Hearthstone Classic took us back in time to June 2014, when card games were simpler and you could often end a match by smashing Leroy Jenkins in your opponent's face. You would think that the best decks were almost always found back then. ...... Not so; a new contender has emerged that no one noticed seven years ago, and it's a class we probably never expected.

In their first Classic Data Reaper report, the folks at Vicious Syndicate discovered two Shaman decks that no one was using back in 2014, but are now very successful in the Classic format. The new builds are based on the familiar "midrange Shaman" archetype that saw a lot of play back then, but with more aggressive changes.

In short, Thrall, while still very much shaking up the original archetype, now shows signs of splitting into several different playstyles. These decks are cutting beloved neutrals such as "Commander of Agents" and "Chillwind Yeti" to maximize their chances of finding deadly combos early. First is "Aggro Burn Shaman," loaded with low-cost, aggressive cards like "Leper Gnome," "Knife Juggler," and "Leeroy Jenkins. This build has all the tools to quickly whittle down an opponent's strength with the combo of "Rockbiter Weapon" and "Wind Fury" and the burst damage buffed by "Azure Drake" and "Blood Mage Tarnos".

Next, let's look at "Burst Midrange Shaman." The core cards of this deck are similar to the above build, but the Taunt, AoE spells, and additional card draw make it a little safer to play. The deck also features Hex in case your opponent drops a powerful Taunt like Warring Ancients or Tyrion Fordring on the board.

Obviously we haven't seen all of the shamans yet, but as VS outlined, such decks tend to perform better at higher ranks. When I tried "Aggro Burn Shaman" in Bronze, it didn't quite work out. Most of the time I was a few HP short of winning against "Face Hunter" and "Freeze Mage.

The Data Reaper report emphasizes that "Shamans seem to have a very powerful tool that has been underutilized. More to the point, the shaman is as good as solved as a class and has the potential to create a true unicorn deck that has not been discovered, on top of further improving established decks.

It is exciting to think that there are still Tier 1 builds buried in the classic format, waiting to be unearthed. What is most surprising is that a hitherto calm class like Shaman is taking the lead and shaking up the meta. Currently, midrange shamans are languishing in Tier 2 [behind Miracle Rogue], but VS notes that "the class has top tier potential, has no real weaknesses, and has a very well-rounded matchup spread." Even if the game is brought back to basics, it is refreshing to see an established bully like Rogue potentially knocked off its pedestal.

While 2014 was not exactly the dark ages when it comes to discovering strong decks, these discoveries in the Classic have been made thanks to new deck trackers and the large amount of data shared by sites like Vicious Syndicate and HSReplay Seven years later, the most dedicated players are also quite adept at tuning their builds, and this could well be the first improvement to break the meta.