Hearthpwn

     This is the Control Warrior I just made legend with last night. I played other decks such as Handlock, Shaman, and Hunter on ladder and felt a lack of consistency. Handlock gets crushed by Hunters, Shamans are mehh to me, sometimes great, sometimes lackluster, and Hunter was the runner-up but was still feeling that lack of consistency. I knew how well Control Warrior does against hunter and turned to it, and it was to me the most consistent of what I had tried, and believe it is SUPER viable, if not top tier right now on Ladder.

Legend Proof: http://i.imgur.com/xA1nNPJ.jpg

November 2014 Top 100 (10+ Winstreak) : http://puu.sh/d42If.jpg

**Will be constantly updating to what I currently run in my Control Warrior**

The matchups:

Priest (Control): 

One of the three bad matchups. Sometimes I get the feeling my early minions are useless against them because they always seem to get stolen by Cabal Shadow Priest, and used against me HORRENDOUSLY (such as an armorsmith steal), but to win this matchup I think you should Mulligan for Your early weapons such as Fiery War Axe & Death's Bite to deal with their early minions like Northshire Cleric and Dark Cultist. BUT if you do get them in the starting hand I would keep your early minions such as Armorsmiths' and Acolyte of Pain and once you build your small board hopefully seal the deal with a nice loatheb. After that winning the match revolves around pressuring them with Cairne Bloodhoof and Sylvanas Windrunner follwing with an alexstraza turn 9. Sounds too perfect right? ya... this matchup You're going to need SOME luck I feel. But lastly try and and manage your Executes properly, and don't let your Ysera get mind controlled...  try and bait out the mind control with Ragnaros the Firelord or Alexstrasza because this deck has Big Game Hunter to follow-up. Sorry if this ones a bit long to read, but had to address quite a few things ^-^

 

Warrior (Control):

A fine matchup. Mulligan for Death's Bite, Armorsmith, Acolyte of Pain and Fiery War Axe. Armor up for the first 2-4 turns, Death's bite destroys their armor on turn 4 and if possible draw on turn 5 with Armorsmith, Acolyte of Pain and Death's Bite's Deathrattle. The synopsis of this matchup is to get HUGE value and draw out of your armorsmiths and acolytes, this allows you to have what you need to deal with all their threats mid-late game and it forces them to use good resources on your little stuff also to trade VERY efficiently. Save your Big Game Hunter for Rag or Alex at all costs, it's such a swing play and can win you games :)

 

Hunter (Aggro and Mid-Range):

In my opinion a very easy match-up with a decent hand. You always mulligan for Fiery War Axe, Armorsmith, and Cruel Taskmaster. It's simple as this, Fiery War Axe deals with everything early game they can throw at you (ESPECIALLY Undertaker), Armorsmith is nearly impossible to deal with early game for hunters and trades on ALL their 1 mana minions other than undertaker, and Cruel taskmaster lets you buff your armorsmiths to deal with undertakers IF you don't have Fiery War Axe. Sen'jin Shieldmasta is also a great card in this matcup. But the way to play this matchup is to play very reactively, clear their board AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, DO NOT let undertakers get too big, and slowly but steadily build a board with things like Sludge Belcher, Sen'jin Shieldmasta and Sylvanas Windrunner / Cairne Bloodhoof if you can get them on board. Sylvanas Windrunner is an easy Savannah Highmane answer if it's already on board. You'll know when you've won in this matchup :)

 

Shaman:

Probably the WORST matchup possible. Always mulligan for Armorsmith, Fiery War Axe, and If you want keep an Acolyte of Pain or Cruel Taskmaster. All four of these cards deal with early game very well, in this matchup only kill totems with your weapon if it risks something such as your armorsmith being Lightning Bolted for 4 damage with a spell power totem on board, and dodge Flametongue Totem value if you can. But the key to winning this matchup is to constantly elminiate their board as efficiently as possible. And once they overextend, or you feel you have to, Brawl is the card you're going to use to hopefully eliminate the key elements of their board. Eventually after a MASSIVE battle of playing defensively your time to take some board will come, and a small tip, bait out hexes with Sludge Belchers.

 

Paladin (Control):

A difficult but by no mean un-winnable match-up. To be blatant their hero ability will poke you to death in the fatigue war. So with that being said you might have to win a bit quicker. Be a bit aggressive in this matchup to get all the heals out of the way before your big Alexstrasza play. Trade efficiently with things like Death's Bite and always save your Spellbreaker for Tirion Fordring. Not much else to say other than to Mulligan for early game cards 1-3 cost and weapons.

 

Mage (Freeze/New Control): 

Mage feels like Warrior's easiest matchup. I don't see this on ladder all that much so this one will be short. Mulligan for Armorsmith, Acolyte of Pain and Fiery War Axe. Having a large supply of armor in this matchup will simply win you the game. More Control/Freeze mage type decks depend on Alexstraza to go in for the kill. But with a HUGE stack of armor, their kill most likely won't happen. An easy matchup to win. And to try and set yourself up for NICE Shield Slam's on Water Elementals, they can be pretty annoying in this match-up and possibly will be the reason you lose if you don't get rid of them quickly. But if aggro mage / Secret Mage, mulligan for weapons and Armorsmith, clear their board constantly.

 

Druid:

To me this match-up is quite easy. Mulligan for Death's Bite and Armorsmith. Armorsmith is a PAIN for Druids to deal with because they can't Wrath them and usually have to waste a Swipe to clear them. So Armorsmith pressure is great in this matchup. Especially if you have two on board. Death's Bite really helps the trading process with their mid-game minions. Also this is another matchup where your first Death's Bite charge can go straight to the face for pressure at times, then on to setting up for big draw/armor plays the next turn. But if you don't get Armorsmith early on make sure to armor up each turn to be ready to hopefully shield slam a Chillwind Yeti or Druid of the Claw. To win this match-up, stay out of Savage Roar Combo range, trade efficiently, and pressure them into answering your board instead of building their own.

 

Warlock (Handlock):

A pretty good match-up, in my opinion. Mulligan for Big Game Hunter to deal with the turn 4 Mountain Giant. But if you don't get him, consistently armor up each turn to hopefully shield slam a giant. Spellbreaker is great in this matchup also because he trades with their turn 3 or 4 Twilight Drake. And if you get lucky enough you can prepare for their drake turn by equipping your Fiery War Axe turn 2 or 3 then when they drop drake silence the drake on turn 4 with spellbreaker and trade for free with your fiery war axe. I usually go for this play when they have coin. This play of events seem to be game winning vs'ing Handlock for me. But the way to play this matchup is to get them down around 16-20 health just out of good Molten Giant range, then pressure them to the win with a Grommash Hellscream, Ragnaros the Firelord, or just simply a weapon and small board.

 

Warlock Zoo:

Mulligan for Fiery War Axe, Armorsmith and Unstable Ghoul. All these cards threaten the zoo's board which they are trying to build. In this matchup you'll constantly remove board with Fiery War Axe and Death's Bite, use your Sludge Belchers mid game, and simply threaten their board constantly. and that might even mean dropping a naked Big Game Hunter because his battlecry isn't important in this matchup. I personally find myself winning this match-up due to them hero powering themselves near death, then killing them with a Grommash Hellscream combo or weapon.

 

Rogue (New Miracle):

A bad match-up. In this match-up you will mulligan for Armorsmith and Fiery War Axe. You're going to NEED a lot of armor and good board pressure to win. Armorsmith is VERY awkward for rogues to deal with. Usually forcing them to turn 2 Backstab, Eviscerate it. Having a lot of armor is your safety in this match-up and feel free to swing at their face with your Death's Bite once for more pressure. This match-up is overall kind of a race.

 

Questions:

Why not x2 Unstable Ghoul?

I don't run two Unstable Ghouls because I'd rather have a Cairne Bloodhoof or Loatheb. Plus I believe there's quite enough things to fight aggro early game in this deck and if you manage your death's bite properly I feel that x2 Unstable Ghoul is a bit overkill.

-I'm not going to give a card by card breakdown, considering I'm sure there are a lot of Control Warrior Card tech breakdowns out there. I love feedback and if you have any questions I'd gladly answer them and I hope this deck and guide help you on ladder some :)

(I will update the list to what I currently run, actually, decided why not :) ) 

 -Due to a range of card switch-in questions, some switch-ins I would see being viable:

+1 Baron Geddon -1 Loatheb / Cairne Bloodhoof

+1 Harrison Jones -1 Loatheb / Cairne Bloodhoof

+1 Harrison Jones -1 Unstable Ghoul

+1 The Black Knight -1 Unstable Ghoul

 +1 The Black Knight -1 Cairne Bloodhoof

+1 Ironbeak Owl -1 Spellbreaker (Personal Preference)

 

All three of these cards are GREAT, and I could see Baron Geddon in specific being a switch-in I would most likely apply to the deck if I tested a bit because of how hard warrior gets rekt by Shaman.