If I have to choose one, which one is more fun (and strong) to play? Emphasis on fun, but if I lose constantly it’s not as fun. I don’t have the overload legendary or The Lurker Below, but I’ve got a solid collection otherwise. And I play standard mainly but wild every once in a while.
I havent played evolve but totem shaman is certainly fun and competitive. Early game tempo cards are super important because it plays like a murloc deck. If you cant stick a totem in the early game you are in trouble. But its also really fun when you have like 4 spell damage totems its like having a Malygos in play.
They have similar match-ups. Both get destroyed by Priest and Demon Hunter (so not the best choice of class at all), both have good match-ups vs Warlock and Druid.
So I would say it doesn't really matter, just pick the funnier one. I'd personally go with Galakrond Evolve, simply because Totem is just a glorified aggro, which does not suit my playstyle and in my opinion is weaker versus random decks outside top 4. But talking strictly about meta match-ups, they pretty much both loose and win against the same decks.
Imo there is too much mass removal. If you did not win before turn 5 or 6 and your board got wiped you lost. Your totems won’t stick after...
Thats why I said that early game tempo is very important. Optimally you go for 1-drop into hero power/lackey totem into Totemic Reflection into Splitting Axe. Totemic Might on your first totem is usually a good idea because its hard to deal 4 damage on turn 2.
Its a snowball deck, it has its downsides but when it works its really fun, and in my experience it has a decent winrate. If you dont believe me, you can also check HSreplay, it has the highest winrate among shaman decks.
I think totem shaman is very polarized and it's getting worse every single day. I say it's polarized because it rolls over passive decks like Res Priest and Spell Druid, cause you set up a wide board, buff your units and kill the opponent before they can react but against proactive decks like Aggro DH, Egg Warrior and Galakrond Rogue, your totems are just 0 attack minions that will get removed the second your play them, you rarely get any value from them. I also think that the surprise factor helped Totem Shaman when it poped out last week. I think everyone got rolled over by this deck the first time they face it, I know I did, cause you are like oh ok he's just pressing his hero power cause he has nothing better to do and then they destroy you with a wide board. But now, the rare time I face a Shaman, I simply keep clearing their board and they'll run out of this eventually. Cause they either need totems or general minions on board for both decks they run.
Having said that I think evolve Shaman is better and you should probably slap that on a Galakrond core to support the deck or you'll lose a lot. You'll probably still lose more that 50% of your games with any Shaman deck but the Galakrond package should make you lose a bit less.
They have similar match-ups. Both get destroyed by Priest and Demon Hunter (so not the best choice of class at all), both have good match-ups vs Warlock and Druid.
Totem Shaman definitely doesn't get destroyed by Priest, in fact I'd say it's one of his best matchup. They just let you play everything and that turn 5 Convincing Infiltrator on a wide board is basically irrelevant and you have lethal the turn after. Druid is a similar story.
You're right about DH tho, literally impossible, you can't get anything to stick to the board while he fills up his own. Warlocks feels even, Dark Skies and Plague hurts but it's a matter of timing.
They have similar match-ups. Both get destroyed by Priest and Demon Hunter (so not the best choice of class at all), both have good match-ups vs Warlock and Druid.
Totem Shaman definitely doesn't get destroyed by Priest, in fact I'd say it's one of his best matchup. They just let you play everything and that turn 5 Convincing Infiltrator on a wide board is basically irrelevant and you have lethal the turn after. Druid is a similar story.
You're right about DH tho, literally impossible, you can't get anything to stick to the board while he fills up his own. Warlocks feels even, Dark Skies and Plague hurts but it's a matter of timing.
You are right, I should have written that they both destroy Priest - doesn't change the fact match-ups are identical for both versions, but I still confused the decks.
Overall:
Priest - win for both versions
Galakrond Lock - can go either way in both cases, but I'd say slightly favored
I would honestly tell you the evolve archetype but it really is too slow since it requires high cost minions with the reduction effects to have better minions, I have not played standard a month ago and I do not know it but I can see why the totems archetype is better. The totem set in Even Shaman is also good. So yeah, it's funnier totem shaman you might even see it competitive.
Shaman...the good old days when you had to pay a penalty (overload) in order to cheat out extra stats. Now Shaman is the only class that still pays that penalty while everyone else gets insane stats and effects for free. Poor Thrall.
Shaman...the good old days when you had to pay a penalty (overload) in order to cheat out extra stats. Now Shaman is the only class that still pays that penalty while everyone else gets insane stats and effects for free. Poor Thrall.
Well, to be honest, both Totemic Reflection and Splitting Axe are insane in terms of cheating out a ridiculous amount of extra stats. The issue is that you need the right conditions for them aka making those damn totems stick to the board. But hitting a totem (especially a non basic one) with Totemic Reflection on turn 3-4 can easily snowball the game really fast really hard.
I started playing the Totem deck like 2 days ago (after being demolished by someone using it) and I already sent my friends like a dozen of screenshots of ridiculous boards filled with like four 5/8 Mana Tides on turn 5 or something like that lol
However the success of the deck is definitely also because most people have no clue about what's going on with those totem buffing synergies. I've had multiple games where my opponent wasted early removal like Frostbolt or Penance on my 1-2 drops and was unable to answer a Mana Tide or Flametongue on the following turn.
If Blizzard starts printing good minions with the totem tribe tag like the good ol' Totem Golem I think this archetype has a future!
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If I have to choose one, which one is more fun (and strong) to play? Emphasis on fun, but if I lose constantly it’s not as fun. I don’t have the overload legendary or The Lurker Below, but I’ve got a solid collection otherwise. And I play standard mainly but wild every once in a while.
Imo the (Galakrond) Evolve Shaman is stronger.
I havent played evolve but totem shaman is certainly fun and competitive. Early game tempo cards are super important because it plays like a murloc deck. If you cant stick a totem in the early game you are in trouble. But its also really fun when you have like 4 spell damage totems its like having a Malygos in play.
Imo there is too much mass removal. If you did not win before turn 5 or 6 and your board got wiped you lost. Your totems won’t stick after...
I saw that one. I could do that one too. Just need to craft the epic weapon that evolves.
For the totem deck I’d need the 2x epic summon copies of your totems card. About the same in terms of cost
They have similar match-ups. Both get destroyed by Priest and Demon Hunter (so not the best choice of class at all), both have good match-ups vs Warlock and Druid.
So I would say it doesn't really matter, just pick the funnier one. I'd personally go with Galakrond Evolve, simply because Totem is just a glorified aggro, which does not suit my playstyle and in my opinion is weaker versus random decks outside top 4. But talking strictly about meta match-ups, they pretty much both loose and win against the same decks.
Thats why I said that early game tempo is very important. Optimally you go for 1-drop into hero power/lackey totem into Totemic Reflection into Splitting Axe. Totemic Might on your first totem is usually a good idea because its hard to deal 4 damage on turn 2.
Its a snowball deck, it has its downsides but when it works its really fun, and in my experience it has a decent winrate. If you dont believe me, you can also check HSreplay, it has the highest winrate among shaman decks.
I think totem shaman is very polarized and it's getting worse every single day. I say it's polarized because it rolls over passive decks like Res Priest and Spell Druid, cause you set up a wide board, buff your units and kill the opponent before they can react but against proactive decks like Aggro DH, Egg Warrior and Galakrond Rogue, your totems are just 0 attack minions that will get removed the second your play them, you rarely get any value from them. I also think that the surprise factor helped Totem Shaman when it poped out last week. I think everyone got rolled over by this deck the first time they face it, I know I did, cause you are like oh ok he's just pressing his hero power cause he has nothing better to do and then they destroy you with a wide board. But now, the rare time I face a Shaman, I simply keep clearing their board and they'll run out of this eventually. Cause they either need totems or general minions on board for both decks they run.
Having said that I think evolve Shaman is better and you should probably slap that on a Galakrond core to support the deck or you'll lose a lot. You'll probably still lose more that 50% of your games with any Shaman deck but the Galakrond package should make you lose a bit less.
If you mostly have the cards for even shaman in wild, then Splitting Axe is a safer craft IMO.
Totem Shaman definitely doesn't get destroyed by Priest, in fact I'd say it's one of his best matchup. They just let you play everything and that turn 5 Convincing Infiltrator on a wide board is basically irrelevant and you have lethal the turn after. Druid is a similar story.
You're right about DH tho, literally impossible, you can't get anything to stick to the board while he fills up his own. Warlocks feels even, Dark Skies and Plague hurts but it's a matter of timing.
You are right, I should have written that they both destroy Priest - doesn't change the fact match-ups are identical for both versions, but I still confused the decks.
Overall:
Priest - win for both versions
Galakrond Lock - can go either way in both cases, but I'd say slightly favored
DH (any version) - both get CRUSHED
Druid (all versions) - favorable for both
I would honestly tell you the evolve archetype but it really is too slow since it requires high cost minions with the reduction effects to have better minions, I have not played standard a month ago and I do not know it but I can see why the totems archetype is better. The totem set in Even Shaman is also good. So yeah, it's funnier totem shaman you might even see it competitive.
Shaman...the good old days when you had to pay a penalty (overload) in order to cheat out extra stats. Now Shaman is the only class that still pays that penalty while everyone else gets insane stats and effects for free. Poor Thrall.
Well, to be honest, both Totemic Reflection and Splitting Axe are insane in terms of cheating out a ridiculous amount of extra stats. The issue is that you need the right conditions for them aka making those damn totems stick to the board. But hitting a totem (especially a non basic one) with Totemic Reflection on turn 3-4 can easily snowball the game really fast really hard.
I started playing the Totem deck like 2 days ago (after being demolished by someone using it) and I already sent my friends like a dozen of screenshots of ridiculous boards filled with like four 5/8 Mana Tides on turn 5 or something like that lol
However the success of the deck is definitely also because most people have no clue about what's going on with those totem buffing synergies. I've had multiple games where my opponent wasted early removal like Frostbolt or Penance on my 1-2 drops and was unable to answer a Mana Tide or Flametongue on the following turn.
If Blizzard starts printing good minions with the totem tribe tag like the good ol' Totem Golem I think this archetype has a future!