Dealing With Early Paladin Pressure

Paladins have the ability of creating an army of Low Cost Minions at the very start of a match. In, addition, the Paladin Hero Power allows an additional 1/1 minion to take the field.  While these minions usually only have 1-2 attack each, there are a bunch of low cost spells that an easily create a powerful army by turn 4. 

Just to list a few...

(Costs 1 Mana) Blessing of Might: Give a minion +3 attack

(Costs 4 Mana) Blessing of Kings: Give a minion +4 attack, +4 Health

(Costs 1 Mana) Avenge: When one of your minions dies, give a random friendly minion +3/+2.

(Costs 1 Mana) Hand of Protection: Give a minion Divine Shield.

If you don't put a stop to these low cost minions in the first few turns, it can be very difficult to come back and win the match. The following is a match I just played against a Paladin with a similar strategy.

By turn 3 I had used my Dagger Mastery to attack and then destroy his 1/1 Argent Squire (Once he played this card, I figured he had a low cost Minion deck). Next, he used his Hero Power on Turn 2 and then used Muster for Battle on Turn 3, which gave him 3 Silver Hand Recruits and a 1/4 weapon.

I didn't want to risk waiting too long, so I immediately played my Dalaran Mage, Preparation and then I used Blade Fury to clear his minions. Then on Turn 4 I played my Harvest Golem (Very good against low cost minions as it has higher defense and it summons a 2/1 Golem once destroyed).

 By turn six, he had continued to play low cost minions (including using his Hero Power). Instead of using my 2/2's I kept on playing my minions that had higher defense and lower attack. By doing this it allowed me to keep board control, while preventing him from using enhancement spells on his lower cost minions.

Although my minions only did about 3 damage to the Paladin in two turns, they did three things for me:

#1. Kept my opponent from creating any powerful 1/1 minions with his spells.

#2. Bought me a few turns, which allowed me to draw some of my own damage spells.

#3. Did enough damage to get his HP down to the below 15 range. 

 At this point, my opponent had almost run out of cards and I had enough cards to deal the 14+ instant damage that I needed. With the combo of Tinker's Sharpsword Oil & Eviscerate, I was able to deal an extra 14 damage with just these spells alone.

Recap:  Whether it be a Paladin (Warlocks as well) or really any class that it is trying to pressure you early in the match with 1/1 or 2/1 minions, the most important thing is for you to notice their strategy immediately. This strategy is to kill you as quickly as possible!

If you do not have an AOE (Area of Effect) spell, which can wipe out multiple minions at once, it is extremely important to destroy the minions as they are played. Use your Hero Power or whatever spells you have at your disposal, but always try to be efficient as possible. For example, use 1 card to destroy 1 opponent's card or maybe use 2 if your opponent's card is a big threat (Usually a higher mana cost). Never use 3+ cards to destroy 1 of your opponent's cards unless you're about to lose the match or if you benefit from a card's "Deathrattle" mechanic.

However, if you do have an AOE spell (Eg. Fan of Knives, Blade Fury) a lot of times it can be better to wait an extra turn or two. Patience is very important here as you may be able to destroy 3-4 minions at once rather than 1-2. However, if you are taking too much damage early on it may be better to clear the board more quickly (Use your judgement). This will give you a 1-2 card advantage over your opponent. There have been matches where I waited 3 extra turns as I had Deadly Poison, Blade Fury & a low Cost +1 Spell Minion. This combo resulted in a 4 damage AOE attack, destroying all 6 enemy minions at once.

At this point you have complete control of the match and 99% of the time it's a win.

Good Luck!