We can’t all stuff our decks with Legendaries. Sometimes, especially when just starting out and trying to figure out if you like Hearthstone enough to pay for packs, you just need to do your best with the free cards.
This week, we’re kicking off a new series that aims to build the very best deck you can for each class, using only the free cards. These are great starter decks for anyone new to the game or on a tight budget.
The great thing about Hearthstone is that they give you gold just for playing, that allows you to buy packs and craft cards for free too. We’ll also give you 5 suggestions for the first cards to craft for each deck, so you have something to work towards as well.
Whether you’re a new player yourself, or a veteran looking for advice to help your friends that just started playing, we hope these lists help you get some big wins on the cheap in Hearthstone!
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The Links
- Watch Josh and Adam compete in a Hearthstone tournament!
- Watch a funny video about Hearthstone Logic
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- Watch our interview with the devs at BlizzCon
- Read the latest patch notes
- Download the game right now!
Hello!
- Justin is on the show this week
- Topic: The best free decks for Druid and Priest
- Reasons to be happy this week
How Free Cards Work
- Each hero starts with a set of free spells and you unlock more as you level them up
- You also get a big heap of neutral minions immediately when you start
- All of these free cards are combined into the “Basic Set”
- Blizzard built some starter decks, but they’re far from ideal. We’re going to make better ones.
How To Make The Best Free Decks
- Level the class you want to play to 10 to unlock all of your options
- Go to “My Collections” on the main menu and filter the cards by “Basic Set”
- Put the cards we list below into your list, and look if you already have the ones we suggest crafting and upgrading to.
- Website view: Free Priest Cards, Free Druid Cards, Free Neutral Minions
The Best Free Priest Deck
Strategy: Keep your board full with healthy minions that you can use to kill the enemy army, while healing your troops to make sure you win the long war. Later on, manipulate your creature’s larger health pools into big damage, courtesy of a few spell tricks.
The Deck List
- 2x Northshire Cleric
- 2x Power Word: Shield
- 2x Shadow Word: Pain
- 2x Novice Engineer
- 2x Shadow Word: Death
- 2x Ironfur Grizzly
- 2x Shattered Sun Cleric
- 2x Chillwind Yeti
- 2x Oasis Snapjaw
- 2x Sen’jin Shieldmasta
- 2x Holy Nova
- 2x Gurubashi Berserker
- 2x Boulderfist Ogre
- 2x Lord of the Arena
- 1x Stormwind Champion
- 1x Mind Control
First Crafting Goals
If you enjoy this deck, you’re going to want to beef it up as you start to unlock new cards by earning or buying new packs, or winning in Arena. Here are 5 cards that you should try to get first, and what to replace with them.
- 2x Acolyte of Pain (Replace Ironfur Grizzly)
- 2x Lightspawn (Replace Senj’jin Shieldmasta)
- 2x Temple Enforcer (Replace Lord of the Arena)
- 2x Inner Fire (Replace Shattered Sun Cleric)
Note: Once you have Inner Fire and Lightspawn, you should also swap Divine Spirit (a free card) for Novice Engineer.
The Best Free Druid Deck
Strategy: Stave off rush tactics with removal and cheap minions while you slowly gain board and card advantage. Then push for a win in the late-game.
Deck List
- 2x Claw
- 2x Novice Engineer
- 2x Acidic Swamp Ooze
- 2x Kobold Geomancer
- 2x Ironfur Grizzly
- 2x Shattered Sun Cleric
- 2x Wolfrider
- 2x Swipe
- 2x Chilldwind Yeti
- 2x Senjin Shieldmasta
- 2x Darkscale Healer
- 2x Frostwolf Warlord
- 2x Starfire
- 2x Boulderfist Ogre
- 2x Ironbark Protector
First Crafting Goals
- 2x Druid of the Claw (Replace Darkscale Healer)
- 2x Venture Co. Mercenary (Replace Frostwolf Warlord)
- 2x Harvest Golem (Replace Wolfrider)
- 2x Wrath (Replace Novice Engineer)
- 2x Ironbeak Owl (Replace Acidic Swamp Ooze)
Community
- Question from MouseDivided: Do you want new Hero Powers to be added?
- Read MouseDivided’s blog post with his own suggestions for new Hero Powers
- iTunes Review: NycterisA and Ender1626!
Card of the Week
Song by Justin!
Farewell
- Follow Justin on Twitter
- Listen to Justin’s WoW-themed parody songs
- Check out the 1337 Lounge’ amazing livestream camera setup that hosted the Hearthstone tournament!
- What you want to see in future episodes
- What hosts you want to visit the show
Join The Podcast
- SUBSCRIBE to The Happy Hearthstone podcast on iTunes or this RSS feed.
- FOLLOW me on Twitter or Google+
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