Divine Smite Paladin Decklist and Guide - Memes and Dreams #21

Hearthstone at its core is a game that people should have fun with, but that can get bogged down in the pursuit of competitive meta strategies. Thus, I humbly present Memes and Dreams, a series on Out of Cards looking to bring some good ol' memey fun into people's Hearthstone experiences. Each week we will do a deep dive on a different 'for fun' deck, discussing the basic ideas of the deck, what makes it tick, and roughly how to pilot it. This week we hop aboard the Mr. Smite hype train and buff beyond what anyone was prepared for.

Smite's In Charge Now!

People thought that Neutral Charge was long dead, especially with Blizzard's statements on burst damage with no counterplay being unfun to play against (aged like fine wine). So the reveal of Mr. Smite not only being a 6-attack Charge himself, but providing Charge to all friendly Pirates, was a shock to many people. Smite has seen play and experimentation in many decks, most clearly supporting Raid the Docks Warrior, but also seeing play in N'Zoth, God of the Deep decks as well bursty Rogue decks that are reminiscent of the ol' Shadowstep Leeroy Jenkins days. For our purposes, we are going to maximize Mr. Smite's worth and immediate value by trying to grow him and some of is crewmates into massive bodies capable to bursting in Paladin, a class that only gets access to quality burst every so often.

The Meme - Play good fashioned mid-range Handbuff Paladin and out-tempo the opponent with overstatted minions, eventually finishing them with a sizeable Mr. Smite.

The Dream - Hold onto Mr. Smite and your other pirates for as long as possible, then when you opponent is sitting at a comfy double-digit health amount, unleash the wrath of a 10+ attack Mr. Smite along another beefy pirate or two and deliver a heart-wrenching and back-breaking finishing blow.

Key Cards

Mr. Smite is the titular card of the deck and has caused quite a few waves since he got revealed. the first Neutral Charge minion in a VERY long time. His flexibility enables him to be a decent midrange finisher for many decks and while this deck isn't especially heavy on Pirates, Paladin's access to handbuff mechanics allows us to make Smite himself an even stronger solo finisher.

Speaking of handbuff mechanics, Prismatic Jewel Kit is the key piece that truly enables Paladins consistent handbuff. Giving all minions in your hand up to +3/+3 for 1 mana and a few divine shields is outstanding and ensures Smite along with any other auxiliary minions are buff and tough. 

Similar to the Jewel Kit, Highlord Fordragon requires the loss of Divine Shield to work. Where he differs is that Fordragon only buffs one minion at a time. This means that you aren't always guaranteed to buff Smite, but when you do, he already becomes a 6-mana 11-attack Charge minion, which is nuts. If you don't buff Smite, buffing any of the handful Pirates in the deck accomplishes a similar goal.

Honorable Mentions

Alliance Bannerman was very close to being a Key Card given its consistent AoE handbuff and ability to cycle through the deck. However, the relatively minor +1/+1 buff doesn't quite add enough damage to Smite and his crew to make the Key cut. 

Righteous Defense is one of the cool new cards on the block and has huge potential in granting possibly massive buffs to cards in your hand. Not a ton of playing has been done with this card, but the highrolls are what we live for in these decks. In most cases you're probably hitting a 7/7 Quest reward minion since not all the decks out there run a ton of minions, but a ton of people will be running quests.

Budget / Alternate Options

This deck has a lot of legendaries, two of which are thankfully free (shoutout to Overlord Runthak and Taelan Fordring for being pretty chill dudes). Replacing some of the others can be tricky, since effects like Blademaster Samuro and Highlord Fordragon are fairly unique. Exact replacements can't be found, but using popular cards from other Handbuff decks such as Encumbered Pack Mule or Argent Squire is a good step. 

The only Epic card in the deck is First Blade of Wrynn, which is a tricky one to replace since Divine Shield + Rush is a very strong combination for this deck. Catacomb Guard is another strong Handbuff-synergy card that provides fast damage and some healing to boot. If you really want to keep the Divine Shield and Rush synergy, Darkmoon Dirigible is a cheap replacement that does require Corrupt to gain rush, but serves a very similar function.

The deck could be taken into a far more Pirate-y direction to better utilize Mr. Smite. Bloodsail Raider requires a little extra build-around, since Prismatic Jewel Kit doesn't have any attack on its own. Southsea Captain is functionally a 4-attack Charge when played along Smite and any other Pirates that stuck to the board is extra damage. Alternatively, you could heavily push a Divine Shield-centered strategy and include cards like Seedcloud Buckler, which could be really handy if you need to use Smite as removal. There is also simply following a more traditional Handbuff decklist, which honestly isn't too far off this one, but I tried to make use of the newer tools at our disposal. My pick for a Nozdormu the Eternal spot would be replacing Battleground Battlemaster. Yes Battlemaster lets you get a sneaky lethal in if the opponent can't remove your board, but I truly despise the card and think it was a mistake to print, so this removal is a bit motivated by personal spite.

Strengths: Minion Presence, Spell Resilience, Big Numbers

Since this deck is so packed with minions, you'll scarcely end you turn without having played a minion. The steady stream of overstatted and Divine Shield minions lets you frequently get 2-for-1 trades against the opponent's minions. The stats and Shields on your minions also makes them quite resilient to damaging spells, often requiring several spells or effects from the opponent to remove. This deck is also just very good at satisfying the need to see big numbers. Watching the green buffed stats on minions in your hand steadily increase is fun and watching them use those stats to pummel in your opponent's face is even better.

Weaknesses: Hard Removal, Swarm, Long-term Commitments

While the stats and Shields are good against damaging effects, hard removal is extraordinarily efficient at dealing with our minions. We spend so much time and resources buffing minions in our hand that enemy hard removal effects like Devolving Missiles or Coerce hurt REALLY bad. Since we also focus on a few very large minions and only have Blademaster Samuro for AoE, opponents that constantly flood the board can be tricky to deal with. Oracle of Elune constantly creating a board full of Taunts is especially a pain since there is little direct damage in the deck. Opponents that also try to stall out the game with their various hard removals can be a nuisance since we can only generate so many threats. The deck has some small cycle tools like Hand of A'dal, Alliance Bannerman, and Multicaster, but we can run out of steam relatively quickly and need to be wary of long games.

Closing Thoughts

I personally do not advocate for the reintroduction of powerful Neutral Charge minions in the game. I think burst damage should be limited to class identity and making it widely available is very dangerous and could limit design space in the future. Mr. Smite represents a worrying trend that is exacerbated throughout United in Stormwind of providing players powerful tools to burst-kill opponents from high health totals. Garrote Rogue and Quest Mage are already miserable to play against and I dislike the idea of all classes having access to bust capabilities, even if they are not quite as egregious. That said, big minions hit face haha brrrr. 

What is your meme deck of choice? Do you try different ones for each expansion or do you try to evolve old ones with new cards? Do you have any meme dream stories? Tell us in the comments below!