What are the best Hearthstone aggro decks?
If you like to climb the ladder in Rank mode and if you want to do it fast your deck choice is Aggro Decks. Characteristics of all Aggro decks are fast gameplay, they are easy to get into and games played with Aggro decks are very quick. Here we will talk about 5 best Aggro decks at the moment in the current Ranked meta. Coincidently there are only 5 of them overall and we will start with weakest of the bunch Pirate Warrior.
5. Token Shaman
Haha, did I scare you there? If you miss old Patches you can play him in the wild format with no charge at all.
But enough with jokes let's be serious. In the fifth place, we have Token Shaman. And even though it is Tier 4 deck it still has its good points. Unfortunately, decks above it make it very hard to be better whether they are other Aggro decks or decks of other archetypes.
Most effective Token Shaman is against all Druid decks where it has around 55% win rate. Rouge, Mage and other Shaman decks are somewhere in the range of 50-50.
Priest decks have a slightly better win rate thanks to Control Priests which happens to be Token Shaman's worst matchup with only 27.7% win rate.
As for the Hunter Paladin, Warlock, and Warrior, the only good matchup from these classes for Token Shaman is Odd Hunter with almost 55% win rate. In other matchups, Token Shaman is rather poor.
Even though this is the weakest of the Aggro Decks by all standards it may be the most fun, if only for transform effects it can show you.
The cards you will see the most in this deck are Fire Fly, Unstable Evolution, Flametongue Totem, and Corridor Creeper. These four are a staple for Token Shaman.
Fire Fly is a great opener and a good card to have with Unstable Evolution in the late game. Flametongue Totem is one of the greatest in helping you pushing damage to face or clearing bigger minions, while Corridor Creeper is great to have in opening hand and having it played for 0 mana.
So what are the other 22 cards that make this deck? Up above you could see a list of popular cards that are played in this deck.
As this is a Token Shaman the most obvious choice is Bloodlust. When you flood the board with small minions Bloodlust is the best card to have in your hand.
Small spells like Zap! and Voltaic Burst are good for clearing small early treats, while on your side you can use Primalfin Totem or Saronite Chain Gang to get ahead on board.
There is also an elemental package with cards like Earthen Might and Menacing Nimbus which give you more Elementals and Elemental Legendaries Electra Stormsurge, Al’akir the Windlord and Kalimos, Primal Lord.
These three cards have very versatile use. Electra can use spells like Lightning Storm to clean the board with ease or Bloodlust and Lightning Bolt to finish the game. Al’akir can also finish the game with its Windfurry or kill some opposing minions, while Kalimos can deal the face damage, fill your board, clear the opponent's board or heal you.
If you want more Legendaries there are Zentimo who has amazing synergy with Unstable Evolution. Speaking of evolution there is Thrall, Deathseer. If you played with him you know Charge shenanigans he can unleash on your opponent. Then there is Krag’wa the Frog and Hagatha the Witch with whom you can have more spells.
We must also mention Hex as one of the cards that are most utilized in Shaman decks as the removal of big treats.
What is the most effective way to play with this deck? As with all Aggro decks flooding the board and then finishing with a burst like a Bloodlust or any other spell that goes to face is the best way.
Cards like Fire Fly, Primalfin Totem and Saronite Chain Gang are the good representatives of flooding the board. If by turn five you have a full board of minions and Bloodlust in hand you may have already won.
Best cards to have in your opening hand are Corridor Creeper and Primalfin Totem. Then Fire Fly and Earthen Might could be a good option if you have them together.
Corridor Creeper can be played very quickly with no cost thanks to Murlocs summoned by Primalfin Totem which can trade with opponents board or 1/1 Sparks with Rush from Voltaic Burst.
Primalfin Totem is a treat by itself because if left unchecked it can summon Murlocs forever.
Earthen Might can generate a lot of value if you get some big elementals. Another Al’akir or Kalimos can be very useful as finishers.
Speaking of the Legendary cards just sheer number of them makes the deck look unlike any Aggro deck out there. Still, their versatility makes them good as finishers and they can be used if games proceed to a longer run. This fact may put Token Shaman in the first place when we speak of the late game of all aggro decks on our list.
Unfortunately for all fun loving Shaman aggro players, this deck is only in the fifth place on our list.
4. Zoo Warlock
Ah, the good old Zoolock. There are no discussions about Aggro decks in which Zoolock doesn’t have its place.
Zoolock is at the moment a Tier 3 deck and even though it has more healing than any incarnation so far there are still three decks ahead of it. Even with that healing style of play is still largely the same as all the others before it. Put minions on board, hit the face and draw cards with the hero power.
Like Token Shaman, Zoolock has the best Winrate against all kinds of Druid decks.
As for the classes, Zoolock has an advantage against, there are Mage, Shaman, Priest, and Rogue. Still, there are some decks that Zoolock cannot go against. Even Shaman and Even Rogue, Odd Rogue and Odd Mage, and Big Spell Mage and Control Priest are all decks that Zoolock struggles against.
Hunter and Warrior have a 1 or 2% better winrate then Zoolock, but what makes Zoolock still under 50% winrate is Paladin and other Warlock decks. All popular Paladin decks crush Zoolock and as for its Warlock brothers, the only weaker deck is a Discard Warlock.
Core cards of this Zoolock are some that have been in every Zoolock so far, Flame Imp, Soulfire, and Voidwalker, as well as Kobold Librarian, Despicable Dreadlord and Fungalmancer.
Flame Imp is one of the best one-mana minions in the game so having him on turn one is almost essential for pushing damage early on. Soulfire is a great finisher and Voidwalker is a great early Taunt to protect your other minions.
Kobold Librarian is also a great minion to have in an early game because of its card draw which makes your deck thinner or in a late game if you are looking for something special like Leeroy Jenkins or a Doomguard to finish the game but your hero power is not enough.
Despicable Dreadlord is a great body which clears small minions at the end of your turn all the time and Fungalmancer is a great upgrade for some other minions when it gives them more stats.
Best options for that minions are Doubling Imp and Saronite Chain Gang if you have them on the curve. Prince Keleseth is also good with these cards even with the nerf of Saronite Chain Gang especially because Zoolock doesn't run any other two mana cards.
When we talk about healing effects in this deck everything revolves around two cards, Lightwarden, and Happy Ghoul. To make this card shine there are cards like Voodoo Doctor, which hasn’t seen play in a long time if we are being honest, Fungal Enchanter and Lifedrinker.
Happy Ghoul can be played as 0 mana 3/3 if you were healed the turn you are putting it onboard, while Lightwarden can remove big treats or even finish the game in some cases.
Some other cards that are played in Zoolock are Solarium which can be a good refill if you draw small cards, Tar Creeper which is a great protector of your other minions and Spellbreaker which purpose is to silence Taunts in your way or some annoying Deathrattle minions if you think they will become a treat to you in a long run. (All kinds of Eggs)
How to play? There a few openers with Zoolock.
Flame Imp and Kobold Librarian are one way. Even if you go second and want to coin them out both, the only true punish for that is Defile.
Kobold Librarian on turn one and then Voodoo Doctor and Happy Ghoul with one more minion like Voidwalker on turn two is also a great start.
Also if you run Prince Keleseth in your deck having it on turn two or even coined out if you play second is an amazing start.
After that, your main strategy is to push forward and flood the board until you kill your opponent with small minions or hit them in the face with Leeroy or Doomguards.
Overall Zoolock will always see play unless there comes an expansion with all Warlock cards that cost 4 or more mana. But since Warlock hero power enables that kind of play we will see Zoolock return expansion after expansion.
3. Secret Odd Mage
Number three on our list is also a first Odd deck on it.
Secret Odd Mage is on the top of Tier 2 decks, but calling it Tier 1 deck you wouldn’t be mistaken. And even though it has a secret in the name, this deck is not overly reliant on secrets. This can be seen from the cards that make this deck.
As for the matchups against other classes, Secret Odd Mage has a great advantage against Druids, other Mages, Priests, Rogues, Shamans and Warlocks with several exceptions of course. To name few most played there are Control Priest where Secret Odd mage has almost 50% winrate, regular Odd Mage, Odd Rogue, Even Warlock, Zoo Warlock, and Even Shaman which has best winrate against Secret Odd Mage off all these decks.
As for the other three classes, against Warriors Secret Odd Mage is very weak. Just Odd Warrior and Odd Quest Warrior make more than 70% played games against Secret Odd Mage with almost 70% winrate in favor of Warriors.
It is somewhat similar with Hunter decks where good matchup exists against Midrange Hunter and somewhat against Secret Hunter( a little bit then 50% winrate in favor of SOM). Unfortunately, Deathrattle Hunter and Spell Hunter make the overall winrate in favor of Hunter with around 55%.
It is similar to Paladins where Secret Odd Mage has an edge against Combo decks like OTK DK Paladin and Holy Wrath Paladin, but Even and Odd Paladin make Secret Odd Mage weaker overall.
There are not many cards that rotate in this deck from game to game. Cards above are the ones that are played the most in this deck. If we need to add one more card to this list that would be Stargazer Luna.
Cards like Daring Fire-Eater, Pyromaniac, Clockwork Automaton and Jan’alai, the Dragonhawk use upgraded hero power from Baku’s effect.
If Warlock's hero power is hailed as number one the only other hero power which can contest with it is for sure Mage hero power. And having it upgraded at the begging of the game makes it even better.
Daring Fire-Eater and Clockwork Automaton generate the damage done which is needed for Jan’alai to summon Ragnaros and even push damage if needed and Pyromaniac makes it for great card draw. There are a lot of small minions out there with 2 or less health.
Fire Fly, Dire Mole, and Secretkeeper make great openers, while Arcane Missiles and Cinderstorm make great board clears in case there are one health minions on board or if you need more damage for lethal.
Secretkeeper together with Kirin Tor Mage and secrets make the Secret part of the deck. Kirin Tor Mage generates big value on turn three if you have a secret in hand and even more when Secretkeeper is on board. Aside from Counterspell and Explosive Runes, there are other Secrets which could be played like Mirror Image to get ahead on board, Frozen Clone for value or Spellbender to protect your minions.
Black Cat is used as card draw and rarely as spell damage generator while Fungalmancer is there to improve already present minions on board.
To top it off there are Leeroy Jenkins, Nightblade and Jan’alai to make one last push to lethal.
Fire Fly and Dire Mole are safe choices in your opening hand while Secretkeeper and Kirin Tor Mage with secrets make an ideal opener if you have a coin by themselves, or with two other one drop minions if you are going first. Arcane Missiles and Cinderstorm are good to keep if you know that you are going against other Aggro decks.
In this meta filled with good decks, Secret Odd Mage has a deserved place on top of Tier 2 decks, but you shouldn’t be surprised if tomorrow it becomes one more Tier 1 deck.
2. Odd Rogue
Slightly better than Secret Odd Mage if nothing then because of the mutual score, Odd Rogue made its place as the second on our list. Still not enough for number 1, though. Nevertheless, this deck is in the reserved company of best decks in the current meta, with almost overall 53,9 winrate.
Druids, Priests, other Rogues, Shamans, and Warlock are all crushed by Odd Rogue.
And even though it crushes most of Hunter and Mage decks just the presence of Secret and Spell Hunters and Odd and Big Spell Mages makes the Odd rouge below 50% winrate with these classes.
Still, that is not that bad in comparison with Paladin and Warrior decks which are a great obstruction to Odd Rogue to be an even stronger deck. The best score Odd Rogue has, with the most represented decks of these two classes, is against OTK DK Paladin and that is only 47%.
The cards that make Odd Rogue work can be seen above.
Aside from these cards which are mostly played there are few cards that can also be seen in Odd Rouge. Blink Fox which is used to generate cards outside your deck, Ironbeak Owl to silence Taunt minions and Myra’s Unstable Element to make a loss into a win, when you are low on cards in your hand and you sourly need them.
Playstyle with this deck is very straightforward as with all Aggro decks. Get an advantage on board and push damage to the face and trade if necessary.
Argent Squire, Dire Mole, and Fire Fly are good 1 cost minions. Paired with Combo cards they can either dish quick damage with Cold Blood, push on board with SI:7 Agent or remove a big treat with Vilespine Slayer.
What must be mentioned is soon to be nerfed Cold Blood. From 1 mana to 2, this makes Cold Blood unable to stay in Odd Rogue. What will that mean for this deck and what will be a card that replaces it we will see soon enough.
Tar Creeper is there to protect cards like Vicious Fledgling, Hench-Clan Thug and Southsea Deckhand if they go to the face. Otherwise, Southsea Deckhand is good to kill some 2 or 3 mana minions with two health.
Both Southsea Deckhand and Hench-Clan Thug are reliant on the dagger so Deadly Poison is also a good tool to protect minions from trading in the early game.
As for the Cobalt Scalebane and Fungalmancer, they are there to make minions like Hanch-Clan Thug and Vicious Fledgling even more dangerous and small minions must kill targets.
To make a cherry on the cake there is, of course, voted number one loved Aggro card in the Universe Leeeeeeeeroy Jenkins.
One mana minions and SI:7 Agent are a good choice for the opening hand while having Hench-Clan Thug and Vicious Fledgling on turn three or two if you are going second will make great advantage for you. Followed by Fungalmances and Scalebane those little minions can wreak havoc on the opposite side of the board.
So if Odd Rogue has such great tools and is winning the games left and right why it isn’t on the number 1 spot? Well, there is even a scarier deck above it.
1.Odd Paladin
Enough said, right? Not only is Odd Paladin in the number 1 spot among Aggro decks it also holds number one place among all other decks in the current meta. We can’t say that it is innocuous since Even Paladin is close behind it, but that is still impressive.
When Genn and Baku first showed up there was a lot of skeptics about those cards. Now, however, Genn and Baku are crucial for the archetypes they themselves made work. Even and Odd decks are very popular today.
Like other Aggro decks, Odd Paladin also has a goal to fill the board with small minions and go face. And Whenever the board gets clear there should be another wave of “dudes” coming.
Lost in the Jungle, Unidentified Maul in some cases and Vinecleaver represent a constant generation of “dudes” on the board. We mustn’t forget Baku because she generates two dudes almost every turn for two mana.
To utilize dead “dudes” there is Corridor Creeper which can be played early for a small price. To buff up your “dudes” there are Fungalmancer and Stormwind Champion who made his great comeback in the Ranked meta with the coming of Baku and rise of Odd Paladin.
To protect “dudes” from the minions on board there are Righteous Protector and Stonehill Defender. Stonehill Defender can even make Sunkeeper Tarim make a guest appearance from Even to Odd deck and buff up your “dudes” even more.
Fire Fly and Argent Squire are there as good 1 cost minions that can stay more on board than the “dudes” and make Frostwolf Warlord also a viable option from the past.
Cards like Acherus Veteran, Blessing of Might and Leeroy Jenkins are there to provide the burst. Raid Leader can also be used to finish the enemy but also to trade in the early game and get an advantage on board with more “dudes” and Corridor Creeper.
Cards that also see play are Witch Cauldron which gives Shaman spells after a minion dies where you need to look for burst spells, and in a smaller scale Prince Liam which can help in the late game if you find yourself stuck with small minions in the deck.
And finally, if you are lacking cards a copy of Divine Favor should always be in your deck.
Lost in the Jungle, Righteous Protector and Corridor Creeper are the three cards you are looking for in your opening hand. Then your goal is to fill the board with the small minions and buff them up with Fungalmancer. If that happens on the curve even better. To finish your opponent you can make two big Frostwolf Warlords or buff Leeroy with Acherus Veterans or Blessing of Might.
Will this list be the same with the release of the new expansion when three sets are going to leave us? Probably yes, because there are a lot of the cards from those sets in all of these decks, but maybe the biggest loser will actually be the deck which is the best at the moment Odd Paladin. So “dudes” what is your favorite deck on our list and do you play any of them?
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