by JR Cook - 11 years ago     show comments

It’s no secret that we here at BlizzPro are looking forward to a thrilling competitive scene when it comes to Hearthstone. There’s no doubt in our minds that, upon being released to the masses, this game is going to be huge, and the resulting number of players will hopefully lead to a varied, constantly evolving metagame. The reasons to be optimistic are in the polish the game displays in its infancy, along with an intense competitive scene that already exists in closed beta. This competitive scene has been nurtured and developed by a group called ManaGrind since before closed beta, tracing its lineage back to tournaments run on the Cockatrice platform. When it comes to this sort of the thing, they are absolutely the authority.

In an effort to join our own analysis to their incredible efforts, BlizzPro will be doing a weekly article discussing the results of the  North American tournaments and what they mean not only for the competitive scene, but also players on the casual level. Jotto, one of the moderators at ManaGrind does a weekly video touching on a lot of information relevant to the tournaments. We’ll be looking to complement that with our own insight as high level players.

That said, let’s get into this weeks results and look at just how much the recent balance changes factored in, if they did at all.

Here were the top eight decks, as per Jotto:

1. Moon – Mage Aggro

2. Jotto – Rogue Spellpower Aggro

3. Sp0h – Priest Mid Range

4. Hybris – Shaman Midrange

5. Knight – Shaman Lategame Beatdown

6. DecisionMusic – Paladin Divine Shields

7. Necrogen – Druid Ramp

8. Dirty Secrets – Weapon Warrior

Unlikely Heroes

There were some familiar faces in the top eight this week, specifically Shamans, the Rogue Spellpower Aggro deck, Druid Ramp along with metagame mainstay Paladin Divine Shields. However, in the wake of the changes, some newcomers did show up, and we’ll take a look at those specifically today.

Coming in 8th place was Dirty Secrets running a Warrior deck that heavily utilized weapons, along with a number of legendaries, including the recently adjusted Captain Greenskin. His new battlecry, essentially an additional Upgrade!, provides an extra buff for one weapon. It’s interesting to note the number of weapons run. Dirty Secrets ran every single one the deck had access to except Arcanite Reaper. The sheer number means that, even with opponents running Acidic Swamp Ooze (a core card in almost every deck at this point) it’s still just not possible to stop the melee onslaught. Recently buffed Battle Rage provides the deck with significant card draw, given its far less circumstantial nature. This sort of deck, while definitely expensive, synergizes very strongly as Jotto points out and has definitely potential.

Moving up to 3rd place, a Priest! It sounds surprising, but if you read the patch notes or have played the game since the changes, Priest is in an incredibly strong spot. Shadow Word: Death, one of the goodies Priests received, is an incredible midgame card that offers that class a sickening amount of durability. Mind Control remains a strong closing spell. Twilight Drake received a strong nerf or buff depending on your point of view, but the Wrath of the Lich King raid boss made its way into this deck, joined by strong neutral minion Argent Commander, giving Sp0h a commanding midgame. Given how much stronger the Priest set is now, it would not be surprised to seeing some more innovation in the coming weeks.

The biggest surprise of the tournament though was a Mage coming out victorious. This is something totally new, as Jotto points out, and a great sign of just how strong some of the basic aggro minions can be. Argent Commander, Gadgetzan Auctioneer and Ysera make appearances, but the meat of this deck is basic Mage class and neutral cards. It proved once again that a direct, efficient strategy with the right cards can trump sheer deck value.

MVP Cards – Argent Commander

Jotto does a great job explaining the merit of Shattered Sun Cleric, so I won’t go too much into that, but I will touch on Argent Commander. The card was present in two of the top three decks and is just, overall, a top tier minion, viable in most decks. Six mana isn’t cheap, but without being silenced or crowd controlled, this neutral minion (a steal for 100 dust) will draw the ire of at least two cards, granting instant card advantage. Moreover, because of its inherent charge ability, this Paladin will do some work before being sent to the grave. It’s great for destroying a troublesome minion with four or less health (of which there are many) or, if the board’s clear, delivering a reasonable punch to the jaw of your unwitting opponent. Whether in constructed or arena, feel good about picking up this Champion of the campaign in Northrend.

What did the balance changes ultimately mean?

The majority of the decks in the tournament were not all the new, but with that said, we definitely saw some innovations. In the coming weeks, I’d expect to see more Warriors in the top eight, and even possibly the top four, given how much Battle Rage has corrected their card sorrows. Priest is a power house deck now and, once more card libraries are populated, expect to see a lot more of them. In my bold statement of the weak, I would hazard that, with the changes, Priest is one of the three strongest sets in the game right now. Shadow Word: Death and revamped Greater Heal, along with a reduction to the mana cost of Northshire Cleric make their mid and early game a lot stronger.

I would also expect to see more Shamans present in the coming weeks. They might’ve suffered a nerf to their Healing Stream Totem, but they otherwise remain unscathed in the face of nerfs to Druids and Rogues. Time will tell though!

If you’re looking for more content about the competitive scene, be sure to check out ManaGrind’s Youtube channel here, and keep an eye on their Twitter account for more information about weekly tournaments. Are you a bad enough dude or dudette to come hang out and have a good time this Saturday? If so, consider signing up for ManaGrind’s weekly North American tournament this Saturday!