+18
Favorite this Deck

Heroic Instructor Razuvious - Paladin's taunt deck

  • Last updated Dec 30, 2018 (Level Up Nerf)
  • Edit
  • |

Wild

  • 19 Minions
  • 10 Spells
  • 1 Weapon
  • Deck Type: PvE Adventure
  • Deck Archetype: Unknown
  • Boss: Instructor Razuvious
  • Crafting Cost: 5300
  • Dust Needed: Loading Collection
  • Created: 5/22/2018 (Spiteful Nerf)
View in Deck Builder

  • Battle Tag:

    N/A

  • Region:

    N/A

  • Total Deck Rating

    445

View 29 other Decks by Blacktiger_HS_channel
Link:
BBCode:
Export to

Heroic Instructor Razuvious - Paladin's taunt deck

Consistency: Reliable (expected number of tries 1-3)

Introduction:

Initially Instructor Razuvious was created by Blizzard with just one particular deck in mind. Yeah, Inner Fire priest. An inconsistent luck-based deck. It is funny that on this boss you only need Inner Fire and Divine Spirit in this deck. Other 26 cards actually REDUCE its win rate. It was the only deck (plus its Mind Vision variation), which could beat this boss for a very long time, because 4 instructor's weapons and a sick Hero Power just left no space to try something else. That's why I consider him to be a poorly designed boss.

Taunt paladin appeared much later, when Blizzard released enough cards to make it viable. You will find few decent paladin's decks on Hearthpwn, but there is still some space to improve them. And this is the task I put before myself.

So how to make Taunt paladin good?

Don't get me wrong, best paladin's decks on Hearthpwn are not bad. You can use them and win after several tries. However, most of them have too much focus on taunts and weapon removals. Yes, Massive Runeblade is that scary, so people overdo it and tend to neglect some other important things, like healing and draw.

Draw is very important in any deck, that relies on getting answers in time. In this encounter you also need a large hand to refill the board after Brawls.

Healing is another thing, that people tend to ignore. Face healing is actually useless in Inner Fire priest, because if you lost your initial Taunts, you can't win anyway. But it is not true for a paladin. Most paladin's deck lose immediately after even a single hit from Massive Runeblade, because the boss goes face with his Hero power from this point and these decks have no answer.

General strategy:

Let me summarize the general idea of this deck. It is designed to create a wall of bubbled taunts, which protects your face from Instructor's Massive Runeblade at all times. It also has number of cheap weapon removals to ensure, that no Massive Runeblade is used more than once.

Razuvious has two Brawls in his deck, which are real killers for your tactic. But there is no way around it. You have to refill the board after Brawl and to heal yourself, if you took a hit. That's why you need healing and draw.

Instructor eventually will run out of cards and you will be able to kill him.

Good thing about this deck is that it rarely loses quickly, so you usually have a chance to fight back.

Deck composition:

The core of this deck consists of weapon removals and sticky/bubbled taunt minions, which can take at least two hits from Massive Runeblade or Hero Power.

Healing is represented by Forbidden Healing. Only two cards, but they are powerful. You can't spread healing over many cards, because you will not be in danger most of the time. It is your recovery tool. You don't need many. It is also a reason why, for example, Rotten Applebaum is not good here. His deathrattle does nothing, if you played him before you were hurt.

Blessing of Wisdom and Potion of Heroism are your draw cards. Both are very good in taunt-wall style decks.

Val'anyr is a value generator. It is not mandatory, but very useful.

Mulligan:

Your primary mulligan targets are Noble Sacrifice, Annoy-o-Tron, Righteous Protector. You also need one weapon removal - Bloodsail Corsair, Acidic Swamp Ooze or Toxic Sewer Ooze. Blessing of Wisdom and Potion of Heroism are also ok to keep, if your other cards are from the list above.

Always steal Instructor's 0/7 taunts as your first move. It may be obvious, but I am mentioning this, because it is not always true for Inner Fire priest.

Tactic tips:

Brawl is your main enemy. It is hard to play around it, but at least don't overcommit and try to keep something in your hand to refill the board. The Black Knight is annoying too, but usually he is less devastating.

Use Blessing of Wisdom on dudes or Bloodsail Corsairs. Instructor will never target them while there is at least one taunt on the board. They still can be killed by RNG-based things like Cleave or Avenging Wrath, but they have a much better chance to survive for few turns and draw a lot of cards for you.

Consistency notes:

I had 40% win rate with this deck, which is better than any other deck I tried before. Of course, I could be lucky, so let's say that it has 1 in 3 chance to win.

Games tend to be much longer, than those of Inner Fire priest, but they don't look like a casino and the victory is much more satisfying. 

Blacktiger's Naxxaramas deck collection:

Provided win rates are approximate. They are based on my tests and so partially depend on how lucky/unlucky I was during my testing. Also keep in mind, that you need a bit of experience with a deck to use it to its full potential. So first attempts usually have lower win rates, than suggested in this list.