Hearthpwn

Inspired by the "Disneyland Warrior" from so long ago, I figured having an all-common, no-adventure-cards deck in the Un'goro meta would be a nice change of pace for F2P or newer players. So this is Blood Shaman, but without all the crazy combo cards and tools they use to really dominate the metagame. It's significantly weaker without any of their AoE cards like Maelstrom Portal or even Lightning Storm, so their overall playstyle as a Midrange deck pretty much goes out the window to make for a more Token-style mentality. Spam the board, play Bloodlust, call it a day. It's pretty simple.

The deck runs 12 2-drops so the goal with mulligan is ideally to find Fire Fly but the Tidehunters alongside Flametongue Totem are also good ones to look for given the particulars of the early game. The stickiness of Eggnapper makes it really good alongside Dire Wolf Alpha and, more significantly, Flametongue. Ravasaur Runt is a card you don't want to play unless it's adapting (preferably getting the Deathrattle: Summon two 1/1 plants but can look for other adaptations depending on the situation). 

Generally speaking, everything up until the Razorfen Hunter makes sense for what the deck's trying to do. Once you hit Razorfen and onwards, it's where the deck may or may not need a fair bit of tweaking. Call in the Finishers is a card that seems good on the surface as it can curve on turn 4 into a turn 5 Bloodlust that deals 16 damage assuming there're no other minions on your board, but it's also a greedy card to even run given its weakness to AoE. Jade Spirit is run because it synergizes with Jade Lightning as Lightning is a direct damage spell (potentially a finisher) and spawning the Golems is significant enough to deem them a threat, just like every other minion that's on the board leading up to or after turn 5. Tidal Surge was put into the deck because there's very little healing in the deck and it serves to be spot-removal for cards like Mana Tide Totem , Flametongue, etc. in the mirror match as well as other troublesome minions in other Aggro Matchups where health totals matter. Sated Threshadon is another questionable card where it's a late game "bomb" that serves both as a decent minion with an annoying sticky Deathrattle. There's some question as to why you would run this over cards like Stormwind Champion or Frostwolf Warlord but my overall thought process was "say your opponent is out of AoE but you're out of minions and gas and Bloodlust is just sitting in your hand with no board" then having a sticky bomb seems better than two cards that rely on having a board to begin with. Seems like a poor mentality to have given that this whole deck needs a board to win, but it's up for debate (this was a first attempt at building it after all). 

Pretty much the entire deck loses to any significant AoE like Maelstrom or Swipe so Druid, Mage, and especially other Shamans are going to be the roughest matchups. Control decks are also rough as they'll usually be stocked up with taunts and AoE to answer decks like this. Other aggro decks are the most ideal matchup given that it's a race and Shaman has the highest burst potential with a board than any other class. 

As for general upgrades there are quite a few rares that take the deck from "very questionable" to "actually not that bad." Such rares include Jade Claws for early game removal as well as another Jade source, Primalfin Totem for more token summoning, Mana Tide Totem for card draw, Stonehill Defender for the high-roll potential since almost all of the Shaman taunts are amazing, and Thing from Below which is just an all-around amazing card.

More specialized upgrade choices will end up slightly modifying the nature of the deck: cards like Evolve with Doppelgangster or opting to put in cards like Fire Elemental, Hot Spring Guardian, and Servant of Kalimos to work towards a budget Elemental Shaman or even Jelly Shaman (Jade Elemental since Spirit was tagged as one). 

Tech choices to either upgrade into or just outright put in include Hex, Devolve, Eater of Secrets (for those pesky Mages and sometimes Paladins), Lightning Storm or Volcano to include AoE to counter the mirror and other board-based decks, etc. If you're willing to shell out the 400 gold to get the Parlor wing of Karazhan, Maelstrom Portal is absolutely worth it. It's one of the most powerful tools this deck has available and without it it definitely suffers in the "answers" department. I can imagine spending gold right now isn't favorable since at the time of writing this guide we're just weeks out from Frozen Throne, but if you really want those ladder rewards and want the deck's power level increased: get Maelstrom and possibly other upgrades (especially Mana Tide since card draw is so important for a deck like this). 

Thanks for reading through my second attempt at a guide to a deck. Any constructive thoughts would be appreciated! Good luck out there, Shamans!

tldr;

Pros: Cheap to build, quick matches (one way or the other)

Cons: Desperate for upgrades, though you likely won't want to invest in them since we're so close to a new expansion.