We are a little over a month away from the Hearthstone’s Year of the Dragon and the meta has been un-moving for the last month or more. Midrange Hunter and Odd Paladin are still the go to decks for the ranked ladder. Here is look at some of the most popular the March 2019 Ladder Decks and how to optimize your performance with or against them.
Midrange Hunter is still the beast that sits on top of the meta in both the ladder and competitive. It has such a strong curve that it is able to perform well in many more match ups than most other decks. Playing turn one Dire Mole into Crackling Razormaw into Animal Companion can win games.
In the mulligan phase Dire Mole and Razormaw are great cards when going first in any matchup. In aggressive matchups getting Springpaw and Candleshot can also be good. Against slower decks, getting Hunter’s Call is key in the opener for getting reload. Deathstalker Rexxar is a very powerful card, but should really only be kept sometimes against Odd Control Warriors.
Midrange Hunter struggles against the aggressive Odd Paladins and Secret Odd Mage. Against Paladin, teching your deck with two Unleash the Hounds, two Candleshots, and two Plated Beetles can help get board in the early game. Against Secret Odd Mage, Unleash the Hounds is much less useful thanks to Counterspell, but Plated Beetles and Headhunter’s Hatchet can be good cards against their early minions.
Midrange Hunter can also struggle with the very control heavy Odd Mage and Odd Warrior. Against these matchups, cutting the Unleash the Hounds and Candleshots for two Savannah Highmanes and two Dire Frenzies can help have big threats in the mid to late game.
If you are facing a lot of Midrange Hunter, Tar Creepers in your deck slows down the early aggression significantly. Odd Mage, Odd Warrior, and Even Paladin are especially good against the deck.
The Odd Paladin remains a popular archetype for the ladder thanks to the speed of its games. It enjoys a high win rate with a few really bad match ups in a trade off for playing a lot more games in a shorter time span.
A good mulligan strategy is ensuring something to play on turn one and holding onto Corridor Creepers for a very large swing turn. Developing a 2/5 for free as early as turn three is extremely hard to answer. Popular tech inclusions include Witch’s Cauldron and Prince Liam. Both cards add a degree of value that can potentially win games otherwise not winnable.
The deck struggles heavily against control decks. Wall Priest, Evenlock, and Odd Warrior are all difficult matchups to win. For Wall Priests, running Ironbeak Owl can help win games by silencing their large taunts. Against Evenlock, is important to play around Defile whenever possible. Against Warrior, getting Unidentified Maul to give your minions Divine Shield can prevent them from clearing your board.
When facing an excessive amount of Odd Paladins, slower Warlocks and Odd Quest Warrior are especially good against the deck. Warlocks have essentially four board clears with two Defiles and two Hellfires. Quest Warrior plays an endless stream of Taunts which completely prevents the Odd Paladin from getting in the necessary face damage.
Control Priest Is a deck that is very solid overall. It doesn’t have overwhelmingly positive match ups like other meta decks, but it also doesn’t have as many bad match ups. It loses to Warriors and Druids, but Druids see very little play at all.
The Control Priest mulligan typically consists of finding early game minions like Northshire Cleric, Tar Creeper, and Duskbreakers. Against slower decks, cards like Twilight Drake and Scaleworm can establish a solid board for the Priest.
If seeing an excessive amount of aggro decks, including Tar Creeper and Dragonmaw Scorcher can keep them in check. If Warrior is a common occurrence, then playing a list with many more Dragons to fight for larger boards can work out. Also, Archbishop Benedictus can be included to try to out-value the Warrior opponent into a fatigue battle.
When playing against a lot of Control Priests, any Druid or Warrior, and OTK Paladin decks work great against it. The general game plan is to simply gain as much armor as possible, preventing an OTK an fatiguing the Priest. If you don’t want to play control, just make sure to play around Duskbreaker and Cabal Shadow Priest.
Good luck and happy grinding!
Images courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment via their official website.
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