Sweet ol’ Midrange Shaman

Fancy some “good” Shaman on ladder? Let’s talk about the state of Shaman in current meta a little bit. 

I’ve tried all kinds of Shaman variants since the latest patch brings us some Shaman buffs: Galakrond, Control, Highlander, Evolve, Totem, Spell/Dragon/Spell Damage with Arcane Watcher, and even attempted to mix these packages. Unfortunately none of these bear consistent results. Some has achieved success with the above decks but it doesn’t take away the fact that these decks aren’t very good. Shaman currently has (1) no good draws since Spirit of the Frog got rotated, (2) lack decent finishers like Shudderwock, and lastly (3) lack decent value generators apart from Sludge Slurper. Most Tier 1 and Tier 2 decks have at least 2 of the 3 elements above. In the case of *cough* Warrior, it has all 3. 

So how can we make a Tier 1 or Tier 2 Shaman deck? Probably never, but I think I have something close that resembles something like a Tier 2 deck. Of all the current Shaman archetypes, personally I find the Spell/Dragon package most intriguing because Lightning Breath is bonkers good. It has among the highest drawn win rates in any Shaman archetypes so I think it’s worth exploring to build around. However the Spell/Dragon/Spell Damage with Arcane Watcher archetype is wildly inconsistent. So I tweaked it a little and replaced the spell damage package with othrt packages and this is my end product.

EARLY GAME PACKAGE
Blazing Battlemage
Sludge Slurper
Surging Tempest
These 6 1-drops are pretty core in any tempo/aggro based Shaman decks so they are auto-inclusion for this deck so that it doesn’t automatically fold to DHs or other aggro decks. Also helps you to build some early pressure vs slower decks and force removals.

TOTEM PACKAGE
Mana Tide Totem
EVIL Totem
Totemic Reflection
Totem Shaman might have a good chance now that the meta has slowed down in recent weeks but it is still a tall order to snowball in most match-ups. Very often your Splitting Axe is just a 4-mana Fiery War Axe and your 0-mana spells end up as dead draws. Totemic Reflection however is very versatile and you don’t need your deck to be Totem Shaman to make it work. At worst it is a 3-mana +2/+2 on any minion, at best it is a turn 3 EVIL Totem buff for u to snowball vs Priest / Mage / Warlock. In most cases for me it is a 5-mana double buffed Totems, which is decent if you can get the Totem you want. 

SPELL PACKAGE
Lady Vashj
Serpentshrine Portal
Totemic Reflection
Far Sight
Lightning Breath
Lightning Bolt 
A healthy mix of 10 spells and 20 minions for this deck is enough to utilise Vashj Prime. Of these 10 spells, 8 of them are 3-mana so your Prime turn can make strong tempo swings. The low-roll is obviously Lightning Bolt but at least it’s a 0-cost 4 damage spell (or more if you have other spell damage sources in play). Vashj Prime is the best possible play in this deck so pray hard you don’t draw her near bottom. Lava Burst is extra reach but the bolts (some generated) and portals are more versatile and sufficient for reach.

DRAGON PACKAGE
Cobalt Spellkin
Big Ol' Whelp
Squallhunter
Faerie Dragon
Anything that makes Lightning Breath work! Shaman don’t have good dragon choices so the these are the best available. 9 dragons are enough for Dragon Hunter and they rely on more dragon synergy so I figure 8 is enough for this deck. Evasive Feywing could be used instead of Big Ol' Whelp If you face more Rogues, Priests or Mages. Squallhunter is the best dragon here. You can use him early to pressure opponents, or save him late once you draw or generate your bursts.

FLEX
The Lurker Below
Big Ol' Whelp
Far Sight
Faerie Dragon
All these worked fine for me but I think they can be upgraded upon. The Lurker Below has won me some games mostly against DH. This deck creates board presence so you can also make favorable trades before playing it. It also gets 10* for the pissing animation!

GENERAL GAMEPLAN
This deck plays similar to Dragon Hunter in present day, and it gives me some good old Midrange Shaman vibes with a good combination of minions/spells for tempo. There’s also some card draws and value generation for the long game vs Priests etc. until you get your lethal bursts ready.

I am just a casual scrub player who occasionally hit Legend. With this deck I have a pretty good win rate of sub 60% win rate under 50 games (small sample size I know) but it already performs better than other Shaman variants I’ve tried so maybe there’s something here people could do better with.

Good luck and please make Shaman great again!