Hearthstone Deck Check: Well Met!

Hello everyone, its' been quite a long while since I last did a Hearthstone deck exposition. Although I haven't been posting any Hearthstone-related stuff recently, I have been following and am still playing Hearthstone for the past 1-2 years, ever since the Beta on PC. The class that I'm going to share the decklist with you guys (if you haven't already guessed by now, with the header and all) is Paladin! First and foremost, to say that I LOVE to play Paladin is an understatement. Just to show you guys how much I play Pally in Hearthstone, below is a picture of my Golden Paladin.

Now that's a shiny Pally, don't judge by this month's ranking I haven't played much...I know you're judging

Track Record

Now before I even begin, I will try to convince you that at least I am a legit guide writer with experience playing Paladin. To be honest, I have yet to hit Legend with Midrange Pally, but I have reached pretty okay ranks on ladder the past few months, so my advice does hold some water.

May 2015 - Hit Rank 1, gave up due to the constant win-loss ping pong nature of the game. Just hit a barrier. Played like all my games as Midrange Pally, only 2-3 games as Hunter) 

June 2015 - Rank 4 (Mainly Midrange Paladin) July 2015 - Rank 5 (Mainly Midrange Paladin, played some face Paladin) 

August 2015 - Rank 4 (played mostly Midrange Paladin) 

September 2015 - Rank 5 (played some Secret Pally, but stuck to Midrange most of the way, got Golden Paladin)

October 2015 - Rank 7 (Now I'm getting tired of ranked ladder with all the face hunters and retarded face decks, played a mix of Midrange Pally, Secret Pally and Pirate Rogue)

Some terminology which I may use later will be explained here:

Trading- NOT the trading in Trading Card Games, Trading means to send your minion to destroy the opponent's minion i.e. Attacking. But Trading UP means to say that you trade efficiently, like your 1-mana minion kills a 2-mana opponent minion, or your minion forces your opponent to use 2 minions and send them in to kill your minion (resulting in a 2:1 trade in your favour)

Board Advantage-  Basically means you have more minions/the quality of your minions exceed that of your opponent, i.e. 3 minions on your field VS. 1 minion on your opponent's side.

Hand Advantage- Like Board advantage, except that this just means you have more cards in hand than your opponent.

Card Advantage- Card Advantage is basically Board+Hand Advantages added/subtracted. The nett as a result of this is the Card Advantage.

Rush/Zerg- The bread and butter of aggro decks, and to some extent this deck. Derived from Starcraft (I think), Zerg was a tactics used by players to rush down opponents quickly before they could respond.

Control- If rushing/zerging was the yin of Hearthstone, then Control is the yang. It means the deck focuses on trying to last as long as possible in an attempt to exhaust the opponent's resources and to take control of the board.

Removal- Cards/Spells which destroy opponent's minions on the board. Hence, the word removal. Examples include cards like Big Game Hunter, Siphon Soul, Polymorph, and the like.

Pally- Short for Paladin

Now before I even show you guys my decklist (which is tried, tested and proven to work), for those of you who don't like to play Paladin decks or don't know why Pally is literally the MOST balanced class in Hearthstone right now (with the exception of Secret Paladin, which is another deck for another day), I will now enlighten your mortal minds and prepare to achieve transcendence (LITERALLY)

Strengths (The Jizz):

• Excellent early game class drops
• Decent board clears/answers
• Literally the BEST class legendary in the entire game (PUT YOUR FAITH IN THE LIGHT)
• Efficient trading
• Decent matchups with all Meta decks currently
• Consistent
• Hero Power scales well into the late game

Weaknesses (The not-so Jizz):

• Little or no card draw
• Doesn't generate a lot of unfair advantage (Not like the pre-nerf Patron/Secret Pally)
• No board = lose game
• Removal can be limited/ No hard removal
• Can be quite reactive at times (Priest is worse though)

Basically as a Pally player, BOARD CONTROL is the most important thing you need. While some other classes thrive or are decent without a board, Paladins must have at least 2-3 minions on the board in order to trade efficiently. Without a good early game start, you might lag behind especially when faced against more Control oriented decks. Even when against Aggro decks, a slow start can mean an early death for you if you don't control the board and deny the opponent of his minions. Now onto the decklist!

Now dedication is in the form of attempting to create your entire deck in Gold

The Decklist (Midrange):

Zombie Chow* x2
Equality x1
Ironbeak Owl x1
Knife Juggler x2
Shielded Minibot x2
Muster for Battle x2
Aldor Peacekeeper x2
Big Game Hunter x1
Truesilver Champion x2
Consecration x2
Murloc Knight x1
Piloted Shredder x2
Antique Healbot x1
Harrison Jones* x1
Quartermaster x2
Sludge Belcher x1
Justicar Trueheart* x1
Sylvanas Windrunner* x1
Dr. Boom x1
Lay on Hands x1
Tirion Fordring x1

The cards in BOLD cannot be replaced. If you don't have those cards, you are basically missing the core parts of the deck. Either you work towards getting the cards or else I'd suggest going for another deck theme.

Cards marked with an asterisk* are optional, tech cards which you can choose to include one of, or replace with other cards depending on the Meta/personal preference. I'd say one Zombie Chow is as good as no Zombie Chow, you want to maximize drawing the card within your first 1-2 turns/mulligan, so either run 2 for more consistency or none at all. It does sacrifice some endgame possibility, but most of the time an early lead will keep you ahead even if towards the end you slow slightly.

I will now explain the deck and how to play it as a whole, and what to do against certain matchups.

General Idea/Concept

This deck revolves around the idea of board control and early game drops like I mentioned earlier. The mid-game (turns 4-7/8) is usually the time when you cement your lead, and by turn 10 or so you should either be winning (if against aggro) or at least keeping up/slightly ahead (against Control). The unique aspect of Paladin is that the drops are clearly suited for strong mid-game presence to seize Board Advantage as the expense of Hand Advantage sometimes. For Pally players, it is better to usually play minions than to save them in hand (unless of course the minions are reactive minions like Big Game Hunter and Aldor Peacekeeper). But it is also not wrong to play these drops as tempo plays especially if you know that you have nothing much to counter or sufficient removal already in hand.

Another thing to note when playing this deck- do not be afraid to Hero Power and pass if needed. Sometimes, playing the 6-drop like Sylvanas when you know he has a Shield Slam/Execute or removal ready tends to work against you, especially if they manage to kill your big drops with low-cost removal.

One key component when playing this deck is NEVER be afraid to be aggressive, especially if you are up against Handlock, Control Warrior or Dragon Priest. The longer the game drags, usually it is less likely that you will win, as your removal usually will run out while the opponent can churn out more big minions to overwhelm you.

When up against Aggro, clear the board rather than try to face-rush them down. Control decks, do the opposite. Be the aggressor.

I cannot emphasize any more on this-ALWAYS maintain a board of at least 2-3 minions. Do not overextend or be greedy, unless you are sure that the opponent has no answers or board clears in his hand, then you can plop down 5-6 minions on the board. Always go for the 2 turn kill if possible, i.e. to say that you can effectively have lethal damage if you attack this turn and the next. If lethal is more than 2 turns (especially up against Aggro), DON'T go face, instead trade with his minions.

Midrange Pally plays best when you know roughly what your opponent has in his hand. Mage keep a card for 5-6 turns? Most likey he has flamestrike. Warrior? Brawl. Priest? Lightbomb. Always be wary of board clears, one clear and if you don't have any resources to plop on the board to maintain board presence, you are on your way to a loss.

When I first played Pally, I used to play the more controll-ish version, meaning to say I usually held back a lot when against enemies to try and maximize the value my cards would give me (like Consecrate to clear >3 enemies only), but I realized sometimes it is better to just clear the board or go aggressive to pressure your opponent so that YOU have the intiative in playing and he responds to YOUR plays, not the other way round. Paladin tends to not be effective when you need to respond to your opponent, as there is no charge minions or hard removal in this deck to guarantee the opponent's board is clear.

With the general premise of the deck aside, now we'll be moving on to the Mulligan, and how to mulligan effectively. A good mulligan can set you ahead of your opponent even on turn 1!

The Mulligan

The Most Ideal Hand i.e. The Dream

In most matches, you WILL definitely need to mulligan (swop out and reshuffle) some cards in order to try and fish out some early drops to seal the board presence. Unless you draw a Zombie Chow, Shielded Minibot, Muster for Battle and Quartermaster with Coin in your starting hand (or something similar), you need to mull.

Against Hunter/Zoolock: KEEP- Zombie Chow, Shielded Minibot, Muster for Battle, Knife Juggler, Consecration (if you have Coin), Piloted Shredder (with Coin), Aldor Peacekeeper, Sludge Belcher/Antique Healbot (not advised, but if you have Coin its' decent)

Against Mage: KEEP- Zombie Chow, Shielded Minibot, Muster for Battle, Knife Juggler, Piloted Shredder (with Coin), Truesilver Champion

Against Control decks (Warrior, Priest): KEEP- Zombie Chow, Shielded Minibot, Muster for Battle, Knife Juggler, Piloted Shredder, Harrison Jones (with Coin and against Weapon oriented classes)

Against the mirror: KEEP- Zombie Chow, Shielded Minibot, Muster for Battle, Knife Juggler, Harrison Jones (with Coin)

Against Oil Rogue: KEEP- Zombie Chow, Shielded Minibot, Muster for Battle, Harrison Jones, Piloted Shredder

Against Handlock: KEEP- Zombie Chow, Shielded Minibot, Muster for Battler, Truesilver Champion, Piloted Shredder

As you can see, most mulligans you will want to aim for the DREAM (Turn 1 Chow, Turn 2 Minibot, Turn 3 Muster), so mulligan aggressively for these, especially against Aggro decks as you need early game minions to trade up with their creatures. Try to aim for drops which cost 1-3, 4 if you have Coin to use it on turn 3. Most importantly for Midrange Paladin is to play on curve, meaning to say that if you don't have a turn 1-3 play, and  you either skip or hero power, things usually don't look too good for you. Unlike Warrior or Priest who can afford to armor up/heal to pass the turns, Paladin's hero power of spawning a 1/1 usually is only good if you can combo it with something else, as 1 attack usually will be unable to trade up, or even trade with anything unless you have multiple 1/1s.

With the mulligan aside, we can now move on to card justifications- why each card was chosen out of the hundreds of options.

Card justifications

Zombie Chow - WHY 2? You may have seen other decklist run 1, but with my experiences with Paladin, 1 Zombie Chow is almost as good as 0, as you need to be have RNGsus-sama with you to pull off the 'dream' which I mentioned earlier. 2 is for consistency, and against Control decks health usually even in the lategame isn't an issue, board presence usually is. Zombie Chow provides a good 3-health body with a decent 2 attack, meaning playing this on turn 1(ideally) will nett you a potential trade up with an opponent's 2-drop, which is usually Knife Juggler, Sorcerer's Apprentice. The only drop this doesn't fare well against is a turn 1 opponent's Chow, or a Twilight Whelp, which with its' 3 health puts a wrench in your attempts to seal the early game. My opinion? Put two or none at all.

Possible Substitutes- If you choose not to put 2, then sub in 1 more equality and murloc knight, both for late-game pressure. Or an Argent Protector is also ok.

Equality - Needing no introduction, Equality is a staple of all Paladin decks, even if you are going for a more aggro-based deck, Equality allows your 1/1 Hero Power Minions to trade effectively. It also nullifies threats with high hp, like Deathlord, Ysera and Malygos. I only include one due to lac of space, and I don't want to be faced with the possibility of having dead cards in hand i.e. 2 useless Equality cards. Equality is a REACTIVE card, like all board clears, and usually you only want to use it to help in killing big threats. If you need to Equality twice in a game, usually you aren't doing very well.

Possible Substitutes- None! Its' too unique for be substituted. A core card in all Pally decks.

Combos-

• Equality + Consecration (the Classic as I'd like to call it)
• Equality + Knife Juggler + Muster for Battle (Brings all minions to 1 for your 3 for your Juggler to hit them. More RNG than anything.)
• Equality + Knife Juggler + Hero Power (A less effective option 2, but good if you have and Improved Hero Power i.e. Justicar-ed Hero Power the turn before).

Ironbeak Owl -  More of a tech card than anything, I put this in to ensure we can silence pesky minions which are hard to remove/more efficient to just silence them. Targets include enemy Tirion Fordrings, Taunted-up bigh health creatures like Handlock Molten Giants, or even a target like Mad Scientist when against Hunters. In essence, this is just an option available for you to play around some threats whose effects usually are game-changing/gives the opponent a huge lead, but as a vanilla minion is quite useless. As a Turn 2 drop without any target to silence is NOT ideal, I'd rathe ryou hero power. Unless its' to counter stuff like Nerubian Egg.

Possible Substitutes- I guess if you include Spellbreaker it is fine. Then again this deck is flooded with good 4-drops so maybe not. But hey, its your deck right? Do what you want with it. But Silence is a good card to have.

Knife Juggler - Knife Juggler has so much synergy with the deck, especially with the Hero Power. To not run 2 would be close to unfathomable. But I have seen some decks run 1, but it is not advised as I feel this is the best neutral 2 drop in the game right now, and since Paladin need Board Control, often Knife Juggler will help you inch your way closer to sealing the board with your minions. Besides it also makes pressing your Hero Power less painful.

Possible Substitutes- None!

Combos -

• Knife Juggler + Muster for Battle (Turn 2 knife, turn 3 muster for a overwhelming lead on your opponent)
• Equality + Knife Juggler + Muster for Battle

Shielded Minibot - Best turn 2 drop in the game I think. Best class turn 2 drop too! With 2/2 in stats and a DIVINE SHIELD, this is like Argent Squire on steroids. Coin turn 1 into Minibot is good if you have another turn 2 drop like Knife or another Minibot, as the Minibot contests the board and effectively threatens to wipe any creature your opponent may choose to play on turn 1/2. This minimally should get you a 2 for 1. Value at its' finest I dare say.

Possible Substitutes- None! If you aren't crafting this card then you shouldn't play Pally

Muster for Battle - Great turn 3 play, helps you spawn 3 1/1s to contest the board. Cements your lead. Also gives you a free 1/4 weapon to clear pesky drops with.

Possible Substitutes- None! If you aren't crafting this card then you shouldn't play Pally

Combos -

• Knife Juggler + Muster for Battle
• Muster for Battle + Turn 4 Coin and Quartermaster
• Muster for Battle + Equality

Aldor Peacekeeper - Tempo turn 3 Aldor is decent, as a 3/3 it contests the board if you are far behind, good against aggro. Basically nullifies big attack minions if you don't have removal, like Aldor-ing an opponent's Dr. Boom or Alexstraza (Well you get the point)

Possible Substitutes- None! I could see you justifying the use of 1, but as it is, Paladin has a sever lack of a turn 3 play and Muster for Battle and this card are the only viable good ones at the moment. Maybe play 1 Aldor and 1 Mind Control Tech if you are very scared of opponents flooding the board too early on. Highly unlikely but still... Coghammer is also an option, sub out one Aldor for Coghammer for more early game. I don't play Coghammer due to the nature of this deck- it has too many weapons and I don't want to clog my hand with weapons (it has happened before).

 

Big Game Hunter - Another tech card like Ironbeak Owl, and a great tempo card as it swings the game in your favour when you get its' effect off. the 4/2 body is less than ideal due to the weak health, but again you're using this card for the Battlecry not the stats. So overall good at 1, as your don't really need to BGH a lot of targets anyway, and the statline really doesnt justify running 2. As a tempo play it fares better than Ironbeak or Aldor, but onyl play it without the Battlecry if you have already removed the one target this card was made to counter: Dr. Boom. Or any other 7 or higher attack minion.

Possible Substitutes- None!

 

Truesilver Champion - One of the strongest weapons in the game right now, 4 attack 2 durability allows you to kill 2 minions most of the time. The side effect of healing 2 is really good when you're up against Hunters or face-rush decks, as sometimes the 2 heal is clutch enough to save you from a burst in the following turn. Trust me, I've used it before and it HAS decided some games for me. To go face for 4 damage is also a legitimate choice sometimes, but try nto to unless you are rushing an opponent down (Control match-ups).

Possible Substitutes- None! Its' a good weapon so run 2. Unless you want Coghammer. Then run one of each.

 

Consecration - Not as strong of a board clear as other classes' choices, but hey, beggars can't be chooser right? Plus it works well with Equality and punishes aggro decks who overextend.

Possible Substitutes- None! Only board clear you have so include 2! 

Combos -

• The 'Classic' Equal-secrate combo. Just makes sure you Equality FIRST and Consec later. Or prepare to get wrecked.

               

Murloc Knight - Mrrrrgllglggl! Best card to come out from The Grand Tournament expansion, this 4-drop essentially is a 6 drop, as you usually want to play it with hero power on the same turn due to the Inspire effect of the card. It is dangerous if you play it exposed, along as a turn 4 drop due to the low health (4) of the minion, where a good 3 drop can trade up for it, or a weapon on turn 4 like Death's Bite, Truesilver Champion etc. Provides you with some ability to flood the board at little cost to you actual cards. Imagine summoning Old Murk Eye...

Possible Substitutes- play another 6 drop like The Black Knight as a tech choice. Or alternatively, play one more Equality.

Piloted Shredder - Piloted Shredder is a 4/3 with at LEAST a 5/4 in stats if you spawn out a Captain's Parrot, or potentially a 8/7 in stats if you spawn out Millhouse Manastorm. That's not mentioning the absurd drops like Doomsayer, which sometimes wrecks you/or your opponent. You could get something mediocre like a Bloodfen Raptor, but hey, at leasy you're looking at 7/5 in stats. Not bad for 4 mana. Run 2, this card is an auto-include due to the value that it draws out. Its like Steam Holiday Sale.

Possible Substitutes- None! Its' so broken you can't afford to not play it!

Antique Healbot - Antique Healbot at 1 is enough in my opinion, the horrible stat-line doesn't justify running 2 copies, to heal 8 health per game is usually enough to put you out of reach of the opponent's reach against Aggro decks. 

Possible Substitutes - Not recommended to sub this card out, but if you had to, I would say go for card draw, like Azure Drake. Or even a spell which recovers health, like Holy Light.

Harrison Jones - That belongs in a museum! The Battlecry which arguably I think has the most immediate impact in the game. Destroy your opponent's minion and DRAW cards? Sign me up I'd put 2 if possible! This card is decent in terms of stats, but what really shines is the card draw and weapon removal. This is like Divine Favour+Acidic Swamp Ooze in one. It is a tech card though, so feel free to substitute it out. But I still think it is the best tech card for now. It totally wrecks Warrior, the mirror match, and Aggro Hunters.

Possible Substitutes - The Black Knight in a Taunt-heavy Meta, Loatheb if you don't have Harrison.

Quartermaster - Best card which goes well with many of the Paladin's cards, synergises with the Hero Power for a 2/5 and 3/3 for 7 mana (not bad if you are desperate). The dream, of course is to Muster for Battle THEN Quartermaster for 3 3/3s and a 2/5 for 8 mana in total. It pushes for damage and threatens two turn lethal most of the time, thus obligating the opponent to respond in an attempt to try and put down the Silver Hand rebellion before it gets out of hand.

Possible Substitutes- None! If you want to substitute this then play something else!

Combos -

• Muster for Battle + Quartermaster
• Justicar Trueheart +  Hero Power + Quartermaster
• Hero Power + Quartermaster

Sludge Belcher - Sludge Belcher is a good turn 5 drop, and most of the time your other 5-drops like Quartermaster, Harrison and Healbot won't be played on turn 5. Hence the need for a solid body with good statline to grace the turn 5 play. You can run 2, but this deck is plagued by the 30-card constraint. Otherwise I'd gladly run 2 copies. The taunt is irritating for Aggro elements trying to break through your defenses, and buys you time to set up the board in your favour and denying opponent's favourable trades by protecting you high-value minions, like Murloc Knight.

Possible Substitutes- Use a turn 5 drop, preferably Azure Drake.

Justicar Trueheart - 'Welcome to the Grand Tournament!', cries the best neutral Legendary to come out from the expansion (In my opinion). Justicar does what no other card can - increase the effectiveness of your hero power. Its' absurd sometimes that it allows you to span 2/2 of stats for 2 mana, which is CRAZY for a hero power as it basically requires no cards to be played form the hand, bar Justicar herself. This helps a ton in Control Matchups to outlast your opponent in terms of exhausting his resources. Most of the time Justicar with 3 health won't survive to see the next turn, but her Battlecry usually is what you want. If she does in fact make it to the following turn, you have 6 damage to send into your opponent's minions/face. Arguably this card may be too slow sometimes, as to play it effectively you need to at least use your improved Hero Power at least thrice, which unless the game drags absurdly long, you won't be able to do it. But if you play against stuff like Fatigue Warrior, you can be sure to win the matchup on Hero Power spamming alone.

Possible Substitutes - Another Tech Card, The Black Knight is not bad. Loatheb is also a viable sideboard card.

Sylvanas Windrunner - Sylvanas does what most cards can't - steal a opponent's minion. Or to be more precise, the threat of stealing a minion. Most of the time, this will lead your opponent to send the entire field into Sylvanas, which helps as a invisible Taunt in some ways. Most of the time 5/5 does trade for 2 small minions, so it's not too bad. It can be a tad bit slow against faster decks like Face Hunter or Face Paladin, so opt to not play this card on turn 6 even if you have it and do something else against most matchups.

Possible Substitutes - Loatheb, The Black Knight, Caine Bloodhoof

Dr. Boom - What can I say about this card? Dr. 7 is to be played on turn 7 and pass. 9/9 for 7 mana plus a maximum of 8 random damage? That's just explosive (pun intended). Get this auto-include card and experience the boon of Boom! (pun also intended)

Possible Substitutes-  No close ones, but Loatheb, The Black Knight are both decent. Less than ideal though to fill this spot

Lay on Hands - A great late-game play when you are ahead to seal your lead and put you far ahead with 3 extra cards, this card also helps to stem the flow of bleeding when up against Aggro, much like Antique Healbot. Think of this card like Holy Light + Arcane Intellect to some extent. Good card but not absurdly broken. One is enough, the high mana cost deters you from using it as usually once you use this you either pass or Hero Power (if you are at 10 mana).

Possible Substitutes - None! Craft this if you have to!

Tirion Fordring - 'Put your faith in the Light!' is the best class Legendary in Hearthstone right now. If this was a neutral card it would be horribly broken. But Blizzard has blessed us Pally players with Tirion, a 6/6 with Divine Shield, Taunt and Deathrattle to summon a 5/3 weapon. That's just insane in terms of value. Minimally to clear this minion effectively you need a Polymorph, Hex or Silence to REMOVE the effect, then you need to destroy the remaining minion. Which usually means expending 2 cards at LEAST. Sometimes opponents have to trade weirdly, and you get situations like a 4 for 1 card. Ashbringer as a weapon is great for minion removal as far as weapons go, or you could alternatively go for 15 total damage to the opponent's face. 

Possible Substitutes - None! If yoy don't have this go craft it! Or else you aren't a Pally player.

Final Words

To end off, I'd like to say that Paladin is NOT a broken class, neither are the cards (at least for this deck type). Its focuses on value trading and making opponents commit stupid mistakes to trade inefficiently. Board Control is the name of this deck's game, and prioritize board presence above all. Don't go too aggressive, remember to always have dominance on the board and don't let your opponent be the one with the initiative, make him react to your plays and be one step behind. Don't overextend and play around board clears.

With that, I hope you enjoy playing Paladin as much as I do, and any questions/coaching you can drop me an email or comment in the section below and I'll try my best to help you!

Until next time,

Endblade