Hello everyone and welcome to another Touchstone Tavern, our weekly Hearthstone (Free) column that brings together the best news and videos from the previous seven day. And what happened in the world of Hearthstone last week? Rogue Quest is still being talked about but not to the extent it had been the last couple of weeks. Instead, there were plenty of positive stories that talked about how great the Un’Goro meta is at the moment. We also have the best decks to play right now as well as the best decks if you’re low on cards and dust. There’s even a Street Fighter story today. Let us begin.
Un’Goro Has Created the Best Meta in Years
According to this article, the Un’Goro expansion has given us the best meta in years, especially now that we’re seeing fewer Quest Rogues. The reason is the new Un’Goro cards and mechanics have allowed for the creation of a lot of great new decks instead of just reinforcing already dominant ones. The writer then goes through all the different decks one can build in all 9 classes, a testament to the many viable decks Un’Goro has created. Although we might end up seeing that variety shrink down to a few super decks, the fact remains that the current meta is the best in a long time.
Why Have Quest Cards Mostly Missed the Mark?
As its title hints at, this article is all about the new Quest cards and how the new mechanic seems to have failed, although that shouldn’t worry players. While he really enjoys the expansion, the writer also thinks that the Quest decks have either not made an impact at all or the ones that have seen play are gradually being supplanted by superior non-Quest decks. The Mage Quest, for instance, has been supplanted by Freeze Mage while Warrior and Rogue aren’t very interesting to play now that they’ve been figured out. He points out that he was worried once he started seeing some of the Quests because they didn’t seem to encourage interactivity. He considers the most interesting Hearthstone experiences to be the ones where both players play a kind of tug-of-war instead of rushing to a goal without caring what the other player is doing. He does think the Quests can be easily tweaked to be more powerful, but he does believe that will be tricky to get right.
Legend Taunt Warrior Guide
If you want to see how to pilot Taunt Warrior decks to Legend, check out this guide by Bell, a very good CCG player. He talks about the way you should go about building this deck, what each card is supposed to do in the deck, and then how you should pilot the deck against the different kind of decks you’ll be facing. A very useful guide that you should read if you’re planning on going the Taunt Warrior way.
Rogue Quest Deck is Annoying but not OP
The Rogue Quest continues to be in the center of any conversation about the Un’Goro meta, even though not as badly as in the recent past, with many players very annoyed at how prevalent the Quest is. The writer of this story talks about how prior to the expansion, many pros considered the Rogue Quest to be too slow and inefficient, but now everyone has discovered that most players can easily complete it as long as their draw is decent. And while Midrange Hunter can take out Quest Rogue before the quest kicks in, Midrange Hunter gets smashed by Taunt Warrior, so you can’t just play Midrange Hunter and hope for the best. However, Quest Rogue has around a 50 percent win rate, which typically means the deck is well-balanced, and the deck also requires skill to get right. The writer points out that decks like Quest Rogue are the kinds of decks he loves seeing in Hearthstone—skill-based, relatively-cheap, and with clear counters.
Street Fighters’ Guile Is Hiding in Hearthstone
If you like Easter eggs, this is the story for you. Apparently, Stormwatcher, a neutral common minion with Windfury, shouts “Sonic Boom" when attacking, the famous name for one of Guile’s attack moves in Street Fighter. I love little things like this one.
Get to Legend With These Six Pro Un’Goro Decks
If you’re looking to hit Legend this month (good luck with that), check out these 6 powerful decks that come with mini guides. There’s Quest Rogue, Taunt Warrior, Midrange Hunter, Jade/Elemental Shaman, Exodia Mage, and, of course, Pirate Warrior. Check them all out here.
Wacky Wild Decks
If you feel like walking on the Wild side this week, check out these pretty crazy and fun decks focused on Deathrattle effects. There’s a Silver Hand Deathrattle Paladin, Tentacle Ramp Druid, Reno Rattle Roll, and more. Some of the decks are on the expensive side, but if you have the cards and want to see how the other half (or less than half) of the Hearthstone world plays, check them out here.
Low Budget Standard Un’Goro Decks
If you don’t have a great collection or much dust to spare, check out these cheap Standard decks. Most of these decks are in the 1000-dust range, so they are pretty doable, but that doesn’t mean they are weak. There’s a strong Midrange Hunter deck, an OTK Priest, an Elemental Shaman, an Egg Druid, and more. Ladder climbing on the cheap. You can see all the decklists here.
The Meta at the Global Games
The opening rounds of the Global Games have concluded, so now we can see what the pros have been playing and how the Un’Goro meta looks like in a tournament setting. This story pulled together all the decks from the games and talked about the state of the Quests, of Elementals, and more. Overall, it’s clear there’s still uncertainty around what decks work the best in each class, so we should still expect archetypes to change. Read the story for more details.
Un’Goro WTF Moments #92
Is Power Creep a Good Thing?
Kolento’s Freeze Masterpiece
Best of Day9
Trolden’s Funny and Lucky Moments #241
Best of Elise the Trailblazer
Kripp on the Most Degenerate Un’Goro Deck
Kazakus Priest Has Potential
7 Cards that Un’Goro Has Buffed
Biggest Un’Goro Fails
20 Damage Boar
As always, we have some good resources on the site for you in case you are new to the game or simply want to sharpen up your game. There’s never such a thing as too much help in Hearthstone, so check out our guides.
Hearthstone Deck-building Guide
