Hearthpwn

Aggro Shaman is a deck with the unique ability to race other aggro decks, without giving up the ability to beat out control decks.

 

This deck aims to close out games in the first 5-8 turns by means of pushing minion damage. It has the best turn 1-2 opener in the game with Tunnel Trogg followed by Totem Golem, before closing the game out with Doomhammer.

 

Board control for the first 3-5 turns is essential to this deck so it can push the necessary damage with minions, as well as complement the value of Flametongue Totem. Doomhammer with Rockbiter Weapon is this deck's finisher, along with burn spells like Lava Burst and Lightning Bolt.

 

 

We are almost to the end of One Night in Karazhan, and we see Aggro Shaman remain on top of the meta. The deck is just so punishing to slow or awkward starts for decks like Druid and Hunter. This is even more true for decks that are new and unrefined, because they are more likely to stumble. The deck builders out there really need to have Aggro Shaman in mind with building decks.

 

There really hasn’t been any new innovation since the addition of Malestrom Portal to sure up some of its bad matchups. The release of this wing, however, has made Druid even more prevalent, which is just a great matchup up for Aggro Shaman. Shaman can make Menagerie Warden irrelevant by killing them before it comes down, as well as controlling the board to not leave a beast on board for it to copy.

 

In this unstable meta of people experimenting with new decks, I would highly recommend Aggro Shaman to climb ranks. 

The second wing of Karazhan out and Aggro Shaman still proves that it is on top by putting multiple people into Top 10. The wing, however, did not add anything new to the deck, but the deck is just so punishing to unrefined strategies. It may be to a point when we are testing our new brews for ladder that we have to ask ourselves, “can this beat Aggro Shaman?” because the deck is something you should always have in mind when deck building.

 

The addition of Malestrom Portal has widely been adopted now, as most ladder games are decks where the extra area-of-effect will be relevant. Portal and Lightning Storm has done wonders to improve the Zoolock matchup, which has a history of being a good counter to Aggro Shaman. Zoo just has so many one-health minions, and if you pray to the RNG gods and happen to roll Spell Power Totem, then it ends up being extremely backbreaking for the Zoo player.

 

It almost feels like every couple hours, I scroll through Twitter and see a new person tweeting about how they got top 50, 20, or even 10 with Aggro Shaman. If you are looking to reach Legend, push for high Legend ranks, or  just climb a few ranks, then I’d heavily recommend playing Aggro Shaman. 

With One Night in Karazhan’s prologue and first wing released, we see Aggro Shaman still firmly has a grasp on the top tier. One of the best reasons for that is, with a new set release comes experimentation. There are many people out there wanting to play new cards and see what works, so it is the perfect opportunity for Aggro to be at its best, because it will punish unrefined decks relentlessly.

 

This is evident with the result of Hotmeowth achieving Rank 1 Legend with Aggro Shaman the day the set released. A spicy inclusion in his deck was the new Shaman card from One Night in Karazhan, Malestrom Portal. It was used along with Lightning Storm to try to ensure they could come back from losing the board early. A big reason for the extra area-of-effect is the release of Silverware Golem and Enchanted Raven, since many people were going to be experimenting with Zoo and Beast Druid.

 

In the coming week, while we get more and more new cards added, I can’t see Aggro Shaman falling off anytime soon. If you are looking for an easy way to climb the ladder, I highly recommend playing Aggro Shaman, especially on the day when a new wing is released.