Hearthpwn

I donthave caerne , what card can i put in the deck if i only have naxxramas legendaries anddont have caerne ? Thanks

If you don't have either Cairne or Sylvanas, you can substitute them with a Sunwalker or Argent Commander. However, they are largely less effective than their legendary counterparts.

I run a very similiar deck, originally got the idea from sjow. I have Sylvanas rather than the Cairne and 2 water elementals minus polymorph. It really is all preference. Good synergy with all the deathrattle cards and secrets, like any other deck though a bad draw can put you in the hole quickly. It is a very fun deck to run though!! :)

Have you tested any other legendaries in Cairnes' slot?  Obviously Sylvanas would work quite well as a replacement, but I just wondered what you experience in this meta has been with other end-game drops.

As you said, Sylvanas is the obvious substitute if you don't have/aren't a big fan of Cairne. I have tested a few other cards, but to mild success. The first notable card I tested was Ragnaros in place of Cairne. Now, in a control meta with not too many deathrattle cards, Ragnaros is completely reasonable to pick to combat large creatures some decks like to play. However, in the midrange/aggro meta we are in right now, Ragnaros proves to be more of a liability than an asset. Most boards in the meta right now are comprised of numerous small creatures with deathrattles. Using 8 mana to summon Ragnaros and hitting a small deathrattle creature such as Haunted Creeper is detrimental to this deck. Basically, you're wasting your turn and giving momentum to your opponent. Plus, if you get Ragnaros in your opening hand, its effectively a dead card for a majority of the game. The next card I tested was Alexstraza, but quickly noticed its a dead card as, by turn nine, you have probably gotten your opponent under 15 health. The final card I tested was Sunwalker, which proved to preform pretty well. The main use of Sunwalker was to combat a few heavy aggro decks, such as Zoo.(I know its a board control deck) In conclusion, Cairne and Sylvanas are the two best choices for the end-game slot. Cairne provides more staying power and a protection against board clear while Sylvanas adds more consistency to the control match-ups.

So far I'm at rank 4.(I don't play too much ranked) Unless I get a bad draw of 2-3 of these cards(Flamestrike, Sludge Belcher, Cairne, Arcanists) in my opening hand, I very likely will end up winning. Also, this deck doesn't really have a problem against Hunter most of the time as it does not rely entirely on secrets to gain board and win. The secrets are more used as a scare tactic into forcing the opponent into a bad play. The biggest threat to this deck is Druid due to all the large taunts, but cards could be switched out to greatly improve the match-up.

Ethereal Arcanist, in my opinion, is a very helpful card, but not necessary if you don't have one in your collection. It is built on synergy and provides a great threat on turn 4 for your opponent if you have a secret out. If not dealt with, it has the ability to trade with all of your opponents mid-game, and if dealt with, nets value through wasting much needed removal for your opponent. However, I will admit sometimes it ends up being a dead card, but that is only about 10-15% of the time. If you do not have one, I would suggest replacing it with either a Harvest Golem or Water Elemental, whatever fits your needs.

Sylvanas is an absolutely amazing card for this deck! However, due to the popularity of Hunter at the moment, I prefer to run Cairne as he allows for a greater number of trades and has an overall easier time netting value. Its all personal preference you prefer though.