Hearthpwn

Welcome and thanks for checking out this budget murloc shaman deck!

I'm trying to make a series of budget wild decks for people wanting to venture into wild but not wanting to commit 100 % of their dust to 1 deck without trying it out. These are made assuming you have had all old expansions, then you have to craft even less commons etc, but in reality it's still a really budget build (< 1000 dust) without some rares, any epics or any legendaries.

The main guideline is having no epics or legendaries, but still being able to make rank 10. The winrate is a bit lower than the expensive version, but since the archetype is so strong, it's still easy to stay around 52 % depending on rng generation and matchups.

The reason this deck is really cheap compared to a full version is mostly due to the lack of Murloc Warleader, Old Murk-Eye and Scargil. Instead the goal is to generate boards and keep hitting them with waves of murlocs until you win.

 

Gameplan 

You start with your one drops and other murlocs/totems to deal chip damage and try to keep wide boards alive with Soul of the Murloc to follow them up with Bloodlust in order to close the game the next turn.

In some cases you can get a Murloc Tidecaller to snowball, but he can also be used to generate more murlocs with Underbelly Angler. The angler is also your mid to early late game value bomb.

At 8-10 mana, an Underbelly Angler and any murloc can often get you a full board as well as other value. Sometimes he gets you other useful stuff like  Murloc Tastyfin for draw, one or more of the legendary murlocs, chargers or reborns for a potential bloodlust token next turn.

Against control and many decks, Ghost Light Angler is a great board refill, though a bit slow it is very flexible. It has amazing synergy late game with Underbelly Angler. Specially in late game, you do not want to play the Underbelly without support just to have something on board. He can win you game which seem like a loss a turn earlier.

Hex is here to prevent big priest from ressing their taunts, if you get lucky, or just taunts in general.

 

Mulligan

Keep in all scenarios: Murloc Tidecaller + Rockpool Hunter. This combo is amazing and very powerful as far as openers go!

Against aggro: Murmy, Toxfin, Rockpool Hunter, Bluegill Warrior. Fight for board, usually win if you can stay in control and lose if you cant. There are not many ways to get back on board, so controlling it is all that matters.

Against control: Murloc Tidecaller, Underbelly Angler, Murloc Tidehunter, Fishflinger, Primalfin Lookout. Time your Soul of the Murloc when you expect aoe clears the next turn. Try to curve out and work your way towards a bloodlust board. Save Toxfin for big taunts and Hex for hopeless situations like a mech hunter's Missle Launcher.

 

Upgrade/substitutes (+4600 dust)

Ghost Light Angler is a great value card mid-to-late game refill, but sometimes just slow and cloggy. If you want early board control more than anything, you can upgrade to 2 x Coldlight Seer for more board maintainance. You can also craft 2 x Hench-Clan Hogsteed instead. They also build a board in a different way and can act as removal (sometimes trade up very well, with a Flametongue Totem on board).

Bloodlust is cheap and free, however, if you have the dust, it is worth crafting 2 x Everyfin is Awesome. A cheap upgrade and the effect is amazing, great at keeping a board alive against certain aoes (Explosive Trap, Blizzard), trades, etc. If you happen to have it, a nice addition could be Stormbringer. It does a great job at upgrading your murlocs, and sometimes gives you lethal or healing with cards like Grom Hellscream, Old Murk-Eye, Zilliax or King Krush.

Fishflinger is great value and keeping your hand from going empty, however for what this deck tries to accomplish, you can drop both for 2 x Murloc Tastyfin. They first requires an active murloc to get the most value, so the timing of when to play them stays more or less the same. An alternative is Ice Fishing if you happen to have it.

2 x Hex is again cheap and useful, but not very strong when you don't see many annoying taunt decks or see too much aggro. A nice replacement is 2 x Sludge Slurper. The great thing about the slurper is that it can potentially generate an Ethereal Lackey, which can sometimes give you Everyfin is Awesome or Bloodlust. Doesn't happen often, but just keep an eye out in case you do get that specific lacky :)

Flametongue Totems are great for trading up or going face, but they only buff 2 minions (of any tribe). 2 x Murloc Warleader is a great upgrade and definitely worth the dust considering how often Murlocs are in the meta, once you upgrade most of your other cards to murlocs as well, otherwise they cannot benefit from your warleader's effect as much. Probably best to get this upgrade when you have most rares already.

Primalfin Lookout is awesome budget card generator, like Fishflinger, but with a discover effect. Often you're looking for either damage or tempo, both legendaries Old Murk-Eye andScargil do the same in different ways and come in a cheap 4-mana package. This upgrade is huge though: 3200 dust.