Hearthstone Arena Drafting Guide

Hearthstone Arena Drafting Guide by SilentBobUS

I’ve been doing well enough in the last 10 Arena runs. Mainly 9-x finishes, and outside of a failed attempt at a Merloc deck the worst finish was 6-3. So I thought it would be fun to write a comprehensive draft guide.

Part 1 – Neutral Common Pick List (By Rarity)

In this section I will attempt to rank all of the Hearthstone neutral commons by cost, which I feel will be easier than trying to rank them all against each other in one pass. You should be getting roughly the same value out of every neutral common of a given cost, but even then some will be more useful in the general case than others. Here is my initial list, feel free to discuss this (and any other section) if you feel a ranking for a given card is too high or low. And remember, this is a general order, the class you pick will alter this ranking but that will be discussed later.

Cost 0:
Wisp – Don’t pick this, ever

Cost 1:
Abusive Sergeant – While you don’t always want to play this turn 1, your could against a non-mage and it provides the most value out of any 1 drop if you play it later than that
Leper Gnome – Exaxctly what you want turn 1, a 1 drop with 2 power that deals additional damage when it dies
Worgen Infiltrator – You can play this turn 1 and keep it in shadow until you need it. Just don’t wait too long or it could become an AoE statistic.
Voodoo Doctor – Like Abusive Sergeant, you don’t always want to play this turn 1. It’s a great value if you can properly utilize the effect.
Elven Archer – A useful effect and you get a 1/1 body after. Not everyone can play Mage to get this effect without burning a card for it.
Argent Squire – Very helpful against the other 1 drops and difficult enough to kill that a lot of people will leave it alone.
Young Dragonhawk – A high ceiling for this one it you can raise it’s power.
Southsea Deckhand – Better in decks with a lot of weapons.
Murloc Raider – A vanilla 2/1 is fine, don’t try to build a Murloc deck.
Stonetusk Boar – This is a 1 resource for 1 damage proposition more often than not, but I suppose not everyone can play Mage and have easy access to this effect every turn.
Goldshire Footman – I don’t love low power, low toughness taunt creatures. At best this means you can deflect one opponent attack away from another creature.
Shieldbearer – I dislike taunt creatures with 0 power
Grimscale Oracle – It’s hard to get a Murloc deck to come together, probably best not to try for it

Cost 2:
Acidic Swamp Ooze – Weapons are very strong in Arena and most weapon based classes will be using them. 3/2 is decent enough in stats it won’t hurt you to drop it turn 2 if you’re playing a non-weapon based class.
Faerie Dragon – This is an easier to protect 3/2 than most
Amani Berserker – A lot of ways to get this to be a 5/2 or better
Youthful Brewmaster – It doesn’t return itself on an empty board, so it doubles as a vanilla 3/2 as well as a way to return friendly (damaged) minions to your hand. Very useful when your opponent silences a utility creature, or something like Lightspawn.
Loot Hoarder – This has the potential to kill off an x/2 and gain you card advantage in the process.
Ironbeak Owl – Silence effect and a 2/1 body is very solid for 2 mana if the silence effect is meaningful. Don’t forget you can use this to thaw out your own frozen creatures.
Mad Bomber – Difficult to play this one, you can get a lot of frusterating results even if the odds of it working out are in your favor. But every so often you do get it to kill an opponent creature or two.
Dire Wolf Alpha – I think I may like this strictly more than Raider Leader. Remember you can attack with a creature to kill itself off to utilize this bonus on more than 2 creatures.
Bloodsail Raider – Better in decks with weapons, obviosly, but you’re often forced to play it before you have one.
Bloodfen Raptor – A vanilla 3/2 is still a solid turn 2 play.
Novice Engineer – 1/2s can be a liability early on, but it does replace itself.
Kobold Geomancer – If you can utilize the +power this is very helpful. Its low cost means you can often play it the same turn as your damage spell (ideally Blizzard)
River Crocalisk – A vanilla 2/3 that is also a beast for hunters.
Bluegill Warrior – You could think of this as 2 damage for 2 resources, if it hits your opponent directly you get to keep the 2/1
Murloc Tidehunter – I liked this one once, but there are too many opponents with ping and AoE effects to risk it.
Frostwolf Grunt – This is a taunt creature that generally lasts a turn at most

Cost 3:
Shattered Sun Cleric – It may not stay #1 at 3/2, but I think it may still be the best. You can often get a lot out of a surprise +1/+1 counter in arena
Harvest Golem – This one is always a solid value, a total of 4/4 in stats spread over two creatures.
Scarlet Crusader – I liked this one better than Harvest Golem at first, but there are a lot of ways to victimize it. Firebolt, Blood Knight, AoE spells, PW: Pain. Harvest Golem is the safer bet.
Raging Worgen – At one point this was my favorite 3 drop. The ceiling for this one is sky-high, but you typically need something like Blessing of Kings to reach it and a lot of times you’re forced to play it in situations where it will die as a vanilla 3/3.
Flesheating Ghoul – If you play this at the right time you can often get it to come into play as a 4/3 or better.
Earthen Ring Farseer – If you can utilize the heal effect on a creature this is often gamechanging. Doubly so for Lightspawn.
Jungle Panther – A very solid 4/2, because your opponent can’t easily kill it until you reveal it.
Ironfur Grizzly – 3/3 aren’t great stats for a taunt creature, but they’re good enough.
Wolfrider – More often than not this becomes ‘deal 3 damage to a minion’
Thrallmar Farseer – Much, much better in decks with power boosting effects, but you generally need a clear board to play this out, so it doesn’t die as a vanilla 2/3
Ironforge Rifleman – Less efficient than the Archer, but sometimes you need that 1 damage effect.
Raid Leader – It’s rare to have a board with more than 3 creatures, but if you do this can help you close out games quickly.
Dalaran Mage – Not the best of the +power creatures, and not every class can fully utilize +power.
Tauren Warrior – I have yet to see a situation where this was able to utilize the enrage ability.
Silverback Patriach – Another unwieldy taunt minion, a 1 turn stall at most.
Magma Rager – Very risky with all of the mages running about.

Cost 4:
Dark Iron Dwarf – A total of 6/4 in stats. The only downside is that you must have a creature of your own to utilize it, unless you are going for PW:Death/Big Game Hunter shenanigans.
Chillwind Yeti – Very solid value for 4 resources
Spellbreaker – Solid stats, solid CitP effect. Best against classes with a lot of boosting effects (Paladin and Priest)
Cult Master – Much more variable than the rest of the top 3, but the ceiling is sky-high for this one. I’ve had games where this has attacked every turn for 4 damage in addition to drawing me 5+ cards.
Senjin Shieldmasta – One of the few taunt creatures I like. Very solid, often trades with 2 creatures, and is great for stemming early rush decks.
Ancient Brewmaster – Solid stats, and you can get the effect to be a bonus more often than not.
Ogre Magi – Solid stats, but you need to have a lot of spells before giving up the 1 toughness over Yeti works out in your favor.
Gnomish Inventor – A solid body and card draw. Generally works out in your favor unless your opponent already has a lot of large creatures on their side of the board.
Dragonling Mechanic – A two-for, 4/5 in stats spread across two creatures. It’s a pity there are so many effects that kill x/1s.
Stormwind Knight – Very solid when your opponent has a lot of x/2s on the board
Silvermoon Guardian – I like this less than Scarlet Crusader (for the cost) but it’s more difficult for Mages to kill off.
Oasis Snapjaw – You need your opponent to have a lot of x/2s to get full value out of this one.
Mogushan Warden – Another unwieldy taunt creature. Why so many of these in the set.
Dread Corsair – Obviously this is better in a weapon heavy build, but I don’t like it in the abstract.

Cost 5:
Frostwolf Warlord – Even in dire circumstances you should get this to come in as a 5/5, usually this is 6/6 or better.
Venture Co Mercenary – The drawback it pretty steep, but if you are ahead you can use it to close the game out, and if you’re behind you can make it kill itself off.
Silverhand Knight – I’ve soured on this one considerably, because of the sheer number of AoE effects I see in Arena. But it’s still 6/6 in total stats for 4 resources, and that’s solid.
Stranglethorn Tiger – Very solid stats and ability for 5 resources.
Spiteful Smith – A 4/6 is a solid creature even if you never get the enrage ability to work and it’s particularly brutal in Rogue/Warrior decks.
Darkscale Healer – A solid body and CitP effect.
Gurubashi Berserker – This one has a pretty high ceiling, but you generally need your opponent to have an x/2 to get full value.
Fen Creeper – A solid creature, not as cost effective as Shieldmasta, but occasionally the 1 toughness is meaningful.
Stormpike Commando – None of the 5 resource creatures are really terrible.
Booty Bay Bodyguard – somehow this is generally worse in practice than a Shieldmasta, but it’s still pretty good if you are hurting for taunt in your deck.
Nightblade – I guess every resource cost has to have a worst creature, the 5 resource minions are pretty good on average.

Cost 6:
Bolderfist Ogre – Excellent value for 6 resources, just don’t run too many of them
Frost Elemental – If your opponent has a big creature to freeze this is excellent
Archmage – +power that is difficult to kill off, most opponents will leave it alone.
Lord of the Arena – A very solid creature, but unfortunately at the point you’re playing 6 mana creatures there is a good chance your opponent can kill this off with a single strike.
Reckless Rocketeer – Best if you can hit your opponent with it the turn it comes into play.
Windfury Harpy – A very high ceiling for this card, too bad it often plays out like an overcosted Chillwind.
Priestess of Elune – Overcosted for the PT/effect.

Cost 7:
Stormwind Champion – The 7 resource card that makes every other minion better. I still don’t want to be fielding more than 1 copy of this in Arena though.
War Golem – In the general sense this is much worse than Stormwind.
Core Hound – Avoid this card if possible, overcosted.

Part 2 – Neutral Common Pick List

In this section I will attempt to rank all of the Hearthstone neutral commons against each other. You can’t use this order as an absolute, because the relative values of cards will go up and down depending on what else you’ve picked. For example if you have a lot of high cost cards already you won’t value a Bolderfist Ogre as highly as you would if you have very few cards at the high end. If you already have 2 Spellbreakers you may not need to take a late Owl, but if you have no silence effects you must and so forth. But this should be a pretty good guide as to what to take on your first few Arena common picks, and in the abstract. I’ve also decided to organize them into tiers. There isn’t any specific meaning behind the tiers, only that as a general drafting rule I will always take a card from the highest tier available to me in the current set of picks, regardless of how the rest of my curve is positioned.

Tier 1:

Dark Iron Dwarf – A total of 6/4 in stats. The only downside is that you must have a creature of your own to utilize it, unless you are going for PW:Death/Big Game Hunter shenanigans.
Shattered Sun Cleric – It may not stay #1 at 3/2, but I think it may still be the best. You can often get a lot out of a surprise +1/+1 counter in arena.
Harvest Golem – This one is always a solid value, a total of 4/4 in stats spread over two creatures.
Chillwind Yeti – Very solid value for 4 resources
Spellbreaker – Solid stats, solid CitP effect. Best against classes with a lot of boosting effects (Paladin and Priest)
Cult Master – Much more variable, but the ceiling is sky-high for this one. I’ve had games where this has attacked every turn for 4 damage in addition to drawing me 5+ cards.
Scarlet Crusader – I liked this one better than Harvest Golem at first, but there are a lot of ways to victimize it. Firebolt, Blood Knight, AoE spells, PW: Pain. Harvest Golem is the safer bet.
Raging Worgen – At one point this was my favorite 3 drop. The ceiling for this one is sky-high, but you typically need something like Blessing of Kings to reach it and a lot of times you’re forced to play it in situations where it will die as a vanilla 3/3.
Acidic Swamp Ooze – Weapons are very strong in Arena and most weapon based classes will be using them. 3/2 is decent enough in stats it won’t hurt you to drop it turn 2 if you’re playing a non-weapon based class.
Abusive Sergeant – While you don’t always want to play this turn 1, your could against a non-mage and it provides the most value out of any 1 drop if you play it later than that
Senjin Shieldmasta – One of the few taunt creatures I like. Very solid, often trades with 2 creatures, and is great for stemming early rush decks.
Faerie Dragon – This is an easier to protect 3/2 than most
Frostwolf Warlord – Even in dire circumstances you should get this to come in as a 5/5, usually this is 6/6 or better.
Venture Co Mercenary – The drawback it pretty steep, but if you are ahead you can use it to close the game out, and if you’re behind you can make it kill itself off.
Bolderfist Ogre – Excellent value for 6 resources, just don’t run too many of them.
Amani Berserker – A lot of ways to get this to be a 5/2 or better.
Stormwind Champion – The 7 resource card that makes every other minion better. I still don’t want to be fielding more than 1 copy of this in Arena though.
Leper Gnome – Exaxctly what you want turn 1, a 1 drop with 2 power that deals additional damage when it dies
Youthful Brewmaster – It doesn’t return itself on an empty board, so it doubles as a vanilla 3/2 as well as a way to return friendly (damaged) minions to your hand. Very useful when your opponent silences a utility creature, or something like Lightspawn.
Loot Hoarder – This has the potential to kill off an x/2 and gain you card advantage in the process.
Silverhand Knight – I’ve soured on this one considerably, because of the sheer number of AoE effects I see in Arena. But it’s still 6/6 in total stats for 4 resources, and that’s solid.
Ironbeak Owl – Silence effect and a 2/1 body is very solid for 2 mana if the silence effect is meaningful. Don’t forget you can use this to thaw out your own frozen creatures.

Tier 2:

Flesheating Ghoul – If you play this at the right time you can often get it to come into play as a 4/3 or better.
Ancient Brewmaster – Solid stats, and you can get the effect to be a bonus more often than not.
Stranglethorn Tiger – Very solid stats and ability for 5 resources.
Spiteful Smith – A 4/6 is a solid creature even if you never get the enrage ability to work and it’s particularly brutal in Rogue/Warrior decks.
Mad Bomber – Difficult to play this one, you can get a lot of frusterating results even if the odds of it working out are in your favor. But every so often you do get it to kill an opponent creature or two.
Ogre Magi – Solid stats, but you need to have a lot of spells before giving up the 1 toughness over Yeti works out in your favor.
Gnomish Inventor – A solid body and card draw. Generally works out in your favor unless your opponent already has a lot of large creatures on their side of the board.
Dire Wolf Alpha – I think I may like this strictly more than Raider Leader. Remember you can attack with a creature to kill itself off to utilize this bonus on more than 2 creatures.
Earthen Ring Farseer – If you can utilize the heal effect on a creature this is often gamechanging. Doubly so for Lightspawn.
Worgen Infiltrator – You can play this turn 1 and keep it in shadow until you need it. Just don’t wait too long or it could become an AoE statistic.
Jungle Panther – A very solid 4/2, because your opponent can’t easily kill it until you reveal it.
Voodoo Doctor – Like Abusive Sergeant, you don’t always want to play this turn 1. It’s a great value if you can properly utilize the effect.
Dragonling Mechanic – A two-for, 4/5 in stats spread across two creatures. It’s a pity there are so many effects that kill x/1s.
Bloodsail Raider – Better in decks with weapons, obviosly, but you’re often forced to play it before you have one.
Gurubashi Berserker – This one has a pretty high ceiling, but you generally need your opponent to have an x/2 to get full value.

Tier 3:

Darkscale Healer – A solid body and CitP effect.
Ironfur Grizzly – 3/3 aren’t great stats for a taunt creature, but they’re good enough.
Frost Elemental – If your opponent has a big creature to freeze this is excellent.
Archmage – +power that is difficult to kill off, most opponents will leave it alone.
Bloodfen Raptor – A vanilla 3/2 is still a solid turn 2 play.
Wolfrider – More often than not this becomes ‘deal 3 damage to a minion’
Novice Engineer – 1/2s can be a liability early on, but it does replace itself.
Kobold Geomancer – If you can utilize the +power this is very helpful. Its low cost means you can often play it the same turn as your damage spell (ideally Blizzard)
Elven Archer – A useful effect and you get a 1/1 body after. Not everyone can play Mage to get this effect without burning a card for it.
River Crocalisk – A vanilla 2/3 that is also a beast for hunters.
Thrallmar Farseer – Much, much better in decks with power boosting effects, but you generally need a clear board to play this out, so it doesn’t die as a vanilla 2/3
Stormwind Knight – Very solid when your opponent has a lot of x/2s on the board
Silvermoon Guardian – I like this less than Scarlet Crusader (for the cost) but it’s more difficult for Mages to kill off.
Ironforge Rifleman – Less efficient than the Archer, but sometimes you need that 1 damage effect.
Raid Leader – It’s rare to have a board with more than 3 creatures, but if you do this can help you close out games quickly.
Bluegill Warrior – You could think of this as 2 damage for 2 resources, if it hits your opponent directly you get to keep the 2/1
Murloc Tidehunter – I liked this one once, but there are too many opponents with ping and AoE effects to risk it.
Fen Creeper – A solid creature, not as cost effective as Shieldmasta, but occasionally the 1 toughness is meaningful.
Argent Squire – Very helpful against the other 1 drops and difficult enough to kill that a lot of people will leave it alone.
Stormpike Commando – None of the 5 resource creatures are really terrible.
Young Dragonhawk – A high ceiling for this one it you can raise it’s power.
Southsea Deckhand – Better in decks with a lot of weapons.
Murloc Raider – A vanilla 2/1 is fine, don’t try to build a Murloc deck.
Lord of the Arena – A very solid creature, but unfortunately at the point you’re playing 6 mana creatures there is a good chance your opponent can kill this off with a single strike.
War Golem – In the general sense this is much worse than Stormwind.
Dalaran Mage – Not the best of the +power creatures, and not every class can fully utilize +power.

Tier 4:

Oasis Snapjaw – You need your opponent to have a lot of x/2s to get full value out of this one.
Booty Bay Bodyguard – somehow this is generally worse in practice than a Shieldmasta, but it’s still pretty good if you are hurting for taunt in your deck.
Nightblade – I guess every resource cost has to have a worst creature, the 5 resource minions are pretty good on average.
Reckless Rocketeer – Best if you can hit your opponent with it the turn it comes into play.
Windfury Harpy – A very high ceiling for this card, too bad it often plays out like an overcosted Chillwind.
Frostwolf Grunt – This is a taunt creature that generally lasts a turn at most
Tauren Warrior – I have yet to see a situation where this was able to utilize the enrage ability.
Silverback Patriach – Another unwieldy taunt minion, a 1 turn stall at most.
Priestess of Elune – Overcosted for the PT/effect.
Mogushan Warden – Another unwieldy taunt creature. Why so many of these in the set.
Dread Corsair – Obviously this is better in a weapon heavy build, but I don’t like it in the abstract.
Stonetusk Boar – This is a 1 resource for 1 damage proposition more often than not, but I suppose not everyone can play Mage and have easy access to this effect every turn.
Magma Rager – Very risky with all of the mages running about.
Goldshire Footman – I don’t love low power, low toughness taunt creatures. At best this means you can deflect one opponent attack away from another creature.
Core Hound – Avoid this card if possible, overcosted.
Shieldbearer – I dislike taunt creatures with 0 power
Grimscale Oracle – It’s hard to get a Murloc deck to come together, probably best not to try for it
Wisp – Don’t pick this, ever. Ok, maybe it could work as a combo in a Rogue deck, but still no.

Part 3 – Class Overview

One of the most significant choices you’ll make in Arena is which class to pick. While it is possible to excel with any of them, some will make it easier than others, here’s the rundown of the class tiers.

Tier 1: Mage
Tier 2: Paladin, Warrior, Shaman
Tier 3: Warlock, Druid, Priest, Rogue
Tier 4: Hunter

Mage
Overall Mage has the strongest class specific commons as well as the best Hero skill, making it the strongest class in Arena as well as putting it in a tier by itself. Another point in favor of picking Mage every time it is available is that it has a positive win rate in Arena over every other class. That is, the best class to beat Mage is Mage itself, which has a 50% win rate against itself by definition. When drafting Mage you should primarily be on the lookout for direct damage and area of effect spells, like Fireball, Flamestrike and Blizzard. You can draft Arcane Explosions, but if you do you’ll need to be sure to draft +power creatures as well. Water Elementals are also exceptionally strong minions. You can draft them as you would Chillwind Yetis, but they are particularly strong vs the Weapon based classes.

Paladin
If you can’t get Mage Paladin is probably your next best bet. However, your success with Paladin will primarily be linked to how many Truesilver Champions and Consecrations you can draft. If you don’t get enough Consecrations you’ll have trouble with minion rushes, if you don’t get enough Truesilver Champions you’ll have trouble against mid range creature decks. Other class based cards to look out for are Argent Protectors and Blessings of Kings. Argent Commanders will effectively allow you to negate damage by providing you with a shield right before another creature attacks. Blessing of Kings can turn even the smallest of minions into significant threats and when combined with Windfury it can close out games remarkably quickly.

Warrior
The next best class is Warrior and the key cards here are early minions and Fiery Axes. If you can control the early game with these you can often shut your opponent out before they get into stronger minions. The other class specific commons to be on the lookout for are Cleave, Arathi Weapon Smiths and Kor’Kron Elites which all provide excellent value and let you keep pressure on your opponent while building your board. Arcanite Reapers are also excellent cards, but don’t go too crazy on them, you’ll generally want 2 of these at most.

Shaman
While I personally have difficulty consistantly drafting a strong Shaman deck, the possibility is certainly there. While a lot of the best Shaman cards are at rare and epic (Lightning Storm and Earth Elemental) there is a lot of value at common as well in cards like Earth Elemental, Flametogue Totem and Forked Lightning. I find the Hero ability is generally hit or miss, but getting the Storm totem right before a spell or the taunt totem to protect you from an attack can be life saving. Another card to be on the lookout for is Bloodlust, but be careful not to draft more than one of these.

Warlock
Warlock is another class my opponents have had more success with than me. Regardless it appears that any successful Warlock strategy comes down primarily to effective early drops and Blood Imps in particular. You’ll generally need to have a Blood Imp down by turn 3 to be successful, which means drafting as many of them as you can so that this happens more often than not. If you can get down the early Blood Imps you can force favorable trades, protect your lifetotal and then use that lifetotal to bury your opponent in card advantage. Even with the Blood Imps you are not the favorite to beat classes with good AoE, since the best Warlock strategies involve massing creatures.

Druid
The Druid class has great suvivability due to the large number of taunt creatures and taunt effects. Even if you get hammered by the early rush you can quickly reach a point where you’ve stabilized with a large taunt creature on the board. Due to the large taunt creatures Druid used to have a terrible matchup vs Priest, but the higher cost Mind Control gives Priests less incentive to draft them in multiples. Swipes can be effective mass removal, particularly with +power minions, and Savage Roar is an exceptional way to close out games.

Priest
Priest isn’t nearly as good as when Mind Control still cost 8 mana, but it retains a number of different single target kill spells to handle single strong minions in addition to Holy Nova for crowd control. Since your Hero ability will allow you to come back in life totals once you stabilize you should focus mainly on building your board. Other cards to be on the lookout for are Northshire Cleric for massive card advantage.

Rogue
The classic Defias Ringleader isn’t nearly as strong as it used to be, and the Rogue playstyle often forces you to play a large number of low cost minions. This playstyle puts you at a significant disadvantage against classes like Mage that have strong AoE spells at comomon. The only advice I can give you for drafting Rogue is to take Assassin’s Blade highly, since all weapons give you good value in Arena and Assassin’s Blade is one of the better ones.

Hunter
Hunter is extremely difficult to draft in Arena. Since a lot of the cards in Hunter decks have effectiveness based on the number of beasts you control, you’ll need to pick most every beast that comes to you, which means your draft options will be limited. The effective Hunter decks I’ve seen lately have utilized Starving Buzzard and the newly redesigned Unleash the Hounds to generate massive card advantage. Another card that provides exceptional value on its own is the Savannah Highmane, even though it is high cost you shouldn’t worry about drafting these in multiple.

Part 4 – Class Common Pick List

One of the most important parts to drafting your Arena deck is to select class specific commons that complement your non-class specific picks. Here are the lists of the best class specific common to pick for each class.

Mage
Flamestrike – This card can get you out of a lot of impossible situations, probably the single best common in Arena. Even though it has a high cost you should try to draft at least 3 of these.
Fireball – Whether you’re using this to kill a high toughness minion or close out the game, this is an exceptional card.
Frostbolt – A very solid single target removal spell, and gives you freeze against larger minions. Very efficient for 2 mana.
Polymorph – In most cases this is worse than Fireball, but in the few cases it is better it can be much better. When you’re squaring off against Tirion Fordring, for example. Don’t draft too many though, since this generally makes you lose tempo.
Water Elemental – This is an exceptionally solid minion, on par with Chillwind Yeti, and slightly stronger/weaker depending on the circumstances. It does however, provide you with a great way to deal with weapon based classes, by freezing their Hero every turn and preventing them from swinging it.
Cone of Cold – I was a pretty big ‘fan’ of this card. It often allows you to freeze your opponent’s entire side and/or kill off exceptionally valuable utility creatures like Blood Imp. It also gives you great value if you have the +power to support it. But… upping this card to 4 mana has soured me on it considerably, I have to drop it down.
Mana Wyrm – This can be an exceptionally valuable creature if you draft low cost spells to support it. I put it slightly below Water Elemental because it constrains your draft choices somewhat and can become a liability if you draw it late and/or are already behind. I also prefer to pick up the supporting cards first, although it’s rare for a Mage deck to come together that can’t support it.
Sorceror’s Apprentice – A very solid creature with a useful ability.
Arcane Missiles – I don’t like the random aspect of this card, but on average you should get decent value out of this. Especially if you have Mana Wyrms in your deck.
Frost Nova – I was down on this card initially, but I am starting to see its value. Sometimes a turn with no opponent attacks is all you need to tip the game to your favor.
Arcane Explosion – You’ll need +power to get full value out of this one, the base version is pretty weak.
Arcane Intellect – I don’t like card draw with no other affects in Arena. You should draft one of these at the most.
Ice Lance – I’ve seen opponent’s do an amazing amount of direct damage with this spell, but I generally dislike cards that rely on other cards to combo.
Mirror Entity – This would be good if players weren’t so good at playing around it. As it is I almost never get any real value out of it. In addition you don’t get the CitP effect.
Mirror Image – I don’t like this one in the general sense. I generally need to be fielding Mana Wyrms to be happy about playing it.
Ice Barrier – Straight life-gain is generally a loser in Limited formats, Arena is no exception.

Paladin
Truesilver Champion – It’s very close between the top two picks here, but I think the Truesilver is a more consistant choice. But if you can draft a lot of +power, feel free to go for…
Consecration – The second half of the top two most important cards for Paladins to draft. Very high upside if you can get +power, or against Heros with minion based powers like Paladin and Shaman and very solid in general.
Argent Protector – A lot of value for 2 resources. You will nearly always want to play this on one of those own minions at the point it attacks an opponent’s. The only downside is that you generally don’t have a creature on the board on turn 2, so you have to count it as a 3 drop for the purposes of figuring out your curve.
Blessing of Kings – This card has ridiculous upside, high enough I think you have to draft it highly. Even the base case of turning a 1/1 into a 5/5 isn’t terrible.
Hammer of Wrath – A very solid card that replaces itself and gets better with +power
Blessing of Wisdom – Lots of potential combos, and generally replaces itself in the worst case scenario. You can even play it on opponent creatures as a deterant.
Noble Sacrifice – This generally plays out like a 2/1 taunt creature, except your opponent won’t know for sure that you have it. Mess with their heads!
Blessing of Might – More often than not I use this on a 1/1 to trade up, but if you can get it to stick for a turn (or put it on something with windfury) it gets much better.
Hand of Protection – In case you don’t get enough Argent Protectors, this gives you the effect without the efficency of getting a 2/2 in the bargain.
Light’s Justice – I haven’t found much use for this weapon, aside from pinging my opponent’s Divine shields. Although I suppose it does allow you to mimic the Mage’s class ability (with a lot of damage to your Hero)
Guardian of Kings – A solid creature, but also overcosted and pychologically it’s difficult to play him before you can utilize the lifegain, which you should do in most situations.
Redemption – You generally need minions that come into play with Divine Shields to get full value out of this. Scarlet Crusader is an ideal target.
Humility – It’s funny, because I value Peacekeeper so highly, but I just don’t like this card. Efficency I guess.
Repentence – I’ve never seen this card work out the way I wanted it to. Never!
Holy Light – You’ll need a big creature to get full value out of this one. Or an unusually agressive opponent you eventually stabalize against.
Eye for an Eye – Do yourself a favor and skip this one.

Warrior
Fiery War Axe – For the cost this is the best weapon in the game. It allows you to completely dominate the early game and isn’t a terrible card to draw at any point. I’d get 4 of these for every Warrior Arena deck if I could
Arcanite Reaper – I’ve gone up and down on this card, but I can’t deny it is excellent. 10 damage to the face for 5 mana is better than Pyroblast and if you can take out an opponent’s Chillwind Yeti (or similar creature) mid game the resulting board position swing is even better. However, as opposed to Fiery War Axe I have run into trouble drafting too many of these.
Arathi Weaponsmith – A solid creature/weapon pairing.
Kor’kron Elite – Very solid all around, even better if you can get out ahead of your opponent, or need to get some damage in to a freeze happy Mage.
Cleave – I really like this card, but you can’t always get the perfect setup. If your opponent doesn’t have 2 creatures on the board you can’t use it at all. Still I think the upside is high enough that it’s worth drafting highly.
Slam – I almost never draft these, but I can see the utility. A little more flexible than Cleave and a better card to play late into games.
Warsong Commander – I used to be much higher on this card, but lately it has struck me as a bit of a win-more card. Still, if you can get this on the board early and keep your opponent’s board clear with weapons it should realize its full potential.
Heroic Strike – Makes you the weapon. Only for one turn, but it’s costed appropriately.
Cruel Taskmaster – Works well on both your own creature and your opponents creatures with 1 remaining toughness. I haven’t yet lived the dream of targetting a full strength Raging Worgen with this, but perhaps one day it will happen.
Execute – In theory this card seems like it should be much better, but more often than not it means spending a card to allow the weakest creature on my board to trade up.
Battle Rage – You should generally be able to get 2-3 cards out of this one, and if you can’t you can at least get one card to replace itself. I would rate it higher if long-term card advatage was a bigger part of the Warrior gameplan.
Rampage – I generally don’t get many opportunities to use this card, most opponent’s do not leave you many damaged (but living) creatures on your side and it’s best if you can play this before you attack for the turn.
Shield Block – Because it cantrips you can still afford to play this card, but there are usually better options.
Inner Rage – I’ve never reached a point where I’ve wanted this card over Cruel Taskmaster. Or at all.
Whirlwind – I could imagine Arena decks this would work well against, but I can’t imagine enough people playing them to include this card in your deck.
Charge – This is so very rarely worth a spot in your deck, you’d be better off taking a different one.

Shaman
Fire Elemental – This guy is exceptional, one of the best 6 drops in the game. Typically stronger than rares like Argent Commander in Arena.
Hex – One of the better universal removal spells in the game, as well as the most efficient.
Stormforged Axe – Not as solid as a Fiery War Axe, but in the ballpark, and since it’s the only common Shaman weapon you should take it highly.
Forked Lightning – Great value and it gets better with the number of Unbound Elementals you draft
Lightning Bolt – I usually get less value out of this than Forked Lightning, but they are pretty comparable.
Unbound Elemental – You only need to play one overload card to get full value out of this one, and a lot of the overload cards are cheap enough you can play this and an overload card in the same turn.
Rockbiter Weapon – I’m not a big fan, but it has its uses. I’ll take this when I can’t get the Lightning Bolts or want to try comboing it with a Windfury Minion.
Flametongue Totem – This one is much more variable. It requires you to have resonable board position at the time you play it, and requires you to protect that board position throughout the match. But if you can get it to stick for even a couple turns you can generally get a number of good trades.
Bloodlust – I like having this card as a finisher, and a way to clear the board if your opponent has much better minions than you, but an arena deck needs one of these at the most, so I’ll often pass on this if I see it early.
Windspeaker – This one generally underperforms, but you just need one high power creature to exist on the board at the point you play this and you are getting exceptional value out of it.
Earth Shock – Good if you are low on Silence Minions. And can completely take out some minions like Azure Drake.
Windfury – Never a better value than Windspeaker, but if you have a lot of high power/toughness creatures you can use this to get more out of them.
Frost Shock – I suppose if you really wanted a freeze effect in your deck that this could be it.
Dust Devil -You can use this as either a turn 1 play against an opponent with no easy means to kill it, or to up the overload count for your deck.
Ancestral Healing – Don’t think I’ve ever used this one, which is odd because in some situations to functions like a slightly better version of Divine Shield (minion ends turn at full health, and gains taunt.)
Totemic Might – I can’t see myself ever picking this card.

Warlock
Blood Imp – These have the potential to have a sizable effect on the overall game, letting you get significantly more utility out of every other creature. My most successful Warlock runs have had these in multiples.
Soulfire – Good removal with all of the Warlock card draw, and you can play it without discarding a card if its the only card left in your hand
Shadow Bolt – Fairly standard single target removal, generally gets a minion that cost your opponent 3 or more to play.
Hellfire – This one is hit or miss, but it has such a high ceiling I always want to draft at least one of them and people rarely expect a second. It’s too bad that self-damage limits your card draw ability.
Flame Imp – I liked this better before the nerf, but low cost minions are important for Warlock and you’ll often get Blood Imps to back it up.
Mortal Coil – I haven’t had a lot of luck with this card, but a one-cost one-damage cantrip is fine and you can use it to ping a divine shield in a pinch.
Demonfire – It’s not particularly efficient, but it is versatile because it doubles as removal and a minion booster.
Dread Infernal – While this has some anti-synergy with dumpting a bunch of low toughness minions early (the main Warlock gameplan) it can still help you get out a jam and has decent stats, only a little worse than the Ogre an Arena staple.
Drain Life – While I generally like this much less than Shadowbolt, occassionally the Bolt is overkill and the Warlock can turn lifegain into cards.
Succubus – I’d like this a lot more if there weren’t so many 3/2 for 2 running around. You almost need a Blood Imp on the board to get full value for this.
Power Overwhelming More often than not this means you are sacrificing a small creature to kill off a big one, or dealing out the final points of damage to your opponent.
Voidwalker I’m not a big fan of low power taunt minions, but this one is really efficient and gets bumped up to 1/4 more often than not. In addition Warlocks need to protect their lifetotals more than most Heroes.
Sense Demons – Warlock is the one class helped least by CA, you must have 2 demons left in your deck, they have to be helpful at the point you draw them, a lot can go wrong with this one.
Summoning Portal – I am really not a fan of this one, it is neither a solid early or late game pick and isn’t particularly compelling mid-game either.
Corruption – I suppose removal is removal, but this isn’t a very good one.
Sacrificial Pact – Don’t draft this one, ever. I think I’d even take wisp over this.

Druid
Swipe – Solid removal and a good way to deal with pesky shadow minions. If you can get +power on the board before you cast this you can decimate your opponent.
Druid of the Claw – A very solid minion for 5 resources in both offense and defense mode.
Starfire – You don’t want too many of these, but cycling removal can be backbreaking for your opponent once you have the resources to play this particularly if they are relying on solid creatures like Chillwind Yeti (and not a lot of little creatures)
Ironbark Protector – Now that Mind Control on turn 8 is out of the picture, you can finally give this the high pick it deserves. Just don’t take too many of them. Ideally you want 1 and 2 at the most.
Mark of the Wild – Very solid all around, best if you can play it on an attacking creature to get in additional damage and then force your opponent to use up their side killing it the next turn. Or you can use it to make your Silent Watcher useful.
Power of the Wild – Both modes are decent, it can count either as a 2 drop minion or a potentially game changing upgrade to all of your creatures.
Wrath – Versatile removal that can work well in both modes.
Savage Roar – Like Bloodlust, you won’t generally want this card in multiples, but it does give your Hero attack power as well, so it’s not completely dependant on your total number of creatures.
Mark of Nature – More often that not I’ll end up playing the +4 health and taunt side of this card, but if you are close to closing out a victory the offensive side can be good too.
Wild Growrth – I don’t like cards that grow your resources at the expense of tempo, even though Druid is one of the better Heroes to do this with. If you must play this card you’ll need to prioritize high toughness taunters and Starfalls to get the most out of the extra resources.
Claw – Generally weak removal but it can be a solid card if you get it early, or can combine it with other +attack.
Innervate – Like Wild Growth I don’t like cards of this type, but I see they have a place in some Druid decks.
Soul of the Forest – It’s very hard to get good value out of this card, rare you’ll have enough minions on the board to make it worth it.
Healing Touch – Normally I would never pick a card like this, but Druid does have some pretty large minions.
Naturalize – I can’t see myself picking this, or the final card
Moonfire – Some cards just aren’t worth taking.

Priest
Shadow Word: Death – An excellent tool in the Priest arsenal, the only downside is playing in matches where you opponent never plays a 5 power and up creature and you have no Dark Iron Dwarfs or Abusive Seageants to up their attack.
Holy Nova – An excellent sweeper that can save your damaged minions and swing life totals.
Mind Control – With the increase in resource cost from 8 to 10 this is no longer the top Priest card for arena. You still want to have a single copy in your deck, but no more than that.
Shadow Word: Pain – I really underestimated this card until I realized just how many creatures had under 3 power or started out under 3 power. A 2 resource card that can kill cards like Shieldmasta and Violet Teacher is very strong indeed.
Power Word: Shield – This is an excellent cantrip, it let’s your minion survive when it otherwise would have traded and often makes that same minion one you can keep alive with heals.
Temple Enforcer – Overall this gives you better total stats than Bloodfist Orge and it can let you do great things with Lightspawn.
Northshire Cleric – If unchecked this one can draw you dozens of cards over the course of a match. Your opponent will place a high priority on killing it, but if you can stop them from doing that it generally means a win.
Lightspawn – This often plays out like a stronger version of Chillwind Yeti. The primary downside is that you often have to prioritize healing it when you don’t want to, and a silence comes pretty close to making it useless.
Smite – A decent removal all around, I used to like this more than PW:Pain but they both have their uses.
Thoughtsteal – This is generally a solid card if you play it lategame, gives you card advantage and an idea of what is yet to come in your opponent’s deck.
Divine Spirit – This can give you a super minion but unless you have Lightspawn or a taunt minion it’s not a very strong play.
Inner Fire – A good combo with high toughness, low power minions, if you have any. And you can also defang a high power, low toughness creature on your opponent’s side.
Mind Vision – I generally won’t run this, but it comes close to cantriping for 1 mana, and gives you information on your opponent’s hand.
Silence – While I like silence effect minions I’m not sure the effect by itself is strong enough to warrant a card. At the very least you should avoid this if you already have silence minions.
Mind Blast – This isn’t something Priest wants to be doing, but I suppose it’s still better than a blank card.
Circle of Healing – Do yourself a favor and skip this one.

Rogue
Deadly Poison – I wasn’t a big fan of this card right away, but I’ve certainly come around on it. You can use it to make your own Fiery War Axe out of the default weapon, make an Assassin’s Blade ungodly powerful, and it’s got a low cost for early combos.
Eviscerate – 4 damage for 2 mana is exceptionally strong and you can get it more often than not.
Assassin’s Blade – You can completely take over the mid-game with this, even better with Deadly Poison.
Assassinate – Does a good job of ensuring the early rogue creatures don’t run up against a taunt wall.
Backstab – Good for tempo and leading into combos.
Defias Ringleader – This was originally my favorite Rogue card and I thought it was the reason to play Rogue. Alas, there are far too many Heroes running around with 2 damage sweepers these days.
Betrayal – For the most part people have learned to play around this, but if they haven’t or can’t you can get a 2 for 1 with this.
Sprint – Normally I dislike spending a turn to draw cards, but it is 4 cards and if you can afford to take off a turn to reload, this should give you a win in the late game. As with other cards like this though, don’t draft more than a single copy.
Cold Blood – I rarely see this work, but when it does it can be exceptional.
Fan of Knives – Good for when your opponent has a Blood Imp in play, or creatures with Divine Shield, and it cantrips so there’s that. Still you should be looking to play it with +power on the board if you draft it.
Sap – I generally dislike this card, the only time I am happy to play it my opponent has a taunt creature and I have a large board presence.
Shadowstep – I’ve seen some pretty crazy combos with this card and creatures like Defias Ringleader and SI:7 Agent. Still I rarely get those combos myself.
Conceal – This could be pretty solid if you were already ahead and your opponent had no area of effect spells. Probably not worth a slot in your deck though.
Vanish – I haven’t used this one in practice, but in theory Rogue should have more battlecry creatures than their opponent.
Shiv – This seems exceptionally weak for the effect, even with the cantrip.
Sinister Strike – Taking a 10th on your opponent’s life total is not typically a game winning card.