Hearthpwn

overview :

Midrange shaman has always been around since the game existed, but never found real recognition. The random aspect of his hero power and the overload mecanic were 2 barriers to the deck reaching top tier level.
With Whispers of the old gods coming out and the greats cards from the previous 2 releases still available, the deck got new tools to play with and empowered his curve and big play potential. Thing from below, Master of evolution, Flamewearthed faceless are all huge additions to the deck has they serve as great midrange minions to take the board.
The standard version of the midrange shaman can do a little bit of everything depending on its build, controling agressive decks with AOE and taunts, or pressuring control with his totem synergies building good boards very fast.

Decklist and Techs :

 

The version presented here is builted to be an overall good deck, tending to the control matchups and tempo warriors (-> acidic swamp ooze). The defender of argus is good against aggro but he is mainly here to force weapon classes to attack into our totems instead of killing our minions.
The deck is all about curving early and then controling the game with power plays to stay ahead on board until you can either outvalue your opponent with card draw (mana tide totem), totem synergy (thunder bluff vailiant) or kill them with an Al-akir + rockbiter (or flametongue totem) combo.

Lots of cards can fit the deck depending on what you are trying to accomplish :

• Flame juggler : Way better against aggro than ooze or mana tide that are too slow and easy to trade.

• Lightning bolt : Helps clearing minions early game (or finish bigger one later on) and give you more chance at a removal than just the 2 rockbiters.

• Flamewreathed faceless : His huge body can really help in the midgame, but the overload is a big deal in this deck. You can play it over Master of Evolution or Argus to put more pressure in the deck for slow match up since the overload is not that big of a deal later in the game.

Doomhammer : This is the best card in the game for the aggro deck, but is mostly a trading tool in the midrange version since we are trying to protect our minions. It is a win condition faster to get than al akir against very slow match up though (if they don't run anti-weapon) like freeze mage.

Primal fusion : The card work very well in the deck if you can devellop the board fast enough, it will serve as a zone protector for your most valuable minion.
It can give you good trades against aggro deck but your board will be weaker and your hero power harder to use so the card tends to give less value.

Overall Strategy :

Board, board, board. This deck can win without board only with Al-akir combo stealing the game, and that means your opponent is at max 12 health.
There is a ton of way to control the board and keep it from your opponent if he's in the same logic you are.

Early game :

The curve is very important here, you have very good minions to get the board early (tunnel trogg, totem golem...) and setting up very good lightning storms or simply trading the opponent minions until the bigger ones can come in.
Do not try to get too much value out of cards early in the game as you could get punished and loose the board(mana tide totem especially).

Feral spirit is a good early card but could ruin the next turn, play it only if very good on the board or if you already have the follow up in hand.

Mid game :

The midgame can be very easy or very hard depending on if you already have board or not.
If you do, just keep your advantage going and control your opponent minions while build a solid board. Hex can be used as tempo if you think you can finish the game fast enough so you don't get punished later in the game by big minions.
If you don't have board control early, which will be quite usual against aggro deck that have more tools in the first 3 turns, lightning storm is a very good card that will put you back in the game.

Thing from below is the best midgame card in hearthstone, it will most of the time come in on turn 4 and will require a full turn investment to be dealt with if your opponent can do so.
your hero power is the next best thing you have, as it will force your opponent to deal with the totems before you can drop your thunder bluff vailiant and punish him.

Master of evolution is a card that can change the game or just be a very good body. His battlecry on a thing from below after a trade give you a 7 drop, but it can also serve to save a minions from a trade next turn (especially tuskarr totemic).
The argus is very good if you can have is full battlecry, it allow you to proctect your value minions behind taunt or just use your 0/2 totem to attack before the Valiant gets in. The main problem with argus is that you need board to use him as the 2/3 body is terrible.

Late Game :

Your lategame potential is very limited, fire elemental for board control, thunder bluff valiant for board spreading and al-akir to finish you opponent. The lategame is just the end of a well rounded game, where you have to keep board control against midrange / aggro deck and pressure control decks before they can reverse the pressure.

The fire elemental is a very good minions in the deck, as it serves as the last tool to clear your opponents board and start pressuring harder.

The thunder bluff valiant rewards you for keeping board control and using your hero power instead of using cards. It can be a good body on turn 5 as it will survive most removals with 6 health on an empty board. But his goal is still seen as a turn 7 play when you can immediately hero power along with it.

Al-akir is very good in this deck, he can either finish your opponent, give you a good trade thanks to his divine shield or just give you a taunted minion to protect your health.
Against control, try to keep him for lethal damage as they usually run some hard removal to deal with him. But aggro decks don't have that solution or will have to deal with it the hard way.

Match up :

Shaman

The mirror match and against aggro, they usually are very focus on getting the board in the early game so you can snowball that iniative in the mid and late game.
You can be very agressive once you have board against aggro so he doesn't have time to draw into his direct damage spells, but you will have to remove totems against midrange versions.

Hunter

Once he has board control, rexxar will get your health down quickly and force you to answer instead of developping your board.
Getting curve early or lightning storm is very important because your answers late game line up very well with his threats (hex on savannah highmane, thing from below kills all his 5 drops). Once you start developping the board, setup a taunt to counter unleash the hounds from getting the trades he wants.

Druid

Curving and removing the druid's minions with good tempo is enough to make it a very good match up. Hex and flametongue totems are huge to give you free trades and force your opponent to defend himself with spells.
It is very important to not have a dead turn against druid as they will be able to drop big minions and reverse pressure, so control your overload and do not overcommit the board if your hand is getting small.

Warlock

Renolock is a pretty good match up as long as your are playing around zones. You will have plenty of time to dig your deck for totem synergy and setting up a combo with Al-akir.

The zoo match up is very straight forward : clear board, drop big minions he can't clear, run away with the game. Your best early curve will deal with his minions very well, but lightning storm if your best card otherwise. Try to get a reduced thing from below on the same turn so you can remove and build board at the same time.

Mage

Tempo mage is a deck that will hate your hero power as it will absorb the flamewaker missiles.
The key of this game is to be the first to transition to your big minions, as the removals are usually costfull and prevent the one using them from developping.
Be carefull about the flamestrike, your good minions have 5 health and should stay at this number starting turn 7.

Warrior

Whatever warrior you are facing, play for board and totem synergy.
If tempo and pirate warriors can outpace you in the early game and get too much damage in before you can recover, control warrior will give you all the time you need to devellop and get enough pressure with your hero power.

The big difference between the versions is brawl, decks that don't run it will have to pressure you so you never develop the board. The fire elemental is usually the way to reverse the pressure, killing a minion and dropping a good body that the opponent can't trade easily.

Rogue

If she can clear the board early and keep up with your tempo, valeera will requires you to take risks.
Starting turn 4, your minions with 5 heal th are very hard to deal with if you opponent doesn't have spell power (except for shadow strike, every spell is 2 or 4 damage). Hex is a very good tool on the tomb's pillager to negate the coin (as gadgetzan is concealed most of the time) and rockbiters should be kept for Al-Akir finish if possible.

Priest

Most of the time, just playing for the long run and maintaining constant pressure is enough for the priest to run out of solutions and allow you to get more damage in to close out the game.

Do not give too much value on the possible zones (auchenai + circle of healing, holy nova, excavated evil) or you might run out of ways to pressure your opponent.
The priest cannot deal with 5 health minions with his zones (at least not one) so you can be agressive with bigger minions.

Paladin

Hex is an insane cards against paladin since it removes all his N'zoth synergy. But the match will be all about playing around his zones, because removing his minions is only good if you have a way to pressure already.

The best minion in the deck is thunder bluff vailiant since it forces a zone on his own, and considering the paladin only has 2 big zones (egality + pyro or consecrate) and can have small one with pyro or consecrate on their own.
You should stop playing around zones if you have immediate lethal threat and one is already gone (except very deep in your opponent's deck).

Uther can heal but will use most of his mana to do so, so as long as you have board, he shouldn't be able to use his heals efficiently.

 

 

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