alt="Hearthstone Deck Creation" />

With the Hearthstone beta out for a few
weeks now, it has become pretty clear that building a deck in this
game is essential. Sure you can roll for a little while with a
standard deck put into place by the game for you, but only for the
tutorial and the easy version of the AI opponents. If you decide to
face off against the harder version of the AI or real players, you
will find yourself sorely pressed to achieve a victory without
getting your hands dirty and creating your own deck.

Getting Started

Building your deck in Hearthstone is,
thankfully, fairly simple. You bring up the game, hit the “My Collection”
button and then select “New Deck” on the right side
of the screen. From here you select the hero you wish to work with
which restricts you to using only cards that belong to that class, as
well as neutral cards useable by all classes. While it may be
tempting you can't just walk in at this point and throw a slew of
cards together and expect to win matches, it simply doesn't work like
that.

Creating a deck should happen with
knowledgeable and solid choices based on your play style and with the
following information in mind: almost every card in Hearthstone can
be divided into one of three categories. These categories are minion,
utility, and clearing. Almost every well rounded deck in the game
will be comprised of a good combination of all three types of these
cards.

alt="Hearthstone Create Deck" />

Assemble the Minions!

Minion cards are without a doubt
essential to every single deck you create. A deck without minions is
almost like a gun with any ammunition. You will find that you have
access to a variety of minions, including ones themed specifically
for your class, like the Warlock's Voidwalker, and others that are
neutral and available to all classes.

Minions are important to your deck not
only because they do damage to your opponent and his or her minions,
but they also typically give you access to various other useful
abilities. Check out some of the more common ones below:

  • Taunt: Attacking this minion is a MUST
    for enemies before they can attack other minions or your hero.
  • Charge: This minion can attack the same
    turn it is played.
  • Windfury: This minion can attack two
    times in the same turn.
  • Divine Shield: These minions comes
    equipped with a shield that ignores damage the first time it is hit.
  • Draw a Card: This minion allows the
    player to draw a card when it is played or when certain other
    conditions are met.
  • Heal: This minion provides a heal that
    can be used on your hero or on other minions.

Goldshire Footman

Some minion classes also can play off
of each other. One of the most notable examples comes in the form of
Murloc minions. Certain Murlocs have passive abilities that can buff
other Murlocs when they are played together, making it very
beneficial to have more than one. This of course is just but a small
sampling of the abilities and benefits that minions can bring to the
table. However, it should be pretty clear that minions are useful to
have and these cards will typically take up the most slots in your
deck.

Clearing the Opposition

While minions can certainly take care
of other minions, you will often times find yourself a bit
overwhelmed by them and that is where this category of cards come in.
Clearing cards do exactly what the name implies; helps to clear any
and all threats on the board. Basically these cards do damage when
played, without the use of a minion or your hero.

Just about every class in Hearthstone
comes equipped with its own personal clearing cards. Hunters can use
the potent Kill Command, which deals 3 damage (or 5 if you have a
Beast minion played) to a single target, while Mages use Vaporize
which only activates when a minion attacks your hero. Once the minion
has attacked, the minion in question is utterly destroyed.

There are also clearing cards out there
that will target more than just a single minion. Cards like the
Paladin's Consecration, which deals 2 damage to all enemies, will put
a hurting on any and all minions In addition to these, there are also
cards out there that won't kill enemies, but will incapacitate them
instead. An example of this type of card can be seen in the Priest's
Mind Control, which allows you to take total control of an enemy
minion. Certain clearing cards can even damage enemy heroes as well
as enemy minions.

alt="Arcane Explosion Card" />

Clearing cards should take up a much
smaller portion of your deck than minion cards. The standard tends to
be somewhere between 4-8. Remember, having a nice balance of clearing
cards that do single damage, incapacitate, and do mass damage is a
good plan to achieve a well balanced deck.

Utility Cards

While utility based cards aren't
usually as exciting as the other two types of cards in the game, they
are just as essential. These cards provide you with useful advantages
that you can use over the course of a match. Typically these cards
either help to pump up your deck or are used to give your enemy a
headache.

A great example of these types of cards
are secret cards. Secrets are cards that will only activate when a
certain condition is met and your opponent will have no idea what the
condition (or the consequence) will be until they fulfill it. A
Paladin can, for example, use Redemption which will return a minion
to life with one life after it has been killed. A rather annoying
surprise for your enemy.

Other examples of utility based spells
include the Mage's Arcane Intellect, which allows the player to draw
two cards. As well as and the Druid's Wild Growth, which gains the
player an empty Mana Crystal and allows you to play stronger cards
sooner. The average amount of utility cards found in any deck is
around 2-8 depending on your personal play style. Pick cards here
that play to your strengths and compliment the minion and clearing
cards you have chosen.

alt="Arcane Intellect Card" />

Building Your Deck

As you go about creating your deck it
is essential that you find a good balance of the three types of cards
mentioned above. You must also find a happy balance of cheap and
expensive cards in your deck. Also be sure to pick cards that seem
fit your personal play style and abilities. Your very first deck may
not be successful, mine wasn't. Don't get discouraged. Jump back in
there and try new cards until you find a selection that works for
you. Eventually things will click and you will become an unstoppable
card playing force.

Do you have any tips or tricks to
creating a deck in Hearthstone? Share them with us in the comment
section below!


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Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

About The Author

Amunet, also fondly known as Memtron, is an organic life form best known for its ongoing obsession with Blizzard Entertainment's numerous properties. To that end, Amu has authored hundreds (thousands?) of the most popular World of Warcraft guides, editorials, and Top 10 lists on the planet. When not gaming and writing, Amu is busy chasing after her three children in a perpetual loop of ongoing disaster.

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