Hearthpwn

Hello there, my name is CJ9, i'm an italian hearthstone streamer (and Magic: The Gathering player) who specializes in aggro decks, and I'm here to introduce you to my latest creation: LoE PalaZoo.

My all-time favorite deck is Zoolock, and after pushing it to legend this month I decided to mix it up with Pally to get the best of both worlds.

The deck packs the usual incredibly powerful early game pally cards ( DR.2, Muster, Keeper ), as well as a bunch of AoE Resilient threats such as Squire, Egg and Creeper, with the right tools to power them up and allow this deck to make profitable trades and huge boards almost out of nowhere.

I'd like the deck to reach enough upvotes to stay on front, if it does I'm going to write up a proper guide and an in-depth cards analysis, if it tops high I'm going to upload a proper video with commented gameplay!

The deck is in front page close to the top, thanks to everyone who upvoted! As I promised, here's the guide.

 

1 - General Gameplay

This deck works pretty much like zoolock, it grabs firm control of the board in the early game with powerful minions such as [card Argent Squire[/card] and Shielded Minibot, or just as powerful combos such as Nerubian Egg/Haunted Creeper with buffs or even the all-time-mighty Knife Juggler + Muster for Battle. After getting the control of the board you have to keep the situation in your favor doing all the proficient trades while sneaking in all the face damage you can do. Don't make no mistake, this is an aggro deck which requires thought when using its resources, try not to overextended the board unless you have strong B plans (such as Divine Favor in your hand vs a control deck) or you're sure that your opponent doesn't have anything capable of wiping out all your board in his/her hand.

2 - Card Choices

Shielded Minibot, Muster for Battle, Coghammer - The usual extremely powerful paladin cards which allow to snowball through almost any other deck opening, Coghammer is also a very efficient tool able to stop Face Hunter/Shaman on their tracks, or even druid's combo in the late game.

Argent Squire - The most fitting 1-drop for this deck, 1/1 divine shield allows for unlimited scenarios involving temporary/permanent buffs capable of outvaluing many other decks in the early game.

Sir Finley Mrrgglton - It used to be Divine Favor n°2, but I chose to swap it out for this card due to its solid body and (most of the times) the very relevant ability. Life Tap of course is the best one allowing Uther to go "full zoolock mode", but having heal vs. Face or Smorc vs. Freeze is almost as good, the strength of this card is its flexibility, and I love cards that require some thought to be (ab)used correctly.

Abusive Sergeant - Temporary buff which can be used (in very rare situations) as an emergency 1-drop to contest the board in the most aggressive match-ups.

Dire Wolf Alpha - Temporary buff which allows for conga-lines able to clear your opponent's board with your cheap minions/recruits.

Blessing of Might, Blessing of Kings, Keeper of Uldaman - The paladin buffs which push this deck's strength up high. These cards are permanent buffs which allow Nerubian Eggs and other minor creatures to become actual threats which require to be dealt with immediately, rather than being time-bombs ready to "explode". It is just so much tempo. Keeper of Uldaman also is a strong card which can be used as a debuff too, its flexibility is very handy in this "toolbox" deck.

Defender of Argus - Perma buff n°4, extremely versatile card which is also a life-saver vs. other aggressive decks.

Knife Juggler - It's just so good.

Ironbeak Owl - Silence is required as a 1-of in order to deal quickly with annoying minions such as doomsayers, large taunts, scientists, etc.

Divine Favor - Gamebreaking card vs. Control decks, 1-of in order to avoid situations where having the 2-of in your hand vs. an aggro match up means an auto-loss.

Consecration - Zoolock's got Imp-losions, this deck needs a 4cc spell which turns the tables too. Use with care, most of the times it's correct to just develop your board rather than wipe out your opponent's, try to account which move grants you the highest value gain.

Gormok the Impaler - 4/4 cc4 which 90% of the time deals an extra 4 damage, a very strong tempo card which sometimes gives you free wins out of nowhere.

Loatheb - Aggro decks don't like board wipes, nor those pesky druid combos.

Dr. Boom - Large late game bomb, the bombs can be abused with buffs and whatnot.

2A - Alternative choice

Note - The cards suggested here are swap-ins that can't exactly play the role of the cards you're switching out, they do work differently and may alter the deck's gameplay by a lot!

Sir Finley Mrrgglton - Divine Favor number 2

Loatheb - Piloted Shredder

Gormok the Impaler - Sea Giant, Dark Iron Dwarf, Tirion Fordring (Leeroy Jenkins if you want more of a "Eboladin" flavor)

Keeper of Uldaman -Piloted Shredder

Dr. Boom - Sea Giant, Tirion Fordring

 

3 - Mulligan

Always keep Argent Squire, Ser Finley Mrrgglton, Shielded Minibot, Haunted Creeper and Muster for Battle.

Abusive Sergeant/Blessing of Might if you have one of the minions above, Dire Wolf Alpha with two of them/muster for battle, Knife Juggler with muster for battle.

Also consider keeping those cards against these particular classes (try not to overdo it tough, it's not wise to keep consecration going first without anything else playable):

– vs. Hunter – Defender of Argus, Owl, Coghammer, Consecration
– vs. Mage – Owl, Knife Juggler (if you suspect it's a freeze)
– vs. Paladin – Coghammer, Consecration
– vs. Shaman – Defender of Argus, Coghammer
– vs. Warrior – Coghammer
– vs. Warlock – Mulligan base
– vs. Rogue – Coghammer, if you have coin and anything good 1-2 drop Loatheb is also a pretty good tech keep
– vs. Druid – with the coin Keeper of Uldaman is good to deal with anything big cheated in with innervate

4 - Matchups

[This section is still a work-in-progress]

Vs. Druid - Favorable 

Vs. Zoo - Even to Favorable, depends on who tops the early game best

Vs. Secret Paladin - Favorable, you can snatch early game control as much as zoo, and you have keeper to deal with huge challengers

Vs. Tempo Mage - Favorable, as much as zoo they have issues dealing with huge sticky boards, try to keep your creepers/eggs intact as much as you can in order to have a back-up plan against a flamewaker clear

Vs. Freeze Mage - Even to unfavorable, the key cards in the match-up are Loatheb, Sir Finley Mrrgglton and Divine Favor, your base hero power sucks hard here, you want to find something better and more threatening (any form of direct damage), Life Tap is also good in order to find your key cards fast enough.

Vs. Patron Warrior - Unfavorable, Patron keeps aggro decks in check, you don't have any good solution to a board of patrons, in order to win you need to put the early pressure on and get rid of key minions such as Armorsmith as fast as you can.

Vs. Control Warrior - Favorable, your divine shields are a nightmare to be dealt with, and Eggs/Creepers work as a "Brawl Policy". The key move here is buffing an egg in order to force them taking damage while dealing with it. Try to not overextend your board unless you have a good plan-B. In this match-up sometimes it's better to keep Finley in hand for a while, being paladin's base power very good against CWs.

Vs. Priest - Unfavorable but not too much - You have the tools to stay on board after a wipe, this match-up is all about how much pressure you can put in the early game and how much value you can get in the mid-late. You can still win after turn 10, but it's not going to be easy.

Vs. Face Shaman - Even to Favorable - You have ways to handle their early game board as well as tools that enable big taunt minions, keep Argus/Coghammer in the starting hand and half the job's about done.

 

5 - Links

Reaching Top 200 VOD [Language is Italian, but you can still check the moves/mulligans]

Facebook [To stay tuned on decklists and Stream schedules]

 

5 - Notes

Thanks for reading and for upvoting the deck, I can't wait for Standard in order to develop some new exciting brews! Right now as I stated earlier on I stream only in italian language, but if I happen to get enough requests I might do some english-spoken sessions too!