Elemental Fusion!
- Last updated Oct 22, 2016 (Yogg Nerf)
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Wild
- 9 Minions
- 19 Spells
- 2 Weapons
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Totem Shaman
- Crafting Cost: 4480
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 10/3/2016 (Yogg Nerf)
- Chimera
- Registered User
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- 210
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Battle Tag:
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Region:
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Total Deck Rating
2184
The goal of this deck is to keep the board under control while getting value from spell damage and totems, drawing through your deck full of damage until you find lethal. Win condition is usually a final burst of damage, for example:
- 15 damage with only 2x lava burst + lava shock if you have +1 spell damage
- Save wicked witchdoctor + windfury + primal fusion, and buff an existing minion for surprise lethal. PRIMAL FUSION LAST FOR THIS!
- You can also use bloodlust.
Replays
Strategy
Firstly we must identify how this deck wins. Usually it wins by a final burst of damage. It may also win simply from accumulative damage. You want to aim and plan around setting up a board and saving certain cards to unexpectedly finish off your opponent. This may be achieved through Bloodlust, however you may also harness the power of spell damage and chain together Lightning Bolts Lava Shocks Lava Bursts and Primal Fusions. Weapon damage and Flametongue Totem damage helps as well.
I aim to start the game with a Spirit Claws whenever possible. It is the best card you can play turn 1 for this deck. Turn 2 i almost always hero power, but it depends if/how much my opponent is pressuring me. If you are not being presented with many immediate threats use your cards sparingly, your hero power is your friend.
If you get the coin try to save it to summon a totem after playing Wicked Witchdoctor or for some other important situation. If you do need to spend it to contest the board that is fine, but only if you have to. When you do play Wicked Witchdoctor try to avoid spending every spell you can just to make totems; don't waste anything while getting this value. Keep in mind possible ways that your opponent can clear the board still and try not to over-extend too much. If you are really concerned about removal it may be wise to try and bait/wait it out.
Try to sequence your spells in the best possible order. This can be one of the more complicated aspects of this deck. Remember that Wicked Witchdoctor triggers before the spell actually resolves, so you will have a new totem each time before the spell actually is cast.
If you have a spell but you are one damage short, you can play it and hope you get a spell damage totem for that extra damage, but preferably you should cast other less crucial spells first to see if you actually get one first and play it safe. With Primal Fusion be aware that the newly summoned totem will count as well for an extra +1/+1 so count that when you count damage. This is best played last for the largest buff.
Think about how to ration out your removal each game. Try to identify the archetype you are matched against and which key cards they will have that are best to Hex. For example, you know a midrange hunter will have Savannah Highmane, and you know a control paladin will have Tirion Fordring, so plan to keep at least one for when they make an appearance. Do not be afraid to use one to help re-gain control of the board or neutralize a threat that you otherwise can not deal with. It can buy you a lot of time and help swing tempo in your favor often, but think carefully.
Be aware of the minions remaining in your deck when you play Barnes so you can take advantage of the summoned 1/1 if possible. I prefer to try and wait longer than turn 4 to drop it because if i get a Wicked Witchdoctor i would like to get some value from that as well. You can also get some bonus spell damage and card draw, so just be aware of the odds.
When using Spirit Claws try to only hit face when you have spell damage, and try to save the last durability for clearing a minion if you can. Beware of Acidic Swamp Ooze and Harrison Jones which some decks are running right now. Lastly, be careful with sequencing of overload spells and Lava Shock to maximize value there as well. Don't be afraid to use Lava Shock a a removal if it is required, though. Especially late game when you have a lot of mana and a lot of cheap cards; the overload has much less of an impact.
Card Breakdown
Tunnel Trogg - This is a great 1 drop and because there is so much overload going on here it there is no reason to exclude it. Turning overload into damage can stack up fast if left unattended
Feral Spirit - This is a good card for getting on the board. In this case it is useful after the inevitable board clear of your opponents to put something immediately in their way so you can prepare your next moves.
Lightning Bolt - A cheap source of damage with a lot of utility. Some matches you will use it to clear minions and trigger witchdoctor, others you will use it to burst down your enemy
Primal Fusion - Amazing card. A cheap and easy way to buff a token with up to +6/+6. Great for lethal damage as well at the end of the game. Be aware there is a disconnect bug when playing this card with witchdoctor sometimes and i am not sure what causes it
Spirit Claws - Amazing card. You can do anywhere to 3-9 damage with just one of these. Very flexible for clearing minions or whittling down your enemy's life total
Ancestral Knowledge - A very nice card to cycle your deck and draw important cards. The overload can be negated with a lava shock for more value.
Flametongue Totem - A quick way to beef up your board damage if you have existing minions and it counts as a totem as well.
Lava Shock - Flexible damage to distribute where it is needed while also relieving some overload. Very important card
Lightning Storm - This is a great aoe and the more spell damage you have the better. I ended up liking this better than maelstrom portal because it has stronger standalone damage.
Hex - One of the best hard removal cards that will bail you out of some sticky situations assuming you draw it at the right time. Try to be aware of what the best targets might be in the particular deck you are playing against so you make the best use.
Lava Burst - 3 Mana for 5 damage is really good, especially if you are using them to finish off your opponent late game. With the potential for many spell damage totems these could be potent in combination with other damage sources.
Windfury - This is a great card to combo with a minion after you use bloodlust or primal fusion for example. It basically doubles the value of the previous spell in this case. Be careful if you attempt to use it to clear minions because you don't want to waste it.
Maelstrom Portal - Auxiliary aoe in this deck, and generally a good card. Scales well with spell damage and provides a minion to add to the board. Can't go wrong with this.
Wicked Witchdoctor - Probably the most important card in this deck. You can make many totems with this and the way it interacts with your spells is really convenient. You can fill the board in no time if you plan ahead and it makes bloodlust spectacular
Bloodlust - This is another core card because it is your most clear win condition. It is simple to use, you just need to set up enough totems and count your damage. Double bloodlust on turn 10 is nuts
Azure Drake - Azure drake is a valuable card and a 1/1 with spell damage is not terrible from barnes either. Another card that helps to cycle the deck.
Bloodmage Thalnos - Very versatile with it's spell damage and cad draw in one package. A strong tool in this deck as it is in many others.
Barnes - This card gets great value with this deck because of how few minions in it.
Mulligan
You may choose to keep some other cards depending on what you expect to encounter. For some decks you may require a Lightning Bolt, Lightning Storm, Hex, or you may like to keep an Ancestral Knowledge to draw into your deck more.
When you have the coin it may definitely be wise to keep Lightning Storm in most cases, and Wicked Witchdoctor is a great choice to keep as well because of the coin. Do consider Bloodmage Thalnos as well for some spell damage when you need it most.
Replacements
Tunnel Trogg - Maelstrom Portal + Earth Shock/Stormcrack
Bloodmage Thalnos - Azure Drake
Lava Shock - Earth Shock/Stormcrack
You may also be interested in my new Handlock!
Minion (20)
Ability (9)
Playable Hero (1)
Loading Collection
I have noticed similar on NA as well there's quite a few shamans, and tons of anyfin paladins which gets frustrating if you can't get the right draws before they do. Paladins board clears are also a pain in my ass! Thank you as well for the kind words, much appreciated :)
6 ranked games, 5 win, 1 lose. Really nice deck! I'll keep using it.
Ps: Just lost for other Totem Shaman.
Take out barnes and 1 totemcarver add 2 totem golem
You can do that, but i know it would not perform nearly as well. totemcarvers are easy 4 mana 8/8s after mid-game many times. Totem golem is a plain 3/4 body that overloads you. Trust me there is no need for pre-buffed totems. There's plenty of buffs and if you plan well enough you can easily set up a bloodlust or otherwise with basic totems.
I played a few games and you are right about the totem golems but still I feel like i need a squire or something
I usually try to make as many totems as possible. Wicked Witchdoctor is very good at quickly producing totems. I like to combo some spells with it when i can, especially coine. Totemic might and primal fusion are the best. Lightning bolt as well.
Deck is really fun so far :) Only climbed from 19->15 so far, but when the deck works, it destroys. The only decks I've had issues against so far are face hunters and control warriors. But that's due to them perfectly drawing.
Barnes for me so far hasn't given me anything useful but here is to hoping. Only have lost 3 matches so far.
Well i am glad you are enjoying it, thanks for the feedback :) Warriors are definitely a pain with their aoe removals so be careful how you flood the board. I like to make a ton of basic totems in an attempt to make them waste a brawl or something. Not going to work a lot, but it's a fun mind-game. The couple hunters i played today i crushed though, not sure on the trend =P Druids may be a struggle here and there as well, but i can't say how many there will be on ladder this week because of the yogg nerf. We will see! Have fun and good luck! I will try it out some more around rank 11-10 and compare the results a bit.
Can I replace the Bloodmage Thlanos with something else? I don't have, neither can I craft him anytime soon, no dust for that :(
I advocate crafting thalnos ASAP, not just for this deck, but because the card also is great in tempo mage, and always has been a staple of nearly every rogue deck.
Yet again, I don't have dust for it, and I don't have some parts of the Black Rock Mountain adventure which have the Tempo Mage core cards, as well as I'm not playing too much rogue, I prefer Shaman and Warrior atm.
I do consider crafting him, but there are bigger priorities at the moment. So, what can I replace him with?
I can second what Johnny said.
To replace it for now firstly we must look at what it's purpose is. I included it for some spell power on demand and a bonus card draw. The best replacement in that regard would be an azure drake. You make also choose a kobold geomancer, or perhaps a totem golem if you just want to replace it with anything that costs 2 mana.
I feel like this could use a few Azure Drakes to synergize with the claws.
edit: maybe cut one Draenei Totemcarver and Barnes for them I can't see barnes reliably working, and totem carver is a "win more" card really.
Another edit: This deck needs Totem Golem as a good turn 2 play as well.
No not at all. Tuskarr now produces basic totems which increases chance for spell damage, and if he doesn't roll one it increases odds of rolling it from your hero power. For this reason i deliberately cut azure drakes to lower the curve.
I decided i didn't mind losing the added draw either because i have mana tides and i can buff them, and i also have bloodmage thalnos. Barnes is the new tuskarr and is amazing for summoning additional totems, bloodmage thalnos, thunderbluff valiant and witchdoctor.
I can sort of see how that is, but I still think you have too many dud draws for barnes.
16 minions total, one is barnes of them four are complete duds (tuscarr, totem carver), two are okayish though not great (thing from below), four need synergy to actually work so they're not good if you play barnes on curve (witch doctor, valiant). Only 5 are individually great (flame tongue, mana tide, thalnos), and even then flame tongue is almost situational. Compare with hunters that ran barnes and they usually only had two bad draws (hound masters) and the rest were amazing minions to pull.
Chance of spell damage totem is still not that great compared to 100% chance of spell damage with drake. Yeah you can hero power and put totemic down, but then you're still spending 5 mana and not drawing a card to get a 50/50 of getting the spell power. Why not run both?
Also this is a totem deck. It really really really needs totem golem, it's good enough as a vanilla minion, and you have almost no early game.
Edit: accidentally messed up a sentence.
Another edit: pre-nerf tuskarr had a 3/7 chance of pulling something amazing, this barnes has a 1/3 chance of being almost as good assuming you haven't already drawn thalnos, or any of the totems (and you'd probably keep thalnos in the mulligan). It's just statistically not nearly as good.
I don't disagree with the statistics. I see it from a different perspective i suppose. You are right that there are a few minions here that would not be getting max value from barnes' effect. I decided while building it that i was alright with that. I am not necessarily aiming to get an insane barnes drop that swings the game. Rather, it is a tool. First of all, barnes pulls from the minions remaining in your deck. Tuskarr just summoned whatever. This can allow you to play strategically sometimes knowing what is left in your deck and you can choose the right time to play it knowing the possible outcomes, so i would not go so far comparing the two cards statistically. Also, the fact that barnes produces another token is in itself useful for bloodlust set-up :)
Regarding totem golem, i was wondering how soon someone would mention that :P
I understand it is a totem deck, and generally that would mean hey, lets throw in every god damn totem! Well not in this case. I will share some of my thought process when i decided not to include them.
-They have overload, and i don't want overload if i don't need it in this deck (no tunnel trogg)
-Not a good barnes pull (although that applies to several cards)
-Already have massive totem output
-Not the sort of early game i want
I guess that is kind of vague but hopefully it makes at least a little sense. I suppose the early game does appear a bit weak but when playing the deck it didn't feel that way. That's another reason i wanted a lower curve as well, though. I'll try to hero power turn 2 when appropriate and aim for spirit claws and lightning bolt in my opening hand. I really don't value totem golem here because it's just a 3/4 for 3 mana. I can just get a regular totem and buff it with primal fusion for 1 mana etc. so i am/was not too worried.
Definitely changes i would keep on hand if i find that something needs to be improved. Also thank you for your input as well it does help to think of things from another point of view.
I think totem golem is good overload and all, midrange shaman still runs it even without trogg. It's especially good since hero powering with this deck isn't as bad as others with all your synergies.
At least consider argent squire. It synergizes with your buffs and really helps.
You're welcome. I do like totem shaman as an archetype, I even tried to make it work pre WotOG, unfortunate that at the time there just was no way for it to work reliably with secret paladin out and about.