Author: Nayn
When looking for a deck to use, whether for laddering or just for fun, there are two main routes you can take. First, you can “net-deck,” or copy a deck that someone else has created from the internet. From there, you can make some tweaks to it based on what you think strengthens the deck, particularly when taking the meta into consideration. However, you can also choose to pioneer your own deck. In this article, I will talk about the reasons to build your own deck, and explain how you should go about doing it.
Pros and Cons
You may be thinking: why build my own deck when I can use the best players’ decks? There is nothing wrong with this. It is reasonable to use the tried-and-true decks, especially for newer players who do not quite understand which cards are viable and which are not (“but the wisp has an infinite power-to-mana ratio!” is a common beginner misconception).
However, there are several upsides to using your own deck. First of all, doing well with a deck that you created feels very good and gives you confidence as a player. Next, as a net-deck becomes more popular in the meta, especially at higher ranks, people learn which cards are in the deck, and how to play around them. Using your own deck can catch opponents off guard and sometimes force them to play around cards that you don’t run. For example, if there is a Bloodlust Shaman deck at the top of the meta, and you are running your own late-game control shaman deck, your opponents may play extremely defensively, trading their minions and stalling until late game, where your control deck will actually have the advantage. Furthermore, people will even be running counter cards to meta decks. If your opponent is running The Black Knight to counter Ramp Druid, it will not be very effective against your Token Druid. Your opponent may even let The Black Knight sit in his hand, waiting for you to play an Ancient of War that you don’t have.
So if you have decided to try your hand at building a deck, read on to learn about the different types and archetypes of decks.
Deck Archetypes: Choosing an Outline
Many people acknowledge three basic deck archetypes: Aggro, Midrange, and Control. But first, I will take a moment to talk about two types of decks that I recognize before the three archetypes: Gimmick Decks and General Decks.
When people think about a Gimmick Deck, many associate the word with a negative connotation and believe that Gimmick Decks are the same as Cheese Decks and they are not viable. This is absolutely false; many of the best decks are Gimmick Decks. While most Cheese Decks employ a gimmick, a Gimmick Decks do not have to be cheesy.
A Gimmick Deck is simply a deck which completely revolves around a certain card or combo, without which it would be a totally different deck. Two popular examples of Gimmick Decks are Miracle Rogue, which revolves around Gadgetzhan Auctioneer, and Handlock, which revolves around the Warlock hero power in combination with Twilight Drake and Mountain Giant. These decks often do not fit easily into the typical Aggro, Control, and Midrange archetypes, and usually have a unique game plan.
On the other hand, although a General Deck can have important combinations, these decks do not really revolve around anything. These decks usually fit very well into the typical roles of Aggro, Midrange, and Control, and have a game plan of rushing, stalling, etc. based on their archetype. Two classic examples of General Decks are Control Warrior, which just aims to stay alive and tank damage until it can drop an endless number of late-game threats, and Face Hunter, which floods the board in the early stages of the game and kills the enemy hero as quickly as possible.
Deciding which classification your deck will fall under is the first choice you want to make. If a Gimmick Deck, you must choose what card or combo your deck revolves around. If you are making a General Deck, then you must also choose whether it is Aggro or Control, or, if neither of those, Midrange. You should still think about this even if you have a Gimmick Deck.
Choosing Your Cards
Now that you have an idea of your deck’s archetype, it’s time start building! For demonstration purposes, we will be creating a General Deck: Midrange Shaman.
If you are building a Gimmick Deck, your gimmick will obviously be one of the first cards to go into your deck. While choosing the rest of the important cards to go into your deck, there are several different categories you can consider, which we will review now.
Single-target removal:
Removal spells are a necessary part of every control and midrange deck, and they are generally included in most aggressive decks as well. Removal spells can help get rid of a minion when you don’t have enough damage on the board to deal with it, or when you just want to protect your other minions. Some removal spells, like Hex and Siphon Soul, work regardless of a minion’s health; others, like Wrath and Fireball, deal a set amount of damage. Removal spells often remove a minion with a higher mana cost than the spell; this is known as “trading up”.
The Shaman class has very strong removal. Although we could have added more removal than we did, it is important to remember not to have too much removal in a deck. Too much removal will clog up your hand and force you into being more reactive than proactive.
Rockbiter Weapon, Lightning Bolt, and Hex are all strong removal spells that will fill an important role in our deck. They each have their upsides and downsides, but all make a strong case for inclusion.
Area of effect removal:
Area of effect removal (AoE) is incredibly valuable for midrange and control decks, providing incredible efficiency against more aggressive archetypes. It has the potential to wipe out your opponent’s board, trading several of your opponent’s cards for one card and giving you card advantage. However, AoE should be kept to only one or two individual cards, as it is practically useless when your opponent has a small or consolidated board.
Lightning Storm is the Shaman class’s only AoE spell, but it is a very strong one. For a 2 mana overload drawback, it is much stronger than its 3 mana cost. It also has the potential to “roll high” on a minion, dealing an extra point of damage.
Card draw:
With 30 cards in a deck, sometimes it can be tough to draw into your threats and answers. Card draw is an invaluable factor in every deck, allowing you to continue to play cards and not run out of steam as the game progresses.
Unfortunately, the Shaman class suffers from poor card draw compared to other classes like Warlock and Druid. We will try to make up for this with neutral card draw; adding in 2 Azure Drakes, 1 Bloodmage Thalnos, and 1 Mana Tide Totem. Azure Drake and Bloodmage Thalnos both give spell damage, which goes well with our removal spells. We only use 1 Mana Tide Totem as it is slower than most card draw effects, and it also evens out our deck since we can only put in 1 Bloodmage Thalnos.
Tech cards:
Tech cards are cards that will do well against the current metagame. These can often be swapped out as the meta changes and they become more or less useful. Understanding the meta is an important part of deckbuilding, and it is necessary to remove once-useful cards that are now dead in your deck.
The meta is extremely diverse right now, making it very difficult to choose the right tech cards. However, I think The Black Knight will be very useful in our deck with the ubiquity of Sludge Belcher on the ladder. Since aggressive decks like Zoo Warlock and Face Hunter are very popular right now, we will add in Sludge Belchers and Harvest Golems that will stick to the board and trade with smaller creatures. Finally, we will add in two Earth Shocks, as silence is also very useful against Zoo Warlock and Face Hunter, which utilize small deathrattle minions.
Finishers and win conditions:
Although slower decks can slowly accumulate an advantage, they benefit greatly from a way to close out games. Finishers are generally combinations that provide high damage in one turn. Win conditions include cards that simply provide so much value that, if left unchecked, they create an insurmountable gap between you and your opponent. Finishers are generally less useful in aggressive decks, who already deal enough damage and cannot afford to have cards sitting in their hand.
For our finisher, we will use 1 Bloodlust. Its downside is that it requires you to have a large board, but the Shaman class arguably does this the best with its hero power. Bloodlust can pump out an incredible amount of damage for only 5 mana, and it only costs 1 card, so you do not have to accumulate a multi-card combo. We will only use 1 because it is all but useless when you are behind, so having 2 Bloodlusts clogging up your hand can be a real hindrance.
For our win condition, we will use two Stormwind Champions. This is a very interesting card that is not seen very often, but it has a lot of synergy with the Shaman class. When played, it will essentially transform all of your totems into 2-mana cards that can trade for your opponent’s larger cards in a “zerg rush” style. Stormwind Champion is best used when you can get value from him on the turn he is played. For example when you and your opponent are even on the board, suddenly your minions will be able to kill your opponent’s and remain alive with a bit of health, allowing them to trade 2-for-1.
Since both of these cards benefit from having a large board, our game plan is now apparent. We will attempt to flood the board (don’t forget to play around AoE) with, utilizing spell damage paired with efficient removal to keep our opponent’s minions from contesting ours. Finally, we win the game by utilizing Stormwind Champion to hopelessly outvalue our enemy, and end the game with a massive Bloodlust.
Mastering Your Mana Curve
One of the most important parts of a deck is its mana curve. This attempts to ensure that we will have a reasonable play on every turn (although turn one is usually less important for non-aggro decks). When deciding on the last cards to go into your deck, try to take minions of varying costs so that you always will be able to have a strong minion to play. For extreme aggro decks, try to make sure you have several strong minions costing between 1 and 3 mana. For midrange and control decks, try to ensure that you have solid plays from turns 2 to 6. However, control decks will usually forgo some of those plays in exchange for several very expensive (7+ mana) game-changing cards.
Looking at our deck, we are lacking strong, non-situational minions to play on turns 2, 4, and 6. We only have one strong play on turn 3 as well. With this in mind, we will add two of the following cards to our deck:
Feral Spirits is a very strong turn 3 play that completely stops aggro decks in their tracks. However, be aware that its 2 mana overload means that, when played on turn 3, it will only leave you with 2 mana to spend next turn.
Flametongue Totem, while rarely a minion to play on turn 2, is a great follow-up play to Feral Spirits. It also allows your smaller minions to trade up for your opponent’s larger minions.
Haunted Creeper is a solid minion to play on turn 2 that is very difficult to remove. Its stickiness synergizes very well with Bloodlust and Flametongue Totem.
Chillwind Yeti is arguably the most reliable minion to play on turn 4. Its 5 health makes it very tough to remove, and its 4 attack means that it can take out 4/4 bodies such as Azure Drake, Gadgetzan Auctioneer, and Dark Iron Dwarf while still living to trade for another minion.
Fire Elemental is an extremely strong minion, taking out a smaller creature with 3 health while providing a threatening 6/5 body of its own. It is rarely ever less than a 2-for-1 trade.
Conclusion
So there we have our completed Midrange Shaman deck! Feel free to try it out for yourself if you’d like; I tried to keep it relatively cheap to craft (and you can always swap out Bloodmage Thalnos for a Loot Hoarder). Most importantly, I hope you learned some of the important considerations to have when building your own deck. Deck-building is an artful process that requires experience to master, but you should never be afraid to try.
Have any of your own tips for creating a deck? Feel free to share them in the comments section below. Good luck on the ladder, and happy building!
