Budget Secret Mech Paladin Deck List Guide (Rise of Shadows)

Class: Paladin - Format: dragon - Type: midrange - Style: budget - Meta Deck: Mech Paladin

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Deck Import

Our Budget Mech Paladin deck list guide for the Rise of Shadows expansion will go through the ins-and-outs of this deck. This guide includes Mulligans, Gameplay Strategy, and Card Substitutions!

Introduction to Budget Mech Paladin

Paladin has received a powerful and budget-friendly new Secret package which allows it to take an early board advantage. Mech Paladin aims to keep that advantage with mid-late game Mech synergy.

Check out Hearthstone Budget Decks & Guides for All 9 Classes!

Rise of Shadows Update

In Rise of Shadows, Paladin (finally free of its reliance on Baku the Mooneater) gets two strong new tools in Mysterious Blade and Sunreaver Spy, along with a pretty decent new Secret (Never Surrender!) to activate them. These cards are reminiscent of un-nerfed Fiery War Axe and Totem Golem, two of the most busted aggro cards ever designed.

Budget Mech Paladin Mulligan Guide

Always Keep: Sunreaver SpyMysterious Blade

Sunreaver Spy is an overstatted minion that will require much from your opponent to remove when played on curve, and Mysterious Blade is a powerful and efficient way to keep your opponent off the board in the early turns. Ideally you would start every game with one or both of these.

Keep Conditionally: Desperate Measures (or any Secret), Loot HoarderAldor PeacekeeperBellringer Sentry

Sunreaver Spy and Mysterious Blade are pretty mediocre without a Secret on board, so if you have one or both of those cards already you should keep a Secret to activate them. Loot Hoarder is not nearly as strong as the aforementioned two cards, but it’s certainly better than missing your 2-drop completely, so you can keep it if you don’t have one of the others. Aldor Peacekeeper is best played when there’s a big minion to devalue, but as the deck’s only 3-mana minion it’s good to keep if you already have a strong turn 1 and 2 in hand. Bellringer Sentry is great to play as soon as you have 4 mana and should be kept as long as you already have an ideal early curve or The Coin.

Budget Mech Paladin Play Strategy

Mech Paladin aims to take the board early with its powerful Secret synergy cards and finish the game with big Mech minions. Knowing when to switch from board control to face pressure is important, and usually comes earlier against control than it does against aggro. Think about how efficient it will be for your opponent to trade with your minions on the following turn. If it’s not very efficient, or if your opponent is likely to make the trades you would make on their turn anyway, then you should probably start attacking their Hero.

Desperate Measures is the budget-friendly way to play not-so budget-friendly Secrets like Hidden Wisdom. Something to consider when deciding what order to do things on your turn is that you are much more likely to roll Hidden Wisdom off your Desperate Measures if you already have a few other Secrets up (because a random effect will not give you a Secret you already have in play).

In the early game, Mysterious Blade is for keeping your opponent’s board clear, not for pressuring their life total. Do not be afraid to take damage while doing this, you are much more likely to lose by falling behind on board than you are by taking early damage removing your opponent’s minions.

Consider how your opponent will remove your minions when you decide whether to play a Mech with Magnetic as a minion or a buff. If your opponent is more likely to have single-target removal it’s usually better to play it seperately, and likewise if they’re likely to have a card like Flamestrike it’s better to play it as a buff. Magnetic is a good way to force your opponent to activate Mechanical Whelp and Mechano-Egg. While these minions remain unbuffed your opponent is likely to ignore them (unless they’re about to play a removal spell like Brawl). Annoy-o-Module is especially good on these minions, as your opponent will have get through it before they even have the option to attack your face or your other minions.

If you have something big on board with a Redemption it’s better not to use your Hero Power even if you have surplus mana. This does broadcast which Secret is up, but an experienced player that can afford to will target the smaller minion first anyway to test for it.

Future Card Replacements for Budget Secret Mech Paladin

The meta version of this deck plays several Legendaries, and including them does make it much better. The following are the necessary upgrades in the order they should be crafted:

  • Zilliax – If you don’t already have Zilliax in your collection by now you should definitely prioritize it, it is a staple in many top tier decks and will likely continue to be so until it is rotated next year. Zilliax both buffers your health with Lifesteal and protects it with Taunt, all after removing an opposing minion with Rush. That’s a lot to get from a single card in any deck, but in this one you also get to make use of its Magnetic keyword.
  • Kangor's Endless Army – This card gives you a lot of end-game value, reviving three Mechs with their Magnetic upgrades intact, and is why you don’t include any low-cost Mechs in the deck. This is the big reason to play Mech Paladin on a serious level, and if you plan on grinding the ladder with Paladin this card is a high priority. Only craft once you already have Zilliax.
  • Commander Rhyssa – Rhyssa is a minion with reasonable stats you can feel comfortable tossing out on turn-3 whether or not it gets value from its effect, but depending on what Secrets you have up at that point, she can give you a decent advantage. Considering there aren’t a lot of more appealing options at 3 mana, if you expect to stick with this deck it’s a good investment once you have the above two legendaries.
  • Hidden Wisdom – I was initially surprised to see this card played, but it makes sense. The competition amongst Paladin Secrets is pretty weak these days, and if it gets activated when you have Commander Rhyssa out you get a lot of value from it.

Below are options you can consider depending on what you feel the deck needs once you have the upgrades above:

  • Leeroy Jenkins – Gives the deck some burst damage that doesn’t rely on Magnetic, and will have uses in other decks as time goes on.
  • Tirion Fordring – Tirion gives you a late-game threat and tons of value for the mana. He is also a relatively safe craft, as he is frequently playable depending on how much silence is around.
  • Countess Ashmore and Prismatic Lens – With the loss of Divine Favor and Call to Arms comes a card-draw void in Paladin lists, which can be filled by these cards to some degree. Prismatic Lens can be especially interesting, because your deck is filled with so many 1-mana spells. Having a dead 7/8 cost Secret in your hand is a small price to pay for a 1-mana Ashmore or Tirion.
  • Harrison Jones – Another card that can help supplement the lack of draw in this deck while also serving as an answer to opposing weapons. Now that all of the Legendary weapons have rotated out of Standard there isn’t anything in dire need of removal (with the possible exception of Wrenchcalibur), but a lot of the top tier decks include weapons and removing them is usually worth it.

Martian

Martian's favorite hobby has always been card games. He's been playing Hearthstone regularly since early 2014, and is a consistent Legend player in both Wild and Standard.

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11 Comments

Discuss This Deck
  1. Falchion
    June 9, 2019 at 6:26 am

    Adding on to what Sloppy mentioned, I have Zilliax and Kangor’s and have replaced the two loot hoarders, what do I replace for Commander Rhyssa and Hidden Wisdom(s)? Also, a new free mech card was just given to all players: Sn1p-Sn4p, could that be used in this deck and what should it replace?

  2. Sloppy
    May 18, 2019 at 5:54 am

    Thank you for making this guide. It helps me so much. I have a question and suggestion. So I have crafted zilliax and replaced loot hoarder. Now I have kangors endless army, who do I take out? Maybe in future guides u can speak of what cards to consider to take out when we get the legendaries. Thank you!

    • Falchion
      June 9, 2019 at 6:24 am

      Personally I replaced both loot hoarders, the 2nd one for kangor’s endless army.

  3. Andrewperk
    May 4, 2019 at 10:31 pm

    This deck has been awesome. Thank you! I’ve almost got the full meta version of the deck now(minus Countess and Prismatic lens). I’ve gotten from rank 50 to currently rank 13. playing only this deck with a 76% win-rate. I just started playing a little over two weeks ago. Mostly free to play, bought the beginner bundle and I just disenchant all other cards that I get to build the deck. Tons of fun to play too! I’d recommend it for beginners, it’s working great for people like me who are just starting the game(I’ve played magic for decades so I have tcg experience). I think the hardest matches are against Priest. Rogues and hunters are hard to, but beatable. Have fun guys!

  4. Crooked.Nose
    April 18, 2019 at 4:29 am

    I really like this deck, but I was wondering why Glow-tron wasn’t included in the list.

    As far as I’m aware, it is a strong, 1-drop Me h that works with the Mech synergy in the deck.

    Although, I assume that because of all the 1-cost secrets that a 1-drop Mech is a bit overkill?

    • Martian - Author
      April 18, 2019 at 6:17 am

      Glow-tron would be fine to include, I would say take out desperate measures. I didn’t include it because you have to take it out to get the most of Kangor’s endless army when you have enough dust to craft it, and because the 2-mana secret synergy cards are so strong you pretty much always want to be playing a secret turn 1.

      • Crooked.Nose
        April 18, 2019 at 9:45 am

        I am not sure whether this was in the guide before my previous comment or added after, but I just re-read your guide and noticed that the reason for there being no low-cost mechs in the deck is explained under the Kangor’s Endless Army card substitution.

        If this was there before, I apologise for having asked something already mentioned in the guide, I must have missed it when skimming over the guide.

        Very well-written and detailed guide though, by the way, great work!

        • Martian - Author
          April 18, 2019 at 5:23 pm

          It was in there already but no harm done 🙂 thanks for reading!

  5. Adenk
    April 17, 2019 at 3:01 pm

    Would it be best to sub out an Annoy-o-Module for Zilliax or something else?

    • Adenk
      April 17, 2019 at 3:12 pm

      Or would a loot hoarder or secret be better to take out?

      • Martian - Author
        April 17, 2019 at 4:15 pm

        Loot Hoarder or Desperate Measures would be the easiest things to cut, and you can’t go wrong between them.