Hearthpwn

Hey HearthGuys and HearthGals,

Bluntmunk here, just your typical half-drunk aussie dad who likes to muck around on hearthstone after the kids go to bed. Today I just wanted to share my N'zoth Paladin Deck, it's fairly similar to some other decks out there but with a few personal touches, that I feel have taken it to the next level. I love making my own decks and tweaking exsisting archetypes as I feel that the suprise factor is a bit of advantage on ladder since everyone plays the same meta-snap shot, cookie cutter, net-decks and all decent players know exactly what to play around at all times. There is nothing more satisfying than winning games with your own home-made deck, but I find my creations are usually pretty inconsistant with win rates varying between 50-55%. But this little beauty, well I think it's a lot different. I tried a few different versions tweaking things here and there, but this final version went 13-3 late in the season streaking from Rank 10 to 7 (I didn't play much this month and had a blast trying various gimmicky deck and losing ranks with the new cards before I settled in on this one in the final hours of the season). Played against some of WOTG's best (or at least most popular) decks so far (C'thun Druids, Warriors and Priests, Zoo's and Midrange/Face Shamans/Hunters and a couple of Rogues) and it felt good against all of them. I think it would have gone higher, perhaps even all the way if the season hadn't gone and ended. Maybe its just the crazy unsettled meta, but this deck just feels really strong right now. The 3 games it lost, one was from a mis-click meaning Ragnaros, Lightlord healed a minion instead of my face (damn you stupid laptop trackpad!), and the other 2 were to a Zoo and an aggro Shaman where they had perfect draws and I had drawn terribly, which can happen to any deck. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if this deck (or one very similar) ends up being Tier 1 once the Meta settles down. It has so many ways to heal and clear and no really terrible matchups. Its is a slow grindy deck who's main win condition is surviving (vs aggro) or in control matchups running your opponent out of threats and answers and then a massive swing turn where you drop N'Zoth, the Corruptor and revive at least two of your premium deathrattle minions, Sylvanas Windrunner, Cairne Bloodhoof and Tirion Fordring.

Deck is built on a pretty standard control frame fairly similar to the one that made Pallyfin viable, with no murlocs (duh) and a bit less card draw since you don't just want to draw your whole deck to auto-win with anyfin.

Apart from the deathrattle package this deck is roughly broken into 2 groups of cards:

Board control and Healing/Draws

For Board control we have doubles of Equality, Doomsayer, Wild Pyromancer, Consecration, Aldor Peacekeeper, Keeper of Uldaman, Cyclopian Horror and Eadric the Pure.

For Heals and draw we run 2 x Forbidden Healing, Truesilver Champion, Acolyte of Pain and Tuskarr Jouster and singles of Solemn Vigil, Ragnaros, Lightlord and Lay on Hands.

Questions that will no doubt be asked.

Why only 3 deathrattle minions? Most of the best ones left when standard arrived, I tried more deathrattle minions but it just made the deck less consistant, putting substandard cards in a deck just to try for one uber swing turn is I think a mistake and to be fair getting 4 massive bodies, three of which are have great deathrattles for 10 mana is already preeeety good. Even just getting a second Tirion or Sylvanas is more than a lot of decks can handle. I've come to view N'Zoth, the Corruptor as a super consistant Varian Wrynn who always gives you the same minions and who doesn't put you into fatigue faster. My advice for using this card to it's fullest potential, be patient, play slowly, heal out of lethal range, wait it out till you're sure that your opponent is out of removal and then laugh evilly (mwahahahaha) as you slap him down. Nearly everytime I played him the opponent just conceded straight away.

 

Why do you play [insert unusual card choice here]? and what can I use to replace it?

Cyclopian Horror: It is here to help with zoo, hunter and aggro/midrange shaman matchups and it's been working surprisingly well. With the loss of Sludge Belcher (which would be amazing in this deck) I think this is a good midgame taunt. While it's true that on an empty board it's an expensive Ironfur Grizzly or worse Sen'jin Shieldmasta, you would never play it on an empty board unless you're desperate or playing against another control deck and are trying to avoid burning a card. When you actually need it (against hyper aggressive swarmy decks) it is usually at least a 3/7 and potentially a 3/10, for 4 mana. And if it get silenced (not that many deck are running silences at the moment) you can almost hear Sylvanas Windrunner and Tirion Fordring laughing maniacally. Even unbuffed it will trade into something that has been hit by Keeper of Uldaman. Pulled the first one from a pack and was so impressed that I crafted the other. Can be swapped for Sen'jin Shieldmasta if you dont have them but without them I found it to be a bit weak to aggro and I think it is one of the quiet achievers of the deck.

Forbidden Healing: This card is nuts against both aggro and control, Lay on Hands is awesome but sometime you needs heals before turn 8 to stay alive and in some matchups your hand is pretty full and you don't want to draw cards. Being able to heal yourself reliably for 40 health in the late game without bringing you closer to fatigue is something not many control decks can handle, let alone aggro. Also lets you draw cards with Lay on Hands at 30 health without worrying about 'wasting' the heal. Above all that I would say its main strength is that it is just so flexible. I have used as it tempo play to utilize left over mana and heal for a bit, I have also have just thrown it out at zero mana one match to proc Wild Pyromancer in desperate times to take out a board full of 1/1's. As with the above card I pulled the first one from a pack and was so impressed that I crafted the other. I'm still waiting  for the day Sylvanas Windrunner steals a Auchenai Soulpriest and I get to hit face for 20 damage. Not sure how to replace this, if you do, you would probably need to change a lot of the rest of the deck as this card alone gives you a heap of survivablity and allows you to be a lot more greedy with your late game and board clears.

Eadric the Pure? Well mostly cause I have him, but hes actually saved my ass quite a few times. The meta was just too fast for him before but I believe that Forbidden Healing alone has makes him viable even against aggro. Once again thinking worst case, he is an expensive Aldor Peacekeeper but even used that way he lets you use your other Aldors more aggressively for tempo and when you need him most he can totally nerf a threatening full board. He's not very common in decks so he can surprise opponents when you've used both aldors and they think they are safe playing big minions or have used both equalities and they think they are safe to flood the board. Underratred card with a pretty powerful effect. He is sitting in the spot where other similar decks run Humility so you could run that if you want I suppose or maybe Enter the Coliseum for a Brawl-like effect.

Tuskarr Jouster? Similar reasoning as the previous 2 cards when you need him most he works well, healing you for 7 and a putting a decent body on the board. Against slow decks when you lose a joust, you're usually not too upset as the healing can be irrelevant and a 5/5 for 5 mana is an ok tempo play. One undiscussed advantage of Jousts is whether you win or lose, it lets you have a look into your opponents deck maybe you see a surprise that you can play around later or you just see one card that they don't have in their hand yet, nice to know when you see C'Thun for example. It also quite often baits out removal, making it harder to remove your key minions later on. I have been thinking of trying Cult Apothecary but haven't yet, seems even more situational with a slightly worse body (but higher heal potential), may well give it a try this season, maybe one of each could work.

Ragnaros, Lightlord? I know he is not rated by pros due to his RNG based effect, but it's really not that hard to ensure he heals you rather than a minion (if your not on a laptop anyway). The heal happens at the end of the turn so you can trade away damaged minions more often than not and being a control deck you quite often only play one minion per turn anyway. He's a big body, who can attack other big stuff and then heal himself back to full or smack face and heal you for 8 a turn. His body alone demands instant removal by your opponent and with less Big Game Hunters around since the nerf he's not to be taken lightly just as a board presence let alone his "passive healbot" ability. Hard to replace, pretty unique, and hearing him shout "Die Insect" as he attacks, then ending the trun and hearing "Live Insect" never gets old.

Still working out mulligans for specific matchups. Will come back and flesh out if this deck get any upvotes as I've already spent ages writing something that maybe no-one will read.

Anyway, this post got way longer than I expected, but I'm pretty excited about this deck, definately my strongest creation to date. I did consider not sharing it to keep the surprise factor, but I figure that if we all did that sites like these wouldn't exsist and the generous, helpful and sharing community is one of the things I've always loved about this game. 

Feel free to ask questions and suggest changes, I'll answer when I can.