1. Face Hunter
Strengths:
Has silence for any large taunt minions or minions with lifesteal
A select few charge minions for that final burst towards the end of the game
Fast enough to counter many midrange decks
Secrets can generate value and are very difficult to play around
Good balance of weapons, minions, and direct damage
What to Look For:
Buff the key beasts you wish to protect and keep alive
Do not waste so much free damage on low health minions if it can be avoided
Face is the place, the longer the game goes on the more you will struggle
Weaknesses:
This deck can run out steam and therefore will struggle against control-oriented decks. Control Priest or Control Warrior are the worst matchups since they often have enough sustain to survive the early onslaught. Like any true Hunter, be sure to finish off your meal before they can get away!
Control Warrior
Galakrond Priest
Decklist:
- 2x Dwarven Sharpshooter
- 2x Shimmerfly
- 2x Toxic Reinforcements
- 2x Phase Stalker
- 2x Freezing Trap
- 2x Explosive Trap
- 2x Scavenging Hyena
- 2x Animal Companion
- 2x Ironbeak Owl
- 2x Kill Command
- 2x Eaglehorn Bow
- 2x Wolfrider
- 2x Unleash the Hounds
- 2x Tundra Rhino
Deck 2: Zoo Warlock
Zoo Warlock has been around for as long as I can remember playing the game. If you ever begin to run out of steam, Warlock’s Hero Power: Life Tap does a great job at mitigating many of the downsides a traditional aggro deck has. Most aggro decks have to significantly All-In and can’t get back into the game once they run out of cards. But Lifetap allows you to pay 2 health and 2 mana for additional cards once per turn for as many times as you want.
Strengths:
- Good tempo swings
- Better card draw than the other aggressive decks
- Very efficient minions and board clears at the cost of health
- Contains high health, high attack minions which have a high chance of sticking
What to Look For:
- Get early control of the board with insane stats at the cost of health
- Efficiently remove any threats on the board without sacrificing too much damage.
- Use your health pool as a resource to draw cards
- Be careful life tapping too much against other rush down decks with direct damage
Weaknesses:
Because most of Warlock’s damage-dealing spells are AOE, it can be tricky to use them when the board is filled with friendly minions. Decks which have a lot of life gain and board clears can really give you trouble because Zoo decks do not have much direct damage to end the game and relies heavily on tempo to swing in for the kill.
- Egg Warrior
- Tempo Demon Hunter
- Highlander Mage
Decklist:
- 2x Jar Dealer
- 2x Flame Imp
- 2x Plague of Flames
- 2x Beaming Sidekick
- 2x Argent Squire
- 2x Soul Fire
- 2x Fiendish Servant
- 2x Voidwalker
- 2x Blazing Battlemage
- 2x Expired Merchant
- 2x EVIL Genius
- 2x EVIL Recruiter
- 2x Neferset Thrasher
- 2x Nightshade Matron
- 2x Hand of Gul’dan
Deck 3: Token Druid
Get as many minions onto the board as possible to get the most value out of each of the buffs. Blessing of the Ancients and Power of the Wild can help put your minions out of range from board clears like Holy Nova or Consecration. Be sure to match your opponent’s class and options available to them or they might snowball out of control!
Strengths:
- Large number of buffs and big attack swings with Savage Roar.
- Sticky minions which can snowball out of control
- Good pacing and extremely consistent early game
What to Look For:
- Board Control is essential for token decks to thrive due to their heavy reliance on buffing existing minions already in play.
- Even if the turn feels weak because your egg has no attack, be confident in your deck to make use of the “bad” minions.
- Make sure to give them enough health to survive the board clears of your opponent’s respective class.
- Unlike face hunter, not all the damage should be going face
- Keep track of the buffs in hand and count how much damage is on board with and without the buffs
Weaknesses:
Token Druid struggles in the same areas as Zoo Warlock because of Druids lack of direct damage. Other than swipe, most of the other spells in druid are geared towards minion interactions. Decks with lifegain or enough tempo can keep you from developing your precious minions!
- Tempo Demon Hunter
- Highlander Mage
- Galakrond Priest
Decklist:
The only rare in the deck is Treenforcements, but you could easily swap it out for Battlemage if you don’t have two copies of it in your collection.
- 2x Acorn Bearer
- 2x Jar Dealer
- 2x Treenforcements
- 2x Hench-Clan Hogsteed
- 2x Power of the Wild
- 2x Serpent Egg
- 2x Shrubadier
- 2x Wrath
- 2x BEEEES!!!
- 2x Blessing of the Ancients
- 2x Savage Roar
- 2x Rustsworn Cultist
- 2x Soul of the Forest
- 2x Swipe
- 2x Eccentric Scribe
Deck 4: Galakrond Rogue
Strengths:
- Great value engine from lackey generators such as EVIL CABLE RAT and EVIL MISCREANT
- Reborn minions are tricky to deal with and Pharoah Cat gives you one for free
- Good tempo swings from cards like BACKSTAB and SI:7 AGENT
- Late game pay off of the Galakrond top end
- Insane combo potential from SPIRIT OF THE SHARK
What to Look For:
- Generate lackeys which counter what your opponent wants to accomplish
- Choose lackeys which generate tempo against the aggro decks and lackeys which generate value against the control decks
- Use Spirit of the Shark to generate double the lackeys or complete the full Galakrond inspire faster, as it is a key win condition
- Sometimes you may need to use the lackeys in desperate situations
- If you are in a pinch, you may need to Galakrond early as well
Weaknesses:
- Highlander Mage
- Tempo Demon Hunter
Decklist:
- 2x Backstab
- 2x Pharoah Cat
- 2x Praise Galakrond
- 2x EVIL Cable Rat
- 2x Eviscerate
- 2x Novice Engineer
- 2x Sap
- 2x EVIL Miscreant
- 2x Seal Fate
- 2x SI: Agent
- 2x Devoted Maniac
- 2x Spirit of the Shark
- 2x Crazed Chemist
- 2x Shield of Galakrond
- 1x Kronx Dragonhoof
- 1x Galakrond, the Nightmare
Deck 5: Pirate Warrior
Strengths:
- Has good balance of weapons, direct damage, and minions
- Does not need to all in early into the game
- More burst damage than most other classes
- Not so dependent on a constant board state
What to Look For:
- After you stabilize, look for opportunities to cash in some face damage
- Be careful overcommitting to a board you already have a hold of
- Use the weapons to clear out any key minions which will stop your board from growing
- Pay attention to which board clears the opponent has used already, and which have yet to be played
Weaknesses:
- Highlander Mage
- Spell Druid
- Galakrond Priest
Decklist:
- 2x Town Crier
- 2x Beaming Sidekick
- 2x Sky Raider
- 2x Southsea Deckhand
- 2x Upgrade
- 2x Bloodsail Raider
- 2x Parachute Brigade
- 2x Dread Corsair
- 2x Fiery War Axe
- 2x SkyBarge
- 2x Kor’Kron Elite
- 2x Restless Mummy
- 2x Arcanite Reaper
- 2x Hoard Pillager
- 2x Faceless Corruptor
Deck 6: Tempo Demon Hunter
Strengths:
- Contains tools to do direct damage, which many of the budget aggro decks lack
- Good cycle such as Spectral Sight and Crimson Sigil Runner
- Hero power can be used to can swing in for face damage or tempo
What to Look For:
- Stick an early minion
- Apply early game pressure
- Transition into direct damage
- Save the finishers for when you really need them
- Keep track of the damage on board and damage in hand to set up proper lethals
- Do not over clear minions if necessary, cash in on face damage when possible
Weaknesses:
- Egg Warrior
- Enrage Warrior
- Bomb Warrior
- Pure Paladin
Decklist:
- 2x Twin Slice
- 2x Battlefiend
- 2x Blazing Battlemage
- 1x Mana Burn
- 2x Consume Magic
- 2x Crimson Sigil Runner
- 2x Chaos Strike
- 2x Sightless Watcher
- 2x Umberwing
- 2x Eye Beam
- 2x Satyr Overseer
- 2x Glaivebound Adept
- 2x Argent Commander
- 2x Skull of Gul’dan
- 2x Priestess of Fury
- 1x Inner Demon
Deck 7: Totem Shaman
This deck is similar to Token Druid in the sense that you want to get value out of weak units by buffing them with spells. Because most players do not view totems as a threat since they are so weak vanilla statted minions, you can get the edge when they decide to (mistakenly) leave a few of your totems alive. Wait until you can play multiple buffs in the same turn on your totems. This is because each buff individually is rather weak, and they should be since they are cheap spells.
Strengths:
- Snowballs out of control once the tokens stick
- Unexpected attack swings from a seemingly weak board
- Good clear and direct damage unlike most other minion focused decks
- Decent against a wide range of archetypes
What to Look For:
- String the buffs together, rather than one at a time
- Overwhelm your opponent with stats
- Against Aggro, buff taunts
- Against control, buff spell damage or heals
- Play according to the pace of your opponent, try not to rush in unless you have to
- Keep count of the damage in hand
Weaknesses:
Aggressive decks which keep an eye out for any pesky totems can be troublesome. Especially if they have easy access to 2 damage every turn to sink into the totems.
- Tempo Demon Hunter
- Zoo Warlock
- Galakrond Rogue
DeckList:
- 2x Totemic Might
- 2x Totemic Surge
- 2x Lighting Bolt
- 2x Sludge Slurper
- 2x Storm’s Wrath
- 2x Surging Tempest
- 2x Evil totem
- 2x Sandstorm Elemental
- 1x Flametongue Totem
- 2x Lava Burst
- 2x Mana Tide Totem
- 2x Marshspawn
- 2x Serpentshrine Portal
- 2x Totemic Reflection
- 2x Splitting Axe
- 1x Bloodlust
Deck 8: Murloc Paladin
Strengths:
- Similar to Pirate Warrior, this deck wields a good balance of weapons, minions and spells
- Big tempo swings and snowball potential if your board is left unanswered
- Underlight Angling Rod can provide enough meaningful value that the deck does not need too much draw.
What to Look For:
- Most of the epics are not necessary and can be replaced as needed.
- Save the health buffs until suspect your opponent has a clear coming up
- Slam down attack buffs as soon as possible to keep the pressure up and force out inefficient clears
Weaknesses:
- Control Warrior
- Highlander Mage
- Galakrond Priest
Decklist:
- 2x Aldor Attendant
- 2x Murloc Tidecaller
- 2x Murmy
- 2x Toxfin
- 2x Fishflinger
- 2x Tasty Flyfish
- 2x Coldlight Seer
- 2x Murloc Warleader
- 2x Underlight Angling Rod
- 2x Felfin Navigator
- 2x Aldor Truthseeker
- 2x Libram of Justice
- 2x Scalelord
- 2x Tip the Scales
Deck 9: Spell Mage
Strengths:
- Plenty of direct damage and ways of card generation
- Several powerful board clears such as Blizzard and Flame Ward
- Great tools which can buy time such as freeze mechanics and stall.
What to Look For:
- Use Apexis Blast and other efficient tools to clear the opponent’s key minions
- Mitigate as much incoming damage as possible
- Use a few spells face if you need free up room or need the tempo minion
- Save the Frost Novas for when you really need them
- Be careful and keep track of the damage on board + the possible damage in hand
- Many aggressive decks have charge finishers or direct damage so you may not have as many turns left as you think
Weaknesses:
- Egg Warrior
- Highlander Mage
- Enrage Warrior
- Tempo Demon Hunter
Decklist:
- 2x Font of Power
- 2x Learn Draconic
- 2x Ray of Frost
- 2x Ancient Mysteries
- 2x Frostbolt
- 2x Incanter’s Flow
- 2x Arcane Intellect
- 2x Flame Ward
- 2x Frost Nova
- 2x Ice Barrier
- 2x Netherwind Portal
- 2x Fireball
- 2x Apexis Blast
- 2x Blizzard
- 2x Deep Freeze
Deck 10: Galakrond Priest
Strengths:
- Priest has some of the best anti-aggro tools at their disposal
- Value engines which can prevail if you can survive until the mid or lategame
- This deck will get considerably stronger as you expand your collection
What to Look For:
- Think about what key units your opponent has yet to play and prepare for them
- Save essential board clears for when you need them most
- Do not waste all the of the precious minion removal too early into the game
- With the healing hero power, priest can sustain a great deal without needed to reach for the emergency
Weaknesses:
Slowing the pace of the game down doesn’t always benefit you more than the opponent. There are many highlander variations of the aggressive decks that can still outvalue you, so be careful and pay close attention to which kind of deck they are playing.
- Highlander Mage
- Highlander Hunter
- Highlander Quest Shaman
- Malygos OTK rogue
Decklist:
- 2x Forbidden Words
- 2x Disciple of Galakrond
- 1x Hot Air Balloon
- 2x Potion Vendor
- 2x Renew
- 2x Acidic Swamp Ooze
- 2x Penance
- 2x Sethekk Veilweaver
- 2x Shadow Word: Death
- 2x Thoughtsteal
- 2x Apothothesis
- 2x Breath of the Infinite
- 2x Shadow Madness
- 2x Fate Weaver
- 2x Time Rip
- 1x Mind Control
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