Control Shudderwock Shaman (Season 49)

The Year of the Raven is coming, and early metagame predictions made by professional Hearthstone players have confirmed Cubelock and Dude Paladin as the best decks on the ladder after the release of the new expansion, The Witchwood. Every archetype should face the problem of core cards rotating out of the format,  but those two decks do not lose too much and seem to have preserved their core strategy and power.

Personally, I think that Cubelock will still be Tier 1 (I am pretty concerned about that, remember what happened with Jade Druid from August 2017?), while Paladin should try to explore new strategies, maybe using Genn Greymane or Bellringer Sentry with the Secret package. A honorable mention for Genn Greymane and Baku the Mooneater: right now we do not have that many even/odd cost cards to build viable strategies revolving improved Hero powers, you should try Hunter, Warrior and Mage with Baku but a bigger card pool is needed to improve those types of deck.

Let’s talk about Shudderwock  then! Ops, I mean Shaman!

When Kobolds and Catacombs was introduced last December, I tried to build an Elemental Shaman deck focused on Battlecry (Zola the Gorgon, Elise the Trailblazer and Grumble, Worldshaker and synergy between minions boosted by Murmuring Elemental. It did not work, mostly due do the popularity and viability on Ladder of the Evolve-Devolve style deck, more potent against tempo and control decks.

But now it is time to finally put the pieces together, thanks to 

The strategy is typical of a Control deck: manage your resources and Mana crystals every turn to avoid early aggression and Overload with cards like Stonehill Defender, Lightning Storm, and even Volcano. Then, you have to switch gears and being proactive, playing Battlecry minions and finding Shudderwock, your main win condition. You may use the passive Hero power of Hagatha the Witch, or even the Un’Goro pack given by Elise, but the deck is built to abuse the effect of Shudderwock itself! That is why I have included Baleful Banker, Zola the Gorgon, Saronite Chain Gang, and last but not least Grumble, Worldshaker: to copy, on the battlefield, in your hand or even in your deck your win condition! It may seem slow at first glance, but piling up those Battlecries should be really satisfying, and it can turn the match in your favor in a pinch. 

I can’t wait to try this list out, yet I am aware that some card choices are debatable (Kalimos, Earthen Might, and Far Sight for example) and tech cards must be found against the new popular cards and decks that will rise in the next two weeks or so. 

For example:

-2x Firefly, -2x Earthen Might, -2x Tar Creeper

+2x Doomsayer, +1x Far Sight, +1x Acidic Swamp Ooze, +1x Bloodmage Thalnos, +1x Hot Spring Guardian

If you want to suggest some changes to the decklist, leave a comment. Have a great time with the new Year of the Raven!