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Our Budget Aggro Mech Paladin deck list guide for the Descent of Dragons expansion will teach you how to play this budget list. This guide includes Mulligans, Gameplay Strategy, Card Substitutions, and Combos/Synergies!
Introduction to Budget Aggro Mech Paladin
Even though Aggro Paladin has took a big hit last rotation (both because of regular Standard rotation, but also because it lost Divine Favor to Hall of fame), it’s slowly getting back into action this year thanks to all of the new cards. Of course, if we look at the full meta decks, it’s still not a great choice. The problem is that current full meta Paladin decks are way too expensive to be called budget, and lots of the Epics / Legendaries are simply necessary. That’s why budget player still need to run an Aggro version.
Unlike last expansion, this time I’ve decided to go for a Mech version instead of a regular one. The reason is that the class, but not only, has got a few strong options here. There’s also a much easier upgrade patch with a few very popular Legendaries which will make it significantly better. At the same time, it’s still only a temporary option. You will slowly want to switch into other Paladin builds if you want to play the class in this set, but also in general, since lots of Mechs & Mech synergies rotate out pretty soon.
Check out Hearthstone Budget Decks & Guides for All 9 Classes!
Budget Aggro Mech Paladin Mulligan Guide
Higher Priority (Keep every time)
- 1-drops – Hot Air Balloon, Glow-Tron, Mecharoo – Like the title suggests, it’s an Aggro deck, so you ideally want to open with a 1-drop. This order is from best to keep to worst – Balloon is the best, because your opponent isn’t very likely to be able to clear it right away on T1, so it often grows to 1/3, and then you can snowball it even further. If it sticks for 3-4 turns and you Magnetize onto it, it will be a powerhouse. Glow-tron, despite being Magnetic, is just a solid 1-drop with 1/3 stats. Mecharoo is the weakest, but good thing about it is that it’s sticky.
- Crystology – Drawing 2 cards for 1 mana is really, really good. You gain some card advantage without really losing lots of tempo. You can keep it ON TOP of 1-drops, then you just won’t play it on T1. You might play it on T2/T3 to fill your curve (and probably play whatever you draw immediately too).
- Galvanizer / Upgradeable Framebot – They’re both good 2-drops. Galvanizer only needs to hit 1-2 Mechs to be worth it – e.g. being able to follow him up with Annoy-o-Module on T3 or play Wargear on T4 makes it worth it. Framebot doesn’t come with any effects, but it’s a good body to “build upon” – you want to Magnetize into it and buff it.
Lower Priority (Keep only if certain conditions are met)
- Sky Claw / Goboglide Tech – Keep only if you have some T1/T2 plays already. If you can curve out, those are great. But if you skip T1 and T2, they’re really bad. So focus on smaller minions first.
Budget Aggro Mech Paladin Play Strategy
Budget version of Aggro Mech Paladin is your classic board-centered Aggro deck. Mechs builds are much more board-reliant than regular builds mostly because of Magnetic mechanic from Boomsday Project. Multiple Mechs in this build can be used twofold – dropped as a regular minions on the board, or attached to another Mech to give it extra stats. The first options is usually not good (e.g. Wargear is just a 5 mana 5/5), but it’s still okay if you have nothing else to do. On the other hand, if you already have something on the board, you usually want to use Magnetic on it. Or, to be more precise, on minions that can attack already. This way the extra stats essentially have “Charge”, and that’s very good. For example, instead of having a 1/5 and 5/5, where only 1/5 can attack, you can have a single 6/10 minion which can attack. Doesn’t matter if you plan to trade or to hit face, you use those stats immediately. However, an important thing to mention is that you should NEVER put all of your Eggs into one basket. It might be tempting to keep stacking a single Mech, but then one removal or even Silence can ruin your board position. The best case scenario is probably having two Mechs and buffing both of them – this way you won’t lose to single target removal, but aren’t vulnerable to AoE.
Your matchup vs other faster deck is very reliant on board control. The goal is to play for tempo, get efficient trades etc. in order to dominate the board. Once you get ahead, most of the faster decks play no catch-up mechanics that will let them come back into the game. Buffs and Rush minions, so cards that do something immediately, are amazing in those matchups. Buffs because they let you trade up without losing your minions and Rush minions because you can attack with them immediately, usually picking a good trade and forcing 2 for 1. Goboglide Tech is an MVP against faster decks, dropping it on curve (which is not very hard) lets you clear basically any minion and still leave a body on the board. Faceless Corruptor is also good – while the card became worse after the nerf (it now has 4 Attack, down from 5), it’s still solid. This deck has A LOT of great targets – multiple cards create small tokens (Mecharoo, Microtech Controller, Sky Claw, Explodinator, Replicating Menace) that you can naturally use for Magnetic, but also for Faceless Corruptor. It’s very easy to have a target for it, and even if you don’t, on Turn 7 you can always Hero Power and Faceless immediately (not as good as playing it on curve, but it’s good to have this option).
Against Control, the strategy is a bit different. Since you won’t be doing that much minion combat, your main goal is to dish out as much damage as possible while playing around AoEs to a certain extent. This deck is actually good at “playing” around AoEs in a few ways. The first one is obviously health. Most of the AoE clears deal damage instead of removing stuff immediately, and Magnetic mechanic lets you stack health. If you keep 2-3 minions with high health instead of a full board of minions with low health, you automatically play around AoEs. Another way to play around AoEs is through Divine Shields & Deathrattles. When it comes to DS, putting Annoy-o-Module on a minion you want to protect is really solid. It’s good to drop before your opponent’s big AoE turn like Mage’s Flamestrike or Priest’s Mass Hysteria (there’s a higher chance that your minion survives).When it comes to Deathrattles, you have Mecharoo and Replicating Menace – they only create 1/1’s, but it’s a bigger deal than it might seen. Because you open up with a Mech that can attack, you can immediately Magnetize something onto it and do more than you normally could.
When it comes to new additions, and probably the main reason why I went for Mech build instead of a regular one. Sky Claw is a really good card, because it’s another way to utilize all of your small Mechs (and you should have a bunch of those). Not only it creates some solid board presence, but if you already have 2-3 Mechs on the board, they gain extra attack. Which means either extra face damage, or better trades. Having a 3 Attack Mech on the board vs opponent that had a 4 Health minion, for example, came up pretty often and by giving it +1 Attack you could save another minion or buff while still killing it.
Future Card Replacements for Aggro Mech Paladin
There a few interesting Epics / Legendaries that you might want to add to make the deck stronger. Luckily, a lot of players should own them, because one was given out for free and one is probably the best Legendary from the last two Standard years!
- SN1P-SN4P – That’s the one everyone got for free. SN1P-SN4P is just good, probably the best card you can run in any Mech deck. The best thing about it is that it’s okay both when you Magnetize and when you drop it on the board just like that. Another great thing is that you can use it on Turn 3, Turn 6 and Turn 9+ and it will be good every single time. Even better, on Turn 6 or 9 you can let’s say Magnetize once and drop the second one, and even on empty board you can decide to play 3x 2/3 or make a single 6/9. It’s a card you definitely want to have in your deck.
- Zilliax – Zilliax has been the most popular Mech during the last two Standard years, and one of the most popular and strongest cards ever. Most of the builds played with no other Mechs in the deck and relied on the non-Magnetic version. But of course, the card is even more flexible and stronger in Mech builds.
- Micro Mummy – Solid 2-drop Mech, mostly because of Reborn – it’s sticky and can survive AoE clears. The +1 Attack per turn is not much, but it stacks and since it’s not very easy to remove, it can snowball quite well.
And here are your flexible slots, cards that you can get rid of in order to fit the ones above:
