Hey folks,

before I go into the details let me just say that this deck, as the title suggests, is a work-in-progress and should be treated as such. The list you see here is by no means perfect. If you are curious about this deck I encourage you to try out different cards if you feel they are stronger and report back so we all get the most out of it

The idea behind this deck came to me when I realized the interesting synergy between Necromancer’s Amulet and Spider Lair, coupled with Leafwater Blessing. Once you have those cards in play, you basically get unlimited value from them and the longer the game goes, the better for you.

My favorite deck in Hearthstone was the Grinder Mage (rip) and this deck plays just the same. In said deck you would get value from duplicating minions through Duplicate and Echo of Medivh, things like Sludge Belcher and Healbot and effectively grind your way to victory by slowly overpowering your opponent.

Now, this deck is not about duplicating anything. Instead, we try to maintain board control through the spiders provided by Spider Lair, running them into your opponent’s creatures and getting health back due to Necromancer’s Amulet. To make the spiders, or any other creature, stronger, we have Leafwater Blessing to help us out.

Card choices

Endurance

Deathless Draugr – annoying creature, used to wound other creatures, being buffed by Leafwater Blessing, getting 2 HP back per Necromancer’s Amulet in play
Necromancer’s Amulet – essential part of the combo
Tree Minder – 1/1 with guard is solid unless you play against archer, but the extra magicka is the important part. We don’t wanna play an Iron Atronach on t9 but having more magicka means more options available. Spider Lair is also f***king expensive for doing nothing the turn you play it, having extra magicka allows us to squeeze this card in a couple turns earlier
Shadowfen Priest – used to counter Divine Skill. Hah, who am I kidding, there is nothing that counters Divine Skill. But at least, this gives us a fighting chance. Wait, does it really? ..

Agility

Shadow Shift – this card often catches your opponent off guard. It cycles itself at just 1 magicka, which is already good but even better it enables trades which wouldn’t be possible otherwise. Switching lanes is very powerful
Ungolim the Listener – If you don’t have him, don’t worry. I put him in here because I had 1 spot left and the assassins can be really good at times
Voracious Spriggan – drain is always welcome because with this deck we try to survive. More creatures with drain also means more options to get Leafwater Blessing back, if it is in your graveyard. 2 copies seems to be a good spot
Fighters Guild Recruit – More or less a staple card. It nearly always trades up
Finish Off – This card was on my list, then off again on the next variation. It works quite well because of the numerous tokens we have or play but sometimes it is also a dead card if you can’t meet its requirements
Leafwater Blessing – the ability to uptrade is always nice and this card comes back! Unlimited uses! Works well with drain and even better with Necromancer’s Amulet
Murkwater Witch – Very flexible card, activates Finish Off and Leaflurker, finishes x/1s and allows you to uptrade. And it also has guard. For 2 magicka
Thieves Guild Recruit – We really need card draw in this deck. He’s not as useful as in justinlarson’s scout deck, because we don’t run many 7+ magicka cards but useful enough to be included
Giant Bat – Another creature with drain, same reasoning as for the Spriggan. Vanilla stats are pretty bad for 3 magicka, though having charge makes it flexible. Again, 2 copies seems fine
Varanis Courier – Definitely a staple card. Guard, draw and having 3 HP for 3 magicka makes it very useful in any defensive deck
Deshaan Avenger – The greatest advantage of this card is that it’s an absolute pain in the ass to remove it. 4 magicka is a delicate spot and you don’t want your 4 drop to be tempo’d down
Moonlight Werebat – Another drain creature, same explanation. It also has prophecy which is sweet
Leaflurker – Really good removal + body in one card
Spider Lair – The other essential part of the combo

Dual

Thorn Histmage – I’d maybe run 3 copies but atm I only have 2. Like Tree Minder, it gives us +1 magicka, has guard and decent stats

Mulligan

This might be the most important part and I’m still trying to know the ins and outs of the popular decks, so bear with me

Basically, we are looking for early drops like Thieves Guild Recruit, Murkwater Witch, Ungolim the Listener and Varanis Courier
Tree Minder is decent to keep if you have Thorn Histmage
Deathless Draugr is good, when you are certain your opponent plays early creatures with 1 HP but bad against slower decks
It might be worth it to keep Shadowfen Priest against decks with divine skill, so you have a 100% answer for it on time

Finishing thoughts

The greatest weakness of this deck is being swarmed and rushed down since scouts don’t have access to mass removal like Dawn’s Wrath or Ice Storm. Aside from that I’m having a lot of fun with this deck, although this grind-heavy playstyle is certainly not everyones cup of tea.