N'Zoth Paladin - Why it is so Consistent and Dealing with it

                N’Zoth Paladin uses the new neutral legendary, N’Zoth the Corruptor, a 10 mana 5/7 whose battlecry resummons all deathrattle minions that died this game. An absolute powerhouse of late game who rivals C’Thun himself, this kind of insane board control is the exact win condition for this deck. It’s strengths and weaknesses (yes, they exist) will be discussed here.

                For starters, N’Zoth Paladin plays its early game passively. With such cards as Stewardess of Darkshire, this kind of passive play can often be a relief. However, it is through this passive play that eventually snowballs hard into a virtually unbeatable late game. The player rolls out Deathrattle after Deathrattle minion, which he or she would be happy to trade down with, until turn 10+. N’Zoth the Corruptor rears his, ah, many tentacles as he summons your army of 6 minions to activate your win condition. Acquire ladder ranks.

                While this kind of deck is often attacked for being unbeatable in control matchups, recognition is key. Often times the Deathrattle minions played are just that of a standard control/tempo Paladin, but be sure to keep track of the ones played, and more importantly, the ones that have died. As soon as it is feasibly possible for them to be running N’Zoth, prepare for the late game in one of two ways. If you are running a control centered deck, such as a Warrior or Freeze Mage, be able to deal with the massive waves of minions. The sticky part, however, is that some sort of typically control used hard removal like Brawl or, in Freeze Mage’s case, Frost Nova/Blizzard + Doomsayer, often leaves behind enough control with Deathrattle effects to win the game anyways. However, if you managed your life total throughout the game well, they should be able to be dealt with in a relatively mana-efficient matter.

                The second way of dealing with N’Zoth is through more aggressive, and frankly more often used decks such as Aggro Shaman and Zoo. Due to their rather weak late game, aggressive decks can often take games off of them before their final combo is able to win the game. It’s a simple strategy that, frankly, is useful against a number of late game decks, but time has proven its effectiveness.

                Overall, this is an extremely powerful Control centered deck on ladder and in tournament that should prove to be even stronger in the weeks to come.