Decks to Play – Totems, Really?

Introduction

Hello and welcome to yet another edition of Decks to Play. This time we bring some cool updates to already playable lists.

Truth is, today’s Decks to Play is basically a bunch of Updated Lists and a bonus one, which is my personal Control Priest list from the premium article I made a couple days ago, which is still working wonders in today’s ladder.

There is also the list that takes the article’s title, which is yet another Shaman list that got to #1 Legend, this time made by XiXo (and Played by Loyan to #1 Legend).

So, shall we begin? 😀

Kolento’s Control Paladin

So this is Kolento’s updated Paladin list. You guys have been taking some looks at Control Paladin lists, mostly all based on nzoth-the-corruptor, but I have to say most of the builds that we have seen so far are pretty terrible. They lack taunt and sometimes you die even after you cast your N’Zoth, corrupted-healbot also seems like a terrible card to run in Constructed as it costs too much but isn’t tempo-oriented nor have any impact on the board.

That said, Kolento actually did some adjustments in his build, and the final version is the one you’re seeing right now. I have to say this is much better than the previous N’Zoth based lists, but I still don’t think this is good enough to have longevity in the ladder.

The lack of Taunts always bugs me to the core: Not having stuff to defend yourself seems bad in Control Decks, even when you are healing yourself because in the end you’re doing nothing but delaying the inevitable, so in case you are on to playtesting I would recommend infested-tauren as a replacement for twilight-summoner, it even costs a lot less dust!

Nuba’s Ramp Druid

So this is a version of Druid I am enjoying playing. The biggest issue with C’ Thun Druids is that you need to run bad cards in order to take advantage of other powerful ones. This issue doesn’t happen with this build, it also fixes the general problem that C’Thun Druid has which is “Lack of decent removal”. Sure, big-game-hunter is still a bad card, changing your deck from C’Thun to Ramp won’t change that, but the fact is that a deck like this is a lot more capable of sustaining a card like Big Game Hunter than a C’Thun deck that tries to outcurve the opponent every turn.

the-black-knight finishes the Removal package and I am quite happy with him. Even the most aggressive of the decks are packing Taunts to defend themselves and make trades better (except for N’Zoth decks because they suck), so The Black Knight seems like an obvious addition to a deck from a class that lacks removal.

In between azure-drakes, wrath pings and nourishes, you are never out of cards, so I actually enjoyed feral-rage on this deck, not only because it is a nice emergency heal that serves as a sub-par removal that can take out totem-golem (earlier than Swipe) and other 4-health minions, this card also has an obviously very powerful interaction with fandral-staghelm.

This is my personal Ramp Druid list, a very fun one to play so in case you are looking for a nice Ramp Druid list, this one can easily take you to Legend!

XiXo’s Totem Shaman

XiXo’s list is quite the masterpiece. Who could have ever thought that primal-fusion was actually going to be a thing?

I have played multiple games with this list, and so far it never felt bad or lacking, I just loved it! Even the bloodlust, which is a card that I hate, can be easily sustained by this list because it can consistently run double mana-tide-totem without hurting the curve.

One mana for a +3/+3 can easily make it so you can play your Mana Tide Totem and still stay ahead on tempo.

This is also the only possible list that can fight against the most Greedy Control decks packed up with board sweepers and removal simply because of how recursive it is. A simple thunder-bluff-valiant can win the game on its own and sometimes deserves a full board sweeper by itself. Meanwhile, the deck also has the potential to snowball from the early game and win within a couple of turns from the start, making this the most powerful deck in the game right now.

This is still a non-face Shaman deck, so it will still take skill to play it, regardless of how overpowered it is, and that is what I like the most about skill-decks taking the top of the tier list – They are sifting when it comes to skill level.

BONUS: Nuba’s Control Priest

And this is the Control Priest list I posted on the Premium Article WOG Control Priest – We did it boys!, this deck is another one of those decks I made that is very different from the ones you see daily, but is very powerful and worth playing on the ladder to get tons of free wins.

I played a lot of games with this deck, and I believe that because people are not used to playing against this, or simply because they don’t know the list, this deck simply wreak havoc around the ladder.

I have a winrate of something close to 90% with this deck, and I just haven’t got to Legend with it yet because I am playtesting a lot of different decks right now, but in case you want something very powerful to play around in the ladder and very different from everything you have seen since WOG came out, this is the deck for you!

If you want any more information regarding card choices and such, consider reading the premium article and maybe supporting us :3

Closing

And this is it for today’s Decks to Play!

I thought I wouldn’t be posting my own lists, but in the end I ended up deciding to post my personal lists instead of the ones other players play because I am enjoying playing them a lot more than other lists I keep seeing. The Shaman list is a powerhouse, I have to admit that, but playing the other lists is still tons of fun, and the Priest on in particular seems to be able to consistently beat any kind of Shaman build that stands in its way.

I hope you guys enjoyed today’s article, and we’ll see each other again in our next article!

Love you all,

Nuba

---