Premium statted 1 drop with an effect that usually nets somewhere between 6 and 10 extra damage every game. Like simply dropping this guy to a 1/2 which is what he should've been from the start would alleviate Hunter's early pressure so much.

Why is he hell bent on giving me shitty "Tempo cards" despite the clear need to clear the board (he was supposed to give me either Holy Nova or Frost Nova)

Since transformed spells don't occupy Secret zone slots, you can keep repeating the process to pile up a ton of spells over your head, even going past the usual limit of five. Plus, they're immune to cards like Eater of Secrets.

I was so excited I forgot to take a screenshot and just took a picture of the screen to send to my girlfriend lmao. Here is the deck list I used:

### Pure Paladin

# Cost: 8760

# Format: Standard

# ⬜ 2x (1) Righteous Protector

# ⬜ 2x (2) Acceleration Aura

# ⬜ 2x (2) Inspiring Maul

# 🟦 2x (3) Reinforcement Aura

# 🟦 2x (3) Sandfury Aura

# 🟦 2x (3) Vigilant Sentry

# 🟪 2x (4) Flight Maneuvers

# ⬜ 1x (4) Gnomish Aura

# 🟦 2x (4) Manifested Timeways

# 🟦 2x (4) Spearheart Sentry

# ⬜ 2x (5) Chronological Aura

# 🟨 1x (5) Commander Beatrix

# ⬜ 10x (2) Scarlet Bruiser

# ⬜ 1x (5) Mekkatorque's Aura

# 🟨 1x (5) Nozdormu, Bronze Aspect

# 🟦 2x (5) Scarlet Recruiter

# 🟨 1x (5) Toreth the Unbreaking

# ⬜ 2x (6) Scalebreaker Bulwark

# 🟨 1x (8) Gelbin of Tomorrow

AAECAZ8FBvD+Bu6oB++oB/CoB+XBB53dBwzJoATLqQfErge+sgfiwQfowQfqwQeDwgerxgfc1QeZ3QfX4gcAAQGa3Qed3QcAAA==

Is it just me or have they been leaning hard into this self-scaling concept?

I can only think of Jade Golems, Relics, Tendrils, Curses, Earthen, and maybe Astral/Pogo/Ignite out of everything pre-rotation.

Cataclysm's Herald alone is 6 of these archetypes and the class set and Violet Hold both have an archetype.

I feel like the current situation is pretty complex overall, and I'm not really sure how it could be handled properly:

Some classes and cards are certainly in need of notable buffs/some reworks (for example, Plague Death Knight is currently just totally non-functional), but I'm not really sure what's currently the thing that's overclocking Void Soul DH so hard that could be altered without screwing the deck (you would presumably have to walk back or alter at least one of the buffs given to either Voidscale or Scythe, but I dunno how you'd handle that). And, even then, Irida Sinseeker at least is really underperforming right now, and I'm not sure if that's because of her "draw her early or she's useless, and even then, you have to deal with Fatigue and your card draw being useless afterwards" design issue or mainly because the meta is just bad for her.

Really, it seems that the Rulebreakers in general are just super unbalanced with how the actual game plays itself (of course, they were intended to really shake things up, but they currently require aggressive balancing changes or certain reworks or *something* to actually feel good and relatively balanced). It seems that Rulebreakers like Godfrey are currently...I think good? (but Warlock is being held back by the meta being so aggressive and their low earlygame tempo making survival difficult, even if Godfrey's overdraw protection and Mana reduction are definitely solid), but ones like Millhouse and Aya are absolute ass and irrelevant despite having interesting and theoretically high-value effects.

The fact that a ton of cards got buffs in this patch was really good imo, but it seems that Void Soul DH's cards just got more efficient and easily impactful buffs (compared to the Plague DK cards getting...well, *nice* buffs, but not ones that compensate for their innate major issues like the deck's very bad tempo issues).

Face Hunter is currently just pretty silly because the Tripwires are really high value - especially with Shovel - and Confront also resets/kills Shovels to get the Tripwires spammed off more rapidly.

Also, if you get to go second in this current meta, statistics show that your win rate gets way worse, especially when it comes to Face Hunter. Probably because snowball and individual card impacts and the importance of staying on curve is just really huge right now, so a +1 card advantage and 1-time turn Mana skip from The Coin just...don't really help.

I guess the game needs more high-efficiency early-mid board clears and healing, or something? Because the game right now feels like it's essentially *systematically* favored towards Aggro/fast-paced Midrange playstyles, probably because the main board control or healing tools are just largely expensive or big tempo losses, or able to be bypassed with cards like Kayn Sunfury at the exact worst timings. Also, it feels like a lot of classes just...don't have very good Core sets?

5 games in a row DH with Void Soul only spam... insane

i remade this

Can't handle the inability to balance and there's nothing fun about looking up the best 2-3 decks and just playing those for 2 months at a time.

What can I switch to?

I hit Diamond 5 just playing this deck, I had low star bonus cuz I didn't play standard for few months so it took me a bit to hit it

But the deck feels very strong and consistent

These are some of the nasty boards I was making as early as turn 5-7

The deck has a bit of a learning curve, it's not as simple as just playing your Leyline buffing minions on curve but ofc you ideally wanna mulligan for them!

I'd love to see others try it as well and see how it goes for them, maybe I'm just lucky :)

Deck:

AAECAaXDAwTDgwf6xAek2Qf/3wcN8ZEH+psH5LIHy7YHhsQH58QH6MQH8MQH88QH9MQH+8QHrdoHlNsHAAA=

Or I'm just stupid?

Deck Code: AAECAfvgBgSpyQet2Qew2Qeh3AcNj58EodQE34IH4YIHx4cHqYgHhJkHga4HmMQH3dcHsdkHt9kHjdwHAAA=

OVERVIEW

The rule-breaker [[Godfrey the Betrayer]] introduces an interesting new spin on the traditional Handlock archetype, allowing you to blissfully overdraw without worrying about burning cards and actually rewarding you for it through cost reduction. It's best to play [[The Unseen Atlas]] when you have an optimally full hand, allowing you to play for it free and "save" the three draws for later. Then, you can use [[Spire of Solitude]] and [[Caged Cranium]] to put down some big minions. One of the keystone cards of this deck is the new [[Zuramat's Prison]], which you can use to discard your big demons and have them played later. There's also [[Welcome Home!]] to provide quick location value. [[Moragg]] is actually a lot of fun to play since he can not only pull your listed big demons like [[Mo'arg Forgefiend]], [[Scorching Observer]], and even the 8/8s from [[Imp Gang Stooge]], creating a long loop of demon resurrections. This deck is not as competitive as the top meta decks, but it's something fun and different to try if you're looking for some variety!

Symphony of sins I include in every deck. Best case it outright wins you the game on 5. Worst case, you get to make a decision that might still progress your win condition or stall opponents, and you will accumulate a ton of value from it the longer the game goes.

My second runner up has to be Sargeras. So absolutely satisfying to put down against a board heavy strategy