[Spark] Battle Master (S9 + BRM Update)
- Last updated Sep 20, 2016 (Karazhan)
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Wild
- 22 Minions
- 6 Spells
- 2 Weapons
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Aggro Paladin
- Crafting Cost: 9140
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 12/27/2014 (GvG Launch)
- Sparkaz
- Pro Player
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Tournament Decks:
0
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Ladder Decks:
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Reached Top 10 during Season 10 using this Deck and my Midrange Hunter !
The Deck has also been declined to Dragon Master since BRM and Battle Master since TGT !
Introduction
Hello everyone ! I'm Spark, Legend player from Hearthstone, and today you'll be surprised to see me diving into the Paladin class.
I know that some people, like Trump and Powder, already explored some similar builds so the concept is not entirely new but I'm not aware of their exact lists so I wanted to share with you my own take on Midrange Paladin ;)
The strategy of the Deck fits my main playstyle as you may already know as it is a Midrange build. You're looking to control the board throughout the game while maintaining some form of pressure from your side.
It is definitely more on the Control stance but I felt like its versatility makes it a solid Midrange Deck.
Deck Breakdown
Zombie Chow and Shielded Minibot are here for early game presence, they are just too good at fighting early aggression so mulligan for them !
Knife Juggler and Muster for Battle comes along with them to annoy Aggro Decks and apply pressure onto slower Decks.
Note that those 2 cards combos pretty well together and can completely shut down swarm strategies.
Aldor Peacekeeper is too good of a card since it provides you some great Tempo swings, especially when dealing with a very big threat like Mountain Giant. Don't hesitate to use it on minor threats against Aggro Decks though !
Truesilver Champion has always been a stapple for Paladin because of its ability to deal with midgame threats while mitigating some damage ;)
Piloted Shredder and Sludge Belcher are here to provide some sticky mid game presence. Those are just good cards overall, especially when played on curve.
Quartermaster is an awesome addition to the class as it makes your hero power more relevant and combos insanely well with Muster for Battle.
The simple fact that this card exists forces your opponent to deal with Silver Hand Recruit, sometimes leading to pretty valuable Tempo gain for you or inefficient plays from your opponent !
Lay on Hands is more or less the dreamt late game card for this kind of build, healing yourself and refilling your hand are both very relevant against Aggro and Control Decks ;)
Equality combos allows you to board clear very efficiently in any Match Up :
- Consecration is already good on its own against Aggro Decks and using it with Equality at the right timing against slower Decks is key to succeed with the Deck !
- Avenging Wrath completes this set because it brings some more finishing potential and allows you to use one of the AoE spells without Equality, which can be very useful against specific board states.
- Muster for Battle can also be a good follow up to Equality in case of emergency as the weapon can clear the main target and having a Knife Juggler on board while doing so can clear up a big part of the opponent board.
As you don't want to waste those combos for a lonely threat, I added the trinity of tech cards :
- Big Game Hunter has many targets in the current meta since every Decks are playing Dr. Boom and it can save you against Handlock or Control Decks ;)
- The Black Knight is here to bring some powerful Tempo swing and won't have a hard time finding targets since Sludge Belcher is still very dominant !
- Harrison Jones is very valuable in the current meta as weapon classes are at the top and it provides you some more draw options.
The Deck includes some late game threats to help you closing games :
- Tirion Fordring is a stapple for these kinds of Paladin Decks as the card is so powerful, especially when you can bait Silences before playing it !
- Dr. Boom is just too good overall as it's impossible to deal with it on a one card play and works pretty well against any board state ;)
- Bolvar Fordragon is probably the most expandable one but I find that the card is completely underrated as you'll bring a load of Silver Hand Recruit onto the battlefield that your opponent will have to deal with, therefore powering it up. It's versatile enough to be played at different stages of the game and often baits a Silence to make a free way for Tirion Fordring so it fits the Deck pretty well.
- Sylvanas Windrunner, Ragnaros the Firelord and Loatheb are some other universally strong cards to consider, especially if you are running on a budget ;)
Gameplay Videos
I've uploaded some basic recordings of interesting games ! Beside the results, it shows some of the Deck's interactions against different archetypes ;)
Check out the entire playlist containing the following Match Ups : Midrange Paladin, Control Rogue, Mech Druid and Zoolock.
I've also started a new Series called Legend Grinding Session in which I play the Deck on ladder.
As I've used it quite a lot this season during my climb, I ended up posting 4 sessions with the Deck so I definitely recommend to check out the entire playlist for more Gameplay ;)
Update Section
Revision History 1 :
I replaced Harrison Jones with Loatheb because I was facing less weapon classes and more Druids and Mages which can be stopped by its effect ;)
Revision History 2 :
With the release of BRM, I decided to include Dragon Consort along with Ysera for the great synergy and also because a 5/5 for 5 mana is already pretty decent on its own !
Expect more Dragon synergies coming out with next weeks of BRM ;)
Revision History 3 :
I re-adjusted the build towards a more standard playstyle, avoiding the few Dragon synergies (keeping it for my Dragon Master build) to add in all the useful tech cards and come back to the original strategy with double Quartermaster.
Closing
I was really happy to discover some new stengths for this class as I felt it was kinda underwhelming before GvG, especially since it fits a Midrange playstyle, which has always been my favorite.
The Deck is pretty versatile and can fight a pretty wide variety of Decks.
I didn't used it on ladder during Season 9 as I was more or less try-harding with my Beasty Zoo Midrange Hunter but after a lot of playtesting against stapple Decks, I can definitely say that this is a strong choice to ladder with and I'm getting some awesome win streaks in Ranked play during Season 10 ;)
Here are my winrates in Ranked during S10 (Top 10 Legend) :
That's it for the guide guys, I hope you'll enjoy the Deck as much as I do !
Don't forget to show your support by upvoting the Deck if you liked and don't hesitate to discuss about it or ask any question in the comment section below ;)Follow me for more content and updates !
- Twitter : SparkazHS
- Youtube : Spark Hearthstone
- Hearthpwn : Sparkaz's Decks
- Facebook : Spark Hearthstone FR
Yeah I've also found this one to be slightly more consitent ^^
I have never felt the need to comment on a deck before, but this deck is outstanding! I think I'm normally pretty okay (I normally grind with priest and land somewhere around rank 7 or 8) but I've been having a very off season this time around. I was starting to get disheartened but this deck is giving me so much life :D
Nice glad you're liking so much =D Indeed the update helped a lot making consistent against many on things in the current meta ;)
So far the only real issue I've run into (although I'm surprised that it's been an issue so rarely, I suppose it's because the deck plays so well on curve) is the lack of draw mechanics. I've had a few games where I only lost because the deck pretty much ran out of steam. Do you have any suggestions as to how that might be overcome?
Well you can't have 0 weaknesses, it happens very rarely to me so I don't see it as an issue honestly. Maybe teching a Cult Master or Solemn Vigil could help you but as I said not sure if it's really needed, sometimes you just have to accept the loss ^^
When I first started using this deck I asked the same question: so few dragons in this deck means it's not logical to play two Dragon Consort right? Once I decided to give it a try, however, I was surprised how well it worked. I personally traded out Ysera for Chromaggus but either way, the synergy between the three dragons is powerful in the early and late-game. Five mana for a 5/5 body is already pretty formidable, but being able to drop two 5/5's for 8 mana while still lowering the cost of Chromaggus to 6 mana is a strong utility to have. They also provide great targets for major board control cards (Fireball, Hex, Polymorph...) which ensures a better survival rate for this deck's late-game heavy hitters. Give it a shot; trust me, you'll like the addition once you go a few games with it.
A 5/5 body for 5 is great and they are dragon themselves, you can check the Dragon Master update for more Dragons if you want ^^
Hey Sparkaz! I absolutely love the deck and it's easily the best Paladin deck I've encountered. I'm not a major fan of Guardian of Kings, however, and I really want to switch it out for either The Black Knight or Avenging Wrath. Between those two, which would you pick and why? Great deck; keep up the good work!
Alexstraza
I'd prefer Avenging Wrath ^^
I also suggest you to take a look at the update "Dragon Master" (linked in the description) ;)
Posting it very soon (sunday if I can) ;)
Thanks, i'll do =D
Looking forward to! Thx
Here it is : http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/242052-spark-dragon-master-s14-dragon-synergy
=D
Hey Spark, first off, love your work and I truly thank you fxor continuing your update to this deck. I know you're easily one of the best, and most inventive deck creators for, Hunter in this game (I am actually partial to your Death Rattler deck, it gave me the idea to create my first, well successful in ranked, specifically lol) using that concept. Started playing season 10 when you came out with this though and I almost quit Hearthstone because I couldn't find a hero or what playstyle fit me best until I came across this and it is my most played deck in ranked. Got me to the top and enough winnings to try all the hero's with quite a bit more choices these days lol. Anyways, my question here is, I really want to utilize the synergy with dragon consort as effectively as I can, bcz it's awesome. I'm still working through BM (paying for it with gold so I'm a little behind), I just received consort so I'm really excited but don't have any of the later dragons available yet. The changes I wanted to try to utilize the synergy as well as give consecration a synergy for those moments you don't have equality to nail the combo, are - 1 knife juggler (he's great on turn 5 and muster in hand for the combo, otherwise he almost never makes it out to the next turn unless you are either really lucky or playing a noob) OR - 1 equality OR - 1 quartermaster, the first card I am obviously having some decisive issues with lol and the second - 1 zombie chow (I toyed with BGH but with meta shifting towards dragons, BOOM isn't the only threat anymore) for +2 Azure Drake. Also the extra draw is a sweet bonus. What do you think about using the Azure Drake before anything? And if it's seems like a good idea, which card on that first choice I'm stuck on lol, would you take one out of? Any advice is greatly appreciated. Stay awesome man, you're for sure my most followed and favorite Hearthstone player.
Actually decided to try it with -1 equality and -1 juggler. I'll let you know how it goes and any feedback would be awesome. Thanks again.
Hey man ! First of all, thanks a lot for the awesome support and recognition, it is trully appreciated ;)
You'll be happy to learn that I'm working on my new Paladin Dragon since about 2 weeks now and with the last cards being released, I was planning to post it very soon (sunday if I can). It keeps a lot of strength from this build while including more Dragon synergies to the mix, and god it's doing amazing I have a lot of fun with it !
So stay tunned for that =D
First, no problem man, recognition is easily given when it is well earned. You have the most fun decks to play man, very creative, I hope one day I'll have it down like that too. I can not wait to check it out! Gotta hurry and finish BM, looking at the last two wings I have left, I am very excited to see the possibilities the Paladin has, and just the meta shift in general (Does this mean Deathwing and Nozdormu FINALLY may be relevant and Ysera is back to her staple in most decks?? Interesting possibilities out there...). I'll be doing the deck in its original form until then, the azure drakes did not fit right lol. Not sure how, it made sense in my head, but I went 0-2 earlier on matches that should have both been easy victories. Last question, do you ever do any videos on your channel with you taking fans through how you go through your process of deck building and important things you look for? I can not get down building a deck from scratch that can climb decently in the ladder (save for my spin off of your death rattler hunter build, but again, not from scratch lol) and it is driving me crazy. I am on the verge of a breakthrough and succeeding, maybe just a couple cards from it......but its just not quite right haha. Keep up the great work man! Thanks for the quick response, it is pretty awesome the time you take to help and chat with fans. Lovin it.
well, thanks =)
Azure Drake is actually decent in those Dragon Pally decks but you should make sure you don't cut important defensive options for it ^^
As for the deckbuilding process, I'm currently writing an article for Hearthplayers.com on this very subject =)
Awesome. I look forward to it. I see what you mean on the Azure Drake, I agree on the defense, I also looked at it again and cut three crucial early game cards for two late 5 cards in Azure and in an experimental look at 7 costRend Blackhand (really intriguing battle cry he has btw). Looking back, I just had bad draws with nothing early on...by the time I had presence OTB, it was already over. Thanks again for all the help and quick responses.