The best decks of Kobolds & Catacombs at the moment

Kobolds & Catacombs is Hearthstone’s latest expansion, which released last weekend showing a lot of new decks being tested. However, many players focus on Dungeon Run mode, a novel combination of Arena, Ranked and previous Solo Adventures, it is really the highlight of Kobolds & Catacombs.

Not only adding to the existing decks, they are also more powerful choices from the new set, players also create completely new deck types. They make up a large part of the current popular Standard decks, some of which even have the potential to dominate the meta in the near term. Whether it’s just a few more cards or a brand new deck, they all have their own interesting points.

Big Ramp Druid (Kolento)

This 3/1 Minion is added to Druid’s list of ramp service cards.

Druid is doing what this class does best before K&C: ramping mana and constantly playing big monsters. Greedy Sprite and Twig of the World Tree are new additions to Druid’s ramping ability, and Lesser Jasper Spellstone helps clear some early game minions. With Ultimate Infestation and even 2 Earthen Scales cards, we have absolutely no problem upgrading the Spellstone card.

Malygos is an interesting choice, and with the inclusion of Twig of the World Tree, Malygos can help Druid create very powerful AoE or use it to burn enemies’ health. The first weapon for the Druid class fills up with 10 mana even if you’ve run out of it on your turn, and it allows for some very nasty combos.

The Druid is probably the class that benefits the least from this expansion, but some cards have also been added to Aggro Druid and Jade Druid such as Corridor Creeper or Arcane Tyrant.

Big Hunter (Thijs)

Summoning 4 minions with a total of 12/12 with only 5 mana is an extremely powerful way for Hunter to continue to apply pressure after clearing the table.

A completely new deck for Hunter in K&C, not playing even 1 minion at all. Previously Hunter also had a deck that played mainly magic, which was the Yogg-and-Load deck, but this is the first time that minions have been completely removed from a Hunter deck. This deck is based on new cards like Wandering Monster, Flanking Strike, Lesser Emerald Spellstone, To My Side and Rhok’delar, all of which require no minions in the deck.

The deck built by Thijs is not without minions, but only has 5 minions in total, removing To My Side and Rhok’delar, two cards that are only strong when your deck has no minions, and replaced with Hunter’s Legendary, Kathrena Winterwisp. This ensures that when playing Kathrena will call out Savannah Highmane or King Krush.

Secret Mage (TeamLUL)

Weapons from the K&C version allow the Aggro Mage to keep pace with opponents, whether aggro or control.

TeamLUL used this Mage deck in the Trinity Series tournament this past weekend, and it’s an upgraded version of the Aggro Mage decks that have appeared in the past.

Some 1 mana minions create early pressure, combined with new cards like Explosive Runes and Corridor Creeper, an unlikely hot boy from K&C. Explosive Runes not only almost certainly kills minions played on turn 3 or 4, but also deals an extra amount of damage to the opponent’s face.

Although this deck uses fewer new cards than the other decks introduced, with the Auneth weapon, Aggro Mage can continuously pressurize without worrying about running out of cards, the biggest weakness of this type of deck before.

The strategy of this Mage deck is to spam 5/5 minions (Kabal Crystal Runner & Corridor Creeper) combined with Secrets, so far it has been quite effective.

Dragon Highlander Priest (Mpi)

Hellfire and Abyssal Enforcer have always played an important role in Warlock decks. Priest now owns a card with the same effect, but does no damage to himself and has 3/3 for 4 mana.

Highlander Priest is probably still the most worth playing deck of this class. The perfect combination of Raza the Chained and Shadowreaper Anduin is clearly still the most powerful in the Standard, but even this deck has room for new additions.

With the Dragon core, Highlander Priest uses Duskbreaker to keep the rhythm of the early game before picking up enough combos on his hand. Twilight Acolyte is an effective tool for dealing with your opponent’s large monsters. And since it will soon drop to 0 mana, Corridor Creeper has a place in this deck too!

Finally, Psychic Scream. This card was originally used in the Big Priest deck, since most of your minions go to the field after turn 7. For Highlander Priest, maybe we’ll give the opponent some of our minions. Anyway, that’s a very small price to clear the table and not trigger a single Deathrattle, not to mention it also destroys the deck and reduces the chances of the opponent’s top deck.

Kingsbane Miracle Rogue (Thijs)

Draws for specific types are usually strong, and with Shynifinder being able to accurately draw Kingsbane, it becomes a key card in this Rogue deck.

Another deck from Dutch gosu Thijsml, but this time Kingsbane is the card that defines the deck’s gameplay. It uses Leeching Poison and Deadly Poison to buff this legendary weapon, and thanks to the Cavern Shynifinder we can instantly pick up this weapon.

In addition, this deck uses the new epic Fal’dorei Strider to spam some 4/4 spiders on the field when Ambush cards are drawn. It is very popularly played in Rogue decks and is often played with both cards.

Not surprisingly, this deck feels like Miracle Rogue, enhanced with K&C cards. An interesting card used is the Doomerang, and Rogue’s new Legendary Sonya Shadowdancer also finds its place in this deck.

Elemental Shaman (Kranich)

Reusing the Battlecry of Fire Elemental, Kalimos or Blazecaller is the recipe for victory.

This Elemental Shaman deck uses a few new cards like Murmuring Elemental, Healing Rain, Grumble, Worldshaker and Zola the Gorgon.

Although not appreciated in K&C, but Grumble pairs really well with this deck, which has a lot of Elemental with strong battlecry. Murmuring Elemental combines Zola the Gorgon to create great value, and adds Healing Rain as the reverse version of Volcano (we all know how powerful Volcano is).

If you’re looking for a Shaman deck that doesn’t follow the Evolve gameplay, this is the perfect place to start exploring the K&C meta.

Big Warrior (Eloise)

The versatility of this card is exactly what the Warrior needs. Sometimes it’s a threat, sometimes it’s clearing the table, and sometimes it’s -15-armor-in-emergency.

K&C allows multiple classes to play towards big monsters. Control Warrior has always had that style of play in some way, but now it can even play quite like Big Priest. Instead of using Barnes, Shadow Essence, and Eternal Servitude to summon big monsters, Warrior uses new cards like Woecleaver or Gather Your Party to do it.

Sleepy Dragon has replaced Primordial Drake, but if the Freezing Trap makes a lot of appearances this could change.

This Warrior Deck also uses a Forge of Souls card to draw the key weapon Woecleaver. Dead Man’s Hand is also a good choice for this deck: if you can add a significant amount of monsters to the deck, you won’t drain large monster sources so quickly if the launched monsters are destroyed.

Buff Paladin (DDaHyoNi)

A +4/+2 buff is not to be taken lightly, and being able to repeat it while equipping a 4/2 weapon is a real headache for a lot of opponents.

DDaHyoNi is a Sydney Invitational finalist and 25% of his Paladin deck is new cards, with the main goal being to either create a giant Lynessa Sunsorrow or take advantage of Val’anyr’s great value.

Although the spells used to buff our minion are only Spikeridged Steed and Potion of Heroism, if you buff a few spells, Lynessa will have a huge stats when playing, not to mention effects like Taunt or Divine Shield .

An interesting choice for this deck is Call to Arms. With only 6 minions no larger than 2 mana, the ability to summon Doomsayer is quite large, so it is possible that this card can be used to summon Doomsayer if this 0/7 minion cannot be drawn.

Silver Vanguard can also provide decent value: we play a 7 mana card to summon an 8 mana minion (if tradeable and not silenced), plus its 3/3 stat.

Buff Paladin is not a new deck, but K&C has given it more tools to become stronger in the meta.

Control Warlock (NaviOOT)

Without Hex, Polymorph, hand return spells or transformation spells, Voidlord would be a 9 mana 6/18 minion with 4 Taunts. Not to mention because it is a Demon, it can be called up very early with the Voidcaller (in the Wild).

NaviOOT won the Sydney Invitational last weekend, and Control Warlock is a deck he has used. With 6 more cards from K&C, it’s clear that this is a deck with huge potential.

Kobold Librarian is obviously extremely powerful: Life Tap 1 mana and extra 2/1 body, not to mention can upgrade the Lesser Amethyst Spellstone in hand. Meanwhile, Voidlord is a great defensive minion, erecting an impenetrable wall for aggro decks. Not to mention being a Demon, Voidlord can synergy with other cards of the Warlock class, which can especially be recalled with Bloodreaver Gul’dan.

Vulgur Homunuculus is another Demon with Spellstone upgradeability and is well suited to multiplayer Taunt gameplay. When it comes to Taunt, one card that gets a huge boost to Warlock in the K&C patch is Stonehill Defender, as we’ll have a very high chance of finding a Voidlord in the 3 picks. Finally, Bane of Doom is another potential spell with the ability to summon Demons from Flame Imp to… well, Voidlord.

summary

The K&C expansion has been out for almost a week, and we’ve already seen how it affects the Hearthstone meta: the arrival of new decks, the upgrade of old decks. Let’s wait and see how the meta will change in the next few weeks.

Source: PCGamer