The New Duels Meta Post-Balance Changes - Best 12-Win Duels Starting Decks for the End of September

A week to remember for Hearthstone Duels! Patch 21.3 brought us some long-awaited changes to Miracle Priest and Battlecry synergies, opening up a lot of space for those archetypes that weren't quite there before the balance changes. In case you missed them, here are the changes (with our commentary) as well as the possible implications for the Duels game mode. 

But now, onto the new meta. As we already said, the recent nerfs created a rather large breathing room for other archetypes that couldn't stand a change against the previous top dogs. Therefore, in this article you'll find a handful of starting decks that are starting to gain traction in the post-patch meta as well as other well-established ones. Enjoy!

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.

Master Duelist

On a last note, we're currently hosting the second episode of a Duels deck building challenge called 'Master Duelist'. This series asks you each time to start a Duels run with a starting deck that respects a certain condition. September's theme is 'From Zero To Hero', and requires you to build a starting deck featuring at least one card from each cost (from 0 to 10 mana).

We already received many submissions, and our competitors have come up with some brilliant ideas to meet the set condition, but we feel like there is a lot more room to explore. In case you want to learn more about the challenge, be sure to check out the challenge's main page as well as the submission thread!

Landoh173's 12 Wins Fel Demon Hunter

First up, we have Demon Hunter. With [Hearthstone Card (Ooops, all spells!) Not Found] gone and Final Showdown/Outlander shenanigans that belong only to the past, Landoh173 successfully experimented with the Fel archetype, which was nowhere to be found before patch.

In particular, the starting deck showcased below includes a rather large token package, with Illidari Strike as tool for controlling the board and Gift of the Legion to capitalize on top of it. While Jace Darkweaver is your obvious top-end win condition, Greedy Gains synergizes incredible well with all the cheap units you're able to summon through your Hero Power and spells, therefore avoiding the cost taxation from said Passive Treasure.

Passive Treasures Chosen

First pool - Fireshaper

Second pool - Greedy Gains

LessThanThree's 12 Wins Frost Ping Mage

It was only a matter of time before someone would hit 12 wins with the freshly buffed Wildfire and Mordresh Fire Eye, and LessThanThree did it with his own take on Ping Mage. What's more surprising is that this is the first time we've seen Arctic Armor to be successfully used, which is fair since not many classes has Frost synergy and this starting decks sees to be perfect for said Passive. Here are some other tips:

• Stargazing is busted, but Battle Totem is what you should aim for;
• Consider subbing something for Leyline Manipulator because Ice Shards can clog up your hand and Leyline makes them free!
• Embercaster is a combo with Wildfire or with Frostbolt against weapon classes.

Passive Treasures Chosen

First pool - Arctic Armor

Second pool - Stargazing

OhNoesHS's 12 Wins Divine Shield Paladin

We've all met Divine Shield Paladin before the patch, and OhNoes took the chance to dust the archetype off: since they were able to get a 12er, we'd say that they quite nailed it.

To be fair, this starting deck presents a few peculiar inclusions if we compare it to the usual build: in fact, it includes a larger spell-package, featuring Blessing of Wisdom and Hammer of Wrath as card draw, Consecration for additional help against aggro and Shadow Word: Void and Blessed Goods for general flexibility, which never hurts.

Quote From OhNoesHS

Perfect first run of the new Duels meta with a Divine Shield Paladin build.

Thank you @PlayHearthstone for all of the Duels patch changes today, the meta feels better already.

I really like the minion composition of this deck, the spells are still up for debate.

Passive Treasures Chosen

First pool - Righteous Reserves

Second pool - Avenging Armaments

Slimboo's 12 Wins Dragon Priest

More breathing room also means more time for Dragon Priest to get to stabilize the game and play its Dragon powerhouses like Duskbreaker and Herald of the Scaled Ones. Remember that Dragons have some of the most powerful Passive Treasures out there in Dragon Affinity and Dragonbone Ritual, so this slowed down meta is the perfect chance for you to experiment with this archetype!

Passive Treasures Chosen

First pool - Dragon Affinity

Second pool - Rally the Troops

Ghost's 12 Wins Miracle Priest

Priest nerfed, they say. It appears that banning Voidtouched Attendant wasn't enough to really tone down Mindrender Illucia, as Ghost was able to get to the end of their run in less than 48 hours after the balance patch. In order to compensate for the lack of burst that said ban has generated, the player chose to compensate by running a slightly larger Embrace the Shadow package.

Passive Treasures Chosen

First pool - Fireshaper

Second pool - Battle Totem

Chrome575's 12 Wins Questline Shaman

Command the Elements was toned down by the recent balance patch, but the hit Battlecry decks received allowed Instructor Fireheart to have more time.

In order to compensate for Tame the Flames' change, Chrome decided to run a more Overload-focused list with the likes of Doomhammer and the good old 4 mana 7/7 for extra stats and memes.

Passive Treasures Chosen

First pool - Plaguebringer

Second pool - Greedy Gains

Persia's 12 Wins Legendary Warrior

All Together Now moved to pool 2 and Rally the Troops to Ultra Rare? No worries: we just need to go back to the roots and play Legendary Warrior again! That's exactly what Persia did, and the result was great.

As obvious as it may be, Disks of Legend is the tier 2 Passive you're looking for, while the recently introduced Inspiring Presence is what you're looking for for the tier 1, although Rocket Backpacks is also a very good pick - in fact, the additional copy summoned by Disks of Legend will have Rush too!

Passive Treasures Chosen

First pool - Inspiring Presence

Second pool - Disks of Legend

Moreover, I was personally able to get the same result with slightly different starting build, swapping out Whirling Combatant, Harrison Jones and Master Oakheart for Stonemaul Anchorman, E.T.C., God of Metal and Mutanus the Devourer. Disks of Legend good good.

I also wrote the usual in-depth guide, which includes deck overview, tips for mulligan and play style, Active and Passive Treasures Chosen and more!

Passive Treasures Chosen

First pool - Crystal Gem

Second pool - Disks of Legend

Sorryqt's 12 Wins Pirate Warrior

Pirate Warrior had to seriously rethink itself after the nerfs to All Together Now and Rally the Troops, which were the backbone of this strategy's success (and hate). Luckily for us, sorryqt went ahead and tested the archetype again, and came to the conclusion that Pirate Warrior can still be good, especially thanks to the health buffs to Bloodsail Deckhand, Stormwind Freebooter and Stonemaul Anchorman.

Quote From sorryqt

As expected, the buffs definitely made it stronger.

Having the now Ultra Rare Rally the Troops certainly helped, but the extra stats on the early cards really do make a difference.

Passive Treasures Chosen

First pool - Crystal Gem

Second pool - Rally the Troops

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