[86% WR] Control Elemental Shaman
- Last updated Apr 15, 2019 (Rise of Shadows)
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Wild
- 15 Minions
- 12 Spells
- 2 Weapons
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Control Shaman
- Crafting Cost: 11840
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 4/13/2019 (Rise of Shadows)
- Vourlout
- Registered User
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- 2
- 8
- 19
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Battle Tag:
Vourlout
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Region:
EU
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Total Deck Rating
78
Hi all!
After struggling a bit with the first decks I built in the new format, I wanted to try a more controling deck and I came up with this control/ midrange Shaman deck. My record with the deck is currently 12-2, in the ranks 7 till 5, and I am planing to play it further. It performed very strong in the games I played so far. I tried to build it in such a way, that it is good against the decks that are popular right now. So, especially with the popularity of Token Druid, Tempo Rogue and Murloc Shaman, I added a lot of early game.
Deck idea:
I first thought about the deck, when I thought that it would be cool to play Earthen Might on Walking Fountain. Then I concluded that an elemental package would be a perfect shell for a control/ midrange style Shaman deck. However, I have not pulled of that combo, but still both cards performed very strong. The higher amount of minions snyergize well with Hagatha the Witch, which is the most important card in the deck, if you plan to grind out the opponent. Most times you win that way. Swampqueen Hagatha and Shudderwock are also ways to win a long game. Shudderwock is manly there, because it is great with Swampqueen Hagatha, as you get both the effect of casting both spells, and an additional horror to the hand. Walking Fountain is also an imortant card, as it is one of the best cards for stabilizing.
What makes this deck so strong (at least in the games I played) is that you have great and efficient ways to keep the board in control with 4 good mass removal spells (Hagathas Scheme is the great addition from the new set) and good and efficient spot removal. Also Thunderhead and Voltaic Burst can help, too. Theay are great against the aggro decks, especially Token Druid and Murloc Shaman. Likkim is also an efficient way to keep the board clean, especially in the early turns. Another great card for this is Sludge Slurper, which seems to be a bit out of place at first sight. But it has synergy with Hagatha the Witch, as it provides you with two spells, and it is great for contesting the board against other aggresive decks. One game against a Mech Hunter I won, because I had two Sludge Slurper on turn one and two and played the curve, such that I was ahead on the board in each turn and won on turn 8.
The main reason, why I like the deck so much, is that it is a control deck in it´s core and you can grind out and stabilize against a lot of opponents, but it also has a good curve that allows you to make some preasure and most importantly have efficient ways to deal with the opponents board.
I will keep you updated and write some more (mulligan guide, detailed card choice explanation), if I see that you are interested in it.
Edit 14.04.2019:
I added a Storm Chaser and Archivist Elysiana and put out one Fire Elemental and the Electra Stormsurge. Elysiana helps a lot against Warrior or other hard control decks. The plan is here to fatigue the opponent: When your deck is empty you can refill it with Elysiana and if the opponent does the same, you can do it a second time with Shudderwock.
I played with the new list in the Brawlisium and went 7-3. My overall record is now 20-7 with a WR of 74%.
Edit 15.04.2019:
First of all, thanks for the upvotes! My overall record with the deck is now 27-10 with a winrate of 73%.
Card choices:
Hagatha the Witch: Probably the most important card in the deck. Good against aggro, as it provides a board clearer and important against slow decks as it provides a lot of value.
Walking Fountain: Also very important. Together with Hagaha the Queen the best way to stabilize, as it gives you heal and takes out opposing minions. Especially imortant, as there are not so many good ways to heal for Shaman.
Shudderwock, Swampqueen Hagatha, Archivist Elysiana:
Cards of choice to win a long game. They synegize quite well with another. Shudderwock and Swampqueen Hagatha can be also useful against more aggresive strategies, but Archivist Elysiana is only good against Control, especially against bomb Warrior, as it removes all bombs from your deck.
Harrison Jones: Quite good in the meta, with all the Rogue decks and Warrior decks. Also provides some card draw in those matchups, which the deck lacks a bit. Maybe if the meta shifts towards more Druid or Mage decks, then something else might be better.
Thunderhead, Voltaic Burst, Lightning Bolt, Sludge Slurper, Likkim:
Thunderhead and Likkim are very good against the token decks and other aggresive decks. The many one cost overload cards provides good consistency to it and are generally good against aggresive style decks. With those 10 cards you have a lot of cheap and efficient ways to interact with the opponents board or get some board presence.
Menacing Nimbus, Earthen Might, Fire Elemental:
I added a bit of an elemental theme, since we have with Walking Fountain and Thunderhead some elementals anyway (Earthen Might is the only payoff card, though. But keep in mind that you can get some other elemental payoff cards with Menacing Nimbus and Earthen Might, like Arcanosaur or Bonfire Elemental). Those cards give you value and can provide you with some board presence.
Storm Chaser: Card draw, elemental. Gives you Hagathas Scheme, which you always want as soon as possible, so that it can tick up.
Lightning Storm, Hagatha´s Scheme:
Both great AoE. Great against aggro/ token decks which are very popular right now. Hagatha´s Scheme also great against Big decks, as you can remove a board of multiple big minions, which is difficult with most other AoE.
Gameplan:
Against Aggro:
Use your AoE, spot removal and other early cards (the Thunderhead package) to keep the board clean and then close out with Hagatha or the other value cards.
Against Control:
Maybe try to preasure the opponent a bit in the early-/ midgame. Swampqueen Hagatha is great for that. If you can´t preasure him enough (which happens most times) play Hagatha the Witch early and generate a lot of value. It might be worth it, to keep some of the cheap minions to play after Hagatha the Witch. If your oppnent wants to fatigue you, play Archivist Elysiana when you have few or none cards in your deck and refill it. If you think that the opponent has also Archivist Elysiana, it might be worth to wait with Shudderwock until you play Archivist Elysiana to refill a second time.
Difficulties:
The deck can be quite difficult to play. Especially against control decks, you might need to be patient and evaluate correctly when to commit threads and removal. If you are Hagatha you must also pay attention to the hand size. In general you must also be aware of overloeaded mana crystals. So always think, what you want to do next turn and if you can afford to overload.
Mulligan:
I would always keep one Hagatha´s Scheme as you want it as eraly as possible, so that it can tick up. The only class there I might consider mulligan it is Warrior. I am not exactly sue when you want to keep Hagatha the Witch. Against decks there you think you can get to turn 8 I would probably keep it, as it is such an important card. Menacing Nimbus is also a card that is never bad to have on the early turns.
Never keep Archivist Elysiana, Shuderwock and probably Walking Fountain, since they are too slow. I would also mulligan Earthen Might most times. I tried some times to keep it and play it on an early Menacing Nimbus, but it has not worked out that well.
Against Hunter, Rogue, Warlock, Druid, Shaman, Paladin:
Those clases are most likely more aggresive. Keep any cheap cards and/ or removal. Maybe Zilliax. Against Rogue maybe not Sludge Slurper, as it dies easily against the dagger.
Against Mage:
same. I would also keep Hex, as it can be Big Mage, and not Sludge Slurper.
Against Priest:
Most likly slow deck. Keep Hex.
Against Warrior:
Look for Hagatha the Witch.
Against Rogue and Warrior I would also keep Harrison Jones, as that decks have quite important weapons.
great deck if your a legend player
This deck looks incredible, missing Shudderwock and Swampqueen Hagatha which I'm guessing are kind of a big deal here, especially Shudderwock.
Would also love to see a video of this deck in action to get a better idea of it
if you want something a bit cheaper. there are more aggressive decks that run a lot of the same cards, just with fewer legendaries.
I'm working on something similar. I don't have the elektra though.
I need to build a few cards for it still, I will pick up elektra when I can.
You still reckon control shaman is decent? from what I can gather it's great at farming the aggressive decks
I don't have shudderwok yet neither. I was going to craft that today, but if I want to play control I need the spells and stuff first.
I will basically be missing the shudderwok and the elektra cards. I might but the barista in as a way to get my swampqueen and other battlecries back though (I would be adding her to the finished product anyway as you can get you shuderwok back as well)
you reckon it will fair ok without those 2 cards for now, or should I just craft shuderwok now for my murlocs and then craft the control bits later.
I'm a bit stuck on what order to craft stuff in tbh.
I think the deck also functions well without those cards. Actually, as I mentioned in the guide, I put Electra out, as it has not performed as well as I thought it would. Shudderwock is good to have, but often he doesn´t do that much as you might think. The only important card for the late game is Hagatha the Witch. As long as you have it, your fine and then you can choose, what you want for your top end. I just think that Shudderwock and Swampqueen Hagatha is probably the best choice.
The question is also, since I had some problems with other control decks, even with the addition of Archivist Elysiana, that you focus more on crushing the aggro decks, in which case you don´t need that much top end (maybe some more taunts instead). But it depends obviously on how the meta evolves.
aye I want to get alysiana asap as well. I built a control shaman mainly to beat all the aggro decks while I'm laddering though. I'm not concerned about the control miror right now as I have decks that counter control already. If I play enough this month to ladder high enough to see a lot of control decks, I'll worry about it then.
I built this anyway for now. it's good at whats it's supposed to do.
They're actually quite similar though after comparing them side by side.
What about putting in healing?
Great video. Thank you very much for sharing it!
Year, Control Shaman seems well positioned right now. There are probably many directions to build a controlling shaman deck. I like my list especially against aggro decks. And with my latest addition of Archivist Elysiana, you can have also some good play against other control decks.
Nice deck. I tried it out and was able to win against token druid.
Any replacements for Swampqueen Hagatha?
Swampqueen Hagatha is probably in some way important, but not the most important card in the deck. Without it, you loose one of the best ways to generate value and the possibility of a huge board swing. Additionally Shuderwock gets way worse. To replace it I would suggest Kragwa, the Frog. It fulfills a similar role, but I think it´s a bit worse and more situationally. Or else you can play again the second Fire Elemental.
Great concept, I love decks like this. I'd be interested to try either not running Hagatha's Scheme since you already have Lightning Storms and Hagatha the Witch in this midrange deck. BUT I get that you wanted to make it more control oriented so if that's the case, I think you would need to add Storm Chasers to get those Hagatha's Scheme and help add some card draw because I think currently it might be a little inconsistent due to lack of card draw.
In the first build of the deck I had a Storm Chaser but replaced it, since I wasn´t sure, if it´s worth it with only two targets. But as you said, the deck lacks a bit of card draw, so maybe it´s right to play it.
As I thought about, how I want to adress the late game, I thought that both Hagathas plus Shudderwock is enough. Interestlingly I haven´t played against much control decks and indeed against no Warrior. This might be one reason, why my record was so good.
But in order to be also good against Control, Archivist Elysiana might be worth it.
So will try a list with one Archivist Elysiana and one Storm Chaser, instead of one Fire Elemental and the Electra Stormsurge.
I've been playing similar deck, and yes it's great against aggro/midrange deck. But I just can't win against warrior.. How do you handle them?
I think there's a way to weave in Archivist Elysiana it would great increase your odds, you get double value off her in those late late game if you play Shudderwock after her, and Archivist Elysiana or Shudderwock will remove bombs from your deck.