Secret Shields Paladin [Legend]
- Last updated Oct 12, 2016 (Yogg Nerf)
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Wild
- 19 Minions
- 7 Spells
- 4 Weapons
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Secret Paladin
- Crafting Cost: 6580
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 7/30/2016 (Old Gods)
- Jambre
- Pro Player
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Country:
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Tournament Decks:
4
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Ladder Decks:
46
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Submitted By:
A fresh rendition of the secret paladin for competitive play. Piloted to top 10 (July) and top 5 (August/September/October) legend in Standard by Jambre! Proof: https://twitter.com/TPG_Jambre/status/766774473685078016, https://twitter.com/TPG_Jambre/status/775370331590713344
Deck Changes: Updated to Jambre's September deck list. For his October list, simply replace Defender of Argus with a 2nd Argent Commander. Remember you can substitute Leeroy with Stranglethorn Tiger.
Meta Update: This deck is still a winner, coming in at a win rate of 55% post-nerf according to metastats (http://metastats.net/deck/af09f99d-8974-47ce-aad1-75b4bdb1fab9/week/).
For my update to Jackker's Steward of Darkshire based secret paladin featuring Barnes and Moroes see http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/582009-secret-steward-paladin-legend.
For a Wild version of this deck see: http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/584095-secret-paladin-wild
For my latest ladder decks see:
http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/613816-barnes-secret-hunter
http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/639616-vlpss-curator-secret-hunter-legend
http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/525655-totem-superiority-easy-rank-5-midrange-shaman
http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/626899-sjows-1-legend-disco-lock
This deck list differs from recent secret paladin lists. It has fewer secrets (just 3) and still takes advantage of Rallying Blade synergy, but instead of depending on Steward of Darkshire to create shielded minions or tokens, it includes several already shielded minions. 6 of them (2 each of Argent Squire, Argent Horserider and Silent Knight) cost 3 or less mana and serve as our opening plays. This leads to many high value trades and often buffing at least one minion with the blade. We finish our opponent with a string of high value minions including the most famous of shielded paladins, Tirion Fordring.
Trade for great value, but sometimes the strategy is to smash your opponent's face and let him stress about how to deal with your awkward array of shielded minions and a few secrets.
Consider how your opponent will tilt when Redemption brings back your Argent Horserider, shield intact.
Use your weapons to clear opponent minions and preserve shields until needed. Use Dragon Egg wisely. The eggs are great targets for all your buff cards (including Blessing of Kings, Defender of Argus, and Keeper of Uldaman) and good protection against AOE. Your other buffs should go to shielded minions where possible.
MULLIGANS
There are no 2 mana cards in this deck. Do not keep secrets in your opening hand. In a perfect world they are all summoned by Mysterious Challenger on turn 6. If we do not have coin, we will play a 1 mana card followed by two others next turn, especially if we get stuck with an early secret. We can also start with a 1 drop and then hero power on turn 2, but this is less desirable, so mulligan hard for 1 mana minions if you are going first.
If we have the coin, we can play a 1 drop, then coin out a 3 drop on turn 2, and then play another 3 drop on turn 3. Keep in mind that your sneaky opener of Argent Squire on turn 1 and then Silent Knight on turn 2 can be foiled if the warrior plays Ravaging Ghoul on his turn 3 before you can equip your Rallying Blade on your turn 3. [I still won that game, by the way, as my weapon killed his ghoul and both my minions lived due to their shields. It just wasn't as sweet as I had hoped for. I had dreams of buffing both minions! Too greedy?]
Always keep:
Argent Squire
Dragon Egg
Additionally, with at least one of the above keep Abusive Sergeant or possibly Rallying Blade
Keep with coin:
Rallying Blade
Argent Horserider or Silent Knight
SUBSTITUTIONS
+ Stranglethorn Tiger
+/- Argent Commander
- Consecration
+/- Defender of Argus
+ Divine Favor
+ Silvermoon Portal
+ Psych-o-Tron
- Leeroy Jenkins
+ Ragnaros the Firelord
CLASS MATCHUPS
*** Win/loss data includes 3 versions of this deck list. 65% win rate overall after 75 games. Finished with a 15-3 streak. ***
Warrior - Favored (10-3). This is your match to win. Shields reduce value from weapons so don't waste them lightly. Be aggressive but make good trades. Have buffs ready to contend with 6 health taunts. Remember you can also use Keeper of Uldaman on opponent cards. Expect to see Ravaging Ghoul twice. Sometimes you should trade rather than leave a lot of unshielded 2/1's on the board.
Shaman - Worthy opponent (7-5). Fight for a stable board. Try to keep shields and eggs intact to protect against Lightning Storm, but you will also need to use shields in trades. Have buffs ready so you can kill Mr. 7/7 for free with a shielded minion. Watch your health and expect burst damage to face. Can't afford to leave opponent minions up in this fight if your health drops below 20.
Warlock - Worthy opponent (3-5). Zoo is the worst match up for this deck. Cheap minions to pop your shields and more ways to buff minions. Get good value from Consecration (mulligan for it) and hope for a decisive board swing right before turn 6. The 2nd Consecration helps on this fight. Against Reno, you are favored, keep the pressure on but be smart about board clears. Good luck!
Hunter - Favored (7-4). Hunter has a hard time dealing 1 damage so you can out value him with trades or win the face race. Eaglehorn Bow and Unleash the Hounds value is diminished by your shields so keep the pressure on and shields up. Go for quality minions not quantity and keep the board clear with weapons. Try to close out on turn 7, but you can still win late. Watch for Freezing Trap.
Druid - Favored (6-1). Be ready to kill his 5 health minions Violet Teacher and Fandral Staghelm. If you can use a buffed, shielded minion to do it for free, the game might be over. Save Consecration for a group of tokens. Watch for Swipe.
Mage - Favored (7-3). Don't let tempo mage out tempo you. Kill Flamewaker quickly so he doesn't eat up your shields. Pressure freeze mage and you should win easily.
Rogue - Favored (4-1). Focus on smart trades and face damage. Similar to druid. Spread your buffs since minions will get removed. Expect Sap. Good matchup.
Paladin - Worthy Opponent (2-3). Pressure control and hope you can get him down before a big heal. Have fun on the mirror match.
Priest - Favored (3-1). Keep up the pressure and preserve shields/eggs to guard against his board clears. He should run out of answers if you play smart. Good matchup.
Please share your experiences, corrections, and suggestions in the comments below.
Absolutely fucking horrible deck. Even a Priest killed me with some RNG.
Look, I get that maybe at Rank 5 amidst Worgen OTKs this deck could push you to Rank 1, but there's tons of decks that can do that. From Rank 20, this deck is absolutely worthless. You will be out-tempoed by Hunters. You will be absolutely destroyed by an AVERAGE mage deck.
This deck sucks. If you want a special deck to carry you to Legend from rank 5, might as well try Reno Mage or something, you'll at least get better results out of a Full ladder climb.
Can't say I agree. I'm 22-8 from Rank 20. 4-4 against Hunters, 1-1 against Mages. Best of all, 6-1 against Warriors.
Zero 2 drops. Are you serious?
I was surprised as well but neither Jambre nor BoarControl are running any, and I have an 80% win rate without any. The point being, paladin simply doesn't have any good 2 drops worth putting in this deck. Or does it? What would you suggest? It's not wild so Shielded Minibot is out, and Argent Protector simply isn't very good on curve.
Where is the card draw?
Mysterious Challenger
When your hand is empty how do you draw cards? Mysterious Challenger doesn't fill your hand.
The main idea of Mysterious Challenger is to filter out all the low impact secrets from your deck, then to top deck one threat after another. But this is my opinion so if someone else feels different feel free to comment.
Hello Mate,
Thank you for the great deck. I have moved from 18 to 12 in 1.5 hours. I added blessing of wisdom for card draw and confusion with new players and blood knight which usually get 9/9 and forces bad plays from opponents. Again great against the meta. If you have better ideas I would love to hear it.
ChargerLlama
hey im thinking about subbing 1 truesilver for a divine favour.. the deck already runs 2+2+Tyrion (5), which is a little excessive... is this a viable switch? Im having trouble with card draws -_-
Divine Favor is a good option if you find yourself regularly out of cards. Can replace a Truesilver or Argent Commander.
Dragon Egg replacements? :(
Try Secretkeeper.
Yo, I made a video about this deck. Check it out and leave a comment or two. The deck is quite interesting with the divine shields, but it can definitely have a problem with zoo, cause of all the minions zoo can spawn.
I am enjoying the deck and winning. I am pretty confident I can get to rank 5.
I noticed at around turn 5-6 the board is often 2-3 minions a side, and against cthun warrior, you are often forced to trade to avoid loss of board I just added Eadric the Pure and he has helped me to ignore the opponents board, or trade without losing my minions. In a small 3 game sample, he helped me win each game. I dropped one argent commander.
Didn't have the Silent Knights so went with two Silvermoon Guardians and two Scarlet Crusaders. Don't have Tirion or Leeroy so had to improvise. I feel the Mysterious Challenger is not utilized to its maximum efficiency in this deck with only 3 secrets. This deck also needs some type of card draw imo. Will keep playing and see how it goes.
Here's is an older secret deck list that includes 5 secrets and relies on shields from Steward of Darkshire. It did well, but I am skeptical it is as strong as the current list.
ive been playing this deck and its pretty good, but i have some feel that its pretty much pray for curve.
Don't you need any carddraw with this? With so many low-cost cards you would need it. I put in a divine favour which saved the game for me more than once.
Not really. Starting at turn 3, the cards we naturally draw are powerful. Charge minions have immediate impact and often trade 2 for 1. This is more of a tempo or midrange deck, out valuing your opponent and getting consistent face damage because our board is so awkward to clear. We don't need to outdraw to win. Remember that Mysterious Challenger draws and plays up to 3 cards on turn 6. If you run two copies, you are very likely to have it by then, and at that point most cards will be 4 drops.