Even Totem Shaman

Deck Idea

The inspiration for this deck is to put Shaman's totems to some use (for once!), and the best way to do that is by creating an Even Shaman deck. The goal is to summon a lot of totems as quickly as possible, then use our cards with totem synergy (e.g. Draenei Totemcarver, Splitting Axe, and Thing from Below) and wide-board synergy (e.g. Sea Giant and The Storm Bringer) to overwhelm our opponent.

Mulligan

Against Aggro

To compete with other aggro decks, look for your removal spells, Totem Golem, Knife Juggler, and Murkspark Eel. Totem Golem is a really strong 2-drop that eats other aggro minions for breakfast--especially if we have Healing Totem on board--while Murkspark Eel can target down a specific problematic minion. Combined with our totems and cheap minions, Knife Juggler can snipe down enemy minions with ease. Aside from these cards, generate as many totems as possible because a Totemic Surge can be surprising and overwhelming for opponents who let our totems sit around.

Against Control

Against slower decks, we need to build up boards they can't deal with easily. Fortunately, most control decks don't care about our totems; therefore, summon as many totems as possible. Then, when they least expect it, we Splitting Axe+Totemic Surge or a turn 6 The Storm Bringer. Additionally, Knife Juggler and Dire Wolf Alpha can put our reduced Totemic Call to great use to pile on extra damage early against slow decks. Lastly, Sea Giant can snowball the game for us by turn 5 or 6 if our totems stick from the earlier turns.

Tips

If you go second with this deck, I highly recommend coining out any of our 2-mana minions (except Murkspark Eel). In general, I find more success by coining out a Dire Wolf Alpha or Knife Juggler than by simply summoning a totem on turn 1 if I have coin.

If you have Splitting Axe and Totemic Surge in hand together, waiting until you can "split" your totems to cast Totemic Surge can be extremely overwhelming for your opponent. Splitting Axe is really strong if you hit EVIL Totem, Serpent Ward, and/or Totem Golem; however, you generally don't need to be greedy with Splitting Axe. Generally, hitting 2-3 of our Totemic Call totems with Splitting Axe is enough tempo to warrant playing it.

On a similar note, Draenei Totemcarver is solid if we have 1 totem, good if we have 2 totems, and very strong with more than 2 totems; thus, there is no need to be extra greedy with your Draenei Totemcarver. If you have 2 totems on board by turn 4, jamming Draenei Totemcarver is awesome tempo (a 4-mana 6/6!). Furthermore, Totemic Calling+Draenei Totemcarver on turn 5 is a solid tempo play that can help get ahead or catch up on board.

Keep in mind that Thing from Below and Sea Giant can always be played after hero-powering (if there is board space) since Totemic Call is 1-mana and summons a minion. Usually, getting that extra totem out is worth it because of cards like Totemic Surge and The Storm Bringer.

Good luck, and have fun! I made this deck with the intention of creating a fun totem-based Shaman deck, but it ended up being a fairly strong aggro deck, so I wanted to share with the community in hopes that others can find fun and success with this deck.

If you are looking to make this deck a little stronger, there is a lot of room for improvement by simply removing the totem "flavor" requirement I set for myself when making the deck. For example, Vessina has a lot of potential in this deck if we exchange some of the current cards in the deck for overload cards (e.g. Crackle/Stormcrack, Jade Claws, Sandstorm Elemental, Fireguard Destroyer, and Flamewreathed Faceless are all good examples of replacement cards that still work with even Shaman, board-swarming theme).