Jade Quest Shaman - The Quest for Larger and Larger Men

Well, here we are again. With wild ramping down on the aggro decks, we are now looking to the proliferation of Reno decks with up to three new payoff cards as the most common decks on the ladder. (As an aside, how does everyone have the ability to take out a second mortgage to pay for these decks?) Meanwhile, various sticky and hyperaggressive decks look to get in under the Reno decks and send them packing. In order to defeat these decks, we need to be able to aggressively stabilize against the aggro decks with huge heals and efficient bodies, but we also need our deck to have enough game-ending threats to run a Reno deck out of gas so we can finally send him to the shadow realm 80 or 90 damage down the line.

Looks like we're going to need to summon some larger and larger men.

Deck Overview

Jade quest shaman looks to slam down and complete Corrupt the Waters as quickly as possible. If we look at our list, we use our 1 and 2-mana cards, such as Sludge Slurper and EVIL Cable Rat to hold the board with a flood of efficient meat that also just happens to push our quest to completion. The instant our quest is done, usually around turn 5 or 6 depending on draw, those cheap cards become extremely powerful sources of hand refill. They will not win the game on their own, but the disruption and random value generation of lackeys combined with digging deep into your own deck for your big answers will give you the gas to swing a game and close things out.

As we are board-centric for the entire game, our jade quest shaman is actually a zoo deck in function, as crazy as it sounds. Making efficient trades, holding the board at all costs, and applying pressure until the enemy crumbles is exactly what we seek to do, and even though some of our best plays are very heavy, the deck functions best when piloted under the mindset of "aggro control".

Side Packages

Healing - You're going to get hit, and hit hard, by decks that come out of the gate screaming at the top of their lungs. Healing cards allow you to come back from the brink against aggro decks around turn 6 or 7. Note here that Jinyu Waterspeaker was added in place of one Antique Healbot to help deny the fastest decks a win, as applying 12 healing and a stronger body one turn earlier actually adds a percentage point or two in winrate against the few all-or-nothing decks still on the ladder.

Endgame Value - So here we are. Your opponent is definitely a Reno or one of the rare Jade druids. You're glaring at each other from both sides of a cleared board, and five of your jade generators have been killed. In this instance, you'd like to think that Shudderwock is going to carry the game for you. Amazingly, that's really probably not the case. If your opponent has been casually batting you aside this long, the last thing you really need is more of the same. The fact that those 11/11 jades aren't doing it is a clear sign that a completely different strategy is needed. Witchwood Piper allows you to pull out your Sludge Slurper in a desperate attempt to generate lackeys that discover cards, while Swampqueen Hagatha effectively discovers you four spells on sticks, which you can doublecast over the next two turns. Emergency sustain, burn to the face, the evolution of a lackey board, discovering a pile of spells, and the discovery of a heap of new battlecries are all possible, and weaving together a pair of horrors that can crack your opponent's strategy from a whole new angle will give you openings to win that a wock simply can't give you.

Playing the Deck

Mulligan

Always keep your quest, even against aggressive decks. The entire point of this list is to complete the quest quickly, so you can rely on a heap of cheap minions to slow down death by a critical turn or two so that you may pop a heal and stabilize with an army of angry green men.

ALWAYS KEEP

Lackey generation and Questing Explorer

KEEP AGAINST AGGRO

Sandstorm Elemental and Jade Claws

Healing, but only if you have early plays.

KEEP AGAINST PALADIN

Devolve (That's a nice 15/18 windfury Mech you've got there...)

KEEP AGAINST MAGE

Antique Healbot OR Jinyu Waterspeaker

KEEP AGAINST CONTROL

Jade Claws AND Jade Spirit

Matchups

Favored

Reno Priest, Reno Mage, Secret Mage, Mech Hunter, Jade Druid, Zoo Warlock

Even

Pirate Warrior, Mech Paladin, Murloc Shaman

Unfavored

Reno Mecha'thun Warlock, Holy Wrath Paladin