Keleseth Elemental Shudderwock (Post-nerf Witchwood)

I’ve been having a lot of success with this deck for the last season (laddered from 15 to 2 with almost 0 defeats, I don’t have the winrate because I don’t like deck trackers; also I’ve never been above rank 10 before this). It’s got tools for basically any situation. It can win in tempo fights against aggro decks, control tempo fights pretty well, and it packs the OTK against control, so that covers nearly everything.

Against aggro, try to mulligan for Prince Keleseth , taunts, AOE, and Mind Control Tech. Against tempo, mulligan for Keleseth and Zola the Gorgon. Against control, mulligan for Hagatha the Witch, Hex and Volcano. These aren’t hard rules, if you have a nice curve, that’s good enough.

Keleseth lets your taunts soak up a lot of damage and even fight back, even a Tar Creeper with +1/+1 is enough to hold back a lot of pressure. If you manage to Zola him back into your hand, that’s basically the best possible opening against tempo. I put him in there because 2-drops for Shaman aren’t that amazing but Saronites with +1/+1 are.

Remember, Zola is there for flexibility. If you’re playing against aggro or spiteful decks, you might want to play her on MCT or Saronite Chain Gang instead. Grumble, Worldshaker is also an extremely flexible card, either a big threat (6 mana 7/7) or value generator to get back your Saronites or, better still, your Kalimos, Primal Lord

Against control, you can use Volcano against their big threats as well as Hex, which completely shuts down Taunt Druid (as Witching Hour will bring back the frogs instead of Hadronox. Specifically against Warlock, it’s better to Hex their Voidlord and Doomguard than the Moutain Giant as the former will be brought back by Bloodreaver Guldan (which you can also counter with MCT. Seriously, MCT is so good for all the decks that go wide. It’s ridiculous. I only put in one because I only had one, and it worked well enough so far.)

Regarding the OTK: you will notice that it is not guaranteed to go infinite with Shudderwock, since there are no Murmuring Elementals. However if you played Grumble, Zola, and both Saronites, you have a roughly 5/6 chance of getting Shudderwock back, which increases if you played more Saronites (or Zolas or Grumbles but that’s less likely). If he repeats Kalimos’s battlecry, Shudderwock will probably give you a board clear, massive heal, or 6 face damage. If you played Hagatha, that’s a board clear as well.

CONTROVERSIAL CARDS

Mindbreaker was originally because I only had one MCT, but he’s really been useful for a number of reasons. A 2/5 body is always good tempo and he basically has Taunt as well, because Odd Paladin, Odd Rogue, Control Priest, DK Guldan and DK Rexxar will want to kill him as fast as possible. On top of that, a big problem this deck sometimes has is overdrawing due to Hagatha and Mana Tide Totem which could lead to burning key cards. Be grateful anytime someone kills the Totem, or kill it yourself if you have to ! Anyway, Mindbreaker gives you a bit of breathing room, which is always helpful. On the turn you play him, toss out the trash Shaman spells you got from Bewitch while you’re at it (looking at you, Ice Fishing).

Fire Elemental and Hot Spring Guardian are good tempo. While their battlecries are very random with Shudderwock, they mostly balance out.

REPLACEMENTS

You can add in Fire Flies to help you keep getting Kalimos’s battlecry, but only put one, as more will flood your hand and burn Shudderwock. If you don’t have Kalimos, Blazecaller is also pretty good. You can put in some Loot Hoarders if you don’t have Keleseth, but that’s a pretty big loss.

(To be fair, this is my first deck here, and this is my first time on Rank 2. I’m going to shoot for Legend next month probably)