Dragons of Valor *New Update 7/30*
- Last updated Jul 30, 2017 (Quest Rogue Nerf)
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Wild
- 26 Minions
- 2 Spells
- 2 Weapons
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Dragon Paladin
- Crafting Cost: 8520
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 1/5/2017 (Gadgetzan)
- seksireturns
- Registered User
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- 7
- 13
- 22
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Battle Tag:
Seksi#1158
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Region:
US
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Total Deck Rating
578
7/30/17 - It's been 6 months and now we have a new expansion! Most of the Dragon Paladin cards have moved to Wild. I am excited to play this arch type once the new expansion drops. Please check out my theory for Dragon Paladin in Wild once KofFT drops: http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/870551-dragon-paladin-theory-kotft
Let me know your thoughts and comments! -Cheers, Seksi
1/16/17 - Great to see the continued support and interest in the deck! The guide is updated and mulligans revised. I'm glad you guys are having fun with it and thank you for your comments, input and suggestions. It is a tough Meta out there with all those pirates but we are competitive and the list continues to improve. There has been numerous revisions recently; see the Revision History for the full list of changes. D R A G O N P A L A D I N
1/16.2 New Update:
-2x Blackwing Technician, -1x Ivory Knight
+2x Earthen Ring Farseer, +1x Aldor Peacekeeper
Further improvements against aggro. The difference between Farseer and Technician is only 2 hit points. Farseer is better against aggro and comparable against control (the healing adds utility to all match ups). I took out 1 Ivory Knight to lower the curve a bit, the second Peacekeeper helps in all match ups, even if it is only on a 3 or 4 attack minion.
INTRO:
Well Met!
I've been working on this Dragon Paladin list since the beginning of MSOG. It has gone through numerous iterations before coming to this. Although Paladin is seemingly the weak class right now, this deck is actually competitive in today's Meta and a lot of fun to play. There are many cool combos within this deck and different ways to play it.
An example curve: The Coin + Grimestreet Outfitter-> Netherspite Historian (2/4 + Discover a Dragon for 2 mana) -> Blackwing Technician (4/6 for 3 mana) -> Twilight Guardian -> (4/7 taunt for 4 mana).
A general rule of thumb with this deck is to play aggressive. You shouldn't make many trades unless they are obvious. This may seem different to how you would normally play the turns but your strength is in the mid game and you have powerful tools to secure the advantage. You have high-health, overstatted minions that are difficult to deal with. If you let aggro live too long, you will lose. If you let Jade decks or Rogue live too long, you will lose. Let them react to your board, and you have multiple finishers late game and/or against control decks (Tirion, Rag, Deathwing + any big dragons you pull).
F.A.Q.
Why Dragon Paladin?
Dragon Paladin is a lot of fun to play with Grimestreet Outfitter and this list is actually competitive. It isn't a brain dead deck to pilot and does pretty well against the current Meta. Plus, Paladin is all but dead so it feels good to play an underrepresented class and try to compete with it. You also will not find a more fearsome trio than Tirion Fordring, Ragnaros the Firelord and Deathwing. Dragon minions are already heavy statted, so outfitter can help create formidable boards and a dominant mid ranged presence. The Paladin class cards are all very good and compliment the rest of the arch type.
Why Deathwing?
Deathwing was added later in the process to add another board clear and answer against control. It has now won me numerous games in an awesome fashion! You will expend your hand against control decks so often times you are only discarding 1 or 2 cards. Between 1 copy of Equality and Consecration and Deathwing, you have ways to come back in case you fall behind. There are a number of big threats in this deck so often times DW cannot be answered.
Why Defender of Argus?
Defender of Argus was a great addition that compliments this deck's mid ranged philosophy well. It helps create even more imbalanced trades and can also protects your face when needed. It has good synergy with Brann as well. Originally I had 2 copies - it's down to 1 - which has been more effective to ensure value.
Why Earthen Ring Farseer instead of Blackwing Technician?
This was the most recent change. BWT is only better by 2 hit points but wasn't as effective against aggro (especially since the second DOA was cut). Farseer is more versatile and surely better against aggro.
What should I be discovering with Netherspite Historian?
It varies of course on the match up and current situation in the game. Against Reno Decks, I almost always pull a late-game dragon. Against Aggro, Twilight Guardian or Dragon Consort if not. Twilight Drake is a good pull also, especially if you can play it on turn 4 as a 4/6 or better. If you have a decision between Twilight Drake and a big Dragon against Control, only take Twilight Drake if it will fill your curve perfectly on Turn 4.
How should I use Brann Bronzebeard?
Against Aggro, some times it is best to play him on curve. If it is later in the game, I would save him to combo with Earthen Ring Farseer, Ivory Knight, or Defender of Argus.
Against Control, make sure you save him to get value from either Azure Drake, Netherspite Historian, Ivory Knight, Defender of Argus, or Blackwing Corruptor. Against very slow decks, you can refill your hand with a Turn 10 Brann + Netherspite Historian + Azure Drake.
(Please post any other questions you have and I'll try to answer them/include in F.A.Q.)
Matchups / Mulligans (1/16):
Druid: Favored. Grimestreet Outfitter, Netherspite Historian, Faerie Dragon, Twilight Guardian. Keep Truesilver Champion with The Coin if you have a good hand already.
Druid is pretty slow currently. Your main priority is to throw out as many overstatted minions as possible. Aside from obvious trades, you should be the aggressor in this match up and going face. Most of your minions have higher health counts that Swipe doesn't deal with well. If the game goes late, you have an Equality + Consecration to deal with a board of golems. Try to save Aldor Peacekeeper for 5 attack or higher minions, but it can be used for Tempo on an Azure Drake if you are controlling the board. Early Faerie Dragon is really tough for them to stop.
Hunter: Favored. Grimestreet Outfitter, Netherspite Historian, Faerie Dragon, Twilight Guardian. Keep Truesilver Champion with The Coin if you have a good hand already.
Hunter is also slow right now. Be the aggressor in this match up as well. Save Aldor Peacekeeper for Savannah Highmane usually, but it's good as a Tempo play early against a 4/4 or 4/2. You can play around his traps well because of the number of minions you play and their various health.
Reno Mage: Favored. Grimestreet Outfitter, Netherspite Historian, Faerie Dragon, Twilight Guardian. Keep Truesilver Champion with The Coin if you have a good hand already.
The number of mid game threats that we have (while not flooding the board completely) with high health counts is tough for them to deal with. In addition to that, you have healing mechanics and extra reach for lethal (Consecration after he Freezes your board in Ice Block). Be the aggressor in this match up 100% to the face. Try to play around Blizzard and Flamestrike and keep extra burst damage for after Ice Block (Blackwing Corruptor, Truesilver Champion, Consecration). Try to bait hard removal on overstatted mid ranged minions to preserve Tirion and/or Ragnaros.
Tempo Mage: Favored. Grimestreet Outfitter, Netherspite Historian,Faerie Dragon, Twilight Guardian, Truesilver Champion.
Truesilver is especially good in this match up to deal with Flamewaker. This match up is a little bit trickier but not too difficult. Sometimes he can burn you down and you can't do anything about it, but otherwise you will be fine. You'll want to prioritize clearing the board of most of his minions (Azure Drake, Flamewaker, Sorcerer's Apprentice).
Buff Paladin: Favored. Grimestreet Outfitter, Netherspite Historian, Faerie Dragon, Twilight Guardian. Keep Truesilver Champion with The Coin if you have a good hand already.
This match up is pretty straight forward, be the aggressor and force him to make trades. His early game will be slow so you should be able to snowball the board before his buff cards' efficiency is worth it.
Murloc Paladin: Slightly Favored. Grimestreet Outfitter, Netherspite Historian, Faerie Dragon, Twilight Guardian. Keep Truesilver Champion with The Coin if you have a good hand already.
Rarely you will find a super aggro Murloc that can run us over without a strong opening. More commonly you'll find Anyfin Paladins. The game plan here is to race to the finish, be super aggressive and rarely trade unless its completely obvious. The addition of Equality and Deathwing helps come back in the late game, but ideally you'll want threaten lethal before turn 10.
Priest: Favored. Grimestreet Outfitter, Netherspite Historian, Faerie Dragon, Twilight Guardian, Book Wyrm. Keep Truesilver Champion with The Coin if you have a good hand already.
Keep a Book Wyrm in your mulligan as it is the MVP of this match (especially if you can buff it to 4/7). The key is (against Reno or Dragon) is to throw out as many 4 attack minions as possible. Think about this when playing Grimestreet Outfitter as it makes most of our minions 4 attack. You may want to not play Twilight Guardian if you can wait for Outfitter to buff it first. Book Wyrm is amazing against opposing Twilight Guardians or Book Wyrms, and their Dragonfire Potion is not as effective against us. The only tough card to deal with is Drakonid Operative, but save your Aldor Peacekeeper for that and/or Equality. Pick Big Dragons with Netherspite Historian. It's usually not the best play to throw down a Faerie Dragon on turn 2, because if he responds with the 2/4 Taunt you lose a lot of tempo. The Priest will likely use a Shadow Word: Death on a 5/5 or 6/6 mid ranged threat which protects your bigger and badder late game threats.
Rogue: Slightly Unfavored. Grimestreet Outfitter, Netherspite Historian, Faerie Dragon, Earthen Ring Farseer, Twilight Guardian. Keep Truesilver Champion with The Coin if you have a good hand already. You can keep Second-Rate Bruiser also if you have a decent hand.
Rogue can be tough whether its Miracle, Piracle, or Aggro. You'll want to curve out as best as possible, but don't play defensively. You should be able to stabilize early, but it's important to apply the pressure before they get to turns with Gadgetzan. Sometimes Equality + Consecration will save you against a concealed board. You need a good starting hand to combat the early pirates. Since adding 2x Earthen Ring Farseer and 1x Second-Rate Bruiser my win % has gone up against Rogue. Heal yourself and Taunt up - but don't trade his minions except with Truesilver, especially against Tomb Pillager or Auctioneer.
Aggro Shaman: Even. Grimestreet Outfitter, Netherspite Historian, Earthen Ring Farseer, Faerie Dragon, Twilight Guardian, Keep Truesilver Champion with The Coin if you have a good hand already.
Don't play Faerie Dragon on turn 2 as he can easily counter it with Jade Claws. If it is Aggro Shaman, it's a straight forward defensive match. Clear his board, heal and taunt up. It's okay to use Aldor Peacekeeper on Totem Golem.
Jade Shaman: Even. Grimestreet Outfitter, Netherspite Historian, Earthen Ring Farseer, Faerie Dragon, Twilight Guardian, Keep Truesilver Champion with The Coin if you have a good hand already.
This match up is pretty close. I haven't played many games since the Farseer change. Save a Book Wyrm, Truesilver Charge, or Blackwing Corruptor to deal with Flametongue or Mana Tide totems. It's okay to use Aldor Peacekeeper on Totem Golem. Keep in mind how many AoE spells he has used so far when building your board. Clear Spell Damage minions!
Warlock: Slighty Unfavoured. Grimestreet Outfitter, Netherspite Historian, Faerie Dragon, Twilight Guardian. Keep Truesilver Champion with The Coin if you have a good hand already.
Reno Lock is a great deck, but we have a decent match up against it. It is the hardest match up to play correctly. When playing against Reno Lock, I recommend opening up a standard list and thinking about which cards he could possibly respond with to play around. If you play into one of his easy removals Reno Lock can snowball from there. Generally speaking, your mid ranged threats can be too much for him as Warlock only has 1 or 2 single target hard removals. Think long term - pick all big dragons with Netherspite and try to keep a Truesilver ready in case he plays Brann as a tempo play (which is a big mistake on their part). Brann + Kazakus is crazy good and if they get that with decent tempo you will probably lose. If you eat up a hard removal before playing Rag, it can swing the game in your favor. Be aggressive in this match up and try to force an early Reno (sometimes he won't have it and you will win on turn 5-7). Be wary of a turn a 8 Twisting Nether and try to build difficult boards for him to clear.
Warrior: Unfavoured. Grimestreet Outfitter, Netherspite Historian, Earthen Ring Farseer, Twilight Guardian. You can keep Second-Rate Bruiser also if you have a decent hand. Throw away Faerie Dragon.
Our worst matchup, although it has improved since adding Earthen Ring Farseer. Their opening is too explosive and even if we get the perfect counter opening, we can still lose to their face damage. Your best hope is that they don't get the perfect hand and you get an early Taunt + Heals. If you can stabilize the board without taking too much damage in the first four turns you can win. I wouldn't really trade in this match up much because your often trading a 3/5 into a 2/1 where you will still die eventually to his weapons. The amount of Pirate Warriors has gone down a little bit.. hopefully more so as people play hard counters. Sometimes a Truesilver Champion is very good to deal with a turn 3 Frothing Berserker.
GAMEPLAY VIDEOS:
25 likes for Mulligans
50 likes for Comprehensive Guide (Work in Progress)
75 likes for Replays/Videos (Work In Progress)
Regardless I'll be happy to respond to your comments, questions, suggestions, etc.
D R A G O N P A L A D I N
Yes but Ysera is very slow in this Meta, I would replace it with either Nefarian or another Consecration.
I also don't have Deathwing, I decided to try out The Curator. Seems legit
Wrathion would be better than The Curator if you want more card draw.
I chose Curator for a smoother curve.
I spent ages trying to make a viable Dragondin, something I played a LOT before MSOG came out.
I find this deck really struggles because it lacks the heal and taunt that Dragon Priest has that allows it to withstand the scourge of Shaman and Warrior. It also lacks cards like Operative and Kazakus (I did try a Reno Version, which was probably slightly more successful) to compete in the pure control matches.
In summary
Unfavoured against Aggro (Shaman, Pirate, Rogue)
Unfavoured against Jade Druid, Dragon Priest
50/50 (Maybe) Reno Mage/Reno Priest
Unfavoured Reno Lock
It's fun to play don't get me wrong, with a bit of skill you can get this to rank 5. I think it would be a real struggle to get it to legend though, maybe I am a shit pilot, but you basically NEED your opponent to have bad draw, or survive long enough to Deathwing and hope they have no response. (Which doesn't seem super consistent to me)
Hi Epsilon242, thanks for your comment. I think your analysis is pretty spot on, however I have favored win rates against Jade Druid, Dragon Priest, Reno Mage and Reno Priest and 50/50 against Reno Lock. I am still losing to aggro more times than not.
With that in mind, I have added back 2x Ivory Knight to the list. I cut 1x Dragon Consort and 1x Aldor Peacekeeper. I think these changes improve most match ups but especially aggro. I also subbed back Ragnaros the Firelord instead of Lightlord since 2x heals were added. We already have 10 Dragons with 1 Consort, and I found that the cards I most often had unplayed in my hand were extra copies of Aldor and Consort.
I am currently testing Doomsayer but it is really counter intuitive with Grimestreet Informant. I am doing pretty well with a version that has 2x Second-Rate Bruiser. I'll post my results soon.
I also played Finley for a long time, but eventually cut him. He is good on turn 1 and can improve your hero power in some match ups.
I don't like Wild Pyromancer without more spells, and Forbidden Healing didn't perform as well as I'd like. Still worth further testing, thanks for your suggestions and comment.
I would replace him with either Nefarian or another Consecration.
Thanks for a deck, I enjoyed a lot while playing it. I don't have Deathwing so I replaced him for another copy of consecration. It seems good against renodecks, OK vs shamans and "find taunts or die" vs pirate warrior.
Thanks for your comment, I think another Consecration is a good substitute for Deathwing.
[just reposting]
Hi guys! I tried this deck with not such good results I would say. I was not able to defeat 4 opponents in a row but I have to say that were kinda close matches.
In this video I faced jade druid and it went well! I won. I was really aggressive I would say and it paid off. In the end of the video I am giving opinion of the deck and possibly changes from my view.
Thank you for watching!
Well Met!
I've updated the list with my most recent changes and added/edited the guide a bit. More coming soon! Let me know how what you think of these changes and how it goes for you!
Hey all, sorry I haven't responded/updated the guide recently. I will soon! Thanks for your comments - I am still trying to find the best version, I appreciate the suggestions/input thus far.
I don't have Tirion so Rag Lightlord a good replacement?
Tirion is prob the best class legendary in the game so I would craft him asap if you really like paladin. Lightlord should be okay until then but he mentioned he tried it and took it out. You might want to experiment with Grimestreet Protector, card can add a lot of value in this deck since the minions are sticky.
I'm a Paladin fanboy and yesterday got BRM to try Dragonadin for the first time. Tried various adjustments, but still haven't found the right deck.
How can your deck keepup without any board clears like Wild PyromancerEqualityDoomsayer and no heals from either Lightlord or Ivory Knight?
Argus seems good but this deck already has a ton of 4 mana drops, and Argus really needs minions from turn 2-3 to buff them. How does it work for you? I thought of using Templar but she is too inferior compared to Blackwing Technician
Because you will have constant board presence and you can remove small minions with Book Wyrm. Almost every game I play Book Wyrm it's like a 6/9 lol. Such a good deck.