budget dude paladin

Introduction to Budget Dude Paladin

Dude Paladin has been a popular list in the Wild format for a while now. It has access to a lot of great stuff, but mainly the extremely good Muster for Battle. It didn’t become a thing in Standard until the release of Kobolds and Catacombs. Even after getting a bunch of good cards, it took a backseat to aggressive paladin lists being carried heavily on the back of Call to Arms and Corridor Creeper. After the big nerfs to Creeper and other cards, it was finally time for Dude Paladin to shine in the tail end of the Kobolds meta.

The Witchwood

Dude Paladin was riding high heading into The Witchwood meta, but the list lost a few strong cards in Rallying Blade, Steward of Darkshire, and Stand Against Darkness. However, early on in the meta, it seems that Paladin is going to be fine. Odd & Even versions are being played at a high level, and there have even been sightings of Secret based versions using the new Bellringer Sentry. This budget version of Dude Paladin will lead quite nicely into either Odd or Even versions for the class. Even shares a lot more cards so it’d be cheaper to head in that direction, but the Odd version is much more popular and might be the safer route.

This budget version of Dude Paladin feels pretty solid, but you are missing some key epic cards to really make it sing. If you have any plans of playing Paladin in the future then do yourself a favor and craft Call to Arms as soon as possible. The card is crazy good and is especially good in this style of deck. Level Up! is the other card you are missing and is less important, but gives you a lot more firepower in the late game. You are also missing a pretty important legendary in Sunkeeper Tarim, which is another key piece to the Paladin class and is a very safe craft.

Budget Dude Paladin Mulligan Guide

Lost in the Jungle, Righteous Protector, Argent Squire, and Fire Fly are your main targets for your mulligan. You have a lot of 1-drops, so it’s going to be common to see these. You can keep Acherus Veteran if you get another 1-drop to play it with. Dire Wolf Alpha can be kept with a couple of 1-drops or Lost in the Jungle which has good synergy with it. Knife Juggler can be kept if you have a couple of 1-drops, but it’s better with the coin because you’d like to get at least one knife throw before it dies.