Hearthpwn

Update December 7: Fully updated and tested for LoE! I've overhauled the deck big time for consistency and to account for meta shift. There is certainly more aggro now than control, so I've slimmed the deck down by removing 1 Shadow Word: Death and Big Game Hunter. Both of those cards are dead draws against most aggressive decks. I've added an additional Sludge Belcher and Resurrect to help keep the taunt pressure on.

I managed to squeeze in an Excavated Evil as well. The "drawback" may sound counter-intuitive to the deck; after all, if you're trying to fatigue your opponent, why would you want to give them more cards? The answer is simple: most of the time, your opponent is not going to be able to get much value from it since this deck is played very conservatively. If your opponent ends up playing it, you're almost guaranteed to win. Feeding you another AoE effect is the biggest mistake they can make.

I've added two Entombs as well. This card is insane. Some people are focusing on the fact that you may never draw it. Allow me to rephrase the card: 6-Mana, "Silence an enemy minion, then destroy it. Also, you might draw one eventually." When you look at it like that, this is one of the most efficient, effective, unconditional removal spells in the game. Make sure you save it for minions that are either hard-to-remove or that have extremely valuable Battlecries: Twilight Drake, Ysera, Dr. Boom, Reno Jackson. As always, it's very important to ID your opponent's archetype and spend your removal spells efficiently.

You may remember I had Reno Jackson in the last update. I have removed him for one simple reason: making the deck more consistent meant more duplicates, which directly counters Reno's effect. Feel free to try to find a way to squeeze him in, and let me know if you have success.

Guide below is still super old; I promise I'll get to updating it eventually!

Strategy

1. Soak up damage with bottom-heavy taunt minions
2. Use removal spells and AoE to clear enemy minions after they've chewed through the taunts you have available
3. Use burst heals and Hero Power to stay afloat
4. Once you have board control and sufficiently exhausted your opponent of decent plays, activate Shadowform
5. Blast away each and every minion your opponent plays through trades, removal, and pings. Spare damage obviously goes to your opponent's face
6. Continue until your opponent fatigues (or dies before then)

Card Roles

• Lightbomb: This is the most important card in the deck. The fact that it also deals damage to your own minions might scare you, but this deck plays extremely conservatively, so you often only have 1 or 2 minions on the board, and most of the time you won't end up killing any of your own with it.
• Antique Healbot: Shadowform is pretty slow to set up, so you need these big, beefy burst heals to stay alive while your opponent pours minion after minion onto the board. It's a decent body, too, so you don't lose much tempo by playing it.
• Holy Fire: This card is a Swiss army knife. It acts as a burst heal, removal spell, or finisher for lethal damage. Try not to play it until you can get the full 5 points of health back, unless the situation is dire (e.g. handlock plays Emperor Thaurissan with 9 cards in hand, and you haven't drawn a Shadow Word: Death yet.
• Shadow Word: Pain: Removal for anything you can't easily ping or trade away. Devastating tempo swing if used to remove a Flamewaker or Imp Gang Boss.
• Shadow Word: Death: Removal for anything that makes you say "yikes." Essential for victory over any handlock.
• Big Game Hunter: Even more big guy removal.
• Mind Control: Removal for...anything. This should be used as a last resort! It's one of your only lines of defense against Ysera and Malygos. Don't just use it to steal any old Legendary that might happen to have a cool effect, unless you are out of other removal options.
• Vol'jin: Removal for anything, as long as it's set up right. Strategic 10-Mana combos can quickly pull a huge threat off the board (combo into Holy Nova; combo into Shadowform + ping)
• Deathlord: Sufficiently stalls out most decks from getting any damage to face for a turn or two. The deathrattle drawback is negligible, and sometimes can even help you out by negating powerful battlecry techs and giving your Lightbomb more minions to soak up.
• Sen'jin Shieldmasta: Bottom-heavy taunt, stalls opponent. Simple as that.
• Sludge Belcher / Abomination: Even more taunts. These are interchangeable; you can play with 2 Belchers, 2 Abominations, or 1 of each. Tweak to counter the current meta as needed.
• Resurrect: Huge early-game tempo boost. Allows you to effortlessly and reliably spin up another taunt for only 2 Mana.
• Doomsayer: Buys you a turn, or, if you're lucky, clears the board. (More often than not, your opponent will find some way to remove/silence it before it procs, which grants you a whole turn to draw what you need or rack up another Mana crystal to play what you need to play.)
• Cabal Shadow Priest: Provides removal of small minions/tokens, and 2 bodies. Crazy-huge tempo swing.
• Shadow Madness: Use to either remove 2 small enemy minions, or steal and kill a deathrattle token minion (Haunted Creeper, Sludge Belcher), since the tokens will not return to the opponent's board.
• Shrinkmeister: Activates Cabal Shadow Priest, Shadow Madness, and, in a pinch, Shadow Word: Pain.
• Holy Nova: AoE, plain and simple.
• Bloodmage Thalnos: Extra oomph for your Holy Nova. Necessary to beat Patron Warrior.
• Shadowform: After pushing back against waves upon waves of minions, topping up with a burst heal or two, and obtaining tangible board control, Mind Spike (deal 2 damage) lets you curve over top of your slow start and begin grinding down your opponent by mowing through every minion they throw down. If you manage to activate Mind Shatter (deal 3 damage), that's essentially a free Darkbomb every turn. It's also GG for your opponent.

Tips

• When mulliganing your opening hand, NEVER EVER EVER toss Lightbomb. If you don't draw at least one Lightbomb, it will be extremely difficult to win, no matter what class or deck archetype you are playing against.
• Identify your opponent's deck archetype ASAP. Knowing which cards your opponent has (and which ones are left) allows you to plan your responses many turns in advance.
• Occasionally, you might go 4 or 5 turns without playing a single card. That's fine (but it probably means you got a terrible opening hand). Don't play non-taunt minions "just to get something on the board." Your battlecries are far too valuable to throw away just for some minor board presence.
• Try not to play more than one taunt at a time (excluding Slime). More minions on your board means more potential value for enemy AoE. Remember, this deck thrives on card advantage, despite having almost no card draw. Maintaining perfect answers to your opponent's threats each and every turn is the easiest way to come out on top.
• Don't hold onto your Doomsayer too long. Most people are used to seeing it wipe huge boards in Freeze Mage, but that is far more difficult to pull off without access to Frost Nova. For example, playing turn 2 Doomsayer to remove a single enemy minion is actually a pretty solid play; keep in mind, it also stalls your opponent for a turn.
• Despite the deck name, Shadowform doesn't often make-or-break this deck. It mostly helps to speed up games, but if it ends up buried at the bottom of your deck, that doesn't mean you're going to lose. That being said, don't play it too early, especially against aggro decks. It's more important to make sure that you can stay alive until the late game than to pick off a few small minions during the early-game.
• Use your removal techs very carefully! You don't want to waste a versatile removal spell when the option is available to use one that is less so. It might be tempting to Mind Control a control warrior's Ragnaros the Firelord instead of just using Big Game Hunter, but you'll be sorry when Ysera comes out next turn. See the Removal Priority section below for more details.

Single Minion Removal Priority (1 = highest priority)

Big Minions (4 or more attack)

1. Favorable trade and/or ping
2. Big Game Hunter (if 7 or more attack)
3. Holy Fire (if you need a burst heal)
4. Shadow Word: Death
5. Vol'jin combo (if minion has no deathrattle)
6. Mind Control
7. Vol'jin combo (if minion has deathrattle)
8. Holy Fire (if you don't need a burst heal)

Small Minions (3 or less attack)

1. Favorable trade and/or ping
2. Cabal Shadow Priest (if 2 or less attack)
3. Shadow Madness trade (if both minions die)
4. Shadow Word: Pain
5. Shadow Madness trade (if only one minion dies)