Hearthpwn

(last updated 09.11.17)

-Fire Fly (x2)

-Bloodmage Thalnos (x1)

-Devolve (x1)

-Flametongue Totem (x2)

-Golakka Crawler (x1)

-Jade Claws (x2)

-Maelstrom Portal (x2)

-Mana Tide Totem (x2)

-Jade Lightning (x2)

-Jade Spirit (x2)

-Servant of Kalimos (x2)

-Thrall, Deathseer (x1)

-Aya Blackpaw (x1)

-Fire Elemental (x1)

-Blazecaller (x1)

-Kalimos, Primal Lord (x1)

-There should be only one Devolve in the deck, no more, no less. It is usually to play around taunts or some spesific cards such as Living Mana, Spikeridged Steed, Spreading Plague. Devolve is usually not that good against Bonemare, a commonly used cards by many decks (cause devolving a 7 mana 5-5 usually ends you up with a 6-6) and it is not good against decks that swarm the board because when you devolve they still have a big board to work with anyway. But if you really like this card and think it is really good for you, ok go for it i guess.

-Golakka Crawlers are at least somewhat relevant in control matchups (2 mana 2-3) and really good against aggro. There's not much to say about it really.

-Bloodlust is a dead card. This deck can't swarm the board as well as evolve shaman can, so you usually won't have a big board. The times where Bloodlust comes in handy is way too small of a percentage. When you are winning, it is usually a situation where you probably would won without Bloodlust anyway, and when you are losing, this card is just crap that you can't play for the whole game.

-Bonemare can be really useful, good battlecry, good evolve target, don't use more than one though because it can break your elemental synergy.

-Thing from Below is alright, but not that exteremely good. The best Thing from Below is the one that is played between turns 4-7 and costs 3 or 4 mana (because your power is mostly bad). 

-Jade Chieftain is similar to Bonemare. Good evolve target, good battlecry, but is not an elemental, so it's not good to play more than one. And since it's not good to play more than one, you won't get as strong jades as if you played 2 Jade Chieftains. But you can't obviously play 2, because it breaks your elemental synergy. As you can see, this card puts himself in a loop that makes him bad for this deck. TL;DR, it's like Bonemare, but it's worse.

-Fire Plume Phoenix is pretty bad, this card just doesn't have enough value. It doesn't give you a significant lead when you are going even or ahead, and it certainly doesn't let you catch up when you are behind.

-Spirit Echo is bad for exactly the same reasons as Bloodlust.

-Doomsayer is only good if you are against aggro and you have it in your starting hand. In every other situation, it's fucking awful.

-Tar Creeper is pretty bad. Completely useless card against control, and aggro decks usually have answers to deal with it. The only case where it is good is when aggro decks were not lucky enough to draw these answer(s). If you really want to, use just one of this card.

- Using only one Hot Spring Guardian is good, this card is basically like Tar Creeper but better, It doesn't lose it's attack in your turn so it is more consistent damage on board, and heal is good in both aggro and control matchups. You should not go for a second one though, because heal probably won't give you much value in very early game, so this card comes most handy in mid game.

- Stonehill Defender is really good. In aggro matchups, you can use its body to stall and you can search for a good taunt drop to play a turn or two later if you don't have something in mind. In control matchups, it's really good again if you can find good late game drops. Overall best choice is White Eyes for any matchup. 

-Lightning Storm should never be used. It is completely useless against control, and not even that good against aggro because most of the time it won't even clear the board completely and 2 overload is just too much. IF you face aggro all the time, use one if you really want to.

-Fire Fly (x2)

-Bloodmage Thalnos (x1)

-Devolve (x1)

-Flametongue Totem (x2)

-Golakka Crawler (x2)

-Jade Claws (x2)

-Maelstrom Portal (x2)

-Mana Tide Totem (x2)

-Jade Lightning (x2)

-Jade Spirit (x2)

-Servant of Kalimos (x2)

-Thrall, Deathseer (x1)

-Aya Blackpaw (x1)

-Fire Elemental (x2)

-Blazecaller (x2)

-Kalimos, Primal Lord (x1)

After playing a lot of games with many variations of elemental shaman, I have realised some stuff about elemental shaman decks. And I think I have found the most optimal elemental shaman deck for the current meta. Please remember that these are just my opinions, it is your most natural right to disagree, and i would really like to hear your opinions about this deck and elemental shaman in general.

So the most important thing I'm going to say is THE KEY NUMBER IS 5. What I mean by that is your defensive options for your early game (cards up to 3 mana) should not be more or less than 5. It should be exactly 5 cards, no matter what you do, don't exceed 5. If you have more than 5, these cards won't have the calue to deal with control decks and if you have less than 5 it won't be able to deal with aggro decks.

The card options are: Hot Spring Guardian, Tar Creeper, Stonehill Defender, Lightning Storm, Devolve, Golakka Crawler.

(I haven't mentioned Bloodmage Thalnos, Jade Claws, Fire Fly, Maelstrom Portal, Flametongue Totem and Mana Tide Totem because I have found them crucial in every possible case)

Out of these options I have found the most optimal 5 cards as: x1 Hot Spring Guardian, x1 Stonehill Defender, x1 Devolve, x2 Golakka Crawler (as shown in the deck)

Please remember that all of the things written above are just the opinions that I came up with from my experience of playing a lot of Elemental Shaman. It is very natural to disagree with things that I have said. But if you have a view opposing to something I said above, at least give its reason why, don't just say something like "this deck is crap", say something like "this deck is crap because ..."

It was mostly Jade Druids, Highlander Priests, and Tempo Mages in ladder (and the deck did fairly good against them all) but now there is a significant increase in aggro decks (Zoolock, Tempo Mage, Aggro Druid), and the old deck couldn't keep up with all the Prince Keleseths, Bittertide Hydras and more aggro stuff like that. So, I went back to the drawing board and cut x1 Stonehill Defender, x1 Hot Spring Guardian and x1 Thing from Below and added x1 Doomsayer and x2 Tar Creeper.

Turned out that these changes made the deck kind of better against aggro, but there was not an absurd change (doomsayer is so bad if you don't have it in your starting hand). However, as I expected, I almost always lost against decks that are not aggro, only exceptions being Dead Man's Hand warrior and quest mage. ( I intentionally said "not aggro" instead of "control" here because even aggroish/midrange decks with some late game stuff in it could take me down)

After that I realised it is impossible to create a control-ish elemental deck that does stand a chance against every matchup (at least for now, let's hope Ben Brony gives us some good shit in upcoming expansion). So I removed most of the defensive stuff (namely, x1 Doomsayer, x1 Bloodmage Thalnos, x1 Golakka Crawler and x2 Tar Creeper ), then added the pirate package , and x1 Thing from Below.

These changes made the deck faster, basically it changed from being a control-ish deck to a midrange deck. And the results are a lot more promising, it did fairly well against both aggro/tempo decks and most control decks. But here are some things that differ from the past version

• It is now slightly harder to play against Jade Druid and Highlander Priest, but it's still winnable.
• It is really hard to play against aggro decks that play Prince Keleseth on turn 1 or 2, but honestly, pretty much all decks struggle in a situation like that so, pray for RNG.
• It is borderline impossible to win against control warlock, but it was a rough matchup with the older version anyway (all shaman decks struggle in this matchup, honestly). And it is not a deck that is played often, so don't worry too much.