The Curator Paladin (Dragons, Beasts, Murlocs)
- Last updated Sep 3, 2016 (Karazhan)
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Wild
- 26 Minions
- 2 Spells
- 2 Weapons
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Dragon Paladin
- Crafting Cost: 7840
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 8/26/2016 (Karazhan)
- DarknessOfMyth
- Registered User
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- 4
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- 17
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Battle Tag:
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Region:
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Total Deck Rating
143
Thank you for all the support guys! I've added specific match-ups mulligan like promised and some extra card swap decisions based on what you're facing a lot on ladder.
Newly Added: - Specific Match-up Mulligans and Match-up Swap Outs
Currently Working On: This week we see the release of the final wing of the Kharazan adventure and thus the release of a couple new dragon syngery cards. I will be testing them out on ladder and see if any of them fit this deck! Also working on specific match up strategies.
Introduction
If any of you know me, I love the dragon decks, and with some of the new cards released this week I bring to you guys a twist on the "dragon" theme.
I will write a specific matchup strategy and tips section at 50 upvotes.
Went from rank 9 to rank 3 with this fast deck midrange deck so far, its 30-12, which is sitting nicely just above 70% winrate. It's essentially a midrange / tempo dragon paladin deck with a dash of murlocs and beasts, in order to make The Curator gain insane value. It almost always draws 3 cards in this deck, sometimes 2 but even then it's great because we aren't forcing too many weak cards into the deck while The Curator remains a great play at 2 draws.
Remember 2 draws is like the mage card Arcane Intellect which almost every mage runs for 3 mana. That combined into The Curator is like playing a 4 mana 4/6 taunt that also casts arcane intellect for useful creatures! Combining it into one card is also worth more than playing these 2 things separately. So imagine how much value we are gaining over the opponent when we draw 3 with The Curator.
Explanation of Why I run Sir Finley Mrgglton and Possible Replacement:
So a lot of people are asking why I run Sir FInely Murgleton instead of Vilefin Inquistitor or at all. The first reason is due to the fact that this deck does not run Zooboth, lowering the value of Vilefin's hero power. If you run a faster deck with zoobots you could swap in Vilefin's for Sir Finely and one Bluegill Warrior.
The second reason is that Vilefin Inquistitor does not do anything except change the type of your hero power until you play Menagerie Magician or if you swapped out a couple of cards for them, Zoobot. Sir FInely Murgleton on the other hand will give you a chance of choosing a hero power that benefits your match up - card draw against slower decks, removal / heal or armor against faster decks. Yes the paladin hero power is good, but this deck does not utilize them in any way, and having a mage, rogue, or druid hero power is better for removing something immediately rather than making a 1/1 on the board.
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Match-Up Card Swaps (for when you're struggling against certain deck types):
If struggling or facing on ladder more against:
Control Match Ups: Swap out a Bluegill Warrior and Consecration for Ysera or Ragnaros the Firelord for more late game, and another copy of Blackwing Corruptor for more mid-game stability.
Aggro Match Ups: Swap out a Blackwing Corruptor or Menagerie Magician (test out both and see what works for you better) for Blackwing Technician for more early game contesting, and add a Doomsayer and swap out a copy of Bluegill Warrior to halt early board development. Also consider having Ivory Knight instead of Sylvanas for a heal or potential second heal / board clear.
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General Deck Design and Strategy:
So The Curator draws a murloc, beast, and dragon, so it obviously easily draws a dragon for us in a dragon paladin deck - but what about the beast and murlocs you say? Well a card that is naturally good for paladin is a beast! And that's the Stampeding Kodo! We still play 2 Aldor Peacekeepers like most paladin decks and so this combos well with the kodo, and there are quite a few 2 or less attack minions that it can usually snipe off as well (Acolyte of Pain, Flamewaker, Tunnel Troggs, etc).
We also have 2x Huge Toad to make this deck even better against aggro and tempo that is flooding the ranked ladder atm (also can be drawn for value later with The Curator!).
As for the murlocs, we use one of the best murlocs for tempo play in Sir FInely Murgleton and the Bluegill Warriors to trade into minions as a kind pseudo-removal or perhaps help us hit that lethal during late game.
The rest of the synergy comes in the form of dragon syngery, with the new card Nightbane Templar pushing the midrange dragon dream closer into reality. Play this deck like a tempo deck - play on curve and trade efficiently, using dragon synergies to gain advantage and value. Gain even more value with The Curator, and then see your opponents crumble as you reach late game and drop Ysera or Tirion Fordring.
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General Mulligans:
Against Aggro: Bluegill Warrior, Loot Hoarder, Sir Finley Mrrgglton, Faerie Dragon, or Nightbane Templar (with coin or at least one other 2 drop).
Against Control: Loot Hoarder, Sir Finley Mrrgglton, Nightbane Templar, or Twilight Guardian (with coin or at least one other early game card). Mulligan for curve.
SPECIFIC MATCH-UPS MULLIGAN GUIDE:
Zoolock
Main Mulligan - Bluegill Warrior, Huge Toad, Sir Finley Mrrgglton, Faerie Dragon.
Situational - Nightbane Templar or Blackwing Technician (with coin or at least one other main mulligan card). Also consider keeping consecration if you have another main mulligan card and or a good curve (e.g. 2 and 3 drop).
Aggro / Midrange Shaman
Main Mulligan - Bluegill Warrior, Huge Toad, Sir Finley Mrrgglton, Faerie Dragon.
Situational - Nightbane Templar or Blackwing Technician (with coin or at least one other main mulligan card). Also keep Consecration if you have a good hand with 2 main mulligan cards or a main mulligan along with a 3 drop.
Dragon Warrior
Main Mulligan - Bluegill Warrior, Huge Toad, Sir Finley Mrrgglton, Faerie Dragon, and Nightbane Templar.
Situational - Twilight Guardian (with coin and least one other main mulligan card).
C'thun/Control Warrior
Main Mulligan - Bluegill Warrior, Huge Toad, Sir Finley Mrrgglton, Faerie Dragon, Nightbane Templar and Blackwing Technician.
Situational - Cards to fill the curve, or keep a dragon as an activator if you have a main mulligan card along with a Nightbane Templar that may need activation.
Token / Beast Druid
Main Mulligan - Huge Toad, Sir Finley Mrrgglton, Faerie Dragon and Nightbane Templar.
Situational - Blackwing Technician with coin or Twilight Guardian(with coin and at least one other main mulligan card).
Tempo Mage
Main Mulligan - Bluegill Warrior, Huge Toad, Sir Finley Mrrgglton, Faerie Dragon.
Situational - Nightbane Templar or Blackwing Technician (with coin or at least one other main mulligan card).
Midrange / Secret Hunter
Main Mulligan - Bluegill Warrior, Huge Toad, Sir Finley Mrrgglton, Faerie Dragon.
Situational - Nightbane Templar or Blackwing Technician (with coin or at least one other main mulligan card).
Control Priest
Main Mulligan - Bluegill Warrior, Huge Toad, Sir Finley Mrrgglton, Faerie Dragon, Nightbane Templar and Blackwing Technician.
Situational - Cards to fill the curve, or keep a dragon as an activator if you have a main mulligan card along with a Nightbane Templar that may need activation.
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Note: Please also bear in mind that while I have done well with this deck and you will most likely be able too, this is a very new deck theory in a meta where people are trying new stuff! So report back any changes or weaknesses, and I will be updating the deck very soon.
Hope you enjoy the deck guys.
Edit 1: Tried with decent success to add in some beast, dragon, and murloc syngery with the new card Menagerie Magician. Temporarily added Huge Toad as extra beasts instead of loot hoarder, and swapped in an Azure Drake for a Blackwing Corruptor for more stable dragon activation as well as make up for the lost in card draw from removing loot hoarders. the two extra 5 drops are making our curve 5 drop-heavy. Shall make more changes soon depending on how this performs on ladder.
What would be a good replacement for Chillmaw?
Put in atleast 1 Ivory Knight if you haven't already!
Yes especially at the start of a new season, the rampant aggro decks have just been pure annoying. So I've written a section about card swaps depending on the match ups you're struggling or facing the most against on ladder don't know if you saw it or not but yeah it recommends you to swap in Doomsayer for Bluegill and Blackwing Technician for a Blackwing Corruptor or Menagerie Magician. It also mentions the ivory knight swap in for sylvanas like you mentioned. Make those changes and see how it goes, against aggro always mulligan hard for the doomsayer and only keep 2 drops or sir finely to try get a mage/druid/priest hero power to stay in the game if you draw bad. If you have a 2 drop or doomsayer then you can keep a 3 drop for sure. Against warlock and shaman consider keeping consecration as there is no pyro-equality in a midrange / tempo deck to save you later. I'll edit the title of the section about card swaps so people know where to look to make adjustments against archetypes that they're struggling with.
Going 14-4 right now, experiment is running further
Glad it's working for you, I'm updating the deck with some of this weeks new cards soon, will take a while to test it on ladder.
No replace for Chillmaw , right?
:/ I don't have that card
You can put another blackwing corruptor or azure drake, should work fine :) Chillmaw isn't a mandatory card, it's just nice for swinging the board around sometimes. If you are facing slower decks more put an ysera instead.
terrible deck
I've been running 2x Zoobot instead of Menagerie Magicians in my own list and am finding it works out well; thanks to Nightbane Templar and if you run Vilefin Inquisitor instead of Sir Finley, you can almost always guarantee you have at LEAST one murloc or dragon on the board which makes zoobot basically an improved Shattered Sun Cleric. In an absolute worst case where you have no minions out but desperately need a body on the board, a 3-mana 3/3 is less terrible than a 5-mana 4/4. Plus the 5-mana slot in this deck is already extremely crowded, so it makes more sense from a curve perspective.
Just my $.02 of course and the author of this deck may disagree with me.
I love the idea but sometimes if this goes to some slow matchup I think it lacks the ability to win it. I put in an elise I hope it works better.
I included information for card swaps depending on match ups. If you are meeting quite a few slow decks or just having trouble against them, I suggest including Ysera and Ragnaros (or just one of them) for either consecration and bluegill warrior (or just one of them). You generally won't draw or play until late enough to play the Golden Monkey, which is why I don't recommend Elise.
I srsly need a comeback mechanism. No way if they overflood the board you can coeback to it chill maw aint enough I will add an equality
You obviously don't mean Book Wyrm :D
Thank you for the support! The 2x Consecration usually does well enough as the wipes of the deck, as you should be playing minions all the time with this type of deck so should have no problem staying at least even on board. If you find yourself behind that's when consecration comes in handy, but sometime's its just bad draws. Try to mulligan hard for the 2 drops and if you get one or two mulligan for 3 drops to follow it - a good curve will help you relieve the need of a board clear / heal. However if you do need a heal you can swap sylvannas for a Ivory Knight! That card can often provide both a heal and or a board clear / survival spell for you to turn things around.
thank you for this deck, been waiting for a good dragon paladin deck. Think it works better after removing one Bluegill Warrior and adding a Ysera instead
May be interesting to create a Dragon deck with a couple of beasts and Zoobot instead of Curator
Glad you like it, that swap is a good one, but if you are getting rushed down by faster decks you may need to swap another card or ysera back for a low drop again. You can definitely remove The Curator for a zoobot, and even sir finely for a second one I ran like that for a while it's stronger in the synergy. I find the current list a bit more consistent however. Also get ready for next week if you like dragon paladin - it's gonna get a lot stronger with next wing's cards :)
You have my upvote sir! Although the deck looks like a bunch of random cards they are in fact working very decent together. I just swapped the Sir Finley for Vilefin Inquisitor to have a better synergy. Here are some matchups I played today on rank 5: Hit me for VOD
Youtube-Player
Glad you like it! I like the syngery with Vilefin too when I tested it, still needs more testing but basically I find sir finely helpful in a lot of match ups that are faster than this deck (for healing, card draw advantage, armor, removal) depending on the board state, where as sometimmes against control mage / druid/ hunter hero powers can give you an insane lead. Whereas the vilefin's value comes when you get the syngery cards only. Checked out your vid and seems like some great gameplay, gave you a like!
I played Vilefin in my version of Zoodin (but it was quite different). It worked there since I also had 2 warleaders so it synergied nicely. I was kinda wanting to try finley so I guess this deck without warleaders fits it nicely.
Replacement for chillmaw? Ysera maybe?