+22
Favorite this Deck

There Can Be Only Fun

  • Last updated Nov 17, 2015 (Explorers)
  • Edit
  • |

Wild

  • 22 Minions
  • 6 Spells
  • 2 Weapons
  • Deck Type: Ranked Deck
  • Deck Archetype: Unknown
  • Crafting Cost: 10180
  • Dust Needed: Loading Collection
  • Created: 11/12/2015 (Explorers)
View Similar Decks View in Deck Builder

  • Battle Tag:

    N/A

  • Region:

    N/A

  • Total Deck Rating

    35

View 11 other Decks by arrumph
Link:
BBCode:
Export to
The Concept
 
Paladin has always been the king of control decks, with a hero power that piles up infinite value if the game goes long. But how can we ensure that the game goes long enough for our swarm of little dudes to grind out the win? To stay in the fight against aggro, “healadins” ran lots of tempo-negative life gain, like Guardian of Kings and Antique Healbot (even Holy Light, way back in the day). This left them vulnerable to tempo-based midrange decks with stronger curves, which pretty much pushed them out of the meta—until Reno Jackson.
 
Our man RJ, if his condition is met, gives us a tempo-neutral full heal. Compare the druid’s Tree of Life, the only other full heal in the game, which 1) is a tempo disaster that requires the whole turn to cast and 2) fully heals the opponent and all his/her minions. RJ gives us a solid 4/6 body, weighs in at a svelte 6 mana, and can even be bounced for another full heal later on. The catch is that we either have to wait until fatigue to cast him, or we have to build a deck with no duplicate cards—a "highlander" deck, in the parlance of Magic: The Gathering. And hey, lucky us, midrange and control paladin already run a ton of one-of cards, so we don’t sacrifice much by building a pure highlander version.

 

 
Building the Deck
 
The core of the deck is largely borrowed from non-highlander paladins. Zombie Chow, Shielded Minibot, and Muster for Battle are your ideal 1-2-3 drops. Reno Jackson, Ysera, and Justicar Trueheart are your win conditions (representing your best paths to victory against aggro, midrange, and control, respectively). Dr. Boom, Tirion Fordring, and Truesilver Champion are simply too strong not to run. Ironbeak Owl, Equality, Big Game Hunter, Consecration, and Enter the Coliseum are your core removal and pseudo-removal options (you don’t have much—use them wisely and sparingly). Youthful Brewmaster is amazing with Reno and lets you effectively turn many of your other singleton battlecry cards into two-ofs—whatever you need to double up on for the situation at hand.
 
But that’s just half the deck. Part of the fun of the highlander format is that it gives you a chance to play a lot of good cards that aren’t generally considered quite strong enough for the meta. For example, most paladin decks run two copies of Piloted Shredder—it's the best 4-drop, duh. If you’re limited to one of each card, though, you have to turn to the B-team. Do you rock it old-school with Chillwind Yeti or Sen'jin Shieldmasta? Do you offer Burly Rockjaw Trogg a chance at glory? I tried Defender of Argus for a while, then decided to give Refreshment Vendor a spin.
 
Fill in the rest of the deck however you like—there are a crazy number of strong options at 4 and 5 mana in particular, and I’m still not 100 percent sold on all of my choices (for example, the five draws I get from Solemn Vigil and Lay on Hands are perfect, but I’d like to spread them over three or four cards rather than two, ideally; other people seem to be having success with Harrison Jones). I’d love to hear what works and what doesn’t for other people. Argent Lance? Nexus-Champion Saraad? Ancient Brewmaster for a third extra life? The possibilities are practically limitless!
 
One last note—I’ve seen a lot of talk about including a few two-ofs in pseudo-highlander decks with Reno. This strategy might work in a mill or fatigue deck with a lot of draw, but it will not work in this control deck. Don’t do it. Reno is the strongest single card in the deck, and if you include just one duplicate (a second Muster for Battle is very tempting, right?), you will break him, and you'll lose games because of it. It's bad enough to lose because you didn't draw Reno when you needed him—it's worse to lose because you had him, but those two Minibots were at the very bottom of your deck.

 

 
Mulligan
 
For the most part, you’ll want to mulligan hard for your dream curve (Chow-Minibot-Muster). Exceptions are as follows (using the specific decklist I’ve posted here, but you can extrapolate the general principles):
 
Knife Juggler—keep unless you’re going first and already have Minibot in hand.
 
Wild Pyromancer—keep against anything but warrior (unless you’re going first and already have Minibot).
 
Ironbeak Owl—always keep against hunter; consider keeping against mage, paladin, or warlock if you don’t have Chow or a 2-drop.
 
Youthful Brewmaster—if you don’t have Minibot/Juggler/Pyro, consider keeping this against paladin (you always want to save this to reuse battlecries, but secret paladin will run you over if you hero power on turn 2, so think carefully about it).
 
Coghammer—keep if you already have Chow or a 2-drop.
 
Aldor Peacekeeper or Earthen Ring Farseer—keep ONE of these (not both, unless you have the coin and no 2-drop) except against warrior or priest.
 
Big Game Hunter—keep against warlock or druid if you have Chow and/or a 2-drop.
 
Truesilver Champion or Piloted Shredder—keep ONE of these against warrior or priest and/or if you already have good 2- and 3-drops. If you're going second and already have Chow and a good 2-drop, obviously keep them both, you lucky dog.
 
Consecration—keep if you expect aggression and you have a couple 1-/2-/3-drops.
 
Stampeding Kodo—keep against warrior if you're feeling saucy.
 
Reno Jackson—this deserves a longer explanation. You will usually want to keep him (yes, you keep a 6-drop in your starting hand). Against an extremely aggressive deck (face hunter, aggro druid, etc.), he almost guarantees victory. Against a combo/control opponent who is fairly slow to develop the board (freeze mage, oil rogue, most priests, most warriors, etc.), he’s not quite that strong, but still a hugely valuable trump card, and you can afford a slower start yourself. Against an opponent who can develop a strong board very quickly, however (most warlocks, most paladins, tempo mage, etc.), you should NOT keep him unless you have at least two-thirds of your perfect Chow-Minibot-Muster opener. Secret paladin in particular is a difficult matchup, and you will probably get steamrolled if you have to use your hero power during the first four turns.

 

 
Matchups
 
The deck plays very much like a traditional control paladin. Unless you have lethal or can set up guaranteed lethal for next turn, you almost always want to clear all of their minions before going face. The big question that decides how you approach each match is “how greedy should I be?” The answer depends on your opponent.
 
Slow control decks that don’t put you on a clock (control warrior, control priest): Be as greedy as possible. Hero power as often as you think you can get away with. Play only one big minion at a time until you've exhausted their board sweeps. Bait them into your own board sweeps. Look for maximum value from every card. If you’re solidly in control of the board, try to save Reno for fatigue.
 
Pure aggro decks just trying to rush you down (aggro druid, face hunter): Don’t be greedy. Play for tempo, don’t worry about getting hero power value, and don’t try to get a 25-point heal off Reno. These are usually easy wins—better safe than sorry.
 
Combo decks that have a finite limit to how much damage they can deal (freeze mage, oil rogue): Try to ruin the combo. What’s left in their deck matters more than what’s in yours—don’t worry about value (they will deck out first, so you will always outvalue them in the end), just try to get them to waste burn damage, either by sinking it into your face before you’ve played Reno or by using it to clear your minions. If you can bounce Reno after a decent-sized heal in these matches, you’ll almost certainly win.
 
Any midrangey deck that rapidly develops a strong board and tries to keep yours clear (secret paladin, tempo mage, zoolock, dragon priest): In the early game, play each turn as if it’s your last. Take risks. Go for maximum tempo. Hopefully, at some point in the late midgame you’ll be able to sweep their board; you can then switch to greedy hero-power-every-turn value mode and grind them down. These are the matches where Reno is least valuable—a full heal doesn’t help much when there’s 20+ attack on the board—and consequently the hardest.
 
 
Latest Changes/"Why Not X?"
 
Lay on Hands is a little too slow and clunky, so I'm trying to work out a substitute. I'm looking at Jeweled Scarab right now—maybe I can find that second Muster for Battle after all!
 
Harrison Jones—weapon classes tend to be easy prey for this deck (warriors and hunters especially), but I will give him a try at some point.
 
Antique Healbot—tempo-negative, leaves you behind on the board. I prefer Tuskarr Jouster; you just have to use him early so you have enough room (health-wise) to play around the result.
 
Quartermaster—with only one Muster, he just didn't do enough. I only miss him against warriors.
 
Defender of Argus—too slow, too dependent on having a board already.
 
Eadric the Pure—don't have him!