Hearthpwn

Hello, I'm a Hearthstone player from Greece named Retype, currently tryharding under the banner of Team In Game ( Facebook Page : https://www.facebook.com/Team.In.GameEeE/?fref=ts )

I welcome you to another guide, this time for a Standart combo/control Paladin deck, with my favorite Warcraft race : MURLOCS MRLGMRLGMRLGMRLGMRLGMRLG. This is a deck I've used a lot on my way to Legend this season, but also one of the decks I'm using on my tournament runs, and the results are already great ( No winrates included, don't think it's necessary ).

PROOF OF LEGEND 

Let's clear up some things before we start with the core of the deck.

1. Why murlocs? Aren't they weak after Murk-Eye got out of Standart mode?

Murlocs are still really strong in a control-style Paladin deck. If you take a look on the power of the deck, you have early board pressence with Bluegill Warrior + Murloc Warleader being used as soft removals vs enemies' threats, while you have a huge combo in late game. And by huge, I mean HUGE , as 12 dmg on the 1st Anyfin Can Happen and 30-32 on second (depending on the number of Bluegills summoned) is enough damage to finish any opponent in the current state of meta.

2. Why is this ( deck's damage / this deck good ) on current meta?

To answer this question, we should check on the current top tier meta decks. I'm pretty sure we all agree that Shamans, Rogues and probably Warriors and Paladins are the top tier classes, with Hunter being strong as well. Most of the decks' win condition is through board control, building massive threats, control the board and get you down to 0 HealthPoints with some combo pieces ( Doomhammer , Leeroy Jenkins , Grommash, N'Zoth, Call of the Wild etc. ). Control Paladin has enough tools to deal with any threat your opponent presents, either by single threat targets ( Humility [/card]- [card]Aldor Peacekeeper ) or by massive AoE boardclears like Wild Pyromancer - Equality [/card] (The cheapest and most efficient board clear in the entire game) or [card]Consecration (either combined with Equality [/card]or not ). While doing so, our deck presents some minor (Murlocs) and some major ([card]Sylvanas, Ragnaros Lightlord, Tirion Fordring) threats to your opponent, applying pressure to your opponent and forcing him to deal with them immidiately. In the end, our lategame cards like Anyfin Can Happen or N'Zoth allows us to win the game.

3. Why should I play a Murloc/N'Zoth deck instead of a pure N'Zoth deck?  

Because this deck archetype has a lot more threats to deal with, it's much more flexible, and most of all - much more fun! Let me present you some examples. If your enemy Entombs or steal with his Sylvanas Windrunner your own Tirion Fordring, and you're playing N'Zoth Paladin, it's almost certain that you'll lose the game, because you lose 15 dmg + Board Pressure of the stolen Tirion Weapon, plus your N'Zoth value is much smaller, just because Tirion won't be ressummoned after the N'Zoth Battlecry. Same goes for a pure Anyfin Paladin deck - if the enemy somehow disrupts your Anyfin combo, either by Entombing/Polymorphing a Murloc you summoned, or by summoning another Murloc that disrupts your Anyfin Can Happen resummoned Murlocs, the N'Zoth combo still allows you to end the game in a complete different way.

4. But why only 2 Deathrattle minions, since you include N'Zoth? 

Because these 2 minions are just fine for this deck. Overflooding your deck with Deathrattle minions, in my opinion, is not necessary for this deck, since it's main win condition is Anyfin Can Happen. A reincarnate Sylvanas Windrunner or Tirion Fordring is often a massive threat to your opponents, even if your N'Zoth spawns just one of them. So, N'Zoth in this deck helps us close the game, but not being punished hard if our opponent has an answer to our N'Zoth ( Equality - Pyromancer, Brawl etc. ) - consider it as a win-more card.

GAMEPLAN 

Our gameplan is very simple - Survive enough to play the 2nd Anyfin Can Happen card, and finish the game with your 30/32 damage combo. But, HOW are we going to achieve the victory?

The truth is, this is a very hard deck to master. You need to use your AoEs very carefully, and only when needed, in order to win the game, you have to manage carefully as well the way you use cards like Humility [/card]and [card]Aldor Peacekeeper to enemy threats, and - the most difficult thing - you have to learn whether or NOT to use your Anyfin Can Happen cards. There will be times that you'll have to use Anyfin just to clear, even if you don't summon all of your 4 Murlocs at once. This is something you'll only learn by practice and only practice - the more you play this deck, the better the results.

MULLIGAN 

GENERAL TIPS 

In general, our goal is to survive in the late game. To do so, we need to mulligan every game, versus every class, like we're playing against a fast, aggro deck. Managing our starting hand like that, we will be able to control the enemy board anytime, with our massive AoEs, and get one step closer to our goal - reaching late game and win. So, cards likeDoomsayer, Bluegill Warrior, Wild Pyromancer, Equality [/card]and [card]Acidic Swamp Ooze are definetely a keep in every matchup.

Let's see our mulligan in depth:

DRUID: Most Druids nowadays are either Miracle Beast Druids, orC'Thun [/card]Druids. Both matchups are fine versus our deck, with [card]C'Thun Druid being slightly more difficult to beat because of his massive threats. We mulligan forDoomsayer, Wild Pyromancer,Equality, Truesilver Champion and Aldor Peacekeeper, while we can keep both Murloc Warleader and Bluegill Warrior, ONLY if we have both in our starting hand. We need strong removals for early game, like Truesilver Champion and buffed Bluegill Warriors combined with Murloc Warleaders, to take down enemies early threats.Acidic Swamp Ooze is also a keep often, as it's a fine 2-drop that can trade with cards like Beckoner of Evil in the early game. Watch out your total health for the enemy C'Thun, and try to deal with him the moment he hits the board - playing the first Anyfin Can Happen card to clear his first C'Thun, or a Twin Emperor, is often game-winning.

HUNTER : This is a fairly easy matchup, to be honest. Bluegill Warrior is a great removal pre-turn 4, as his 2drops and some 3drops ( Huffer xD ) have 2 HealthPoints, Truesilver Champion can deal with the rest of his minions, Aldor Peacekeeper and Humility is a great answer for Savvanah Highmanes, plus Stampeding Kodo can easily deal with cards like Tundra Rhino, Leokk [/card]out of [card]Animal Companion or Call of the Wild, or even Doomsayerto take back the tempo of the game. Finally, Hunter runs out of steam, and we're able to win the game either with N'Zoth or with Anyfin Can Happen. Mulligan forBluegill Warrior, Wild Pyromancer,Equality, Truesilver Champion and Murloc Warleader if you have the coin.

MAGE : Mages nowadays are mostly Freeze Mages, or some kind of weird Tempo-decks. We still mulligan in every game like we're facing Tempo Mages, and focus on the early game - Bluegill Warrior and Truesilver Champion to deal with his single-threats like Mana Wyrm, Sorcerer's Apprentice [/card]and[card]Flamewaker, and Pyromancer + Equality if things go wild. So we definetely mulligan for these 4 cards. If you play versus a Freeze Mage, though, this is the line of play you should follow - Play aggressively the entire match. Don't be afraid to use cards like Aldor Peacekeeper just for tempo plays, use your Forbidden Healings when you feel you're in danger, and PUT ENOUGH PRESSURE ON HIM. If he plays his Emperor Thaurissan, it's almost certain that he can burst you down from 30 HP to 0.

PALADIN : ezbzlemonsqueezy!! This is indeed, one of the easiest matchups for our deck. Most of the Paladins today in ladder are probably N'Zoth Paladins, so our job is easy. We're the better version of the deck here, because we have better early and late game, so don't be afraid at all. Keep a Pyro-Equality or Equality-Consecration combo to deal with late game N'Zoth. If you play Sylvanas the moment he plays Tirion and you somehow manage to steal him, it's an instawin for us. Although, we still mulligan like we're playing aggro - for all those cancer Paladins with the Divine Shields, duh?! - and we keep Acidic Swamp Ooze, Wild Pyromancer, Equalityand Bluegill Warriors.

PRIEST : Versus Priest, we mulligan slightly different - just because there's no aggro Priest deck yet! We definetely keep Truesilver Champion and Equality [/card]just in case we need it, but we mulligan mostly for our Murlocs. The goal here is to manage to NOT get any of our Murlocs Entombed. This is a really weird matchup,  all you have to do is to kill your first 4 Murlocs and then you'll be able to win with your double Anyfin. Don't care if he [card]Entombyour Tirion, don't mind if he Entomb [/card]your Sylvanas, these are not the winning plays for you, all you have to do is to kill all of your Murlocs, to get the full value out of your Anyfin Can Happen cards. Let's try to be more specific about it. Pre-6 mana, you can play of your murlocs without being afraid of Entomb, but in my opinion, it's best to wait until you can kill them. For example, playing [card]Murloc Warleader + Wild Pyromancer [/card]+ [card]Equality is a good play most of the time, and I reccomend you use your Warleaders like this. You'll often also be forced to make suboptimal trades - for example, kill both your murlocs to a 4/4 minion, attacking first with your Murloc Warleader and then with your Bluegill Warrior, instead of just kill it with youBluegill Warrior - just to get both of your murlocs dead. As I mentioned before, this is a weird matchup, your main goal is to kill your murlocs and OTK your opponent in the lategame, so even if some of the things I'm mentioning seem weird, trust me - this is the way to go.

ROGUE : One of the hardest, if not THE hardest, matchups to win. Rogue's burst can come out of nowhere, he has insane card draw, he can easily comeback after one big AoE clear, and he can kill you easily before you can even heal yourself enough. We mulligan forEquality, Wild Pyromancer,Truesilver Champion and Forbidden Healing, just because we need to have enough heal when we need it. Definetely one of the toughest matchups, almost impossible to win.

SHAMAN : Facing the powerclass of the Year of the Kraken, Shaman, we're slightly favored. We can deal with most of their threats, early and mid game, we can heal enough in the lategame to survive, and we can deal with their threats like Dr.4 and theirDoomhammer. If they don't have God Hands, we can probably win this game without much effort. We mulligan forEquality, Wild Pyromancer, Acidic Swamp Ooze, Bluegill Warrior and Murloc Warleader if we have the coin.

WARLOCK : Another easy matchup, especially if our opponent is a Zoo Warlock.  Usually Pyro+Equality means game if used around turn 6 or 7, because since then, most of the enemies have empty or almost empty hands, and we can deal much easier with single threats that Zoo presents than with hordes of 1-drops. Pyro+Equality is a sure keep to our Mulligan phase, along with Bluegill Warrior, Consecration [/card]and [card]Acolyte of Pain.

WARRIOR : Warrior used to be one of the easiest matchups for Anyfin Paladin, since we outvalue him pretty card with Aldor Peacekeepers and Humility, plus our constant Anyfin Can Happen threats demand him to hold his Brawls just for the Anyfin Cards, and restrain him from playing an earlyBrawl, or even the Golden Monkey. In the current meta state, Warrior decks are much stronger, from Control to Tempo Warrior, making this specific matchup much more balanced for Warrior. Especially Pirate and Tempo Warriors might be a bit advantaged versus our deck, because of the constant threats, and no real-Humility-worthy cards ( Obviously cards like Grommash Hellscream and Malkorok [/card]are good Humility targets, but you might have to use Aldor or Humility to targets like an Enraged [card]Bloodhoof Brave, a high-damage Frothing Berserker, or even aKor-kron Elite [/card]). Currently though, due to the success of Pirate Warrior, you face a great deal of Aggro Warrior decks in ladder, so I suggest you mulligan for [card]Acidic Swamp Ooze,Doomsayer,Equality, Wild Pyromancer, and Bluegill Warrior. 

COMMON MISTAKES / WHAT TO AVOID  

Since my first game with this deck, I've made a lot of mistakes, and here are some of the most common mistakes I made, and what you should definetely avoid

1. In any Control Matchup, wait for your opponent's Sylvanas Windrunner, before you play Tirion Fordring. 

Example: You're playing versus a Control Warrior. You play Tirion on turn 8, because why not? It's such a powerplay, and he can't deal with it directly, since he has to break the Divine Shield AND Shield Slam him, or he has to do additional damage to Execute him. And even if he manages to deal with Tirion himself, you have a 5/3 weapon equipped - Astonishing! Well, but what if your opponent plays Sylvanas Windrunner + Shield Slam on her, so as to steal your Tirion immidiately? What if the enemy N'Zoth Paladin plays Sylvanas + Pyro + Equality? What if the enemy Renolock plays Sylvanas + Power Overwhelming? He's not only stealing one of the best minions in your deck, he also denies you to ressurect him with N'Zoth - which is, quite crucial, in any Control Matchup. So play carefully around Sylvanas, if possible.

2. Suiciding Murlocs with Pyromancer + Equality fails - Bug or missplay?

You're playing versus Priest. You have two Murloc Warleader, Wild Pyromancer, Equality [/card]and double [card]Anyfin Can Happen in hand. This is your moment. All you have to do is to kill your Warleaders, and then, with the unlimited power of the Murlocs, the enemy Priest has no chance! You play both of your Warleaders, Pyromancer, and Equality - AND SUDDENLY BOOM - Both Warleaders survive. WHY?

This is a common missplay to anyone not having quite an experience with the Murloc buffs. When a Warleader is in the board, he gives to any other Murloc +2/+1. If you use Equality, every Murloc except the Warleader - or every Murloc if you have 2 Warleaders in the board, since they buff each other - will have 2 HEALTH POINTS. 1 HP from the Equality, and 1 HP from the Warleader buff. So if you use the Pyro-Equality combo to clear the board and suicide your Murlocs, be sure the Warleader buffs won't screw your plans over.

3. Don't be greedy with your Aldor Peacekeepers.

If your hand is bad, and you have to show some board presence in order to stay relevant to the game versus midrange or aggro decks, playing Aldor Peacekeeper in a 3-atk target is often a really good play. There's no need to be extremely greedy with your Aldor Peacekeepers, especially if you have another Aldor or Humility in your hand. These are not your primary removals, and having some board presence in the early game is often much better than using Aldor or Humility in a late-game threat.

That's all folks! Thanks a lot for reading my guide. Feel free to write a comment with any question you have, or send me a tweet or message on my twitter page - https://twitter.com/RetypeHS -

and don't forget to MRLGMRLGMRLGMRLGMRLGMRLGMRLGMRLG!