Patches is Hearthstone’s most-played card since Mean Streets of Gadgetzan released

Pirates and Shaman are the current kings of Hearthstone.

Hearthstone data site Viscous Syndicate has released a list of the digital card game behemoth’s most popular cards since the release of the Mean Streets of Gadgetzan expansion in early December. The new set introduced over a hundred new spells, minions, and weapons, encouraging players to create new decks.

[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":2152624,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"esports,games,mobile,pc-gaming,","session":"B"}']

Viscous Syndicate took its data from 467,000 played games. You can see the results below.

Two Pirate cards introduced in Gadgetzan sit at the top of the list: Patches the Pirate and Small-Time Buccaneer. These minions are both cheap and work well with aggressive decks that try to quickly kill their opponents. They’re so effective, however, that players even use them in some slower decks, like Mid-range Shaman.

Speaking of Shaman, it has the most class cards in the top 10. Shaman was the most powerful class during the last set, One Night in Karazhan, and it looks like its popularity hasn’t waned. That could change soon, however, with Tunnel Trogg and Totem Golem both leaving the Standard cycle when the next expansion comes out.

Azure Drake deserves the most props, though. He’s been around since the game first launched in 2014, and he’s still a useful card. He draws you a card and gives you +1 to spell damage, so he’s useful in a lot of decks — especially those that make use of spells, need card draw, or use dragons.