Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, and welcome to the best Hearthstone decks for beginners. Trying out any new game for the first time can be confusing, especially when it asks you to make a deck from cards you don’t own yet. Give yourself a little time and practice, and you’ll be deckbuilding with the best of them.
Though it definitely helps to have a robust collection of cards, it’s not essential to own every legendary card in the game. Your opponent may have an expensive deck, but that doesn’t mean they are guaranteed to win. As long as you understand what cards your opponents could have and try to play around them as best you can, you should have no problem climbing the ranked ladder.
Best Hearthstone decks for beginners
The best Hearthstone decks for beginners are:
- Fel Relic Demon Hunter
- Beast Hunter
- Big Spell Mage
- Curse Imp Warlock
Fel Relic Demon Hunter
Deck Code: AAECAdKLBQiN9wOHiwSDnwTHsgT7vwT+vwSY1ASq3QQLlugDwvEDifcDivcDtp8ElrcEmLoEr94EsN4EquIEheUEAA==
The Relic archetype can be unstoppable when the stars align, unfortunately, this doesn’t happen as often as most Demon Hunter fans would prefer. This is where the backup Fel package comes in: Fury, Chaos Strike, and Fel Barrage let you blast through your opponent’s health total in the early to mid-game. You can also drop must-remove threats like Lady S’theno and Venomous Scorpid which can become a real nuisance at any point in the game.
Depending on your success using the Relic package, you may find yourself in a position to deal some serious damage as early as turn six. The Relic Vault location card turns every relic into a problem for your opponent by doubling its value. In an ideal scenario, you should be able to clear your opponent’s board using Relic of Extinction, create your own threats with Relic of Phantasms, and play heavily discounted cards with Relic of Dimensions.
This deck starts to establish itself by turn seven as you have a number of powerful high-cost cards to start running away with the game. The colossus minion, Xhilag of the Abyss, immediately causes a problem as it deals eight damage split across all enemy targets. There’s also Artificer Xy’mox which plays all three relics once you infuse it – this card has the potential to turn a game directly in your favour as you wipe out your opponent’s board, establish your own, and draw discounted cards in a single turn. Finally, you’ve got Jace Darkweaver which replays all of your Fel spells, sometimes you can score an early win using Jace if you keep track of your damage output throughout the game.
Beast Hunter
Deck Code: AAECAYoWDMr7A9uRBOGfBNqjBMeyBMC5BOe5BOnQBL7jBNPkBJfvBKTvBA709gPF+wPDgAThpATlpATArASWtwSDyAS/0wS44wTB4wTM5ATQ5ATg7QQA
What is a hunter without their beastly companions? This is currently the best deck in the game so it’s worth taking advantage of its eye-watering win rate before its inevitable nerf. Hunters usually have a strong early game, and this build is no exception. One-drops like Batty Guest, Peasant, and Irondeep Trogg help to establish your dominance swiftly, followed by minions and spells that drop Wildseeds (dormant cards that awaken with a specific effect) onto the board. While these early threats help you maintain tempo, they’re relatively tame compared to what lurks in your deck.
Pet Collector keeps the pressure on by summoning small beasts, but by turn five you can begin calling on the help of your formidable beasts and Infuse minions to do the dirty work. Both The Rat King and Hydralodon are persistent pests that your opponent will struggle to remove, whereas your Mountain Bears are perfect for shielding your hero. This build also features two Insatiable Devourers to remove any problematic minions on your opponent’s side of the field. Sylvanas, the Accused and Huntsman Altimor are also on hand to round out the Infuse package and keep your board stacked with strong allies.
The stars of the show are Wing Commander Ichman and Sire Denathrius. Play the Commander when your enemy has lots of healthy minions on the board to maximise the number of beasts you can summon in a single turn. If a sudden King Krush to the enemy hero’s face isn’t enough to end the game, Sire Denathrius will likely have been infused enough to deal the final bout of damage to seal the deal on your victory.
Big Spell Mage
Deck Code: AAECAY0WCNjsA53uA6CKBP+iBMeyBI21BJjUBLjZBAv36APT7APO+QOSgQSTgQShkgT7ogT6rASZsATquQSEkwUA
Big Spell Mage has been prevalent since the release of the Murder at Castle Nathria expansion, and it has managed to maintain its spot as a top tier deck after the recent launch of the mini-set. This deck requires nerves of steel in the early game, but if you can make it to turn six, you’ll be rewarded for your patience. As you’ve likely guessed, this build focuses on casting high-cost spells to turn the tide of the match and build a beefy board – usually in a single big-swing turn. However, as one of its key spells can be unpredictable, there’s an additional win condition to fall back on.
There are a few ways to stave off your opponent’s advances in the opening turns, so try to mulligan for low-cost cards like Pelican Driver and Far Watch Post. Plonk Nightcloak Sanctum onto the board to freeze early threats, and begin using your hero power to charge up Mordresh Fire Eye. Draw your Rune of the Archmage and Drakefire Amulet spells using Deepwater Evoker to gain bonus armour, or use Balinda Stonehearth to draw them and reduce their cost, while establishing your board presence. Barbaric Sorceress is then essential for lowering the cost of your spells to play them earlier.
Rune of the Archmage can be somewhat risky however, as the card specifically targets enemy minions, there’s only a small chance that it’ll cast a spell that negatively impacts you. In many cases, you’ll win matches off the back of this obscene epic card alone, as you can play it twice and then replay it with Grey Sage Parrot and Magister Dawngrasp. If your opponent is still hanging in there, use Mailbox Dancer to gain a coin, then play Brann Bronzebeard and Mordresh to deal a whopping 20 damage to finish them off.
Curse Imp Warlock
Deck Code: AAECAarABAby7QOwkQTmvQSY1ASb5ASH6gQM1+0Dg/sDxYAEhKAE5qAE/rQE3L0E4r0E/9kEgNoEgdoEq+oEAA==
If you’re looking for a deck that can win games very quickly, this might be the Warlock deck for you. We’ve gone for the imp package which dominated the early stages of the Castle Nathria expansion. The combination of Flustered Librarian, Vile Library, and Fiendish Circle can be enough to win you games on the spot. If your opponent can deal with this dangerous board, they might struggle to deal with an infused Miscievious Imp which can instantly rebuild your threats.
We’ve gone for the Abyssal Curse version of this deck to target slower decks which may become popular once Beast Hunter inevitably receives a nerf. The damage of each curse builds up as you continue to play more of them, and the best part is that they’re usually included as an added bonus to strong cards. For example, Dragged Below is a decent removal card for three mana, but your opponent also has to deal with an annoying curse on top of losing their minion.
Finally, you have mid-range cards like Imp King Rafaam and Dreadlich Tamsin instantly make an impact as soon as they’re played. Imp King Rafaam does need to be infused before it can realise its true potential, but you should have no problem powering this card up with your imp-filled boards. Most matches shouldn’t last any more than seven turns, but if they do, you’ve got Abyssal Curses to fall back on which should seal the deal for you.
Building a Hearthstone card collection
One of the biggest changes made to Hearthstone in its entire history is the addition of a Core Set. This set replaces the Classic and Basic set of cards that have been in the game since it first launched. The Core Set consists of 235 cards from Hearthstone’s long history, as well as a few new additions to support the existing archetypes from that year.
Each year the Core Set will be switched out for new cards, giving Hearthstone a completely different feel in Standard play. The best part? The Core Set is completely free to all players, making it much easier to build a collection of cards for the first time.
Hearthstone may be free-to-play, but it is still a card game – a genre known for being expensive to get into. The primary way to acquire new cards is to simply play the game. Leveling any of the classes gives you cards from their classic set which is a positive. And winning three games in Play mode gives you ten gold which can be spent on card packs.
Whether that’s in Arena, Battlegrounds, or Ranked play, these modes will reward you with experience for the rewards track and gold. There are also weekly Tavern Brawls which rewards players with one classic pack.
Over the past few years, Blizzard has altered a number of systems to take some of the randomness out of acquiring Hearthstone cards. A big change to the game introduced duplicate protection, ensuring that players couldn’t receive more than two copies of the same card.
Prior to this feature, players could unpack several copies of rare, epic, and legendary cards, stopping them from unlocking cards they didn’t own. Hearthstone has a disenchant feature that allows you to trade in duplicate cards for arcane dust – this dust can be used to craft new cards.
If you haven’t played Hearthstone in a while, you might be confused by the new rewards track. In addition to the quest system, the rewards track grants players access to legendary cards, card packs, and even hero skins. You can pay money to unlock the premium track which grants many more rewards, though this only lasts for the duration of the current expansion.
Pay attention to the quests you get every day. If you don’t think you can complete the quest you can press a little redo button and it should give you a new option to try out instead. This also applies to weekly quests which tend to be much more difficult, but they are meant to be completed throughout the week.
Blizzard knows that it can get exhausting to try to earn the cards without spending some money, and over time it has made it a little easier to obtain the cards you want, and they’ll occasionally give you a card or two for free in between expansions. Keep an eye out for any promotions over the course of an expansion. Typically at the beginning and end, Blizzard will give out free legendary cards and packs to existing players.
These are the best Hearthstone beginner decks when starting out in the game. Eventually, you’ll be destroying enemies in no time, don’t worry! Learn more about Activision Blizzard’s ongoing lawsuit with our regularly updated explainer article. If you find Hearthstone isn’t your thing though, here are some of the other best card games on PC, or maybe you can learn how to play Hearthstone Battlegrounds instead.