Introduction
We all love combo decks. Sure, we don’t all love being on the receiving end of the combo deck, but theorycrafting about them or watching a clip of something, something that we wouldn’t even think of, in action, brings joy to our hearts.
When it comes to the combo potential, Gadgetzan is pretty high up on the list. We’ve got a lot of new synergistic cards, a lot of the cards with huge potential, a lot of cards that miiight be just enough to make some combos viable. One thing that I love most about the new expansion is that Tri-Class cards allowed a much easier flow of cards between classes, making some combos that were almost impossible before quite easy to pull off right now.
And so this time around I want to talk about those. I will list a few of the most fun combos I’ve found with a short analysis + post a clip if I find them. Of course, those won’t be all the new combos, there are most likely a lot of the ones I don’t even know about yet, or maybe the ones that no one tried to pull off. But I hope you’re still going to enjoy it!
P.S. If you have performed or seen some combo I haven’t listed here, please share it! I would love to know more about meme potential of the new expansion. 🙂
Aviana + Kun the Forgotten King
Combo is enabled by the new Gadgetzan Druid Legendary – Kun the Forgotten King. By itself, the card isn’t that amazing. In the late game it’s a 0 mana 7/7, but then again drawing it early really sucks. Might fit into some kind of Ramp Druid… and into Combo Druid decks.
Another combo activator here is Aviana. As it happens, on turn 10 you can pair those two cards together. You play 9 mana Aviana, then 1 mana Kun to refresh all your mana crystals, now you have 10 mana to work with. With Aviana on the board, meaning that EVERY minion costs only 1 mana. You can use that combo to just fill board with huge minions, but where is fun in that? Smart people have decided that the combo potential is just too high and created a few versions of the combo. I will talk about two most popular ones.
So, the first combo revolves around Malygos. Malygos is well known to the Druid players, Maly Druid was one of the most popular decks on the ladder in Karazhan meta. This time around, the combo potential is even higher.
So, you play Aviana + Kun the Forgotten King + Alexstrasza (setting up your opponent to 15 health) + Malygos + Faceless Manipulator + Starfire. Thanks to the +10 Spell Damage, your Starfire deals 15 damage. A combination of Moonfire, Living Roots and/or Swipe is another possibility. Yet another possibility is to play SECOND Faceless manipulator, bringing your Spell Damage to +15. And now a single Moonfire would kill your opponent. Here’s the combo in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZGeEgzlLdQ&t=322
An alternative version of this combo plays Brann Bronzebeard + C’Thun + Youthful Brewmaster (or Ancient Brewmaster, doesn’t matter) to perform a similar OTK. This version requires less cards to work, but first you need to pump your C’Thun a bit (8/8 is enough to OTK on the empty board). The issue with this version is that C’Thun can hit minions too. It means that if your opponent has a HUGE board, for example Jade Druid with few big Jade Golems, it might not be enough to OTK. Here is how the combo looks like:
https://youtu.be/2-iT49rYa_w?t=577
Auctionmaster Beardo Combo
Another new card, another fun combo. This time around I’m talking about Auctionmaster Beardo, which is a cheap Legendary that is most useful in the late game. Normally, you can’t really make this effect that insane. Sure, you can cast your Hero Power maybe 3 or 4 times in the late game, then it dies. However, it gets way more interesting if you think about the combo potential. Normally, Hero Powers are quite weak. Hunter can deal 2 damage, but to OTK your opponent with that… impossible.
There is one interesting way to do so, though. This time around it’s a Priest combo. Priest can heal for 2, right? Now, with Justicar Trueheart, he can bump that healing to 4, right? Now, Prophet Velen can double that healing to 8, right? Now, Embrace the Shadows can turn that into 8 damage, right? There you have it. Thanks to another new Legendary – Raza the Chained, Priest’s Hero Power can cost 0 mana.
This way each time you cast a cheap spell, your Hero Power resets and you can deal 8 damage again. Of course, the whole combo is too expensive and requires Emperor Thaurissan to work. But that’s something you really do not expect from the Reno Priest! Here is how it looks in the game:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL2UOjrq0u4
Pirates OTK
Patches the Pirate, just like Pirates in general, are mostly connected with hyper aggressive Pirate Warrior decks, and for a good reason. They’re all over the ladder. But the first use of Patches, the first combo of the card that was showcased all way back on Blizzcon was how well it works with Gang Up + Southsea Captain. And this is the combo I will focus on today, but taken to the extreme. Since it’s a 7 cards combo, it’s incredibly hard to pull off, but who would have guessed – Disguised Toast has done that.
The combo goes like this: You play Patches the Pirate. Then you Gang Up your Patches. Now you play Southsea Captain and 3 extra Patches jump out of your deck. You play second Southsea Captain and your Patches have 3 attack each (3 * 4 = 12). Now you play Skycap’n Kragg, it costs only 1 mana, since you have 6 Pirates on the board. It’s also a 6/8 Charge because of the Captains buffs. You attack the face, Shadowstep, attack, Shadowstep, attack. 3 * 6 damage = 18. 12 + 18 = perfect OTK.
Sure, it’s a 7 mana combo. Sure, it gets stopped by any Taunt. Sure, some Armor over 30 health would make it useless. But it’s still one of the most fun combos to watch. I really love the moment when 3 extra Patches cannonball themselves onto the board. Here is how the combo looks in action:
https://youtu.be/EgjF7Amx4o8?t=498
Dirty Rat Combos
Dirty Rat is one of the most fun cards of the new expansion. I’ll be honest with you – I didn’t think it’s going to be good. I knew that it might be a way to disrupt combo decks, but I thought that well, combo decks won’t likely be popular anyway. One think I didn’t think about that besides combo decks, it can also screw some other decks – Reno decks – pretty hard too. And so, Dirty Rat is now a very popular tech and Dirty Rat shenanigans happen all the time.
It’s not a crazy OTK combo like the last ones, but I thought that I should mention them. There are two Dirty Rat combos I like most. Both start with Brann Bronzebeard – he lets you pull 2 cards instead of one. The first combo I really like is after your opponent has dropped a Doomsayer. It’s a board clear he can’t stop once he has passed his turn. If you don’t disrupt it, it will proc at the start of his turn. Now, thanks to that, you can play Brann Bronzebeard + Dirty Rat combo into his Doomsayer. This way you pull off 2 cards from his hand onto the board, like into the Doomsayer’s effect. I’ve heard some voices that it’s not worth it – after all, you trade 2 cards for 2. Yes, but if you pull it off in the late game, when your opponent is likely holding crucial cards in his hand, the trade should be heavily in your favor. You trade Brann, which is a nice card, but nothing to cry after and a 2-drop. And you trade those for possibly a combo pieces, for big late game Legendaries, for Reno Jackson etc.
Another combo, which I like even more, is Brann + Dirty Rat + MCT. It’s REALLY powerful. If your opponent has 3 minions on the board already, it’s an insane swing turn. You immediately pull out 2 minions from his hand and then steal 2 random minions from his side. Instead of him having 3 minions vs 0 of yours, now you have Brann + Dirty Rat + MCT + 2 random minions you have stolen. With an Emperor discount, you can also follow it with Shadowflame on one of your minions to potentially clear the rest of his board. Combo was popularized recently by Savjz, playing it in his Reno decks. Here is how it looks when it works right:
Coldarra Drake Shenanigans
Sometimes I read questions like “what card would be most broken if it was in a different class than it is right now?”. And after Gadgetzan, I would probably answer Coldarra Drake. The card’s effect is quite powerful – you can use your Hero Power as much times as you want per turn. However, the effect doesn’t work that well in Mage. Your Hero Power only pings for 1 and it obviously costs 2 mana. You can theoretically combo it with a Maiden of the Lake, but that’s still “only” 10 damage per turn with Hero Power.
However, this expansion Priest has got a new, shiny card – Raza the Chained. 0 mana Hero Power means that – in theory – if you could get a Coldarra Drake on the board, you could use it as many times as you want. But Priest’s Hero Power heals, so what’s the point? Well, if you combo it with either Shadowform or Embrace the Shadows, that’s suddenly 2 damage. 2 damage you can play as many times as you want (well, okay, you’re limited by a turn timer, so better hurry up).
Surprisingly, there are also quite a few ways for Priest to actually get Coldarra drake on the board. The easiest ones are just Thoughtstealing, Entombing or getting it through similar effect. But it means that your opponent would have to play it. So, another ways, that are way more consistent, are either Kabal Courier or Forbidden Shaping. Kabal Courier, since it discovers 1 card from each class, has exactly 1 in 57 chance to discover a specific Mage card. So you get a 1 in 57 chance to discover Coldarra Drake. Forbidden Shaping has a slightly higher chance, 1 in 55, but since the minion appears on your board, you need to be already set up to do the combo. Meaning that Kabal Courier is probably the best way to make that combo work.
Sure, it requires a lot of RNG, so it’s not something that you can base your win condition on. But if you already play Reno Priest with Kabal Courier/Forbidden Shaping and Shadowform/Embrace the Shadows, you can keep that thing in mind and try to go for it when you happen to roll the correct minion!
Don Han’Cho + Leeroy Combo
Leeroy Jenkins was always some part of the OTK combos. Well, not necessarily OTK, but huge burst turns. Back in the day, before Leeroy’s nerf, it was Miracle Rogue with Shadowsteps and Cold Bloods. Later there was a Control Shaman deck with Leeroy Jenkins + 2x Rockbiter Weapon + Flametongue Totem + Windfury 28 damage combo (it was a cheese deck running on the ladder for a while even before Naxx). Then there was a Warlock combo of Leeroy Jenkins + Power Overwhelming + Faceless Manipulator, which is actually still one of the main win conditions in many RenoLock decks.
It seems like Leeroy will stay as a part of the high burst/OTK combos forever. This time around, we have a Paladin deck that can perform that. As we all know, new Grimy Goons Legendary – Don Han’Cho – can give one card in your hand +5/+5. Health part is not important right now, but the +5 attack certainly is. If you play Brann + Don Han’Cho while only Leeroy is in your hand, it bumps its attack up to 16. That’s already a lot, but why settle on that? Since Leeroy costs only 5 mana, we still have another 5 to work with. Now we can play Blessed Champion to pump Leeroy’s attack up to 32. And hit straight to the face. A great way to finish the game!
Actually, you know what? Come to think about it, not only Paladin can perform that. After all you can just play Faceless Manipulator on the buffed Leeroy in Warrior or Hunter. Riiight. But still, the combo looks most fun with a card that’s never seeing any real play – Blessed Champion!
Noggenfogger + Fool’s Bane
Fool’s Bane would probably be the most broken card in the game if it could attack opponent’s face. I mean, it’s already 5 mana for 12 damage at the base level, not to mention weapon buffs. Luckily for us, it’s not possible… But you know what? It’s Hearthstone and everything’s possible if you try really, really hard.
The new card, Mayor Noggenfogger, is one of the most crazy cards released up to date. Probably only Yogg-Saron, Hope’s End was more crazy. I’m actually quite happy that the card is unplayable, because more games decided by pure RNG etc. But hey, the card is weak, but there is one interesting point about it – it allows some fun combos to work.
We have Disguised Toast again, pulling another crazy combo. So, what happens if you buff your Fool’s Bane up to 14 attack and start swinging with it at opponent’s minions while you have Mayor Noggenfogger on the board? Miracles happen. Every time you swing, there is a chance that instead of swinging at minion, you will actually attack opponent’s face. For 14 damage. Yeah, that’s a lot. Completely RNG-based win condition that will work maybe once in 20 games, but hey, it’s REALLY entertaining to watch!
Turn 1 14/14
Edwin VanCleef is one of the most snowbally minions in the whole game. With the right hand, you can get out a very early 8/8 or something like that. That’s pretty common. I mean, it happened a lot. But right now, thanks to the new Gadgetzan card – Counterfeit Coin – you can start making the VanCleef shenanigans much sooner and they’re much stronger.
Okay, unlike the other combos that you can perform in the late game, this one doesn’t require cycling through your deck etc. It requires you to have a perfect starting hand. It’s purely RNG and you can’t really do anything to make your odds better. But if it happens, I’m definitely sure that we’re going to see it all over reddit.
To perform this combo, you need to go second. Your opening hand needs to be exactly Edwin + 2x Counterfeit Coin + Shadowstep + 0 mana spell (Preparation or Backstab, it doesn’t matter). And obviously another Coin from going second. Since Edwin starts at 2/2 and gets +2/+2 every time you play a card, let’s see how big it will get.
3x Coin + Edwin + Prep/Backstab + Shadowstep. That’s 6 cards you’ve played before finally dropping your Edwin. 2/2 + 12/12 = 14/14 Edwin on turn 1.
If you wait another turn and draw exactly second Shadowstep, you can bump him by another +4/+4, making it a turn 2 18/18 minion.
No matter if you decide to drop him on turn 1 as 14/14 or turn 2 as 18/18, one thing is sure. If your opponent has no early, low cost hard removal – he just dies before he can do anything.
I don’t have any clips of this combo, I don’t think that someone who is streaming/recording has pulled it off already, because I would probably see it. The thing about this combo is that you need to have EXACTLY those cards in your starting hand, which makes it very unlikely. Maybe we’re going to see it in the future!
Closing
That’s all, folks. At least so far. There are probably way more potential combos that this expansion has brought. But some of them haven’t been pulled off yet, others aren’t interesting enough etc. I think that I made quite a solid compilation, but if you know another crazy, fun, powerful, interesting combos that are possible thanks to the new cards, by all means, please do share them in the comments! I would love to see more, combos like that are probably my favorite Hearthstone clips.
If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comment section below. And if you want to be up to date with my articles, you can follow me on Twitter.
Good luck on the ladder and until next time!
Published: Dec 9, 2016 01:37 pm