Magnificent Multiplying Macaw Battlecry Freeze Shaman Deck List and Guide - Memes and Dreams #22

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 time we finally venture into Alterac Valley with brilliant birds and snowy spells in tow.

I Cry, You Cry, We All Cry for Battlecry!

Fractured in Aterac Valley has arrived and the first wave of card changes are finally here, meaning there shouldn't be anything to harm the meme plans too hard (last time I didn't wait until the patch, N'Zoth, God of the Deep got changed and ruined my Taelan Fordring syenrgy). Now that there shouldn't be any more major changes soon, I can confidently present the latest Meme deck. In Stormwind and its mini-set, we got powerful Battlecry support in Bolner Hammerbeak and Brilliant Macaw. Building around greedy versions of these cards was a bit difficult, but Alterac Valley brought in a nifty Frost package for Shaman, allowing for stalling and even more Battlecry shenanigans. 

The Meme - Stall out the game with the Shaman Freeze package and try to out-value the opponent using Brilliant Macaw to duplicate powerful battlecry effects.

The Dream - Copy the strongest of battlecry effects and delve even further with Northshire Farmer and Bolner Hammerbeak, spamming Bru'kan's elements or spam spinning the Wheel of Yogg-Saron.

Key Cards

Brilliant Macaw is of course the key card of the deck. Being able to repeat a previously played Battlecry for probably cheaper has insane potential and allows Macaw to be hugely flexible. Macaw can be used reliably on-curve if you need tempo and can get a cheap spell or some armor, but Macaw can also be used in the late-game to repeat large-value Battlecries. It's a really cool card and I expect to see it somewhat consistently until it rotates.

Similar to Macaw, Bolner Hammerbeak's ability to duplicate Battlecries makes it invaluable in squeezing as much value as we can. It can get especially powerful when combined with Macaw, since you can get multiple triggers of Macaw's Battlecry and cheat out a ton of mana's worth of powerful Battlecries. For example, with no mana reductions, you can play Bolner -> Macaw -> up to three more 1-2-cost Battlecry minions to replay Battlecries from Bru'kan of the Elements or Yogg-Saron, Master of Fate up to five times in one turn. This would be the highroll Dream.

Northshire Farmer doesn't look like much, but he's an honest card. While he doesn't enable the crazy stuff Bolner or Macaw do that we build around, he is also currently the only way to get more Macaws. Provided its a bit slow, shuffling cards into your deck that you need to then draw later, but the sheer quantity of Macaws is too hard to ignore when pushing for a meme deck.

Honorable Mentions

Bearon Gla'shear gets an honorable mention for a) Having a pun-tacular name, b) Enabling a Frost synergy payoff that works quite well, and c) Having that payoff be building a huge board that can then be replicated with Brilliant Macaws down the line. Bearon doesn't enable anything too crazy, but building a threatening board is nothing to scoff at in a deck with mediocre board presence otherwise.

The deck is densely populated with Battlecry cards to supply fuel for Macaw and Bolner, leaving little room for clear spells such as Lightning Storm or Perpetual Flame. Thus, Snowfall Guardian is fantastic for keeping enemy boards in check while developing a body that needs to be dealt with. As I'm sure many people have experienced, it can also be combined with Macaw to create a consistent board freeze that helps you stay safe.

Budget / Alternate Options

This deck has a TON of legendaries, primarily because legendary minions tend to have powerful and/or cool Battlecries. The only necessary legendary is Bolner Hammerbeak since he enables the most shenanigans, with the rest just having the interesting Battlecries. Thus, each could feasibly replaced with other Battlecry minions with strong effects, such as Venomous Scorpid or Pandaren Importer, which could also fuel Yogg-Saron, Hope's End if you choose to still run him. Free legendaries also still provide cool gameplay moments, such as stuffing your deck with wives from Mankrik, filling your hand with legendaries via Brightwing, or getting a ton of Dream cards with Ysera the Dreamer.

The only epic included in the list is Devolving Missiles, primarily for its functionality in ruining fun for the enemy and providing a new spell school for Multicaster. Other schools with non-Frost/Nature spells could still work, such as Primordial Studies or Perpetual Flame, but the former isn't always especially helpful and the latter could Overload too much. The aforementioned spell-generating Battlecries like Scorpid and Pandaren are handy, but you could also run other cheap Battlecries like Cult Neophyte which can be helpful in a pinch.

The deck has enough infrastructure to easily be taken in a more dedicated Freeze Shaman direction, with cards like Wildpaw Cavern or Cheaty Snobold, but you would likely have to sacrifice many of the cheap Battlecries that allow for Bolner shenanigans. Alternitavely, going in a more dedicated Battlecry direction allows for specialization into Elementals. Marshspawn and Lilypad Lurker are especially handy as they have exclusively positive effects. You could also include any other Battlecries you think are cool or could provide powerful control utility, such as The Lurker Below or Goliath, Sneed's Masterpiece. If you want to include Nozdormu the Eternal, [Hearthstone Card (Mutanus, the Devourer) Not Found] might be the best exclusion since he is the least cool Battlecry if you're going all-in on memes. 

Strengths: Stalls Upon Stalls, Midlife Anti-crisis, Flashy Effects

This deck excels primarily at stalling the board state with its plentiful Freeze effects and the abhorent annoyance that is Devolving Missiles, from either the deck itself or generated via Wandmaker. This makes it somewhat handy in the mid-game, where you're able to build the board while stalling the enemy's. The many legendary Battlecries begin coming online in the mid-game as well, allowing you get off a plethora of flashy effects almost every turn if you have enough Brilliant Macaws queued up. 

Weaknesses: Not Too Fast, Not Too Slow, Needs to be Just Right

Where the deck has a decent mid-game, its very early and very late gameplan can be a bit lacking. Aggro decks can somewhat easily run you down if they have fast damage such as burn spells or Charge minions. Too wide of boards early on will also be able to bypass the freeze effects until Snowfall Guardian is online. While the late-game is the optimal place to engage in Macaw and Bolner Hammerbeak shenanigans, there is a critical mass to what can be accomplished, more dedicated Control decks can outvalue or win with various win conditions, such as the Purified Shard or Combo-esque shenanigans.

Closing Thoughts

This deck certainly has some struggles with various cards feeling like dead weight until much later, namely Northshire Farmer, and with not having as much board presence or damage threat compared to the dedicated Frost Shaman decks from the new expansion. What this deck lacks in win-rate and consistent board pressure, it makes up for in flashy pop-off turns where you can devour the enemy's entire hand of minions to spin the Yogg wheel more times than you could imagine. What I really like about this deck is how modular its construction can be. If you like a particular Battlecry a lot, go ahead and build around it! I think it's really cool when decks allow for player to tinker around and personalize their own lists to achieve wildly different results, and I hope to hear about some pop-offs this or similar lists could enable!

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!