Yep, sadly we'll have to wait a long, long week until Blizzard nerfs it. The lineups for GM are also very funny: out of 48 players, 47 brought mage and 46 brought paladin. The only player to bring neither class is Fled.

Do you have some examples where I can find them?

I really like this idea! How do you feel about adding Warmaul Challenger? Seems like she'd scale great with hand buffs. Also, which cards would you remove first for the budget and non-budget replacements?

Absolutely disgraceful that Zalae is allowed to compete without so much as an investigation.

I think that would be fine, I don't think Pen Flinger needs to be killed outright. Making it only target minions would block the lategame Libram of Wisdom + Pen Flinger infinite damage combo, and would make it so Rogue can only use it for tempo and not as a finisher. Making it 2 mana would kill the card completely, which would be a shame since it's still an interesting card. I do like your suggestion of making Librams cost at least 1 mana, it's another example of why 0 mana cards are usually a very bad idea.

Yeah, this state of the game is absolutely unsustainable. A few days ago it was  even more Mage, but people have realised that Paladin is even stronger. Last saturday over 80% of my games were against Mage (the rest being against Paladin), now it's about 60% mage 30% Paladin 10% other. Add to this the huge amount of bugs (friends list, disconnects, Oh My Yogg!) and the game becomes nearly unplayable. We need balance changes today, before all the players who came back for the Core Set and FitB leave again. I've already seen it happen with some friends. Excited to try out the game again, get their face beaten in by endless Mages and Paladins, uninstall. These are the changes I would make:

Deck of Lunacy: 2 mana -> 4 mana (or spells that cost 3 more -> spells that cost 1 more)

Refreshing Spring Water: 4 mana -> 6 mana (or refresh 2 mana crystals -> refresh 1 mana crystal)

Sword of the Fallen: 3 durability -> 2 durability

Pen Flinger: deal 1 damage -> deal 1 damage to a minion

Aldor Attendant: 1/3 -> 1/2

I like the idea, but running secrets without playing Sword of the Fallen seems like a very bad idea. That card (together with Northwatch Commander) is the whole reason secrets are playable, because you don't want them actually polluting your draws, especially not in an aggressive board-centric deck like this one. Also, isn't Invigorating Sermon just way too slow?

Shaman is in such desperate need of card draw. You see it so clearly in the actually good decks right now: Rogue, Mage, Paladin and to a lesser degree Warlock. Rogue can draw its entire deck in no-time with Secret Passage, Swindle and Field Contact, Mage has free card draw in the form of Refreshing Spring Water (that often even gives you mana) and Paladin can thin its deck with Sword of the Fallen and draw cards efficiently with Northwatch Commander and Knight of Anointment. Warlock of course has their hero power. These four classes are the best at drawing cards, so they are the best classes. Blizzard says they have realised that every class needs card draw, now they just need to act on it. And Tinyfin's Caravan doesn't count.

I'm glad both of your featured Druid lists run 2x Savage Roar and 2x Force of Nature. I can't understand how anybody ever thought that running only one copy of each would be the better choice. We have learned so much since 2014...

Nice overview! I remember giving Death Speaker Blackthorn 5 stars, assuming they would print some good Deathrattles to support him. Adjusted it down to 2 stars after the full set got released lol.

That paladin deck certainly contains cards

The amount of burst is insane, and the RNG actually feels way worse than in Standard (lost 3 games in a row, first one due to Ragnaros RNG then two to Huffer RNG). Other than that it's some nice nostalgia.

In general, I like the deck idea. I feel like the Pen Flinger/Secret package is pretty weak though. You don't really want to be drawing any secrets, as Paladin just has very weak draw. The only reason I'd put them in is to cheat them out with Sword of the Fallen, and to enable card draw off Northwatch Commander. As you don't run either of these cards, the secrets are just way too weak and pollute your draws. I'd say either expand on the Secret package, or replace it with the Libram package. Other cards I'd cut are Wave of Apathy and Acidic Swamp Ooze. Paladin just sadly does not have the draw to allow for situational, low-impact cards. Adding Libram of Justice and Libram of Hope would also negate the need for Alexstrasza the Life-Binder.

So, I would make either these changes:

- 2x Oh My Yogg!

- 2x Noble Sacrifice

- 1x Hammer of the Naaru

- 2x Wave of Apathy

- 2x Acidic Swamp Ooze

- 1x Alexstrasza the Life-Binder

+ 2x Aldor Attendant

+ 2x Aldor Truthseeker

+ 2x Libram of Hope

+ 2x Libram of Justice

+ 2x Libram of Wisdom

Or these changes:

- 2x Wave of Apathy

- 2x Acidic Swamp Ooze

+ 2x Sword of the Fallen

+ 2x Northwatch Commander

A thread without an OP? Strange. Anyway, it will depend on the legendaries I open (don't like crafting stuff Day 1). These are definitely the top 4 that I want to give a try though:

Sounds like you didn't try to watch Grandmasters during Rise of Shadows, back then Specialist was the format (1 class, three decks, two of which can only differ 5 cards from the primary list). You had plenty of Archivist Elysiana Dr. Boom, Mad Genius mirrors that went on for 45 minutes per game, which were usually purely decided by Archivist Elysiana and Dr. Boom, Mad Genius RNG. And then you could have up to 5 games per series. This single card made the entire Hearthstone Esports format unwachtable.

Good catch! This leads to some interesting questions about the timeline. Barrens clearly takes place in the past, probably during the Burning Crusade, because it is filled with characters from classic WoW but also features Blood Elves and Draenei. This means that Journey to Un'Goro takes place quite a bit in the past, because there the mercenaries are still young. Because there are orcs, I'd figure that JtUG takes place right after WC3, FitB near the tail end of TBC and Gadgetzan after MoP (because of Pandarian characters like Aya Blackpaw).

Quote From Harpomandrake

Once I've put in some low cost minions you don't really need the 2 x Minefield for removal and adding more rush can't hurt. Thank you, I'm going to amend it and give you a mention in the guide.

The beauty of all of this is we have still managed to keep 12 angry orc jurors despite the changes so the meme of the deck remains!

I just thought of another card that might be great here: Taelan Fordring to more reliably get Overlord Saurfang (or Kargath Prime). Maybe cut Bladestorm for it? I also think a second Corsair Cache would be fitting now that you added Bloodsail Deckhand, to get a more reliable 3/4 Outrider's Axe on turn 3. Maybe instead of the second Taurajo Brave or one of the Cruel Taskmasters?

Quote From Harpomandrake

Yes I think you might be right, I did think I might lose some of the high-roll value on Overlord Saurfang but there's not point in having it if you can't get to that point in the game.

Warsong Envoy would be good or possibly Bloodsail Deckhand as it would discount the weapons? I think I'd lose two out of the following to put these in: Overlord Runthak, a Taurajo Brave, a Bloodboil Brute or a Warsong Commander as there is plenty of rush in there already and the broomsticks to boot. What do you think?

I'd say add 2 Bloodsail Deckhand and 2 Warsong Envoy, cut Overlord Runthak, Warsong Commanders and a Taurajo Brave. I'd probably also cut the control cards to add more tempo cards, like Crabrider.

I like the deck. Tinyfin's Caravan just seems extremely bad, I have very little hope it will even stick one turn. I know Murloc Tinyfin seems bad, but it just synergises so much with so many cards (especially the ones that require a murloc on board). I'm also not a big fan of Magicfin, I'd replace it with Cagematch Custodian since it's the main reason you'd want to play any weapon in Shaman. I'd also keep Felfin Navigator over Kazakus, Golem Shaper.

I like the theme, but it feels like the lack of 1- and 2-drops makes you fall so far behind in the early game that you're stuck struggling for board the rest of the game. I know it clashes with Overlord Saurfang, but maybe it's worth including Warsong Envoy?