What Are The Best Early Decks To Use For Hearthstone?
From curses to spells, each one of the decks in this list has its own way of defeating your opponent quickly, saving you from a half-hour slugfest. Without further ado, here are the top 10 early-game decks for Hearthstone:
10. Silver Hand Paladin
At least there's no fall damage in Hearthstone.
Paladin’s made a case for itself in this list with Silver Hand Paladin, led by Class Action Lawyer’s soft removal effect against any of her client’s enemies. As the defining cards of this deck, the synergy between Warhorse Trainer and Buffet Biggun is honestly underrated by many.
Because the Silver Hand Paladin deck relies on its synergistic effects and its hero power, your best matchups include Thief decks such as Thief Priest and Thief Rogue. Another strength of this deck is removing large minions, so decks like Fel Demon Hunter should be a favorable matchup for you.
What’s great about this deck:
- Board buff: Turns when the Dun Baldar Bridge effect is active causes such huge board buffs that even unfavorable matches can be salvaged by relying on efficient minion trading and abusing your hero power
- Lightray discount: Order in the Court draws Lightray guaranteed while still keeping the mana discount, allowing for a 0 mana 5/5
- Divine Shield: The Divine Shield bonus from Buffet Biggun introduces one of the biggest swing turns in the game right now as you can trade very efficiently using your Silver Hand Recruits
Cards:
- 2x (1) Sinful Sous Chef
- 2x (1) Righteous Protector
- 2x (2) Seafloor Savior
- 2x (2) Order in the Court
- 2x (2) Class Action Lawyer
- 1x (2) Battle Vicar
- 2x (3) Warhorse Trainer
- 2x (3) Stonehearth Vindicator
- 2x (3) Muckborn Servant
- 2x (3) Jury Duty
- 2x (3) Alliance Bannerman
- 2x (4) Stand Against Darkness
- 2x (4) Dun Baldar Bridge
- 2x (4) Buffet Biggun
- 1x (7) The Countess
- 2x (9) Lightray
Here is the deck code:
AAECAZ8FAtCsBIbiBA7w9gPHoATJoATKoAT5pATnuATi0wTa2QSA4gS/4gTA4gTB4gTM4gTy7QQA
9. Miracle Rogue
Rogue dance troops will sometimes Shadowstep away at the end of a performance. Crowds love it.
A fan favorite (and a personal favorite too!) thanks to its flashy playstyle, blink and you might miss how Miracle Rogue killed you. Being the original burn deck, Miracle Rogue has always thrived on creating a large threat through card cycling. This time, your firepower is doubled with Necrolord Draka and Sinstone Graveyard being your primary win conditions.
Because Miracle Rogue is a combo-focused deck, you should have an advantage over classes that can't consistently handle the significant threats you generate. Of course, keeping your threats in the board is made easier by one of your threats being a weapon while the other is a stealth minion, making one turn kills easier.
What’s great about this deck:
- Stealth minions: Sinstone Graveyard is such a threat because spells that can deal with stealth minions are few and far in between, making them almost invulnerable the turn they are summoned
- Card discounts: The interweaving of mana discounts on your card allows you to play a lot of cards early on, dumping your whole deck before your opponent can draw the tools to counter you
- Card bounce: Shadowstep gains more value in this deck as you can bounce Necrolord Draka to re-equip your weapon or even bounce a Haunted Conscience to put it back on stealth
Cards:
- 2x (0) Shadowstep
- 2x (0) Preparation
- 2x (0) Backstab
- 1x (1) Sinister Strike
- 2x (1) Gone Fishin'
- 2x (1) Door of Shadows
- 2x (1) Blackwater Cutlass
- 2x (2) Tooth of Nefarian
- 2x (2) Sinstone Graveyard
- 2x (2) Serrated Bone Spike
- 2x (2) Mailbox Dancer
- 2x (3) Shroud of Concealment
- 1x (4) Necrolord Draka
- 2x (4) Frostwolf Warmaster
- 2x (5) Sprint
- 2x (6) Scribbling Stenographer
Here is the deck code:
AAECAaIHApSfBPbdBA7+7gPO+QO9gASRnwSWnwT2nwT3nwTepAT5rAS3swT03QT13QT87QTBgwUA
8. Mech Mage
Commence obliteration.
Mech Mage surely stands out in the plethora of current Mage decks, containing almost no spells in its arsenal. Even without spells, this deck still has a ton of attack and defense mechanisms, with Mecha-Shark serving as your primary AOE damage source.
Your favored opponents would be Control players because this deck consistently deals damage every time you summon a mech minion. Decks that can’t overpower the raw stats provided by Security Automaton will surely be pulverized by the unending stream of bullets and rockets from Gaia.
What’s great about this deck:
- Mech discovery: This deck has a lot of discover effects that specifically target minions with the Mech tag, allowing your Mecha-Shark to do greater damage
- Mana discount: Seafloor Gateway is almost guaranteed value since most of your deck is composed of mech minions. Balinda Stonehearth can be used to save up to 10 mana if you can draw both copies of Drakefire Amulet
- Summon effects: On top of the discover effects, some cards like Seascout Operator also generate tokens, adding stats on your board while also triggering Mecha-Shark
Cards:
- 2x (1) Click-Clocker
- 2x (2) Trench Surveyor
- 2x (2) Security Automaton
- 2x (2) Deeprun Engineer
- 2x (2) Annoy-o-Tron
- 2x (2) Amalgam of the Deep
- 2x (3) Seascout Operator
- 2x (3) Seafloor Gateway
- 2x (3) Mecha-Shark
- 2x (3) Gorillabot A-3
- 2x (3) Azsharan Sweeper
- 1x (4) Deepwater Evoker
- 1x (5) Ini Stormcoil
- 2x (6) Mothership
- 1x (6) Balinda Stonehearth
- 1x (8) Gaia, the Techtonic
- 2x (10) Drakefire Amulet
Here is the deck code:
AAECAf0EBJOBBP+iBKGxBOy6BA3D+QPWoAT6rASStQThtQTJtwTKtwTduQTjuQTkuQSywQTY2QSUpAUA
7. Aggro Demon Hunter
Kurtrus leapt over a tombstone towards the demonic invaders, yelling "PEW! PEW!" as he shot them down with fel magic.
Using his twin blades, Illidan purges aggro decks with an aggro deck of his own. Taking advantage of the hero power and small-scale spells to create favorable board advantages, Demon Hunter firmly has other early decks in its sights.
A faster draw engine and a way to clear minions are required to defeat popular tempo-heavy decks, both of which are very much the focal point in this deck. Fel Barrage serves as your early-game minion removal while Bibliomite acts as a tempo play due to its high stats.
Don’t be afraid to play cards that shuffle cards back into your deck since Magnifying Glaive and Sightless Magistrate act as excellent draw engine tools so you can deliver a swift and deadly blow.
What’s great about this deck:
- Multiple options for card draw: Sightless Magistrate and Magnifying Glaive often always draw cards for you since you can empty your hand easily due to the low mana curve of your deck
- Damage stacking: Demon Hunter can deal an unexpected amount of burst damage by combining your base weapon damage with spells such as Fury and Dispose of Evidence
- Board lockdown: Your hero power combined with supporting cards like Battleworn Vanguard can make sure that no token minion can stick and annoy you on the battlefield
Cards:
- 2x (0) Dispose of Evidence
- 2x (1) Peasant
- 2x (1) Metamorfin
- 2x (1) Irondeep Trogg
- 2x (1) Fury (Rank 1)
- 2x (1) Dreadprison Glaive
- 2x (1) Beaming Sidekick
- 2x (1) Battlefiend
- 2x (2) Multi-Strike
- 2x (2) Fel Barrage
- 2x (2) Bibliomite
- 2x (2) Battleworn Vanguard
- 1x (3) Mankrik
- 2x (3) Magnifying Glaive
- 2x (4) Sightless Magistrate
- 1x (6) Kurtrus, Demon-Render
Here is the deck code:
AAECAea5AwLn8AOHiwQOwvED9PYDifcD9fgDhI0EyZ8E0p8E4aQEjrAEntQEpeIEq+IExuIEve0EAA==
6. Murloc Shaman
Only knows how to play "Careless Murgl" and "Mrgl Mrgl Little Star."
Do you know what Murloc decks specialize in? Murking an enemy into submission. One of Hearthstone’s oldest and most celebrated deck archetypes, this deck can score a win against any other deck currently in existence with the exponential scaling brought by the Murloc synergy.
While the ramp-up is not comparable to some other decks in this list, the absolute board control that this deck has is almost unstoppable if you can manage to preserve your minions. In particular, this deck has a stellar record against other aggro decks since you will eventually out-stat your enemy’s minions.
Even against large boards, Murloc Shaman can still conjure up a way to remove these threats, making this deck a legitimate contender in the meta.
What’s great about this deck:
- Pseudo-OTK: A turn 5 kill is a genuine possibility for this deck by casting Bloodlust on a board full of your tokens
- Passive effects: A lot of Murlocs have many on-board buffs that last as long as the minion is alive, with Lushwater Scout and Firemancer Flurgl being the most infamous ones
- Token generator: To complement the point above, the Murloc package also has many cheap ways to summon minions instantly, from Spawnpool Forager’s Deathrattle to Tidelost Burrower
Cards:
- 2x (1) Spawnpool Forager
- 2x (1) Murloc Tidecaller
- 2x (2) South Coast Chieftain
- 2x (2) Lushwater Scout
- 2x (2) Lushwater Murcenary
- 1x (2) Firemancer Flurgl
- 2x (2) Amalgam of the Deep
- 2x (3) Nofin Can Stop Us
- 2x (3) Murloc Warleader
- 1x (3) Cookie the Cook
- 2x (3) Coldlight Seer
- 2x (3) Clownfish
- 2x (4) Wildpaw Cavern
- 2x (4) Tidelost Burrower
- 2x (5) Gorloc Ravager
- 1x (5) Bloodlust
- 1x (8) Bru'kan of the Elements
Here is the deck:
AAECAaoIBKjuA6SBBMORBPLdBA2T6AOU6AOz6APd7AOV8APblASioASroATVsgSywQTCzgTFzgTu0wQA
5. Naga Priest
He's a great judge of character.
To beat aggro, you must first become aggro. Naga Priest revels in its insanely high win rate against the top early decks: Imp Warlock and Aggro Druid. The secret as to why this deck just destroys aggro decks is in its powerful single-target buff capabilities, creating a high-health minion early on that no token deck can ever hope to kill.
This deck should be played as you would any other combo deck, holding and drawing as many combo pieces as you can while using tech tools to shave off some of the pressure from the enemy. As an early deck, your combo turn starts faster than usual combo decks thanks to the numerous draw effects at your disposal.
Finally, after you’ve drawn your needed cards, use Pelagos and Boon of the Ascended to create an unclearable board of stats by turn 5 so that your enemy crumbles under the might of the Naga.
What’s great about this deck:
- Naga synergy: Serpent Wig can be played multiple times since your deck contains a lot of Naga minions
- Value generation: Amalgam of the Deep and other copy effects let you play more aggressively and contest board control
- Pelagos: This card elevated the strength of Naga Priest by providing your minions even more stats every time you cast Serpent Wig
Cards:
- 1x (0) Priestess Valishj
- 2x (1) Vicious Slitherspear
- 1x (1) Shard of the Naaru
- 2x (1) Shadow Word: Devour
- 2x (1) Serpent Wig
- 2x (2) Thrive in the Shadows
- 2x (2) Radiant Elemental
- 2x (2) Murkwater Scribe
- 2x (2) Bless
- 2x (2) Amalgam of the Deep
- 2x (3) Treasure Guard
- 1x (3) Pelagos
- 2x (3) Handmaiden
- 2x (3) Cathedral of Atonement
- 1x (4) School Teacher
- 1x (4) Najak Hexxen
- 2x (4) Boon of the Ascended
- 1x (4) Blademaster Samuro
Here is the deck code:
AAECAa0GBvvoA4f3A4ujBImyBJa3BPrbBAytigSEowSJowTtsQSIsgSktgSntgSHtwSywQT10wT02wSGgwUA
4. Aggro Druid
So you're telling me this wasn't Natural Causes?
Nature’s critters successfully defend their habitat as Aggro Druid finds itself as the best Druid deck of today. Even amongst all the early-game decks in this list, Aggro Druid has no equal in its ability to push the tempo.
Thanks to its “Either I die or you die” mentality, this Druid archetype is notorious for crushing opponents with a weak turn 1 or 2, particularly Beast Hunter and Rogue decks.
Sure, Herald of Nature and Pride’s Fury get all the praise as the core cards of this deck, but the unsung hero for many players is undoubtedly Jerry Rig Carpenter. Your "Choose One" cards are sawed in half by the carpenter, giving you twice as much value and ammunition to go on with your unrelenting march towards Legend rank.
What’s great about this deck:
- Card draw snowball: Peasant and Crooked Cook can win you the game early on as this deck relies on dumping all your cards before running out of steam
- Planted Evidence: This card not only provides value from its discover effect but can also be used to activate Herald of Nature as this is a Nature spell
- Soft spell counter: Irondeep Trogg dissuades your enemy from using a spell to generate tempo, especially an early coin
Cards:
- 2x (0) Aquatic Form
- 2x (1) Vicious Slitherspear
- 2x (1) Sow the Soil
- 2x (1) Planted Evidence
- 2x (1) Peasant
- 2x (1) Living Roots
- 2x (1) Irondeep Trogg
- 2x (1) Druid of the Reef
- 2x (1) Beaming Sidekick
- 2x (2) Thorngrowth Sentries
- 2x (2) Power of the Wild
- 2x (2) Jerry Rig Carpenter
- 2x (2) Crooked Cook
- 2x (3) Herald of Nature
- 2x (4) Pride's Fury
Here is the deck code:
AAECAZICAA+t7AOz7APs9QP09gOsgASwgATZnwThpASIsgSuwASozgSB1ASe1ATW3gTd7QQA
3. Enrage Warrior
Grommash drank the tainted blood of Mannoroth, dooming the orcs to green skin and red eyes! Maybe not his best decision.
Warrior has to be the farthest class away when you talk about an early deck, at least ever since the early Pirate Warrior decks. However, given Enrage Warrior's success in the Standard meta, no one can deny that this "slow" class has resurged with an aggressively fast deck.
Trading blow by blow has always been a Warrior’s creed, and this deck fully embodies that mentality. Utilizing the Frenzy mechanic, Enrage Warrior absolutely smashes token decks by outclassing them in stats.
This makes Enrage Warrior great against early decks and non-combo classes like Mage, delivering a bloody lesson to those that can’t withstand your onslaught.
What’s great about this deck:
- Massive burst damage: Decimator Olgra is a win condition all on her own since she can kill the enemy hero outright if they receive some early damage. Grommash Hellscream is also there as backup burst damage to finish off a surviving opponent
- Token AOE clear: Whirling Combatant’s effect is deadly against other aggro decks as you can easily wipe their board after you trigger this minion’s Frenzy effect
- Dredger Staff value: Enrage Warrior makes very efficient use of the health buff from Dredger Staff since you can potentially trigger Rokara’s effect one more time with that extra 1 health
Cards:
- 2x (1) Sanguine Depths
- 2x (1) Irondeep Trogg
- 2x (1) Dredger Staff
- 2x (1) Beaming Sidekick
- 2x (1) Animated Berserker
- 2x (2) Injured Tol'vir
- 2x (2) Cruel Taskmaster
- 2x (2) Crazed Wretch
- 2x (2) Anima Extractor
- 2x (3) Weapons Expert
- 1x (3) Rokara
- 2x (3) Imbued Axe
- 1x (3) Acolyte of Pain
- 2x (4) Whirling Combatant
- 1x (4) Blademaster Okani
- 1x (6) Decimator Olgra
- 1x (7) Rokara, the Valorous
- 1x (8) Grommash Hellscream
Here is the deck code:
AAECAQcGle0DvIoEi6AEx7IEnNQEgdwEDJbtA4ygBOGkBJ7UBLzbBP/bBL7iBKXkBJzvBImDBZikBZTrBQA=
2. Curse Imp Warlock
Everything’s going exzaq’ully to plan.
Battling for supremacy against the Pure Imp Warlock deck, Curse Imp Warlock trades in a little bit of aggressiveness for another win condition in the form of the Curse package. The success of this deck stems from Abyssal Curse inevitably winning the game over time as its damage scales exponentially and eventually kills your opponent.
This means that classes that can’t negate the damage over time are relatively easy pickings for this deck, your best matchups being against Mage and Paladin.
That’s not to discount the other half of this deck, which is the Imp package, as your Imps are definitely more than enough to finish off anyone that can survive the onslaught of your curses.
What’s great about this deck:
- AOE board clear: This deck emphasizes on not winning through board control as it strives to achieve an empty board on both sides with excellent removal tools like Abyssal Wave and Dragged Below
- Unstoppable face damage: The first tick of damage from Abyssal Curse is unavoidable, ensuring that you can consistently chip away at your opponent’s health
- Imp support: The Curse package also complements the Imp package since your opponent needs to spend mana to discard the curse, potentially preventing them from having enough mana to kill off your tokens
Cards:
- 2x (1) Wicked Shipment
- 2x (1) Touch of the Nathrezim
- 2x (1) Grimoire of Sacrifice
- 2x (1) Flustered Librarian
- 2x (1) Flame Imp
- 2x (2) Vile Library
- 2x (2) Impending Catastrophe
- 1x (3) Tamsin Roame
- 2x (3) Sira'kess Cultist
- 2x (3) Fiendish Circle
- 2x (3) Dragged Below
- 1x (3) Brann Bronzebeard
- 2x (4) Mischievous Imp
- 1x (5) Za'qul
- 1x (5) Lady Darkvein
- 1x (6) Imp King Rafaam
- 1x (6) Dreadlich Tamsin
- 2x (6) Abyssal Wave
Here is the deck code:
AAECAf0GBvLtA7CRBOa9BJjUBJvkBIfqBAzX7QOD+wPFgASEoATmoAT+tATcvQTivQT/2QSA2gSB2gSr6gQA
1. Imp Warlock
Oh, lighten up!
Warlock’s throne seems unshakeable going into the next expansion. Boasting one of the best opening turns with Flustered Librarian followed by Wicked Shipment, Imp Warlock outclasses any other similar decks by a mile.
What makes the current Imp Warlock stand out is its favorable matchup against every archetype, including mirror matchups. Mischievous Imp gives you an edge against similar token decks since their 3 base health is a bar most early minions cannot easily deal with.
Control decks are even easier to deal with! Your hero power gives you a natural card draw advantage since trading 2 health for a card is worth it from an aggro deck’s standpoint. Impending Catastrophe remains the best draw engine in the game, allowing you to steamroll unsuspecting Control players using Rafaam and his army of imps.
What is great about this deck:
- 3-health tokens: Mischievous Imp or tokens buffed with Shady Bartender are not easily cleared since they have 3 health, generally considered the threshold to counter cheap AOE spells as these spells often cap out at 2 damage
- AOE board clear: Grimoire of Sacrifice is deadly when used against an aggro deck since chances are, their board is wiped while your won minions will survive
- Comeback cards: Imp King Rafaam and Sire Denathrius provide ample ways to either catch up or make up for the final bit of damage needed to achieve a victory
Cards:
- 2x (1) Wicked Shipment
- 2x (1) Voidwalker
- 2x (1) Grimoire of Sacrifice
- 2x (1) Flustered Librarian
- 2x (1) Flame Imp
- 2x (2) Vile Library
- 2x (2) Impending Catastrophe
- 2x (2) Imp Swarm (Rank 1)
- 2x (3) Imp Gang Boss
- 2x (3) Fiendish Circle
- 2x (4) Murlocula
- 2x (4) Mischievous Imp
- 1x (4) Blademaster Okani
- 2x (5) Shady Bartender
- 1x (6) Imp King Rafaam
- 1x (6) Dreadlich Tamsin
- 1x (10) Sire Denathrius
Here is the deck code:
AAECAf0GBLCRBMeyBOnQBJvkBA3X7QP07QP/+gPFgASEoATmoAT50wT60wT/2QSA2gSB2gTL4gSr6gQA
You may also be interested in:
- [Top 5] Hearthstone Best Druid Decks For The Current Meta
- [Top 5] Hearthstone Best Mage Decks For The Current Meta
- [Top 5] Hearthstone Best Priest Decks For The Current Meta
- [Top 5] Hearthstone Best Demon Hunter Decks For The Current Meta
