Hearthpwn

http://www.twitch.tv/azureyeti

Well met! This is AzureYeti back again with another legendary-quality token deck! You may remember me from my first hearthpwn guide last month for a Token Shaman deck. Apparently, I really like token decks.

Last month I decided to try playing Egg Druid, since it seemed like a fun and effective deck. During my first game, however, I ran out of steam and found myself really wanting to get more card draw. So it occurred to me that the style of deck could be very well suited for a class with more aggressive card draw, and Paly has some of the best.

Basically, this deck has some advantages and some disadvantages over other token decks. Unlike Token Shaman and Egg Druid, there isn't as clear a win condition. However, it has excellent card draw and can demolish control decks. Whereas Token Shaman really struggled against Control Warrior, this deck has a phenomenal winrate against the class. I call this deck "Eggboladin" because the list is largely a fusion of the classic aggressive version and "Egg Druid."

I played this deck after acheiving legend rank, so the statistics are largely for matches against other legend-ranked players. Many matches were against some of the best players and decks, while a small number of matches were against off-meta decks. It was very competitive at legend rank so I'd like to see what sort of winrates I can get climbing. The deck is also subject to change as I climb, and I expect to stream most of my climb on my twitch channel as well (see link above).

Unfortunately I don't have legend proof with this deck. I think I got to rank 1007 last season but didn't take a screenshot because I wanted to wait until rank 1000 or lower, which didn't end up happening.

APPROXIMATE WINRATES

NOTE: Not all matches were recorded so these statistics do not capture every match I played with the deck. Total games included in these statistics: 119.

DRUID: 46%   |   HUNTER: 50%   |   MAGE: 59%   |   PALADIN: 39%   |   PRIEST: 67%

        ROGUE: 60%   |   SHAMAN: 63%   |   WARLOCK: 47%   |   WARRIOR: 82%

So the winrates are fairly interesting. The Druid matchup I would describe mostly as a coinflip, unless it's aggro which I believe this deck did very well against. I really wish I had a breakdown according to class archetype; I think the Mage rate is largely composed of losses to Freeze and wins against Tempo, with some exceptions. Unfortunately, Secret is a tough matchup with this deck. It may be worth it to tech in a Sea Giant (which worked very well against it in my Token Shaman deck) to try to increase the winrate. Control decks like Priest and Warrior are strong matchups, and Shaman is a good matchup as well.

GENERAL GAMEPLAY AND CARDS COMMENTARY

Basically, this deck tries to take the board early, maintain the board throughout the game, and push damage while drawing cards. It's a pretty straightforward token deck.

TAKE THE BOARD!

Argent Squire: Your basic 1-drop. Playing it on turn 1 is a great way to get on the board first and with all the cards that interact with tokens in this deck and the Squire's shield, this little token can do some great removal plays.

Dragon Egg: Sure, sometimes this 1-drop gets very little value. But sometimes, this thing can become a real pain for your opponent. There are plenty of cards in the deck that can give this guy some attack, and spawning other tokens while killing your opponent's minions is a great way to expand your board. CAUTION: If you expect your Dragon Egg to take damage make sure to have a spot open on your board; it is sometimes a better decision not to hero power on your turn if that would fill your board and you have a Dragon Egg (2/1 is better than 1/1)

Haunted Creeper: Yup, there are spiders.

Nerubian Egg: Watch out for silence. If it doesn't get silenced, this card can be really awesome.

Shielded Minibot: Red alert! One of the best 2-drops in the game.

Muster for Battle: Classic. Combos well with Knife Juggler, so watch for that.

KEEP THE BOARD!

Avenge: With so many great targets to gain attack (think Dragon Egg and Nerubian Egg) this secret is often more than just a slight health boost to a minion that the opponent is about to kill. In general,

Competitive Spirit: Special thanks to Brute4 for suggesting the inclusion of this fantastic card. It's basically a delayed, but cheaper, Power of the Wild and a great way to turn a weak board into a much more threatening one (and one that's much harder to annihilate with Swipe or Wild Pyromancer).

Abusive Sergeant: Trade up!

Knife Juggler: I put this in the "Keep the Board!" category because it's not really your go-to standalone 2 drop; it's most effectively used in combination with plays like Muster for Battle or killing your Haunted Creeper.

Seal of Champions: It's a great card for trading, pushing lethal, and even just protecting a minion. Adding a second copy is interesting to me, and I might try it this season.

Defender of Argus: Into the fridge!  The taunt and attack-granting powers of this card interact fantastically with eggs. He can also help turn a game against an aggro deck from you trying to keep board control to you pushing for lethal as the opponent struggles with your taunts.

Keeper of Uldaman: Who needs silence when you can turn anything into a 3-drop? If you're doing fine on board, I think it's often better to keep this card to get through a taunt, especially against classes that may run them like Druid. But making your eggs into 3/3's is also pretty excellent.

CYCLE CYCLE CYCLE!

Divine Favor: This card is often something I suggest you don't mulligan against classes where your opponent might be control. The amount of card draw you can get with this is impressive, and it often draws into more card draw as well. In some matchups you may even end up drawing all your cards before the opponent gets through more than half of his or hers.

Jeeves: A very clear Egg Druid influence. But watch out for playing him against aggressive decks.

MULLIGAN GUIDE

Typically you'll want to mulligan for your early game drops, especially in the "Take the Board!" category above. Muster for Battle is such a good card that I'd probably always keep it. If you have some early game minions like Argent Squire, Haunted Creeper, or your eggs, then you probably should keep an Abusive Sergeant or even Blessing of Might against classes like Druid with a signature early game threat (Darnassus Aspirant). This counts for Mage and Shaman as well with their Mana Wyrm and Tunnel Trogg, as well as Totem Golem to some degree.

One of the biggest questions is when to keep Divine Favor. Basically, I would suggest:

KEEP AGAINST: Priest, Rogue, Warlock, Warrior

Keeping against Warlock is risky, however, because if it's zoo you may get next to no value from it. The other classes are very likely to be combo and/or control oriented and may end up with lots of cards while you burn through yours, giving you great draw opportunities.

In addition:

Druid: Kill Darnassus Aspirant. This means mulliganing for a really solid curve and/or a combo like Argent Squire + Abusive Sergeant that can kill something with 3 health.

Hunter: Try for an early game board presence with attack. If it's an aggressive deck then you might not want to have eggs without any attack sitting out on the board, you might prefer minions like Argent Squire and Haunted Creeper that do have attack to clear their early threats. Also in this matchup, be careful about how much you clear. Hunters can often still kill you even if you do really effectively clear their board because of cards like Unleash the Hounds, so sometimes it's better to push damage back at them and use Defender of Argus and its taunt effects to reduce their damage output on your hero.

Mage: Pretty typical early game keeps. Might want a way to kill Mana Wyrm, which is similar to Darnassus Aspirant in how to mulligan for cards to kill it.

Paladin: A tricky matchup, as you could probably tell from the winrates. I'd suggest just keeping your early drops and trying for a really good early board presence.

Priest: Early game minions. I especially like an early game Nerubian Egg. Priest is likely to be a slower deck, so developing things like Nerubian Egg early is typically fine as it likely won't impede you from dealing with their early game.

Rogue: Early game minions. Eggs especially, since both of them taking damage from Fan of Knives can be beneficial.

Shaman: Definitely early game minions, preferably with attack. Watch out for Tunnel Trogg and try to kill it ASAP.

Warlock: Pretty typical, I'd say. Keep early game minions, eggs without attack are fine. You might want to keep something that can kill a Flame Imp, as a zoo deck can really run away with the game if they have a fast start and you don't.

Warrior:  Solid curve of early game minions, preferably ones that don't die to a Fiery War Axe (though eggs and Haunted Creeper are fine because of the deathrattles). This deck does very well against Control Warrior, as there are simply so many minions and difficult to remove minions, and so much card draw in the deck. The biggest threat probably to look out for is Baron Geddon, so later in the game try not to keep a board of things with 2 or less health that don't have deathrattles.