Welcome to TEAM GENJI’S METAMASTERS article series. Today, we’re going to be focused on what you – and everyone else – is talking about in the Hearthstone community: BOOMSDAY META PREDICTIONS
So without, further ado, here are TEAM GENJI’S predictions for the most popular decks - and the best decks to climb with – now that BOOMSDAY has launched.
Malygos Druid:
Malygos Druid was one of the most powerful decks during The Witchwood, but it had one fatal weakness: weapon destruction. But in this new expansion, that’s no longer a problem!
With the addition of Flobbidinous Floop and Dreampetal Florist, the OTK combo gets way more consistent. You have to get creative when playing this deck (which is the reason why it’s so fun!) There are so many ways to kill your opponent, very often you can even win before doing the full combo just by pressuring with strong cards thanks to the mana advantage you get from Wild Growth and Nourish. Don’t be afraid of using Dreampetal Florist to reduce other cards aside from Malygos. For example, playing a 1 mana Lich King + Faceless Manipulator is REALLY good, and you can use Flobbidinous Floop on Malygos as the finisher instead!
Because of these key improvements, GENJI predicts Malygos Druid will be the most popular deck on the first day of the expansion. This is THE deck to watch come BOOMSDAY.
Recruit Warrior:
Warrior, and especially Recruit warrior, got a lot of very good tools in Boomsday. Weapon’s Project is a great defensive tool in the early game, and it’s also weapon removal for a deck that previously didn’t have any (due to the need to play only play big minions to power up Recruit).The new hero card Dr. Boom also helps Recruit Warrior significantly in the very late game, allowing you to change your Death Knight hero power (2 mana whirlwind) to a much more impactful one. All the Boom hero powers are more powerful, so the random aspect isn’t too relevant. You still want to play Scourgelord Garrosh, because the Weapon it gives is very strong and in some matchups, like Odd Paladin or Token Druid, but now you also have a way to upgrade away the meta-weak Hero Power.
The most interesting card Recruit Warrior gains is a new legendary spell: The Boomship. One of the RW’s greatest weaknesses is when you draw all your big minions and then have to spend the printed cost to play each one individually. The Boomship lets you take advantage of the minions being in your hand, giving you a huge tempo swing because you cheat so much mana. The Minions even gain rush, so you can trade into a big board – making the card great when you’re behind. With Charged Devilsaurs and Grommash Hellscream, The Boomship can also represent up to 24 burst damage from hand!
GENJI predicts Recruit Warrior to be the second most popular deck out of the gate on BOOMSDAY launch.
Even Warlock:
Even Warlock has been Tier 1 for a while now. The deck is very powerful because of its ability to play early big threats such as Mountain Giant and Twilight Drake. With Boomsday Project, the deck gets a new powerful tool in Spirit Bomb – letting you deal with pesky early minions such as Hench Clan Thug a lot more consistently. The downside of taking 4 damage isn’t that bad, because the deck runs Amethyst Spellstone and Hooked Reaver to benefit from damaging your hero.Other than Spirit Bomb, the deck doesn’t get anything that will make it significantly better, but the deck was already so strong that it will remain one of the tier 1 decks.
GENJI predicts Even Warlock will be the best deck to climb with in the early days of Boomsday. Because it is legacy, most of the card choices are finalized and tuned. And playing Mountain Giant on Turn 3 is very good way of overwhelming players still testing new strategies.
Aggro Hunter:
Aggro Hunter gets a lot of ways to deal damage from the new expansion. Bomb Toss is 2 damage plus a bomb that explodes for 2 extra damage later; Goblin Prank is 3 damage; and Wargear is extremely good tempo and 5 instant damage if there’s a Goblin Bomb or a Mecharoo on board.
Aggressive Hunter looks like it will be very good at getting to the board early and pushing chip damage every turn, before closing out the game with old favorites like Leeroy Jenkins and Kill Command – plus the newly printed Bomb Toss. This is definitely a deck to watch, particularly early in the expansion’s life cycle while more control-oriented lists are still being fine tuned.
GENJI predicts Aggro Hunter will be another solid deck to climb with, if you don’t want to use Even Warlock, in the early days of BOOMSDAY.
Shaman:
Elemental Even Shaman looks promising in this new expansion. The new Shaman card Thunderhead is extremely powerful, and a much-needed tool to deal with Aggro decks.The idea behind Elemental Even Shaman is very simple. In the early game, control the board utilizing your cheap hero power and your cards that buff up your minions. Once you get control of the game, start pushing damage with ymid-game threats like Corpsetaker and Fire Elemental. Keep in mind that you rely on repetitive minion damage to win the game – so make it awkward for your opponent to clear your board.
GENJI predicts Even Shaman to be a solid roleplayer in the early days of BOOMSDAY, and a fun deck to pilot for more skill intensive players.
Concluding the Meta
This finished our overview of five great decks to pilot, or watch out for, now that BOOMSDAY has launched. Are you as excited for the new expansion as we are? If so, be sure to let us know what you think on Twitter - @TeamGenji!
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