Hearthpwn

2/17/20 - I swapped the rotating card slot to Explosive Evolution as it works much better than most other tech options assuming you aren't only facing Mage. Works as an extra silence sometimes against Warlock and can potentially turn your totems into the new 4 mana 8/8 dragon or your 0 mana Thing from Below into a 9 drop for 2 mana. Not always very reliable, but I find it can help out.

I played Even Shaman all the way up to legend getting legend on day 2 in the Americas server. I bounced around the top 100 and am currently #10 wild legend, playing almost solely with Even Shaman.

Tech cards:

Currently trying out Sylvanas Windrunner but I got to legend using Vessina in that slot. The rest of the list is the same now as what I laddered with, although I did run just one EVIL Totem for a while at Legend. However, the totem synergy package really makes having both be much better than any other cards I've tried in that slot.

Other tech cards I've tried and had some success with in the Sylvanas/Vessina slot are:

Eater of Secrets, especially against the multitude of Mages at every rank, this is a solid option.

Sandstorm Elemental works decently if you are facing a lot of Paladins or Rogues, however at Legend, 90% of my matches are against Quest Mage/Cubelock/Darkest Hour, with Warlocks being the main reason I'm trying Sylvanas as my current tech option.

Garrison Commander is a card I thought could work to get out multiple totems, however playing him on turn 2 is generally worse than just using your hero power. He doesn't really get any value until turn 4, and this deck takes full advantage of much better plays on turn 4 every game.

Skulking Geist worked pretty well against the large amounts of Warlocks running Plague of Flames or Mages trying to complete quests quickly, but would just come out too late or I would be overloaded and unable to use it until around turn 8 or 9.

Card Choices:

The main issue I had with Vessina and the overload package with cards like Thunderhead (which I played last month before the totem package was discovered to be incredibly strong), is that I'm often overloaded on turn 4 and would rather just play a cheap Thing from Below or two into a Sea Giant for one or two mana than I would to try to fill my board and be overloaded at the same time.

Totemic Might and Totemic Surge: Aside from Genn Greymane who makes the deck function, Totemic Might is probably the best card in the deck. Not even kidding, it lets you survive Dark Skies and sometimes Arcane Flakmage so you generally want to keep it in your opening, and it just lets you get cheaper or bigger boards. Everything builds from this card. Totemic Surge is just a zero mana Vessina that lasts forever on totems, so that's obviously good.

1 Squallhunter: Going to just lump this all together with Crackle and Maelstrom Portal. You don't need more than one Squallhunter since it would just slow down the deck too much. However, you absolutely need the one for these. The Spell Damage totem is also very useful when paired with this and makes your Maelstrom Portal a 2 mana Flamestrike. Crackle is one of your main finishers, especially after popping Ice Block. Can also be used to clear minions against aggro decks.

Devolve: Insane against every deck. Keep in your opening against all aggro decks and Warlocks. Not bad to keep against Mage either since it wrecks Mad Scientist and Doomsayer. Against Warlock or Mech Paladin, it just can win you the game. If you have both in hand, you can clear a Voidcaller without having to worry about saving them for Darkest Hour as much.

Murkspark Eel: Good in every way, it is just  an auto-include card in Even Shaman.

Totem Golem: These and Murkspark Eels are the only cards I would never mulligan from my opening hand. Always good to have and just really strengthens your totem synergy.

EVIL Totem: Potentially a card you could drop one of, but I don't recommend dropping both. It just gives you so much value and is the main way you can get odd cost spells. The Rush+1 attack lackey also works excellently with totems, especially when you get a second copy that also gets rush that turn.

Splitting Axe: Playing this on turn 4 and copying nothing except for a 3/4 Totem Golem is actually strong enough to win you the game in a lot of situations. This card just lets you play your Thing from Belows and Sea Giants ridiculously early. Plus getting a ton of lackeys (just uhh, try not brick yourself by filling up your board and then getting frozen by a Mage over and over.... never ever happened to me.... I'm just saying...)

Flamewreathed Faceless: I know this card isn't usually run in the totem version at two copies, but it just works so well against Mages and Warlocks that I'm mainly running it because of my opponents. It's not great against aggro, however Totem Golem is, and a 4 mana 7/7 just after him still threatens them a lot.

Draenei Totemcarver: What's better than a 4 mana 7/7? A potentially 4 mana 8/8 or higher that doesn't overload you. Playing this as a 4 mana 5/5 or 6/6 is also still pretty strong. Just works really well with how much you spam totems on the board.

Genn Greymane: Necessary. 1 mana totems are insanely good.

Thing from Below: Insanely good. Not really much reason to explain this. Why would you not play this card in a totem deck? 0 mana 10/10 taunt split up into 2 bodies on potentially turn 4 with a good Splitting Axe.

Sea Giant: Just really strong and is actually pretty good in matchups against aggro decks considering they decrease the cost too. 0 mana Thing from Belows also just make this card cheaper, so you can make huge plays allowing you to play a Sea Giant even if he costs 5 mana but you only have 4. You basically just played an Innervate that also gave you a free 5/5 taunt minion.

The Storm Bringer: Not the most necessary card in the deck, however it can just straight up win you games sometimes. Also, I've found Mages like to freeze my full board rather than destroying it during the mid-game, so you can just turn a bunch of frozen weak totems into Millhouse Manastorms and occasionally something actually big.

Mulligans (against classes I actually play against):

Always keep Totem Golems and Murkspark Eels

Warlock: Totemic Might, Devolve, sometimes EVIL Totem , Flamewreathed Faceless, and Thing from Below

Mage: Crackle (especially if they are secret mage), sometimes Totemic Surge, Totemic Might, Devolve, Thing from Below, and Flamewreathed Faceless

Paladin, Druid, Pirate Warrior: Maelstrom Portal and Devolve can just win you the game, Thing from Below and totems/buff cards. Really depends on whether you can get Totem Golem and Murkspark Eel how much you want to go for different cards

 

More matchup explanations:

The worst matchup for this deck has been Secret Mage for me. Mainly because you absolutely need Totemic Might or to quickly develop big minions against them. But Eater of Secrets is a good option, I just hardly see Secret Mage at Legend now. If you're fast enough, you can beat Quest Mage and Warlocks. It mostly depends on if they draw the nuts or not a lot of the time. This deck actually struggles against Tempo Rogue a little since that deck can refill the board quickly and you need Devolve for Magic Carpet or to use the rush lackey with Flamewreathed Faceless or other big minions. However, I haven't run into it very much. I also went 0-3 while laddering against Hunters. But I faced only 3 Hunters on my way to Legend, so yeah you don't see much of them. Same with Priest except I won 3. I got to legend before Druids started showing up. Aggro druids aren't much of a problem, however controlling druids are tougher but also much rarer.