Voyage to the Sunken City is right around the corner, and with it comes the Standard rotation that will take away the cards from Ashes of Outland, Scholomance Academy, and Madness at the Darkmoon Faire (as well as at least some of the Core Set). Because we likely won't see a lot of these cards on the other side in Wild (and, if we do, it won't be in the same decks), we're putting together a short series of articles featuring decks that you can play one last time in Standard before the rotation comes.
- Miss last week's look at legendary cards to play before they rotate? Catch that here!
- Looking for some last-minute budget decks? We've got you covered!
As the scriptures say, "Everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree, and no one shall make them play against Tickatus."
Magtheridon Joins the Fight!
Maggie (please don't call him Maggie) has found a semi-consistent home in slow Demon Hunter decks, making appearances in Il'gynoth OTK, Fel DH, and Questline. Every time we counted him out, he seemed to find a way back in.
But now Maggie (stop calling him that) is leaving Standard, and there's no trick he can pull (outside of somehow making it into the new Core Set) to weasel his way back into Demon Hunter decks. So let's give him one final go before we lock him up and throw away the key.
Ysiel's Many Spells
Ysiel Windsinger is an interesting card. Even though she saw almost no play in Standard over the past two years, her printing set off a chain of events in Wild that eventually got Aviana nerfed to 10 Mana.
Imagine our surprise, then, when we actually found a deck on HSReplay that is not only built to take advantage of her mana reduction, but seems to want specifically to use her to do some weird stuff with Scale of Onyxia and Survival of the Fittest. Don't ever say that miracles don't happen, because we witnessed one today.
Poisonous Professor Slate
Professor Slate will be sorely missed, even though he didn't really get a chance in Standard until the printing of Defend the Dwarven District made Hunter want to use his effect as removal with the class's cheap damage spells. Now, he's a kind of a big deal.
This deck goes heavy on getting the Professor into play with Drek'Thar, who will bring along a Kolkar Pack Runner for good measure to get even more tempo from your cheap spells. Who knows, maybe you can get your opponent to attack into an Explosive Trap with Slate on board. Stranger things have happened.
One Last Spin of the Wheel
Although he saw more success in Ramp Druid, it only seems fitting that Yogg-Saron, Master of Fate get a sendoff in Mage, the class known best for spinning the wheel of random effects, then sitting back with a bag of popcorn to watch the world burn down around them. And if you thought we wouldn't go all out on randomness, you were sorely mistaken (do you even know us?).
We've gone ahead and included Astromancer Solarian for the sweet, sweet dice roll of Solarian Prime, friend to Casino Mages everywhere. There's also Evocation and Keywarden Ivory for card generation, and Magister Dawngrasp for one more chance at glory. It might not be the most consistent deck, but that's actually the point.
Redeeming Lothraxion
Silver Hand Recruit Paladin, despite getting a variety of synergistic cards, never really took off during the Year of the Gryphon, which was really disappointing for anyone who opened Lothraxion the Redeemed and wanted to test the archetype out. Even after doubling down with the rewards of Rise to the Occasion, the archetype couldn't get a foothold.
Well, despite all misgivings, we're giving it one more go. Outside of the 1-Cost cards to advance the Questline and a handful of SHR payoffs, we're also hoping to win the lottery by changing our cheap minions into Dragons with Lady Prestor. You probably want to wait to play her until after you've played Lothraxion, but then again, is it really worth the wait?
What Do You Call a Flying Nun?
Anyone who played Hearthstone during Scholomance and Darkmoon metas should be very familiar with one of the masters of mana-cheating, High Abbess Alura. She's fallen a bit off the radar since getting her Cost increased to 5 mana, but the High Abbess can still do some very powerful things, as seen in this deck put together by Hearthstone streamer Brian Kibler.
The hopeful outcome is to complete the Quest with this spell-light deck, then play Alura and use a cheap spell generated by either Wandmaker or one of the bevy of Discover minions to immediately play Purified Shard and (checks notes) win the game. In a pinch, Alura can be used defensively to play an Elekk Mount against aggro decks. The Nameless One is here, too.
Clear Eyes, Full Heart (Also a Body and a Maw), Can't Lose
Rogue has no real business playing C'Thun, the Shattered, but ever since his spot in Ramp Druid was usurped by Kazakusan, the Old God has fallen on hard times. There's just enough synergy in the deck with Malevolent Strike providing cheap removal that we can make it work, so long as we rely on powerful Deathrattle synergies and the card draw of Field Contact to see us through.
This deck isn't a meta-breaking powerhouse, but it's just good enough at what it does that you should at least be able to have some fun with it and everyone's (third or fourth) favorite Old God.
Doomhammer on a Stick
Doomhammer is a good card for aggressive decks that want to stack a lot of damage on their Hero and double it with Windfury, so it's great to have the option of running a third copy in the form of Inara Stormcrash. This aggressive deck uses Elemental synergies, board freezes, and Instructor Fireheart to kill the opponent before they even realize they were playing a game of Hearthstone.
Ready for Prime Time
Another deck from Kibler, this Sacrifice Warlock finds a way to use Tamsin's Phylactery in a way that doesn't involve doing a million damage to the opponent. Instead, it opts to copy the Deathrattle of minions like Korrak the Bloodrager and Envoy Rustwix for the ultimate value party. Why play with one Prime when you can play with all of them?
No Deathrattle recursion deck would be complete with Vectus, whose little Whelps can also copy Rustwix's Deathrattle. The rest of the deck is small minions and sacrifice payoffs, which works great when the whole point of the game is to kill your minions and shuffle in those sweet, sweet Primes. It's an older deck, but it checks out.
And, For Our Final Act...
Garrosh says goodbye to Ringmaster Whatley, once the best card draw engine of Rush Warrior, with a Midrange beater deck designed to have a tight curve, build a board of strong minions, and punish heavily spell-reliant decks with Crossroads Watch Post. Thanks to Onyxian Drake, the Ringmaster no longer has to rely on only Tent Trasher as a Dragon to draw.
Although it might be surprising to not see N'Zoth, God of the Deep as a finisher in a menagerie deck, this Warrior instead can end the game with charge damage from Mr. Smite and Captain Galvangar. Fun stuff.
What cards will you miss when the rotation happens, and what decks are you taking for one last spin? Share your thoughts in the comments!
If you have your own Last Chance decks to share, be sure to add them to our site via the deckbuilder and write up a guide to help others achieve your success.
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