The strongest decks to emerge in the all-new Gadgetzan metagame so far.
Hearthstone’s Gadgetzan set is now live on all servers worldwide, and we’re currently in the process of updating all of our deck guides to reflect the latest experiments being made to all of the established deck archetypes. In a similar vein, we’re also in the process of sketching out guides and deck lists for all of the new archetypes that are starting to pop up!
What all of this means is that on the first day of the expansion, it’s actually quite hard to know where to start. What are the best Gadgetzan decks to emerge so far for each hero? What are the pros playing? What deck should I play on the ladder? While there are no definitive answers to all of these questions, we hope that this article will give you a good jumping off point for you to start enjoying the new card set.
At the time of publishing this article, the Gadgetzan expansion was less than one day old, which means that all of these archetypes are subject to change in terms of composition and relative power rankings as the metagame develops. Cards that seem over-powered right now will turn out to be much weaker in the overall metagame. Likewise, certain mediocre cards will eventually prove to be a vital component of any collection.
For that reason, we present our round-up of the best Gadgetzan decks with the incredibly important caveat that if you have limited quantities of dust with which to craft cards, then we strongly encourage you to wait and see how things develop over the next month or so. If you’ve got the dust to spare or got lucky with your pack openings, try taking the following decks out for a spin!
(If you’re playing the game with limited dust and Gold to hand, you might to take a look at our round-up of budget Gadgetzan decks instead!)
Druid Gadgetzan decks
Jade Druid
Jade Druid is a little like the Ramp Druid you’re no doubt very familiar with, but it gains extra value from the Golem-summoning cards provided with the new card set. One of the most fun new decks to appear right away in the Gadgetzan metagame!
– Jade Druid (Standard) deck list and guide
Malygos Druid
Malygos Druid doesn’t feature any new cards from the Gadgetzan set, but we include it here as efforts to optimise the archetype for the new metagame are well under way. Expect things to change a little more by the time the new year rolls around.
– Malygos Druid (Standard) deck list and guide
Ramp Druid
Good old Ramp Druid has been given a major boost in power with the addition of Kun the Forgotten King. It’s well worth brushing up on what may well end up becoming a powerhouse in the Gadgetzan metagame.
Hunter Gadgetzan decks
Face Hunter
As if we’d let you go into the first Gadgetzan weekend without a revised look at Face Hunter! There will likely be many more changes to this format, but the deck we’re featuring here should get you off to a pretty fast start. We’ll be keeping a close eye on this one and updating it frequently.
– Face Hunter (Standard) deck list and guide
Buff Beast Hunter
Veteran visitors of geeksplatform might remember messing around with Spark’s Beast Hunter. They’ve revisited the archetype in 2016 to incorporate some of the hero’s strongest new cards. It’s good fun, and pretty cheap as well if you didn’t get lucky with your card packs.
– Buff Beast Hunter (Standard) deck list and guide
Midrange Hunter
We’ve update our classic Midrange Hunter guide to accommodate the latest changes introduced by Gadgetzan!
Mage Gadgetzan decks
Reno Mage
If you’re familiar with Reno Mage you’ll have no trouble finding your feet with this new take on the archetype. There are some expensive cards in here though, and the list is far from standardised, so err on the side of the caution when it comes to committing your dust.
– Reno Mage (Standard) deck list and guide
Secret Mage
There’s a disgustingly large number of Secrets powering this Mage deck, but we suspect it’s one of the early Gadgetzan decks that’s most susceptible to significant change. Still, if you’ve got the cards, you might enjoy taking this one out for a blast.
– Secret Mage (Standard) deck list and guide
If you’re stuck for new cards, the good news is that the established version of Tempo Mage is actually quite powerful when it comes to seeing off the many new threats of the Gadgetzan metagame. It’s a great deck to start with if you need to grind out some cash for new card packs.
Paladin Gadgetzan decks
Aggro Pirate Paladin
We think that Aggro Paladin is going to be huge in the Gadgetzan metagame, thanks to the addition of some incredibly powerful Pirate-class cards. This is another deck that’s going to take some time to become standardised, and so we’ll keep a close eye on our recommended deck list.
– Aggro Pirate Paladin (Standard) deck list and guide
Buff Paladin
Buff Paladin utilises the latest empowerment cards to build an absolutely devastating hand of beefy minions. We’ve had a lot of fun unwinding with this one, and it’ll hopefully carry on doing its thing competitively as the metagame evolves in the weeks ahead.
– Buff Paladin (Standard) deck list and guide
Aggro Murloc Paladin
| Paladin | Neutral |
|---|---|
| 2 x Grimscale Chum | 2 x Abusive Sergeant |
| 2 x Meanstreet Marshal | 2 x Grimscale Oracle |
| 2 x Smuggler’s Run | 2 x Murloc Tidecaller |
| 1 x Vilefin Inquisitor | 1 x Sir Finley Mrrgglton |
| 2 x Grimestreet Outfitter | 2 x Bilefin Tidehunter |
| 2 x Divine Favor | 2 x Bluegill Warrior |
| 2 x Small-Time Recruits | 1 x Coldlight Oracle |
| 2 x Coldlight Seer | |
| 2 x Murloc Warleader | |
| 1 x Finja, the Flying Star |
Priest Gadgetzan decks
Dragon Priest
Dragon Priest is back and better than ever before, thanks to the addition of a monstrous minion-clearing spell and a handful of other Gadgetzan cards which help shore up the defenses. This one’s a lot of fun to play!
– Dragon Priest (Standard) deck list and guide
If you’re a fan of long, control-orientated matches then you’ll love Kazakus Reno Priest. You do need a lot of expensive Legendary cards though, so it’s best suited for those with a very healthy collection of Hearthstone cards. Still, nice to see the Priest back in action eh?
Rogue Gadgetzan decks
The Rogue’s not shaping up to have a great Gadgetzan ahead of it, but we still think this Jade Golem deck is a pretty solid deck for the hero. Let us know in the comments if you come across any particularly powerful decks for this class.
– Jade Golem Rogue (Standard) deck list and guide
Pirate Rogue
Pirates are everywhere in Hearthstone right now, and Rogue isn’t about to be left out of the action. If you need a nice and fast aggro deck to clatter through a quest with, this is a pretty safe bet – and you won’t need a lot of the new cards either.
– Pirate Rogue (Standard) deck list and guide
Miracle Rogue
Miracle Rogue gets a taste of the new cards too. There aren’t a huge amount of changes to the format here (which is great if you don’t have a lot of the new cards), but be warned that this isn’t the simplest of decks to pilot to consistent victory.
– Gadgetzan Miracle Rogue (Standard) deck list and guide
Gang Up Rogue
Gang Up Rogue is a deck that plays out very much like the Jade Golem Rogue featured above, but packs in some pretty impressive duplicating affect to push the golem synergies even further.
Shaman Gadgetzan decks
Aggro Shaman
The latest version of Aggro Shaman features a few pirate-themed cards to get the deck off to an even faster start.
– Aggro Shaman (Standard) deck list and guide
Jade Shaman
There’s a Jade deck for Shaman too, of course, and we think this is the best place to start with the archetype. We’ll keep an eye on other versions of the deck list an tweak our guide if necessary.
– Jade Shaman (Standard) deck list and guide
Midrange Shaman
Here’s the classic Midrange Shaman archetype given a very gentle – for now – makeover to reflect the latest changes in the Gadgetzan metagame.
Warlock Gadgetzan decks
Renolock
Renolock – a favourite of ours – has been give a massive new lease of life thanks to the addition of Kazakus and Krul the Unshackled. The former will help you cook up a potion to suit the exact match you’re in, while the latter will build you a huge board. The archetype now contains many more Demons to reflect these changes.
– Kazakus Renolock (Standard) deck list and guide
Although we’re still waiting to see how the Gadgetzan metagame is shaping up, you should find this – relatively unchanged – Zoo Warlock deck a reliable way of dealing with the new threats out there.
Warrior Gadgetzan decks
Taunt Warrior
Your task with Taunt Warrior is to use a handful of key cards to bolster up the stat strength of whatever remains in your hand. We suspect this is going to be one of the more successful theorycrafted decks, so get stuck into our guide if you want to stay ahead of the game.
– Taunt Warrior (Standard) deck list and guide
Pirate Warrior
A very aggressive form of Pirate Warrior is seeing play in the early stages of the Gadgetzan metagame, and it’s stuffed to the brim with new cards. Be wary about spending dust on these cards if you’ve not been lucky with the draw – there’s always one deck that fizzles out fast and it may well be this one.
– Pirate Warrior (Standard) deck list and guide
Control Warrior
Control Warrior is still a thing – although a notable mid-tier thing right now – and this Gadgetzan version only requires a couple of the new cards. Nice if you’ve not got the means to open many packs right now, but do have a pretty tasty collection of cards from months and years gone by!
– Control Warrior (Standard) deck list and guide
Dragon Warrior
The Dragon Warrior deck you’re no doubt already familiar with, given a little extra aggro thanks to the arrival of a couple of new pirates. We would recommend you don’t craft Patches the Pirate unless you plan on playing a lot of pirate decks – it may not remain in this deck in the long run.
