[S17] TGT Midrange Totem Shaman
- Last updated Aug 29, 2015 (TGT Launch)
- Edit
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Wild
- 22 Minions
- 8 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Unknown
- Crafting Cost: 4280
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 8/24/2015 (TGT Launch)
- x1phias
- Registered User
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- 8
- 7
- 31
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Battle Tag:
x1phias#1712
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Region:
US
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Total Deck Rating
1210
Shaman returns to TGT with many powerful tools to become a tier 1 deck! This is what I've been using right now and am on a winstreak at Rank 4. Similar to normal midrange shaman decks but with TGT they are made stronger!
[Edit] Holy cow everyone thanks for the upvotes and comments! As promised, I'll write the deck guide for you all!
Hello everyone, x1phias here! For all you Shaman players out there super excited for this expansion I am as well! Finally, this class will get some tools to push it to a Tier 1 class.
Card Descriptions
Earth Shock - A very solid and dependable silence effect in Shaman. Useful for getting around taunts or finishing off minions.
Rockbiter Weapon - Very important in this deck as either just a simple minion removal, buffing a totem, or as the Al'Akir combo enabler. It is essential that 2 be run.
Zombie Chow - The best anti-aggro card in the game (second to possibly FWA). It helps the Shaman out significantly with rush decks and establishes a great early board presence.
Flametongue Totem - In a totem-themed deck, it only makes sense that as many totems are included as possible. Not to mention Flametongue Totem is just a great card. It helps to buff totems or just other minions for great burst damage.
Totem Golem - One of the reasons that this deck exists. With Totem Golem Shaman has a great early-game card and can take control of the board early, rather than just reacting. A 3/4 body on Turn 2 is just fantastic, and even the overload doesn't do much to dissuade you from playing it as you can just totem or playing another one turn 3.
Healing Wave - Another fantastic card for Shaman's arsenal. Comparable to Healing Touch of Druid, but with a big bonus. The traditional downfall of Shaman is aggro decks that can just burst you down, and this card is a direct counter to that. With the joust mechanic, often you will win against an aggro deck, getting you the INSANE 14 health for 3 MANA. Against a control deck this is like a healbot as the health won't be as important.
Hex - Shaman's greatest removal tool. Very versatile and can be used in a wide range of situations for very cheap.
Lightning Storm - This is your board clear mechanism. I include two of them as often I find myself searching for one in my deck. With 2, your chances of drawing one is much higher.
Mana Tide Totem - Once again, in a totem deck you want as many totems as possible. However, you also want card draw. This answers both questions. If you can get it to stick, then you can get almost infinite value. Buff it with the Thunder Bluff Valiant or Flametongue Totem and it will be even more powerful.
Tuskarr Totemic [/card] - Possibly my favorite card of this expansion. This card provides an incredible amount of value. You get a 3/2 body for 3 plus 1 of 8 totems. What makes it great is that there are no bad totems to get. There are the 4 basic ones you can get, but you can also get a [card]Mana Tide Totem, Vitality Totem, Totem Golem or a Flametongue Totem. What value!
Defender of Argus - Going along with the totem-buffing theme, get all your totems defending for argus! This is just a very versatile buff card and helps the Shaman get out taunts to halt the aggro meta.
Piloted Shredder - Probably the best 4-drop in the game, it provides good board presence and is sticky. Who knows, you might even get a Totem Golem!
Azure Drake - Another essential minion in the Shaman fold, the Azure Drake is great for card draw and spellpower, two things that Shamans love to have in their decks. It helps fill in the 5 drop spot as well quite nicely and is very versatile.
Thunder Bluff Valiant - Quite possibly the king of this deck. While testing this deck I tried running 1 because it seemed a bit clunky, but I found myself drawing for it quite often. This card has a very good effect which activates AFTER your hero power, so your new totem has +2 attack. This card can stack effects really quickly on totems which makes it essential in this deck.
Fire Elemental - This card is great. Run 2. Play on turn 6.
The Mistcaller - The most interesting Shaman card, no doubt. I won't lie, I screamed like a little girl when I opened it in a pack because I was so excited to experiment with it. While the stats are very underwhelming, the effect is extremely powerful. If you can get this card down early, then you will be in a very good spot. It makes your good cards stronger, but also makes your early game cards like Zombie Chow [/card] and [card]Totem Golem that you draw later more powerful. I'm still testing with this card, but as of right now I think that the effect is extremely powerful.
Dr. Boom - Dr. 7 should be played on Turn 7 if you have him no doubt. I actually debated not including him here to make this deck anti-BGH but I just couldn't think of card to replace him. Possibly Sylvanas Windrunner.
Al'Akir the Windlord - Your finisher. Huge burst potential with the Rockbiter Weapon and also can be used as a board control tool. Just a solid minion in general.
Why didn't I include X card?
Draenei Totemcarver- This card can be compared to Frostwolf Warlord. It's 1 mana less but relies on the number of totems on your field. This card can have big swing potential, but most often it will get only 1 or maybe no totems. It's just not worth it, and in this deck is outclassed by Piloted Shredder.
Ancestral Knowledge- While this is card draw *Shaman players can I have a hallelujah* the steep overload cost makes it hard to fit into this deck. Other cards like Azure Drake and Mana Tide Totem help fill this gap, making it not needed.
Loatheb, Sylvanas Windrunner, or Sludge Belcher - These are all excellent cards and deserve their place in many decks. In fact, I think they could all fit into this deck. Loatheb has a nice effect, but the 5 mana spot is contested right now with Azure Drake and Thunder Bluff Valiant. Sylvanas could be a definite replacement for Dr. Boom if the BGH meta continues but we'll have to see. Sludge Belcher faces the same problem as Loatheb but also we already have the 2 Defender of Argus in this deck, so at the moment I don't think Belchers would be very good.
Haunted Creeper - I know, creeper is a super good card. I'm highly considering adding it back into the list. Right now though I feel that there is enough early game support for Shaman to still be highly effective.
How 2 Play
Early Game & Mulligans:
You always want to have Zombie Chow and Totem Golem in your opening hand if possible. These are your 2 big tempo cards that you can take board advantage with. Against aggressive decks, definitely mulligan hard for the two above cards. If you have Lightning Storm, Tuskarr Totemic, or Rockbiter Weapon with a good hand, keep them. Against a control deck, you still want Zombie Chow and Totem Golem. However, you can keep a slightly higher curve like Tuskarr Totemic or Piloted Shredder if you feel safe for the first couple of turns.
In the early game, you want to get your cheap minions down ASAP and start controlling the board. You have high value minions so you will be able to beat most anything. Once the board is controlled, you can start pumping totems or playing cards like Tuskarr Totemic for your eventual totemic might madness buff turns. Lightning storm should be used early against aggro decks, before they play higher cost minions.
Mid Game:
Here you stop and assess your position. Against the aggro decks you will be the defender, against control decks you will be the aggressor. If you have board control keep building it with Azure Drake, Piloted Shredder, Defender of Argus, or other cards like that. It is now that if you have The Mistcaller you should pop him out and start getting value. Alternatively, you can play Thunder Bluff Valiant on Turn 5 and use the inspire effect Turn 6 and start cranking out totem value. Remember, this deck is all about the totems so you want to use them to their full effect.
Late Game:
Against aggro decks the game should be over by now with you mercilessly steamrolling the opponent with an army of very angry totems. However, if it is not this is the time you should be using Healing Wave to preserve health and start buffing your totems with any of the many buff cards we have. Against control decks you just want to eliminate their threats while slowly chipping away their health and finish them with either an Al'Akir the Windlord burst or like I said above, mercilessly steamroll the opponent with an army of buffed totems. TGT allows the Shaman to carry on into fatigue now with more success as the totems will now be buffed more, so don't be afraid to take it there if need be.
Replacements
The Mistcaller [/card]-----> [card]Loatheb, Sylvanas Windrunner, Sludge Belcher will all provide a decent body to fill the board, but none with the same effect as The Mistcaller.
Dr. Boom -------> Any late game threat, Ragnaros the Firelord, Sylvanas Windrunner, etc.
Al'Akir the Windlord ----------> The burst potential from him is huge, so Bloodlust would help to replicate that level of burst damage.
Possible changes:
I think that The Black Knight will find his way back into the meta, so possibly adding him?
Do you think that 2 Thunder Bluff Valiants are too clunky and should be replaced with something like a Loatheb?
1 Minute Guide
Credit to talesoflumin, you can find more great content on his Youtube channel
Once again, thank you all for the support and criticism, it only helps the Shaman to become stronger! I'm completely open to suggestions, to tell me what you think!
Don't be shy, tell me what you think! All edits I will make will be listed here:
[Edit 1]- Replaced The Mistcaller with Bloodlust. I really wanted The Mistcaller to work but don't think he fits in with this specific type of deck. If the comments you guys seem split really 50/50 about his potential, so keep testing. This is the very early aftermath of the expansion, so we still don't know what works. I added in Bloodlustbecause it's more along with the theme of the deck and helps burst down the opponent quicker and more unexpectedly. It helps to make the deck more midrangy and gives it more identity in it's purpose.
[Edit 2]- Replaced Healing Wave, 1 Defender of Argus for 2 Haunted Creeper. As a midrange Shaman, your strength lies in your tokens and Creeper is a great card for that. It adds to early game board presence and is sticky. As I've been testing the deck I've noticed that board presence is essential, and Creeper can help maintain presence as well as be a great enabler for Bloodlust. Healing Wave, while it saved me a couple times, just didn't fit in with the deck anymore as it's become less of a control deck. 2 Defenders felt a little clunky in my hand at times, so 1 seems to be the right fit for now. Also replaced 1 Earth Shock for another Piloted Shredder. The 4 drop spot in this deck is very minimal, so propping it up with another Shredder helps a lot.
Really nice deck! Thank you. The only card i miss is al akir. I play it with doomhammer too.
yea at rank 11 I got nothing but fails with this deck.
I played this deck from Rank 5 to Rank 1, the only decks I have a hard time with are hunters with an amazing draw and other Shamans. Also, against control you just need to snowball your board with Flametounge Totem, Defender of Argus, or Thunder Bluff Valiant.
Lol, the mana tide usually only draws one, but I just had a match against a freeze mage where I dropped it turn 4 with a zombie chow and it drew me a card every turn for the rest of the game (I had one card left in the deck and a full hand for the last 3 turns before it was done)
I'm running a very similar deck. I have Doomhammer in place of Al'Akir the Windlord and have 2 Piloted Shredders instead of running a Healing Wave.
How much play are you getting out of the Healing Wave? Do you think it is valuable enough to sub out a sticky minion?
I have been on a win streak with this deck I love it. I totally understand the mulligans and when I get board control it seems to basically be game over. Here's my +1
If you don't like chow i suggest creeper! It's sticky and a solid early game card
This is way better than the one i tried to make I will give it a shot.
Save those Lightning Storm(s) for the aggro
My question for you sir is why no crackle? Crackle is pretty big imo for being able to remove strong minions from behind taunt. Right now we have no reach if say an opponent has turn 5 druid of the claw > emperor
Played about 6 games with this, my conclusion thus far is that this deck lacks punch. Very strong against mid range and aggro decks but any control decks stomp it. I don't have Al'Akir but even if i did i feel it would still be the same tune.
An example, my last game was against control shaman. Granted i didn't draw flawlessly i did top deck well early but my every move was one upped by him. Totems are too weak to expect anything other than a one turn survival. Most minions in this are low threats and having no taunts makes it impossible to protect them. Even if taunts were added the deck would be too slow, which makes bloodlust useless for anything other than an expensive removal.
Also going into late game the deck has low draw. Top decking an Azure Drake is the best you can hope for and without being able to protect the totems Mana Tide is a wasted card.
Like i said this deck is great against mid and aggro decks just expect to lose against control.
So you don't have the card that allows for the extra damage this deck needs to close out a game. Wonder why you are having trouble late game. Do not write an essay on a deck critiquing the way it plays out when you lack the main card that makes it so great. Placing Al'Akir strategically near a Flametongue end game and giving him just one Rockbiter provides the closing damage(half your opponent's health) you need. This deck is great and I have yet to run out of cards before I could crush my enemy.
You don't dump your whole hand early to mid game and you should still have cards late game. I've never with any shaman deck gone into the mid game with no options. shaman has efficient answers to a lot of things just have to use them properly
I replaced Al'Akir with Leeroy, which is essentially the same damage output. Do you plan to have a flametounge out and have a rockbiter and al'akir in hand every game? I reviewed the deck as a whole not based around one whombo combo.
No that was just an example I made about how Al'Akir can close out a game easily and why he is so crucial in those drawn out control games. I understand your Leeroy pick because of the mana cost, however you are envisioning this deck as more of an aggro rush-out-your-hand deck. That is not the case here as cards like zombie chow are in play here. Use your cards/hero power wisely every turn against aggro and you'll find yourself with a full board of wonderful totems ready to be buffed by one of your two Valiants to close out a game (No Al'Akir needed). Against control decks use your minions and removal to your advantage to maintain board presence and control while not worrying much about their health. Get them to 12 health and have a rockbiter + Al'Akir in hand you win the game right there. That is what I mean when I say he is essential bro. Good Luck!
This deck is kinda cool.
Since I don't have Al'Akir the Windlord, I used The Mistcaller instead.
Can i replace al'kair with something?
Ragnaros the Firelord or Doomhammer
4 quick games. 3 wins so far. looks like playing Shaman makes sense once more :)
thanks
I see you took out mistcaller. I still run it, and instead of Al'Akir I use the bloodlust. Mistcaller just creates much better trades and even allows your 0 attack minions to do something else on a turn. I like him alot but he's definitely more of a luxury than super important. But with him and bloodlust it increases the burst so much.
Anyone who doesn't have Mistcaller, I would say do NOT craft it as he's not an essential legendary. Just makes the deck better, kind of like Edwin in a rogue deck.