Letter from the meta: This week's top Hearthstone decks

A note from the editor: Metabomb is Gamer Network's specialist competitive gaming site with a particular emphasis on Hearthstone. Each week we're inviting the team to bring you a round-up of all the biggest news and events they've been covering.

Welcome to another of our weekly updates on all things Hearthstone!

Once again we're highlighting all of the the biggest stories that have come out of the game over the last week or so. We've also got the usual overview of the most competitive decks being played on the Standard ladder right now, so do dip into those if you're looking for something to make the monthly climb with.

We've made a few tweaks to the homepage this week so that news and features are now separate from one another. I hope you find the change makes it easier to find the latest articles, rather than just updates we've made to existing guides. If you have any feedback about any other area of Metabomb, do get in touch with me via our contact page.

Hearthstone

Last weekend was all about the final matches of the HCT Summer Championship, and it was Surrender who proved victorious in the end. The Choose Your Champion promotion - where players receive free packs for picking a competitor - was active, and we've got a breakdown of how many packs you'll receive based on the progress of your chosen player. Ready for more of the same? The big finale takes place in Amsterdam next January.

You're going to need a stiff drink to make it through the entirety of our story about a handful of changes that are being made to Hearthstone's fundamental gameplay mechanics. In order to avoid certain counter-intuitive plays from occurring in the future, gameplay engineer Josh Durica has outlined changes being made that will tweak game board trigger zones and interaction sequencing.

Last week we brought you news of a player who'd collected every last Hearthstone card at a cost of around $1900 dollars, but what happens when you open 1,000 packs after gathering every golden card? With no duplicates to get in the way of the numbers, the end result provides us with some very interesting stats about card distribution.

If you yourself have been diligently throwing your wallet and/or time at Hearthstone for the last few years, you may have logged in this week to find your card collection broken and an ability to start a match. At the time of preparing this article the problem was still unresolved, so we've got a workaround for you which should provide a temporary fix while Blizzard gets a patch out.

Hot on the heels of Overwatch's Halloween festivities, Hearthstone is getting its own event called Hallow's End. We've put a Hallow's End guide together which goes into greater detail about what's coming to the game, but you can expect free packs and arena tickets, a new "dual class" version of Arena, and a Tavern Brawl that sees you attempting to take down the Headless Horseman.

Until that rolls around, there's the regular Tavern Brawl to enjoy. This week marks the return - yet again - of ShiftCon, which stuffs your chosen hero's deck with spells and copies of Shifter Zerus, who turns into a random minion at the start of each turn. Not a particular favourite of ours to be honest, and it can be quite frustrating to finish. Still, there's a free Classic card pack in it as always.

Top Hearthstone decks - 22nd October 2017

Here's our updated snapshot of the top ten decks being played in the Hearthstone meta right now. For a deck list and guide to playing each one, just click through to the article in question.

• 1. Tempo Rogue - Although Tempo Rogue has been around for a little while, it's only really risen up the rankings since last month's rebalancing patch made competitive room for it. It's certainly nice to see a non-Miracle options for this hero.
• 2. Highlander Priest - If you've a solid understanding of the meta, what your opponents are likely to be playing, and how to efficiently make use of your removal options as a result, this is arguably more powerful than Tempo Rogue. It's not recommended for casual or new players though.
• 3. Jade Druid - Sorry if you'd had enough of this omnipresent archetype, but although the recent nerfs have tamed Jade Druid a little bit it's still an intimidating force on the Standard ladder in Season 43.
• 4. Evolve Shaman - Is it a good or a bad thing that such an RNG-dependant deck was used by so many HCT competitors last weekend? We think it's kind of cool there's a space for a deck like this on the competitive ladder, and it's pretty much the Shaman's only option right now.
• 5. Murloc Paladin - Murloc Paladin is slipping a little and almost certainly won't be placed quite as high in the next edition of Letter from the Meta. It's still very strong in the right hands though, and everyone should try it once if they have the cards.
• 6. Zoo Warlock - Despite not being a Tier 1 deck this is actually the archetype I'm laddering with this month. I've missed it too much to let this rare competitive opportunity pass me by and it's hugely satisfying to pilot. You can find other versions of the deck that don't feature Bloodreaver Gul'Dan if you lack that Legendary card.
• 7. Aggro Token Druid - If all you care about is making speedy progress up the ladder, this is probably your fastest deck. Don't be fooled by the name though - as with Zoo it's vital you perform a little light board-control in the earliest stages of every game.
• 8. Pirate Warrior - This one keeps going back to the drawing board since the nerfs went live, and we wouldn't be surprised to see even more fundamental changes to the deck list by the time next Sunday rolls around. It's kind of nice to see it struggling though, eh?
• 9. Midrange Paladin - Although this deck shares a great deal in common with Murloc Paladin, it has a weightier finish and so stands as a separate archetype for now. Sooner or later these two are going to blend together or make the other irrelevant. We'll retire the losing archetype if that happens.
• 10. Secret Tempo Mage - Secret Mage continues to develop along its well-established tempo theme, and it's certainly the strongest option for the hero right now. Note that Control - or Burn - Mage is becoming increasingly popular in the current climate. Let's see how the next week or so goes in that regard.

Fancy a walk on the Wild side? We're ramping up our coverage of Hearthtone's Wild format at the moment, and have deck guides for playing Wild Giants Hunter, Wild Giants Druid, Wild Token Druid and Wild Aggro Shaman. Expect more of these to show up on the site over the next week or so.

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