Hearthpwn

I started playing some Highlander Quest Shaman two days ago and the deck seems really good to me. Playing in the D5-D1 bracket, I am 11-5 so far. I know it is a small sample size but the way the games play out the deck just feels strong. You can generally outvalue all slow decks like Priest and Highlander Mage and the deck also has decent chances against aggro decks as it has quite a bit of removal via battlecry minions (Scalerider, The Lurker Below, Waste Warden, Zeph) which is an excellent tempo play. Also with the DH nerfs if the meta slows down a bit, I expect the deck to perform even better.

Anyone out there who has played Highlander Quest Shaman for a longer time? What are your thoughts?

P.S.: I also gave Highlander Spell Shaman a try (the list Kibler is playing lately), but this one seems much weaker. The pre-nerf DH was still killing me more often than not and Gala or Cube Priest would generally outvalue me in the end.

Depends on what you mean by "fine".  For most folks, getting to legend or even D10 is plenty fine enough, and both versions of shaman you mention here are more than capable of getting that done.

You'll run into more priests and warriors as you climb higher in the legend ranks, and I should mention that if your first inclination is to say, "I've seen lots of warriors already," the majority of folks out there play that deck way below optimally, so I suppose I'll say you run into more capable warriors.

Priests and warriors are dangerous matchups; no two ways about it.  And some of priest's major competitors were nerfed into the ground recently, so we will see whether something else rises up to control the number of priests in the meta.  If not, shaman may continue to struggle.

Regarding whether or not to play the quest or the "Kibler" version of current shaman, I'd say that IF you go the quest route, you include Frizz Kindleroost.  You have to leave open the possibility of getting a double activation on Dragon Queen Alex against the priests.  Especially now that the dragons cost 1 instead of 0, you need to play for everything you can get.

In the almost 24 hours since the nerfs, I haven't seen anyone doing anything totally different from the pre-nerf meta, and I have almost exclusively been playing the Kibler list of shaman during that time.  My win rate has materially improved; no question there.  But I haven't settled down to push for top 100 yet, and I am less than convinced that will be the deck to do it.  Historically, I have not liked the quest version much, but I suppose I will give it a full day of trial this coming weekend, unless something completely new emerges.

Oh, another deck I expect to see more of is the quest warlock which has been hanging around on the fringes since Ashes debuted.  Kibler called that the unwinnable match recently, and while I'm sure he was slightly tongue and cheek at the time, it is not a fun fight to take on.

The moral of the story is the same with all major nerf patches.  People will think of decks that were hovering at t3 or t4 in the pre-nerf meta and hope out loud that those decks will rise up to be powerful enough to play consistently, but the problem is, some other fringe decks will also be empowered, and it's just an open question as to which of the pre-nerf wannabes will actually climb the mountain.

Good luck.

Thanks for your inputs. I know that Frizz was missing from my list, but I don't have him and I wanted to test the deck a bit (albeit without him) before I commit another 1600 dust. I'll probably add him and remove some non-core card (depending on how the meta shifts probably).

P.S.: here is an example of how Swampqueen Hagatha with the quest can do silly things, effectively OTKing some priest: https://hsreplay.net/replay/qubcwaZ9WkcJ9aSMHWc9Kb

I don't know if it is fine but it is definitely benefiting from the nerfs to DH and rogue. I notice this with different decks

### reno
# Class: Shaman
# Format: Standard
# Year of the Phoenix
#
# 1x (1) Forked Lightning
# 1x (1) Lightning Bolt
# 1x (1) Sludge Slurper
# 1x (2) Acidic Swamp Ooze
# 1x (2) Doomsayer
# 1x (2) Sandstorm Elemental
# 1x (2) Witch's Brew
# 1x (2) Zephrys the Great
# 1x (3) Blowtorch Saboteur
# 1x (3) Far Sight
# 1x (3) Lightning Breath
# 1x (3) Lightning Storm
# 1x (3) Mana Tide Totem
# 1x (3) Serpentshrine Portal
# 1x (4) Bone Wraith
# 1x (4) Escaped Manasaber
# 1x (4) Squallhunter
# 1x (4) The Fist of Ra-den
# 1x (4) Torrent
# 1x (5) Bandersmosh
# 1x (5) Cobalt Spellkin
# 1x (5) Cumulo-Maximus
# 1x (5) Hagatha's Scheme
# 1x (6) Khartut Defender
# 1x (6) The Lurker Below
# 1x (7) Earthquake
# 1x (7) Siamat
# 1x (7) Swampqueen Hagatha
# 1x (8) Walking Fountain
# 1x (10) Eye of the Storm
#
AAECAYHaAx6KAasC+QOBBPUEsgaKB62RA4qUA7mZA8WZA8aZA6GhA/yjA8+lA/KlA4SnA5CnA6ytA7utA+2tA4GxA9uyA4S2A6K3A+S3A+a3A9u4A5O5A5PCAwAA
#
# To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone

Before the nerfs I had been playing with this for a little (had DQA instead of Siamat) and the deck had been fine. Now that demon hunter got nerfed I can only imagine the deck gets a higher winrate but at the same time the other decks that also benefit from the nerfs may outshine shaman. I preferred a non quest version but of course I think that it's just up to the person how to build the deck. Part of the reason I believe highlander shaman isn't very good is because it's a harder to build deck with more options than other decks like highlander mage who have a larger autoinclude shell. As for my list compared to OP's I definitely enjoy using fist alongside cards like earthquake and portal because of the swing you can get with it. I had blowtorch saboteur teched in and it actually worked wonders against DH's but if I were to play this deck now after nerfs I'd likely cut it because DH is so rare to come by now.     Also gold Hagatha and Bandersmosh are amazing.

I made legend today and I keep winning with both Highlander Shaman decks (with or w/o quest). I am not really seeing any DHs which helps massively. I really believe Shaman had always been fine except for the fact that these decks were losing badly to Tempo DH. I guess time will tell once more data becomes available

Shaman requires some thought to be put into it at the moment, Its not particularly easy to play compared to other decks. If you don't know all the cards well, then people struggle. But if you know the deck like the back of your hand and have general knowledge of other decks, then you can do well with shaman.

Quote from SirJohn13 >>

I made legend today and I keep winning with both Highlander Shaman decks (with or w/o quest). I am not really seeing any DHs which helps massively. I really believe Shaman had always been fine except for the fact that these decks were losing badly to Tempo DH. I guess time will tell once more data becomes available

 Can you share your deck? Because I am stuck at D5

Here is my Highlander Quest: 

I would add Frizz Kinlderoost though, it is indeed an important missing card (and take out Sandstorm Elemental or maybe Acidic Swamp Ooze now that there are fewer DHs and Warriors)

and here is my Highlander Spell/Control Shaman which I actually enjoy even more: 

The list is almost the same (29/30) as the one Kibler is playing

Can you tell me how the f... hell you beat hunter?

Quote from SirJohn13 >>

Here is my Highlander Quest: 

HIghlander Quest Shaman Quest Shaman Deck by SirJohn13 - Jul 15, 2020 View Deck String Export to BBCode Export to Cockatrice Export to MarkDown Export to Html Clone this deck
Minion (27) 1x Brightwing 1x Dragonqueen Alexstrasza 1x Siamat 1x Sky Gen'ral Kragg 1x Swampqueen Hagatha 1x The Lurker Below 1x Zephrys the Great 1x Vulpera Scoundrel 1x Waste Warden 1x Acidic Swamp Ooze 1x Bogstrok Clacker 1x Cobalt Spellkin 1x Licensed Adventurer 1x Mana Tide Totem 1x Questing Explorer 1x Sludge Slurper 1x Twilight Drake 1x Big Ol' Whelp 1x Burrowing Scorpid 1x Earthen Ring Farseer 1x EVIL Cable Rat 1x EVIL Totem 1x Sandstorm Elemental 1x Scalerider 1x Twin Tyrant 1x Walking Fountain 1x Novice Engineer	Ability (3) 1x Corrupt the Waters 1x Far Sight 1x Lightning Breath
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I would add Frizz Kinlderoost though, it is indeed an important missing card (and take out Sandstorm Elemental or maybe Acidic Swamp Ooze now that there are fewer DHs and Warriors)

 

and here is my Highlander Spell/Control Shaman which I actually enjoy even more: 

Control Highlander Shaman Highlander Shaman Deck by SirJohn13 - Jul 20, 2020 View Deck String Export to BBCode Export to Cockatrice Export to MarkDown Export to Html Clone this deck
Minion (17) 1x Bandersmosh 1x Dragonqueen Alexstrasza 1x Lady Vashj 1x Siamat 1x Swampqueen Hagatha 1x The Lurker Below 1x Zephrys the Great 1x Escaped Manasaber 1x Shattered Rumbler 1x Vulpera Scoundrel 1x Waste Warden 1x Cobalt Spellkin 1x Mana Tide Totem 1x Twilight Drake 1x Marshspawn 1x Overconfident Orc 1x Walking Fountain	Ability (12) 1x Far Sight 1x Plague of Murlocs 1x Witch's Brew 1x Earthquake 1x Hagatha's Scheme 1x Lightning Breath 1x Lightning Storm 1x Torrent 1x Earth Shock 1x Hex 1x Lightning Bolt 1x Serpentshrine Portal	Weapon (1) 1x The Fist of Ra-den
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The list is almost the same (29/30) as the one Kibler is playing

 I whipped up your control version this morning and hopped in to Standard Ladder with it.  This is DIamond 9.

So far I am 3-0.  I beat a Galakrond Priest, a Dragon Hunter, and a Highlander Hunter.

I much appreciate the list, sir.  I'm going to run over to the link for it and give it a like.

Quote from fabjx71 >>

Can you tell me how the f... hell you beat hunter?

 I am 3-2 against Hunter with the Quest version and somehow haven't faced a single Hunter with the Control version in 25+ games. So the sample size is too small to say whether Shaman does well against Hunter or not...

Well, I do have to admit that your quest deck has brought me from D5 to D3 so praise to you. 

But I do not want to get false hope. Experience has taught me that I can drop all the way back to D5 anytime

....aaaaand just as i thought... kicked all the way down again

I made Legend today with your first list (Frizz for Ooze) deck is super fun to play, and surprisingly powerful!

I am excited to try Highlander Control Shaman in the next expansion. Instructor Fireheart will be a nice addition as it is a much better Vulpera Scoundrel, Headmaster Kel'thuzad fits very well and I can see Devolving Missiles being a good fit in the deck too. Not sure about Tidal Wave and Lightning Bloom, but maybe..

My Highlander Spell/Control Shaman seems to be doing quite well right now even though my sample size is very small (6 games). I updated the deck by getting rid of Transfer Student (who had replaced Lady Vashj), Twilight Drake, Lightning Breath, Witch's Brew, Vulpera Scoundrel and Waste Warden (not so good now that Murloc Paladin is no longer around) and added Lightning Bloom, Devolving Missiles, Instructor Fireheart, Diligent Notetaker,Groundskeeper and Tidal Wave. I kept Cobalt Spellkin as in the current meta both Devolving Missiles and Earth Shock are extremely key cards (against Libram Paladin or Guardian Druid) and I want to have the chance to generate more of them. I even considered adding Wandmaker but don't know what else to cut. 
Groundskeeper is a better healing option than Witch's Brew as it doesn't concede the tempo since you get to play a premium-statted 4-drop as well. I am not so much into Tidal Wave but I keep it for now as I need more activators for Groundskeeper.
Instructor Fireheart is an amazing card. Before playing it I thought that his effect is one-time only (discover a spell, play it and discover a 2nd one), but now I realize that as long as you play the spell that you discover, you can keep discovering more. Play it at 10-mana and you can easily generate 3-4 spells from him, insane value.
I saw of course Kibler playing this deck, he includes Speaker Gidra who also seems to be a great card, I don't have it but maybe I should craft it and add it (it would also fit in the Guardian Druid deck so it is in general a good craft). He is also running Headmaster Kel'Thuzad, but with only 1 spell capable of killing a big minion (Torrent) it seems a bit situational as well as too greedy.

What rank are you? I am D5 and any priest or druid will just crush this deck unfortunately. Priest has infinite value and fatigues us and druid ramps too quickly and vomits power minions until we have no answer anymore

I'm also D5, I'll let you know once I have more games against Druid. Regarding Priest, at least before the SA expansion, they way to beat them was to not treat the deck as control as this way you will indeed reach fatigue first and lose. Rather try to put as much pressure on the board as possible and hope that they run out of removal.

Priest is particularly favored because they get to copy our powerful cards and add them to their already powerful arsenal