Image: Blizzard Entertainment via HGG / Joel Stadler
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Reviewed by Benjamin Barr
In the OCG Hearthstone, there are a lot of beloved tribes. From beasts, to mechs, to elementals and more, in most standard rotations you will find one tribe or another that has a deck. But of all these tribes, few are as beloved as murlocs. Those funny little fish-people with their pun-riddled cards are back in standard and are the core of the current best shaman deck in Hearthstone. Once you get a look at this deck and how it plays, it isn’t hard to see why it’s considered top tier.
Strategy of the Deck
This deck is definitely a murloc deck, but it doesn’t exclusively run murlocs and murloc synergy cards like some decks in the past have. There are a couple of cards that, while not murloc synergy cards directly, are still run in this deck because they align with the deck’s basic strategy.
What is the strategy of this Hearthstone shaman deck? The short answer is the same as any murloc deck that has come before, and that is to go wide aggro.
Here’s the longer answer: this is an aggressive deck that aims to win early by flooding the board with lots of small minions that either get buffed or simply swarm over the enemy before they can mount resistance.
What makes this deck so strong is its resilience. It is designed to always have a full board once it gets going. Even if you remove their minions, this shaman will keep bringing more back until your opponent is overwhelmed and killed.
Best Shaman Standard Deck in Hearthstone
As mentioned above, this deck is designed to be fast, with no cards in the deck costing more than five mana. It is also relatively cheap to build, using only two legendaries, four epics, four rares, and the rest commons.
While no top-tier deck will consist entirely of commons or commons and rares, this deck is as cheap as it can get, making it an excellent choice for beginners as it requires relatively low investment for significant returns.
Now, let’s take a detailed look at the deck and go over all the cards. We’ll discuss the cards by rarity, starting with the legendary minions and working our way down. Here’s the decklist:
- Murloc Tinyfin x2
- Schooling x2
- Spawnpool Forager x2
- South Coast Chieftain x2
- Lushwater Scout x2
- Carving Chisel x2
- Amalgam of the Deep x2
- Firemancer Flurgl x1
- Clown Fish x2
- Nofin Can Stop Us x2
- Hawkstrider Rancher x2
- Murlocula x2
- Gorloc Ravager x2
- Bloodlust x2
- Famished Fool x2
- Rotgill x1
Legendary Cards
Both legendary minions that this deck runs are integral pieces and are well worth the 3200 dust.
Firemancer Flurgl (Minion)
Firemancer Flurgl is a 2/3 murloc for two mana. After you play a murloc, Flurgl deals 1 damage to all enemies. Notably, Flurgl requires you to play a murloc to trigger its effect, so you do not deal damage when you summon a token. Nevertheless, Firemancer Flurgl is an auto-include in the deck as it lets you control the board while simultaneously dealing damage to the face. This card is incredible value.
Rotgill (Minion)
Not to be outdone, Rotgill is also a valuable card in this deck. Rotgill is a 3/6 murloc for five mana with a battlecry that gives all your other minions, “Deathrattle: give your minions +1/+1.” You should play Rotgill when you have six other minions on the board, and every time they kill one of your minions (or you kill one of your minions), your others just get bigger, making your board a lot scarier and a lot harder to deal with. A straight boardwipe can get around this effect, but don’t worry, the deck is designed to withstand having its whole board blown up. Our epics can help with that.
Epic Cards
Amalgam of the Deep (Minion)
Amalgam of the Deep is our first epic in the deck and is basically an auto-include in any tribal deck in the game. It is a 2/3 for two mana, has all minion types, and a battlecry where you choose a friendly minion and discover a minion of the same type to add to your hand.
One of the weaknesses of aggro decks is running out of cards too early, but Amalgam of the Deep helps us replenish our hands and almost guarantees that we get good options to pick from. Additionally, since it is all minion types, Amalgam of the Deep gives us murloc synergies as well, such as triggering our Firemancer Flurgl.
Hawkstrider Rancher (Minion)
Hawkstrider Rancher is one of the few cards in the deck that is not directly a murloc or murloc synergy card. Nonetheless, it is a powerful card in this deck. Hawkstrider Rancher is a 2/5 for three mana, and while it is on the board, any time a friendly minion dies, we get a 1/1 Hawkstrider to replace it. Plus, that five health makes Hawkstrider Rancher difficult to remove in the early game.
Now when our other minions are removed, we can simply replace them, and we also have the option to run our minions into enemies without losing board presence. Hawkstrider really helps us go wide consistently and continuously.
Rare Cards
Nofin Can Stop Us (Spell)
Nofin Can Stop Us is not only a great pun but also a great card. It is a three-mana spell that gives all our minions +1/+1, as well as an additional +1/+1 to all our murlocs. Obviously, this card is great in our deck. Imagine having a board of seven 1/1 murlocs (not unlikely with our deck). That’s seven damage to the enemy or their units.
On our turn, we play Nofin Can Stop Us, and that number goes from seven to twenty-one, which could easily take out our opponent right there. Even if Nofin Can Stop Us doesn’t end the game the turn it is played, it is still a huge damage boost.
Famished Fool (Minion)
Famished Fool is the next rare in the deck and our second card that is not directly murloc-related but a huge boost to the deck. It is a 3/5 for five mana and has a battlecry that draws us a card, which is not great for five mana. However, it also has the Infuse ability.
Famished Fool has Infuse (4), meaning it needs to be in our hand and “see” four friendly minions die. Once it does, its battlecry changes from drawing one card to drawing three cards, which is much better for five mana, and the 3/5 body doesn’t hurt. Since our deck plays plenty of low-cost minions and replaces them often, Famished Fool will Infuse very quickly.
Common Cards
As is often the case in aggro decks, the common cards in this deck should not be underestimated. This deck is full of really strong commons to look out for.
Gorloc Ravager (Minion)
Gorloc Ravager is a 4/3 murloc for five mana. The cost is a bit steep for our deck, but Gorloc’s battlecry draws us three murlocs from our deck, which is well worth the cost. Being able to replenish our hand is huge in this deck.
Lushwater Scout (Minion)
Lushwater Scout is another obvious standout. Lushwater Scout is a 1/3 murloc for two mana. While it is on the board, if we summon a murloc, Lushwater Scout gives it +1 attack and rush (meaning it can attack this turn, but only minions). This is a nice attack boost and gives us flexibility to deal with nasty enemy minions if we need to.
It is also worth noting that, unlike Firemancer Flurgl, whose ability triggers when we play a murloc, Lushwater Scout’s ability triggers when we summon a murloc. That is a big distinction because it means Lushwater Scout works with our murloc tokens, which can be a crucial bonus in some games.
Bloodlust (Spell)
Bloodlust is another card that isn’t directly a murloc or murloc synergy card, but it is an amazing finisher in our deck. Bloodlust is a five-mana spell that gives all our minions +3 attack this turn.
Imagine our Nofin Can Stop Us scenario. There we had seven 1/1 murlocs. With Bloodlust, we would suddenly go from seven damage on the board to twenty-eight! That’s almost a one-shot kill on a full health opponent. If we have just two more power on board, then it will be a one-shot kill. Many times throughout my Hearthstone career have I lost to a Bloodlust from the blue when I thought I was safe.
Murlocula (Minion)
Murlocula is also a strong card that might not stand out quite as much. Murlocula is a 3/4 murloc for four mana. Murlocula has lifesteal (meaning when it deals damage, we gain that much life). which is a nice bonus to be sure.
However, the real reason we run Murlocula is that it has Infuse (4), which reduces the cost to (0). As we mentioned with Famished Fool, getting four of our minions to die is quite easy in this deck, meaning we can drop Murlocula very early, making it quite the beater in our deck.
South Coast Chieftain (Minion)
South Coast Chieftain is a 3/2 murloc for two mana. It has a battlecry: if you control another murloc (which you pretty much always will), deal 2 damage. This damage can go face or hit a minion. Since South Coast Chieftain is a 3/2 for two mana, it can really put the pressure on opponents early in the game or provide some nice tempo later on.
Spawnpool Forager (Minion)
Spawnpool Forager is a 1/2 murloc for one mana. Spawnpool Forager has a Deathrattle: summon a 1/1 Tinyfin. A murloc that replaces itself with another murloc is obviously great in this deck.
Clownfish (Minion)
Clownfish is a 3/2 murloc for three mana that makes our next two murlocs cost (2) less. This means we can often play three murlocs on turn three (including the Clownfish), which is very scary for our opponents.
However, it is worth noting that Clownfish’s ability doesn’t say the next two murlocs we play this turn, just the next two murlocs we play. That means we can wait a turn or two and still get the discount. So even if our hand is empty, Clownfish is still a solid play.
Schooling (Spell)
Schooling is neither a murloc nor a murloc synergy card, but it can still be devastating in this deck. Schooling is a one mana spell that adds three 1/1 Piranha Swamers to our hand. When we play a Piranha Swarmer, all other Piranha Swarmers on our board gain +1 attack, and Piranha Swarmers have rush. They can absolutely destroy opponents if left unchecked.
Carving Chisel (Weapon)
Carving Chisel is not direct murloc synergy either, but having a 1/3 weapon for two mana that summons a basic totem when it attacks can be strong. Some totems can be duds, but others give our murlocs attack or have attack value themselves. And remember, we can always play Nofin Can Stop Us or Bloodlust to make those dud totems do work.
Murloc Tinyfin (Minion)
Even the humble Murloc Tinyfin (a 1/1 murloc for zero mana) has a place in our deck. Remember, don’t underestimate those 1/1 murlocs, they will get bigger.
Join the High Ground!
And there’s one of (if not the) current top tier shaman deck in Hearthstone. Rush out your murlocs (often quite literally) and kill your opponent before they know what hit them. Enjoy.
If you have any questions or think there’s a better shaman deck out there currently, let us know in the comments below! And make sure to subscribe to our weekly newsletter for more content.
Happy gaming!
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