Divine Aggro (84% WR to legend)
- Last updated May 4, 2016 (Old Gods)
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Wild
- 18 Minions
- 8 Spells
- 4 Weapons
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Aggro Paladin
- Crafting Cost: 1880
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 4/28/2016 (Old Gods)
- sixenm
- Registered User
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- 5
- 7
- 22
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Battle Tag:
sixenm#1730
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Region:
US
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Total Deck Rating
876
Introduction:
This is at the core an aggessive oriented paladin deck revolving around the cards Steward of Darkshire and Rallying Blade. It very much plays out similar to a zoo deck using efficient spells and reloading with Divine Favor.
The name of the deck may be divine aggro (as i was uncreative originally) but the deck is all about board control (like zoo is) if you're able to seize the board, you can easily win in a turn or two with the buffs.
How to Play:
The key to playing this deck successfully is to always keep board control utilizing the buffs such as Abusive Sergeant along with with divine shield minions such as Argent Squire and Argent Protector to get amazing trades vs opponents early minions. When the opponent is within range of a 2 turn lethal, its best to switch to face and only deal with the more annoying minions while ignoring large minions that cant do much on their own.
The hugest tempo swings come in the form of using buffs like Blessing of Kings and Keeper of Uldaman on divine shield minions and trading while maintaining the new large bodied minion. Rallying Blade played on a board of a few divine shield minions also spells game over for non-rouge opponents as the weapon itself serves to protect the divine shields so damage-based board clears have little effect.
If you have multiple weapons in hand don't be afraid to play one on an empty board and go face (Truesilver Champion should be played over Rallying Blade in this scenario). During the late-game it is important to note that your cards cost 5 or less and the only important card you could theoretically top-deck is a divine favor, so you should hold onto your weapons to surprise them until you need to push damage or kill a minion.
This deck can come from behind just as well as it can play from in front. If your first few turns are spent hero powering and the board remains empty you are in a very good position. Forcing out resources from opponents for your low cost minions and transitioning into aggro can be done within a turn. Any of your small minions can become large threats that your opponent must deal with at any point which is the hidden power behind the deck (I've had priest players using Shadow Word: Death on a 5/1 Selfless Hero).
(Disclaimer: this is quite a rushed video in my point of view playing out the deck, i realize the sound quality is quite poor during gameplay and i do tend to ramble on when it comes to some of the decision making, even over-thinking at times, but if anything this does show how sub-optimal hands can win games and the staying power of the deck in general. Sorry no stomps recorded)
The Mulligan:
Always mulligan for your 1 drop minions, it is the most important part of the deck to play either an Argent Squire or a Selfless Hero on turn one, if you can't mull into those, playing a naked Abusive Sergeant isn't the end of the world. By playing these minions on turn one you can abuse the Argent Protector and Abusive Sergeant fully to gain board control and to begin to spiral out of control.
The mulligan and guides for all the classes:
Druid: Keep one Keeper of Uldaman if your hand already has other one drop minions and a curve as the card provides the largest tempo swing later in the game vs druids. Try not to over extend with 1 health minions into Swipe, trading them off where appropriate. If you see early wraths, playing a Steward of Darkshire that is unanswered forces the druid to commit too many resources to your board, which should see you out the game. Added one Equality to help improve this match-up slightly, try to save it to deal with multiple big treats such as Twin Emperor Vek'lor or Klaxxi Amber-Weaver. Druids have insanely hard time dealing with an early Blood Knight and Blessing of Kings, so keep that in mind when playing the match-up.
Shaman: You need the Abusive Sergeant to deal with Tunnel Trogg after that the match-up is one of the easiest. Feral Spirit are easy to deal with Rallying Blade and you should be ahead in board and life by the time the Doomhammer comes out (providing an early Tunnel Trogg didn't survive). If you're able to Aldor Peacekeeper the Flamewreathed Faceless you basically win the game.
Paladin: It is super important to keep or mulligan for Argent Squire specifically as it usually dictates the early board game. If faced with a N'Zoth, the Corruptor Paladin the match-up is unfavorable due to the infinite board clears and healing, try to make a few large minions as opposed to lots of small ones and sandbag Blood Knight for the tirion if it gets to that stage.
Mage: Same mulligan for shaman if its a Tempo Mage deck, if you can deal with their early Mana Wyrm the match-up becomes much easier. Yes there are going to be insane Flamewaker turns where the opponent wipes the board while using 3/4 cards, but the waker is easily dealt with weapons and your opponent would have committed multiple cards to kill multiple dudes. Against Freeze Mage, keep Divine Favor as it usually draws 5+ cards and swings the game back into your favor when they play the Frost Nova and Doomsayer turn.
Warrior: Try to mulligan for Argent Squire and Bilefin Tidehunter as the main form that the warrior is going to try and deal with your minions early game is weapons. Also do not over extend yourself into whirlwind situations, its best to prioritize keeping the divine shields on 1-health minions. Save Blessing of Kings and Keeper of Uldaman to deal with big taunts and DO NOT prioritize divine shielding damaged minions compared to an undamaged minion. Patron warrior has proven to be the worst match-up overall for the deck, having 4+ Whirlwinds, Armorsmith and a lot of cheap 1 damage spells, but the match-up is winnable with correctly timed use of both Blessing of Kings and your weapons
Hunter: Another easy matchup, Argent Squire and Selfless Hero trade very well early, don't overthink when playing into Fiery Bat and Huge Toad as the board is usually in your favor. Truesilver Champion is mainly used to go face in this match-up, while it is best to start ignoring the Savannah Highmane by either telling it to follow the rules (Aldor Peacekeeper) or flooding.
Priest: Most current priest decks are too slow to deal with your decent draws, mulligan to the cards listed in the overall mulligan and around turn 4/5 start to prioritize divine shields and 3/4+ health on minions as Holy Nova and Excavated Evil become a thing. A lot of questions were asked in the case of dragon priest and their early 2/4 taunt. Trading into a 2/4 on turn 2 isn't the hardest thing for the deck to accomplish, having a 2/1 minion stick on turn 1 and using Abusive Sergeant gets past almost all of these scenarios, and if that isn't a possibility then using a coin or on curve weapon deals with the problem easily too.
Warlock: Whether it is C'Thun or zoo, it is important to have a body on turn 1 to trade profitably into the Voidwalker or a coin turn 2 Imp Gang Boss. If your hand allows you to keep Consecration do so as it clears the Forbidden Ritual and Knife Juggler. To deal with an early Darkshire Councilman play your 3 mana minions early even if they don't provide huge value, getting damage on it early turns it from a huge threat to a 3/2.
Rouge: One of the harder match-ups if its a Yogg-Saron, Hope's End /Miracle Rouge as the tempo generated by their Backstab and SI:7 Agent paired with Fan of Knives (which is by far the best clear vs this deck as the board is not usually set until turn 4) is quite hard to come back from. Try to mulligan for Argent Protector and don't be scared to play a Selfless Hero or Abusive Sergeant turn 1 on the play, as them wasting a coin to hero power limits their combo potential greatly. If it is a C'Thun rouge then the match-up is still not favored but much more winnable.
The Power Plays:
This deck offers a few power play situations that start the snowball going which make it super difficult for the opponent to come back from given their class, I've listed the main power plays below:
Selfless Hero: Choosing the divine shield target for selfless hero comes up not too often but can be a big deal. If you're able to land it on a Steward of Darkshire on turn 3 it creates a huge tempo swing in your favor as the opponent needs to remove that card unless they want to be dealing with 2 new divine shield minions next turn.
Steward of Darkshire + Bilefin Tidehunter: If the board presents itself for this opportunity on turn 4/5, you can gain a lot of stability and sticky minions on the board that can protect the steward leading to more degenerate things next turn.
Rallying Blade: The thing with this card is that it is good on its own, 3 attack weapons are in a decent spot since the expansion, taking out Beckoner of Evil, Feral Spirit, SI:7 Agent, Acolyte of Pain and many more. When able to be combed with one or even 2 divine shields (turn 6 with Argent Horserider or turn 3 prior to an Argent Protector) is a game winning play.
Keeper of Uldaman: As we should all be familiar with, Uldaman taking a bunch of stats of a Dark Arakkoa or any other large minion, or even buffing an Argent Squire is enough to throw up a little at the value generated.
The Card Choices:
Consecration: The reason there is such a reactive card in the list is it is so good against certain match-ups that playing it in a timely manner is usually the match. It also does 2 points of damage to the face if you need those last few points of reach. Also allows your buff-less divine shield minions to make profitable trades on clogged boards.
Blood Knight: Since there are little to no silences running around and against the mirror this card gets the nod, playing it against a druid early usually translates to a lot of face damage and taking off opposing shields from the likes of C'Thun's Chosen usually is a game winning tempo swing.
Aldor Peacekeeper: The reason that one is in the deck is against taunt-less large minions, at this stage its better to ignore those large minions and transition to face, providing a large tempo swing that allows you to close out the game in a timely manner. Also the main reason for this is against shaman's Flamewreathed Faceless as many people were asking, as well as providing a lot of long game value.
Stand Against Darkness: One copy is in the deck for the sick interaction with Steward of Darkshire. Usually played after the oppoent has used a board clear to again challenge their life total, and if played with the stweard, makes Rallying Blade a game ending play. This is the control winning card, as it provides too many bodies for a control deck to deal with so you can play your stranded buff cards.
Seal of Champions: One seal is in the deck to gain tempo and board control early as well as providing a bit of burst towards the end of the game. Using this against Warriors, Priests and Shamans is dirty as they then are forced into a position to trade their premium removal on a 4/1 dude.
Notable Omissions:
Cult Master: I tried the card out and it proved to be too slow or do nothing when the board was just wiped. Drawing cards is nice but usually your minions aren't trading because of your divine shields and buffs.
Worgen Infiltrator and Twisted Worgen: These cards only really have synergy with Steward of Darkshire which isn't enough as alone they make poor trades and the steward isn't usually played early.
Wolfrider: Again alone it only has synergy with Steward of Darkshire so i opted to go for the Argent Horserider as having divine shield itself has a lot more synergy with Rallying Blade and Blessing of Kings toward the late game.
Knife Juggler: All the minions in the deck that are 1 or 2 drops either have/give divine shields or buffs or have multiple bodies. The key to this deck is sticking a body or 2 on the board to abuse the extra buffs and shields when it reaches midgame.
Sea Giant and Gormok the Impaler: There was a variation of the deck that tried out these cards but during the game play, i found that keeping divine shields on minions and trading off smaller bodies that don't have divine shield lead to more snowball opportunities, thus i cut the two cards and the deck was more fluid.
Leeroy Jenkins: This deck does close out games well, but that is not exactly what the deck is looking for. With the staying power, if you were able to run multiples of this card comparable to Doomguard then the card would go up in value so much. As it stands it is too inconsistent vs the whole field to really warrant a spot, as well as being dead in the hand for Divine Favor most of the time.
Currently under consideration:
Justicar Trueheart: The card is insane vs any midrange and control but folds to aggro, not sure how to fit this card in at the moment but moving things around to see how they go.
Tirion Fordring: In the same place as Justicar, but has a different angle of attack in attempts of closing out a game, would rank this second at the moment to Justicar.
My record with the deck:
I played with variations of this deck originally around rank 5 but took this card of card list from rank 4 to rank 1 with a score of 15-0 destroying all the face shamans and c'thun decks.
then on from rank 1 to legend with a score of 11-5 along the way facing 4 rouges but still winning 2 of them. Also currently 5-1 with the deck at legend, surprisingly the deck has a lot of play vs Freeze Mage and have only lost to the mirror. (overall 31-6 84%). Since this i have gone 10-3 in legend ranks bringing the overall score to 41-9 which is a total of 82%.
Final thoughts:
This deck is very good in the current meta of C'thun Druid/Priest/Warrior and the Aggro Warlocks and Shamans having good match-ups with all those decks. The deck is very enjoyable to play and it took within a day to push from rank 5 to legend without any burnout. And yes i created a hearthpwn account just to share with you all this amazing deck that i have played. Please leave comments and feedbacks on the deck as you see fit, it is a relativity cheap deck to craft and play while being extremely competetive.
Find me on youtube at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIG60eDpTWrIj42ON9_QKuA for more guides similar to this one
P.S. I'm sorry if this becomes the next Cancer Paladin on ladder. Check out my new Mage deck at: http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/526025-sixenm-reno-x-cthun-mage-standard
P.S.S Please check out a competitive deck building guide that i have created in hopes of giving you guys the thought process being making strong decks that can perfrom:
*edit: added reasons for Knife Juggler, Sea Giant and Gormok the Impaler
**edit #2: added more detailed mulligans and guides for some classes and added power plays.
***edit #3: swapped one Consecration for one Equality, granted more play vs big minions, usually played out similarly to Consecration against zoo decks too while having the ability to reach and deal with Sea Giant as well as Houndmaster taunted beasts in hunter.
****edit #4: added in even more detailed match-ups and mulligans as well as a video guide, along with cards being looked at for current tweaking of the deck and more reasons for other left out cards.
I gotta say, this is the best deck i've played since the expansion came out. You sir, are a gentleman and a scholar.
It's always nice to hear the simple thank you's on content you created to help the community, thank you :)
This deck isn't consistant. It goes out of steam really quickly with only 1 Divine Favor and a wide ranga of small minions at the same time. You simply dump your hand about turn 5 and have nothing to play, that's especially painful if you didn't get board control and you have mainly buffing spells in your hand. I still get more then 60% winrate and the games are decided very quickly - you either take the board in 3-4 turns or get obliterated but if you are getting salty too easy about those luckers and random effect (just like me :) ) I wouldn't advice you playing this deck.
Is noble sac a possibility in this deck? I see a potential turn 4 play with steward of darkshire and noble sac, also protects your divine shields from 1 attack minions like tunnel trog and mana wyrm.
The main problem with noble sac is, even though it protects your guys, its not a body on its own that can pick up any buff mid to late game, which means that it's a horrendous topdeck anytime you don't have a steward, and even if you do, later in the game it isnt great.
10-3, 77% win rate in 2-4 grade.
So competitive deck in WotOG meta. What I exactly want as a aggro pally deck is this.
1. Buffing minions which have divine shield can make really good trade.
2. Using steward with 1 health, low cost minions can give you huge advantage. (divine shield = about 1.5 cost)
Thanks for uploading decent deck
This deck is crazy, without a doubt. I started playing hearthstone not that long ago and don't have enough cards to make something fun and strong. But with your help i moved from rank 20 to 14 in 20 minutes with 10 - 1 winrate.
Yup only 1880 dust needed. When I started this game in beta, aggro hunter is similar to this deck.
Now in WotOG, this deck perfectly replace old time aggro hunter for new guys.
After playing 10 games to get a feel for the deck, I made some changes to this deck to see if I could improve its consistency, and it seems to be working out so far. I believe the current list shown is a bit too slow, so I'll go over what I changed. The decksplanation is good so I won't go over that.
Cards I removed:
Aldor Peacekeeper x1
Rallying Blade x1
Consecration x1
Stand Against Darkness x1
Cards added in:
Loot Hoarder x2
Flame Juggler x2
Now onto the reasoning behind the changes. First of all a deck like this wants to be fast, and play lots of small minions that synergises with Steward of Darkshire. So I removed the cards I decided were too slow or reactional. Playing minions every turn + buffing them + weapons are the strength of this deck, so I think the addition of more 2 drops speeds it up a bit, since it was lacking in turn 2 plays. Turn 2 is far too important to skip in a deck like this, hero power on turn 2 will lose you the game way too often. Loot Hoarder fits in nicely here having 1 HP and this deck runs out of cards fast, and you can't always wait for Divine Favor.
A small note, playing 2x Divine Favor is mandatory in my opinion, you run out of cards by turn 6 pretty often, and need to reload against Midrange, Control, C'thun decks. Flame Juggler is not as synergistic as Loot Hoarder but it's the best choice of the remaining 2 drops and decent against Aggro.
I also think 3 weapons is optimal rather than four, since you don't want weapons sitting around in your hand when it could be other useful minions and buffs.
When you add in the loot hoarder and the jugglers, you turn the deck into one that wants to go face more than to play the board. The deck does not have to have an explosive start to win matches as i clearly showed in video and the reactional cards win grindy games as opposed to playing just another 2 drop. In my opinion if you wanted to make this full aggro then your changes make sense, the cards do things on their own and are good for the curve, but you sacrifice so much late game and decision making to do that which overall hinders the deck as a whole and at that point should be redesigned to fit a complete aggro shell. This deck is named divine aggro originally to show the low curve and possibility, but at heart is a board control deck looking to take the opportunity to snowball given the chance.
I had considered all those minions you added before and i just don't think they fit with the overall nature of the deck and the philosophy of how to approach the games. As long as the list you tweaked is working out for you it is great to hear and these are just my opinions on the changes you suggested! Good luck and thanks for trying out and playing the deck.
I really like your deck, but I find interesting to deepen into this. You said the focus was aggro (early board control and snowballing until the end). So then, having consistent 2 drops isn't essencial? (Like Zoo, for example). I mean, can you regain the aggro tempo if you didn't get your 1 drop? How often do you draw the curve you need? The 1-drop -> 2-drop curve especially. The meta changes fast, that why I'm just asking this for the consistency.
Hey man great deck. I changed a few cards simply because I wanted to include the paladin legendaries and it seems to be working so far.(rank 5) It probably makes the deck a bit weaker but I took out 2 argent protectors and one argent horserider and included 1 forbidden healing, ragnaros lightlord, and tirion.
The legendaries are powerful enough to be finishers on their own but they do make entomb better for priest. The idea is that they waste it on weaker stuff thinking I'm not playing the legendaries but if you manage to drop one with a board of dudes they cant board clear and entomb on the same turn.
I added forbidden healing since it can help flip the match up if it comes down to a race. (I lost to a few shamans)
At first i thought this might be not the deck for me, as i haven't played for the first... 27 days of the month and have been sitting at rank 12 when i started playing it. As you might now, rank 8-12 is where everyone tries to build the most generic C'Thun Warrior deck, and then they beat each other up and stay there. But yeah, i'm winning more with it than i'm losing, and only lost to said Warrior once when he was able to go Ancient Shieldbearer, Ancient Shieldbearer, Twin Emperor, C'Thun. I'm now sitting mid-rank 10 and might try to hit rank 5 tomorrow, depending on how motivated i am.
So yeah, thanks, the deck is nice and has quite a few fun synergies.
nice deck!! 7-1 so far....loose against a control warrior
Great deck! Here's me playing a couple games with it. Rank 9 so not the greatest. Plenty of mistakes to critique!
Hey, good video, the only real misplay would have been in the third game where you had a turn to make 2 divine buffs with rallying blade on turn 4. Keeping bubbles is more important than a little face damage as you're the one that controls the board the most (admittedly you did get punished quite hard by the swipe) which ultimately lost you the game. You did make the right play in pushing the selfless in first but afterwards it kinda fell apart, other than that good play and thanks for giving the deck a go.
awesome deck
Destroys C'hun decks
Dragon Eggs work really well with Steward, and they are great targets for aggressive Keeper of Uldamans
any room for finley in this deck?