This is a problem. [Corridor Creeper] is the best card in Standard. [Patches the Pirate] is also the best card in Standard. It’s kind of ridiculous how good being aggressive is in Hearthstone Standard right now, even with the amount of powerful taunts and sweepers available across all classes.
Truth be told, it’s always a strong aggro format when cards that promote ultimate inevitability wind up being played heavily. When everyone is trying to slam the door on others as hard as possible, it’s easy to forget that there are decks that are going to push you away from the door before you even have a chance to touch it.
[Corridor Creeper], on the surface, looks very similar to, say, [Kabal Crystal Runner], or any card that’s cast for free when you do X. The issue with the card is how easily it turns on just by playing the game. There’s nothing special you have to do to make it great. Just do what you’ve always been doing, regardless of if you’re playing an aggressive deck or not, and you now have an absurdly cheap—oftentimes free—5/5 that not only can put a halt to your opponent’s plan, but swing the board, tempo, and game all in your favor. It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to kill them as quickly as possible, or slow the game down to a halt. You need to play this card. Now.
. . .
Now!
The objectively worst designed card ever made in Hearthstone is also at the top of the list in terms of what you should be doing right now; not only because it feeds [Corridor Creeper] easily, but because of the inherent lack of powerful three drops in the format right now. [Southsea Captain] is your best bet right now. It’s way ahead of the curve at five power, spread across two bodies, and you get access to two of that power immediately. No other card even comes close to that. [Southsea Captain] is so powerful, that you can legitimately play two of them, and Patches, and call it a day. The only downside to this mini-package is that the second [Southsea Captain] will only be a 3/3 for three if you don’t have the first one on the board, but that’s assuming you don’t already have ways to mitigate that (Zoolock has the best mitigation of this specific downside), or if you aren’t playing other pirates (Hunter gains access to [Southsea Deckhand] because of [Candleshot]).
Having Patches in your deck just makes everything easier for that turn, and usually the following turn as well. You can at least trade with a threat in an aggro matchup, or poke for two and have a dominating board that is resistant to cards like [Shadow Word: Horror] and gets under [Dragon’s Fury], [Dragonfire Potion], and anything that isn’t [Duskbreaker]. Having Patches in your deck makes any burn spells in your deck better, as you can essentially add two to whatever you’re doing, either on board, or to their life total. It makes trades more favorable. It allows you to put other aggressive decks on the backfoot immediately, without actually doing any work.
Why are you not playing this card yet?
In my opinion, the best [Corridor Creeper]/[Patches the Pirate] classes are Warlock, Rogue, and Hunter. Warlock has incredible consistency and can protect your threes and fours pretty well. Hunter trades some of that consistency for more reach, Beast synergy, and more Pirates. Rogue has the most flexibility, and you have a wide variety of Legendaries to choose from.
If I had to choose one, I’d pick Zoolock.
Zoo
Class: Warlock
Format: Standard
Year of the Mammoth
2 [Flame Imp]
2 [Kobold Librarian]
2 [Malchezaar’s Imp]
1 [Patches the Pirate]
2 [Soulfire]
2 [Voidwalker]
1 [Darkshire Librarian]
2 [Demonfire]
1 [Golakka Crawler]
2 [Vulgar Homunculus]
2 [Bloodfury Potion]
1 [Darkshire Councilman]
2 [Silverware Golem]
2 [Southsea Captain]
2 [Despicable Dreadlord]
2 [Doomguard]
2 [Corridor Creeper]
If you’re feeling really ambitious, you can try a Mage shell as well, utilizing Secrets and more free stuff.
Secret Patches
Class: Mage
Format: Standard
Year of the Mammoth
2 [Mana Wyrm]
1 [Patches the Pirate]
2 [Arcanologist]
2 [Frostbolt]
2 [Medivh’s Valet]
2 [Primordial Glyph]
2 [Sorcerer’s Apprentice]
2 [Arcane Intellect]
1 [Counterspell]
2 [Explosive Runes]
2 [Kirin Tor Mage]
2 [Southsea Captain]
2 [Fireball]
1 [Aluneth]
2 [Kabal Crystal Runner]
2 [Corridor Creeper]
1 [Firelands Portal]
These are just small examples of what you can do with this combination. I highly recommend trying them out in any aggressive deck, some midrange decks, and possibly even whatever control decks you may have! The combo is that good, and it’s going to mean a huge problem for Standard going forward if something isn’t done about it.
Anthony has been competing in games for the better part of his adult life and is dedicated to improving his game, improving his community, improving himself as a person, and most importantly having fun and enjoying himself while doing so. You can check out his stream to find out which video game is the latest to catch his attention.