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 round-up of everything that's been happening in Blizzard-land over the last week or so! We've got a recap of all the latest Hearthstone and Overwatch news, as well as a sprinkling of guides for some of the old and new content in both games.

As always, if you have any feedback about the site do get in touch with me either on Twitter or via the Metabomb contact page. I read and reply to all of the emails that come through there so don't be shy.

Hearthstone

First up, Blizzard has finally responded to the issue of players gaming the Fireside Gathering system in order to unlock new Warlock hero Nemsy Necrofizzle. Certain members of the community have been setting up fake or misleading gatherings, but be warned: Blizzard may take action against accounts involved in any unscrupulous activities.

In more lighthearted news, an enterprising Redditor has discovered a whole host of Easter Eggs in the recent Hallow's End trailer. References to some notoriously overpowered cards of years gone by can be found littering the trailer's tombstones.

The Hallow's End celebration is live for the next week or so, and we've put together a couple of guides for handling the new Dual-Class Arena mode, and the Headless Horseman Tavern Brawl. Check them out if you're struggling to get on top of the event.

Those changes to the Arena format threatened to foul up the Arena leaderboards for October and November, and so they've been tweaked a little. The Hallow's End Arena period is also getting its own results table.

With the release of April's Journey to Un'Goro expansion, every class received a special Quest card. The Warlock's Lakkari Sacrifice had a fun conclusion but a tricky trigger to pull. Dean Ayala popped up on the forums this week to confirm that a little extra support will be provided for the Discard mechanic in a future update to the game.

If you're still filling out your Classic card collection, make sure you claim your free pack by having a quick rummage around in the new Gift system that Blizzard's just added to the Battle.net desktop launcher. It'll only take a moment to do and is well worth the trouble for the extra cards or crafting dust.

We reported last week that the Hearthstone Champtionship Tour will conclude in Amsterdam next January, so what does that leave for BlizzCon this year? Instead of the usual tournament finals, we'll instead be treated to a special Inn-vitational event featuring some of the game's most popular players.

Top Hearthstone decks - 29th 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 features in so many tournaments? 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 - This is still a very strong deck, despite the changes to Murloc Warleader in the recent rebalancing patch.
• 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 meta.

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.

Overwatch

If you're a Genji with a fondness for spamming chat for heals - or a sake-addled Hanzo - note that it is technically possible to be banned for spamming voice lines in Overwatch - if it's deemed to be harassment, that is. The news was confirmed on the Overwatch forums this week.

A new Overwatch League team has been announced for next year's inaugural competition. The Boston Uprising are owned by The Kraft Group, so you can presumably expect plenty of cheese strategies from the team...

If you've followed much professional Overwatch then you'll know it can be a confusing thing to behold for even the most seasoned veterans. A huge number of esports improvements are being made to the viewing experience in time for the World Cup Finals taking place at BlizzCon next month.

For us mere mortals, Season 7 of Overwatch will kick off shortly and you can find all of the details of what to expect in our Season 7 guide. We've also got an update straight from Blizzard about the Season 7 start times as well.

Finally, Mercy is still broken and more changes are coming for the hero. Again.

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