Shaman Control - The Legendary Minions Explained

 

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I’ve written about this deck some in the past, but that was a while back, and its been vastly improved since then. It’s a hard deck to play, and if anyone has any specific questions on how to use it correctly in various situations, please go ahead and ask me in the forums, would love to discuss it some!

In this little article though, I want to go over the 4 Legendary Minions I currently have in the deck, and the reasons behind each. I get asked about the first 3 and why I include them quite often, whereas the 4th is a card I doubt anyone will question ever

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[tabs] [tab title=”1″] Forked Lightning x2
Lightning Bolt x2
Rockbiter Weapon x2
[/tab] [tab title=”2″] Stormforged Axe x1
Bloodmage Thalnos x1

 

[/tab] [tab title=”3″]Feral Spirit x2

Hex x2
Lightning Storm x2
Mana Tide Totem x2
[/tab] [tab title=”4″]Senjin Shieldmasta x2
Twilight Drake x2

 

[/tab] [tab title=”5″]Doomhammer x1
Azure Drake x2
Earth Elemental x2
Gadgetzan Auctioneer x1
Sylvannas Windrunner x1
[/tab] [tab title=”6″] Sunwalker x1

 

[/tab] [tab title=”8″] Al’Akir the Windlord x1
Ragnaros the Firelord x1

 

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Ragnaros the Firelord

I get a lot of people mentioning Ragnaros an the randomness factor he involves quite often. (especially since I use him in 3 of my 4 decks currently :P)

Ragnaros is a complete monster if played right. Often times in the late game, there will be some sort of big board clear or trade, or even a situation where you know you will not take too much damage in the next turn. In each of these situations, dropping Ragnaros is gigantic. More and more my Hearthstone decks (and many that I’ve played against as well), wind up for huge finishing turns, hitting the opponent for 20 or more points of health, almost out of nowhere, in a single turn.

Ragnaros plays into the fear people are starting to get about that, and rightfully so. 8 damage outright, and you basically have to deal with him on your turn, or you are going to die. 16 damage is far too much, and just laying down a few minions to try and give him more targets isn’t really all that helpful. It gives the Ragnaros player lots of options, on either cleaning up minions, or playing out taunts and the like to protect Ragnaros, giving him more shots and keeping the pressure on.

I am almost never sorry to see Ragnaros in the late game, and very rarely does it come down to a situation where I need him to hit a certain target or I lose the game. A solid card, an awesome finisher, and card advantage almost every time. Ragnaros is awesome in this deck, and many others as well.

Al’Akir the Windlord

Not sure how many people who will read this played Magic a long time ago, but if you did, here’s the quick way to sum up what Al’Akir is in this deck:

The guy feels and plays like Morphling. He has every damn ability, and depending on the situation, is used in so many different ways:

An extra sudden burst of damage with Windfury and Charge.

A quick removal spell (with Divine Shield, he can kill any minion with 6 health or less, or any 2 with 3 or less)

An emergency taunt (although if that’s what you are using for him, the situation is quite dire indeed)

A kill card - this is what I use him for the most right now. Most of my games come down to dropping him and a Rockbiter Weapon for 12 damage out of nowhere. Absolutely deadly and too sudden to stop.

Lots of people disagree on him being used in this deck, but I’m still loving how useful I find him in the late game.

Sylvannas Windrunner

Sylvannas is one of the stranger cards in this deck, to be honest. Infact, Sylvannas is one of the weirdest cards in the whole set. I use her in 3 of my 4 decks currently, but she almost never steals a minion, ever. And when she does, its normally something pretty garbage.

The cool thing about Sylvannas is how your opponent has to play around her. She changes everything about the game until dealt with. There are only 2 realistic ways to deal with her as well:

1. a huge board clear
2. Silence

Let’s take a look at these two options.

1. A huge board clear. In this scenario, your opponent trades off each Minion methodically to end up killing Sylvannas with a suicide of his or her last Minion on the board. This is actually awesome. The trades most often favor my deck because:
   1. its a control deck, I want the board clear
   2. I’m playing Shaman - no matter what I’ll have something out there next turn
   3. I don’t use cards like Flametongue Totem or Bloodlust - which brings us back to a), wanting the board clear - I just don’t care for minions being out on either side.
2. Silence

Ok! It’s still a 5/5. And that’s one less Silence in your deck, against my deck where every card has powerful extra abilities! Yay for Twilight Drakes!

Bloodmage Thalnos

This guy is just silly. If you have a decent amount of spells that deal damage in your deck, like I have here, the guy is an MVP. He almost always replaces himself when he dies, and at only 2 mana, you can just hold him in your hand until its time to cast the spell you need the +1 power on. Love. That. Guy.