The Current Meta: What to Prepare for at Tournaments

Tempo, tempo, tempo, tempo!

This is probably the most tempo-aggressive meta we have had in a long time.

There are now countless ways to pick up extra stats as early as turn 3: spells, Dark Gifts, Activate minions and so on.

Because of that, players can put together very strong boards right from the start of the game.

Your main job is to lose as least Health as possible before turn 9, otherwise you risk taking 10–15 damage per fight from opponents who went all in on early tempo.

How to tempo

• Look for ways to strengthen your board. Even small bonuses on the early turns can decide a fight.
• Do not buy weak cards just to fill the board. Gold is better spent on spells or Activate minions if they give you more power.
• Do not be afraid to use the early Dark Gifts. You still have to survive until the late game!
• Use Activate minions and spells to get the most out of every Gold.
• Pick Trinkets with an immediate payoff. Do not sacrifice tempo for a potentially strong late game if your board is already behind.

When to level

Do not rush the early level-ups. Against strong tempo boards it can be very hard to stabilise.

The main principle: if you can strengthen your board or improve your economy right now, do it. If there are no good options, consider levelling.

Rough timings for raising your Tavern Tier:

These are not hard rules. Go by the strength of your board and the state of the lobby.

What to play in the late game

With a full face or not, you made it to turn 9!

A little longer and the late game begins, so now is the time to decide what to play next.

Demons

A simple, stable and reliable option.

There are three main ways to play Demons right now, but all of them come down to two key steps:

• Pump the Tavern: raise the stats of the minions in it as high as you can.
• Eat as many Tavern minions as possible, turning their stats into the strength of your own board.

1. Masochist Demons

Buy Imposing Percussionist to cycle with Brann, damage coins, any targeted low-cost spells for Devilish Distractor and Fandral's Fortune for an occasional Boundless Potential.

2. Demons through spells

3. Demons through Deathrattles

If you find Wrathguard early, around turn 5–6, it can be a good target to click each turn and quickly find Titus for scaling, although most of the time you would swap him for Distractor.

Quilboar

They generate a huge number of spells and can cast them several times over.

That makes Quilboar a great fit for compositions that scale with the number of spells cast.

1. Quilboar through Amalgam

A few golden Hot-Airs, any spell buffs and playing Blood Gems on Amalgam with a Cleave, Scam or Aberrations for Y'Shaarj.

2. Quilboar through Felboar

3. Quilboar that just play Blood Gems from hand

This really can work if you pump the Blood Gems.

4. Choose One Quilboar

Weaker than the other Quilboar builds, but sometimes it is the best you can come up with.

Beasts

Beasts have a universal APM combination that can trigger any Deathrattle during the buy phase: golden Gryphon, the Fish plus the Tier 6 Chicken.

1. Lobsters

2. Beetles

3. Leviathan

Surprisingly, this works when there are no Undead in the lobby. Just do not forget about the monkeys.

Mechs

They are a bit hard to assemble right now, but with the Tier 7 Mech and enough time, anything is possible.

1. APM Mechs

Buy Magnetic minions and economy, find Conniver for Beatboxer and just spend Gold.

2. Loooots of Magnetic and spells

Shards fit in here perfectly. Careful: if you do not find the Tier 6 Mech, you lose.

Murlocs

Murlocs are simple:

• Buff a minion in your hand.
• Then use its stats several times.
• Did not work out? Scam.

1. Scam

2. Hand buff

3. For the old-schoolers (hard to assemble)

You need a lot of economy and luck to put this together early.

Aberrations

The true kings of the mid game!

Aberrations consistently build some of the strongest boards on turns 6–9.

In the late game, though, their power gradually falls off and they start losing to other compositions.

1. Converter build

Only if C'Thun is in the lobby.

2. Hand discard

Best played with Y'Shaarj. Too weak for the deep late game, but it comfortably gets you to a top 2–3, unless you have a Sludge Portrait.

Undead

The main problem with Undead is the lack of early tempo.

The first card that can properly scale Attack is on Tier 4.

It is better to go Undead closer to the late game, because that is where their real strength lies.

1. Undead through Attack scaling

2. APM Undead

Good luck spinning all of that around!

3. Eternal Knights

The game gives you lots of Eternal Knights: take them.

Use Snazzy Phantom well and you get a very strong board quickly.

Dragons

Dragons are very weak right now.

Their tempo is poor and their late game is terrible.

1. Dragons through Divine Shields

If you found Hopebringer early, you can give this a go.

Pirates

Pirates give you:

• A way to dig up Tier 7 cards.
• Infinite economy from just two cards.

Use that to play into other combinations.

1. Pirates with Mechs

The same minions and the same plan as APM Mechs above.

2. Pirates with Undead

Just do not forget to replace the Pirates before the final fight with more Handless and other token generators.

3. Pirates with Aberrations

With C'Thun, use Conniver to stabilize through Sha of Fear and just buff C'Thun.