Shaman has been the weakest class in the game during Galakrond’s Awakening, but there are still a couple of Shaman decks that are, if not exactly great, at least playable. One of them is Quest Galakrond Shaman.
The main strategy of the deck is to complete the Quest to gain access to powerful doubled up Battlecry effects, including the ultimate form of Shaman’s Galakrond: summoning four 8/8 minions with Rush and equipping a 5/2 weapon.
If this is not enough to win the game, the Battlecry can be accessed again with Shudderwock. This is enough to overwhelm most decks in the game.
Quest Galakrond Shaman decklist
This is the decklist I had the most success with during my experimentation with the archetype.
Deck code: AAECAaoIBooH7/cC4agD47QD87cD08ADDJwC7/ECxpkDu6UDz6UDt60Dua0D/q4Dqq8D8LADgrEDuLYDAA==
I see many people playing the list without Dragon’s Pack, which understandably does not feel as strong anymore after the nerf now that it summons a pair of 4/5 Taunt minions and not 5/6 Taunt minions, but I have found the card to still be an essential part of the deck. Your survival against many of the more aggressive decks, such as Dragon Hunter, can depend on getting enough Taunt minions on the board.
Two copies of Dragonmaw Poacher are likewise a tech against Dragon Hunter. I had some success with Mind Control Tech in that slot as well but ultimately felt that the ability to respond to dragons is currently more important for success. This is a tech slot that should be adjusted according to the meta.
Another tech slot is the Acidic Swamp Ooze, which I ended up adding to better cope against Dragon Hunter as well.
Some people choose to include Barista Lynchen in the list, which can seem attractive because it has the potential to give you infinite Shudderwocks in combination with Faceless Corruptor – Shudderwock turns another minion into a copy of itself with the Corruptor Battlecry and then returns a copy of that into the hand with the Barista Battlecry. However, this is too slow for the current meta, and also fairly unreliable even in a slow matchup, so it is better to cut Barista if you want to win more.
Quest Galakrond Shaman mulligan
There are three cards that you should always keep in the mulligan regardless of the matchup: Corrupt the Waters, Questing Explorer, and Licensed Adventurer.
The Quest and the synergies around it form a core part of the deck’s strategy, and should always be pursued.
If you already have one of the two-drops, you can generally keep something to play on curve.
You can also consider keeping some other cards in specific matchups: In particular, Sandstorm Elemental is useful against token decks and Sky Gen’ral Kragg is useful in matchups where the opponent does not go wide.
Quest Galakrond Shaman tips and tricks
Completing the Quest is your main priority with the deck because it allows you to do several extremely strong plays:
- Double Galakrond Battlecry for multiple Rush minions – note that sometimes you will want to do this even with a less than fully invoked Galakrond
- Dragonmaw Poacher as a 12/12, capable of killing any Dragon in the game
- Corrupt Elementalist that invokes Galakrond four times alone and provides eight damage worth of Rush minions
- Two 4/2 Rush parrots from Sky Gen’ral Kragg
- Six damage and six healing from Lifedrinker
It is sometimes worth playing Battlecry cards even without their full value just to advance the Quest and be able to double up other Battlecry effects on subsequent turns.
Note that your Hero Power changes when you become Galakrond. However, Galakrond itself is a Battlecry card, so if you complete the Quest with Galakrond, you get the Quest Hero Power, not the Galakrond one. This is only marginally useful, but sometimes it can come in handy.
You often have a number of tokens on the board, so remember that Kronx Dragonhoof can give them all +2/+2 if you are in Galakrond form.
The Coin from Licensed Adventurer can sometimes help you trigger Shudderwock’s Battlecry twice. This can only happen if you still have the Quest Hero Power when you play Shudderwock though, and you mostly aim to have played Galakrond before Shudderwock, but it can still be useful occasionally.
Quest Galakrond Shaman gameplay video
Finally, here is a quick recap of the deck and a bunch of my gameplay footage with it. I hope this helps you get a grasp of what the deck is all about!