Reno Jackson Paladin Guide

Reno Jackson is the first legendary revealed in The League of Explorers expansion. It has an amazing ability, but makes for some interesting deckbuilding. After lots of playtesting, it has been established that having an awkward deck in order to incorporate Reno is decidedly worth it. So here goes nothing!

Decklist

This is easily the most disputed decklist in Hearthstone history. My particular list does one thing that many players would argue with, which is run two duplicates. Reno doesn’t work if there are any duplicates left in your deck, so my running two copies of Shielded Minibot and Muster for Battle has the potential to be disastrous. However, these two cards are extremely overpowered, and they are also early drops meaning you’ll be looking for them in your opening hand. Unless you have other early drops, I would throw everything away to look for them both. In my time playing I’ve only had one or two times that I couldn’t play Reno because I had a duplicate left.

Other than that, there is still a TON of variation. Are you finding my list to be a bit clunky? Swap out some cards! Because of how varied this list is, you have the potential to swap in virtually any card in the game. Cards I’ve considered adding: Ragnaros the Firelord – I actually ran this for a bit and it worked alright, but I swapped it out for another early drop. More early drops – even with the double Minibots and Musters, this deck often doesn’t have anything to do turns 2-3. Putting in more early game could potentially fix this. Whatever the heck you want – it’s a versatile decklist, have fun with it.

Playstyle

This deck has an interesting playstyle, in that by definition it has more variation than any other deck. The reason we are playing Paladin is because they have a lot of board control and strong one-ofs, so you will very often have control of the direction of the game. So why play Reno if you have control already? Reno allows you to close out games against control decks, it allows you to make inefficient trades with your weapon and then heal it back, and it gives you a huge bonus against aggressive decks. The healing this deck incorporates is astounding, trying to both clear the threats and get past all the healing is a task that few decks are able to accomplish.

Matchups

Secret Paladin

This matchup is bad. The Secret Paladin runs just as much board control as you do, and draws it more consistently. They also have the ability to close out the game before you are able to make use of your big healing or board swings. This matchup is very dependent on who can establish control of the board first. Knife Juggler – Muster is your biggest enemy in early game, it has cost me the most games against Secret Paladin.

Midrange Paladin

This matchup is very even. You are both playing lots of powerful cards, but again they draw theirs more consistently. You have a stronger late game though. If you are able to get through the early game you are likely to win. Beware a big Quartermaster play though.

Hunter

You are favoured against both versions of Hunter. You have enough board clear to establish a board against Face Hunter, and your healing usually closes out the game. Same deal for Midrange Hunter, and your Kezan Mystic can do a LOT of work in the Midrange game. Highmane can be scary, but nearly all of your big threats can deal with it, including Aldor Peacekeeper.

Warrior

This is easily our best matchup. You simply have too many threats for them to deal with, and even if they manage to deal with all of your other threats, Justicar allowing you to create two 1/1s every turn is enough to overrun them given enough time. Reno Jackson is a Fatigue Warrior’s worst nightmare as well. I say this coming from a Fatigue Warrior standpoint, I love playing the deck and losing to Reno several times is what caused me to try this deck out.

Mage

This matchup is very difficult if it is Tempo Mage. They simply have a fast enough game to deal with our early presence, much like Secret Paladin. They also have enough damage from hand to close out games, which we have trouble dealing with unless we can get a big Reno play off. Freeze Mage is the exact opposite, it’s an extremely easy matchup if we draw any of our healing. Antique Healbot, Tusskarr Jouster (conditionally), Lay on Hands, and Reno Jackson can all easily close out a game against a Freeze Mage if they are played alongside a Big Game Hunter to reply to an Alexstrazsa play.

Druid

This matchup is fairly good for us. Our healing keeps us out of combo range and we have lots of board control to deal with their large minions. They also don’t have easy answers to our threats, including even things like Murloc Knight. Against Aggro Druid our biggest advantage is Aldor Peacekeeper and Big Game Hunter, as the game becomes very easy if you can deal with their Fel Reavers.