Hearthpwn

"You can kill a dwarf, but you can't beat a dwarf."

Hello, I am a Polish player who won for the first time "The Legend Race", and I would like to share with you the Deck I used.  I know, that there are a lot of similar Patron Decks. The core of the deck is stable and well refined. But I would like to share with you alongside with the deck, my card swap strategies,  thoughts and observations

Proof:

Why Patron Warrior?

On the "Wild Ladder" at ranks 5 and lower, I encountered loads of secret paladins, zoo and face hunters. All of them are a really good matchup for Patron warrior. The only popular and unfavourable matchup you may hit upon is Control/Dragon Priest. 

What is Grim Patron Deck?

It is a deck built around Grim Patron which synergies with many Warrior Cards. Deck is focused on building board state, with all your available resources fuelled by Battle Rage and Acolyte of Pain. Since Warsong Commander nerf Patron Warrior moved away from Combo strategy. Now it is much more midrange play style. It means that it tries to out value brainless aggression of face Hunters/Secret Paladins, or stall the game against Zoo. While against control opponents it tries to build early pressure with strong curve of minions, and burn them down as fast as possible. 

Adjust to the meta!

I think it is the most important part of the guide. Laddering on the Wild differs from Standard Laddering. That is because pool of players is much, much smaller.

When you play with Secret Paladin it is very probable that you will meet the same player many times (even in a row), and farm on him easily. Unfortunately it is a two-edged sword... you may meet the same priest player many times. That is why adjusting to the meta is so important while laddering on the Wild. Deck list presented on the right is version designed do compete with all kind of the opponents. However you may need to swap cards, if meta will approach strictly to Aggro or Control.

 The Core of the deck is unswappable. It should stay as it is.

Core of the Deck (19 cards)

2x Execute Best single-target removal in the game.

2xFiery War Axe "Fiery Win Axe" Trade 2 for 1

2x Battle Rage Draw engine, working extremely good with so many "Deal 1 dmg" cards. More cards for Less mana then Arcane Intellect

2xArmorsmith Allows you to out value Freeze Mage or keeps you alive from aggro. This girl + whirlwind can save you countless times. 

2xAcolyte of Pain Main draw engine

2xFrothing Berserker Check Win-Condition section.

2xDeath's Bite Turn 4 equip that weapon, attack. T5 start the patron party! Throw your Dread corsair for free! AOE those pesky imps! Get 5 cards from Battle rage... Pure Value!

2xGrim Patron Check Win-Condition section.

Loatheb Solid body protecting you from AOE, delaying freeze mage or preventing T8 Call of the Wind

Grommash Hellscream Check Win-Condition section. 

Sir Finley Check Hero Power section.

Those cards are the part of the deck responsible for dmg dealing, and triggering cards like Patrons,Berserkers, Gromash and Acolytes. If you will notice, that you do not have enough tempo in most of the matches, go for more Blood for ichor or Cruel Taskmaster. If you think, that you lack draw engine, take more Slams with you.

Additional Dmg sources (Choose 6 cards)

Whirlwind AOE removal for aggro decks, as well as activator for Execute, GP or AoP. Crazy boost for Frothing Berserker

Blood To Ichor Execute activator, trigger for many cards in the deck.

Slam Activate Execute/Gromash or kill smaller minion + Draw a card. 

Inner Rage 0-mana activator, boosting attack! Great for T5 patron party combo with Grim patron and Death's bite!

Cruel Taskmaster Works like Inner Rage, but for 2 mana cost you get 2/2 body. Good for board presence vs aggro, useless vs control.

Last four cards of the deck I used for adapting to the meta. For example, if you encounter many aggro decks, you may swap:

[card]Bloodhoof Brave[/card] -> Dread Corsair

Ravaging Ghoul -> Unstable Ghoul

As those cards are cheaper, and may help taking control of the board earlier. You may also consider dropping 'Additional win condition' for more anti aggro tools, as you win by out valuing them.

If you fight mostly with controls, Braves will be too slow. Switch them for Kor'krone elites to burst your opponents faster!

[card]Bloodhoof Brave[/card] -> Kor'kron Elite

Meta Adjustment (Choose 4 cards)

[card]Bloodhoof Brave[/card] -Solid Taunt minion

Ravaging Ghoul Body + Whirlwind effect for board clear or execute activator.

Unstable Ghoul Stops early aggression, protects more valuable minions and can cast whirlwind on his own.

Dread Corsair - Cheap taunt minion, can stop early aggression and protect more important minions almost for free. While equipped with FWA, Dread Corsair alongside with armoursmith on T3 or berserker on T4 can completely wreck aggro.

Kor'kron Elite Additional burst vs Control.

Additional Win condition (Choose 1)

Dr. Boom

Ragnaros

Arch-Thief Rafaam

Of course feel free to make your own Meta adjustment swaps, I would happily read about your own ideas :)

Win Conditions:

• Patron party: Play the patron and look at his friends   ºل͜º༼ ºل͜º༼ ºل͜º༼ ºل͜º ༽ºل͜º ༽ºل͜º ༽GET IN HERE ༼ ºل͜º༼ ºل͜º༼ ºل͜º༼ ºل͜º ༽ºل͜º ༽ºل͜º ༽ºل. Remember not to overextend your board (Maximum size of minions is 7). As wounded patrons will not spawn new ones while AOE'd.

• "Look, up in the sky! It's a bird. It's a plane. No, It's Frothing Berserker!"    
  Frothing Berserker Is a card which gain +1 attack whenever a minion takes damage. If we look at all the cards in this deck, which deal dmg, we can easily see the potential in that card. AOE and patrons can buff Berserkers to enormous sizes (10 and even more). Implosion? Muster for Battle? Let's punish them for their board control! What is more, they soak dmg of freeze Mages. I don't know how many fireballs and Roaring torches they took on their faces, saving me from defeat. So remember, try to protect Berserkers at any cost, and they will reward you with incredible high damage. Never place them yolo T3 on empty board against Warriors (Deat's Bite) or Paladins (Truesilver Champion). They are just too valuable for 2 for 1 trade. When you play against Priest, play him AFTER all the trades. And then watch as he grows after Lightbomb or Excavated Evil
• Grommash: Burst from 10 up to 14 with two Inner Rages Simple. With so many activators you will almost always have an opportunity to charge him for a final blow.

Additional Win condition:

Dr. Boom Before WotoG present in almost every midrange deck. Infamous Dr 7 will generate an additional threat.

Ragnaros Slower card, wins you games against Freeze. You need to remember, that in the wild, there are many deathrattles, which makes Ragnaros less effective choice in comparison to Dr7. However, with blessing of RNG gods, it may snipe you a road to victory. 

Arch-Thief Rafaam If Dr7 is a better choice against aggro, and ragnaros against control, I would put Rafaam between them. It is more flexible then the other two choices, but in my opinion it has got much less impact to the game.

Hero Power:

Although Warrior has got various cards boosting Grim Patron power, his hero power is usually useless.

Which power should you choose?

Mage>Priest>Warlock>Hunter>Shaman>Paladin/Druid>>>>>>Rogue

Exceptions:

Try to avoid Warlock Hero power against Face Hunter. Both hero powers, yours and yours opponent will try to kill the same player. Steady Shot is much less effective against aggro deck. While facing them, take Shaman's  Totemic Call rather than Steady Shot. Never use Sir Finley Mrgglton against Mage before you will be sure, that your opponent is not a freeze mage (You will see Flamewaker or  Sorcerer apprentice. If it is Freeze you should never use murlock! Never!

Mage power is used for

• Activating Grim Patron
• Activating Grommash Hellscream
• Trigger Execute
• Trigger Acolyte of Pain

Priest power can assure longer survivability of your Patrons and Frothing Berserker.

Warlock power will dig you through deck to get combo pieces. Hunter Hero power will help you burst down your opponent. Remember that totems and Silver Hand recruits + AOE can pump Frothing Berserker to a enormous size. What is more, totems + AOE will give you crazy card draw from Battle Rage, try to not forget about that.

Mulligan and Strategy:

Druid (Yog) : Favorable Match-up.
Try to mulligan for Sir Finley Mrrgglton, Frothing Berserker, Fiery War Axe, Armorsmith.
Most of the druids on the Ladder were Yog ones. The biggest advantage of Patron Warrior against them, is the fact that they do not have any effective board clears. When you drop 3+ patrons it is usually a GG. What you need to remember, is to try to bait Wrath's before dwarfs hit the board.


Hunter(Midrange): Very Unfavorable Match-up
Try to mulligan for: Fiery War Axe, Ravaging Ghoul, Armorsmith, Sir Finley Mrrgglton
Well, it is one of the worst match-ups. Many 3 attack minions, preventing our Patron Wave, 'Call of The Balance' and Lion spawning Hyenas...
You need to act fast, so a start without FWA in an opening hand many times will cost you a game.  Always play Loatheb on turn 7 to prevent 'Call of The Balance'. Remember that CotW is their main win condition. Also try to store whirlwind effects for Hyenas. There is nothing more I can write, it is a very hard match-up.


Mage(Tempo): Favorable Match-up
Try to mulligan for Frothing Berserker, Fiery War Axe, Bloodhoof Brave, and Ravaging Ghoul
Your weapons will easily deal with most of threats. FWA -> Mana Wyrm, Apprentice, Cult sorcerer. DB -> Azure Drake and Flamewaker. If it is possible, try to keep weapons in your hand to bait minions I mentioned above. Nothing feels better than destroying Flamewaker with Death's Bite :) Remember about Secrets: Mirror Entity and Counterspell. Those are the most popular one, used in the wild. Executes should be kept for Antonidas and Elementals. Most of tempo mages, uses 1 board clear - Flamestrike. So try to not overextend your board, before they cast it.

Mage(Freeze): Equal Match-up
Try to mulligan for Frothing Berserker, Fiery War Axe, Acolyte of Pain, Execute
This match-up is the reason that you should never use murloc on T1 against mage. Build your board without overextending -> Remember, they have got 2xDoomsayers, Flamestrike and 2 Blizzards. In case of Mage AoE.. remember that maximum size of the board is 7 minions! If you have got already full board, and mage will cast their AoE Patrons will not spawn new dwarves!
In this match-up you need to be an aggressor, but while creating your board remember to armor up as often as possible!! Freeze mage has got finite source of DMG, so it is possible to out value them. That is why, dropping armorsmith early is never a good idea. Keep them for a combo with two or more whirlwind effects, preferably with patrons on the board! If you manage to drop 2x armorsmith + whirlwinds it is even better! Try to keep executes for Alexstrasza and Antonidas. In a need do not hesitate to sacrifice enraged Gromash to kill Antonidas (He destroys one of your win conditions - Out valuing your opponent sources.) The best way to activate Death's Bite effect apart from Gromash/Patron is killing Emperor.


Paladin(Secret): Tremendously good Match-up
Try to mulligan for Fiery War Axe, Ravaging Ghoul, Armorsmith,  Sir Finley Mrrgglton, Blood To Ichor
Popularity of Secret Paladins on Wild ladder, is one of the reasons, why this deck is so good: It is designed to destroy Secretins ;) Try to keep clear board with your multi-whirlwind effects. FWA kills Secretkeepers, Knife Jugglers and Minibots (With help of Blood to Ichor). Ravaging Ghoul is a great answer for 'Muster for Battle'. Executes should be kept for Tirion/Mysterious Challengers. Use full health Patron to spawn new one on their 'Noble Sacrifice". If you will be able to build 4+ patron board, their consecration usually won't stop your dwarves. Remember that their hero power has got a great synergy with your berserker and patrons ;)


Priest(Control): Very Unfavorable Match-up
Try to mulligan for Fiery War Axe, Grim Patron, Acolyte of Pain, Execute, and Frothing Berserker,Blood To Ichor
This one is the hardest matchup. Lightbomb, excavated evil, circle of Healing... The truth is, that your only change in this match-up is Priests bad draw, or really bad luck (Gromash from Death lord, while Inner Rage in your hand... it can happen! :) ) So try to execute Death lord as soon as possible! Think about their cabal, and what I wrote about it in Berserker section. Apply the same treatment on Brave, but remember, that on turn 8 and later, priest can heal Tauren, and mind control him as well.
Drop patrons as soon as possible. If they already used shadow world pain, you may even coin him on T4, to spawn more of them on T5.
Conclusions? When you notice Anduin, start praying to RNG Gods ;)


Rogue(N'zoth): Favorable Match-up
Try to mulligan for Acolyte of Pain, Frothing Berserker, Fiery War Axe, Armorsmith, with coin and strong hand - Patron
Rogue does not appear often on the ladder. Usually when you successfully create first wave of the patrons, they cannot deal with them due to the blade furry nerf. Try to pop up nerubian eggs or shredders before they will get a value from raptor.


Shaman(Aggro): Equal Match-up
Try to mulligan for Execute, Frothing Berserker, Ravaging Ghoul, Fiery War Axe, Blood To Ichor
The key to the victory is FWA -> It kills Throgg, with help of Blood To Ichor it kills Totem Golem. Always keep execute for surprise faceless or a Thing from below.
Ideal situation would be Berserker as T3 drop, with FWA boost. Remember, that their Hero power has got an anti-syngery with your berserker + whirlwind effects.
Keep in mind that they can clean your board with  Lightning storm + Wrath of Air totem.


Warlock(Zoo): Favourable Matchup
Try to mulligan for Fiery War Axe, Ravaging Ghoul, Whirlwind, Armorsmith, Sir Finley Mrrgglton
Zoo is one of the most popular Decks on Wild ladder. The key to victory is to take control over the board as soon as possible. When they will fall behind, they will have huge problems to come back. Zoo do not have board clears. Their low attack minions feeds your Berserkers and Patrons, so who needs more?


Warrior(Patron): Equal Matchup
Try to mulligan for Fiery War Axe, Grim Patron, Acolyte of Pain, Sir Finley Mrrgglton, Frothing Berserker
Well, due to the nature of the deck and tons of whirlwind effects, this match-up is just a race. Usually the one, who drops Patron and multiply him first, wins.

Warrior(Control): Very Unfavorable Match-up
Try to mulligan for Fiery War Axe, Armorsmith, Acolyte of Pain, Execute, Death's Bite
Bash, Weapons, Shield Slams and Brawls... Well, enough said. This Match-up is almost as big nightmare as Priest. Your only chance is to put early pressure as fast as it is possible, and hope to finish the game before they will start dropping their big threats.

Statistics of matches:
**Under Construction**
(Maybe Videos?):
**Also Under Construction**

Edit1 02:08:2016
Added Mulligan and Strategy section.