Buzzword Shaman (LOE Overload Scarab Battlecry ...
- Last updated Jan 23, 2016 (Explorers)
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Wild
- 22 Minions
- 8 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Unknown
- Crafting Cost: 4620
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 12/12/2015 (Explorers)
- DanHakimi
- Registered User
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- 3
- 19
- 36
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Battle Tag:
DanHakimi#1343
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Region:
US
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Total Deck Rating
38
So, I tried running an overload Shaman, but I was missing some cards. I noticed that a lot of the good shaman cards I already put in my deck had one thing in common...
And I noticed something else. A lot of the great Shaman overload cards have another thing in common:
- Feral Spirit
- Elemental Destruction
- Lava Burst (okay it's not great but whatever)
- Feral Spirit
- Lightning Storm
- Unbound Elemental
And wait... Look at the other Shaman 3 drops:
So... Shaman 3 drops are mostly either awesome or situational, with a few just being eh, and none of them really being bad. So... situational... Three drops. I know! What if there was a card that could let me discover a 3-drop? Then, I could pick Lightning Storm or Elemental Destruction against swarmy decks, Healing Wave against smorcy shit, Hex or Mana Tide Totem against control, Tuskarr Totemic when I want to double a battlecry, Powermace when I'm holding a Piloted Shredder... Oh shit.
Wait. Jeweled Scarab has a battlecry. I have a lot of those in my Shaman deck. I wonder if...
Oh shit. All but one of the battlecry minions I was already playing can be doubled to good effect. I'd be stupid not to run Brann Bronzebeard. And hey, while I'm at it, I might as well throw in a Rumbling Elemental. And a Kezan Mystic is already borderline tech -- now it can steal two secrets (hello Secret Paladin), or trigger Rumbling Elemental.
Welcome to the Buzzword Shaman: LoE Overload Battlecry Scarab Control Midgrange Tempo whateverthefuckyouwant.
Since when was Shaman this good?
This deck has served me really well so far. It plays like a midrange or tempo deck depending on your draws (tempo early with the Trogg/Golem opener), but can be modified to be more controlling, to crush aggro, or what have you, with the use of Jeweled Scarab. So on top of everything, the deck is flexible. And you know what? It even gets past Shaman's drawing weakness -- Brann doubles up your Scarabs and Drakes, you have Thalnos, you occasionally wind up with a Mana Tide Totem through discover or TT... It works out. Of course, you can modify it as you please to be more controllish or more tempoey, but this is working for me so far, so I thought I'd share.
Removal
Keep in mind that Shaman removal is particularly flexible. Bloodmage Thalnos is completely unnecessary here (I don't even own him). Rockbiter Weapon, Earth Shock, Crackle, Frost Shock, Lightning Bolt and even Stormforged Axe all kind of fill the same space. I'm favoring Earth Shock partly for aggro, partly for taunts, partly for eggs, and partly because Earth Shock + Azure Drake + Spell Power Totem totally neutralizes Piloted Shredder.
Mulligan Guide
vs. Aggro
Keep earth shocks, lightning storm, healing wave (especially against spell-based aggro), and small minions. Scarab is okay if you don't have lightning storm and feel like you're going to need AoE desperately. Stormforged Axe is good if you're running it. Tuskarr Totemic might be good, because he can give you Stoneclaw Totem or Vitality Totem.
vs. Midrange/Control
Keep Trogg/Golem and try to curve out well. Tuskarr is probably your best 3-drop, but you obviously can't play it after Golem unless you coin it out. Trogg - Golem - Golem - TT is probably your best bet. Trogg - Golem - Scarab - Shredder might come out very nicely too. Later on in the game, use your removal and silence to keep up on tempo and try to win before they hit their stride.
vs. Warlocks
Silences/hard removal are good for handlock, early minions/good tempo is good against renolock, and aoe is necessary for zoo. Which one are you up against? I have no idea. There are ways to guess based on how many cards they mulligan, but I do not really know how that works.
vs. Mages
Kezan is fine, even though it costs 4 mana. Stealing a mage secret is like a 6 mana swing, plus a 3 mana body? Yeah, you keep that in your opening hand.
(One final note: if you really want to have some fun, and have a spare copy of The Mistcaller lying around... it's supposedly not very good, but that might change if you double its stat bonus the moment you summon it).
Here's a standard theorycraft decklist:
Nice looking deck! Do you have any stats with the deck? :)
What is your reason behind not running feral spirits? They sync with Tunnel trogg but can ruin your curve a little bit. I would like to see you add Bloodlust or Doomhammer as a wincondition since the deck doesnt have any major burst if u dont get lava burst from scarabs. I love the spell package with Azure drake though. Double earth shock is soooo strong this meta.
Do you ever feel that the big game hunter is too much with the double hex?
I really should start using deck tracker more...
Feral Spirit strikes me as a situational card. It fucks with my curve if I play it on curve, and it gives me decent bodies, but it's not really op -- 2 2/3s with taunt for 5 mana is painfully average. It works nice with Tunnel Trogg or against aggro, but there's nothing great about it. So I'm pretty content to leave it to my Scarab to decide whether I get one or not.
I do have two doomhammers, but it's a whole lot of mana to spend if I'm going to get hit with Ooze or Jonesie, or if I'm not going to finish with it soon. It also takes four turns to get full value out of it. Yeah, it's a win condition under the right circumstances, but it's pretty bland if you're not using it to win (or clear a toonnn of small minions).
Bloodlust would be more of a win condition, and I do occasionally have six minions on the board against a control deck before he takes it back with a big AoE, but it's situational, too. I don't always have a spare minion to attack with.
I think this deck has room to move up in curve. If you want to just add a couple of big minions, that could work nicely -- it does occasionally run out of steam as is. But Boom and Fire Elementals, especially if I can Brann one of them, carry me to victory pretty often, and so do shredders if they're left unchecked. Powermace is a decent pick from a scarab to finish with, too.
BGH and double hex is a lot of hard removal, yeah... I just like having a lot of answers, and those are three great cards in the right situation. Feel free to remove one. But I just like being able to shut down aggro or control as needed.
Again, my curve is a little on the low side, so if you aren't facing a lot of aggro, just turn this up into a control deck. Try out Neptulon, you can play him and Brann on the same turn. If you aren't facing many control decks, you can definitely remove a hex or BGH for feral spirit or doomhammer or something. This is the balance that I'm enjoying so far. But by all means, play with it and make it your own.
Thank you very much for your reply! I completely agree with many of the things u are saying :) I subbed Neptulon with Rag because i dont have him. Rag works well because the deck has many ways to clear the small minions so rag can clear big targets or face :) give us mulligan guide btw, plzz ;)
Mulligan guide added. I'll be sure to try rag out whenever I get him.
Yeah -- I'll recommend this one:
If you happen to have the 'steeds and Mal'Gannis. A lot more fun and effective than you'd think.
This one is fun but it doesn't really work the way I have it:
And I'm working on a control/fatigue priest now, but I don't have lightbombs, and I'm missing other cards here and there, so I can't really do that. I like Midrange Pally, but that's a pretty standard deck. And I've seen a lot of success with a Zoolock + Curse of Rafaam + one Stonesplitter Trogg, so that's cool. Ooohh, Egg Roll Druid is also fun and strong.
Scratch that Zoolock -- it didn't turn out to be as good as I remembered.