Hearthpwn

Greetings, everyone. This is my take on a Shudderwock Shaman deck for the Wild format.

This deck combines the strengths of traditional Shudderwock Shaman with those of a deck that had a short lifespan, Tempo Shudderwock Shaman. The former sacrificed board presence when playing Shudderwock in exchange for filling your hand with copies of him. The latter didn't run Grumble, Worldshaker, turning Shudderwock into a one-time board filler that posed a great immediate threat, but had no way of coming back from a board clear.

 Running Barista Lynchen instead of Grumble, Worldshaker allows you to gain a huge board presence each time you play Shudderwock, and refill your hand (and deck) every time you play him. This deck also contains many necessary tools to survive until the late game, with the new Hagatha's Scheme and all the control and survival tools Wild format has to offer.

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The Combo:

You simply need to play a few battlecry minions before playing Shudderwock. Then you play him, he fills your board and generates great value, but also a few copies of him are added to your hand for the sake of infinite value. Below is a list of the other battlecry minions in the deck, ordered in importance:

1. Essential
   • Barista Lynchen
     
     • You need her to return your copies of Shudderwock [/card]to your hand and make your combo infinite. If you can't find a way to use her battlecry just play her, getting it into [card]Shudderwock's pool is way more important. If you've seen yourself forced to play Shudderwock too early and he survives, you can play her next turn and get another/more copies of him.
   • Doppelgangster
     • You need to have several copies of Shudderwock on the board in order for Barista Lynchen's battlecry to have any effect.
2. Very useful
   • Baleful Banker
     • Works as an anti-fatigue tool by shuffling another Shudderwock into your deck every time you play one. Your hand will probably be filled with copies of him so the one you'd draw will just mill, but you won't fatigue anyways. Much like Barista Lynchen, if you've seen yourself forced to play Shudderwock too early to survive, you can play him next turn and shuffle a copy into your deck, or even the same turn if you hold The Coin.
   • Antique Healbot
     • This card is your primary tool for survival. It will keep your health up during the game, and make each Shudderwock heal you to full.
3. Value-generating
   •  Loatheb
     • It's not only one of the best wild legendaries in the game, but combined with Shudderwock, Loatheb makes it so your opponent's spells cost 5 more every single turn since you play him (as soon as you keep doing playing him, of course).
   • Mind Control Tech
     
     • A great control tool and the best way for Shudderwock to deal with your opponent's board.
   • Glacial Shard
     • Simply adds a lot of value to playing Shudderwock. Often freezes the last minion that remains after Mind Control Tech and Hagatha the Witch's battlecries have triggered.
   • Gluttonous Ooze
     • Obvious tech choice for destroying weapons and gaining armor.
   • Fungalmancer
     
     • It's a very good card that additionally buffs your Shudderwock copies after playing him.
4. Bad, but necessary for the deck
   • Hagatha the Witch
     
     • Combining her battlecry with Shudderwock's is usually pretty bad but the value she generates until then is just too good, making her more than worth it in this deck. It's important to note that her hero power triggers after you play a minion, so you can play Shudderwock with a full hand, and the copy returned by Barista Lynchen will appear normally: Hagatha, the Witch's battlecry won't make you lose it.

 

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The rest of the cards

They are just survival and draw tools: AoE spells, single-target removal, etc. They're the tools that allow you to survive long enough to see the combo happen.

 

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Mulligan

Try to adapt to your opponent and the decks you are encountering the most. But because this is obvious, I'll give some guidelines:

• I always keep Hagatha's Scheme. It's just a great card, and it can save your life in countless ocassions to have a 5+ dmg AoE in your hand for 5 mana.
• Ancestral Knowledge is great against slow decks that won't punish that overload cost.
• Bloodmage Thalnos is always useful, and don't fear playing him just for the card draw.

Aside from this, just keep cheap cards and look for Maelstrom Portal if you encounter Odd Paladin, and Doomsayer agains any agressive decks.

 

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An important note

There is a small chance that Shudderwock decides to be a funny guy and cast both Barista Lynchen and Baleful Banker's battlecries before Doppelgangster's. The chance for this is lower if you have played both Dopplegangsters before, so keep that in mind. Also, if this happens, life isn't over. Your opponent has to wipe your board clean and survive next turn for this to be of consequence.

It's still worth noting that this can be avoided by just running Fire Plume Harbringer and Murmuring Elemental and playing them both before Shudderwock (the latter on the same turn) like traditional Shudderwock Shaman does to ensure double battlecries. I don't run them because this rarely is a problem for me and it's just not worth it, but if you are frustrated by it and want the combo to be 100% reliable, go ahead and add them to your deck.

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Enjoy the deck and feel free to leave any suggestions in the comment section!