Why the Specialist format needs to go in Hearthstone

With the introduction of the Year of the Dragon and a set rotation following in its wake, Blizzard revealed a new format for future Hearthstone tournaments. The previous format was Conquest, where players brought four decks of four different classes. There was a ban phase where each player had a deck banned from their lineup, and then a best-of-five series would commence where a player had to win a game with each deck to be declared a victor.

Now, the new format is called Specialist. Instead of four decks, a player only has to bring three: a primary, a secondary, and a tertiary deck. But the three decks are all of the same class and must have 25 cards out of 30 in common. That’s right, only five cards in the secondary and tertiary lists can be different from the primary list. Additionally, players are required to play the first game with their primary lists.

There are numerous problems with the Specialist format, though. First, it takes away any strategy in constructing a lineup for a tournament. Essentially, in Conquest format, a player could bring two control decks and two aggressive decks, commonly known as a “split lineup.” This meant that almost every game would be winnable for a player, no matter what opposing decks their opponents brought.

In Specialist, though, if a player brings an aggressive deck and his opponent chooses control, that player almost automatically loses the series. This is why decks like Bomb Warrior and Tempo Rogue are taking control of the competitive scene. They’re safe picks, and because of this, the only way to respond is to play similar, resulting in a lack of creativity and a boring experience for the viewer.

A large reason for downgrading from a best-of-five to a best-of-three was to be able to fit more games into a day for Hearthstone Grandmasters, the competitive circuit that’s hosted on the official Hearthstone Twitch channel. The idea behind this was that it’d result in more viewers since games weren’t as long. But it’s backfired.

Few fans want to sit through an eight-hour stream of the same three classes being played with little variety. Although Conquest had its own set of issues, it was at least enjoyable to watch at times because a variety of classes were being played and bans ensured that a player wouldn’t just get rolled by a lineup that statistically looks better.

The Specialist format was seemingly rushed into the competitive scene, almost looking like a poor man’s version of sideboarding from another popular card game, Magic: The Gathering. It’s not enjoyable for players or viewers, and Blizzard should look into either fixing this system or getting rid of it entirely.