I really wouldn't call a deck relying on Tirion and N'zoth to win "midrange".
Midrange Paladin has always run Tirion, and a single 10 cost card does not = a control deck anymore than Anyfin Paladin is a control deck.
The point of Nzoth is to give you legs vs decks that try to control you. It's not the primary win condition, it's just an additional one vs decks that often survive your other win condition; zoo-ing them out, much like Midrange Paladin of prior expansions and the current Midrange Shaman etc.
I'd try to squeeze a Justicar in there. Also, Blessing of Kings is needed to strategies that feature sticky boards. Definitely the 2/1 Charge-Divine Shield over C'Thun's Chosen.
Probably 1 Equality also?
Now you're going too far control imo. The 2/1 charger doesn't do much in a deck that focuses on tempo and value trades without something like Flametongue Totem, sure you can buff it with Might or something, but then you're left with a 5/1, it's a good way to 2 for 1 yourself.
Justicarr and Kings are down in the sideboards, they're definitely super strong vs control. I'm seeing mainly aggressive decks though, so I'm not getting as much value out of them. Sometimes the meta goes all out Cthun Priest and Control Warrior and then you really want them, but vs Zoo and Shaman I think you just want to prioritise a strong start.
C'thun's chosen is pretty much the strongest midrange 4 drop in the game now that Shredder is gone imo. Facing that thing as a Priest is very upsetting lmao.
I've been looking into building a viable midrange Paladin deck for standard and finally had a breakthrough, winning 12 of 16 games from rank 9 to rank 4, meaning I think there is potential here.
It seems to be that you cannot simply try to replace Chow, Muster and Minibot with like for like new cards. Instead, take the best of aggro Paladin (divine shield synergy) and the best of control Paladin (N'zoth) and combine the two. What you have is an aggressive tempo based early game using buffs to leverage your sticky divine shield and deathrattle minions, that curves into a strong mid and late game with Cairne, Sylvanas, Healbots and Tirion (and finally N'zoth) without running out of steam and threats the way aggro Paladin can.
Take a look, give it a go and tell me what you think. Hopefully you'll have as much success as I did:
A little tired of being limited to either aggro or control Paladin I started working with a few other deckbuilders you've probably seen around Hearthpwn etc. on trying to build a strong midrange variant.
The issue has clearly been the loss of the standard Paladin early game: Chow, Minibot, Muster. Simply trying to replace those cards like for like hasn't worked, so really the whole deck needed a rethink, and what we came up with has so far been working extremely well. I haven't taken it to legend, but a 75%ish winrate from rank 9 to 4 tells me it's worth a shot.
Long story short you take the best of aggro Paladin and control Paladin and put them together. Going all in on divine shields is ok but against classes that can keep your board clear it's very easy to run out of steam, but in order to benefit from these new cards you don't have to commit 100% of your strategy to that mechanic. Similarly, N'zoth is a super strong card in Paladin given the existence of Tirion but you don't need to bring back only late game bombs for it to be a win condition: bringing back a bunch of Selfless Heroes, Harvest Golems and a Cairne is often enough to seal the deal.
So you start with sticky divine shield and deathrattle minions like Argent Squire and Harvest Golem, trade up with Abusive Sergeants, Selfless Hero buffs, Defender of Argus and Rallying Blade, and curve into bigger midrange minions like Sylvanas, Cairne and Healbot and if you haven't already overwhelmed your opponent then N'zoth gives you that final push.
tl;dr Give midrange Paladin a go, just don't try to replace the old cards with like for like new ones. The best strategy seems to be capitalising on the strengths of both control and aggro Paladin, rather than putting all your eggs in one basket.
Now that the meta is starting to settle, once again Shaman is back to low tier again. Only deck that actually work is face Shaman. Getting a winrate of ~30% with this deck as of now.
I too found the deck suffered as the meta changed but with some adaptations it is back to being successful for me. Sadly midrange Shaman is currently forced to be more aggressive to race Paladin, Priest, Warrior and Miracle Rogue.
Personally I only craft golden classic legendaries. Seeing a golden Lightlord sitting cold and alone in your collection when he's rotated out of Standard is going to be too heart breaking for me.
I've been having horrible luck with this deck so far :(
Zoo usually eats me alive before I could establish a board for evolution. And even evolution hasn't done that much for me so far, I usually just get battlecry minions and once fucked myself with a Naga Sea Witch. It does seem really fun and I haven't given up on it though, I just feel like the rng is really not kind to me and warlock play minions faster and more efficiently than I can keep up with.
Update: Facing nothing but aggro decks today. Out of 6 games, 6 lost. Aggro eats me for breakfast. Not sure how to handle them, any tips? :(
Aggro and zoo have completely exploded, I am seeing almost 75% Zoo on the ladder. The deck isn't a bad matchup, but that is compared to anyone else, everyone is reliant on drawing board clears quickly or Zoo is nearly unbeatable. I had thought Blizzard had wanted to tone down minion spam with this expansion but I think this might be the most out of control zoo variant we have ever had since launch.
All you can do is mulligan for LS like your life depends on it, because it does. If you don't draw it by about turn 5 then chances are you have lost, and that goes for more or less every deck in the game currently, even Healadin.
Contrary to rob0tniik's claim the deck is tested by myself and a number of others, we have adapted it to be more efficient in achieving it's win condition and in countering the meta It plays much the same, just a little faster. The aim of this deck is to be competitive.
That said, the meta is currently almost entirely Zoo and this deck, so I have not had a huge amount of fun laddering lately.
I removed Nerubian Prophet too,it's stats are so so,and with only 1 on deck it was rare to draw it when you needed.
Would indeed be very good on Flamewreathed Faceless but is generally not run due to being a dead card in the hand often, however the same can be said of Bloodlust and that works very well in this deck as it has in certain other past Shaman decks.. Maybe Windfury is worth experimenting as a one of, probably in place of Bloodlust.
Would it be an acceptable choice to swap Hammer of Twilight with Doomhammer? I didn't open any of the former.
It's not gonna break the deck for sure, but you might want to consider Doomhammer + 2x Rockbiter as your finisher in place of Bloodlust, as Hammer of Twilight is a tempo card whereas Doomhammer is primarily meant to go face. Making this change will push the deck toward being an aggro deck rather than midrange because you're replacing two tempo cards with face cards and overloading on your Fire Elemental turn, but it will still work as a more aggressive deck.
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Hi guys,
I've been looking into building a viable midrange Paladin deck for standard and finally had a breakthrough, winning 12 of 16 games from rank 9 to rank 4, meaning I think there is potential here.
It seems to be that you cannot simply try to replace Chow, Muster and Minibot with like for like new cards. Instead, take the best of aggro Paladin (divine shield synergy) and the best of control Paladin (N'zoth) and combine the two. What you have is an aggressive tempo based early game using buffs to leverage your sticky divine shield and deathrattle minions, that curves into a strong mid and late game with Cairne, Sylvanas, Healbots and Tirion (and finally N'zoth) without running out of steam and threats the way aggro Paladin can.
Take a look, give it a go and tell me what you think. Hopefully you'll have as much success as I did:
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A little tired of being limited to either aggro or control Paladin I started working with a few other deckbuilders you've probably seen around Hearthpwn etc. on trying to build a strong midrange variant.
The issue has clearly been the loss of the standard Paladin early game: Chow, Minibot, Muster. Simply trying to replace those cards like for like hasn't worked, so really the whole deck needed a rethink, and what we came up with has so far been working extremely well. I haven't taken it to legend, but a 75%ish winrate from rank 9 to 4 tells me it's worth a shot.
Long story short you take the best of aggro Paladin and control Paladin and put them together. Going all in on divine shields is ok but against classes that can keep your board clear it's very easy to run out of steam, but in order to benefit from these new cards you don't have to commit 100% of your strategy to that mechanic. Similarly, N'zoth is a super strong card in Paladin given the existence of Tirion but you don't need to bring back only late game bombs for it to be a win condition: bringing back a bunch of Selfless Heroes, Harvest Golems and a Cairne is often enough to seal the deal.
So you start with sticky divine shield and deathrattle minions like Argent Squire and Harvest Golem, trade up with Abusive Sergeants, Selfless Hero buffs, Defender of Argus and Rallying Blade, and curve into bigger midrange minions like Sylvanas, Cairne and Healbot and if you haven't already overwhelmed your opponent then N'zoth gives you that final push.
tl;dr Give midrange Paladin a go, just don't try to replace the old cards with like for like new ones. The best strategy seems to be capitalising on the strengths of both control and aggro Paladin, rather than putting all your eggs in one basket.
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Personally I only craft golden classic legendaries. Seeing a golden Lightlord sitting cold and alone in your collection when he's rotated out of Standard is going to be too heart breaking for me.
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