Hearthstone Huddle

As the 3rd wing of Black Rock Mountain released this week, we’re over half way through all the new cards being dropped. I thought I’d take a few lines and talk about what’s being played in ranked mode. Quick Shot is in all Face Hunter decks and Lava shock is showing up in some Shaman decks as well. Imp Gang Boss is getting some play in Zoo decks and I’ve seen Volcanic Lumberer being played as another big threat from Druid. Emperor Thaurissan shows up in quite a few decks and I’ve seen Grim Patron sprinkled in as well. That’s about it for new cards being played.

Now for the title of the show. I thought I’d start my very own ranking system. I’m going to do this by Hero and because there are 9 of them I’m dividing them into 3 categories. The categories will be top, mid and bottom tier and I’m basing my ranks on two parameters. Popularity – how often I see it during ranked play. Versatility – how many different builds are viable from that Hero. So here we go.

Top Tier.

Mage. With Mech Mage still dominating and Freeze Mage still going strong this class is definitely top tier. There’s also some various tempo builds that are doing well too.

Hunter. Face Hunter is basically a plague at this point. They have a chance to win any game. Mid-range Hunter is still viable and there are some control builds that do well also.

Rogue. Oil Rogue is quite possibly the strongest deck being played at the moment. If piloted correctly it can beat anything. There’s also some Mech Rogue builds and Face Rogue builds as well.

Mid Tier

Paladin. Easily could be in the top tier, Paladin has great control decks, mid range and Aggro builds alike. With so many good cards in the past sets this class is only getting stronger.

Druid. With Ramp, Combo and Mech builds, this class is solid. It struggles against Aggro decks due to the late game build up but often times can survive long enough to finish with the Savage Roar combo.

Warlock. Another strong class, Warlock brings in the always dangerous Zoo and Demon/Handlock builds. This is another deck that could easily find its way back into the top tier.

Bottom Tier.

Warrior. It’s not being played as much as it used to, but Control Warrior is still a viable deck.The problem is, it’s the only real build for the class. There’s a couple Grim Patron builds as well but they often fall short of being useful.

Shaman. Also still a usable class but not too many builds other than Tempo. Hopefully with the addition of the two new class cards it can become an upper tier class.

Priest. Oh how the mighty have fallen. What used to be a dominating class is now just a pile of rubble. Many can still win with this class but after two lackluster sets of class cards, it doesn’t seem to be in the near future. And only having one build (Control), isn’t helping either.

That’s it for this week. As always, thanks for reading!