[Witchwood] Wild Hands (Handbuff Paladin)
- Last updated Apr 15, 2018 (Witchwood)
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Wild
- 26 Minions
- 2 Spells
- 1 Weapon
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Handbuff Paladin
- Crafting Cost: 18240
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 2/28/2017 (Aggro Downfall)
- joey_jojo_48
- Registered User
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- 14
- 39
- 75
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Battle Tag:
JoeyJojo48#1451
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Region:
US
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Total Deck Rating
194
Hello Hearthpwn!
Here's my fifth deck (Handbuff Paladin). I've been playing the hell out of Handbuff Paladin ever since Mean Streets, and I even took it to legend in Un'Goro (proof below). And while it may not be allowed in Standard anymore, it'll live on in wild! It's fairly tricky to play and is definitely off-meta, but it's one of the most fun decks I've ever played. If you've got the cards I highly reccomend giving it a try. I'll do my best to keep this page updated with the most current decklist I am running. Cheers!
*APRIL 15th: The first Wild version of this deck is here! This is far from a final refined list given that I am not a wild main and that the wild card pool is so huge, but it's at least a solid starting point for anyone wanting to try out the archetype.
If you're interested in a "standard version" of the deck, feel free to check it out Piperbuff Paladin. While obviously not exactly the same, it plays very similar.
Also I made another standard deck, a Big Deathrattle Hunter, so feel free to check that out if you're into that kind of thing.
Best of luck in the Year of the Raven!*
~ General Strategy ~
The general strategy of the deck is fairly straightforward. Your goal is to use the handbuff cards (Smuggler's Run, Prince Keleseth, Grimestreet Enforcer, and Val'anyr) to make your hand very big, and then use those big cards to beat down your opponent. To help with this, this deck runs a ton of cards to disrupt/neutralize your opponent's threats (such as Aldor Peacekeeper. Ironbeak Owl, and Sunkeeper Tarim) as well as cards who scale very well with buffs (such as Chillblade Champion, Wickerflame Burnbristle, and Saronite Chain Gang). One of the nice things about a handbuff deck is you can run a decent number of tech cards, but since you can handbuff them they can still be useful in other matchups. It's a pretty tricky deck, but just be patient, think things through, and you can beat almost anything.
~ Mulligan Guide ~
Smuggler's Run |
Prince Keleseth |
Zola the Gorgon |
Paragon of Light |
Aldor Peacekeeper |
Wickerflame Burnbristle |
Coldlight Oracle |
Stonehill Defender |
Saronite Chain Gang |
~ Card Choices ~
The Handbuffers |
The purpose of these cards is to buff the cards in your hand (and deck). Smuggler's Run and Grimestreet Enforcer are core cards and the deck will not work without them. If you don't have Prince Keleseth you can use 2x Grimestreet Outfitter and the deck is still very powerful (and it also allows you to run other 2-cost cards like Hydrologist or Acidic Swamp Ooze). If you don't have Val'anyr don't rush to craft it yet unless you've got 1.6k dust lying around. It can easily be replaced with some of the suggestions below based on what you have.
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The Taunts |
Wickerflame Burnbristle |
Taunt cards scale very well with handbuffs, and these cards form the core defensive of the deck. There are lots of other taunt cards that could work in this deck, such as Soggoth the Slitherer, Grimestreet Protector, Corpsetaker, Stegodon, Dirty Rat, Righteous Protector, Spikeridged Steed, Tar Creeper, The Lich King, or Second-Rate Bruiser. Feel free to try them out!
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The Neutralizers |
Uther of the Ebon Blade |
These cards are all meant to mess with your opponent's gameplan so that your cards can shine. Pretty much all of the cards except Aldor Peacekeeper and Sunkeeper Tarim are replaceable. I expect this part of the decklist to shift a lot as the meta changes. Other good tech cards you could consider are Acidic Swamp Ooze, Ivory Knight, Gluttonous Ooze, Golakka Crawler, Lorewalker Cho, Harrison Jones, The Black Knight, Nerubian Unraveler, Hungry Crab, Dirty Rat, Skulking Geist, Stormwind Knight, Spellbreaker, Deathwing, Blackguard, Stampeding Kodo, Mind Control Tech, Truesilver Champion, and Mindbreaker.
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The Heals |
Wickerflame Burnbristle |
You need heals to keep yourself alive. From my experience these cards are often enough. Alternate cards you could consider are Alexstrasza, Benevolent Djinn, Earthen Ring Farseer, Truesilver Champion, Corpsetaker, Bloodworm, Ragnaros, Lightlord or Ivory Knight.
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The Main Event
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Wickerflame Burnbristle |
In handbuff decks, you obviously want to hit as many cards with your buffs as possible. But these cards in particular are the ones you really want to hit. They are either ones that have beneficial keywords, have card draw/pseudo card draw, and/or can squeeze extra value from the buffs. One package of note in here is "The Curator Package" (1x The Curator, 2x Primordial Drake, 2x Coldlight Oracle, and 2x Ironbeak Owl). This package gives a very reliable minion-based card draw engine to help keep your hand full and ready to buff.
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Let's play some Hearthstone together! JoeyJojo48#1451, Americas :)
Any updates on this deck as of the February patch and the nerfs to Bonemare and Corridor Creeper?
Currently working on them, stay tuned :)
thanks mate, appreciate it. i love hand buff paladin, and especially your deck.
What is the best Zola replacement? I was thinking Righteous Protector to counter aggro. Any other good ideas?
Righteous Protector or Stonehill Defender would probly be my reccomendations to replace Zola the Gorgon
Counters KFT Jaina very well. Thank you.
I'm sorry to hear that. Not having Wickerflame Burnbristle is likely a factor since that card is pretty critical for a lot of the synergies. But regardless best of luck in the future.
i agree this deck is not doing well on ladder, but its a cool idea. Would not craft for this deck although most of the cards it uses can be ran in other better decks.
Hi! Welcome to Hearthpwn!
So a couple of things. You may be struggling because of some of those changes you made. Since you don't have Wickerflame Burnbristle you're losing one of the key pieces of healing and anti-aggro in the deck. He is also essential for activating the lifesteal (as well as the divine shield) on Corpsetaker, which is again key healing and anti-aggro. Without that shell cutting Blackguard makes total sense, so that's a good cut to make. But those changes really hurt the aggro matchup. I'd also strongly advice against cutting Grimestreet Enforcer since they are really important for having consistency for handbuffs.
But all that aside, here are some substitutions you could consider based on the problems you've identified:
1) No Board Clears: It's tricky to slot board clears in effectively because most of the good options are spells, which have counter synergy with handbuffs. For minion-based AoE the only decent choices you have are Primordial Drake (which I've used in the past and is a solid options but it comes down pretty late) or Sergeant Sally (which from my experience is sorta inconsistent but can come down as early as turn 3). Consecration is the obvious Paladin board clear choice, and while it is a spell it's an option. But be warned it's a lot weaker when you don't have Wild Pyromancer or Equality to combo with it but you can't run those since they are 2 mana and ruin Prince Keleseth.
2) Running out of Cards: I've also been running into this problem a bit too lately. The problem though is there aren't a ton of great card generators that are worth running. The Lich King or Ysera are pretty good choices since both of them generate extra cards, but they come down fairly late. The Curator is excellent in handbuffs, but you need to make a lot of tweaks to make sure you have enough Beasts, Dragons, and/or Murlocs to trigger him. Other options you could consider could be Gnomish Inventor, Bright-Eyed Scout, or Meanstreet Marshal, but they are a lot weaker options.
3) Can't Deal w/ Aggro: Righteous Protector and Tar Creeper would be my go-to anti-aggro suggestions. They are cheap taunts that scale well with handbuffs. You can also consider the board clear suggestions above.
4) Can't Deal w/ Control: I can't really make suggestions here since it really depends on the type of control you're losing to and why. So I'd need more to go off of. Generally, to beat control you want to either beef up the early game to out pressure them, or beef up the late game so that you can out-value them.
Hopefully that helps.
Between those suggestions I'd go Mind Control Tech. I've run it in the past and it's a very nice tech choice.
Wickerflame Burnbristle is all but essential since it helps against aggro (more lifesteal for corpsetaker) and Tirion Fordring does the same thing for corpsetaker as Righteous Protector, making Righteous Protector pretty useless.
If you're running out of cards then you are playing the deck wrong. Instead of just playing all your minions without handbuffing them, wait until you can either get maximum value out of their effects or until you run out of ways to handbuff them. One key aspect of this deck is Acolyte of Pain since it can draw you 3+ cards depending on how many times you handbuff him (ideally 2 or 3).
Maybe I'm just bad but I only won 1 game in 10 at rank 7-8. I am just getting smorced down by everyone (Hunter, Rogue, Warlock) or outvalued by Control decks (Druid, Priest)
It seems that I'm always in desperate need for a board clear...
In my opinion it doesn't make sense to run Stampeding Kodo when there is Scorp-o-matic now.
But then you can't use Prince Keleseth since Scorp-o-matic is a 2-drop.
Doppelgangster isn’t good unless he gets hit by your weapon Deathrattle? I’m calling BS on that. Summoning even 4/4 bodies for 5 mana can be hard for a lot of classes to answer. It’s great if it catches your weapon don’t get me wrong, but how can you say it’s not good for handbuff when it is probably one of the best cards for it?
Edit: I’ll give the deck a try without any changes but I think you might have underestimated Doppelgangster a bit. Thanks for all the hard work with the guide.
I guess what I said was an oversimplification and Doppelgangster can be a very strong card, but I still more or less stand behind what I said. As 2/2s or 3/3s it's not high enough impact. 4/4s and 5/5s are certainly good against some classes, but against classes with good AoE like Priest, Warlock, and Mage (which for me personally I'm seeing a lot) they still get cleared out and then that's a lot of wasted resources. If you like Doppelgangster by all means put it in and play however you want, but I personally don't like the card.
Deck has been loosing alot at rank 5... GG would maybe advise waiting to see how meta plays out before telling people to craft things. Cool idea though =D
people just dislike and not even have a comment lol.... Its just to slow, would recommend not crafting but if you have cards give it a try. Just way to slow in the meta atm.
I don't have Uther and am gettin zero value out of the blackguards. Priests keep taking them from me and clearing my board. I've gone back to running a modified version of Kibler's deck with Scalebanes instead of spikeridged steeds. How would you play this without Blackguards, or better yet how are you getting value out of them? I've been playing this deck with black knight instead of ysera and am stuck at 18...
To be honest, if you don't have Uther of the Ebon Blade then Blackguard isn't worth it. The cards you have to activate Blackguard are Uther of the Ebon Blade, Chillblade Champion, Corpsetaker, and Wickerflame Burnbristle. Uther of the Ebon Blade tends to be the best activator since you take damage when using the weapon so you'll have life to regain to activate the card. You can also leave the Grave Vengeance equipped to then play Blackguard on a later turn, whereas the other lifesteal minions tend not to stay on the board very long. I guess if you really wanted to keep Blackguard then you need to sub in more healing (i.e. Truesilver Champion, Ivory Knight, etc.), but I would just cut them in place of tech cards based on what you are losing to.