This isn't a particularly novel concept for a deck; it's full of your standard early board control tools with a small Jade package and seeks to constantly threaten wide boards with a Bloodlust finisher. The major differences here are the inclusion of Unstable Evolution and Fungalmancer as well as a couple of Stonehill Defenders for value in slower matchups. I'm a big fan of cards like Unstable Evolution and Stonehill Defender because of their versatility; both can aid you in a fast matchup where you need early game tempo or stall, or in a slower game where you need value.
Looking at the current meta, it seems most important to me to have early game consistency to counter Paladin, Zoo, and Secret Mage, along with transform effects and late game value to counter control warlock (and big priest to a lesser extent). At higher ranks this is going to make up roughly 70% of the meta with control lock, secret mage, and Murloc Paladin comprising the bulk of that.
So many Shaman cards are just natural aggro/dude Paladin counters, and Devolve comes in very handy against the Murloc variant. In its current form I have a strong win rate against those decks. I've had considerably less success against Zoo, though. Their overstatted minions just destroy my board and the hero power makes it so that they don't run out of gas. Secret Mage has been somewhere in between; this seems like a matchup that should be more in my favor, though, so perhaps it's a piloting issue.
Onto the slower decks, I've had (relatively) great success against cube Warlock, which is why I'm posting this deck. With three transform effects and a silence, it's easy to prevent a flood of Voidlords. The ability to create wide boards constantly taxes the Warlock's resources and forces them to play cautiously with their health total, and even if they get a cube off, Devolve + Bloodlust can cut right through a DK resurrected taunt wall for lethal.
I don't have a huge sample size against Jade Druid so far, but it's been pretty ugly in the few matchups I've played. I've fared well against Spell Hunter and pretty even against Midrange Hunter. I haven't played enough against Mill Rogue to determine that one. The really bad matchups, though, are Spiteful and combo Priest. Duskbreaker is pretty much a guaranteed win against Shaman, and if the matchup goes on for too long, you're going to get massively outvalued by Spiteful Summoner, Drakonid Operative, and Netherspite Historian.
So that brings me to the point where I seek some input: how would you change this deck to perform better against Zoo and Secret Mage without weakening it against the other major meta decks? I'm content to just concede against Spiteful and Combo Priest, so let's not worry about that.
Firstly, thanks for taking the time to both assemble the deck composing such an articulate post. It was a great read. Have you any replays that you're willing to share?
My thoughts on the secret mage match: -
Token summon from the hero power won't trigger Explosive Runes (or whatever the aggressive secret is called) so this may have some synergy with Fungalmancer
You're already in a good position with board presence due to lack of AOE in current builds barring what they can generate. I'd be thinking about more healing, such as one more healing rain but wouldn't know what to cut.
Ooze is a good tech
I think I'd be inclined to ask what cards you're viewing as your tech slots?
This isn't a particularly novel concept for a deck; it's full of your standard early board control tools with a small Jade package and seeks to constantly threaten wide boards with a Bloodlust finisher. The major differences here are the inclusion of Unstable Evolution and Fungalmancer as well as a couple of Stonehill Defenders for value in slower matchups. I'm a big fan of cards like Unstable Evolution and Stonehill Defender because of their versatility; both can aid you in a fast matchup where you need early game tempo or stall, or in a slower game where you need value.
Looking at the current meta, it seems most important to me to have early game consistency to counter Paladin, Zoo, and Secret Mage, along with transform effects and late game value to counter control warlock (and big priest to a lesser extent). At higher ranks this is going to make up roughly 70% of the meta with control lock, secret mage, and Murloc Paladin comprising the bulk of that.
So many Shaman cards are just natural aggro/dude Paladin counters, and Devolve comes in very handy against the Murloc variant. In its current form I have a strong win rate against those decks. I've had considerably less success against Zoo, though. Their overstatted minions just destroy my board and the hero power makes it so that they don't run out of gas. Secret Mage has been somewhere in between; this seems like a matchup that should be more in my favor, though, so perhaps it's a piloting issue.
Onto the slower decks, I've had (relatively) great success against cube Warlock, which is why I'm posting this deck. With three transform effects and a silence, it's easy to prevent a flood of Voidlords. The ability to create wide boards constantly taxes the Warlock's resources and forces them to play cautiously with their health total, and even if they get a cube off, Devolve + Bloodlust can cut right through a DK resurrected taunt wall for lethal.
I don't have a huge sample size against Jade Druid so far, but it's been pretty ugly in the few matchups I've played. I've fared well against Spell Hunter and pretty even against Midrange Hunter. I haven't played enough against Mill Rogue to determine that one. The really bad matchups, though, are Spiteful and combo Priest. Duskbreaker is pretty much a guaranteed win against Shaman, and if the matchup goes on for too long, you're going to get massively outvalued by Spiteful Summoner, Drakonid Operative, and Netherspite Historian.
So that brings me to the point where I seek some input: how would you change this deck to perform better against Zoo and Secret Mage without weakening it against the other major meta decks? I'm content to just concede against Spiteful and Combo Priest, so let's not worry about that.
Firstly, thanks for taking the time to both assemble the deck composing such an articulate post. It was a great read. Have you any replays that you're willing to share?
My thoughts on the secret mage match: -
I think I'd be inclined to ask what cards you're viewing as your tech slots?
Golden Hero Collections thus far; -
Europe: Druid, Hunter, Paladin, Mage, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior (9/9)
Americas: Druid, Mage, Paladin Shaman (4/9)
Everywhere else: Workin on it.. (0/9)
Which decks will be playable after the expansion out?