Source
r/wildhearthstone•
Pledge__

How do people feel about murloc shaman? (Playing against and playing it)

Curious about this because it seems kind of broken. it might be that the meta I was in for the climb was just perfect for it, but it just seems to be able to build a board so consistently, and with few classes running 3 damage removal once it gets on board it can just stay there. Now I may have gotten lucky, but I took it from rank 4 to legend with 5 total losses against generally competitive decks (although kudos to the guy who almost won using cursed blade). The win streaks were real, zero losses through rank 4 and rank 1.

I guess a big part of it is that decks are very light on board clears most of the time, and you can often get a pretty sizeable army up, especially with everyfin that opponents just can't compete. Even the "get to legend easy" deck of odd paladin seems to just crumble.

And yet when I played against it with other decks on ladder it didn't feel that bad to lose to? It's weird, but it doesn't do anything that feels that unfair. Maybe it's the fact that their stuff actually does die if you use a board clear, or the lack of burst without a board or massive mana swing turns, but despite how strong it is... it feels fine to play against.

Posted Jun 16, 2019, 3:53 AM UTC

722
xGwynethx•

I play as an Even Shaman (currently R9: highest I've achieved) and I've found that by taking out Angler, and the murloc that gives them more attack when you summon another murloc helps a great deal.

Devolve and Lightning storm have been a huge help as well. I think that unless you're playing a class with good AoE/transformative effects, you're going to struggle.

Other than that, I think the setup it requires is pretty balance. Angler gives you random minions and Everyfin doesn't feel bad because it requires a board to stick.

7
Pledge__OP•

Taking out key murlocs is definitely a way to deal with it easily, yeah, but they have enough stuff to not fold.

How are you running lightning storm in even shaman?

5
xGwynethx•

Maelstorm. Not lightning.

6
Iskari•

Even Shaman is heavily favored against Murloc Shaman, like it is against most aggro decks. It is not an autowin obviously but around 65-35.

1
ValuableSituation4•

(currently R9: highest I've achieved)

You may go higher if you remove Lightning Storm from your Genn deck.

2
Iskari•

It is a fun deck to play and play against thanks to it being pretty much build a board or die -deck. Kind of like Mech Hunter can steamroll you early, it can also can snowball out of control, but the fyn thing about it that isn't like Mech Hunter is you can make some huge boards from scratch from T7 onwards.

The good thing for a control player when playing against it is they practically run no burst from hand (aside from a couple of chargers) so you can feel pretty safe at times and bait them into overextending into a full clear.

3
Hoho_cat•

Very annoying to play against especially if you’re playing a slower deck but that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun to play.

1
CyrusonRed•

I feel like if they have underbelly angler, any other murloc, and everyfin is awesome in hand on turn 7 you’re going to see something explosive that most classes can’t deal with. This probably happens a little too commonly for how little counterplay there is and the fact it’s a 2 card combo of cards you have two of in every deck.

I think discovering random toxfins is absolutely ridiculous (like omega devastators in standard right now) and that card pretty much makes the deck work. It doesn’t matter how many shit murlocs you make if you can make the expendable ones poisonous for negligible mana. Random oracles, seers, and chargers is nearly as awful. If toxfin wasn’t a thing taunts would actually work, but taunts are so useless in wild unless they’re insane like voidlords. This is pretending they aren’t going to devolve your board anyway, which is an even more powerful tool.

I think people who just jam or coin angler and hope there’s no removal win games through luck alone and the deck is actually capable of winning even more than it already does with patient play into the midgame.

A +2/+2 buff that also buffs totems and decreases cost by doing what you were going to do anyway is insanely good. Quartermaster is insanely good and a core card in odd paladin and can’t hold a candle to this card.

Generally aggro decks suffer problems with card draw. Tastyfin and ice fishing are super effective card draw compared to other aggro decks. You can play around divine favor but you can’t really do shit about ice fishing.

1
AMERICANWARCRIMES•

I think jamming or coining angler isnt always the wrong play. It's still an aggro deck.

If you're not building board you're losing vs anything slow and even vs tempo or other aggro. It's a highroll curvestone deck, like old murloc paladin or even pirate warrior. If you draw right you autowin.

Vs tier 1/2 slow decks you better win by turn 6 or you're done with 0 burn or silences or comeback mechanics.

6
mjc9806•

That's just true in general for aggro decks. Winning by turn 6 or you probably never will.

3
Iskari•

No, playing Angler on T2 or T1 with coin can be a good play, but that depends heavily on the opponent. Make a misjudgement though and it just might cost you the game.

Murloc Sham with Angler is a great and interesting deck to play because you don't necessarily need to seal the deal before late game. There's plenty of comeback against slow decks if you space out your threats and don't overextend into clears.

3
ImbaSkillz•

Angler is mega broken and mega bullshit.

Toxfin is relatively broken and mega bullshit.

Everyfin is mega broken and mega bullshit.

The deck falls apart completely if you can prevent them from developing more than 1-2 murlocs, but if you can't, you just die. It's like playing vs Odd Paladin, but everything is a Recruit and Recruits start bigger than 1/1.

1†
kzero0•

rank 4 to legend with 5 total losses ... zero losses through rank 4 and rank 1

Damn, that's insane.

The one game that really got to me these few days was against a Murloc Shaman (Rank 4) that played horribly. I lost.

Dropping Murloc Tidecaller on 1 and 2 for me to kill (odd rogue going second), then proceeding to top deck a few turns later, in order, 4murlocs everyfin 4murlocs everyfin with bloodlust in starting hand.

That felt bad. :(

1
Pledge__OP•

Yeah, I think I might have gotten lucky and avoided most of my counters or some people got bad draws, but the deck is apparently pulling a 70ish% winrate on HSreplay, so there's that.

Sometimes it can definitely snowball, though the one time I played against odd rogue it did feel like I needed that kind of strong start to just get on board and actually manage to win. I imagine that odd rogue generally does pretty well against it.

1
J4son_26•

I had a pretty similar experience. I swapped to the deck at rank 5 and took it to legend with relative ease. Passed through the whole of rank 2 not dropping a game. I play on phone so not to sure on my win rate but I would estimate at least 65%. The deck seems crazily consistent at building and maintaining boards, while also having great matchups against a majority of the field.

1
TopDeckingCasually•

Same as any other aggro deck, boring and poor game design.

1
Pledge__OP•

So... all aggro decks are poor game design?

1
TopDeckingCasually•

Correct.

1
Pledge__OP•

What kind of decks do you like to play?

1
TopDeckingCasually•

Anything but aggro, face, and OTK tbh.
I don't think it's fun winning on turn 4 and only played a small % of your deck, but that's my opinion.

1
BearHugtheRemote•

Murloc players = annoying

1
ReprisalHS•

My thoughts are that every single one has angler on 2, warleader on 3, and is buffing his board by 5. Annoying to face for sure

0