Shaman – All Articles
The first Tour Stop of the set has passed and that means its time to evaluate the new meta at its early stages. It might be too early yet to analyze the full impact of Rastakhan’s Rumble, but we can get an early feel of the most impactful cards. We will be taking a look…
With all the powerful new Rastakhan cards being revealed, Rastakhan’s Rumble looks like it will really stir up the meta. The major complaint with The Boomsday Project was the lack of enough impactful cards to shift meta archetypes. This time around, we are definitely due for entirely new decks to take over. Priest and Mage…
As the various Hearthstone streamers and personalities continue to reveal cards, Rastakhan’s Rumble looks to Increase deck variety. Warrior, Shaman, Hunter and Priest are getting a lot of nice and unique tools. Decks that used to be viable, decks that haven’t quite been viable and brand new archetypes look like they will all be good.…
Genn and Baku are some of the most powerful and controversial cards in the meta. By completely changing the dynamics of hero powers, they have created dozens of new decks. Many of these have ended up dominating large swathes of ladder. But while some see Even and Odd decks as two sides of the same…
HCT Taichung was completed over the weekend, and is the last Tour Stop before the release of The Boomsday Project. This stop opened up Season 3 of the Hearthstone Championship Tour, and a couple new faces made the top eight. A Japanese player won the last stop at HCT Tokyo, and the Japanese region continues…
The last tournament of Hearthstone Championship Tour Season 2, HCT Tokyo, has come to a close. The tournament showcased some top flight talent and good deck variety. Both new faces and those who have had multiple top finishes already this year made the trip to Tokyo. Japanese player Hinaya won the tournament along with 15…
Hearthstone Global Games Week 1 has opened up the thinking processes of 48 countries around the world. Teams have been tasked with submitting decklists for all nine classes. Most countries have decided to not deviate from what has been expected for HGG lineups. Some, on the other hand, have brought out some very off-meta decks…
The Hearthstone Championship tour had its most recent stop at the Esports Arena in Oakland, California over the weekend. This is the first stop in the Americas for Season 2. HCT Oakland was a wild two day event in which Jeffrey “Tarei” Liu came out victorious. A Still Changing Meta A lot of unique decks…
Boomsday is bringing mechs, experiments and explosions galore. But with an expansion of the card pool comes a threat from some of the Witchwood’s most powerful build-arounds. Will Genn and Baku trap Hearthstone’s developers into making Odd and Even decks dominate the meta? A Wild warning If you think this might be far fetched, just…
If, like me, you’re a big fan of Warrior, the recent Boomsday announcement will have set your heart racing. While other classes are receiving a Legendary Minion and a Legendary Spell, Warriors will be receiving a new Hero card. Like with Shaman getting Hagatha from the Witchwood, Warriors will soon have the opportunity to become…
Balance in Hearthstone is more of an art than a science. The aim is never to have perfectly equal winrates. Instead, the focus is on promoting fun gameplay. As such, it’s often hard to evaluate exactly whether or not one particular card change has a positive impact or not. With that said, card changes have…
The Hearthstone Championship Tour is rapidly approaching its summer incarnation. A host of skilled opponents will seek out any advantage they can to get a better shot at the trophy. While skill will play the biggest role, the metagame may thwart many. Several of the most powerful decks and strategies have high levels of RNG…
The last time a meta this diverse was almost exactly a year ago. After the first set of balance changes after Journey to Un’goro was released, almost every class had multiple strong decks, and there seemed to be no dominant strategy. Of course, this wasn’t perfect. Pirate Warrior was overly oppressive, and Warlock was almost…
Witchwood is finally out, and amongst all the experimentation, one deck in particular is drawing complaints. From the noise made on various discussion forums, you’d imagine Shudderwock Shaman was an unstoppable monster. And while that may be literally true for its win condition, the deck itself is far from strong. According to HSReplay.net, the deck…
Nightmare Amalgam is extremely silly. As its name suggests, it’s an unholy combination of every tribe in Hearthstone; Beast, Murloc, Dragon, Demon, Elemental, Totem, and of course Pirate. But aside from being funny, the card might actually be competitive. At a 3/4 statline, it passes the vanilla test. But this alone isn’t enough to merit…
Certain Epics are coming to define classes. Cards like Call to Arms, Ultimate Infestation and Primordial Glyph are all incredibly powerful tools. They have shaped class identity, revitalised otherwise struggling archetypes, and helped create a balanced and diverse meta (bar Warrior). But some would say they are too powerful, and their auto-include status threatens the…
The Standard system has two essential parts. One is the latest two years of expansions. The other is the “Evergreen” set of Classic and Basic sets. While one constantly changes, the other remains (relatively) stable. Currently, the only changes made to Evergreen is to reduce it; to take cards away. But is now the time…
Kobolds and Catacomb’s Legendary weapons were meant to have a fatal flaw. Many thought this new influx of anti-weapon tech would counter powerful items. Oozes, Harrisons and Bloodsail Corsairs should have crushed their dreams. But despite numerous Legendary weapons being extremely powerful options, weapon removal has not been a big part of the meta. So…
Shaman is in the middle of an identity crisis. After a disastrous experiment with Freeze Shaman, Team 5 threw mechanics at Shaman to see what sticks. Shaman’s Kobolds and Catacombs haul included Battlecry, Overload, Totem and Evolve synergies. But there’s a compelling argument that these mechanics miss a core part of Shaman’s identity. An identity…
The Spellstones were one of Kobolds and Catacombs most interesting additions. It’s been hard to design spells that synergise with certain tribes, mechanics or card types; but Spellstones manage to allow interesting deckbuilding strategies. By upgrading in the hand, value can be accumulated throughout the game then unleashed in a powerful tempo swing. Of course,…
