The Nationals Metagame-Phadalus Rush

We're just about six weeks away from Nationals, so I wanted to do a quick breakdown of each of the top decks. What are their strengths and weakness? What improvements could me made to them? How do they match up vs. the other top decks? Today, I'm going to start with the King of the Hill, Phadalus Rush.

For reference: Brad Watson's Dream Machine Winning Decklist

1 King Magni Bronzebeard
1 Leeroy Jenkins
3 "Chipper" Ironbane
3 Moira Darkheart
4 Parvink
4 Apprentice Teep
4 Apprentice Merry
4 Jeleane Nightbreeze
4 Korthas Greybeard
4 Chain Lightning
4 Searing Totem
4 Earth Elemental Totem
4 Perdition's Blade

2 The Missing Diplomat
2 Battle of Darrowshire
4 Rescue the Survivors
4 The Defias Brotherhood
4 Chasing A-Me 01



Right now, it looks like this will be the deck to beat at Nationals. If you can't consistently beat Phadalus rush, you should probably find another deck. So what makes this deck so good. Two things. Consistency and efficiency.





For anyone who has never played a deck like this, most of your draws are very similar. You just play out guys, occasionally removing your opponent's allies with Perdition's Blade or Chain Lightning (which is incredible in the mirror) and just smash face. One of the things that makes this deck so deadly is the lack of quality mass removal. Since there are so few cards that truly punish a player for overcommitting, a Phadalus player can usually just continue to play allies with impunity, knowing his opponent will generally be forced to deal with each ally one at a time.





Another thing that makes this deck so good is the card drawing ability. Between Parvinks, Rescue the Survivors, and Defias Brotherhood, this beatdown deck can outdraw some of the control decks of the game. This is especially brutal since one of the main deterrents of rush decks is their tendency to run out of steam if the initial onslaught doesn't end the game. But the draw power of Phadalus decks allows them to go further into the game without running out of gas.





Speaking of endgame power, this deck also runs one copy of King Magni Bronzebeard and 2 copies of Missing Diplomat to go get him for those games when the early rush isn't enough.





The one thing that makes Phadalus so popular, in my opinion, is how easy it is to play. Compared to most of the other decks available, Phadalus is very simple to play. Just put out as many allies as your resources allow, occasionally stopping to remove a troublesome opposing ally and attack. The fact that the deck isn't very hard to play means that sometimes weaker players can pick it up and still post pretty good results with it which leads to better numbers. It's also very cheap to put together which adds in the easy to play category.

Rush decks in general also have the ability to truly punish bad draws. If you're playing against a Phadalus deck (or any rush deck for that matter) and you stumble out of the gates, you're going to be dead quickly. This "Oops I win" factor also leads to better numbers for rush decks as even in their worst matchups they will occasionally win based simply on opponents' weak draws.



The recent addition of Perdition's Blade has made this deck even better. This very efficient weapon combined with its comes into play ability add another dimension of versatility to this deck. While many people say that the Blade is broken, I will say that it's just very good. The word broken gets thrown around far too often these days, but just to show that the card isn't truly broken, to the other top tier deck Pagatha control it is merely a weapon. Slightly less important than a Krol Blade. If Blade were truly broken, every deck would have to have an answer to it specifically. It is still very good, though.



So what are this deck's weaknesses?

Unfortunately, the deck doesn't have a lot of weaknesses, but if there is one it is mass removal. Cards like Chain Lightning and Consecration that can remove multiple small allies in one fell swoop can hurt the Shaman player's efficiency. The problem right now is that the mass removal is so much more expensive than the allies it removes. Given the card drawing power of the rush decks, it's just too easy many times for them to recover from a board decimating play.

Brad Watson's deck also runs Chipper and Moira main to take out problem cards like Lightning Reflexes, Cruelty, Skullflame Shield etc. Purges can come in from the board to make using abilities less likely to result in advantage since Purge is all but certain to cost less than the ability it removes.

If I could pick the one single card that most Shaman decks will truly hate to see, I would pick Infernal. He has a non-targeted mass removal effect that is attached to a large ally, which they will have more problems removing than if it were an ongoing ability or or equipment. Since Infernal is an ally and not a one-shot ability like a Chain Lightning, it has to be removed before the Shaman player can even think about trying to recover.

Let's take a look at the matchups vs. the other top decks.

Telrander-This particular build of Phadalus might not always be faster than Telrander, but it's more consistent. In game 1, Chupper poses a problem to Telrander because even if the Telrander player leaves 2 open to save Cat Form, he doesn't get it back until the end of the turn. Many times in this matchup, that one turn can mean the difference between winning and losing. Throw in Perdition's Blade and Chain Lightning and Phadalus will win the ally battle. Win the Purges come in after sideboarding it moves even more into Phadalus's favor. A final factor here is that the Telrander deck is more likely to encounter a bad draw as it is occasionally possible to miss a form card. From our testing, the games in this matchup always seem really close, but Phadalus generally comes out on the winning side.

Pagatha control-Warlocks, and Undead ones in particular, have a lot of cards that Phadalus doesn't particularly like to see. Chris McMurry runs Rain of Fire main. Given the popularity of Alliance rush decks these days, that is a pretty solid choice. A turn 4 Rain of Fire game 1 into turn 6 Infernal is almost impossible to overcome. Guardian Steelhorn and Sarmoth have a nasty habit of slowing the deck's initial rush and Cannibalize in the mid-to-late game can often seal the deal. Depending on the build of the deck this matchup can range from kinda bad to downright atrocious. The saving grace for Phadalus in this matchup is that sometimes Pagatha will miss some early plays and Phadalus can get enough damage in early to finish the game. For the most part, though, you're not going to be too happy when your opponent shows you a Pagatha.

Dizdemona-Most of the Dizdemona decks I've seen have been of the rush variety. They use generally the same ally set as Phadalus except some run Morfiel for an efficient 4-drop and some go up to Infernal for opposing rush decks. They also add Luppo Shadlefizzle to the mix of allies and get to play the efficient Warlock burn cards like Steal Essence and Shadow Bolt. When you throw in Ritual Sacrifice, they can make a pretty mean rush deck. In this matchup, Phadalus tends to win because of the non-ally cards it plays. Chain Lightning, Searing Totem, and Perdition's Blade will very often make the difference in this matchup. Dizdemona still wins its fair share of games because it is an Alliance rush deck, and winning the die roll tends to be critical in these type matchups, but Phadalus will win more often going second than Dizdemona.

Sen'Zir-This deck really seems like it's been forgotten about, but it continues to post solid numbers. This is a pretty good matchup for Phadalus. The Sen'Zir deck relies on its efficient pets and bigger allies to win in the mid-game. Phadalus has allies that are cheaper and more efficient. Generally if both players just race, the Phadalus player will win. The Sen'Zir deck is usually forced into accepting the role of control or just racing and taking what wins it can get. Even in the race scenario, the you can usually just make a couple of well timed attacks or protects that will extend your health total long enough for you to win. In this matchup, you should generally focus on dealing as much damage as possible directly to your opponent's hero since you don't really want to get into the late game where they will be playing a big ally nearly every turn. Only make trades that are very advantageous to you. They will try to win an attrition war, but your superior card drawing makes that very difficult. This is a pretty good matchup for you which is one of the main reasons this deck hasn't become more popular.

Bulkas-This matchup is heavily dependent on your build of Phadalus. With Brad Watson's build that runs Chipper, Moira, and Chasing A-Me main and Purge in the sideboard, this is a very good matchup. Keeping Cruelty offline is your main goal and Chipper allows you to do that in game 1, while adding Purge in game 2 makes it far easier. A lot of times you won't be able to hit a weapon because of Stronghold Gauntlets, but you can usually save Moira for their shields, whether it be the traditional Skullflame (which is a nightmare for you if it stays in play) or the updated Drillborer Disk. There's not much more to say here, but if you change the deck and take out Moira, this matchup gets a little closer and if you take out Chipper or Purge from the board it actually becomes a bad matchup. The less you do to disrupt their plan, the less likely you are to win. This is one of the matchups where you play less pure aggro and a more tempo-control game. Your goal should be to apply the maximum amount of pressure while not allowing them to set up what they want to do.

Gorebelly-A lot of people laugh when I say this, but I compare this deck to Telrander. It's a basic ally rush deck that throws in an atypical and potentially explosive finisher to make up for the lack of an endgame. Surprisingly, this matchup plays similar to Telrander. You are generally faster and now you have Chipper AND Moira to run interference on the big finish. Searing Totem is an even bigger house in this matchup due to the absence of untargetables. So far, I haven't seen a big problem beating this deck in testing with Phadalus.

Azarak-This matchup is very draw-dependent. Azarak has several cards that you hate. A turn one Lightning Reflexes is pretty bad. If they choose to play Hootie that's worse. The cards that are very bad for you in this matchup are, Wraith Scythe, Lightning Reflexes, and Blackcrow. Frost Trap isn't that bad because it doesn't do anything to your board position. You have to stop Wraith Scythe or they will heal damage by attacking with Blackcrow and swinging back with the Scythe. They will generally take out 2 of your guys per turn (one on yours, one on theirs) and heal 3-7 damage. Lightning Reflexes like, I've already mentioned, needs to be removed or it will effectively soak up anywhere from 10-25 damage through the course of the game. If they draw 2 it will be very hard to overcome. Blackcrow poses a problem for 3 reasons. Number 1, they get to take out allies without taking damage back and if they play Edgemaster's Handguards they will do it without spending any resources. Number 2, Rapid Fire allows them to wipe out your entire board. Number 3, it allows them to Dual-Wield. This allows them to not only take out two allies per turn, but also heal for 2 attacks with Wraith Scythe. You want to play this matchup a lot like you play Bulkas. Apply as much pressure as possible while disrupting their gameplan. Brute force won't be enough here.

Grennan-These decks are gaining in popularity mostly due to this matchup. This is a tough one for you. Opposing Searing Totems and Chain Lightnings pose significant problems. One thing that a lot of people seem to forget is that you can kill Totems with Chipper. Grennan will also use the incredibly efficient Perdition's Blade against you. They will try to fight off your initial onslaught and then win through superior allies like Stone Guard Rashun and Moko. This is one of the matchups that is solely about brute force. You want this game to end as quickly as possible because if you get into an end game war against better allies backed up by Chain Lightnings and Perdition's Blades, you are going to lose. One thing to remember here is to complete Defias Brotherhood any time you have the chance. They will be removing most of your early game allies and if you don't draw enough cards, you will lose the war of attrition. So any time you can, make sure you complete your Brotherhoods. Other than that, just play guys and smash with them. This is a pretty rough matchup.

Nimaasus-Nimaasus rush decks have risen based on the power of Consecration and Blessing of Freedom in the Phadalus matchup. Consecration can wipe out your board while a Blessing of Freedom can completely negate a Chain Lightning. They don't get Perdition's Blade or Searing Totem though and that poses some problems for them in this matchup. Consecration may be better than Chain Lightning but it's not THAT much better, and your other Shaman abilities affect the game sooner. This is generally a pretty solid matchup. Like the Dizzy match, Nimaasus will win its fair share going first, but Phadalus will win more on the play than Nimaasus. If this matchup were actually bad, more players would be playing Nimaasus, but as you can see most rush players are sticking with the Shaman.

That covers what I have to say about Phadalus rush. Next time, I'll cover the Pagatha control decks.