Blizzard announced with the Year of the Phoenix that we'd see new and returning players receive 1 free deck of their choice from a special set. This guide can help you make a better decision on which deck to take.
Criteria to Receive a Free Deck
In order to receive a free deck, you must meet either of these requirements.
- Created a new Hearthstone account.
- You did not sign-in to Hearthstone for the past 120 days.
This should also work on other Hearthstone regions if you haven't signed into them for the same amount of time.
Receiving Your Free Deck as a New Hearthstone Player
If you're brand new to Hearthstone, you'll need to complete some extra steps before receiving your free deck.
- Log into Hearthstone and complete the tutorial and the Starter Quest line.
- You will need to graduate from the New Player Ranks (Ranks 40-1).
- Upon completing these quests, you will be able to select your free Class Deck once you return to the main menu.
What Are In the Decks?
The free decks contain a mix of class cards and neutral cards from the Year of the Gryphon sets and the Core set. This will not only give you a starting deck to play the game but it will also boost your collection for future success - especially when you consider that the decks use popular archetypes. Full decklists can be found further below.
- Protip: If you already own a card that is in a deck, you still receive extra copies! Free Arcane Dust!
Which Classes Are the Decks For?
All of Hearthstone's 10 classes now have their own deck, with Demon Hunter being added in Madness at the Darkmoon Faire.
Which Deck Should I Choose?
A tough question with a complicated answer! We'll try to boil this down easily for you.
Best Free Decks for Returning Players
- We love the Paladin and Shaman lists. They seem like solid foundations to build your deck upon while also containing the strong Hero cards of the respective classes.
- Priest, Rogue, and Warlock have the most non-Core set (and non-freebie) legendaries for the best rarity value.
- The Shaman deck is built almost entirely from the last expansion's cards - great value for a returning player!
Best Free Decks for New Players
- Anything aggressive (Aggro). They are simpler to play and will get you climbing the ladder!
- The strongest aggro deck in the current pool seems to be Druid.
What are the Full Decklists for the Free Decks?
You can find all the lists down below along with a quick description.
Demon Hunter - Field of Strife (Voyage to the Sunken City)
The Demon Hunter Deck, Field of Strife, is an aggro deck that uses small minions to power its game-ending threats later on.
Druid - Mulverick's Fleet (Voyage to the Sunken City)
The Druid Deck, Mulverick's Fleet, is an aggro deck. The deck aims to go wide early using the abilities of Razormane Battleguard and Oracle of Elune and refills your hand by Composting the big board.
Hunter - Take the Valley! (Voyage to the Sunken City)
The Hunter Deck, Take the Valley!, is a midrange deck combining Secret synergy in the early game with big game-ending Beasts for the late game.
Mage - Magical Mastery (Voyage to the Sunken City)
The Mage Deck, Magical Mastery, is a control deck. Survive the early game to get to the big board-swinging spells that win you the game.
Paladin - The Immovable Object (Voyage to the Sunken City)
The Paladin Deck, The Immovable Object, is a control deck that uses a lot of healing to survive until the big late-game minions turn the match around in your favor.
Priest - Deathrattle Disciples (Voyage to the Sunken City)
The Priest Deck, Deathrattle Disciples, is a control deck. Get your Deathrattle minions killed to resurrect and re-trigger the Deathrattles over and over again.
Rogue - Identity Thief (Voyage to the Sunken City)
The Rogue Deck, Identity Thief, is a midrange deck. Create cards from your opponent's class and replay them with Contraband Stash and Tess Greymane.
Shaman - Frost Bites! (Voyage to the Sunken City)
The Shaman Deck, Frost Bites!, is a midrange deck. Freeze your opponent's threats over and over again while progressing your own gameplan to victory.
Warlock - Fear Fueled Felfire (Voyage to the Sunken City)
The Warlock Deck, Fear Fueled Felfire, is a control deck. Keep your opponent's board empty with your spells before ending the game with your big threats.
Warrior - For the Horde! (Voyage to the Sunken City)
The Warrior Deck, For the Horde!, is a control deck. Keep your opponent's board in check with your spells before Charging to victory.
Old Decks From Year of the Phoenix
Looking for the old decks from Year of the Phoenix? We've added them to our archive over here.
Old Decks From Year of the Gryphon
Looking for the old decks from Year of the Gryphon? We've added them to our archive over here.
Comments
Are there any infos on the new decks for returning players yet?
They were announced couple of days ago but we missed it with all the expansion launch stuff. The guide has now been updated.
If you have signed say at the end of april for the last time, can you login at the end of august and still get a free deck?
The blog with these Scholomance-updated decks said that 120 days is the limit. As long as that is fulfilled, you're good to go.
If you want to get into Wild, Pirate Warrior is Tier 1 currently. It shares many common cards with the starter deck listed here, you only need to craft a few commons, Patches the Pirate and Leeroy Jenkins. Both of which are extremely safe crafts and are used in many other aggro decks.
How do you find out what is the date when you logged in for the last time? And don't tell me that I have to login to figure it out, I am not falling for that :)
I believe there is something in Battle.net account management that shows you.
This was always really annoying how long it would take to get the free deck, I had some friends that tried to join when they heard about it and after learning how long they would need to play to get it they immediately dipped out.
Hunter seems the best one
Rogue seems to be the best value...
Priest is just scary....
This time around Hunter seems to be the best one