There is really no direct replacement, as there are no more good, cheap AoEs in Shaman. The card is really powerful and can win the games against Aggro by itself, so I would recommend getting it.

However, as a temporary solution you can play pretty much anything. Depending on whether you face more Aggro or more Control. If Aggro, then add some more early game or removal heal. Good options are: Glacial Shard, Tidal Surge or Jinyu Waterspeaker. If you face more Control decks, then add some late game power (big Elementals like Fire Elemental/Blazecaller or more Jade generators like Jade Spirit) or card draw (Mana Tide Totem is pretty much the only good option here).

Elemental Shaman is really hard to play against if they hit the right curve, but they can struggle hard even if they miss one turn. Sorry, but I can’t really help you with that matchup too much, because I’m not playing against almost any of them in Legend 🙁

“It feels like Blizzard is encouraging aggro decks lately” – wait, what? They’ve printed so many anti-Aggro tools this expansion, they don’t really encourage Aggro. It’s just that Aggro is the most efficient way to climb the ladder, because your decks don’t last 100 turns.

There are multiple viable Control decks in the early Un’Goro meta. Here are some examples of great or at least decent Control decks I’ve seen on the ladder so far: Taunt Warrior, Control/Dragon Priest, Handlock, Control Shaman. Vlps hit Legend with N’Zoth Paladin as far as I know and there is even more if you count the slower Midrange lists like the Savjz’s Handbuff Elemental Paladin or Elemental Shaman.

It’s still hard to say how the meta will look a month from now, but I really think that we will have some good Control decks. Taunt Warrior alone is good enough vs the Aggro because of the Taunts while also having good slower matchups because of the reward.

Savjz is playing one right now. The Maly version might not be stronger than the regular one, but it’s definitely fun!

I’m writing a guide for the deck right now, it should be out tonight or tomorrow!

You can’t bounce around multiple minions, it won’t count. You need to play a SPECIFIC minion (or rather a minion with specific name) 4 times. E.g. bouncing Swashburglar 2 times and Novice Engineer 2 times won’t finish the quest. You need to play one of them 4 times in total.

Another thing is that you don’t get +1 on Quest when you BOUNCE the card back to your hand, you get it when you replay it.

Maybe one of those is your problem?

The fact that one card is Gold and other isn’t has nothing to do with it 🙂

You mean in a mirror matchup? It really depends on the build, but I’d say that the one with Jades should generally be favorite if both builds are slow.

Bottom of the guide, “Midrange Beast Hunter Card Substitutions”.

I’ve just updated the Card Substitutions section and added Rat Pack!

Bottom of the guide, “Midrange Beast Hunter Card Substitutions”.

I’m adding Rat Pack to the list now.

Well, subbing Swash is hard. Not only it’s a great bounce target, but it’s also a Pirate to get out Patches early. You might be running out of cards quite fast without Swashburglars, but you can try another 1-drop like Glacial Shard.

That’s the thing about the early meta. It varies A LOT depending on the rank, on the server and it can even change on a hourly basis. Maybe I’ve just got lucky with the meta or maybe you’ve got unlucky. To be 100% sure about the power level of the decks, we’ll need at least a few days for the meta to stabilize a bit.

I had to obviously base it on a feeling, because there is no big statistical sample yet, and Zoo felt strong for me. But of course I might be wrong on that one 🙂

Oh well, that would be REALLY broken 😀

I don’t think that’s the case. I’ve opened around 110 packs and got 6 Legends, so close to average. Looking at the different streamers opening packs, they sometimes were more lucky, other times less lucky, but it was still close to Legendary per 20 packs on average. I think that hundreds of thousands of Hearthstone viewers would have noticed that there’s something off with streamers pack openings and I honestly haven’t seen any threads like that on reddit or anywhere.

Sorry to hear that, but it appears that you’ve just got pretty unlucky, it happens and there is really nothing you can do.

Definitely, but we’ll give some time for the meta to settle. You should probably expect update around 2-3 weeks from now!

Hey! Thanks, I’m glad that you liked it.

The new versions indeed run SIlent Knights and Shadow Senseis. It’s most likely stronger than this one. However, this guide was written pretty shortly after the deck was discovered and it was still being optimized. It’s one of the first versions. Normally I’m doing the monthly updates (early every month), but there is no point in updating the decks in April when the new expansion is coming out in a few days and everything will change anyway 🙂

Probably few days? I’ve received my first pack for voting after like 4 or 5 days. Remember that the Winter Championship has just finished.

Patience you must have, my young padawan.

Yep, I’ve noticed that too. Reno Mage wasn’t the best choice for this tournament, but it seems that Shtan got away with it while Pavel got more unlucky than he should.

The article isn’t necessarily targeted at beginner players – it’s targeted at beginner deck builders 🙂 I know people who play the game for 2 years and they didn’t build any deck themselves. It’s a great resource for people like that too.

On the other hand, I know that a lot of new players try to build their own decks right away, because for them that’s where the fun from playing Hearthstone comes. Heck, I have a friend who never passed rank 5, but he’s probably a much better deck builder than I am, even though I’m hitting Legend easily pretty much every season. He’s just building his own decks since the day he started playing the game – but let’s just say that he isn’t the best pilot.