Episodes
Saturday Feb 20, 2016
The Secret Paladin Deck - Episode 66
Saturday Feb 20, 2016
Saturday Feb 20, 2016
Hello!
- Kevin is on the show this week
- Topic: Deck battle!
- Reasons to be happy this week
- News: We updated our show notes for the previous episode
What is a Deck Battle?
Once a month, a guest host brings their favorite deck onto the show to battle the current reigning champion deck for control of the Happy Hearthstone Deck Battle Throne!
If the challenger wins the best-of-3 series, their deck becomes the new Reigning Champion Deck and will fight off future challengers until it loses, or until it’s earned its place in the Happy Hearthstone Hall of Fame!
View the Deck Battle Archive + The Happy Hearthstone Hall of Fame
Defending Deck: Andrew’s Warlock Demon Zoo deck has reigned supreme for 8 months, and has beaten 6 decks before this episode.
Challenger Deck: Kevin’s Secret Paladin deck relies on flooding the board with sercets and minions for a sudden mid-game kill.
The Deck
Creatures
- 2x Secret Kepper
- 1x Haunted Creeper
- 1x Ironbeak Owl
- 2x Knife Juggler
- 2x Shielded Minibot
- 2x Murloc Knight
- 2x Mysterious Challenger
- 1x Dr. Boom
- 1x Eadric The Pure
Spells
- 2x Avenge
- 2x Competitive Spirit
- 2x Noble Sacrifice
- 1x Redemption
- 1x Repentance
- 1x Coghammer
- 1x Divine Favor
- 2x Muster for Battle
- 2x Blessing of Kings
- 1x Consecration
- 1x Truesilver Champion
Sideboard
In case you don’t have some of the ideal cards, here are some quality back ups and alterations you can make that keep with the same theme and strengths of the deck.
- 2x Stormwind Champion
- 2x Mukla’s Champion
- 2x Grand Crusader
- 2x Raid Leader
The Duel
Community
- Question: None this week!
- iTunes Reviews
Donations
- None
Card of the Week
Farewell
- Contact Kevin on Twitter and listen to his WoW podcast Darkmoon Herald
- What you want to see in future episodes
- What hosts you want to visit the show
DECK GUIDE:
You’ve seen it. You’ve hated it. You may have even played it. Kevin’s own take on the infamous Secret Paladin deck makes some interesting changes to keep it fresh and add a few other threats to the deck. But the core of the deck — that wonderful Christmas-tree-building Mysterious Challenger — is still here and ready to rock.
Check out how this deck did in our deck battle on our latest episode of Happy Hearthstone!
Note from Josh: The rest of this article was written by Kevin. Thanks!
Secret Paladin
The Secret Paladin is a low-cost, low-skill-cap deck that’s incredibly diverse in its win conditions and ability to counter many popular deck on the ladder. It’s not a “cheater” deck like everyone on the forums would like you to believe and it’s been used at the World Championship levels of gameplay. It’s a fun and fast deck to play and there are some mind games involved in getting your opponent to waste cards in bad trades because of what you might have in your hand.
Let’s get straight into the cards I used in my deck for the mighty showdown with Josh. You can find a completely plain deck list on the podcast episode. Here, I’ll provide additional commentary where I feel it’s helpful or necessary.
Minions
This card is a great opener and is the main defense to early aggro aggression. Drop this card and watch it attract top-tier removal from the enemy’s hand. If they don’t remove it, it can be buffed significantly by the secrets.
Tough little minion that likes to stick around and make your opponent make bad decisions on how to clear it.
1x Iron Beak
Iron beak owl is a great card to have in your pocket. You never know when you might need a Silence effect.
A staple for most paladin decks. It helps with board control and combos with many other cards like Muster for Battle, Noble Sacrifice, and Murloc Knight.
Best two drop for Paladins with plenty of staying power, which means it’ll stay on the board for awhile to buy you time.
Murloc isn’t the theme of the deck, but this card plays two big parts in our strategy. It will either: 1) Fill your board with minions and you win the game. or 2) Be a lightning rod for your opponent to use all of their removal on and clear the way for more powerful cards like Dr. Boom or Mysterious Challenger to remain unscathed.
One of the greatest (but not the only) win condition to this deck. If you have 2-3 minions on the board and drop this card on turn 5-6 you will most likely win the game.
I love the lore and WoW-reference with this Legendary. If three or more minions are affected by Eadric’s battle cry you got value from it (his own stats are 5 below the Vanilla test, so you want to reduce enemy minions by at least that many). There’s also the fun of playing this card at a face to face tournament and seeing their reaction, since it’s so unexpected.
1x Dr. Boom
Need I say more?! He’s just awesome!
Spells + Weapons
2x Avenge
The strongest of the Paladin secrets, this is used to make your opponent think about who they must kill and in what order and anything it lands on, even a 1/1, becomes a real threat.
This secret takes your minions from good to great! As long as you have more than one minion on the board when this secret activates you get your value for it. It’s important to note that if you don’t have any minions on the board, the secret will not activate — so it will never be wasted.
This secret lets you keep the most precious minions and yourself alive. Drop this secret with a Murloc Knight or Knife Juggler to keep them on the board and get a combo or two off.
1x Repentance
This secret is a late-game game-changer. When their Dr. Boom turns into an 7/1 and is killed by a silver hand recruit, you get your value!
1x Redemption
This secret is the best for backing up your value minions, Dr. Boom, Murloc Knight, and Mysterious Challenger
1x Coghammer
Gives you a decent amount of board control and minion buffing early on.
1x Divine Favor
Can be incredibly powerful when playing against a Handlock deck. Use in early game if the opportunity presents itself to try to get Mysterious Challenger in hand by Turn 5/6.
The greatest anti-aggro card out there (besides Consecrate). You can combo with Competitive Spirit to get 2/2s on the board or Knife Juggler to deal 3 bonus damage right away.
The gold standard in Paladin weapons, must include one in every deck
A huge buff to a small minion = huge board presence. If you can get your opponent to trade 4 or 5 mana worth of cards to get rid of it, it has value.
1x Consecrate
Another amazing Paladin card that helps you handle early aggression decks
Possible Additions
There are many win conditions with this deck which is what makes it a strong ladder deck. You can build it on the cheap cheap or throw in your strongest Paladin or Neutral Legendary Cards. Even Hogger has a home in this deck!
This card is a fantastic minion buffer and lightning rod all in one. Plus it’s common quality but gives you epic-level value.
Since the main purpose of the deck is to gain board control, Stormwind Champion is a perfect substitute card. It’s a major body on the board and makes your hero power, Muster for Battle, and Murloc Knights way, way more powerful
Final Thoughts
Secret Paladin is a easy to learn, cheap (cost) deck to build and is very competitive in the current ladder whether you have the legendaries or not. It is fun to make your opponent play around your secrets that you are almost guaranteed value from. An excellent staple deck for anyone’s library!
Saturday Jan 30, 2016
The Summoning Portal Warlock Deck - Episode 64
Saturday Jan 30, 2016
Saturday Jan 30, 2016
Hello!
- Jake is on the show this week
- Topic: Deck battle!
- Reasons to be happy this week
- News: Designer Ben Brode’s videos
What is a Deck Battle?
Once a month, a guest host brings their favorite deck onto the show to battle the current reigning champion deck for control of the Happy Hearthstone Deck Battle Throne!
If the challenger wins the best-of-3 series, their deck becomes the new Reigning Champion Deck and will fight off future challengers until it loses, or until it’s earned its place in the Happy Hearthstone Hall of Fame!
View the Deck Battle Archive + The Happy Hearthstone Hall of Fame
Defending Deck: Andrew’s Warlock Demon Zoo deck has reigned supreme for 7 months, and has beaten 5 decks before this episode.
Challenger Deck: Jake Crawford’s Warlock Portal Deck starts slow and builds up to overload you with massive minions all at once.
The Deck
Creatures
- 1x Zombie Chow
- 1x Ironbeak Owl
- 2x Sunfury Protector
- 1x Big Game Hunter
- 2x Earthen Ring Farseer
- 2x Imp Gang Boss
- 1x Mind Control Tech
- 1x Defender of Argus
- 2x Piloted Shredder
- 2x Summoning Portal
- 1x Antique Healbot
- 1x Loatheb
- 1x Sludge Belcher
- 1x Emperor Thaurissan
- 1x Sylvanas Windrunner
- 1x Kel’Thuzad
- 2x Sea Giant
- 2x Molten Giant
Spells
- 1x Darkbomb
- 1x Hellfire
- 1x Imp-losion
- 1x Shadowflame
- 1x Siphon Soul
Sideboard
In case you don’t have some of the ideal cards, here are some quality back ups and alterations you can make that keep with the same theme and strengths of the deck.
The Duel
Unfortunately, technical issues devoured the livestream footage of the deck battle and dust bowl this week. I’m very sorry! It was a 2-0 win for Andrew’s Warlock deck. The first match was pretty one-sided, and the second match was very close.
On a related note, if anyone has a recommendation for a good mixer that doesn’t produce apocalypse-level distortion effects, please let me know
Community
- Question: None this week!
- iTunes Reviews
Donations
- Jake Crawford: 7 card packs
Card of the Week
Farewell
- Contact Jake Crawford on Twitter
- What you want to see in future episodes
- What hosts you want to visit the show
DECK GUIDE:
Jake brought back some old-school powerhouse cards in his Warlock Summoning Portal deck on the show this week. Let’s take a look at each card in the deck and talk about why it’s there and how to use it.
Note from Josh: The rest of this article was written by Jake. Thanks!
The Portals Warlock
This is deck I have been trying to make work since the Beta release of Hearthstone. Decks like Handlock have always interested me, which essentially use your opponent’s strategy against them to discount your cards, like Molten Giants. Also, I was inspired by athletes like Muhammad Ali, who win by absorbing the opponents early offense, with their smart efficient defense, in order to swing the game in their favor late. This deck normally shines against early aggression decks, and is not super effective against other control decks. The key strategy is to withstand the early offense to drop lots of Giants and other minions late in the game. With the help of heals and mana discount synergies, this deck has potential to contend with most constructed decks. I love playing this deck because almost every time it catches my opponent off guard, which is hard to do in Hearthstone these days.
Let’s get straight into the cards I used in my deck for the mighty showdown with Josh. You can find a completely plain deck list on the podcast episode. Here, I’ll provide additional commentary where I feel it’s helpful or necessary.
Creatures
Chow is used as early game board presence, since your opponents health is relatively unimportant to the deck’s overall strategy, giving your opponent 5 health after Chow dies, is not very important. Hold on to him in the mulligan phase if it shows up.
A great 1-of, silence can come in handy in the era of rampant inspire and deathrattle effects. This owl could save the bacon in certain matchups.
Helps you build walls out of your Giants.
Dr. Boom Hunter. I try to keep one copy of BGH in any control type deck. Super efficient clear of a big threat, also put a body on the border, helping to discount the cost of Sea Giants.
The drawback to the Warlock’s hero power is losing 2 health per use. This 3/3 body is packed with another spell-like effect of healing.
This card is one of the most solid minions, in terms of pure value, exclusively available to the Warlock class. Use this card to squelch early pressure, and keep popping out those imps, if possible. This works well for the “bodies on the board” strategy needed to discount the Sea Giants.
Useful against decks that flood the board early. I find this card can help swing momentum in your favor, more times than it does not. Combo this with Sunfury Protector or Defender of Argus in between MCT and the minion you stole, for a quick taunt wall
The +1/+1 added to adjacent friendly minions can help with trading or turning a giant into a taunt wall.
In my opinion, one of the strongest minions to ever be released. Shredders are very helpful for keeping bodies on the board in order to reducing Sea Giants cost, as well as giving something for Sunfury or Argus to taunt.
The lynch pin to this deck’s strategy. The ability to instantly discount the minions in your hand, as well
Another spell-like healing effect that can be severely discounted in combination with Summoning Portal and Emperor Thaurissan
Loatheb is not a key card in this deck’s strategy, but can help to secure a win in a control matchup. If you have a bunch of threats on the board, and enough damage to finish the opponent of next turn, dropping Loatheb can make your opponent’s removals impossible to play. Feel free to sub out this card, with the list of suggested additions.
One of my favorite minions to be released in the Curse of Naxxramus Adventure. The Belcher was released at time when Hearthstone’s ladder was dominated by aggro Hunters and Zoo Warlock’s. If it’s not silenced, this taunt forces your opponent to deal with it twice. The total combo of 7 health between 2 bodies, effectively saving your Warlock a minimum of 7 damage.
A key part of this deck is discounting the mana cost of the cards in your hand.
Sylvanas gives you some flexiblity on how to use her. A great target for shadowflame. Sylvanas’s give
I wouldn’t say this is key card to the overall strategy, but can really switch momentum in your favor. Trade in your minions to clear the opponent’s board and drop KT, raise the dead and emote ‘oops’ [Editor’s Note: Emoting ‘oops’ like this will make Josh hate you forever.]
Key card to this deck’s strategy. Whether it is your or the opponent flooding the board, you’re pretty much guaranteed to get a discount on this card. Drop a Summoning Portal and this giant will be discounted by 3. Remember this minion is possible to be played for 0.
Another key card to the strategy of this deck. Also possible to be played for zero. Both Giants are targets for Shadowflame, for board clears if the situation calls for it.
Spells
Early board control spell. Hold on to this one if it shows up during the mulligan phase.
Effective board clear against opponents that flood the board with lots of low health minions. You may even be able to combo this card with a discounted Molten Giant in the same turn.
This spell synergizes well with Sea Giants. It can help clear an opposing minion, while putting bodies in play for you.
One of Warlock’s most flexible spells. It plays into their theme of ‘power with consequence’. You have to sacrifice a minion to do damage to all enemy minions. This combined with any of the Giants is likely to clear whatever minions your opponent has on the other side of the board.
Helps extend your survivability, keep it in your back pocket for any big threats your opponent might drop in the late game.
Possible Additions
Like I mentioned earlier, the deck list is pretty specific because the deck revolves around playing Summoning Portals and creating a huge swing turn with discounted cards. That being said, there are a few cards you can swap in until you get the stuff you need.
Loot Hoarder
To increase your number of early drops. More cards in hand for Emperor Thaurissan to discount is always good.
You can use this a silence target and then it can attack. Also use this as a taunt target or fodder for shadowflame.
Include for the same reason as Ancient Watcher
Drop a bunch of Giants and then the Mechano, you have. A good chance 1 of them turns in a taunt.
Super flexible per your situation. You can copy a Summoning Portal or one of your Giants.
Another Giant threat might be too much but you usually have a lot of cards in your hand, so you could get this discounted as well.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, this deck might still be missing a few cards to make it work consistently but it is still really fun to play with. It requires a little bit of extra thinking, when calculating costs and discounts, but dropping a Summoning Portal never felt so right. I hope one day to see a Summoning Portal deck in a professional tournament.
Tuesday Nov 24, 2015
The Mill Rogue Deck - Episode 61
Tuesday Nov 24, 2015
Tuesday Nov 24, 2015
Hello!
- Bradford Grant is on the show this week
- Topic: Deck Battle!
- Reasons to be happy this week
- News: League of Explorers impressions
What is a Deck Battle?
Once a month, a guest host brings their favorite deck onto the show to battle the current reigning champion deck for control of the Happy Hearthstone Deck Battle Throne!
If the challenger wins the best-of-3 series, their deck becomes the new Reigning Champion Deck and will fight off future challengers until it loses, or until it’s earned its place in the Happy Hearthstone Hall of Fame!
View the Deck Battle Archive + The Happy Hearthstone Hall of Fame
Defending Deck: Andrew’s Warlock Demon Zoo deck has reigned supreme for 5 months, and has beaten 4 decks before this episode.
Challenger Deck: BradfordLee’s Mill Rogue deck looks to outlast and burn through the opponents’ deck, throwing away the key cards they need to beat you.
The Deck
Creatures
- 2x Antique Healbot
- 1x Big Game Hunter
- 1x Bloodmage Thalnos
- 1x Brann Bronzebeard
- 2x Coldlight Oracle
- 2x Deathlord
- 2x Earthen Ring Farseer
- 1x Novice Engineer
- 2x Sludge Belcher
Spells
- 2x Backstab
- 2x Eviscerate
- 2x Gang Up
- 2x Preparation
- 2x Sap
- 2x Shadowstep
- 2x Shiv
- 2x Vanish
Sideboard
In case you don’t have some of the ideal cards, here are some quality backups and alterations you can make that keep with the same theme and strengths of the deck.
- 2x Refreshment Vendor
- 1x Assassinate
- 1x SI:7 Agent
- 1x Fan of Knives
- 1x Loot Hoarder
- 1x King Mukla
- 2x Deadly Poison
- 2x Blade Flurry
The Duel!
NOTE: I accidentally had my mic muted during the entire livestream, because I have no idea how technology works. Sorry!
Post-Duel Commentary
- Who won
- Obligatory bragging session
- Challenger Deck: How well did it perform?
- Defending Deck: How well did it perform?
- Best moments in the matches
- The Happy Hearthstone Champion Ceremony(tm)
Community
- Question: Glitter Beards, yay or nay?
- iTunes Reviews
Donations
- No donations this week
The Dust Bowl
We open card packs donated by listeners, and pick our favorites and least favorites on the show!
Thanks to our supporters:
- Jake Crawford – 7 packs!
Card of the Week
Farewell
- Contact BradfordLee on Twitch and on Twitter
- What you want to see in future episodes
- What hosts you want to visit the show
DECK GUIDE:
Looking for a new deck type to play? Mill Rogue is a terrificly fun, creative deck that tries to win by forcing the opponent to draw too many cards and leaving them with nothing but fatigue damage.
Note from Josh: The rest of this article was written by BradfordLee. Thanks!
Mill Rogue
This is by far my favorite deck in Hearthstone. Its core strategy and route to victory comes from using Coldlight Oracle to force your opponent to draw too many cards. Eventually, the opponent will run out of cards and being taking fatigue damage. Alternatively, in some aggro match ups, victory is obtained by continually playing Antique Healbots until your aggro opponent runs out of resources.
I love Mill Rogue because every game feels like a puzzle. You have to use all of your resources just right to solve the puzzle and thus reach victory. The deck presents complex lines of play and incredible precision. If you happen to use a card too early or too late you will often find yourself unable to solve the complex puzzle presented in front of you.
Let’s get straight into the cards I used in my deck for the mighty showdown with Josh. You can find a completely plain deck list on the podcast episode. Here, I’ll provide additional commentary where I feel it’s helpful or necessary.
Antique Healbot is a win condition against face hunter decks and is a valuable late game life gain against slower or mid-range decks. Its ability to gain eight life is often enough to buy you the time you need to win.
I love running one Big Game Hunter in this deck. One of the biggest issues for the deck is Dr. Boom. Having a good way to hunt down a Dr. Boom is important since you don’t want to Vanish or Sap it back to your opponents hand. In the past, I ran one Assassinate in this spot but I find that I win more games with Big Game Hunter.
Bloodmage Thalnos makes cards like Shiv and Backstab more potent and it also has the most relevant text in the game “Draw a card”. This card is not very strong in the deck and thus can be easily replaced by Loot Hoarder, Novice Engineer, or Fan of Knives.
Brann Bonzebeard is the newest inclusion to this deck. Brann + Coldlight Oracle + Shadowstep can mill your opponent for 8 cards in just one turn. He really gives this deck a needed power boost and can win you games that you previously had no chance of winning. I would say, of the the legend in this deck, he is much more important to this deck then Bloodmage Thalnos
Coldlight Oracle is the glue that holds this deck together. It moves you closer to victory, facilitates card draw, and it helps you find the answers you need for any given situation. I will often mulligan to this card. The games where I have a Coldlight Oracle before turn 6 are the games that I feel I have the best chance to win. MRRRRGGGL!
2x Deathlord
Deathlord is an incredible card for its cost. In the aggro match ups it can stone wall your opponent and against decks like Ramp Druid, that have a combo finish, it keeps you alive when they are ready to combo you. Also, it helps you mill your opponent when it dies.
Earthen Ring Farseer is very important for this deck because it costs 3 mana. It allows you to play it on turn 3 as a body and it also allows you to play it on turn 6 alongside a Vanish + Preperation. Also, Earthen Ring Farseer can heal a Sludge Belcher or Deathlord that is damaged. While this utility is not commonly used it is very helpful in some circumstances.
I only run one Novice Engineer because Bloodmage Thalnos acts like the second Novice Engineer. In the past I ran Loot Hoarder in this spot but with the introduction of Brann Bronzebeard the 1x Novice Engineer gets the node over the 1x Loot Hoarder. This card is not great but in the early game it is very nice to have a two mana draw a card effect. Additionally, In the mid to late game the low cost on this card makes it easy to cast alongside other cards in the deck.
Belcher, like Deathlord, gives you protection from oncoming board pressure. It is a very powerful card and can often buy you an entire turn so that you can draw into the card that you were looking for.
2x Backstab
Backstab is incredibly important to any Rogue deck. Backstab offers tempo when you are behind and helps you stay ahead when you are ahead. It’s also great with your hero power to answer minions with three defense. Lastly, in this deck, it gives you the ability to not over draw. That is to say, when you are casting multiple Coldlight Oracle’s in one turn you will sometimes have too many cards in hand (i.e. 10) and will thus need to cast your Backstab just so that you have space in your hand to draw cards that are more relevant to the current state of the game.
2x Eviscerate
Eviscerate is simply the best piece of removal that is available for this deck. It answers most early to mid-game threats and in the mid to late game it can keep the board clear to buy you one more turn. This is especially relevant in games where you have yet to find a Coldlight Oracle.
2x Gang Up
This is the worst card in this deck but it is a key card it gives you extra copies of Coldlight Oracle and it prevents you from drawing too many cards.
2x Preparation
Preparation helps you cast all of your spells for cheaper. In this deck it almost always is only used in conjunction with the spell Vanish. For instance, on turn 6 you are able to cast Coldlight Oracle for three mana then cast Preparation + Vanish for your other three mana. The play of Coldlight Oracle + Preparation + Vanish is one of the key plays in this deck. It allows you to over fill your opponent’s hand, replay your Coldlight Oracle, and Empty the board of any troublesome threats. If I could play more copies of Preparation I certainly would.
2x Sap
Normally Sap’s strength is its ability to gain tempo by returning 5+ cost minions to your opponent’s hand. However, when your opponent’s hand is full (i.e. 10 cards) you have the added luxury of it just destroying the minion that you cast Sap on. This gives Sap flexibility in this deck. In my opinion, this is the best Sap deck in the game!
2x Shadowstep
Shadowstep serves three roles in this deck. Role one: Against most match ups Shadowstep gives you more Coldlight Oracle battlecry abilities and thus continues you toward milling your opponent out. Role two: In some aggro match ups, namely face hunter, this bounces back an Antique Healbot and helps you gain so much life that your opponent is unable to win the game. Role three: In some circumstances shadow step allows you to return a damaged Deathlord to your hand in the early game. Generally this play is only advisable when you are currently unable to deal with a big threat entering the battlefield off of the Deathlord’s deathrattle ability.
2x Shiv
Shiv is not a great card. Its impact on the game is very minimal but it warrants a spot in this deck because it has the most relevant text in the game on it “Draw a card”. Being able to dig through your deck faster creates redundancy and thus helps you draw into your Coldlight Oracles faster. This card could be replaced by Novice Engineer, Loot Hoarder, or Fan of Knives
2x Vanish
Without vanish this deck would not be able to function. Vanish gives you the ability to bounce back your own Coldlight Oracles, Earthen Ring Farseers, and Antique Healbots. More importantly, Vanish clears the entire board. Outside of minions with charge a Vanish can buy you a lot of time. They should not be used frivolously as you only have two of them. If I could play 6 copies of this spell I would easily play 6 copies of it. It is also worth noting that if your opponents hand is full you can use this to destroy minions.
Possible Additions
Mill Rogue deck lists are trying to do something very specific. For that reason many of the cards in the deck are specifically tailored to the deck and thus are not worth cutting for other cards. That being said, there are a few flex spots in the deck and the following are some good alternatives in case you are missing some of the cards for this deck.
Refreshment Vendor is a nice card for this deck because it has a solid body while also gaining you four life. It is worth noting that since this card costs four mana it is harder to use this card in combination with Vanish + Preparation. Also, unlike Earthen Ring Farseer, you cannot heal your minions.
1x Assassinate
Assassinate is good in this list since you often need a nice piece of removal to deal with troublesome threats like Dr. Boom. This card could be played in place of Big Game Hunter.
1x Si7 Agent
Another great card to substitute for Big Game Hunter is Si7 Agent. Basically this card is just another piece of removal that happens to have a 3/3 body attached to it. So, this serves a similar role as Big Game Hunter.
Too many X/1’s on the ladder? Then Fan of Knives is the card for you. It slices, it dices, and it draws you cards. What more could you ask for? This card can be yours for the low low price of cutting 1x Shiv from your list.
1x Loot Hoarder
In the past I have run 2x Loot Hoarder and 1x Bloodmage Thalnos. If you don’t have a Bloodmage Thalnos this is a great substitution. This card could also take the place of 1x Shiv if you don’t have access to the card Shiv.
1x King Mukla
THE KING! Let’s be real… this card is Bananas. It fills your opponents hand up and that allows you to over fill your opponents hand to make your Coldlight Oracles super effective. However, I don’t run The King because it tends to be good in the match ups you are already good against and bad in the match ups that you are bad against. If The King was good against the match ups this deck struggles with, like Zoo, then I would consider running this card. Never the less, if you own a King Mukla it’s a lot of fun to play with.
2x Deadly Poison
Deadly Poison is certainly good in this deck. When you play it you generally want to play it as a 2 of in the deck to go along side Blade Flurry. Since this build doesn’t contain that package of 4 cards I wouldn’t play it. However, Blade Flurry and Deadly Poison shine in some of your bad aggro match ups. That being said, and due to the nature of this deck, I believe it is better to make your good and/or average match ups better by focusing those 4 slots in the deck on other cards. I would certainly not discount anyone for playing Deadly Poison and I still think it is an incredible card that is fun to try out in this deck.
2x Blade Flurry
I personally am not a fan of Blade Flurry + Deadly Poison in Mill Rogue. There are certainly people that play both of these cards in their decks. I don’t like it because I don’t think it is necessary and neither of these cards have the words “Draw a Card” written on them. Shiv, Loot Hoarder, Fan of Knives, and Bloodmage Thalnos offer consistency for the deck and I have found that having these cards instead gives you a better chance of winning a game even though the power level of your deck is lower. That being said, These two cards are certainly fun, powerful, and good
Final Thoughts
If you like solving complex puzzles and enjoy the thrill of fatiguing your opponent to death, then Mill Rogue is the deck for you. It’s engaging and exciting every step of the way and with a little bit of practice you might even start having a winning record with the deck.
Sunday Oct 11, 2015
The Taunt Warrior Deck - Episode 57
Sunday Oct 11, 2015
Sunday Oct 11, 2015
Hello!
- Andrew is on the show this week
- Topic: Deck Battle!
- Reasons to be happy this week
- News: We’re going to BlizzCon!
What is a Deck Battle?
Once a month, a guest host brings their favorite deck onto the show to battle the current reigning champion deck for control of the Happy Hearthstone Deck Battle Throne!
If the challenger wins the best-of-3 series, their deck becomes the new Reigning Champion Deck and will fight off future challengers until it loses, or until it’s earned its place in the Happy Hearthstone Hall of Fame!
View the Deck Battle Archive + The Happy Hearthstone Hall of Fame
Defending Deck: Andrew’s Warlock Demon Zoo deck has reigned supreme for 4 months, and has beaten 3 decks before this episode.
Challenger Deck: That-Other-Andrew has brought out a Taunt Warrior deck that relies on a sturdy defensive wall that sustains it through to the end-game.
The Deck
Creatures
- 2x Armorsmith
- 2x Acolyte of Pain
- 1x Big Game Hunter
- 2x Sludge Belcher
- 1x Emperor Thaurissan
- 1x Justicar Trueheart
- 2x Master Jouster
- 2x Sunwalker
- 1x Ragnaros the Firelord
- 1x Ysera
- 1x Varian Wrynn
Spells
- 2x Execute
- 2x Shield Slam
- 2x Fiery War Axe
- 2x Bolster
- 2x Bash
- 2x Shield Block
- 2x Brawl
Sideboard
In case you don’t have some of the ideal cards, here are some quality back ups and alterations you can make that keep with the same theme and strengths of the deck.
- 2x Sen’jin Shieldmasta
- 2x Death’s Bite
- 2x Annoy-o-tron
- 2x Shieldmaiden
- 2x Antique Healbot
The Duel!
Post-Duel Commentary
- Who won
- Obligatory bragging session
- Challenger Deck: How well did it perform?
- Defending Deck: How well did it perform?
- Best moments in the matches
- The Happy Hearthstone Champion Ceremony(tm)
Community
- Question: Most fun TGT deck
- iTunes Reviews
Donations
- No donations this week
The Dust Bowl
We open card packs donated by listeners, and pick our favorites and least favorites on the show!
Thanks to our supporters:
- No pack donations this week
Card of the Week
Farewell
- Contact Andrew on Twitter, Email him, or add him on Battle.net as anoverdrive#6189
- What you want to see in future episodes
- What hosts you want to visit the show
DECK GUIDE:
Hold the line! Andrew’s Taunt Warrior deck for Hearthstone is sturdy and fun. It relies on building up solid defenses to hold out into the late-game, when big heroes drop onto the board to swing the tide in your favor. You can check it out on the latest episode of Happy Hearthstone.
Note from Josh: The rest of this article was written by Andrew. Thanks, Andrew!
The Taunt Warrior
This deck is my own version of the taunt warrior deck that people like to play. It consists of a lot of taunt minions with high health to keep your hero safe and heaps of removal and control cards to make sure you stay in charge of the game.
Let’s get straight into the cards I used in my deck for the mighty showdown with Josh. You can find a completely plain deck list on the podcast episode. Here, I’ll provide additional commentary where I feel it’s helpful or necessary.
2x Armorsmith
Good early game card to establish board presence on turn 1 (with coin) or 2. Gets you early armor and gives your opponent something to deal with while you stall for your bigger cards.
Another early game minion. Very annoying card for the opposition and normally draws you at least 1 or 2 cards. If they want to waste a silence on it then that’s good as well
Useful card to hang onto for late game to gain tempo and a quick, easy answer to big minions that manage to hit the board early.
Fits the taunt theme perfectly, combos well with bolster and very annoying to deal with. I prefer this over Sen’jin Shieldmasta because of the extra body it spawns, which you can also buff up.
Good turn 6 play if your hand has many cards in it. Allows more comboing as well as letting you use your hero power more often. Especially good to knock the cost of Varian Wrynn down. This lets you combo Varian with execute or shield slam in 1 turn or more if Emperor Thaurissan sticks around longer.
This card is mainly in the deck for fun and to showcase some new TGT cards. However, when played in the correct situations, this card proves to be very useful. Using your hero power most turns after playing him keeps your armor at an all time high and with all the taunts and big minions this deck has your hero stays very safe and if the game takes you to a fatigue race, you will generally win.
4 out of 5 times you will win this joust using this deck or a similar one. Majority of the minions in this deck cost 5 or higher. If you win the joust this is an extremely solid card for its cost. Even if you don’t win the joust there are worse cards out there to drop for 6 mana.
2x Sunwalker
Very good vanilla minion in my opinion. Stats are well balanced and divine shield + taunt is not something to be taken lightly. 1 point less attack and health compared to Master Jouster but you get the guaranteed added bonuses. Very useful.
Extremely powerful vanilla legendary. We all love ragnaros, let’s be honest. Applies huge amounts of pressure, especially when drawn out with Varian Wrynn.
1x Ysera
Amazing if drawn out with Varian Wrynn. Otherwise a great late game card and very threatening. If Ysera Awakens is drawn, it can most of the time be used as a finisher.
1x Varian Wrynn
Amazing and very fun card to play in any warrior deck. Makes it possible to get 4 beefy minions out in a single turn very cost efficiently. Worst case scenario, you are still drawing 3 cards!
2x Execute
Especially good to take out minions with very high health such as opposing Ysera or other dragons. Also buffed minions that the opponent used to trade with.
2x Shield Slam
This is generally considered hard removal in this deck because it is extremely easy to have 10+ armor so it basically takes out almost any minion. An easy 4 mana combo is to Shield block then Shield Slam afterward. On turn 4 this takes out most minions and gives you a tempo lead.
Straight up overpowered weapon and a staple in most warrior decks. Early game removal and keeps high threat.
2x Bolster
Buffs up your taunt minions to help keep a stable and very solid board.
2x Bash
Very good early game removal and great tempo play with the armor gain.
2x Shield Block
Armor gain and card draw. Perfect for the deck. Good to play on turn 3 or 4.
2x Brawl
Excellent removal if behind and especially if your opponent blew all their cards on one board. I personally prefer to have 2. If it gets to the point where 2 is too clunky then you’re generally going to win anyway in most cases.
Possible Additions
As stated previously this deck revolves around control and taunt so some possible additions are below if you don’t have the cards listed in the main deck.
Pretty much only here to sub for Sludge Belcher for those who haven’t bought the Naxxramas expansion. Can be subbed in for other taunts as well.
Can be put in for removal and the whirlwind effect combos well with execute for hard removal. Good amount of attack on a weapon to control the board with.
Very annoying to deal with. Enough said. Works well with Bolster.
Mostly subs for Justicar Trueheart. Very solid card for 6 mana. Can never have enough armor.
Great card for late game. The heal is very powerful but hopefully you never really need to use it. Mainly there to sub for cards that gain you a lot of armor.
Final Thoughts
This is not a masterminded, perfect deck to rank up on ladder with as-is, but it’s definitely tons of fun! With a few adjustments, it could absolutely be a competitive deck for tournament play.
Sunday Aug 02, 2015
The Dragon Priest Deck - Episode 53
Sunday Aug 02, 2015
Sunday Aug 02, 2015
Hello!
- MYSTERIOUS Ben is on the show this week
- Topic: Dragon Priest Deck Battle!
- Reasons to be happy this week
- News: The Grand Tournament
What is a Deck Battle?
Once a month, a guest host brings their favorite deck onto the show to battle the current reigning champion deck for control of the Happy Hearthstone Deck Battle Throne!
If the challenger wins the best-of-3 series, their deck becomes the new Reigning Champion Deck and will fight off future challengers until it loses, or until it’s earned its place in the Happy Hearthstone Hall of Fame!
View the Deck Battle Archive + The Happy Hearthstone Hall of Fame
Defending Deck: Andrew’s Warlock Demon Zoo deck has reigned supreme for 3 months, and has beaten 2 decks before this episode.
Challenger Deck: Ben’s Dragon Priest deck goes for quick kills, but brings a few beefy dragons as late-game backup.
The Deck
Creatures
- 2x Northshire Cleri
- 2x Twilight Whelp
- 2x Faerie Dragon
- 2x Knife Juggler
- 1x Big GameHunter
- 2x Blackwing Technician
- 2x Blackwing Corrupter
- 2x Dragonkin Sorcerer
- 2x Azure Drake
- 1x Vol’jin
- 1x Emperor Thaurissan
- 1x Prof Boom MD
- 1x Onyxia
- 1x Ysera
Spells
- 2x Power Word: Shield
- 2x Velen’s Chosen
- 1x Shadow Madness
- 2x Holy Nova
- 1x Light Bomb
Sideboard
In case you don’t have some of the ideal cards, here are some quality back ups and alterations you can make that keep with the same theme and strengths of the deck.
- Drakonid Crusher
- Volcanic Drake
- Shadow Word: Death
- War Golem
- Mind Control
- Shadow Word: Pain
- Dark Cultist
The Duel!
Post-Duel Commentary
- Who won
- Obligatory bragging session
- Challenger Deck: How well did it perform?
- Defending Deck: How well did it perform?
- Best moments in the matches
- The Happy Hearthstone Champion Ceremony(tm)
Community
- Tom Briscoe: Dusting doubles
- iTunes Reviews
Donations
- Jake Crawford: $10/month
- Ian Nowakowski: $5/month
- Leon Chen: $1/month
- Mike Burgess: $25
- Andrew: $25
- Pontus Welin: $10
Card of the Week
Farewell
- Find Mysterious Ben on Twitter or Reddit!
- What you want to see in future episodes
- What hosts you want to visit the show
DECK GUIDE:
Kill all the things. Kill them with dragons! Our latest battle deck is all about dishing out damage with giant, scaly monsters — and bringing in the broodmothers to seal the deal late game.
You can hear us talk about this deck, and watch us duel with it in episode 53 of the Happy Hearthstone!
Note from Josh: The rest of this article was written by Ben. Thanks, Ben!
The Dragon Priest
Why should you play Dragon Priest? To put it simply, I find this deck really fun. There are always cool combos and strategy. You have to use your head, but you don’t have to run insane numbers like some Warrior decks. The more you play this deck, the better you get with it. It’s not a perfect deck, so feel free to copy as much or little as you want. Have fun with it!
Creatures
Arguably the best 1-drop in the game. It is almost always draws removal. People don’t want to deal with it because there are too many factors to watch. It makes the enemy think “Is he going to buff it? Is he going to attack and heal to draw a card? Is he going to drop another Northshire Cleric and heal one of my creatures?” It’s also versatile for when you use it. You could use it to bait early-game removal from a Warrior or Mage, or keep it for card-draw later.
At first glance, this is a very underwhelming card, so I don’t blame people asking why this is in here. (At one point, I had Shadow Bombers in this spot.) But the bonus 2 health is a big deal. People play Zombie Chow and he has the same stats, plus a chance to heal your enemy! The main problem here is that these do not activate unless you have a dragon in hand, so you obviously shouldn’t play them in a non-dragon deck. They are good because they can trade up, and if they don’t activate, they can stick around being a target for my buff cards.
A great filler card for really any dragon deck, it can be used to activate Twilight Whelps or Blackwing Technicians. Being untargetable by spells is useful, but not vital to this card’s value.
In my opinio,n Knife juggler is the best 2-drop in the game. At 3/2 for 2 mana, he already passes the vanilla test. That means that his activations are pure bonus value. This deck has tons of potential synergies that can make him a gold mine of damage.
As much as I think he takes fun out of the game, BGH is important because he stops giants from being overpowered. He’s in this deck as an anti-Handlock card and just a general Dr. Boom killer
Blackwing Technician is an awesome early game card. It allows you to play more value than your opponent at the extra cost of telling them that you have a dragon in your hand. Think of it as a potentially better Spider Tank.
As I said in the show if I could play a fire elemental in every deck I would but I cant so I have this as a concealment prize and what a prize is he. the 3 damage he packs gets rid of pesky shredders and most other 3 or 4 drops (although after this expansion he may get worse with all the massive health minions) he is just a good value card and even if he doesn’t activate he is 5 damage on the table they have to remove.
A very strong body with great potential in decks like Paladin and Priest, which have many cards to activate off of. In this deck, it’s actually more valuable as a threat than an actual power play. Putting this on the board lets you bluff your opponents. They’ll typically remove it by trading or wasting some premium removal, which is great. That means I can play a safe Dr. Boom or Ysera later. If they don’t remove it, you can hit it with Velen’s Chosen to make it a 6/10 with +1 Spell Damage.
2x Azure Drake
Another card that is pure, unadulterated value. Just being a dragon gives it synergy, but the main reason it’s here is the card draw. This deck lacks consistent draw. You have the Northshire Clerics, which you typically get 1, maybe 2, cards from if you’re lucky. And you have Power Word: Shield for 1 draw. Having 2 more card-draw minions may not seem like much, but they effectively make your deck thinner if you play them on curve, and having 6 less cards in your deck makes it a lot more chance that you will draw your combos. Plus, with a 4/4 body they can take and give a solid beating in midgame.
1x Vol’jin
Vol’jin is my favorite legendary to come out of Gobins Vs Gnomes. A 5 mana 6/2 sounds really bad, but his ability to swap health with any minion makes him so valuable. Take out the enemy doom sayer with a swap and then a lesser minion you already had on the board. He’s effectively a specialized Power Word: Death that can hit Ysera and Malygos. On turn 10 and up, you cano drop him and then Holy Nova to kill their bomb.
Emperor Thaurissan is a very strong card. He has the potential to run away with the game and look outright broken. If you hit any one of the combos with him, it gets playable. If you hit 2 or more, it becomes extremely strong. He will almost always be your 6-drop if you can, but he’s great bait for the opponent’s premium removal anytime.
1x Dr Boom
Just like the BGH I don’t really like him and I don’t have much to say except that his value makes him so strong. You are behind, even before the game starts, if you don’t have him in our deck. The only realistic way of dealing with him is with Light Bomb to get rid of his bots. And even then, you can potentially get 8 damage to the face. He also has great synergy with our Knife Juggler.
1x Onyxia
I don’t think Onyxia has ever been mentioned on the show. I think this is where she gets her power: absolutely no one expects to see her. If you combo her or a Knife Juggler, they become the 10/11-mana combo to summon an 8/8, a 3/2 and 5 1/1’s and deal 6 random damage. She’s not a vital card, but just really fun.
1x Ysera
Ysera is my favorite Legendary dragon. She has so much value for every turn that she’s on the board. Her ability is crazy. All of the cards she gives are really strong. In a top-decking situation, she will hands-down win you the game. Plus, she can’t be Killed by the 3-mana fun-killer that is Big Game Hunter. Surprise: If you look at the card art, she’s a dragon who has people hands! That has to count for something, right?
Spells
A really high-quality cycling card (replaces itself when played) that gets you more health so you can survive a trade and then use your Hero Power to get some health back. It’s the perfect buff for the Dragonkin Sorcerer. This is a Priest staple that should have 2 copies in every deck.
A really strong spell that’s allowed to be strong because it’s a class card. If you Northshire Cleric on turn 1, and then drop this on turn 2, you’ll be laughing. A 3/7 is not easy to remove! It also combos really well with Dragonkin Sorcerer and Holy Nova. The only real drawback is that it’s a dead card when top-decking.
A largely unseen card for a while that’s slowly getting more play. Shadow Madness is great for dealing with Warlock zoo and face Hunter decks. It feels really good to kill their Defender of Argus-ed imp with their own Voidcaller!
2x Holy Nova
Another staple priest card. Can be used with Northshire for massive card draw, Azure drake for high damage AoE spell, with Vol’jin for killing sticky legendaries and even by itself for good damage and good healing.
1x Lightbomb
A fantastic board clear! One of the best cards to help you come back from behind. It’s also a perfect anti-Handlock card for dealing with giants and Mal’Ganis, and is one of the only consistent ways to deal with Grim Patrons.
Possible Additions
Like I mentioned earlier, the deck list is pretty specific because the deck revolves around playing Dragons and the cards that are affected by them. That being said, there are a few cards you can swap in until you get the stuff you need.
A very strong and fun card to play. Back when this was a zoo deck, I had 2 and they were my late game Dragons. They can be played as 9/9 or 6/6, which gives them the bonus strength of letting you choose if you want to make a Big Game Hunter target or not. Swap for Ysera or Onyxia.
Another card in my original build, back when it was zoo and I did not want to play Dr Boom. Volcanic drake is a strong card that, when played corectly, can come down on turn 4 giving you huge board swing. Swap for Dr Boom and Emperor Thaurissan to make the deck faster.
A Replacement for Vol’jin, while also being a good quality piece of premium removal. It should be in most decks and the only reason I don’t have one is because this deck is experimental.
Not an amazing card, but it gets the job done. Pretty good stats and can be strong when played on curve. Swap for Dr Boom or Onyxia.
One of my favorite cards in the game and extremely good value. It not only destroys the opponent’s minion, but also summons a copy of it for you. If you don’t have a fancy Legendary card, just use your opponent’s! I’m upset that there’s no room for it in my deck. Only play one, because it can be a dead card if there are no big targets or if you need it on turn 8 or 9 to stay alive. Swap for Ysera.
In my opinion, this is the best 3 drop in the game. The only reason it’s not in my deck is because it’s not a dragon. If you wanted, you could swap it for Shadow Madness or any other early minion you don’t have.
Another high quality card that I just didn’t have room for. It gets rid of Armorsmiths and Acolytes of Pain without doing damage to them. Or early-game demons and pesky taunts. Swap for Shadow Madness or any other early game minions you don’t have when you’re facing a lot of rush decks.
Final Thoughts
This is an intricate deck with many nuances that needs to be played many times to understand. It has an above 50% win rate on early-to-mid ladder rankings, but I think that — when it comes down to it — unless a deck is fun to play, there’s no point in playing it. Let me assure you that this deck is fun! You won’t win every time, but you will pull off an Onyxia Knife Juggler combo and have an 11/21 Dragonkin Sorcerer, and Light Bomb an entire board of Grim Patrons! You will feel great and that’s what Hearthstone is about.