Basic Paladin Deck

[positiv2 953]

Hi! Excellent deck, I win a lot of matches with it. I have just completed Naxx and LoE, so I did the recommended Naxx-cardswaps. What other swaps would you recommend with acces to the LoE cards?

Swap Uldamans and Razorfens, Toads and Crocolisks

[Fiber 0]

Great deck, I have arrived at level 17 for the first time. I hope I could get to 15... I got a Knife Juggler, it's ok to change it for a Bloodfen Raptor ?

I don't have any Murloc Knight, being that good, do you recomend to craft it ???

[positiv2 953]

Great deck, I have arrived at level 17 for the first time. I hope I could get to 15... I got a Knife Juggler, it's ok to change it for a Bloodfen Raptor ?

I don't have any Murloc Knight, being that good, do you recomend to craft it ???

Crocolisk is a weaker card than Raptor. Swap it for the Juggler.

Murloc knight is pretty good, but there are definitely more important cards to spend dust on. I recommend you to keep saving dust until you can craft core cards for decks, such as a second Juggler, Azure Drakes, Savannah Highmane...

[Fiber 0]

Thanks a lot for the comment !!!!

[Guest JonDoh]

I am using your builds to try to learn the game. I was playing pally still just at level 9 so didn't have full build (missing blessing of kings). Was doing ranked because why not. I was put up against another pally who was running several legendary (a pair of dragon boss cards and a few more), and a bunch of cards from packs....

 

I won!

 

I wish I had a recording. I would really like to know how much money the other guy has spent on the game... I am still F2P, and this is day 2 for me learning the game.

[Guest Raeim]

This deck needs is listed as standard, but it isn't updated for standard. Most (if not all) of the cards listed in the card swaps are non-standard cards.

[Guest Grimfyre]

Hello,

I looked at the card swap options and Haunted Creeper is not a standard play card... Neither is Sludge Belcher ... Will this guide be updated to include standard card swaps since it is listed in the standard paladin decks?

Thanks.

[AntaresValex 0]

It took me a while to get used to this deck and all of the intricacies but I’m definitely kicking butt now!!

Edited March 28, 2018 by AntaresValex
Error in last post

[Smorod 33]

Thank you for this basic deck which works reasonably well and is fun to play too.

Compared to the 5 other basic decks which I tried so far, I was surprised by 2 things:

1. The absence of minions with the Taunt ability. Is this on purpose? If you believe that they are not needed in this deck, I would be curious to hear why. Would they not come handy to help keep smaller minions alive until you can leverage their presence with Frostwolf Warlord or Stormwind Champion?
2. The average mana cost. It is significantly higher, due to the absence of 0- and 1-drops, and the presence of four 7-drop minions when the other decks have only one. This does not seem compatible with the Strategy section advice to use the Hero Power as often as possible. What am I missing? I have noticed that I often have a lot of cards in my hand at the end of the game, no matter whether I'm going to win or lose, which makes me wonder if maybe I am summoning too many Silver Hand Recruits after all.

[positiv2 953]

23 hours ago, Smorod said:

The absence of minions with the Taunt ability. Is this on purpose? If you believe that they are not needed in this deck, I would be curious to hear why. Would they not come handy to help keep smaller minions alive until you can leverage their presence with Frostwolf Warlord or Stormwind Champion?

The best taunt minion, and perhaps the only one you should consider, Sen'jin Shieldmasta, is in the 4-mana slot, but the slot is already full. If you face a lot of aggro, you can remove Hammer of Wrath to make room for Sen'jin Shieldmasta. 

Additionally, the deck runs a relatively high amount of heals, which means that you should be able to stabilise more easily, which allows for the omittance of taunts in the deck.

23 hours ago, Smorod said:

The average mana cost. It is significantly higher, due to the absence of 0- and 1-drops, and the presence of four 7-drop minions when the other decks have only one. This does not seem compatible with the Strategy section advice to use the Hero Power as often as possible. What am I missing? I have noticed that I often have a lot of cards in my hand at the end of the game, no matter whether I'm going to win or lose, which makes me wonder if maybe I am summoning too many Silver Hand Recruits after all.

The board presence from the hero power lets you have a slightly heavier curve without sacrificing too much of early game power if the meta calls for it.

I would call Paladin's basic hero power one of the most complex ones, alongside Rogue's and Warlock's. You will need to be able to tell when to use the hero power, and when it is better to play a minion. There are many factors to take into consideration, such as current board state or the likelyhood that your opponent has a board clear for the following turn. You will get better at this over time.

[Smorod 33]

18 hours ago, positiv2 said:

The best taunt minion, and perhaps the only one you should consider, Sen'jin Shieldmasta, is in the 4-mana slot, but the slot is already full. If you face a lot of aggro, you can remove Hammer of Wrath to make room for Sen'jin Shieldmasta.

Why are you being so cruel to me? ? Hammer of Wrath is my favorite basic paladin spell, and the last one I would want to remove from this basic deck! It is also the only card draw in this deck. I was thinking more along the lines of removing Chillwind Yeti for Sen'jin Shieldmasta, based on the principle that there are 8 other big minions in the deck already. But I am well aware that the yeti has excellent value for its cost, and that 4-attack minions are good to have especially against priests. So I guess I'll just trust Kat's expertise and leave things as they are.

Now I'm looking at my slowly growing collection in search of cards to swap. I have ideas but also some hesitations. I am curious what you would do and would appreciate your insight if you have the time.

Would you replace Bloodfen Raptor with Dire Wolf Alpha or Knife Juggler? Both appear to have good synergy with the paladin's hero power.

Would you rather replace River Crocolisk with Amani Berserker or Sunfury Protector? Both are net upgrades so can't be fundamentally wrong. The protector solves the lack of taunt minions in late game, but the berserker has more value in early game, so I'm not sure what would work best in this deck.

Would you replace Razorfen Hunter with Harvest Golem or Blackwald Pixie?

The last minion I would like to replace is Murloc Tidehunter, maybe with Loot Hoarder, but I guess the tidehunter is there for its synergy with Frostwolf Warlord and Stormwind Champion, so maybe it has to stay after all.

[positiv2 953]

4 hours ago, Smorod said:

Would you replace Bloodfen Raptor with Dire Wolf Alpha or Knife Juggler? Both appear to have good synergy with the paladin's hero power.

If you are against decks where keeping board presence is more important, Dire Wolf Alpha is the way to go. However, for Dire Wolf Alpha to be of use, you already need to have board, so against decks that can control the board from early game, its effect won't be of much use. Against decks that run a ton of low-hp minions, like other paladins, Knife Juggler will provide you with more value. Generally, I would say that Dire Wolf Alpha is the better pick.

4 hours ago, Smorod said:

Would you rather replace River Crocolisk with Amani Berserker or Sunfury Protector? Both are net upgrades so can't be fundamentally wrong. The protector solves the lack of taunt minions in late game, but the berserker has more value in early game, so I'm not sure what would work best in this deck.

Usually, you want taunts in the mid game so that you can heal back up and win board in the late game against aggro decks. Additionally, since you don't have a way to "cheat" big minions onto the board (like Mountain Giants), you will be taunting only minions that are already able to start clearing the board. I would go with Amani Berserker.

4 hours ago, Smorod said:

Would you replace Razorfen Hunter with Harvest Golem or Blackwald Pixie?

I am biased towards Spider Tank-statted minions, so I would go with Blackwald Pixie. Harvest Golem can be better against control decks if you want a minion to stick to the board for Blessing of Kings though, so if you find that problematic, use Golem instead.

Do not be greedy with Blackwald Pixie. You will be playing it for the stats, not for the battlecry.

4 hours ago, Smorod said:

The last minion I would like to replace is Murloc Tidehunter, maybe with Loot Hoarder, but I guess the tidehunter is there for its synergy with Frostwolf Warlord and Stormwind Champion, so maybe it has to stay after all. 

Adding in Loot Hoarder gives you an option to cycle, allowing you to replace Hammer of Wrath with Sen'jin Shieldmasta without losing card draw. Hammer is relatively weak, so I would suggest finding a replacement for it, once you have some other card draw.

[Smorod 33]

18 hours ago, positiv2 said:

I am biased towards Spider Tank-statted minions (...)

Do not be greedy with Blackwald Pixie.

You're preaching to the choir here. I'm a big fan of 3/4 3-drop minions since I received my first Blackwald Pixie, and I'm always happy when I get to play it at T3. I see its ability as a mere bonus in case I must play it in late game.

Thanks again for all the advice and detailed explanations, very appreciated.