Introduction:

Thanks to a couple of netdecks found right here on Out of Cards, I was recently able to complete the honor grind and grab Drek'Thar before the expansion period ended. With the general in hand, I immediately dove into an archetype I enjoy quite a lot: tax paladin. Through the use of Swizard's deck linked below, I found a great deal of fun and success in locking out my opponents from well, playing the game at all. I had loved tax pally and DH back during Barrens, even though the latter wasn't much of a thing, and was thankful for Drek'thar providing another means of cheating out minions to avoid paying taxes like any good businessman. 

At the same time, I had been revisiting a different old deck that I love playing in Secret Paladin. I think that watching the tangled web of secrets left behind by Mysterious Challenger may be one of my greatest joys in all of Hearthstone, especially with the introduction of Crossroads Gossiper. However, I had revisited the deck in order to incorporate one of my favorite pet legendaries: Commander Rhyssa. Through playtesting I realized that the Gossiper effect procs for each of Rhyssa's ticks as well, meaning that she could snowball out of hand incredibly quickly. Combined with secrets that were synergistic with Rhyssa such as Avenge, Redemption, Never Surrender! and the less-remembered Competitive Spirit, the duo could create truly scary boards that would end games on the spot. 

After a good few days of messing around with both decks, I decided to make room for Rhyssa in the tax paladin shell I had taken from the excellent Swizard deck below and the result has been quite fun. To be upfront: this version of the deck is markedly less competitive than the original and I view it as something to mess around and have fun with. I am all about using underplayed legendaries and cards in general so Rhyssa is right up my alley! 

For reference, this is the original and superior version of the deck by the brilliant Swizard. Use this one to climb and do well on ladder:

Win Conditions

Honestly this section should just be a picture of the Concede button. Your objective with this deck is to tax the opponent out of playing the game by raising costs on their cards and cheating out a board of your own ahead of schedule that they will then be unable to deal with. You can protect said board with your selection of secrets, backed up by Commander Rhyssa and her doubling effect to provide big health buffs and double resurrections to hold the line. Finally, you can slap some big buffs on your minions and slam face to end the game. All the while, your opponent is hopefully unable to adequately answer your board presence and folds quickly to the pressure. Usually, your games will end in a concede on way or the other before you can smack face enough times to win. You will also get quite a lot of "friend" requests from people who suggest that you "go outside and touch grass." Apparently aggro paladin inspires some specific feelings in others! 

This is an aggro deck, so you do need to get ahead of your opponents. Even with Call to Arms and Drek'Thar cheating out minions en masse you still do not have much, if anything in the way of comeback assistance to reclaim the board. This deck is about jumping out ahead and staying ahead until the end. 

Taxation Representation

These are the main source of frustration for your opponent. Depending on your opponent, the post and spider can go from a minor nuisance to completely shutting down their gameplan and letting you roll over them unopposed. They can be cheated out by either of the recruiting cards in the deck, and should be tossed back into the deck in the early game so that you can get good pulls from said cards later on. The exceptions which are probably obvious to everyone is against something like Pirate Warrior or Shaman in general, against whom you should hold on to the Weblord and play him as soon as possible given the large number of battlecries present in those decks. 

Secret Sauce

These are your defensive tools to help ensure your board stick. The secrets themselves are fairly standard for a Tax Paladin deck, but the big change is the addition of Rhyssa. Not only does she double up on two of the three secrets (Yogg doesn't proc twice for her or Gossiper) but she is also recruitable through Drek'thar alongside the Gossipers themselves meaning she can just suddenly appear onto a board which has been lined up for her to shine in. Sword of the Fallen, despite the nerf, still remains a great deck thinning tool that sets up your Call to Arms or Drek'Thar turns nicely.

Tax Collectors & Means of Collection

These are the minions that will go out and collect on your opponent's taxes, holding the line and stopping attacks to your face long enough to push through and win the game. Of particular note here is the inclusion of Adaptation over something like Hand of A'dal. This is a decision based purely on fun. I try to use the buff to get either windfury on a huge minion to close out the game or evasive (can't be targeted by spells/hero powers) on an important minion to make it that much harder to remove. I know that Hand is better in terms of consistency, but the highrolls with Adaptation are memorable and fun...so it makes the cut! 

IRS Recruitment Tools

You know them, you love/hate them. These are the drivers of the deck, the cards that make it work in Wild due to how big of a swing they can provide you. When possible, play Drek'Thar before Call to Arms as any Weblords pulled by CoA will make Drek'thar much more uncomfortable to play. Remember as well that Drek'thar can pull both Commander Rhyssa and Crossroads Gossiper, leading to unexpected difficult decisions by your opponent. 

Seriously though, has there been any other card with such a huge impact after its unnerf than Call to Arms? 

Mulligans & Matchups

Rule of thumb is to always mulligan for and keep Call to Arms and/or Drek'Thar, with the hope of playing Drek'thar before CoA when possible. Past that, I have found Weblords a good opening keep against most of the decks I find in my meta while throwing Watch Posts back to be pulled later on behind some taunts or secret protection. A lot of my success with this deck comes against stuff like Pirate Warrior, Questline Hunter and Quest/Battlecry Shaman; three of the decks I face the most where I play. Questline Demon Hunter, a deck I absolutely love, completely folds against Tax Paladin if you happen to ever face it. 

If you end up with a secret in your starting hand, DO NOT throw down Oh My Yogg! first. I have found more often than not if you put down one of the other harder-to-trigger secrets first, opponents will assume it is Yogg and play sub-optimally by throwing away spells at the wrong time. If you start the game on the play, you can usually get someone to throw away The Coin to no benefit and then go ahead and play Yogg to catch the next spell. 

For any other tips, I would defer to Swizard's deck above. He brings up all of finer points of playing Tax Paladin, and you should trust his wisdom on the subject. 

Conclusion

I love Commander Rhyssa quite a lot, and it's pained me to see her sit in my collection for such a long time underused and underappreciated. I know she isn't ever going to be amazing unless Paladin secrets become much more impactful for their cost, but playing her in conjunction with buffing secrets always is a lot of fun and I will continue to look for more places to squeeze her in....even if it isn't with her main man Mysterious Challenger. I have my eyes on Mech Secret Paladin once Sunken City launches...

I think I gravitate towards archetypes like taxes Paladin and Demon Hunter because they offer a form of interaction/disruption of opponent's plans that Hearthstone hasn't traditionally had. Interaction is fun, even if that interaction consists of locking the opponent out of their optimal moves for as long as possible. Taxes Pally with it's multiple methods of recruiting minions and imposing extra mana costs on the opponent is an archetype I will always enjoy, and one I hope can be built on more in the future in a few other classes as well. Just....use Swizard's list if you're interested in climbing please. This one is meant to give Rhyssa some time in the spotlight.