Hearthpwn

Hey Guys!

My name is Arion and I started playing Hearthstone in the closed beta. I really enjoy to play midrange, combo and control decks! But today I want to present you my TGT mech shaman list.

Mech Shaman Deck

Mech Shaman is a deck that isn't always good. It depends heavily on your match-up and mulligan.
Sometimes it seems like it's impossible to loose and you crush your opponent in 5 or 6 turns,
sometimes it's impossible to win.
Mech Shaman is weak versus decks that are faster than yours or can control the board early while maintaining aggression. So two popular deck's that you don't want to face as Mech Shaman are Face Hunter and Aggro Paladin.

In tournaments Mech Shaman always seem fine. It is good versus Control Warrior, Patron Warrior, Handlock and Midrange Druid. And after the "fall" of aggro Paladin (you see this deck rarely) it could be time to consider Mech Shaman again.

Well, you can see Patron almost EVERYWHERE. TGT didn't bring us anything on the level of Patron Warrior. Every good player use this deck to climb, Patron is a skillbased deck, so if you can play it, it's incredible strong. Patron is your #1 pick if you can play it. The second popularest deck is Warlock.
Mostly Handlock is the first choice if you play Warlock, because it is really strong against Patron.
Wait... Wasn't Mech Shaman really strong against these two decks? Oh, jea! You're right!
And guess what? We also see a lot midrange druid, that is a good match-up for us.

Mech Shaman can be countered really hard by the right decks, but these decks become less popular since the release of TGT. Our nemesis is Paladin. Like every Shaman deck is weak against Paladin (not only mech shaman) and Secret Paladin is the most popular TGT deck. This deck can give us a hard time. Hyper agressive decks like aggro paladin and face hunter are less popular, it is a midrange meta. You see midrange druid, midrange hunter and control decks.
Mech Shaman can handle these decks easier than the agressive ones.

Like every deck, you can build Mech Shaman in different ways. Mainly you have two ways that are good. 1. The Fel Reaver Mech Shaman and 2. The Burst way with cards like double Doomhammer and it's way more spell heavy. The Burst way become way more popular in the past season and we use it too. The new TGT cards gave some space to test.
I tried things like Windfury/Mech Shaman running Fel Reaver, Fjola Lightbane and Eydis Darkbane (Buff Shaman) or crazy 100% not working stuff.

About the Decklist

Since the release of TGT I was a fan of the Burst Mech Shaman with spells like Lightning Bolt and Lava Burst. I used it a lot on the ladder in the past seasons and still like it.
This decklist isn't new to players who already know the Burst Mech Shaman decklist in the past seasons. If I am honest, the only new TGT card I include is Tuskarr Totemic.
I still like this version of the deck in the current TGT meta game. The Burst/Dammage from spells can counter Handlock really nice. After your early agression and pressure, that you can apply with your minions, they can easily drop their Molten Giant. Before they can drop their 8/8 Giants and taunt 'em up, you could've already put them quickly in lethal range. But if they taunt up the Giants before you can finish them with your minions, just burst them down with a pair of Crackle's or Lava Burst's.

This deck can really suffer if you draw the wrong cards. The bundle with strong early game agression/pressure/minions and great spells is nice, but if you draw all your spells and finisher's before you can play any minions, you almost lost. The Fel Reaver version (the minion heavy version) always have this advantage. You could draw all your spells and finisher's before you can play any minions.

That's the reason I include Tuskarr Totemic. It plays a huge role in this deck.
This deck often missed out on a powerful turn three, while the turns before and after had powerful minion drops. Tuskarr Totemic gives the deck something potentially very powerful on curve with utility late in the game as well, since the only cards you could play on turn 3 are Powermace or Spider Tank. On turn 3, you play a 3 mana 3/2 with the possibility of summoning a Totem Golem or Mana Tide Totem. In some cases you also could drop a Flametongue Totem or a Wrath of Air Totem to deal some extra points of dammage that can save your ass. Since the critical curve of this deck, every card matters. A extra 3-drop with THAT value is just too good t onot include it.

The rest of the deck, as I mentioned, is standart. The core of the deck, which has not changed, has already proven solid against some of the best performing decks out there. Burst damage from spells and the Earth Shock take care of Handlock, while the mech package with Annoy-o-Tron can flood the board and give the Druid and Warrior decks a very hard time. Double Doomhammer also offers versatility and inevitable face damage similar to Hunter's Steady Shot.

A lot of the lineups in current Hearthstone tournaments have been looking rather similar, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see someone capitalize on that by showing up with a surprise Mech Shaman pick and have an impressive run within a strong tournament lineup. At the very least, I don’t think the strategy deserves to be discounted the way it has been recently. The challenges that Shaman faces on ladder are mitigated when an overwhelming number of players are bringing Patron Warrior, Handlock, and the only variation being in the third deck, which is a choice of Mid-Range Druid, Mid-Range Hunter, and Secret Paladin. With that in mind Shaman is not out of the tournament meta yet, and hopefully someone will take advantage of these match-ups and standardized lineups soon.
-CVH

General Mulligan

In general Mulligan you should aim for a Mechwarper and some 1 and 2 drops.
If you don't have something to play on turn one or two, don't keep 3-drops. General cards you should aim for are Cogmaster, Mechwarper, maybe a Annoy-o-Tron (versus aggro I keep it in the most cases) and maybe a Whriling Zap-o-matic. Powermace can also be a good card to keep with coin and a mech if you go versus a agressive deck and want to keep some board control. Don't use the last weapon charge if you don't have a mech on board.
Depending on the match-ups, some cards I would keep are Rockbiter Weapon, Powermace (with coin) and Earth Shock.

How to play

It's really important what you do in the first 3 turns. You have to keep board control and make pressure. Example: If you have coin, Mechwarper and Annoy-o-tron in your hand, don't coin  Mechwarper on turn 1. Play Mechwarper on turn 2 and coin the Annoy-o-tron. In this way your opponent will have a harder time to remove your two minions than your one Mechwarper.
Try to protect your Mechwarper as long as possible. It provides a lot pressure if you have enough Mechs that you can play. Annoy-o-tron is really annoying (doing his job) and protect your value minions like Mechwarper, Whirling Zap-o-matic or a Mana Tide Totem (dropped by your Tuskarr Totemic).

You want to play on curve and don't loose value. But do NOT if you expect a AOE clear like Hellfire. You're an aggro deck and want to keep pressure by play minions on every turn. Even if they stabilize, (thanks to this version) you still have your burst to deal with your opponent.

General combos are Rockbiter Weapon+Doomhammer (10 dammage) or Rockbiter+Whirling Zap-o-matic (12 dammage).

You're not a face deck. Try to make value trades early in the game to keep pressure and board control. Your huge minions will do the job. Example: If you run Fel Reaver DO NOT trade with him, he go face. Just trade with Fel Reaver if you have to prevent lethal. 90% of the time you go face with your huge minions.

Powermace grants huge tempo if you play it right. You can trade small minions and buff a mech. So your opponent have to remove or silence that buffed minion and it will cost your opponent resources that he could need later.

I guess you mentioned that I talk a lot about boardcontrol, pressure and tempo. That is really important if you play this deck. After I watched some friends playing mech mage, I understand why some people have trouble with this deck. Your early turns are REALLY important. You will understand that after you played some matches with this deck.
Aggro decks are not that easy to play like everyone says. You have to make decisions about trading, making optimal plays for gaining and keep tempo, keep board control or look at your ressources (like zoo or hunter. You can easy run out of steam and have 0 cards in your hand). What to trade and when. That all could have an impact and are hard decisions if you have a bad hand.

I can't say more, because a lot is depending on your mulligan, your opponent and the match-up.
Just remember it is not a face deck and that you have to keep control over the board early in the game. In this time you can deal the most pressure.

Some words

I hope this guide will help you abit and that you like the deck! Give me some feedback, ask questions and maybe give me a + if you want to support me. Card suggestions? Replacements? Just ask. 

 Update

Nov 23, 2015 // - 1x Lava Burst, -2x Tuskarr Totemic ; +2x Totem Golem, +1x Earth Shock
Reason: Tuskarr Totemic seemed not that good in Mech Shaman anymore. Totem Golem is a great 2-drop with insane stats. In the past time, I feel like a 2nd Earth Shock is better than a 2nd Lava Burst.