Aggro Shaman [STANDARD]

Katsucurry's deck of choice in our recent Global Friendly Series match MiTH! Face is the Place!

Like what Turtlepower once told me, "Nothing beats a Shaman with a good starting hand".

I'm guessing a large number of you have played against this deck and vomited blood afterwards. Now it's your turn!

Even though aggro decks may seem easy to play, it actually requires some amount of planning out your turns. It is similar to zoo in the sense that your early game is crucial. You need to choose your starting cards wisely according to the matchup that you are facing.

In the early game, fight for board control. Around turn 4-6 once you have your opponent is playing catch up, that is when you can start going face and ignoring the board. This tactic needs to be used carefully against other aggro decks whereby the fight for board control might last much longer. Don't give up your board control just to push for some face damage against other aggro decks, unless you are setting up for lethal in the next turn or 2.

In general, you would want to spend your mana to maximize minion and weapon damage to wither down your opponent. After which you should deal the lethal blow using spells. In this sense, when given a chance to spend mana on either a Doomhammer or Lava Burst twice, you should equip the Doomhammer first to push for face damage. This plays around the possibility that the opponent might play a taunt minion. Try to use your weapons and minions to deal face damage before any taunt minions come out. After wards, you can end the game with your spells since it bypasses the taunt minion.

In the late game, if they do make it that far, your heavily discounted Thing From Below will pose as another big threat as well as generates a big tempo swing for you.

Mulligan Guide

If you are going first, Tunnel Trog into Totem Golem will give you a good head start. An Argent Squire on turn 1 followed by a Flame Tongue Totem is also pretty decent. So aim to get these cards in your starting hand. If you are afraid of having your Flame Tongue Totem easily removed, buffing your Squire on turn 2 with an Abusive Sergent would also be a good start.

Personally, my favourite starting hand would be to have double Argent Squires and a Flame Tongue Totem with the coin. It provides very strong board control early on and will often bait out removal, allowing for your future plays to be slightly more aggressive.

Also note that it is unwise to play a Tunnel Trog on turn 1 against a Warrior (Fiery War Axe) and it is totally acceptable to coin out a Totem Golem followed by a Tunnel Trog, or skip turn 1 and play the Totem Golem on turn 2. Totem Golems are the bane of every Warrior's existence as it usually requires 2 spells or 2 weapon hits to clear it.

#Aggro #Shaman #Standard #Cancer #GFSDeck