Hearthstone: Deck Guide - Bwonsamdi Death Knight

The new Hearthstone set has definitely impacted the Standard format. Across the Timeways, the closing set of 2025, was released on November 4th and gave us 145 new cards.

It has definitely changed the meta considerably. New decks popped up as soon as the new cards hit the queue: one that stood out a lot to the community was Bwonsamdi Death Knight. Besides fun and unusual, it quickly became one of the best decks in the game - winning over 55.6% of the time according to HSReplay (data taken on November 9th, 2025).

We at Cards Realm decided to bring you a full guide and show you more about this deck, including its main cards, matchups, and the mulligan. Let's dive right in!

As we mentioned, this is one of the most fun lists right now, and we highly recommend it if you're looking for a new way to play Hearthstone. That's because the main star is Talanji of the Graves, which puts two new cards in our deck.

One of the resources this legendary minion gives us is Bwonsamdi, the uncraftable card that names this entire strategy. Talanji of the Graves puts this card in our list and supports it entirely: when we cast it, we'll either draw Bwonsamdi or revive him if we have already played him, as well as give him a boon. There are three boons total, and each one gives him a new keyword (Lifesteal, Taunt, or Rush). These boons also buff his Deathrattle.

Bwonsamdi's Deathrattle puts a four-cost minion on the board, and this minion also gets the same keywords the boon gave Bwonsamdi. Each boon you play increases the cost of this minion by two.

Let's see the two cards Talanji of the Graves gives us, as well as our boons:

Our main goal is to buff Bwonsamdi's Deathrattle and get him to put an 8-cost minion on the board. After that, we'll play cards that activate this effect again so that we can build an army!

Let's see how we can get there.

Main Cards

The most impactful minions for us, aside from Bwonsamdi, are the ones that revive him or activate his Deathrattle again: Wakener of Souls, High Cultist Herenn, and Endbringer Umbra, for instance.

Please note that our main resources cost a lot of mana, so we'll need to survive the first few rounds before we can use them. We strongly recommend you use the Rush and Lifesteal boons to make Bwonsamdi not only a win condition, but also a way to survive before you put your main game plan in motion.

The list itself also has tools to fight early boards, like Ancient Raptor, with Divine Shield, Creature of Madness, and Whelp of the Infinite. Another interesting minion to survive the early turns is Reanimated Pterrordax. It doesn't cost any mana and can heal you on the same turn you play it.

Yet another way to deal with early game pressure is with cards that deal damage directly. All the spells in this list do this: Morbid Swarm, Infested Breath, and Corpse Explosion all deal damage directly, and Sanguine Infestation heals you a little with its Leeches.

Finally, as we'll need Bwonsamdi in particular, this list needed some card draw. Talanji of the Graves already draws him, but Nightmare Lord Xavius and Troubled Mechanic can also put him in our hand.

This win condition is clear. Bwonsamdi, with his buffed and reused Deathrattle (thanks to Wakener of Souls, High Cultist Herenn, and Endbringer Umbra), will put an army of 8-cost minions on your board. Your opponent will have no way out of this!

The minions in this list that can kill the opponent are expensive, so early on you should focus on surviving and removing the first enemy minions that come along. So, try to get Morbid Swarm, Ancient Raptor, Creature of Madness, and Infested Breath in your opening hand.

Another cheap minion you can use in the first few turns is Troubled Mechanic. Its Divine Shield helps a lot in combat, and, with a cheap damage spell, like What Befell Zandalar, it'll get you Bwonsamdi!

Aggro

You'll usually already struggle with early game pressure, but aggro lists can be quite challenging. If you're against a Zoo list, that is, lists that put a lot of small minions in play quite quickly, try to get some spells that deal damage to the entire board (Corpse Explosion is great in the mid-game). The Troubled Mechanic / What Befell Zandalar combo is also a good call.

Other than that, keep playing low-cost minions, as they will block part of the damage and create Corpses. This will enable Corpse Explosion, Reanimated Pterrordax, and Exarch Maladaar as well, and all these cards will help you survive.

Control

Control decks usually give you the time you need to play Bwonsamdi with High Cultist Herenn, Endbringer Umbra, or Wakener of Souls. So, you can give up part of your early game cards to set up your main combo a bit better later on.

Elise the Navigator and Whelp of the Infinite are great ways to do that.

As for Bwonsamdi, just be careful with Silence cards! Losing his Deathrattle means basically an instant loss.

Therefore, if you think your opponent is playing a tool like this, only play Bwonsamdi when he has Rush so that you can activate his effect even before they play anything. Try to prevent them from defending themselves.

We hope you enjoyed this article! Bwonsamdi Death Knight is quite fun and a breath of fresh air for all Hearthstone veterans. It is also a consistent meta list that could put you in the highest tiers of the ranked queue.

What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!