We have been in the new Hearthstone meta long enough to see what new cards will be effectively utilized for a time to come. The most impactful Rise of Shadows cards have helped mold entirely new deck archetypes. Most of the top meta decks are composed of some number of Rise of Shadows cards.
Warrior Cards
Warrior is a top two class in the Rise of Shadows meta. Both the Control Warrior and Bomb variants have all of the control elements needed to beat just about every deck on the ladder.
Bomb Warrior has been made possible by Rise of Shadows cards Clockwork Goblin and Wrenchcalibur. These cards aren’t amazing but are certainly a fixation in the meta. The high impact Bomb Warrior card is Blastmaster Boom. When you are able to summon six Boom Bots you create a large board that’s capable of doing a lot of damage.
When Blastmaster Boom is played while Dr. Boom, Mad Genius is active, you get a lot of Rushing Boom Bots. This clears a lot of board states, essentially reversing any board you are behind on.
Another powerful Warrior card has been Omega Devastator. It doesn’t even have to be in the Warrior’s deck to have a high impact on the game. Thanks to Omega Assembly and Dr. Boom’s Drone Delivery, Omega Devastator can be discovered. While Dr. Boom is up, it can deal 14 damage in a single turn, quite an incredible card for four mana.
Rogue Cards
The Rogue class is the most played class in the game after the release of Rise of Shadows. The win rates of the Rise of Shadows Rogue cards are a little lower than Warrior, probably because of the volume of play. However, the Rogue cards might be the strongest on their own.
First off is a card that could be easily seen as overpowered: EVIL Miscreant. The Lackeys and subsequent tempo it provides is quite incredible. Also synergizing with this card is Waggle Pick, which allows you to generate a whole lot more lackeys. Evil Cable Rat has been a popular neutral card choice for Rogue because of Lackeys being good cards.
Then there is the Thief package synergy which has the new cards Hench Clan Burglar and Vendetta. Using the Burglar allows you to activate the Vendetta which is four damage for zero mana. Underbelly Fence seems like it would be good in thief Rogue, but the 3/4 rush for two mana has been surprisingly underwhelming and ineffective in Thief Rogue. This is probably because it is much worse in the Rogue mirror match.
Mage and Neutrals
Mage has gotten one insanely powerful card in the form of Conjurer’s Calling. Its flexibility is nearly on par with a card like Branching Paths. Being able to generate large board, or deal with opponent’s cards like Edwin Van Cleef is very good. It has also enabled Mountain Giants and Book of Specters decks to be the best deck going for Mage.
Archivist Elysiana has been a key card in control decks in order to win in control mirrors, or just against decks that can play to fatigue, like Hunter. Chef Nomi has also been a great card when going to fatigue, even having an entire Priest deck built solely around the card.
Unseen Saboteur has been an important Combo disruption card, especially for decks like Mecha’thun Warrior. The same goes for Hecklebot, except people mistake it for being a good card on its own. It has a lot of drawbacks if the minion pull goes wrong.
Acornbearer has been huge for Token Druids, doubling as a token generator and a way to get more cards into your hand for Whispering Woods. Blessing of Ancients has also been the best performing card in Token Druid, as it allows up to +4/+4 with both Twinspell cards.
Images courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment via their official website.
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