Hearthpwn

Hello everyone.

My name is Serbak and I play Hearthstone. Welcome to my Jade Evolve Shaman guide!

When I get tired of tryharding, or want to blow some steam, my most favourite thing in the world is playing Evolve Shaman. Why? Beacuse it is a fun way to embrace the prime nature of this game: randomness. But, can we consistently win by just throwing this package of RNG cards in the deck and pray we Evolve into some good minions? No, but instead of praying we can learn to partially control RNG in our favor to overrun our opponent with huge board presence!

Do you want to become a Master of Evolution? Then keep reading!

Disclaimer: I am not claiming that this deck is Tier 1 or 2, but you can perfectly play ranked games with this deck. Matchups go similar to a standard Midrange Shaman, but the deck is obviously worst/less consistent. It crushes Jade Druid, can stall vs Pirate Warrior, does okay vs both Priests, and loses hard to Renolock. I don't have a solid sample size of games against Rogue, but my winrate is negative (25% 1-3).

Now that we are clear, let's talk a bit about card choices.

THE DECK

REMOVAL PACKAGE:

-Doomsayer x2. Top performer in the deck. It allows you to get initiative back and really clean Evolve turns. You can also Evolve him later in the game if you didn't find a turn to play it.

Flametongue Totem x2. I don't want to make a new section for just this card so I'll leave it here. Used to trade up with little critters or totems, and to gain some damage later in the game. Don't be afraid to Evolve it aswell.

- Maelstrom Portal x2 and Jade Claws x2. Solid early game removal that leaves a little guy for us to Evolve or value trade? YES!

-Hex x2 and Lightning Storm. Nothing to say about this cards as everyone knows how good they are. Standard Shaman removal.

-Jade Lightning x2. New juicy spell we got. It may look overcosted if you play it as your first Jade card but I think it's good enough since Jade cards are strong against control because of the growing mechanic. Also acts as reach, we don't run Lightning Bolt.

EVOLVE PACKAGE:

-Evolve x2. Names the deck and makes it what it is: crazy unpredictable. The best and the worst, the Schrödinger card. Its is probably my favourite card in Hearthstone and the reason I am so passionate about the deck. 

-Master of Evolution x2. My second favourite card in the game. Has to be in the deck because we don't have any more Evolve cards and because it is pretty good. It's Battlecry can make a threat and he IS a threat by itself. Nasty.

EVOLVE BAIT PACKAGE:

We have removal, and we have the Evolve tools. Now we need the cocoons, the poor sacrifices that will become our champions of doom:

-Brann Bronzebeard x1. Insanely broken with almost all our minions. Our Battlecry effects consist on making tokens or Master of Evolution, so yeah... Looks like a no brainer.

-Mana Tide Totem x1. Good draw engine that boosts Thing from Below. Not much.

-Pantry Spider x2. Two weak 3 drops to Evolve that have synergy with Brann Bronzebeard and Flametongue Totem. Also decent Master of Evolution target.

-Barnes x1. Another token maker. This one can be insane. If he pulls Thing from Below or Nerubian Prophet you should Evolve or Master of Evolution right away. Usually don't play him unless you can Evolve inmediatly, because of Doomsayer risk.

-Jade Spirit x2. With a total of 6 Jade cards + Brann Bronzebeard we can get our Jade Golems to a decent value. And remember that they grow on cost as well, becoming great Evolve targets.

-Doppelgangster x1. Three 5 drops packed in one card is just nuts. We can turn 6 Doppelgangster + Evolve to have three 6 drops. It has also decent stats by itself and good Flametongue Totem trades, and can refill your board after a wipe. Running more than 1 it's too greedy.

-Nerubian Prophet x2. Key card that allows us to do nasty things with Evolve or Master of Evolution for a relatively small mana cost. Keeping it in your opening hand means you can play it on turn 3 and curve perfectly with the Master of Evolution, but I usually wait until I can use them the same turn unless I know for sure it will survive (vs and empty boarded Priest, for example).

-Thing from Below x2. Great card by itself. Because of that, I usually play the card AFTER I Evolve or Evolve it when it is at low Health after a trade.

TECH CHOICES VS AGGRO:

Thats the deck! Right now it is tuned to play against midrange and control decks because  the number of Pirates in ladder has decreased a bit. Against a lot of aggro I recommend the following.

- Pantry Spider x1-2

- Jade Spirit x1

- Doppelgangster x1

+ Feral Spirit x1-2

+ Jinyu Waterspeaker x2

PLAYING AROUND EVOLVE

As I said if we control our evolution effects we will have a lot more success with the deck than if we just slam them randomly.

-Getting a Taunt or a Charge minion:

You are in trouble against an aggro deck. You HAVE to survive this turn to stabilize. Or maybe you are both really low Health and you are missing just a bit of damage to finish him off. If we can't Evolve everything... Which minion should we Master of Evolution to get a Taunt or a Charge? Let's find out!

*Standard statistics, this changes for Wild.

2-Mana Minions: 84

2-Mana Taunts: 6 (7.14% chance)

Best ones: Public Defender and Dirty Rat.

Worst one: Frostwolf Grunt.

2-Mana Chargers: 1 (1.19% chance)

Bluegill Warrior = 2 Damage.

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3-Mana Minions: 115

3-Mana Taunts: 8 (6.95% chance)

Best ones: Wickerflame Burnbristle, Felguard and Fierce Monkey.

Worst ones: Silverback Patriarch and Tauren Warrior.

3-Mana Chargers: 2 (1.73% chance)

Argent Horserider = 2 Damage.

Wolfrider = 3 Damage.

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4-Mana Minions: 108

4-Mana Taunts: 8 (7.40% chance)

Best ones: Bloodhoof Brave and Mogu'shan Warden.

Worst one: Faceless Shambler.

4-Mana Chargers: 2 (1.85% chance)

Stormwind Knight = 2 Damage.

Kor'kron Elite = 4 Damage.

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5-Mana Minions: 81

5-Mana Taunts: 9 (11.11% chance)

Best ones: Earth Elemental, White Eyes, Alley Armorsmith and Psych-o-Tron.

Worst one: Maybe Abomination, but it can also be what you need. All are pretty good.

5-Mana Chargers: 3 (3.70% chance)

Tundra Rhino = 2 Damage.

Doomguard= 5 Damage.

Leeroy Jenkins = 6 Damage.

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6-Mana Minions: 68

6-Mana Taunts: 9 *including Hogger and Bolf Ramshield(13.23% chance)

Best ones: Dark Arakkoa, Ancient of Blossoms and Sunwalker.

Worst ones: Jade Behemoth and Hogger.

6-Mana Chargers: 2 (2.94% chance)

Argent Commander = 4 Damage.

Reckless Rocketeer = 5 Damage.

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7-Mana Minions: 32

7-Mana Taunts: 6 *including Obsidian Destroyer (18.75% chance)

Best one: Bog Creeper.

Worst one: Obsidian Destroyer.

7-Mana Chargers: 1 (3.12% chance)

Skycap'n Kragg = 4 Damage.

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8-Mana Minions: 16

8-Mana Taunts: 3 (18.75 chance)

Best one: Tirion Fordring.

Worst one: None. Al'Akir the Windlord and Ironbark Protector are good options too.

8-Mana Chargers: 3 *including Ragnaros the Firelord (18.75% chance)

Grommash Hellscream = 4 Damage (10 Damage Enraged).

Al'Akir the Windlord = 6 Damage.

Ragnaros the Firelord = 8 Damage (to a random target).

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9-Mana Minions: 21

9-Mana Taunts: 2 (9.52% chance)

Best one: Soggoth the Slitherer.

Worst one: Volcanic Lumberer is decent.

9-Mana Chargers: 1 *not including Icehowl (4.76% chance)

King Krush = 8 Damage.

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As you can see as Mana Cost goes up also does the chance of getting a Taunt minion, while Charge is really difficult to get, with a sweet spot at 8-Mana minions. Use this information wisely and you will steal a lot more games than you expect!

-Powercreep spots, Fair spots or Disaster spots:

Each Mana Cost has undercosted minions, fairly costed minions and overcosted minions. With some math we can identify which Cost interests us the most for evolving.

2-Mana Minions (84): 12 Powercreeps, 59 Fair minions, 14 Disaster Minions.

The 2 Mana spot is pretty balanced, so I call it a Fair spot. You have really good minions like Totem Golem and Dirty Rat, some bad 2/1s you don't wanna see, and the 1/84 to get Doomsayer and say Bye-Bye to your lead. I'd say be careful and don't Evolve 4 Totems at once.

3-Mana Minions (115): 26 Powercreeps, 68 Fair Minions, 21 Disaster Minions.

Fair Spot. Even tho the number of undercosted minions is higher than the 2-Mana spot, the chance of getting a solid minion is good. Injured Blademaster is the best to get, and the only one that can really screw you in some way is Alarm-o-Bot.

4-Mana Minions (108): 24 Powercreeps, 57 Fair Minions, 27 Disaster Minions.

Poweercreep spot. Why? The stats on the Powercreeps and the Fair Minions are now medium size (4/4 at worst) or have really meaningful Deathrattle effects that makes this Cost REALLY good and the reason to run Pantry Spider over Feral Spirit. We have the infamous 4-Mana 7/7 Flamewreathed Faceless, Lotus Illusionist, Rumbling Elemental or Pit Lord to wreck, and the drake brothers Midnight Drake, Twilight Drake as an example of what we don't want to get.

5-Mana Minions (81): 16 Powercreeps, 32 Fair Minions, 33 Disaster Minions.

Disaster Spot. You see the ratio here is the worst of all Mana Costs we reviewed yet. In this spot, I am rating any minion that has 9 points worth stats or less and NO meaningful effect as a Disaster Minion. We are forced to play Master of Evolution, Barnes and Jade Spirit because they are necessary cards in our deck. It's okay to Evolve them with a bunch of other minions, but not by themselves. Best gets are Doomguard, White Eyes.

6-Mana Minions (68): 15 Powercreeps, 21 Fair Minions, 32 Disaster Minions.

Disaster Spot. Our only way to Evolve a minion into a 6-Drop is committing too much with a 3-Drop or 4-Drop (which I don't recommend doing unless the evolving is collateral), or with our only Doppelgangster. The last case gives us three 6-Drops at once so getting 1 or 2 Disaster Minions (just overcosted stuff, no real screwers) isn't that big of a deal unless you get Big-Time Racketeer or Corrupted Seer. Sylvanas Windrunner, Kabal Trafficker, Kodorider or Cairne Bloodhoof will make you happy.

7-Mana Minions (32): 9 Powercreeps, 9 Fair Minions, 14 Disaster Minions.

Powercreep spot. Minion quality isn't that bad in this Cost' Disaster Minion category. On top of that, our 7-Cost Evolves come earlier than they should because of Nerubian Prophet's Mana-cheating (turn 3 + coin; or turn 4 earliest). Stormwind Champion is a top evolution, so are Archmage Antonidas and Prophet Velen. We don't wan't Acidmaw.

8-Mana Minions (16): 11 Powercreeps, 4 Fair Minions, 2 Disaster Minions.

Powercreep spot and where we wanna get. We should try to Evolve a Nerubian Prophet TWICE to get here and clap our opponent, but don't be too greedy or you will probably fall behind on board/let your opponent stack removal in hand. Everything is good here, even the vanilla minions. You just don't want to get Medivh, the Guardian because it's the weakest one, nor Anomalus unless you are losing the game against control.

9-Mana Minions (21): 7 Powercreeps, 7 Fair Minions, 7 Disaster Minions.

Disaster spot. 7 isn't the Lucky Number here. Yeah you can get Ysera or Malygos, but Powercreeps here are almost same size than in the 8-Mana Cost. I only recommend getting this far if you got an 8-Drop Disaster Minion, or to heal the minion after a trade. This is almost a self Devolve.

10-Mana Minions (11): 3 Powercreeps, 1 Fair Minions, 7 Disaster Minions.

Disaster spot. Just don't go here. Stay at 8-Mana Cost. You will usually get the same stats or worst unless you pull a Deathwing or Deathwing, Dragonlord.

-Mulligan Guide?

It is too soon to make a specific mulligan guide since the metagame is taking shape after the new expansion, but as a general rule:

-Against aggro, keep: Doomsayer, Jade Claws, Maelstrom Portal, Lightning Storm, Thing from Below (if your other cards BEFORE mulligan are anti-aggro as well), Jinyu Waterspeaker (if you tech him in).

-Against midrange or control, keep: Doomsayer, Flametongue Totem, Brann Bronzebeard, Pantry Spider, Master of Evolution, Barnes, Nerubian Prophet (if you have Master of Evolution BEFORE mulligan).

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This is it for now! I hope you like the deck as much as I do and have tons of fun playing with it. With this litte guide and a little practice you will learn to make the most out of your 4 evolving cards and turn your minions into true monsters.

Peace.

Serbak.