A Shudderwock deck that’s built to withstand aggro decks unlike the Shudderwock that’s posted in the Fringe deck category. Slower card draws were replaced for more viable draws that control the board while gathering the necessary pieces for the end game victory.

What really upsets me is that the Shudderwock is classified as a Tier 3 deck and you can’t tell me I climbed to Legend for the FIRST TIME EVER with a Tier 3 deck. I’ve looked at the Tier 1 decks and I have no problem handling all of them, so this version of the Shudderwock should be classified at least at a tier 2 if not tier 1.

If requested, I can give in depth strategies against all the decks seen on the ladder to secure that win and get you closer to legend. This is my first deck upload so I apologize if the thread isn’t as flashy without the add ins.

                                      GENERAL TIPS

Always keep Hex for high stat/ or Value minions like The Lich King or Hadronox. You always want to prevent taking serious damage and leaving high value on the board. A Volcano works just as well, but only for minions with stats as you DON’t want to kill a Hadronox, Possessed Lackey or other deathrattle minions without silencing it.

Always look for a safe chance to be able to play your drawing cards such as Mana Tide Totem or Far Sight

A turn 8 Acolyte of Pain and Volcano (Or turn 5 if you grabbed one or the other with Far Sight) is a great combo for card draw and board clear. Even if there is little to no board, it is a great move to gather resources if you have no other play and are in need of cards. Be mindful of your hand count as you don’t want to mill anything important.

A turn 5 Doomsayer to Zola the Gorgon wouldn’t be a bad play. A Turn 7 Doomsayer, Zola, to Doomsayer is almost always a for sure board clear. And you get the Zola Battlecry for your Shudderwock.

The more Saronite Chain Gang battlecries you throw out there, the higher the chance of bouncing back a cloned Shudderwock becomes. There have been times where I’ve dropped Shudderwock and BOTH Grumble, Worldshaker AND Zola the Gorgon were activated randomly BEFORE both Saronite Chain Gangs activated. This just leaves you with a couple Shudderwocks on board, none in hand, and high blood pressure. So it would be wise to prioritize bouncing back/cloning Saronite Chain Gangs and dropping them rather than Lifedrinkers. Doing this also provides more board presence and face protection. This isn’t absolutely necessary, but it helps in securing the bounce back of the Shudderwock.

Hagatha the Witch can keep your hand filled, so be sure to leave some space in your hand by dropping spells before dropping Shudderwok. One or two is enough, but the more the merrier.

Don’t be afraid to drop Bloodmage Thalnos turn 2 for the extra card draw if you aren’t against an aggressive opponent.

If your opponent doesn’t use weapons, feel free to drop Harrison Jones on a free turn to clear up space.

Only use Far Sight when your safe enough to do so or if it’s the last resort. As much as it can be rewarding if landed on a high cost card, it can be detrimental. Think of what threats your opponent could have on the next turn (like a decent board and Sunkeeper Tarim, if you’re potentially within lethal range, etc.

That’s all I can think of for now, but let’s get into the specific requested strategies.

Odd Paladin

Odd Pally’s usually aim to fill the board with Silver Hand Recruits and Level Up! on turn 5 (or turn 4 with coin). So your game is to prevent the stack up of recruits by Lightning Storm and Volcano. Tar Creeper helps in protecting face and taking out a few recruits as well as the Saronite Chain Gang.

Cards to keep/mulligan for would be Healing Rain to recover damage, Volcano and Lightning Storm for clear, Tar Creeper and Saronite Chain Gang to protect face/clear recruits, and Doomsayer to provide you a free turn with a clear board.

Cards to potentially keep,

Acolyte of Pain or Mana Tide Totem if you have Doomsayer (turn 2 doomsayer for the turn 3 Totem for draws or Turn 3 Acolyte for Recruit clear and draws.) If they silence the totem, you are one card closer than you were before to whatever you might need. A silenced Acolyte gives no draw, but still provides a 1/3 minion to clear recruits. 

Remember that you don’t want to expend your aoe resources until before turn 5 (or turn 4 if he has coin) to clear the board of recruits before the Level Up. What can really be a problem is if he happens to have Unidentified Maul powered up with the stat that gives Divine Shield to minions. In this case, Volcano would be what you need rather than the Lightning Storm. You want to play smart and only expend your resources as they expend theirs (their hero power isn’t a resource as they have it every turn!)

Hagatha the Witch is a great card to have since it does 3 damage across the board and grants 5 armor. It’s a perfect play after a Level Up! Keep in mind that after playing Hagatha, it gives the board clear battlecry to your Shudderwock too! So don’t be afraid to drop the Wok to clear the board again even if you haven’t set up the full combo. This has served as a game changer for me multiple times.

Do your best to save Hex for the Stormwind Champion or maybe even a Tirion Fordring if pulled by a Stonehill Defender

I will provide more tips as I play against more odd paladins since I haven’t seen as many odds as i’ve seen evens in the higher ranks pre nerf (I actually had to play a ranked game and find an odd paladin just now 5/29 to gather tips. Took two tries, first try was murloc pally and then odd pally. I lost to the murloc I’ll admit but won against odd). But even then, Even Paladins were never a problem as long as i saved my AOE’s until after Call to Arms was dropped. Quest Rogues were really my biggest problem at the time.

Mind Blast Priest

From what I’ve played against on the ladder, this decks prime goal is to gather Mind Blast from Shadow Visions, drop Alexstrasza, and then end game with 3 Mind Blasts for the 15 damage lethal. Best way to get out of this is to use Healing Rain right after the dragon drop. You should at least have one in hand if not some Lifedrinker Shudderwock setup by the time turn 9 comes around.

So since this deck isn’t really aggressive, you want to mulligan for card draws to gather your resources and setup the end game special. It’s okay to keep a board clear spell around, but you really want to look for either your Mana Tide Totem or Acolyte of Pain.

From here, you just draw and play logically. It is a fairly easy game so I don’t figure much explanation is needed. Just steer clear from taking too much face damage by dropping your taunts. Draw more cards with your cards/Volcano Acolyte Combo. SAVE HEX FOR FAT STATTED MINIONS. I’ll play some more and if I see anything else i should add, I’ll be back for the update. I’ve only lost once to a Mind Blast priest because it wasn’t expected. Since then, I know to save heals for after Alex drops.

Let me know if any of this helps or if you have any more questions! Some likes and upvotes or whatever would be appreciated! I don’t know what it’ll do for me but it seems cool. =)