Nice write up on BSM!
My disclaimer: I was not a Legend player until I took BSM to Legend. Under the old Ladder system, I would be so bored with Standard by time I got within a few ranks from Legend that I would just abandon the grind. I never felt like there was much incentive (an ugly card back and eventually an extra pack) to get to Legend.
I have been unhappy with Standard for the last several years, but if a meta did pull me into playing on the Ladder, I would just stop at D5. I did not realize how much easier it is to get to Legend under the new Ladder system. I only hit Legend because I got so involved with experimenting with BSM builds that I happened to hit Legend in the process—twice!
I get a bit annoyed when players characterize BSM as deck that can win by turn 4 or emphasize that it tends to win by turn 6. Ya, if King Tide hits on turn 4, which has a low occurrence, and it can only be done by a BSM player who went first, and is actually followed up with a turn 5 Tsunami or Sunset Volley without the opponent being prevent the turn 5 big spell or being play an answer on 5, then they will likely lose, but BSM does not kill on 4.
Some players will see what they draw on 5 before they will concede. To me, winning on 4 means delivering lethal on 4, and BSM cannot do that.
Most of my wins with BSM will not happen until turn 6 or beyond. A lot of wins occur turn 9 or beyond. There are players that want to characterize BSM as aggro deck that closes out games by turn 5 and that is not an accurate depiction of the deck.
Screenshots of recent BSM matches that took 7 or more turns to win:
https://imgur.com/a/xGw3hXI
My experiences of using BSM against other classes:
DK was one of the easiest classes for me to beat. I have only played against Blood DK twice.
DH was a class that I rarely faced, and it’s a hard class to beat, but it’s not an unwinnable matchup. I feel like I have won more than my fair share of matchups against DH even without running Heatwave in the deck. I just recently added one Heatwave to my deck, and I have only played the card a handful of times. My version generally runs nine 1-2 cost cards and 2x Star Power, so that helps some against DH aggro.
Druid initially was a very easy class to beat, but the meta has shifted away from builds like Dragon Druid to more Reno Druid and Dungar Druid builds, which are bad matchups for BSM. These matchups are not unwinnable, but they are definitely tilted in favor of Druid.
Hunter is running a greater variety of decks than I think most players are aware of, and some of those decks are bad matchups for BSM.
Mage is mostly comprised of BSM (Surflapod or Orb variations) and Elemental Mage, but there is third, less played, spell-heavy archetype (Ping Mage?), which plays with Seabreeze Chalice.
Paladin runs mostly Handbuff and Flood, but there are some other lesser played varieties that seem to be tooled to deal with BSM. Handbuff is a challenge to play against, but I would say that the matches are tilted in favor of BSM. Flood is more difficult for BSM to deal with (for my Orb version, anyways), but I rarely encounter Flood.
Priest players are experimenting with so many different builds, and some seem adept at beating BSM, but I rarely encounter those builds.
Rogue Wishing Well can highroll to steal matches, while the elementals tend freeze out Weapon Rogue, so Rogues tend to be an easy win for BSM.
Warlocks are hands down the worse class matchup for BSM.
Warrior was one of the easiest classes for BSM to beat, but the decks have shifted to better deal with BSM, which can make for some long and challenging games.
I really like Kalecgos in BSM for its value and for yet another way to cheat out big spells, but I ended up cutting the card in favor of Norgannon. I don’t feel like I am completely done experimenting with BSM yet, and I may eventually work Kalecgos back into the deck. My BSM only plays one Sea Shill, so it had less of a chance to cheat out Kalecgos early.
I also do not run Dreamplanner Zephrys, since I do not run Kalecgos to help cast cards like Vanish, and my version tends to be in constant danger of overdrawing cards. I also cut Cult Neophyte from my deck, because it was not helpful against a lot of decks even though it’s a great card in the mirror match and against some spell heavy decks.
This ^ is what I expect to happen on Thursday.
I do not run Wandmaker in my deck, because it gives a lot of bad random spells, so I just started to run Heatwave instead, because it helps versus aggro, and it costs 2, so it can still activate Greedy Partner.