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[KARA] Tera's Menagerie Paladin

  • Last updated Dec 16, 2016 (Gadgetzan)
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Wild

  • 24 Minions
  • 3 Spells
  • 3 Weapons
  • Deck Type: Ranked Deck
  • Deck Archetype: Dragon Paladin
  • Crafting Cost: 7520
  • Dust Needed: Loading Collection
  • Created: 9/2/2016 (Karazhan)
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  • Tera
  • Registered User
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  • Battle Tag:

    Tera#1577

  • Region:

    US

  • Total Deck Rating

    1325

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~Introduction~

Howdy, everyone! My name is Tera. I am a multiple time legend player and get to legend almost every season using my own decklist. Last season I was able to hit legend again with my old Draggron Warrior list which surprisingly still had a kick left in it after all of the card nerfs that came in Wotog. Now we are in Karazhan though and everything is so new and fun. In Karazhan we were introduced to cards that focus on three tribes known as Beast, Dragons & Murlocs. I love the idea of trying to theory-craft together a deck with these tribes in mind. So here is the deck that I have been putting a lot of time and energy into. I have over 100+ games played with it played among legend players with a positive win-ratio. I starting playing this deck on the last day of the season and since then it has been a blast! The deck has taken some time to refine, but the optimal list is coming closer! The current list is very, very different from where I started! At one point I was running a Selfless Hero to try and help out with the early game! Anyways, to the deck write-up we go! Try this deck out, you're in for a treat! 

P.S. Don't forget to leave a comment ;) If you have any card suggestions for the deck, I am more than happy to hear them!

Edit: 12/16/2016 - Polished Write-Up to give finished appearance.

www.twitch.tv/gamer_tera *STREAM OFFLINE*

www.youtube.com/TeraRicshon (Personal/LGBTQ/Vlogging Youtube)

~Strategy~

The Curve

This decks focus is to play minions on curve demanding an answer from your opponent every turn. If your opponent ever leaves a minion alive they will have to suffer from Zoobot / Menagerie Magician. On turn 2 there is Faerie Dragon and Huge Toad to help curve out into Zoobot. On turn 4 there is Oasis Snapjaw and Twilight Guardian to curve out into Menagerie Magician.

The Beast, Dragon & Murlocs

This deck has the potential to last a very long time. We want to close to guarantee that our curator is able to draw 3 cards. For this reason 3 murloc and 3 beast were included in the deck. Having 3 of each minion tribe makes it incredibly likely to draw 3 cards from The Curator on turn 7. Other than that, the dragons are the back-bone of the deck. There are 8 dragons in this deck and generally you are not starved for dragon synergy cards or unable to wait for them.

Keeper of Uldaman VS Aldor Peacekeeper

Keeper of Uldaman is simply a better removal tool and more flexible than Aldor Peacekeeper is. Aldor Peacekeeper helps by denying your opponent full potential of their minion, but generally doesn't help in the actual killing of that minion. I found countless times where my opponent would drop huge minions such as Arcane Giant and Ragnaros. While Aldor Peacekeeper was able to nerf them, it still left behind a huge body. Keeper of Uldaman on the other hand gave me the ability to easily trade and kill their larger minions. I could have Rallying Blade equipped and kill any minion in the game cause of Keeper of Uldaman. Also Keeper of Uldaman works out great on turn 8 with a discounted Book Wyrm - Keeper of Uldaman combo to kill a minion. 

~The Deck~

Core

Vilefin Inquisitor x2 - 1-drop 1/3 murloc that makes your hero power summon 1/1 murlocs. It is a no brainer too include this card in the deck.

 

Faerie Dragon x2 - What I would consider the best 2-drop dragon, needing a dragon to follow-up on turn 3 for Zoobot makes this card a must-have. Plus it can be hard for your opponent to remove if they don't currently have a board.

 

Nightbane Templar x2 - 4/5 stats in a 3 mana card. This card is stated as a 4 drop that you get on turn 3. It also has dragon tokens which can synergize with Zoobot / Menagerie Magician.

 

Zoobot x2 - The whole point of making this deck is to buff up your beast, dragon & murlocs. Also Zoobot is a pretty good body if needing to just drop on turn 3 without synergy.

 

Consecration x2 - Board clear is a must have. An aggressive decks will just shred you without being able to clear their boards.

 

Truesilver Champion x2 - A 4 attack weapon that also heals you makes Truesilver Champion one of the best weapons in the game. You can trade with minion establishing board control without as much risk to your face.

 

Twilight Guardian x2 - One of the best dragon cards in the game. It does great for delaying aggro and curving into Menagerie Magician.

 

Dragon Consort x2 - Hoping to overwhelm your opponent, Dragon Consort aids in getting your threats out even faster. With the decks curve being made perfectly to fit him and not need a ton of extra draw power. Dragon Consort can enable some crazy shenanigans. Such as Book Wyrm - Keeper of Uldaman Combo.

 

Menagerie Magician x2 - The whole point of making this deck is to buff up your beast, dragon & murlocs. Plus a 4/4 on turn 5 is what most decks are running anyways, so if you have to play it without synergy it isn't the worst thing in the world.

 

The Curator x1 - Hello! Why wouldn't you run this amazing card. Like, this card is absolutely insane! A 4/6 Taunt that draws you three cards. There is absolutely no way we aren't running this baby.

 

Tirion Fordring x1 - One of the best 8-drops in the game. He is basically an auto-include in any Paladin deck.

 

Flex

*Realize just cause these are labeled as Flex doesn't mean it is advised to switch them out for other cards. These are in the deck for a reason, I just don't feel they are integral to this type of deck.

Forbidden Healing x1 - Games with this deck tend to last quite a long time. Against most decks you need some way to stay in the game for long which Forbidden Healing allows you to do in a flexible manner. It is just one card in a deck of 30 that can basically full-heal you.

 

Huge Toad x2 - One of the best beast 2-drops available and it comes up on the turn before Zoobot. It is great to have an extra 2-drop to curve into.

 

Rallying Blade x1 - This card was added after many failed attempts to manage early game. After adding just this one card, the early game became so much more manageable and I could make the curve of my deck a bit more top-heavy.

 

Keeper of Uldaman x2 - Card synergizes well with your weapons to kill big minions. It also can buff your own minions to aid in trades. In addition it can combo with Book Wyrm too kill any minions and leave behind a 3/4 and 3/6 in their wake. Basically just a highly flexible card and it works as our only big minion removal option in the deck.

 

Murloc Knight x1 - We needed 3 murlocs in this deck to draw murlocs reliable from The Curator. Murloc Knight was kind of a no-brainer for me to fill in this slot. I always view Murloc Knight as a 6-drop minion which keeps giving if it isn't removed. It helps out a ton if your board is cleared and you can sometimes activate its effect twice in one turn using Vilefin Inquisitor.

 

Oasis Snapjaw x1 - There really are not that many good beast in the game. Basically all the good beast are within the hunter class. Oasis Snapjaw was the only 3rd beast that I really saw having a home in this deck. It starts as a 2/7  on turn 4, nothing great, but if you remember in hunter Oasis Snapjaw used to be played in the past. It was played to buff it up with Houndmaster and make an insanely powerful beast! The only issue was that Houndmaster was a 4-drop as well, making it not be the ideal play to make in hunter most of the time. In Menagerie Paladin it is completely different, if they don't clear Oasis Snapjaw you can follow with a Menagerie Magician the very next turn. This gives you an incredibly powerful and beefy minion with to contest the board.

 

Book Wyrm x1 - Card works great alongside Keeper of Uldaman. There are also a ton of 3-attack minions currently in the meta making the effect almost guaranteed to be beneficial at some point in every game.

 

Ysera x1 - After fixing my early game with Rallying Blade, I noticed that control match-ups and the late game were a issue for me. I could flood the board repeatedly but control match-ups would just keep on clearing it. At some point though they do run out of removal options and you can slam down a Ysera. Ysera will keep pumping cards into your hand giving you the edge against control match-ups. 

 

~Win-rates~

Here are the percentages:

Here are the games played:

~Deck Tips~

- Your kill turn is generally turn 10+. This deck even though it is midrange generally plays a later game.

- Murloc Knight is best kept for turn 6 for when you can use hero power alongside it. You should view Murloc Knight as a turn 6 drop and not a 4 drop. A Murloc Knight dropped on turn 4 is wasted.

- Vilefin Inquisitor resets your hero power. You need to capitalize on this fact and get an extra 1/1 out of it. Also if you have Murloc Knight on the field already you can get an extra proc off of Murloc Knight as well.

- Keeper of Uldaman will almost always be used as removal. Save it to remove your opponents larger minions.

- Don't be afraid to play Zoobot and Menagerie Magician with no synergies. You shouldn't wait around for combo pieces cause that could lose you the game.

~Notable Omissions~

Blackwing Technician - Blackwing Technician would seem like a no-brainer in a dragon centric deck. The only problem with them is that they don't synergize well with Zoobot and Menagerie Magician. Also they are a 3/5 compared too Nightbane Templar who is a 4/5 total in stats and also gives you dragon tokens for synergy. Blackwing Technician didn't make it into the list simply because there wasn't room.

 

Blackwing Corruptor - Simply no room for him and he doesn't synergize well with the rest of the deck.

 

Drakonid Crusher - Murloc Knight gives the same value stat point wise as Drakonid Crusher. An if lucky it can actually give you more value stat-point wise than Drakonid Crusher. I just find Murloc Knight to be a better 6-drop than Drakonid Crusher in this deck.

 

Azure Drake - A great card that gives your deck a longer game. While normally this would be an auto-include in most dragon centric decks, we do not need Azure Drake. The curve of the deck is made in a way that you shouldn't run out of steam. Also there is only Consecration to combo with Azure Drake. I chose to remove Azure Drake from the deck for Ysera cause she is simply better in the late-game and can continually provide more cards.

 

Onyxia - A solid 8/8 that fills your board with 1/1 dragon tokens. While this card would seem to work well in this deck, I didn't find a board fill card is what was needed. When playing with her she would often times sit in my hand.

 

Nefarian - A solid 8/8 that gives you 2 random spells. He isn't bad at all and I could understand people running him. He does give you pseudo-draws alongside a large body. He is omitted though because those draws are random and could have very low impact on the game. I like Ysera more, who you know will always give you amazing cards.

 

~Match-ups & Mulligans~

General Mulligans

You want Vilefin Inquisitor, Faerie Dragon and Huge Toad in every match-up.

 

Keep Rallying Blade and Zoobot if you have a good curve.

 

Keep Dragon Consort if it is in your initial mulligan and there are no other good options.

 

Druid - 40/60

Against Druid add on Consecration to your mulligan. 

 

Token Druid 30/70 - Current version of token druid are starting too run a lot of board clears and heals. On top of that they have an insane amount of card draw and never run out of steam. This is just added onto the fact that they have Raven Idol which will just find them even more board clears to use on you. To win this match-up try to avoid creating boards that can easily be Swipe. When their board gets large use Consecration to clear their minions. Most of the time their minions will not be large enough to survive a Consecration. If they do drop down Fandral Staghelm or Violet Teacher, do not ignore them. Kill them as quickly as possible otherwise they can spiral very quickly and steal the game.

 

Beast Druid 50/50 - Beast Druid generally doesn't have great draw power. A lot of the time their games are completely dependent on if they are able to curve out successfully and take the game earlier rather than later. Focus on board control until they run out of steam and then steal the game from them. Generally the only way you lose this match is if they get the perfect curve and removal.

 

Ramp Druid 70/30 - Easy match-up. They take forever to get ramped up which gives us sometime to generate a board. When they are finally ramped up we have Keeper of Uldaman to help clear their big minions and eventually kill them. To bad this isn't a very commonly played variant of Druid.

 

C'thun Druid 60/40 - Same as ramp druid for the most part. They have a bit more early game so try to focus on clear their minion first and foremost. Rallying Blade is amazing for clearing their early minions. As with Ramp Druid use Keeper of Uldaman to clear their large minions.

 

Hunter - 65/35

Against Hunter add Rallying Blade, Truesilver Champion, Twilight Guardian & Consecration to mulligan.

 

Midrange Hunter 65/35 - Almost every turn you have a better play then they do. The only thing Hunter has on you is their hero power and Savannah Highmane. Just focus on curving out and keep the board under control. If you ever lose board use Consecration to get it back. Use your weapons to help maintain board control. Most games they will get close to lethal on you and this is where Forbidden Healing comes into play. Getting off a turn 7 Ysera or Turn 8 Tirion Fordring before they can Call of the Wild will almost always halt them in their tracks. Do not recklessly activate their secrets. Especially be weary of activating secrets if they have a Eaglehorn Bow equipped. You often times can afford to just hold off activating secrets. 

 

Mage - 60/40

Against Mage add on Rallying Blade, Truesilver Champion & Consecration to your mulligan.

 

Tempo Mage 65/35 - Try to play minions on curve and avoid playing into Flamestrike on turn 7. Use your Weapons and Consecration to help clear their minions from the board. If they run Firelands Portal save your Keeper of Uldaman for them. Drawing into Forbidden Healing can often times keep you alive if they get close to lethal.

 

Freeze Mage 40/60 - Freeze Mage is a incredibly difficult match-up. They have so many board freezes and ways to stall out the game that it is hard to kill them. Generally the main way of winning this match-up is a misplay on their part. If they try to use damage early to secure lethal in the next turn, use Forbidden Healing and they most of the time won't be able to kill you anymore.

 

Paladin - 80/20

Against Paladin add on Rallying Blade, Truesilver Champion, Consecration & Keeper of Uldaman to your mulligan.

 

Murloc Paladin 90/10 - This match-up is just hilarious. The moment that you drop down Vilefin Inquisitor is the moment that they lose the game. Just focus on curving out, don't play to much into board clears. They won't be able to keep up eventually and you have a much better late game than them. You basically out control the control deck.

 

N'Zoth Paladin 80/20 - In this match-up you should also avoid playing into board clears. Hold onto Keeper of Uldaman for their large minions like Ragnaros, Lightlord and Tirion Fordring. Generally you can keep on filling the board and even if they do N'Zoth, the Corruptor you have the ability to survive it.

 

Divine Shield Paladin 70/30 - Consecration is your best friend in this match-up. Just play minions on curve and equip Rallying Blade to start trading into their minions. Use Consecration when and if their board gets too big. You normally won't have a ton of cards in your hand making them not have a great amount of card draw potential. Just trade keep control of the board until the run out of steam.

 

Menagerie Paladin 50/50 - Against a mirrior it is all about play on curve better than they can. Most Menagerie list I have seen don't run Rallying Blade and that is what will win you the match-up. Just establish board control first and you win. Often times this game will be decided on the coin flip.

 

Priest - 80/20

Against Priest add on Rallying Blade, Truesilver Champion and Keeper of Uldaman to your mulligan.

 

Resurrect Priest 80/20 - Losing to resurrect priest is mainly due to them having insane draws. Any other time you are basically guaranteed the win. Play minions on curve and use your weapons to kill the minions they play. If they do resurrect anything use Keeper of Uldaman to kill it again. Book Wyrm can be amazing in this match-up taking out Priest of the Feast.

 

Rogue - 70/30

Against Rogue add on Truesilver Champion and Keeper of Uldaman to your mulligan.

 

Miracle Rogue 70/30 - Originally this match-up was incredibly negative. After many deck alterations this match-up is now positive. You have an incredible long game and it is hard for a miracle rogue to last. Just focus on clearing each of their minions. Use Keeper of Uldaman on big minions such as Arcane Giant and Edwin VanCleef. If they get close to lethal on you, use Forbidden Healing to get out of lethal range. This match-up is normally won not by lethal, but by fatigue.

 

Shaman - 50/50

Against Shaman add on Rallying Blade, Truesilver Champion, Consecration, Twilight Guardian & Keeper of Uldaman to mulligan.

 

Aggro Shaman 40/60 - Aggro Shaman is just often times much to fast. As soon as they use Flamewreathed Faceless or Doomhammer you sort of lose the game. Just try to curve out on them and use consecration when they build up a meaty board.  You have the ability to answer all of their threats, it just relies on you drawing right.

 

Midrange Shaman 50/50 - Midrange Shaman is a lot easier to deal with than aggro. Being slower we have more time to develop answers to their threats. It is a pretty even match-up and largely depends on who outplays the other.

 

Control Shaman 60/40 - Even slower of a Shaman. You have more than enough time to develop all of your answers to their threats. Just be careful and don't play to much into board cause Hallazeal the Ascended - Elemental Destruction Combo is a real thing. Remember that they can heal-up at almost any moment and the chances of you getting lethal when you think you will is almost none. Play for the long game, play it smart and you should win.

 

Warlock - 65/35

Against Warlock add on Rallying Blade, Truesilver Champion, Consecration & Twilight Guardian to mulligan.

 

Warlock 65/35 - While this match-up is positive you really got to make the proper trades to win the game. You need to keep control of the boards at all times. They will kill themselves through using their own hero power. Weapons and Consecration will help you keep control of the board. Twilight Guardian, The Curator & Tirion Fordring will keep them from being able to pressure you. If played correctly you should be able to get a win off of them.

 

Warrior - 35/65

 Against Warrior add on Truesilver Champion to mulligan.

 

Control Warrior 30/70 - Control Warrior has way to many board clears and removal options to even remotely compete against any variant of them. They will armor up to an insane amount and any time you have any kind of board they will Brawl it. Remember to never hero power into a Brawl. That 1/1 will always win the Brawl. Try not to play into Ravaging Ghoul. I found the best way to win this match-up is to out control the control deck. You want to wait for them to use their Shield Slam, Brawl and Execute. After that you play Ysera. If they are unable to answer Ysera normally they will lose. Also if they get to the point of fatigue you don't have nearly as much card draw as they do and can possibly fatigue them out.

 

Dragon Warrior 50/50 - Playing against dragon warrior is about curving out better. You both have very similar strategies. You both have similar removal. You both have similar survival. This match-up is generally dependent on the coin toss if anything. 

 

Aggro Warrior 30/70 - A very difficult match-up. This isn't due to you being at a distinct disadvantage to aggro warrior, but because you will almost always mulligan wrong against it. With it being the least played variant of warrior it isn't worth trying to mulligan against it. This makes you incredibly susceptible to just being swept clean very quickly.

 

~Deck Spotlight~

*This could be your video! Please Inbox a video of you playing the deck or comment it down below if you want to be given the spotlight!

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