It’s been two expansions since Mean Streets Of Gadgetzan , yet Jades and Pirates are still the strongest meta decks currently in Hearthstone. It doesn’t matter how many awesome and unique cards were released in Journey To Un’Goro and Knights Of The Frozen Throne – nothing comes close to being able to usurp Patches sitting on his Jade throne.
Reddit user SeraphHS posted to the Hearthstone subreddit: “I don't think this number of new cards has been released without the two top decks being unseated ever before in Hearthstone.” Why haven’t any other archetypes jumped to tier-S and what can be done to stop it?
Pirates And Jades For Days
Hearthstone is a game that can be played two different ways: using aggressive decks to knock your opponent out before they have a chance to fight back, or outlast your opponent until they’re out of resources and are unable to fight back. Since the early days of Hearthstone, decks like Zoolock and Control Warrior have dominated the higher tiers of play because they can outlast nearly everyone. When these archetypes stepped onto the scene and powerful cards like Reno Jackson disappeared from Standard, it left a void that happened to get filled by a patchy murloc and a Pandaren who’s best friends with a golem.
Pirates are the quintessential aggro deck, they’re able to deal damage every single turn, choosing to spend all their deck space on cards with little to no defensive capabilities. N’zoth’s First Mate pulls Patches out of the deck, followed by a Bloodsail Raider and Bloodsail Cultist gives you at least 10 damage by turn three. There isn’t a deck in this entire game that can curve out that fast and that consistently. If I’m playing against Pirate Warrior, I know I either have to hope that I pull enough Taunts out of my deck to keep me alive, or else that Arcanite Reaper is going to slap me for lethal damage.
Jades are a lot more complicated than Pirates, mainly because it requires some thought to play them. In Shaman, Jade Lightning and Jade Claws are used as early game clear, gaining some extra board pressure for their troubles. In Evolve Shaman, those pesky 1/1 and 2/2 golems start to matter, since they can turn into cards with some actual power. The real problem with Jades lies with Druid, who have access to an unlimited supply of gem monsters. Any deck with fatigue as a win condition loses automatically, even with Skulking Geist around to combat the infinite stream of Jade Idols. Jade Druid is the ultimate survivor – if it can make it to late-game after summoning a few golems, you’re going to have a bad time.
Aya Blackpaw personifies Jade’s problem perfectly. It’s a card that can rarely be beat in value, making it the best possible card to play on turn six. You can counter it with a Hex or Spellbreaker , but if you don’t, then your opponent just added two more golems to the gene pool. Your opponent can’t catch up if you’ve pushed the ship into hyperdrive, which is what makes playing against her so annoying. Combine all of these tools with Ultimate Infestation and Jade Druid just cannot be beat.
What Can Be Done?
Blizzard has avoided nerfs for these two archetypes for months, but they can’t wait any longer. Druid is the strongest class in the game, with Jade being its strongest incarnation. Pirates still struggle around higher ranks, but it’s dominant as fuck in ranks 10 to 15. Blizzard needs to nerf Ultimate Infestation and Aya Blackpaw if they want any chance of having another class at the top of the ladder. Patches, who has been a thorn in my side since last December, needs to go away as well. He’s not a healthy a card, giving anyone who summons a Pirate a free trading tool that can be buffed with ease.
Do you think these decks are manageable and I’m being a little brat, or does Blizzard really need to step their nerf game up? Reply in the comments and in 7 to 8 business weeks, you’ll get your very own Stretch Armstrong in the mail.
