[#4 Legend] Maximal's Secret Paladin (74% Winrate)
- Last updated Feb 27, 2019 (Level Up Nerf)
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Wild
- 15 Minions
- 12 Spells
- 3 Weapons
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Secret Paladin
- Crafting Cost: 4060
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 1/1/2019 (Level Up Nerf)
- Maximal_HS
- Registered User
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- 7
- 20
- 33
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Battle Tag:
Maximal#2494
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Region:
EU
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Total Deck Rating
315
Important: I updated the deck to my 2nd version with Amani Berserkers, which I was hesitant to do for a long time simply cause I wrote the guide for Corpsetaker build at first. So the guide below is for Corpsetaker build, but can be applied to the new version.
Proof & Winrates:
Deck Winrates from HSReplay:
2nd Version:
This is a 2nd version I came up with to target midrange hunters in particular. Reached rank 4 legend wit it. https://twitter.com/Maximal_HS/status/1093879479989161985
It has no Corpsetaker package, but utilizes Amani Berserkers, who improve Call to Arms, work great with buffs, punish 2 damage AoEs and are resummoned as a 5/1 after Redemption.
The deck is better against hunters, but slightly worse against Priests, compared to Corpsetaker version, slightly worse against huge AoEs, but overall I believe it is more consistent and that makes it a better overrall deck in my opinion.
Code:
AAECAZ8FBvIFucECg8cCuMcC0eEC2P4CDIwBngHIBKcFlgavB7EIs8EC48sC+NIC1uUCrfICAA==
Intro:
Hello, my name is Maximal and I'm a heartstone player since 2015, multiple time legend yada yada yada.
Back in the days of Mysterious Challenger, Secret Paladin wrecked chaos on the ladder. But eventually Mysterious Challenger, Shielded Minibot and Dr. Boom retired. The most annoying deck of the ladder went extinct. But now it is back!
I have been experimenting with Secret Paladin since I saw Bellringer Sentry, but I can finally say it works. Went around experimenting with many different builds, but found this "a little bit heavy on the 4" Corpsetaker build the most effective one. So I tried it in new seasons ladder and went 32-11 (74%) straight to legend the first day of 2019.
Follow me on Twitter for more: https://twitter.com/Maximal_HS
Why it works:
- Druids are nearly extinct with all their armor gain and Spreading Plague
- There are a lot of Hunters on the ladder and the deck is very effective against them, hunters that use Secrets buff your own Secretkeeper
- It is very high tempo deck. It has explosive start, strong stickiness due to all the cheap secrets, so you can easily get value from Blessing of Kings and Fungalmancer all the time. In my opinion, tempo wise it is stronger than such high tempo decks like Zoolock or Midrange Hunter. So in aggressive matchups you should have the upper hand.
- It can put a lot of pressure on control and combo decks. Sticky secrets and minions with combination of buff spells and minions, allow for a very aggressive and explosive start.
Mulligan:
For Amani Version I'll leave this chart from HSReplay just so people understand how important of a keep certain card is in the mulligan stage. Mulligan Winrate simply shows winrate of the deck when that particular card ended up in the opening hand. So the higher winrate the better keep it is. After inspecting many secret paladin lists, this list is pretty accurate apart from Vinecleaver, which I believe has to be a bug, there is not way a 7 mana card can have such high mulligan winrate.
- Always try to curve out nicely 1 into 2 into 3 into 4. So general keeps are Secretkeeper, Righteous Protector, Knife Juggler,Hydrologist. But look for a good curve overall.
- Never keep secrets unless you have Secretkeeper, or you can do Redemption for Righteous Protector or Knife Juggler against aggressive deck.
- Always keep Call to Arms, if you have a 1 or 2 drop to start the game.
- Unidentified Maul is almost always a keep if you have no coin since it is the only 3 drop apart from Thrallmar Farseer (never keep him).
- Corpsetaker and Blessing of Kings is a good keep in slower matchups, like priest, warrior, druid and warlock.
- Divine Favor is a good keep if you are facing a control/combo deck and already have a good curve out hand. So it might be a good keep against Priest, Warlock, Mage and Warrior.
- Bellringer Sentry is also a great keep most of the times if you already have some early game. He thins your deck by putting secrets in play similar to Mysterious Challenger, making your further topdecks much stronger. Its 2nd best card in the deck by Mulligan Winrate after Secretkeeper.
Update:
After watching some VODs and seeing that in 10% of instances people are keeping Thrallmar Farseer in mulligan (HSReplay stats), I understood that lots of people
don't understand how this works so I decided to do a more clear mulligan guide.
This indicates cards that you can keep in mulligan from best to worst keep (X > X > X).
This does not mean you should keep all of this cards! You should build a curve out of this cards! You don't want to keep all the low drops listed, rendering your Call to Arms useless later in the game. Considering if you have a coin or not, think what you are gonna play on turn 1, on turn 2, 3, 4 and 5, especially on turns 1,2,3.
So generally you want to keep a 1 drop, 2 drop. On turn 3 you can play a Maul or any combination of 2 cheaper cards, Or say a Hydrologist with a secret, or if you have a coin, coin out a 4 drop. Find something useful to do each turn, think on how the game is gonna play out, when you do your mulligan.
Secretkeeper is good in any matchup,
Righteous Protector, Argent Squire, Unidentified Maul is good against aggressive matchups, but not too good against slower matchups.
Corpsetaker is good in slower matchups, but in general I would prefer Bellringer Sentry over it in aggressive matchup.
Knife Juggler is good in slower matchups, cause it will be left unanswered for some time most of the times and you will be able to push some extra points of damage early, but not too good against aggressive matchups cause it can just die without doing much, you want him to come out of Call to Arms. Same reason it is sometimes better to keep Argent Squire over Righteous Protector in the mulligan cause you want Righteous Protector coming out of Call to Arms and protecting your other minions from being traded, especially Knife Juggler.
If you already have something to play early, Blessing of Kings is a good keep against slower matchups like priest, warlock, warrior and mage, cause you want to rush them down fast.
So below every card listed can be a keep, unless stated otherwise. The ">" signs just states that X card is better to keep than X card against this particular class. This can also act as a priority play, but of course it depends on board state and the deck you are going against.
- Druid
1 - Secretkeeper > Argent Squire > Righteous Protector
2 - Knife Juggler > Hydrologist (also a good keep along with Knife Juggler if you have Secretkeeper, can be played on turn 3 with secret)
3 - Unidentified Maul (Not too good to keep in slow matchup if you have a coin for a 4 drop).
4 - Corpsetaker > Blessing of Kings > Bellringer Sentry
5 - Call to Arms
Secrets (Only if you have Secretkeeper in the starting hand) - Redemption
Divine Favor if you have a decent mulligan hand.
- Hunter
1 - Secretkeeper > Argent Squire > Righteous Protector
2 - Hydrologist > Knife Juggler
3 - Unidentified Maul
4 - Corpsetaker > Bellringer Sentry
5 - Call to Arms
Secrets (Only if you have Secretkeeper in the starting hand) - Redemption, Noble Sacrifice, Autodefense Matrix (Don't keep all the secrets 1 or 2 of those, depending on what is your 2nd turn play).
- Mage
1 - Secretkeeper > Righteous Protector > Argent Squire
2 - Knife Juggler > Hydrologist (also a good keep along with Knife Juggler if you have Secretkeeper, can be played on turn 3 with secret)
3 - Unidentified Maul (Not too good to keep in slow matchup if you have a coin for a 4 drop).
4 - Corpsetaker > Blessing of Kings
5 - Call to Arms
Secrets (Only if you have Secretkeeper in the starting hand) - Redemption
Divine Favor if you have a decent mulligan hand.
- Paladin
1 - Argent Squire > Righteous Protector > Secretkeeper
2 - Hydrologist > Knife Juggler
3 - Unidentified Maul
4 - Bellringer Sentry > Corpsetaker
5 - Call to Arms
Secrets (Only if you have Secretkeeper in the starting hand) - Redemption, Autodefense Matrix (Don't keep all the secrets 1 or 2 of those, depending on what is your 2nd turn play)
- Priest
1 - Secretkeeper > Righteous Protector > Argent Squire
2 - Knife Juggler > Hydrologist (also a good keep along with Knife Juggler if you have Secretkeeper, can be played to turn 3 with secret)
3 - Unidentified Maul (Not too good to keep in slow matchup if you have a coin for a 4 drop).
4 - Corpsetaker > Blessing of Kings
5 - Call to Arms
Secrets (Only if you have Secretkeeper in the starting hand) - Redemption
Divine Favor if you have a decent mulligan hand.
- Rogue
1 - Righteous Protector > Argent Squire > Secretkeeper
2 - Hydrologist > Knife Juggler
3 - Unidentified Maul
4 - Bellringer Sentry > Corpsetaker
5 - Call to Arms
Secrets (Only if you have Secretkeeper in the starting hand) - Redemption, Noble Sacrifice, Autodefense Matrix (Don't keep all the secrets 1 or 2 of those, depending on what is your 2nd turn play)
- Shaman
1 - Righteous Protector > Argent Squire > Secretkeeper
2 - Hydrologist > Knife Juggler
3 - Unidentified Maul
4 - Bellringer Sentry > Corpsetaker
5 - Call to Arms
Secrets (Only if you have Secretkeeper in the starting hand) - Redemption, Noble Sacrifice, Autodefense Matrix (Don't keep all the secrets 1 or 2 of those, depending on what is your 2nd turn play)
- Warlock
1 - Secretkeeper > Righteous Protector > Argent Squire
2 - Knife Juggler > Hydrologist (also a good keep along with Knife Juggler if you have Secretkeeper, can be played to turn 3 with secret)
3 - Unidentified Maul (Not too good to keep in slow matchup if you have a coin for a 4 drop).
4 - Corpsetaker > Blessing of Kings > Bellringer Sentry
5 - Call to Arms
Secrets (Only if you have Secretkeeper in the starting hand) - Redemption
Divine Favor if you have a decent mulligan hand.
- Warrior
1 - Secretkeeper > Righteous Protector > Argent Squire
2 - Knife Juggler > Hydrologist (also a good keep along with Knife Juggler if you have Secretkeeper, can be played on turn 3 with secret)
3 - Unidentified Maul (Not too good to keep in slow matchup if you have a coin for a 4 drop).
4 - Corpsetaker > Blessing of Kings
5 - Call to Arms
Secrets (Only if you have Secretkeeper in the starting hand) - Redemption
Divine Favor if you have a decent mulligan hand.
General Strategy:
- Just like any other aggro/midrange deck, you want to curve out, make effective trades. Play around your opponents cards, removal and board clears especially. Always think what your opponent might do.
- Try not to overextend with Call to Arms, if you know your opponent has a board clear. Call to Arms is a refill card after a board clear most of the time. Especially try not to play it into Deathstalker Rexxar. Try to force it with your other minions first and then play Call to Arms, most of the time if hunter did not play it on turn 6, means he doesn't have it, but obviously it depends on a board state.
- Deck thinning plays a great role in this deck. Bellringer Sentry and Call to Arms are your deck thinning cards, basically they draw cheap cards from your deck and put them into play. This allows for much stronger topdecks later in the game. So you always should try to thinnen your deck as much as possible.
- Use your secrets effectively, Redemption is your best secret most of the time, ressurecting Righteous Protector, Knife Juggler or Bellringer Sentry is big. Autodefense Matrix and Noble Sacrifice are also very great secrets to protect your minions and gain tempo. These are the main 3 secrets you want to get from Hydrologist. But in certain matchups Repentance can be great, like Even Warlock.
- Always remember to play secret from hand first before dropping Bellringer Sentry, cause he might put the same secret you have in hand into the play, and you won't be able to play it.
- A good advice is to use a decktracker to keep track of your minions and secrets you can get from Call to Arms and Bellringer Sentry.
- Coin is very important, this particular build is a bit heavy on 4 drops and weak on 3 drops, most of the time you want to keep the coin to curve out into double 4 drops or an early Call to Arms. But in aggressive matchup it is more important to gain early board presence, so coin can be used early in such matchups to gain tempo over your opponent.
- Learn to juggle efectively. Make a trade first if you need before dropping minions after Knife Juggler. Sometimes you might miss a point or 2 of damage if you not make the most use of juggles. And this might lead to a loss.
- Don't overtrade, make use of your secrets, if your opponent has 1 minion in and you have say Noble Sacrifice in play, sometimes it is better to just ignore that minion and go face, especially if you already have another copy of Noble Sacrifice in hand or his minion is at 2hp. You need to stay aggressive with this deck and not overtrade too much and make use of your secrets. There is no point of playing secrets if you don't allow for your opponent to trigger them, use secrets to your advantage.
- Sunkeeper Tarim acts as a finisher in a lot of games similar to Level Up!, so try to make as much use of it. Vinecleaver is there to support Knife Juggler and Sunkeeper Tarim as a finisher.
Secrets:
- Noble Sacrifice - Prevents 1 attack, deals 2 damage, triggers Knife Juggler. Best tempo secret. Good in aggressive matchups. Remember to leave space for it to trigger.
- Autodefense Matrix - Very similar to Noble Sacrifice. Prevents 1 attack, deals X damage, does not trigger Knife Juggler. It is better than Noble Sacrifice if you can trigger it on a 3+ attack minion like Corpsetaker, since it is pretty much a 3/1 Noble Sacrifice. Worse than Noble Sacrifice if you trigger it on 1 attack minion like Righteous Protector. Good tempo secret. Good in aggressive matchups, although it does not trigger if minion trading is ignored, unlike Noble Sacrifice, which makes it worse if you are behind on board and enemy is pushing damage to your face.
- Redemption - Sticky secret. Good to land on Righteous Protector, Argent Squire, Knife Juggler or Bellringer Sentry. Triggers Knife Juggler. Good secret before a board clear. Always will trigger on oldest surviving minion on your board after a board clear, so look at the order of minions you play. Very versatile secret that is good in any matchup, especially against control/combo decks with board clears.
- Repentance - Only pick this in matchups where it can be useful like Even Warlock, Resurrect Priest before turn 5 (Witchwood Grizzly), Quest Taunt Warrior, especially after Stonehill Defender and other matchups where you would expect a high health minion that you need to deal with.
- Hidden Wisdom - Pick this only if you are running out of cards, have no Divine Favor in hand and are facing a deck that has a bunch of cheap cards. Opponent still holding a coin increases the chance of this secret to trigger.
- Eye for an Eye - Never pick this unless you are close to killing your opponent and expect some kind of damage going to your face. For example opponent is at 6 hp and you expect for him to play Hellfire to clear your board. Or say you are playing against Resurrect Priest and expect damage from Mind Blast to kill you, especially on the turn priest can play Zerek's Cloning Gallery.
FAQ:
What does such a garbage card like Thrallmar Farseer doing in this deck?
- It is obviously an activator for Corpsetaker first and foremost. Stormwatcher is a better minion than Thrallmar Farseer obviously, but this is an aggressive deck with 2 Divine Favor, you want to empty your hand to get the most value out of Divine Favor. The lighter the deck the better are your Divine Favor. So lighter Windfury activator is much better in this deck. Not to mention even if you draw it, it might act as a big threat similar to Vicious Fledgling which you can follow up with Blessing of Kings or Fungalmancer with coin.
Verdict:
This is a quite strong deck in the current meta and actually very fun to play, at least for me, and I was a number 1 hater of secret paladin back in the days. It is also very cheap and fast deck, the games don't last very long. Have fun and enjoy!
Extras:
- BoarControl went to top 10 legend with a similar list, Twitter Link
- Once again hit legend with the deck on the 2nd day of the February season this time. Twitter Link
- Kripparian highlighted my 2nd version of the deck in his video
Changes:
- Changed 1x Fungalmancer for 1x Argent Squire. This should make Call to Arms (9 Drops instead of 8) and Corpsetaker (Divine Shield support) more consistent. And overall curve more smooth. You can also tech in Spellbreaker instead of Argent Squire or Fungalmancer if you meet a lot of decks where silence can be useful like Cubelock or paladin deck with Spikeridged Steed.
- Added Tirion Fordring in place of 1x Noble Sacrifice as an extra win condition and Corpsetaker support.
Gameplay Videos:
I was at 58% Win rate back then!
Probably I got lucky with the meta. Who knows.
If nothing else, this is an aggro paladin deck which is actually fun.
Very little is cooler than beating a control deck with Eye for an Eye, or 9-card Divine Favor to reload after a Psychic Scream.
It's been a fun deck to play since every other match on the ladder seems to be Secret Hunter.
Tried this a month ago but with way more secrets. This list seems much more effective and only uses the "good" secrets. Went 4-0 with it so far! Nice list for this meta.
Really good deck. Highly recommended
I'm not even a good player. I've only ever reached level 9 once and funny enough with Secret Paladin. I've just returned to the game and made 2 VERY expensive decks but wanted a third so I needed something good but budget. This deck jumped out at me as very doable. I had to dust a few old Legendary cards but they are no longer in this meta anyways. So in just returning I stormed from rank 25 to rank 18 with 8 wins in a row.
This deck just pours on the pressure and for the moment it's not popular enough that people know what it is or what to expect. It has the ability to over commit and suffer a clear ( provided the other side is emptyish. ) and recover the very next turn. It's so much fun to watch people try and trade into a card and it gets divine shield, Noble sac or Redemption. I've had people quit in frustration over it. I'm sure I'll suffer at higher ranks but not because of the deck, but because of my lack of skill playing, but be damned if it isn't a fun deck to play.
Maybe to put in a spell breaker you remove 1 call to arms? I find that If I get to play both I RARELY ever call 3 twice in a row. With the removal of an argent Squire for a Fungalmancer ( which I assume is new from yesterday ) That's just lowers call to arms a little bit more.
Glad you are having fun.
Call to Arms is very important, it is a huge tempo card so it is quite important to have it on turn 5, That's why there is no way you should cut it even 1 of them, no matter how effective the 2nd one is. I would look at Argent Squire for Spellbreaker if you are meeting lots of decks that Spellbreaker can be good at.
Very intreseting!
You don´t like Zilliax? I have mostly played Corpsetakers in rogue, but in my experience they are a huge threat if they have windfury but kind of meh if you don´t. So having 2 windfury cards in the deck might be a good idea. Did you try Zilliax or is it just not what the deck wants?
You don't usually lose cause you were low on health with this deck, you lose cause you ran out of steam, so you don't need lifesteal in this deck that much, Zilliax is more of a control card and there are a lot of 5 drops in the deck already. Crystalsmith Kangor instead of Argent Squire is a better option for lifesteal activator here. But I still believe lifesteal is not needed in the deck, its an aggro deck.
There is no good windfury activator for paladin, so 1 activator in a deck is fine, I think it is the most optimal choice just like in the rest of Corpsetaker decks.
2 of my first game end up in 2 wins, will try this deck in advance, thx
Just been legend with this deck, but i think it is better with 1 Spellbreaker (it won me 5-6 games by silencing a Voidlord or a big taunt).
Here are my records,
v1.0 original,
V1.1 with -1 Argent Squire +1 Spellbreaker
Thank you Maximal for bringing back secret pal to standard and kudos to you for your great and detailed guide ^^
Thanks for kind words. Yeah Spellbreaker is the number 1 card I want to include in the deck for sure. I just don't know what to remove for it, I guess Argent Squire is the best option, although you are making Corpsetaker and Call to Arms consistency a little bit worse. Can't remove 1 Bellringer Sentry, cause you will need to remove secrets then, which makes no sense. Can't remove 1x Blessing of Kings, cause it is just too good with Corpsetaker. And I think you got to have 1x Fungalmancer for pressure and to play around AoE like Explosive Trap, Rexxar and Consecration.
The reason I did not include it in initial build is because I met too many hunters and Spellbreaker doesn't do much against hunters, but lately there are lots of Cubelocks< Even and OTK Paladins with Steed and that is definitely number 1 reason why you should run Spellbreaker its just game winning against them. So yeah Spellbreaker inclusion definitely depends on the decks you are running into.
About Argent Squire; only 1 game my corpsetaker did not gain divine shield because of double early Righteous Protector, but it really weakens the second Call to Arms. However in my opinion the number of minions that second Call to Arms recruit does not have a significant effect about the outcome of the game against this Priest&Hunter dominated meta.
Bellringer Sentry and Blessing of Kings definitely can not be removed as you mentioned.
Also Spellbreaker was very beneficial with the Priest match up, silencing a Witchwood Grizzly, Lich King or Obsidian Statue makes the matchup heavily favourable which can be seen in my 17-4 record.
Maybe we need shieldbreaker instead of spellbreaker? Seems better
Definitely no because Shieldbreaker is 2 mana and it is recruited by Call to Arms.
Maybe Ironbeak Owl since it is 3 mana but it has a much weaker body than Spellbreaker.
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I think the answer will be "no", but I'm not too afraid to ask: Any replacements for Tarim?
I can't say there is a replacement for it. It is just too good. It acts as a finisher in this deck, there would be no point of running Vinecleaver if there was no Tarim too. Tarim is just busted in any paladin deck, even Odd Paladin plays Stonehill Defender to get Tarim. So I would really think about crafting him if your are looking forward to playing paladin in the next couple of months and have some extra dust. Tarim has the 2nd highest Drawn Winrate and Played Winrate after Secretkeeper in this deck, so it is a very important card to this deck.
You can of course try replacing Tarim and Vinecleaver with say Leeroy Jenkins (as finisher, but it has slight anti synergy with Divine Favor) and say another Fungalmancer or Spellbreaker, but I would not expect as good results as with the deck with Tarim.
Thank you for your answer (and btw the nice deck guide. I appreciate your efford). I own Leeroy and I was thinking about him when I posted my question. But if I understand you correctly, you include Tarim for getting a bunch of 3/3s out of 1/1s and not because you'd like to debuff the opponents minions? In this case wouldn't Level Up! do the same, even after the nerf?
I am just asking for curiosity and am strongly thinking about crafting Tarim (which I probably should've done long ago)
Yes most of the times Tarim is used offensively and partly defensively to reduce opponents big minion to 3/3. You not only buff 1/1s, but you buff your other minions. 1/1s usually get buffed when you make a bunch of them with Vinecleaver, but usually its your other small minions that get buffed.
Level Up! is not good enough here cause you don't have good enough Recruit generation, unlike Odd Paladin who can spam them with hero power.