/rating_1_half.png)
/rating_2_off.png)
Mulligans
General Mulligans
Low cost board control and taunts have been the most successful for me. This deals with aggro threats as well as clearing any early game a control deck might have (Looking at you Kobold Librarian). Candleshot is good for clearing, as well as some extra face damage alongside the buffed hero power. Animal companion is great for hitting either Misha or Hoffer. In some cases, if you've drawn enough of your early game, it's not a terrible idea to hang on to a Clockwork Automaton to set up a combo as fast as possible.
Aggro Mulligans
Early Taunts, weapons, and a well timed unleash the hounds can maintain board control just long enough to keep the army of 1/1's at bay to get that big headshot off.
Control Mulligans
Against slower decks it's much easier to get through the early game, so feel free to hang on to the Automaton.
Having a hard time dealing with the likes of Taunt Druid, Taunt Warrior, and Cube Lock? I have found a fun, pretty effective, and fairly meme-y way to combat the taunts. Ignore them!
This deck focuses on the interactions that Baku, Clockwork Automaton, and Blackwald Pixie have with your hero power. What I hadn’t realized about Clockwork Automaton is that EACH Automaton doubles the damage of your hero power. Meaning that one automaton takes your hero power to 6 damage, but two automatons takes it to 12 damage, three does 24 damage and 4 does 48 damage per hero power. It’s extremely satisfying to bypass a wall of taunts to one shot/nearly one shot the opposing player.
The goal is to use taunts and weapons to maintain as safe a board as possible for the first few turns in order to safely play Clockwork Automaton and have it survive to the following turn. Then you would hit it with Carnivorous Cube or Faceless Manipulator to create more. Having even two out is nothing to scoff at at 12 damage per hero power. If the stars align right, you would have anywhere between 2 and 4 Automatons by turn 7 and a Blackwald Pixie in hand. 4 Automatons plus 2 hero powers, gives a whopping 96 damage straight to face in that turn. I’ve had this happen once, but often find myself with three Automatons, cause 24 damage per hero power.
This is an early draft of the deck and would appreciate any feedback on how to more reliably control the board early on without the use of traps or Grievous Bite (Since they are 2 cost cards). I’ve tried a low cost minion trading strategy (much like the current Baku Hunter builds) and have not had as much luck as I have with the taunts. I’ve also tried teching in Play Dead to reliably trigger Carnivorous Cube, but more often than not it seems to just be a dead card because of the overall lack of Deathrattles in the Deck. Any suggestions on a card to reliably destroy the cube, preventing it being silenced, would be excellent as well! Maybe Voodoo Doll?
Looking forward to any suggestions!
Edit: After playing the deck some more on the ladder. I have found that running one Play Dead seems to be the sweet spot. I removed one Faceless Manipulator for it. I have also tech’d in Deadly shot on occasion.
I would abandon Arcane Shot and Rotten Applebaum. 1 mana deal 2 isn’t good enough to take up a card spot, especially in decks like these where every card matters, and having a 5 mana taunt defeats the purpose when your plays either occur on turn 5 or don’t happen at all.
I’d add in Stitched Trackers (to find your automatons and cubes faster), and Devilsaur eggs, as your deck already has all the cards you need for powerful egg combos. The eggs can add a powerful second win condition, if you can’t get the clockworks in time.
I don’t see when Faceless Manipulator is ever going to have a big impact. At best you manage to clone one automaton for 5 mana, but that’s only if you already have an automaton, and 5 mana is too much to spend for a single automaton, especially when you need 3-4 in one turn to win.
Oh, also, Terrorscale Stalkers can function as 3-mana Play Deads.
Have you thought about making a wild version with thaurrisan?
Got a 192 headshot the other day. Got a screenshot too!
192 headshot
http://prtsc.ca/i/U3VjRP
AMAZING! Thanks so much for the post!
48 dmg with hero power 🙂 Proof here: http://prtsc.ca/i/U36IPT
Another photo http://prtsc.ca/i/U36e8B
Nailed it! Doesn’t it feel amazing when it works out!? Thanks so much for trying the deck!
This deck seems like pure theory-crafted wishful thinking to me. (Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a fun & clever idea, just not practical) Do you have any replays you can link using this deck so we can see it in action?
The earliest you could get the stacked damage from Clockwork Automaton would be turn 6, and that’s only if you have the coin, Clockwork Automaton, Carnivorous Cube and Play Dead in your hand already. (or at the very least the Clockwork Automaton + coin and amazing luck with your turn 5, turn 6 & turn 7 card draws) You can get Clockwork Automaton out on turn 4 if you have a coin at the earliest. (This only gives you 3 turns to build up any type of defense to keep your Clockwork Automaton alive.) Then on turn 5 you could use Carnivorous Cube (assuming your Clockwork Automaton is still alive), but not your hero power. You’ll have to wait until turn 6 so you could use Play Dead + Hero Power to then have your 12-damage shot and then on turn 7 you could play Faceless Manipulator + Hero Power for a 24-damage shot potentially ending the game (unless your opponent has been healing) All this assumes that your taunts are powerful enough to survive to keep your Clockwork Automaton(s) from being killed by minions, (never mind spells that can bypass your taunts to take out the Clockwork Automaton) If you wait until turn 5 to play Clockwork Automaton, you have an extra turn to put a taunt in play and then you can play Carnivorous Cube + Play Dead on turn 6 and then Faceless Manipulator on Turn 7 + Hero Power for a 24-damage shot.
This sounds like fun if as you said, “the stars align” and you get perfect card draws and your opponent somehow let’s your Clockwork(s) survive to the point where you can actually combo w/Carnivorous Cube + Play Dead and/or Faceless Manipulator, you’ll never be able to pull off a 12-damage shot, never mind a 24 or higher shot.
Syward,
Thanks so much for your reply! You’re absolutely right, that the one shot nature of the deck can be difficult to obtain. I’ve actually had more luck with a 12 damage shot twice in a turn with the help of Pixie. I’ll try and get some footage recorded the next time I’m home playing ladder and I’ll send a link.
As I’ve been playing the deck, it certainly at times feel like wishful thinking, and it’s very possible it just doesn’t have the tools currently to be competitive. But I have noticed that the deck can do a surprising amount of damage in the early game with hero powers, weapons and animal companions. I’ve been having the experience that by the time I’m hitting turn 5 to 7, the opponent is already down to an average of about 15 – 20 health. Which changes the game plan up a little bit. All of a sudden the extra damage from a single automaton hero power can be pretty meaningful. It often comes down to whether they have health gain or armor…which if they do, I’m toast haha.
If I get to that point, and all they have is taunts, then they don’t tend to be able to handle the remaining damage.
Do you have any suggestions about how to potentially improve the early game of the deck? Should I strive for a more minion based early game and try to achieve board control that way?
Thanks again so much for the feedback and I’ll try and get a video uploaded as soon as I can!
-Banboom.
It’s a cute idea for a deck, but nobody ever wants to wait for you to get the combo or let your automaton sit for a turn.