[Theorycraft] Infinite Damage Kingsbane

Introduction

Hey, another Hemet deck! This time featuring Shadowcaster shenanigans. This is probably the deck I’m most likely to play post-release, seeing as it has tons of ups and few counters that can be countered themselves by teching in cards. Have fun! 😀

Core Mechanics

If you haven’t been made aware, Shadowcaster can become an infinite loop when paired with Valeera the Hollow or Brann. Simply play Valeera-copied Shadowcaster (called VC Shadowcaster going forward) on regular Shadowcaster to create a 1-mana Shadowcaster, and the endless loop continues. Play Southsea Squidface into 1-mana Shadowcaster into VC Shadowcaster (a total 10-mana play conveniently) to make a 1-mana Southsea, and continue the endless combo by playing Southsea > Shadowcaster > VC Shadowcaster each turn. Eventually your infinite Southseas will die and buff your Kingsbane. This in turn buffs your lifesteal and allows you to out-sustain everything outside of a true OTK while dealing huge damage each turn, whether to a minion or face. This deck features Hemet to help thin the deck to reach your infinite combo, but a Gadgetzan Auctioneer variant would work as well.

WARNING: Make ABSOLUTELY SURE Kingsbane is either in your hand or on the board before you Hemet. I cannot stress this enough. Also, having Leeching Poison would be almost a necessity. I may put two of them in the deck to make it more consistent. 

Win Conditions

The deck seeks to control the board until you’re able to get the combo going. Once you get the combo, start grinding down your opponent. Your infinite board of 1/1’s (plus a 4/4 Shadowcaster) should be enough to contest for a good amount of board presence while your weapon is a tool for removal and huge sustain, as well as a giant face-damage threat. You should easily win the long-game by making wise decisions on when to trade or go face if you survive the aggressive wave (unless Razakus OTK or Exodia).

Mulligans

Generally, Hemet is a decent card to have early on. It speeds up the game immensely and allows you to get to your combo extremely quickly. 

Aggro – Bloodmage Thalnos and a bunch of spells are a must. If you can get a decent Lifesteal Kingsbane relatively quickly, that’ll do wonders. If you can get through the first few waves of aggression, you should be good for later turns.

Control – Card draw and Hemet are huge in this matchup. Try to get the combo online ASAP. You want to start building up your weapon to deal with their late-game threats while keeping your health high with lifesteal. This deck theoretically should win against Control matchups as you’ll get soooo much value out of the infinite-Attack lifesteal Kingsbane.

Combo – If it’s an OTK combo, this deck will flop UNLESS you can kill them before they get it online. The deck sadly doesn’t have any ability to burn combo-pieces, so you just need to hope for the best. Try to play more aggressively and squeeze out as much damage early as possible.

Card Replacements

All the Legendaries in this deck have a purpose. If you don’t have Kingsbane, better to not play the deck.

Hemet, Jungle Hunter can be replaced with Gadgetzan Auctioneers to cycle through your cards. In that case, 1x Leeching Poison is fine, as you’ll get to it eventually.

Valeera the Hollow, although it is the entire reason the deck works, CAN be replaced with Brann Bronzebeard. You will, however, also need to put a Shadowstep to start the infinite chain. This is how: Brann > Shadowcaster (on Brann) > Shadowstep (on Shadowcaster). Later, Brann > Shadowcaster (on Brann) > Shadowcaster (on Shadowcaster). You now have (at least one) 1-mana 1/1 Brann and two 1-mana Shadowcasters. As long as you do part 2 consistently as well as understanding how to do the combo (Dane on YouTube can show you how it works), you’ll have a constant 1/1 factory and can continue with weaving in other minions (in this deck, Southsea Squidface). 

Bloodmage Thalnos, while good in every matchup, can be replaced depending on the meta. It provides great utility in both spell power (against aggressive matchups) as well as card draw (against Control). On the off-chance you don’t have Bloodmage, refer to the “Tech Cards” section.

Tech Cards

The tech cards are up to the meta for you to decide (duh). I put in 2x Acidic Swamp Ooze because I reckon weapons will be a big part of the swarm of decks we’ll meet early on, but those can be easily swapped depending on what you’re facing.

This deck should be great against Control; if you’re having difficulty, swap in a bit of card draw.

If you’re meeting a bunch of Combo decks (Razakus Priest and Exodia Mage, with possibly Kingsbane Rogue and DMH Infinite Warrior as wild cards), playing a more mill-oriented deck with Coldlight Oracles and Shadowsteps would help vastly in negating their combos (if you’re lucky).

If you’re meeting a bunch of Aggro, it may be wise to swap Hemet for Gadgetzan Auctioneer, and throw in a couple taunts (Tar Creeper comes to mind) and more removal spells. It’ll allow you to cycle through your deck and get value out of your removal spells. 

Conclusion

Hope you enjoyed probably my most-viable theorycraft deck. If I decide to update this deck later on after playing it a few times (which is probable), I’ll post a change log at the end. Have fun, and good luck!

Changelog

– 1x Acidic Swamp Ooze, – 1x Shadow Strike, +2x Fal’dorei Strider: Generally I’ve seen very little weapon play in the meta besides Kingsbane Rogue, which generally doesn’t get affected as much by an ooze. With the advent of Fal’dorei Strider, I feel that the extra bodies can do much in terms of capturing board control and keeping more-aggressive decks in check. Something must also be said about the ability to infinitely cycle Fal’dorei near Fatigue in the same sense that Squidface also gets infinitely cycled; the extra 4/4’s are almost always more valuable than Squidface’s infinite buffs, but if you feel the need to drop them early for board presence, Squidface is always an option at Fatigue, and visa versa with dropping Squidface early.