Hearthpwn

This is a deck that sacrifices all the tempo to try and get all the value. If you want a deck that allows and requires you to make heroic comebacks from the brink of defeat then this is the deck for you. If you're facing a lot of rogues, mages  and Shudderwock Shaman then it definitely isn't. Unless you're a masochist. The deck has got me to around rank #2500 at legend which is a record for me. (to be honest by a huge margin). 

The deck doesn't play like any other deck out there (except maybe recruit warrior, which tends to wreck it). Your aim is to deal with your opponent's threats until you can hide behind a Witchwood Grizzly and then churn out your threats. Your win conditions are to outlast your opponents until you swing the game in your favour by resurrecting 3-4 big threats against your exhausted opponent. Easy right?  The unusual thing is that you want your initial minions to die, normally as quickly as possible (against mage, shaman and priest, on the same turn you play them if possible). You want to avoid muddying your resurrect pool with minions of your opponents (you can gain them by the Lich King cards – don’t).

Combos:

Velen + Spirit Lash = 2 damage to all minions/heal 4*#minions on board.

Malygos + Spirit Lash = 6 damage to all minions/heal 6*#minions on board)

Malygos + Velen + Mid Blast = 20 face damage

Malygos + Velen + Holy Smite = 14 damage

Mulligans:

Generally you're looking for early removal (Shadow Word Pain, Holy Smite and Shadow Visions) and Witchwood Grizzly. Except against Warlock where you should hard mulligan for Shadow Word Death and Shadow Visions. Obviously you want to hold onto Shadow Visions until you ascertain what you're facing

Druid: Favoured I'm currently expecting Token Druid in the meta. You want SWP for their first Violet Teacher, Holy Nova, Spirit Lash and Witchwood Grizzly). If you have two of those then you can keep a Psychic Scream. If it is token druid you want to hold onto your scream until your opponent plays soul of the forest on his full board. Don't worry about screaming away your own minions if you can't arrange their deaths beforehand. Against taunt druid you either want three psychic screams of have Malygos in your resurrect pool and have holy nova or spirit lash.

Hunter: Slightly favoured. I expect Spell Hunter. Mulligan for Witchwood Grizzly (you can keep Eternal Servitude if you have WWG), Psychic Scream to deal with his spellstone wolves. Set up your taunts and don't attack into a trap until you are sure that one of your taunts will stay up. Don't attack with Malygos or Obsidian Statue into a trap unless you're sure that it isn't frozen trap. 

Mage: Unfavoured. Big Spell Mage seems more common but I expect Aggro Mage. Mulligan for Holy Smite, Shadow Word Pain and Witchwood Grizzly. If you have Grizzly keep Eternal Servitude. If he’s aggro you survive to win. If he’s Big Spell you have to get Velen and/or Malygos killed rather than polymorphed. If you pull Malygos with a Shadow Essence and you can kill it with Holy Smite or Sprit Lash then do it. Try to avoid playing your actual Velen and Malygos until you think there’s a good chance that your opponent doesn’t have polymorph.

Paladin: Favoured. Yeah, it surprised me as well. Expecting Odd Paladin. Keep Spirit Lash, and Witchwood Grizzly. If you have those you can look for Holy Smite, Holy Nova, Eternal Servitude and Psychic Scream. Hold off playing you Spirit Lash as long as possible but don’t risk him Leveling his dudes Up out of range. So turn 4 then. If your Witchwood Gizzly is silenced and you have Eternal Servitude and Shadow Word Pain it might be worth killing it and resurrecting it.

Priest: Evens. Expecting quest or control. Keep Shadow Word Pain (for Cleric), Witchwood Grizzly and Shadow Essence. Try to kill your high value minions as quickly as possible to avoid them being Screamed. Keep a lot of healing on hand but try to avoid using it till after Alexstraza.

Rogue: Highly Unfavoured. I expect Odd Rogue but it doesn’t really matter. Sap is the destroyer of this deck. Try for a Witchwood Grizzly with Eternal Servitude and a Shadow Work Pain. Pray he has a bad hand or burns a lot of his cards on a turn 2 Edwin and you have Shadow Word Death.

Shaman: Unfavoured. Expecting Shudderwock. Mulligan for Psychic Scream, Witchwood Grizzly and Shadow Essence. Try to bait out his Hexes before playing Malygos and Velen (you may think ”maybe he doesn’t have hex” remember - they always have hex). Use Scream to fill up his deck with cards. Try and get a decent sized resurrect pool to threaten him with.

Warlock: Highly Favoured. Expecting Even Warlock/Cubelock. Mulligan för Shadow Word Death and Shadow Visions. Generally stall until you can Psychic Scream and start things up. Try to save you SWP for Void Lords and a Pyschic Scream for his Hero turn. Normally you’ll be looking for direct damage to kill him with Malygos and Velen.

Warrior: Evens - Favoured over most except Recruit Warrior where you’re strongly unfavoured. Mulligan for Witchwood Grizzly, Shadow Essence and Eternal Servitude. You want Malygos and Velen in your resurrect pool and you’re on the right road except recruit warrior will destroy you.

 

Possible techs:

More aggessive (if you’re facing a lot of control) Switch Obsidian Statue or a Witchwood Grizzly for another mind blast or for a vivid nightmare (or both).

Greedier: Ysera for Obsidian Statue or Witchwood Grizzly. I took out Ysera because she doesn’t protect you and two of her draws are minions that you don’t really want to play as they mess up your resurrect pool. And I kept drawing Laughing Sisters.

No silence or weapon removal. Weapon Removal requires an underwhelming minion and you should be alright against Warlock anyway. I had one mass dispel but switched it for a holy smite, which has better early and late game value.

Power Word Shield – good for cycle in a deck that otherwise has none but I suspect most times you will end up using it on your opponents minions as it would otherwise be an early dead card in a deck that is full of them