So I was trying out the midrange shaman where your win condition is not bouncing infinite shudderwocks, but just curving out smoothly with mostly battlecry minions and board.
I noticed the deck includes the shaman DK & Hagatha, while I can understand why both might be included.
My question is why have the DK when you play shudderwock?? I literally lost the game because as soon as shudder came down he repeated the DK battlecry and transformd into the 11 mana overload elemental, killing the chain of battlecries!
They're seperate plans. Corridor creepers plus unstable evolution/Thrall is huge tempo for those games when you need tempo in the midgame, and this is important because midrange shaman is tempo poor most of the time. If you're in a game where it's more important to outvalue and have a swing turn in the late game, sometimes I'll willingly not play Thrall until after shudderwock. Sometimes you don't have a choice, in which case you just hope the evolution comes after shudderwock goes wide, which is still a pretty great result. E.g. I don't play Thrall against druids most of the time. They simply can't deal with the shudderwock turn, the best they can do is plague, which is easily cleared. The taunts also prevent the druids from buffing and going face with all the scarabs.
I've been adapting and playing midrange shaman for most of this expansion, rank 1 atm. I actually took out kelseth and put in nimbusus and earthen mights for extra value generation and more early game. I also keep the corpsetaker package.
I'm on the egde of cutting Thrall, but with only two unstable evolutions, Thrall makes corridor creeper a bit more consistent, not to mention stuff like fungalmancer, gigglings inventor, and saronites are great targets to upgrade. The hero power is also great with those aforementioned card.
Long story short: Know the risk, and sometimes just don't play Thrall. Thrall is for midgame tempo, shudderwock is to finish the game usually.
They're seperate plans. Corridor creepers plus unstable evolution/Thrall is huge tempo for those games when you need tempo in the midgame, and this is important because midrange shaman is tempo poor most of the time. If you're in a game where it's more important to outvalue and have a swing turn in the late game, sometimes I'll willingly not play Thrall until after shudderwock. Sometimes you don't have a choice, in which case you just hope the evolution comes after shudderwock goes wide, which is still a pretty great result. E.g. I don't play Thrall against druids most of the time. They simply can't deal with the shudderwock turn, the best they can do is plague, which is easily cleared. The taunts also prevent the druids from buffing and going face with all the scarabs.
I've been adapting and playing midrange shaman for most of this expansion, rank 1 atm. I actually took out kelseth and put in nimbusus and earthen mights for extra value generation and more early game. I also keep the corpsetaker package.
I'm on the egde of cutting Thrall, but with only two unstable evolutions, Thrall makes corridor creeper a bit more consistent, not to mention stuff like fungalmancer, gigglings inventor, and saronites are great targets to upgrade. The hero power is also great with those aforementioned card.
Long story short: Know the risk, and sometimes just don't play Thrall. Thrall is for midgame tempo, shudderwock is to finish the game usually.
Thank you for your thorough and constructive input (@CrazyCat as well) and hopefully you hit legend before the end of the month! Would you mind sharing your list? I am kind of sold on the idea of dropping prince2 for more value.
Yeah no problem! Disclaimer though, it's definitely not optimized. It's really tough to add the 2 cost package, the evolution package, the corpsetaker package, spells, and the tech package all at once. That's why I only run one hex, one mct, one lightning storm, and no lich king. It's definiitely not the final version. I am completely sold on Earthen Might though. Turn one firefly into earthen might is so good, nimbus is also just pretty good. I've gotten radiant elemental a few times for unstable evolution value to boot.
Considerations: Second hex and lightning storm are something I'd like to fit in for spells. Electra is for earthen might mostly but works well with lightning storm. I'm also considering lightning bolt for removal of stuff like flappy bird, and 1 mana fireball with electra. Glacial shard is an elemental, has a battlecry, and is an additional one drop, so I'd like that as well if possible. All these are only fittable if I cut the corpsetaker package, but I found that too useful. Electra is probably the most cuttable thing in my list right now, but it won me a few games against token druid, cuz it clears plague or becomes a 5 mana 7/7 add two elementals to your hand.
### Shuddervolve 2.0 # Class: Shaman # Format: Standard # Year of the Raven # # 2x (1) Fire Fly # 2x (1) Unstable Evolution # 2x (2) Earthen Might # 2x (2) Menacing Nimbus # 1x (3) Electra Stormsurge # 1x (3) Lightning Storm # 1x (3) Mind Control Tech # 2x (3) Tar Creeper # 2x (4) Corpsetaker # 1x (4) Hex # 2x (4) Saronite Chain Gang # 2x (5) Fungalmancer # 2x (5) Giggling Inventor # 1x (5) Thrall, Deathseer # 1x (5) Zilliax # 2x (7) Corridor Creeper # 1x (8) Al'Akir the Windlord # 1x (8) Hagatha the Witch # 1x (8) Kalimos, Primal Lord # 1x (9) Shudderwock # AAECAfe5Agog9QTeBf4F88IC688Cp+4C7/cCmfsCoIADCuvCAsrDApvLAvvTAtHhApboAt/pArDwAuL4AoqAAwA= # # To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone
I have been using a list similar to yours, except I run Keleseth. Have you tried this in your own deck, and is the earthen might/electra package better in your opinion? Also any tips on when exactly to use unstable evolution?
Most of the time I evolve in the wrong state and end up with a horrible 7 cost minion instead of waiting for the right moment. I know this comes down to practicing the deck but I feel like so many times this has happened lol
I have been using a list similar to yours, except I run Keleseth. Have you tried this in your own deck, and is the earthen might/electra package better in your opinion? Also any tips on when exactly to use unstable evolution?
Most of the time I evolve in the wrong state and end up with a horrible 7 cost minion instead of waiting for the right moment. I know this comes down to practicing the deck but I feel like so many times this has happened lol
Thanks much.
Yeah I tried the keleseth version. It's obviously awesome if you draw keleseth! But if you don't, unlike other decks with keleseth which usually run more one drops and 3 drops, your early game is abysmal (two one drops, totem on two, and maybe a tar on three, which is hardly proactive). That's why I decided to add nimbus and earthen might, so I could create and buff early boards while generating more resources as I did so. Nimbus is also a battlecry that refills your hand with shudderwock.
I'd say the best time to evolve is when you can guarentee at least 3, preferably more, unstable evolutions. It depends on whether you're ahead of behind, of course. If ahead, you can afford to be greedy and save it for use it to cheaply create a scary board after they clear your existing board. If behind, you can't afford to be greedy and you just gotta go. In those cases, don't hoard the unstable evolutions for creepers if you don't have them. Use them on your fungalmancers and giggling inventors for 8 drops, or even saronites for two 5/6/7 drops. Look for taunts, charge, and rush minions. It's preferable if you have at least 2 targets on board, so that when you settle on a good evolve, you can start evolving the other target instead of letting the rest of your mana go to waste.
I'm completely sold on the deck. I don't think it's Tier 1 but it's a whole lot of fun.
I hit Legend with it this month and also included it in my tournament line-up so I'm just gonna add some stuff from my own experience:
- I dropped Keleseth. Didn't like it because this deck cannot afford to hard mulligan for it. I think Keleseth is strong in decks that can afford to do that (for example: Zoolock and MoG Keleseth Rogue). You don't wanna end up with a starting hand of your 2 heroes, a Fungalmancer and an Unstable Evolution. Kwakdizzle's Elemental Package wins it for me as well. The 4 cards generating random Elementals make the deck extra fun and your average random Elemental is pretty good! Electra + Earthen Might is also amazing.
- Vicious Syndicate insists that the Corpsetaker package is superior but I played that version for over 50 games and I personally disagree. It relies on you not drawing Al-Akir & Zilliax (while drawing atleast 1 Corpsetaker). Something that too often happened to me. It also did well in match-ups that I'm still winning(so to me it was more of a win-more card). Blood Knight presence doesn't do it any good either. And to be fair: by running Zilliax and Al-Akir you're running 2 cards who're not that great on their own in this deck. Against Zoolock it also has a big backdraw in buffing their Lightwardens and Zoolock is a match-up that this deck really likes to win. Corpsetaker does very well against Druids too but I win 80% of my Druid games with my current decklist anyway. Still, it's a personal opinion and you might wanna try the Corpsetaker package yourself. A fully-upgraded Corpsetaker can put a lot of early pressure against the combo decks that tend to gives Midrange Shaman trouble (prepare to lose a lot against Quest Rogue, Shudderwock Shaman and APM Priest with this deck)
- Knowing when to Death Knight, when to Hagatha, when to use your Unstable Evolutions and when to Shudderwock are key decisions that will require some experience with this deck but that makes it a lot of fun. Death Knight might mess up your Shudderwock but read the game and your opponent's deck and think about wether you're actually gonna have time to draw Shudderwock and what you want Shudderwock to do for you. Death Knight can close games when played early against some decks that have trouble dealing with wide boards. Unstable Evolution is a card that doesn't mind being played on turn 4 or 5 against Druids (Midrange Shaman loves getting Naturalized but doesnt love getting Spreading Plagued). You also don't wanna hold on to your Unstable Evolution if you're facing an aggro deck and you don't have other optimal plays with your mana. Hell; against aggro I consider Giggling Inventor + 1 Unstable Evolution on the Inventor herself a pretty good play on turn 6.
So I was trying out the midrange shaman where your win condition is not bouncing infinite shudderwocks, but just curving out smoothly with mostly battlecry minions and board.
I noticed the deck includes the shaman DK & Hagatha, while I can understand why both might be included.
My question is why have the DK when you play shudderwock?? I literally lost the game because as soon as shudder came down he repeated the DK battlecry and transformd into the 11 mana overload elemental, killing the chain of battlecries!
Who uses them in the same deck?
They're seperate plans. Corridor creepers plus unstable evolution/Thrall is huge tempo for those games when you need tempo in the midgame, and this is important because midrange shaman is tempo poor most of the time. If you're in a game where it's more important to outvalue and have a swing turn in the late game, sometimes I'll willingly not play Thrall until after shudderwock. Sometimes you don't have a choice, in which case you just hope the evolution comes after shudderwock goes wide, which is still a pretty great result. E.g. I don't play Thrall against druids most of the time. They simply can't deal with the shudderwock turn, the best they can do is plague, which is easily cleared. The taunts also prevent the druids from buffing and going face with all the scarabs.
I've been adapting and playing midrange shaman for most of this expansion, rank 1 atm. I actually took out kelseth and put in nimbusus and earthen mights for extra value generation and more early game. I also keep the corpsetaker package.
I'm on the egde of cutting Thrall, but with only two unstable evolutions, Thrall makes corridor creeper a bit more consistent, not to mention stuff like fungalmancer, gigglings inventor, and saronites are great targets to upgrade. The hero power is also great with those aforementioned card.
Long story short: Know the risk, and sometimes just don't play Thrall. Thrall is for midgame tempo, shudderwock is to finish the game usually.
a lot of people if you have been around or seen the decks being used for the suggested topic.
Thank you for your thorough and constructive input (@CrazyCat as well) and hopefully you hit legend before the end of the month! Would you mind sharing your list? I am kind of sold on the idea of dropping prince2 for more value.
Yeah no problem! Disclaimer though, it's definitely not optimized. It's really tough to add the 2 cost package, the evolution package, the corpsetaker package, spells, and the tech package all at once. That's why I only run one hex, one mct, one lightning storm, and no lich king. It's definiitely not the final version. I am completely sold on Earthen Might though. Turn one firefly into earthen might is so good, nimbus is also just pretty good. I've gotten radiant elemental a few times for unstable evolution value to boot.
Considerations: Second hex and lightning storm are something I'd like to fit in for spells. Electra is for earthen might mostly but works well with lightning storm. I'm also considering lightning bolt for removal of stuff like flappy bird, and 1 mana fireball with electra. Glacial shard is an elemental, has a battlecry, and is an additional one drop, so I'd like that as well if possible. All these are only fittable if I cut the corpsetaker package, but I found that too useful. Electra is probably the most cuttable thing in my list right now, but it won me a few games against token druid, cuz it clears plague or becomes a 5 mana 7/7 add two elementals to your hand.
### Shuddervolve 2.0
# Class: Shaman
# Format: Standard
# Year of the Raven
#
# 2x (1) Fire Fly
# 2x (1) Unstable Evolution
# 2x (2) Earthen Might
# 2x (2) Menacing Nimbus
# 1x (3) Electra Stormsurge
# 1x (3) Lightning Storm
# 1x (3) Mind Control Tech
# 2x (3) Tar Creeper
# 2x (4) Corpsetaker
# 1x (4) Hex
# 2x (4) Saronite Chain Gang
# 2x (5) Fungalmancer
# 2x (5) Giggling Inventor
# 1x (5) Thrall, Deathseer
# 1x (5) Zilliax
# 2x (7) Corridor Creeper
# 1x (8) Al'Akir the Windlord
# 1x (8) Hagatha the Witch
# 1x (8) Kalimos, Primal Lord
# 1x (9) Shudderwock
#
AAECAfe5Agog9QTeBf4F88IC688Cp+4C7/cCmfsCoIADCuvCAsrDApvLAvvTAtHhApboAt/pArDwAuL4AoqAAwA=
#
# To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone
I have been using a list similar to yours, except I run Keleseth. Have you tried this in your own deck, and is the earthen might/electra package better in your opinion? Also any tips on when exactly to use unstable evolution?
Most of the time I evolve in the wrong state and end up with a horrible 7 cost minion instead of waiting for the right moment. I know this comes down to practicing the deck but I feel like so many times this has happened lol
Thanks much.
Yeah I tried the keleseth version. It's obviously awesome if you draw keleseth! But if you don't, unlike other decks with keleseth which usually run more one drops and 3 drops, your early game is abysmal (two one drops, totem on two, and maybe a tar on three, which is hardly proactive). That's why I decided to add nimbus and earthen might, so I could create and buff early boards while generating more resources as I did so. Nimbus is also a battlecry that refills your hand with shudderwock.
I'd say the best time to evolve is when you can guarentee at least 3, preferably more, unstable evolutions. It depends on whether you're ahead of behind, of course. If ahead, you can afford to be greedy and save it for use it to cheaply create a scary board after they clear your existing board. If behind, you can't afford to be greedy and you just gotta go. In those cases, don't hoard the unstable evolutions for creepers if you don't have them. Use them on your fungalmancers and giggling inventors for 8 drops, or even saronites for two 5/6/7 drops. Look for taunts, charge, and rush minions. It's preferable if you have at least 2 targets on board, so that when you settle on a good evolve, you can start evolving the other target instead of letting the rest of your mana go to waste.
Aha! More fellow Midrange Shaman fans!
I'm completely sold on the deck. I don't think it's Tier 1 but it's a whole lot of fun.
I hit Legend with it this month and also included it in my tournament line-up so I'm just gonna add some stuff from my own experience:
- I dropped Keleseth. Didn't like it because this deck cannot afford to hard mulligan for it. I think Keleseth is strong in decks that can afford to do that (for example: Zoolock and MoG Keleseth Rogue). You don't wanna end up with a starting hand of your 2 heroes, a Fungalmancer and an Unstable Evolution. Kwakdizzle's Elemental Package wins it for me as well. The 4 cards generating random Elementals make the deck extra fun and your average random Elemental is pretty good! Electra + Earthen Might is also amazing.
- Vicious Syndicate insists that the Corpsetaker package is superior but I played that version for over 50 games and I personally disagree. It relies on you not drawing Al-Akir & Zilliax (while drawing atleast 1 Corpsetaker). Something that too often happened to me. It also did well in match-ups that I'm still winning(so to me it was more of a win-more card). Blood Knight presence doesn't do it any good either. And to be fair: by running Zilliax and Al-Akir you're running 2 cards who're not that great on their own in this deck. Against Zoolock it also has a big backdraw in buffing their Lightwardens and Zoolock is a match-up that this deck really likes to win. Corpsetaker does very well against Druids too but I win 80% of my Druid games with my current decklist anyway. Still, it's a personal opinion and you might wanna try the Corpsetaker package yourself. A fully-upgraded Corpsetaker can put a lot of early pressure against the combo decks that tend to gives Midrange Shaman trouble (prepare to lose a lot against Quest Rogue, Shudderwock Shaman and APM Priest with this deck)
- Knowing when to Death Knight, when to Hagatha, when to use your Unstable Evolutions and when to Shudderwock are key decisions that will require some experience with this deck but that makes it a lot of fun. Death Knight might mess up your Shudderwock but read the game and your opponent's deck and think about wether you're actually gonna have time to draw Shudderwock and what you want Shudderwock to do for you. Death Knight can close games when played early against some decks that have trouble dealing with wide boards. Unstable Evolution is a card that doesn't mind being played on turn 4 or 5 against Druids (Midrange Shaman loves getting Naturalized but doesnt love getting Spreading Plagued). You also don't wanna hold on to your Unstable Evolution if you're facing an aggro deck and you don't have other optimal plays with your mana. Hell; against aggro I consider Giggling Inventor + 1 Unstable Evolution on the Inventor herself a pretty good play on turn 6.