Thanks for the feedback. In limited testing, I'll agree that belchers beat out the ivory knights; Much more consistent and as you said they're vastly better versus aggro.
I actually was running Acolyte of Pain instead of Mistress of Mixtures for a while and they worked out rather well, but I found that versus aggro my hand was getting clogged with too many situational cards I couldn't make use of. It's a swap I'll probably revisit in time however, since I see your point about really needing those combo pieces quickly versus control...maybe the magic number is 2 acolytes and 1xForbidden Healing instead of Lay on Hands for the best split between draw and healing. Something to test and discuss I suppose.
I'm not keen on Novice Engineer personally since it seems like a waste of a card slot in this deck.
What I've noticed is that now the wild ladder at around rank 15-10 is lots and lots of pirate warrior, possibly because it does fairly hard counter giants.
The issue really is just that the match-ups are all so polarized... at least for me the enjoyment of Hearthstone is from counter-play, swings backwards and forwards in tempo during the game etc. Not like this.
I'll agree with both parts of this - first that the Wild ladder has a bunch of pirate warrs lurking around, and second that way too many of my matchups feel decided from the mulligan (or even before).
Don't disenchant either legendary! They're extremely good cards and, even if golden, are highly valuable cards that you'll want to keep IMO.
Looking at your collection, you have just about everything you need for a budget handbuff elemental deck (plus you can make a few upgrades with Tirion and Wickerflame):
I agree with not including Primalfin Champion; Even in buff-centric decks, I find he's very underwhelming since it's a big silence target. Even if you give it "cannot be targeted by spells" from Adaptation, something like Devolve or mass dispell will still make you very very sad...
Eggnapper, Sated Threshadon, Skelemancer, and Arfus all frankly feel like mediocre inclusions to me. While they might have some synergy with the menagerie cards and The Curator, their poor statlines are really detrimental to the deck overall...it's my understanding that most midrange pally decks have been cutting skelemancer in favor of a more aggressive early curve (especially the murlocadin decks) for this reason. Even if it works great with Spikeridged Steed.
I'm also lukewarm on the second Menagerie Magician for exactly the same reason - with an empty board, a 5 mana 4/4 is dreadful and you already have several cards that need you to have a few bodies to be effective (like Cobalt Scalebane). I know it fits the theme of the deck but it kind of feels like a liability if your opponent has a ton of board wipes.
I'd suggest making this deck more aggressive. Either going murloc-heavy with Murloc Warleader and Gentle Megasaur (which give more murloc and beast synergy), or including Vicious Fledgling and Bonemare (beast synergy, bonemare is amazing for midrange decks) make the most sense to me personally.
I personally think that Spikeridged Steed is a bad inclusion for Exodia pally - sure you can turn 8 hero power then steed it up, but odds are you aren't going to have many bodies on the board before then and it's very likely a fast aggro deck will have you on the ropes well before 8. I also think a second Wild Pyromancer and Consecration are both a must, and you really need a single Lay on Hands (I tried without it for a while but it helps a LOT with consistency in my experience thus far).
I'd probably use wickerflame if I had him, but I have mixed feelings on Tarim in this deck. I might wind up including more taunts instead of the Ivory Knights. Finally, Enter the Coliseum and Eadric the Pure are a pair of eyebrow-raising additions that catch opponents off guard pretty well...they're especially good against giant decks!
Priest or Druid are probably the best DKs in the current meta, and both will continue to be very strong after the upcoming nerfs.
DK Thrall looks like a lot of fun, but since you rely on prayers to RNGsus for wins it doesn't seem consistent enough to warrant crafting to me personally.
DK Rexxar is very strong in slow control games. It's also great in wild for Naga-Giant hunter. However, it doesn't seem that useful in Standard currently.
DK Gul'Dan is another strong DK and, for the brief time that Demon Warlock was tearing up the ladder early in this expansion, a really good choice. I think it will be strong in the long run (plus a really good addition to handlock or highlander decks) but again it's not seen much in Standard at this time in my experience.
My $.02, I'd consider crafting the Priest DK or just saving your dust for now so you don't make another decision you wind up regretting down the road!
I got a golden Hadronox in my KFT packs and dusted it immediately tbh...it seems like a badly-statted card with a clunky activation trigger since it can be silenced/polymorphed/sapped/etc. You could try a Bogchamp-style list with heavy ramp, lots of stall, and several big taunt minions to get the most out of its deathrattle if you want to try using it I guess.
Enjoy your fun while it lasts. After Blizzard fixes the naga sea witch, you won't be able to abuse this anymore. No real point in discussing an exploit on the forums.
Salty much? While this might have been an unintentional change on Team 5's part, stating that using Naga is an "exploit" is wildly inaccurate...
Anyways. Thanks for the reply Heeljin. Maybe I'll do 1 CotW and 1 The Lich King for now to see which one I like better.
IIRC in Ben Brode's recent comments on the reddit call-out about the Naga change, he acknowledged that it was an unintended change. While the Giant-Witch archetype might not have a problematic winrate, it only exists because of an unintentional side effect in the last patch update, so I personally think it should be reverted. Furthermore, this could be a serious limiting factor on design space if this change is not reverted.
That said, I find it nice that the Wild meta is getting a bit of a shake-up for a change, and clearly the deck has its weaknesses (I've had no problems with giant decks on both my Face Hunter and Control/Thief Priest) so I do not believe the deck is "ruining wild" at this time.
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Thanks for the feedback. In limited testing, I'll agree that belchers beat out the ivory knights; Much more consistent and as you said they're vastly better versus aggro.
I actually was running Acolyte of Pain instead of Mistress of Mixtures for a while and they worked out rather well, but I found that versus aggro my hand was getting clogged with too many situational cards I couldn't make use of. It's a swap I'll probably revisit in time however, since I see your point about really needing those combo pieces quickly versus control...maybe the magic number is 2 acolytes and 1xForbidden Healing instead of Lay on Hands for the best split between draw and healing. Something to test and discuss I suppose.
I'm not keen on Novice Engineer personally since it seems like a waste of a card slot in this deck.
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Don't disenchant either legendary! They're extremely good cards and, even if golden, are highly valuable cards that you'll want to keep IMO.
Looking at your collection, you have just about everything you need for a budget handbuff elemental deck (plus you can make a few upgrades with Tirion and Wickerflame):
Cough up the 200 dust for 2x Grimestreet Enforcer and you'll be in business. I'd suggest dropping some of the weaker cards from this deck, like both Tol'vir Stoneshaper, 1 Igneous Elemental, and at least 1 Truesilver Champion for your pally legends and your Blazecallers. You might want include a second Spikeridged Steed or a Saronite Chain Gang as well for some more taunts.
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I agree with not including Primalfin Champion; Even in buff-centric decks, I find he's very underwhelming since it's a big silence target. Even if you give it "cannot be targeted by spells" from Adaptation, something like Devolve or mass dispell will still make you very very sad...
Eggnapper, Sated Threshadon, Skelemancer, and Arfus all frankly feel like mediocre inclusions to me. While they might have some synergy with the menagerie cards and The Curator, their poor statlines are really detrimental to the deck overall...it's my understanding that most midrange pally decks have been cutting skelemancer in favor of a more aggressive early curve (especially the murlocadin decks) for this reason. Even if it works great with Spikeridged Steed.
I'm also lukewarm on the second Menagerie Magician for exactly the same reason - with an empty board, a 5 mana 4/4 is dreadful and you already have several cards that need you to have a few bodies to be effective (like Cobalt Scalebane). I know it fits the theme of the deck but it kind of feels like a liability if your opponent has a ton of board wipes.
I'd suggest making this deck more aggressive. Either going murloc-heavy with Murloc Warleader and Gentle Megasaur (which give more murloc and beast synergy), or including Vicious Fledgling and Bonemare (beast synergy, bonemare is amazing for midrange decks) make the most sense to me personally.
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I personally think that Spikeridged Steed is a bad inclusion for Exodia pally - sure you can turn 8 hero power then steed it up, but odds are you aren't going to have many bodies on the board before then and it's very likely a fast aggro deck will have you on the ropes well before 8. I also think a second Wild Pyromancer and Consecration are both a must, and you really need a single Lay on Hands (I tried without it for a while but it helps a LOT with consistency in my experience thus far).
My current setup is as follows:
I'd probably use wickerflame if I had him, but I have mixed feelings on Tarim in this deck. I might wind up including more taunts instead of the Ivory Knights. Finally, Enter the Coliseum and Eadric the Pure are a pair of eyebrow-raising additions that catch opponents off guard pretty well...they're especially good against giant decks!
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Priest or Druid are probably the best DKs in the current meta, and both will continue to be very strong after the upcoming nerfs.
DK Thrall looks like a lot of fun, but since you rely on prayers to RNGsus for wins it doesn't seem consistent enough to warrant crafting to me personally.
DK Rexxar is very strong in slow control games. It's also great in wild for Naga-Giant hunter. However, it doesn't seem that useful in Standard currently.
DK Gul'Dan is another strong DK and, for the brief time that Demon Warlock was tearing up the ladder early in this expansion, a really good choice. I think it will be strong in the long run (plus a really good addition to handlock or highlander decks) but again it's not seen much in Standard at this time in my experience.
My $.02, I'd consider crafting the Priest DK or just saving your dust for now so you don't make another decision you wind up regretting down the road!
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Whether the Gastropod or the Wraith - or even both - Shadow Word: Horror kills both.
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I got a golden Hadronox in my KFT packs and dusted it immediately tbh...it seems like a badly-statted card with a clunky activation trigger since it can be silenced/polymorphed/sapped/etc. You could try a Bogchamp-style list with heavy ramp, lots of stall, and several big taunt minions to get the most out of its deathrattle if you want to try using it I guess.
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Looks like another "should have been a brawl before the expansion hit" brawl. At least it's not cart crash at the crossroads yet again.
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IIRC in Ben Brode's recent comments on the reddit call-out about the Naga change, he acknowledged that it was an unintended change. While the Giant-Witch archetype might not have a problematic winrate, it only exists because of an unintentional side effect in the last patch update, so I personally think it should be reverted. Furthermore, this could be a serious limiting factor on design space if this change is not reverted.
That said, I find it nice that the Wild meta is getting a bit of a shake-up for a change, and clearly the deck has its weaknesses (I've had no problems with giant decks on both my Face Hunter and Control/Thief Priest) so I do not believe the deck is "ruining wild" at this time.