2013 Control Warrior Returns
- Last updated Dec 16, 2017 (Kobolds Patch)
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Wild
- 13 Minions
- 14 Spells
- 2 Weapons
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Control Warrior
- Crafting Cost: 10040
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 12/12/2017 (Kobolds Patch)
- ZenthonTitan
- Registered User
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- 6
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- 53
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Battle Tag:
Zenthon#1478
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Region:
US
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Total Deck Rating
334
Sup fellas, Zenthon here, trying to bring back 2013's Control warrior which has been mildly successful for now.
30 upvotes for the guide:)
AAAAAANNNDDD WE ARE AT 30<, and on the warrior’s tab thank you so much!
Woah i did not expect such a surge in responses and us making it to the front page, no less a feature by Hearthpwn! Thank you all for your support fellow hearthpwners!
Yes, I know there is only one new card from the latest expansion that has been placed in, but lets go through the warrior cards of the set that i left out:
The Deck
Control warrior was all about outlasting the opponent until they ran out of resources, until they ran at a low health level, then the burst kicks in. It also relied on drawing many cards to gain advantage and hold its answers for massive AOE clears.
Removal
Rule of thumb:
Always consider the following levels before using removal:
1. How much damage does the opponent have on the board. Only consider using removal if he deals 4 more damage than your rate of armor gain. It is often the best play to do nothing and wait for a much more valuable play.
2. Minion or spell? Sometimes it is better to use minions to intimidate opponents' bigger minions and force inefficient trades, or placing a taunt minion to safeguard against the smaller minions. Sometimes your thought process would end at this level.
3. How do you want to remove minions? Board clear or targeted? It happens often that the best play is to remove only one minion when you are facing maybe 5 - 6 minions on the board, because you know that if you do use an AOE, you would not be getting full value from it.
That being said, the deck contains a variety of AOE spells that deal with aggressive boards:
Execute: Not much to explain for the best hard removal a warrior can get.
Slam: Flexible removal yet also a cycling spell, which is crucial in this deck. This deck definitely needs obscene cycle to obtain its answers especially against Druid.
Brawl: Ultimate board clear against many token or big decks, which are rampant everywhere.
Sleep with the Fishes: by far the only card worth playing in control warrior from MSOG, this card contains insane value against enemy boards when combined with the various AOE damage effects the deck runs.
Shield Slam: High amor count in this deck makes it for a very good removal tool any time.
Other Spells
Shield Block: Cycling spell that is very useful in the early game. Hold on to it against priests to avoid being shot down by the machine gun.
Unidentified Shield: of the 4 effects, each one has good potential when used at the correct timing: Tower Shield +10 can put you back to safety, Runed Shield can give you board presence, Spiked Shield gives you a weapon for final burst damage and Serrated Shield is basically a harder Bash. Each shield has its own purpose in the right timings, so time them properly.
Survival and Value:
Minions in this deck provide means of defence and also maintain your advantage and options, stalling to get massive results from AOE clears.
Armorsmith: To face the current situation of highly aggressive minion-based decks, 2 copies are included to combo with the few whirlwind effects. This allows for the deck to go out of range against Razakus Priests and also many aggressive decks while this minion hides behind taunt minions .
Acolyte of Pain: Mandatory card draw to find the answers in this deck, i run 2 copies against the meta that threatens to generate value to find my answers almost immediately. Never drop him when you cannot guarantee at least 2 draws off him.
Jade Druid is the natural enemy of Control decks, running cards that spawn the powerful Jade Golems that grow by 1 each time they are summoned. Jade Idol is a key card in this deck as it allows for infinite value and minions that can grow up to 30/30 powerhouses. The current state of the ladder is dominated by Druid, with the Jade variant being highest I have encountered.
Skulking Geist: This is our failsafe minion against Jade Druid, mulligan especially hard for it when facing a Druid no matter what. Armor would be a priority once they have exhausted their jades and you are safe to drop bigger minions. There are many other decks from other classes that run 1 drop spells that warrant his minion to be run as well, therefore this card will always be a solid inclusion in the long term, even after the rotation of Jade Idol.
Weapon: Blood Razor is your only weapon in the deck, so use it wisely.
Blood Razor is especially good when combined with various spells and minions, to damage the board or proc their abilities. Try to ensure at least 2 draws from Acolyte of Pain by timing theWhirlwind effect efficiently.
Finishers and Support:
This deck focuses on the main combination of Grommash Hellscream and Alexstrasza to mow down the opponent. There are definitely enough cards and effects to trigger Grommash Hellscream, so it all boils down to the setting up of 15 health- opponent.
Ysera: Her dream cards are immensely important to us for utility value. She is relatively tanky and can indeed win games outright when she sticks to the board for multiple turns, especially against priests.
Living the Dream
Laughing Sister provides an impressive body with the handy ability to elude spells and hero powers.
Emerald Drake is good for late game pushes along with Direhorn Hatchling, with the 7/6 body seemingly very threatening.
Nightmare is an interesting utility card, which could either give you the final push for lethal situations, or aide your defensive plays.
Ysera Awakens is an ultimate AOE card that could combine with the extra board damagers in this deck, perfect for extreme board clears. Its combination with Sleep with the Fishes can potentially deal 8 damage on both sides on the board, which can deal with many popular minions like The Lich King and Bonemare combinations.
Dream can pull back Grommash Hellscream and give him another chance to shine yet again.
Mulligan
Always search for Slam, Blood Razor and Acolyte of Pain. Against Druid, mulligan especially hard for Skulking Geist after the above cards have been obtained, or get hold of any card draw you can to draw into this Jade-Killing minion. Against Aggressive decks, aim for Ravaging Ghoul and Armorsmith especially.
In this deck, you have to prioritise armoring up, while placing defence measures to stall the game. Cycle to find your answers and make sure that the opponent overextends instead of using single removal on each of his minions, while drawing into the finishing combinations. However, be prepared to stay flexible as not everything can go your way.
Tech Choices: Harder Control
Against control decks which are even more oppressive, you may want to consider the following change:
- 1x Skulking Geist
+ 1x Dead Man's Hand, which can reshuffle the cards you need for a second wave of bust damage, especially from Grommash Hellscream.
Shoutout to Kadakk and his channel for this awesome video right here below, please do follow him, like and subscribe to his channel:
I would also like to highlight a really good and informative video made by Kiwiinbacon, showcasing the strengths of the deck especially against the paladin and priest classes, which currently run rampant on the ladder right now.
While i had my doubts about Scourgelord Garrosh, i would say that this deck does show the importance of Whirlwind effects, which can indeed be very powerful in the late game. Kolbolds is a fun expansion, that is definite. But I would say that it is not impactful enough to bring Control warrior out of the gutter it is back to its former glory in the days of the old gods, as there are many classes with cards that still hold it back. This deck is not infinite, that is for sure, and it definitely is not perfect, but it is one that can be made with reference to the deck we knew from back then. And we shall try, and try again, to make control warrior great again!
At the same time, do check out my other deck, which could probably be more powerful at http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/700264-koft-nzoth-control-warrior. It is a deck focusing on N'Zoth, the Corruptor, which goes infinite with extreme board presence at all times. Other than that, happy laddering, challengers!
Ysera -> Lichking
Grommash is harder to replace. He's kinda of your finisher in this deck. You can try something like Rotface? Won't yield the same results, but Rotface still works well in this deck considering it has a ton of whirlwind effects.
Took out Armorsmith for 2 Drywisker Armorers, Acolyte of Pain for 2 Battle Rages, and Unidentified Shield and Bloodhoof Brave for Master Oak Heart and two Tar Lords. Oak heart on turn 9 pulling the armor smith and tar daddy wins games. Right now i'm 6-0 at low legend.
no Bring it on on turn 2?
Is this another 4 chan troll deck?
I put skulking geist out and put some weapon remothal in. works better
you enjoy the infinite jade druid 20/20 golems?
Wow, quite the explanation and predicament, I appreciate that insight.
From my pov besides highlander priest. evo shaman and Jade druid, Skulking also disables:
Mark of the jade for token druid, armor gain and the new removal spell for ctrl/armor druid (2-6 cards)
Cards of Zoo lock (the draw and the face dmg) (4 cards)
Spell hunter draw power and removal power (4 cards)
The new Dragon priest that also runs hp buffs, Inner Fire and potions (4-8 cards)
Pirate rogue cold blood and hallucination, if they're not full face cretins (2-4 cards)
I consider Skulking Geist a must have card in all my ctrl decks (lock and warrior) that disrupts and burns a lot of the decks we currently face, at least at my rank (10) maybe in upper ranks there's a different story I know nothing about.
For the time i invested trying this deck over and over and trying to adapt it,this deck is on the edge for casual and absolutely raped in ladder at ranks 10/legend.
C'thun might be a better replacement for this type of deck: more board control which include late game minions that give you armor.
This deck also doesnt need garrosh because it isnt an armor generator.
I dont know how the CW might return with this setup in a t5 me go face meta.
Thumbs up for the effort anyway,giving you the vote for it
Any replacement for Gromm and Ysera?
Is The Lich King an acceptable replacement for Ysera ?
Jade Druid and warlock just rape this deck. Other seems pretty good
We all miss the old control style, but this deck wont fit in this meta right now. The meta has alot of tempo decks and "control decks" that beat this deck easily, like Jade druid and Raza priest (control decks doesnt exist, Jade druid and raza priest is the closed control decks we can play) . This deck fit in a meta with alot of aggro.
Nice nostalgy, but not really good.
You have no chance to beat Razakus priests, TTK mages, Big mages...
Would recommend adding 2 Dirty rats :)
i really feel like scourge lord just isnt a good card, and could easily be replaced by a number of things, gorehowl, reckless flurry, geosculptor, or even whirlwind/innerage/crueltask for the grommash burst
edit: i'm a dummy, asked about Yipp, and neve rnotices you talked about Yipp.
btw how necessary is the dk?
While I haven't tried this specific control warrior list, the dk is very good for just controlling the board. The weapon you get helps you stabilize incredibly well and the whirlwind enables Sleep with the Fishes and Execute if you topdeck them. Also, the more important thing is that it lets you have 10 burst with Grommash Hellscream and seeing how that card is your finisher. I guess you could always Slam or Shield Slam (given that he wouldn't die) to activate him, but the dk does a better job at it. I also guess you could run Cruel Taskmaster which would give you 2 extra burst, but at the cost of more removal late game and activation of a lot of your other cards. So while I still think the deck would be playable, it wouldn't be as good.
TL:DR, it's really good, if you don't mind making it, I would. but if you don't want to, Reckless Flurry if you want more board clears or Cruel Taskmaster (I guess Inner Rage also works) if you want another activator.
Do you have any thoughts about adding Rotface or even Sudden Genesis to the deck?
im at rank 15 and I have a 30%winrate with this deck what is it that im doing wrong i dont get it ?
You're probably better off with a n'zoth or even quest version than this, but don't expect to see too much of a dramatic change in winrate. Control warrior just isn't that good right now. The main appeal of the deck is that its fun to play and gain heaps of armour but truthfully any Druid, Warlock or Priest control deck can easily trump this deck if your looking for control decks to play.
This deck not only reminded me how much I would have loved to have the cards for warrior back in 2013 but also was extremely fun to play with and for this, i recommend it to anyone who is tired of the aggro we are currently experiencing.
I made a video showcasing the deck in action which I hope you all enjoy of course!