Some statistics for general purpose:

• Chance of having a specific card (2 / 30) on turn 1 going first: 25%
• Chance of having a specific card on turn 1 going second: 31%
• If you have 8 cards that cost 2 mana, the chance of drawing at least 1 of them by turn 2 is 82% going first or 87% going second.
• If you have 2 argent commanders, the chance of drawing 1 of them by turn 6 is 52% going first or 56% going second.
• If you have 1 Ysera, the chance of drawing it by turn 9 is about 40%.

Control Warrior
death's bite, armorsmith, acolyte of pain, harrison jones. 

Handlock
 BGH, shield slam (+shield block), death's bite, execute (+whirlwind or cruel taskmaster). 

Zoolock
FWA, Armorsmith, shield slam (+shield block), cruel taskmaster (+execute), whirlwind (+execute). 

Hunter FWA, cruel taskmaster, armorsmith, death's bite, whirlwind. Secondary: shield slam (+shield block), belcher. If you get a godhand: harrison (but seriously, only if your hand is beyond godlike).

Control Paladin
FWA, Death's Bite, whirlwind, armorsmith. I wouldn't exactly mulligan for harrison, but you get it, keep it.

Aggro Mage

FWA. If you smell aggro, go with the usual early game minions and cheap removal combos. Armorsmith's 4 health is hard for them to deal with, and can pop annoy-o-shields pretty well.

Priest
Shield Slam, Cruel Taskmaster, Fiery War Axe, Acolyte of Pain, and Death's Bite

Shaman

Death's Bite, Brawl, Armorsmith, Cruel Taskmaster, Fiery War Axe, and Acolyte of Pain

Druid

Keep Death's bite and 1 execute in case he innervates something big early game. Worst matchup by far.

Execute

Cheap removal is one of the main reasons warrior can make clutch plays against other decks. Being able to remove big minions for cheap or just killing off small minions so you don’t take a lot of damage against aggressive decks really does a lot of work. 

  Shield Slam

Shield Slam is another situational removal card for the cheap cost of one mana. But you will need to build up armor to remove big minions. Against fast paced decks you can just use it to remove small minions(e.g. Knife Juggler turn 3 armor up- Shield slam to prevent snowballing) . Shieldmaiden and Shield Block synergize greatly with Shield Slam. Another trick here is armosmith. With armorsmith on board you can do some trades to find that extra 1-2 armor to use your shield slam on a big minion. In general you want to use shield slam to completly remove a minion not just damage it.

Fiery War Axe

The point of your weapons is to gain card advantage by removing two minions for one card, it does cost you face damage but Garrosh is the best hero when it comes to sustaining for health pool by gaining absurds amount of armor, so using your health as a resource is great when you are a warrior. This card is the nightmare of aggressive  decks.

 Armorsmith

 A great early game minions that can help you contest the board and half you from taking a lot of damage early. She is also great in the later stages of the game if you can put her behind a taunt or plan to make a lot of trades in one turn.

Cruel Taskmaster

This guy combos with Execute, Big Game Hunter (5 attack to 7), and your other minions by giving them more attack to trade up. The one damage can also pick off small minions of course which can give you a lead on the board in the early game. Taskmaster can be used on acolyte when you desperately need card draw and also he is the best counter to leper and clockwork gnomes (reduces damage income and board presence). Another trick is to give your sylvanas 7 attack and kill her with big game hunter.

Shield Block

You need some draw power in your deck so you can draw into your big minions or combos. You can shield block - shield slam for 5 damage removal (4 mana cost). Also 10 mana shield block - shieldmaiden - shield slam for 10 damage removal.

 Acolyte of Pain

The same reason you would use Shield Block but Acolyte has the potential to draw you even more cards and practically has taunt since your opponent doesn’t want you to draw more than one card with Acolyte. You should always try to draw 2 or more cards with acolyte. Acolyte seems small and unimportant minion but drawing 3-4 extra cards from acolytes gives you better quality plays.

 Death’s Bite

Just like Fiery War Axe you should be using this to get card advantage and to clear minions. The Whirlwind effect on the deathrattle is also great with Armorsmith, Acolyte of Pain, and Execute. Also keep in mind that the second swing of Death's bite on a minion means 5 damage on that minion (great against Sludge belcher, Loatheb, ancient of lore). A rare trick with Death's bite is that you can replace it with another weapon to enable its deathrattle effect.

Brawl 

A great spell. This spell has the potential to turn the game around. It is better used when your opponent is out of cards so that even if you lose he cant regain board control. A great way to always win Brawl is to have sylvanas on board but you cant play them on the same turn (unless Thaurisan). This is the reason Sylvanas cost went up to 6 cost!

Shieldmaiden 

Solid stats and a great battlecry. She can be crucial to survival in the late game and gives you more options with Shield Slam.

  

Face Hunter 80/20

One of the huge perks to playing control warrior is that you can farm the face hunters on ladder. Armorsmith is a huge problem for them to deal with early game and you can burst them after turn eight easily. The games are pretty fast too.

 Handlock- 50/50

You need to be patient and find a chance to burst the warlock without letting them get down free Molten Giants that can be taunted, followed by a Healbot. Just play the value game for awhile and try to keep them around 20hp for awhile. Saving Harrison Jones for Jaraxxus can be game changing.

 Rogue 70/30

Because you can remove so many of the rogue’s minions with weapons, Shield Slams, and Executes you can easily win the game by never letting the rogue build up a board. That should be your main focus, and then getting a lot of armor so they can’t burst you. IMHO the easiest match-up right now.

 Midrange Hunter 30/70

Its tough to get value against small minions like Haunted Creeper and Mad Scientist. The early game usually isn’t too tough but the damage over time and mid game are challenging since Savannah Highmane can do over ten damage easily and could cost you several cards just to deal with it. One of the worst match-ups.

 Freeze Mage 90/10

Armor up- Armor up- Armor up.This is one of the longer match ups usually. You will almost always win but it will take some time, you need to get as much armor from your hero power and Armorsmith as possible. The easiest way the mage can win is by playing Thaurissan and then Antonidas so always be aware of that combo. 

 Secret Pally :

Play with 2x Big Game Hunter / 2x Whirlwind
Save a weapon charge for the paladin 6th turn AND keep his side of the board clear.
Turn 6 : ram your weapon into the noble sacrifice and BGH the mysterious challenger.

Rest of the game consist of trading back and forth in your favor as much as you can.

Patron Warrior :

Deny his card draw as much as you can.
Keep an immediate answer for Emperor Thaurissan
Late game : only play 1 minion at a time. (having multiple taunts is actually bad)
Armor up every chances you get. Get out of Frothing Berserker's range.
Shieldmaiden + Bash + Justicar might get you out of frothing berserker range.

Play with 2x Brawl and save them for when opponent gets 3-5 patron on the board.

Objectives 

The overall goal of Control Warrior, in it's current form, is to maintain board control in the early/mid game and utilize strong late game minions to overpower opponents. Warrior has the strongest late game out of the current control decks: it uses strong minions along with very efficient removal to take command of the board.

Strengths

Warrior is the only class that can reliably raise itself above 30 Health. This is a tangible benefit in games where both players draw their full decks and also defends against burst decks without Taunt minions. Armor can also be utilized via Shield Slam. 
Warrior has the strongest single target removal in the game. When it comes to clearing big minions, no class is better than the Warrior. Between Weapons, Execute, and Shield Slam, you will rarely find yourself in trouble against large threats.

When it comes to board clears, Control Warrior struggles. The current options are a combination of Whirlwind, Brawl, and Baron Geddon. Whirlwind as a board clear is typically not enough against most rush decks and using two is usually incorrect as you lose the ability to trigger positive effects for your deck such as Grommash. Brawl can be great, but rarely clears in your favor as your opponent is almost always statistically favored to win. Baron Geddon is great but you have to survive until you can play him safely, which can prove to be difficult. Another weakness of the Control Warrior is responses to situations that require immediate action. The Control Warrior deck is much more of a slow build up in the early/mid game and attempts to stabilize and maintain board control until they are able to put their true threats out. 

Overview of the guide:

• How to build control warrior: Full guide on teching decks and essential cards in every list.

• 3 Ways to win different matchups: Fatigue, Board control and health.

• Matchups: Overview of all major matchups in the current meta and overall strategy versus them.

• Optimal shield slam and execute targets per matchup and how many minions should go into a brawl.

• Setting up turns in advance.

• 2 Decklists: Anti aggro and a much greedier version.

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Hello everyone, to begin this guide I would like to mention that this guide will not cover fatigue warrior, dragon warrior, no BGH target builds, or Reno warrior of any kind. Yet many of the same points in this guide do apply to all those deck archetypes. I know this guide is long, but if you manage to read through the entire thing I do believe it can help you learn how to become a great warrior player.

Who am I?

Well my name is Jonathan, but I play under the name XRBlackWolf, I'm an NA Legend player who specializes in warrior yet I play all decks. My warrior knowledge is extensive having reached the top of legend many times with the deck. I generally build my own lists while playing control warrior, and for that reason, I feel semi qualified to write this guide, I also wrote a guide about my dragon warrior found here. This guide will try to serve as a tool for the community and contains many of the ways I approach deck building and matchups with warrior, and if it's successful enough, shall be updated with every major content update.

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How to build control warrior:

This section will be a guide on how to target certain decks in the meta and which cards are best versus certain decks.

To start: The basic control warrior list, here is what I currently believe is the base of all control warriorhttp://m.imgur.com/TQmzCHD

Past this you need to pick some of the following cards to fill in some roles in the deck, but they are not always 100% mandatory.

1) ACOLYTE OF PAIN VS JEWELED SCARAB

These are a set of cards that are not always 100% necessary, but I recommend for anybody who is not used to building control warrior to stick with 1 of the 2 following in their list.

Acolyte of Pain: The classic control warrior draw card, this was a staple of control warrior up until LoE was released. Acolyte of pain is very strong versus rush decks as it gives a body that can trade with leper gnomes and other small minions as well as getting multiple draws. But it isn't good versus fatigue matchups such as control warrior and entomb priest.

Jeweled Scarab: Our new control warrior card in the latest expansion LoE, this card was played by Justsaiyan to the top of legend and since then I've very much enjoyed having it in some of my control warrior builds. This card serves as a "Tool box" as it can pull the most affective cards based on the matchup your playing versus (eg: Bouncing Blade versus handlock, bash versus aggro). Jeweled scarab works best when the fatigue matchups are very popular in the meta, also in general it's just a very fun card. Strong versus warrior and entomb priest.

2) BASH VS SHIELD BLOCK

You need to play a minimum of 1 of 4 here, they both have important roles as they regain health which you need to be able to use weapons without losing too much health to last the whole game.

Bash: Great card to have versus almost every deck, as it is rarely a dead card. I wouldn't recommend not running bash in any control warrior list.

Shield Block: Shield Block should be run alongside bash in a meta where health is more important than board control, to find out which matchups health is more important than board, please see the matchup overview section.

3) YSERA VS ALEXSTRAZA

One of these two is in my opinion is mandatory for people learning to build control warrior as they are the best 9 drop minions in the game. They both provide the necessary late game for control warrior but have very different effects and purposes, of course you can choose to run both in a slightly slower meta.

Ysera: The ultimate late game card, this card is excellent in the long game, it's very strong versus priest, warriors, midrange Druids, paladins and slower warlocks but struggles to get any value versus, hunters, shaman and Mage.

Alexstraza: Strong card versus aggro to both regain health and to get a powerful body on the board, weak to bgh making it worse versus Druid, warrior and renolock.

4) 1 BRAWL VS 2 BRAWLS

Brawl is a mandatory card for Control Warrior, at least as a 1 of, the decision to run 2 comes from if you are facing more non deathrattle midrange decks and zooish aggro decks.

Run 1 brawl if you face the following: Hunter, tempo Mage, priest, aggro shaman, control warrior and rogue.

Run 2 brawls if you face the following: Paladin, Druid, zoo, patron and Renolock.

5) 1 VS 2 SLUDGE BELCHERS

It is a very rare situation where we choose to run 1 sludge belcher, I would only recommend it you really need another tech card (a good example is fibonaccis recent list).

6) 1 VS 2 SHIELDMAIDENS

Shieldmaiden since it's release in gvg has been a staple in control warrior, I think understanding when to run 1 is a very simple concept, because of the amount of quality 6 drops we now have for warrior since Justicar was released, as soon as you have another tech 6 drop past the basic list, the first card to cut should be shieldmaiden, I don't feel that the second maiden is actually needed because of the addition of justicar as a standard. Another situation is when you really need to run another tech card (same type of situation as belcher), but this should be cut before belcher.

TECH CHOICES/OTHER CARD CHOICES:

cards that aren't required in control warrior but help some matchups.

The possible tech cards include:

Harrison, Elise Starseeker, Varian Wrynn, Deathwing, Fierce Monkey, Senjin Shieldmasta, Revenge, Slam, Cruel Taskmaster, Ironbeak Owl, Piloted Shredder, Black knight, Baron Geddon, Ragnaros, Loatheb and Nexus Champion Saraad.

Full description of tech cards and other choices:

Harrison Jones: The premier tech card in hearthstone, almost all versions of control warrior play Harrison because paladin will probably never not be apart of the meta. This card should be played every time the meta has any sort of major weapon class. It is obviously strong versus all weapon classes and weak versus all non weapon classes.

Elise Starseeker: Another great control warrior card added in LoE, Elise is the ultimate late game card, designed for fatigue matchups, she can give many cards that win straight up in fatigue (such as Anub Arak and Malorne) and also is a pretty solid body for the mana cost. Should be played if you face many fatigue matchups and avoided if you face lots of aggro and midrange decks.

Varian Wrynn: Varian is a card that is hated by many pros and top warrior players, I tend to disagree with them, I personally really like varian as it helps in the late game versus many matchups where you need to get board control. Varian shines versus midrange Druid, midrange hunter, patron warrior, zoo and renolock but is weak versus all aggro decks, control warrior and entomb priest.

Deathwing: This card is a powerhouse versus all decks that either go into fatigue or versus any deck that struggles to deal with it. Currently in the meta there are 2 decks that deathwing does well against, zoo and control warrior. If you face either of those 2 in mass numbers, then I recommend running deathwing.

Fierce Monkey:Fierce monkey is the most recent addition to control warrior, this minion serves as a powerful taunt in the early game, but monkey isn't as good versus aggro and midrange as people think it is, the main deck to counter when you play fierce monkey are face decks, so play monkey if you face a lot of aggro shaman or face hunter, and it is weak versus warrior and Druid.

Senjin Shieldmasta: senjin is a fairly good card if you run other minions to back it up, such as jeweled scarab, but senjin much like fierce monkey is not actually that amazing versus aggro, senjin shines versus a lot of tempo based decks because it stops piloted shredder and forces your opponent to find a way to deal that extra 1 damage and waste mana. Play senjin if you face lots of Druid and tempo Mage.

Revenge: Since it's addition in BRM revenge has been a fantastic tech card in the arsenal of control warrior. Revenge is occasionally a weaker whirlwind but it's very strong to stabilize versus aggro in the mid game. Revenge should be played if you face lots of zoo, pally, patron warrior, midrange or face hunter, aggro shaman and tempo Mage. But revenge is weak versus control warrior, freeze Mage, Druid and priest.

Slam: Slam is a fantastic card versus aggro due to it's ability to clear early game minions when we don't draw war axe, it is also a fantastic card to help trade up against midrange and control decks. Slam is strong versus renolock, zoolock, aggro shaman, midrange or face hunter, Druid, secret paladin and rogue but is weak versus entomb priest, patron, freeze Mage and control warrior. So I guess you can say slam is really good :)

Cruel Taskmaster: Cruel task used to be a staple in control warrior, it is an excellent execute activator, and is great to trade up alongside Acolyte of pain and armorsmith. Cruel task is great versus face hunter, aggro shaman, aggro and midrange Druid. But is weak versus rogue, patron and control warrior, dragon and entomb priest and zoo.

Ironbeak Owl: Ironbeak owl is definitely the best silence for warrior because it is cheap and flexible, so I would pick it over spellbreaker almost every time. Ironbeak is strong versus hunter, zoo, tempo Mage and secret paladin but weak versus Druid, patron, control warrior, aggro shaman and rogue.

Piloted Shredder Shredder is powerful because it's a sticky minion that serves as early/mid removal so you don't need to waste shield slams/executes on mid game creatures. It also doubles as a sticky removal magnet for control mirrors or priest match ups, where it can absorb some of the tools they normally want to save for your late game threats. Shredder is strong versus midrange hunter, dragon and entomb priest, tempo Mage and zoo. But is weak to renolock and control warrior.

Black Knight: Fantastic tech card in a Druid and priest heavy meta, it's ability to be able to fight back against medium and large threats is very strong. Black knight is often weak in the meta due to the overwhelming amount of aggro decks but it is strong versus Druid, control warrior, dragon priest and entomb priest.

Baron Geddon: Baron geddon is one of the strongest late game anti aggro cards for control warrior, it used to be a staple until warrior found another insanely powerful 7 drop in the form of dr boom. Baron geddon is strong due to warriors lack of AoE removal. Geddon is strong versus secret paladin, zoo and midrange hunter, but weak versus renolock, aggro shaman and control warrior.

Ragnaros The Firelord: Rag is an incredibly powerful card versus non token or flood based decks. He is weak in these matchups due to his randomness and spending 8 mana to kill a 1/1 is never good. Rag is strong versus dragon priest, control warrior, midrange Druid, renolock, OTK paladin and rogue. But weak versus paladin, zoo, face hunter, midrange hunter and aggro shaman.

Loatheb: Loatheb competes very heavily with the other 5 drops possible in control warrior, for this reason it doesn't see much play. But loatheb is strong versus decks that use spells for board control (and not like face damage like face hunter). Loatheb is strong versus tempo Mage, Druid, freeze Mage, rogue and priest but weak against secret paladin, face hunter, aggro shaman and renolock.

Nexus Champion Saraad: This card is a bit of a hit or miss, I've had some insane games only won due this card, and then I've had times where I've gotten sprint in the control warrior mirror. For this reason nexus champ doesn't see a ton of play in the standard control warrior list. Nexus champion saraad is excellent in moderate to slower matchups because he can sometimes get 2 or even 3 hits off. Nexus champ is strong versus dragon priest, renolock, tempo Mage and control warrior but is weak versus midrange hunter, face hunter, secret paladin, aggro Druid and aggro shaman.

Final Deckbuilding Advice: Be smart. Know what you need to counter, pick 3 or 4 decks that you are frequently playing and find the tech cards that do best versus them. And remember, if I don't mention which deck a card is good or bad against, it means it falls into a "decent" pile.

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Matchups:

Overview of the most common matchups in the current meta. Includes:

Patron warrior, control warrior, tempo Mage, freeze Mage, secret paladin, Murloc OTK paladin, midrange Druid, aggro Druid, midrange hunter, face hunter, zoolock, Renolock, Oil rogue, dragon priest, entomb priest, aggro shaman.

Sections within each matchup overview explanation:

Early hints of what you are facing: This will help you know what to play around

Optimal Shield Slam target: know when I say optimal I mean what you should look out for to kill when weapons or bash aren't an option. Obviously it doesn't apply when you are super low on health.

Optimal execute target: Once again I use the word optimal because it isn't 100%. This is what you should try to execute based on matchups, the threats that you execute should be the larger minions in the deck.

Matchup type: I believe that there are 3 different types of matchups for control warrior, fatigue, health and board control. A fatigue matchup is a game where you should avoid drawing cards, a health matchup is when your main focus should be clearing and gaining health back and a board control matchup is when you should constantly use your weapons to take board from your opponent while constantly getting board.

How many minions should go into a brawl: Based on matchup once again, the minions that should go in are often going to be the mid sized minions in your opponents deck.

PATRON WARRIOR:

Early hints of what you are facing: Piloted Shredder, Grim Patron, whirlwind, inner rage.

Optimal Shield Slam target: Anything except Armorsmith and Acoltye.

Optimal execute target: Anything except Armorsmith and Acolyte.

Matchup type: Health

How many minions should go into a brawl: 4 or more.

The most important thing in this matchup is to not auto play brawl when they patron swarm unless they go all in on it, you should look for ways to use your executes, shield slams, bash and weapons to clear the patrons even if this means they still have up a full health patron. Be sure to look out for the maximum burst of 16 from grom+inner rage+ deaths bite swing.

CONTROL WARRIOR:

Early hints of what you are facing:Shieldmaiden, Belcher, justicar.

Optimal Shield Slam target:Shieldmaiden and larger.

Optimal execute target:Baron geddon and larger.

Matchup type:Fatigue

How many minions should go into a brawl:2 Large sized minions or 3 medium sized minions.

This matchup all comes down to fatigue, probably the hardest matchup in the game to learn to play perfectly. This matchup is super hard to understand because it is very reactive, you need to make sure you matchup your opponents legendaries with an appropriate piece of removal and make sure that you don't go all in. When fatigue has hit after 45 minutes this is where the game gets very interesting, you need to take into account what's left in your opponents hand, how much damage they have and how many pieces of removal they have left and based on this you need to count who dies first in fatigue, if your opponent dies first, there is no need to play anything, just tank up and pass but if your opponent wins first you need to drop your final threats in order to bait all removals and win with the last large minion in your hand. Make sure to never play Acolyte, shield block or slam to avoid hitting fatigue first.

TEMPO MAGE:

Early hints of what you are facing: mana wyrm, sorcerers Apprentice, mirror entity, flamewaker.

Optimal Shield Slam target: Anything except mad scientist.

Optimal execute target: Flamewaker and larger.

Matchup type: Board Control

How many minions should go into a brawl: 4

The hardest thing to learn in this matchup is how to play around mirror entity, the biggest mistake I see people make is to play armorsmith on turn 2, it should be held until either you can generate a good amount of armor with it or for the mirror entity to make sure you don't give anything larger. Another important thing is to think about the maximum burst potential the opponent can do, the game should be over by turn 10 anyway so the big thing you must think about is double fireball on 8 and fireball+frostbolt on turn 6. Be sure to always use sylvanas in this matchup when either you are super ahead or behind, it's not good if it only trades 1 for 1 as board is so important in this match.

FREEZE MAGE:

Early hints of what you are facing: Ice barrier, Loot hoarder, novice engineer, Arcane intellect on turn 3.

Optimal Shield Slam target: Doomsayer, hold 1 for Antonidas.

Optimal execute target: Doomsayer and larger, be mindful of how to remove emperor and Alexstraza.

Matchup type: Health

How many minions should go into a brawl:2

This matchup is probably the most lopsided matchup in the whole game, if played perfectly. The important thing is to know how your opponent can win, and for freeze Mage it is 2 different ways, either 1: they manage to get emperor Thaurrisan to stick on board for more than 1 turn, or 2: they manage to get Antonidas on board for more than 1 turn, you should be watching out for these cards by being careful of the removal you have left in your hand, be sure to know how to remove these cards when they come down even if that means letting your board die to a frost nova+doomsayer. Another important thing in this matchup is being efficient, this means getting in as much armor as possible, make sure armorsmith gets a minimum of 3 armor and avoid playing minions without also hero powering in the same turn. Example: Don't play belcher turn 5 but rather wait for a turn 7 hero power+belcher, the exceptions are dr boom, Shieldmaiden and justicar.

SECRET PALADIN:

Early hints of what you are facing: Secrets, Secret Keeper

Optimal Shield Slam target: Knife Juggler, any avenged minions and larger

Optimal execute target: Mysterious Challenger

Matchup type: Board Control

How many minions should go into a brawl:4 small sized minions or 3 Large sized minions.

The biggest mistake people tend to make versus secret paladin is to waste the second deaths bite swing before going into turn 6. The most important thing to think about is what is coming next and to hold execute for the mysterious challenger on turn 6. It is important to always keep an answer to him or else the game is auto loss as they snowball quickly, so just be sure to have an activator for execute by turn 6, don't care about those 2 or 3 extra silver hand recruits hitting you if it means that you will give up your second deaths bite swing as an activator.

OTK MURLOC PALADIN:

Early hints of what you are facing: Murlocs (that aren't sir Finley), Doomsayer.

Optimal Shield Slam target: Anything except 1/1 silver hand recruits.

Optimal execute target: Anything.

Matchup type: Board Control

How many minions should go into a brawl: If it ever gets used your opponent probably won already, but be sure to use it after the first Anyfin Can Happen.

After playing this matchup a lot I think I now have a fairly good understanding of how to get a decent winrate from it. The first thing is to make sure to just clear everything with weapons and removal spells, the second thing to success in this matchup is to be super aggressive, Paladins heal is way too slow for the amount of tempo that we could gain in the mid to late game and their clears take too long for them to setup also they won't be able to setup a board generally on the same turn that they clear. Overall be aggressive, play around the first equality only and then go for the kill.

MIDRANGE DRUID:

Early hints of what you are facing: When it doesn't have the same start as aggro Druid or if they play wild growth.

Optimal Shield Slam target: Piloted Shredder and larger.

Optimal execute target: Druid of the Claw and larger.

Matchup type: Board Control.

How many minions should go into a brawl: 3

Contrary to popular belief, midrange Druid is actually a favored matchup for warrior. Much like the secret paladin matchup it's all about the setup, it's important to hold the second deaths bite swing to be able to combo with execute, or to hold shield block (if you choose to play it) for when they actually have a large minion to shield slam. Past turn 9 if you don't have the board clear you will lose the game, it's important to think about how much damage they have alongside the 14 from combo, and be sure to get out of this range. Sometimes you can't clear the board versus Druid but what you need to do in these situations is not play to stay in the game but rather play to win, think about a line of play where the next turn the Druid can't kill you and you can somehow find a way to comeback on board and win.

AGGRO DRUID:

Early hints of what you are facing: Leper gnome, Knife Juggler, Druid of the Saber.

Optimal Shield Slam target: Anything larger than Knife Juggler

Optimal execute target: Druid of the claw and larger.

Matchup type: Board Control

How many minions should go into a brawl: 3

Aggro Druid is very similar to Midrange druid. The most important thing is to get value from deathsbite second hit, the only thing that changes between these two matchups is that the threats are a little different and that armorsmith gets a lot more value in this matchup. If you know your opponent is playing aggro Druid, hold bgh in the mulligan.

MIDRANGE HUNTER:

Early hints of what you are facing: Webspinner, Kings Elekk, Houndmaster.

Optimal Shield Slam target: Animal Companion and larger.

Optimal execute target: 4 Attack minions and larger.

Matchup type: Board Control

How many minions should go into a brawl: 4

Midrange hunter is a surprisingly decent matchup when you know how to approach it. It should be thought of like midrange Druid but with just a different set of threats. Controlling the board should be key to winning here, know the curve and keep the second deaths bite swing to combo with execute if you don't have board control already and if you have board control already make sure to use weapons to keep it.

FACE HUNTER:

Early hints of what you are facing: Leper Gnome, Worgen Infiltrator, Wolfrider.

Optimal Shield Slam target: Anything.

Optimal execute target: Anything.

Matchup type: Health

How many minions should go into a brawl: 2

The biggest mistake I see people make when playing versus face hunter is attacking into secrets when they have an eaglehorn bow up. This is one of the only ways to lose the game unless they have a truly explosive start with perfect curve+huffer and you don't draw any armor gain or removal, so to avoid this it's important to be patient, only attack into secrets when they have eaglehorn up when you either have Harrison to absorb the durability or if you have an armorsmith that will gain a good amount of armor but only do the ladder if you can kill them within the next 2 to 3 turns. The last tip for this matchup is to execute and shield slam anything, it is important to reduce damage as much as possible.

ZOO WARLOCK:

Early hints of what you are facing: Knife Juggler, Flame Imp, Voidwalker.

Optimal Shield Slam target: Knife juggler and larger

Optimal execute target: Imp Gang Boss and larger

Matchup type: Board Control

How many minions should go into a brawl: 4 small minions or 3 mid to large minions

This is often a tough matchup in general for warrior. It is important to constantly remove the board from your opponent to make sure they can't get a great trade with power overwhelming. Also in this matchup it's important to note that argus comes out turn 4 so make sure you are always ready for it. The way you beat zoo is by getting a big brawl off leave them top decking for cards. Sylvanas is also a very important card in this match as it can help come back on board mid game, play it when your opponent has 3 or more minions.

RENO WARLOCK:

Early hints of what you are facing: Turn 2 lifetap, Acidic Swamp Ooze, Twilight Drake.

Optimal Shield Slam target: 5 Attack and larger

Optimal execute target: 5 Attack and larger

Matchup type: Board Control/Fatigue

How many minions should go into a brawl: 3

Renolock is a very hard matchup to teach currently because there are so many different versions, feugen&stalag version, demon Reno version, combo Reno and anti aggro renolock. The biggest advice I can give versus reno warlocks is to not care about taking too much damage to the face as they have no burst and also to use weapon swings over two turns to kill some medium sized minions such as twilight drake.

OIL ROGUE:

Early hints of what you are facing: Violet Teacher, Earthen Ring Farseer.

Optimal Shield Slam target: Anything except bloodmage thalnos.

Optimal execute target: Anything.

Matchup type: Health

How many minions should go into a brawl: 3

The most important thing to do when playing versus oil rogue is to constantly clear the board, make sure to not be greedy with execute and shield slam and use them even to clear small 3/3s as rogue doesn't have large minions. Another important thing to remember is how much burst your opponent has left and play your armor gains accordingly.

DRAGON PRIEST:

Early hints of what you are facing: Twilight Whelp, Wyrmrest Agent, Twlight Guardian.

Optimal Shield Slam target: Wyrmrest Agent and larger.

Optimal execute target: Twilight Guardian and larger.

Matchup type: Board Control

How many minions should go into a brawl: 4

Being efficient with removal is super important in this matchup, make sure to get a ton of value from weapons and make sure to kill the high priority targets like cleric first. Once you play justicar in this matchup, make sure that you use your hero power every turn because the priest generally won't even have more than about 6 attack at one time on his board.

ENTOMB PRIEST:

Early hints of what you are facing: Injured blade master, auchenai soulpriest, wild pyromancer.

Optimal Shield Slam target: 3 Attack and larger

Optimal execute target: 3 Attack and larger

Matchup type: Fatigue

How many minions should go into a brawl: 4

This matchup is super difficult to play, but I'll try to teach it. 90% of the time this matchup will go to fatigue, the way we win is very simple: get tons of value from justicar and constantly clear board. But this is easier said than done, it's important to drop justicar as early as possible and then not play anymore minions for the rest of the game, except for Sludge Belcher and shieldmaiden, if the priest gives in and takes them with entomb then it is fine to drop minions. The other important thing is to not cycle, never play Acoltye or shield block at anytime to let them hit fatigue first. And lastly be super greedy with brawl, only do it if they drop a few large minion or if they swarm the whole board.

AGGRO SHAMAN:

Early hints of what you are facing: Tunnel trogg, Leper gnome, totem golem.

Optimal Shield Slam target: Anything except totems.

Optimal execute target: Anything except totems.

Matchup type: Health.

How many minions should go into a brawl: 3

A short anecdote before I start writing this one: I was watching my friend play versus an aggro shaman as control warrior and his opponent on turn 4 had a 3/3 totem golem and a 2/2 tunnel trogg, both of course were damaged minions. On his turn he didn't have the bash or a weapon to kill them but he had 2 executes in his hand, he chose to armor and pass, I asked him why he didn't use the executes to kill both and he said to me "it's not worth it", 3 turns later he was at 6 health and the shaman was topdecking, he got a crackle and hit the 1/4 on face and won. My friend turned to me and said "what a fucking lucky guy, this game is all fucking RNG". So what's my point here: clear the board versus aggro shaman. Execute and shield slam anything except totems to prevent any damage to face, other than that, be sure to race when your opponent is topdecking and you have a good amount of health.

REMINDER: All execute and shield slam optimal targets list are based on if you can't kill minions with a weapon or bash. Also all brawls are obviously that amount of minions and higher.

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ANTI-AGGRO AND GREEDY DECKLIST

Some people may not want to build their own decklist, so I figured I'll include this small section about 2 decklists that I think are pretty strong right now.

ANTI AGGRO DECKLIST

• Stronger versus Paladin, Zoo, aggro shaman, midrange hunter, face hunter, tempo Mage, rogue and freeze Mage

• Weaker versus control warrior and control/entomb priest.

• 1 Acolyte, we get some draw from Shield Block already so I don't feel that it's necessary to have double Acoltye.

• Varian Wrynn is in this deck to have a better chance versus renolocks and it also helps versus slower aggro and midrange matchups such as zoolock and tempo Mage.

GREEDY DECKLIST

• Stronger versus midrange Druid, OTK paladin, control warrior, dragon priest, entomb priest and renolock.

• Weaker versus midrange and face hunter, aggro shaman, secret paladin and zoo.

• Rag is in this deck as it's strong versus renolock and other warrior decks.

• Elise is in this deck to make sure we auto win all the fatigue matchups.

• Nexux champion saraad is in here mostly because it's a fun card but it's also pretty strong versus renolock and can also be good versus tempo Mage.

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CONCLUSION:

Well, if you have managed to make it through this whole guide, I hope it was helpful, I tried to include as much as I could think of and I hope I did well.

I don't currently stream yet but I may someday so if you want to give me a follow here's my twitch name:Twitch.tv/xrblackwolf39

This guide will be updated with every expansion if it receives a decent amount of success.

I WILL NOT ANSWER ANY BUDGET REPLACEMENT QUESTIONS FOR ANY CARDS MENTIONED IN THIS GUIDE, CONTROL WARRIOR IS AN EXPENSIVE DECK, DON'T PLAY IT IF YOU CAN'T AFFORD IT

Thank you to FRID, Noxious and Beastmode for helping me out with the guide.

And lastly, If you disagree with anything in this guide, please tell me in the comments or PM me, I'm writing this to share my knowledge and I want to get feedback on what you guys think. Also if there is anything you want me to add or discuss be sure to tell me that too.