Hearthpwn

(Note: I know this deck is expensive - unfortunately they aren't really replacements for any of the legendaries besides Lich King as the others are all very important to the deck. The one other possible change would be Scourgelord Garrosh for a secondSupercollider)

Introduction:

I'm back with legend using another deck on no one's radar, Tempo Warrior. I saw Trump feature Sjow's version but I immediately saw some flaws in it and have turned it into a true midrange deck with a 60% win rate and hitting legend less than a week after seriously getting back into Hearthstone ladder.

This list features a ton of spicy inclusions, including Prince Keleseth and Bittertide Hydra. Best of all, it has great matchups against most top decks around, including all forms of Druid, Odd rogue, and Zoo! 

This deck functions similarly to my dragon priest from Gadgetzan, so check out that guide for some similar playstyle tips if you haven't seen it already - may midrange live on.

Tech Decisions:

Prince Keleseth, because why run any other 2 drops? Although we can't hero power on turn 2 like Odd Rogue or Zoo, we still have a decent amount of 1 drops, and our 4/5 drops often can recover from the loss in tempo. 

Gluttonous Ooze is extremely important in the current metagame. It hits the powerful equipments of control warlock and any sort of combo druid, and most importantly destroys the Supercollider in Odd Warrior, which is a huge roadback for us. And of course it's great vs Odd Rogue.

There is a single Spellbreaker, mainly to hit Rin, the First Disciple as that card single handedly makes the Control Warlock favored. It also is key vs Deathrattle Hunter, the occasional Taunt Druid, and is even relevant vs Zoo.

My personal favorite, Bittertide Hydra, is simply an extremely powerful card in this meta where the only burn deck, tempo mage, is not super popular. The other aggro decks of the meta are actually board control decks, and a 5 mana 8/8 is quite solid vs both Odd Rogue and Zoo, even though our other 5 drops are far better. There is also lots of incidental life gain with Eternium Rover, Zilliax and the Hero cards to get around the Hydra's downside. And obviously, the card is a huge threat vs any slow deck.

Last but not least, one Arathi Weaponsmith. I was looking for a card to replace Sjow's Blood Razor because I didn't want to play Forge of Souls but still wanted a weapon on turn 4. Imagine my surprise that there's a card in the basic set that puts a body and the board and equips a weapon! That 2 power is just what we want vs Zoo's low drops and can often help set up a turn 5 Dyn-o-matic. Depending on how many slow decks you encounter, this card could come out in favor of a more aggressive card like Vicious Fledgling or a utility second Spellbreaker.

Notable cards not in final list:

Sjow's original list ran some control warrior staples in Execute, Warpath, Acolyte of Pain, and Blood Razor along with 2 Supercollider. I quickly realized that you don't want to be using an AOE spell on your own board, and after a few games I also realized that all these cards suck vs any sort of control deck, as the deck struggled to put enough pressure on control/combo before they could fatigue you or combo you out. I took out all these things and steamlined the curve with cards like Nightmare Amalgam and Gluttonous Ooze.

I took out the Kor'kron Elite because although the pressure is quite nice versus slower decks, it was a huge liability on turn 4 against any other proactive deck, more so since I cut some of the control tools. I found Arathi Weaponsmith to be quite a nice replacement, as it can deal similar amounts of damage to the face as the Elite but also helps with board control!

There's only 1 Supercollider because although it is a blowout against so many decks, from Even Warlock to Odd Rogue, 2 often felt like overkill. Scourgelord Garrosh functions similarly, and the deck has many other good midgame plays to come back on the board. And ultimately, we want to be playing minions whenever we can.

Fun cards that I've tried!

My first replacement for Acolyte of Pain to fight slow decks was actually Vicious Fledgling. It worked well for a while, but most decks have an answer for it, and it also terrible vs aggressive decks. It ended up replaced with Nightmare Amalgam, which is a much better body, has synergy with Zilliax to get huge lifesteal swings, and is a better late game card after you've become Dr. Boom, Mad Genius. THAT BEING SAID, since reaching legend and running into many more combo and control decks, I've put 2 of these back in, replacing 1 Amalgam and the Arathi Weaponsmith.

Shield Slam. Yes, it sounds weird after my long rants about playing proactive threats, but nearly every deck has creatures we need to kill at some point, and it lets you put all those awkward hero powers throughout the game get put to good use at some point. Ultimately, it was cut to make space for more threats, and we now use that excess armor to let us freely play Bittertide Hydra.

Mecha'thun is a card that I would actually find a way to include in the deck (if I had the dust for it). This deck can actually get fatigued by hard control decks, and I tried Elise the Trailblazer for a while, but adding one card back in simply wasn't enough.

Best Matchups:
All Druids, Odd Rogue, Zoolock, Subject 9 Hunter, Odd Paladin

Fair Matchups:

Deathrattle Hunter, Spell Hunter, Quest Rogue, Odd Warrior, Evenlock, Tempo Mage

Difficult Matchups:

Control Warlock, Control Mage, Mecha'thun decks

Playstyle:

In a meta of Aggro-Control-Combo, this Tempo Warrior finds itself in a great position of having excellent anti-aggro tools in the form of minions, which also provide pressure and late game value against the control and combo decks. We have one of the best one drops in the game, Eternium Rover, and rush creatures like Militia Commander which line up great vs cards such as Hench-Clan Thug and work amazingly with Prince Keleseth. Along with the powerful Dyn-o-matic, we can often take control of the mid game vs aggressive decks.

Against slower decks, we have an excellent curve to apply pressure into Bittertide Hydra while doing your best to avoid blowouts to Spreading Plague, Mind Control Tech and AOE spells. These games will often go long, with Dr. Boom, Mad Genius and Omega Assembly usually providing enough long-term value to close out games and apply constant pressure. In extreme circumstances, be careful of fatigue and playing Town Crier, although sometimes it is necessary to speed through the deck and find better threats, especially if the opponent's fatigue plan is impossible to overcome. The game plan is to apply threat after threat and eventually kill the opponent.

An important note involving Omega Assembly: this card will often be played on turn 10, but don't be afraid to use it on turn 1 if you're missing a 3 drop or a 4 drop and need to fill in the curve. Also, always use it on turn 1 vs aggro to either fill in the curve or find the powerful Warrior class mechs, Eternium Rover and Dyn-o-matic.

Mulligan and Matchup strategies:

Obviously, we want to mulligan for Prince Keleseth and our 1 drops. There are some exceptions - for example, against Odd Rogue going second, we can toss back the Town Crier since it dies to their hero power immediately, and hope to find more 3 drops to coin 3 into 3. In slower matchups, it is often good to keep Nightmare Amalgam and Frothing Berserker for a turn 3 play. Finally, in the extremely grindy matchups, keep Dr. Boom, Mad Genius.

Vs Druid:

The class which represents multiple tier 1 decks is one of the reasons are deck is so strong. Frothing Berserker and Bittertide Hydra represent must-answers, and since we are playing minions every turn, Naturalize simply provides us with more fuel and can even help us find Gluttonous Ooze for their Twig of the World Tree. Supercollider and Scourgelord Garrosh provide great answers to Ultimate Infestation into Arcane Tyrant, and the various sources of armor and life gain can often put us out of range of Malygos. 

Playing around Spreading Plague while also providing just enough threats to break through a Giggling Inventor is an important skill to have, particuarly against Token Druid. However, that matchup is easy as it is actually very possible to exhaust Token Druid's threats, with Dyn-o-matic[/card, [card]Scourgelord Garrosh and occasionally Dr. Boom, Mad Genius providing repeated board clears as well as simply having an early board to to prevent a turn 4 Whispering Woods and contest a Violet Teacher. Finally, don't forget to taunt up with Saronite Chain Gang or a discovered mech at the end if you suspect a double Savage Roar Branching Path combo.

Vs Rogue:

Odd Rogue is deceptively one of our best matchups, due to our ability to control the board in the mid game with rush creatures, Dyn-o-matic, and even Bittertide Hydra. Eternium Rover and Saronite Chain Gang are good at slowing them down, and the 3 drops with 4 health are extremely good at contesting the early board. Finally, the late game hero cards provide some nice armor and value that the Rogue simply can't keep up with.

The occasional Quest Rogue is also quite easy to play. Due to the strong curve, we can often pressure them enough so that they have below 10 health by the time they finish their quest. Even after quest completion, we can sneak in wins with Grommash Hellscream or clear the armies of 4/4s with Scourgelord Garrosh. Finding Prince Keleseth will help a lot, as it turns the various 3 power minions into 4 power to contest the 4/4s perfectly. It is still possible to lose to their best draws, but overall we are quite favored.

Since hitting legend, I've run into many more fringe Rogue decks, such as Tess Rogue, old school Keleseth Rogue, and even Pogohopper Rogue. This deck's early game pressure often leads to easy wins against these defenseless rogue decks.

Vs Hunter:

The game plan versus Spell Hunter, Subject 9 Hunter and Deathrattle Hunter are all very similar - survive their powerful mid game plays of either Greater Emerald Spellstone or Carnivorous Cube and pressure them in the late game. The reason we want the late game is because we actually are very favored against Deathstalker Rexxar. Between Dr. Boom, Mad Genius and Omega Assembly, Rexxar often finds itself playing from behind against a new board threat every turn. Against secrets, our primary goal is to develop the 3 and 4 drops without attacking the face and triggering secrets in preparation to fight the 3/3 wolves. From there, take control of the board and play around the secrets as best you can, taking care of your life total.

The late game plan is more challenging against the sheer value Deathrattle Hunter can generate, which is what the Spellbreaker is for. For Devilsaur Egg, pop the egg early game creatures and do your best to play powerful threats of your own. Try and keep their board as clear as possible to prevent their Cube plays and deathrattle activations. Supercollider is one of the best cards here, and a keep off of the mulligan if you suspect Deathrattle Hunter - just be careful as it's only lackluster against the others, and requires creature support to fully clear the wolves.

Vs Warlock:

I've mentioned a few times that the Zoolock is a great matchup for us, for the same reason the matchup against Odd Rogue is favored - our midgame is perfectly tooled to take control of the board. The statline of Nightmare Amalgam lines up great against cards like Happy Ghoul, Voidwalker and Saronite Chain Gang. The Frothing Berserker can work as well, but be sure to develop something else first in order to have the Berserker buffed up to at least 3 power when it's played. Unlike the Odd Rogue matchup, Town Crier is a good turn 1 play to contest Kobold Librarian and Voodoo Doctor. I forgot to mention earlier, but the scariest card Zoolock and Odd Rogue is Fungalmancer so do your best to keep their boards as clear as possible.

Even Warlock is a completely different animal, and one of the few decks that we actually can take to fatigue, since they draw so often with their hero power. Save Spellbreaker if they have Rin, the First Disciple to enable this plan. Use early and mid game creatures to contest the Mountain Giant and Twilight Drake, holding the Spellbreaker if you can. Scourgelord Garrosh is a key card here to handle the demons from Bloodreaver Gul'dan, often taking just 2 turns to completely wipe their board. After handling those threats, we will far more value with the Omega Assembly and Dr. Boom, Mad Genius.

There isn't too much Control Warlock out there, and thankfully because it's one of the worst matchups.  It's really difficult to play around Twisting Nether while also being able to break through a Voidlord, and even a simple Rin, the First Disciple can be difficult to deal with. Your best chance is to have a quick start with Frothing Berserker and Bittertide Hydra, and hope they don't have the needed single target removal. It can be difficult to take them to fatigue since Bloodreaver Gul'dan is much stronger in this deck compared to Even Warlock.

Vs Paladin:

I didn't see a lot of paladin on the ladder, but the most popular is probably still Odd Paladin. The one drops of the deck work great the armies of 1/1s, and Dyn-o-matic is a great clear right before Level Up!. Besides that, this is similar to the Odd Rogue matchup which we do great against.

Will add more in future if people are interested!