Icy Resurrection (Freeze Shaman – September 2017, Season 42)

After much experimenting, this is the most consistent Freeze Shaman deck I could make that actually stood up against other ladder decks.  The idea is to play a control-style game and keep your opponent’s minions at bay either by freezing them or by using hard removal on them, while in the meantime building up a board of powerful deathrattle minions.

One of the main focuses of the deck is to play Ancestral Spirit on White Eyes in order to beef up your deck with a bunch of copies of  The Storm Guardian.   Cairne Bloodhoof can also be a good target for Ancestral Spirit, but The Storm Guardian is really one of the best ways to get the upper hand against Control Priest and Control Warlock.  Having played plenty of White Eyes also makes N'Zoth, The Corruptor much more impactful.

Spirit Echo is a great card for snowballing the opponent when you’re already ahead, but it’s not easy to make it work when you’re behind.  For that reason, I found that one copy is enough in the deck. 

The deck is fitted with a bunch of anti-aggro tools in order to contend with the Pirate Warriors and Aggro Druids (and, to a lesser extent, the Midrange Hunters) everywhere on the ladder.  Maelstrom Portal is great for wiping out a lot of cheap minions, while Stonehill Defender ensures a good amount of taunts for aggro opponents to contend with.  Lightning Storm and Hex are both good general removal cards in any match-up.

One of the most unexpected things I learned in the process of testing Freeze Shaman decks was just how powerful Avalanche can be.  It’s incredibly flexible, and can be used to freeze big minions while at the same time dishing out tons of damage.  Three damage is enough to kill most Pirate Warrior and Aggro Druid minions, and it’ll often be buffed to four damage in control match-ups by Wrath of Air Totem.  It also synergizes well with Ice Breaker to eliminate big threats immediately.

Cryostasis is a strange card, but it’s a versatile card that rewards skill and planning.  It can be used to stop enemy minions while you safely build up your board, buffing up your totems for safety (since they couldn’t attack anyways), or giving some extra health to your taunt minions.  It can work with Ice Breaker, but you’ll be taking much more damage so it typically isn’t a good play.  Additionally, you can pair this with Moorabi, but doing so on an opponent’s minion can be a very dangerous thing to do.

Elise the Trailblazer gives the deck some great late game value, while also helping avoid fatigue in control matchups.  When playing against heavy control decks, being able to cycle Elise multiple times via Spirit Echo can also give you an upper hand in finishing out the game.

The deck also makes use of Moorabi in order to generate enough value to beat midrange and control decks.  You can combine him with any of the many freeze effects in the deck, but the easiest way to do this is to combine him with Glacial Shard and wait until you hit seven mana.  Don’t expect Moorabi to last more than one turn; instead, think of him as an extra draw mechanic that presents the opponent with a high-priority target that they’ll try to snuff out.  The loss of tempo from targeting your own minions can be a little punishing, but sometimes it’s worth it to get more deathrattle cards for N'Zoth, The Corruptor.

Overall, this deck has surprised me and actually got me from Rank 15 to Rank 7.  It’s definitely a lot harder to pull off than the other control decks on the ladder, but it’s a fun alternative to the usual meta that rewards skillful play and advanced planning.  Let me know how it works out for you!