Hearthpwn

Hello everyone,

this is my first guide in Hearthstone. As a regular legend player from germany, I'd like to present to you my Control Warrior, who took me legend on Season 11.  In this guide I will explain the card-choices I made and give you a few tips to play this deck and Hearthstone in general. I hit legend several times only playing midrange and control decks, I never played those cancer stuff :-D

The Decklist is a pretty standard Control-Warrior Deck (the "classic" one). Your goal is to survive to turn 6-7 and then start smashing the big guys, usually killing with an enraged Grommash (by Taskmaster, Whirlwind or Death Bite). The total Life of your opponent doesnt play a role because you Alex him and reduce his life to 15. That being said, you should always try to keep board control. Sometimes you need to Alex yourself - mostly against those aggro Decks (Mage, Hunter, Demonzoo etc.) In those matchups, a "killing combo" doesnt matter. If you survive, he can't handle your big guys. But let's start with the Decklist.

As you can see and as mentioned before, it's a pretty usual Control Warrior Deck. The only cards that are discussible are:

Harrison Jones , Doomsayer , Baron Geddon and maybe the classic setup of legendarys ( Ragnaros the Firelord , Alextrasza ).

Harry Jones, in my opinion, is a "must have". Although it's pretty weak in many matchups (Mage, Priest, Druid, Warlock (not Handlock), Shaman (many don't play Doomhammer ) ), it is important enough to play it. The explanation is pretty simple: Destroying your opps weapon is one good thing, but the card-draw is the main argument for playing him (otherwise you could play the Ooze, it's cheaper and faster!). In those matchups, where Harry is bad (mostly aggro except Priest - but Priest might Thoughtsteal and get a weapon....), you fight for your survival and not for the "long game". Card-Draw doesnt matter that much in these matchups. And a 5/4 Body is good enough to justify his appearance in those aggro-matchups.

Baron Geddon swipes the board. It is a Consecration with a 7/5 body. Usually you do not have many minions on board. That's why the 2 Damage to everything doesnt matter for you. But it kills the aggro-Decks and is a threat for himself. Beneath Brawl and Doomsayer this is your resource to survive.

Doomsayer is my favorite card in this deck. I decided to give it a try because Armorsmith is, in my oppinion, too weak nowadays. A 1/4 Body who generates maybe 2-3 Armor is not affecting the board. I tried Zombie Chow before Doomsayer, but he didnt do enough (against Mechmage, most Minions have 3 Life etc.) Then I tried out the Doomsayer. And he wins you games. As i mentioned before, you want to get to the latest stages of the game. This means time is on your side. The longer the games take, the more often you win. Doomsayer buys you a turn, swipes the board, forces a silence etc.

Here are the scenarios, why Doomsayer is great:

1. Against Mech-Mage: Generally you mulligan for Doomsayer, Firery "Win"-Axe, Owl., Taskmaster. Your opponent plays a Mirror Entity? Play Doomsayer and whatch him cry.  You don't have a turn 3 or 4? Play Doomsayer on Turn 3 even if the board is empty. It grants you a new turn because he wont play anything. Even in the later stages, a Sludge Belcher defending your Doomsayer will often force a Fireball or a board-clear. 

2. Against Hunters: Same Idea as above. A Turn 2 or 3 Doomsayer followed by Death Bite etc. wins you the game.

3. Druid: The worst matchup for Warrior. Keep in mind: A Druid who draws well will destroy you. Point. But an innervated Shade of Naxx, which you usually cannot handle, will be wrecked by Doomsayer.

All other Matchups: Mostly, it's a sort of Time Walk (to all the Magic players). Doomsayer just brings you safely to turn 3-4. So dont fear to put it on an empty board, if you, f.e. are on T3 and have nothing to play on T4. Against Control Matchups, you sometimes can play him and kill the opponents Sylvanas. He will lose his board then.

Things to know:

1. Cards are your resources in the game. Dont waste any. Always be aware of how many cards you have left and in hand. If you add those numbers and subtract it from 30, you know how many cards you have burned. Count for your enemy too! F.E. , if you have 7 cards in Hand and 17 left, 6 cards are "dead". If your opponent has 3 cards in hand and 12 cards left, he already lost 15 cards (which is good news!).

2. As cards are your main resource, do not waste your freaking Acolyte of Pain. Always try to draw at least 2 cards out of it by playing Taskmaster or a Death Bite.

3. Try to play "on curve". If you have 5 Mana, try to spend 5 Mana. 

4. Coining out a Firey Win-Axe against aggro-Matchups often makes them hesitate to play an X/3 Minion. This means: You win time. And as you already know, time is the thing you want!

5. Know your opponents key cards and combos. Unleash the faks is pretty strong against Dr.Boom of Doom! I usually do not use him against Huntards.

6. Do not gamble. Gambling is the last thing (and sometimes you need to do it), but dont Shild Slam your Silvanas to maybe get the fatty of your opponent. Do not play Rag and force him to hit the Kel Thuzad. Rag has his own mind!

7. Make short breaks. I usually play 3-5 games and have a 3-4 minute break fetching sth. to drink etc. This helps to keep your focus. Hearthstone is not a luck based game, otherwise there wouldnt be the same guys in the top 10 every freaking month.

Mulligan Strategy:

As there are two ways to start the game (with coin, without coin), there are two different types of mulligans you can take. As a control player, you generally want the coin (because it boosts your play, p.e. Belcher on turn 4). In Hearthstone (like Magic) , there are 3 different types of decks. The headlines of these types are "Aggro", "Midrange" and "Control". To make a general mulligan strategy, you should know these three types and which type you are facing most likely. P.E. a Warlock can be aggro (Zoo) or Control (Handlock). It even can be Midrange (Demonzoo). So it's hard to tell wether to keep the Big Game Hunter or not. Wait for your opps mulligan. The more cards he changes, the higher the chances are that he plays midrange/control. That being said, I would always mulligan as your opp is playing aggro if you are not exactly sure. Against Midrange and Control you usually got more time so a bad starting hand does not make the game unwinnable. That being said, I will now tell you my point of you - without coin and with coin against those three types. 

Aggrodecks: Mechmage, Mechshaman, Facehunter, Zoo, Shock-Paladin

Midrange: Mage (no freeze), Druids, Hunter, Paladin, Rogue, Shaman, Demonzoo

Control: Mage (freeze), Paladin (the greedy one), Priest, Handlock, Warrior, sometimes Rouge (some sort of midrange/control/combo)

With coin:

Against aggro:  Doomsayer, Firery Win Axe, Taskmaster, Death Bite, Owl

Against Midrange: Harry Jones (if opp has weapons), Acolytes, Death Bite

Against Control: Look for Cardraw (Acolytes, Shield Block,) and keep BGH if you got it

Without Coin:

Aggro: Firery War Axe, Doomsayer, Taskmaster, Owl (2 Drops!!!)

Midrange: Acolyte, Firery War Axe, Death Bite (2-4 Drops)

Control: Acolyte, Shield Block, ... (3-X drops)

As you see, the mulligans are pretty similar. But having the coin makes mulligans easier, as you are not that dependent regarding the best starting hand.

You can transfer that to any other deck imo:

Against aggro: You want your early drops and removal spells

Against midrange: Your midrange stuff and card draw

Against control: Value cards (Taskmaster+Acolyte), Card draw

I hope this helps understanding mulligans a bit better  ;-)

Stats:

Mechmage: 70/30

Midrange Mage: 50/50

Druid: 40/60

Rogue: 70/30

Zoo, Demon: 70/30

Warrior: 50/50

Priest: 40/60

Shaman: 60/40

Paladin: 60/40

Huntard: 70/30

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