A Call to Arms: The Resurgence of Aggro Paladin
No Murlocs, No Problem
Murlocs infested Paladin way back when Blizzard introduced Anyfin Can Happen to the class with the League of Explorers expansion. Since then, the creatures have been a feature of most decks, giving Tirion Fordring and Ragnaros, Lightlord a powerful first line of defense. Newer cards like Gentle Megasaur, Rockpool Hunter, and Finja, the Flying Star have compounded their dominance, inspiring the now common and competitive Murloc Paladin archetype. These cards have helped Paladin forge an identity many associate with Murlocs more than even Tirion.
Without Shielded Minibot and Muster for Battle, Murloc packages in Paladin have of late been more necessity than preference. Kobolds and Catacombs changed that with one card: Call to Arms. It is one of a few new cards that showcase the power of the Recruit mechanic. While Possessed Lackey has given Warlock a way around spending nine mana on Voidlord — an insane tempo swing and death knell for aggro decks without a Spellbreaker tech — Call to Arms works around the typical card-draw shortcomings of aggressive Paladin decks. Instead of drawing three cards over three turns and slowly mounting an attack, the card draws three minions, puts them in play, and triggers powerful Charge and knife-juggling effects. It is insanely powerful — single-handedly making Murloc-less aggro Paladin decks viable again.
Unlike the archetypes Blizzard introduced with Kobolds and Catacombs, like Big Spell Mage and Spell Hunter, Aggro Paladin isn’t anything new. Various iterations have ebbed and flowed throughout Hearthstone history, but without reliable card draw mechanics — two copies of Divine Favor aren't exactly consistent — the archetype hasn’t been able to compete. This month, however, pro players Control and Cocosasa achieved top legend ranks in both the Wild and Standard formats with Aggro Paladin lists.
Put this Apple on their Head!
The strategy is straightforward — with a few things to keep in mind to optimize performance, of course. In general, we want to dominate the board early with Lost in the Jungle, Righteous Protector, and the pirates; use our weapons to maintain control; and use Call to Arms to either snowball our lead or refill after a board clear. Optimal play requires careful consideration of many things. The odds of recruiting Southsea Deckhand or Knife Juggler with Call to Arms, trading with Knife Juggler on board before summoning minions, going face instead of trading to set up lethal — all are important to ponder when choosing a line of play. The deck is powerful enough to steal wins without considering these things, but thoughtful players will improve their winrate and their rank if they do. Mulligan for Lost in the Jungle and a weapon always; consider keeping Call to Arms with The Coin.
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Control and Cocosasa’s lists have proven powerful, but Drygulch Jailor has been a controversial inclusion. On one hand, in matches that go late, it can enable powerful swing turns with one-mana Silver Hand Recruits and Sunkeeper Tarim. It also provides tokens to trigger Knife Juggler’s effect. On the other, played on curve from the hand it’s way slower than we want, and with the right timing it can make Divine Favor much worse — an opinion Control expressed on Twitch. If you agree, Corridor Creeper makes a perfectly fine substitution.
The meta is currently overrun with minions begging to be silenced, so Spellbreaker might not be a bad tech choice if you find yourself being halted again and again by Possessed Lackey and Voidlord. Spellbreaker can also get your minions past Tar Creeper, unfreeze your biggest minion to apply surprise damage, and against Dragon Priest the silence effect can enable amazing trades with Twilight Drake. Seems good to us. But the potential for value will always depend on what sort of opponents you happen to frequently match. Take note and adjust accordingly.
As the meta continues to shift, Aggro Paladin seems to be digging in its heels. It’s worth noting that just after the expansion dropped, a more midrange-geared Silver Hand Recruit Paladin found success with token synergies: for example Level Up! with the hero power, Lost in the Jungle, and Vinecleaver. But Aggro Paladin pushes lethal damage more aggressively and so appeals to players racing against a turn-six Voidlord or Dragonfire Potion. The midrange variant still deserves an honorable mention in case things change. Until then, Call to Arms and Val'anyr have asserted the Aggro Paladin archetype into the top tier of both the Standard and Wild ladders.
Paladin gets the shaft? Call to Arms is one of the strongest cards in the expansion and even in the game itself. Complaining about design philosophy? At least their efforts with paladin resulted in a competitive deck. Go craft two To My Side! and give spell hunter a whirl - then you can see what poor design really is.
The funny thing about HS is that people will complain just about any archtype that is strong.
This is a fun and balanced deck with some very strong sides and weak sides. I've played this deck quite a lot this season and it is very prone to board clears (Hi Priest and Warlock) and very strong against classes that can't deal with big boards efficiently (Hi Hunters, mages and some Druids). The only soul crushing card is divine favor but I still kinda like it as it promotes a certain all-in playstyle.
Beating this deck requires you to have early clears or taunts to stall the game. It is not like the old PW where they build a strong board but also a strong weapon to continue the face damage after the clear (or well... there is difference between getting hit in the face with a 3/2 weapon and a 7/3 arcanite reaper).
It's a fantastic deck, to be sure. Hit first time legend with it in standard this month. Val'anyr surprised me the most, I think.
I feel aggro like barbarian style no need to make a beautiful deep thinking match just attack boring match.
Dust needed: 7,260.
Lovely.
Hi 5 fellow F2P player
Dust needed 400/600 (depending on deck variant). Hello from another F2P player :)
To be honest, I have bought that starter pack with guaranteed classic legendary ^.^
I've actually preordered the last three expansions. I guess that's just what happens when you open The Voraxx and Genzo, the Shark instead of Tarim and Patches.
Not sold on the Val'anyr, I'd probably play Spellbreaker instead
I made the exact same tech. Val'anyr can make miracles happen against control decks, though.
I've won 2 control matchups with that plus Leeroy. Helpful finisher if you keep your hand thin.
How can anyone consider Drygulch Jailor over Corridor Creeper the best minion in this expansion (in comparison to a 2 mana 1/1 Deathrattle "draw trash")? x_X
The problem: How have this deck in Standard any chance against Priest with its tons of AoEs? Spirit Lash, Pyromancer, Shadow Word Horror, Dragonfire Potion, OPsychic Scream... I can't see, how an Aggro-Pala should have a realistic chance against a Priest, who has at least an average draw. :/
In Wild are more sticky minions like Haunted Creeper or even Nerubian Egg and even the good old Loatheb to tech against the Priest AoEs. But what can you do in Standard? Yes, only pey that the Priest has a terrible hand -.- ...
Nobody said anything about Drygulch Jailor over Corridor Creeper though and why would they?
Regarding priest games, you can actually do pretty well against the very popular Big Spell/Dragon Priests because they only run 2x Duskbreaker for AOE, and you have a fair amount of divine shields.
For the exact reason that is listed in the article? I agree that on curve, it's probably too damned slow. The repay on your board presence for spending that mana is sub-par. It might be efficient, to a point, but the minion bodies are simply too small for the costs and tempo involved.
On the other hand, dropping three cheap AF minions right before your Sunkeeper Tarim is freaking amazing. With Murlocadin during JtU'G, even having one or two minions on board was really solid value. And the game feels like it's at around the same, or a slightly higher, speed now. To make that late game more viable, that's an extra 9/9 across 3 bodies.
As far as your counter suggestions? Spirit Lash will wipe them, if they're unimproved. Same goes for Shadow Word: Horror. The most substantive value there is forcing the Priest to drop their AOEs earlier and using things like Call to Arms to rebuild your board quickly and start putting down new pressure. No, you can't keep doing it. But we're talking about an 'unfavoured' match-up. Dragonfire Potion wrecks a lot of things, as does Psychic Scream. But I've never really bought that argument. It was like everybody talking about how Silence effects will kill every good new card that was revealed on the lead up to this set, and pretty much every other in recent memory. Everyone acts like 20 Silence cards in your deck leaves you viable somehow. It doesn't. Literally the only archetypes I've seen that board wipes again, and again, until your brain explodes is either Freeze Mage, or now Big Spell Mage. The others will run out, eventually. As to Wild Pyromancer, sure, again it wipes the 1/1s, not the 3/3s.
Assuming, just for the sake of argument, that all classes and builds should have a 'good' chance against the rest, there are still options. However, in all realism of how Hearthstone runs, not to mention good game design, this simply isn't so.
As far as the rest goes; Egg decks, Astral Tiger and other sticky minions say 'hi'.
just play Warlock and win anyways
Yep, any warlock deck - just chuck random warlock cards together and you'll win. I play warlock jank competitively and have a 100% w/r.
/s
Playing this deck, even against control warlocks I've probably got at least a 50/50 chance of winning - more if I topdeck Spellbreaker more than once.
I have an over 75% wr against this when I draw defile before turn 4(and an abysmal wr when I don't draw that or hellfire).
Like so many other aggro decks, it largely depends on the control player not drawing their answers in time. Games often come down to if the aggrodin can effectively cast avenging wrath with knife jugglers(something I really don't like playing against). Spellbreaker doesn't scare me in the slightest, if I can get past turn 5 or 6 then I've won. Never once lost to a charging leeroy from this deck at least.