Murloc

Murlocs are a type of minion, best known for their swarming gameplay and board-wide synergy. Relatively weak in isolation, their low mana cost allows them to quickly flood the board, with their synergistic effects causing them to grow in strength as each new Murloc arrives.

Murlocs are available to all classes, but have a special connection with the paladin and shaman classes.

For a list of card art featuring murlocs, see Murloc art.

Background

 * ''The s are a bipedal, amphibious humanoid race residing along coastlines, lakeshores, and riverbeds. Murlocs possess bulbous bodies, large mouths lined with rows of sharp fangs, and slime-coated skin. Individuals range in coloration from turquoise to darkish grey, while their heights vary from 3-1/2 feet to 6 feet. Depending on the variety, murlocs may lean towards a closer resemblance to frogs or to fish; the iconic green murloc, for example, has coloration similar to the Cuban tree frog.


 * Murlocs tend to dwell in amply-populated coastal settlements, and it is unusual to find individuals wandering too far from their compatriots. Players looking to engage murlocs should be wary of their surroundings; the creatures often lurk out of sight beneath the surface of the water. This tendency, coupled with their large social aggro radius, can often lead to larger pulls.

Strategy
Due to their reasonably low mana cost, building a deck around Murloc cards can give you a very early board advantage by overwhelming your opponent with minions. Early game dominance and setting up your Murloc army will be your main objective. Most Murloc cards benefit from having other Murlocs on the field with them. For example, you could play Murloc Tidecaller and then Murloc Tidehunter in order to turn your Murloc Tidecaller into a 3/2 minion instead of a 1/2. Many other combinations exist as well.

Many classes can lend their unique strengths to the Murloc deck:
 * The Shaman class possesses highly efficient removal spells; Rockbiter Weapon, Stormforged Axe and Lightning Bolt can keep the board clear, while Earth Shock and Hex gets rid of Taunt and other threats. In addition, Bloodlust serves as an excellent finisher that synergizes with the swarming nature of murloc decks. Shamans are also one of the only four classes to have class-specific cards that have synergy with Murlocs (Siltfin Spiritwalker, Neptulon, Everyfin is Awesome, and Primalfin Totem) and have a Quest card dedicated to them (Unite the Murlocs).
 * Paladins can work favorably with aggro decks, buffing their Murlocs with cheap spells such as Blessing of Might to pile on damage, buff them in bulk with cards such as Sword of Justice and Competitive Spirit, while also trading with other minions with Divine Shield. Paladins are the only class besides Shaman and Warlock to have class-specific Murloc synergy cards (Murloc Knight, Anyfin Can Happen, Vilefin Inquisitor, Grimscale Chum, and Hydrologist).
 * Warlock Murloc decks (known as "Wurloc" or "Murlock" decks) are highly popular because of their Life Tap ability. This allows them to draw more cards and fill their board with Murlocs in the same manner as zoo decks, speeding up a Murloc deck's ramp up time. Cards like Voidwalker are a strong early defense to keep Murlocs alive, while Soulfire and Shadow Bolt provide cheap removal of enemy threats. With the addition of Mean Streets of Gadgetzan, they have gained a class-exclusive Murloc, Seadevil Stinger.
 * Druids have Innervate to help put out more Murlocs in the early game, Power of the Wild and Mark of the Wild to buff their Murlocs cheaply, and Wrath, Claw and Naturalize for cheap removal. Moreover, since the finisher Savage Roar is relatively cheap, it can be played twice in a turn for large damage burst before their opponent can stabilize.
 * Mage doesn't have any class-specific cards but does have some options regarding a weakness Murloc decks tend to have: card advantage. Book of Specters and Aluneth in addition to burn spells like Frostbolt and Fireball are often enough to keep a sizable hand as well as finish a game fast enough.

Minions and spells that buff or are more useful with more minions on the field synergize well with Murloc decks such as Raid Leader, Reliquary Seeker, and Frostwolf Warlord.

Counters
Spells that target all enemies, such as Arcane Explosion, Fan of Knives or other field-wide damage cards, are strong against Murloc decks due to their low health and swarm nature. Taunt cards are useful against Murloc decks because they force the Murlocs to attack them before the hero can be targeted, possibly dying in the process.

It is recommended to remove any Murloc on the field as soon as possible, especially high-priority targets such as Murloc Warleader or Murloc Tidecaller, because of the increasing difficulty in killing Murlocs as more and more are put on the field. Be sure not to exhaust your options too early; using a Blizzard or Consecration on only a few Murlocs may leave you defenseless when they summon even more. Gauge the situation and see if waiting a turn is the better option.

Priests can effectively counter Murlocs by having Northshire Clerics out early and buffing them with Power Word: Shield. After that they can clear weak Murlocs using Clerics and heal Clerics to keep their hand full while suffocating the Murloc player.

Also, Hungry Crab is a direct early-game counter to Murlocs. If played early enough, its ability to destroy a Murloc when summoned plus the subsequent attack and health buff could be used to halt a Murloc deck from snowballing past its initial phases. If you know you will be going up against a Murloc deck, adding two Hungry Crabs should make it much easier to deal with.

Cards that generate Murlocs
These cards bring new Murlocs into play through their card text.

History
Murlocs originally featured a number of minion type synergy effects that activated from or benefited "ALL" Murlocs, including the opponent's. This included cards like Murloc Warleader, Coldlight Seer and Grimscale Oracle granting bonuses to not only friendly but also enemy Murlocs, Murloc Tidecaller activating from either player summoning a Murloc, and Old Murk-Eye drawing power from even the opponent's Murlocs. However, these disadvantages only existed in the presence of a Murloc mirror match, in which case both opponents stood to gain from the common type-orientation. According to Ben Brode, this synergy was added to the Murloc type "mostly to make it feel really different from other minion types".

With Patch 6.2.0.15181 (2016-10-20) this behaviour was removed from all of the above cards except for Old Murk-Eye, with the effects now strictly confined to friendly Murlocs. The patch notes state that the changes were made in order to "improve the Murloc mirror-match"; Ben Brode later clarified that such matches tended to be determined mostly by "whoever played the first murloc". It should be noted that Murloc mirror matches were very rarely seen at this period (as well as for some time beforehand), but the changes may also have been made with future releases in mind, opening up design space for the type. Hungry Crab and Corrupted Seer's negative effects were unchanged, as was Old Murk-Eye, which the developers discussed but "decided against" changing.

An earlier change came with Whispers of the Old Gods. Prior to this the Murloc legendary Old Murk-Eye was not craftable but had to be earned through collecting each Basic and Classic Murloc. The quest "Mrglglglgl!" awarded 1 regular copy to the player upon collecting regular copies of all Classic Murlocs, while "Golden Mrglglglgl!" awarded 1 golden copy to the player upon collecting golden versions of all Basic and Classic Murlocs. The accompanying patch removed the quests, and made Old Murk-Eye craftable instead. The change accompanied the similar removal of the quest to earn the Captain's Parrot reward for collecting Pirates.

Trivia

 * Murlocs have a special relationship with Hearthstone, which has arguably provided a greater platform for the race than World of Warcraft: while in the latter game murlocs are a relatively minor annoyance, swarming mobs encountered during questing, especially in lower level areas, in Hearthstone they are a substantial and fearsome threat, with whole decks built around the race. Hearthstone has also seen the first murloc capable of speaking - the indubitable Sir Finley Mrrgglton - as well as the first true murloc 'hero', Morgl the Oracle, both of which are original to Hearthstone. Other Hearthstone murloc firsts include the first murloc ninja (and murloc martial art "Finjitsu"), the first true murloc paladins, and the first murloc with a moustache. The fact that the first three original Hearthstone characters to feature in World of Warcraft were all murlocs - Sir Finley, Morgl the Oracle and Giantfin - appears to confirm the former game's position as champion of the race.
 * Concept Artist Jomaro Kindred comments, "On the Hearthstone team we ... have this murloc test. We kinda throw a murloc in everything - just to see how it feels." Concept Artist Jerry Mascho confirms, "With each new expansion, we do what we call a 'Murloc Test'", resulting in concepts for murlocs designed to fit the expansion's themes.
 * According to an official infographic, players summoned a total of 5,829,905,234 Murlocs in 2016 (equal to nearly 80% of the human population of the earth at the end of 2016).

Patch changes

 * Changes were made to several Murlocs - Grimscale Oracle, Coldlight Seer, Murloc Tidecaller and Murloc Warleader - to now only activate from and/or benefit friendly Murlocs.
 * The "Mrglglglgl!" and "Golden Mrglglglgl!" quests have been removed. Old Murk-Eye is now craftable instead.