Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Hearthstone Guide - From Rank 4 to Legend w/ Aggro Paladin in 3 Hours [by Dorgan]

Deck Discussion, Stats & Educational Gameplay Videos

 

Introduction / Story

Hi guys, Dorgan here again. :)
So, this month was a busy one for me. I had a lot of things on my desk, some family stuff to do and I was on a short vacation. Therefore, I didn't really get into a flow of a consecutive session and mostly played games in shorter sessions with a lot of different decks, a lot of them with a lack of focus and some other distractions just for the fun of playing.

However, last Wednesday, I finally had some time to spare and felt good, so I took a look at the meta and realized that almost no Patrons were around, at least at rank 4. Instead, I met a lot of Midrange Hunters and Handlocks. There was also a rise of Control Warriors which made Face Hunter a somewhat odd choice. I realized that all of the mentioned decks had problem with a combination of early sticky minions and very aggressive decks. I therefore wanted to try Aggro Paladin again, which was a decent success. :)

I ended up running from rank 4 to 2 in two hours on Wednesday before I started to play the new Tavern Brawl. I then took a break until Saturday, where I climbed from rank 2 to legend in about an hour, making the whole run from rank 4 to legend around 3 hours long.

Video Resources & Proof

You can find a consecutive video with all* games here on YouTube. As always it includes educational commentary and explanations of my thought proccess.

Deck Discussion & Stats

I tried Aggro Paladin at the beginning of the season running this version that I saw floating around, but didn't like it too much. Running a lot of situational cards like Kings x2, Consecration x2, Divine Favor x2, Hammer of Wrath etc. didn't feel too consistent. I also wanted to go for more stickyness and early aggression to counter the beforementioned decks, so I tried a slightly different approach this time.
*I played 3 games off stream where I forgot to put on the tracker: 1 Malylock loss, 1 Handlock win, 1 Tempo Mage win; total record: 26W-6L, 81% winrate.

Why is there ... in the deck?

  • Argent Squire x2, Argent Protector x2: Like I said earlier, I wanted to include as much stickyness as possible since I found Divine Shields to be one of the most important mechanics to run, therefore, both cards were pretty much auto includes.
  • Blessing of Might x2: With so many Divine Shields in the early game, Blessing of Might becomes a really powerful card, can make for good trades (Squire into Misha, still a 4/1 to deal with), provides instant reach and helps to dump the hand for a valuable Divine Favor.
  • Piloted Shredder x2: Shredder is simply a powerful aggressive minion that also provides stickyness and helps with having buff targets around.
  • Ironbeak Owl x2: Owl is great in most matchups and with this deck, I really want to run two of them. Bypassing taunts, silencing Mad Scientists, getting rid of slow-down effects like Sylvanas and almost killing Twilight Drakes are already nice examples that makes it worth running two copies.
  • Southsea Deckhand x2: I'm still not sure if I want two Leper Gnomes or two Deckhands. Gnomes are obviously better in the early game (turn 1 in particular) while Deckhands provide some flexibility and reach later on.

Why is ... not in the deck?

  • King Mukla: I really wanted to include him again. However, now that I think of it, against decks like Control Warrior or Handlock, it might actually help my opponent to find a BGH target with bananas and to develop their board. Even though it has some obvious synergy with Divine Favor and is an aggressive card, I couldn't find another card to cut for it. Worked out well without, so I guess it's fine. :D
  • Consecration, Equality, second Kings, Hammer of Wrath, ...: Even though these cards obviously have some merits, I didn't like the situationalness of the cards. BoK is quite powerful, so I kept one, but the second you fall behind, you definitely don't want two of them in your deck. Consecration would've been nice in the mirror, but overall, I find the aggressive consistency to be more important.
  • Arcane Golem: Leeroy is already a situational charge minion that serves as a finisher. While there are definitely situations where I would prefer Arcane Golem over (at least) one Wolfrider, I found the drawback too problematic in the early game.

Mulligans & General Strategy

Goind first, you definitely want to mulligan hard for 1-drops. This deck includes a lot of them for a reason: To get pressure going right from the start. Southsea Deckhand and Abusive Seargeant are obviously not your favored turn 1 plays, but don't hesitate to drop them anyways. Shielded Minibot and Owl against Hunter and Warlock are pretty much the only non 1-drops that you want to keep.
Going second, you can be a little bit more moderate with your cards, also keeping strong 2-drops of the specific matchup. Knife Juggler can be a bad start if you suspect your opponent to open with a 2/1 or 3/2.
In general, you want to curve out as well as possible, fight efficiently for board control and protect your minions from possible clears/AoE. From there, the gameplan can vary quite a bit. At some point, you usually want to stop going for board control, hitting your opponents hard by simultaniously making sure that you have answers to possible taunts and enough reach. However, this point can sometimes be sooner, sometimes later, depending on how the games develop and whether or not you get the opportunity of a good Divine Favor. Don't hesitate to take some risks against Control decks since they usually want to buy time to stabilize.

Plugs

If you're interested in my other educational videos (constructed, arena, post commentary, deck discussions, ...), feel free to check them out. I still try to establish the channels, so I appreciate every following/subscription. :-)
You can find the rest of my stuff here:

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