Noobberry here, with an aggressive Paladin deck called “Saiyan Guide Me”.
This decklist was made by JustSaiyan, a high-ranking Hearthstone player who is currently top 10 on Blizzard’s World Championship point leaderboard. The deck’s consistency is seen in the higher Legend rankings and is used as the deck of choice for many players who are looking to climb the ladder. It gained popularity after JustSaiyan reached top 10 with the deck in the May ladder season.
This deck features an aggressive style of play, with a combination of several combos and board pressure using low cost minions.
“It beats everything but patron, a lot of the meta just struggles with board flood. Thank god priest sucks.” -JustSaiyan
Decklist & card choices
2x Abusive Sergeant – A solid and cheap 2/1 minion, with the bonus of buffing a minion with +2 attack. Use this attack buff on smaller minions to trade off bigger minions that threaten your board presence, or against taunts.
2x Leper Gnome – A solid and cheap 2/1 minion, which typically defines an aggressive deck. The extra 2 damage from Leper Gnome pushes the damage needed to kill your opponent quickly.
2x SouthSea Deckhand – This deck runs 4 weapons, so when you are given the chance to have this card in your hand with a weapon out, the 2 damage from this card can come in quite handy. This card can also be combined with buff cards such as Blessing of Kings, Abusive Sergeant, and Blessing of Might.
2x Argent Squire & 2x Shielded Minibot - The divine shield makes these minions very sticky. They are annoying for your opponent to deal with, because they need twice the answers for them to be wiped out. The addition of minion buff cards such as Blessing of Might and Blessing of Knights allow for a more aggressive push.
1x Annoy-O-Tron – Annoy-O-Tron is the protection minion of the deck. After dropping your turn 1 minion, Annoy-O-Tron comes out at turn 2 to protect it, letting your turn 1 minions turnover more damage. This card is perfect against aggressive decks and it is best to run 2 if you are facing against too much aggressive decks on ladder.
2x Ironbeak Owl – Silence your enemy’s taunts or certain minions (Knife Juggler or Flamewakers etc.) to preserve your board. Ironbeak Owl gives you an answer to what’s on the other side of the board, so your minions can keep chipping down your opponent’s health.
2x Knife Juggler – Standard 3/2 body with an awesome effect that inflicts damage to your opponent or his/her minions. Used in combination with Muster to Battle, your hero power, and cheap minions to deliver extra damage.
2x Divine Favor – The draw engine of this deck. Your goal is to dump out as much cards in your hand and refill it with Divine Favor. Most of the time, you can draw around 3 to 4 cards depending on your opponent’s style of the deck (Aggro = not that much, Control = a lot of cards). 3 to 5 cards is enough to refuel back into the game.
2x Muster to Battle - This card gives you three minions and potentially three damage for next turn, if they survive, plus a handy 1/4 weapon. That’s 7 damage in one card - the value!
1x Arcane Golem – The one charge minion of the deck, use this card to finish your opponent in the midgame. Try to combo it off with buff cards such as Abusive Sergeant, Blessing of Might and Blessing of Kings to unleash some pretty good burst damage.
2x Truesilver Champion - The essential turn 4 of the deck. 8 damage in one card is huge and can bring your opponent straight down to zero health in no time when needed. Use your health as a resource to knock out huge minions and to preserve your board. Gaining 2 health is a bonus against aggressive decks.
2x Blessing of Kings – This buff card can be a huge surprise for your opponent when placed onto a minion before your attack. If you happen to have a minion living on turn 4, it can turn it into giant killing machine. A typical scenario is when your opponent plays a Sludge Belcher. This card is the main answer to it if you do not have Ironbeak Owl in your hand.
2x Consecration – A damage spell with extra reach and a board wipe card. This card can reverse the game back into your favour if your opponent has a board filled with weak creatures that can trade against yours.
1x Hammer of Wrath – A damage card that helps cycling through your deck and can be used on either your opponent’s face or minions. The extra card draw can be beneficial in the late game since card draw is kept at a minimum in this deck.
1x Defender of Argus – Defensive board build up, with the bonus of minion buffs. Beneficial late game since it can be combined with the hero power and low drop minions.
“Argus is good vs both kinds of warriors, the deck loses to death’s bite and argus is the best way to counter that.” - JustSaiyan on Defender of Argus
Mulligans
Look for low cost minions to build up early aggression on the board.
Argent Squire
Leper Gnome
Annoy-o-Tron (Especially against Zoo or Hunters)
Knife Juggler
Shielded Minibots
Muster to Battle (Only if your hand has a good enough curve, with a one and two drop)
Situational Keeps
Annoy-o-Tron – In the mirror matches or other aggressive matchups, this card is great in combination with Blessing of Kings; if it survives next turn.
Ironbeak Owl – Shut down Druid’s taunt minion or silence Mad Scientist from Hunter (effectively denying Freezing or Explosive traps)
Combos and Tips
Knife Juggler + Muster to Battle (5 Mana)
Common combo; deals an additional 3 damage from Knife Juggler, which could benefit you by maintaining board control and inflicting damage without losing any minions on your side of the board.
Blessing of Might or Blessing or Kings + any minion with Divine Shield
Dealing with Divine Shield minions is very annoying for your opponent, which is why this little combination can easily give you an edge, especially considering that most decks don't play too many Silence effects. Can be used to either pressure the opponent or getting taunts out of the way, when you don't happen to have one of your Owls.
Shielded Minibot + Coin + Blessing of Kings on turn 3
This can be a huge swing into your favour since the divine shield requires them to waste an answer they would probably use for some other minions or situation.
Arcane Golem + Any attack card buff for late game finish.
If you find yourself going into the late game, try to keep Arcane Golem for a massive finish. Arcane Golem is the only unconditional charge minion of the deck, which is beneficial mainly due to its low mana cost. This way, you can play your buf f cards on the Arcane Golem and finish in a big way.
Similar to Arcane Golem, you also have the option to use Southsea Deckhand in combination with buff cards. This requires you to have an active weapon in play, so try to keep the last charge of a weapon for these cases.
Using Southsea Deckhand also means too less damage compared to Arcane Golem, something you should keep in mind.
Ingame
Early Game (Turn 1 – 3)
Start by flooding the board with low cost minions; your opponent will have to deal with them, which puts him into the defensive position. Argent Squire and Leper Gnome are great for board pressure if you are able to play one of these early in the game. Annoy-o-Tron protects your one drops if you can manage to play it on turn 2. Shielded Minibot is a great, sticky minion your opponent has to deal with during the course of the game.
Mid Game (Turn 4 – 6)
Truesilver Champion and Blessing of Kings become your best friend during this time period. This is the point where your opponent should be low enough to finish him off. Use Divine Favor to refill your hand with cards if you are starting to run out of gas. Ironbeak Owl will start being important in the game to deal with taunt minions such as Sludge Belchers.
Late Game (Turn 7 – 10 and beyond)
The late game is the weakest aspect of the deck, but you can still come back due the sheer power of the deck. Hammer of Wrath can be cycled out to deal damage and Divine Favor is now the main source of fuel in the deck. However, if your opponent manages to heal back up to a decent amount of health to stabilize, then the game is likely lost.
Deck Teching
Against Aggro
Consider the following cards if you are playing against too many aggressive decks:
Another Annoy-O-Tron
Haunted Creeper
Senjin ShieldMasta
Against Midrange
Consider the following cards if you are playing against too many midrange decks:
Aldor Peacekeeper
Argent Commander
Equality
Solemn Vigil
Against Control (turns the deck into more of an Aggroish Midrange deck)
Consider the following cards if you are playing against too many aggressive decks:
Blood Knight
Acidic Swamp Ooze (Against decks with weapons such as Warriors and Rogues)
Loatheb
Piloted Shredder
Quarter Master
Gameplay Videos of the deck
Here are some gameplay videos that featured this deck.
Mirror match against Team Archon’s Amaz
GoobyStorm’s Waffster using the deck in ONOG Qualifer Event
*Note: He swapped out one Blessing of Kings in favour of Acidic Swamp Ooze due to the amount of Patron Warriors in the tournament*
www.twitch.tv/onenationofgamers/v/6374566?t=9m2s (at the time this guide was written there was no youtube source available)
“This deck is versatile against many decks I played during the ONOG tournament.” - Waffster, Runner up of ONOG Tournament.
Big thanks to JustSaiyan for his help on writing this guide! You can find his social media here: Twitter & Twitch
“Please don’t, I’m going on tilt.” – JustSaiyan rank 98 from rank 9 after I asked him for more quotes.
