[Rank 1 Wild Legend] Malygos Shaman + basic guide
- Last updated Mar 1, 2017 (Aggro Downfall)
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Wild
- 7 Minions
- 23 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Control Shaman
- Crafting Cost: 9740
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 1/14/2017 (Gadgetzan)
- 50hz
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- 3
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- 35
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EDIT: After many tilts and climbs, 9 agonising wins in a row from rank 3 and a metric ton of RNG; I have finally broken rank 1 :D http://imgur.com/a/RBzVG
EDIT2: So as Spirit Claws got nerfed to relative shit, I was trying some new stuff last month and settled with Finders Keepers as was suggested a few times on here and reddit, performed very well and finished 15 legend last season so I think it's the way to go now, will properly update this after I get back from Holiday.
Hey, I'm Chillinon, a guy who really like combo decks. I've been working on making a viable Malygos Shaman for quite some time but was impeded until now by the popularity of Secret Paladin that is generally a pretty weak matchup for this deck; because Pirate decks currently dominate with a mixture of Renolocks and Priests on the side, I thought I'd give the deck another spin and was able to hit Legend pretty quickly from rank 22 in about 3 days.
Whilst I have no precise stats due to playing on tablet, I documented the majority of my lethals which I have just below to give the general jist of how it can win / prove I've actually been playing this Jank all the way.
Album: http://imgur.com/a/iNVR2
The deck: http://imgur.com/a/xGn6s
The cards
Frost Shock and Lightning Bolt double up as removal in aggro matchups and cheap spells that turn into big burst in conjuction with Malygos. Frost shock in particular is especially great as games go on again weapon classes and preserves our soft, squishy face against Arcanite Reaper.
Ancestral Knowledge is a great card for fast draw, cheap upfront cost often allows you to pick up an answer you really need e.g. Hex and play it on the same turn when the opponent is pressuring you. Only really against slow matchups like Reno would I typically use it turn 2, and only then if I don't have a Mana Tide Totem or Far Sight for turn 3.
Bloodmage Thalnos, one of the best cards ever printed, activates Spirit Claws and pushes our AoE cards up a stage when needed, also fine to slam onto the board at other times and dig deeper into the deck.
Crackle, hate this card from a design standpoint but there's no denying how good this card can be as a Hail Mary when you need to risk a lethal or lose next turn. When not under pressure, I tend to account for the dame I will get at the lowest possible roll.
Lava Shock is debatably the reason this deck can function, it's so versatile and whilst ideally used to rid huge overload like Elemental Destruction, it's often correct to use it to rid a niggling bit of overload if you want to have a big Emperor turn you couldn't have overwise, for example.
Maelstrom Portal, fantastic clear for low impact minions and the only AoE we have as a Shaman with no drawbacks.
Elemental Destruction and Lightning Storm are also great AoEs, despite their randomness, and the reason you play this combo deck over the others available due to the low upfront cost to high impact of their use. Sometimes you're forced to make the hard decision between a Lightning Storm that could clear versus a Elemental Destruction that will set you back an additional 3 mana, a good way to guage what is correct whether the consequence of not fully clearing outweighs the consequence of mana penalty for your next move.
Far Sight is an unusual and very potent card to use, besides getting cheaper burn, it is probably one of the biggest game-changers in how many matches play out. With regards to Lava Shock, Ancestral Knowledge and AoE cards in particular, a lot of games it's good to bank these when reduced to 0 cost if you can get a very good Overload reset turn soon that you couldn't normally (I hope that made sense).
Very basic example: turn 4 Far Sight draws Ancestral Knowledge, turn 5 Ancestral Knowledge + Elemental Destruction + Lava Shock to reap optimal value.
Healing Wave At maximum, potentially game stabilising heal. At minimum, various degrees of disappointing. A necessary evil.
Hex is the best hard removal in the game, 2x because it's just that good and can be used to decent effect in almost every matchup.
Mana Tide Totem a soft taunt that provides constant draw if not dealt with, great minion to get off Barnes when wanting to dig through deck. It sounds strange but quite often, killing your own Mana Tide Totem can be the right thing to do in control matchups so you don't have to needlessly waste resources thereafter to not overdraw.
Ancestor's Call more than anything is the reason this deck is restricted to wild as of writing, cheating Malygos out for 3 or 4 mana is so good in pretty much every matchup and the few minions we run means the randomness of the effect is rarely a problem. Against Reno Mage or other cabal class that has gotten Ice Block, if you do pop them because of Barnes and still have Ancestor's Call in hand + mana to spare, use it in case they have Reno in hand to maximise chance of winning.
Barnes is another method of activating Malygos’ burst but also brings a great deal of versatility to the deck, potentially cheating an early Emperor tick, gaining additional draw in Mana Tide or Thalnos or even allowing us to heal through Hallazeal’s effect. A must have in the deck’s function.
Azure Drake. Cantrip, Spell Power, decent costs for Jousts. Neat.
Hallazeal the Ascended in conjunction with Elemental Destruction restoring my health to 30 from single digits and wiping the board largely responsible for many of my aggro opponents instantly conceding. Fine card and well statted for cost so can be slammed down as a body often against control.
Emperor Thaurissan. You get huge discounts that boost survivability and combo potential. Is good.
Malygos. The king of this deck. Malygos comes down, something is going to die.
Why you should you play it?
1) It's like Freeze Mage, but with much better AoE options and ability to stabalise itself against the current meta. It also is a bit flashier, and has much more BM potential than your regular Freeze list, for those so inclined.
2) It's consistent as a deck focused around a single minion can be (also a notable minus).
3) It's got good matchups against all pirate based decks and reno warlock/priest, which are currently the most popular decks.
Why you shouldn't play it
1) Against control, Malygos (or Mini-gos from Barnes) is almost always your only win condition and occasionally ends up as your last card, Barnes alleviates this somewhat, but isn't a guarantee until you've drawn.
2) if you're easily tilted by Lightning Storm.
Sounds good, how does it play?
Mulligans and matchups
Warrior:
Pirate (even-favoured) / Dragon (favoured) -
Always keep - Lightning Bolt, Lightning Storm, Maelstrom Portal, Spirit Claws, Bloodmage Thalnos, Lava Shock,
Often keep - Healing Wave, Elemental Destruction, Crackle
Sometimes keep - Barnes, Hex (high priority if Dragon), Far Sight, Mana Tide Totem
As of writing you should assume this unless you know 100% that the opponent is playing control, use removal aggressively, minimise opportunities for Bloodsail Cultist to get value, if things are going your way, you should stem the bleeding by turn 5 or 6, generally if you get a Hallezeal combo turn off at turn 8 you can't lose thereafter. Against Pirates you can use Hex against anything vaguely threatening. Dragon warriors pressure you much less, be a bit more cautious around the 15 health mark and Deathwing where sensible, hexes save for big health and Drakonid dudes. Frost Shocks are Godsends in these matchups and you almost always want to use it on the Warrior's face to stop them bleeding you with their weapons
Control (VERY UNFAVOURED; BE PRAYING) -
Always keep - Malygos, Ancestor's Call, (draw cards), (burn), Hex, Spirit Claws
Sometimes keep - Emperor
Gather your combo and kill as fast as possible, I'd like to say it's less pessimistic than Freeze Mage vs Warrior but I attribute my relative not-awful results against the few I encountered as down to not knowing how to play against my deck.
Priest:
Dragon (very favoured) / Reno (favoured):
Always keep - (Draw cards), Ancestor's Call
Often keep - Hex
Sometimes keep - Emperor, Barnes, Elemental Destruction, Lava Shock (if combined with Ele D)
these play pretty similarly, draw when convenient (coining out Mana Tide Totem is often a good shout), wipe the board when they pressure you about mid health, get a good emperor turn and OTK. A nuance with Reno Priest is that you want to avoid getting Malygos dragged out by Dirty Rat, hence why we don't keep him in the Mulligan and keep Ancestor's so we ideally kill at the first opportunity. Additionally, Kazakus potions for 10 armour are a pain but not unsalvageable, just be extra wary of expending all excess burn until you know what they got. In a typical match, 1 hex goes on an Operative and the other Ysera but it's a little flexible (Deathlords are good candidates if you haven't drawn Malygos)
Warlock:
Renolock (even-favoured)
Always keep - (draw cards), Hex, Ancestor's Call
Often keep - Elemental Destruction, Lava Shock, Barnes
Sometimes keep - Emperor
A bit harder than Renopriest as they can OTK you back but overall you still feel pretty confident going in, Hex wants to remove scary or bulky things like Mountain Giant or Twilight Drake etc, Healing Waves at 20 are fine to play around leeroy, like priest, you go for the full OTK though a lot of the time they've kindly damaged themselves enough for you to finish them without the full damage (or even without Malygos on occasion)
Shaman:
Jade Pirate shaman (very favoured)
Always keep - Lightning Bolt, Lightning Storm, Hex, Maelstrom Portal, Healing Wave Elemental Destruction, Lava Shock, Spirit Claws, Bloodmage Thalnos
Often keep - Barnes, Crackle
Sometimes keep - Far Sight, Frost Shock
General strategy follows the same as Pirate Warrior but easier as they have much less weapons, Lightning Bolt is a very important keep as it handily rids us of tunnel Troggs and Buccaneers turn 1, Hexes almost always go on 4 mana 7/7, Frost Shocks go on the 7/7 if you don't have Hex / mana cost prohibits it or if they have the Doomhammer out.
Midrange Totem Shaman (even)
Always keep - Lightning Bolt, Lightning Storm, Hex, Ancestral Knowledge, Elemental Destruction, Lava Shock, Spirit Claws, Bloodmage Thalnos, Far Sight
Playing around Bloodlust maths is the main issue with the matchup because you don't have much to contest the board and Midrange Shaman is very good at producing harmless junk you don't want to AoE, this is another matchup where you're wanting to kill them from 20-30 as they always will run Hex, concerning your own hexes however, you generally use them their Thunderbluff or Flamewreathed Faceless if ran.
Jade Midrange Shaman (even)
Always Keep - Lightning Bolt, Lightning Storm, Ancestral Knowledge, Lava Shock, Spirit Claws, Bloodmage Thalnos, Far Sight
Sometimes keep - Hex, Maelstrom Portal
A bit like Midrange but much higher priority on your draw, as they don't run Bloodlust afaik we're "safer" for longer and the opponent's lethals will almost always be apparent on board so you can play a bit greedier on AoE usuage. Kill as fast as possible.
Malygos Mirror [no data]
Always keep - (Draw cards), Ancestor's Call
Sometimes keep - Hex
This is hypothetical, draw as much as you can, waste a heal or Maelstrom if you need to, Ancestor's Call could pretty interesting as you could drag out their Malygos and Hex it should you seriously believe they him as their sole minion in hand however that's probably an iffy move as it weakens your own OTK potential. Science needs to be done.
Druid:
Egg Druid (unfavoured)
Always keep - Maelstrom Portal, Spirit Claws, Bloodmage Thalnos, Lightning Storm, Lava Shock
Sometimes keep - Hex, Elemental Destruction, Healing Wave
A good early Maelstrom Portal does wonders against this deck, though our slowness means that they can often mount a board that becomes too bad to try wipe very fast. If you can get rid of all their resources though, you win. If they get a big Soul of the Forest up and you can't remove both layers, you should probably just concede.
Jade Druid (unfavoured - even)
Always Keep - Hex, Lightning Storm, Ancestral Knowledge, Lava Shock, Spirit Claws, Bloodmage Thalnos, Far Sight
A bit worse matchup than Jade Shaman because of the Druid's Hero Power and ability to ramp as well as silly Fandral and Auctioneer shenanigan turns to pressure you. Try to combo as fast as possible and be fairly greedy with AoEs, Hex Aya and Fandral or Arcane Giants. If the Druid knows what you're playing then Feral Rage for 8 armour is a massive additional pain to slow you down.
Mage:
Reno Mage (unfavoured)
Always keep - (Draw cards), Lava Shock, Lightning Bolt, Ancestor's Call
Sometimes keep - Lightning Storm, Hex
I dislike this matchup because it's very luck based; if they don't get their Ice Block up, you win and if you drag out Reno when popping a block via Ancestor's Call you probably win. If they happen to recover to 30 from single digits we lose 90% of the time obviously. Thankfully, only having a single copy of each card gives us a tiny bit of time statistically to eat through our draw and kill them before that can happen so it not entirely unfavoured. A potentially safer way of winning (as suggested by MetricTrout) if you are for certain that the mage has block up is to wait for fatigue and deal 29 using exactly Lightning Bolt + Lightning Bolt + Frost Shock + Lava Shock (8+8+6+7) so that the rollover fatigue kills them through block. Bear in mind that this has infinite potential to get meta as fuck and lead to all sorts of sheningans where a mage pings themselves to ruin/recalculate what burst you need.
Freeze Mage (pretty - very favoured)
Always keep - (Draw cards), Ancestor's Call, Emperor
Sometimes keep - Malygos
We do the same thing but our reach is better and draw faster most of the time thanks to cards like Mana Tide Totem which the mage is reluctant to remove directly without AoE. Generally it's better not to activate Ice Barrier. Always waste your AoEs if you need to to avoid overdraw, they're pretty much useless here. They can't really soften you down because of our healing and they generally can't complete their OTK setup by the time we've got Malygos down and the block popped.
Paladin:
Secret Paladin (unfavoured - even)
Always keep - Lightning Bolt, Maelstrom Portal, Spirit Claws, Bloodmage Thalnos, Lightning Storm, Lava Shock, Hex
(following paragraph credit to MetricTrout)
One thing to note about Secret Paladin is that can't much burst from hand. The most damage they can typically do is 6 damage more than what's on board, from Truesilver Champion + Consecration. This lack of burst makes them predictable, and you can use that to your advantage by being greedy with your board clears. In addition, Secret Paladins don't typically run healing (outside of the negligible 4 health from Truesilver), and also don't have much hard removal outside of Keeper of Uldaman. This allows you to safely summon Malygos early with Ancestor's Call, if needed, to combo with Maelstrom Portal or Lightning Storm to clear their board. Unload any burn spells you have left at face. It's nearly impossible for a Secret Paladin to come back after that, as they lack removal and don't function well without board advantage.
Rogue:
Miracle Questing Rogue (even - favoured)
Always keep - Hex :( , Bloodmage Thalnos, Lightning Bolt, Lava Shock, Crackle, Far Sight
Sometimes Keep - Elemental Destruction, Ancestral Knowledge, Barnes, Healing Wave, Azure Drake
The main advantage we have over this Miracle is that they need to be on board to deal burst damage outside of Evis and Leeroy, and we can deal with most their Concealed minions with Elememtal Destruction sans a big Van Cleef of Questing Adventurer, it's fine to use Healing Wave after the 20 mark like with Renolock, Hex priority goes to a big Vancleef or a Questing although it can often be very good to use it on a Tomb Pillager in order to deny coins that enable the Rogues game winning combos. You do not need to combo in the matchup, just wear them down, survive and maybe drop Malygos down once you feel safe, Hallazeal is often MVP here and has consistently gotten me just outside of what I expected the Rogue's remaining reach to be, the 6 health also making it difficult to remove without spell damage or a Sap.
Basic tips
If you have to kill an opponent from 30 e.g. Priest or N'Zoth Paladin (LUL), your basic OTK is Lightning Bolt/Crackle x 3 + Frost Shock, after Malygos that's 8 + 8 + 8 (minimum) + 6 for a total of 30, additionally this is 9-10 mana without an Emperor tick after Ancestor's Call.
Just slapping Malygos on the board is encouraged vs aggro once you've stabilised, they can't do shit to it most of the time and if they do waste their reach to kill him, you'll win anyway.
Whilst I didn't use one for this run, I recommend using a deck tracker whilst playing this to save the need to memorise what burn and minions are left in the deck
Additional tech considerations
2nd Maelstrom Portal if meta is more Secret Paladin or Egg Druid; the only Shaman AoE without a penalty for using it and it often deals with the annoying layer (e.g. divine shield) of the sticky minions that these decks produce.
Lava Burst if meta is more control / Jade, end games a little faster before the opposition can overwhelm you with their minions.
Subbing out a Hex for Devolve is an option worth considering as a great answer to sticky swarm decks like Secret Paladin or Egg Druid as well as being a good way to deal with stealthed threats or N'Zoth boards.
Additional credits:
Hearthpwn user MetricTrout who piloted a 90% similar deck previous season to top 5 and suggested better methods of dealing with a few matchups, his list can be found here http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/706789-top-5-legend-malygos-shaman
Reddit user Efendi11 for suggesting the use of Devolve as a tech card in the original CompetitiveHS post
Closing words
Ultimately, whilst it takes some getting used to, the deck is a pretty strong alternative to Freeze Mage in the current wild meta and is a blast when you get into the swing of things. I feel like the deck achieves something that never really turned out well during the previous standard cycle and to me, that's what the allure of Wild was meant to be about.
Is there anything you would add for ungoro such as volcano?
I'm having a lot of trouble with the priest match up. They always buff their minions out of ele destruction range in the early game, and even if I manage to clear they just fill the board again with big minions like drakonid op. I never really have enough time to assemble enough burn to kill them
This deck is still insane, just went 10-1 from rank 20 to 16 so far only losing to 1 pirate warrior.
Only replaced -1x Finders Keepers +1x Devolve
piloted this deck with -1 thalnos/+1 maelstrom portal tech to asia server legend, thanks a lot for the guide! it helps me deal with those unfamiliar decks really well
It's not worth it. In the rare scenario that it's correct to play maly without lethal the same turn, usually he's going to die to a transform effect like hex. It's better to play burn since you only usually need 3-4 burn cards with maly to win the game. Remember, this deck isn't about board advantage; it's a combo deck.
Does this really need a novel written about it and a massive album of screenshots of the same victory screen over and over?
Album- not really necessary, I just felt like it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Novel - I'm not making a video and it's a weird deck to play well so I tried to be thorough. I've still had to coach like 6-7 people on my friends list so I might just be a really bad writer.
Having a ton of fun with this deck.
Looks like a fun deck. I don't think temp storm knows what they are talking about as they list this as a tier 4 deck.
https://tempostorm.com/hearthstone/meta-snapshot/wild/2017-01-22
Congratulations on hitting Legend with Malygos Shaman! I played Malygos Shaman to Legend as well last season. My decklist is in fact the first entry on the Similar Decks tab; as you can see, our decks are almost identical, differing by only 3 cards. The meta is probably a bit more difficult for Malygos Shaman this season, as there are a lot more Reno Mages and Control Warriors compared to last season. In any case, I would argue that Malygos Shaman is still the strongest combo deck in the current Wild meta.
I appreciate the effort you took to write your detailed guide on this deck. I'll link to it in my deck, as you did a great job in presenting an overview on the fundamentals of the deck.
I do have a few notes to add regarding the matchups section of the guide:
Freeze Mage:
Freeze Mages aren't particularly common in the current meta, but I am familiar with the matchup, having played a few games on both sides of the matchup. It is slightly favored for the Malygos Shaman, but not for the reasons you mentioned above. Freeze Mages pack far more card draw than you can as a Malygos Shaman, including Mad Scientist, and it's almost impossible to assemble your combo before they have Ice Block up and are ready to burst you down. The main drawback of Freeze Mage, though, is that their burst come over several turns. Your main win condition in this matchup is to outheal the Freeze Mage and to win through fatigue, as the Freeze Mage will inevitably draw more cards. As a result, it's important to keep track of deck size and to avoid drawing once you have both Healing Wave and Hallazeal the Ascended.
For the mulligans, if you know it's Freeze Mage, keep any of the 3 healing cards in the deck. Card draw should also be kept, as it helps you dig through your deck to find your healing. The Malygos combo can be played whenever you assemble it to pop Ice Block, as it forces them to use their some of their burn to remove it. In addition, using Ancestor's Call to eliminate combo pieces is often another win condition.
Reno Mage:
Reno Mage is an unfavorable matchup, since the combination of Ice Block, Reno Jackson, and Polymorph completely nullifies your win condition. As you mentioned above, the best chance is the simply hope that they don't draw the Ice Block before you assemble your combo. Because this is Wild and they have access to Mad Scientist along with their other spell generation tools, though, this is unlikely.
I would like to add, however, that there is a certain method to defeat a Reno Mage after they have their Ice Block up. Again, it involves fatigue. Your goal is to survive until their deck runs out of cards. Once that happens, you summon Malygos and hit the Reno Mage with exactly 2x Lightning Bolt + 1x Lava Shock + 1x Frost Shock. Assuming no additional spell damage, this combination does exactly 29 damage. At the start of the Mage's turn, they will take 1 fatigue damage for exact lethal, since damage taken on your own turn ignores Ice Block.
Secret Paladin:
You listed this as a very unfavorable matchup, which I disagree with. I would say it's about even. One thing to note about Secret Paladin is that can't much burst from hand. The most damage they can typically do is 6 damage more than what's on board, from Truesilver Champion + Consecration. This lack of burst makes them predictable, and you can use that to your advantage by being greedy with your board clears. In addition, Secret Paladins don't typically run healing (outside of the negligible 4 health from Truesilver), and also don't have much hard removal outside of Keeper of Uldaman. This allows you to safely summon Malygos early with Ancestor's Call, if needed, to combo with Maelstrom Portal or Lightning Storm to clear their board. Unload any burn spells you have left at face. It's nearly impossible for a Secret Paladin to come back after that, as they lack removal and don't function well without board advantage.
Oh damn, congratulations yourself on doing the same last season! I'd just like to add a my own reasoning why I listed those matchups the way I did.
Freeze Mage - I'd argue the most important difference in our deck compositions here is that I'm running Mana Tide Totem which the few Freezes I did fight were very reluctant to kill unless it was included in a Blizzard or Flamestrike, this meant that I was drawing a lot more than they were. As in most of my matches, I was further ahead in the deck, I often happened to get my combo before them. The blocks weren't particularly relevant as Malygos was down and it's difficult for them to both kill Maly and get up another block and then Alex themselves next turn to stabilise (assuming she wasn't already taken out by Ancestor's and disposed of). The only freeze Mage I lost to when playing like this is one where I over drew a crackle and fell just short of being able to finish them off after that exact stabilisation scenario occurred, most of the time it looked like http://imgur.com/a/zJjpY
Reno Mage - It's going to sound dumb, especially because I've written this lengthy guide, but I never actually considered waiting till fatigue xD That does seem to make perfect sense though, I've just been very lucky whilst playing wrong/aggressively that they've either 1) not gotten a block up (sometimes because a Mad Scientist has drawn Duplicate instead) 2) had Reno drgged out by the Ancestor's Call 3) Not had Reno in hand at all. So when you're playing do you just hold off on your draw unless they're ahead then?
Secret Paladin - I've definitely had games which have played out like you've listed but I think your inclusion of the 2nd Maelstrom Portal and Feral Spirits strengthens you significantly here. There have been a many times where I've had to drastically overkill junk with a larger AoE and have suffered because of the overload. I'd say my version, if played optimally is still unfavoured but after reading your comments I realise "very unfavoured" is an overstatement + I have encountered a few more since making this and won some games.
Thanks for your feedback, I do appreciate your criticism. With your permission and full credit, if it's ok, can I write up your amendments in a bit? I'll probably keep the Freeze write up the same for the most part but your insight into Reno Mage and Secret Paladin do the deck more justice than I did. I'll also link to your deck at the end of the guide as up you've kindly done for me :)
Feel free to amend anything I write into your guide. I appreciate the time and effort you spent in writing this comprehensive guide, and if there is anything I can add to improve it, well, the pleasure is mine.
Regarding Reno Mage, it's still heavily unfavored if they get an Ice Block up, but if you have assembled your combo pieces, you do need to watch your card draw to ensure you don't hit fatigue way before they do. A large portion of their deck is removal and other defensive tools, so it's not too difficult to clear their major threats and survive before fatigue.
As for the differences between our decks, I think it's rather remarkable that we've come up with such similar lists independently, in our attempts to optimize this archetype. I do think that in this current meta, a second Maelstrom Portal is better than Spirit Claws, due to how prevalent weapon removal is. Even some Pirate Warriors are running Acidic Swamp Ooze. Another thing that has shifted between last season and this one is the rise of Egg Druid. Devolve may very well be a tech choice worth considering.
Guys, let me introduce myself, my nick is sens1g, I'm playing at EU server an I was multiple time legend before gadgetzan update, but struggled in reno / pirate Argo meta, since I do like combo decks.
I really need to draw your attention to this deck! Let's start with the fact that I've reached legend with it from rank 4 to leg in 1,5 days. Actually, I faced this guy - Chillinon (guid author) 5 times climbing to the legend: two times on agroburst shaman (lost 0-2), two times with RenoLeeroyWarlock (1-1) and one time on classic dragon priest (lost 0-1). Then I've decided to build that deck (thanks Chillinon for sharing it in game!) and rushed to legend with around 80% win rate (less 5 practicing matches).
It's really satisfacting to see cancer agro pirates conceding at 7-8 turn after hallazeal+ED combo (which might be use with other spells and also barnes doubled this combo). Priests/warlocks can't do anything against 30+ damage combo off with ancestors' call+maly in one turn (its achievable even without taurissan baff).
In conclusion, after struggling with ~60% win rate with mainstream decks, it's nice to see your opponent playing with you as with agrosham while you're setting up your combo.
Few tips for the followers - keep pretending being standard totem sham as long as possible. Try to avoid dirty rats. Try to kill renomage before it played icewall. Try to bite off ~10 health from Renowarlock - it will ease your combo crucially, and maintain 20+ Health in this match up. Against priests do not hurry, build your combo carefully, but remember about damage/armor from Kazakus potions. Never be greedy with your spells in agro match ups - it will help you to live and then play your high health minions (usually, wars/shams concede after loosing their presence at board and run out of cards in hand). GL HF
PS: gratz with legend, Chillinon, I haven't chance to tell you in game :) I was a bit nervous when you published this guide here, but I managed to reach legend before malyshams invaded ladder :DD
PSS: legend proof will follow. Ask questions should you have any, I'll try to accommodate. Sorry for my english - it's not my native.
Holy shit my man thanks for posting this, I'm actually having fun in Hearthstone after a long time. Don't have Hallazeal yet but it's definitely my next craft.
By the way, what do you think of Finders Keepers in this deck?
Sorry for the late reply, been busy. Never really considered finder's keepers at all, really hard to evaluate given it's range of outcome.
Don't think I'd run as although it can get more reach or AoE, it's also fairly likely to just give you a minion you don't really want. Still, if you see some potential, don't let me stop you from trying it :)
Thanks for the reply! Yeah I'll be keeping Finders Keepers for now until I get Hallazeal.
I find the Reno Mage match-up almost unwinnable, I've never beaten one since I've started using the deck. The only time I got close to killing one managed to win because they got Bolf Ramshield off of an Effigy. Even if I pull their Reno with ancestor's call. and pop their Ice Block, I usually don't have enough burn left to kill them.
Good, I always tried to add Malygos in my standard shaman decks but it just did not work out.
I played a few games with this deck and enjoyed them all. The only game I lost was because I miss-clicked and killed my own minion.
I would really appreciate a video of your gameplay.
Thanks for the long detailed post!