Hearthpwn

Class Cards:

Flame Imp: One of the best one-drops in the game. THis card is a VERY good counter to mech mage since you can drop this on turn one, and take away the mage's ability to drop a Mechwarper or chugga chugga on turn two without it dying.

 

Power Overwhelming: Use this to make trades with your 1/1s or use it to pop your Nerubian Egg. It can even be used as a good finisher if you need to.

 

Voidwalker: Counters early drop 1-health minions including Leper Gnome, Clockwork Gnome, and Webspinner. Can also be used to protect your board or face for 1 turn from an opponent's high-attack minion.

 

Imp-losion: One of my favorite cards in the whole deck, I have had people straight up concede when I roll a 4 with a knife juggler on board because of how powerful it is. This card is a great turn 4 play and even though it is RNG dependent, if you have a boad (which you should), then your board can do the cleaning up should RNGesus forsake you. Remember, combo this with knife juggler for some awesome combos.

 

Voidcaller: My second favorite card in the deck, at worst this card is a 4 mana 3/4. At best it is a 4 mana 3/4 - deathrattle summon a 5/7 with charge. It also takes a lot of people by surprise when they see you drop this card and really pressures them. They have no idea what kind of demons you have in your hand, so sometimes they choose not to kill it in favor of a much worse play. This card is best when taunted so the enemy is forced to trade into it.

 

Doomguard: I'll usually only play this card from my hand if it discards one card, otherwise I wait for my hand to be empty, or I summon it with Voidcaller. When you take away the loss of cards, Doomguard is easily one of the best cards in the game. Use this card as a finisher or as a high value trading minion, it works as both because of it's high attack and health.

 

Lord Jaraxxus: YOU FACE JARAXXUS, EREDAR LORD OF THE BURING LEGION. God I love summoning this card. Jaraxxus is one of the most versetile cards in this deck, he can be used as a 3 damage finisher, a heal, or even as a 3/15 minion on board thanks to Voidcaller. If you do manage to get him on board, try to taunt him into a 4/16 if you can, and sometimes people will concede just off of that. This card counters mech mage and hunter hard, so I don't recommend trying to replace him.

 

Neutral Cards:

Abusive Sergeant: A great cheap card for buffing your weak minions to take out larger minions. Can be used as a 1 drop if necessary, but most of the times its better not to.

 

Zombie Chow: One of the best one-drops in the game, besides flame imp. This card is very good at trading 1-for-2 with low cost minions. Most of the time the heal is minimized since this card isn't meant to hit face, it's meant to trade efficiently.

 

Dire Wolf Alpha: A cheap and actually good version of raid leader. This card can be positioned in the middle of a large bunch of little minions like Imp, and can buff all of them as they are sent to their deaths. Used in this way, dire wolf gains a lot of value. Even if not used in that situation, it can still help give your minions that extra edge needed to make a trade efficiently. Don't forget you can pop Nerubian Egg with this!

 

Haunted Creeper: An awesome 2-drop especially when coined out and comboed with knife juggler the next turn for those knife procs. even if you don't get knife juggler in, creeper trades with any 1 drop efficiently, including Zombie Chow, Leper Gnome, and Clockwork Gnome, sometimes it'll even leave some friends behind :D

 

Knife Juggler: When used in certain situations, knife juggler can lay waste to an opponents board, and in other situations he can be totally worthless. If you can, attempt not to use him as a 2-drop unless you're using him to get extra value out of Haunted Creeper or if he's the only 2-drop you have. Otherwise, he's so much more valuable when deathrattles are summoning more minions which will just do extra damage with knife juggler, or in it's best combo, imp-losion.

 

Nerubian Egg: Nerubian egg has two options for use, it can be used early if you have a card that help pop it, usually Abusive Sergeant, or it can be put down on a board as anti-clear. If a paladin wants to consecrate your board but you have a Nerubian Egg on it, he might think twice about that decision. This card is also a greatDefender of Argus target so you force your opponent to pop the egg for you

 

Harvest Golem: The only 3-drop in the deck for a reason, if you get it, awesome, play it and have a really goo board. If you don't your turn 3 will usually be play two 1-drops, or tap and play a 1-drop. This card is really beefy and will get you a lot of value and is also a very good taunt target because of it's beefiness.

 

Dark Iron Dwarf: A lot of zoo decks recently have dropped dark iron dwarf in favor of Piloted Shredder instead, and I have no idea why. This card is a great 4 drop because at this point you have lots of little tokens you can buff up and trade into large creatures AND you get a 4/4 on the board. There's no reason not to take two of these since this deck is more token and trading focused.

 

Defender of Argus: This card is your bug tempo swing. I've won games that I was losing because of Argus. The taunt and 1/1 buff can help you make efficient trades and also force opponents to trade with your minions. Good taunt targets are anything with a deathrattle and Jarraxus, for obvious reasons.

Mulligan for your best 1 and 2 drops like Zombie Chow, Flame Imp, Voidwalker, and Haunted Creeper. You can keep Knife Juggler and Abusive Sergeant if they fit into your curve. If not, mulligan them for better cards.

 

If you have Nerubian Egg and an activator like Dire Wolf Alpha or Abusive Sergeant it is sometimes appropriate to keep them. 

 

Aggro Decks: You almost NEED a 1 drop, whether it's Zombie Chow, Flame Imp, or Voidwalker. Otherwise they'll take board control and you'll be too far behind to catch up. If you see a mage, hunter, or another warlock, it's safe to assume they are aggo.

 

Midrange Decks: Mulligan for a good solid curve and counters to what you believe they will play. You need to build up a good board that can withstand clear and trade well with their 4 drops. Nerubian Egg is actually very good here because it gain gain you tempo as well as negate clear from the opponent.

 

Control Decks: Your hardest matchup is control and you have to hope for sticky minions that you can force good trades with. Zombie Chow isn't as good of a mulligan because it's your job to rush the opponent down before they gain control, and Zombie Chow can put them back in the game.

Hunter: Mulligan for the best early game you can get or you'll fall behind. Save your Defenders if you can because you'll need them late game to stave off the aggression of Savannah Highmane. Try to save implosion till after they've used hounds or you'll lose your whole board.

 

Mech Mage: Also mulligan for the best early game you can or they'll empty their whole hand. Flame Imp is extremely good to counter Mechwarper. Jaraxxus can be used as a heal here if they attempt to burst you down late and threaten lethal the next turn. The biggest threat is antonidas as well as boom. If you play the deck right you should have a good enough board to prevent these cards from taking off. But just in case, you may want to save implosion and power overwhelm and some buffing cards if you can spare them.

 

Priest: Let's be honest, no one plays priest.

 

Other Zoos: Odds are, your start will counter their start in every way, and you have a better late game, so this shouldn't be a problem. Make efficient trades and make their life hell when you have a good late game.