Starship is a new mechanic added in The Great Dark Beyond expansion, the last Hearthstone set of 2024, right before Hearthstone’s collaboration with Starcraft. Coincidence? I think not.
In this article, we’ll provide you with all the necessary knowledge about Starships — from their core functionalities and strategic advantages to effective counters and deck-building tips. Let’s get right into it!
Understanding Hearthstone’s Starship Mechanic
At its core, the Starship mechanic is about assembling a big minion over time that you can summon for a low mana cost. You build your Starship with the so-called Starship Pieces; however, note that “Starship Piece” is not a minion type, but a unique keyword.
When your first Starship Piece dies, it will spawn a dormant Starship on your side of the battlefield, which will look similarly to a Location.
When you decide the time is right, you can launch your Starship by clicking on it and paying five mana. Upon launch, it becomes an active minion with the combined stats and abilities of all the Starship Pieces that have contributed to it. Pretty straightforward, huh?
However, it’s important to note that after your Starship dies, it doesn’t go dormant again; you can only launch it once. Plus, after you launch your Starship, any new Starship Pieces that die will begin building a new Starship from scratch.
Most Important Points to Remember About the Starship Mechanic
- The Starship remains on your battlefield until you choose to launch it, and it can’t be interacted with by your opponent.
- Each dying Starship Piece adds its stats and abilities to the Starship.
- It requires five mana to launch your Starship.
- New Starship Pieces contribute to a new Starship after the previous one is launched.
- There’s no limit to how many Starship Pieces you can merge.
How Do You Destroy a Starship?
There are only two cards with the ability to remove Starships directly:
- Star Vulpera: Starship-specific removal with a Tradable tag.
- Reno, The Lone Ranger: Well-known Hearthstone’s “Joker” for Highlander decks, as this card can literally destroy anything that is on board if the conditions are met.
Countering Starships is more about adopting a playstyle that disrupts their long-term strategy than adding counter-cards. For instance, by deploying a board with low-cost minions, you can force your opponent to expend their resources defensively rather than advancing their Starship.
And if you frequently encounter Starship decks, you might want to consider including Silence cards. Silencing a Starship Piece prevents it from contributing to Starship assembly; however, avoid silencing just any Piece. Instead, prioritize targeting those that would pose the greatest threat to your deck’s strategy when revived.
Hearthstone Starship-Oriented Decks: Pros and Cons
Starship-focused decks can be pretty popular at low Hearthstone ranks due to their ease of use. All you need to do is:
- Pick a class
- Include multiple Starship Pieces in your deck
But should you still go for such a deck? Starships have their pros and cons that we’ve covered in this table below:
| Pros | Cons |
| Powerful late-game finisher – Starship will essentially be a big minion with not just high stats, but also special effects and abilities. It can really bring a high impact to the board for a relatively low mana cost. | Slow setup – It can take more than 10 turns to gather enough Starship Pieces to build a launch-worthy Starship. |
| Strategic flexibility – You decide the best time to launch your Starship, letting you adapt based on how the game is going. | Struggles against aggro – There is always a risk that aggressive decks will overwhelm you before you can even think about launching a Starship. |
| Budget-friendliness – Starship decks are generally affordable due to Starship Pieces being low-rarity cards, so if you want to play Hearthstone on a budget, that’s one way to do it. | Mana inefficiency –The individual Starship Pieces may not provide enough value on their own before being combined into the Starship. |
| Ease of piloting – The Starship mechanic is relatively straightforward to understand; it’s easily one of the best strategies you can opt for if you’re just learning how Hearthstone works. | Fairness – Starship decks rely on assembling multiple pieces without any mana cheating; pretty similar to stacking C’Thun. Sure, it’s balanced, but still not nearly as powerful as what we see in the most popular meta decks. |
Overall, Starship decks can be a solid choice — it all depends on your motivation. If your goal is to learn the game with a budget-friendly deck that’s easy to understand, Starship will do perfectly fine here.
But if your aim is to climb to the highest Legend ranks, Starship strategy likely won’t cut it. The top meta decks in Hearthstone are all about efficient resource management and mana manipulation; this has always been, and will likely remain, the essence of the game. And, well, Starships don’t do any of it.
If you want to get started with Hearthstone and launch some powerful Starships, just download the game here and build your first deck! Moreover, speaking of budget strategies, our colleague Donnie has also covered a piece on how to build Dash I/O in Flesh and Blood on a budget; if that sounds like your thing, be sure to check it out!
