Hearthpwn

1. Be patient. Don't overspend to solve this turn's problems. Play the value game while either stifling your opponent or keeping your opponent within arm's reach. Do target key opponent minions that draw cards, etc.
2. Completely dominate the board. Ignore face until you kill every minion and every totem. Leave no survivors. Buffed totems remove most other totems for free. However, don't lose card advantage by spending cards just to remove totems. You'll run out of gas quickly.
3. If you don't have the board, plot for a devastating board swing with a high value Lightning Storm or Maelstrom Portal play, or simply remove minions and totems with Spirit Claws and Lightning Bolt.
4. Play totems whenever you can. They lower the cost of Thing from Below and give you targets for Flametongue Totem and Thunder Bluff Valiant (your best turn 7 play if you have any totems up at all). Also, spell power is good.
5. Play Mana Tide Totem when your opponent has no obvious way to remove it. Protect it if you can and let your opponent overspend to remove it, or reap a card every turn while he cannot. Even if immediately removed by a spell, you gain card advantage and use up some of your opponent's removal options.
6. You can play any finisher. Al'Akir the Windlord works very well. He can often remove two minions or totems immediately, or you can go face for 6. Make that 10 if you have Flametongue Totem available. Some seasons I swap to Ragnaros the Firelord which is better against druids, freeze mages, and control warriors.

Hit rank 5 in season 31 after only 74 games (61 as Shaman), a record for me. After replacing Tuskarr Totemic I went 53-20 (73%) on my march to rank 3 with a very strong win rate up as seen below. Had a 12 game win streak from rank 8 to 4!

Although my win rate slowed a bit as more shaman appeared on the ladder, the deck remained very competitive. I went 13-5 vs other Shaman early on and held my own the rest of the way. Stalled out for a while at rank 1 before pushing to legend for the first time. Got to legend in 258 games total. Overall record as Shaman was 143-94 (60%).

Feral Spirit - 1 or 2 included for additional taunts and overload for Tunnel Trogg
Mana Tide Totem - 1 or 2 included for card draw/totem synergy and to bait removal
Barnes - can provide spell power, taunt minion, totem, or Thunder Bluff Valiant... and even baby Rag!
Jinyu Waterspeaker - provides board presence and healing to withstand aggression
Bloodlust - nice finisher or comeback card if you only have totems on board
Al'Akir the Windlord - great for clean up work/push for lethal, combos with Flametongue Totem, can be better than Rag against multiple small targets

Ancestral Knowledge - card draw and overload activator
Kobold Geomancer - cheap spell power provider and weapon activator
Argent Horserider - great for clearing totems/minions, combos with Flametongue Totem
Evolved Kobold - 2 spell power provides a crushing board clear with any AOE card
Flamewreathed Faceless - 4 mana 7/7, overload minion that demands removal
Harrison Jones - remove opponent weapon, draw 1-3 cards... fantastic in mirror match
Fire Elemental - strong minion, able to remove a 3 health minion or totem
Ragnaros the Firelord - strong finisher against classes with few minions

Mulligan for Spirit Claws, Bloodmage Thalnos, Maelstrom Portal, Lightning Storm, and Harrison Jones if you included it in your deck. Play for survival if you must and value if you can. Don't spend AOE to kill only totems. Work for card advantage (2-3 opponent cards killed) and slowly build and rebuild your board. Hero power as needed. Survive, advance, and swing the board in your favor at the perfect time.

Mulligan for Spirit Claws, Tunnel Trogg, Totem Golem, and possibly Maelstrom Portal or Hex. Keep Bloodmage Thalnos if you have Spirit Claws. Save Hex for high value targets such as Fandral Staghelm, Ancient of War, Malygos, or possibly Arcane Giant. Since there are quite a few key targets, use your AOE and Lightning Bolt for removal when you can and save your Hex for when you can't. You need to control the board and apply pressure before turn 9, but watch out for Azure Drake plus Swipe and the occasional Starfall.

1. Always mulligan for Spirit Claws, Tunnel Trogg, and Totem Golem.
2. Keep Bloodmage Thalnos with Spirit Claws or coin.
3. Keep Maelstrom Portal with Bloodmage Thalnos or coin.
4. Keep Lightning Storm or Feral Spirit with Tunnel Trogg or coin.
5. Can keep Thing from Below with coin.
Watch your health and play taunts when you can, as recent hunters are very aggressive and usually go all in on face damage. Play around secrets carefully. Have minions ready to pop Kindly Grandmother but beware of Freezing Trap. Use coin then AOE to take out Cat Trick. Be sure to play totems for the chance at spell power and to reduce the cost of Thing from Below. Save Hex for Savannah Highmane. If you can clear all his threats and pressure his life while keep your health in the double digits you can survive and win, but this has become a tough match up lately.

Mulligan for Spirit Claws, Tunnel Trogg, Totem Golem, and Lightning Bolt. Keep Bloodmage Thalnos if you have Spirit Claws. Watch for board clears against control priest. Play the value game against dragon priest. Not may priests in the current meta so I can't speak with much authority on this match up.

Mulligan for Spirit Claws, Bloodmage Thalnos, Maelstrom Portal, and Lightning Storm. You can keep some early minions (Tunnel Trogg, Totem Golem) if you have two of those, but you will lose to zoo if you don't have a board clear when you need it. Contest the board strongly and be patient, you need adequate value from each board clear. Watch your face damage because of his burst and be aware that Defender of Argus can take his minions out of range of your Lightning Storm if you lack spell power. Good Hex targets include Imp Gang Boss, Darkshire Councilman, and especially Doomguard.

Against Renolock, apply steady pressure but don't over-commit because your opponent has as many board clears as you do (Hellfire, Demonwrath, Shadowflame, Twisting Nether) and unlike you can heal back to 30. Be persistent and hope you can get him down to 0 the moment he runs out of answers.

Mulligan for Spirit Claws, Tunnel Trogg, Totem Golem, Bloodmage Thalnos, and Maelstrom Portal. Can keep Feral Spirit with coin. Consider keeping Harrison Jones if included. Against pirate warrior be defensive and play as many minions as possible to build a strong board. You are favored once you get ahead so use removal to stem the tide. Against control warrior, watch for board clears yet you can't be timid. Pressure your opponent but don't lose everything to Brawl. Against dragon and C'Thun warrior, be assertive but also play for value. Do your best to stay ahead on the board and if necessary prepare a decisive Lightning Storm turn.

Mulligan for Spirit Claws, Tunnel Trogg, Totem Golem, and with a minion Flametongue Totem or Lightning Bolt. Keep Bloodmage Thalnos if you have Spirit Claws. Freeze mages must be pressured quickly so build a board and attack face before he can freeze it. Don't over-invest on the board, use 2 minions and totems to generate pressure and be prepared to reload quickly after a clear. For tempo mages, answer his minions with removal and build your board as best you can. He may draw AOE from his books and tomes so don't put too much value on the board. Save Hex for key minions such as Flamewaker (but use your minions if you can) and Archmage Antonidas or Ragnaros the Firelord. Don't be cavalier when using Spirit Claws. Respect your opponent's burst damage and stay above 18 health.

Mulligan for Spirit Claws, Tunnel Trogg, Totem Golem, and Maelstrom Portal. Keep Bloodmage Thalnos if you have Spirit Claws. Be aggressive against anyfin and control decks, but defensive against aggro and secret paladin. Your primary Hex target is Tirion Fordring. Another rare class in the current meta.

Rogue - mulligan for Spirit Claws, Tunnel Trogg, Totem Golem, and Hex. Keep Bloodmage Thalnos if you have Spirit Claws. An aggressive line of attack in this match up because the rogue has limited AOE (though watch for Fan of Knives with spell power) and limited healing. Try to save Hex for a buffed Edwin VanCleef or Questing Adventurer but also be ready for Gadgetzan Auctioneer. Try to close the game before Malygos.