Here I go again on my own

Through the Dark Portal officially comes out Wednesday, but everyone is already proxying up their new decks trying to find The Next Big Thing. Of all the potential metagame developments resulting from Through the Dark Portal, one of the most significant is the viability of solo decks. 6 of the available classes will seemingly be able to go it alone (or at the very least nearly alone). Warriors, Rogues, Hunter, Paladins, Shamans, and Druids are all seeing solo builds pop up in deckbuilding forums all over the net. There are even a few brave souls attempting solo Mage decks. Is the loner revolution a passing fad or the future of the game?

The answer is somewhere in between. It's definitely not just a passing fad and although not all the classes will be successful in their pursuit of solo careers 2 or 3 classes will probably be able to pull it off. I don't think that they will ever truly dominate a metagame as it seems like it would be too easy to hate out of a format if a solo deck were ever to truly take over. They will definitely have a spot in a balanced metagame.

So what's causing the solo craze? First and foremost is the power of the control cards in Through the Dark Portal. This has two effects that lead people towards control. The power of the cards themselves leads people to want to play them, and the perceived vulnerability of aggressive ally-based decks against these new power cards leads people away from these aggro decks. Another main contributor is the lack of pizzazz in good beatdown cards compared to good control cards. We're still in what I like to call the hype phase of the new set. It's a lot more fun to talk about cards like Lay on Hands and Hellfire with their gross displays of power than it is to talk about the really efficient allies beatdown got. People can go on and on talking about Eye of Kilrogg and all the combos and great cards you can hit with it, but talking about the efficiency of Jeleane Nightbreeze is a little boring. I'm not saying that aggro is going to dominate, but there will still be plenty of cheap efficient allies at top tables all over the country.

So which decks actually have a chance to pull off a winning solo build? I'll start with the ones that I think have the best chance and move along to the end with the classes that I think are more style than substance.

1. Warrior. The Warrior makes the top of the solo list because it's the only deck that has already posted some success in the solo arena. The biggest questions regarding solo Warriors are which hero do you use and to combo or not to combo? From where I'm sitting there are three viable solo Warrior heroes, Gorebelly, Warrax and Azarak Wolfsblood.

Gorebelly let's you combo if you choose (but some Gorebelly decks will forego the combo) and gives you Mortal Strike. Warrax gives you Stoneform, the excellent Dwarf quests The Perfect Stout and Stolen Stash, and a potentially huge 1-drop in Steelsmith Joseph Carroll. Azarak grants you Cruelty, the first card to buff your hero all the time instead of just while attacking. I can see all three getting some play, but I think Gorebelly is probably still the best bet because of the power of Mortal Strike.

2. Paladin. One card really helped Paladins in this set and it's gotten a lot of hype, Lay on Hands. This 1-cost instant let's a Paladin trade its next turn to reset all damage on itself. The new Alliance Retribution Paladin's ability is very good for clearing the field of an initial rush and he is a Dwarf so he also gets all those goodies I was talking about with Warrax.

3. Shaman. This is one that people don't seem to be talking about in regards to running it solo, but I think it has a lot of potential. They still get access to a lot of the big armor and great weapons the previous two classes do, but they also have excellent abilities from Heroes of Azeroth. Don't be surprised to see some Shaman equipment decks popping up.

4. Rogue. I think Rogues have gotten a lot better since the first set, but I think they need a little help in the ally department. Mind you, I'm not saying Rogues are bad, but I think a Guardian Steelhorn and a Ja'Zaron will go a long way in helping a Rogue deck win.

5. Hunter. This is another deck that I think is a pretty good deck but might not want to go control so much. When you have friends like Chops, Old Bones, and Fury they tend to make you think twice about going it alone.

6. Druid. A lot of people are pretty excited about Cat Form, but to me it just seems too fragile. The fact that playing the Druid's best abilities is also a turn off to me, and I don't really like the idea of my hero being my main attacker with little armor and cards like Guardian Steelhorn and Steppestrider running around everywhere.

Well, that's how I rate the possible solo decks. I just don't see a Mage deck being viable as a solo build, they're just too fragile.