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The post-TGT metagame is getting closer to being figured out. The professional community has been testing the new cards and their place in both new and old decks for more than a month now and somewhat of a consensus has been reached. During the race for the regional championships, three decks stood out as the most dominant: Patron Warrior, Demon Handlock and Midrange Druid.

The continued reign of Patron Warrior was nothing unexpected. As the deck suffered no nerfs to any of its core components, be it [card]Frothing Berserker[/card], [card]Warsong Commander[/card] or [card]Battle Rage[/card], it continued to kill its opponents out of the blue, sometimes dealing upwards of 70 damage in one turn. As players looked for a strong counter, they re-discovered the Demon Handlock build. With a lot of fat taunts, board clears and gigantic threats like the giants and [card]Mal'Ganis[/card], the ramp control version of Gul’Dan was a perfect answer to all Warriors and even the rising Secrets Paladin.

Finally there is Malfurion. Considered an inconsistent class before TGT due to its lack of board-reset mechanics and heavy reliance on ramp, Druid received a much needed injection of power with the new expansion. [card]Darnassus Aspirant[/card] increased the chance of drawing a ramp and the 2/3 body, alongside other new cards like [card]Living Roots[/card] gave it answers to early aggression and filled up the early turns.

But as always there’s more to Hearthstone than just the top three decks. Below, we take a look at – in no particular order – seven decks outside the aforementioned trinity that will likely make a strong appearance at the upcoming Blizzcon regional championships. Here we go.
 


 

Secrets Paladin


The secrets Paladin is a true child of the TGT expansion. Born in Asia and quickly adopted into the western metagame, this deck offered a new way to play the Paladin class, utilizing cards nobody thought were good beforehand. [card]Mysterious Challenger[/card] singlehandedly made most class secrets playable and the deck is often seen on both the ladder and in tournaments.

Several iterations of the build are available. The faster version prioritizes low drops like [card]Argent Squire[/card] and [card]Secretkeeper[/card], curves out at 6 with [card]Mysterious Challenger[/card] and relies on [card]Divine Favor[/card] to refill the hand. Think of the Eboladin, but with a twist. The midrange version, which is slightly more popular, squeezes in [card]Dr Boom[/card] and [card]Tirion Fordring[/card], offering late-game potential.

The secrets Paladin is likely to see a lot of play this weekend, especially due to its favorable match-up against Druid (Malfurion still lacks a potent board clear) and Hunter. With good starting hands, the deck can even go head to head with Patron, despite being generally unfavored against it.
 

Dragon Priest


Dragon Priest is another product of TGT. [card]Wyrmrest Agent[/card], [card]Twilight Guardian[/card] and [card]Chillmaw[/card] absolutely shine in current Anduin decks. Instead of heal-/passing for the first few turns as Priests would usually do, they now have good options to play on every turn. A perfectly curving Dragon Priest would shut down every form of aggro and apply enough pressure that it’s even enough to break the dreaded Patron Warrior.

Unlike pure control Priests, however, the Dragon archetype struggles in the control match-ups. Handlock and Control Warrior would play more threats than the Dragon Priest has answers to, which is why some builds would make room for a single [card]Lightbomb[/card] – an efficient answer to swingy [card]Molten Giant[/card] turns.
 


 

Tempo Mage


Tempo Mage is currently considered the best, most optimal Mage build for the metagame. Incredibly strong against Midrange Druid due to its strong removal and [card]Mirror Entity[/card], decent against Patron and not-too-terrible against Handlock, the Tempo Mage offers a consistency against the “metagame trinity” that few other decks do.

Several iterations of Tempo Mage can be seen in the meta, the main differences being:
 

  • Does it run [card]Spellslinger[/card] or [card]Arcane Intellect[/card]
  • Does it run [card]Rhonin[/card] or not
  • Does it run any other secrets beyond [card]Mirror Entity[/card]
  • [card]Mirror Image[/card]s or not
  • Single/double [card]Flamecannon[/card] or [card]Unstable Portal[/card]
  • [card]Water Elemental[/card] or not

Midrange Hunter


Let’s face it, Rexxar is not really going anywhere. As long as depleting a life total remains the main way to defeat your opponent, Hunter’s hero power plus the variety of tempo and direct damage cards will always have a place in the meta.

Similar to Handlock, the Midrange Hunter didn’t really change with TGT. [card]King's Elekk[/card] and [card]Argent Horserider[/card] are really the only two cards that make consistent appearances in modern lists, the former offering a card draw mechanic and the latter being a removal effect on legs. The main difference in playstyles once again is visible mostly in the low curve: what and how many traps are being used, is there a [card]Hunter's Mark[/card], etc.

Although the evolution of Hunter took a lot of its former power – mostly due to the rise of Patron Warrior – it’s still one of Handlock’s most feared enemies, while cards like [card]Freezing Trap[/card] remain powerful tools against Druid’s one-minion-at-a-time playstyle.
 


 

Control Warrior


Control Warrior has been playing second fiddle to Patron since the modern builds were fleshed out but it’s been gathering a lot of power recently. Cards like [card]Justicar Trueheart[/card] increased the survivability of the build significantly, making it even more impossible to lose against Freeze Mages and Oil Rogues and making the Hunter match-ups easier. The double [card]Brawl[/card] has also become a standard to modern Control Warriors, which has also made it durable against Patron.

Despite all its removal, life gain and card advantage mechanics, however, Control Warrior continues to struggle against Midrange Druids and Handlocks. Look for it to be mostly part of anti-Patron line-ups like Druid/Handlock/Control Warrior at the hands of control-oriented players like Neirea.