Frozen Throne Token Shaman Deck List Guide (August 2017, Standard) – Theorycraft

Evolve Shaman was popular in the Un’Goro meta, how will this Thrall, Deathseer led Token Shaman deck list in the Frozen Throne fare? This theorycraft guide will help you consider crafts, mulligans, and gameplay!

Token based Evolve Shaman decks shot up in popularity towards the end of the Un’goro meta and with new Knights of the Frozen Throne cards breathing new life into the meta, we’re getting quite a few interesting cards that are matched in heaven for the deck including the new legendary – Thrall, Deathseer. The deck has Bloodlust as a burst finisher and plenty of board flooding mechanics to close out games in the mid game. Here’s a theorycraft deck that you should try out if you happen to open Thrall’s Death Knight card, we’ve kept the core Token Shaman cards while putting in some spicy additions from Knights of the Frozen Throne.

Frozen Throne Token Shaman Card Choices

Evolve: The namesake card of the deck itself, Evolve, is an amazing card that can work with things like Dopplegangster, Rattling Rascal, or simply a board full of cheap minions and give them a nice upgrade. Despite the sheer amount of randomness that Evolve brings, it is a fun AND powerful card that can definitely give you the edge when it comes to board presence.

Devolve: The polar opposite of what Evolve brings to the table, it is a great card to punish decks that try to aggressively flood the board and line them up for AoE removals. Sometimes the card is worth it even if there’s just a single enemy minion on the board and can be used to negate its buffs or Deathrattle effects. It is a highly flexible card and can offer a variety of situational situations like helping you get past a pesky taunt or preventing your opponent from drawing cards from minions that provide card draw effects like Acolyte of Pain or Loot Hoarder.

Flametongue Totem: The deck has a lot of cheap early game and Flametongue Totem helps you get massive value out of your board when trading. The more both players commit to the board, the higher the value of Flametongue Totem is in a game as it allows you to make high value trades you would otherwise not be able to pull off against beefier board states.

Jade Claws: A solid early game weapon that also generates Jade Golems. We do not run the full Jade package in the deck however, only Jade Claws and Jade Lightning for removal purposes.

Primalfin Totem: While on paper the card might not be the best when it comes to raw stats, but being able to put out a token every turn that can synergize with things like Flametongue Totem, Evolve or even the Shaman Death Knight’s hero power is just great. A Primalfin Totem hidden behind a taunt can put out some good value and it’s a high priority target for removal as your opponent will need to be wary of Bloodlust.

Mana Tide Totem: Mana Tide Totem is one of Shaman’s best tools for card draw and with Stoneclaw Totem, Thing From Below or Stonehill Defender being able to keep it safe from easy board trades – you can get a decent amount of value out of the card.

Hex: Hex is arguably the best spot removal in the game and it is extremely mana efficient to boot. We definitely want to run Hexes in our deck to deal with big beefy minions and people are definitely going to try out greedy decks a lot early in the Knights of the Frozen Throne meta.

Lightning Storm: Lightning Storm is Shaman’s bread and butter AOE spell that delivers very well against aggressive decks and is a viable card in almost any meta. While the Un’goro Token Shaman lists cut out the card to make room for more minions, including these for the new set is definitely worth it with many people trying to climb the ranked ladder fast by punishing experimental decks with aggressive decks of their own every expansion.

Jade Lightning: Jade Lightning is a solid removal card that also doubles up as burst damage if required as well. Along with Jade Claws, the deck can push out up to 4/4 Jade Golems. While the Jade Golem synergy might not be too hot in the deck, any small token becomes relevant when you look at how the deck is built with evolve synergy and Bloodlust in mind.

Master of Evolution: A solid 4 mana 4/5 on its own that evolves any existing friendly minion on the board you want. It has some great potential targets in the deck and can help you keep damaged minions alive by upgrading them into fresh new ones.

Bloodlust: A burst-damage based win condition that is really reliable. Even if you have just 2 minions it is still 6 damage for 5 mana. You can use it to close out games or simply get a ton of high value trades to gain back board presence. While you need just one Bloodlust to close out a game when you have a decent amount of board presence, we packed in to just for the added consistency of drawing a copy when you need it.

Thrall, Deathseer: While Thrall, Deathseer screams Evolve synergy there are some facets you need to keep in mind as well when playing the card. Playing the hero card means you will not be able to generate any more totems for Bloodlust synergy and will have to rely on minions you have in your board, hand or deck. This might reduce the value of things like Bloodlust and Flametongue Totem. While on the flipside, if you get its battlecry off on a decent board you can get a massive upgrade on your minions. One of the disadvantages of playing Evolve on 1 drops is the fact you might bring out a Doomsayer and lose your entire board or pull out a Pyromancer that damages your own minions.

Thing from Below:  With a handful of totems and your hero power thrown in, you can get Thing From Below out for little or no mana investment and it is a great evolve target as well. If you combo Thing From Below with the Shaman Death Knight you will get a 8 drop, which is the best mana slot in the games when it comes to powerhouse minions.

Fire Fly: Fire Fly is an amazing early game 1-drop that is essentially a 2 mana 2/4 spread across two bodies and helps you control the board with things like Flametongue Totem early in the game and it also helps you set up good Bloodlust turns.

Stonehill Defender: Stonehill Defender is a staple in Paladin these days but it also has a lot of value in Shaman decks because of some solid options to choose from in the Shaman class set. Thing from Below, Al'Akir the Windlord, Earth Elemental being some of the best picks you can get off the card. With Knights of the Frozen Throne out The Lich King is also another card that you can get off the card for some insane value!

Rattling Rascal: Rattling Rascal is best used with an evolution effect on the 2/2 because you get a 5 drop and you also negate the drawback of giving your opponent a 5/5. It is definitely a card we want to try out in Evolve decks and it is also a great card to work with Thrall, Deathseer as well.

Doppelgangster: This is the primary target for Evolve in the deck and you’ll be able to summon three six drops for 6 mana which is insane! It is also an okay setup card for Bloodlust if you want to close out the game in a couple turns but it is unlikely that your Doppelgangsters are going to stick around a turn for you to Bloodlust because of their weak stats.

Frozen Throne Token Shaman Mulligans

Against Aggro

Against aggressive decks you want to contest the board as aggressively as possible and negate all of your opponent’s early game threats.

Fire Fly: Fire Fly is great for the early game and it pushes out even more value if you manage to draw a Flametongue Totem for some high value trades.

Jade Claws: A solid early game weapon for dealing with early game minions while also generating some board presence.

Primalfin Totem: A token generating totem that helps you take out small minions quite handily. Primalfin Totem works best if you have other minions to keep your opponent’s side of the board clear for it to get maximum value.

Devolve: Devolve is a solid de-buff card against decks that like to flood the board and it can help you negate things synergies, buffs and cut down the stats of your opponent’s early game.

Flametongue Totem: A great minion to play in the early game to help you get good trades off against your opponent’s early game. You should however keep it only if you have minions to work with.

Lightning Storm: Great board clear for the early game for taking out multiple targets.

Thing from Below: You should keep it only if you can get it curve it out early on turn 4 by playing things like Primalfin Totem and Flametongue Totem in your initial turns. It can help you halt aggressive decks efficiently.

Against Control

You can keep the cards from the Aggro mulligan for Control matchups as well except Lightning Storm and Jade Claws, which is not always good in the early game against slower decks. You should also consider keeping the following:

Doppelgangster and Evolve: It’s an amazing turn 6 play and if you manage to draw both of these cards you should keep the combo.

Mana Tide Totem: Getting to your evolution combos by your mid-game is essential and Mana Tide Totem helps you do just that!

Stonehill Defender: A solid minion to get out some beefy taunts to play against your opponent and potentially also get extra copies of Thing From Below for evolving.

Frozen Throne Token Shaman General Playstyle

The goal of the deck is to initially flood the board with cards like Fire Fly, Primalfin Totem and other early game minions and burst down your opponent with Bloodlust. You want to have as many minions as possible at all times without over-committing your hand into AoE spells that your opponent might have and keep pressuring them.

Your other win condition is of course your evolution combos with Evolve, Master of Evolution and finally, the Shaman death knight Thrall, Deathseer. You can upgrade your otherwise cheap minions to get massive stat buffs on the board and beat them on board in the attrition game. You have access to plenty of minions that generate other minions so your Bloodlust won’t be losing out on much once you go into your Death Knight form as Thrall as you will have plenty of board presence to work with out of your deck.

You have access to powerful removals like Hex and Devolve and of course Lightning Storm for area removal to control the board and also a bit of Jade Golem synergy thrown in with Jade Claws and Jade Lightning serving as removal tools that also generate minions on board. You can cut out one of the Mana Tide Totems and add another copy of Lightning Storm if you are facing too many aggresive decks at your rank.

Conclusion

Overall the deck has a small share of additions from the new expansion but the Shaman Death Knight’s addition to the deck is what might push the deck from being a deck that has been historically fun and moderately viable for ranking up to an extremely potent deck. Thrall’s Death Knight hero card being only 5 mana is what makes the deck very promising as you can make a reasonably fast mid-range deck around it. Hope you guys find success with the deck and be sure to let us know how it works out for you!