Portal Shaman [Brandnew Deck]
- Last updated May 19, 2019 (Rise of Shadows)
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Wild
- 20 Minions
- 9 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Shudderwock Shaman
- Crafting Cost: 14960
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 5/1/2019 (Rise of Shadows)
- Sgetn
- Registered User
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- 7
- 26
- 25
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Battle Tag:
N/A
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Region:
EU
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Total Deck Rating
76
Hey guys, here's the guide. I'm still going to update it when I change a card or know more about certain matchups.
I love this deck and I wanted to share it with you. If you don't have a lot of these cards, you should be aware that this isn't a meta deck. So spend your dust wisely :D. It is a ton of fun tho and i have a good winrate around Rank 5 with it right now.
Game Plan:
This deck is all about the new cards Portal Keeper and Portal Overfiend that can be combined with Augmented Elekk and later in the game with Shudderwock. You fill your deck with portals that generate you great tempo in the mid- and lategame stages of the game and they can be used as a win condition with The Storm Bringer.
Mulligan/Early Game: Always mulligan for Sludge Slurper, Augmented Elekk, Hagatha's Scheme and Doomsayer. Against Token Druid or Zoolock or such it makes sense to hold a Lightning Storm. Against Rogue or Warrior keep Acidic Swamp Ooze. The deck lacks early game cards so your goal is to clear the board and get some portals going with Portal Keeper, hopefully combined with Augmented Elekk.
Mid Game: You will probably draw some portals already that can help you to contest the board or maybe you get a good Hagatha's Scheme off. Remove your opponents minions or play a proactive card like Portal Overfiend if your opponent allows you to do so until you manage to stabilize with Hagatha the Witch or Walking Fountain. Don't hesitate to play Shudderwock earlier than usual when you don't face a Control Warrior. He's useful for more portals, AoE or repeated value from Swampqueen Hagatha if you know you won't go into fatigue for the second time.
Late Game: Be careful when you get The Storm Bringer as an option from Swampqueen Hagatha. The card is amazing in this deck, but it will go off when playing Shudderwock too. When Shudderwock evolves into a different legendary, the battlecry stops (like with Yogg), so you might not get the Archivist Elysiana trigger. This only applies when you know you might save the Shudderwock for very late turns when you go into fatigue for the second time. You should usually play The Storm Bringer when you have 4+ minions, because otherwise the board wont be threatening enough after. Don't worry about targets for The Storm Bringer, because a lot of 2/2 demons can come out in a single turn.
Matchups:
Control Warrior is definitely beatable after adding Archivist Elysiana to this deck. You also have a good chance against Rogue, because of the Tech cards and the Healing. I am still working on the matchups, stay tuned!
Why some cards aren't in this deck:
The portals don't have immediate impact because they land in your deck, so thats why the rest of the cards are Control Shaman cards. Even tho an aggressive approach based on board control with Sea Giant and such seems fitting, I don't think that'd work out. If you wanna go for that, play a token deck with overload cards.
Bloodlust is a win more card against Aggro and it's only good against Combo or Control decks with little AoE. Because Warrior is the Control King right now and Warrior has Warpath and Brawl it is often a dead card in your hand. In long games you might get a copy of it from Hagatha anyway.
Spirit of the Frog, Wild Pyromancer, Thunderhead and a lot of cheap spells like Zap! or Earth Shock can work great in Shaman, but you just don't have the space in the deck because of the portal synergies.
Hecklebot or Unseen Saboteur can be great against combo decks. Right now the tech cards in this deck are used to deal primarily with Rogue or other Aggro decks. If we see a meta shift after potential Rogue nerfs and Combo decks come back, these become viable options.
Update:
-Bloodlust +Archivist Elysiana:
A lot of people recommended to use Archivist Elysiana and it really helps your matchup against Warrior. Bloodlust feels like a dead card a lot of times and you might get one copy of it off Hagatha anyway. It is a shift in this deck's win condition, but Archivist Elysiana is a more consistent late game plan. You are playing a Control deck after all.
-Augmented Elekk -Storm Chaser +2 Public Defender:
I feel like one copy of Storm Chaser is enough without Bloodlust. Augmented Elekk is a fun card in this deck, but a lot of times it's just a 3/4 and you can't play it together with a Portal card. One Elekk is still reasonable tho and it keeps the spirit of the deck alive :D. Public Defender is good against Rogue, because they can't deal easily with a 6 HP minion and the Taunt can be worth a lot in that matchup. It's also a decent play against other Aggro decks. To be fair Tar Creeper would be much better if he was still in Standard, but the Public Defender is as good as it gets right now. I consider this a tech card, so if Rogue gets nerfed and you see less Aggro decks overall, feel free to run something else in this slot. Same goes for Acidic Swamp Ooze and Harrison Jones.
-Acidic Swamp Ooze +Harrison Jones:
Since I cut the second Storm Chaser, the deck needs a little more draw. If you don't have Harrison Jones, you can just play a second copy of the Ooze, it doesn't make a big difference.
See the deck in action:
No, they doesn't help agains fatigue, they just cycle deck.
If you start burning your portals then technically they add a card to your deck, but ya otherwise they really do not help with fatigue, also they seem kind of worthless lategame anyways...
This is cool.
This deck has good potential, but u need much more card draw in order it to work.
An absolute blast to play, might actually bring this on ladder once I get some more test games in casual under my belt and see if I have a good hold on the deck as a whole.
I beat a control shaman (RNG central), so that was a decent indicator of the power this deck brings, but I'm looking to see it match up vs decks that are higher in the meta tiers, scary decks like mech hunter, lackey/tempo rogue and bomb warrior.
Spent 1000 dust to craft those portal minions. Played 3 games so far at rank 5 and lost all of them. Didn't get even close to see those portals. Downvote from me.
Update 1-6
Do not play this deck
You need to provide criticism, not "I lost it's bad".
OK, here is my criticism:
It doesn't work. Happy? What would you like to know more?
It is too slow vs aggro and not threatening enough vs control. As simple as that
i believe, if you read the intro, it warns against crafting anything because this is not a meta deck. What were you expecting?
No room for Bog Slosher?
I'll have to give this deck a try, I'm playing something similar at the moment.
I would maybe drop 1 elekk for a 2nd copy of far sight and also try and add elysiana.
actually dude I'm coming round to this portal idea. it's not half bad in a slower match up's. sorry for doubting you. I still think 2 elekks is over kill though mate. ha ha.
EDIT: it reminds me a bit of how strider worked in miracle rogue, I guess it's a very similar mechanic.
Anybody have any advice on how to deal with a clogged hand? I get stuck with Bloodlust and other spells from Hagatha and I can't get them out of my hand and every turn I'm just putting out one minion and casting a spell so I don't overdraw. It's insane.
Hagatha is better in control decks with fewer minions. there is no way around it other than don't play hagatha in a minion filled deck. You just have to be extremely careful when you play her, and constantly doing the maths to work out if you will over draw. however if bombs are still prevalent, sometimes getting a full hand is not a bad thing.
however, some people were running her in murloc decks a week ago, but she's been cut from the more aggressive ones now, and is only ever used as part of a come back mechanic.
I guess you just have to be more careful about playing her, you will have to take into account your hand size, how many minions you have and how many spells you will be getting back.
I have been having similar issues with my plot twist zoo as it's such a new idea, you can often be overdrawing by turn 4. it's completely mental.
Yeah that's a problem that almost every Control Shaman suffers from. Especially Sludge Slurper, Shudderwock, Swampqueen Hagatha and Storm Chaser are dangerous because they give you two cards. The deck doesn't have that much draw to begin with so you should be fine a lot of the times. Bloodlust is actually useful in this deck for once but sometimes you just get unlucky and you get 3 Elementary Reactions and 3 Lightning Storms. It just happens, try to play around it as best as you can, there's no real advice on that.
yeah if I got blood lust I'd try and use it for lethal or to trade or something. I did an electra into visions yesterday, got rain of toads and blood lust back and could play the rain for zero mana. so the opponent had to answer my board or loose next turn.
mostly with hagatha you just have to get used to playing with her I find though.
I took out Far Sight for Elysiana. That might help a bit and the deck needs her. I never had a chance to play Swampqueen. I had to burn a 1 off Witches Brew. It sucked. But we'll see.
nah witches brew is amazing totally lets u come back and wait till scheme has powered up.
Elysiana is bad thou unless u really get into fatigue alot. and i never really got that amazing cards. I do use zentimos and +3 Attack which combines great with fountain
I made this deck on the first day or two of the Expansion, and found the 4 man Demon would lose meTempo alot cuz of the 2 health body, It never sticks on the board. Some games can be alright, especially vs slow decks. But vs fast, u have to pray u roll some 2/2's w rush real soon to help get back the tempo u lose. Basicallly, Control Shaman can use any cards, and do ok if it gets past turn 7.