Alterac Duels Meta Update #2 - Best 12-Win Hearthstone Duels Decks for January Week 2

Welcome to the first Out Of Cards Duels meta report of 2022. Between family reunions and festivities to celebrate, Hearthstone Duels hasn't stopped to evolve: in fact, people have been trying new stuff, looking for a possible meta breaker or just a way to improve already existing archetypes. It has to be said that the Alterac mini-set isn't that far away, so we expect things to remain fresh for quite a while.

However, if you're wondering what you could try out, worry not, as we've got your back. Here below you'll find a handful of 12-win decks achieved with multiple classes, which may give you the inspiration you need to get one yourself. Have fun!

Disclaimer: Some decks in this article were collected from Firestone. You can find out more about Firestone and install the app here!

In case you missed them, we published other collections of 12-win Duels starting decks to take inspiration from!

• Alterac Duels Meta Update #1 - Best 12-Win Hearthstone Duels Decks for December Week 3

If you've had 12 win luck in Duels since the recent balance changes, be sure to add your starting decks to our site via the deckbuilder and share them in the comments below!

Moreover, if you manage to find even more 12-wins decks (maybe even your own!) and you'd like us to showcase them, please contact us on Twitter at @OutOfCardsHS or @Avalon_OOC or through an in-site ping in Private Message.

It's been a while since we've seen someone hitting 12 wins with the Lord of Terror. It's not that the class is irremediably bad (to be honest, it doesn't have many viable strategies, but still) or that it's boring (the other way around: it's actually quite fun!), but it's very likely that the initial hype vanished for most out there, and they just wish for something else to happen.

For those who don't necessarily agree with what we just said, here's a take on the 'Big' archetype: while the core of the deck has remained the same, Humongous Owl looks like a solid inclusion that is worth experimenting with - in the end, you start with 20 Health, so a well timed Owl can basically win you the game.

Jigsawxfalling was able to pick Bag of Coins in the Active Treasures section, and we don't really have to tell you how good Doom Charge on turn 3 is.

Passive Treasures Chosen

First pool - Crystal Gem

Second pool - Legendary Loot

AgentCroque's 12 Wins Secret Hunter

Here's one of the few new entries of this meta report. Secret synergy was heavily pushed in Hunter's Alterac Valley set, and AgentCroque decided to put it to a test in Duels: the results speak for themselves. Here are some extracts of the guide you can find at the starting deck's dedicated page, which we encourage you to check out.

Quote From AgentCroque

This deck tries to overwhelm the opponent early by flooding the board with Petting Zoo and Emerald Spellstone. Savage Secrets provides value, in case you need to push further after that.

In buckets, look exclusively for Secret synergy; if you can't find any, go for Beasts.

Mysterious Tome is insanely good with Petting Zoo and [Hearthstone Card (ooops, all spells!) Not Found] allows to dump your spells ahead of time.

Passive Treasures Chosen

First pool - Mysterious Tome

Second pool - [Hearthstone Card (Ooops, all spells!) Not Found]

Fliboce's 12 Wins Fire Mage

Fire Mage is nothing new under the sun: although Fliboce didn't manage to find Flame Waves, Meek Mastery discounting Ice Shards is something you should look forward to.

What's more surprising about this starting deck is the inclusion of Millhouse Manastorm. Long story short, it's a quirky, but potentially double-edged tech card you can use against some classes in order to drop some stats in the early game and fight for the board with more ease.

Quote From Fliboce

Millhouse can be an instant loss if played against DH/Priest. It's also not great against Druids. But Warrior, Paladin, Hunter, Shaman, Mage play almost no Spells. If you think those are the kinda decks you face, this is can be a better tech than Golakka Crawler or Nerub'ar Weblord for aggressive lists.

Passive Treasures Chosen

First pool - Firekeeper's Idol

Second pool - Meek Mastery

Persia's 12 Wins Frost Hero Power Mage

Currently one of the best starting decks in the format, which has received a boost from the recent buffs to Wildfire and Magister Dawngrasp. Not only that, but the addition of Snowblind Harpy gives this archetype more resilience, allowing the player to have more time to set up their powerful late-game finishers.

For those wondering why Infinite Arcane has recently taken over Embercaster in popularity, here's Persia's reasoning.

Quote From Persia

Turns out that discovering a card every turn is OP. The deck doesn't run many draws and always has to rely on topdecks. With Infinite Arcane you can just tutor your draws and get "good stuff" every turn.

Passive Treasures Chosen

First pool - Crystal Gem

Second pool - Battle Totem

Machadogps' 12 Wins Divine Shield Paladin

Just like Hero Power Mage, Divine Shield Paladin is very high on the Duels tierlist, especially thanks to the Grommash's Armguards-Royal Greatsword interaction - gross to say the least.

Machadogps decided to experiment a bit with Lightforged Cariel: while the anti-synergy with From Golden Light's value generation is pretty obvious, sometimes being able to halve the damage you receive can be life-saving, especially if the match takes a lot to end and From Golden Light has become less valuable. We can't say we recommend running it from now on, but we can see why you'd want to do so.

Passive Treasures Chosen

First pool - Grommash's Armguards

Second pool - Emerald Goggles

Fliboce's 12 Wins Weapon Rogue

Weapon Rogue might be one of the class' last chances to still see play in the meta. To be precise, the starting deck you see below comes from yumeha_gbf, whose run was featured in our last meta report of 2021.

Shadowcrafter Scabbs is obviously really powerful in this deck too: Vanish has always been good in combination with Kingsbane, and this Hero card adds a couple Jungle Panthers and 5 Armor on top of it - we can't really see us passing on such a great deal!

Passive Treasures Chosen

First pool - Mysterious Tome

Second pool - Meek Mastery

Mapdreis' 12 Wins Freeze Shaman

We normally see Frost shenanigans paired with Mage, but Shaman's Alterac Valley set was entirely about Freeze synergy, so Instructor Fireheart actually has a respectable chance, and mapdreis decided to show us how it's done.

Some Elementals, some Frost synergy and some value tools: this is how the player decided to build their starting deck, picking Ferocious Flurry for flexibility/damage and Payload Totem Specialist for early board presence.

What's worth noting is that Freeze Solid is a rather amusing Passive Treasure to get: not only clearing your opponent's board will become a lot easier, but if you manage to freeze their face while you have a board, then it's going to be pretty much GG - shoutout to the synergy with Windfury effects and Bearon Gla'shear.

Passive Treasures Chosen

First pool - Freeze Solid

Second pool - Party Replacement

Zeekfox's 12 Wins Elemental Shaman

If you want to go full Elementals, then this is the deck for you. Although the starting list you see below is kind of reminiscent of what the archetype used to be a couple months ago, it still performs quite well, as Zeekfox had not problems in carrying it all the way to 12 wins.

However, if you'd like to play some new cards, you can also experiment with a little Frost package: this list we featured a while ago includes Sleetbreaker for a cheap Freeze plus card draw effect.

All in all, Elemental Shaman's strength comes from its unit's synergy, but the archetype definitely needs above average Passives in order to perform on par with the other meta tyrants.

Passive Treasures Chosen

First pool - Mysterious Tome

Second pool - Rally the Troops

Dsorrow's 12 Wins Questline Shaman

Following September's nerf to Command the Elements' Tame the Flames step, Questline Shaman has fallen off the Duels radars quite hard. However, the right matchups and some synergistic Passive Treasure are what you need in order to be able to succeed again.

While Mantle of Ignition does not progress your Questline faster (you need to play Overload cards, not to just Overload your Mana Crystals!), it is an excellent tool when it comes to controlling the board and generating more value: Windchill is the most prominent example, but you'll get many more good spells in the mid-run buckets.

Passive Treasures Chosen

First pool - Plaguebringer

Second pool - Mantle of Ignition

Firestone - 12 Wins Questline Warlock

Nowadays you see The Demon Seed more in Diablo than in Warlock, but that doesn't change the fact that this Questline packs quite a punch with Archwitch Willow too.

While the usual Soul Fragment is excellent at keeping early control of the board and giving you a small life sustain throughout the match, Dreadlich Tamsin gives you enough value to be able to complete The Demon Seed in no time, as well as moving you close to fatigue.

Passive Treasures Chosen

First pool - Mysterious Tome

Second pool - Rally the Troops

The Shamoke's 12 Wins Legendary Warrior

Last in line, Pirate Raid the Docks Warrior's less popular (but still pretty damn good) sibling. Alterac Valley did bring Legendary Warrior some neat toys in Captain Galvangar and Lokholar the Ice Lord, but The Shamoke decided to have a more conservative approach and include Mr. Smite as the only "new inclusion".

Bruising is obviously what wins you games: take the board early by establishing favorable trades and then either get out of your opponent's reach with Kresh, Lord of Turtling's Frenzy or kill them with Grommash Hellscream.

Passive Treasures Chosen

First pool - Inspiring Presence

Second pool - Disks of Legend

Do you like Duels? What are you playing right now? Let us know in the comments below!