This is a new kind of post series that we are experimenting with at Hearthstone. This one might be lengthy, but we are trying to give you guys the general idea of what this series would entail. Please leave feed back and suggestions in the comments below.
Introduction
Welcome to the Hearthstone Stratagem, the place in which I go through all of the top Legend rank & competitively used decks.
In this post, I include the information that you need to understand how these decks work, in terms of what strategy each deck is based upon, the cards to dig for or bury when it comes time to mulligan and the matchup’s to learn.
Every deck is different, even if only a few cards are changed at one time, each deck has a strategy and a way to play it, through this post, I’m going to try to explain how the decks listed work and what you should know about them.
Navigation & Structure
For each of the decks listed, I attempt to gather as much detail as possible, through the guides and information found within the Hearthstone community, through my own experience playing the decks & against them and the understanding of the Hearthstone meta game. Each deck will list the following:
- Decklist
- Card Reasoning
- Potential Card Switches
- Mulligans
- Matchup Knowledge
Listed Decks
- Control
- Kolento Paladin
- Realz VGVN Naxrammas Control
- Shockadin (Aggro)
Control Paladin
Hit_Girl7’s Legend Paladin – May 2014, Patch: 5170
Quick Summary
This deck relies on being able to keep up board control and secure a strong late game with cards like Ragnaros the Firelord as your win conditions to pressure your opponent down whilst you continue to attempt to keep control of the board with access to a variety of removal spells and minions.
If you would like some more information, head over to Hit Girl’s guide!
Card Reasoning
1x Elven Archer provides a few different uses, it can be used to remove minions when playing against aggro, help finish off the opponents creatures when trading and also acts as a strong removal tool when combined with Equality. Elven Archer can also have small synergy, though very situational with Sylvanas Windrunner as you can manage to deal the extra point of damage to be able to proc the deathrattle and steal a minion from the opponent.
1x Holy Light is a card that gives Paladin some more survivability, as it can be used both of your hero and on your creatures. With this is mind, the healing effect for such a low mana cost can often allow minions to survive much longer and trade much more efficiently.
2x Wild Pyromancer gives the deck even more control with the ability to remove minions much easier, as it can be combined with your spells when against aggro decks or any style of deck that rely on swarming the board with low health minions. One of the great uses for Wild Pyro, is that it offers more removal when combined with Equality as the spell’s effect is used before the passive ability from the Wild Pyromancer, which means you can be able to rid of a large amount of minions when they become an issue without needing to draw into Consecration for the traditional Paladin combo.
The issues with Wild Pyromancer is that it damages your own minions, which is a great deal as it can remove your own tokens that you have summoned through the use of your hero power, then when combined with Equality, it can often be even worse as all of your creatures will be affected.
1x Blood Knight is a niche pick that has great synergy well with many Paladin decks as their usage of Divine Shield is much higher than other classes. Alongside Argent Protector, Blood Knight can provide a very strong minion early or late that can put a high amount of the pressure onto the board if the opponent has no ability to silence. Blood Knight can be used as a 3/3 for 3 mana early on in the game to attain some pressure if you think there will not be any targets with Divine Shield for its battlecry.
2x Spellbreaker is a very strong card as a 4/3 for 4 mana that has the ability to silence – This ability synergises well with the deck due to the ability to gain a high amount of board control and also be able to silence your own minions that have been affected byEquality. With the rise of high deathrattle effects from Naxxrammas, silence is also even more useful to prevent such strong effects taking place.
1x Stampeding Kodo is a strong minion that has the ability to remove small minions from the board which can be incredibly useful and even more so when you are playing against aggressive decks that have a large amount of small minions. Stampeding Kodo is also very strong against decks that run Acolyte of Pain as all card draw can be negated through Kodo’s destroy a minion mechanic.
1x Cairne Bloodhoof is a slow minion that relies on its deathrattle to benefit completely, though it provides board pressure as the opponent has to effectively remove two minions even before the deathrattle has activated, since they need to be able to plan around it. Cairne can slow the game down long enough by being able to trade efficiently when considering it’s deathrattle and still leave a large presence on the board.
1x Lay on Hands gives this deck a few things; draw, healing & the ability to recover. As such a large heal and drawing mechanic comes from one card, it can give you the chance to be able to recover from a weak early game or if you need to be able to survive a little bit longer and get out of the range of an opponents burst combo.
1x Tirion Fordring is a very strong legendary, as it’s high 6/6 stats can be heavy blows into the opponent, though its additional Divine Shield make it even more of a threat.
Tirion’s incredibly strong deathrattle, to equip a 5/3 Ashbringer can also be a late game finishing tool or to help further secure the board. Tirion is very vulnerable to the silence mechanic, though if left alone can help this deck secure victory much easier.
Potential Card Switches
Faceless Manipulator: Can be switched instead of Ragnaros the Firelord to leave yourself vulnerable to the potential of an opponent’s Faceless and end up having your own minions copied for the opponents advantage.
Sludge Belcher: A card that could be used when you want a strong turn 5, even more so if Stampeding Kodo is not working the most efficiently if you are not facing as many 2 attack minions.
Mind Control Tech can be a replacement for Blood Knight if you find that you are playing against a high amount of Aggro decks to be able to prevent the opponent’s tempo and have the possibility of stealing a high value minion from the opponent’s board.
Mulligans
Standard Mulligan: Keeping Equality to control the board when the combo cards such as Wild Pyromancer or Consecration are also in your starting hand. Holding onto Sen’jin Shieldmasta & Earthern Ring Farsser can be useful to stall out the game and keep up board pressure. Truesilver Champion can be kept to take away board pressure and heal up against aggressive opponents.
Vs. Aggro: Eleven Archer can be kept to snipe the opponents low health value minions and can also be combined with Equality. Even without Equality, Consecrate can be kept if you assume you are against decks that run swarms of low health minions to be able to clear the board easily.
Vs. Control: You want to outlast them by removing their minions and keeping yourself safe from any sort of combo’s or large minions. Sen’jin Shieldmasta can be useful for this and also holding on to Aldor Peacekeeper if you suspect high attack minions earlier on, such as when playing against Druid.
Vs. Zoo: Keeping Elven Archer can help a ton to deal with early minions, otherwise, Blood Knight can be kept if you suspect that Argent Squire may be played as they are often run in Zoo decks.
Matchups
Vs. Aggo: Try to keep your clears in hand, even more so with Equality/Consecrate or Wild Pyromancer. They can be very useful tools to being able to clear the opponents board. If you do not draw into your AoE clearing, keeping hold of Aldor Peacekeeper & Sen’jin can be wise to put pressure on the board and try to slow down the opponents aggression.
Vs. Control: Be wise in how you use your removal, as decks such as Druid & Warrior Control will run many large minions, being able to clear them efficiently requires good decision-making in how to use your removal. Be aware of Big Game Hunter‘s or Faceless Manipulators onto your Ragnaros!
Vs. Token Druid: Try to prevent them from taking board advantage by using your AoE to remove their tokens. Keeping yourself away from 14 health if you have no taunts up is wise as that is the base damage for Force of Nature & Savage Roar combo without anything else on board. Use your Pyromancers to keep their the amount of tokens at bay and save Equality for larger minions such as Druid of the Claw in Bear Form or if Violet Teacher’s become a big issue.
Vs. Zoo: Watch out for the large combo of burst damage from Soulfire’s & Leeroy Jenkins + Power Overwhelming combo’s. Doomguard should also be watched out for when you are low, so attempt to keep your taunts alive to prevent lethal burst damage. When playing against Warlock, it is also important to expect discards, in consideration to this, when playing against Zoo, Doomguard will most likely be used, so count the cards that are in hand and if other burst damage cards; Power Overwhelming, Soulfire & Leeror have already been played. Since Doomguard has to discard two cards when played, take this into account if your opponent may be able to lethal though has a small hand as their lethal combo may not be possible without the damage from other cards.
Kolento Paladin
Kolento’s  Paladin – May 2014, Patch: 6187
Quick Summary
This deck controls the board with strong removal and the ability to respond to the opponents strong play with your strong removal & minions. Though similar to Hit_Girl7’s Legend Paladin (See Above), this deck uses a higher amount of taunts and slower game through cards like Sunwalker to stall the game with a strong mana curve. This deck became more widely known after the WEC EU Qualifiers in late July at which Kolento gave his impressive demonstration.
- 1x Elven Archer
- 1x Humility
- 2x Wild Pyromancer
- 2x Equality
- 2x Holy Light
- 2x Aldor Peacekeeper
- 2x Harvest Golem
- 2x Sen’jin Shieldmasta
- 1x Spellbreaker
- 2x Consecration
- 2x Truesilver Champion
- 2x Azure Drake
- 2x Stampeding Kodo
- 1x Cairne Bloodhoof
- 2x Sunwalker
- 1x The Black Knight
- 1x Guardian of Kings
- 1x Tirion Fordring
- 1x Lay on Hands
Card Reasoning
1x Elven Archer provides the ability to activate, clear & combo down the opponents minions. Used to finish off opponents at 1 health, the Archer can also be used to activate a minions ability, as an example; if you wanted to clear an opponents board using Equality & Consecrate or Wild Pyromancer, you could use the Elven Archer to proc the deathrattles of minions such as Nerubian Egg to then combo down the 4/4 that hatches afterwards. In the same sense it can also be used to finish off a Cairne Bloodhoof before using your combo to kill Baine Bloodhoof or just to get through Divine Shields a little easier.
2x Holy Light is a way that this deck sustains and slows down the game until it can reach its late game power-spike and manage to finish off the opponent with strong minions and removal. Having 2 Holy Light’s for this deck allows more variance in their usage, as they can be more freely used as activating spells for a Wild Pyromancer or to heal minions for higher favourable trades.
By having 2 copies of the card in the deck also gives you much more sustain if your taunts have been taken care of or if they have not been drawn into when playing against aggressive decks.
2x Harvest Golem is classed as a ‘sticky’ minion due to its deathrattle of spawning a Damaged Golem when it dies. Having such a survivable minion to keep early pressure on the board is incredibly useful to be able to prevent the opponent from having a powerful start as you can often force trades and/or removal.
2x Truesilver Champion is a solid weapon that is included in almost every Paladin deck due to its ability to heal, remove & allow your minions to stay much more healthy as you continue to kill your opponents. As a solid 4 drop, it gives this deck additional turn 4 plays, as you can consider your other 4 drops such as Spellbreaker & Consecrate situational cards. As these cards are usually saved and used when necessary, it leaves the Sen’jin Shieldmasta as the only play on turn4 if you want to play to your mana curve.
1x The Black Knight in a heavy control deck allows you to be able to remove the opponents taunts and leave a 4/5 on board. This can be really useful in gaining board control, though it often can be a problem if your opponent does not play any taunts and The Black Knight can sit in your hand as a dead card. With the high usage of Sludge Belcher in many decks as a very strong 5 drop that sticks to the board in similar manner to Harvest Golem, The Black Knight can quite possible find a target for its ability in most decks you may play against.
Potential Card Switches
Sludge Belcher: can be used as a replacement for Azure Drake which is now being implemented for my deck changes, as the Azure Drake is a slow card due to it being a 4/4 for 5. With this, the  card draw & spell power in this deck is not the most important piece, as you have such a strong mana curve and your main combo’s and spells do not rely on spell power even though it can prove useful. In terms of card draw, Lay on Hands can often provide the necessary draws in the late game to pull out the wins. The Sludge Belcher on the other hand, provides the utility of a sticky minion on turn 5 that can slow down aggressive opponents and also set you up for the following turns in which you can play Cairne Bloodhoof behind the taunt, if still alive to consistently keep the board control in your favour.
Loatheb: is a card that is now being used in a so many decks due to it’s ability to prevent an opponent from unleashing their combo’s, hounds and roars in your face. Loatheb can be played as a strong turn 5 drop that can prevent any response from the opponent and it can also be saved for the crucial turns in which you think your opponent is preparing to lethal. Loatheb could be used as a replacement for Azure Drake if you find the card draw is not as important and can also take over Stampeding Kodo‘s if the meta prevails and there are not too many targets on turn 5 for the Kodo to remove.
Harrison Jones: can be an alternative card for many control decks as it often relies on the meta game and which decks you face off against mostly. Being able to take away an  opponents weapon and donate it to the museum is always useful, though being credited by the museum with card draw has great bonuses. Though Harrison Jones relies on the meta of weapon-users being used and then weapons run in the decks themselves, with the rise of Death’s Bite as a strong turn 4 weapon for Warrior and taking into account that most, top-listed Shaman decks will run Doomhammer, Harrison can usually find a good target to donate & draw from.
Mulligans
Standard Mulligan: Keeping hold of a Wild Pyromancer is recommended as it can be used in conjunction with spells to remove early minions and if necessary, can be played as  a 2 drop to put down board pressure. Look for Harvest Golem’s in starting hand and consider keeping Sen’jin Shieldmasta & Truesilver Champion. If you happen to have both Equality & Wild Pyro in the same mulligan, then keeping both can be very useful to not rely on top-decking them later.
Vs. Aggro: Keep standard Wild Pyromancer to use as removal in conjunction with your spells. Having Harvest Golem is also fine and then keeping Elven Archer to use as an activator or way to remove the small minions that aggro often puts down on the board early can give you an edge in the early game before you can reach the mid-game spike. If you are sure you are up against aggro, it can be considering if the rest of your starting hand when you mulligan is okay to keep a Stampeding Kodo, as it can be used very easily against aggro due the high amount of lower attack minions.
Vs. Control: Mulligan for your AoE combo of Equality & Pyro to remove their minions before they can take over the board completely. Having a Harvest Golem or Sen’jin Shieldmasta can also be useful to have board pressure and prevent damage as early on as possible. Truesilver Champion can be kept to be able to remove many of the high priority minions that the opponent can put on board.
Vs. Druid: Mulligan for Equality & Wild Pyromancer to be able to combo down Druid’s high health minions. It can also be important to remember that Innervate & Wild Growth can allow them to reach their late game much faster, so be prepared to clear their board efficiently. Keeping Aldor Peacekeeper can be a strong keep due to its ability to stop your opponent from reaching too much potential if they use Innervates to slam something big on to the board.
Vs. Handlock: Similar to Druid, expect the large minions earlier on, so be prepared with removal from your Equality combo’s. Saving an Aldor Peacekeeper for any turn 4 Mountain Giant‘s can prevent your opponent from having too much pressure. Consider a Spellbreaker for your starting hand as it can also be useful to counter any Twilight Drake‘s that the opponent plays early on that can otherwise be difficult to remove.
Matchups
Vs. Aggro try to keep your board alive as long as you can, even at the expense of a Holy Light, though also remember that using them on your face can prevent your opponent from dealing their lethal combo’s. Save your Elven Archer for high priority targets that can be cleared alongside Wild Pyromancer’s & spells or if you use Equality in the same turn.Try to keep their board in minimal state and force them to trade into your taunts when possible, by doing this you can stall the game long enough to keep your hero’s health out of range whilst you can take down all of their board and then continue to smash into their hero with your late game power spike. Save your Equality for maximum effect with Consecrate or Pyromancer, though if needed, try to use it alongside your Pyromancer as a lone Consecrate can often be more useful and can also combine with additional spell power if you run Azure Drake‘s.
Vs. Control you have to be aware of different combo’s that can remove your minions just as easy as you can remove the opponents with your own. When up against Warrior, be aware of 3 cards specifically; Execute, Shield Slam & Brawl – Against these cards, keep in mind a few things; your damaged minions can be instantly gibbed and taken care of. If the opponent keeps up their high armour values, your minions could be squished by a very, very large shield so try to keep their armour as low as possible. Then finally, don’t overextend your board, as a simple Brawl can always go in your opponents favour.
If you find yourself up against control decks, consider the possibilities of silence, which may be used to shut down your Tirion Fordring if you do not plan effectively. Most Druid decks will run 2 copies of Keeper of the Grove to be aware they may be able to respond with another if one has already been played, other decks however may run silence in the form of Ironbeak Owl which is often seen from Hunter decks or a Spellbreaker which could be a problem if you are not careful.
Vs. Handlock try to keep their Giant’s under control with Humility & Aldor Peacekeeper’s so they do not have large minions to smash into your face for too long. If you decide to play quite a few minions on the board yourself, then be aware of Shadowflame as it can be used very easily to clear the board.
Be careful in how you attack, as giving a Handlock low health can often help them turn the game around, though as the deck does not run any combo to burst the opponent with lethal, be aware when smacking their face on how much a Molten Giant would cost and what other cards would then be available to play.
Vs. Hunter you need to be aware of high amounts of burst damage. With this, make sure you remove their minions as quickly as possible, though also be careful on not to waste your combo’s too quickly, as even more minions can be played and you might be able to wait a turn to get more worth from your AoE. Make sure to watch your board extension and try not to play into Unleash the Hounds, as giving them a high amount of card draw when played alongside Starving Buzzard it can often be a very difficult point of the game when they obtain card advantage.
Realz VGVN Naxrammas Control Paladin
Realz Control VGVN Tournament Paladin – August 2014, Patch: Naxx Launch
Quick Summary
Realz’ Control Paladin deck is one that had great success within the VGVN Naxxramas Release Tournament in early August 2014. The deck uses a strong arsenal of control-based spells & minions to pressure your opponent with card combo’s and the ability to remove almost everything that your opponent slams onto the board.
- 1x Humility
- 2x Equality
- 1x Holy Light
- 2x Haunted Creeper
- 2x Wild Pyromancer
- 1x Acolyte of Pain
- 2x Aldor Peacekeeper
- 2x Harvest Golem
- 2x Truesilver Champion
- 2x Consecration
- 1x Defender of Argus
- 2x Gnomish Inventor
- 1x Harrison Jones
- 1x Loatheb
- 2x Sludge Belcher
- 1x Stampeding Kodo
- 1x Cairne Bloodhoof
- 1x The Black Knight
- 1x Guardian of Kings
- 1x Lay on Hands
- 1x Tirion Fordring
Card Reasoning
2x Haunted Creeper in similar manner to Harvest Golem, the Creeper can be classed as a sticky minion that provides a strong board presence. Within this deck, the Creeper is a solid 2 drop that allows you to trade with the opponents minions early on and still have board pressure afterwards. Due to its sticky deathrattle, the Creeper gives the deck something to play early and keep board pressure throughout the game.
1x Acolyte of Pain can give this deck additional draw which can help to be able to draw into the cards needed to keep up the board control to maximise the effectiveness of your late game. Acolyte of Pain also gives a minion that the opponent wants to kill, though can often be difficult to do so as they want to reduce the amount of card advantage you can obtain. Acolyte is not often seen within Paladin decks as they have no way to damage it themselves, though it gives this deck even more early pressure. If combined with a Wild Pyromancer on board, it can often draw more than 1 card and lead to card advantage over the opponent, which in turn can be incredibly useful to draw into your removal and keep the board control in your favour.
1x Defender of Argus provides additional taunt to slow down your opponent in the early game and can also allow you to buff your minions to trade more efficiently. When combined with other minions such as Acolyte of Pain to force the opponent to attack into them and give you free card draw or they have to burn removal or silences which then makes it harder for them to deal with cards like Tirion Fordring later on.
1x Harrison Jones is a very powerful card that has a very high amount of potential for both card draw and removal of some of your opponents strongest tools. With Harrison Jones being a blank 5/4 after it has been played to destroy & draw, it also gives board presence beyond the card advantage. When considering the use of Harrison, you want to maximise the potential of cards you can draw and what you will be preventing by destroying the opponent’s weapon. For example, getting rid of a Fiery War Axe could draw 2 cards and prevent an opponent from removing your minions easily. Though, saving your Harrison for a Gorehowl could be much more worth in terms of board pressure, even though you only draw 1 card.
Potential Card Switches
Spellbreaker: can be very useful for control decks as having the ability to silence the opponents minions can help you to be able to keep up the board control and make sure that you minimise the opponents threats.
Harrison Jones: does depend on the meta and what classes you will be playing against. Due to this, he could be considered as a sideboard card and another 5 drop such as a second copy of Stampeding Kodo could be used instead or a Spectral Knight for the ability to trade favourably without the fear of opponents removing it so easily with their spells.
The Black Knight: can be a very situational-heavy card against many decks, though it can often find a target against almost all decks, though if you find yourself with The Black Knight often sitting as a dead card in hand, it could be replaced by a few others that still provide control & use for the deck. Sylvanas Windrunner could be considered as it puts a high amount of pressure on the board, though the deck does not have a any way to kill Sylvanas itself, the minion and the fear of its strong deathrattle can often be enough.
If more taunt is necessary, then adding in a single Sunwalker can help to stall the opponent even more and also it can bait out the opponents removal, silences & strong trading minions to allow a more secure turn when you play your Tirion Fordring. Alternatively, it can be useful to consider the Frost Elemental as its freezing mechanic can also act as a stalling card and gives you a 5/5 for board pressure.
Mulligans
Standard Mulligan: Keeping your combo of Pyromancer & Equality is really useful, as it means you don’t have to rely on topdecking it later on. Aside from your main combo, holding on to Haunted Creeper & Harvest Golem is standard. If the rest of your hand is fine, keep a Truesilver Champion as it can be used for strong plays on turn 4.
Vs. Aggro: Look for your Wild Pyromancer combo and early board pressure through your 2 & 3 drops. Early board pressure can help secure your late game if you can prevent your opponent from being able to rush face to lethal without any response.
Vs. Control: Standard combo to remove opponents important minions. Truesilver Champion can help out to be able to use your hero to control the board and keep your minions at high health, out of range of removal spells and also gives you more favourable trading potential.
Matchups
Vs. Aggro: Be aware of overextension of the opponent can save your combo’s of removal for the best point. Save your control for the high value targets the opponent may place down and keep track of the cards they play, as many aggro decks, such as Zoo will have key cards that they may want to use to combo you down – Knowing these cards and when they have been played gives you an idea of what to expect from your opponent in terms of combo damage and their available removal spells.
Vs. Control: Your combo will often be the key to winning so try to save it for maximum potency, though be aware that many control decks will have very strong late game creatures such as Ragnaros the Firelord or Ysera that will most likely need removing later on.
Vs. Handlock: Aldor Peacekeeper & Humility are really useful to shut down giants that the opponent plays early on. Try to play more aggressively with your minions before the opponent manages to take control with taunts. Be aware of getting them to low health as their Molten’s will cost much less and can often become an issue when they’re taunted, though feel free to bait them into your combo if you have it in hand –Â Climb that beanstalk, Jack.
Vs. Combo: Use Loatheb wisely and make sure you taunt up to prevent them from unleashing lethal.
Vs. Hunter: Speaking of unleashing combo’s, don’t overextend your board when against Hunter, giving them the ability to draw and then possibly use a Timber Wolf to rush you down or remove your board can give them both card advantage and board control.
Shockadin – Aggro Paladin
Holyrock’s Shockadin Paladin – June 2014, Patch: 5506
Quick Summary
Shockadin is an aggro Paladin deck that attempts to put so much pressure on your opponent early that you overwhelm them and manage to burst the opponent down with a full board of aggression or weaken them enough so your spells finish them off. For loads more information from the creator of the deck, check out Holyrock’s Guide!
- 2x Blessing of Might
- 2x Equality
- 2x Divine Favor
- 2x Consecration
- 2x Hammer of Wrath
- 2x Truesilver Champion
- 2x Avenging Wrath
- 2x Abusive Sergeant
- 2x Argent Squire
- 1x Elven Archer
- 2x Leper Gnome
- 2x Worgen Infiltrator
- 2x Bluegill Warrior
- 1x Ironbeak Owl
- 1x Loot Hoarder
- 1x Coldlight Oracle
- 1x Wolfrider
- 1x Leeroy Jenkins
Card Reasoning
2x Divine Favor provides the deck with the potential to draw and gain a massive card advantage after you’ve put all of your low cost minions on board. It can give you so much advantage in the sense that you have so much pressure already on the board and draw into a mass amount of cards that can then ready you for the following turns. When playing against control-based decks, you can often draw even more cards due to them having many cards in hand, though against aggro, Divine Favor may not be as useful so it would be a suggestion to not wait around too much when using it and draw 2-3 cards when possible.
2x Hammer of Wrath is a card that can give you different options within a game, as it can be used as removal or part of bursting your opponent down for lethal. It also cycle itself, also known as a cantrip as it replaces itself when played which is useful when you want to draw or even after using it from removal or digging for lethal cards if the opponent is low health.
2x Avenging Wrath can be used for removal, even more so when combined with Equality or used to deal 8 damage to the opponents hero if the board is empty which can be used for lethal damage or set up for lethal next turn. Running two copies of Avenging Wrath gives you the option to use it for both removal and damage to the opponent’s hero and allows you to be more open with using them.
2x Worgen Infiltrator is one of the stronger early drops in your hand as it can be played on turn 1 and left until needed. When combined with your buffing cards such as Blessing of Might it can be used to take down the opponents minions or charge into their face for additional damage.
1x Coldlight Oracle can be used as a pseudo Divine Favor as it gives you card draw, though can be used to refill your opponents draw and then you can use Divine Favor afterwards to draw a bunch of cards and keep up the pressure on to your opponent.
Potential Card Switches
Bloodmage Thalnos can be used as a replacement for Loot Hoarder is you have one, as it provides the additional draw, though the spell power that comes from Thalnos can be really useful for Hammer of Wrath’s or Consecration.
Blood Knight can be used as it can be combined alongside Argent Squire and if the opponent plays their own minion with Divine Sheld it can be really useful to gain a massive board advantage early on in the game. Quite a few decks run Argent Squire, including Zoo which would be the highest priority target for the Blood Knight as you can attain a high pressure board before they manage to do the same.
Knife Juggler is often seen in many aggro decks, though for this deck, even though you have so many small drops, it often becomes the case that the Knife Juggler is just removed without doing too much – Though, it can very useful if you find yourself up against a high amount of Zoo or other aggro decks.
Mulligans
Standard Mulligan: Dig for your cheap minions including Argent Squire, Leper Gnome & Worgen Infiltrator. Having your early pressure drops against a matchup you cannot know completely just satisfies the deck’s strategy, so try to stick to the basics if you can’t estimate the matchup.
Vs. Druid: Dig for the standard and hope to the Gods of RNG that they can’t pull off any Innervate‘s too early. Having a Divine Favor at any point can be used for a huge draw against control if they reserve their hand, though don’t keep it in starting hand, try to dig for the small drops to force early aggression and a response. Be ready for Swipe.
Vs. Zoo: Against Zoo, you want to be able to clear their board just as much as they want to clear yours. Keep your small drops and Consecrate which is really important if you are sure that its Zoo. Elven Archer can be useful to keep to remove their small early drops.
Vs. Handlock: As Handlock is going to be slamming down large minions early on & keeping their hand to themselves, you should dig for Equality and Divine Favor to maximise your ability to remove their board and also draw a huge amount of card.
Vs. Miracle Rogue: Divine favour can be really useful in this matchup as you can possibly draw a huge bunch of cards at one time. Though in regards to minions, dig for your Squire, Worgen Infiltrator & anything that is a 1/2 drop.
Matchups
Vs. Control Druid: Be aware of the early Innervates that can come out from many Druid decks, if it does happen, it can make it really difficult to deal with their board. A Blessing of Might can be really useful to take down their bigger minions if they Innervate. Watch out for their turn 4 as Swipe becomes available and can be used to clear most of your board as so many of your drops have 1 health. Save Equality for the maximum potential of removal and minimise their board pressure.
Vs. Zoo: Consecrate is really important for this matchup as the board clear is often what will win you the game. Fight for board control early on and keep the opponents board as minimal as possible then through the mid-game start rushing his face. This matchup becomes a race for the fastest lethal, though if you force a Zoolock to play defensively and trade into you, as they cannot easily remove your minions without a Hellfire or Mortal Coil.
Vs. Handlock: Divine Favor & Equality are huge for this matchup as you can control the board and attain card advantage at the same time. Be aware of their removal and early taunts if you swarm the board, an Ancient Watcher combined with Shadowflame can easily clear. Use your Divine Favor after rushing the board with your small drops to get a mass load of draw – Though be aware of swinging too hard at his face, as Molten’s will cost much less and can become an issue, as well as this, if you swarm the board too quickly and it gets removed, you may run out of steam if he manages to taunt his Giants or Drakes.
Phew! Hope you enjoyed this overview! Be sure to check back often for the constant evolution of the Paladin class and leave your feed back and suggestions in the comments below!
