Standard Casual Deck: So you want to play Murlocs… (Ft. Call in the Finishers and Everyfin)

I’ve seen several aggressive Murloc decks that seem to be very strong in the early game but are easily defeated by board clears.  The meta contains at least 2-4 board clears per deck on average and sometimes more.  Murlocs, having very little health, can be conquered by weaker AoE spells like Maelstrom and Fan of Knives.  Yet very few of these decks seem to capitalize on the awesome synergy that Murlocs have in Standard.

I propose play-testing this deck up to around rank 16 to get your jollies in because Everyfin about this deck is Awesome!  Just make sure you don’t play this deck like an aggro deck. It is everything but.  There’s a little control with Spell Damage, Maelstrom Portal, and Lightning Storm.  Corrupted Seer can help more than I would have ever guessed too!  I tried the deck without them and there just aren’t enough Murlocs to warrant Finja, the Flying Star.  It’s important to summon totems with your hero power as often as possible. I’ll usually HP on turn 2 and 3 regardless if I have a minion to play.  This ensures that if you draw Thing from Below you can play it early.  Totems also mitigate damage and can boost the power of your AoE if you’re lucky. Acidic Swamp Ooze, Azure Drake, Thing from Below, and totems create a board that’s threatening enough for the opponent to use one or two AoE cards and one or two strong single-removal cards. You want to be sure to count their removals so that you don’t blow your Murlocs only to see them be destroyed the very next turn.

Call in the Finishers can be used early to help mitigate against aggro decks, or you can sandbag it and play it with Coldlight Seer and/or Everyfin is Awesome to ensure they stay alive long enough to be able to attack on your next turn.  Even though Murloc Warleader and Bluegill Warrior can be very tempting to play together as a combo, that’s not how this deck was intended.  Ideally they come out when Finja, the Flying Star‘s ability is activated or if your Call in the Finishers are ready to attack.  Played right you can have 4-7 Murlocs all hitting face with 4-6 attack power.  I’ve turned many games around (though in my head I was never really losing) and won with less health than my opponent began with.

I’ve played around with a couple cards and I like Earth Shock over Lightning Bolt because I’d rather let my opponent play 1-2 extra minions and clear them with Lightning Storm and Spell Damage.  Earth Shock frees up my Hex for powerful Attack/Defense cards and not just cards with powerful abilities.  It’s also worth mentioning, that in the right situation, Hex combos perfectly with Finja, the Flying Star!  A 0/1 Taunt puts literally any minion (without spell immunity) in the fore-front to activiate his ability and still have full health!  He can then be buffed with Coldlight Seer (if you have one in hand), Murloc Warleader and/or Everyfin is Awesome for more Finja action!

Now that I have a few minutes, I’m going to write a section on cards to consider and cards that I flat out do not like.

Cards you could potentially run if you don’t have all my cards:

Spirit Claws
An excellent way to remove early threats. We do have some Spell Damage so it’s something to think about. I choose not to run it because I have no way of getting health back and this is a mid-late game deck.

Lightning Bolt
Much safer than Spirit Claws and you can take out minions that are hiding behind other Taunt minions.  Drawback being Overload and it’s most likely a 1 for 1 trade. Not bad but not ideal.

Feral Spirit
Of the 3 cards discussed so far, this is by far the best in the current meta.  Aggro is a HUGE problem and if you do not draw Spell Damage, AoE, or get your Spell Damage totem ‘Somebody gonna get a hurt REEEEL bad!’ -Russel Peters… And it’s not your opponent.

Totem Golem
I added this in because it’s a very strong card on its own.  Not great but not terrible.  Just good.

Flametongue Totem
Definitely more of an aggro card. It has a potential value of +4 damage, and soaks 3 or more damage.  In the grand scheme of Murlocs, it won’t win many games but it could help win a trade or two.

Bloodlust
The game changer. I couldn’t fit this in BUT if you are missing any of my cards, our board does fill up pretty quickly. Not as fast as other Shammy decks but if your opponent lacks AoE it could be useful. No more than 1 instance of Bloodlust would be necessary.

Flamewreathed Faceless
I fit this card in with the same category of Totem Golem. Strong card, not really a great card in this deck but having non-Murlocs is actually important.  You want your opponent to use their removal on cards OTHER than your Murlocs and this card would force them to do just that.  Decent replacement card.

Fire Elemental
One of the highest value 6 cost cards in the game (next to Savannah Highmane and maybe Sylvanas Windrunner. 

Here are some cards I strongly disagree with in this type of deck:

Grimscale Oracle
And basically any other Murloc in the current iteration of Standard. They all have 1 health (with the exception of Coldlight Oracle 2/2) and don’t bring much to the table other than more Murlocs.  In an aggro deck they might be useful but in my deck they simply don’t hold a candle to the ones I’ve chosen.  Think of the current Pirate Aggro decks. You see the same Pirates over and over because they hold the most value.