Midrange Mech Paladin

Introduction:

The objective of this deck is to control the board by curving out difficult-to-remove mechs and upgrading them using the new “magnetic” keyword. Paladin is one of the classes which Blizzard is trying to push mechs for, with the new Annoy-o-Module mech and the legendary spell, Kangor's Endless Army. These are joined by powerful and versatile neutral minions like Wargear, which is essentially a 5-mana Blessing of Kings in minion form, and Zilliax, which can help stabilizing against aggro decks looking to close the game.

The centerpiece of the deck is of course Kangor's Endless Army. For this reason, weak-statted mechs like Galvanizer and Replicating Menace (due to the tokens) have been dropped from the deck. The focus, instead, is on curving out low-attack minions that can be expected to stick on the board and magnetizing them on the following turns to make them a threat. To assist in this strategy, the new secret Autodefense Matrix as well as Righteous Protector are included to help protecting key minions in the early game so they may survive and be magnetized. Magnetization is essential for providing strong targets for Kangor’s Endless Army, so the overall strategy should focus on this.

The validity of this deck depends a lot on how the spell works with silence. For instance, if you upgrade the Framebot with Annoy-o-Module and it is silenced before it is killed, do you resurrect the upgraded Framebot or just the regular Framebot? If you get the buffed framebot, the card is strong. If you get the unbuffed framebot, this deck will probably not be competitive.

Card Discussion:

Since this deck is still in its theorycrafting stage, I will here discuss which cards I consider essential, which I consider important support cards, and which cards I suspect may be swapped for other options.

Key cards:

The most important cards for the strategy to work are the mech package of Upgradeable Framebot, Nightmare Amalgam, Annoy-o-Module, Wargear, Zilliax and Kangor's Endless Army. These are the mechs you will definitely want to put on the board, and the spell is an important win condition against control decks.

Support cards:

As mentioned, your mechs must stick on the board so they can be magnetized to become big and scary. Righteous Protector and the new secret, Autodefense Matrix, are included to perform this task. While Noble Sacrifice could be a better option, I will experiment with the new secret because I believe it to be stronger later in the game.

This deck runs a few draws to help with consistency. First af all, one copy of Call to Arms is included because it is almost certain to summon one or two framebots if you didn’t draw into them already, and can protect them by also summoning a Righteous Protector. Second, the new spell Crystology is included to help drawing into the Framebots if they’re buried in the deck, although two copies may be overkill in a deck that also runs Call To Arms. Third, Howling Commander is included in an effort to tutor the important magnetic minions, though it is strongest if you already played one or both Righteous Protectors.

Finally, Arcane Dynamo is included as a joker. On one hand, you can discover your win condition (the spell) when you didn’t draw it, and you can even gain additional copies of it if your opponent answers it the first time around. On the other hand, paladin has ten spells at 5+ mana, and something like half of them are borderline useless, or at least very situational in this deck. Apart from Kangor’s Endless Army, the best option is probably Lay on Hands. However, if your opponent already spent his silence cards (or doesn’t run any), you can pick Spikeridged Steed since you will likely have a target for it anyways.

Fringe cards:

These are the cards I expect will be the first to be swapped. For now, I have included Weaponized Pinata because it is a good target for Kangor's Endless Army, but truthfully I believe it to be an under-statted minion with a potentially valuable deathrattle that does not fit into a midrange strategy. It may provide a sticky minion against priest due to its 4 attack, but on the other hand it dies to duskbreaker.

I am really on the fence regarding Mechanical Whelp. It seems like a strong minion to resurrect versus control decks, however, it just doesn’t seem to fit well in this deck. On one hand, it will probably stick for a turn sort of like Skelemancer after which you can buff it. On the other hand, you would want it to die, and slapping an Annoy-o-Module or Zilliax on it means it will survive and likely get silenced. Finally, this minion just seems so much stronger in hunter/rogue decks that it seems pointless anywhere else.

The list runs two weapons; however, I am on the  fence regarding both. Unidentified Maul fits into the curve, but no matter if you get tokens, taunt or divine shield out of it, it doesn’t seem to fit with the strategy. Silver Sword curves out nicely after the legendary spell but it seems like a win-more card for the cases where your opponent has no answers to your spell.

Vicious Scalehide is included to provide more targets for Call to Arms and to help out against aggro decks. However, since you will want to use Crystology to draw your bots, a better option may be e.g. Plated Beetle.

Possible includes:

Finally, here are cards that I may play around with. The first is , which has never really been used. Against decks that run board clears (Big Spell Mage, Control Warrior, maybe some Warlock and Rogue decks), Rebuke may combine with Kangor’s Endless Army to allow you to push for the win on turn 9.

• Playing Rebuke with the spell on turn 9 can be a devastating combo, and you can spend turn 7 and 8 further developing your mech board.
• Prismatic Lens will let you tutor and discount the spell, but you will have to drop all lower-mana spells to do it. If some magnetic minion with charge comes up, it may be worth it for combo shenanigans.
• The Black Knight or Big Game Hunter are obviously tech cards, but this deck has no real removal and the only way to kill e.g. The Lich King with a single swing is combining Zilliax and Wargear, which is unreliable.