Ok time for some fun. We're probably not going to hit legend this season so we might as well have a laugh while we wait for the switch.
I'll start. This is a deck which I affectionately call "Thieving Bastard". I've been working on it on off for maybe a couple of weeks now - trying to find some sort of consistency in it and reduce the rng effect, so that it just isn't a lottery draw when you open the table but also a display of skill and nerves. Yesterday, Nat Pagle solved the last riddle for me.
thieving bastardIt revolves around grabbing what the enemy has and then applying different priest tech on what you get. Obviously you also can get enemy tech - which really is just as good.
This deck was weak on two points - not enough minions, and the need for many cards was real. You are going to be playing a lot in the dark, so you need many low-cost tech cards in order to tame the situation to your advantage.
The achilles heel is now the first 3-4 rounds, when there is a chance that the enemy might get so much tempo that he will steamroll your comeback. Thus, one of the most important things to do in the beginning of the game is to both feed him some clerics, the bloodmage usually gets out the better removal cards for some reason - while at the same time giving him the impression you have something in store and he shouldn't go all in just yet.
Once you have a surviving cleric, maybe an acolyte, you get to apply a velens (spell damage!=a bit of a taunt with 7 life) or a power word: shield - 2 life AND a sorely needed card for just 1 mana! you're golden. When it feels safe, bring out Nat Pagle and boost him if possible, I've had great experience with the velen cards on him due to life total ending up at 8, and the enemy will be fuming while the later removal spells from his hand is getting slapped on the table.
This is where the real fun starts. Be sure to keep board control, atleast to a certain extent and start grabbing cards from his deck with thoughtsteal and apply his minions with mindgames. You can get any minion, from ragnaros to those lepers so don't keep your hopes up too much. Annoyed by this, the enmy will start to come swinging for you. If needed, taunt him with a deathlord, which also will bring out a minion of his - which he might have been trying to save for later. A 9 mana legendary? Great, copy it up with one of your faceless manipulators. Boost it with priest tech and kill his one. Many many times tho the enemy starts applying legendaries, which you ofcourse will start copying and grabbing with Sylvanas, Faceless Manipulator and Mind Control. Remember you can also copy your own minions with Faceless - bringing out ingame effects which I honestly don't think was meant to be. Oh yeah - for different hunters and above all secredins, you have your Kezan to grab that first secret, which they so planned on to see unravel.
Much of the game is psychological. I got this idea actually from a guy playing thoughtsteal against me, which got me real pissed as I was of the opinion you should bring your own fucking cards, to the game. So keep stealing, surprising, denying board access and dishearten with a 2-mana 4 life heal from Justicar, and it's a wrap up. They really are in denial a long time, many rounds it just looks like you are playing a standard priest card or two, until the trap closes.
Disclaimer - I have not brought this deck nowhere near ladder. I still need to see some sort of win-percentage and get convinced it might be viable for other stuff than just tooling around.
So, what decks have you got?
edit: I went through every single option for stealer cards. The Shrinkmeister/cabal priest is too far fetched and doesn't work. Other cards are too slow. This and that. And with this meta, you need some AoE and removal spells real fast, which seems to be the ones suffering if you over-apply the stealers which maybe looks like fun, but doesn't work. So, this is the closest to an actually working somewhat consistent deck.
