Hearthpwn

F2P Gothik the Harvester Paladin

Hi everyone and welcome to this week's Heroic Military Quarter's guides. I'm MrPLJ and today I have attempted to build F2P decks to beat those demonic bosses. For the second boss, we want to do our best to outrun Gothink the Harvester.

Background Information

Gothik is a bit of a nuisance, his hero power basically lets him draw an extra card and gets an extra mana crystal every turn for (1) mana. What this means is that he will be ramping until he reaches 10 mana, at which point it becomes a free draw. His hero power is automatic, which means he will use it at the beginning of his turn no matter what.

His minions can also become a nuisance, his Unrelenting Trainee, Unrelenting Warrior and Unrelenting Knight once dealt with will come back as spectral beings on your side of the field dealing 1 damage at the start of your turn. 

The Strategy

1. Before I go into mulligans, let me set out a simple rule... Don't go for the face! It's usually a waste of time and turn, unless there are no minions on Gothik's side. Your goal is to fatigue him and your minions are used mainly for trading. The only time I have attacked the face whilst there where other minions on the board was to restore 2 HP from Truesilver Champion whilst dangerously low on HP.
2. You want to mulligan for an Equality and Wild Pyromancer, and other low drops. Wild Pyromacer and Equality is a (4) mana combo that will help you clear the board quickly, from both your and the opponent's side of the board, but use it scarcely as you will most likely need it around late mid-game unless you are overwhelmed.
3. The early-game is all about surviving and making smart trades. You want to make sure you use all your minions and crash them into other minions with a 2-for-1 trade in mind. Buff up the spectral minion you get from Gothik, these are great traders!
4. One way to deal efficiently with the board is to use an Equality whilst there is an Unstable Ghoul or an Abomination and a minion on your side of the field to attack. This will be an instant board clear without the use of Wild Pryromancer. Try to remember the order in which the minions where set so that you can control the chain effect of Deathrattle to your advantage. Don't forget to set up those Nerubian Eggs before you are thinking of doing one of these combos.
5. An extra thing to remember is that your Hero Power summons a 1/1 Silver Hand Recruit which will trade very efficiently against minions with 1 health, plus Gothik usually ignores them until you use Equality ;) 
6. One way to make sure that you use the Spectral beings efficiently, is to always remember to summon your minions to the left, as the Spectres will arrive on the right. Once you have two on your side of the board, you can use a Defender of Argus to shield yourself and gain value from Gothik's Minions.
7. Save your face and shield it as much and as best as you can! Once again, your goal is not to go for the face, it's to fatigue Gothik and be more efficient than him in trades and use of spells so that he runs out of cards in both his deck and hand before you (and dies from fatigue)!

I hope this guide and deck will help you beat the odds thrown your way. I personally have a 50% win rate against Gothik with this deck... It's a really tough match to say the least. It depends mainly how you manage to clear the board, foresee chain effects/combos and restore your health.

If you need help with the rest of the Military Quarter, check out F2P Heroic Instructor Razuvious and F2P Gothik the Harvester . Good luck!

Edit: I have added a clip from Kizaru1 who has done a great job beating Gothik with this deck! Send him your love on Youtube ;)