Need help against Warriors (Merloc Shaman)

General Discussion
1

Hi All,

I returned to hearthstone after many years and i am enjoying myself. I have a question about Warriors (bomb and controle). I am playing a Merloc deck as a shaman with a couple of overload cards. I feel that my matchups versus Hunters and Warriors is lacking allot. I’ts pritty much game over before the game begins (it feels that way for me).

I have tried a lot of strats including early agression, late game agression and everything in between.

My findings for early game agression:
I find it hard to get a critical mass. Most cards i have depent on a couple of BIG cards like +3 dmg on all Minions or +2 dmg on all Merlocs. If i cannot get a couple of cards on the deck i cannot use those cards. (or am i doing this wrong and should i just drop them on the deck even do i have 1 or 2 Merlocs on the board)

Most common ways the warrior chips away my early agression is using his shield + weapons or with rush cards.

My findings for late game agression:
Although i can get to lategame with my (overload and weapon cards) i struggle way to much late game. If i drop a full deck using my Underbelly Angler or Ghost light or other combo’s i usually end up losing those cards to a 2 dmg echo card of the warriors or his (dont know that that card is overload on weapons? He can attack multiple times with his weapon) My Merlocs are Glass cannons that have low health high dmg outputs once buffed.

Next to his aoe cards i struggle with late game due to the bombs in my deck and during the battle for the board. Once i get a decent mass of minions he will have multiple armor items applied already (10 to 15 extra armor) and there is no way i am breaking that in 1 or 2 turns once i have managed to get a decent mass of merlocks.

Maybe above is my novisness and i just need to learn more about the game (thats why i post this). So are there any Merc Shamans that can help me out a bit? Would you prefer early presure or late game agression?

Regards,

Meton
PS: sorry for the eye bleed due to spelling. English is not my native language.

EDIT:
I think i need to update my deck and get rid of some overload cards. If i look at the deck here:
hsreplay … net / decks/#sortBy=winrate (cannot post links in this post :stuck_out_tongue:

I can see that there are no overload cards in this deck. And oef 11 spots on the first page out of 17 for the warrior. I can see why i would be struggeling :smiley:

Edit 2 - Current deck:
BTW this is my current deck:

Merlock Shaman (epics)

Class: Shaman

Format: Standard

Year of the Dragon

2x (1) Grimscale Oracle

2x (1) Murloc Tidecaller

2x (1) Sludge Slurper

2x (1) Toxfin

2x (2) Bluegill Warrior

2x (2) Hench-Clan Hogsteed

2x (2) Murloc Tidehunter

2x (2) Soul of the Murloc

2x (2) Underbelly Angler

2x (3) Coldlight Seer

2x (3) Murloc Warleader

2x (4) Hench-Clan Hag

2x (4) Murloc Tastyfin

2x (5) Bloodlust

1x (6) The Storm Bringer

1x (8) Heroic Innkeeper

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2

Unfortunately both bomb and control warrior are counters to murloc decks. That’s not to say these matchups aren’t winnable, but they are heavily favoured towards the warrior.

Against control warrior you need to apply early pressure, but not too much pressure that you get wiped out by their removal. It’s a fine balancing act of using enough pressure to bait out cards like Brawl and Warpath, whilst still keeping enough back in reserve to stack that pressure back up if your board gets removed. But the longer this game goes on the lower your chances of success. If they get Dr Boom early then you’re pretty much screwed. With the right card draw, however, it’s possible to smash a warrior down in 5-6 turns, however, assuming you’re running Bloodlust.

Rush/bomb should be slightly more winnable but not by much. Like Control matchup the longer this game goes on the more it favours warrior. Similar tactics to control, apply early pressure but don’t over-commit until you have that killing blow. Again, Bloodlust helps massively with this.

For hunters it depends entirely on what hunter deck you are up against, but Mech hunter you should beat fairly consistently and Spell hunter should be an almost guaranteed win. Keep Toxfin handy for dealing with Animal Companion. Your other main concerns against Spell hunter are their secrets. Bait them out and don’t over commit unless you have a play around. If a secret is active, always play your most disposable minion first to play around frost trap, you can even use this to your advantage to return valuable murlocs like Toxfin, Ghostlight Angler and Coldlight Seer to your hand to use again, if at a slightly higher cost. Try to fish for Coldlight Seer to buff your minions above the damage of Explosive Trap and watch out for that turn 4-5+ Unleash the Hound+buff wolf combo that can wipe your board, make sure you have enough on back up to reapply the pressure. Early sustained pressure is the key to beating Spell hunter. They have not access to healing so putting them on the defensive and maintaining steady pressure should easily win you the game.

Mech hunter is pretty similar but no secrets to watch out for. Big board is key to winning this match. Hit them hard and fast as they only really have single minion to minion removal and don’t run secrets. Trick is to take them down before they can get off their Missile Launcher/Venomizer combo. If they get that, it’s game over.

If you can copy your deck list I’m sure myself and others would be happy to have a look at it and suggest any improvements you could make

3

Hi M8,

Thank you for your reply. I will try to use your tips in battle, thanks.

I updated my deck 4 games ago and i must say i feel better equiped. I got rid of overload cards and replaced them with summoning and draw cards. I don’t feel as fragile at this moment. Here is the deck:

Shaman Merloc (new)

Class: Shaman
Format: Standard
Year of the Dragon

2x (1) Grimscale Oracle
2x (1) Murloc Tidecaller
2x (1) Sludge Slurper
2x (1) Toxfin
2x (2) Bluegill Warrior
2x (2) Ghost Light Angler
2x (2) Hench-Clan Hogsteed
2x (2) Murloc Tidehunter
2x (2) Soul of the Murloc
2x (2) Underbelly Angler
2x (3) Coldlight Seer
1x (3) Lightning Storm
2x (3) Murloc Warleader
2x (4) Murloc Tastyfin
2x (5) Bloodlust
1x (6) Fire Elemental

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Once i have the dust i will add The Storm Bringer to this deck.

Looking forward to the feedback!

4

Control warrior is terrible for Murlocs. I do run a version with murlocs/overload and Hagatha for longer matchups and value, the deck has 60 % WR after 150+ games but only 40 % against control warrior, which sucks. The problem here is, if both -control warrior player and murloc shaman player - have the best draw possible for that matchup - control warrior wins. Therefore your draw simply has to be much better than your opponent´s, which is obviously not in your control.
For example, on one or two occasions I won a game by turn 1 Murloc Tidecaller (0 dmg face), turn 2 Murloc tidecaller and Toxfin (possible 3 dmg face), turn 3 Warleader (possible 14 dmg face), turn 4 Warleader (possible 24 dmg face). I hope I counted it correctly. Imagine he has no answer - it´s gg. But that is usually not the case and so you have to pressure slowly, not runing of out cards. The way for you to win in a late game against warrior is Hagatha. You can get good spells from her. For overload version of murlocs, you can put 7 minions on board for 5 mana. It is Thunderhead + zap + voltaic burst, then put Soul of the Murlocs on them (7 mana together) and if you played the game smart, your opponent should not have any Brawl or Warpath left and so next turn is a chance for Bloodlust. That is one example of possible play in the late game. It is winnable, but we are unfavoured.

For hunter mutchups it´s much better. My personal WR is exactly 60 % against them. And since hunters are 23 % of all my games, it´s kinda sweet. Against mech hunter, you need to keep the board clear. It is not so hard with a decent draw. I run one Hex for stupid big mechs. Secret hunter is also alright, find out which secret it is by doing plays which will bring you the least disadvantage. Keep murlocs on board and Toxfin in hand for Rat trap. Midrange hunter is tricky, you need either finish before turn 10 or have Hagatha. Zuljin without your Hagatha is most usually game over.

Also, remember that midrange (but sometimes also mech and secret hunter) run Unleash the Hounds and Timber wolf. Do not keep your board full if you are in the range of getting killed by that play. Your seven minions on board without any taunt is possible 12 dmg to your face (for 4 mana only), that hurts.

The deck you posted is weak against tempo and control. I feel like the pure aggro version of murlocs is much weaker simply because Thunderhead is amazingly good card. Also, Stormbringer in main deck is not ideal. It is slow and wont see play most of the time.
If anyone tells me how to share a deck without using links (I cannot post them) a will share mine for your inspiration.
E: I just re-write it for you since I gotta go.
2x Zap, 2x Lightning Bolt, 2x Murloc Tidecaller, 2x Sludge Slurper, 2x Toxfin, 2x Voltaic Burst, 2x Ghost Light Angler, 2x Likkim, 1x Soul of the Murloc, 2x Underbelly Angler, 1x Lightning Storm, 2x Murloc Warleader, 1x Nightmare Amalgam, 1x Hex, 2x Murloc Tastyfin, 2x Thunderhead, 1x Bloodlust and Hagatha the Witch. It is definitely open now after the buffs for changes. There is version with Spirit of the Frog, more spells (earth shock for example) and so maybe it would be better now, I dont know. My card collection does not allow me to try multiple decks yet. :slight_smile: But as I wrote, I have 60 % WR with this deck after 150+ games. It was 55 % before buffs, but thanks to them tempo rogue and control warrior is less played and those two were the worst matchups for me so perfect.

5

Hi M8,

Thank you for your reply. Ill setup a deck and see how i like it. I ran a simular deck before with overload cards.

Currently i cannot add a Hagatha to my collection due to my dust. Ill revisit this post in a couple of days to let you know how it went.

6

Quick question…do you have Leeroy? Just thinking that if you do, he may be a better option than Fire Elemental as a finisher seeing as your deck seems to be quite zerg-y and not really built too much for the long game

7

Hi M8,

No not yet.

Regards,

Meton

8

Well i had a really good winrate with murloc warloc pre rotation but sadly a few of them which were important, rotated as well. Since then i drove my zoo to 12 but since controll Warrior is on the rise its far more difficult.

Good luck tough

9

Hi all,

A small update, i have played this setup for over 100 games and i am hitting a consistant 60% winrate with it. I have to say i don’t play a lot of ranked at this moment because i felt like i was a bit onderpowerd. When i played i regained a couple of ranks so it feels stronger then before even beating a couple of warriors in the process.

I have added the stormbringer to my deck and man that single card won me multiple games already. I also included Heroic Innkeeper to the deck but i usually don’t get to the point that i need or want to use it since i will be dominating on turn 8 or probably am behind allot. I think i will be replacing that card soon but i dont know with what card for now.

10

Both warrior types escell vs minion based tempo decks,my advise is not to mod your deck, as it will loose some of its edge in other matchups. Just accept that unles you get extremely lucky in your first couple of turns and the warrior yuo are playing against got extremely unlucky you will not win. Same as if you play warrior vs big mage, where the mage wins 9 out of 10 times, or hunter vs druid. Some decks just counter others.

Try the controll shaman, its not that polarised and has better matchups vs more decks, yet vs warrior it will all be again who’s gonna die from fatique.

1 Like
11

thx m8 ill give that a go as well. Any particular decks in mind?

12

You can try this one
It’s really a goo counter deck

berry berry gud vs hunters and murlocs, decent vs the rest, slightly bad matchups vs warrs and big mages (like 48% wr), overall turns the game into ez mode if you have agro decks against you and with some skill is good enough to hold vs everything. You just have to know what the matchup and your role in it is. Liek - vs warr you gonna go for the slow, reactive game, vs wall priest you want to outtempo, etc.

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