[#4 Legend] Maximal's Secret Paladin (74% Winrate)
- Last updated Feb 27, 2019 (Level Up Nerf)
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Wild
- 15 Minions
- 12 Spells
- 3 Weapons
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Secret Paladin
- Crafting Cost: 4060
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 1/1/2019 (Level Up Nerf)
- Maximal_HS
- Registered User
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- 7
- 20
- 33
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Battle Tag:
Maximal#2494
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Region:
EU
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Total Deck Rating
315
Important: I updated the deck to my 2nd version with Amani Berserkers, which I was hesitant to do for a long time simply cause I wrote the guide for Corpsetaker build at first. So the guide below is for Corpsetaker build, but can be applied to the new version.
Proof & Winrates:
Deck Winrates from HSReplay:
2nd Version:
This is a 2nd version I came up with to target midrange hunters in particular. Reached rank 4 legend wit it. https://twitter.com/Maximal_HS/status/1093879479989161985
It has no Corpsetaker package, but utilizes Amani Berserkers, who improve Call to Arms, work great with buffs, punish 2 damage AoEs and are resummoned as a 5/1 after Redemption.
The deck is better against hunters, but slightly worse against Priests, compared to Corpsetaker version, slightly worse against huge AoEs, but overall I believe it is more consistent and that makes it a better overrall deck in my opinion.
Code:
AAECAZ8FBvIFucECg8cCuMcC0eEC2P4CDIwBngHIBKcFlgavB7EIs8EC48sC+NIC1uUCrfICAA==
Intro:
Hello, my name is Maximal and I'm a heartstone player since 2015, multiple time legend yada yada yada.
Back in the days of Mysterious Challenger, Secret Paladin wrecked chaos on the ladder. But eventually Mysterious Challenger, Shielded Minibot and Dr. Boom retired. The most annoying deck of the ladder went extinct. But now it is back!
I have been experimenting with Secret Paladin since I saw Bellringer Sentry, but I can finally say it works. Went around experimenting with many different builds, but found this "a little bit heavy on the 4" Corpsetaker build the most effective one. So I tried it in new seasons ladder and went 32-11 (74%) straight to legend the first day of 2019.
Follow me on Twitter for more: https://twitter.com/Maximal_HS
Why it works:
- Druids are nearly extinct with all their armor gain and Spreading Plague
- There are a lot of Hunters on the ladder and the deck is very effective against them, hunters that use Secrets buff your own Secretkeeper
- It is very high tempo deck. It has explosive start, strong stickiness due to all the cheap secrets, so you can easily get value from Blessing of Kings and Fungalmancer all the time. In my opinion, tempo wise it is stronger than such high tempo decks like Zoolock or Midrange Hunter. So in aggressive matchups you should have the upper hand.
- It can put a lot of pressure on control and combo decks. Sticky secrets and minions with combination of buff spells and minions, allow for a very aggressive and explosive start.
Mulligan:
For Amani Version I'll leave this chart from HSReplay just so people understand how important of a keep certain card is in the mulligan stage. Mulligan Winrate simply shows winrate of the deck when that particular card ended up in the opening hand. So the higher winrate the better keep it is. After inspecting many secret paladin lists, this list is pretty accurate apart from Vinecleaver, which I believe has to be a bug, there is not way a 7 mana card can have such high mulligan winrate.
- Always try to curve out nicely 1 into 2 into 3 into 4. So general keeps are Secretkeeper, Righteous Protector, Knife Juggler,Hydrologist. But look for a good curve overall.
- Never keep secrets unless you have Secretkeeper, or you can do Redemption for Righteous Protector or Knife Juggler against aggressive deck.
- Always keep Call to Arms, if you have a 1 or 2 drop to start the game.
- Unidentified Maul is almost always a keep if you have no coin since it is the only 3 drop apart from Thrallmar Farseer (never keep him).
- Corpsetaker and Blessing of Kings is a good keep in slower matchups, like priest, warrior, druid and warlock.
- Divine Favor is a good keep if you are facing a control/combo deck and already have a good curve out hand. So it might be a good keep against Priest, Warlock, Mage and Warrior.
- Bellringer Sentry is also a great keep most of the times if you already have some early game. He thins your deck by putting secrets in play similar to Mysterious Challenger, making your further topdecks much stronger. Its 2nd best card in the deck by Mulligan Winrate after Secretkeeper.
Update:
After watching some VODs and seeing that in 10% of instances people are keeping Thrallmar Farseer in mulligan (HSReplay stats), I understood that lots of people
don't understand how this works so I decided to do a more clear mulligan guide.
This indicates cards that you can keep in mulligan from best to worst keep (X > X > X).
This does not mean you should keep all of this cards! You should build a curve out of this cards! You don't want to keep all the low drops listed, rendering your Call to Arms useless later in the game. Considering if you have a coin or not, think what you are gonna play on turn 1, on turn 2, 3, 4 and 5, especially on turns 1,2,3.
So generally you want to keep a 1 drop, 2 drop. On turn 3 you can play a Maul or any combination of 2 cheaper cards, Or say a Hydrologist with a secret, or if you have a coin, coin out a 4 drop. Find something useful to do each turn, think on how the game is gonna play out, when you do your mulligan.
Secretkeeper is good in any matchup,
Righteous Protector, Argent Squire, Unidentified Maul is good against aggressive matchups, but not too good against slower matchups.
Corpsetaker is good in slower matchups, but in general I would prefer Bellringer Sentry over it in aggressive matchup.
Knife Juggler is good in slower matchups, cause it will be left unanswered for some time most of the times and you will be able to push some extra points of damage early, but not too good against aggressive matchups cause it can just die without doing much, you want him to come out of Call to Arms. Same reason it is sometimes better to keep Argent Squire over Righteous Protector in the mulligan cause you want Righteous Protector coming out of Call to Arms and protecting your other minions from being traded, especially Knife Juggler.
If you already have something to play early, Blessing of Kings is a good keep against slower matchups like priest, warlock, warrior and mage, cause you want to rush them down fast.
So below every card listed can be a keep, unless stated otherwise. The ">" signs just states that X card is better to keep than X card against this particular class. This can also act as a priority play, but of course it depends on board state and the deck you are going against.
- Druid
1 - Secretkeeper > Argent Squire > Righteous Protector
2 - Knife Juggler > Hydrologist (also a good keep along with Knife Juggler if you have Secretkeeper, can be played on turn 3 with secret)
3 - Unidentified Maul (Not too good to keep in slow matchup if you have a coin for a 4 drop).
4 - Corpsetaker > Blessing of Kings > Bellringer Sentry
5 - Call to Arms
Secrets (Only if you have Secretkeeper in the starting hand) - Redemption
Divine Favor if you have a decent mulligan hand.
- Hunter
1 - Secretkeeper > Argent Squire > Righteous Protector
2 - Hydrologist > Knife Juggler
3 - Unidentified Maul
4 - Corpsetaker > Bellringer Sentry
5 - Call to Arms
Secrets (Only if you have Secretkeeper in the starting hand) - Redemption, Noble Sacrifice, Autodefense Matrix (Don't keep all the secrets 1 or 2 of those, depending on what is your 2nd turn play).
- Mage
1 - Secretkeeper > Righteous Protector > Argent Squire
2 - Knife Juggler > Hydrologist (also a good keep along with Knife Juggler if you have Secretkeeper, can be played on turn 3 with secret)
3 - Unidentified Maul (Not too good to keep in slow matchup if you have a coin for a 4 drop).
4 - Corpsetaker > Blessing of Kings
5 - Call to Arms
Secrets (Only if you have Secretkeeper in the starting hand) - Redemption
Divine Favor if you have a decent mulligan hand.
- Paladin
1 - Argent Squire > Righteous Protector > Secretkeeper
2 - Hydrologist > Knife Juggler
3 - Unidentified Maul
4 - Bellringer Sentry > Corpsetaker
5 - Call to Arms
Secrets (Only if you have Secretkeeper in the starting hand) - Redemption, Autodefense Matrix (Don't keep all the secrets 1 or 2 of those, depending on what is your 2nd turn play)
- Priest
1 - Secretkeeper > Righteous Protector > Argent Squire
2 - Knife Juggler > Hydrologist (also a good keep along with Knife Juggler if you have Secretkeeper, can be played to turn 3 with secret)
3 - Unidentified Maul (Not too good to keep in slow matchup if you have a coin for a 4 drop).
4 - Corpsetaker > Blessing of Kings
5 - Call to Arms
Secrets (Only if you have Secretkeeper in the starting hand) - Redemption
Divine Favor if you have a decent mulligan hand.
- Rogue
1 - Righteous Protector > Argent Squire > Secretkeeper
2 - Hydrologist > Knife Juggler
3 - Unidentified Maul
4 - Bellringer Sentry > Corpsetaker
5 - Call to Arms
Secrets (Only if you have Secretkeeper in the starting hand) - Redemption, Noble Sacrifice, Autodefense Matrix (Don't keep all the secrets 1 or 2 of those, depending on what is your 2nd turn play)
- Shaman
1 - Righteous Protector > Argent Squire > Secretkeeper
2 - Hydrologist > Knife Juggler
3 - Unidentified Maul
4 - Bellringer Sentry > Corpsetaker
5 - Call to Arms
Secrets (Only if you have Secretkeeper in the starting hand) - Redemption, Noble Sacrifice, Autodefense Matrix (Don't keep all the secrets 1 or 2 of those, depending on what is your 2nd turn play)
- Warlock
1 - Secretkeeper > Righteous Protector > Argent Squire
2 - Knife Juggler > Hydrologist (also a good keep along with Knife Juggler if you have Secretkeeper, can be played to turn 3 with secret)
3 - Unidentified Maul (Not too good to keep in slow matchup if you have a coin for a 4 drop).
4 - Corpsetaker > Blessing of Kings > Bellringer Sentry
5 - Call to Arms
Secrets (Only if you have Secretkeeper in the starting hand) - Redemption
Divine Favor if you have a decent mulligan hand.
- Warrior
1 - Secretkeeper > Righteous Protector > Argent Squire
2 - Knife Juggler > Hydrologist (also a good keep along with Knife Juggler if you have Secretkeeper, can be played on turn 3 with secret)
3 - Unidentified Maul (Not too good to keep in slow matchup if you have a coin for a 4 drop).
4 - Corpsetaker > Blessing of Kings
5 - Call to Arms
Secrets (Only if you have Secretkeeper in the starting hand) - Redemption
Divine Favor if you have a decent mulligan hand.
General Strategy:
- Just like any other aggro/midrange deck, you want to curve out, make effective trades. Play around your opponents cards, removal and board clears especially. Always think what your opponent might do.
- Try not to overextend with Call to Arms, if you know your opponent has a board clear. Call to Arms is a refill card after a board clear most of the time. Especially try not to play it into Deathstalker Rexxar. Try to force it with your other minions first and then play Call to Arms, most of the time if hunter did not play it on turn 6, means he doesn't have it, but obviously it depends on a board state.
- Deck thinning plays a great role in this deck. Bellringer Sentry and Call to Arms are your deck thinning cards, basically they draw cheap cards from your deck and put them into play. This allows for much stronger topdecks later in the game. So you always should try to thinnen your deck as much as possible.
- Use your secrets effectively, Redemption is your best secret most of the time, ressurecting Righteous Protector, Knife Juggler or Bellringer Sentry is big. Autodefense Matrix and Noble Sacrifice are also very great secrets to protect your minions and gain tempo. These are the main 3 secrets you want to get from Hydrologist. But in certain matchups Repentance can be great, like Even Warlock.
- Always remember to play secret from hand first before dropping Bellringer Sentry, cause he might put the same secret you have in hand into the play, and you won't be able to play it.
- A good advice is to use a decktracker to keep track of your minions and secrets you can get from Call to Arms and Bellringer Sentry.
- Coin is very important, this particular build is a bit heavy on 4 drops and weak on 3 drops, most of the time you want to keep the coin to curve out into double 4 drops or an early Call to Arms. But in aggressive matchup it is more important to gain early board presence, so coin can be used early in such matchups to gain tempo over your opponent.
- Learn to juggle efectively. Make a trade first if you need before dropping minions after Knife Juggler. Sometimes you might miss a point or 2 of damage if you not make the most use of juggles. And this might lead to a loss.
- Don't overtrade, make use of your secrets, if your opponent has 1 minion in and you have say Noble Sacrifice in play, sometimes it is better to just ignore that minion and go face, especially if you already have another copy of Noble Sacrifice in hand or his minion is at 2hp. You need to stay aggressive with this deck and not overtrade too much and make use of your secrets. There is no point of playing secrets if you don't allow for your opponent to trigger them, use secrets to your advantage.
- Sunkeeper Tarim acts as a finisher in a lot of games similar to Level Up!, so try to make as much use of it. Vinecleaver is there to support Knife Juggler and Sunkeeper Tarim as a finisher.
Secrets:
- Noble Sacrifice - Prevents 1 attack, deals 2 damage, triggers Knife Juggler. Best tempo secret. Good in aggressive matchups. Remember to leave space for it to trigger.
- Autodefense Matrix - Very similar to Noble Sacrifice. Prevents 1 attack, deals X damage, does not trigger Knife Juggler. It is better than Noble Sacrifice if you can trigger it on a 3+ attack minion like Corpsetaker, since it is pretty much a 3/1 Noble Sacrifice. Worse than Noble Sacrifice if you trigger it on 1 attack minion like Righteous Protector. Good tempo secret. Good in aggressive matchups, although it does not trigger if minion trading is ignored, unlike Noble Sacrifice, which makes it worse if you are behind on board and enemy is pushing damage to your face.
- Redemption - Sticky secret. Good to land on Righteous Protector, Argent Squire, Knife Juggler or Bellringer Sentry. Triggers Knife Juggler. Good secret before a board clear. Always will trigger on oldest surviving minion on your board after a board clear, so look at the order of minions you play. Very versatile secret that is good in any matchup, especially against control/combo decks with board clears.
- Repentance - Only pick this in matchups where it can be useful like Even Warlock, Resurrect Priest before turn 5 (Witchwood Grizzly), Quest Taunt Warrior, especially after Stonehill Defender and other matchups where you would expect a high health minion that you need to deal with.
- Hidden Wisdom - Pick this only if you are running out of cards, have no Divine Favor in hand and are facing a deck that has a bunch of cheap cards. Opponent still holding a coin increases the chance of this secret to trigger.
- Eye for an Eye - Never pick this unless you are close to killing your opponent and expect some kind of damage going to your face. For example opponent is at 6 hp and you expect for him to play Hellfire to clear your board. Or say you are playing against Resurrect Priest and expect damage from Mind Blast to kill you, especially on the turn priest can play Zerek's Cloning Gallery.
FAQ:
What does such a garbage card like Thrallmar Farseer doing in this deck?
- It is obviously an activator for Corpsetaker first and foremost. Stormwatcher is a better minion than Thrallmar Farseer obviously, but this is an aggressive deck with 2 Divine Favor, you want to empty your hand to get the most value out of Divine Favor. The lighter the deck the better are your Divine Favor. So lighter Windfury activator is much better in this deck. Not to mention even if you draw it, it might act as a big threat similar to Vicious Fledgling which you can follow up with Blessing of Kings or Fungalmancer with coin.
Verdict:
This is a quite strong deck in the current meta and actually very fun to play, at least for me, and I was a number 1 hater of secret paladin back in the days. It is also very cheap and fast deck, the games don't last very long. Have fun and enjoy!
Extras:
- BoarControl went to top 10 legend with a similar list, Twitter Link
- Once again hit legend with the deck on the 2nd day of the February season this time. Twitter Link
- Kripparian highlighted my 2nd version of the deck in his video
Changes:
- Changed 1x Fungalmancer for 1x Argent Squire. This should make Call to Arms (9 Drops instead of 8) and Corpsetaker (Divine Shield support) more consistent. And overall curve more smooth. You can also tech in Spellbreaker instead of Argent Squire or Fungalmancer if you meet a lot of decks where silence can be useful like Cubelock or paladin deck with Spikeridged Steed.
- Added Tirion Fordring in place of 1x Noble Sacrifice as an extra win condition and Corpsetaker support.
Gameplay Videos:
Hey there! I find this deck very nice but is there anyway you can create this deck without tarim cause its the only card im missing? I know that tarim is a big deal for this deck with also vinecleaver to get to bigger stickier taunts and for that little exta push etc but do you have any ideas? Thank you
Hey man,
Just wanna say thanks for the guide, been using it for the last week. Just went from rank 10 to legendary after making a few changes, the biggest being dropping fungalmancer for spellbreaker due to the decks I was facing at rank 3, after that I made a quick jump to legendary.
The deck is great but it takes time to learn it, need to know when to trade and when to hit face. Also, need to plan your steps.
https://imgur.com/kcXarI8
Hey. Glad you had success. yeah the deck might seem like a simple aggro deck, but there is a lot of depth to it. Yeah Spellbreaker is a good tech if you are meeting certain matchups often.
So I was wondering, Instead of a fungalmancer, would Prince Keleseth work in this? I think if you could get lucky and bump up all your minions by 1 early on. I know there are drawbacks so I'm not sure. Not exactly a great player either :p
I'm not OP, but I've played this deck a lot, so I'll give you my thoughts on it.
Prince Keleseth seems nice in theory, but I don't think this deck has enough minions for it, since the main focus is the Secrets.
Besides, you preferably want to use Hydrologist or Knife Juggler on Turn 2+3, so Prince Keleseth (if you even have it in your hand at that point) would have to sit and wait until Turn 4, at which point you have potentially already lost out on it hitting almost 50% of your minions.
Fungalmancer also allows a lot more flexibility, and is a really good card to have when/if for some reason you haven't won in the early game, so I wouldn't want to get rid of it.
All that being said though, the only way to be absolutely sure, would be to try it out for a few games. If it doesn't work, you can always switch back ;-)
I found that deck pretty hard to pilot, but once you get familiar with how it works, it's very strong. It's not the Zoo or OddPally where you just throw cards away. If you play this, you need to think before you play a card and adjust your strategy to the opponent you are facing. Thanks for the fun deck!
Probably you found some period in the meta where this was good and got lucky? I can't see a way to win the most popular matchups right now. This is very weak against board clears.
Probably you are just a bad player. I'm still sitting in top 25 with this deck. Most popular matchups? It beats hunters and priests, there is a reason HSReplay has this deck as one of the best performing decks currently. Weak to boardclears? With Redemption and all the divine shield minions? With BoK and Fungalmancer to play around boardclears? With Call to Arms to refill after boardclear?
Oh wait, a comment using HSreplay as a point of reference.
Now I know.
What's exactly the problem with HSReplay? Doesn't he have positive winrate vs the most popular decks right now?
Yes, it has. Also according to HS Replay, Murloc Paladin does also and so does Mech Paladin.
https://www.reddit.com/r/CompetitiveHS/comments/8ekl7h/reading_numbers_from_hs_replay_and_understanding/
Edit: Also I just love how the OP attacks with the amazing statement of 'you are probably a bad player' and also uses the inflated win rate in the heading.
Sorry, I should have specified, I meant the data he gathered from his own games
I have a 15-2 in Legend rank with OTK Paladin right now. I should screenshot this, and probably skip the 3-8 that I got yesterday.
I mean I agree, in the screenshot you can see that the amount of games he played when he posted it wasn't stellar (below 50), but you can see that he was 15-6 vs hunter. It may not be entirely representative, but it's still indicative I guess. I suppose that a look at replays would give useful info about the matchup (because if you can win reliably without the games being too close I guess you could assume it to be a good matchup).
In any case, the reason I started replying to you is because I disagree with "I can't see a way to win the most popular matchups right now. This is very weak against board clears." because I have played a fair amount of secret paladin myself (different list) and I think that piloting well this kind of deck is what can give you the edge in this matchup (which is not as true for other decks)
I agree, and if you check my decks, I've crossed legend with a secret Paladin archetype some seasons ago, feeding on the Spellstone hunters. The list resembled this one A LOT. Currently in the high rank ladder, I see Control Mage, Odd Warrior, Hunters (not that many Spell Hunters though) and Priest. There is no way that this can go through Odd Warrior and Control Mage, and I also doubt that it has a good game against Cube Hunter.
I agree that this deck has a hard time against control mage and odd warrior, but they're not as played as hunter and priest (high or low ranks), so I guess it's still a pretty decent deck overall for the time being
Yes it's a decent deck. Never said something different, but that 78% WR is just hilarious. Also, lately i tend to see more and more Spell Druids, that I guess they just get too difficult if they see a Pyromancer or a Spreading Plague.
Are you dumb or what? You come here with this stupid comment neglecting my skill and decks viability "Probably you found some period in the meta where this was good and got lucky? I can't see a way to win the most popular matchups right now. This is very weak against board clears." And you expect me to answer you differently? That's why I started with "Probably you are just a bad player", You have your assumption, I have mine.
Of course I got freaking lucky, it has nothing to do with my skill or deck or the meta I was in, of course I was lucky, got lucky 1st day of January playing against best HS players and got to legend cause of luck. What else can it be?
And of course 74% winrate in the title represents the winrate of the the run I had 1st of January (32-11), when I reached legend with this deck. Pro's do the same, they post winrates of their runs on twitter. But of course it is a clickbait just like the rest of decks here too, only I reached that winrate playing against the best and not against some rank 15 scrubs. Only stupid will believe a deck can have 74% winrate, that's why I even posted true winrates here and I guess you missed that 60% on Hunter (my 15-6) and 65% on priest (my 5-2), which represents the majority of meta. But you know what? Probably I should have reached legend 31 of January going against scrubs, 85% winrate would be much more impressive clickbait.
And on what ranks do you see control mage and odd warrior? On high ranks? Sorry to break it to you, but I'm still top 25 with this deck (probably I'm just lucky) and all you see in top legend are hunters, priest and paladins. Control mage is only played in dumpster ranks and Odd Warrior is very rare here.
"This is very weak against board clears" is another stupid comment. A deck with Redemption, all the divine shield minions, with BoK and Fungalmancer to play around boardclears? With Call to Arms to refill after boardclear? You sure this deck is bad against board clears or maybe you are just bad, cause you can't play around them and overcommiting? Compared to all other aggro decks this is one of the best decks against board clears.
I watched lots of VODs of people playing this deck and realized that many of them can't even play it right. Same people come here and make these stupid statements later on.
Yawn.
Yeah that's all you can say now.
Oh and checked your secret paladin deck, using Consecration and Equality in an aggro deck with 2x Divine Favor says everything about you, master deckbuilder.