There are tons of ways to play every character class in Hearthstone. There is no best way to build a single deck, this is not an end all be all guide, this is simply what I’ve found to work well. Thought I’d share my tips for other Pally lovers out there so they too can enjoy stacking some W’s in their win/loss column.
I would like to start out by saying that I haven’t paid for a single card in my deck and if you have the patience you won’t have to buy a single pack either. The way I run my Pally deck is so that it thrives off of low-cost minions, divine shield, buffs and weapons. First up I’ll show you my entire deck build.
Now if you notice my lineup, I only have one card in my entire deck that costs over four mana. That is by design, I don’t like to have high cost cards that you can only play in the late stages of the game. Everyone loves playing as either a mage or a hunter these days and their DPS is so high you’ll never even get the chance to play your high cost cards.
The one high mana card I do run in this deck is the Guardian of Kings. I think he’s a great option, for 7 mana you get a 5/6 onto the battlefield and you get to heal yourself for 6 HP. He’s great in clutch situations where you just need that little bit of extra health to keep on going.
So let’s get down to strategy, I like to go first when I play with this particular deck. It has a lot of good options for 1 mana and you won’t be at a disadvantage thanks to your low-cost minions. The ideal starting hand for this deck is Argent Squire, Blessing of Kings, Blessing of Might and Hand of Protection. The Scarlet Crusader, and Argent Protector aren’t bad options either, but the main point is you want lots of buffs with low-cost minions in your starting hand.
Even if you don’t draw the perfect hand starting a game with no minions and only having buffs shouldn’t be a problem. The Pally’s special ability to summon a 1/1 minion for only two mana is perfect for this style of play since it doesn’t really matter what the minion’s starting strength is. Even if your minion starts as a 1/1 throwing Blessing of Kings and Blessing of Might can turn it into an 8/5 for the low-cost of 5 mana. If you have a Hand of Protection you can play on top of everything else that’s just icing on the cake.
I’ve had plenty of games where I throw down a Scarlet Crusader on turn 3 followed by a Blessing of Kings on turn four and my opponent instantly concedes the game. The reason being that if you don’t have a polymorph or instant kill card that minion is extremely difficult to deal with, especially on turn 4 of the game. Divine Shield shrugs off any initial damage dealt and then there’s still 5 HP your opponent has to get around.
While the buffs are great and can turn low-cost minions into titans on the battlefield, this isn’t your only option. Blood Knight is an amazing pick for this deck as well, if you’re not familiar with the card, Blood Knight’s ability reads like this, “All minions lose Divine Shield. Gain +3/+3 for each Shield lost.” That means if I have two minions out on the field with Divine Shield and drop my Blood Knight–which only costs 3 mana–I suddenly have a 9/9 out on the battlefield.
A Blood Knight can easily turn the tide of the game if he’s dropped during the right moment, it’s pretty difficult to deal with a minion with such a high HP, especially if your opponent’s been preoccupied with burning your lower cost unimportant minions.
The last big strategy for this deck is your weapons. Now with playing a buff deck you want to make sure your minions can keep their Divine Shields for as long as they can, either to build up to the Blood Knight combo or to just keep your heavy hitters out for as long as possible. That’s where Truesilver Champion comes in.
For 4 mana you can equip a 4/2 weapon that heals you for 2 HP whenever you attack. That means you can help take out your opponent’s minions with taunt and leave your heavy hitters free to dish out the serious damage.
The other option I really like for this deck is the Sword of Justice. This is a little different from a conventional Hearthstone weapon, it is a 1/5, but that’s okay because its main strength doesn’t come from attacking. When you equip the Sword of Justice every time you bring a minion onto the battlefield it gets +1/+1 added to it.
This suddenly makes your 1/1 Silver Hand Recruits a 2/2, this may not sound like a lot, but it is enough to get you passed pesky hero powers like the Mage’s Fireblast which only deals one damage. Being able to buff your minions past an instant death is always nice and it adds a little extra oomph to your more important minions like the Scarlet Crusader, Raid Leader and Shattered Sun Cleric.
Now as you can see from the screenshots I’ve included my deck isn’t completed yet, I’m still trying to earn enough dust for my second Blood Knight and my second Sword of Justice. The card I’m planning on removing is Light’s Justice, it’s an okay card at best and I have a feeling I won’t miss it too much once it’s gone. Other than that I’m pretty happy with the way my deck is built currently.
If you have any suggestions on how to make my Pally deck better I’m all ears. Let me know in what ya’ll think in the comments below and maybe we can help each other get some more wins!
Published: May 27, 2014 09:04 am