Hexing Everything to Legend!

Multiplayer Discussion
1

I know that this writeup is going to need a serious disclaimer at the beginning since everyone hates Shaman right now. The moment the mini set dropped I called out Starship Shaman as potentially the best deck in the meta and began testing it immediately. I had a blast with every variant I tested and knew I would use it for my climb. I settled into a very control heavy variant. I won in at top 750.

I will also discuss the meta a bit.

I saw a pretty decent variety of classes during my climb. Far more than some months in recent history. The the classes I saw the most were Shaman, Death Knight, Druid, Hunter, Warrior, and Warlock. Next would be Rogue, Priest and Mage. The least by far were Paladin and Demon Hunter. I did see every class from D5-L though. I have had climbs in the past where I literally only saw 4 classes. So, this is a massive improvement.

95% of games were a constant fight for the board. I have seen more minion interaction since the mini set dropped than the previous 3 months combined. The only exception was Grunter. Warsong Grunt is something I will talk about later. At the end of the day, I am incredibly happy with how board based the game has become. I will do a full meta analysis in another post.

Matchups:

Zerg Death Knight:
It was the only version I saw. This deck is just the epitome of feast or famine. I had multiple game losses to turn 3-4 Infestor+Growl combos. When it hits early it just ends the game there and then. If they have a slow start and allow me to get into the late game it goes heavily in my favor. I Hexed an insane amount of Zerg on this climb. I even Triangulated Hex just so I could do it more. I would say the match up is only slightly in Shaman’s favor. Zerg DK were what I lost to the most. I would say something does need to be done to tone down the early combos. Death Growl to 2 mana could help solve the problem.

Demon Hunter:
I only saw a few. I lost to one from bad draws and ran over the other few. I do not have enough data. If I had to take a guess, if the Demon Hunter gets a truly fast start it can take the win. I just can’t see how it comes back if it goes into mid-late game vs control.

Druid:
Dungar is as degenerate as ever. Turn 5 Dungar is just really dumb and unfun. Even with multiple Hex in deck it is rough. That being said, if they do not get the early Dungar the matchup becomes much more manageable. Getting a Raven into your Starship before Missile Pod or Liberator is absolutely crucial. Getting Poison on the AOE allows you to wipe annoying boards. It is a tough match. It may be close to even.

Protoss Hero Power Druid. I can understand how this deck can be super hard to deal with. I think I only lost to it once. Why? I kept Hexing their Groovy Cats. Keeping their Hero Power at 2-4 makes the deck pretty bad. Getting strong Launches into an early Raynor is massive. Being able to keep taunts on board makes it near impossible for Druid to win. it is like a 9-1 split in favor of Shaman.

Hunter:
Grunter is in a super weird position. The deck can just auto win on turn 5 just because you played minions. I think the ONLY thing keeping this deck from dominating the meta is viper. Zerg DK is singlehandedly stopping this deck from being everywhere. I only saw it a few times and they got me more than I for them. It is in Grunter’s favor.

Discover Zerg Hunter. These matches were crazy fun. Constant fights for the board. Playing around traps. Every decision and and trade feels like it matters. Both decks are playing for the late game and Shaman just does it better. Shudderblock gives such an insane amount of value. Getting Shudderblock into Incindius makes it near impossible for hunter to keep a board. Favor to the Shaman.

Mage:
I only saw Protoss Mage. I lost exactly one game to it. Shaman just generates too much armor and value for Mage to compete with in the late game.

Paladin:
I only saw a handful of Handbuff Paladin. Hex was brutal here. I just kept Hexing until late game where they completely fall behind. It’s handbuff. Not much to say here. Shaman favor.

Priest:
Again, i only saw Protoss Priest. This is another matchup where Hex was just BRUTAL. I Triangulated for it every time I could. Without massive discounts the deck barely functions. Into the late and ultra late game I just generated too much value and armor. Shaman’s favor.

Rogue:
Weapon Rogue was all I saw. They got me 2 games. The other games I either gained armor or Rustrot Viper made them concede. There is no in favor. Either you hit the Rustrot Viper/armor or you lose.

Shaman:
It was all Terran Shaman and it was always the agro variant. The control version of Terran Shaman just destroys the mirror. It feels completely lopsided. You have a similar early game and the control version just gets out of reach in the mid to late game. Big favor to the control version.

Warlock:
GO FILL OUT YOU ZERG WARLOCK APOLOGY FORMS! The deck is awesome. The biggest problem against Shaman is that unless it gets some crazy early giants/Dark Alley Pact plays, it is very hard for Warlock to compete in the ultra late game. Favor to Shaman, but not by a ton.

Warrior:
Saw a decent amount of Terran Warrior. Shudderblock is just too good in the control matchup. i also Triangulated Lift Off every chance I got. Chaining Lift Off over and over again is just too much for warrior to keep up with. Heavy favor to Shaman.

Overall thoughts:

The deck is insanely good and fun. Every single game feels different and the decision tree is vast. Every game felt like a fight for the board and making good trades rewards you heavily. Each win felt like i earned it through smart play. I have played decks like ramp Druid where I quit using them even though I had a high win rate just because it was so boring. I think the meta is in a better place than before the mini set.

Deck List and Card Breakdown:

Shuddership

Class: Shaman

Format: Standard

Year of the Pegasus

2x (1) Miracle Salesman

One mana 2/2 that gives draw. Amazing 1-drop.

2x (1) SCV

Lowers the cost of future launches while being a 1/3 1-drop. No notes. Amazing minion.

1x (2) Busy Peon

This might be one of the most overlooked minions. Every time I played it on turn 2 and it died, allowing me to play Starport AND Fairy Tale Forest on turn 3, I felt like cheating.

2x (2) Cactus Cutter

Draws spells. Becomes 3/4 taunt. Great card.

2x (2) Missile Pod

This thing is a godsend vs agro. Giving your starship poison then giving it this ability is fantastic.

2x (2) Starport

Makes starship pieces. I. HATE. MEDIVAC.

2x (2) Triangulate

This card is the MVP. Against control you make more Lift Offs and just keep looping them. Against matchups where you want to Hex you have ALL the Hexes! Copies Eruptions. S-tier card.

2x (3) Fairy Tale Forest

Draws cards. Makes them cost less. Love it.

2x (3) Hex

Ok. Why Hex and not Thall’s Gift? First, Bloodlust is almost never relevant. The deck also already has a ton of AOE. There were more times than I can count where the 1 mana mattered. A turn 5 Triangulate into Hex was clutch over and over. This meta has an abundance of Hex targets.

2x (3) Lift Off

Draws cards and makes starship parts.

1x (3) Photographer Fizzle

Even after the nerf this card is amazing. I can count on 1 hand how many times having multiple Snapshots would have mattered. I also play much more aggressively.

1x (3) Rustrot Viper

Makes Rogues instantly concede. Makes Handbuff Paladin sad. Sometimes catches a Horn of the Windlord.

1x (3) Zola the Gorgon

Wins games. Copy Incindius, mini Shudderblock to get 3 of them, or Exodar. He gives that little bit of extra value to tilt control mirrors into your favor.

2x (4) Arkonite Defense Crystal

Gives Armor. Taunts. Makes starships bigger.

1x (6) Golganneth, the Thunderer

Normally clears a board, heals, and then dies. Sometimes it gets to snipe a minion as well before dying.

1x (6) Incindius

Incindius and Shudderblock are best friends. Shuffling 30 damage of AOE into your deck is insane. With a Snapshot I have shuffled in 30 Eruptions and they were all +2.

1x (6) Shudderblock

Makes all your Battlecries go off 3 times. Card is bonkers.

1x (7) Jim Raynor

Starships go bbbbrrrrrrrr. Being able to make a taunt every turn is insanely valuable against hero power druid.

1x (7) The Exodar

I do not understand why this card is not seeing more play. It outright won numerous games. The starship effects go off before the Exodar choose 1. I ended a ton of games early because I cleaned the board and then did the damage option. Without Fizzle infinite I think this may see more play for the added value.

1x (100) The Ceaseless Expanse

Wipes board.

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Any questions? Feel free to ask!

4 Likes
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I’d cut Zola and Incindius. Win more cards imo. 2 copies of Pop-up Book instead.

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Calling Incindius a win more card shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the deck. Shudderblock + Incindius is one of the most powerful combos in the game. It allows for constant board wipes while demolishing other control decks’ armor gain. This is a silly suggestion.

Zola being a win more card is a bit more understandable if it weren’t for the fact that most of my games were going to the ultra late game and squeezing out as much value as possible wins games. This is a deck that previously relied on an infinite to get its wins.

I do not run Pop-Up Book for a few reasons. One being that I have a strong enough early game there was never a situation where I wanted it. The only real agro deck right now is the agro starship Shaman, which this deck already annihilates. Another reason is board space. Those frogs take up valuable space.

2 Likes
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No, I understand the deck perfectly but it’s a lil too greedy imo. Terran shaman has little problem pushing face damage or controlling board, you don’t need Incindius to do either. Shudderblock is 6 mana and Incindius a further 6 mana for a payoff that fully comes in at the very late game. If you could afford to this you had already been controlling the board plenty and you should be able to push this amount of late game damage with other cards earlier on.

That’s why Incindius isn’t in the best performing netdecks and they lean more in the earlier swarming curve. In that note, pop-up book with thrall gift gives you a more versatile and reliable toolkit for different matchups, since it goes wide more easily, protects your face amazingly in the aggro matchups and you can push a big bloodlust swing much earlier than what Incindius does. Also it’s an extra target for triangulate in the weapon rogue matchup I guess.

I do appreciate this is a greedier homebrew-ish list focused on a grindier playstyle but I feel the sacrifices aren’t very worth it.

Just my two cents, we can agree to disagree

4 Likes
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The point I always make is that I tweek decks based on what I am seeing in my climb. If you are facing decks where Pop-Up Book is good, 100% swap. I was having tons of games that were going for the long haul where being greedy was needed.

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I agree with all of this. It’s one of the best cards in the deck.

I think it’s a matter of preferred playstyles. Some people enjoy taking the long way to get to the same place, but I would rather win now and get another match going… so I’m taking the less greedy deck, lol.

This is sort of a paradox though, right? Your deck is set up for that plan rather than the more aggressive version. Is it your meta was greedier or you killed people slower?

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I ended some games on turn 7. My deck CAN kill fast. I was running into Terran Warrior, Dungar Druid, and most importantly, tons of the agro variant of this deck. What is understood at high legend is that the control version of Terran Shaman demolishes the agro version. I literally only dropped one game in the mirror due to bad draws. That is the true beauty of running the greedier version. Again, I make deck choices based on the decks I am playing against the most.

EDIT - Just saw my thoughts bare out by the data. Terran Shaman has a 2% higher WR than the swarm version. This also seems to bare out in Top1k.

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Pop-up doesn’t work in isolation and that’s where people misunderstand it. It’s usually an enabler of the effect of Cactus Cutter which is an extra and even better taunt.

PS effects like that is why Impact stats of cards can be either misleading or useless.

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No one misunderstood that in this thread. Sometimes it feels like you’re talking with yourself rather than addressing what’s said in the thread Carnivore…

2 Likes
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Assuming you weren’t lying (you are), learn to express yourself better then. You speak about pop-up as if it’s good on its own without Cactus Cutter.

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Lying about what? What are you even talking about…

No? I think everyone understood me quite well, maybe you need to learn to read better lol.

May you please go back and quote exactly where you got this from? I specifically said pop up books works best specifically when coupled with thrall’s gift. The fact I didn’t also mention Cactus Cutter (which is on the OP’s list anyway) is irrelevant. I was making card picks recommendations. Whatever you’re doing responds only to your own thoughts, whatever those are.

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How did this conversation turn out this way? Pop-Up Book is amazing. I used it in previous builds testing this deck. It just wasn’t very good against the long control decks, so it got cut. If I were running the swarm version I would 100% use it and Gift over Hex.

3 Likes
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It’s not amazing in isolation, e.g. it has much lower Drawn impact on the Terran Archetype. The Drawn metric is how D0nkey suggests to construct decks.

It’s a complex study though, because those stats are contaminated by tutoring and Cactus Cutter is often involved (it might have to be dropped too).

14

Great deck, played a few games with it. Is the order of starship pieces important? Do i need the random effects starship piece before the damage one to kill board?

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Ofc it’s important, but you don’t get to choose the order, it’s random what you get from the locations

If you get that one, you play for the tempo swing (you instantly win the board, but take care of possible steals from MC Tech or Bob or something), if you get the dmg one you play for the board (so that you can do more dmg face), and if you get the armor one…well, I mean, that’s life sometimes xD

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The order matters when you are launching the ship yourself or using Exodar. The effects go off in order of death. You ALWAYS want the 3 bonus effects first. If you get poison and then the AOE goes off it wipes the opponents board. The order of operations are 3 bonus effects > any AOE > 5 damage.

Ships that launch from Raynor are random based on the effects that were in them.

@Carnivore - I did not say it was amazing in isolation. I explained the deck I would have used it in.

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That has not been my experience this month playing Terran Warrior. It’s very easy to keep them off the board. Could be you were playing against the cookie cutter warrior decks.

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Very possible. But, Hydration Station is almost completely useless vs 30+ Eruptions that have been boosted 2-3 times.

1 Like
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Yeah, i only use one Hydration in mine. Far too many Poly effects floating around in this current meta to rely on that crutch IMO. I’m looking for more deck disruption in my warrior and stacking armor. It’s working out better than anything else i have tried ATM.

20

I must do something wrong, but tried your deck and i get destroyed both early game and late game. First i seem to be facing homebrew decks after switching to this deck. The locations are a bit useless. any tips on mulligan?