Hearthpwn

Hi, this is my first deck write-up.  I welcome any feedback on the deck or the commentary. 

Let me first say that the Pirate Warrior decks are probably better in every way than Paladin versions.  Warrior has better weapons, weapon upgrades, class-specific Pirates, and better spells.  But if you are sick of playing Pirate Warrior, then give this a shot!

Background

I have tried since forever to make Divine Buff Paladin work but the deck struggled with 2 main things.  The first was inconsistent draw (all aggro Paladin decks suffer from this) - Divine Favor can be incredibly OP when the stars align, but so often it sits dead in your hand.  The second problem was the inconsistency in the mix of minions vs. buff spells in your hand - I would often reach T6 with either a bunch of small minions in my hand or a bunch of buff spells and no board to put them on.

Overview

This deck takes the best cards from a Divine Buff shell and merges them with the basic Pirate package.  I try to incorporate themes into the decks I build, and this one obviously uses most of the cards with "Argent" in the name.  The only one I didn't use was Argent Watchman, which is just terrible.  For obsessive-compulsive reasons I really wanted to include it but it was an epic failure in the few games I used it as a test.

The deck plays more like a Zoo deck than a traditional Aggro deck - you want to maintain board control as long as possible and then burst with the board buffs from Southsea Captain / Blessing of Kings, or with Argent Commander itself.  You will often find it better to use your Divine Shield minions to trade and keep your board rather than simply going face every turn.

Card Type Breakdown

Minions - There are 8 1-drop minions, 5 of which are Pirates.  This provides a relatively high chance of playing something on T1 and hopefully drawing out Patches the Pirate.  It also results in a high likelihood of getting full value from Small-Time Recruits.  Paladins have really limited options in the 2-mana slot, and that is probably the weakness of this deck.

Spells - There are only 6 spells (2 draw, 2 buffs, and 2 direct damage), so you are more likely to always have minions in your hand.

Weapons - Since 6 of the 9 pirates rely on weapon synergy, we need more than the 2 or 3 weapons that most Paladin decks include.  This deck has 5, but there could easily be an argument for 6.

Explanations for Including Specific Cards (w/ potential replacements)

Argent Squire / Argent Horserider:  Auto-include - no good replacements.

Light's Justice:  With all the weapon synergy needed by the pirates, this provides a cheap 5th weapon.  Warriors have 4 options to make a weapon with just 1 mana (N'Zoth's First Mate / Upgrade!), so you could make an argument for including two of these, but I'm not sure what you could cut to make room.  Replacement options would be Sword of Justice and Truesilver Champion (see below).

Patches the Pirate / Small-Time Buccaneer / Southsea Deckhand / Bloodsail Raider:  Also auto-include for fast pirate decks - no good replacements.

Sir Finley Mrrgglton: The Paladin hero power is great for longer games, but is utterly useless in faster decks.  Finley provides an additional 1-drop minion plus obviously allows you to get a better hero power.  I think this is a very important card, but if you don't have it then I would go with Flame Juggler or Knife Juggler as a replacement to shore up the 2-drop spot.

BTW - I place the hero power options into 3 tiers.  The best choices are Warlock/Mage/Hunter - usually in that order.  If you already have a pretty decent hand then choose the damage.  Mage helps maintain board control, so I usually choose that before Hunter unless I am close to lethal.  The next tier is Shaman/Druid, which are basically tied.  The Shaman totems can be useful in maintaining your board, but the Druid hero power stacks on your weapon plus the armor provides a little face relief when clearing minions.  The worst tier is Priest/Warrior/Rogue - while these are all bad, I put Priest first because you can potentially heal your minions or get a few more HP to face to survive an extra turn or two while you look for lethal.

Acidic Swamp Ooze:  I first had Bloodsail Corsair in this spot, which provided an additional 1-mana pirate.  But the deck suffers from a lack of good 2-mana minions, and Ooze can take out the Warrior weapons that have been buffed with additional charges.

Argent Lance:  This little guy often gets overlooked but is a great (cheap) weapon option.  You won't win the Joust very often, but it is actually pretty helpful in determining what archetype your opponent is playing if you have this on T2.  Replacement options would be Sword of Justice and Truesilver Champion (see below), but having the cheaper weapon really helps.

Argent Protector:  This spot used to be filled with Shielded Minibot in pre-Standard decks.  While Minibot is obviously a better option to play on an empty board, the Protector does have some advantages since it can allow another minion to trade without taking damage.  With all the 1-drop minions, this is usually even a good play on T2.  Don't hoard him, though - go ahead and play him on an empty board if you have nothing else since maintaining a board presence is key.

Divine Favor / Small-Time Recruits:  The deck definitely needs at least 2 draw cards, and I found that this is the best combination. Divine Favor definitely has better potential, but can also be a dud. Small-Time Recruits pretty much guarantees you 3 cards that help fill out your curve, plus thins your deck to increase the chances of getting a burst card later.  You could make an argument for adding one more copy of either one (3 total draw cards), maybe by cutting a weapon.  There are no good replacements for these - the deck will starve without them.

Rallying Blade:  This is a great mid-size weapon that synergizes well with the "Argent" minions.  You could potentially swap one out for a Sword of Justice - you would lose some tempo but gain value over the next few turns.

Southsea Captain:  The deck basically needs to boost the firepower with the 3-drop slot.  Dropping this guy on a board with a couple pirates is the dream, but he is an underwhelming choice to drop on an empty battlefield.  Blood Knight and Silent Knight are very good replacements that push the deck's Divine Shield synergy even further.  I find that Blood Knight is hit or miss - he can be very hard to deal with, is immediately removed, or doesn't get the buff at all and is no better thanSouthsea Captain. Silent Knight is the best option to stabilize a board.  I'm still testing this spot to see what the best combination of these 3 cards is.

Blessing of Kings:  This might be the best buff card in the game.  It is essentially a 4/4 charge (assuming you have a minion on board that can attack).  It is obviously best used on a minion with Divine Shield or on one of the 6 Charge minions in the deck.  Resist the temptation to play this card on a turn where you won't use the extra damage, even if you have 4 extra mana in your tray.  The minion will get removed before you can get any value.  This is a basic card so everyone has it, but Silvermoon Portal can give a different flavor if you want it - smaller buff but develops another minion.

Hammer of Wrath:  Interestingly, this and Holy Wrath are the only Paladin cards that do direct spell damage (not AOE). Mortal Strike has been so good in Pirate Warrior that I thought I would give this a shot.  I have been very happy with its performance in my testing - it is very inefficient damage, but at least it has the card draw on top of the damage.  There have been quite a few times where I was just short of lethal when the opponent puts up a big taunt minion, and this is the only way of finishing them off.  Possible replacements would be Seal of Champions (for an extra burst), or Spellbreaker / Ironbeak Owl (to negate the Taunts).

Argent Commander:  Aside from fitting the "Argent" theme, this guy is a great finisher.  While Leeroy is 1 mana cheaper and has +1 attack, he is a one-shot deal.  Commander can be used for removal and then face damage across two turns.  Replacement options are Leeroy Jenkins of course and Reckless Rocketeer.

Explanations for Excluding Various Cards

Abusive Sergeant:  This could be a great addition, but it would need to take the place of one of the pirates - probably Southsea Deckhand.  If you reduce the number of pirates in the deck, then you might need to evaluate whether or not to keep Southsea Captain.  In general, I would suggest a combo of either Southsea Deckhand + Southsea Captain OR Abusive Sergeant + Silent Knight.

Blessing of Might / Divine Strength / Seal of Champions:  In my experience, having too many board buffs creates serious balance problems in the deck.  While it is great to be able to buff something to reach a bigger minion or get lethal, you run the risk of ending up with a hand full of buff spells and no minions to put them on.

Smuggler's Run / Grimestreet Outfitter:  I was so excited about these Gadgetzan cards when they were announced, but they have been extremely disappointing so far.  It's the old tempo vs. value equation - these cards can provide tremendous value, but they really impede the speed of your board development.  I hope the meta ultimately slows down to the point where these are playable ...

Sword of Justice:  I honestly didn't even test this card, but the combination of enabling the weapon synergy of the pirates while buffing them at the same time could be incredible.  Let me know what you think!

Defender of Argus:  Since you should usually have minions on board, this could be a good card to include, but more for the buff than for the taunt.  That said, getting a taunt on a Divine Shield minion is great value.

Truesilver Champion:  IMHO, this is one of the two best weapons in the game (with Fiery War Axe), but I found it too slow for this deck.  If the meta gets marginally slower then I would swap in a Truesilver for one Argent Lance.

Tirion Fordring:  Best card in the game - how do I not include it?  Well, it is actually too slow for T8, and if you need it after that then you are likely going to lose anyways.  I had this in originally but cut it for a 2nd Argent Commander.

Mulligan Strategy

Pretty simple - the best possible starting hand would have at least one 1-mana pirate (not Patches) and a weapon.  Throw everything else back if you don't have those.