Spell Damage Shaman Budget Deck List & Guide - Budget Deck Breakdown

Welcome to the latest installment of Budget Deck Breakdown, a series where we take a look at decks that are fun to play but don't cost too much dust to put together. It's an exciting time in Hearthstone; we've got new cards to play with thanks to the Darkmoon Races mini set that just released. I'm particularly excited about this set because it added to the game a number of interesting cards for budget decks to mess around with.

The deck we're featuring is loaded with cards from Darkmoon Races, and is built for maximum enjoyment. Today we'll be taking a look at Spell Damage Shaman.

Any Way You Spell It, It's Still Damage

In the last few months, Spell Damage Shaman was a long way from the glory days of 1-Cost Spirit Claws and was mostly relegated to the status of a meme deck with strange synergies and awkward payoffs. However, Darkmoon Races has added a number of cool tools to the Shaman class to make a Spell Damage build much more powerful. The budget list we're talking about today was inspired by the less budget-friendly list created by Brian "Brian Kibler" Kibler, but still packs a lot of the same punch. We'll talk more about Kibler's list specifically in the Card Replacements section.

Shaman's Standard tools let us play with a lot of spells that like getting additional Spell Damage and use that extra damage in a variety of interesting ways. This deck's gameplan is mostly focused on applying burn to the opponent's face but, as we'll talk about later, provides us with many other ways to finish our opponent.

Key Cards

Our key cards in this list are the ones that say, "Spell Damage" somewhere in their card text: Squallhunter, Rune Dagger, Primordial Studies, and Imprisoned Phoenix. The Phoenix is our best bet at having Spell Damage when we need it, since its Dormant ability allows us to set up for a big swing turn at a later date. Squallhunter and Rune Dagger are additional sources of Spell Damage that are hard for our opponents to deal with, and Primordial Studies gives us extra Spell Damage minions while letting us cheat a little mana to get one into play.

We have a lot of spells that hit harder with that extra Spell Damage, but the two that use it best are Landslide and Molten Blast. Landslide is a cheap AoE that is great at wiping our opponent's board with only a small Spell Damage boost, often turning into a massive blowout. Molten Blast is decent single-target removal in the early game that also gives us a few extra bodies to fight for the board. Our other spells are usually at their best going face, but can be used to clear a particularly threatening minion in a pinch.

Diligent Notetaker is a minion who can generate additional spells like an extra Lava Burst for later use or in one big combo turn when we have Spell Damage. Diligent Notetaker is pretty flexible. If you need more burn, he'll get it for you, but he can also copy Landslide if you want more AoE or Guidance if you want more value. Guidance and Marshspawn are our other cheap ways of finding additional burn or extra value.

Mulligan and Gameplay Tips

Beyond looking for your 1-Drops (Sludge Slurper and Surging Tempest), what you mulligan for will depend a lot on your matchup.

Against aggro, you want to find Landslide and a cheap source of Spell Damage (Imprisoned Phoenix, Rune Dagger, or Primordial Studies). It's also nice to have a Lightning Bolt for early removal. If you have cheap Spell Damage, it's a solid choice to keep Molten Blast for an early board swing.

Against control and combo, you're looking for Imprisoned Phoenix and a spell like Serpentshrine Portal or Molten Blast that can deal a lot of damage and give us a body or several. Squallhunter is good to keep if you have Primordial Studies to discount its cost. Diligent Notetaker is another solid keep, letting you stretch your resources against decks designed to strain them.

This list wants to play a burn-oriented aggro/combo game. We're trying to deal massive amounts of damage to our opponent thanks to Spell Damage spikes, killing them before they can mount a credible response. Against aggro, we will probably use a few of our spells to answer their board and protect ours. Against slower decks, we're mostly going face.

The main flexibility of this deck lies in cards like Guidance and Marshspawn, where we might be taking some of the more eclectic options when we need to adjust our gameplan. Each game is a puzzle where we balance our damage in hand with our damage on board. Count your potential damage and plan so that you'll have enough. That's Spell Damage Shaman in a nutshell.

Card Replacements for the Rich and Famous

Kibler's Spell Damage Shaman (which, as I've mentioned before, our list is loosely based on) cuts a handful of our cheaper budget cards for Legendaries like Instructor Fireheart to create extra spells and Ras Frostwhisper for board control and additional face damage. He also runs Bloodmage Thalnos for another Spell Damage body and cycle, as well as Lady Vashj. She has Spell Damage too, and that's the nicest thing anyone has ever said about her. For convenience's sake, this is what his list looks like:

If you're looking to change our list while saving your dust, there are still a multitude of options. Steward of Scrolls is another Spell Damage body you can add in place of Mistrunner. I've opted for Mistrunner in my list because I like the immediate tempo it brings on curve by buffing one of my other minions. Other cards you can toy with include Lightning Bloom (for tempo and huge swing turns), Spellbook Binder (for card draw), and Cagematch Custodian (to tutor Rune Dagger). They are all worthy inclusions if you feel the urge, and can be added in place of Lava Burst, Mistrunner, or Sludge Slurper.

If you're looking for a good time and fancy yourself to be pretty good at basic addition, this deck could be the one for you. Each game presents you with a variety of options every turn, with cards that synergize in some pretty neat ways. Spell Damage Shaman, no matter how you build it, is a blast to play.

Are there any new budget decks you've been trying out? What are your favorite budget cards from the new set? Share your thoughts in the comments!