Hearthpwn

All practice, there's usually more variety than ladder. It's already the 26th so I don't really care about climbing right now.

I might try 1 Unstable Ghoul + 1 Abo + 1 Belcher.

I removed Argos and 1 Belcher to make enough room for 2x Abominations.

I thought:"SHAMANS, BE READY: I'M GOING IN DRY".

17 matches = 0 Shamans

=________=

Abo is another 4 attack minion which is good vs Priest, a bit slow vs Zoo, very good vs Pally and Token Druid (a 5 cost creature that completely counters a 9 mana combo wombo is cool). I was looking forward to testing it vs the Shaman's stack of totems and Deathrattles but no luck so far. Still struggling vs Zoo.

After my run I went back to your deck guide and I was surprised to read your results with Zoo and Shaman. I mean Zoo is hard because this deck doesn't have many early game big taunts or removals, while Zoo has a pretty reliable start. If I do get the needed cards (Scientists, Taunters, Bolts, Acolytes etc) it becomes much easier to handle. I takes a bit of mulligan-luck.

Still no idea how to face Shaman with the deck as it is now, I always keep my fingers crossed and hope that they're not holding the perfect answer. Flametongue for extra early damage, Earth Shock for drakes, Hex for Giants...dang xP Here in Asia Shaman is still not Fotm yet, but over the last week or so I've faced many more than previously.

On your decks' page, someone wrote this: "I actually think that adding an abomination  for the one sludge is going to work better against zoo and hunter."

I didn't think of that. Abomination would help with Zoo, Hunter and all those 2 health drops from Shaman.

I currently have a small pool of games available (around 30), but I was lucky enough to face a large variety of opponents.

Warrior: very easy matchup. I've only met control Warrios that try to control the board against fat Drakes and Giants and don't have enough removal for everything. Grommash' burst is almost pointless vs Ice Block/ Alexsdrasza. 3-0

Rogue: looks like people are trying a Miracle-Roguelike-Burn-Direct Damage thingy, still relying on Auctioneer to draw stuff and deal damage with the help of Thalnos and Drakes.  Just soak up most of the damage, drop free Giants, gg. 2-0

Druid: I've faced 3 so far, a Token Druid, e Ramp Druid and the new Ooze Druid. Not a hard matchup, and lolz were in the air when at 9 mana the Druid emoteed "Thank You", unleashed the 9 mana combo wombo, my Mage's "Oops" emote got off just before Ice Block triggered, followed by free Giants, Flamestrike and a second Ice Block. 3-0

Priest: I wrecked a control Priest pretty hard (was not expecting that), and lost to the newer mid range version of Priest with Undertakers, Chows etc because by turn 9 I had not seen a Drake or Giant (was not expecting that either) 1-1

Hunter: found 2 deck styles,  beast synergies Hunter and trap one. Depends a lot on starting hand and Flares. 2-2

Mage: I've only met aggro Trap Mages. This matchup has to be played very carefully, Mirror Entity and Counterspell can be terrible. 2-1

Handlock: 1-1, very similar decks. Warlock has more reliable draw and quicker access to free Giants, Mage has Ice Blocks and direct burst. 

Zoolock: pretty hard match. I've only won against one that had a pretty slow start with a turn 2 Creeper that lead to a very low damage output over the first few turns. A turn 2 Wolf is usually a disaster because my health drops so fast that by the time I get in Blizzard/Flamestrike range the board is filled with spiders or Eggs and wiping the board is useless. 1-3

Paladin: it's an interesting matchup. I'm currently 3-0 but I think it depends a lot on players not being used to see Giants in Mage decks. A lot of Paladins play Equalities, Peacekeepers, Pyromancers, Kodos and I've also seen a 1x BGH. They have ways to handle all the threats in this deck, so it's important not to overextend too much and try to optimize Duplicate. Acolyte of Pain is a game winner here.

Shaman: I kept this one at the end. I got wrecked so hard I thought that I was playing an Arena deck vs a constructed one. There was one weird match that ended with me not drawing any Ice Block or Alex and at 8hp my opponent with 3 cards in hand summoned the Spell Power totem and killed me with double Lightning. I will not consider that. What I'm worried about is that I've never been in the game in any of the matches. The new Shaman with Deathrattles fills the boards with small stuff in the first few turn and can easily deal with Drakes and Giants without having to rely on expensive cards. Twilight Drakes get killed by a 1 mana spell, if at turn 5 I'm under heavy pressure and my only savior is a Belcher it will get Hexed, and my board clear on turn 6 or 7 will just delay my defeat by 1 turn.

I've only been SLIGHTLY in the game with a Coin-Scientist / Frostbolt/ Acolyte start, but Flametongue totem + random garbage cleared my board. Overall 0-4, and if this style of Shaman becomes "the thing" to face Handlocks, I'd definitely consider playing a couple of Unstable Ghouls (a turn 5 freeze + Doomsayer means hoping that the opponent doesn't have ANY of his 4 removal/silence spells).

The only change that I'm currently testing is 0 Ice Elementals / 2x Polymorphs. I noticed that most of my turn 4 plays are:

a) Vs aggro Frostbolt + Fireblast or Frostbolt + Scientist if I still have one or a Drake that can handle Nerubians and other 4 toughness minions in one turn

b) Vs most controls I'd try to have a Duplicate on the field followed by turn 4 Drake, or cast Intellect wasting one mana but getting closer to drop Giants.

c) Vs Priest I'd mulligan everything to drop a turn 4 Drake, an Ice Elemental in the starting hand would make me regret all the life choices I've ever made.

d) A desperation Fireball if something absurd suddenly appeared (Innervate, I'm talking about you) or to reduce incoming damage from a crowded board.

When I was still playing one Elemental, he singlehandedly won we a game vs Warrior, but in most matches he has performed poorly. A second Polymorph can be an extra emergency removal on turn 4, or will just work as a safety net vs decks that pack 2 minions that are tough to handle (Kel Thuzad + Thirion and all that sort of nonsense).

The deck is pretty solid and even more important quite fun to play. I'll try to tweak it a bit in order to improve the first few turns, because I expect that in order to play in October's ladder a deck will have to be able to perform well vs both Zoo and Shaman.

Quote from HSCrusher »

a)  I did use to run an Unstable Ghoul.  I took it out because I wanted something a bit beefier as a stop gap.  You don't want to many minions that are bad Duplicate targets.  It's a reasonable add to the deck though.

I guess it mostly depends on the amount of aggro decks you find. I mean, if you're playing vs control, drop a 0 mana Giant and you get Duplicate to trigger it's usually gg. On the other hand, against Zoo I reckon a Mad Scientist pulling out a Duplicate followed by an Unstable Ghoul that has the potential be followed by 2 more Ghouls is pretty neat and buys enough time to get to 5 mana and let Belchers fly. But then again you drop a Twilight Drake, the opponent silences it, proceeds to kill the Ghoul and the salt rain begins.

Quote from HSCrusher »

 

b)  Yep, running 2 x Ice Block now.  Just had a game against a Jaraxxus Handlock where I Duplicated Alexstrasza and healed myself back up from 3 or less health 3 times (twice after Ice Blocks).  It was epic.

That sounds worth of Hearth Trolden xD

Quote from HSCrusher »

 

c)  Control is in full force right now after the nerf and Polymorph is gaining value.  I'm already experimenting with a Polymorph in for one of the Sludge Belchers, which just didn't seem to have enough card value for the long matches.

A Belcher would be my first candidate as well to be removed in favor of a second Polymorph. Against most control decks it's kinda useless because it's not like you're going for the EXTREME BEATDOWN OF DOOM at the rate of 3 damage per turn, and vs Priest it can actually be awful due to Shadow Madness.

Quote from HSCrusher »

 

This deck is still in flux as you can see.  I think we're on a pretty similar page.

You copied my deck: confirmed. ( xD)

On a side note, do you play on Usa/Eu ? Have you meet many of the FOTM Priest with all the stealing cards? I play on Asian servers and they compose a nice chunk of the ladder, do you manage to drop enough stuff to overwhelm them or do you get to the point when Sylvanas, Mind Control etc become a major issue?

OP's attempt to start a flame is admirable. Most people would usually give up soon, but he's very committed and has been repeating the same stuff for dats. I appreciate that level of commitment to a lost cause.

A few questions for OP:

a) Since you're running with 2 Acolytes, have you tried playing Unstable Ghouls? If yes, how did it work out? If no, why did you decide so?

b) As others mentioned, I'd go for the 2x Duplicate + 2x Ice Block.  Ice barrier is cute, but there are times when I want to be 100% sure that a Mad Scientist will pull out an Ice Block. I find it more reliable when I play my current deck which is pretty similar to Hyp3d's version.

c) The single Polymorph: it's still early to make assumptions based on the post-Hunter nerf ladder, but during the last week on casual I found a ton of people playing Handlock, control/tempo Priest and midrange Paladin. With those decks I often found myself in a "Topdeck Polymorph or bust" situation (curse you, Tirion!!1!). Do you think 1 will be enough, or do you plan to add 1 in order to have a realiable way to address annoying stuff? 

I like the concept a lot, I'll try it over the next few days. 

I'll refer to Hyp3d's version of this Giants-Mage deck because it's pretty popular and kinda close to what I often play.

Here's a link to it: http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/103357-hyp3ds-control-mage

The core of my deck is almost the same, sometimes I mess around with aoe spells but they are very similar.

It's a deck style that I really enjoy playing, but I'm having some problems. And I'm not talking about Hunter, I'm talking about Zoo. I tend to get demolished pretty consistently by Zoo UNLESS I have a perfect start. The main issue is that Zoo always has a pretty consistent start, while this Mage deck only has very few ways to handle a swarm of value-packed minions during the first few turns. 

I've tried a turn 2 Doomsayer just to clear their first minion and hopefully delay their turn 2, but it's not too hard for Zoo to deal 7 damage on turn 2.  After the first couple of turns the field is packed with Eggs, Spiders and other things that are better left alive.

I've tried playing more freeze spells (2x Frost Nova, 2x Cone of Cold) but unless I find a strong follow up I'm just delaying the concede button. Doing nothing on turn 1 and 2 (2 Mad Scientists out of 30 cards = 1 every 15 cards = very low odds on dropping one on turn 2) means that Drakes become a silence target, Elementals with 6 health die pretty quickly and Belcher is Doomguard's favorite target.

What would you guys suggest to improve the survival of the first few turns? Unstable Ghouls to have a turn 2 Ghoul or turn 4 Ghoul+Doomsayer? I cannot think of anything else that will make the first few turns more manageable against Zoo or other face-decks.