MARCH 2020 UPDATE - Deck Obsolete After Lesser Emerald Spellstone Revert

After the nerf reverts during Descent of Dragons in May 2020, this deck no longer has its core synergy with Lesser Emerald Spellstone since the card is now 5-mana (ruining the even mechanic of the deck).

Although the deck no longer works, I will leave it up for inspiration and nostalgia; it was fun while it lasted!

Deck Idea

The goal of this deck is to abuse our 1-mana Steady Shot to combo with our hero power based cards (e.g. Phase Stalker, Garrison Commander, Dragonbane, and Frost Giant) so that we can stunt, overwhelm, and attrit our opponent.

Mulligan

Against Aggro

When dealing with other aggro decks, we want to try and get our early game heavy hitters--Phase Stalker and Sunreaver Spy. Additionally, if we can get our hands on key secrets, we can easily control the early game and prevent our aggro opponent from ever developing.

Against Control

For slower match-ups, we will want to aim for one of the following strategies (depending on the type of control deck). The first strategy is to aim for our heavy hitters (from above) while playing value-generating secrets (e.g. Cat Trick or Rat Trap); this strategy is better against control decks that have a hard time clearing early-game single targets. The other strategy is to make sure we can play our overvalued Hyena Alpha and Greater Emerald Spellstone on curve by ensuring their conditionals have been met; this strategy is best against control decks that have a hard time dealing with super wide boards.

Tips

If you have a secret in hand with a Sunreaver Spy and you go second, coining out the secret turn 1 into Sunreaver Spy turn 2 is good in every match-up.

Similarly, if you have Phase Stalker in hand and you go second, coining out a Steady Shot with Phase Stalker on turn 2 is extremely strong and often puts your opponent in a panic.

Generally, waiting until we can guarantee a bonus from Steady Shot is the best strategy for all of hero power-oriented cards (e.g. Phase Stalker/Garrison Commander/Dragonbane). I recommend only playing our hero power-oriented cards if you can guarantee a Steady Shot on the same turn unless you know your opponent can't deal with our minions.

Remember that, if Frost Giant is playable in a given turn, you can always squeeze out another Steady Shot.

I chose the highlander style of secrets for this deck rather than duplicating secrets; I didn't want to lose value from Phase Stalker or have secrets stuck in hand because they didn't get activated. However, duplicates of the stronger secrets (e.g. Explosive Trap, Freezing Trap, Cat Trick, etc.) might actually prove to make this deck more consistent and stronger.

Substitutions

+ Quick Shot/Mad Scientist/Steamwheedle Sniper/Flanking Strike/Professor Putricide

- Lifedrinker/Unleash the Beast/Frost Giant

The cards after the "+" above are all great additions to the deck, so if you prefer them or are missing some of the cards in the decklist, they will certainly make up where you might be lacking. The cards listed after the "-" would be my suggested cards to sub out in this deck; additionally, removing the less aggressive secrets for duplicates of the aggressive secrets might help make this deck even tougher to keep up with (e.g. -Bear Trap/Wandering Monster, +Dart Trap/Explosive Trap), especially if you decide to move away from the highlander version of the secret package.

I wasn't sure if Unleash the Beast would be too slow or not for this deck, but I found it to save me more than it hurt me. Likewise, Frost Giant can either steamroll a game or be way too slow if your curve works out awkwardly. Ultimately, both of them have great synergy with this deck (1-mana Steady Shots + cheap [Hearthstone Card (Frost Giant[Hearthstone Card (s and Unleash the Beast+Zul'jin) and provide awesome value, so I kept them in my decklist. However, these would be the first cards I would recommend removing after Zul'jin.

Lifedrinker is a really strong card for aggro decks–3 damage to face, a 3/3 body, and restore 3 health! However, Quick Shot and Flanking Strike offer similar utility and aggression, but they seemed to generate less value on average when compared to Lifedrinker. Nevertheless, these cards are good to keep in the back of your mind if you need to tech in different utility tools.

I originally had Zul'jin in this decklist, but I found that I only had a reason to play him if I was losing. Dart Trap originally wasn't in the deck, but it was an obvious oversight and makes this deck much more aggressive.

This deck is really fun and surprisingly strong, so good luck and have fun!