Hearthpwn

Guys this is Dittolander, an arena main who always try to hit Legend within a few days of each month using completely original decks.

Last month there were lots of Mech Handbuff Paladins, surprisingly they are gone this month (at least I didn't encounter any). Even Shaman, Secret Mage and Reno decks and some Murloc decks (shaman and pally) are dominating the ladder.

Today I started from Rank 4 and climbed to Legend with this home-brew Exodia Paladin deck. 72% WR surprises even myself (see below for details). I thought my last month's Reno Shaman is certainly stronger, but with Handbuff Paladin gone that Shaman deck loses its top prey. With this Reno-Exodia Paladin, I struggled at the beginning (spent most of the time waggling at Rank 4) and adjusted many cards. I also got better at reading games, too, so R3 to Legend actually felt like easy. Given the average winrate of 72%, I think the final version must have an incredibly high winrate. I can't wait to share.

Why Reno-Exodia Paladin?

By playing Reno Shaman, I realized that all of Exodia enablers (Brewmasters, Zola the Gorgon) are also very good with Zephrys the Great and Reno Jackson. Those bounce effects synergize so well with those two cards that you are justified to include them in any Reno deck. In pure Exodia Paladin (not Singleton), those bounce cards are usually dead against aggro, but now with Zephrys online they are suddenly useful.

Well, another reason is... I opened a golden Sir Finley of the Sands! The upgraded hero power can help you a lot if you draw him early, and makes Garrison Commander's effect relevant in aggro matchups too (double armor up / heal / draw or deal 2 damage twice every turn is no joke). All those factors considered, I believe the Reno-Exodia build can stand a chance against any opponent.

Echoing my last month's remark, play Exodia Paladin to surprise you opponent! Especially if you manage to play Crystology on turn 1, watching opponent gets panic is part of the fun.

Any Guide?

As far as I love this deck, writing a good guide takes time. It would be sad if my effort goes unnoticed. So if you want some guidance on piloting this deck, leave a +1 to let more people know!

Let's set up some milestones:

+5: Mulligan guide, and a brief explanation of win conditions

+10: Card explanation (i.e., why I include these cards), as well as card replacements

+20: Gameplay insights, interesting decisions

How Do You Win & Mulligan

There are three win conditions you should aim for:

1. Survive until an aggro opponent runs out of resources.

Applicable matchups: Secret Mage, Mech Paladin & Hunter, Murloc Shaman & Paladin, Odd Rogue, Odd Paladin, some (but not all) Even Shaman, Pirate Warrior

How: Try to make use of all cards you have to stall the game. No need to save any card for Exodia or Holy Wrath combo. Most commonly achieved by playing either Zephrys the Great, Reno Jackson, or a discounted Shirvallah, the Tiger multiple times.

Mulligan: Crystology, Zephrys the Great, Reno Jackson, Sir Finley of the Sands, Corpsetaker, Muster for Battle, Truesilver Champion, and Righteous Protector if you don't have Crystology.

2. Activate Uther of the Ebon Blade's hero power! (aka Exodia)

Applicable Matchups: Reno Warlock, Reno Mage, Reno Priest, Cube Warlock, SN1P-SN4P Warlock, Resurrect Priest, Control-style Warriors, Quest Mage, Jade Druid, Combo Druids, some Even Shaman

How: Play Uther of the Ebon Blade ASAP -> Bounce back two different horsemen with Zola the Gorgon, Youthful Brewmaster, Ancient Brewmaster, or, as a last resort, Baleful Banker -> Play two horsemen from hand, play Garrison Commander and roll hero power twice.

Mulligan: Uther of the Ebon Blade, Crystology, Zephrys the Great, Reno Jackson, Sir Finley of the Sands, Corpsetaker, Muster for Battle, and Prismatic Lens.

3. A 25-damage Holy Wrath

Applicable Matchups: Reno Warlock, Reno Priest, Cube Warlock, SN1P-SN4P Warlock, Resurrect Priest, Quest Mage, some Even Shaman

How: With an empty deck, play Shirvallah, the Tiger and Baleful Banker on tiger, send an emote, and point Holy Wrath to your opponent's face 

This only serves a back-up plan in case you have to use all of your Brewmasters and Zola on Reno/Zephrys to help you survive or your Garrison Commander is milled or Dirty Ratted. If you decide not to pursue this win condition or opponent can easily heal/armor up out of the range, feel free to use Holy Wrath as a card draw.

Mulligan: same as above.

Card Explanation & Replacement Guide

Understanding the role of each card can help you ladder faster. In choosing which card to include, I looked at cards that do well in three areas: Cycle/Draw; Survive (including good tempo cards, removals and healing); Combo. Some card may cover multiple areas. Let's go over each area, and I will list some replacement cards for each area if you are missing them.

1. Cycle / Draw

Card draws are very important for a deck that wins most games with a combo.

Currently included: Crystology, Novice Engineer, Flash of Light, Solemn Vigil, Holy Wrath, Prismatic Lens, Call to Adventure

Worth considering / Good cards for replacement: Lay on Hands, Jepetto Joybuzz, Hammer of Wrath, Bloodmage Thalnos.

2. Survive

Basically everything. Cards in this bundle are highly replaceable(except Zephrys and Reno) and honestly I think someone can come up with a better version of the deck. I made the choice only based on my understanding of the power level of each card and my local meta .

MVPs (these cards are not replaceable for this deck): Zephrys the Great, Reno Jackson, Shirvallah, the Tiger

MVPs' sidekicks (often used on MVP cards to help survive against aggression): Zola the Gorgon, Ancient Brewmaster, Youthful Brewmaster

Good tempo cards: Righteous Protector, Zilliax, Muster for Battle, Corpsetaker, Spikeridged Steed, Stonehill Defender

Good removals: Consecration, Truesilver Champion, Subdue, Shrink Ray, Wild Pyromancer, Zilliax, Uther of the Ebon Blade

Good healing / stall: Time Out!, Flash of Light, Crystalsmith Kangor, Zilliax, Corpsetaker, Uther of the Ebon Blade

Honorable inclusion: Sir Finley of the Sands. Depending on what hero power you obtain, Sir Finley can do a lot of things: draw, remove, heal. I'll write a section on him if we reach 20 upvotes!

Worth considering / Good cards for replacement: Enter the Coliseum, Equality, Aldor Peacekeeper, Keeper of Uldaman, Doomsayer, Siamat, Eadric the Pure, Antique Healbot, Humility, Elven Archer, Nozari, Forbidden Healing, Emperor Thaurissan

Tech cards (not recommended, but can include if meta is predictable): Dirty Rat, Harrison Jones, Gluttonous Ooze, Eater of Secrets, Loatheb

Resist your urge to include... 

Tirion Fordring: cool in a midrange deck / a N'Zoth deck, but those are not in our meal. His high cost can be prohibitive, too.

Sunkeeper Tarim: looks good on paper but disappointed me most of the times I drew him. Just don't wanna buff their totems and 1/1's. Perhaps when big priest / jade druid are still popular this could shine.

3. Combo

Our win conditions. Usually not replaceable (not many cards exist with similar function).

Currently included: Uther of the Ebon Blade, Garrison Commander, Youthful Brewmaster, Ancient Brewmaster, Zola the Gorgon, Baleful Banker, Holy Wrath, Shirvallah, the Tiger

Worth considering: Getaway Kodo. I tried including this card for many games - it's a liability most of the time, only works well with horseman / Zephrys / Reno. But if you are missing Zola, you can try using it as another way to bounce back critical minions.

Blackwald Pixie: cheap alternative to Garrison Commander but requires Emperor Thaurissan to hit him. Not recommended but it's a possibility.

Some Details

1. On Zephrys the Great

Zephrys is the trickiest card to use in this deck and many others. Knowing when and how to use Zephrys is absolutely critical in trying to get any success on ladder. In 99% of the cases you will NOT play Zephrys on turn 2 (the 1% exception is when your opponent is playing a tempo-based deck but has an empty board before your Zephrys turn, you have Zola on turn 3 and is pretty sure opponent can't kill your Zephrys). In most aggro matchups, you would want to use Zephrys more than 1 time, and it would be game-losing if only use him once and you can't communicate your wish to him. You must know what Zephrys would give you in any situation. You must know every card in Zephrys' possible card pool. (No pressure, you can learn through trial and error :)

The difficulty is, Zephrys isn't smart enough to know exactly what you need. Too often it will consider this: with the amount of mana left, playing what SINGLE card can best help with the board WITHOUT knowing you have other useful cards in hand as well.

Therefore, mana control is very, very important. If you want a Silence or a Sacrificial Pact, leaving no mana left can help quite a bit. (for Sacrificial Pact, I also found that having a low health will significantly increase my chance of finding it even if I have 3+ mana left.) If you want a weapon removal, leave 2 or 5 mana so that Zephrys can get you an Acidic Swamp Ooze or a Harrison Jones. If you want a Secret removal, leave 2 or 4 mana left (though you have to be mindful about Explosive Runes). If you want a Brawl, leave exactly 5 mana left because at 6 you will likely get Blizzard.

Kripparrian has made a nice video guide on how to communicate you wish to Zephrys, check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwIw5WyJHH8

2. On Sir Finley of the Sands

Which hero power should you choose?

The answer depends on what your opponent is playing and what's your game plan. Against aggro / midrange decks, your top priority is survival. Generally, I would rank the hero powers in the following order:

Tank Up! > Dire Shapeshift  > Heal > Soul Tap > Fireblast Rank 2 > The Silver Hand > Poisoned Daggers >Totemic Slam > Ballista Shot.

If your opponent is slow and your game plan is Exodia, the general ranking is:

Soul Tap > Tank Up! > The Silver Hand > Fireblast Rank 2 > Dire Shapeshift > Heal > Poisoned Daggers > Totemic Slam > Ballista Shot.

If you are going for a Holy Wrath finisher, you likely need some damage chipping to get there, so:

Soul Tap  > Fireblast Rank 2 > Dire Shapeshift > Ballista Shot > Tank Up! > The Silver Hand > Poisoned Daggers > Heal > Totemic Slam.

But really it depends on the situation. If you need to kill a 2-health threat immediately, give up Tank Up! for a Poisoned Daggers is more than reasonable. If you already draw Uther and will only use the new hero power once of twice, situation > long term value. You won't always get the top hero powers but considering how bad Paly's base hero power is, you will usually be satisfied for playing Sir Finley.

3. On Time Out!

Time Out! is a great mid/late-game card, but it can be hard to decide when to use it. A sneaky use of it is:

 - Zephrys the Great to find board clear + Zola the Gorgon / Ancient Brewmaster / Youthful Brewmaster + Time Out!, and use your board clear next turn;

More commonly, you play your card draws as much as possible, Time Out!, and play your removals / heal next turn.

If you will win via Exodia next turn, you can play Time Out! to prevent your opponent's unexpected lethal. When you have a weapon equipped, play Time Out! before you attack into a minion.

 

That's all I have for now. Thank you all for the upvotes and I hope you enjoy every game you play!