Budget (Cheap) Midrange Shaman Deck List Guide – Mean Streets of Gadgetzan

Midrange Shaman was one of the strongest decks last expansion and it’s still pretty powerful. What’s cool about it is that it was also one of the cheapest competitive decks. Cards from the expansions are rather cheap (Commons/Rares) and only a few “key” cards are hidden in the adventures.

I’ve decided to include one Adventure card in the deck, as I think that it’s a key card in the current meta and you really don’t want to play against all the Aggro decks without it. I’m talking about Maelstrom Portal – you need to buy the first wing of One Night in Karazhan to unlock it. But trust me, it’s worth it.

Midrange Shaman relies on the strong board presence to carry the game. It has multiple ways to fight for the board – small single target removals (Lightning Bolt, Fire Elemental), hard removal (Hex), small and medium AoEs (Maelstrom Portal, Lightning Storm). This deck, compared to the normal version, mostly misses another removal – Spirit Claws – but you should manage without them in lower ranks.

Budget Midrange Shaman Card Replacements

High Priority Replacements

1x Primal Fusion + 1x Flamewreathed Faceless => 2x Spirit Claws – Spirit Claws are key to the Shaman’s early game dominance. If you get lucky and roll and early Spell Damage totem, they’re insane, but it’s not even that. One of the biggest Shaman’s weaknesses is the lack of ability to ping things – minions surviving at 1 health might be a problem. Not with the Spirit Claws. If you want to play any Shaman deck, that’s the first card you should be getting by unlocking more wings of Karazhan (Spirit Claws are in the last, fourth wing).

1x Flamewreathed Faceless => Bloodmage Thalnos – The card is key after you get your Spirit Claws, as it allows you to activate it much more consistently in the early game. But even without Spirit Claws, it’s still a great addition to the deck. The main use is to make your AoEs bigger – Maelstrom Portal scales insanely well with Spell Damage and Lightning Storm should be able to clear some mid game boards.

2x Argent Squire => 2x Tunnel Trogg – Tunnel Trogg probably has the lowest priority out of the 3 replacements, but I still had to put it under high priority ones. Argent Squire is doing fine in the Aggro matchups (because 1 attack is often just enough on turn 1), but Tunnel Trogg is an amazing win condition in the slower ones. If you can buff it to 3-4 Attack, it becomes a huge threat for just 1 mana. Your opponents will often be forced to use removal on it, sometimes even hard removal, which you can’t say about Argent Squire.

Low Priority Replacements

Fire Elemental => Ragnaros the Firelord – Ragnaros gives the deck extra punch you might need in the slow matchups. A big body that needs to be answered, possibly a removal in desperate situations. Most of the slow decks are teching against Aggro right now, so dropping a big Legendary after they might have used their removal on your smaller things already feels really good.

P.S. If you mostly face Control decks and struggle against them, you might tech in Bloodlust instead of the Primal Fusion.

After those replacements, the deck will become viable even in higher ranks. If you’re looking for an alternative, you should try Aggro Jade Pirate Shaman.

Budget Midrange Shaman Mulligan Tips

High Priority (Always Keep)

• Argent Squire – The only 1-drop in the deck, so you want to keep it.
• Totem Golem – Similarly to Argent Squire, but this time around you REALLY want to get it. It’s one of the strongest single card turn 2 plays in the game, there are only a few ways to answer it efficiently and most of the time it gets 2 for 1. Great card in every matchup.

Low Priority (Situationally Keep)

• Lightning Bolt – Against the decks that play minions that you have to clear in the early game. Great against Dragon decks or other Shamans, but not really good against let’s say Druid.
• Acidic Swamp Ooze – Keep against decks that use weapons.
• Maelstrom Portal – Keep against Aggro.
• Flametongue Totem – Keep with Argent Squire.
• Feral Spirit – Keep against Aggro, but only with some turn 1/2 plays.
• Flamewreathed Faceless – Keep in slow matchups – the big body is insane, but it’s too slow against Aggro.

Budget Midrange Shaman Strategy Tips

• Board control with this deck is key even more than with the other decks. The more minions you have (especially Totems), the better some of your cards get. Both Flametongue Totem and Thunder Bluff Valiant can turn a bunch of useless totems into a threatening board. That’s why you want to try to protect your totems – if you get into your Valiant turn with 2-3 totems alive, it’s amazing value.
• Remember that Thing from Below gets cheaper the more totems you play. It’s often wise to not play him right away when you can – e.g. when he’s at 4 or 5 mana (unless that’s your only play). The card won’t get more expensive, it will only get cheaper, so you can swing the tempo in your favor by playing a 0-2 mana Thing from Below later. Also, I see this misplay quite often – if you have 4 mana and your Thing from Below costs 3, you can first Hero Power and then still play Thing From Below, because it gets discounted. Same goes for other Totems like Flametongue, Totem Golem or Mana Tide. They all discount it, so when planning your turns, count those discounts in – you might get e.g. an extra Hero Power for free.
• Most of the time, you don’t have to rush your opponent down. This deck has A LOT of value for a Midrange deck. Flamewreathed Faceless, Thunder Bluff Valiant, Fire Elemental and Thing from Below are all big targets your opponent has to kill. It’s not that uncommon that a well-piloted Midrange Shaman deck might take a Control deck to fatigue and win the game.
• The deck’s play style is very similar to the standard Midrange Shaman (because it’s only a few cards off), so if you want to learn how to play it, you can either read one of the many guides OR watch some pro players pilot it. It was by far the most popular deck in the pre-Gadgetzan meta, so there are a lot of sources.