Hearthpwn

Hey guys,

As shaman is my favourite class in Hearthstone i decided to finally build a competitive Shaman deck than could see play on ladder, and i can actually say i was amazed at the results. When i made the 1st version i actually dropped from rank 14 to rank 16 while doing initial tests. Within 3-4 iterations i finalized the deck by crafting The Mistcaller and adding 1 Defender of Argus to the build and it went from rank 16 to rank 12 on multiple win streaks.

Edit: Currently rank 9 and still climbing maintaining a 65-70% win rate.

With 8 upvotes I will write a complete guide + mulligan for all interested. Ok so as promised i will write the guide and mulligan for this deck.

The main interest in shaman is (for me at least) the idea of having massive board-clears, strong spells, and ofc the ability to populate the field from almost nothing via totems or Feral Spirit. With the recent addition of some popular cards dragon shaman have become alot more popular in the last few months and i imagine alot of tests have been done to make it competitively viable. The issue with most Dragon shaman decks are that they are incomplete in some way (although this vary among people), thus i decided to create and test my own on the ladder ofc regardless of whether i will lose ranks or not and this is the *complete* version i came up with. 

Now the basic idea behind the deck is the same as many other dragon shamans, that is to use strong creatures to control the board. The deck also have side winning conditions such as Malygos+Lightning Bolt and it does very well in fatigue thanx to having a small amount of card-draw which will almost always guarantee a 14 heal Healing Wave due to ur opponent running out of cards 1st. This deck has a higher chance of winning than the current midrange shaman builds which are very weak against board wipes in the form of flamestrike, auchenai + circle and the likes. Bear in mind that this deck is not very easy to pilot as it takes a few games to get used to, as u need to know or at least have a feel of when to use ur powerful board clears and when to heal and such.

Matchups + Mulligan

Paladin  80-20: Strong match in Shaman favor, lightning storm destroys them, and they get out tempo by the strong dragons. Ur hand will almost always be huge so they do get away with Divine Favor but that also works against them because this deck excels at winning in fatigue due to 28 heal + totem utility (taunt/healing totem)

KEEP: Lightning Storm, Healing Wave, Twilight Guardian, Totem Golem, Tuskarr Totemic. Possible keep also include Earth Shock, Elemental Destruction and Bloodmage Thalnos.

DO NOT KEEP: Lightning Bolt nothing above 5 mana cost except possibly Volcanic Drake

Mage 50-50: This matchup is pretty hard as mages tend to have both early and late game minions making it extremely hard to maintain board control another point is that they also play a variety of spells for which they can use for board control or pushing face damage. They provide constant pressure from both minions and spells so even in the event u get off a 14 heal from Healing Wave they can still kill u from hand.

KEEP: Lightning Storm, with The Coin Blackwing Corruptor, Twilight Guardian, Totem Golem, Tuskarr Totemic. Possible keep also include Earth Shock, Bloodmage Thalnos, Lightning Bolt, Healing Wave

DO NOT KEEP: anything 6 or higher cost as they will not help.

MidrangeHunter 70-30: Strong matchup here, u win everything from value to tempo. ur minions out-trade theirs easily and u have heals to abuse as well as more powerful board clears, their strongest card against u is Savannah Highmane and possibly Dr. Boom which are relatively easy to deal with. Dont hesitate too long to pop their secrets and u should win with ease.

KEEP: Lightning Storm, Healing Wave, Twilight Guardian, Totem Golem, Tuskarr Totemic. Possible keep also include Earth Shock, Azure Drake and Bloodmage Thalnos.

DO NOT KEEP: Lightning Bolt or anything 6 mana or above.

Warrior 70-30: This matchup is also quite easy, spam hero power early game then play a 3/6 Twilight Guardian and they will most likely not be able to deal with it without wasting a removal. Against control warrior the match will most likely go into fatigue which should give u an even greater chance at winning as warriors tend to play a variety of draw cards like Acolyte of Pain and Shield Block so if u have the chance i would advise u let them or even help them draw the full amount of cards from Acolyte of Pain as long as u are not breaking urself to do so. Do note that the biggest advantage Cwarriors have in this matchup is Ysera for which u MUST hold unto Hex as that card can singlehandedly decide the game. Also do not overextend as CWarriors these days play 2 Brawls however u must bait them if u wish to win. Pro-Tip: The Mistcaller is ur trump card for this matchup.

KEEP: The Mistcaller, Tuskarr Totemic, Twilight Guardian, Totem Golem, Tuskarr Totemic. Possible keep Blackwing Corruptor, Sludge Belcher as this game will get to turn 6 very fast.

DO NOT KEEP: any spells for this matchup. Also note to save ur Healing Wave until Alexstrasza has been played unless of course u have gotten urself too low too early.

Druid 25-75: By far the worst matchup. They ramp into strong minions that survive lightning storm and are possibly even stronger than ur dragons, the only redeeming factor is that fire elemantals and blacking corruptors can somewhat stave off the face damage u will receive but after all is said and done u cant do anything about their huge minions and 2+ extra mana crystals as elemental destruction is the absolute worst against this deck for obvious reasons. Currently 2-8 to these guys so i dont really have an idea of how to deal with them yet to be honest

Standard mulligan:

FaceHunter 60-40 /Zoo 70-30 (aggro in general) 60-40: Winnable matches that are in ur favour. Here lightning storm and healing wave are key cards that will probably cause them to just concede right away. Play this match like u would against paladin with the exception that u need to try and play a minion as soon as u board clear or they will repopulate the board and constantly hit face 

KEEP: Lightning Storm, 2x Healing Wave, Twilight Guardian, Totem Golem, Tuskarr Totemic. Possible keep also include Earth Shock, Bloodmage Thalnos, Lightning Bolt

DO NOT KEEP: anything above 5 mana cost.

Handlock 100-0: This is a match u do not lose period. earth shock destroys drakes for free and their life tap lets them self-destruct. Ur minions out-value theirs hardcore and The Mistcaller just undermines them completely. Clear their minions every turn and dont be scared to push face while clearing. U want to force them to waste their heals early or force them to shadowflame their molten giant then finish with Malygos for easy game. 

KEEP: Earth Shock, The Mistcaller, Azure Drake, Twilight Guardian, Totem Golem, Tuskarr Totemic. Possible keep also include Lightning Storm, Elemental Destruction and Bloodmage Thalnos.

DO NOT KEEP: Malygos, tempting but do not keep it.

Dragon Priest 80-20 | Auchenai Priest 60-40: Dragon priest is a very easy matchup and i almost want to say 90-10 about it. U are playing the same minions with the difference of having stronger clears and way better late game minions namely fire elementals and Mistcaller which completely dominates control matchups as that +1/+1 buff makes a huge difference, another deciding factor is healing wave as u outheal them hard since dragon priests tend to ignore cards that heal. U win mid game, late game and u win fatigue making for a very easy game.

Auchenai Priest is a harder matchup since they pack more heals and equally strong board clears, they also have a strong burst when combo auchenai along with thier multiple 1 cost spells that "heal".  

WARNING: Beware of thievery.

KEEP: Azure Drake, Lightning Storm, The Mistcaller, Twilight Guardian, Totem Golem, Tuskarr Totemic. Possible keep also include Earth Shock, Elemental Destruction, Bloodmage Thalnos, Lightning Bolt

DO NOT KEEP:

Rogue: Not enough data. Currently 100% vs these guys but the sample size being too small makes it hard to determine the overall effectiveness of the deck. Rogues have been known to have a high win-rate vs shamans because of board clears + high burst damage. Healing wave i believe does make a difference but i cant say for sure. On a side note i guess having large dragons will probably give rogues a hard time as they have to combo multiple cards to ensure a board clear or constantly hit large creatures to get rid of them thereby increasing the total face damage they take.

Shaman: Not enough data. Same as rogue. Played against 1 shaman and won the game, but considering its a class that isnt seen very often on ladder due to not being strong enough for the current ladder.

 Don't forget to Upvote, Comment and HAVE FUN!

EDIT: THANX FOR HELPING US REACH FRONT PAGE GUYS!