Paladin had a pretty fantastic year in Hearthstone. Since the release of the Witchwood expansion in April 2018, Odd or Even Paladin have been seated firmly at the peak of the tier list.
So why did Paladin receive such a power spike at the beginning of Witchwood? It’s all because of Baku the Mooneater and Genn Greymane. Baku created the Odd deck archetype and Genn created the Even deck archetype. Essentially, both of these minions enhance your Hero Power as long as your deck only contains Odd (Baku) or Even (Genn) cards. While both of these decks are considered Top Tier in the current meta, today we’ll be looking at the cheaper option, Odd Paladin.
Odd Paladin has been a tier one deck since its inception. Even after Blizzard nerfed the deck considerably in December by increasing the mana cost of Level Up, it still managed to find a way to change up and remain top tier.
If you are not a fan off Aggro decks, then Odd Paladin is not for you. Odd Paladin is arguably the most popular and most dominant Aggro deck in the history of Hearthstone, and for good reason. Thanks to its improved Hero Power provided by Baku the Mooneater, Odd Paladin is able to generate early game pressure that many decks are unable to answer before it’s too late.
Baku makes it so that your Hero Power summons two one attack one health minions instead of the usual lone minion. These minions are called Silver Hand Recruits. The base strategy of Odd Paladin is to summon as many of these recruits as early and as fast as possible, then to overwhelm your opponent with damage to their face. In order to support your recruits and to expedite the process, you’ll be running a host of low-cost minions that help buff your minions on the board.
One such card is Acherus Veteran. This card is a one mana 2/1 with a battlecry that gives a friendly minion plus-one attack. Having this card in your opening hand can be great for early game rush down. The card works even better if you’re able to combine it with another one of your one cost minions in the form of Righteous Protector. This card is a one cost 1/1 with Taunt and Divine Shield. Drop this card and then buff it with Acherus Veteran and you’ve got a pretty decent wall with the ability to punish other early game minions.
Your best three cost card is by far Raid Leader. This card is a 2/2 that gives all your other minions plus-one attack. Once you have amassed a board of 1/1 Recruits and low-cost minions it’s time to drop Raid Leader and put on the serious pressure. A Raid Leader on turn four or five, before your opponent has had time to play board clear, can be an extremely hard play for them to come back from. This type of incredibly fast and low cost synergy is the type of thing that makes Odd Paladin so dominant.
Once you’ve made your way into the mid-game is usually when you’ll be securing victory. Prior to the nerfs, this would be when you play Level Up and send a ton of Silver Hand Recruit damage into your opponent’s face. Now, you’ll be imploring a similar tactic using cards like Fungalmancer and Frostwolf Warlord.
Fungalmancer is a five cost 2/2 minion that gives adjacent minions plus-two attack and health. Frostwolf Warlord is a five cost 4/4 minion that gains one attack and one health for every other friendly minion on the battlefield. These cards both create insane mid-game tempo swings and your opponent still usually hasn’t even had time to board clear.
If the Warlord and Fungalmancer aren’t enough to completely finish off your opponent, you’ll want to play Leeroy Jenkins and charge in to finish the job. Leeroy is a five mana 6/2 minion with Charge that summons two 1/1 Whelps for your opponent. Usually, if you’re playing Leeroy, the opponent won’t have the opportunity to use the Whelps against you because the game will be over.
The deck also contains a plethora of other minion-generating Spells and Weapons like Lost in the Jungle and Vinecleaver. It also has some protection-based cards tossed in through a pair of Stonehill Defenders. These cards will help you protect your board of minions while you use them to chip away at your opponent’s health until you’re ready for your final tempo-swinging facebusting attack.
Odd Paladin is a deck that the community has always had mixed views on. Many players feel the deck, along with other Odd/Even decks, have ruined competitive play due to how strong the improved Hero Powers are. If you enjoy Aggro, there’s no reason you shouldn’t give Odd Paladin a try. If you’re more of a control player, however, just keep your eyes set on April, and hopefully the new Standard rotation will bring your chosen archetype some love.
