By NPH Pasca and WickedGood

The first weekend of Herthstone Masters Qualifiers for Dreamhack Jönköping, Sweden is already behind us. Here’s all the data about open cups 1-15, followed by comments from some of the winners.

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:

Embiggen Druid, Galakrond Rogue, Galakrond Warrior (T4COTASTIC / Soxiik)

Quest Hunter, Highlander Mage, Galakrond Rogue (Ap3lkuchen)

Quest Druid, Highlander Mage, Galakrond Rogue (Mikkel)

Embiggen Druid, Face Hunter, Galakrond Rogue (Utopia)

Proven Lineups:

Highlander Mage, Galakrond Rogue, Highlander Warrior (DimitriKazov)

Highlander Mage, Galakrond Rogue, Galakrond Hand Warlock (Maricochet)

Galakrond Rogue, Galakrond Hand Warlock, Galakrond Warrior (Noflame)

Face Hunter, Galakrond Rogue, Galakrond Warrior (iNS4NE)

Pretty Good Lineups:

Quest Hunter, Galakrond Rogue, Galakrond Warrior (MaeveDonovan)

Highlander Hunter, Galakrond Rogue, Galakrond Hand Warlock (Gamerrvg)

Highlander Hunter, Galakrond Rogue, Highlander Warrior (Faeli)

Highlander Mage, Combo Priest, Galakrond Rogue (дарк)

Highlander Rogue, Galakrond Hand Warlock, Galakrond Warrior (Zockmeister)

Embiggen Druid, Dragon Hunter, Galakrond Rogue (NaySyl)

Galakrond Priest, Galakrond Rogue, Galakrond Warrior (Trec)

Embiggen Druid, Highlander Hunter, Galakrond Rogue (PenhaDani / lak1pro)

Quest Druid, Highlander Hunter, Galakrond Rogue (Jacke)

Highlander Hunter, Highlander Mage, Galakrond Rogue (J4kubb / JohnnyBambou)

Embiggen Druid, Dragon Hunter, Galakrond Warrior (koniuu)

Face Hunter, Galakrond Rogue, Aggro Shaman (TmwKOxyd)

Quest Hunter, Galakrond Rogue, Galakrond Hand Warlock (MidLight)

Quest Hunter, Quest Priest, Galakrond Rogue (Hypno)

Quest Druid, Galakrond Rogue, Galakrond Hand Warlock (levik / Mat1er)

Galakrond Rogue, Galakrond Hand Warlock, Highlander Warrior (Lethal / Ecta)

Interesting Lineups:

Highlander Hunter, Quest Priest, Highlander Warrior (Silvors)

Face Hunter, Highlander Paladin, Aggro Warrior (에렛지디)

Quest Druid, Quest Hunter, Highlander Warrior (龜毛老頭)

Highlander Mage, Galakrond Priest, Galakrond Rogue (TechnoGoose)

Quest Druid, Fave Hunter, Galakrond Warrior (AVZ075)

Embiggen Druid, Face Hunter, Aggro Shaman (AndreiRO)

Murloc Paladin, Galakrond Rogue, Galakrond Warrior (BloodEdge)

Comments from the winners:

Ap3lkuchen on Quest Hunter, Highlander Mage, Galakrond Rogue:

“Basically i think Quest Hunter and Rogue are the two Decks you need to play right now. And I felt like Highlander Mage has overall the best matchups if I ban the most aggressive deck of my opponent because they counter Quest Hunter und Rogue as well. So i banned either Face Hunter or Quest Hunter and if my opponent didn’t play that i just banned Rogue which ist overall the best deck right now. In general i think there are to many people trying to counter Rogue and play bad decks like Druid. Because Rogue gets the win most of the time anyway.

And I think that Boompistol Bully isn’t good in tournament meta because it doesn’t make the matchup against Rogue that much better and its very hard to time the card so it really hurts.”

DimitriKazov on Highlander Mage, Galakrond Rogue, Highlander Warrior:

“Basically I tried to target Embiggen Druid and Control Priest. I used cards like Dragonmaw Poacher, which is good against Druid and Highlander Hunter. This lineup is bad against Rogue and Face Hunter (if my opponents ban my Warrior), so I have always banned one of these. My score was 6/0 with Mage, 5/2 with Rogue and 5/2 with Warrior, and I felt quite comfortable playing this lineup.”

Maricochet on Highlander Mage, Galakrond Rogue, Galakrond Hand Warlock:

“Bans are Hunter > Galakrond Warrior > Galakrond Rogue > Holy Wrath Paladin.

This lineup is good against Highlander Warrior, Resurrect Priest, Embiggen Druid and Quest Druid. It’s also just 3 very strong and versatile decks.

In Warlock, the Albatrosses are insane. In mirrors where my opponent had Amalgams instead, I had the advantage.

In Rogue (which was banned a lot of the time), Bully is good against all Galakronds and Mage.I think that the Lifedrinkers could be replaced by Poachers or Faceless Corruptors.

In Mage, I cut the Taunts because there were less Warriors this weekend. Classic list, with the addition of a Bully, which has been incredible.”

Noflame on Galakrond Rogue, Galakrond Hand Warlock, Galakrond Warrior:

“It’s pretty simple lineup and I was targeting mostly Rogue. Bans are different and they depend of your opponents lineups, (for ex. if opponent has Face Hunter, they always ban your Warrior, so you’re gonna ban something, that you think worst to face for your Rogue and Warlock). New Warrior 1-drop is the nuts.”

iNS4NE on Face Hunter, Galakrond Rogue, Galakrond Warrior:

“To be honest I only played these decks because I have a limited collection on NA, but it turned out to be a good lineup in this meta. There’s a lot of Highlander Mages and Galakrond Warlocks and all of my decks are favoured against both (not sure for Warrior vs Mage but I won all of the games). With my lineup your main ban priorities are Quest Priest (or Resurrect), Quest Druid, Embiggen Druid, Highlander Warrior and maybe Quest Hunter if you know that they will ban your Face Hunter. On EU I would probably play something like Quest Druid, Highlander Mage and Quest Hunter, I think that’s the best lineup and I also think that Rogue isn’t great in this meta even though I won a qualifier with it :)”

MaeveDonovan on Quest Hunter, Galakrond Rogue, Galakrond Warrior:

“I’ve just played really good and solid decks, I think this is the best way to reach the goal. Moreover, these decks are really good vs Gala Lock and you’re slighlty favorable vs Highlander Hunter and vs Gala Warrior too. But this was not my first strategy when I built this line up, it’s just an addition (that helped me feeling good vs most of the lineups of course). It was more about solidity and confidence. The best part of this line up is that your ban is quite flexible, and you can guess and play around your opponent’s ban (I love this kind of things) but most of the time I’ve banned Embiggen Druid or Face Hunter. Regarding the deckbuilding, there’s not much to say: the rogue is basically standard, I don’t know if 2 bullies are too much but they are so good in a lot of match-ups so I would keep them; the warrior list is the best one I’ve tried, don’t need Leeroy + Sn1p was a really good boy; hunter is pretty solid too, Kragg is obviously insane and staple in this deck and the adventurer helps you playing swarm 1 turn before (no joke, it seems pretty good) 😀 but you can also play other cards like Halazzi or Shu’ma. That’s all, good luck everyone <3”

Faeli on Highlander Hunter, Galakrond Rogue, Highlander Warrior:

“First of all I think this time my lineup was very close to optimal, but also next week might totally change that.…

Highlander Hunter is a deck I just like very much and have been playing it for a while. As strong as it is in current meta there was no other way for me.

Highlander Warrior was my switch choice for this cup since I played Gala Warlock in other cups and it didnt perform to my expectations.

And there should always be a Rogue nowadays, right? So I picked this version last minute when I saw it on Muzzy’s Twitter in order to beat Druids while losing very little in other matchups. Ban is flex, so you think every time 😉 Good Luck!”

Zockmeister on Highlander Rogue, Galakrond Hand Warlock, Galakrond Warrior:

“For the lineup, I tried picking decks that don’t have too many one-sided matchups, i tried to ban mostly Hunter and Galakrond Warrior, since they have a lot of over-the-top damage against my Warlock and Rogue. Some different card choices: I play double Albatross in Warlock over Fiendish Rites, since you rarely stick a board and desperatly need something to do on turn 3, it’s really good against Highlander decks and Embiggen Druid. With the card draw the deck has, you can still consistently invoke enough. My Warrior list also doesn’t play Leeroy, since in my opinion the deck has enough burst damage and he often just sits in your hand. I mainly chose decks that i’m confortable with and i prefer Highlander Rogue over Galakrond Rogue, because it’s way more fun to play and can find a win in every matchup through Zephrys and Dragonqueen.”

Hypno on Quest Hunter, Quest Priest, Galakrond Rogue:

“Well the idea is to be good against aggro, which there are plenty in open cups, while playing decks that are just good overall in the field.. The main ban is Rogue but I sometimes ban something else over it, especially if I think they are going to ban my Priest, other possible bans are Quest Druid, Quest Priest, Face Hunter. I don’t have the new adventure on NA but I would have played the new Pirate Captain in hunter and the 1/3’s in Rogue that are good against aggro if I had, apart from that, the hunter is especially good against board centric decks and the mirror match with the revenge of the wilds, the priest has the Albatrosses that carried me twice against Highlander mage and make the matchup better against Gala Warlocks as well.”