Card Synergy - Deathrattled to the Core

Author: Andrew ‘The Water Boiler’ Klawitter

Card Synergy describes how cards in a deck compliment each other to enhance their potential past what they bring to the game by themselves. When your entire deck has solid synergy, every card drawn, and played, will build on each other, improving the overall power level of your deck. But how do we identify card synergy? How can we increase synergy in our decklist? And what are the warning signs to recognize when we are putting too much emphasis on synergy, at the expense of our deck design?

Synergistic Themes

Identifying which cards contain built in synergy can be as easy as locating a keyword in bold on the cards. But before you go off and build that ‘Taunt’ synergy deck, we should discuss why some cards have synergy and others don’t.

Taunt lacks synergy. This is because, as a mechanic, Taunt is meant to allow the defending player to decide where the opponent must focus their damage first. If all of your minions have taunt, you end up reducing the impact of this mechanic; As you once again present your opponent with choices of the order in which to dispatch your minions. Also, there is a crystal cost to the taunt ability, so these minions’ attack and health stats are lower than that of a comparably costed minion without taunt.

Deathrattle has synergy. This mechanic had most of its synergy introduced in the Naxxramas set cards. Baron Rivendare, Undertaker, Reincarnate, and Kel’Thuzad are all cards that increase in strength with each additional deathrattle card in a deck list. But even a card like Harvest Golem can create synergy due to summoning a minion mid-turn, or on your opponent’s turn; (more on that later).

Another word to look for on a card is ‘whenever’, as this is a sign of synergistic tendencies. Scavenging Hyena in a Beast deck, Murloc Tidercaller in a Murloc deck, or Mana Addict in a spell focused deck. By maximizing their ‘Whenever’ texts, you can grow these minions to a point where they become a serious threat.

Put This Apple On Your Head

The Knife Juggler has a solid body for its cost, the best you can get at 2 crystals without a drawback. But ultimately, his strength comes from building a synergistic deck to take advantage of his game text over that of a similar bodied minion.

When trying to maximize the impact of a trigger that deals damage for each additional minion played, any card that creates multiple minions is a boon to the Knife Juggler. Spells such as Mirror Image or Feral Spirits will not only trigger his text twice off a single card, they also provide Taunt minions to protect the fragile juggler.

The basic set minions, provided when you start playing hearthstone, that create two bodies on battlecry, such as Murloc Tidehunter, [Razorfen Hunter], and Dragonling Mechanic, provide a quick 2 damage when combined with the juggler. Alternatively, the Deathrattle summoning minions provide a delayed trigger, such as the Naxxramas’ Nerubian Egg, Haunted Creeper, Sludge Belcher, and expert set Harvest Golem. There are also repeatable minion summoners, in Imp Master, Violet Teacher, and the Legendary Hogger.

Another important impact of the Knife Juggler in either a Paladin or Shaman deck, is the increased effect of their Hero Power. As now, for 2 crystals, you not only summon a new small minion, you also get a free damage assigned randomly!

Bring Out Your Dead

The Undertaker is a clear example of a build-around-me card, which are their own subsection of puzzle cards. His synergy is blatantly apparent with any future minions played that have Deathrattle text. Luckily Naxxramas is chock full of possible deathrattle minions, so there is no shortage of choices. From the minion makers of Haunted Creeper, Nerubian Egg, and Sludge Belcher, or the Taunting protection of Unstable Ghoul or the Deathlord, Deathrattle is asserting its impact on the metagame whether we like it or not!

Even if triggered only once, he is already as strong as a River Crocolisk, at half the cost. Since so many strategies use deathrattle minions early, the Undertaker will rarely remain a 1 / 2 for very long, requiring your opponent to find a quick answer, or face a significant board threat.

 

*Shoom* (Bloodlust Sound Effect)

Bloodlust provides us with a solid shaman finisher, bolstering the attack values of a large swarm of little minions. Similar to the druid’s Savage Roar, it requires a substantial amount of minions for it to be effective. The Deathrattle summoning minions work exceptionally well in this case, as it forces your opponent to deal with multiple instances of minions, or allow you the opportunity to create an army of Bloodlusted 4/1 Spectral Spiders.

Deathrattled to the Core

Using these cards, the following deck was built with minion deathrattle synergy in mind, to highlight some of the new Naxxramas cards: Undertaker, Reincarnate, Haunted Creeper, Sludge Belcher & the Baron Rivendare.

 

This is not a perfect deck list, but gives you the core structure of a Shaman Deathrattle deck design. As such, make adjustments according to your prefered playstyle. If you are missing the legendaries from the expert set, simply replace them with the Naxxramas legendaries of Stalagg, Feugen, and Kel’Thuzad instead.

I would also like to note the similarities and differences between this deathrattle design and that of a Mid-range Shaman deck. I focused on having a strong opening in those early turns of the game, and thus favor the smaller, lower crystal costing, deathrattle minions, instead of the Elementals. The deathrattle deck is looking to take board control early, and maintain it. While the Elementals are strong late-game minions, they are not included, because they do not synergize with the other cards. So they end up slightly disrupting the flow of the deck. (You could potentially squeeze one in, by cutting out the fun and exciting, Baron Rivendare.)

Too Much of a Good Thing

Originally, I was running multiple copies of Reincarnate along with Ancestral Spirit in this design, but their usefulness turned out to be a little too situational. Specifically, they provided a complete blow out with the Legendaries, like the Baron Rivendare and Sylvanas, but when you didn’t draw a highly specific card combination, they get stuck in your hand, or are played for relatively mediocre effect. This is a prime example of where i was sacrificing my decks playability just to maximize my devotion to the deathrattle theme.

Similarly, since the Undertaker presents such high potential to grow out of control over a few short turns, your opponent tends to remove it quickly. So overemphasizing additional deathrattle minions over shaman staples like Flametongue Totem, Hex, or Lightning Storm proves detrimental. I found a healthy balance using 8-10 deathrattle minions in a 30 card deck, allowing one in every three cards to trigger our Undertaker’s growth spurt, or a Knife Juggler’s dart.

Underworldly Zoo

As another example, the following deck design is an update on the Zoo styled decks, using Undertaker, Zombie Chow, Nerubian Egg, Haunted Creeper, Sludge Belcher, and Kel’Thuzad!

Battlecry buff effects and Deathrattle minion makers have an odd, yet strong, synergy. First of all, they allow you to use your buffs as removal spells. In that you can increase a Harvest Golem’s attack by 2 using the Abusive Sergeant, then rade it in for 4 damage to a minion, without decreasing your overall board presence, since you will generate a smaller golem with equal attack potential. Secondly, because the deathrattle minions provide a built in resilience against a board wipe, you rarely will have that awkward moment where you end up playing a Shattered Sun Cleric without a minion on the board to benefit from its +1/+1 battlecry.

The Damned Stand Ready

These are the two Undertaker based deathrattle decks I’ve been enjoying on the Ladder the past two weeks. Though I have encountered an interesting Priest version as well, but I will leave you to devise that decklist on your own!

I hope you are having as much fun with the new Naxxramas card synergies as I am. Have you been building a similarly styled deck? Let me know what differences you have between your deck design and mine. As always, feel free to add your comments below!