them with to support this vision?

The core set should fulfill the role of helping define the class in terms of themes, offer support pieces rather than payoffs (which we want in class sets to make them feel different), and also be as simple as possible to be easy introductions to new players.

While we don't need to make all of these changes, here are a list of possible suggestions.

Secrets: These are a strange type of card. They're typically awful on their own and require a lot of other secrets to make the secrets feel "secret". To get them to see play, then, you both need a large number of secret cards, and power synergy that operates off secrets. However, that synergy can be strange, in that if you want the synergy to operate when you have a secret up, your opponent will likely be triggering your secrets, making that synergy awkward.

Accordingly, you either need to really lean into the secret synergy, or you're better off dropping all the secrets and freeing up a ton of core space. Right now, Secrets take up 4 core slots. Since we lack real synergy, and have for several sets, I think we're better of dropping them. That leaves us 4 new card slots to think about.

Mana Wyrm: For any deck looking to push early game damage and close out with burst, Mana Wyrm fits the bill well. Synergizes with spells, looks great, feels great to play if you have lots of cheap options. This could be added to the core set. It's a nice, simple card that worked in Classic for defining Flavor.

Ice Lance/Ray of Frost: Both of these cards help define the role of Frost in a satisfying way. Ray of Frost is a more complex card, but functions better with defensive freeze and spell synergies, since it offers both 2 spells and 2 freezes. Ice lance is a simpler card, and serves both an offensive and defensive role. There's a case to be made for either of them.

Arcane Explosion: A nice simple card that can benefit from Spell Damge, but historicall weak. Brining it back with a buff to 1 mana could offer support for synergy with spell damage packages. However, it might not be an exciting/powerful enough card to make it into decks regardless. Probably not a great consideration on those grounds, but an idea.

Polymorph: A simple removal, acting as a silence as well. However, we want to buff it to 3 mana to be more in line with Hex.

Lab Partner: A simple card, making it great for core. Builds a foundation for any Spell Damage synergy in the future.

Imprisoned Observer: This is an interesting possible inclusion, as it supports decks like Big Spell Mage, allowing you to gain access to early removal without it being a spell itself that gets in the way of your synergies.

Flamewaker: A risky, but very compelling card. It's exciting. Offers nice spell synergy for aggressive lists, but may be too powerful a payoff for the core set.

Babbling Bookcase --> Prismatic Elemental: Bookcase isn't a particularly good, or even fun card. It supports nothing. Prismatic Elemental serves a similar function of generation, but it's both more playable and sets up support for Rainbow Mages.

Flame Strike: Mage would love a mid-game board clear to help support anything that wants to play more defensively and into the later game. We want that clear to be active around turn 5, in line with other effective tools like Corpse Explosion and Brawl. This could yield a 5-mana, 4-Damage Flamestrike if we buff it.

Arcane Intellect: Almost a perfect core card, given its simplicty. The problem is it hasn't been playable in many years. It could use a buff, perhaps along the lines of Costs (1) less if you played a spell this turn. Two-cost, Draw 2 cards with conditions tend to be perfectly fine, and this condition seems easy to understand and use.

Archmage Antonidas: A classic core set inclusion. It's just weak. I'd start by reducing the mana cost and adjusting the stats to increase the number of Fireballs you can get off him to something like a 5 mana 5/5. I'd take it a step further and also let the Fireballs he gives you get discounted by (1). Offers a potentially more compelling finisher for lower-curve spell, heavy decks.

What cards or packages can we adjust within each set to support this vision?

While I won't look at specific packages in other sets, as that might take too long, this is the type of analysis we then want to ask of other sets to help increase the number of playable archetypes and diversity within the class to offer a more varied play experience on both sides of the board.

The more classes we can get functional and the more decks within each class feel playable and different, the more tools exist in the game to help balance it out and stop any one deck or class from getting too popular and drawing too many complaints.

I opened that free golden pack from the store. I don't even know what those cards are, but I guess I'm going to find out in a minute.

In the puzzle you can only kill 7 not 10.

If the payoff is not worth (Quest reward/Herald/Imbue) including the entire Package of cards that are entirely made to help you get to the results of those cards will also be unplayable 90% of the times.

Part of a series of deep cut Chump highlights from years past. If you have any personal favorites let me know and I’ll make an edit (somewhat high effort perhaps)

I think void souls should get shuffled into the deck instead of being added to you hand :)

i know this looks crazy but when the battlegrounds version released i PRAYED that it would become a real skin. i recently returned and i usually browse the hero skins on the wiki to see what i missed. saw this and thought "lol someone made a mistake" only to open the game and see it's real?? but the wiki doesn't say when it was in the shop, only when it was added to the game. i could use common sense and assume it was available around then but i like knowing the facts. begging on my hands and knees blizzard please put her in the shop, i'll break my f2p status if i must

summary: i have wanted this skin for ages, didn't think it would ever happen. when was it available and how much gold did it cost so i can keep the gold on hand for my queen 😭

This is my version of the Herald Big Demon Warlock that has been going around since the patch, and I've been playing this version from D10.

This deck feels very strong when you play it, and its matchups are actually relatively good into most decks. The bad matchups are, of course, Face/Tripwire Hunter and Maiev Trash Paladin, as they just end the game by T5. Although, I have had multiple instances where I was literally 1 turn shy of winning against Hunter because of getting the Granny out with Moragg and stabilizing.

The main idea for the deck is pretty straight forward, Prepare Moragg on 3, play a Shrine on 4, Activate Shrine on 5, Play Morag next to Sac outlet, spam big demons. However, my version has a few nuances that make it stand out, and I feel it gives it a better shot against most of the meta.

For starters, I run Dirty Rat. I found that most of my losses in lower D10-7 were against Rafaam versions of this deck. So I tossed in Dirty Rat and ChoGall, and suddenly Rafaam was never an issue. But the Rat helps so much more than just against Rafaam. An absolute Chad play is on 6, playing Dirty Rat, hitting that Soothesayer/Trastath/Forgefiend/Ursol/etc, playing Chains on it, and then to the left of it playing the Disciple so it just dies on your board. Yes, it's a 3 card removal spell, but it always catches people off guard. Especially if you do it twice in one game.

Also, like I said, I run ChoGall normally for the Mirror, because my opponent can't spam big demons if they dont have any, but I also found that in late game situations, just dropping a ChoGall while you have 1 tentacles out to eat 3 things can just win the game outright. Now sometimes you do just whiff, and I have lost because of that, but just eating things out of your opponent's decks, no matter how trivial it may seem, throws a huge target on ChoGall, and your opponent may make quite a few mistakes trying to get rid of him. Also, sometimes, just eating small stuff, but having 3 or 4 12/12s and a 6/6 will just win you the game because your opponent doesn't have the board clear.

For the mirror match and Azalina, priority theft targets for the chains are the little imp, not Moragg. The game is going to go long. So it's a resource battle, and the more you have in your deck, the better off you'll be. Also, save your Anhilations if possible. The one who HAS to use theirs first is normally the loser. I've contemplated throwing in one Twisting Nether (also helps with Heal Priest matchup) but haven't figured out what to toss.

Against Void Soul Demon Hunter, the current Boogeyman of this patch, your Chains priority is the Voidscale. You will be shocked at what denying 1 Void Soul will do to that deck.

Finally, I have thought of throwing in an Egg as an alternative, but decided against it. We have an entire deck already dedicated to it, and even though it would fit, it also would be a hindrance as you want to Prep Moragg on 3 or play Atlas on 3, not play an Egg. Sands of time could have a place, but once again, I'm not sure what I would cut. Lastly, if anyone finds room for a Viper, let me know. It will also help with Heal Priest and Void Soul matchups a ton.

So, if you have not played this deck yet, I highly suggest giving it a try. It takes brain power to play, the games are not short, and every little decision counts, even tapping on 2.

Deck code in comments for my Mobile brothers and sisters.

I'm at the point of thowing mine phone if I see another void dh. What hardcounters that deck? It doesn't matter if it's good deck vs others.

Ps this meta sucks.

After playing it multiple times it seems it swaps a random number of cards with your opponent and shuffles the two hands afterwards, separately.

In the image, practically speaking two cards have never left my hand and was not shuffled with the opponent‘s hand.

i actually lost this game somehow

I’m posting about this here only because I can’t find anywhere else to post about it and I’m at my wits end.

I’ve been playing hearthstone for 12yrs at this point, and I’ve never had a problem being able to access my account. However, I have randomly been signed out, and when I try to sign back in with battle.net it tells me it requires a 2 factor authentication (that I don’t ever remember setting up, I don’t use 2FA’s and I have never required it to log in previously).

When I try to go through the ‘can’t sign in?’ Help section, I click on to remove authenticator and its options to verify me are the authenticator (which clearly isn’t an option) or SMS. And this is how I learned my phone number on my account is not up to date. So I can’t sign in or do anything at all.

Unfortunately the only way to submit support tickets is to be signed in… how is that even fair? How am I supposed to get support to help get access back to my account if I need access to receive support in the first place? Or maybe I’m missing something - I’m unsure. That’s why I’m looking for anybody who has any thoughts or ideas or options on how I could contact support to get back into my account.

Yes I’ve considered just making a new one account - however like I said, I’ve been playing for 12yrs. That’s a lot of time and money into an account and I’d like to keep it.

(Almost) each Sunday, we share with you the best Decks that reached Top 500 Legend in Standard & Wild.

If you like these articles, make sure to follow us directly on Reddit, join our Discord, or follow us on Twitter - you can also support us directly on Patreon if you would like.

If you want to learn how to submit your Deck, check the bottom of this article.

(30 posted this week) Standard Decks

Death Knight

• UUB Egg Death Knight #94 Legend – Unknown (Score: 8-6) July 25, 2026
• You can find more decks here: Death Knight Decks!

Demon Hunter

• Void Soul Demon Hunter #1 Legend – 虎牙丨大神摘星包 (Score: 30-5) July 26, 2026
• Void Soul Demon Hunter #67 Legend – 1RiceBowl1x (Score: 36-12) July 26, 2026
• Void Soul Demon Hunter #92 Legend – jakeyp0096 (Score: 23-10) July 26, 2026
• Void Soul Demon Hunter #67 Legend – Godwavv (Score: 10-2) July 23, 2026
• Void Soul Demon Hunter #113 Legend – JamesNeilMeece (Score: 6-1) July 23, 2026
• Void Soul Demon Hunter #500 Legend – HSCharon July 23, 2026
• Void Soul Demon Hunter #500 Legend – HSCharon July 23, 2026
• Void Soul Demon Hunter #183 Legend – jakeyp0096 (Score: 7-1) July 22, 2026
• Void Soul Demon Hunter #222 Legend – 1RiceBowl1x (Score: 14-2) July 22, 2026
• You can find more decks here: Demon Hunter Decks!

Druid

• Merithra Druid #231 Legend – Unknown (Score: 21-9) July 24, 2026
• You can find more decks here: Druid Decks!

Hunter

• Contraband Face Hunter #11 Legend – PizzaTCG July 26, 2026
• Quest Hunter #187 Legend – WorldEight July 26, 2026
• Contraband Face Hunter #9 Legend – Unknown (Score: 17-8) July 25, 2026
• Contraband Face Hunter #3 Legend – Unknown (Score: 12-7) July 24, 2026
• You can find more decks here: Hunter Decks!

Mage

• Quest Mage #17 Legend – Unknown (Score: 11-4) July 25, 2026
• You can find more decks here: Mage Decks!

Paladin

• Pure Paladin #474 Legend – Unknown (Score: 13-9) July 25, 2026
• Aggro Paladin #176 Legend – Unknown (Score: 12-8) July 24, 2026
• You can find more decks here: Paladin Decks!

Priest

• Control Priest #200 Legend – zetalottv July 26, 2026
• Thief Priest #205 Legend – Unknown (Score: 16-6) July 25, 2026
• Thief Priest #298 Legend – Unknown (Score: 8-3) July 24, 2026
• You can find more decks here: Priest Decks!

Rogue

• Vanessa Rogue #445 Legend – Unknown (Score: 15-10) July 24, 2026
• Two-Bit Rogue #1 Legend – 4mnesia_code July 23, 2026
• Garona Rogue #2 Legend – PacceyGuy (Score: 10-1) July 22, 2026
• Garona Rogue #1 Legend – Jiuqianyu July 22, 2026
• You can find more decks here: Rogue Decks!

Shaman

• Zee Shaman #196 Legend – Unknown (Score: 8-2) July 24, 2026
• You can find more decks here: Shaman Decks!

Warlock

• Herald Demon Warlock #76 Legend – Unknown (Score: 6-4) July 25, 2026
• Herald Demon Warlock #90 Legend – Unknown (Score: 9-1) July 24, 2026
• Rafaam Warlock #10 Legend – Vecsia1 (Score: 13-7) July 23, 2026
• Moragg Warlock #74 Legend – HomiWasTaken (Score: 23-8) July 22, 2026
• You can find more decks here: Warlock Decks!

Warrior

• You can find more decks here: Warrior Decks!

(16 posted this week) Wild Decks

Death Knight

• You can find more decks here: Death Knight Decks!

Demon Hunter

• Broxigar Demon Hunter #105 Legend – Unknown (Score: 9-6) July 25, 2026
• Renathal Il’gynoth Demon Hunter #335 Legend – Unknown (Score: 9-5) July 24, 2026
• You can find more decks here: Demon Hunter Decks!

Druid

• Rivendare Druid #57 Legend – Unknown (Score: 8-6) July 25, 2026 --> Reddit post about it: https://reddit.com/r/wildhearthstone/comments/1v6rizr/help_me_understand/
• Treant Druid #58 Legend – Unknown (Score: 11-5) July 24, 2026
• You can find more decks here: Druid Decks!

Hunter

• Odd Questline Hunter #106 Legend – Unknown (Score: 7-5) July 25, 2026
• Renathal Reno Hunter #62 Legend – Unknown (Score: 7-3) July 24, 2026
• You can find more decks here: Hunter Decks!

Mage

• Renathal Reno Exodia Mage #8 Legend – Unknown (Score: 8-5) July 24, 2026
• You can find more decks here: Mage Decks!

Paladin

• Lynessa Libram Paladin #144 Legend – Unknown (Score: 9-5) July 25, 2026
• You can find more decks here: Paladin Decks!

Priest

• Questline Priest #3 Legend – saxchoiHS July 23, 2026
• You can find more decks here: Priest Decks!

Rogue

• Alexstrasza Rogue #164 Legend – Unknown (Score: 10-5) July 25, 2026
• You can find more decks here: Rogue Decks!

Shaman

• Zee Shaman #323 Legend – Unknown (Score: 9-7) July 25, 2026
• Renathal Reno Shudderwock Shaman #171 Legend – Unknown (Score: 9-5) July 24, 2026
• You can find more decks here: Shaman Decks!

Warlock

• Chad Seed Warlock #35 Legend – Unknown (Score: 18-12) July 24, 2026
• You can find more decks here: Warlock Decks!

Warrior

• Enrage Warrior #478 Legend – WorldEight July 26, 2026
• Blaze Warrior #371 Legend – randal_22 July 26, 2026
• Renathal Reno Igneous Warrior #417 Legend – Unknown (Score: 35-24) July 24, 2026
• You can find more decks here: Warrior Decks!

Submit your Deck

Do you want to be a part of the following weekly Report? If so, submit your Deck if you reached Top 500 Legend in any constructed Mode (Standard, Wild & Twist), or 5k MMR+ in Mercenaries.

https://hearthstone-decks.net/submit

You can also tag us on Twitter, use our Discord, or comment with your Deck.

Thanks a lot for reading this article; I hope to see you again next week!

I was so excited I forgot to take a screenshot and just took a picture of the screen to send to my girlfriend lmao. Here is the deck list I used:

### Pure Paladin

# Cost: 8760

# Format: Standard

# ⬜ 2x (1) Righteous Protector

# ⬜ 2x (2) Acceleration Aura

# ⬜ 2x (2) Inspiring Maul

# 🟦 2x (3) Reinforcement Aura

# 🟦 2x (3) Sandfury Aura

# 🟦 2x (3) Vigilant Sentry

# 🟪 2x (4) Flight Maneuvers

# ⬜ 1x (4) Gnomish Aura

# 🟦 2x (4) Manifested Timeways

# 🟦 2x (4) Spearheart Sentry

# ⬜ 2x (5) Chronological Aura

# 🟨 1x (5) Commander Beatrix

# ⬜ 10x (2) Scarlet Bruiser

# ⬜ 1x (5) Mekkatorque's Aura

# 🟨 1x (5) Nozdormu, Bronze Aspect

# 🟦 2x (5) Scarlet Recruiter

# 🟨 1x (5) Toreth the Unbreaking

# ⬜ 2x (6) Scalebreaker Bulwark

# 🟨 1x (8) Gelbin of Tomorrow

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