Hearthstone deck ideas for the Grand Tournament

With the imminent release of the Grand Tournament next week, the meta game in Hearthstone is bound to shake up. Many of the new cards help buff up classes. Old deck types that have fallen out of favor are receiving some fresh blood — and there might even be some completely new decks that will enter the scene. For the longest time, Patron Warrior was considered a fun, niche deck until the right deck list came along and people began taking it seriously.

While we can’t say what players might come up with, we’re going to give it a try. This week, we’ll look at some decks that might be making a comeback.

Totem Shaman

The first potential deck on the list belongs to the Shaman. All these totem-centric minions that are coming in with the new set might breathe new life into Shaman decks. Widely criticized as the weakest class in the game, they’re receiving some major buff cards, many centered around their totems:

• Totem Golem appears to be a must-play regardless of what type of Shaman deck is used. Despite the overload component, playing the Golem on turn two lets you still use your Hero Power on the subsequent turn three to bring out another totem and place yourself in a competitive position.
• Tuskarr Totemic by itself isn’t much to gush about but it does have the capability to bring out random totems, including cards like Mana Tide Totem, Flametongue Totem, or the aforementioned Totem Golem.
• Draenei Totemcarvers and the Thunder Bluff Valiant help contribute to your army of totems. In many cases, you’ll have at least one totem so that the Totem Carver stands to turn into a 5/5. The Totem Carver alone without any totems on board would come in at a measly 4/4 and loses easily to a Piloted Shredder or a Death’s Bite.
• Healing Wave adds some much needed survivability.

The proposed deck below stocks all those totem cards beefed up with staple legendaries to help close out games. A single Bloodlust gives you an ace up your sleeve to quickly finish off your opponent or bring them to well within lethal range so that your spells can do the rest. Some playtesting and adjustment will be needed to help add a little more consistency into the deck. I’m sure we can agree that Shaman players will be better off now than they were before.

Initial deck list

Dragon decks

Dragons received a huge boost from the Blackrock Mountain set that was released earlier this year. More cards have been added that can seriously turn dragon decks into a legitimate force, including Chillmaw, Coldarra Drake, and Twilight Guardian.

• Coldarra Drake itself has some appeal in a variety of Mage decks outside of dragon themes due to the ability to enhance the Mage’s Hero Power to be used an unlimited amount of times (or at least only limited to the amount of mana available).
• Wyrmrest Agent for Priest players provides a potential 2/4 body for 2 mana with a taunt that can stymie early aggression from Leper Gnomes or Knife Jugglers. Throw in Ysera at the end and you’ve got yourself the foundation for a newly potent Dragon Priest deck.
• What about for warriors? Imagine adding Varian Wrynn to Dragon Warrior. Control Warriors are one of the few decks out there that can challenge Patron Warrior. I can see dragon decks splintering away as a subset of the Control Warrior archtype. Just pray that you don’t end up pulling Alexstrasza with Varian otherwise you lose out on her Battlecry effect.
• Alexstrasza’s Champion can be used to take advantage of the dragons in your deck and provide an early game offense against your opponent or their minions.

Control Priest

Holy Champion is going to help put Control Priest back on the map.

• Circle of Healing and Lightwarden is a difficult but satisfying combo to pull off because of how fragile a Lightwarden is to begin with, but Holy Champion is more durable and can withstand that extra level of punishment — putting her in a prime position to deliver larger blows to your opponent.
• The other new Priest card, Flash Heal, is both cheap and effective, combining well especially with an Auchenai Soulpriest that can blow up larger, opposing minions quickly.
• If the game actually slows down enough, Confessor Paletress can connect with a random legendary minion on turn 9 when you activate the Priest Hero Power.
• Spawn of Shadows can put your opponent on the clock. While they take 4 damage every time you activate your hero Power, you have a bevy of healing spells (like the new Flash Heal) at your disposal to sustain yourself until your opponent is defeated.

Initial deck list

Ramp Druid

Darnassus Aspirant might just be the best card in the whole set for Druid players. Ramp Druid decks are fairly strong on their own and rely heavily on quick mana crystal gains to get out their bigger threats before opponents can deal with them.

• The Aspirant is a Wild Growth on a 2/3 body. Even if the Aspirant sticks around for a turn or two, it can offer a fantastic advantage and help you get that Emperor Thaurissan out a touch faster.
• Living Roots is a great addition that lets you eliminate early board threats (or create extra 1/1s of your own).
• I threw in Aviana just because. Between the Emperor and the extra mana crystals, she should enter play earlier than turn 9 giving you free reign to play out the rest of your bigger minions on the cheap.

Initial deck list

Murloc Paladin

I don’t even know why I’m suggesting this. I’m a fan of Murlocs less than Pepe! Even months later, I’m still annoyed that I ran into a Murloc deck at rank 5 or 4 when I was climbing up the ladder and was taken completely by surprise. In hindsight, I should be doing my sacred duty in discouraging players from using Murlocs because there’s something fishy about them to begin with.

• The only Murloc card added to the set belongs to Paladins: the Murloc Knight. The Inspire ability allows it to summon extra Murloc reinforcements onto the field in order to swarm your opponent.
• The new Paladin Competitive Spirit secret sees action here as it provides a passive buff to existing minions on the board.
• Eadric and Tirion will enter play lategame and mitigate opposing threats giving you extra time for your Murlocs to swarm uncontested. Those two might actually be a little too slow though. Perhaps Justicar Trueheart instead?

Ugh, just forget you read about this deck. Crumple it up, throw it away, and burn the recycle bin. Honestly, this deck might be better improved simply by just removing all Murlocs. After that, close your eyes and click randomly on the screen throughout your Paladin card page in order to add cards and generate a deck that’s miles better than the current iteration.

Initial deck list

But until the cards come out in a few days and actual playing gets done, it’ll be harder to predict what decks will affect the new meta. Personally, I’m going to start experimenting with the Druid again but the next few weeks will be exciting!