Budget Token Shaman Deck List Guide (Rastakhan’s Rumble)

Our Budget Token Shaman deck list guide for the Rastakhan’s Rumble expansion will teach you how to play this midrange Shaman list. This Budget Token Shaman guide includes Mulligans, Gameplay Strategy, Card Substitutions, and Combos/Synergies!

Introduction to Budget Token Shaman

Token Shaman is an archetype that, throughout the history of Hearthstone, frequently asserts itself as a competitive deck in the Standard format.

In general, Token Shaman looks to develop a wide board state through Minions and Spells that place multiple bodies on the board. Likewise, the deck relies heavily on Shaman’s Hero Power to generate minion presence.

While the deck’s minions may seem harmless at first, when paired with Flametongue Totem and  Bloodlust, even 0-attack totems can become legitimate threats.

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The Boomsday Project

The Boomsday Project offers some exciting new support for the Token Shaman archetype. Voltaic Burst feels a bit reminiscent of Maelstrom Portal, previously a mainstay in the deck, in its ability to remove opposing minions while developing on the board. Menacing Nimbus places a decent body on board and replaces itself in hand, like Fire Fly. Similarly, Storm Chaser helps you tutor for Bloodlust to leverage your wide board to close out the game.

Rastakhan’s Rumble

More recently, Rastakhan’s Rumble has further bolstered this budget-friendly Shaman archetype. New weapon Likkim gives the deck a chance to maintain an early advantage while, along with Unbound Elemental, mitigates some of the negative effects of Overloading mana crystals.  Speaking of Overload, Rain of Toads dumps a significant amount of stats on board allowing you to hide valuable minions behind their Taunt.

Budget Token Shaman Mulligan Guide

High Priority Keeps

• Fire Fly – Fire Fly is hands down your best opener. Better still, the extra Elemental token fills out your curve in later turns and helps make Overload a little less awkward.
• Menacing Nimbus – Menancing Nimbus gives you something on board and adds a minion to hand, making it less likely you’ll run out of gas before closing out the game.
• Primalfin Totem – Perhaps the deck’s most potent turn two play, Primalfin Totem continues to develop tokens until dealt with by the opponent.
• Flametongue Totem – While Flametongue Totem doesn’t always come down on turn two, it’s such a critical aspect of the deck’s gameplan that it’s usually worth keeping.

Low Priority Keeps

• Voltaic Burst – Voltaic Burst is a reasonable turn one play, but the Overload mechanic makes the following turn awkward. As such, it’s often better saved to help fill out later turns, but still worth keeping in case you get behind in certain matchups.
• Earthen Might – Like Flametongue Totem, Earthen Might can make good use of small minions to make efficient trades in the early game or push additional face damage.
• Likkim – Early turn weapons can be instrumental in gaining a board advantage and Likkim is no exception. Still, you probably don’t want to keep this card without any Overload to pair with it.
• Tar Creeper – Many aggressive opponents have a difficult time removing Tar Creeper from the board. As such, this Elemental can buy you some time to set up for mid-game power swings.

Budget Token Shaman Play Strategy

Token Shaman, despite its low curve, plays as a board-centric midrange deck. Many of the early-game minions are included to ensure an advantage going into mid-game power turns. As such, getting ahead early is crucial.

Fire Fly and Tar Creeper can both ask difficult questions of aggressive opponents and give you the time needed to hit your swing turns. Voltaic Burst can help pick off damage minions and allow for more favorable trades as you start to prepare for the mid-game.

Against slow decks, Menacing Nimbus and Earthen Might ensure you have plenty of resources to continue flooding the board after a clear.

Turns four through six are really where this deck starts to take off. Saronite Chain Gang curves perfectly into Fungalmancer. Storm Chaser fetches Bloodlust on curve to have on-demand burst with a wide board. Finally, Rain of Toads can lock down the board against aggressive decks or offer refill against removal.

Budget Token Shaman Meta Decks

Rather than individual card replacements, in the long term, it may be best that this Budget Token Shaman be developed towards Even Shaman. This deck offers a slight variant on the Token Shaman archetype but, given the number of must-include Legendary cards and specific deck-building restrictions that go along with them, do not have direct budget options.

Even Shaman

Even Shaman is a variant of Token Shaman born in The Witchwood with the release of Genn Greymane. Because of the unique deckbuilding restriction Genn provides (and the reduced-cost Hero Power that results), there is no direct budget replacement for the Gilnean king. Still, since the deck is centered around this one Legendary, there are some budget options that revolve around this powerful shell. If you happen to have Genn, this would be a strong deck to build towards for the Shaman class.

Budget Token Shaman Future Card Replacements

• 2x Voltaic Burst > 2x Unstable Evolution – While not a necessary inclusion, Unstable Evolution can find a home in Token Shaman. Much of the time, in early turns especially, minions are spent making value trades to ensure a lead. Unstable Evolution makes great use of these damaged minions and upgrades them in the process.
• 2x Tar Creeper > 2x Corridor Creeper – With so much early game bumping, many minions are going to die in Token Shaman games. Fortunately, Corridor Creeper can come into play at a reduced cost when this inevitably happens.
• 1x Glacial Shard > 1x Thrall, Deathseer – After The Witchwood, this Shaman Death Knight was nearly forgotten. Still, both Thrall’s Battlecry and Hero Power can play a big role in a Token-based deck such as this.
• 1x Glacial Shard > 1x The Storm Bringer – This 7-mana Legendary Spell provides another card for Strom Chaser to draw and can quickly convert your tokens and totems into legitimate threats.

Budget Token Shaman General Replacements

Below is a list of cards you can add to this deck. If you happen to have them and are missing anything in the decklist, each of these cards works well with what Token Shaman is looking to accomplish.

• Feral Spirit – In the past, Feral Spirit was a mainstay in Token Shaman. These days, it is a slightly inferior to Saronite Chain Gang, but it still fits in the deck quite well.
• Stonehill Defender – Token Shaman struggles when it loses its board state or exhausts all resources from hand. Stonehill Defender looks to solve both of these problems by protecting other early-game minions and replacing itself in hand.
• Explodinator – While the Goblin Bombs can’t attack on their own, Token Shaman has plenty of means to activate the attacks of these minions.
• Microtech Controller – Like Explodinator, Microtech Controller goes wide on board, fitting in nicely with what the deck looks to accomplish.