Rank 5: Cleansing Fire – the Dragon Priest
With the expansion “Blackrock Mountain,” Blizzard gave classes more opportunities to play better with dragons. The idea was that large dragons in hand should influence the game even before they were play-worthy. This idea worked best with the Dragon Priest. It is also one of the few variations that gave the legendary card “Frostmaw” a real chance to be played. “May the Light burn you!”
Rank 4: Who am I? The Secret Paladin
The “little plague” of 2015 was the Secret Paladin. This one relied on the “Mysterious Knight,” who often brought 3-4 secrets into play at once. With so many traps, it was nearly impossible to play around these effects, and the secret keeper had likely never been in such a mana frenzy as before. The Secret Paladin still stubbornly maintains its position in the meta, although strategies against it are slowly beginning to emerge. In this case, Reno Jackson is also essential.
Rank 3: Overload for All – the Totem Shaman
For a long time, totems were just scoffed at, and the Shaman really struggled to establish himself in the meta. “The Grand Tournament” gave Thrall several powerful cards to develop into a Totem Shaman. The “Totem Golem” and the “Tuskarr Totemic” gave the Shaman such a significant tempo advantage that even rush decks had little chance of keeping up. At the same time, this deck represented one of the few success moments for “Al’Akir the Windlord”—one of the perhaps worst legendary cards in the game at that time.
Rank 2: The Terror Reign of the Patron Warrior
In second place, the Grim Patron Warrior has landed, which experienced its great rise but also its fall due to the biggest nerf in Hearthstone’s history this year.
Together with the Warsong Commander, the Grim Patron was virtually unstoppable and could cause over 20 damage in a single turn thanks to cards like “Whirlwind.” Because this combination was too strong, the Warsong Commander was nerfed—she no longer grants charge and is now considered one of the worst cards in the game.
Nevertheless, all players will remember the terror reign of this warrior for a long time.
Rank 1: Eternal Pain – the Face Hunter
It is hardly surprising what the most popular and also probably most hated deck of the past year was. The Face Hunter was very popular, as the games were always quick and ensured a rapid rise on the ladder to secure a position in the upper ranks.
Moreover, the deck requires no high playing time and is relatively easy to play. The motto is almost always “Ignore everything and go for the face!” which led to heated discussions about whether Blizzard should provide players with more protective mechanisms to curb rush decks.
A parody song perfectly expresses it all.
Was your favorite deck on this list?
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