Gaara's Big Ramp Druid
Ever since Gaara won DreamHack Bucharest way back in 2014, he's been known as a Ramp Druid player, fervently running the archetype even in cases when everyone else stuck to the standard combo build.
With [card]Force of Nature[/card] dead, Gaara decided to go back to the old "ramp mana, play fat minions" strategy, because there's nothing like dropping a 5/10 taunt on T3. The deck itself is extremely teched, with [card]Mind Control Tech[/card], [card]Harrison Jones[/card] and [card]The black knight[/card] all there to combat the most popular decks of the meta, and finishes the curve with the rarely seen [card]Onyxia[/card] and the unusual for Druid [card]Yogg-Saron, Hope's End[/card].
Griotgard's Yogg and Load Hunter
If StanCifka had decided to bring his RenoHunter that we wrote about recently, than he'd be collecting all praise. Since he didn't - and we still need a cool Hunter deck to feature - let's look at Griotgard's Yogg and Load Hunter.
If you've watched Savjz's stream after Old Gods release, you would've seen him play this. A lot. Frankly, I'll never muster the courage to invest in it, let alone put my tournament life on the line, but I can watch Yogg-Saron do crazy stuff all day long. Not to mention Hunter is still searching for a viable build, so maybe, just maybe, Yogg and Load is the way.
Ignite's Barrier-less Freeze Mage
Usually, there's nothing exciting about Freeze Mage lists. They run more or less the same set of cards with minor tech differences, for example choosing to use a [card]Cone of Cold[/card], or is there a [card]Malygos[/card] and so on.
Ignite's list is a bit like that, but his tech choices are rather peculiar. The Portuguese has cut both [card]ice barrier[/card]s, sacrificing that precious +16 health that's invaluable against aggro decks and has subbed in double [card]mirror image[/card] to soak up attacks, and maybe even protect an early [card]doomsayer[/card]. [card]pyroblast[/card] is out of his list too, by the way, making this a very curious Freeze Mage build.
Jambre's Aggro Secrets
Secret Paladin is dead, don't be under any illusions. With [card]avenge[/card], [card]muster for battle[/card] and [card]shielded minibot[/card] out of standard, the deck that terrorized the meta before Old Gods cannot exist. That's not the surprising revival.
Jambre realized it and put just a pinch of secret spice in his otherwise rather orthodox aggro Paladin. Much like the old Secretadin and other decks like Zoolock, Jambre's list can be defined as "aggressive midrange", with plenty of early drops leading into midrange threats like [card]Blessing of Kings[/card], [card]keeper of uldaman[/card] and [card]mysterious challenger[/card].
RebelSoldier's Reno-Yogg Priest
I was recently fascinated by RebelSoldier's left-field Priest deck so I ran a separate post about it right here. For those of you who missed it the first time, let me reiterate:
This certainly isn't the most stable Priest build you can play. For those, you can check Chakki's N'Zoth Priestfrom DreamHack Summer or Pavel's standard control from the same tournament. RebelSoldier's deck, on the other hand, will leave your opponents guessing what the hell is going on and even though the inclusion of Reno Jackson will be deciphered, nobody - nobody! - will expect to see Yogg-Saron.
BestUdyrEu's Aggro Rogue
There are a couple of ways to play Rogue. You can be fancy and miracle through your entire deck with [card]gadgetzan auctioneer[/card] and set up some fancy two-turn combo with [card]cold blood[/card] and [card]conceal[/card].
The other is a bit more direct: Hit them in their stupid faces. Here, BestUdyrEu has put up an extremely aggressive rogue build with many early drops, all the good Rogue tempo removals and [card]leeroy jenkins[/card] for good measure. Back in the days, we used to call this the "Turn 6 Rogue". It probably still kills you just as fast.
Dodje's OTK Shaman
Dodje is a player with balls. Not only was he the only Shaman player NOT bringing a standard aggro or midrange build to the HCT preliminaries, but he chose to play it three times in a row against 2015 player of the year ThijsNL.
Unfortunately for Dodje, things didn't go his way but I'll be damned if his innovative deck doesn't deserve a special mention in this feature. It's probably - surely, in fact - not the most reliable tournament Shaman but ladder is a whole other deal. Nobody expects the Windfuried Leeroy.
TwoBiers' Handlock
Nowadays, when one goes for control Warlock there's just one option - [card]Reno Jackson[/card]. What your finisher is - Leeroy, or N'Zoth or [card]C'Thun[/card] - doesn't matter, it's all about playing a highlander build that abuses the ridiculous trigger of the explorer.
In the EU preliminaries, TwoBiers went back to the classics - Handlock. Despite the nerf to [card]Molten Giant[/card], the deck still has some cool tricks in it, including the new [card]faceless shambler[/card] card that just gets ridiculous as it copies a big [card]twilight drake[/card] or an early [card]mountain giant[/card]. That being said, remember how [card]big game hunter[/card] is nerfed now and not in every single deck? That means dropping a T4 giant will get punished way less often.
Xzirez's Arrrrgro Warrior
Swing your weapons and swing them hard. If you want that golden Warrior but don't have two lifetimes to spare to play Control, this is the deck for you. This aggro Pirate deck pulls big punches through multiple weapons and charge minions all equipped to bring your opponent from 30 to zero in as few turns as possible.
Did I mention there are Pirates in this? None of them ride parrots, but nevertheless...
