Hearthpwn

Even Shaman Strategy

1. Opening Words
   1. Even Shaman strives to be more proactive and aggressive. So the cards that are included in this deck are more proactive, rather than waiting for things to happen after playing a card.
   2. For example, cards like Murkspark Eel, Flametongue Totem, Zap!, Fire Elemental, Defender of Argus, etc gives you that push you need to be aggressive.
   3. You should use your Hero Power as much as possible. Although sometimes you may have a board too full, you just need to be careful and maybe leave that last 7th slot for something else next turn.
2. Mulligan
   1. Mulligan for 2-drops:
      • Flametongue Totem
      • Menacing Nimbus
      • Murkspark Eel
      • Primalfin Totem
      • Knife Juggler
      • Earthen Might
   2. You may also keep these on hand:
      • Stormforged Axe
      • Defender of Argus
      • Saronite Chain Gang
      • Spellbreaker and Zap! (against a Priest)
3. Turn 1
   1. With or without Coin, always use Hero Power at Turn 1. Never use a coin at Turn 1 unless you are trying to kill something like Northshire Cleric. Still, you shouldn't use it by any means.
4. Turn 2
   1. Always Mulligan for 2-drops. Take out all 6-cost (Genn Greymane) and all 8-cost cards. You should have ideally 2 x 2-cost (or 3 x 2-cost with coin), and a maximum of 1 x 4-drop.
   2. On Turn 2, it is preferably to use a 2-drop + the Coin for Hero Power (one more Totem).
      
      • If the opponent does not have any minions, you can drop a Knife Juggler or Menacing Nimbus.
      • If your opponent has a small minion on board, you may want to use Murkspark Eel to take it out in order to build tempo.
      • If you do not have a 2-drop minion to drop, and you have a Healing Totem that you have summoned on Turn 1, you can use Earthen Might on the Healing Totem for value and constant healing for the next few turns.
      • Then use the Coin for your Hero Power at Turn 2.
5. Turn 3
   1. At Turn 3, use another 2-drop and Hero Power again.
      • If you have a Flametongue Totem, it is time to go face with those extra damage. Hit as hard as you can, as much as you can.
      • Or take out any other opponent's minion on board with your buffed Totems with +2 attack.
      • If you summoned a Primalfin Totem at Turn 2, make use of that extra 1/1 Murloc to kill off whatever minions on board, by placing Flametongue Totem on the right-hand side of Primalfin Totem. At the end of the turn, Primalfin Totem will summon another 1/1 that will be buffed into a 3/1.
6. Turn 4
   1. At Turn 4, you can summon your 4-drops.
      • If you have summoned a Knife Juggler earlier, you can drop Saronite Chain Gang for that extra 2 random damage.
      • Or you may consider using Defender of Argus to buff up the totems on board. If you face a Hunter, be careful of the Secret that deals 2 damage to all your minions; you may want to buff up some of your minions to 3-HP or 4-HP.
7. Extra Damage
   • For extra damage, use Fire Elemental to deal with those 3-HP enemy minions. Keep this as much as possible to take care of any minions that will hinder you later (e.g. Taunts). Or you can use the Spellbreakers to disable the Taunts, in order to go face.
8. Board Clears
   • For board clears, your only options are Hagatha the Witch and Kalimos, Primal Lord, that deals 3-damage to all minions (DK damages your own as well). 
   • Kalimos, Primal Lord works very well with that final burst of 6-damage to the hero, when you really need it to close the game. So you just need to make sure the turn before using Kalimos, you need to drop any Elementals you have for that final lethal.
9. Lethals
   • With Al'Akir the Windlord and Flametongue Totem at Turn 10, you can potentially deal 10-damage to the face, without Taunts.
10. Others
    1. When to use Zap! ?
       • Keep it handy on hand, in case you need to take out some bigger minions, or minions such as Northshire Cleric, or any other minions to reduce their HP so that you can take them out using your minions.
       • Do not trade unnecessarily. This is when Zap! is most useful to keep your minions alive.
    2. Why Cult Master?
       • Since you are using Shaman, your Hero Power generates minions/totems that will allow you to trigger Cult Master's effect when needed. Especially when you have Taunt minions, hiding Cult Master behind will draw you a few cards if it is not removed by removals.
       • This card can be replaced with other cards if you would like to.
    3. Why 2 Spellbreakers?
       • You should have at least one in your deck. Having 2 is just as a precaution, especially when there are so many Mechs with Taunts around. Having 2 will come in handy.
    4. Placement of both Defender of Argus and Flametongue Totem
       • Especially when you have placed Flametongue Totem first, placing Defender of Argus afterwards will reduce some of the attacks due to the active effect of Flametongue Totem.
       • So you may want to attack first, before placing Argus on board.
       • This can be a common mistake while playing both together.
    5. You don't have to use Earthen Might only on Elementals
       • No doubt using Earthen Might on Elementals give you that value of an extra card, but you don't necessary need to force yourself to use it on an Elemental.
       • This card can be used to build tempo early in the game.
         • It can be used on Knife Juggler to protect him from dying easily.
         • It can be used on Healing Totem to constantly healing your other minions
         • It can be used on any other minions to buff their HP, to prevent from AoE such as Flamestrike, Lightning Storm, etc. (on the exception of Psychic Scream).
    6. Why Acidic Swamp Ooze?
       • This is essentially a tech card.
       • It could mess up Rogue's Necrium Blade where it uses the Deathrattle of the weapon to trigger a free 5/5 from its Devilsaur Egg. (you can Spellbreakerthe eggs too)
    7. Why not Arcane Dynamo?
       • It is just too slow in my opinion.You drop a 6-cost and does nothing else, but just discover a spell. And it is a 3/4 body only. I would rather drop Genn Greymane with a more decent 6/5 body on board.
       • No doubt it can discover you a Bloodlust, but the other choices are very limited in Standard mode (if Bloodlust is not found).
       • You may not want a Volcano if you have a full board.
       • Eureka! is a useless card for this deck IMHO.
       • The Storm Bringer can be useful in some situations, only you have a board almost full of minions. RNGs may give you something good, but it can give you some bad legendaries as well. So it depends.
    8. Why not Thunderhead?
       1. Thunderhead is a good opinion to include in your deck, since it synergize with Zap! and Stormforged Axe.
       2. When you have both cards together, it works very well because you can summon 2 free 1/1s with Rush to kill off some enemy minions.
       3. However, I struggle with its consistency to draw both at the same time. Most of the time, Thunderhead is just a 4-drop with a 3/5 body. It defeats the purpose of creating a more proactive deck for this Even Shaman.