Control Paladin is a popular deck that can deal with a wide variety of opponents. For any Paladin players who do not wish to go all Murloc, it offers a slower approach to the class. In addition to traditional Control Paladin builds, the deck can also be built around Elementals.

In How to play series, I take a look at interesting decks and provide brief details on how to successfully pilot the deck together with example gameplay videos.

Let’s take a look at this Control Paladin variant.

The deck

Deck code: AAECAYsWCM8G+gaQB4quAtmuAuauArnBAuvCAguKAdwD9AX2B48Jm8ICrMICwsMCysMCiMcCyMcCAA==

The deck includes the basic Control Paladin board-clear tools: Pyromancer, Equality, Consecration, and Doomsayer. Paladin legendaries also play a prominent role with Tirion, Ragnaros Lightlord, and Sunkeeper Tarim all finding their proper places in the deck. With the inclusion of Elemental synergies and Tar Creepers, Wickerflame Burnbristle is missing from this list.

Activating Elemental synergies can be a bit difficult at times, as the deck runs only a minimum number of Elementals: the single Fire Fly and the Flame Elemental from it can be crucial for activating synergies later in the game.

Elementals, Fire Plume Phoenix and Blazecaller, provide the deck some direct damage that is usually lacking in Paladin. Elementals also provide more value-generation: Servant of Kalimos has a 53% chance to offer Ragnaros, Lightlord, the only Paladin class Elemental, so you can most of the time pick up an extra copy of it in a long game, giving you a ton of healing to outlast the opponent as well as an additional 8/8 body.

There are no Hydrologists in this build, so you are crab-proof. While Hydrologist can provide a lot of value, there is no N’Zoth to take advantage of it, and there are already lots of Discover opportunities even without it.

Mulligan

When defending against aggressive decks, you want to find Doomsayer, Rallying Blade, and Tar Creeper. Fire Fly and Stonehill Defender can also help, and Consecration can be good against Shaman in particular.

It is difficult to get very aggressive with the deck, but finding an Elemental curve can accomplish that to an extent.

How to win

You win most opponents by outlasting them: the combination of board clears and healing will run the opponent out of resources, and then the powerful Elementals can turn the tide when the opponent is only able to play around one card per turn. The deck does not aim for fatigue as such, but it does outlast the opponent.

However, the deck is not the greediest control deck around, sometimes you need to be the aggressor. This cannot really be achieved early in the game, but in the midgame you can play powerful Elementals, gain more resources from Servant of Kalimos and Stonehill Defender, and control the board with direct damage and weapons. With many mid-sized threats, you can exhaust the opponent’s removal while applying pressure.

Gameplay

Here are some sample gameplay videos that showcase the deck in action!