Deck List of the Week: Paladin Control 2.0

by JR Cook - 10 years ago     show comments

Paladin decks are a lot of fun. The card set features a disgusting amount of utility, some fantastic weapons and arguably the best class legendary in Tirion Fordring. In the past two months, Paladin has officially overtaken Rogue as my favorite card set in Hearthstone, mostly because it can do a lot of different things. If you want to run a slow control oriented deck that featured a lot of heals and value board clear, Uther’s got you covered. If speed’s more your deal, the potential is there, too. Midrange is also viable. Today, I’ll be talking about the modified version of my original Paladin Control deck.

Doomstar Requiem II by ZenStyle

Class: Paladin

Cards sorted by Low Cost

Paladin (17)

• Hand of Protection x2
• Argent Protector x2
• Equality x2
• Aldor Peacekeeper x2
• Sword of Justice
• Blessing of Kings
• Consecration x2
• Truesilver Champion x2
• Guardian of Kings
• Lay on Hands
• Tirion Fordring

Neutral (13)

• Bloodmage Thalnos
• Mad Bomber
• Novice Engineer
• Wild Pyromancer x2
• Big Game Hunter
• Earthen Ring Farseer
• Spellbreaker x2
• Azure Drake
• Faceless Manipulator
• Ragnaros the Firelord
• Ysera

This deck is legen .. wait for it .. dary!

A lot of my decks are built without legendaries in the interest of keeping them friendly for those on a budget. This deck is not, however. It’s the culmination of a lot of arena packs, saving up dust, the whole nine yards. I can make generic recommendations for replacements, but let’s be honest. There’s no replacement for Ragnaros, Ysera or Tirion Fordring. Bloodmage Thalnos can sort of be replaced by Kobold Geomancer, but it’s definitely a poor man’s replacement. If you’re looking for recommendations though, shoot me a line on Twitter with what you do have, and I’ll see what I can recommend.

Early Game

What you want in your opening hand depends a lot on what class you’re facing. Against Warlocks, Hunters, Mages and Rogues, try and aggressively mulligan for Wild Pyromancer, Equality, Aldor Peacekeeper, Mad Bomber, Earthen Ring Farseer, Hand of Protection or Consecration. Against Priests and Warriors, I’d recommend looking for Aldor Peacekeeper, Sword of Justice and Spellbreaker. Your options will be a lot more flexible.

If you end up with the Coin and Wild Pyromancer against aggro decks, hold on to it. It can be used in conjunction with Wild Pyromancer on turn two for a quick one damage burn to the entire board. It’s not a lot, but it’s a good way to get rid of Blood Imps and Defias Bandits. Moreover, if you happen to also have Hand of Protection, you can use the extra mana from the Coin to deal a second point of damage. The name of the game, regardless of your matchup, is to control the board and get to the late game. Ysera, Ragnaros and Tirion Fordring, along with Guardian of Kings can see you to a win if you give them time to work.

Wild Pyromancer and Equality is essentially your scorched earth policy. It will effectively destroy everything on the board, your minions included. If you have to do it, be sure to swing into the opposing hero first, or pop Divine Shields. Both Divine Shield and Blood Imp can mess up the combo, so be sure to take that into account. Aldor Peacekeeper, Truesilver Champion and Mad Bomber are also useful early game tools.

Mid to Late Game

The success of this deck depends on making the most of your respective tools. Big Game Hunter is an amazing card, but it needs to be used intelligently. If you throw it down on the board without destroying a 7 attack minion, you’ve wasted the card. Similarly, Faceless Manipulation should not be used to copy an irritation. It should be used to copy something that will guarantee you value.

Spellbreaker irritating minions such as Lightspawn, Defender of Argus’d creatures, et cetera. Use Blessing of Kings to take a token to 5/5, or even to activate Big Game Hunter in a pinch. This is often a waste, but late in the game when you have no other options, it’s totally viable. Combo Bloodmage Thalnos and Azure Drake with Consecration for value board clears, all in preparation for dropping your heavies. Guardian of Kings is a great midgame play to heal yourself and also present an appealing crowd control target before you drop your game winners.

If you’re playing a Priest, the game becomes a million times harder. It’s totally winnable, but you have to be patient and only play your late game legendaries when you have board clear options in your hand. Don’t play Ragnaros if you don’t have way to get rid of it, should it get stolen. The same is true of Tirion, but also have a silence first. You don’t want to give your opponent a 5/3 Ashbringer.

In terms of health regeneration, the deck features 17 points of healing. That’s huge against Mages and Warlocks. This deck does fairly well against those decks. Rogue is a tough matchup, as is Control Druid. The bottom line though is that this deck requires you to be patient, and even gamble at times. Don’t be afraid to leave nothing on the board but a 1/1 token if you have answers in your hand. This deck can absolutely win in fatigue. Don’t rush things.

The Deck in Action

My Control Paladin deck takes on a Warlock Aggro deck in ranked play here. While it’s more focused on board control, it still features a lot of the common Warlock irritations.

And here we have a Mage. While there were secrets, I’m not totally sure what it’s agenda was. Regardless, this match shows off the healing potential this deck has, which makes it so strong against Pyroblast oriented decks.