Hearthpwn

"Night falls... and so will you."

 

Paladin is an underrepresented class in the current metagame despite having some really good class cards which benefit value plays by allowing the player to do some favorable trades.

So I decided to go with a Zoo-Style approach to flood the board with very effective early game minions. The main difference to Zoo is its card draw engine(See below!) and its ability to scale into the early late-game stages.

A quick explanation of the deck name: http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/4_Warpgate_Rush ("[...]this build will allow you to produce a large burst of units in or around your opponent's base very early in the game, which will give you a good chance of killing the opponent if they weren't prepared[...]")

Card choices:

Zombie Chow: As this deck wants to have some good board presence very early on Zombie Chow fits this perfectly. Whilst it can be a dead card in the later stages of the game because of its deathrattle this card is so insanely good on Turn 1 to take over board control.

Argent Protector: Are you about to do a bad trade? Would a specific attack make your board too weak against AoE? No problem, Argent Protector can help. Best is to only play this guy out on the turn you actually need the divine shield since they are usually quite easily popped.

Haunted Creeper: This card is the definition of value. It is incredibly sticky and has a total of 2/4 stats. For 2 mana! Just wait for the perfect situation to pop the spectral spiders.

Knife Juggler: As this deck contains a lot of check minion this guy can almost act a AoE if left untouched. His stats of 3/2 are solid as well.

Shielded Minibot: This card is crazy. If you are an arena player you probably know what I'm talking about. This card kills your opponents early game creatures while surviving and having a decent body.

Muster for Battle: This card is awesome. Most classes just cannot deal with the 1/1s you spawn off this card, allowing you to player Quartermaster on a future turn. This card is very snowbally if used correctly and is not immediately dealt with.

Aldor Peacekeeper: Similar to Argent Protector a very strong value card. Also acts as semi-removal for big creatures. Keep in mind that a silence can get rid of his effect!

Shattered Sun Cleric: Oh boy. We haven't even talked about the hero power so far, right? The hero power makes sure that you almost always have something on the board. This means that the Shattered Sun Cleric will always be a 4/3 for 3 mana. Otherwise she can just help with doing good trades.

Truesilver Champion: Well this is a paladin deck. You you are missing this card in a paladin deck you are doing something wrong.

Consecration: It's still a paladin deck!

Cult Master: Here we go. This card wins you the game. Sometimes your might not be able to "rescue" your minions with Aldor Peacekeeper or Argent Protector. So JUST IN CASE something has to die, you are going to draw a million cards. I have had games with permanently 10 cards in my hand if my opponent could not deal with the Cult Master for one turn. Also your little 1/1 tokens will draw you cards as well.

Spellbreaker: It's constructed, you can't get along with no silence in your deck nowadays. Ironbeak Owl felt too weak as the 2/1 body is laughable.

Azure Drake: Even though the spelldamage effect has not actual synergy with this deck (besides the turn 9 combo with Consecration or holding on to the coin until turn 10 for another combo) the Battlecry is good enough to play this card. Drawing cards is the best thing you can do each turn and this card is really good at it.

Loatheb: This card usually isn't a 5 drop since he prevents your opponent from clearing your board. Play him as soon as you have built up a decent board to make it stick until the next turn to maintain tempo.

Quartermaster: Insanely good if you have recruits on on the board when you play him. The main problem is that he is awful when played on an empty board, so I only included one copy of him. Feel free to include two if you feel that it will improve your winrate.

Sludge Belcher: This card is insanely good. Even some actual Zoo decks (You know, these Warlock decks everyone used to hate before hunter appeared) have started running them despite their relatively high mana cost of 5. I should not that this is the only taunt in the deck so plan out when to play them if you are facing an aggro deck.

Avenging Wrath: This card is the most situational card in the deck, but it can be really handy in a lot of situations or can act as burst damage to close out the game.

Card replacements

Even though the deck is very cheap some of you might lack one or two minions or dislike some of my card choices, so here are some replacements for you:

Zombie Chow: Yes, this card is already in the deck. But if you are facing a lot of aggro you might want to replace Loatheb for a second Zombie Chow which is way better against them then Loatheb to prevent their snowbally Undertaker Openings.

Equality: I am testing the deck with one Equality right now. It might be very good or very bad, time will tell.

Acidic Swamp Ooze: If you face a lot of Shamans, Hunters or Warriors this card might be useful as their weapons are really good at removing the low-cost minions in this deck.

Defender of Argus: Very solid card IF you have two other minions out. Possibly sub out a Spellbreaker for him.

Ironbeak Owl: If you value the silence over the body replace the Spellbreaker with an Ironbeak Owl.

Fel Reaver: If you know HOW and WHEN to play this card it can straight out win you the game. It's an early giant, similar to handlock, you just avoid the downside of not having an early game.

Sea Giant: I was running this card earlier, but I haven't had too much success with it. Feel free to try it out though!

Argent Commander: Solid as well. Bot not really required since he essentially has the same purpose as a Truesilver Champion.

Sylvanas Windrunner: Currently testing with her in the deck as I just crafted her recently. Add her instead of maybe the Avenging Wrath if you feel the she would fit into the deck.

The Black Knight: Solid. The main problem is that this card is really bad if you don't get the Battlecry off.

If you want, leave your feedback or your success with the deck in the comments below!