Interesting deck, though it has some questionable choices.
One Consecration and one Wild Pyromancer: How are you supposed to clear the board whem you're behind? And how about beating Aggro, which is already a bad matchup for Paladin?
I still think you should try it sometime! Check out my replies below.
One Consecration and one Wild Pyromancer: How are you supposed to clear the board whem you're behind? And how about beating Aggro, which is already a bad matchup for Paladin?
Aggro is actually a decent matchup for this deck, the unstable ghouls and aboms provide a lot of board clear. I do find myself playing equality ghoul every once in a while which is not ideal do to silence, but the explosive damage from taunts (and deathlords) tends to carry me past turn 5 more consistently than any other control paladin deck I've tried.
True, but if I'm making 1/1 guys for 2 early on it tends to go poorly, and pyro/consecrate is slow against hunter the big meta class whereas ghoul rocks it.
Deathlord is pretty bad against control decks but if you have aldor, equality, silence, or just a bunch of taunts it can be playable, and it wrecks versus hunter.
Two Abomination: Sludge Belcher can do the job much better than him and doesn't suck against non retard Aggro decks.
Actually, if you play an abom after a belcher it trades favorably. And the self-damage sets off the acolytes a lot. It's also better vs. priest which has less removal for it.
Two Undertaker: I don't think that Paladin can make a fast enough deck that it can make use of Undertaker. You could add two Zombie Chow instead.
I've gone back and forth on this. Undertaker doesn't seem to do a lot in many of the games. But he is pretty confusing, people sometimes think it's an aggro deck and play out a ton of stuff when they see him. And I can usually buff him at least once, especially if I wait to play him after a board clear.
Isn't using equality in the same deck with deathlords like a terrible idea? I think the strongest thing this list does is the pyromancer equality combo, so I would think you would want to max out on that and consecrations to just continually wipe the board then win with something bombish. You may even want to up your bomb count because your not going to be winning the early game. Maybe Ysera or Alexa? Ysera seems really strong since she gives you AOE attacks to keep in theme with what your doing.
Tirion is good there because he survives the combo with shield, so maybe more divine shield generators? Also Harvest golem and Sludge belcher leave you with bodies after a board wipe, though I guess if you want to keep all the AOE exploding guys that is not the best idea.
Holy Light is garbage. You would be way better just playing something that gained you some incidental life and then also did something else to save you more life in the long run, or just something that is better overall like hammer of wrath
For those who haven't tried, Unstable Ghoul is VERY strong in Paladin against Aggro. Early game you don't care about the Recruits. You just want to stall the damage and remove as much as you can. Late game, again, they're filler plays and you don't care about the 1/1s.
I personally would remove the Undertakers for Earthen Ring Farseers and replace Holy Light with a second Consecration or even an Avenging Wrath. I've ran across quite a few control Paladins running Avenging Wrath these days and they offer an explosive finish that Paladin otherwise lacks.
Quite interesting. I wouldn't think that Unstable Ghoul was that good in Paladin... actually, I still don't think. But I see your point: Equality and Acolyte of Pain synergy can make the card worth it. However, I still think that Sludge Belcher is better than Abomination(it doesn't destroy your own board that should be at least decent at this stage of the game) and that Sen'jin Shieldmasta is better than Deathlord(I don't trust this card). The Holy Light could be replaced with an Earthen Ring Farseer. I still think that a second Wild Pyromancer and a second Consecration are crucial though. Anyhow, I found your deck quite interesting and I liked very much the concept, I just think that it isn't competitive as it is right now. But what do I know about Paladins? Almost nothing apart from how to play against them.
Although we'll agree to disagree on Unstable Ghoul, your suggestion on Abomination being replaced with Sludge Belcher is spot on. You really need to start stabilizing by turn 5 and building a board against Huntertaker and Abomination counters that play.
I personally hate Deathlord. I, like most, have been screwed by him one too many times. He can be a nightmare against aggro though. I've been shut down by him with my "Get Down!" pally before and that deck only has 1 mildly scary minion for him to summon. Against control he's a dead draw I feel (unless, as the OP says, you're sitting on the answer for the guaranteed crazy crap that he'll summon).
All-in-all, this is a fine deck with plenty of scary crap to drop late-game and a way to actually get there.
I still prefer Sludge Belcher though. Abomination is quite bad if you have anything already in the board(Midrange and Control matchups) and isn't that much better than Sludge Belcher against Aggro because most likely
1) it will get silenced
2) it will kill some of your own guys
3) your opponent will be able to choose who dies and who survives, just sending at him the guys that were already supposed to die
That said, Abomination just seems quite inferior to Sludge Belcher. I have already tested it in Druid and it is not that great due to the problems mentioned above.
About Deathlord, I have been screwed too many times to trust this card. It is disastrously bad against anything that's not Aggro and even against Aggro it can pull out a big guy and ruin the match. The only matchup in which he is godlike is super Aggro, where the chance of getting something good is quite low.
I made some changes based on your feedback. Took out the undertakers, holy light, and the gnome and put in loatheb, earthen ring, another pyro, and either mtn giant or faceless #2. I did leave the aboms though.
Because of all the taunts this deck can actually use deathlord against really strong control, I've had a few games where I drop deathlords just as my opponent's board is getting full and then hit the equality combo right after he gets the free minion. Although despite all the good stuff, handlock is still a tough match.
I tried this, and Abominations just help kill you faster. I do have a deck with Unstable Ghouls in it that works "okay", but Deathlords and Abominations are sabotage and counter-intuitive. Last game I played with this deck I had a Deathlord that pulled a Mad Scientist out for the Hunter, and buffed his Undertaker. Thanks!
Versus Control Decks it can sometimes be okay because it bypasses the battlecry, so you love to see something like a Twilight Drake or Cruel Task or something but yeah, not worth it.
Please review my deck! I've had fun with it in all kinds of matchups, vs. the cheesiest of aggro and control. What swap would you make?
Interesting deck, though it has some questionable choices.
Thanks blackfalcon000!
I still think you should try it sometime! Check out my replies below.
Aggro is actually a decent matchup for this deck, the unstable ghouls and aboms provide a lot of board clear. I do find myself playing equality ghoul every once in a while which is not ideal do to silence, but the explosive damage from taunts (and deathlords) tends to carry me past turn 5 more consistently than any other control paladin deck I've tried.
True, but if I'm making 1/1 guys for 2 early on it tends to go poorly, and pyro/consecrate is slow against hunter the big meta class whereas ghoul rocks it.
Deathlord is pretty bad against control decks but if you have aldor, equality, silence, or just a bunch of taunts it can be playable, and it wrecks versus hunter.
Actually, if you play an abom after a belcher it trades favorably. And the self-damage sets off the acolytes a lot. It's also better vs. priest which has less removal for it.
I've gone back and forth on this. Undertaker doesn't seem to do a lot in many of the games. But he is pretty confusing, people sometimes think it's an aggro deck and play out a ton of stuff when they see him. And I can usually buff him at least once, especially if I wait to play him after a board clear.
Isn't using equality in the same deck with deathlords like a terrible idea? I think the strongest thing this list does is the pyromancer equality combo, so I would think you would want to max out on that and consecrations to just continually wipe the board then win with something bombish. You may even want to up your bomb count because your not going to be winning the early game. Maybe Ysera or Alexa? Ysera seems really strong since she gives you AOE attacks to keep in theme with what your doing.
Tirion is good there because he survives the combo with shield, so maybe more divine shield generators? Also Harvest golem and Sludge belcher leave you with bodies after a board wipe, though I guess if you want to keep all the AOE exploding guys that is not the best idea.
Holy Light is garbage. You would be way better just playing something that gained you some incidental life and then also did something else to save you more life in the long run, or just something that is better overall like hammer of wrath
Took me a while to figure out the title of your thread. I was thinking, "Exploding Paladin greater than zero? What the what?"
That said, interesting deck. I like the slant on traditional control Paladin.
Feel free to add me if you play on NA! iMPose#1429
For those who haven't tried, Unstable Ghoul is VERY strong in Paladin against Aggro. Early game you don't care about the Recruits. You just want to stall the damage and remove as much as you can. Late game, again, they're filler plays and you don't care about the 1/1s.
I personally would remove the Undertakers for Earthen Ring Farseers and replace Holy Light with a second Consecration or even an Avenging Wrath. I've ran across quite a few control Paladins running Avenging Wrath these days and they offer an explosive finish that Paladin otherwise lacks.
I've moved this thread to our Paladin forum.
Quite interesting. I wouldn't think that Unstable Ghoul was that good in Paladin... actually, I still don't think. But I see your point: Equality and Acolyte of Pain synergy can make the card worth it. However, I still think that Sludge Belcher is better than Abomination(it doesn't destroy your own board that should be at least decent at this stage of the game) and that Sen'jin Shieldmasta is better than Deathlord(I don't trust this card). The Holy Light could be replaced with an Earthen Ring Farseer. I still think that a second Wild Pyromancer and a second Consecration are crucial though. Anyhow, I found your deck quite interesting and I liked very much the concept, I just think that it isn't competitive as it is right now. But what do I know about Paladins? Almost nothing apart from how to play against them.
Bye :)
Although we'll agree to disagree on Unstable Ghoul, your suggestion on Abomination being replaced with Sludge Belcher is spot on. You really need to start stabilizing by turn 5 and building a board against Huntertaker and Abomination counters that play.
I personally hate Deathlord. I, like most, have been screwed by him one too many times. He can be a nightmare against aggro though. I've been shut down by him with my "Get Down!" pally before and that deck only has 1 mildly scary minion for him to summon. Against control he's a dead draw I feel (unless, as the OP says, you're sitting on the answer for the guaranteed crazy crap that he'll summon).
All-in-all, this is a fine deck with plenty of scary crap to drop late-game and a way to actually get there.
I still prefer Sludge Belcher though. Abomination is quite bad if you have anything already in the board(Midrange and Control matchups) and isn't that much better than Sludge Belcher against Aggro because most likely
1) it will get silenced
2) it will kill some of your own guys
3) your opponent will be able to choose who dies and who survives, just sending at him the guys that were already supposed to die
That said, Abomination just seems quite inferior to Sludge Belcher. I have already tested it in Druid and it is not that great due to the problems mentioned above.
About Deathlord, I have been screwed too many times to trust this card. It is disastrously bad against anything that's not Aggro and even against Aggro it can pull out a big guy and ruin the match. The only matchup in which he is godlike is super Aggro, where the chance of getting something good is quite low.
Anyways, good arguments I should say.
I made some changes based on your feedback. Took out the undertakers, holy light, and the gnome and put in loatheb, earthen ring, another pyro, and either mtn giant or faceless #2. I did leave the aboms though.
Because of all the taunts this deck can actually use deathlord against really strong control, I've had a few games where I drop deathlords just as my opponent's board is getting full and then hit the equality combo right after he gets the free minion. Although despite all the good stuff, handlock is still a tough match.
I tried this, and Abominations just help kill you faster. I do have a deck with Unstable Ghouls in it that works "okay", but Deathlords and Abominations are sabotage and counter-intuitive. Last game I played with this deck I had a Deathlord that pulled a Mad Scientist out for the Hunter, and buffed his Undertaker. Thanks!
Versus Control Decks it can sometimes be okay because it bypasses the battlecry, so you love to see something like a Twilight Drake or Cruel Task or something but yeah, not worth it.