Hearthstone: Odd Shaman deck guide (Baku the Mooneater)

One of the new Neutral Legendary minions arriving with The Witchwood expansion goes by the name of Baku the Mooneater. This ferocious 9 Mana 7 / 8 card puts a pretty decent minion on the board, but more importantly if you only have odd-cost cards in your deck, your Hero Power is upgraded. That effect starts from the very beginning of a match too - you don't have to wait for Baku to show up.

This works in the same way that Justicar Trueheart did back in the days of The Grand Tournament, and for the Shaman that means you'll be able to choose your preferred Totem when hitting your new Totemic Slam power. You might be desperate for a taunt totem, for example, or need a little extra oomph for your spells through the spell damage support totem.

As powerful as that seems, you do of course have to remove all of those handy even-cost spells from the Shaman's collection. In this article, we've highlighted all of the most prominent cards that you won't be able to make use of in a Baku Shaman deck, so you can start theorycrafting your way around this thorny challenge. Once the expansion goes live, we'll add deck lists in here so you can play around with the best creations that have been made so far.

Baku and Shaman cards in the Classic / Basic sets

Although the Shaman loses quite a few cards to satisfy Baku's requirements, it's not as worse as things are with Baku's even-focused counterpart Genn Greymane.

Here's what you'll lose access to in the Classic and Basic sets though:

Classic

• Ancestral Spirit (2 Mana)
• Stormforged Axe (2 Mana)
• Al'Akir the Windlord (8 Mana)

Basic

• Ancestral Healing (0 Mana)
• Totemic Might (0 Mana)
• Flametongue Totem (2 Mana)
• Rockbiter Weapon (2 Mana)
• Windfury (2 Mana)
• Hex (4 Mana)
• Windspeaker (4 Mana)
• Fire Elemental (6 Mana)

Baku and Shaman cards in the Standard format

When The Witchwood launches in April you'll be able to make use of that set, as well as all three 2017 expansions in the Standard format.

For Baku decks, that means you'll lose access to the following Shaman class cards:

The Witchwood

• Zap! (0 Mana)
• Ghost Light Angler (2 Mana)
• Earthen Might (2 Mana)
• Murkspark Eel (2 Mana)
• Totem Cruncher (4 Mana)
• Hagatha the Witch (8 Mana)

Un'Goro

• Fire Plume Harbinger (2 Mana)
• Primalfin Totem (2 Mana)
• Tidal Surge (4 Mana)
• Kalimos, Primal Lord (8 Mana)

Frozen Throne

• Brrrloc (2 Mana)
• Cryostasis (2 Mana)
• Ice Fishing (2 Mana)
• Avalanche (4 Mana)
• Moorabi (6 Mana)

Kobolds and Catacombs

• Crushing Hand (2 Mana)
• Kobold Hermit (2 Mana)
• Murmuring Elemental (2 Mana)
• Grumble, Worldshaker (6 Mana)
• The Runespear (8 Mana)

Other Baku / Genn deck guides:

Watch on YouTube

Baku and Shaman cards in the Wild format

It's extremely difficult - read: impossible - to know exactly what the Wild format is going to look like once The Witchwood goes live.

It's nevertheless interesting to look at some of the current top performers in the format, and think about how they'd be affected by the inclusion of Baku the Mooneater.

Wild Aggro Shaman

• Ancestral Knowledge (2 Mana)
• Crackle (2 Mana)
• Devolve (2 Mana)
• Flametongue Totem (2 Mana)
• Jade Claws (2 Mana)
• Maelstrom Portal (2 Mana)
• Totem Golem (2 Mana)
• Flamewreathed Faceless (4 Mana)
• Jade Lightning (4 Mana)

Wild Malygos Shaman

• Ancestral Knowledge (2 Mana)
• Bloodmage Thalnos (2 Mana)
• Crackle (2 Mana)
• Devolve (2 Mana)
• Lava Shock (2 Mana)
• Maelstrom Portal (2 Mana)
• Ancestor's Call (4 Mana)
• Hex (4 Mana)
• Emperor Thaurissan (6 Mana)

Wild Control Shaman

• Ancestral Knowledge (2 Mana)
• Ancestral Spirit (2 Mana)
• Devolve (2 Mana)
• Maelstrom Portal (2 Mana)
• Reincarnate (2 Mana)
• Barnes (4 Mana)
• Hex (4 Mana)
• Cairne Bloodhoof (6 Mana)
• Emperor Thaurissan (6 Mana)
• Sylvanas Windrunner (6 Mana)
• Kel'Thuzad (8 Mana)
• N'Zoth, the Corruptor (10 Mana)

We'll keep updating our Odd Shaman guide with all the latest cards as they're revealed. To catch up on everything else to do with the expansion, make sure you have a read of our Witchwood guide. We've also got a Monster Hunt guide which focus on everything to do with the new PVE content. Finally, our Witchwood release date page speculates on when the new content will actually arrive.