by OtakuMZ - 7 years ago     show comments

Introduction

Aggro Murloc Paladin has carried me well this season. I have never before climbed the ladder as fast as I have in the past 11 days. Most seasons, I hit rank five somewhere in between the 20th and the 25th which leaves me too few days to realistically make the Legend push. Last season, I hit rank 5 on the 24th and I had only 2 hours per night to play through the end of the season. As a result, I barely missing my goal of becoming a first-time Legend, instead capping out at rank 1 – 4 stars. This was a hard setback to my motivation. Therefore, this season, I tried to find a deck that I liked playing (not Pirate Warrior) and was able to quickly take up the ladder. I enjoy playing Lyra, but those games tend to stretch out very long, which is not ideal for quick ladder climbs. Generally speaking, I am not an aggro player at all and I find most aggressive decks either very difficult or boring to play. Not so with this one…

Difficult you ask? – It is just SMOrc you say! It is not that easy…

If you play an aggro deck that is not vastly overpowered (unlike Pirate Warrior in the MSG era, before the nerf to Small-Time Buccaneer), you can face a lot of difficulties piloting aggressive decks. Aggressive decks are proactive in their strategy compared to control decks, which are reactive by nature. Aggro decks can be easily countered and you can run out of resources quickly. With a fast deck, you generally either win by turn 6 or you lose. The hard part is picking the right trades and managing your limited resources by interweaving smart use of your hero power. You also have to balance pressure, which is in general done by going wide on board, and holding back some cards if the opponent uses a board wipe.

The deck I show you today is a special thing. It not only consists of a lot of burst damage, but also has comeback potential and counters which result in a playstyle that feels like that intermediate between aggro and midrange. Depending on the matchup, you can either try to overwhelm your opponent early or take the value route. The success is literally in your hand and almost every match-up is winnable IF you pilot the deck correctly. You need to understand your win conditions as well as the matchup, which can be daunting at first. The most important thing is to know and understand your opponent’s outs against you.

The List

I honestly do not know who invented the particular list I am showing off. If you know, please leave a comment or tweet @OtakuMZ1978 and I will give credit to the deck architect which sadly I am not. I got the original list here and it is very similar to TerrenceM’s Murloc Aggro Paladin list from Dreamhack Austin 2017. Try this list; it is just insane. Only yesterday I went from the bottom of rank 9 to rank 5 in less than two hours.

[wcp_deck id=”21236″]

Comeback Cards

Divine Favor: This is the classic comeback card when playing against control decks. You can dump almost your entire hand without fear of a devastating board wipe against decks like Discover Mage. Once your hand is empty, simply replenish it. Nice!

Gentle Megasaur: This card can turn a harmless board of two or three 1/1 Silver Hand Murlocs into a massive threat. Think Poisonous against a wall of Taunts from Quest Warrior or simply +3 Attack turning three damage into twelve. Not to mention that the body of this beast has vanilla stats.

Finja, Flying Star: Finja is indeed a star. He can get you back in games where everything seemed lost. Play him, remove a minion next turn and follow up with a Gentle Megasaur can single-handedly win you the game.

Tarim Sunkeeper: Tarim can often swing a board heavily in your favor just as well as Gentle Megasaur can. It is perfect to either buff a harmless board into a serious threat or to counter big threats and/or taunts from your opponent by turning them into mere 3/3s, which also works in the next category of counters. The opponent’s minions can then either be traded into or Tarim himself can soak up three of them. This is a true Legendary card that is not a win more- but a swing card.

Counter Cards

Tarim Sunkeeper: see above.

Crazed Alchemist: In times when control decks are getting more and more popular, Crazed Alchemist is a perfect counter to Doomsayer. This alone would not make him worthwhile at the current state of the meta, but he also fulfills other roles in this deck. He can either further buff a Murloc when Murloc Warleader is on the board. For example, you have a Murloc Warleader alongside a Rockpool Hunter turning the latter from a 2/3 in a 4/4. If you use the Crazed Alchemist on him, the Warleader buff is “locked in,” the stats are switched, and then the Warleader buff is reapplied, so he will turn into a 6/5 – neat! You can also make your guys more resilient, like turning a Murloc Tidecaller from a 4/2 into a 2/4. You can also use it to turn big-bottom cards into burst (Tarim into a 7/3) or wimps that are easily attacked through (2/7 Alleyway Armorsmith into an easily removable 7/2).
TLDR: Versatile as a counter for Doomsayer, augmentation for Murlocs, and burst damage enabler.

Golakka Crawler: Pirate Warrior, Aggro Druid, and Quest Rogue all run Pirates and all are very good decks that are popular on the ladder. Do I have to say more?

Crazed Alchemist and Golakka Crawler are flex cards. You can change them as you like depending on what you face. Do you face lots of Paladin? Great, put in two Hungry Crabs! Just playing against Control? Two Crazed Alchemists are here to help. As a side note: if you do not face lots of Pirates, Hungry Crab is a safe pick because you can always turn a 1/1 Silver Hand Murloc in a 3/4 Hungry Crab. Although this is not the most efficient play, it is always an option. Nevertheless, from my experience, playing a plain 2/3 Beast is not bad either and Crazed Alchemist is surprisingly versatile as explained above.

Mulligan

Generally said, aim for 1- and 2-drops, mulligan away everything that is not your early-game, even though those cards look tasty. This deck relies on putting pressure on the board early, regardless of whether yours is a fast or slow match-up.

The following explanations should further explain what you should keep, or not, depending on the matchup and if you are going first or second:

• Vilefin Inquisitor may be the best minion to keep early as it helps to generate the Murloc army. Murloc Tidecaller is the best at generating pressure early. If you go second, you might want to combine it on turn two with Rockpool Hunter, or consider buffing it up with Grimscale Scum beforehand.
• You can keep a Gentle Megasaur if you already have a 1-, 2- (and 3-drop) Murloc.
• With Murloc Tidecaller, you should always try to get a follow-up Murloc in hand or, if on The Coin, get the dream combination of turn two Murloc Tidecaller into The Coin+Rockpool Hunter resulting in a 2/3 and a 3/3 on turn two.
• Only keep Crazed Alchemist if you know you are up against either Freeze Mage, Control Paladin, or Taunt Warrior.
• Keep Golakka Crawler against Druid, Rogue, and Warrior. Druid and Warrior may turn outto be the Jade or Taunt varieties, but the punchy crab is not a bad two drop and the upside of eating a pirate is just too good to pass up. Against Warrior, “wasting” the Crawler on a 1/1 is not the best play. It may be beneficial to hold on to the crab for juicier pirates like Bloodsail Cultist, Dread Corsair, Naga Corsair, or Southsea Captain.
• Murloc Warleader is a card you want to draw, not keep, unless you have already a lot of Murlocs in your starting hand. You may want to keep it for slower match-ups, occasionally. This is even more so the case for Coldlight Seer.
• If you already have a 2-drop, mulligan away Bluegill Warrior, unless you have to expect heavy impact 2-health minions of your opponent like Scavenging Hyena.
• Consider keeping Divine Favor against slower match-ups, especially if you are going first. This is just a rule of thumb and you should mulligan it away if you do not have a 1- and 2-drop.
• Finja, The Flying Star generally only kept if you are going second and already have a decent starting curve in hand. Against another aggro decks, it is too slow to keep.
• Truesilver Champion can be kept with enough early drops, especially going second and/or if you are up against a class with high value 3- and 4-drops, like Vicious Fledgeling, that need immediate attention.
• Blessing of Kings should almost never be kept.
• Always mulligan away Tarim Sunkeeper.
• Only keep Primalfin Lookout when you already have a perfect curve in hand.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, this deck has a lot of decisions to offer. I enjoyed playing this deck despite the fact that I am not generally a fan of the playstyle in because this deck is full of intricate decisions and secondary strategies.

To conclude, here are the stats of my yesterday’s session. After trying out various decks starting rank 10 I finally settled to play this list starting rank 9 – 2 stars up to rank 5 – 1 star in 17 games with a win rate of 76.5% (13W-4L). I highly encourage you to try this deck as it provides both fun and the potential to climb quickly and steadily.