The Paladin Tech Deck - Episode 42

Hello!

• Adam is on the show this week
• Topic: Paladin Brawl 2: This Time With Robots
• Reasons to be happy this week
• News: Undertaker nerfs, Hearthstone wins awards at DICE!

What is a Deck Battle?

Once a month, a guest host brings their favorite deck onto the show to battle the current reigning champion deck for control of the Happy Hearthstone Deck Battle Throne!

If the challenger wins the best-of-3 series, their deck becomes the new Reigning Champion Deck and will fight off future challengers until it loses, or until it’s earned its place in the Happy Hearthstone Hall of Fame!

View the Deck Battle Archive + The Happy Hearthstone Hall of Fame

Defending Deck: Scott’s Survival Paladin deck wins by spewing cheap hard-to-kill and regenerating minions onto the battlefield. His deck has reigned supreme for 4 months, and has beaten 1 deck before this episode.

Challenger Deck: Adam’s Paladin Tech deck is a mid-game paladin deck that uses Spare Parts, lots of Legendaries, and some slick spells to apply pressure quickly and ensure he has the tools to finish the game on his terms.

The Deck Creatures

• 2x Clockwork Gnome
• 1x Ironbeak Owl
• 2x Knife Juggler
• 2x Shielded Minibot
• 2x Aldor Peacekeeper
• 2x Piloted Shredder
• 1x Loatheb
• 2x Quartermaster
• 2x Sludge Belcher
• 1x Sylvanas Windrunner
• 1x Toshley
• 1x Troggzor the Earthinator
• 1x Tirion Fordring

Spells

• 2x Equality
• 2x Muster for Battle
• 2x Consecration
• 1x Lay on Hands

Weapons

• 1x Coghammer
• 2x Truesilver Champion

Sideboard

In case you don’t have some of the ideal cards listed above, here are some easy-to-get backups you can use that keep with the same theme and strengths of the deck.

• Lord of the Arena (Replace Sylvanas, Troggzor the Earthinator)
• Acidic Swamp Ooze or Big Game Hunter (Replace Aldor Peacekeeper or Sylvanas Windrunner)
• Guardian of Kings (Replace Tirion Fordring)

The Duel! Josh’s Perspective

Adam’s Perspective

Post-Duel Commentary

• Who won
• Obligatory bragging session
• Challenger Deck: How well did it perform?
• Defending Deck: How well did it perform?
• Best moments in the matches
• The Happy Hearthstone Champion Ceremony(tm)

Community

• No question this week — email me a question for next show!
• iTunes Reviews

Card of the Week

Farewell

• Follow Adam on Twitter
• What you want to see in future episodes
• What hosts you want to visit the show

DECK GUIDE:

Our robot overlords have arrived, and they’re surprisingly Paladins! A community champion rose up to challenge The Happy Hearthstone Deck Champion on this week’s show. Adam also took the time to put together his full list of cards and commentary to help you play his deck too!

Find out more about this deck and watch it in action in the latest episode of Happy Hearthstone!

Note from Josh: The rest of this article was written by Adam. Thanks, Adam!

Paladin Tech

This deck is all about getting high-value minions on the board to apply pressure and keep pace. Then, around mid-game, you break out all sorts of fun tricks with spells, Spare Part cards, and utility minions to seal the deal.

Creatures

2x Clockwork Gnome
This is a decent cheap creature that can trade and help you get Spare Parts that you will use on turn 6+ to combo with other cards.

1x Ironbeak Owl
Ironbeak Owl allows you to keep tempo or shut down big threats with silence. It’s important to have at least one silence card, and this is the cheapest.

2x Knife Juggler
Like Infamous says on Twitch, “Be true knife juggler, be true!” Knife Juggler combos great with Equality, which we’re definitely including.

2x Shielded Minibot
Shielded Minibot is a must-have for this deck because it needs an early minion that can stick and remove threats from Warlock Zoo decks. This lets me get into the mid-range game to win.

2x Aldor Peacekeeper
I run 2 here because I can’t run 3 or 4. Seriously, this card can take a big threat and turn it into to a cute little kitten (“It’s so FLUFFY!”). By reducing it to 1 attack, you can shut down ugly giants in Handlock decks early or swing into that taunt creature and not lose footing.

2x Piloted Shredder
BECAUSE RNG, BABY! You will truly never find this sort of random effect in any other card game. Because I don’t want to do the math, I’m gonna say you get value out of this card at least 75% of the time and the other 25% is Doomsayer. Really bad luck happens, but typically you will get a lot of value from this card.

1x Loatheb
If you’re still playing this card on turn 5 no matter what the board state is, I’m about to blow your mind.

Look at your opponent:

• If it’s a Priest, wait until there turn 9 ends to play it. They can’t pay 15 cost for Mind Control.
• If its a Rogue, yeah play this on turn 5 or sooner with Coin. I used to say wait for Gadgetzan Auctioneer, but now it’s harder to see coming.
• If it’s a Druid, wait until their turn 9, so they can’t reset the game with Tree of Life or take the game with Force of Nature + Savage Roar.
• Hunter, play it as soon as you can.
• Mage, their turn 8. Because 2x Fireball in the face hurts a lot.
• Paladin turn 8 will stop their biggest heal in Lay on Hands. Go this route if you feel you can follow it up with a win. Even if you don’t suspect that, still play it on their turn 8 to stop the Muster for Battle + Quatermaster combo
• Shaman is really weird, like Rogue, because they have no powerful late game spells. But if they tempo you, look out for the turn 8-10 with a combo of Lava burst and Crackle. If you see a Malygos go down ever, and you can’t remove it, play this card.
• Warlock has two cards to look out for: Hellfire and Shadowflame. When you have a good board, play it to stop these cards or cost them their whole turn to use them.
• Warrior, like Warlock, uses spells for board control, like Brawl on turn 4 and later. So use the same strategy as Warlock.

2x Quartermaster
This guy is awesome! It takes all your 1/1 Silver Hand Recruits from your hero power and Muster for Battle and makes them scary 3/3s!

2x Sludge Belcher
Sludge Belcher is great at slowing down an onslaught by forcing them to attack your creatures instead.

1x Sylvanas Windrunner
Can steal their big threat. ‘Nuff said. If I had a dollar for every time I dropped this on a sad yolo Ragnaros play I would have a lot of money. In fact, I’m gonna start charging people for those plays. Also, this card is great when combined with Equality because it forces 2v1 plays to go your way. I would argue this is a must-have in all Paladin decks.

1x Toshley
I LOVE SPARE PARTS! At 5/7 for 6, he can hold his own in many good trades even able to punish a solo Belcher play.

1x Troggzor the Earthinator
Any card that punishes the opponent for doing what they want to do is good in my book. Troggzor summons a 3/5 Burly Rockjaw Trogg any time they play a spell that also gains +2 attack every time a spell is cast.

1x Tirion Fordring
If you could only understand my personal struggle with this card… I love it so much and yet loathe it at the same time, because for some reason I never feel I truly get the value out of him I want. It’s hard to explain, but it’s definitely an amazing card and it deserves every second of every minute in this deck.

Spells

2x Equality
This is a very, very valuable strategic card that allows you to set up other combos such as Consecration, Sylvanas, and Knife Juggler. Every Paladin deck should run this card.

2x Muster for Battle
If Quartermaster is the “meat” of this deck, then this is a great 3 servings of potatoes. This card combos well with the rest of the deck with little to no effort. Equality + Knife Juggler late game can be just as good as a Consecration draw.

2x Consecration
Now for the controversy: this is a great card, but with this deck I would love to drop one out. Everyone knows to expect this card by now. The only reason I didn’t take one out, is because of how common Zoo Warlock and Face-punching Hunter was last season. If you find that you’re not seeing them now, post Undertaker nerf, you could take one out.

1x Lay on Hands
A big heal that isn’t a -1 card advantage? Sign me up! Because it draws you 3 cards, you actually come out with a +2 advantage. The old Yu-Gi-Oh player in me drools over this card and its overwhelming power. That being said, it comes too late in the game and most of the time is the only card you will play in turn 7 or 8.

Weapons

1x Coghammer
I have to admit I didn’t add this card until I saw it on Magic Amy’s in the meta report. Coghammer is just another card to help stop early threats from Warlock Zoo Face-punching Hunter decks. Both are so common right now that it felt good when I added it. However, I liked it too much I tried bumping it to 2. At 2, I found I had too many weapons and was replacing weapons before they expired. Needless to say, I went back to 1 and was very happy with its result.

2x Truesilver Champion
“Wait minute let me take you there.” Okay, this card is great at 4 mana and 4 attack. Those 2 charges let you clear threats and resist damage or just heal during your onslaught. I like this card for clearing minions, because you don’t take as much damage in the long run and don’t lose minions that cause a tempo change.

Final Thoughts

Some of you might have been playing decks like this for awhile. Use your Clockwork Gnomes and Toshley to gain spare parts! If you’re really lucky, the game will bless you with a time rewinder Spare Part! This will help you double-down on Quartermaster or use them more carelessly. Other Spare Parts help enhance your game, buying you turns with freeze or giving your 1/1 recruits +1 health to stay out of a Mage’s hero power. All of them are great because they help round out your curve.

Speaking of which, play the curve and hug it as close as you can, as long as you can. This deck keeps most of its minions at 6 or less attack to really keep them with a dead Big Game Hunter card in their hand, without sacrificing quality. Good luck and have fun!