With the upcoming balance changes hitting almost every strong meta deck in some way, it is time to take a look at some other decklists to try out with the changes now live.
Quest Warlock
One of the decks we expect to excel after the update comes out is Quest Warlock, which aside from the nerf to Dragonqueen Alexstrasza, has gotten away scot-free while all of its unfavorable matchups have gotten hit, albeit some not as much as the others. The two worst matchups for the deck were Bomb Warrior and Tempo Demon Hunter and with both of them losing a considerable amount of damage, the deck now has more turns to stabilize with a Nether Breath or with Alexstrasza. The other decks that have a favorable matchup have also gotten nerfed, with both Spell Druid and Galakrond Rogue both being somewhat difficult decks to go against. The last major reason why this list should see great results is that it has a strong matchup against Galakrond Priest, one of the other few strong decks that are untouched from the recent nerfs.
Galakrond Priest
Another deck that we can expect to do well in the post-nerf meta is Galakrond Priest, with most of the main counters to it being nerfed. Galakrond Priest had a poor matchup against Tempo Demon Hunter, Highlander Hunter, Mage, and Rogue, and Pirate Warrior. Tempo Demon Hunter being hit with three more nerfs will slow it down, which will help Priest's matchup by a hefty margin. While Highlander Hunter is going to still be a rough matchup given that Dragonqueen Alexstrasza nerf not being impactful for that deck, both Highlander Mage and Rogue should also become significantly easier matchups given that Dragoncaster and Galakrond, the Nightmare were both hit and were two of the stronger tools against Priest. As for Pirate Warrior, having Corsair Cache deal 3 less damage is also going to help the matchup a bit, but it still will be a tougher matchup. The largest issue that Galakrond Priest is going to face is that its worst matchup is Quest Warlock, which has gone relatively unscathed and benefits just as much from the nerfs as Galakrond Priest does.
Highlander Hunter
Up next is Highlander Hunter, which is another deck that is currently being suppressed by Tempo Demon Hunter. The deck has a solid matchup across the board with only a few struggling matchups, with the aforementioned Tempo Demon Hunter, Spell Druid, Galakrond Rogue, and both Enrage and Pirate Warriors all being difficult matchups for the deck. To further help Highlander Hunter cement itself after the nerfs are its winrates against both Quest Warlock and Galakrond Priest. While the Dragonqueen Alexstrasza nerf does hurt the deck, it is nowhere close to crippling it as the deck is not reliant on her to do well. One important thing to note, Highlander Hunter's strongest matches are with Mage, which might be less present with Dragoncaster being nerfed. In addition to that, it also has a rough matchup with both Dragon and Face Hunter, which could rise up to be the dominant aggressive deck if Tempo Demon Hunter becomes too slow.
Libram Paladin
While slowly becoming a running joke, Libram Paladin could see some success given that its worst matchups have been gotten weaker. The deck has issues with running out of cards, resulting in decks that have a late-game focused plan, such as Galakrond Rogue and Highlander Mage, having a very strong matchup against it. While it is unlikely that the nerfs would cause these matchups to become better, the meta might stray away from those decks leaving Libram Paladin with overall better matches against the meta. All that being said, Libram Paladin has a poor matchup against the two aforementioned frontrunners of the patch, Quest Warlock and Galakrond Priest. Our fingers are crossed that this archetype will finally be able to have some time in the sun after its rocky start.
Interested in trying out any of these decks? Make sure to let us know in the comments below!
Comments
Libram paladin not really that good after nerfs. Played a few games, met some priests and had my mind blown out.
Ironically, against rogue, mage, warrior and dhunters (prior to nerfs), I had a better time climbing. Now all I'm seeing are highlander hunters (you can still win this, but its tough) and priests (yeah, highroll or bust. For those interested, teching in Sir Finley of the Sands just for this matchup might brighten your day)
Here's hoping the new expansion gives some tools to paladin to fight back priests. Goody Two-Shields is a good start.
I played pure Libram Paladin for some hours now, and right now I'm at 13-2, and climbed from Platin 10 to 4. So yeah, it is viable. At least against druids, shamans and most hunters. My only game against priest was won only due to dumb luck, and I did not meet any demon hunters.
Been running into nothing but galakrond priests... this is not fun :(
Yeah, I'm not a fan of Galakrond Priest at all either, always felt bad playing it since it just felt like I was playing bad minions after bad minions. I mentioned it a bit in the article but Quest Warlock has an absurdly strong matchup against Galakrond Priest so if you have the cards for it, I'd recommend trying it out. It is a bit hard to pick up at first so it might feel a little clumsy, but once you get used to it, its a very strong deck. It has been my go-to ladder deck for a while now.
I second the Quest Lock notion. You can trample on Priests and position yourself well in plenty of other matchups.
I wonder if librams will get some support in Scholomance? Seems like books would be a good flavor for a school.
It's always curious if Hearthstone will support a mechanic forever like Discover or pretend it never happened like Inspire.
I think it entirely depends on the mechanic. Discover and Rush seem to be now so ingrained in what we think of as HS, plus they are probably a huge design crutch as they both increase a particular card's bottom potential (e.g., discover > random) while still limiting their upper potential (e.g., charge > rush) so their value becomes more predictable. I just can't picture either of them rotating out. Meanwhile mechanics like Inspire and Magnetize are more gimmicky so its actually beneficial to have them come and go--they give specific sets unique flavor.
Getting more Librams would be sweet! Not only could it help the playstyle a bit more, but it'll also be the first time in a while that Paladin had consistently pushed archetypes in a while since it felt like Uther's been through an identity crisis the last couple of years.
I know it has been a while since paladin had something really interesting to play - in standard - but last time that they added extra support for an existing paladin's archetype, they ended up rotating the mechanic with an early Hall of Fame ; Even or odd, Silver hands were reporting to duty!
It would be such a waste to not include them!
I would like to see Libram Paladin do well. It just feels so awful most of the time though.
I had decent result with the Libram Paladin even before the nerf ... curious to see now ...