Yeah Aceium, I just mean to caution people about emulating him and expect to be highly competitive. I find him to be creative, but not particularly strong.

For example, I find Kibler to be a lot better but also really explorative

Kibler is the best, very smart and I'm pretty sure has a serious Magic background.

I do like what Krip said in the video in regards to the the theory of deckbuilding (in my own words): which is to play into the paranaoia of what people expect from a particular class and use that so opponents are playing around ghosts. Probably better from a tournament standpoint, but the example with Mech Shaman is very valid w/ no hex and lightning storm.

the wohloe joke deck to have fun instead of going for legendary is a cope out for the most part.
usually the people prefer to think i could go to legendary if i really tried but i like playing funny decks to actually trying and finding out they cant.

^I agree.

Not to say it's universally true or anything, but in most cases, it is.

For me, if I'm building a deck, I want it to be competitive. It's my number 1 agenda. I have fun just by playing, I don't need to use specific cards to accomplish that task. That said, I do think there is something to be said for trying cards that are not in the meta at all, since it IS possible people are missing out on something. (But probably not)

There's definitely some truth to that. I don't know about you guys, but sometimes playing the "standard" competitive deck can get quite stale when laddering. You feel a better sense of pride knowing you created or more so, tweaked, a deck to make it more you. Much like you Bobbo with avenging wrath and Greenskin. Nothing too crazy, but adds flare to what you do.

And sometimes when you play a newer deck, you focus more on plays (at least for me). I'm more engaged often times because I'm not auto piloting a deck I've played a hundred times.

sure the way i approach it either just construct a deck from scratch usually it ends up beeing pretty close to a commonly ran build anyway or i take somekind of standard deck play it untill i feel comfortablle making judgement calls on some cards and start to mess around with it.
but the thing is i add the unusual cards becausei suspect they might outperform the card usually used in its slot. i ran a soul of the forrest for example back in the beta in token druid because it won me tons of games. i think its silly to hold on too "flavor cards" if they dont improve the deck.

So I've been starting to theorycraft the best Dragodin deck for this upcoming meta. It's really tough, because you have to cut quite a bit of good cards to make it work.

I do think it is necessary to have a taunt heavy deck with an adequate amount of healing and removal. I get the feeling that face hunter, Emperor Miracle Rouge, and Face Warrior are going to be strong in a slower, dragon meta...thus why I've kept the sludges, defender of argus and coghammer in this deck.

I didn't include blackwing Technicians and double corruptors because, although super strong cards, I don't have enough dragons to warrant the "holding mechanic" but I still wanted to take advantage of the value dragons offered.

BGH is necessary and i think having a heavy weapon deck helps with trading the hungry dragon drawback...

Anyways, wanted to get the ball rolling in crafting the most balanced Paladin deck for this upcoming meta.

Anxious to see your guys' thoughts on other decks and/or improvements.

As a pure value, Midrange type deck...I think a deck like this can be very strong. Fits with the shell, midrange paladin deck, but capitalizes on the value offered by Emperor Thauraissan with card draw from cult and lay on hands, and it utilizes Dragon Consort to ramp up playing ysera/chromaggus.

It's also a BGH proof deck. Which I think can be a competitive advantage as I'm sure many decks can be running double BGH and extra hard removal.

Just wait till Ysera gives you an Emerald Drake.

still dont think anyone will run double bgh

My deck: (31-14 on the month with it at top level)


The 3 cards cut off are Black Knight, Dr. Boom, and Tirion

I have complained about people using Black Knight for a long time. But you know what? Meta is back to where it's really strong. Druid is my #1 faced class, and even fast druids play taunts (either Sludges or Dotc, sometimes both). Handlock/Demonlocks all taunt up frequently, TBK is massive in the mirror, and Tempo Mage all run Sludges. The only matchup it is ~useless is Hunter.

I use a lot of 1-offs, which may rub people the wrong way. I did a ton of playtesting, so I have my reasons. In short, here are some of them:
-Starting with a chow is insane vs any aggro or midrange deck, but moving from 1->2 took away valuable spots from other things. And the likliehood of getting it in the early game doesn't quite double with the move; there is enough early game to stabilize vs mech mage or zoo.
-I was a longtime advocate of double equality, especially running an avenging wrath. But the meta has to be geared more heavily toward control, since if you have no board vs aggro (or even vs hunters where they all have 1 health anyway!) it's a total dead card. It hurts the handlock matchup, but with my re-introduction of TBK, it cancels out.
-I've dabbled running 0 silences before and I just find the utility of 1 owl overwhelming. It is a keep vs mage or hunter for an early scientist (esp as it trades evenly) and obv is the swing card in the mirror. I hold it vs warrior for early acolytes too.
-I run Cult Master. I like it more than Lay on Hands, which is too turn-committal. I probably average just under 2 cards/game. It's very easy to get 1 card. I found between this and Harrison, and a *slightly* later curve with the 5 drops, (especially prioritizing tokens due to QM) card draw is not nearly as needed in Paladin vs other decks
-I am running 1 argus and 1 sludge. I liek them both but found this balanced the curve better, plus they are both good in entirely different situations. I was running 1 Kezan in the spot for a while too, which is a sub Ive gone back and forth
-And finally, I run just 1 QM now. It's a total win condition, but in my experience, Muster is the true MVP card. QM is great, but often it's clunky and sits in your hand, or is a turn 7 weak-ish turn of dude/QM. It limits some burst but people still play around expecting a 2nd QM.

Running a similar deck to Bobbo but don't have all the cards. It's a bit clunkier in spots, really need to get a Coghammer because my deck is flush with 4-drops at the moment. There are few more satisfying things than playing a Knife Juggler on turn 2, then clearing a Shade with Muster for Battle on turn 3.

Can you elaborate a bit on your weapon selection and how you use them? I was running 1 Coghammer for a while but ended up cutting it altogether, and I see you're running 2 along with a Greenskin. Maybe even more notable than the Coghammers is the absence of Truesilver Champion, which generally is a staple in Paladin. Do you wish you had them in certain matchups?

Couple of things, (1) what classes give you the most difficulty w/ this deck? (2) How are you using the coghammers vs aggro? To expand on the second question, I see you run no Truesilvers which brings the curve down a bit, but at the same time, aside from healbot, there isn't any other healing, so are you using the coghammer/light's justice to go face vs aggro (zoo/facehunter/mech mage in particular). One thing I often struggle with is using my weapon to trade, but it is drastically dropping life total faster. Just wanted to get your thoughts on how you play weapons in this deck

Ok, a few different things went into this, because since GvG I've been on the Cog > Truesilver train for a while, although they are different philosophies. (And don't get me wrong, the Truesilver is a staple in most other decks for very good reasons - it's a great card!)

Coghammer is flatout better dealing with aggro. Think about it; it's an extra charge, it's a cheaper mana (which is VERY relevant in the early game) and it gives you both divine shield (which help trades up, it's my argent protector) and a taunt. The truesilver is much better at dealing with midgame threats (blastmages for example, get eaten by the silver, as do keepers, cats, and so on)

Greenskin is an ~iffy pick. Most don't opt to use him. But here's my policy on him:
-2 musters is a must-have in any paladin deck. It's such an MVP card that it really fits; half the card is the lights justice. You get to clean up a lot of kills and you have a bunch of charges. (At worst, it can be 4 damage to face over 4 turns, which for 3 mana and getting some dudes, is rock solid)
-Tirion as well is a must-have. Opponents normally try to stop the 3-charge ashbringer, but that is a win condition. (A greenskinned ashbringer is a potential 24 face damage situation, which is prettttttttty good)

If you opt for the Coghammers, you now have upward of 17 weapon charges. In any game - even the super long games - you "rate" to have a weapon equipped almost always. So his battlecry often hits. His body (5/4 for 5) isn't that good, so you need it to hit a lot. But mainly, upping a 2->3 or the 1->2 is a much bigger damage output than the 4->5. (% gained)

Basically, I think the 2 must go together. Individually they are slightly worse than the other options (cog v truesilver, green v other great 5 drops) but together they are better.

As far as the truesilvers... Yeah, I wish I had them often! But it's the same deal with Coghammers. They, too, I often wish for, like when I need a taunt (which is typically more meaningful than the 2 health gained)

Remember tho the 4 spot for Paladin is super congested. I think cutting your primary aoe would be silly, shredders are the best 4 drop, I use Cult as my card draw, and the 1 copy of argus earned its way in as well.

1. I've played a hair under 300 games with ~this deck (with many tinkers along the way) since GvG. The worst matchup by far is Rogue, where I'm 31.6%. I sub Harrison in or out, and he's a pretty massive card vs them. (Oddly, more for the tempo delay and needed draw than for destroying a poison or oil) I'm 45.7% to Mage, but I don't know the breakdown vs mech, tempo, and *other*. My gut tells me it tends to be a flip vs everything, but if its sub-50, it's sub-50. The strongest matchups have been Warlock (75.0%), Shaman (72.7%), and Druid (63.8%).

2. Always use your life as a resource. Due to many fewer heals, (no Silvers/lay on hands/other) you cant be quite as chivalrous in the mid to late game, but in the early game it often is correct to eat 4 or so damage for a token. Face hunter is a different story, you basically avoid eating more than the initial 2/1 leper gnome

Dragon Consort is here! My current deck includes 2x Blackwing Technicians, 2x Azure, Ysera, 2x Dragon Consort, and Emperor + Sylv, Dr. Boom. What are your builds?

Awesome, Bobbo, thanks for the thorough and well thought out analysis, as always. Looking forward to playtesting this deck on ladder the next couple of days

gl meph! im not going to run a dragon deck until access to the last week. i think a lot of people will try it, but with only half the synergy available, its prob not worth it

If I don't have a Greenskin, is his slot a good place to try to put in a Guardian of Kings?

absolutely not. GoK is a super control card, and unfortunately its not a cost-efficient one at that.

The deck I played (above) is completely midrange, although some would say it's shifted to the right. If you don't have Greenskin, just use a 2nd QM. It's different, but basically the same as far as power level is concerned

GoK is not as good as Healbot for what it does, but if you really wanted to use GoK, use a much slower Paladin with Pyro/Equality clears

Dragon Consort is an outrageously good value card. The dragon doesn't need to be in your hand as the discount applies to every dragon in your deck. Add the emperor to your deck and its like you have a few innervates per game. Nuts.

This will more than likely be the decklist I'll be using once this week's wing comes out. I've been extensively playtesting something similar, and the tempo gained with Faerie Dragon is suprisingly strong with face hunters ignoring your board, and mages having trouble clearing it early...not to mention, it adds to the 9 dragons in the deck for increased synergy with Blackwing Technician and Consort.

With dragon decks prevalent, I anticipate an increased amount of aggro (facehunter in particular) popping up in the meta to counter perceived slow nature of Paladin Dragon...with this in mind, I have many taunt mechanisms with double coghammer (thanks Bobbo), double defender (synergizes with silenced Ysera's as well ) , sludge, and of course Tirion...I may swap out sludge for a healbot to help in countering face hunter damage as Lay on Hands is often too slow, and healbot can't be silenced...we'll see. Double zombie chow I think is necessary in countering aggro as well.

Overall, I'd like to hear others thoughts.

I've been playing Dragon Paladin the past few days, can't wait for the Hungry. Some things I've noticed...

-Emperor is completely underwhelming from my playing. The Dragon Consort is already lowering your dragons, and most the time the things it's lowering isnt able to setup combos like other decks are in comparison.
-I originally had 1 Azure in my list, but felt it wasn't too useful as of late. Maybe with more Dragons it'll be better, still not sure.
-I added a Coghammer, it's definitely good, but I can't see not playing 2 Truesilver.
-At least 1 BGH. You just can't beat any Giant decks, control decks, or any deck with Boom without at least 1.
-Same goes for Owl. Just so many things to silence, 1 Owl is nice.
-No Boom is pretty crazy imo
-Rend has been very good. I thought it was bad at first, but in playing, it's so good to just drop a Rend and be able to kill so many things like Loatheb's, Tirion's in mirror, Ysera (which should rise in play with more Dragons), etc.
-I agree with needing a heal for face hunter, it's very hard to beat for me (and I play no argus atm). I put in a Guardian, but Healbot may be more necessary for earlier play.

You just recommended he add 6 cards and remove 1.

nothing wrong with playing with a 35 card deck

~~

I think the dragons will allow me to bring back my ancient watcher paladin. I'll post the decklist once Hungry Dragons hit, it's a super defensive control pally list. Fun stuff!