Elemental Aggro Shaman Deck List Guide – Boomsday – August 2018

Key Cards

• Voltaic Burst: An excellent new card for any minion-focused deck, this 1-mana spell summons two 1/1 tokens with rush! This is excellent tempo for the board and has a great deal of synergy with buffs, like Flametongue Totem.
• Flametongue Totem: You can’t build a Shaman deck focused on fighting for the board, without including this card. The totem allows your weaker minions to trade up into bigger ones, or can help you put some extra pressure on the enemy hero.
• Menacing Nimbus: A new elemental, this 2-drop has average stats, but adds a random elemental to your hand when you play it. It shines against slower decks, where it can give you fuel to keep going after a board clear.
• Electra Stormsurge: A crazy new Legendary for Elemental Shamans! It’s a 3-drop, with 3/3 stats, plus an Elemental for those tribal chains. The kicker? It doubles the effect of the next spell you cast this turn! This can be combined with Bloodlust on turn 8, for +6 attack to each minion you control!
• Unbound Elemental: Until recently this minion could not be justified in Elemental decks, because there was a lack of good overload cards that it could benefit from. This might change with the Boomsday Project’s release, as we will see a good number of cards that fit perfectly in this kind of deck.
• Storm Chaser: Although it lacks in stats for a 4-drop, this minion allows you to draw a random spell from your deck with a cost of 5 or more. This means that you can include just one specific spell at that mana cost, so you can essentially draw Bloodlust consistently on turn 4, allowing you to push with it on the following turn.
• Thunderhead: Another support tool for Elemental Shaman, this 4-drop provides you with on-board tempo whenever you play a card with overload, by summoning two 1/1 tokens with Rush. The 3/5 statline is also good enough for that point in the game, so the card will most likely be core to the deck.
• Bloodlust: The deck’s finisher. You can draw it on turn 4 by playing Storm Chaser or double its effect on turn 8 by playing Electra Stormsurge before casting it.
• Leeroy Jenkins: Another finisher for the deck, although this may be cut for earlier options.
• Fire Plume Harbinger: Although this is a really bad 2-drop, as far as stats are concerned, i think it is worth running it, just because of the amount of good Elementals in the deck. The potential to drop a Thunderhead a turn earlier can be pretty powerful, as you can snowball the board and finish off with Bloodlust two turns later.

Main Goal and Strategy

Your main focus with the deck should be to build a good board as early as possible and finish your opponent off with a Bloodlust! There are so many good tools available to take over the board, as soon as turn 1!

Fire Fly can provide you with 2 1/2 bodies on turn one, giving you the opportunity to play a Flametongue Totem on turn 2 so you can trade up, or pressure the opponent. Glacial Shard is especially good against other aggressive decks, since it lets you dictate the trades on the board so you can solidify your lead. Of course, there are a lot of low-cost spells to help you deal with enemy minions in the early game, such as Zap! and Lightning Bolt. Voltaic Burst is another spell that will be used primarily for removal, and has great synergy with Flametongue Totem; potentially dealing 6 damage for 1 mana, if positioned correctly.

In the mid-game, during turns 3-5, is where the deck really can shine. Thunderhead is a new 4-mana minion that can snowball your lead on the board pretty quickly. You can use a Zap! with it, on curve, to deal a total of 4 damage to enemy minions, while developing a 3/5 of your own. Another new good option for an Elemental Storm Chaser that lets you draw Bloodlust before turn 5, so you can finish the game as quickly as possible. Even the opponent’s knowledge that you have your Bloodlust in your hand can force pretty awkward trades or inefficient AoE, which could leave your next board unanswerable.

Although the deck does not include any late-game options, it can fill the board pretty often and with the inclusion of the new Legendary Shaman minion, Electra Stormsurge, you can often finish the opponent off with a double Bloodlust or Lava Burst. Other than that, the deck struggles to keep up after that, mainly because of the lack of any draw, except for Storm Chaser.

Elemental Aggro Shaman – Mulligan and Matchups Guide

Against Aggro

Your early drops are everything here; Fire Fly, Glacial Shard and Voltaic Burst, as well as Flametongue Totem can help you get on the board quickly and get a lead with favorable trades. Unbound Elemental can be a good keep, if you have the The Coin, which you can protect and buff with any of your low-cost spells.

Your main goal in these matchups it to get on the board on turn 1, either with Fire Fly or Glacial Shard. Voltaic Burst can be used to just get on the board, although it would be preferable to save it for either Unbound Elemental or Thunderhead. Look for favorable trades and use push damage to face whenever possible; even a 2-minion Bloodlust is 6 extra damage. You can also use Electra Stormsurge with Zap! or Lightning Bolt early on, to remove enemy minions, or save her for Lava Burst for a 10 damage burst!

Against Slow Decks (Control/Combo)

One card is a must-must-keep; Storm Chaser. Ensuring you have a Bloodlust before turn 5 is crucial, so you can pressure the enemy hero quickly and finish him off with a turn 5 Bloodlust push. Also, another good option is Fire Plume Harbinger, which could let you play multiple elementals on your next turn. Other than that, Flametongue Totem 1 and 2-drops are what you should be looking for next.

This is the bane of your existence. Although the aggro mirrors might favor you because of the new spell Voltaic Burst and a couple of new, good Elementals, slow decks are supposed to be able to deal with your board multiple times. Storm Chaser is the MVP in this instance, since it allows you a guaranteed, turn 5 Bloodlust. If you have managed to keep even a small board until that point, that could often be enough to close out the game. Be mindful of your opponent’s AoE and removal spells, so that you do not over-commit to the board. Electra Stormsurge is another key card against slower decks, allowing for a 10-damage burst on turn 6 with Lava Burst or a double-Bloodlust on turn 8.

Possible Replacements

• -2x Fire Plume Harbinger + 2x Earthen Might: The Harbingers are the weakest cards in the deck, with their aim being to give you tempo on the next turn. You could include the two buffs instead, helping your 1-drops stay alive and make favorable trades, while also adding a random elemental to your hand, most of the time.
• – Leeroy Jenkins + 1x Lava Burst: With just 1 damage difference for 2 more mana, the legendary charger can be cut in favor of a second copy of Lava Burst, adding more consistency to the early game.
• – Leeroy Jenkins + 1x Hex: With the amount of mechs in the new expansion and the addition to the Magnetic mechanic, one copy of Hex could be justified, so you can deal more easily with big taunts.