The Comprehensive Fall of Ulduar Preview

 

Data Reaper Report - Paladin

Muscle-o-Tron

Muscle-o-Tron is a 3-mana version of Grimestreet Outfitter at its baseline but has the option to forge for double the buff, which makes the card more interesting. Glowstone Technician was a 5 mana 3/4 that buffed minions in hand by +2/+2 and saw significant play in Wild. Muscle-o-Tron compares favorably since it has the flexibility to be played as early as turn 3.

Current Paladin decks are quite minion dense, so they’re likely to get a lot of value from Muscle-o-Tron. On top of it, they often lack great turn 2 plays, which means forging Muscle-o-Tron on turn 2 could be a decent play, even though these decks are quite aggressive. We can see the card make its way to both Pure and Aggro Paladin, giving both an option to produce bigger threats, which should help them in slower matchups.

Furthermore, this card is a cornerstone piece if Paladin develops a dedicated Handbuff deck in the future.

Score: 3

Alarmed Securitybot

This might be the card that puts Big Paladin on the map. Lead Dancer has proven to be too slow as a mana cheating enabler, while Kangor is the only truly powerful option Paladin had in that department. Securitybot offers another pathway to swing the board in the mid-game, provided the Paladin maintains a minion package with powerful effects it can leverage. Neptulon and Yogg-Saron, for example, are superb cards to draw from Securitybot. There are plenty of neutral late game minions that become very powerful when played on turn 5, regardless of their stats. The Chad package is one to watch out for.

But what’s very interesting is that battlecry minions may become a serious consideration for the archetype too. For example, a Pure build with Amitus, The Countess, Anachronos, The Leviathan and Annoy-o-Troupe is something to think about.

Big Paladin is nowhere near competitive currently, but this is exactly the type of card it needs to completely flip its standing. The only question is whether we can ensure it dies on turn 5 consistently enough. Dance Floor could help with that.

Score: 3

Keeper’s Strength

This spell seems to have quite a high ceiling. Even if we assume to connect the buff on a 1-attack minion, such as a Silver Hand Recruit, the card deals Hellfire damage on top of being a +2/+2 buff. That’s the card at its very worst.

Once you use it to buff bigger minions, it should be able to produce a very strong swing. Since the damage is symmetrical, it may not be the best card to play in an aggressive Paladin deck. Keeper’s Strength is a better fit for a deck like Earthen Paladin, which doesn’t have the best survivability tools but can develop very big threats that can offer Keeper’s Strength targets.

Keeper’s Strength is also the type of card that can slightly warp deck building. A Boogie Down package with Pelican Diver and Helmet Hermit doesn’t sound so crazy anymore, just because these minions are very cheap and powerful enablers of Keeper’s Strength.

Equality is nice, but Keeper’s Strength may be easier to use and a needed boost in Paladin’s defensive toolkit.

Score: 3

Final Thoughts: Earthen Paladin is so far away from looking competitive that Keeper’s Strength may not be enough. Big Paladin, however, looks like an exciting proposition with Alarmed Securitybot. We’re most interested in a Thaddius/Behemoth/Rivendare package that runs Front Lines. This build would have the strongest late game inevitability, but there could be other paths, such as Big Pure. Muscle-o-Tron is a good candidate for aggressive Paladins.

1 Comment

  1. On the Mindbender on a outcast DH with a glaivetar can do a lot of dmg and inst to hard to buff the glaivetar and set up a turn lethal since sigil draw 4 cards.
    On Mage, im using Tainted and Meddlesome(since few draw spells) on elemental mage and yap is agro.
    On Rogue i just played on Tendrils since looks like the most fun and random noosenses.
    On Warlock Encroaching Insanity was great on fatigue imp ,really fun doing 7-8 dmg with crescendo,the only problem is if you dont win at turn 7-8 you will die because the amount of self fatigue you did to yourself and Harp cant save you.
    And yap Yogg is good for remove and more random tendrils

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