[D5 - Legend] Broom Paladin!

Hey everyone! I'm Funki Monki, an off meta homebrew deck builder. Every season I hit legend with different off meta creations and then give them back to you all in hopes of shaking up the meta! This season I was able to hit legend with this Broom Paladin! I went through many different versions through my climb from Diamond 5 - Legend but the final iteration had a 79% WR (11-3)! Across all versions was a 61% WR (27-17).

Why Broomstick?

One of the reasons people play Pure Paladin to begin with isn't because of Lightforged Crusader, but rather for the Lightforged Zealot. This card was crucial to regain board presence as Paladin doesn't have access to many rush mechanics like other classes do. Animated Broomstick serves this same purpose of regaining the board, without the drawback of having to play Pure!

Proof:

• Don't be afraid to play a Salhet's Pride into an enemy 1/1 minion. The card draw is so important, especially to find the Animated Broomsticks, that it's basically an Arcane Intellect with a body.

• Play your Aldor Attendant and Aldor Truthseeker as soon as you can. The flexibility of your discounted Librams is huge.

• Lord Barov + Animated Broomstick is a full board clear.

• Against Aggro decks, don't be greedy with Argent Braggart. Oftentimes I'll play him as a 2 mana 4/4 to contest the early board. As long as we can make it to our Aldor Truthseekers/Libram of Hopes we win.

Demon Hunter (1-3) - Most DH are hyper aggro decks or Control Soul DH. We don't have too much of a hard time with Soul DH so we want to prepare against the Aggro DH matchup. Tempo, tempo, tempo! The earlier the curve the better and don't sit on the Broomsticks, Argent Braggart, Wild Pyro, Lord Barov, etc for too long. Any minion on the board helps stall us longer to our Truthseeker + Hope.

 Aggro DH game

Druid (9-1) - Yawwwwn. Let Druid spend 40 mana in 1 turn, we got efficient board clears for days. Aggro Druid is the weakest matchup and even against Ramp Druid we want a pretty aggressive start so we always plan aggressively. Always keep in mind positioning against the Lake Thresher!

Guardian Animals Druid game

Hunter (3-2) - Most Hunters are either playing HL or Face. We're far more favored against HL because of our many big late game threats but Face can be a bit tougher if we don't draw our Aldor Truthseeker/Libram of Hopes. No real tips or tricks here, just fight for board and tempo hard and sometimes we can even win with tempo with our cheap minions and a few buffs rather than wait for the Libram of Hope -> concede.

Face Hunter game 

Mage (1-3) - Either Spell Damage Tempo or HL Mage. HL Mage is our toughest matchup here because they have so much removal and RNG effects like Devolving Missles, Puzzlebox, etc. I'd say to have as aggressive of a start as possible against Mage, it's much easier to chip them down to 10 and let Zephrys find lethal than it is to push through 30 hp worth of freezes with your big guys. Also, be careful going all-in when they have 10 mana since you don't want to be too punished by Reno. Always leave at least 1 decent threat in hand until they play him.

Spell Damage Tempo Mage game

Paladin (4-0) - Very easy matchup against Pure Libram Paladins. We have a more aggressive start than they do to deny them any minion to buff. We also have more board clears for their Hope/Braggart/Pupil and more draw for when they'll run out of resources. We're them, but better.

Pure Libram Paladin game

Priest (4-1) - Not too hard of a matchup. They'll usually run out of answers for our big guys eventually. An aggressive start as always is great to make them play their removal and deny them any chance of getting on the board. Don't worry too much about playing into Shadow of Madness. They'll always get value from that card in this matchup we just have to suck it up and take it. It's ok to overextend with your cheap minions early on but careful not to overextend with your big guys until you're sure what removal they may/ may not have in hand. Turns to watch out for: 7 for Soul Mirror/Galakrond, 8 for Murozond.

Highlander Priest game 

Rogue (1-3) - Pretty tough matchup unless we draw into Aldor Truthseeker/Libram of Hope. Always try to have a minion on board to trade into their stealth minions when they attack with them. Wild Pyromancer/Barov is key in this matchup to kill their 1 health stealth minions

Weapon Rogue game

Shaman (1-0) - Didn't face many Shamans, but I'd imagine the only Shamans on ladder are running Quest. Gameplan is the same as always, but in this matchup they don't run much hard removal unless they generate it so it's a little bit safer to go all-in with the Truthseekers/Hopes/Braggarts. They do run Devolving Missles so careful playing the Braggart without many other minions on your side.

Quest Shaman game

Warlock (1-2) - I didn't match up against many Warlocks either, but it was either Galakrond or Pain. Galakrond is pretty tough because of Plague of Flames, so pressing your hero power in the midgame is pretty beneficial as it makes the Plague of Flames worse against your big guys. VS Pain Lock, get in as much early chip damage as you can, because they'll just end up killing themselves. By the time they stabilize with their Vulture and Flesh Giants we should be able to clear with Barov/Libram of Justice and then they're almost dead at that point.

Pain Warlock game

Warrior (2-2) - Most Warriors are primarily Bomb Warrior. We definitely want to be the aggressor in this matchup because we will die to bombs eventually, even with our Libram of Hopes. Always try to stagger your buffs and minions against a bladestorm so you want a 1 health minion, 2 health, 3 health, etc. A good idea to do as well is try and bait out the first Brawl by going wide with your cheaper minions before you drop your big Hopes/Braggarts.

Bomb Warrior game

Sometimes Keep - Animated Broomstick (vs aggro decks), Wild Pyromancer (vs Rogue), Lord Barov (vs Rogue), Consecration (vs DH/Rogue and going second)

I hope you like this deck and, as always, if you have any questions or have a suggestion please comment below (I respond to all comments)!

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