Hearthpwn

Hello! My name is Atlas from EU. This season I decided to go to legend quickly and managed to do it in 48 hours after the season started.

This list is very similar to other face shaman list, so the list is nothing amazing, however, I wil write guide now that I got some upvotes, because this deck does take a bit of practice.

I went from rank 5 to legend in about 6 hours of play and because of my high win rate I went straight to rank 1 legend. I don't think I was first, since I believe I just bypassed the others.

Mulligans:

Always keep:

Tunnel Trogg, Abusive Sergeant, Leper Gnome, Totem Golem, Sir Finley Mrrgglton and Flame Juggler.

Never keep:

Argent Horserider, Lava Burst, Crackle or Lava Shock.

Almost always keep:

Doomhammer: Even though this is your most expensive card, you should keep it in almost every situation. Usually when I don't keep it is if I am going first and I don't have minions to go with it. Against warrior and priest I always keep it.

Feral Spirit When going second it is good idea to keep always, you can usually also coin it out on turn 2 if you have 1 drop follow it up on turn 3. I would also keep it if I have 1 or 2 drop when I am going first.

Sometimes keep:

Earth Shock Keep this always against warlock and hunter, you won't need it in your starting hand against other classes.

Lightning Bolt Keep this only if you have Tunnel Trogg in hand. Never keep against warrior.

Elemental Destruction: I keep this ONLY against druid. Druid usually floods the board with 2-3 big minions and if I don't remove them asap after turn  ~6 I will be dead, so this card helps me to win some of those games. You usually aim to play this card after Doomhammer.

Rockbiter Weapon Now you always rather keep Lightning bolt than this, but most of the time you won't keep either. However, if you know your opponent has something with 2-3 health that you want to remove on turn 1 or 2 AND you already have 2-3 minions in mulligan you can keep it to protect the minions. Usually I just want to have Lightning bolt or Rockbiter weapon against zoo or priest. Even against paladin or mage I don't want it early on.

Match-ups

Paladin: Favored

Against paladin you can quite often kill them way before they get to do anything meaningful. Paladin has hard time dealing with your 3 health creatures, because of this you rarely want to keep removal spells, but focus getting early minions out. I like to keep Doomhammer in this match up a lot, especially if I already got early minions.

You want to try to keep their board clear early on if it doesn't cost you too much, Minibot is troublesome, but I will kill it with my Flame Juggler if it means I can protect my Tunnel Trogg. Just be cautious of possible Redemption of Shielded Minibot, it can be hard to recover from that early on. Also be very cautious about Blessing of Kings and Consecration when they have 4 mana available.

Zoo: Slightly favored

 

In this match up I would consider keeping Rockbiter or Lightning bolt to remove their early minions, against warlock in general I always keep Earth Shock. You can't always know it is zoo, so I don't think it is wrong to throw Rockbiter or Lightning bolt away. You can fight for the board quite well usuall against zoo. It is very important to play around possible Defender of Argus. Just try to think how much would it hurt me if he buffs two of this minions by 1/1.

Renolock: Favored

It is possible to kill the warlock after he plays Reno Jackson.I still recommend to kill the warlock before turn 6. Now this isn't possible always, and for this reason IF you happen to have some minions left before turn 6, don't just play all of your burn cards just before turn 6 in case he does have Reno Jackson. Of course if you feel like you can not beat Reno, then just use all of them, especially Rockbiter Weapons on Doomhammer in case of taunt.

Priest: Favored

Priest usually is the longest match up and for this reason I really find it favored for the shaman. The way to play this match up is to realize that you can still beat the priest even though he is above 20 life after turn 10. Sometimes you just run them over with early minions, but many times you end up using quite a bit of burn on their minions and slowly killing them with Doomhammer. Try to avoid over committing to turn 4 Auchenai + Circle comb or turn 5 Holy Nova. Also keep Cabal in back of your mind.

Try to always start with maximum amount of power with your minions, so if you have coin you would rather coin out double Leper Gnome over Finley and Tunnel Trogg. Also I don't mind going turn 1 Totem Golem into turn 2 Leper gnome, if I have the coin, because Totem Golem is simply 1 more damage early on. Of course if you are going first you should be careful about playing 2/1 if you can't remove say a possible Nortshire Cleric.

Tempo Mage: Slightly unfavored

I really dislike playing against tempo mages, there isn't much you can do against them other than hope they are not having the best RNG that game. Just look for minions to play early on. Against mage in general I keep Doomhammer in case it is not tempo mage and even against tempo mage it is pretty good keep.

Freeze Mage: Favored

Freeze mage usually has quite big issues with with clearing your early threats, which is why it is very good match up.

Warrior: Even

For shaman, your game plan is the same for both patron and control warrior match up. You just want minions, I always also keep Doomhammer.

Mirror: Even

In the mirror I find it very important to be able to get the board control first. Even then, usually the game gets decided by who gets Doomhammer first, in case the both are sort of able to clear each other's board.

Druid: Worst match up

Druid has caused most issues for me. It is hard to usually keep up with their tempo, Don't be afraid to face tank some of their taunts with Doomhammer if needed, also try to plan around possible turn 5 Druid of the Claw or turn 2 Darnassus Aspirant.

Thinking about overload

Many times you have to be aware of how overload affects your follow up turns. For this reason you rarely want to try to use up your burn spells like Crackle or Lava Burst until you can kill your opponent. Also, try to also think about what can you topdeck, because there will be many times you have to top deck something for lethal. Think that if you use Lava Burst and Crackle this turn, then how much mana you have left next turn and how much mana you have left for your top deck.

Sir Finley Mrrgglton guide

You should almost always take Life Tap. Even if you are going against aggro or playing the mirror; the loss of 2 life won't be meaningful since you will most likely hero power once or twice, and that 1 or 2 card draw will have so much bigger impact than any other hero power. Of course if you are playing against say hunter and you are both out of resources you can go for Lesser Heal or Armor up.

Avoid taking rogue hero power and paladin hero power, both of them are usually not going to do much. I have never chosen rogue hero power because it doesn't work with Doomhammer, and just once or twice went with paladin hero power since my other options were priest or warrior hero power.

Even in the mirror most of the time it won't be worth to take priest or warrior hero power unless it is late into the game and your opponent might be able to kill you.

Steady shot (hunter) is the second best option and Shapeshift third best option (you get two extra damage with Doomhammer). But always take Steady Shot over shapeshift.