The expansion Dr. Boom’s Secret Lab completely disrupted the meta in Hearthstone. Currently, many Combo and OTK decks are encountered. However, a gnome bravely stands against these decks.
What are Combo decks? Combo decks rely on playing a very specific combination of cards. With this, these decks can either win the game or gain a significant advantage. Often, such decks are nerfed by Blizzard afterwards.
For example, an earlier combo was Nature’s Wrath in conjunction with Wild Growth. Nature’s Wrath created three 2/2 Treants with Charge, while Wild Growth gives all characters +2 attack. This results in 14 damage without major preparation, allowing for an easy victory (12 from the Treants and 2 from your druid).
Now, the Treants no longer have Charge.
One-Turn-Kill – the scourge of Hearthstone right now
What are OTK decks? OTK stands for “One Turn Kill” and is a specific form of Combo deck. The combo relies on killing the opponent in the turn in which you start playing the combo.
However, the OTK category is increasingly being expanded. This also includes decks where you do not defeat the opponent in the same turn, but in one of the following turns instead.
There are plenty of examples for OTK decks, even though many of them are no longer playable today:
- The Grim Patron Warrior summoned a whole host of minions with the Grim Patron and the War Hymn Leader. Whenever a Patron died, a new one took its place.
- Mages combined Antonidas, Time Warp, and the Sorcerer’s Apprentice. With four Apprentices, a Fireball costs no mana anymore. And thanks to Antonidas, you get a new Fireball every time.
- The Grumble repeated every previously played Battlecry. If you didn’t die of that, you certainly did of fatigue. Such turns could take 10 minutes or longer.
How to defeat Combo decks in the current Hearthstone
The greatest weakness of Combo decks is that they depend on certain cards. As long as these cards are not drawn, the deck is largely harmless. And if you lose these cards, the game is decided. Therefore, there are different ways to beat such a deck.
High pressure at the beginning: OTK decks need to delay the game. Therefore, they have many Control cards in the deck. For example, Mages can freeze opponents or destroy them with area damage.
If you start playing minions from the beginning and increase the pressure, you force the opponent to use all their answers early on, so they have nothing later. Some Combo decks are forced to forgo their combo this way. So cards that are actually part of the combo are played too early.
Letting the opponent overdraw: As soon as you have 10 cards in hand, every additional drawn card is automatically destroyed. You can take advantage of this effect by letting the opponent draw too many cards.
This is possible, for example, if the opponent plays Acolyte of Pain. If you only deal one damage to it, the opponent draws a lot of cards. If they go over 10 cards this way, they lose the following ones. The Deepwater Oracle is even more extreme, as it draws two cards.
Gnome Vampire kills combos with a bit of luck
Using Gnomferatu: If you don’t want to or can’t give the opponent 10 cards in hand, Gnomferatu is a good alternative. This gnome can destroy the top card of the opponent’s deck. And if this destroyed card was important for the combo, Gnomferatu has decided the duel. Otherwise, with stats of 2/3 for 2 mana, it is still usable.
Don’t have a deck yet? With these 3 new Standard decks you’ll have a lot of fun.
