Deck building guides for new and returning players.

[Kronik85]

With the release of the Wrath of the Old Gods expansion set and a brand new play mode it's a confusing time for everyone, but none more so than returning players who may suddenly find their old decks are no longer playable or new players who will be playing Hearthstone for the first time trying to work it all out alongside playing catch up against what can seem like insurmountable odds. It is for you that this guide is intended so take heart and listen well. This is also a first draft, if any other posters have anything constructive to add then don't be shy with it and if it's sound advice then I'll happily add it to the guide.

Our aim here is to give you relatively powerful playable decks that will allow you to play with whichever class you have quests for or favour without you having to craft a single Epic or Legendary, not only that but as you acquire more dust and cards these decks can be matured into their final refined versions. However even as they are these decks should allow you to play competitively, you will just be punished much harder for misplays than someone playing a more expensive version.


For the new players

My first piece of advice to anyone new would be to buy the Adventure's rather than packs of cards. They contain powerful cards some of which create new deck archetypes for you to build or give you a solid win condition. Unlocking them with gold will take you a significant amount of time however at 700g a wing so if your both new and intend to be entirely F2P this may not be viable if you intend to actually enjoy yourself.

If you intend to play entirely F2P then the play mode for you is the Arena, it's daunting but there are websites which can help you construct your decks and once you "git gud" then the gold you spend here offers returns that may even let you play the Arena infinitely for free, thus giving you something to do whilst you build your collection.


The decks!

If your brand new to Hearthstone this is the best deck I can come up with from the Basic cards.

http://imgur.com/jynv437

It's a Mage deck which plays what are considered the most powerful Basic cards. If you can keep control of the board then Stormwind Champion and Frostwolf Warlord should win the game for you.

You can also try this Warlock deck which was designed by Mormolyce.

http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/123222-basic-zoolock

Whereas the Mage is more of a Midrange deck, this list is an Aggressive one. Flood the board with your cheap minions and replenish your hand with your Hero power. Only make minion trades when they represent value (as in you get to keep your minion on board or let you keep control of the board) and deal damage directly to the opposing Hero whenever you can.

The rest.
http://imgur.com/PsXuRq5
http://imgur.com/RAMN1xP
Classic Zoo by Mormolyce http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/70591-basic-zoo-lock

These are shells for the cheap but powerful decks that are just off by a few cards, if you particularly enjoy a certain deck then spend your dust fleshing it out with the Epics and Legendaries it needs and you will have a deck that can hit Legend.


What am I missing?

Earlier I mentioned that these decks were off by a few cards, well here's what they are missing if you want to complete them.

Druid - Twin Emperor Vek'lor and Brann Bronzebeard.
Hunter - Quick Shot, Snake Trap and maybe Call of the Wild.
Mage - Flamewaker, Antonidas and Arcane Blast.
Paladin - Tirion Fordring, Keeper of Uldaman, Leeroy Jenkins and potentially a Blood Knight.
Priest - Twin Emperor Vek'lor, Crazed Worshipper and Entomb.
Shaman - Doomhammer and Elemental Destruction if you want to play a slower list.
Warrior - For C'thun you want Twin Emperor Vek'lor, Crazed Worshipper and perhaps a Brawl, Gorehowl and Grommash Hellscream.
Warlock - Imp Gangboss, Brann Bronzebeard and Sea Giant for sure. Then you can also add Gormok and then maybe even a Leeroy if you love the SMorc life.

Why you no Rogue?

To cut a long story short, you need either Preparation, certain Legendaries or both to make them work well. If someone wants to take a good crack at Rogue though without using Epic or Legendary quality cards then I'll happily include them into the guide.


/edit: If this is going to be a sticky then this needs to be better. Gonna be busy raiding tomorrow but if I'm not knackered I'll start fleshing things out a little more by doing an individual breakdown for each class rather than having it bundled together with minimal information. If people want to contribute I'm happy to add your lists and suggestions, just need to come up with a much better structure for the guide, should go without saying but and if you contribute then you will be credited.

[StrawberryZebra]

As a thought, if you want to put together a useful guide for new players you might want to not only link example decks, but also deconstruct them. Like your Mage deck for example, perhaps explain why you've taken Shattered Sun Cleric over another 3 cost card like Raid Leader or even, yes I'm going there, Magma Rager. Why Boulderfist Ogre over Lord of the Arena? Its totally obvious to people who've played a while, but it'll elude newer players.

A Deckbuilding guide that imparts all you need to know to build a sucessful deck for yourself is infinately more helpful for new players, both short term and long, than copy/pasting deck with little explanation on how and why it works.

Edit: You might also want to point out which Adventures you should buy for which Decks.

[Mormolyce]

Pretty good advice. One thing I'd stress is that if you're new and trying to choose what to buy, first decide what kind of deck you want to build. No point buying a wing of LoE if you don't wind up using those cards.

Also I'd probably recommend a zoo lock (traditional zoo rather than the newer version above) as a starter deck over mage. It helps teach you important principles of value, tempo, trading etc. Also you can throw in lots of substitute cards as you earn them (zoo is compatible with heaps of different cards) and that helps teach you deck building too.

Maybe I'm biased since I spent most of my formative Hearthstone games on a zoo lock :P

P.S. Example "basic" zoo lock:

http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/70591-basic-zoo-lock

Nothing above rare. Pretty solid. Shouldn't take long to get to there. You can start with a true basic deck like:

http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/123222-basic-zoolock

(Ew) and work your way up.

[Jester Joe]

I stickied this thread since it seems to be a repeating topic that would be helpful to have one thread at the top for people to go to for help. Hope that doesn't take away from anything here, but I figured it would be nicer for anyone to be able to come in and drop their advice in!

[Dyptheria]

@thread

I'm a fairly new (and F2P) player to Hearthsone and apart from the class quests, I use a Warlock. I wanted to build a Demon deck but that doesn't seem possible. I've had some success with a 40-43% Taunt deck but ever since a) I hit level 34 and b) C'thun was released, I've been struggling even in casual mode - although the latter may be coincidence. Even in casual, more and more I'm running into people with Legendary cards for which I have no answer (apart from Corruption). Ranked, I can't get above one star at Rank 20.

Obvious questions:

1) How do Zoo decks not leave you exposed?
2) Am I running into a "natural" wall?

Edit: I'm currently running this deck.

[Deleted]

I'm a fairly new (and F2P) player to Hearthsone and apart from the class quests, I use a Warlock. I wanted to build a Demon deck but that doesn't seem possible. I've had some success with a 40-43% Taunt deck but ever since a) I hit level 34 and b) C'thun was released, I've been struggling even in casual mode - although the latter may be coincidence. Even in casual, more and more I'm running into people with Legendary cards for which I have no answer (apart from Corruption). Ranked, I can't get above one star at Rank 20.

I'd say the best and only good place to run a demonlock is in Wild, due to cards like implosion that are not available in standard, but even so, you'll probably run into budget problems, and no matter what, a taunt- / demon deck is not a viable reality. Warrior is the right class for a taunt deck, and probably cheaper to assemble.

About your current deck, a lot of problems with it. First, there is no clear win condition. Second, you have sense demons but the deck only runs three, and two of them, blood imp and felguard, are not worth it. Same goes for summoning portal, demonfuse, and drainlife. Shadowflame are alright but I think I would favor hellfire.

About casual mode... there is no such thing as "just" casual mode. It is literally no different from ranked, except that your rank is invisible. I would recommend just laddering; you're losing nothing by doing so. On the topic of legendaries, which ones are you having trouble with? There are more bad legendaries than good ones, and most have simple counters to them, and they are always cheaper than the legendaries themselves.

Obvious questions:

1) How do Zoo decks not leave you exposed?
2) Am I running into a "natural" wall?

1) Because zoo has the warlock hero power, so they do not run out of steam like the other aggro decks, and they can make surprisingly cost efficient trades.
2) I don't think so. You just need a better direction and to improve your deck. The one thing you'll find is that warlock class cards tend to suck, with a few exceptions, so traditionally most warlock run a lot of neutrals. The two principle warlock decks that comes to mind are C'thun and Zoo. Handlock got hit by the classic nerfs but I imagine renolock is still perfectly viable, in wild if not in standard.

[Dyptheria]

@Dannyl

Many thanks for your responses, it's appreciated.

When I used the term "exposed", I meant in terms of getting smashed with no Taunt card to protect you, considering that 'locks have no healing abilities (apart from Drain Life/Sacrifice). I included the Summoning Portal simply because it allows me to get the heavier cards out more quickly. Not only that, but relatively few opponents recognise the advantage that it brings and tend to leave it alone. You're bang on about Demonfuse though; I keep trying to make it work, and keep failing.

On reflection, you're right about the lack of win condition - the Beholder/Observer was useful for that but it's not available in Standard. I've tried (out of stubborn principle) to avoid a C'thun deck, since I'm sick to death of seeing them, lol. I was thinking of using the Void Terror, but without a Charge ability, it'll get killed on the next turn.

Anyway, I'm going to go away and rethink my deck.

[Erlink]

@Dannyl

Many thanks for your responses, it's appreciated.

When I used the term "exposed", I meant in terms of getting smashed with no Taunt card to protect you, considering that 'locks have no healing abilities (apart from Drain Life/Sacrifice). I included the Summoning Portal simply because it allows me to get the heavier cards out more quickly. Not only that, but relatively few opponents recognise the advantage that it brings and tend to leave it alone. You're bang on about Demonfuse though; I keep trying to make it work, and keep failing.

On reflection, you're right about the lack of win condition - the Beholder/Observer was useful for that but it's not available in Standard. I've tried (out of stubborn principle) to avoid a C'thun deck, since I'm sick to death of seeing them, lol. I was thinking of using the Void Terror, but without a Charge ability, it'll get killed on the next turn.

Anyway, I'm going to go away and rethink my deck.

I used a classic Zoo deck early on before I had any Cards. I experimented a lot with the other classes, but had the Zoo deck whenever I wanted to gain some self-esteem. It can be a bit boring to play, but as you gain rank you start to notice that it matters when you take out their minions and when you hit face.

As for exposure, I too was really hung up on taunts as something to protect my hero, but most people will try to take out your minions even if they don't have taunt, just to prevent you from killing them. Also your opponent will usually have some kind of synergy between Cards in his/her deck, so leaving their minions alive is risky. The Cards are fairly well-balansed as well, so for every taunt card, you can find another card with the same mana cost but with better stats/abilities. The Zoo deck is reliant on dealing damage pretty fast and making good trades, so it has a lot of minions with low cost and high attack values. This enables smaller minions to take out large ones (good trades) and deal a lot of face damage early. Also the amount of minions allows you to choose wich ones to sacrifice and wich ones to keep so that every trade goes in your favour.

If you had chosen taunt Cards instead of these minions you would generally deal less damage, wich will cause you to sacrifice too many Cards to take out one strong or to deal face damage too slow.