Introduction
Hey guys! So you must have been enjoying One Night in Karazhan so far. It has been a great adventure, after all! Well, Barnes might have been a bit game breaking but it has sure been fun as anything. And not to mention the Arcane Giant shenanigans. If you haven’t already tried any decks till now, you should definitely get the wings as soon as possible. You can find a lot of great strategies on this website itself to get yourself started!
That being said, another wing is about to go live! And it has the cute little Zoobot! Now, Zoobot as such may not seem like a great card for constructed but it sure is going to be a great arena three drop. But that doesn’t really mean that it can’t be played in constructed. Extremely competitive or not, the deck I am posting today is sure as hell going to be fun. Yes, it is time for Zoo Paladin!
Well, I wanted to use Zoobot in a deck which can actually fare well on the ladder. As a result, I ended up picking the core of the Divine Shield aggro paladin and modified it to suit my needs. Well, for those of you who have been playing for long, you already know that Aggro Paladin was a thing once, and a strong one at that too. The Divine Shield variant, not so much. It came and went without much of an impact. I am not saying that it is going to change anytime soon, but I almost wish that it does.
The Deck
The best way to take a look at the deck is by looking at the list itself and going through the whole deck card by card, and that is what I am about to do right now.
The Murlocs
Vilefin Inquisitor – Now it was between Vilefin and Finley. Two 1-drop Murlocs with the same stats and both with the ability to change the hero power. Well, technically. While Finley has the option to get you a better Hero power like Life Tap, it is not really needed in this deck, given that we are running Divine Favor and The Curator. Also, the 1/1 Murloc tokens synergise with a lot of cards in the deck including Steward of Darkshire and of course, Zoobot itself. The choice was fairly obvious from that point, I guess.
Bilefin Tidehunter – A Murloc who summons another token Murloc, and that too with taunt? What is not to like? And oh, this has been a core card of the Divine Shield Aggro Paladin already, so it was a pretty easy choice. Play it with Steward on board and see your opponent tear his hair out.
The Beasts
Dire Wolf Alpha – An integral part of the Zoo Warlock decks, this little doggie has already seen some play in Aggressive paladin decks as well. And it makes sense too, with all the tokens we are summoning. Might end up increasing the amount to two copies if it does work out as well as I am expecting it to.
Huge Toad – A 2-drop beast with standard stats but a juggle as a deathrattle effect. Easily a good inclusion in any aggressive deck and well, we don’t really have that many good neutral beasts.
King Mukla– Well, no surprises here. The king of the beasts has been played in Aggro Paladin lists since eternity. Not only he has a high amount of stats, but the drawback associated with him is nullified by the fact that he draws you an extra couple of cards if you play it with Divine Favor.
The Dragons
Faerie Dragon – Anyone who has played against Dragon Warrior knows how annoying this little Dragonoid is. This pseudo untouchable 2-drop is just here to fill up the 2-drop slot and well, to trigger Nightbane.
Drakonid Crusher – I wanted to play four dragons, not because of Zoobot or Curator, but to increase the chances of triggering Darkbane. Well, it was either Drakonid or Azure Drake. We don’t really need draws because of double Divine Favor and Curator. So it was an easy choice. Not only does it fill the Dragon slot, it also provides us with two extra finishers to finish off our opponents once we have them low enough.
The Menagerie
The new cards. Also the reasons why we are making this deck in the very first place.
Zoobot – Well, nothing to say here. Even if you get it off on two cards, worth more than it. Apart from the race cards we have included, there are a lot of ways to generate more of these from the existing cards.
The Curator – A solid taunt to fill back our hand up. Basically a third Divine favor with a body. Assured three card draw, considering the way we have structured our deck.
Nightbane Templar – I really love the concept of this card. This is one of the reasons I chose Paladin as a class to design my first three race deck. With four dragons, it will be fairly easy to trigger it and well, triggering it means you already got the value from it. Buffing up one of the whelps with a Zoobot is only icing on the cake. Also, it goes without saying that it has got a badass name.
The Divine Shield Core
Selfless Hero, Steward of Darkshire and Rallying Blade
Apart from the cards I have already included, these make up the core of the Divine Shield Paladin decks. Not only do they show synergy with the various token generating mechanics, they also provided much needed consistency to the deck. Rallying Blade also acts as an extra removal method, along with the already present Truesilver Champion. More weapons are always good.
The Standard Inclusions
Equality, Truesilver Champion, Consecration, Keeper of Uldaman, Defender of Argus and Divine Favor
Apart from Defender of Argus, who is no stranger to Paladin lists himself, the rest are pretty much standard inclusions in almost all the Paladin decks out there. Simply put, the card quality is so high that they are too good to ignore. Oh, Divine Favor is only played in aggressive lists, but still one of the best Paladin Cards. People still wonder why it was never nerfed.
Closing
Well, that is pretty much it for this cute little Paladin deck. Do make sure to take it out for a spin when the wing comes out. Any questions or feedback you might have regarding this deck, make sure to let me know. You can always use the comments section or you can always contact me on Twitter (ManveerS_07).
