Hearthpwn

Malygos Shaman, also called Zeus Shaman, revolves around cheating out Malygos with Ancestor’s Call or Barnes, followed by bursting down the opponent with cheap spells like Frost Shock and Lightning Bolt. To help get there, Malygos Shaman relies on card draw, AoE, targeted removal, and powerful heals, rather than traditional minion combat.

This alternative to Freeze Mage is much better vs. Aggro due to its powerful early game AoE, however it sacrifices some of the end game consistency offered by Freeze Mage. Unlike in Standard, the deck gains access to Crackle (reaching a critical mass of burn spells) and Ancestor’s Call, a powerful tool to cheat Malygos into play and combo out without Thaurissan discounts.

While Malygos Shaman has positive win rates against most tier one decks, it is weak to midrange, which is underrepresented at present. The recent rise of Reno Mage (and consequently, Ice Block) threatens its ability to combo kill, although the matchup is by no means unwinnable. Also—like any combo deck—it can fall apart by failing to draw the right cards at the right time, although Ancestor’s Call significantly improves consistency when compared to the Standard builds of the deck. Malygos Shaman is a powerful choice which attacks the meta from an oblique angle, but because of its poor matchups vs. midrange and Reno Mage, we have it listed in tier 2.

~Write-up by Poach