Blacksmithing

*This guide was made before the changes to Mr. Smite and Shield Shatter.

This is a deck I've been playing for a while, it is built around Blacksmithing Hammer. The goal of the deck is to play hammer on 4 (sometimes 3) and use it to slowly whittle down your opponents until they're in range of Mr. Smite + Bloodsail Raider(s).

Mulligan:

Keep Blacksmithing Hammer, Corsair Cache and Forge of Souls always.

If you are confident in your ability to buff up your weapon and play it early you can keep Cutting Class or Dread Corsair.

If you are certain you'll need it against an aggressive deck you can keep Man the Cannons.

Upgrade! might be a keep if you have at least one of the weapon tutors.

Mulligan away everything else.

Things to remember:

Blacksmithing Hammer on turn 4 (turn 3 if needed) is REALLY important, even if it's a 5/1 it lets you play Cutting Class and Dread Corsairs for free which slows aggression, helps cycle through your deck, and activates your Steeldancer(s) and Phantom Freebooter(s) on turn 5 often alongside an Upgrade!.

If you do end up with a really weak weapon DON'T waste it. It simply being there is still really valuable and you can still buff it with Upgrade!(s).

Mr. Smite + Bloodsail Raider is oftentimes your win condition allowing you to put out a lot of burst really suddenly and is one of the main reasons to try to spare weapon durability.

Try to avoid trading away Heavy Plate if you have Shield Shatter in hand as it's your go to activator for it in this deck.

Lord Barov is an extra clear for large boards and can be comboed with Man the Cannons, Rokara's hero power, and Shoulder Check.

Rokara, the Valorous is your go to when things aren't going well, she:

Equips a new 5 attack weapon if you need one.

Gives you 10 armor which makes Shield Shatter cost 0.

When played while your hero is frozen she unfreezes you.

If your opponent played an especially large minion like Snowfall Guardian or Ivus, the Forest Lord you can hit it into the enemy hero for a lot of damage and usually presenting or giving you lethal on it's own.

Can honorably kill Lord Barov for a board clear and 4 armor.

The hero power can slowly whittle down your opponent's health or answer minions on board occasionally giving you 4 more armor when you line up an honorable kill.

Alternative Card Choices:

There a number of cards here that have alternatives you can try out and see if you prefer or could be cut if you don't like them. The list here is simply the one that I prefer.

Frozen Buckler - Can be included as an alternative or redundant means of activating Shield Shatter

Minefield - Can be included as an alternative or redundant means of answering smaller aggressive boards

Harbor Scamp - Can be included as a means to help tutor Mr. Smite or Bloodsail Raider, or to help enable the inclusion of Bloodsail Cultist.

Bloodsail Cultist - Can be included as another means of buffing your weapon. I would recommend playing Harbor Scamp alongside this

Auctioneer Jaxon - This deck runs a number of Tradeable cards so Auctioneer Jaxon is a decent inclusion to help get your second weapon especially large. She does have the issue of being a dead card early and sometimes having to be played for tempo, at least most opponents don't seem to like leaving her on board and often acts as a soft taunt even if you don't plan to use her effect. (is a decent option even without running Shoulder Check)

Drywhisker Armorer - Is a decent armor gain option to help tech against faster decks, sometimes even giving you a 0 mana Shield Shatter in a pinch.

Phantom Freebooter - Currently included as a redundant large threat that's enabled by the weapon, is usually notably weaker than Steeldancer.

Brawl - Can be included as an alternative or redundant means of clears large boards. The fact that it doesn't full clear is often a detriment due to this decks tendency to go tall instead of wide.

Shoulder Check - Works as a flexible tool that can be traded away when needed and can be used for extra reactivity and occasionally some extra damage. As a desperation play it can be used to kill a minion with Phantom Freebooter or Bloodsail Raider.

Mor'shan Elite - Can be included as yet another weapon payoff but would be notably the weakest. Most of the value it offers is that it's a lot of Taunt to get through, but requiring a weapon swing to activate can be surprisingly difficult sometimes and the extra mana cost doesn't help.

Blackscale Brute - Can be a large threat with decent defensive utility but is usually too slow or awkward.

Doctor Krastinov / Lady Ashvane - Both of them can be included as an additional means of buffing your weapon but are oftentimes too slow or clunky. (Especially Lady Ashvane)

Deadly Arsenal - Is yet another option for a lager board clear but is 1 mana more expensive, requires you to have a weapon still in your deck, and you can't play it alongside armor gain.

Grimestreet Pawnbroker - Can be played as another means of buffing up your weapon but is a little clunky and can be a dead card once you've played your weapon.