And last, but not least, the Exodia Paladin. A deck that was extensively theorycrafted before Knights of the Frozen Throne, but it never really took off, at least not in the meta. Some players hit higher Legend ranks using it, so it’s not THAT bad. I have to say that a significant part of those higher win rates was the fact that most of the opponents simply don’t know how to play around it. When I was playing it, my opponents were often giving me the Coins even though they didn’t absolutely need to. Some even tried to mill me by giving me multiple coins. Like sure, it was sometimes a 1 in 15 to lose the game on the spot (milling a crucial card), but giving me a free win if it doesn’t work out.

But let’s start from the beginning. This deck works thanks to the new Paladin’s Hero Power (Uther of the Ebon Blade). It turns your Hero Powers into unique 2/2’s – once you get all of them on the board (four in total), you instantly win the game. Given that you normally can only summon one per turn, your opponent should be able to clear them right away. However, thanks to Auctionmaster Beardo, it is possible to summon all four during a single turn. However, the whole combo costs 11 mana, not to mention cost of the spells necessary to re-activate the Hero Power. That’s where Burgly Bully comes in handy. Not only are Coins free spells, but they also GIVE you extra mana, making the 11 mana possible to get. In the long run, you need either three Coins or two Coins + 1 mana spell. Once you play your DK Hero and get those pieces, you just win the game on the spot. It’s actually the only “true” Exodia combo in the game – Exodia Mage can still be stopped by tons of Armor (not enough time to go through all of it) or Ice Block / Evasion (in case the Mage can’t pop it during the first turn). This combo, on the other hand, can’t be stopped by anything. You just win the game and that’s it.

It’s a really interesting deck that will no longer be playable after the rotation. Auctionmaster Beardo is gone, meaning that the combo will no longer be possible, not to mention that you wouldn’t have enough mana to do it without Burgly Bully (which also rotates out) anyway. So go and play it while you still can!