What the Year of the Mammoth means for the Hearthstone meta

Say goodbye to Hearthstone as we know it, because the Year of the Mammoth is about to change everything.

Blizzard announced on Wednesday that they wouldn’t just be cycling out three expansions in the new year, but six of the most-played Classic cards as well. The meta is about to massively change, and it’s impossible to tell exactly what new decks are going to be popping up.

But we do know what’s going to be disappearing from the Standard format rotation.

The big six

Despite previous implications, six Classic cards are going to be disappearing from the Standard pool once 2017’s first expansion drops. Azure Drake, Sylvanas Windrunner, Ragnaros the Firelord, Power Overwhelming, Ice Lance, and Conceal are all being thrown to the Wild.

The neutral trio of Drake, Sylvanas, and Ragnaros are being taken out for a very good reason: they’re all too versatile for most decks to even consider running anything else in their spots in the curve. All three are regularly played in midrange, control, and occasional aggro decks, and that’s just getting silly.

But disappearance won’t have a huge impact on the meta.. These are Swiss Army Knives. They fit well enough into decks and can do enough stuff that they’re a “why not” inclusion. At most, they’ll hurt midrange decks by removing mid game spikes of power that can turn matches around.

The class cards, however, are a real loss for decks popular in the current meta. Power Overwhelming is a powerful (sorry) finisher for both aggressive and control-focused Warlock decks. Zoo loses a significant chunk of burst damage, while both Reno and Handlock variations lose their ability to overwhelm (sorry again) life bars by comboing the card with Leeroy Jenkins and Faceless Manipulator.

Losing Ice Lance is brutal for the majority of Mage decks popular right now. One mana for (usually) four damage is a ridiculous value, and Freeze Mage combos are typically based around finding a pair of copies of the Lance to supply massive damage. A copy often finds its way into Reno Mage as well, just for versatility.

Conceal has been a staple of Miracle Rogue for as long as the deck has existed. For one mana, it protects key combo cards like Gadgetzan Auctioneer and Questing Adventurer while providing a cheap way to draw cards off the former to find more good stuff. It’s not a death sentence for the archetype, but it definitely makes the desk far riskier to run at the highest levels.

The big losers

The Year of the Mammoth isn’t just taking a few cards – it’s rotating out entire expansions, including The League of Explorers, which means Standard is about to bid farewell to one Reno Jackson.

In the current meta, Reno decks are the control stalwarts in the face of the onslaught of aggro. But without its namesake, even run the deck? Well, most players probably won’t. Even with Kazakus still Standard, the inability to reset a match with Reno is just too much for the one-off decks to be viable. Mage, Warlock, and even Priest are losing one of their best archetypes with the rotation of a single card. Brutal.(of course, they could always break tradition and just reprint Azeroth’s second favorite Indiana Jones impersonator in the new set. Please?

The two most prevalent Shaman (Aggro and Midrange) decks right now won’t be hit much by the Standard rotation, but they will drop some early game power with the nerfs to both Small-Time Buccaneer and Spirit Claws. Of course, two of the staple one-drops in an early game-focused deck will certainly cause some damage, but I wouldn’t count out Shamans just yet.

Outside of that, Tunnel Trogg is biting the dust in the rotation. Aggro Shaman decks have always found joy in pumping this guy’s Attack while simultaneously getting serious value out of their spells, so most fans of the aggressive Shaman stylings will be bummed out by this loss. Unless Blizzard prints a replacement for him, I’d expect Shaman decks to lean much more towards the mid game as the 2017 meta progresses.

Say adios to Brian Kibler’s happiness, because Dragon Priest is dead on arrival. How dead? Let me count the ways: Twilight Welp, Wyrmrest Agent, Twilight Guardian, Azure Drake, and Blackwing Corruptor. All gone. That’s a third of the current deck list completely wiped out by the Year of the Mammoth. Dragon Priest has had a good run for the last few months, but it’s time to put a nail in that particular coffin.

The big winner

Consider this, and be bummed out: The standard Pirate Warrior deck list will only be losing a single card in the rotation. And that card, Sir Finley Mrrgglton, is almost entirely inconsequential.

That’s it. The rest of the deck remains entirely intact. The list that ran rampant throughout the beginning weeks of The Mean Streets of Gadgetzan will be at full power coming into a new meta, and I can guarantee that it will continue to dominate until people figure out how to counter it again. Some of its best counters in Reno Mage and Aggro Shaman won’t be around as much (or at all), and fast-paced decks almost always dominate during early stages of metas. Yahar, indeed.

Of course, we don’t know what fresh mechanics Blizzard will introduce in the three new Year of the Mammoth expansions , so there’s no way to tell exactly what decks are going to pop up in their place. But we’re excited to start experimenting again.

Taylor Cocke could not be happier about the death of Dragon Priest, but is praying for a resurrection of Reno Jackson. Follow him on Twitter @taylorcocke.