- Deck Guide -

Budget 'Zeacret' Paladin

Brazen Zealot | Secrets | Reborn

Strengths:

Cheap (1760 Dust)
Reasonably powerful
Games can spiral out of control VERY quickly if your opponent can't deal with your minions.

Weaknesses:

Any class or deck with high amounts of Board Control (especially Mages) will destroy this deck.
Dependant on good draw (Not excessively so, but it's noticeable).

Summary

For being dirt-cheap, this deck actually performs quite nicely. I am very certain it can bring you to Rank 5, but I doubt that it's viable for reaching Legend.
This is a very aggressive deck that aims to get a Brazen Zealot to stick and then buff it up with as many minions as possible. Cards like Beaming Sidekick and Never Surrender! make sure that your low-health minions don't instantly die, and Reborn minions are a great way to buff up your Brazen Zealot twice and to have powerful minions on the board that can stick around for a bit.

As Budget Decks go, you won't be able to rely on Leeroy Jenkins to close out the game, so your only real finisher is a Reckless Rocketeer.

Almost all minions can be drawn via Crystology and Salhet's Pride, and Call to Adventure is yet another way to get something playable in your hand. Since Subject 9 is no option for a Budget Deck, the number of Secrets had to be reduced to 6 in order for Bellringer Sentry to pull them and to leave you with higher quality draw options.

Another Budget addition is one copy of Frostwolf Warlord. If you manage to stick 3-4 minions to the board, which is not as hard as it seems, you can play this to have something big on the board.

Mulligan

There is no one-size-fits-all Mulligan guide for this deck. It requires a bit of thinking ahead. Look at the cards you are offered and consider the following points:

Do I have a minion that I can play on turn 1 that will be able to attack on turn 2?
- Hint: Don't consider Beaming Sidekick something to play on turn 1 unless you have The Coin and a Brazen Zealot.
Do I have secrets that I can play after I play my Secretkeeper on turn 1?
Do I have a way to protect my Brazen Zealot if I play it on turn 1?
Am I on The Coin and have a way to gain Tempo by using it on turn 1?

The goal is to get minions to stick as early as possible, so if you're facing a class that can potentially deal with your minions as early as turn 1, try and look for...

...Crystology
...Temple Berserker (Which can be pulled by Crystology)
...Secretkeeper + any Secret to play on turn 2 together
...Brazen Zealot + Beaming Sidekick to play on turn 2 together if the board state allows it

The biggest challenge is to get a board going. Once you have done this and managed to get a couple of Secrets in play, the only way to stop you is a boardclear. A Brazen Zealot can very quickly grow its Attack to double digits, and if you manage to get it out of reach for anything that tries to clear it you can win games very quickly.

Therefore, do not look for the same cards every game. Look for cards that allow you to do something without getting punished and, if necessary, toss cards if they can be dealt with if you play them without anything else.

Useful Tips

Brazen Zealot's Attack can be increased through the following:
- Playing Minions
- Using Reinforce
- When Redemption revives another Minion
- Through Noble Sacrifice
- When Reborn Minions are revived
You will get TWO Minions back when Redemption revives a Reborn Minion.
Redemption ALWAYS revives a Reborn Minion with its Reborn charge, regardless of whether the minion still had its blue glow or not.
- This may or may not be a bug.
Blessing of Kings is best used on Brazen Zealot or Secretkeeper, but it doesn't hurt to slap it on an Ancestral Guardian either.
Try to force a board state where your opponent will get punished by your secrets if they attempt to kill your strong Minions (e. g. by trading off your weak minions to ensure getting value off of Redemption)

Non-Budget Alternatives

Note: These are recommendations and not necessarily definite upgrades (e. g. if you prefer the Call to Adventure version, you will not need Subject 9).