Hearthpwn

The goal of this deck is to have a good opener. I would place it similarly to aggro murloc paladin, but with no direct card draw required because of the warlock hero power.

For your opening hand, try to get a good 1 drop/2 drop/3 drop opener, or if you are on the coin, try for a 2 drop/ 2 drop /3 drop opener. The only reason to keep a 4 drop in your hand is if you already have a 1 2 3 drop, and you think that they will stick long enough to either Gentle Megasaur or Murloc Warleader.

If you are playing against a slower matchup (taunt warrior, Preist, Mage(sometimes), Jade Druid), consider keeping a Seadevil Stinger if you have a Finja, the Flying Star in your hand as well, and mulligan the other cards to try to get earlygame. The nuts is going second, and coining out a Seadevil Stinger into Finja, the Flying Star on turn 3.

Cards To (Usually) Always Keep:

Malchezaar's Imp: A good 1/3 body, useful for early trades, and can be used to draw cards off of Soulfire/Doomguard

Voidwalker: This card has been super helpful to help my other murlocs stick. Turn 1 coin Voidwalker Into Murloc Tidecaller usually lets the Tidecaller stick, allowing for example a turn 2 Rockpool Hunter. And it's also a good 1/3 body

Murloc Tidecaller: Basic stuff, this card is good. It has a firefly 1/2 body, and increases in stats every time you play a murloc. It's a very good card, just pray that it sticks.

Rockpool Hunter: This card will buff any murloc, keep it with a 1 drop murloc and if they can't deal with it by turn 2 it is usually gg. 

Other Keeps:

Murloc Tidehunter: Good play on turn 2 after a Murloc Tidecaller, but can also be used later on for a 1 card double murloc buff

Coldlight Seer: This card is amazing on turn 3, as it makes sure that your murlocs that you still have alive stay that way. Although, if you have the option of playing this card over a Murloc Warleader, you usually want to play this, as it is a permanent buff, vs a temporary buff.

Murloc Warleader: I usually don't love keeping this card without a good curve. It has a super amazing ability, but if it doesn't buff anything, it is somewhat mediocre (just a 3/3 body on an empty board) Although, when this goes off, it can usually do a TON of damage.

Bilefin Tidehunter: It hurts really badly that the 1/1 ooze isn't a murloc, but, a 1/1 taunt is nice to have to protect your murlocs, so if you have a 1 drop, use your own judgement depending on what you are facing, but It is also a fine keep.

Grimscale Oracle: Keep if only if you are on the coin, or that you believe that it will stick. It can be buffed on turn 2 by Rockpool Hunter, or, turn 1 coin out Murloc Tidehunter and turn 2 play this (plus a Voidwalker if you have one) to steamroll a lot of damage. Otherwise, don't feel bad about sending it back.

Blowgill Sniper: Pings can make or break games, so don't be hesitant to take it if you have a good curve. I usually throw it back, but sometimes even just to curve out it isn't too bad.

Bluegill Warrior: I only run one of these, but feel free to run more if you feel like. I would keep this card for the same reason as Blowgill Sniper, but use your own judgement.

Cards Usually Best Sent Back

Soulfire: This card should almost never be kept, as you want to draw into it later, and it provides no body on the board. The only reason to keep it is if you are facing something that is going to have a 1/3 body (mage, warlock, priest) AND you also have a Malchezar's Imp.

Primalfin Lookout: This card is great, but even on curve it can be mediocre. It is used to generate more murloc synergy, but the 3/2 body isn't the best. Usually send it back, unless you are really feeling like you will be able to play it on turn 3 and have it activate

Seadevil Stinger: This card is amazing, but is only great on curve, or on turn 4. This card is usually best sent back, unless you have a great curve, or Finja and a coin. This card is amazing, but if you don't have a good curve, it will sit in your hand, and by turn 4 (or 3 if you didn't coin out anything else), it may be too late. This card is amazing to have though, as it can just flood the board, for very little downside (just watch your health total). If you have the mana, make sure to play this card after your other murlocs, as to not take unnecessary damage.

Finja, the Flying Star: This card is amazing, but it is usually very slow, and should only be kept in slow matchups, or if you are on the coin and also have a Seadevil Stinger.

Doomguard: No. Don't. Please. Always send this back, it will sit in your hand until turn 5, and then screw over your hand size. This card is best drawn into later, as it is too slow to keep.

Gentle Megasaur: Keep only if have a good curve, AND you also believe at least a few murlocs will stick, but in truth, this card is amazing. Even buffing only 1 murloc it is usually worth it, and a 5/4 body suits what this deck is trying to do very well.

The Nuts:

Murloc Tidecaller, into Rockpool Hunter, into Murloc Tidehunter coin Murloc Tidehunter, into Gentle Megasaur or Murloc Warleader.

 

For the most part, this is just what I have seen to work, but don't take this as the end all be all of what to do, use your best judgement.

Like I mentioned in the Mulligan Guide, The basic plan is to have a good opener (1/2/3 drop or 2/2/3 drop on coin, etc.), then snowball the board with murloc buffers, and close out the game with high damage burst spells (Soulfire, Doomgaurd), or just hitting face with stuff until they die.

There are 3 stages of the game that I like to use

1. Building and Protecting Murlocs

To start, you want to play murloc minions, and protect them the best you can (with Voidwalker, Rockpool Hunter, Or just making smart trades with non-vital minions). This gameplan is what you will usually be using to build up to your large snowball turns.

2. Swing Turns

Once you have developed a decent board then, you can start playing your hard hitters. These are large swing cards, that are able to deal a large amount of damage at a time. Those cards are Murloc Warleader, Gentle Megasaur, and even to some extent Grimscale Oracle. These swing turns allow you to push a ton of damage, and usually when not dealt with properly, can lead to victory. Although, if your board is dealt with, you will move on to recovery:

3. Recovery

If your board gets cleared before using a swing card, or your board is diminished by removing a swing card, or you currently do not have the tools at your disposal to finish out the game, then you should look to this path. After your board is cleared, you can use cards like Finja, the Flying Star, Seadevil Stinger, and Primalfin Lookoutto get the board back, or to set up for another swing turn. At this point, you are trying to recover lost tempo, and trying to close out the game

The deck also runs a bit of burst damage, so it can help you close out games you would have otherwise lost. Soulfire and Doomguard are great, but the downside can sometimes be costly. Be careful when using these, and play smartly with them.

IMPORTANT: If you can use life tap, make sure to tap first, before making a play, as it can make your life easier than tapping too late. The warlock hero power is amazing for this type of deck, as it allows us to run no form of "direct" card draw, because we are able to utilize our hero power for this instead.

Basic Combos:

Murloc Tidecaller into any murloc, particularly Rockpool Hunter, Coldlight Seer, Murloc Warleader, Murloc Tidehunter

Seadevil Stinger into any murloc, particularly Primalfin Lookout, Murloc Warleader, Finja, the Flying Star, and itself on occasion.

Malchezaar's Imp Into Soulfire and Doomguard

Coldlight Seer into other murlocs on board

Murloc Warleader into other murlocs on board

Gentle Megasaur into other murlocs on board

Also, I like this one:

Quote from AngryJQrgen >>

Round 3. Coined Seadevil stinger  > Seadevil stinger > Murloc warleader. Opponent conceded.

That is the strategy I use when playing the deck, and it seems to work pretty well, at least for me. It may not be the correct one, so I am interested to see what you guys think of it. Leave some feedback, as it is greatly appreciated, I will read it all!

I never thought I would be writing this guide lol, but u guys did it, here ya go!

Disclaimer: This is just an idea, don't take each of these strategies as hard fact of what to do. I am listing what has worked for me and others, so if you feel like you want to make a play that isn't listed, go right ahead and do it.

Shaman:

 

Token/Evolve(Favored): I have run into a ton of shamans on ladder, and I believe this matchup to be favored. They have only 4 board clears (Maelstrom Portal and Devolve), and with two of them (Devolve), your board still stays somewhat intact. The goal is to flood the board early with small murlocs, and DON'T GO FACE until the swing turns if there are cards you can safely clear from their board. You need to prevent the tokens they have from getting value via Flametongue Totem. If you can, almost always try to trade into their tokens if you have sufficient resources to do so. Other than that, there isn’t a whole lot they can do about your murlocs, so turn 3  Murloc Warleader or turn 4 Gentle Megasaur it usually spells gg. Basically, pray they don’t get perfect answers, and you should be fine.

 

Warrior:

 

Pirates (Even): Basically, if they get a good opener, it is gg if they know what they are doing / how to play the matchup. If they trade into your stuff while protecting their minions, there's not a lot you can do. But if you get a good opener, and do the same back to them, there's nothing they can do, because they run 0 board clears. This match will usually be decided by rng (whoever has the better opener), just remember not to forget about pirate synergy, and make sure to clear their pirates if you can.

 

Taunt (Favored): This matchup is Favored if you have a good curve. They usually don’t do anything until turn 2 or 3, so you can almost guarantee that your 1 and 2 drops stick. Basically, just work towards your first swing turn, and after that point there's not much they can do but concede. Just don’t overextend into brawl. Please. Don’t do it.

 

Rogue:

 

Quest (EZ PZ): This deck gets cleaned up by early aggression, as they do near nothing during the first few turns. Play around their weapon, hope they don’t get Backstab (if they even run it), and just go face. This deck wins over quest rogue for the same reason that pirates and aggro druid does, it is just too much for them to deal with (in the early turns.

 

Miracle (Favored): I don’t see this deck too often, but the goal is to play your stuff, and hope they don’t remove it. They are trying to stall out the game till their big drawing turns, but we usually are able to close out the game before then. Just get to a swing turn, and go face, as they are the ones playing defensively. And pray they don’t get board clears from swashburgular. I’ve been Hellfired 2 more times than I would like to admit.

 

Hunter:

 

Mid-Ranged (About Even): Basically, you win if they don’t have Hungry Crab. If they do, then you get kinda stepped on, but, there have been a few times where they will play Hungry Crab on turn 1, not expecting me to be playing murlocs, because this deck is fairly new. Basically, clear their beasts, and stabilize your board with small buffs. It is more important to clear beasts, because of Houndmaster screwing you over, or Crackling Razormaw in some cases. Once again, whoever gets the better opener usually is the winner.

 

Preist:

 

Purify (Favoured): Basically, this deck runs 0 hard removal. Curve out from turn 1, and play around potion of madness, and you should be perfectly fine. Hit them in the face, and pray they don’t get the perfect draw to OTK you, and you should win

 

Dragon (Unfavoured): This deck runs hard removal, and has a lot of minions that can trade easily into yours. With this deck, you are going to be doing a lot of rebuilding murlocs. You can mulligan for a slower hand against this deck (Possibly a Seadevil Stinger into a Finja, the Flying Star if you can), and the goal is to close out the game by turn 6, or at least have one large damage turn, and close out the game with direct damage. Do your best, but don’t feel too bad if they get a good draw, no deck is perfect for every situation.

 

Mage:

 

Secrets (Even): This matchup is mostly rng, and it relies on who gets the better hand. If you get a good curve, and they get a mediocre hand, you win. If they get a g0d tier hand, and you don't, then you lose. It’s mostly rng, but make sure to play around Counterspell and Mirror Entity to the best of your ability.

 

Contol/Burn (Unfavoured): The goal of their deck is to clear minions, and hit face with burn. Any time they use burn to clear a minion, that is less damage going towards your face. The mage hero power also screws us over a bit, so try to avoid playing stuff with 1 hp unless you have a buffer to play right after. Pop their block early, and pray they don’t kill you, that’s all you can do for the most part.

 

Freeze (Even): I haven’t played against too much freeze mage, but from what I have tried, basically, throw out minions, and pray they don't freeze doomsayer. I'm not very experienced in this matchup, so I am not going to give a ton of tips, as I don’t feel like I have played it enough. Just play around removal, and go face.

 

Paladin:

 

Mid-Ranged (Favored): Basically, get a good curve, and you win. The early game they have is a bit limited (unless they get crazy perfect draws), and they can’t dodge your swing turns very well. Basically, mulligan for a good curve, curve out, and clear their murlocs, then swing face. Rinse and repeat.

 

Aggro (About Even): They are basically running the same deck as you are, minus a few cards. The one advantage you have over them is card draw via your hero power (Paladins won’t be able to draw much with Divine Favor, because you are usually dumping your hand most turns). Curve out, clear their murlocs, and go ham on your swing turns. It’s a very fun and interactive match to play, just watch out for their Sunkeeper Tarim if it gets that far into the game.

 

Druid:

 

Aggro W/ Hungry Crab (GG): Turn 1, you play a murloc. They play Hungry Crab and possibly buff it. Turn 2, you play another murloc. They play two tokens and coin buff their stuff. It is very hard to win when they tech Hungry Crab, but if they misplay there is a slight chance of victory.

 

Aggro W/O Hungry Crab (About Even): Basically, remove their stuff before they buff it, and you should be fine. Keep as many murlocs as possible alive, for the chance of playing a buffer and getting good trades. Your goal is to survive until swing turns, then you can turn the table. For the most part, this matchup is mostly rng, whoever gets the better draw. Do your best!

 

Warlock:

 

Zoolock (Favored): Basically, curve out, then do a swing turn. I have played this matchup once, and it was basically insta gg. Play the cards you draw, and watch them concede, this matchup isn’t too bad.

 

Mirror (Lol): RNG, whoever gets the better hand wins. You should know (for the most part) what every card in their deck is (because it’s yours lol) and play around their buffs you know they have. I haven’t played this matchup before, but if it happens, it is probably super fun. After the match, add your opponent. You know you want to.