Mech Paladin Deck List Guide – Galakrond’s Awakening – February 2020

Find more versions of this deck type on our Mech Paladin archetype page!

Mulligan Guide and Strategy

Higher Priority (Keep every time)

• Crystology – Most of your wins with Mech Paladin will revolve around some sort of early mana cheating or an explosive combination of cheap Mechs. Crystology serves as a crucial tool for both approaches and is by far the best card to have in your opening hand.
• Galvanizer – This little fella is the one you’re fishing for with Crystology, and it can be a devastating tempo source early on with a couple of 1-mana Mechs in hand in the opening turns. Not only is Galvanizer a key part of your early-game plan, it also rapidly becomes ineffective as the game goes on, further incentivizing its use at the earliest opportunity.

Lower Priority (Keep only if certain conditions are met)

• One-drop Mechs – This is a slightly controversial approach (as in not keeping them as high-priority cards in the mulligan), but this approach served us well during our Legend climb testing the archetype. With enough early-game tools in the deck, hard-mulliganing for Crystology and Galvanizer is a very viable proposition and you will still almost always have a strong curve, with a much higher potential for blowout turns.
• Goboglide Tech – It is a 3 mana 4/4 in all but name, with added initiative on contested boards. It is well-worth keeping in aggressive matchups if you already have the cards in place for the first two turns, and this is especially true in the mirror where it serves as a fantastic answer to Sky Claw.

General Playstyle and Strategy

Vs Aggro

Since your only heal tool is Zilliax, it’s rarely desirable to play the long game even in these matchups. Dragon Hunter, one of the most popular aggressive archetypes in the game right now, doesn’t tend to run Unleash the Hounds (and has two copies of Rotnest Drake to work with), so going wide is encouraged in that particular matchup. Speaking of which, as good as Sky Claw is with an already established board, it’s basically just a Microtech Controller when played on curve, so try not to put it in the line of fire unless you can immediately take advantage of its effect. In many cases, a single-use SN1P-SN4P is just fine: don’t get too greedy for a payoff that may never come.

The mirror match is all about board control: having the ability to utilize the Magnetic keyword on the board while denying your opponent the ability to do the same. This is such a massive tempo swing by itself that it will single-handedly decide the game in almost every case. You should use your resources as aggressively as possible to push the other Paladin player off the board and make value-trades off the back of this advantage. This is a much more reliable way to victory than a face race in these matchups.

Vs Control

Early Galvanizer mana cheating options are your best bet in winning these matchups, applying maximum pressure early on before the big removal tools kick in. The Magnetic keyword also allows you to effortlessly scale into the mid-game as long as you can keep some board presence after the opening turns. Though it may seem tempting to make value-trades with a freshly buffed minion, keep in mind that you’re the aggressor: whenever you’re given the opportunity to deal a decent chunk of damage to your opponent’s face, you should definitely take it into consideration. In general, playing aggro-control in the first few turns (making good trades and pushing any leftover damage to the face) then going full face from then on is a decent way to maximize your win percentage. Two copies of Truesilver Champion and Leeroy Jenkins (plus a potential Blessing of Kings) are your burn tools once you lose the board – try to hit the 4- and 6-health breaking points with your last Mech attacks so that you can steal a win with your topdecks.

When playing against Rogue, keep an eye on which minion you decide to “magnetize”: Sap is much less back-breaking when your six-mana play was Zilliax followed by Glow-Tron rather than the other way around. Pay attention to the kind of removal your opponent has access to and make your board state-related decisions accordingly: Mages struggle against a single massive Mech but can easily deal with wide boards. Rogues are the complete opposite.

Control matchups are where Blessing of Wisdom truly shines, allowing you to redraw multiple cards off of it with a repeatedly buffed Mech. Don’t waste your precious mana early on just to replace it by another card: keep it around as a reload tool until the mid-game.

Card Replacements

As a tribal aggro deck, Mech Paladin is fairly cheap to build and offers a few budget replacement options if you’re lacking a large collection.

Pre-Galakrond’s Awakening builds also occasionally featured Gyrocopter but they are too slow to make a significant impact in games where everything is still in the balance around turn six, not to mention a dead card in your hand before that point. Shotbot didn’t make the cut in the featured build but it is definitely a viable alternative as well. Experiments with Upgradeable Framebot weren’t particularly encouraging: though it seems like a great Magnetic target on paper, it can really slow down your opening turns and makes your Galvanizer combos less reliable overall. The same logic applies to Bronze Gatekeeper as well.

Blessing of Wisdom is a nice utility tool but isn’t completely necessary (especially in an environment with many aggro decks), and you can opt to replace it with another Mech for added consistency if you’re not satisfied with the results.