Hearthpwn

Hey guys, Tsunami here to bring you a "new" legend list. This is a fairly typical midrange paladin that I used to hit legend in January. The game plan here is pretty straight forward - establish early board presence, make favorable trades, and then continue to apply pressure through late game threats. 

I managed to crush through an endless number of mech mages on my way up the ladder and hopefully you can to!

UPDATE: I used this list for the February season as well and have hit legend. From rank 16-5 I played 2 Sludge Belcher rather than the 1 The Black Knight. From rank 5 to legend he came back in because the number of druids increased drastically.

Card Choices

Zombie Chow - Best 1 drop in the game. Chow is absolutely essential against aggro and the 2 damage each turn will eventually add up if ignored. There's nothing like turn 1 Chow into turn 2 coin muster for battle against mech mages. Chow is also an allstar against most hunter and zoolock lists. 

Equality - Why only 1? - Equality is a dead card in your hand more often than not and for that reason alone I don't believe that it deserves to be a 2-of, but the single copy is still incredibly important against handlock and other giant decks. 

Shielded Minibot - Likely one of the strongest 2 drops in the game. With the release of GvG this card is the real deal. Playing Minibot on turn 2 followed up by a Muster for Battle will usually get rid of any early aggression your opponent is trying to apply. Use the divine shield as efficiently as possible!

Muster for Battle - 3 mana for 3 power and toughness distributed among 3 bodies plus a 1/4 weapon. This card even has trump screaming value! Use the weapon as often as you can to clear enemy minions in order to keep your recruits alive for Quartermaster.

Aldor Peacekeeper  - Aldor doesn't need much of an explanation - Especially great against handlock and makes finding favorable trades even easier. You should typically use aldor when trading in order to preserve the health of your minions. Using Aldor and then ignoring the Aldor target isn't usually the way to go because we highly value the recruits from our hero power. 

Big Game Hunter - Another essential card with the rising popularity of Dr. Balance. 

Defender of Argus - Why only 1? - I don't feel like running double defender is a good idea for the same reason I don't run double equality, it's going to be a dead card if your opponent is able to clear your minions. Sometimes it will make way for incredible trades, but with Quartermaster in nearly every paladin list, don't expect your opponents to even let your 1/1's live for too long. 

Piloted Shredder - Card is insane. Sure, every once in awhile you'll get the unlucky Lorewalker Cho, but Shredder is usually an easy 2-for-1 otherwise. So why are you only playing 1? Taking out the 1 shredder was an incredibly difficult choice, but this was my flex card slot. If you don't have Harrison Jones, for example, play the second copy of shredder - if you're running into way too many freeze mages or mech mages running double mirror entity play a Kezan Mystic - Too many handlocks, add a second Big Game Hunter.

Ironbeak Owl - Why double owl? Because silence effects are incredibly strong, especially ones that you can draw off Lay on Hands and still be able to play on turn 10. Without owl several minions would be nearly impossible or just extremely annoying to deal with outside of equallity + consecration shenanigans. Some of those minions include Sylvanas Windrunner, Tirion Fordring, Sneed's Old Shredder, Cairne Bloodhoof, Ancient of War, Sludge Belcher, Twilight Drake, oh and we can't forget the pesky Doomsayer. The Owl can also be used to silence minions from aggressive decks - some popular silence targets are Knife Juggler, Piloted Shredder, Snowchugger.

Harrison Jones - Obviously key against control warriors and the mirror match, but also good against PurpleDrank's new rogue deck that seems to be getting popular on ladder.  Harrison is the current flex slot.

Loatheb - You need to know a lot about your matchups to get maximum value from loatheb. You need to anticipate combo from druid, lethal and flamestrike from freeze mage, equality + consecrate, mindcontrol, and lethal from rogues. 

Quartermaster - Another insane GvG card. Obviously combo with Muster and make people rage. 

Sludge Belcher - In some matchups you just desperately need a midgame taunt, but in most you want to play less reactive cards which is why I only play 1.

Sylvanas Windrunner - Either your opponent has a silence or they don't. If they don't Sylvanas can make for some game-ending plays. Always look at clearing your opponents minions and trading sylvanas into something to take their threats. Try and play Sylvanas on turn 6 if possible before Dr. Boom comes down from your opponent. It's always fun to consecrate their Dr. Boom to have the boom bots hit sylvanas!

The Black Knight - Druids are just too popular to leave this card out. The tempo from using BK on an Ancient of War is usually backbreaking. Nearly every single deck in hearthstone has a taunt target, so don't jump the gun with this guy! 

Dr. Boom - AKA Dr. Balance. This guy is the only bgh target in our deck. Even if he gets bgh'd we still get the boom bots and if he doesn't get bgh'd you'll likely just win the game over the course of the next few turns. The bottom line is this, sometimes they just don't have the bgh.

Lay on Hands - Important against control lists to keep your hand full and essential against face hunter and freeze mage.  Against freeze mage - don't play LoH until after they Alex or if you're about to get double fireball'd. Against face hunter, you'll probably need to LoH as soon as you can. 

Tirion Fordring - Another one of those cards that you opponent NEEDS a silence for. 

Mulligan Guide

In general we want to look for Zombie Chow, Shielded Minibot, and Muster for Battle. 
Mage: Zombie Chow, Shielded Minibot, Muster for Battle, Truesilver Champion
Shaman: Zombie Chow, Shielded Minibot, Muster for Battle, Consecration
Druid: Zombie Chow, Shielded Minibot, Muster for Battle, The Black Knight, Aldor Peacekeeper, Truesilver Champion
Paladin: Zombie Chow, Shielded Minibot, Muster for Battle, Consecration
Warlock:
     ZOOLOCK: Zombie Chow, Shielded Minibot, Muster for Battle, Consecration
     HANDLOCK: Ironbeak Owl, Big Game Hunter, Aldor Peacekeeper, Equality, Shielded Minibot
Hunter: Zombie Chow, Shielded Minibot, Muster for Battle, Consecration
Warrior: Zombie Chow, Shielded Minibot, Muster for Battle, Harrison Jones, Tirion Fordring
Rogue: Zombie Chow, Shielded Minibot, Muster for Battle, Truesilver Champion
Priest: Zombie Chow, Shielded Minibot, Muster for Battle, Truesilver Champion.

Deck Matchups
Strong matchups (At least 60/40 in your favor) - Mech Mage, All hunter variants, Ramp Druid, Mech Druid, Control Warrior, Control Paladin

50/50 matchups - Priest (Deathrattle/Control), Fatigue Mage, Midrange Shaman

Bad matchups - Freeze Mage, Handlock, Oil Rogue

Oil Rogue
Our worst matchup is quite easily Oil Rogue. In most instances you cannot apply enough pressure before they kill you and taunting up does nothing because most lists run double Sap.  Mulligan for early game minions and Truesilver Champion and attack face. 

Freeze Mage
Freeze mage is also a rather difficult matchup. I even found myself adding a Kezan Mystic around rank 4 because I kept running into them.  You need to value Loatheb, Ironbeak Owl, and Lay on Hands very highly in this matchup. 

Handlock
Mulligan for Big Game Hunter,Equality, and Ironbeak Owl. The easiest way to win against handlock is turn 3 Muster for Battle into turn 4 coin+ Quartermaster and pray they don't have Hellfire.  Or turn 4 Muster for Battle into turn 5 Quartermaster is fine also. I don't recommend taking the warlock below about 15 health unless you already have equality in hand. Play around the Molten Giant, because if they come down and you don't have equality, you won't win. Handlocks will try and go for Lord Jaraxxus on you at some point and make sure you save Harrison Jones for him otherwise the 3 damage to the face every turn will lose you the game. 

Control Warrior
A lot of people consider this to be a bad matchup for Paladin, but I disagree. Tirion Fordring is too difficult for them to deal with in most cases and if you can bait out an early Brawl the game should be even easier.  You have tech cards against them like Harrison Jones and an annoying little Shielded Minibot that they can't kill with a single swing of the Fiery War Axe.  Try and bait Brawl before you play Tirion Fordring or follow it up with a Muster for Battle + Quartermaster.  Mulligan for Harrison Jones, Tirion Fordring, Shielded Minibot,  and Muster for Battle.

Priest
Priest can be a tough matchup simply because if they manage to draw all their combo pieces they won't have a very difficult time beating you.  The most important card in this matchup is Truesilver Champion so mulligan for it aggressively. During the mulligan phase ALWAYS keep Tirion Fordring, this goes along with weapons being your key to winning against Priest. Tirion needs to be played as early as possible (no later than turn 8) because you're going to have a very difficult time if he gets mind controlled, but luckily we run double Ironbeak Owl!