By NPH Pasca and WickedGood

Hearthstone Masters Qualifiers Jönköping #31 to #45 happened last weekend. Here’s a look at the Conquest metagame of the late Year of the Dragon!

Make sure to scroll all the way down, this week 10 of the 15 open cup winners share their thoughts and strategy tips.

Data summary from Off Curve:

Tier List:

Click on the players names to find out their lists and copy deck codes from Yaytears. The names in bold are Qualifier winners who generously sent us an explanation of the strategy behind their lineup. Scroll past the tier list to read them.

Meta Defining Lineups:

Quest Druid, Galakrond Rogue, Galakrond Warrior (jerry / Gaby)

Galakrond Priest, Galakrond Rogue, Galakrond Warrior (insania / MeninoZAP)

Quest Druid, Galakrond Priest, Galakrond Warrior (LeandroLeal / haborigini)

Dragon Hunter, Galakrond Rogue, Galakrond Warrior (Pepe / Jakaso27)

Highlander Hunter, Galakrond Rogue, Galakrond Warrior (Habugabu / tholwmenos)

Proven Lineups:

Quest Druid, Highlander Hunter, Galakrond Rogue (로좀)

Highlander Hunter, Highlander Mage, Galakrond Rogue (Mariana / ShamazinGG / Stacker)

Quest Druid, Galakrond Rogue, Galakrond Shaman (Tatchan)

Face Hunter, Galakrond Rogue, Galakrond Warrior (Reliquary / zlsjs)

Quest Hunter, Galakrond Rogue, Galakrond Warrior (Jarqoni / Fungggg / iLiDan / Coricarsi)

Quest Druid, Highlander Mage, Galakrond Rogue (Johnnybambou)

Highlander Rogue, Galakrond Warlock, Galakrond Warrior (Maelstrom)

Pretty Good Lineups:

Highlander Hunter, Highlander Mage, Combo Priest (Felzak)

Quest Druid, Quest Hunter, Galakrond Warlock (Gev)

Quest Druid, Highlander Hunter, Highlander Mage (N8BIZ)

Highlander Hunter, Combo Priest, Galakrond Rogue (모리노아)

Combo Priest, Galakrond Rogue, Galakrond Warrior (LostHead / Mikro)

Quest Druid, Galakrond Priest, Galakrond Rogue (Hatul)

Highlander Hunter, Highlander Mage, Highlander Rogue (LzJohn)

Embiggen Druid, Galakrond Rogue, Galakrond Warrior (Nerdstrom / DK07)

Galakrond Rogue, Galakrond Warlock, Galakrond Warrior (Polar / rascal)

Interesting Lineups:

Quest Druid, Highlander Quest Hunter, Galakrond Priest (WaningMoon)

Quest Druid, Highlander Hunter, Combo Priest (Xeno)

Holy Wrath Paladin, Galakrond Priest, Galakrond Warlock (Jozelui)

Face Hunter, Galakrond Rogue, Aggro Shaman (TmwKOxyd)

Embiggen Druid, Dragon Hunter, Galakrond Priest (Kholgan)

Quest Druid, Highlander Mage, Highlander Rogue (Valento)

Quest Druid, Highlander Hunter, Mech Paladin (Aristippe)

Comments from the winners:

Gaby on Quest Druid, Galakrond Rogue, Galakrond Warrior:

“No real strategy this time around, just a lot of practice on ladder, and I brought the decks I’m most comfortable with.”

insania on Galakrond Priest, Galakrond Rogue, Galakrond Warrior:

“I really liked Priest as it took lots of bans. I always banned Rogue, and if they didn’t play Rogue I banned Druid. Galakrond Warrior was MVP it went like 9-1 or something!”

MeninoZAP on Galakrond Priest, Galakrond Rogue, Galakrond Warrior:

“My choice was based on something that could hit head-on against the Priest/Druid/Warrior line, I trained a lot with Priest to better the bad battles and makes them fairer, my main BAN is the Rogue with Priest as a second option, my path was difficult with several well-balanced battles, as a forward i picked up third in qualy #41 and first in the #45, I think the differential for this composition is know how to play very well the mirror of Warrior.

I would like to thank my teammates Torph and Haborigini for training during the week and my NYXPROGAMING team for calling us for this project.”

LeandroLeal on Quest Druid, Galakrond Priest, Galakrond Warrior:

“I don’t have much to say, I got the lineup from Rase who qualified last week. All decks are insanely good against Galakrond Warrior and decent against all Hunters. I banned all the Rogues that I faced and Highlander Mage. The thing I most like in this line is the Pirate package in Galakrond Warrior, it really helps you to never run out of gas.”

haborigini on Quest Druid, Galakrond Priest, Galakrond Warrior:

“The choice of my lineup was easy, several players won with it, it is really very strong. I wanted to target Hunter and Warrior. My initial idea was to ban Rogue, but in the course of it became a Priest because it was favorable against all my decks, my most difficult ban was

against the line that had Paladin, Druid and Priest because there it would be easy to lose 2/0 if the Paladin beat the Warrior, but I ended up winning 2/0. In the top 8 games my draws were good and I managed to reach the final, it was the final of my dreams against Hunter and Warrior, resulting in 2/0.

The priest and Druid decks were the traditional ones but Warrior for not having the weapon I opted for 2 Kor’kron and 2 Acolyte of Pain which ended up being very good. I would like to thank my teammates Torph and Meninozap for training during the week and my NYXPROGAMING team for calling us for this project.”

Habugabu on Highlander Hunter, Galakrond Rogue, Galakrond Warrior:

“Galakrond Rogue and Warrior are the two meta-defining decks at the moment. I chose Hunter as my third class so that my lineup would target Highlander Mage. Highlander Hunter is a lot better against Galakrond Warrior than other Hunter variants, so it seemed like the best choice. The most important bans are Quest Druid and Resurrect Priest. I expected to leave Rogue open in a lot of matches, which is why I play 2x Boompistol Bully in my own Rogue list. They were definitely worth including; not only did they win otherwise lost games against Rogue but also against Mage.”

tholwmenos on Highlander Hunter, Galakrond Rogue, Galakrond Warrior:

“This time I actually focused on Ladder, it just happened I qualified through this open cup. I played the Rogue list which performs greatly for me in Ladder, and Hunter/Warrior which I feel that are the strongest classes after Rogue. Comfort picks, decks based on Tempo and killing your opponent in the midgame. I didn’t work on Warrior and Hunter lists, I got lists which were performing well for other players and they just happened to do the job for me. I banned many different decks, Res Priest was the priority ban. Then it really depended on what the opponent had. The lineup is doing ok vs. Rogue but I had to ban it when opponent had Rogue/Warrior and some other bad deck. Other decks I banned often was Quest Druid, Face Hunter and even Mech Pala in a weird lineup. Highlander Hunter was my ban in the mirror, but I am not sure if it’s correct. The lineup targets bad decks or plays coinflips, that’s pretty much it. I did top 4/top1 in 3 attempts with this lineup so it should be good enough. I played without stress so that maybe helped, my mulligans and decision making were pretty good I think. Sadly, luck is very important factor in winning a qualifier and that’s why I prefer Ladder which rewards more, if you can win consistently. I suggest all players to play good decks which they feel comfortable with, reflect on their mistakes, and ALWAYS play Rogue. Lineups without Rogue are a total joke.”

Tatchan on Quest Druid, Galakrond Rogue, Galakrond Shaman:

“Shaman can still fight!”

Maelstrom on Highlander Rogue, Galakrond Warlock, Galakrond Warrior:

“I played a typical lineup with Highlander Rogue, Galakrond Warrior and Galakrond Warlock, decks that I’m used to and comfortable playing.

My plan was to ban aggro decks, in this case mostly Hunter which I banned every time.

I think I won 100% of my games as Warlock, it carried my matches, it’s a versatile deck that I recommend to everyone in Bo3.

Also, I played without deck tracker and I think everyone should do that in order to prepare for Masters Tour.”

Felzak on Highlander Hunter, Highlander Mage, Combo Priest:

“I noticed in the past qualifier that most of my opponents were playing Quest Druid so I tried to target it. Combo Priest and Highlander Mage destroy it and Highlander Hunter does well enough. I made sure I am not going all in and I am actually playing good decks so I have a good shot against lineups with no Druid. The lineup also does really well against Rogue so I didn’t have to ban that and I usually ended up banning Hunter since it preys on the Mage. Just played good decks that also happened to hard target one of the most popular decks. There should be a Manasaber in the Mage.. oops.”