Hearthpwn

Last season, in an era of grim patron warrior dominating the meta, I hit legend rank with a face warrior deck:

See: FACE WARRIOR LEGEND - Season 16

This season, I decided to wait until TGT released to try and climb again. To my pleasant surprise, face warrior is still as powerful as ever if not more so. Using a very similar, but modified version of the season 16 face warrior deck provided above, I hit legendary rank in a few days.

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Section 1: Changes from season 16 deck

This face warrior archetype has a slow start and relies on weapons, cruel taskmaster, mad bomber, etc to even the board and gain advantage in tempo. The introduction of argent horseman is valuable in this regard because it can 2-for-1 early on in terms of card count in the early game phase, yet still be useful late-game for securing a kill. Bash is also a useful replacement for slam since it can hit face and allow survivability vs aggro decks. Deathlord was a staple in the season 16 version; however, in the new TGT meta, midrange decks are more common. As such deathlord is less useful since pure aggro is less common and since bash can pick up the slack of survivability. Finally, a single king's defender, while maligned as being a weaker fiery war axe, is quite welcome since warrior since drawing a weapon is an absolute must-have.

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Section 2: How to play

For the mulligan, a 2 drop minion or weapon is a must have. Be prepared to discard all cards if necessary. In general starting with spells is unadvised but some exceptions remain. Heroic strike can be useful vs shamans with totem golem, bash can be useful for getting around handlock taunts, etc. Versus paladin, fish for death's bite.

At the start of the game, you want to manage the board for turns 2, 3, and sometimes 4 and even 5. Weapons can 2-for-1 in terms of card count. This tempo advantage can allow your minions to sit on the board for several turns to do damage. Eventually you will transition to a full out face rush once you think you can kill your opponent with your heavy hitting higher cost cards. As you play, you will get a feel for when to transition between managing the board and going for the face versus each class.

If you find that you are having trouble with survivability, include a sludge belcher instead of greenskin or loatheb. If you do not have some legendaries, alternatives are Dr. Boom, Brawl, Sylvanas, Leeroy, nightblades, and sludge belcher as mentioned previously. As a note: I used sylvanas, loatheb, and greenskin.

Several of my friends are now about to hit legend with face warrior as well. If you want to add me on bnet, I'd be happy to spectate and watch.

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Sample video: go to 3:14:30 in the video

^^ I was spectating the face warrior on my friend's list when it happened

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CHANGES FOR SEASON 18

After some further experimentation, I have decided to update the list of cards.

Changelog:

1x Sparring Partner instead of Bloodsail Raider

1x Revenge instead of Execute

1x Sylvanas instead of Dr. Boom

^^ The above changes are more suitable for the early season aggro meta. If you want to be better versus control, run the old set of cards (towards the end of season).

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I am working and experimenting on a new aggro/face warrior version for this season 18. Its been my habit to only post the deck after I have hit legend rank (though I'm happy to show my latest via in-game friends list). The meta tends to shift with every season, so the list shown here might need a tweak or two according to your personal preferences to make work.

Edit #2: After ranking up with face warrior only, I'm currently beginning the rank 5 to legend climb with face warrior also this 18th season.