Each week, we'll be bringing you the top performing decks from the most recent top level Hearthstone tournaments. This week, we'll be looking at week 7 of the Archon Team League. Cloud9 and Value Town have ended with the best records, finishing a strong 5-2. The decks on this list likely won't come as a huge shock, with two of them making appearances virtually every week. With both personal and team pride on the line, this tournament gives us great insight into what the players thought the strongest decks are right now. With all of the deck lists available to us, we can see which archetypes were the most popular amongst the pros participating. If you want to know what the strongest deck types are right now, look no further!
...at least, that last part is what we usually say. The fact is, this is the last iteration of this feature before the release of The Grand Tournament, which has introduced a variety of new strategies. How viable any of those new deck types are in high-level tournament play, but look forward to finally seeing some new decks in future versions of Top Decks of the Week! For now, enjoy the last list from before the release of TGT.
1) Patron Warrior
Patron Warrior has constantly been at the top of this list for the Archon Team League, proving its worth as arguably the strongest deck available when piloted by a talented player. Tech cards like Shield Block have now become almost standard, but it's still the same deck you know and love (or hate.) Make no mistake about it; despite its immense popularity, Patron Warrior is not simple to play. Particularly in a tournament environment against skilled opponents, the player definitely needs to be on top of their game. When they are, Grim Patron, Warsong Commander and Frothing Berserker become some of the scariest cards in the game. This is a true combo deck, yet boasts a fair amount of removal with cards like Whirlwind, Cruel Taskmaster, Execute, and the weapons able to remove threats (with some of those doubling as activators for the Patron and Berserker as well.) If you're ready to GET IN HERE, this is the list that was played by Value Town's Trump this week:
2) Freeze Mage
The deck has bounced around in its placement on this list, but Freeze Mage has always been one of the more popular choices for the pros. This deck looks to play very passively early on, simply stalling with cards like Ice Barrier, as well as the Frost Nova/Doomsayer combo to keep the board clear. The late game is an entirely different story, as Alexstrasza and Archmage Antonidas mean that just a couple spells can quickly decimate your opponent's life total. Ice Block serves as a way to guarantee an extra turn to set up the kill, while Emperor Thaurissan makes it that much easier to pull off. Freeze Mage is a very reactionary deck for most of the game, but absolutely explodes once it's ready to claim victory. It's not the easiest deck to pilot, but can be extremely effective in the right hands. If freezing people before flinging fireballs at them sounds appealing, take a look at the deck list Firebat used for Team Archon this week:
3) Hybrid Hunter
Hunter always seems to stick around in one form or another, doesn't it? We're all (far too) familiar with Face Hunter, and last week's list saw Mid-Range Hunter rise back to prominence. This week, the pros in ATLC seemed to favor Hybrid Hunter, which (as it's name suggests) blends those two styles together. The deck still plays extremely aggressively with cards like Leper Gnome, Knife Juggler, and Arcane Golem looking to put down a lot of damage in a hurry. However, unlike the Face Hunter lists which often don't play any cards over 3 mana, Hybrid will look to have a bit of late-game insurance in the form of minions such as Piloted Shredder and Loatheb. If you're looking for a SMOrc'ing good time while still having a few big minions to play after turn four, check out the deck list from Tempo/Storm's Gaara:
That wraps things up for this week, but we want to know your thoughts. What decks have you been having the most success with? What archetype is most likely to become the new flavor of the month? Tell us in the comments below!
Want to know how things compare to the meta of weeks past? Check out our previous top decks articles!
August 19th, 2015: Archon Team League, Week 6
August 12th, 2015: Archon Team League, Week 5
July 30th, 2015: Archon Team League, Week 4
July 22nd, 2015: Archon Team League, Week 3
July 15th, 2015: Archon Team League, Week 2
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