Murloc Paladin was a powerhouse deck before the last balance patch. The deck was very consistent with a ton of powerful early game and lategame finishers. Being able to curve out murlocs and closing out the game against decks like Jade Druid and Razakus Priest was something the deck was good at. With the recent changes to Murloc Warleader, is the deck still good? With a substantial amount of popularity in the recently concluded Hearthstone Championship Tournament, the deck seems to be performing fine despite the nerfs. While the health buffs not existing anymore from Murloc Warleader does make your boards less resilient, you still get the +2 attack which is very good for pushing aggressively and making good trades with your board.
This variant of Murloc Paladin is by Surrender_HS, who participated in the recent HCT tournament last weekend. There were other pro players who brought
Card Choices
Grimscale Chum: An aggressive early game Murloc that allows you to buff up a Murloc in hand. You should aggressively mulligan for this card and other 1 drop Murlocs to apply pressure on board as early as possible.
Vilefin Inquisitor: Being able to change your hero power to summon 1/1 Murlocs is a big deal in the deck since you have cards like Murloc Warleader and Gentle Megasaur that encourage having as many murlocs as possible in the board.
Hydrologist: Hydrologist allows you to draw 1 mana spells outside your deck and while Paladin Secrets might be the weakest compared to Hunter or Mage, since you do not need to run them in your deck and even weak secrets are valuable depending on the situation as you get to pick from 3 options based on what you need.
Rallying Blade: An aggressive weapon that can be used for early game board control as well as face damage. While you do not have any Divine Shield synergies in the deck, the weapon offers a lot of value nonetheless.
Blessing of Kings: A buff card that can be used to pressure your opponent or get high value trades out of. It is best stuck on high value targets to protect them and make them harder to be killed.
Spikeridged Steed: A very annoying buff for opponents that opponents have a hard time clearing out and with Silence not being too popular in the current meta, the card can get you very good value more often than not.
Sunkeeper Tarim: With a deck that tries to flood the board, Sunkeeper Tarim can serve as a massive board buff to strengthen your board or allow you to take out your opponent’s minions if you are behind on board and can even the playground through trades.
Tirion Fordring:Â One of the strongest Classic legendaries there is, Tirion is one of the best lategame cards in the game and fits into pretty much any Paladin deck. The taunt by itself is hard to get past and being able to get 15 weapon damage once you lose the taunt body is really powerful.
Murloc Tidecaller:Â Ideally you want to buff this minion early on or hide it behind a taunt to get the most out of it. It is a threat that can snowball and its 1 mana cost allows you to apply pressure very early in the game.
Rockpool Hunter:Â A great tool to buff your cheap murlocs and solidify the board presence they offer. It is essentially a 2 mana 3/4 if you have a Murloc ready to be buffed on board.
Murloc Warleader:Â One of the strongest tools Murloc decks have access to, depending on how big and full of Murlocs your board is the more value you get out of your Warleader. You ideally want to develop a big board before playing your Warleader to get good value out of the card.
Gentle Megasaur:Â A card that can outright win you the game if you have a decent board of Murlocs up. While the card is situational it is still very powerful and deserves a slot in any Murloc deck. It can allow you to setup big trades or even push for lethal through the various Adapt options that are available in the game.
Spellbreaker: With many high value silence targets being run in the current meta, Spellbreaker is a solid tech choice in any deck right now.
Cobalt Scalebane: Cobalt Scalebane is a great minion for applying pressure on your opponent by buffing your board every turn. The advantage of the Paladin hero power is that you can just buff your silver hand recruits instead of having to play minions to get value out of Scalebane.
finja-the-flying-star:Â Our only form of card draw in the deck that directly allows you to summon 2 Murlocs from your deck to the battlefield.
Bonemare:Â A powerful Common card that is making it into a lot of decks in the current meta since it provides you a beefy amount of stats for just 7 mana and also offers you a partial Taunt effect on the board.
The Curator: The Curator allows you to draw a murloc and a copy of Cobalt Scalebane from your deck while also setting up a 4/6 taunt on the board for 7 mana. It is a great way to refuel your hand and keep the pressure going past the turns where you empty your hand playing your early game minions.
Deck Code
AAECAZ8FBvIF+ga5sgLjvgK5wQKIxwIMxQPbA68HpwjTqgLZrgLTvAKzwQKdwgKxwgLKywKmzgIA
Mulligan
- Grimscale Chum
- Vilefin Inquisitor
- Murloc Tidecaller
- Rockpool Hunter (with 1 drop)
- Hydrologist
- Rallying Blade (with Turn 1 and 2 plays in hand)
Conclusion
Murloc Paladin is still in a great spot and the deck has been performing well both on ladder and in tournaments. If you happen to be looking for viable Paladin decks to pilot in the current meta, Murloc Paladin is your best bet!Â
