Thijs Aggro Shaman
- Last updated Dec 29, 2016 (Gadgetzan)
- Edit
- |
Wild
- 16 Minions
- 10 Spells
- 4 Weapons
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Aggro Shaman
- Crafting Cost: 7040
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 12/15/2016 (Gadgetzan)
- ThijsNL
- Pro Player
-
Country:
-
Tournament Decks:
114
-
Ladder Decks:
1547
-
Submitted By:
BlueSpartan here once again, sharing Thijs' deck from his victory at ELC Superstars. Very effective deck and good for the ladder. I chose to focus on this list because this variant does not use any Jade cards, but there are other effective variants as I mention below.
Continuing to play test the deck and will add further insights to the guide from time to time. According to Data Reaper, Aggro Shaman is the best deck archetype in the meta game right now with a 53% win rate. And according to MetaStats, this deck list posted a 57% win rate during the week of 12/19-12/25! Link: http://metastats.net/deck/e90e0c4f-13ed-4c08-88d4-3b7a3faff4e8/week/
Basic Strategy
Like most aggro decks, we direct maximum damage to the opponent's face as quickly as possible. Like pirate warrior, we unleash havoc in the early turns with a mixture of pirate minions and weapons. We also have overload minions to support our push, Maelstrom Portal to clear out opposing minions, and burn spells such as Lightning Bolt and Lava Burst to finish the opponent after we start losing the board. And of course the Doomhammer + Rockbiter Weapon combo brings a 10 damage turn that may seal the deal.
As with all Shaman decks, we must fight for board control in the early game since so much of our damage comes from minions. While we wish to keep buff and burn spells for face damage, we may have to spend some of it to maintain board pressure. Once your opponent is down to approximately 15 health you can save up for the lethal burst. With experience you will learn when the time is right to abandon the board and push for face damage alone. Taunts and heals will make the balance tricky at times.
Variants - The following cards are used in lists by Demigod/Spo/Xixo and may be substituted for missing cards, Thing from Below, or Bloodmage Thalnos + 1 Maelstrom Portal:
Ancestral Knowledge
Lava Shock
Eternal Sentinel
Argent Horserider
Lightning Storm
Unbound Elemental
Azure Drake
Leeroy Jenkins
If you lack Patches the Pirate you can add another Southsea Deckhand or any of the above, but turn 1 won't be nearly as good.
Jade Variants - If you prefer to run Jade cards:
Replace either Spirit Claws or Doomhammer with Jade Claws
Replace Flamewreathed Faceless with Jade Lightning
Replace Thing from Below with Aya Blackpaw
Basic mulligan strategy (varies for some matchups):
Always keep - Spirit Claws, Tunnel Trogg, Totem Golem, Small-Time Buccaneer
Keep with Spirit Claws - Southsea Deckhand, Bloodmage Thalnos
Keep with Tunnel Trogg and coin - Lightning Bolt, Feral Spirit
Keep Sir Finley Mrrgglton if it fits your curve (warlock/hunter/mage/druid)
Note: If you can play it in turns 1-3, just keep it. The more cards you throw away, the more likely you are to get Patches the Pirate which you never want in hand.
Favored against: Pirate Warrior, Miracle Rogue, Jade Druid, Tempo Mage, Midrange Hunter
Even against: Reno Warlock, Jade Shaman, Midrange Shaman, Dragon Priest
Unfavored against: Dragon Warrior, Reno Priest, Reno Mage, Control Warrior
Tips for Common Matchups:
Warlock (Reno)
Mulligan for Spirit Claws, Tunnel Trogg, Totem Golem, Small-Time Buccaneer or Southsea Deckhand.
Keep Bloodmage Thalnos only with Spirit Claws.
Keep Lightning Bolt only with Tunnel Trogg and coin.
Keep Sir Finley Mrrgglton if it fits your curve.
Avoid playing over 3 minions due to cards such as Hellfire and Mind Control Tech. Any two minions can be used to push for face damage with Flametongue Totem. Removal all opponent minions to delay the use of Shadowflame. Accumulate burn cards to finish your opponent if he doesn't not draw/play Reno Jackson in time.
Shaman (Mirror)
Mulligan for Spirit Claws, Tunnel Trogg, Totem Golem, Small-Time Buccaneer, Maelstrom Portal.
Keep Bloodmage Thalnos with Spirit Claws or Maelstrom Portal.
Keep Southsea Deckhand with Spirit Claws.
Keep Feral Spirit with Tunnel Trogg and coin.
Keep Sir Finley Mrrgglton if it fits your curve.
Be aggressive but anticipate Maelstrom Portal, Feral Spirit, Flamewreathed Faceless. Have a plan to deal with those threats. Don't relinquish the board unless you have enough burn spells and Doomhammer charges to finish your opponent. Expect taunt totems at the worst time.
Warrior (Pirate)
Mulligan for Spirit Claws, Tunnel Trogg, Totem Golem, Small-Time Buccaneer, Maelstrom Portal.
Keep Bloodmage Thalnos with Spirit Claws or Maelstrom Portal.
Keep Southsea Deckhand with Spirit Claws.
Keep Feral Spirit with Tunnel Trogg and coin.
Keep Sir Finley Mrrgglton if it fits your curve.
Fight for board control and play taunts at every opportunity. Go wide because warriors don't run AOE. A well timed Maelstrom Portal can set back the warrior's game plan. If you fall behind, be ready to counter strike and assume the role of the aggressor by turn 4 or 5. Once the board is under control, use your superior burn and reach to finish the job.
Rogue (Miracle)
Mulligan for Spirit Claws, Tunnel Trogg, Totem Golem, Small-Time Buccaneer or Southsea Deckhand.
Keep Bloodmage Thalnos only with Spirit Claws.
Keep Lightning Bolt only with Tunnel Trogg and coin.
Keep Sir Finley Mrrgglton if it fits your curve.
Contest the board but push for face damage whenever possible because rogues have limited heals and no taunts. Go wide but limit the number of 1 health minions because the rogue has Fan of Knives. Be prepared for SI:7 Agent, Tomb Pillager, Azure Drake, and Gadgetzan Auctioneer on turns 3 to 6. A turn 5 Doomhammer and a Lava Burst in hand should finish the job.
Druid (Jade)
Mulligan for Spirit Claws, Tunnel Trogg, Totem Golem, Small-Time Buccaneer or Southsea Deckhand.
Keep Bloodmage Thalnos with Spirit Claws or Maelstrom Portal.
Keep Lightning Bolt only with Tunnel Trogg and coin.
Keep Sir Finley Mrrgglton if it fits your curve.
Be aggressive and push for face damage. Starting with turn 4 (or turn 3 if opponent has coin) try to play around Swipe by trading in 1 health minions. You may eventually lose the board but should be in burn mode. If you are not quick enough you will have to deal with mid to late game taunts. Be prepared to use some of your burn spells to clear the way for your Doomhammer and minions.
Priest (Dragon)
Mulligan for Spirit Claws, Tunnel Trogg, Totem Golem, Small-Time Buccaneer or Southsea Deckhand.
Keep Flamewreathed Faceless with coin or any strong opener.
Keep Bloodmage Thalnos with Spirit Claws.
Keep Lightning Bolt with Tunnel Trogg and coin.
Keep Sir Finley Mrrgglton if it fits your curve.
A tough matchup for sure. You cannot allow the priest to keep a board and heal his minions. Expect activations on taunts such as Wyrmrest Agent and Twilight Guardian and board clears on turn 5 (or 4 with coin), so plan to trade in low health minions. Try to play Flamewreathed Faceless on turn 3 or 4 and hope the opponent does not have Shadow Word: Death. If you can pressure the priest enough before the board is lost, you can finish the game with burst damage. If not, better luck next time.
Give the deck a try, report your results/suggestions/corrections so I can improve the guide, and don't forget to up-vote if you like it. I've never posted a deck with 200 up-votes so you can help me with that achievement if you want!
I'll add additional tips as I continue piloting the deck on ladder. Thanks for your "astounding" interest!
For a midrange shaman list adjusted for the new meta, check out: http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/525655-top-totems-legend-full-guide
For a dragon warrior list that rivals aggro shaman's win rate, check out: http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/582228-dragon-pirate-warrior
To see the deck in action, here's a link to a user-submitted game play video:
https://youtu.be/Wy_XSCnIZaA
How would you deal with Jade Druid taunts? Shouldn't there be at least 1x Hex?
"If you are not quick enough you will have to deal with mid to late game taunts. Be prepared to use some of your burn spells to clear the way for your Doomhammer and minions." Lava burst + spell power = dead taunt.
If you are quick enough, just apply burn spells to face and laugh at his taunts.
ty, 2-7, hate aggro
Hello guys! First thing I would like to say is that you should switch the video settings to HD!
First game is versus a miracle rogue, going pretty well and pretty easy. The second game is against a renowarlock, where I had to get a bit lucky but nothing enormous.
Thank you for your watching guys! If you liked this please consider liking or even subscribing!
I hate these decks. they require no skill
A straightforward strategy doesn't mean it takes no skill, might hit legend someday if you realize that
No, pretty sure it just takes no skill
With these tournament decks, the question always is – This is the deck I would build if what other deck didn’t exist? After all, last hero standing, with or without bans, is predicated on an idea that you’ll either be able to eliminate matchups or face them with other decks.
In this deck’s case, the answer is Aggro of any kind. I’d build this deck if no other Aggro decks were in the meta, including original Aggro Shaman w/ Jade, Pirate Warrior, Dragon-Pirate Warrior and even Midrange Shaman. This deck fares considerably worse against those decks than Spo’s or Demigod’s lists from a few weeks ago. The loss of Jade cards means that you are losing late every game you don’t win early, and having all of 2x Flamewreathed, 2x Thing from Below and 2x Doomhammer means that you aren’t winning many of them early. And no Jade Lightning means your only answer to Frothing when behind is Lava Burst, or a 1 in 4 lottery for WoA totem when holding Bolt. Yeah, not good.
Not to criticize Thijs, because he clearly knows what he’s doing. It’s other ppl that need to understand that tournaments are tournaments, and ladder is ladder. Ladder is about understanding the field at the rank you’re at, knowing the type of scrubs that are found there at what point of the season, and picking a deck that is good against the field without having any unwinnable matchups. Dragon-Pirate warrior is a nearly unwinnable matchup for this deck, and is just too common right now.
@ScottAllen11:
Why run Thing from Below with Sir Finley Mrrgglton in the deck? Seems a bit counterintuitive? Would it be safe to sub out 2x Thing from Below and 2x Spirit Claws for 2x Jade Claws and 2x Jade Lightning?
You're thinking too hard. Things is OP, the few times the Finley messes things up are not worth bothering over. I have seen many high quality players use both. If anything you'd cut Finley tbh, but I would just try both. Often in aggro Finley is a later play than you'd think, and even if not, you still have 4 totems in your deck.
It does seem counterproductive to play Sir Finley on turn 1, but with double Flametongue + double Totem Golem there are enough discounts even without a single hero power totem. Even a 4 mana 5/5 with taunt isn't bad, especially since there's no overload.
Any replacements for Sir Finley? I disentchanted him. :-/
Cause I never used him and I needed dust^^ He's such a goofy card I'm not going to craft him back although I could. I used a second Southsea Deckhand instead and it works pretty great!
Edit: I also use Jade Claws instead of Spirit Claws because they have synergy with Tunnel Trogg
i disenchanted him too cuz i thought that i will never play aggro decks, but control warrior is dead atm
Unfortunately this is a great deck.. From rank 16 to 5 with a winrate around 70%.
I swapped 1 doomhammer with leeroy because leeroy is a badass and he simply saved my ass multiple times.
Did the same. Works great.
I reached my first legend with this deck from rank 4. 70% winrate (32-14). Thx a lot.
so many times with shit in my hand
Yep....I'm in the same boat. I mulligan properly, but still get shit.
Thanks for helping cancer pirate community t__ WutFace