Many listeners of The Angry Chicken I have talked to asked me to post my Shaman deck. I do not consider this my strongest deck, but it is my favorite deck to play from a flavor aspect. As you can see I have named it the “Gentleman’s Shaman” because my two strongest decks are a Priest and Paladin deck modeled closely after Artosis’ BlizzCon decks (which I’ve been told are modeled closely after ek0p’s decks). Those two decks award me many swear words from my friends. My Shaman is the deck I’ve been playing with the longest and I don’t feel dirty when I win with it.
I like playing control. Talk to Ben from A-move Radio and he will tell you many tales of our MTG games where he was swimming in Pacifisms from my Orzhov deck. That is not to say I’ve won all those games but that is not the point. I don’t like my opponent having anything on the board if I can help it.
Two-Drops
Dills is adamant about having so many two-drops that it is statistically more likely to not draw one in your opening hand. While there are only three two-drop Minions in this deck the Stormforged Axe fills a similar role in that it allows you to keep your opponent’s early minions off of the board. I will say I might recommend including an extra Ooze or another couple two-drops if you’re worried about falling behind early game.
Lightning is your friend
If you are creating your first Shaman deck and in doubt of where to start, look for any card that has “Lightning” as the first word in it’s name. Lightning Bolt is well costed even with the Overload 1. I’ll gladly pay two mana for three damage.
I recently removed Forked Lightning because I noticed that if I get the opening hand that I want, a Stormforged Axe and a Lightning Bolt, my opponent rarely gets to keep more than one minion on the board at a time. If I want to remove multiple Minions with one card I’d rather spend the extra one mana for Lightning Storm since both Lightning Storm and Forked Lightning have the same Overload cost, Storm hits all enemy minions, and it can get quite scary with +Spell Damage.
Finishing the Game
What I like the most about this deck is that there are multiple ways to end the game. A Doomhammer combined with a Rockbiter Weapon can deal ten damage in one turn (do not forget to swing twice with the Doomhammer, it’s embarrassing). The Earth Elemental is also a great target for Rockbiter. The most obvious finisher is Bloodlust. I only have one in the deck because it can be a dead card if you don’t have any minions on the board. But it’s a great way to get value out of any silenced totems your opponent left on the board.
Final Notes
The other cards in the deck I feel are pretty self-explanatory. Drop the Mana Tide Totem behind some Taunt minions and watch the cards flow. Think of the Argent Commander as a four-damage removal spell that leaves behind a 4/3 Minion. Even if the Fire Elemental’s three targeted damage can’t straight up remove a threat, it can at least close the health gap so that you can trade or get more value out of a Storm.
Try it out, play a gentleman’s game of Hearthstone, and feel good when you disassemble your friend’s aggro-deck. Post your thoughts below or email into The Angry Chicken at TACpodcast@gmail.com and let me know how you like the deck or what you would change.
