Espy's Malygos Shaman

Posted by: EspyPsychePublished: July 2, 2019Updated: October 16, 2026Dust: Dust7,380

Class: ShamanFormat: StandardType: ComboStyle: LadderSeason: Season 64

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7+

Mulligan Guide

General

The primary cards you want off the mulligan are Menacing Nimbus and Mana Tide Totem in any matchup. Having the 2-drop on turn 2 and the 3-drop on turn 3 help solidify your position in the game. Elementary Reaction's card draw is also good early on, especially with a Menacing Nimbus (for Nimbus on 2 into empowered Reaction on 3). The flexibility of Haunting Visions makes it a great early keep no matter the matchup.

Vs. Aggro

Against aggressive decks you need Lightning Storm and Hagatha's Scheme to clear their early boards. In the current meta, many aggressive decks are Magnetize decks such as Mech Paladin and Mech Hunter, so the Earth Shock is good at shutting that down. I hesitate to add Rain of Toads on this list because Rain of Toads is a later answer to aggressive boards, but against aggro there are a lot of times where you need the taunts it provides. If you already have a board clear, consider keeping the Rain of Toads as well.

Vs. Control

Against control, silence is golden and card draw is power. The few minions control runs are big minions with powerful effects, and silencing or transforming them is a very effective way to deal with them. You generally want to get to your combo early against control so you can beat them before they can overwhelm you with value. Hex and Earth Shock provide these. Menacing Nimbus can help you apply pressure early against armor-gaining decks as to not let them get out of Malygos range.

Deck Description

Eureka! can cheat out Malygos for 6 mana, leaving 4 mana for spells to kill the opponent. Double Lightning Bolt + Double Totemic Smash = 30 damage exactly with Malygos on board. (Against armor classes, you might need to either get in some chip damage to get them at <30 HP or stick Malygos to swing with him and/or generate more damage spells off Haunting Visions or Hagatha the Witch.)

The Malygos combo is six cards: Malygos himself, Eureka!, 2x Lightning Bolt and 2x Totemic Smash. The other 24 cards in the deck are designed to get you there.

-- Silence (Earth Shock x2, Hex x2)
-- Healing (Witch's Brew x2, Walking Fountain x2)
-- Card Draw (Mana Tide Totem x2, Elementary Reaction x2)
-- Board Presence (Rain of Toads x2, Menacing Nimbus x2)
-- Board Clears (Hagatha's Scheme x2, Lightning Storm x2, Hagatha the Witch)
-- Flexibility (Haunting Visions x2, Swampqueen Hagatha)

This deck, being basically control shaman with the Malygos package in place of cards like Archivist Elysianna, Zentimo, Zap!, Likkim and Krag'wa, will sometimes get wins against aggressive decks without using the Malygos. In such matchups the aggro deck just runs out of gas and gets overrun by Walking Fountains, elementals generated off Menacing Nimbus, and Storm Bringers generated off Haunting Visions and/or either Hagatha.

Don't add card draw! This deck actually has a problem keeping its hand size down to avoid burning the Malygos.

I'm considering cutting minions like Swampqueen Hagatha and Menacing Nimbus in favor of spells to make Eureka! less awkward (because Malygos has to be the only minion in your hand to guarantee the combo goes off). Mana Tide Totem is necessary card draw and Walking Fountain is necessary healing and minion damage to control the board. A previous variant had 2x Eureka for more Walking Fountain action.