Wow... Galakrond is fun and WAY OP

So I got tired to reading all the hate that people have had about Galakrond Shaman and decided to try playing it and ... WOW... that hate is pretty well deserved.  

I went into the deck completely blind and missing one Dragon's Pack, and I went on a 7 game winning streak.  I know that typically, the initial hate for a class goes to Hunter.  As a person that is adamantly against Hunter, I'm always up for Hunter being nerfed to the point where the class is eliminated.  But that is me.  

I honestly wanted to take the stance of, "This is just the initial release and there is always hate against the more aggro decks because combo and control has yet to be established." But man, that deck has a lot of synergy and flows really well.  

That being said, I honestly don't think that any one particular card would hinder the way that the deck functions.  I have read a number of threads where people are putting all the hate on 1-3 cards.  But really, the fact that you can summon a few 2/1 rush minions to help control the board, along with all the stuff that thunderhead can produce is kind of sickening.  

I just had to throw my astonishment out there to let those that hate the initial deck have valid concerns..  That's all

Yeah it has over 50% winrate against everything. Its worst match-up is itself lol

It's the most broken and clearly in need of a nerf deck i've ever seen personally since i've started playing in witchwood.  I'm curious if any other deck thats been nerfed in hearthstones history is more clearly erroneous out the gate than this.  I seriously question their playtesting team that thought this was fine.  

Quote From duppie

It's the most broken and clearly in need of a nerf deck i've ever seen personally since i've started playing in witchwood.  I'm curious if any other deck thats been nerfed in hearthstones history is more clearly erroneous out the gate than this.  I seriously question their playtesting team that thought this was fine.  

Yes. Undertaker Hunter way back in the day, but this is probably the worst since then, which was over 5 years ago.

Yeah, I just gave it a test run as well...it just doesn't feel fun to play. There's very little decision making involved. You basically just curve out as best as you can and win due to having better cards most of the time.

The most ironic part about it is that...the deck isn't actually that overpowered if broken down into its components. Galakrond by himself isn't all that powerful, neither is Shudderwock or Dragon's Pack...but combined into a single deck you basically have a non stop onslaught of powerplays that are just above (if ever so slightly) what your opponent can do at any given time.

I can't even pinpoint what they would end up nerfing. Just small things like the 2/1 elemental with rush are already way better than what most decks have access to.

Then of course you have the older broken stuff like Mogu and MCT. Galakrond just fits way too well into any existing deck, be it Quest or Overload. The Invokers just don'T carry a cost with them. Corrupted Elementalist would literally be a playable 5-drop without the Invoke effect...and the double invokery just makes it broken since it allows Shaman to fully upgrade with much more consistency than any other Galakrond deck. It's basically impossible to not have Galakrond fully stacked by the time you draw him.

Then ofc there is Kronx, which Shaman also makes great use of thanks to Shudderwock.

It's an unholy amalgamation of overstatted (or undercosted) cards that just blend into the perfect ix of value, pressure and comeback-ability. It doesn't even matter whether it ends up being the strongest deck or not...it's just the opposite of what a balanced deck should be.

Quote From DelkoHS

Yeah it has over 50% winrate against everything. Its worst match-up is itself lol

Quote From Horus

Quote From DelkoHS

Yeah it has over 50% winrate against everything. Its worst match-up is itself lol

two Shamans, trying to figure out who's the noob for playing Shaman.

So after playing with the deck a bit, I think I know if a way to nerf the deck without killing it entirely... Get rid of rush. 

The most overpowering party of the deck is that it can summon a minion and have it attack each round. Take away the rush... And it slows down the board control substantially. 

Personally I'd change them to 1/1s with rush, 2/1s just feel too efficient whereas a vanilla 2/1 would just be kinda useless. Another potential nerf I can see is to have it go from 1 to 2 to 4 2/2s or 4/4s with rush, rather than ending up with 2 8/8s.

Yeah I agree rush isn't even shaman's theme it's warrior and hunter all the sudden shaman gets a full set of rushing elementals.. Why? It had a sub theme of spark 1/1s on booms day but that's OK I guess since it was different from the big rushes from warrior and beast rushers in hunter.

But spamming 2/1 rush guys for low cost... That's a bit too much I think.

Remove rush or make them 1/1s also consider nerfing the battlecry of galakrond cause it's too easy on shaman due to quest and having the only double invoke. 

I challenged myself to play the deck and NOT utilize the rush minions you get from the invoke... WAAAAAAAAY more manageable and not nearly as devastating. 

Vanilla 2/1 would work well. Or even rush 1/2.  But having the ability to knock out 2+ 2/1 board controllers at once is a but OP. 

Quote From DoubleSummon

Yeah I agree rush isn't even shaman's theme it's warrior and hunter all the sudden shaman gets a full set of rushing elementals.. Why? It had a sub theme of spark 1/1s on booms day but that's OK I guess since it was different from the big rushes from warrior and beast rushers in hunter.

But spamming 2/1 rush guys for low cost... That's a bit too much I think.

Remove rush or make them 1/1s also consider nerfing the battlecry of galakrond cause it's too easy on shaman due to quest and having the only double invoke. 

to be fair, rush is at this point just being shoved into every class that plays for tempo, since it's just a great mechanic in general (and they have to make up for all those years that minion based removal was only available through Charge, which was too OP in aggressive decks to ever be printed again)

Welcome to Shudderwock era once again, bois. I think he's quite the sole reason Galakrond Shaman is very strong, because you can summon a lot of minions, transform them into Shudderwocks because of Faceless Corruptor, add them to your hand through Barista Lynchen and add other broken Battlecries like of Kronx Dragonhoof on top.

There are a few solutions, I guess.

• Move Shudderwock to Hall of Fame. Probably the most ridiculous option, but it may be required to drastically reduce the power level of Galakrond Shaman without nerfing it to oblivion for Wild, where they can already taste infinite Shudderwocks. The only problem I see with this option is that if Galakrond Shaman proves to be way too OP in Wild, then the move will become redundant, but I guess the power level of Wild is high enough that this deck may not be the strongest and on par with other Wild Decks.
• Nerf Faceless Corruptor. I would love to have the effect of this card changed to transform a minion into another 5/4 Corruptor, not into a copy, because it then works with Shudderwock, enabling the infinite chain. If that interaction is nerfed, then Shaman is in a much better spot, as they can no longer go infinite in Standard. Wouldn't also mind an increase in Cost.
• Change Galakrond's Battlecry a little. Instead of summoning two Elementals which get bigger with upgrades, he could instead summon one 4/4 Elemental and increase the amount of summoned minions. This would clunk up the Shudderwock chain a bit, as you would summon less minions from your other Invoke minions played earlier in the match. It would also slightly nerf the first form and be neutral to final Galakrond. But still, this is not the priority change.