Hearthpwn

Hey Hearthpwn, I'm Lemon, a HS geek from the UK. A little about me: I used to be a semi-pro player on Barrage (which now has an incredible roster) before deciding to quit competing. I've hit rank 1 Legend in Standard and Wild, and finished top 100 in both - I even finished rank 2 in Wild one month. I occasionally stream at twitch.tv/Lemon1, so come say hi if you notice I'm live!

Yesterday morning I made a wacky deck and hit legend from mid-rank 2 in an hour or two with a pretty good winrate (although unfortunately I wasn't tracking my stats at the time so I don't know what it was). I don't normally make guides for the weird nonsense I come up with, but this one is better than expected, super fun to play, and is already making the rounds on Twitter, so I thought I'd share it here.

The gameplan

This is a true midrange deck. You want to be the control player against aggressive decks like Odd Paladin, Zoo Warlock and Miracle Rogue, and the beatdown against slow decks like Even Warlock, Hadronox Druid and Control Mage.

That doesn't mean you're trying to fatigue the aggressive decks. Your general gameplan will be to flip the board with an Equality clear or Arcane Tyrant swing, then maintain board control, snowball into a dominant position, and push damage with minions and weapons.

Your gameplan against control decks is to HIT THEM VERY HARD. You have a lot of raw damage in the deck: 12 from Vinecleaver, 16 from Truesilvers, 16 from Avenging Wraths. You have a few minions to apply some good pressure with too, with Stonehills, Tarim, Steeds and Lich King. Usually it's enough to get over the line - Equality clears can buy you time to push more damage.

The weird stuff

Let's talk some card choices before we get into the nitty gritty.

Arcane Tyrant

The deck is built around this guy. Call to Arms' nerf to 5 Mana means that you can now drop a 0 mana 4/4 on the same turn, which definitely makes up for the extra cost. A few more of Paladin's powerful expensive spells round out the package.

Stubborn Gastropod

Makes the cut here because it's quite a good card in the metagame right now (it's also seeing some play in Even Warlock). Even Warlock and Taunt/Ramp Druid want to spend full turns playing expensive minions, which this little guy neatly blocks. Gets you tempo by forcing your opponent to play reactively.

Avenging Wrath, Spikeridged Steed, and Lay on Hands

Our lategame of big spells activates the Arcane Tyrant, but if that's all they did this deck would be trash! They're also powerful cards in their own right. Avenging Wrath serves the same function it used to serve in Even Paladin: it's a full board clear with Equality, a small board clear without, and can push a lot of burn damage in the lategame. Spikeridged Steed hasn't been played a lot lately, but as silence becomes less popular in the metagame (Druid decks typically don't run silence, for example) it's become a bit better. Lay on Hands is one of the weaker cards in the deck, and you could consider replacing it with something else - it's good for stalling while your opponent extends into an Equality clear, and refilling resources against control.

Mulligan

This is a midrange deck, so we're usually just looking to curve out. I'm never unhappy to have Stonehill Defender in my opening hand, and it's usually better to have Knife Juggler, Loot Hoarder or Stubborn Gastropod than no 2 drop at all. Against most things it's fine to keep Call to Arms.

• Righteous Protector is usually a keep, especially going first. Definitely keep it against other Paladins.
• Consider keeping equality with Consecration on the Coin against minion-heavy decks. And consider it going first against Even Warlock, to trade a 1/1 into their Mountain Giant with - although remember that Zoo is a popular deck lately.
• Juggler is a great keep against Odd Paladin, and can be good for pushing damage against control decks like Mage as well. Loot Hoarder is usually a keep going first as it's strictly better than having no 2-drop; going second, it's sometimes better to throw away. Gastropod shines against Even Warlock.
• Maul is occasionally a keep - just consider whether you'll have a board going into turn 3 or not. If you won't, throw it away.
• Always keep Consecration against Paladin! You need to clear their board going into the Level Up/Fungalmancer turn.
• Truesilver Champion is your best card against Rogue.
• The Glass Knight can be kept against slower decks if you already have a decent curve (generally Stonehill and a 1 or 2 drop).
• Keep Tyrant with Call to Arms unless you're against an aggro class.
• Keep Tarim against everything except Paladin.

Card Replacements

• The Glass Knight is definitely replaceable and might even be suboptimal. Try Saronite Chain Gang.
• Tirion would be a fine replacement for Lay on Hands or the Lich King.
• Call to Arms, Avenging Wrath, and Sunkeeper Tarim are irreplaceable. Arcane Tyrant is also essentially irreplaceable, as you'd want to build the deck very differently without it.
• The weaker cards in this list are Stubborn Gastropod, Unidentified Maul, the Glass Knight, Lay on Hands, and Spikeridged Steed. If you choose to replace these, just remember to have at least 8 2-drops for Call to Arms and at least 6 5+ Mana Spells for Arcane Tyrant.
• Some cards I'd consider playing that I didn't find space for: Lost in the Jungle, Plated Beetle (and assorted other 2 drops), Aldor Peacekeeper, Saronite Chain Gang.

Surprise factor is big with this deck and it might become weaker if people find out what they're up against. But until then - happy SMOrcing!

Thanks for checking this out <3

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