Introduction
2 weeks ago, F2K_Varranis shared us his Control Shaman list. The deck we are going to cover today is not very different, but is much more aggressive than the Molten Giant Variant. The deck is a true Control/Combo Shaman. This Shaman is a control deck, unlike other pseudo-control decks in Hearthstone (as also Varranis correctly noticed), that doesn’t mind skipping a turn and ignoring the board state to draw more cards and take lots of damage. Our board clears, and Healing Wave makes it easier for you to make a comeback against aggressive decks.
After playing 20-30 games with this deck, I noticed how good Zombie Chows, Bloodmage Thalnos and Loot Hoarders would be in the deck and I wondered why they weren’t included in the early versions of the deck. I immediately realize the obvious reason: we are running Healing Wave and we want to consistently win jousts especially against faster decks. The list does currently include Azure Drake, Emperor Thaurissan, Ragnaros the firelord and Malygos as the only minions and our chances of winning jousts are higher than most decks.
The Deck
Beware, this is a very difficult deck to play correctly since overload and random effects make the calculations very complex. You absolutely NEED to plan your next 2 turns and consider all the possible scenarios. Knowing when to pull the trigger with board clears, is probably the hardest thing in the deck.
Cards to Consider
Antique Healbot: Add this if you are dealing with a lot of aggro.
Alexstrasza: I feel Rag is better because of the Ancestral’s Call synergy. I have found the Call to be under-performing so you could replace both cards for an Alex and another threat, or probably a second Lava Burst.
Fire Elemental: A replacement for Rag cos it allows you to fight for the board earlier in the game.
Dr. Boom: I can’t think of any deck where Dr 7 would be unplayable. Boom bots help us with board control even when we are trailing.
Refreshment Vendor: Surprisingly good in this deck but I’ve decided to drop them to win more Jousts.
Bloodmage Thalnos: Awesome in this deck but was left out for Joust consistency as stated above. Consider him in a Control meta where the heal is not that vital.
Al’akir the windlord: Probably better than Rag in the current meta-game and syncs well with AC and Rockbitters. Board clearing machine which also gives us reach.
Mulligans
Keep Lava Shock 100% of the time. It’s probably the best card in our deck considering we are ultra heavy on Overload effects. The deal 2 damage effect is also nice.
Against Aggressive Decks: Keep Board Clears, Rockbiter weapon, Healing Wave
Against Slower Decks: Keeping Azure Drakes and Emperor Thaurissan is usually correct here with the coin. Keep Doomhammer if you know you are playing against slower Paladin or Shaman decks. Ancestral’s Call and Far Sight should be also kept.
If you have both Malygos and Ancestor’s Call, you can keep both against slower decks as long as they don’t have an easy way to deal with our big friend (Execute, Hex, etc.)
Sometimes Keep:
Earth Shock: Against decks where the silence effect is valuable in the early to mid game (vs Warriors, Mages, Hunters, Warlocks, Fast Paladins etc.)
Hex: Keep against decks which can pressure you with huge threats in the mid game (Handlock, Druid etc.)
Never Keep: Ragnaros the firelord, Lava Burst
General Tactics
Our Main win conditions:
Pressure with Doomhammer and Spells
Running your opponent out of cards (Against aggressive decks)
Malygos and/or Ragnaros the firelord
Against Faster Decks: You will lose board control, they will swarm you. Being efficient with your mana pool is key. Remember that every time you use your hero power you preserve at least 2 health since your opponent will always clear the totems (unless they are in lethal range of course). Punish their aggression with your big board clears and use Healing Wave to recover – luckily you will win a very large amount of jousts. Don’t hesitate to use your damage spells to clear the board as you can easily cause them to run of of cards/threats.
Against Midrange Decks: I find Midrange Decks to be the toughest and especially Druids since they can “cheat” with their mana pool. You should keep some card draw and early removals depending on your opponents class. The biggest issue of Midrange is that we can’t really run them out of threats and in the same time they pressure us enough, causing us to be uncapable of playing the greedy control style. Sometimes you will be able to kill them pretty quickly if you have Doomhammer and board Clears. I have a very good winrate against Zoo Warlock, you hit their face with doomhammer in the midgame, use AOE if their board goes out of control and save Earthshocks, and damage spells to finish them off around turn 7-9.
Against Control Decks: Denying their card draw is vital against slow decks. These are the matchups where Malygos truly shines. Be it Emperor, AC or even discounted by Far Sight, our Dragon can be the cause of 30+ damage burst. A very typical Control matchup is Control Warrior; their armor can easily snowball out of control but remember that only a single Doomhammer with 2 Rockbitters equals 28 damage! Be mindful of Harisson Jones since it’s still a popular meta pick but don’t hesitate to take risks when required.
Against Combo Decks: We are a combo/control deck so these matchups can go either way. If your hand allows it go into full aggression mode with Doomhammer and finish them off with your spells before they manage to pull off their Combos. The most popular combo deck atm is Patron Warrior, a matchup which is definately winnable because of our ability to deal with any board they would possess. However if they manage to get a good Emperor and find Warsong plus their Bersekers there is not much we could do since we don’t possess Taunts or Loatheb.
Final Words
If you would like to see the deck on action, I will be playing it on my stream at twitch.tv/dethelor. You can also follow me on twitter at F2K_Dethelor for more guides/content. I will be more than happy to answer your questions ! See you next week with a brand new F2K deck of the week!
