I've been toying with the idea of adding one of the best Mechs (Zap-O-Matic) to the kind of boring Midrange Shaman who normally starts a game with eggs or spiders. With this I wanted to build a deck that could slow down or speed up depending on whether I'm facing aggro or control, with the aim of using just one deck with very few tech changes to climb the ladder, all while ensuring I always had some board presence in every game.
Well I'm stuck at rank 11 but I see a lot of potential in the deck, so I'm wondering what changes you guys might make to the deck, and what you think of the concept.
Some insight into why I picked these cards on individual and combined merit. Sorry if some of these are obvious.
Rockbiter: Cheap removal, value trades, burst potential
Annoy-o-Tron: I added a pair of these bastards soon after adding the Whirling Zap-o-matics and failing to draw into them early on, they're pretty insane with Powermace as is already established so well.
Flametongue Totem: These guys are essential right? Burst potential and animates your totems.
Whiling Zap-o-matic: The spinning lunatic laser bots work especially well as a finisher.
Powermace: Useful even without a Mech on board.
Feral Spirit: For 3 mana either as an emergency taunt or a cheap board presence these guys have saved my ass way too many times to look at them bitterly because of their overload. Sometimes though, they're dead when I'm not playing against aggro.
Hex: Probably the best hard removal in the game. One is essential since I'm not running BGH. Sometimes I wish I had two, most of the time I wish I had a way to close the game instead.
Lightning Storm: Along with Feral Spirit, these cards have made this deck especially effective against Zoo and Face Hunter. I couldn't see myself replacing these bad boys.
Harvest Golem: Originally, I ran Loatheb and Thaurissan or Sylvanas instead of the golems but I found having a sticky 3 drop more valuable than midrange threaths, especially since they work with Powermace.
Defender of Argus: Until very recently, I was using Windspeaker for fun in this deck! It worked really well as a surprising win condition, but it was often a dead card. The defender is much more versatile, but I've lost an important win condition.
Fireguard Destroyer: I think good RNG on this card often dictates the result of a match. One of my favourite turns 4 and 5 are Fireguard and either Windspeaker or...
Piloted Shredder: Sticky mech. It might just be the best card in the game.
Antique Healbot: Besides the obvious aggro mitigation, it serves as another Powermace recipient and I think my only half-decent answer to Mirror Entity.
Azure Drake: Card draw, spell damage for AOE. These guys are perhaps the only reason I'm just barely able to afford not running Mana Tide Totem or Neptulon as I used to.
Sludge Belcher: The best taunt in the game, its stickiness has served me so well with rockbiters and totems especially versus aggro.
Fire Elemental: I don't know if I've ever seen a Shaman without Fire Elementals. Without this kind of tempo I wouldn't stand a chance against other midrange and especially control decks.
Dr Boom: The ultimate in board presence. His bots synergise with Powermace too.
**Other cards I've tried*
Neptulon for card draw
Windspeaker for burst and swag
Loatheb for control and midgame presence
Sylvanas for similar reasons
Thaurissan to flood flood the board with more expensive minions
The idea was to begin the game with Mech threats, get opponents to waste expensive removal or better yet go uncontested and inflict heavy damage before laying down higher value minions to end the game with an overwhelming board. The win condition's just too vague sometimes, and against control often I'll run out of cards without Neptulon and Mana Tide. What are your thoughts on the hybrid mech / midrange Shaman? Are Al Akhir and Doomhammer viable? Is this an impossible task?
Many thanks in advance guys.
