*** Disclaimer: This article was written 3 days before the Standard Format press release from Blizzard ***

Many Hearthstone developers have gone on record as saying something along the lines of “We prefer not to outright nerf cards via patches (unless deemed worthy?) and instead add counters or counterplay in new expansions.” Well if we think along these lines what are some logical conclusions we could make about the next expansion? Let’s put our minds together and see what we can come up with.

Now obviously I can’t really speculate too much on what the overall theme might be or what new Keyword abilities could be added because I’m not a psychic but I would like to touch a little bit on each class and look at some deck archetypes that are near ladder worthy and perhaps some that are a little too ladder dominant.

Warrior ~ In my opinion it seems they are really pushing the turtle game on warriors with the increase of taunt minions and taunt minion benefits. Warrior is already a pretty dominant control class so I wouldn’t expect too much love here and I have a feeling they will really try to shy away from anymore cards that could be tossed in a OTK deck as they deem them unfun to play against. I would expect some low cast impact minions with the possibility of some other spells that may utilize your armor.

Rogue ~ Rogue has been hurting a little bit since LoE, it did pick up Unearthed Raptor and Tomb Pillager but both Miracle Rogue and Raptor Rogue still fall short of Oil Rogue. Rogue to me seems like the guinea pig of all the classes, a class they are willing to try out things like Burgle and Beneath the Grounds, cards that as of yet don’t have much synergy with the class. Maybe we can expect more opponent deck manipulation?

Priest ~ Priest is in a pretty good place at the moment. It’s not too powerful and it’s not weak by any means. With the recent addition of Entomb I wouldn’t expect anymore control based cards in the next expansion. Call me crazy, but I really feel like they are gonna push more towards the Shadowform aggressive theme with some possible aggressive low cast minions.

Hunter ~ Poor hunter hasn’t gotten much in the last few adventures/expansions. What they have gotten seems to be geared more towards Midrange and Control, although as of now nothing good enough to make a viable Control deck to ladder. I am expecting some low cast spells that can really synergize with Lock and Load. In fact I’m anticipating this new Lock and Load deck may be Hunters new big ladder crusher. Also there may be some new beast cards added.

Shaman ~ Where to begin… Shaman is in a better spot than it was pre LoE but aggro seems to be it’s only option at the moment. I would look for more cards that benefit from overload and probably no spells with variable damage. A really good 4,5, or 6 drop minion is also needed to give Shaman some good midrange options.

Warlock ~ Warlock is probably the most well balanced class in the game. It has so many choices for decktypes and playstyles that it should really be the model all the other classes aim for. All they need to do this expansion is not mess this up and probably toss a few decent demons in the mix. Or if they’re really feeling daring they might try some mechs or dragons!

Druid ~ I foresee some big slow beast minions as I feel they really want to get away from the combo druid staple. I wouldn’t be surprised to see more cards that benefit the fatigue archetype or maybe even some lower cast minions with taunt to slow this class down. I have a feeling the Legendary that comes from this expansion may be the best one yet for Druid.

Mage ~ Mage is a tricky one to speculate about. It’s pretty much been everywhere except aggro. One thing I’m thinking is there will be less stall options and perhaps more midrange. I would expect a nice 5 or 6 drop epic minion with a solid ability which might open up some new decktypes. Perhaps a high casting cost board whipe that silences all minions first.

Paladin ~ You can expect with almost 100% certainty the Paladin will be getting the Hunter treatment over the next few expansion/adventures. Don’t look for anything that will help Secret Paladin become more dominant in this new set. I would guess that you will see alot of spells/minions pushing Paladin into the beginnings of a new decklist ~ something that will be touched back on in a later expansion.

Neutrals ~ It’s here I’m expecting to find alot of specific minions of a certain type, depending on what the theme of the expansion will be. With any luck there will be a little of every type; demons, pirates, mechs, dragons and etc. I do feel like they learned their lesson with Dr. Boom and will have another legendary more along the lines of Justicar (something that is really good but situational). I am also hoping for a minion that can steal an opponents minions deathrattle effect and another minion that can trigger opponents battlecries for you also. These would be some nice tech cards to deal with the ever permanence of Deathrattle and the uncounterability of Battlecry.

Also you can expect some new Discover minions as this has proven to be such a well accepted Keyword ability, also some new hero portraits and deckslots seem pretty obvious.

Well these are just my thoughts, I am very interested in what everyone else has to say. I gotta say I expected something like this to be up sooner on Reddit as the new expansion is probably just weeks away.