Hearthpwn

Greetings friends. I'm happy that I reached top 20, and even happier that it was done with N'zoth warrior!

Proof/Decklist/Stats - https://twitter.com/Titan_HS2/status/874678150281744384

Check out my stream at twitch.tv/urkoth, I play these kind of fun decks on competitive level and here are the videos of the climb if you're interested:

VOD 1, starts at 4:16:20 https://www.twitch.tv/videos/151307729

VOD 2 - https://www.twitch.tv/videos/151550736

I adjusted Fibonnacci's N'zoth list and achieved great results with it - the road to top 20 was done in two slow and fun runs(as seen on the videos).  

The list excels against many meta decks. I haven't met some decks during the climb but I will use my experience of thousands of games with control warrior to explain the mulligan and the game plan in those match-ups.

**Mulligans and Game Plans**

Burn/Freeze Mage - Our goal is to gain as much armor as possible. Using the hero power every turn is a smart way of achieving that goal, though choose going for minions instead when you find that making a better board is a good choice. Armorsmiths are great for gaining more armor through your other minions trading with theirs or with whirlwind effects but playing them on turn 2 is fine as well. Use shieldblocks only when you're using the hero power too on that turn unless you urgently need 5 armor to shieldslam their minion or if they are threatening with lethal. Keep Fiery War Axe, Acolyte of Pain, Ravaging Ghoul. Shield Blocks are fine to keep, dirty rats if you have removal in the starting hand as well.

Secret Mage - We win with clearing the board and stabilizing with armor gain. We also try to play around their secrets as much as possible. Doomsayer into mirror entity is great but we can't expect to have it. Check for counterspell by playing a random spell before playing the spell that you wanted to cast, coin is great for this. Keep Fiery War Axe, Acolyte of Pain, Ravaging Ghoul, Doomsayer, Dirty Rat.

Aggro Druid - Clear their minions or set up brawls/massive removals. Playing Dirty Rat on 2 is usually a good play. They can't burst you from hand so if they have no minions on the board when they run out of recources, the game is won, and we can achieve that quite often as a control warrior! Keep Fiery War Axe, Acolyte of Pain, Ravaging Ghouls, Sleep with the Fishes, Dirty Rat, Doomsayer, Armorsmith.

Jade Druid - Be aggressive. Try to create a board and apply pressure. Lucky Rats into auctioneers that we can remove can give us big advantage. As a control deck, we will struggle against them but since the list is more proactive than the standard control list, we have some chance. Keep Fiery War Axe, Acolyte of Pain, Ravaging Ghoul, Dirty Rat.

Token Evolve Shaman - We shouldn't deal with their board early on if it doesn't consist of some priority target minions that we should deal with, which are - Mana Tide Totem, Flametongue Totem, Primalfin Totem. Play around bloodlust, even around devolve into bloodlust when you are to do so, if you are not able to deal with their board before the Primordial Drakes arrive. Keep Fiery War Axe, Acolyte of Pain, Ravaging Ghouls, Sleep with Fishes, Brawl, Doomsayer, Dirty Rat.

Aggro Murloc Paladin - Clear every murloc if possible. Swing the game around during the late stages by overtaking the board. Our taunts should keep us safe, the match-up seemed fairly easy. Keep Fiery War Axe, Acolyte of Pain, Ravaging Ghoul, Doomsayer.

Control Paladin - Play for the board. Try to apply some pressure. Try to calculate when N'zoth should be played, early N'zoth is fine if we would have a bad turn otherwise. We will most likely end up with many Direhorm Matriarch which will keep us in the game.

Quest Rogue - Dirty Rats, dirty rats, dirty rats. I mulligan everything away just to have a chance to get them because they are game winning in this match-up. And coin them out if going second. Try to be aggressive and apply tons of pressure. We can win even without them but rats are our main win condition. Keep Dirty Rats.

Pirate Warrior - Remove their stuff and stay healthy. Try to be defensive early and get your taunts going. Dirty rats are fine to be played early on, it would be great if we could hide a Doomsayer behind one. Fiery War Axe is a great tool to deal with the pirates as well as the Ravaging Ghoul. Frothing Berzerkers are our main target that we want to deal with! Keep Fiery War Axe, Ravaging Ghouls, Armorsmith, Dirty Rat, Doomsayer, Shield Block with Shield Slam.

Taunt Warrior - We want to be fast and create pressure before they complete the quest. Dirty rats are great, especially when they pull out Stonehill Defenders. DEFINITELY play them on turn 2 if they are in your hand. Be proactive but have some balance and try to maintain pressure while playing around a brawl, if possible. Keep Fiery War Axe, Acolyte of Pain, Dirty Rats.

Hunter - Remove their early minions and try to have removal for their Hyena. Make them run out of resources while dealing with their board and win. Keep Fiery War Axe, Acolyte of Pain, Ravaging Ghoul, Doomsayer, Armorsmith, Dirty Rat.

Silence Priest - Deal with their early board, including the Ancient Watchers or Humongous Razorleaves that aren't silenced yet if you can. Brawl smaller boards if you don't have enough single target removals and try to have one removal for Lyra. Be careful about potion of madness and try to play around it. Keep Fiery War Axe, Acolyte of Pain, Ravaging Ghoul, Execute, Shield Block with Shield Slam, Brawl.

**Card Usage**

I will explain how to use some of the cards in the deck in this section since it can be tricky to evaluate when is it correct to use them or whether it is good to keep them in our starting hand.

Dirty Rat - I figured out I talked about them quite a lot and there's a reason, they really are the MVPs in the current meta. Against Aggro they are good to be played on turn 2 if there's not a better option, against decks like Burn mage it's ok to play them if you have execute in the hand, and against quest rogue and taunt warrior they're good because they disrupt their quests.

Grimestreet Informant - I love playing at least one in my warrior decks. Even though it's a 2 drop, his stats and effect don't justify keeping him in our starting hand and is better to play him during the late stage of the game.

Doomsayer - Good to have against aggro to prevent them from developing or heal you for 7, also good to hide him behind a taunt in certain situations.

Armorsmiths - Great way to gain armor, we play them for their body on turn 2 against aggro and it's fine to keep them for big armor gain turns gains, especially vs mages.

Primordial Drake - Great battlecry and be aware that its effect deals 5 damage when combined with Sleep with the Fishes, which is great vs quest rogues.

Ysera - We will be in many situations when we can just "jam" her on the board. Don't be afraid of doing so even against Burn Mage, unless we really need to armor up that turn. Dream is a great card we can get from her, which we can use to return Tirion or some other big minion to their hand or just return N'zoth and play him again. Try to play it on N'zoth after attacking with him and not on the turn that he's played, unless you are certain that he will get removed.

N'zoth the Corruptor - We can use him to gain taunts and board control, as a checkmate. Getting more Direhorn Matriarchs is also great in certain match-ups.

Thanks for reading, feel free to ask questions or post opinions! -Titan