Deck Archetypes: Aggro

DOA ON: Twitter | Youtube | Twitch.TV

Discuss This Guide

Throughout the history of CCGs there have been certain constructed deck styles or “archetypes” that have remained consistent. Today we’ll take a look at one of the most well known of these archetypes and how it relates to current popular decks that are being playing at the top level of the Hearthstone ranked ladder.

What is Aggro?

Last time, we talked about Control. This time we’re going all the way to the opposite end of the deck-building spectrum to talk about Aggro. Aggro decks generally hit the ground running and set an aggressive pace designed to end the game quickly. In fact, most Aggro decks must end the game early as they’re prone to running out of stream if they have to play much past the mid game. That said; just as with the Control style, Aggro offers a large variety of decks within the basic archetype.

Aggro decks are usually broken down into early game and mid game styles. Decks like Value Town Rogue do their damage as fast as they can with cards like Defias Ringleader and Eviscerate and try to burn down their opponents quickly. The popular Divine Shield Paladin style has a solid start as well, but really shines in the mid game around the 4-6 mana turns with cards like Sword of Justice and Scarlet Crusader.

You’ll hear the term “tempo” a lot in discussions about CCGs, but this especially applies to Aggro. Tempo refers to the pace of the game and who’s got the “lead” at the moment. You could use the word momentum here as well. An Aggro deck that loses its tempo in terms of losing the life or minion advantage will generally have a hard time closing the game out.

Typical Aggro Deck Components

Throughout the history of CCGs certain types of cards have always been a big part of most Aggro decks.

• Smaller, cost efficient minions with the efficiency leaning towards aggression like Leper Gnome and Bluegill Warrior
• Direct Damage spells like Mortal Strike and Swipe
• Cards that spawn extra minions like Dragonling Mechanic and Murloc Tidehunter
• Soft Removal cards like Sap and Freezing Trap

The first two tend to be the most common and are necessary in nearly all Aggro decks. The last two are examples of types of cards that fit certain styles.

A popular style of Aggro uses cards that give you an extra minion. These are known as “token” cards after the tokens (pennies, dice, etc) you’d use to represent extra creatures on the board in other CCGs. These cards are used in “weenie” decks that aim to overwhelm the board with lots of small creatures. This style allows you to do a lot of small chip damage with a large amount of creatures. Larger minions that your opponent plays can be dealt with by sacrificing 2-3 of your smaller minions because you know you’ll be able to replace them almost instantly and maintain board advantage. Your opponent’s removal will generally be less effective as well since they’ll have to use more cards than usual to handle all of your minions.

Other mechanics like Divine Shield are hugely useful in Aggro decks because they help your fewer minions to live longer and deal damage more efficiently. You opponent might need to sacrifice a minion to initially remove the Divine Shield before they can kill your minion with another one. 2 for 1 minion trades are common and let you maintain the tempo of the game by holding onto the board advantage and thereby getting a bit of damage in on your opponent every turn!

Is Aggro for You?

So now that you’ve got the basics of what an Aggro deck is supposed to do, it’s time to decide! You might like playing Aggro style if you:

• Enjoy being relentlessly aggressive and doing damage to your opponent almost immediately
• You like the challenge of playing a deck that’s got a timer on it and makes you seek the most efficient way to win as quick as possible
• you enjoy a style that offers no quarter or mercy to your opponent and want to feel like you set the pace of the game from the very beginning.

If that sounds like your style then give Aggro a chance! Your opponents might call you cheesy, but you know those are just the sounds noobs make as you own them!