Hearthpwn

Alright boys, Naxxramas is over and it goes out with what has to be the hardest of challenges so far.

Now, let's have a look at the very final boss of Naxxramas, Kel'Thuzad!

 

Warning: The following passages, inevitably, contain spoilers about the Frostwyrm Lair and Naxxramas' final boss, Kel'Thuzad! If you want the full experience yourself first, stop reading right here!

 

Phase 1:

So, let's start with what Heroic Kel'Thuzad actually does. Kel'Thuzad's initial Hero Power is Frost Blast, it deals 3 damage to your Hero and Freezes it automatically. That means Kel'Thuzad HAS to use it. If you are already wondering why Tirion Fordring is in this list, wait. He can be replaced if you do not have him, will however be capable of helping you later in the fight.

The fact that he deals 3 damage to your face already tells you that you're on a clock. Since he, in addition, has 45 health and 20 armor, you should really only ever consider playing Priest or Paladin against him, since class neutral heals are very limited and you will almost surely not be able to race him!

He does not have a board on Turn 0 contrary to what some previous bosses already showed, which makes the first few turns a bit more convenient against him, as he will actually react to what you play!

This means that you will, at least, not depend on an almost perfect opening hand. Most of his early plays will be Zombie Chows, Shade of Naxxramas and some removal like Shadow Bolt andFrost Shock. In those early turns, try to put bodies, if possible, and also try to draw into some cards that are able to clear his board, while leaving some damage to be dealt to his face.

Sometimes this can prove to be a not so easy task, as he will be playing beefy Minions like Sludge Belcher, Spectral Knight and Frost Elemental, however, if you distribute your Humility, Equality and Aldor Peacekeeper uses carefully you should be able to reach a satisfying state of board and eventually slowly chip down his life. I would, if not necessarily used another way though, advice you to keep your Aldor Peacekeepers in hand to use against his Spectral Knights, as your only other reliable way of removing their damage will be a combination of Equality and whatever is left to kill them off, and your Equality should preferably get some more value, or at least block off more then four damage. This, however, is eventually completely situational and you should evaluate wheather or not you need to Remove him immediately or wait another turn to potentially get more Value.

 

Phase 2:

This is where the battle becomes very interesting! When you get him below 5 Armor he will let you know, using a fancy emote, that you now made a foolish mistake! Well, that mistake apparently was bringing him into his personal danger zone, but let's put that aside.

 

He gets a new Hero Power, Chains. Chains let's him gain control a random minion of yours, contrary to normal mode, this happens permanently! Fortunately enough the developers had a bit of heart left, the Chains cost him 8 mana. This is where the battle becomes somewhere between complicated and really RNG-Based, and it also marks why I chose Paladin. But first off, let's see what also happens when he enters his second phase:

He spawns two Guardian of Icecrown tokens, contrary to normal mode they are 5/5, not 3/3, they also still have taunt. Now, let's get this straight, you do not want to actually bring him low enough to enter this phase unless you can deal with these 5/5s! Taking another 10 damage to the face is not an immediate loss, but you most probably won't be able to afford it. Using any combination of Wild Pyromancer, Equality, The Black Knight, Consecration and whatever is left on your field, make sure you can rid his board of those Guardians or you will not face prettiness.

 

If you do manage to get this far, this is where the battle itself gets a bit awkward from a deck building perspective. You are forced to play minions and push damage into his face, at the same time you should always try to clear his side of the board as well though, as, if you just bash in his face, he will eventually overwhelm you using efficient trades, removal spells and his hero power, Chains!

 

Unfortunately, there is no way to ultimately counterplay him! Best you can do is survive up to that point and spawn a Silver Hand Recruit every possible turn. This, and the absolutely overpowered card Equality (As awesome in Naxxramas as it is in Constructed) made me choose Paladin over Priest. Argent Protector, Humility and Aldor Peacekeeper are just as valuable, as they help you trade, stabilize your board and survive. In Holy Light and Lay on Hands you have great heals, even though they are not always available, which I found to be the one and only great advantage for Priests. 

If you use your Hero Power every turn it reduces his chances of getting anything great with his, which will eventually help you immensely to survive through his late game. Imagine your possibilities if you still have  a solid hand and he actually uses 8 mana to steal a 1/1 token! The same goes for Argent Squires, making them an unusually okay topdeck in a lategame situation.

Now to kill you will have to play your beefy minions and hope that he wastes his turns playing Stoneskin Gargoyles etc. Instead of stealing them, or, if not that, stealing your Tokens! Generally try to avoid playing anything that would absolutely destroy you if he stole it, unless he pressures you enough to force you to play whatever you can. 

In enough cases, if you get into the second Phase and stabilize your board, it may be that his great life total forces you close to a fatigue battle. In a situation of that quality thing of his Acolyte of Pain as a potential tool, consider running Silver Hand Recruits into it and forcing him to draw too many cards! The AI will, as far as my experience goes, not consider Fatigue and happily take 1 damage trades to their Acolytes, which may eventually make just the difference if he cannot kill you in time.

If your Board overwhelms him he also runs Blizzard and Twisting Nether, which I would consider a motivation to not run more then 2 Large minions at a time, with however many Tokens and easily replacable minions you want to place besides them to reduce the probability of losing something grant to aoe removal.

 

 Replacements for cards of Epic or higher rarity:

Tirion Fordring:

Replacing Tirion is not that big of a deal, I'd probably go for a second Sunwalker, the stats per cost are better, the Ashbringer is all that will be missed, but that is hardly replacable by anything! You could consider one Truesilver Champion a valid option, that however is a very dead draw in Phase one, contrary to good old Tirion who actually shines then, not possibly being stolen and still giving the Ashbringer for later use.

The Black Knight:

Now this one is hard to replace adequately, however that is not too big of a drama since The Black Knight himself is just another mens of removing either one of his Sludge Belchers or a Guardian of Icecrown. Since you have more removal but no other card really reaches the cleanness of The Black Knight it's probably best to just get some defensive means going for that, possibly using a Sen'jin Shieldmasta or even an Abomanation to trade up with his  Guardian of Icecrown and potentially clear some of the enemy board in Phase 2.

Lay on Hands:

Alright, not going to lie to you, this one you really want to have. Heal and card draw are two of the things you really need in this Matchup, and no card unites those like Lay on Hands. Only the high mana cost prevents it from being used twice. Since all means of Healing we have is already being used you can not find a card that works as well as Lay on Hands, however, every Beefy Taunt that you have should do. If you feel like you really lack card draw instead (if so, paint me surprised, trading efficiently is not the hard part about Heroic Kel'Thuzad) consider a Gnomish Inventor.

 

With all this said, this battle has RNG standing all over it and the second Phase will not be beaten easily! This is just a deck I think will make the cut well enough many times. If you have any feedback or requests feel free to contact me here or on the EU server, Vijce#2689. Hope you can make this deck work, good luck and have fun!