Hearthpwn

 Me go face? Yep! Well...most of the time ;).

It has been a while since I've played hearthstone and even longer since my last deck write up.  To check out my past decks I will link them below.

http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/150908-havoc-1st-time-legend-apprentice-mech-mage

http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/189794-havoc-legend-shade-rogue-game-play-vods-added

I took a little break from hearthstone and missed the whole Patron Warrior craze.  I decided to try my hand at hearthstone again and toyed with some different decks throughout the season, playing mid-range druid, tempo mage and some zoo.  While these decks were all very fine and I am sure legend viable, I wanted a fast climb due to lack of time this season.  I found that I needed a deck that would do well in the heavy Secret Paladin meta that I found when I came back. So I looked for something that had a good win-rate against Secret Pally and also could hold its own vs the other popular decks in the meta.  I found all of that in this Aggro Shaman.  I didn't start my climb till near the end of the season and this deck took me there as quickly as I had hoped.  You can play nearly twice as many games with this deck in the same amount of time as mid-range decks and about 3x as many games as a control deck.

Deck Theory

I'm not taking credit for creating the aggro shaman, I just thought I would share what personal touches, tweaks and thoughts I have on the archetype.  Just as when I posted my first deck that took me to legend, I've always considered myself an average HS player, so when I find a deck that I can take to legend I feel any other average player can also take that deck to legend and hopefully benefit from the version that I found best suited me and the current meta.  

Deck Basics

As has been stated in the past, while being an aggro deck, the aggro shaman has 2 phases.  Early board control phase approx turns 1-4 and the burn phase turns 5-8.  Using tunnel troggs, Totem Golems, Stormforged Axe and Feral Spirits, fight for an early tempo lead while making value trades and squeaking in what damage you can. Finish your opponent off with Doom Hammer and burn spells.  Think of turns 1-4 being played similar to tempo mage while turns-5-8 like a face hunter. 

Card Choices

The original version I played had 2 x Knife Juggler, 2xArgent Horserider and 2xAbusive Sergeant While these are fine choices, I felt that they made for some bad match ups and an inconsistent climb.  The following changes, I feel, made the deck more consistent by strengthening bad/even match-ups while not hurting the good match-ups.

1xUnbound Elemental - Great card vs control but has a solid enough body to trade well while fighting for board control in a mid range match.  This card can really snowball and win you some games on its own.  While have 2 is a little too slow, a "one of" seems perfect.

1xFlame Juggler - Great card vs zoo and secret pally.  The 2/3 body is perfect for helping with those annoying shielded mini-bots and for picking off tokens.  Knife Juggler rarely gets much value in this deck and dies too easily.

1xWhirling Zap-o-matic - While 2xFlame Juggler's would probably be fine, this card has won me many games when left unchecked and is so helpful in control match-ups that I couldn't give it up.  The not so obvious thing that this card does is that it protects your Tunnel Trogg.  This card absolutely must die so when stuck between killing this and potentially snowballing out of control tunnel trogg, most people choose this.  If this card doesn't die as soon as it's played, I'd say just about 9/10 you win.

1xStormforged Axe - Probably my most favorite addition to this deck.  This card is the MVP in the zoo, paladin and warrior matchups.  Tunnel Trogg into Stormforged axe is amazing.  It protects that trogg while buffing it.  Must people don't realize but Aggro Shaman controls board for about 3-5 turns before it burns you with spells and not many other cards control the board like Stormforged Axe, 3 turns of SFA and you are right into Doom Hammer.  6 extra damage that a priest and warrior can't remove.  2 of these are too many weapons but 1 is perfect.

Basic Mulligan Guide

Hard mulligan for Totem Golems and Tunnel Troggs.  Lightning Bolt is a good keep along with Tunnel Trogg especially vs Shaman (tunnel troggs), Druid(Aspirants), and Tempo mage (Mana Wyrm) also helps to keep with Secret Pally and Zoo.  Stormforged Axe is an excellent keep with Tunnel Trogg vs Priest, Warrior, Zoo, Tempo Mage, and Secret Pally.  Feral Spirits is a good keep with coin in hand along with Tunnel Trogg.

Overall, giving up 1 Abusive, 2 Knife Jugglers, and 1 Argent Horserider, made all the difference for me.  I hope these changes help you guys as well.  If there is enough interest in this deck, I would be happy to write a more extensive mulligan and matchup guide.

Good-luck on the Legend Grind.

Check out my twitch for some casual Hearthstone streams

http://www.twitch.tv/therealhavoc