| Choice 1 | Choice 2 | Choice 3 | Pick |
| Hunter | Warlock | Shaman | Shaman |
| Alarm o bot | Injured Blademaster | Abomination | Abomination |
| Storm forged Axe | Frost Shock | Vodoo Doctor | Storm forged Axe |
| Unbound Elemental | Windspeaker | Stormwind Knight | Unbound Elemental |
| Dark Iron Dwarf | Leper Gnome | Kobold Geomancer | Dark Iron Dwarf |
| Ancient Watcher | Ancestral Spirit | Lava Burst | Ancestral Spirit |
| Ancestral healing | Windspeaker | Sen'jin Shieldmasta | Sen'jin Shieldmasta |
| Dark Iron Dwarf | Dust Devil | River Crocolisk | Dark Iron Dwarf |
| dread corsair | Frost Shock | archmage | dread corsair |
| ironbeak owl | lightning bolt | bloodlust | lightning bolt |
| injured blademaster | bloodsail corsair | young priestess | Injured Blademaster |
| Windfury Harpy | Stormforged axe | Stormwind Champion | Stormwind Champion |
| totemic might | ironbeak owl | leper gnome | ironbeak owl |
| silver hand knight | windfury | windspeaker | windspeaker |
| stonetusk boar | acidic swamp ooze | frost shock | acidic swamp ooze |
| amani berserker | silverbak patriarch | magma rager | amani berserker |
| young dragonhawk | river crocolisk | earth shock | earth shock |
| stranglethorn tiger | hex | jungle panther | Hex |
| ancestral healing | lord of the arena | Rockbiter weapon | rockbiter weapon |
| earth shock | silverback patriarch | harvest golem | harvest golem |
| defender of argus | ravenholdt assassin | Argent commander | argent commander |
| southsea deckhand | reckless rocketeer | chillwind yeti | chillwind yeti |
| river croccolisk | cult master | magma rager | cult master |
| Windfury Harpy | frost shock | silvermoon guardian | silvermoon guardian |
| earth shock | dire wolf alpha | lord of the arena | direwolf alpha |
| harvest golem | Dust Devil | Vodoo Doctor | harvest golem |
| doomhammer | farsight | murloc warleader | doom hammer |
| abusive sergeant | bloodfen raptor | nightblade | abusive sergeant |
| loot hoarder | mogu'shan warden | totemic might | loot hoarder |
| rockbiter weaon | hex | grimscale oracle | rockbiter weapon |
| ancient mage | ancestral spirit | murloc tidecaller | ancient mage |
First look at this deck makes me feel that the amount of key cards is lacking. No elementals, one weapon and one lightning bolt. I expect to go the average of 2-3 wins on this deck.
I will run this deck through later today and post the updates.
I like Stormwind Knight over Unbound Elemental early, but that is a preference pick, Unbound is fine.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely pick Injured over Abomb, Lava Burst over Ancestral Spirit, Axe over Stormwind Champ, Silver Hand over Windspeaker, Raptor over Abusive, hex over Rockbiter, and Ancestral Spirit over Ancient Mage (since at that point, following my draft, you had very little that triggered off of spellpower)
I might have taken the River Croc over the Cultmaster, but given that I would've had 2x Axe at that point I can see passing on it at that juncture.
In Shaman, Raid Leader is 80% as good as Stormwind Champ in my experience, especially if you draft the overload cards highly, which you should, since they are all excellent.
Yeah I like your recommendations. After a 1-3 result, none of that would have mattered. Lost to a mage, shaman and rogue. Two of those games I got killed by a giant then a earth elemental. The second hex could have helped, but I just didn't have a chance from the draft. No elementals and few lightning bolts doomed me here.
ReplyDeleteThe 'rewards' were a pack, a common and a pack that I dusted.
ReplyDeleteYou're right that this would've been a weak shaman deck. Shaman's greatest strength is in the flexibility of its spell suite, which allows it to use spells and minions very effectively together to control the board. Need to kill something big? Hex or Lava Burst, need some minor AOE? Lightning Storm or Forked Lightning, Need a solid removal spell? Lightning Bolt. Need good early board control? Stormforged Axe
ReplyDeleteAll in all it is very important to have a good mix of spells when drafting shaman. Here are how I rank the Shaman cards (in general) with a few of the neutral minions spaced in so you have some idea where they stand.
First, we divide Shaman into four categories:
Strong: Hex, Lightning Storm, Lava Burst, Fire Ele, Doomhammer, Stormforged Axe, 1st Bloodlust
Good: Lightning Bolt, Forked Lightning, Earthshock, Flametoungue Totem, Earth Elemental
Solid: Feral Spirit, Rockbiter Weapon, Unbound Elemental, Manatide Totem, 2nd Bloodlust
Weak: Everything else
Hex > Fire Ele > Chillwind Yeti
Lightning Storm > Lava Burst > Argent Commander > Defender of Argus. Lightning Storm gets worse the later in the draft you pick it up. Late in the draft, Lightning Storm can move down below all of the cards listed after it.
Lightning Bolt > Forked Lightning > Earthshock if you already have AOE or lots of small spot (fire ele, other bolts, rockbiter, stormforged axe, etc.) otherwise Forked Lightning > Lightning Bolt. Take both over strong neutral minions (about Harvest Golem level), but not superstrong ones (Yeti, Boulderfist). Strong Neutrals like Harvest Golem move above these cards if you already have strong removal (Hex, Lava Burst, Lightning Storm, Fire Ele)
Stormforged Axe > all other cards if you lack a strong early game or if you are aggressive. The more early game you have, the less you need this card. Still, only bother considering not taking it when you are taking extremely strong minions (e.g. Chillwind, Tazdingo, Boulderfist, Venture Co, Dark Iron)
Earth Elemental is a very high risk high reward card. It is very strong when played correctly, but is very vulnerable to hard removal. You should rarely be playing it before turn 8 or so.
Rockbiter Weapon is a frequently overrated card. It gets much stronger if you have a large (3+) number of weapons, especially if one is Doomhammer. Without the weapons, it is a mediocre removal spell.
Spellpower can GREATLY benefit your shaman deck. Kobold Geomancer, Ancient Mage, Archmage, Azure Drake, and Ogre Magi are the cards to keep an eye out for here. Taking these over a slightly stronger minion early is very justifiable. The later in the draft you are, the easier it should be to evaluate the strength of the spellpower buff. For example, early (picks 1-10) I would probably take Ogre Magi over Dark Iron or Tazdingo, and would consider it over Chillwind even. Taking Kobold Geomancer over a vanilla 3/2, or even a Swamp Ooze is perfectly reasonable in the first 10 picks. You should still never take the 1/4 Mage though, that card is awful.
Another crucial thing to think about when drafting Shaman is totem buffs. These are cheap cards that will allow your 0/2 totems to attack for damage. You want a small handful of these in every Shaman deck (about 4 or so is good, but more is better if they do other things as well). Flametoungue totem really shines here, and this is the reason Raid Leader compares pretty favorably to Stormwind Champion specifically in Shaman. The toughness matters much much less than the 4 extra mana you have, given Shaman is often overloaded and wants to chain multiple cheap effects for strong turns.
Earthshock is actually very good as a silence card. Take it in that role, not as removal. The fact that it rapes Twilight Drakes and Harvest Golems is kinda a bonus.
Lastly, Shaman is the class that benefits from following the golden rule of arena - avoid bad cards like the plague.
Also, you never want more than 1 Raid Leader, 2 Manatide, and/or 2 Bloodlust in your deck. EVER.
DeleteFantastic commentary. I will definitely use this as a go to the next time I draft shaman.
ReplyDeleteI should add that DID counts as a totem buff but Abusive does not; Defender counts, as does Dire doggy
DeleteHigh toughness minions are almost as strong in shaman as they are in priest, for 2 reasons:
1) Heal totem
2) flexibility in pointing Shaman's bite-sized removal (Fire ele trigger, Lightning Bolt, Forked Lightning, Lightning Storm, Rockbiter, weapon charges). These all deal small amounts of damage, and being able to get exact numbers on kills and avoid overkill is really good.
Fantastic stuff thanks for the additional comments.
ReplyDelete