In recent tournaments, the top pro players have been leaning heavily on a few consistent and "safe" decks. Midrange Shaman has been one of those signature "safe" decks. In this article, we will be taking a look at the Midrange Shaman build that the pros have been using to achieve great tournament wins! Below is Aleksandr "Kolento" Malsh's Midrange Shaman list that he has been acheiving success with in the recent premier tournaments.

Let’s breakdown the list!

Spells

-Earth Shock: An extremely powerful Shaman class spell that costs 1 mana. It does one damage (making it good for early board control), while it also silences! This card great for killing small, deathrattle minions such as Loot Horder, Leper Gnome, Bloodmage Thalnos, and more.

-Rockbiter Weapon: This buff spell allows for serious burst damage, and board control from efficient trades.

-Feral Spirit: This spell is a great aggro roadblock. For 3 mana, it puts up two 2/3 taunting wolves. It is also really good for protecting an Undertaker that you are trying to build up!

-Hex: Arguably one of the best spell in Hearthstone. Hex allows for the removal of any threat by turning it into a measly 0/1 taunting frog. This spell also only costs 3 mana, making it available for use early in the game.

-Lightning Storm: A very good board wipe that can turn the tides of the early and mid-game. It is also a cheap 3 mana, making it especially good against aggro decks that have little minions.

Minions

-Undertaker: A card often seen in aggro decks, he allows give the deck extra early game power. With many deathrattle creatures in the list, he can turn into a formidable force that your opponent has to expend many resources to deal with.

-Flametongue Totem: Another totally great card. Flametongue allows for the early minions to make great trades, while can also help with extra damage later in the game. Also, has great synergy with the hero power totems by making them able to attack.

-Haunted Creeper: A deathrattle creature that allows for good trades against small X/1 minions. Gives us two 1/1 spiders to continue board pressure.

-Nerubian Egg: Shaman has many ways to get it to hatch into the 4/4 Nerubian, plus it helps our Undertaker. Your opponent also has to burn resources to deal with it, leaving our other threats on the board.

-Harvest Golem: Another staple deathrattle creature. Allows for us to keep board pressure even after trades and board wipes.

-Mana Tide Totem: Any deck-builder will tell you that card draw wins games. This totem allows us to get at least 1 card from it, and possibly more if we can protect it (perhaps behind Feral Spirit wolves!).

-Defender of Argus: He is a great card that is perfect in Shaman decks. He can allow us to buff our minions, turn totems into defenders, and is an option to getting our Nerubian Egg to hatch. Defender of Argus also provides great defense against aggro lists.

-Gnomish Inventor: Another option for card draw that has good stats. Defender of Argus and Flametongue totem can help this minion generate very efficient board control.

-Azure Drake: Our dragon friend buffs up our Earth Shock and Lightning Storm spells, as well as giving us a card and a 4/4 minion. Overall, he helps us keep a powerful transition into the mid-game phase.

-Sludge Belcher: Another big roadblock with deathrattle. He can protect our precious Mana Tide Totem, Undertake, and face!

-Fire Elemental: This Shaman class minion gives us a big body, plus some immediate damage. He can help clear a threat, hatch our Nerubian egg, or fling some damage at our opponent for the win.

-Al’Akir the Windlord: The Shaman class Legendary. Al’Akir allows for extreme burst damage when paired with Rockbiter weapon thanks to his windfury and charge.

Weapons

-Doomhammer: The only windfury weapon in Hearthstone. Great synergy with Rockbiter weapon as well, giving you 10 damage to strike with!

Hero Power

You can generate 1 of 4 different totems:
A 1/1 with no abilities, a 0/2 that can heal your minions 1 pt at the end of turn, a 0/2 taunt, and a 0/2 spell buffing (+1 damage) minion. You can only have 1 of each totem down at a time, so manipulate this to your favor!

General Deck Tips

-Watch your Overload costs, and try to plan your next turn before casting overload spells. A turn 3 Feral Spirit into a turn 4 Flametongue totem is very strong and mana efficient!

-Save your Hex spells for when you absolutely need them! They can save you from big threats, such as Ragnaros, Ysera, Cenarius, etc.

-Play your Mana Tide Totem when you have a good board to protect it, or if you opponent has few resources left! Getting 2 or more cards from this minion can swing the game strongly in your favor.

-Save your Rockbiter weapons for making good trades or for combos with Al’Akir and Doomhammer.

-Try to set up your Lightning Strikes so if it does the lesser damage value, you are still in control!

-Don’t waste the damage from your Fire Elementals. They are one of your few sources of direct damage, and can help you clean up from messy Lightning strikes.

Matchups

Favorable
Control and Deathrattle Priest, Tempo Rogue, Control and Aggro Paladin, Handlock Warlock, Aggro Mage, Token Druid

Manageable
New Miracle Rogue, Hunter Aggro, Ramp Druid, Control Mage

Difficult
Control Warrior, Zoo Warlock, Spellslinger Shaman, Secrets Mage

If you like a mix of control and aggro, Midrange Shaman is definitely the deck for you! As Kolento and other pros have demonstrated, the deck is extremely versatile and fun. It also can perform very well with only a few legendary cards! Good luck and share your experiences with the deck!

-Yusnaan