Tommy J’s Heroic Big Bad Wolf – F2P Cheap/Low Cost Shaman

Tommy J generously allowed us to host his decks and guides using (mostly) Basic cards to take down One Night in Karazhan Heroic bosses. Be sure to check out his YouTube Channel.

I found this to be one of those fights where you can just lose on turn 3 depending on what the boss does, which is unfortunate (him playing a double Infested Wolf, Infested Wolf + Stranglethorn Tiger, or Power of the Wild turn 1 can really, really hurt). None the less it’s a unique mechanic that leads to some cool potential plays and decks, and I really like that.

The general strategy with this deck is to hold off as best you can until you can drop some board clear, and then from there hopefully maintain control with a card advantage. I found the hardest part of the fight was dealing with the 3 1/1’s on the board, that become 3/2’s when they die. Once you clear the board and get a few things down, it can be quite easy to maintain a lead despite the bosses hero ability, mostly because like Julianne, he has very little card draw. I found the easiest way to clear the board was to take out the remaining 1/1’s once you have some way to deal 2 damage to everything.

Mulligan

You are looking to start your hand with strong Battlecrys, such as Elven Archer or Fire Elemental. Arcanosmith is also amazing for preventing the first turns worth of damage, particularly if you can follow up with a Stormwind Champion or Raid Leader. Maelstrom Portal is also a good thing to have early – either using two, or them plus a Wrath of Air Totem.

Cards to Add

More board clear, such as Lightning Storm. Minions with strong Battlecries such as Bomb Lobber or North Sea Kraken, Deathrattles such as Nerubian Egg, Piloted Sky Golem or Wobbling Runts, and minions with effects such as Validated Doomsayer may be potentially good adds. There are some great legendaries too, such as Kel'Thuzad, Deathwing, Dr Boom, Chromaggus, Mekgineer Thermaplugg, etc. Also, potentially Evolve. Since the minions aren’t technically “played”, they won’t become 1/1’s (confirmed by /u/Gorm_the_Old ). Recombobulator would work similarly.

Cards to Remove

Razorfen Hunter would be the first thing I would remove, followed by Barnes and Elven Archer.