Since the Goblin Vs. Gnomes release, the Shaman class has lost its grip on the metagame, falling as the least popular class from the middle to late January.

The entrance of the Muster Paladins and Mech Mages into the metagame drove the Control Shaman decks into a corner. This led to many Shaman players to abandon the class just to adapt. Traditionally, Paladin has always been one of the Shaman’s hardest matchups. Their game plan usually revolves around controlling the board or outlasting the opposition — two things that Shamans have trouble besting.

The shift was especially hard for me. I am a budget player that mainly runs aggro and midrange decks because I usually like to go all out on my opponents and hit face. I was getting tired of all the Muster Paladins and began wondering where all the Shamans went. I was actually relieved to see less Shaman decks at the ladder because it would mean less control threats for my decks. In my mind, Shamans were some of the most irritating classes to face for my style of play. Shamans have two of the most punishing spells for aggro decks in the game: Lightning Storm and Feral Spirit. Having my board wiped on turn three or facing two 2/3 minions with taunts is very annoying. It often leads me to an early concede especially if I don’t have anything to answer with.

Also, Shaman in my opinion has the best removal spell in the game: Hex. Hex can turn any minion (with the exception of those not targetable by spells) into a 0/1 body with taunt for only three crystals. Ouch!

I abhor control decks and I know that Shaman is one of the best control decks in the game.  I was never really interested in Shaman until very recently when Firebat, the 2014 BlizzCon World Champion, posted his Mech Shaman deck for Season 11 which he used to hit legend rank three.

Seeing that it was NOT A CONTROL DECK and had a build similar to the standard Mech decks, I thought that I should try it out. I had to craft most of the class cards: the two Powermace, Lavaburst and the costly Doomhammer because I usually disenchant most of the control cards that come into my possession.

So much hate, no offense.. Goodbye, Velen. You will be remembered.

PLAYTESTING

I first took the deck out in casual and saw that it curves surprisingly well, especially if I have a Mechwarper in hand and a couple of mechs to secure an early board presence.

Pictured: A “God Hand”. I prefer the term, “Robot Jesus.”

After winning four straight games in casual, I decided to take the deck to ladder.

I noticed that playing between ranks 20-10 was a hard task for the deck because of its weakness to an early board lead from your opponents. This is where the lack of board clear spells really hurts. If the deck can’t establish an early lead, it gets run over by the more aggressive decks like Face Hunter and the recent Shockadin aggro deck.

Although I was having a hard time, the deck still took me to rank 10 from 15. As I went further down the ladder, I saw how  effective the deck was against Mech Mages and Druids.

It’s like you’re not even trying, Malfurion!

Matchups:

Shaman: 2-0

Mage: 4-2

Paladin: 2-2

Hunter: 1-3

Druid: 2-0

Priest: 1-0

DEALING WITH AGGRO DECKS

As I said earlier, the deck’s weakness is that it gets swept from down under when the opponent gets an early lead in board presence, so I figured that my best chances against those decks were to make efficient trades without losing board presence and to mulligan for 1-2 cost minions.

Playing against aggro Hunter decks was by far my worst experience with this deck.

So how do we fix this? I would strongly suggest adding two copies of Lightning Storm if you are playing in a ladder with a lot of Aggro decks. The two copies may be swapped for the single copies of Tinkertown Technician and Lavaburst. Switching out the two Piloted Shredders for two Arcane Nullifier X-21s is also a viable option if you still can’t shrug off the aggro decks.

Keeping a copy of Rockbitter Weapon in the opening hand is a must when facing aggro decks.

Surprise Totems!

Keeping an Annoy-o-Tron and a Mechwarper in hand will give you a huge advantage in terms of board presence, so be sure to mulligan for them as well.

POSSIBLE CARD SUBS

Doomhammer for Loatheb: Not enough dust for Doomhammer? Loatheb is a possible sub for keeping your board intact during the late game. A clutch Loatheb play is always a problem for control decks.

The Black Knight for Hex: Although The Black Knight is a perfect card for Aggro decks (they answer a threat and serve as an attacker), there are times when other decks just aren’t running enough targets. Hex is an efficient enough answer, especially since Shamans have access to Windfury minions to take out the 0/1 taunter left behind.

2 Azure Drake for 2 Bomb Lobber (credits to Simplexity for the idea): Playing against other tempo decks would make Azure Drake an invaluable card to drop on turn 5. Some players would rather deal with the enemy threats than draw a card.

1 Flametongue Totem for 1 Big Game Hunter: Because Dr. Boom is still a card.

LOOKING FORWARD

I would recommend this deck for those who enjoy going all-out until the mid game.

The card synergies with the early game mechs really put pressure on my opponents especially whenever I get to place a minion first.

I don’t regret spending 700 dust just to craft the class cards. They were really worth it.

Don’t ever hesitate to craft the legendaries in the deck because they will also be useful for other decks. The Black Knight and Dr. Boom are some of the most efficient cards in the current meta in terms of utility and board presence.

This deck is a must for all the aggro/mid range players out there. This Mech Shaman may not be as fast as a Face Hunter or as consistent as a Ramp Druid, but it definitely goes between the lines and shows promise.

Lastly, having a good deck is not equal to being a good player. It takes careful strategy and the right trades to pull off a win. So don’t be frustrated if you keep losing or if you have a 50-50 win rate. Just imagine that the deck itself is more than capable of hitting Rank 3 Legend.

Just imagine being able to piss off a legend rank player because they got owned by the deck!

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