Opening
Welcome all to my little corner of this little site. Thanks to everyone for coming around and reading all of our articles on this site. If it wasn’t for you guys, there would not be a site. I love getting comments from you guys and I try my best to comment back. Sometimes I do miss it, especially if it has been a few days since the article was published on the site. Otherwise, I do try and comment back so please feel free to let me know what you think, good or bad.
Now that we are done with the pleasantries, let’s get to what I came on in to write about. Right now, the Meta is a total mish mash of things. The Meta is changing week to week and I love it. New decks seem to be popping up all the time and the ladder is truly and unpredictable thing. There is now telling what you may run into, especially in the mid ranks of the ladder. Yes, it is totally because of the new League of Explorers adventure. It keeps the game from getting stale and this adventure, more so especially the other ones (I am looking at you Blackrock Mountain) has changed the Meta all on its own.
So with all that being said the question is, what little deck has HalfBroke Chris brought on here this week. Well my fellow Hearthstone players, I have brought with me a little deck from a class that was once deemed dead but now is alive a well (pro player Pingpinho has to be doing cartwheels somewhere in Asia).
Now, I did not bring an article about the Aggro Shaman deck. That is the new big thing and to be honest, I find it a little inconsistent. What I have brought is one that runs one of the new Legends and the card that has saved Shaman, tunnel-trogg
The Deck
Now we have seen a lot of Shaman decks pop lately but for me this one has the most potential. The reason is it has so many options. Now I can’t take credit for this deck. I truly wish I could but I found it over at the Hearthaholics podcast (quick tip, I love this podcast, you should go check it out). Now, when I was looking at the deck the first thing I noticed was the inclusion of the new Legend sir-finley-mrrgglton.
The thing about this card is it can change everything no matter what point of the game you draw him. One of the things that made Shaman so hard to play with in this current Meta was that it’s hero ability limited you a little bit. It just dropped Totems and most of the time you needed a little more punch from the Hero Ability. Well now, you got it.
I have used different ones depending on the deck I am playing against. I have armored up with Warrior, started dealing 2 damage pops to the face via Hunter, and started gaining life with Paladin. This card is really good with a hero that has an ability that is very limiting and Shaman qualifies.
Another big card added is the new tunnel-trogg. This card helps the other problem that Shaman had and that is overload. This card wants you to throw an overload card on the table because it becomes bigger and bigger every time you do it. If you get this guy out early, it can cause some major problems for your opponent.
jeweled-scarab helps get more of other class cards that this deck is only running one of. For instance, many times I have gotten another feral-spirit and that has helped me a lot. It causes this deck to be able to run more beef along with the control cards such as hex.
brann-bronzebeard is in this deck and depending on what card you lay down on the board with him can cause some serious problems. For instance, a turn 9 fire-elemental with this guy lets you deal more damage on the table than you usually would get to. It is a great card for this deck that just helps add a little more options to it.
The other cards are mainstays such as fire-elemental and flametongue-totem. Also, adding in the one bloodlust and the reason for this is it can alone be your late game win condition. In the mid to late game, if you have three or four minions on table, you can totally change a game, just like Shaman used to do, and win you the game.
I love this deck and the way it plays, so let’s get into a little bit of how to play it.
Deck Playstyle
This deck is an interesting one because the way you play it generally changes from game to game. This deck can be played as a bit of an aggro deck if you have the window to do it but can also hang with the more control style mid-range decks that seem to be filling up the ladder. The biggest thing is making sure you have a clear line to the face win you end up with bloodlust. This deck also has enough removal and damage cards to help you keep control of the board while you build up your side of the battlefield.
You really have to make smart choices and plan ahead with what you get in the draw. It is very easy to get caught up with going straight to face, when in reality, you should just control the board and be patient. This deck is truly more of a mid-range deck that just happens to be able to play a quick early game if the opponent has a bad start.
The biggest thing is to save your damage cards to help clear a board more so than to hit the face with it. It helps you keep control and in the long run a more direct line to the face when the time comes. Once again, a well-timed bloodlust can be a very powerful OTK with this deck. Just play smart and choose wisely.
Oh, and lastly, always try and plan your turns out to make sure you use up all of your mana. Try very hard and spend all of your mana every turn. This will truly help you in the long run planning that out. So watch your mana and how it is going to be spent turns ahead.
Mulligan and Match-up Kryptonite
This deck is one that the wanted starting hand doesn’t really change much based on the opposing hero. You always, ALWAYS want to try and have tunnel-trogg in your hand, This card can swing the game into your favor very early on, so make sure to always try and mulligan to have him in it.
The only other cards that you want in your starting hand as much as possible is all of the 2 drop minions that this deck runs. This will help you stay in the curve every turn. This means a jeweled-scarab will always help having in your starting hand because it gives you a built in turn three play if you need it, along with a turn 2 minion.
Now the biggest match up that is kryptonite to this deck is Freeze mage. For some reason, I have yet to win a game against it. It always seems to have an answer to whatever hits the table and keeps you constantly searching for answers. Also, in the late game, if you happen to run into a certain man named Jackson, you will have to just say that is game. Freeze Mage is the only deck that runs reno-jackson that this deck can’t handle. This deck can cause a lot of damage quickly, especially in the late game, but when it comes to Freeze Mage, it seems to be so late that you have already spent all of your options and it is just time to hit the Concede button.
Other than that, this deck can hang with more match ups. Yes, some are a little better than others but as a whole I have been able to run this deck just over a 60% win rate in ladder. It just has so many options that allows you to stay in most games. As I said, the one that causes the win rate to change the most is Freeze Mage and it wouldn’t be totally stupid to, if you wanted to save time, just call it day as soon as you realize it is that match up (or if you play with the deck and find a way to play this deck and beat it, please, leave a comment below!!)
In Closing
I love a crazy Meta like there is now because it is just so much fun testing out new decks and there seems to be a few new ones every week. It keeps the game fresh and new ( I was in the game when it was in a beta stage, imagine playing with just classic cards for months..UGGGHHH!!!) This is just another deck to do this with and try out on the ladder. It is, in my opinion, to play with because I love having a deck that has so many option but also a deck that makes you have to sometimes think ahead. It can truly come out strong and win a game early or control the board and end up getting a OTK late.
I think that we are all looking for decks that is different than some of the old standard Secret or mid-range decks that have been played to death in the past months. This is one of those decks and it is truly a fun one to ride the ladder with. For me, that is key in playing the ladder. If you have a deck that is fun to play with and one that wins more than 50% of your games, that helps make the ladder grind a little less of..well..a grind.
I hope you enjoy playing with this deck as much as I do and please leave comments below telling me how you are doing with it. Also, let me know if you are running into problems with the deck and I will check back and respond on what could help.
Please make sure to follow me on Twitter and on Twitch. I will be streaming next week, so be sure to come and hang out with me. I am always full of tech talk but also some bad humor and laughs. Basically, I am just a big goofball that loves playing this game and tries real hard to make people laugh. I hope to hear from you guys and thanks again for checking out an article of mine. Once again….
