Hearthpwn

This is the second version of my previous deck: DUEL!

I climbed from Platinum 5 to Diamond 1 with this deck last season (May 2021). I believe I could've hit legend had I played more but was unable to. Still proud of that for this silly deck. 

I'm making a whole new page for it because it is very different from the other one and I didn't care to delete my whole writeup on the other deck. 

Differences, Functions and Reasons

The biggest differences between the two decks is that the previous one acted essentially as a sleepy OTK, building up a board and playing a Rebuke or just hitting a big minion early and making it so your opponent can't recover. The other thing is that I removed Nozdormu the Timeless and Call to Adventure because I've found that in this meta that giving your opponent that 10 mana turn first usually means your doom. This deck acts more to stifle your opponent with things like Oh My Yogg!, and all the secrets (which are more defensive) to go with Sword of the Fallen, while using Air Raid and Rebuke to go even further that concept. Then the rest is what you expect by looking at the list. The deck of course avoids small minions to keep Duel!, Prismatic Lens and Commencement at their most effective. I also removed The Lich King and Tirion Fordring because of the two Commencements. Them being slightly lower stated and already possessing Taunt and Tirion with Divine Shield they become redundant with Commencement, also I don't seem to need the weapon or the value of Death Knight cards in this deck.

This deck is very fun and surprisingly good. I've been able to outlast and go the distance against Kingsbane Rogue, Secret Mage and Odd Paladin. This deck has trouble against Big Priest but I think a fighting chance against just about everything else. 

Quirks

1. The thing about this deck and meta currently is that every single paladin is either Hand-Buff or Aggro (with Watch Post etc.) so I find my opponents in more control decks are mismulliganing often. Priest's keeping Spirit Lash and whatnot when it is essentially useless here. That makes this deck that more better right now. 

2. Sometimes your opponent will play Dirty Rat on turn 2 and you will win

3. Paladin players will likely already know this but if  you start the game going second (starting with Coin in your hand) playing Oh My Yogg! on turn one is usually an awesome play as they will either have to play around it and often delay themselves or play into it and either waste a card or hurt themselves anyway

4. If you're playing Big Priest your best chance is to hit a Prismatic Lens and get on top of them early. Playing Duel! is pretty much suicide because it puts a minion in their resurrect pool. I've found it's possible to win with early Oh My Yogg!s, timely Rebukes, and then PrisLens and Commencement reliance. 

5. I didn't have Commencement in my previous Duel! deck because I want to avoid the PrisLens nerf. Turns out it is rare, it can be devastating, but having it in is far more valuable and has done far more good than bad. A turn 7 10/10 or 12/12 with taunt and divine shield is pretty strong even against established boards or big hands. 

 Cards

For now I'll stick to things that I think need to be explained and then maybe write up a full script. Also like all decks this one is still a work in progress so I'll wait to commit that much. I also think most things in this deck are fairly easy to understand if you just look at the cards.

Duel! - Duel is an awesome card. It allows you to not only cheat out a minion from your deck but also very often destroy one of theirs, it feels like it works in your favor 9 times out of ten. Having this on turn 5 can often be enough to make your opponent unable to recover. There are not too many tricks or notes to be told in regards to this card. Just don't get Counterspell'd and beware of Big Priest

 Prismatic Lens - is another way to cheat out big minions. Last game I coined out PrisLens on turn 3 and played a 2 mana Colossus on turn 4 and the game was essentially over. Using this early is great but it does have a downside if used late. Typically using it late should be done so for a needed draw and to continue applying pressure or recover. Changing the cost of a Rebuke to 10 mana can hurt surprisingly badly. I would say this happens on the rarer side, but it does happen. This is a great card in general, amazing for this deck and very fun to play. 

Commencement is a little bit of the straw that stirs the drink. This deck once lacked enough adequate defense and relied so heavily on Pris and Duel that if neither were drawn it could mean your demise. But this beautiful card will bring a minimum 9 cost minion from your deck and make their already very bodies into one's that are now also impasses. I think this card looks ok if you just read it and contemplate it's possibilities, but in practice and within this deck it is a 9/10 card easy. 

Deathwing the Destroyer I love this card but I also think this is likely the most replaceable minion in the deck. Cheating him to hand with Pris has yet to backfire on minion, even when I'm removing 3 of my opponents minions from board and discarding three cards from hand - a 12/12 on turn 5 or 6 on an empty is hard to deal with. This card is mostly used because of stats, it's dragon type and because it has been the most effective for me thus far. I've found that the difference between and 8/8 or 10/10 and a 12/12 is huge. Long live Deathwing

Underlight Angling Rod this was the very last card I put into this deck and I believe it ties the whole deck together. This gives you value, smaller minions while not messing with your cheat cards or deck's strategy, removal if needed, face damage if needed and helps fill turns where I once was leaving mana on the table. Great card that peculiarly fits perfectly. 

Colossus of the Moon - A card that is extremely difficult to remove, is stupid powerful in just about any situation but especially when cheated out. If pushed out he demands attention or must be ignored with your opponent racing against the clock to go face first. 

Runaway Blackwing acts as a pseudo-taunt minion, this card is great against freeze happy mages and is always good. This card pairs well with Lightforged Blessing and of course can be summoned by Deathwing, Dragonlord, it is also super powerful to summon from Commencement as it is a 9/9, taunt, divine shield and minion removal - you might be thinking "yes, I know" but you may have to think about it a little harder to understand how truly powerful it is

Hammer of the Naaru the taunt and weapon are of course great but really it fills the 6 mana slot which seems to work well and often be timely. 

Deathwing, Dragonlord this card is hilariously powerful. When it is hit with Commencement and you have 2 dragons in hand - and your opponent exhausts many resources to kill it and you get that sweet dragons-flying-overhead animation and they then realize they have to deal with 21/21 in stats on board - it is a great and powerful feeling. Again this is mostly for the stats, but also the threat of more and if it does trigger even with one dragon in hand it is such a huge momentum swing for you it is hard to quantify. 

Onyxia the Broodmother is really powerful in terms of gaining or keeping board control if you hit her at the right times with any of your cheat spells. I've found that she more often triggers twice or three times. This card is huge when outlasting wave after wave in Odd Paladin, Secret Mage or Pirate Warrior.

Y'Shaarj, Rage Unbound - Summoning this with PrisLens, Duel or Commencement is very similar to when summoned by Barnes in the old Big Priest deck. The only downside of this card is that when you know your opponent has a lot of removal and you are trying to be tactful and slowly pour your minions out, this card can backfire by putting too much on board when it's going to be destroyed anyways. That most certainly is more rare, but still something to be aware of. 

Rebuke - This may be the highest skill card in the deck, and if not the highest it most certainly is one of the highest. When you play this at certain times in the game you can literally feel your opponent seething. Sometimes this card will be good to play earlier against fast Rogue decks or aggressive decks, but most often the deal is to build a board then play this to prevent board clears. Will take some experience but this card is great in this deck. 

Flash of Light - The ability to heal your big minions for 4 ends up being fairly significant in some situations. Some card draw, some survival, helps a surprising amount. 

 EDITS

Removed Ragnaros, Lightlord and added Deathwing the Destroyer because it buffs Deathwing, Dragonlord and the 12/12 in almost all situations is great, even if you have to clear board with it it can be effective

Removed Holy Wrath for Flash of Light which has been about equally useful but is of course much cheaper. I found myself using Holy Wrath as a minion removal more than anything but it actually was quite helpful at that but of course would backfire occasionally. Flash of Light is more consistent and can be used to heal 4 on these big minions which can be pretty devastating for an opponent who is exhausting resources to try to remove them.

Removed Shirvallah, the Tiger because the deck really depends on the big early plays. If you end up snagging this with Prismatic Lens or Duel! it can really end up being an ineffective play, it is not always hard to remove for your opponent, and while the rush and life steal aspect can save you, I have found it to be fairly unhelpful. Also my previous deck had a lot more spells which made it easier to discount if it was in hand. Replaced with Underlight Angling Rod which is good removal, fills an empty mana slot within the deck and provides 2 minions to temp out which don't interrupt your cheat-out spells.

Replaced Living Monument with Scrapyard Colossus, I found monument to be more effective in previous metas and less so in this one, will keep you post on Scrapyard's effectiveness.