Hearthpwn

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 General idea of a deck

When I started to play this deck I saw a lot of aggro matchups (druid, pirates, hunters) and mages (mostly Gunther and freeze). So I wanted to play a super defensive deck, just so I could make them feel that they can’t win.

Of course, warrior lost a lot of tools to gain armor, so surviving was harder than for the old-school CW. Regularly you won’t be able to have more than ~15 armor (in one game however I managed to have 47 armor even without Justicar Trueheart in the deck).

Card choices and replacements

The core of a deck consists of pretty regular class cards. Shield Block + Shield Slams,Executes, Fiery war Axes, Grommash Hellscream, Alley Armorsmith,Brawls, Sleep with the Fishes + Ravaging Ghoul and Whirlwind. From non-class card, I think only Acolytes of Pain and Primordial Drakes are super important.

All other cards are debatable and you can change them according to your playstyle and the opponents you get.

Bloodhoof Brave – really love this card in a deck. It is super flexible against any opponents. You can play without it, but sometimes on turn 4 you wanna gain tempo and it is probably the best card to do it in this archetype imo.

Dirty Rat – you can easily replace them if you wanna. I play this card for personal preferences, cuz combo with Brawl can be pretty damn satisfying. If you want to replace them, I would advise including Armorsmithfor extra armor gain.

Gluttonous Ooze – I would strongly recommend having one weapon-destroyer of your choice. You can put Harrison Jones for example to get more value. One of the lose-condition to mage is not being able to control Medivh the Guardian. And it also feels so good to destroy the Arcanite Reaper reck the PW.

Tar Creeper – this card saved me so many times again aggro. Most times you won’t be able to stall a minion on a board until turn 4. This dude can help you to have the game in control until you are able to start getting a solid board presence.

Spellbreaker [/card]– tech card I use in this deck. Very strong against paladins and [card]Aya Blackpaw, who are really  popular now. You can change it for any other tech card if you want too. Eater of Secrets works pretty good in this deck as well.

Elise the Trailblazer – this card is not obligatory in this deck, but it is SOOOOO good. Having 5 extra cards when you start running out of recourses can win you a game on its own. I strongly recommend you to craft this card. If you don’t want to – add a card that will fit better against the opponents you have: more aggro – put some early game taunt, for example. More control – putAlexstrasza, Soggoth the Slitherer may look pretty good too. You can put even Deathwingto enjoy his new sick animation.

Ysera– I love this card, cuz it gives you a lot of resources in lategame and it can be really problematic to kill it (my priest friends know what I mean). It can be easily replaced for Alex if you want to.

 

Game plan

Our gameplay is really simple but hard however – don’t let opponent win!

Look for your early game cards against any opponents – Axes(!!!!), Tar creeper, Ghouls.

Against aggro - keep Sleep with the fishes, Whirlwind. You can also keep the Ooze even if your opponent doesn’t run weapons. Playing 3-3 body is still good for tempo.

Against slower matchups – keep Acolyte and try to get as much value from your cards as possible.

Be smart with your removals. The main rule – don’t overreact, even sometimes it is hard to do:) You need to find a balance between “this board is safe enough for one more turn without dealing with it” and “this sh*t is going outta control”.

Try to use Sleep with the fishes other than Brawl. You can brawl any time, but SWTF need special conditions for it. If you have decent enough moment to use it – do it, cuz you might not have a better situation later. Sometimes killing even 1 minion with this spell is good enough if it strongly improves your position.

 

Specific tips against some opponents.

Mages – mostly Gunther and Freeze. You wanna armor up every turn. Use your health as a resource, because you will have 15hp after Alex anyway. Try to use Shield blocks after they play it. Secret mage is harder. Try to play around Counterspell and Mirror entity. Don’t let them cancel your big removals. If you go 2nd, keep the coin for this purpose only!

Warrior – pirate warrior is pretty easy – don’t let them kill you and then stabilize the game. Taunt warrior is harder. We need to Dirty Rat his taunts and try to be active dealing damage. If they equip the Sulfuras with big amount of health – it’s over for us.

Rogue – against miracle we are in bad position but we can win. The only thing that is hard to control is [card]Sherazin, Corpse Flower[/card]. Other than that – remove their stuff and you will be allright. Again quest rogue we are in a BAD position. Usually we can win if a) they have a bad hand, b)we have a godlike Dirty Rat, c) we find Ysera Awakens, d) we manage to finish with Gromm. Try to attack face as much as you can!

 

Other classes are pretty much usual control warrior style, so I don’t think we point extra attention to them!

Hope you guys find this guide interesting! Best of luck to all of you!