WHEN TWO TRIBES GO TO WAR

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 Summary:   What happens when Pirates and Murloc's unite forces?   Well, the first thing you get to do is name your deck after a cheesy 80's pop song.   :)

This deck is a mixture of Murloc's, weapons and Pirates.   We start the game by playing for board control and then try to transition into direct damage and burst combo's.  Hence, I'd describe is as an "aggro/combo" deck.  

If you have any questions just ask!   And don't forget to vote!

I'm also really trying to get a Youtube channel going and on there you will find more HS content than what you will find embedded in this guide.   You can check it out here (feedback appreciated):

( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB6pXpjqqZ_dgKGex-h4tAQ ). 

Of particular relevance is the following playlist:

( https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaGbPhHacYOSuOYP3IaokOsztLwdkc5Rc )

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Guide Contents:

• Lets start with a Puzzle!  Can you solve it?  (video)
• Highlight Reel;  compilation of some sick plays (video)
• Deck Tech:  What is this deck all about? (with video)
• Example combos
• Card replacements & other build considerations
• Mulligan Guide
• A few games with commentary  (video)
• This deck and Naxxramas
• Change Log

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Lets start with a Puzzle!

 It is probably also worth pointing out that despite being a  Murloc aggro deck, it isn't a 'brainless' zerg rush; there are plenty of difficult decisions and calculations one has to make in order to win.  To give you an example lets start the guide with a Puzzle!  The short video below demonstrates some of the combos and highlights part of the decision making process. See if you can solve it.  If this 'style' of play intrigues you then you might want to read on.  :) 

 

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Highlight Reel

 

Okay, so hopefully those two videos have caught your interest!  Now lets look at things in a bit more detail.

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DECK TECH:  What is this deck all about?

Okay, so basically this deck is built around a concept of “DPM” [“Damage Per Mana”]. 

In this game you have to pay a premium for charge minions;  minions with charge are typically given either lower stats (e.g. Wolfrider) than their vanilla counterparts or have some sort of drawback (e.g Arcane Golem). This is all done in order to balance the power of the charge ability.

 But this deck is about having your cake and eating it too; by using Warsong Commander, we can effectively ‘cheat the system’ by giving normal minions the charge ability.

 Let us go back to the concept of “DPM”.  In this game the Pirate and Murloc tribes – in the right circumstances – are some of the most efficient damage dealers in the game.  For example, with an Arcanite Reaper in play a Dread Corsair is  a 3/3 body for 0 mana and Bloodsail Raider is a 7/3 for two mana.   But it gets better; Warsong Commander gives these already mana-efficient minions charge.  In the case of Bloodsail Raider, our two-card combo costs 1 less mana than Reckless Rocketeer and deals 1 damage more.   The icing on the cake is that the weapons that makes these combo’s possible are themselves “DPM” efficient (e.g. Arcanite Reaper is a 5 mana Pyroblast!).

 So that explains the Weapons and Pirates, but why the Murlocs?  Firstly I would refer you to comment #3 in this guide, here I go into detail as to why I prefer the Murloc combo's compared to stuff you can do with non-tribal minions such as Raging Worgen or Blood Knight.  But, for now I'll simply say this: 

it’s about “DPM”.  The Murloc Warleader is an absolute damage dealing monster. In terms of effect think of him as two cards; a vanilla 3/3 and Savage Roar all rolled into one.   And now add the possibility of giving these guys charge!   

 What makes this deck interesting is not the amount of damage that can be done via any particular combo, but the number of combos the deck has (more about this in the combo’s section).

If you want more information about the deck, then you can find  several deck-tech video's on my youtube channel.  In those video's I go into some detail about individual card choices.

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 Example Combos:

• Warsong Commander + Youthful Brewmaster = A 3/2 (charge) minion. [5 mana]. [3 damage].  ** Note: this combo is not that useful in practice, but I mention it because demonstrates how Warsong Commader’s ability works) **
• Warsong Commander  + Dread Corsair + Weapon = A 3/3 (charge, taunt) minion.  [3-7 mana (depending on equipped weapon) ], [3 damage].
• Warsong Commander + Bloodsail Raider + Weapon = A 2+X/3 (charge minon). [5-10 mana (depending on equipped weapon) ], [2-7 damage (depending on Weapon) ]. ** Note:  This is the key combo of the deck. **
• Warsong Commander + Frothing Berserker = A 2+X/4 (charge) minion.  [6 mana], [2+X damage]  
• Heroic Strike+ Arcanite Reaper  =  [7 mana], [9 damage]. (note: not in current version of the deck)

...And then there are the Murloc combo's as well:

• Warsong Commander +Murloc Warleader (x2) = [9 mana] [10 damage]
• Warsong Commander + Murloc Tidecaller +Murloc Tidehunter = [6 mana], [6 damage] 
• Warsong Commander + Murloc Tidehunter + Youthful Brewmaster + Murloc Tidehunter = [9 damage], [9 mana]
• ...and so on....

 The basic combos above can be extended to do even more damage. For example:  **(Note: damage calculations below are based on an Arcanite Reaper being equipped on a previous turn, if a weaker weapon is equipped (or no weapon is equiped) adjust accordingly)**

• Warsong Commander + Dread Corsair  (x2) + Youthful Brewmaster (x1) = [5 mana], [12 (+5 for a weapon swing) damage ], [4 cards]
• Warsong Commander + Bloodsail Raider  + Youthful Brewmaster  = [9 mana], [17 (+5 for a weapon swing) damage ], [3 cards].

The Murloc combo's can also be extended to include more Murloc's, for example:

• Warsong Commander + Murloc Tidecaller (x2) + Murloc Warleader + Murloc Tidehunter = [10 mana], [23 damage], [5 cards]

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Card Choices/ replacements: 

 This deck is highly flexible in terms of what minions you stick in it.  King Mukla and Old Murk-Eye are optimal but are by no means necessary (e.g.  Chillwind Yeti is a reasonable King Mukla replacement). Since this deck focuses on Warsong Commander Synergy any decent minion that has 3 or less attack is worthy of consideration (e.g Harvest Golem would work well, as would Sen'jin Shieldmasta.)

Moreover, anything weapon-based could work well. For example, the inclusions of Spiteful Smith or Gorehowl or  Captain Greenskin, or a second copy of Upgrade! could all be justified.  

But anyway, here are a few other combos/ideas that you could try tinkering with:

• Blood Knight : works with Warsong Commander. For example:
• Warsong Commander  + Argent Squire  + Blood Knight = A 6/6 (charge) minion and a 1/1 (charge) minion. [7 mana], [7+ damage].
• Mind Control Tech :  works with Warsong Commander . For example:
• Warsong Commander  + Mind Control Tech = A (3/3) charge + a stolen minion (if the stolen minion has 3 or less attack, then it has charge as well). [6 mana], [3-6 damage].

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Mulligan Guide:

 Okay, so I've decided not to do a detailed per class/archtype mulligan guide basically because it is quite labour intensive and because in a lot of matchups I'm still experimenting. But I will give you some basic advice.  If you want more specific class based information then I'd recommend you watch some of my Youtube content :)

Here are some general rules to the mulligan (regardless of class):

• Don’t keep more than two 1 drops in your starting hand. 
• Why? Because if you have three one drops chances are you are going to burn out of cards far too quickly.
•  If you have the coin, its perfectly fine to keep two three drops in the starting hand.
•  Why? Simple really, you can coin one out on turn 2. 
•  Throw back Dread Corsair unless you have Fiery War Axe
• Why? With an axe out you can play a 1 mana 3/3 taunt. This can give you a really good lead in tempo.
•  Consider keeping Coldlight Oracle. 
•  Why? You are probably going to need the cards eventually, so you might as well keep a way to avoid burning out. 
• Throw back Warleader unless you have a good Murloc start. Consider keeping Old Murk eye if you have the coin AND a good Murloc start.
• Why? Quite simple, we don’t want to play a Warleader as a mere 3/3. And coined Murk-eye is pretty powerful with just 1-2 other Murlocs in play.
•  (Almost always) keep King Mukla.
•  Why? This guy is a MONSTER on turn 3 and can outright win games if they have no counter (think of him as an innervated 5 drop). 
•  Throw back the combo pieces.
•  Why? Bloodsail raider and Warsong Commander shouldn’t be played on curve but as part of a combo. Thus, it’s a bit pointless holding onto a 2/3 drops that you have no intention of playing until turn 6-ish.

Versus specific classes will take me some time to think about.  I'll add stuff here as-of-when I think of it:

Vs. Warlock:

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 A Few games with Commentary

On my Youtube channel I have at least one game against every class, so if you want to see how a specific match-up plays out you know where to look :)   

 But here is my most recent video: 

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Naxxramas discussion:

Okay so a number of people have asked me to update this deck. In my opinion Naxxramas was a serious nerf to this since every other deck in the meta has got stronger by using Naxx cards but there are so few of the Naxx cards that could be included in this deck. If you look at the deck list you can see I replaced Reaper with Death's Bite but I am by no means certain that this is a change for the better (more powerful berserker's comes at the cost of lower damage Bloodsail raiders and the risk of killing Tidehunter Murlocs.)

In this video I go into some detail about how Naxx has changed things:

  

 

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Change Log:

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FIN!   comments welcome!