Hearthpwn

http://twitch.tv/falconepunch55

Not quite as original as usual, but there's only so far you can clench your foot to make it fit the shoe. 

Firstly I have to give credit to the amazing captain of my team (fade2Karma) Theude, as this deck is something that he gave me to play. At its core it is a greedy secret paladin, but thanks to the extra late game it is really punishing against most control decks. Imagine how, back in the days of Hunter dominance, midrange Hunter was notoriously favored against control warrior. This was because of the freezing trap tempo disruptions in the early game, and then the final uppercut that was loatheb, two Savannah's and Dr Boom.

This works very much the same way. As with ordinary secret paladin, it is super easy to maintain the early game with zombie chow. knife juggler, minibot, muster and secrets (all that you will really miss is haunted creeper, but that really isn't the end of the world) but what you get in exchange is fantastic. My final game for legend was against a control warrior who drew perfectly, but was just not able to answer my threats after the early game. He was unable to deal with loatheb into challenger into boom into tirion into ysera. 

It struggles a little more against early game/ midrange focused decks due to the lack of haunted creeper and consecration, but thanks to coghammer it is so easy to pull yourself back into the game, and where you will usually find truesilver champion and blessing of kings to boost of the middle of the game, you'll instead find cards that will completely lock down the late game. 

 

Mulligans!

 

This is not going to be anywhere near as extensive as I want it to be, as the deck has been changed so much already, and I need to gather more data and get some more experience before I can write a detailed guide for every class. Most of the time, our mulligans are not going to be defined by what we are playing against though. We are definitely a PROACTIVE deck, not a reactive deck. We want our opponents to be maligning around us, not the other way around. While maybe you’d consider keeping a mysterious challenger in the mulligan (ONLY do this if you have a 1 and 2 drop as well as you need as good an early game as possible with this deck) most of the time the mulligan is as simple as- hard mulligan for secret keeper, minibot and muster for battle. Secrets should be thrown away UNLESS you have an immediate plan of action with them (for example, noble sacrifice turn 1, Knife Juggler turn 2. Or Redemption turn 1, Shielded Minibot turn 2. Coghammer can be decent to start with as well, but only if you have other early game drops. Honestly, Minibot and SecretKeeper are BY FAR the most important cards to start with. If you can dominate the early game with them, followed by a muster for battle, you’ll be laughing.

 

Card choices and why!

 

Class:

 

2x Avenge- A fairly standard edition to any secret Paladin. This is arguably outright the best secret, and performs well both in the early game when the challenger pops out. Like with many Paladin secrets, Avenge is a great card to put up as a bluff, causing your opponent to make an inferior play.

 

1x Competitive Spirit- Another standard ‘one of’ in most secret Paladin deck. The main strength that this card has is punishing your opponent further when the challenger pops up, by granting you an extra attack power on the board per minion. This also synergises well with Noble Sacrifice and Redemption as it can even cause you to have one more minion at the end of your opponents turn than you had at the start. I wouldn't include more than one of this card in any secret Paladin deck (especially one that curves as heavily as this one) as it is not a card that you are happy to see in the early game, and does not do enough in the late game unless you somehow have a board with more than 3 minions. I will even consider removing this card and replacing it with a second redemption in the future.

 

2x Noble Sacrifice- Again, a standard  card to include two of in any Paladin deck. This is theist secret for forcing your opponent to make a certain play, as they almost always have to attack with a weak minion first before making the actual play they want to make. This is also the best secret to bluff. Basically if you can be intelligent with your secrets, and trick your opponent to believe that one is actually another, it’s possible to force them to make inferior plays and win the game that way. Also fairly strong in the early game.

 

1x Redemption- I’m actually a big fan of this card. Personally speaking, I’m considering more and more replacing the second competitive spirit with a second redemption. It’s good in the early game if you can hit a minibot or a knife juggler with it, and not too bad in the late game if you can hit a 5+ drop or even a boom bot. As it’s a 1 of in most Secret Paladin decks, when most people see two secrets get laid on turn 2 they expect Avenge and Noble Sacrifice. Surprise them with a redemption, and punish them for their assumption!

 

2x Shielded Minibot- At worst this guy is a 2 mana 2/3. What’s not to like? I wont bother explaining why this card is OP, and why it should be used in every paladin deck ever (except Mrlglglgl, and only until standard!). But I will say that it is sightly better than Haunted Creeper, which is what that is the art that has been cut.

 

1x Coghammer- It was one coghammer, then two, now its one again. This card is so good, but finding space for it can be very difficult. the fact that this card can literally let one of your late game minions trade with something big and not lose any health is incredible. It’s Divine Shield with an up side and should not be under estimated. Also, this card on turn 3 to give a minibot back its shield after a trade is a huge slap in the face for your opponent. I cannot stress enough how good this card is.

 

2x Muster for Battle- OP in the plainest simplest sense. It’s an unconditional unleash the hounds… Sort of… Anyway, you know why this cards powerful, and is potentially the only reason that competitive spirit is being run.

 

2x Consecration- So this is a tricky one In the original version of this deck, there weren’t any consecrations. But logic and common sense hit both Theude and me, and we agreed that actually, in a more midrange/late game oriented/ greedy secret Paladin, Consecration probably wouldn’t only be a good fit, but a necessity. Two consecrations are able to level a powerful early game board from your opponent, and bring it back against other secret paladins. early game decks. We are lacking some early game cards, so consecration allows us to play catch-up.

1x Keeper of Uldaman- I didn’t actually imagine this card to be better than Aldor Peacekeeper when it was first announced. But as it happens, it just is. The extra, more versatile effect of allowing you to buff up your weaker minions can make this card much easier and more effect to play on curve against aggro/ midrange decks without feeling sad. Then against control, if possible, you’re happy to save this for later to remove a large threat. Really great card! Not quite good enough on curve to run more than one.

 

2x Tuskarr Jouster- This might be the biggest shock of the deck. Not a meta card at all (although I believe that might change once standard launches) This guy is fantastic for catching up against Aggro Decks. If you think about it, you are more likely to lose Jousts against control, and win them against Aggro, which is convenient, because it’s against Aggro decks that you really need the heal!  5 Drops are amazing in a secret Paladin already, due to the fact that you can drop mysterious challenger and with two large bodies on board, the secrets become even more brutal. It’s good to run along side loatheb and sludge belcher, and its these cards that make the deck a little more greedy. A surprising edition to the dec that works really well! (Note: While some people may prefer the idea of running Antique Healbot, this is not a good idea. Healbot is awful against control, the 3/3 body being completely insignificant on turn 5, and the GUARANTEED heal is only usually beneficial against Freeze Mage, as against Aggro, with this deck, you will usually win the jousts… (Unless you’re unlucky and pull SecretKeeper… In which case, I’m really sorry. This is Hearthstone after all)

 

2x Mysterious Challanger- … Do I really need to explain this one?

Oh, and before anyone asks. Yes, you do in fact need to have two of these, or there is no point in playing secret Paladin.

 

1x Tirion Fordring- This is a personal plea to Blizzard. Blizzard, please fix this card in your standard format balancing. If this card is always going to be in the game, it cannot be as strong as it is now. Often a guaranteed 5 damage even if it dies, a deck that has stabilised the board will often lose anyway if their health is low enough just because Tirion comes down.

 

 

Neutral:

 

2x Secret Keeper- Initially I was really anal about using Zombie Chow instead, but Theude correctly convinced me that that was the wrong decision. This deck is a beatdown deck. It is a deck that wins by continuously winning the boar and dealing damage to the opponents face. Even though in the late game, the chow might make better trades than this, the fact that you are giving your opponent 5 health back just destroys any reason to run it in the first place.

Secret Keeper is fantastic, and because of this card, you can play a secret keeper followed by two secrets on turn two and have it not be an awful play. This card can almost dominate the board as much as undertaker could, and THAT is a scary thought.

 

2x Knife Juggler- Again, Blizzard, please fix this card. Without Creeper, this shouldn’t be good enough to run, but it is. Just the fact that is’s almost always guaranteed to be as good as Flame Juggler, with the possible addition of an extra knife from noble sacrifice, and extra knifes from muster, sludge belcher’s death rattle etc etc make this card not great, but overpowered.

 

2x Pilotted Shredder- The single best 4 drop in the game at the moment, amazing synergy with secrets due to the stickiness on the board.

 

1x Loatheb- Seriously improves the decks matchup against Freeze Mage, Combo Druid, Murloc Paladin and other spell oriented decks. It’s fine to play this on turn 5 before a challenger, but otherwise, you really need to be tactical about this card. Think about when you play it, and make sure you are playing it at the most effective time, blocking your opponent from making a vital play in the process.

 

2x Sludge Belcher- I know that there are a lot of 5 drops in this deck, but that’s really important for improving the matchup against Freeze Mage and (once stabilised on the board) giving us a positive win rate against Combo Druid, Secret Paladin, Priest and Control Warrior. Belcher is fantastic synergy with redemption as well, and the stickiness that the deathrattle grants just makes the mysterious challenger ridiculous.

 

1x Dr. Boom- I have to admit, this card is pretty bad. I would consider swapping it with Bolvar Fordragon or Hogger. /s

 

1x Ragnoros the Firelord- this /was/ Ysera, and I do prefer Ysera in general as a card. But Rag is more suited for this deck. It supplies more reach. Is another BHG target (and we’ve reached the point with this deck where the more BGH targets, the better) and can be a quick 8 damage to the face to steal the win immediately. What’s not to like?

 

Have a play with the deck and let me know in the comments what you think. I am already in the process of writing up a more detailed deck guide (mulligans, description of card choices/ replacements etc etc) and will make these as detailed as possible! But I want to ensure that there is interest there before I put too much time in. For that reason I'm doing like goals. It's not a sellout thing, it's to make sure the interest is there before I go all out with the detailed guide.

20 likes- Mulligans

50 likes- card choices and why

70 likes- possible replacements, further strategy

150 likes- edited video of me winning multiple games with the deck at legend

300 likes- an hour of free coaching for a random person who comments on the guide

As always you can catch me streaming daily on http://twitch.tv/falconepunch55, where I will be playing this deck as much as possible, and answering any and all questions that you may have.

Thanks for reading, and good luck!