Hearthpwn

I would just like to say before I start this that MrMockRock made a guide to a different version of this deck (revolves more around dragons) so after you check my guide out you should give his a look to see if you like that build better. https://www.reddit.com/r/CompetitiveHS/comments/ehz467/here_be_dragons_tanking_to_legend_with_galakrond/

November season I was Legend 669, I have proof on my twitter.

Overview: This deck became strong in the meta when Face Hunter was at its peak (which is kinda ironic because I made a guide on Face Hunter and now I am talking about one of its biggest counters). This deck revolves primarily around controlling the board with minions, board wipe with Brawl and Scion of Ruin, and your Invoke. After you have used your Invoke several times to control the board you can transition into using it for aggro after you play Galakrond and get your buffed minions. This is when the whole strategy of the deck changes because your buffed minions allow you to have 2 main options. 

1. You get rush minions and you use them to trade into minions while also keeping them on the board as threats because their stats are so big. Then use them in the following turns to set up for lethal. This Strategy also works with the Eternum Rover as a defensive minion that gets you a lot of pressure AND survivability. In this strategy use your weapon to kill minions and preserve your board unless you are low on health (in which cause use your minions so you don’t die)
2. Use the charge minions that you get to set up a lethal burst. (Buffed Leeroy + 5/2 Weapon + Galakrond Hero Power = 18 damage for 7 mana). In this situation go face only with the weapon unless you have to get over a taunt minion.

 

Typically with this deck you want your first several turns to go something like this. 

• Turn 1, play a 1 drop. I like to play the Town Crier if the matchup is slower and Eternium Rover if the matchup is aggro.
• Turn 2, Generally at this point I like to play the Ritual Chopper, but if that isn't available I just hero power a lot of the time. Acidic Swamp Ooze is ok into classes without weapons because it provides tempo and you wouldn't get value out of it anyway. If you don't have any other turn 2 play you can easily just hero power as well.
• Turn 3, Typically EVIL Quartermaster here because it gives you a little bit of a board while giving you armor AND card advantage, Shield Block and Acolyte of Pain are also fine, but if you have the choice the Quartermaster is best. Lastly, if you are playing against a Rogue and they have the Necrium Blade, play the Acidic Swamp Ooze to kill the weapon and limit combo potential for your opponent.
• Turn 4, Devoted Maniac is KING and can deal with a LOT of different threats. However, if you are playing against a Rogue and they play the Necrium Apothecary then you gotta play the silence there is no way around it with Spellbreaker
• Turn 5, you wanna play either Zilliax if you need life against a hard aggro matchup, or Shield of Galakrond against a slower matchup to apply more pressure.

Typically your win comes from the opponent running out of steam or you bursting them with charge and buffed minions from Galakrond (also your Invoke).

Mulligans: You always want to keep the 1 drops, they are so important against a lot of matchups whether it be aggro matchups you need defense against or a slower matchup and you need a little bit of extra board presence. Against slower matchups (basically not hunter) you also wanna keep Galakrond if you have him because he is where a HUGE amount of your draw and power come from. Other than that, keep the EVIL Quartermaster because it's a good turn 3 play, all the Invoke Cards other than the Shield of Galakrond cause it's a LITTLE too slow, Acolyte of Pain, and Shield Block into aggro matchups if you don’t have anything else early and you think this will buy you some time. Everything else you send back like an order the restaurant got wrong. Lastly if you 

Keep in mind that the matchup guides that are a little further down will talk about some special cards you wanna keep into certain matchups.

 

Interesting Cards to Note + Continued Mulligan Guide:

 

(Mulligan Tips) Spellbreaker: This card is used primarily to stop Rogue and is generally kept in the opening hand against this matchup in order to stop the Handbuff combo. It can also be used against priest to silence a Khartut Defender so you don’t have to kill it 2 times AND give the opponent 6 more Health, don’t keep it into this matchup, but also know that if you do have it you should save it for Khartut Defender. Into Rogue always keep, also keep into Priest too.

Spirit of the Rhino: This card was a late addition and if you want to drop ANY card I would start with this one. It combos well with the rush minions, especially the scion of ruin, and it allows you to trade into decent boards without having to always lose your minions. The best way I used this card was turn 4 into aggro deck when I combined it with Scion of Ruin to kill 3 minions for free and gain TOTAL board control. This works into Pirate Warrior, Zoolock, Aggro Paladin, and kinda face hunter. Or use it into bigger minions so you can kill a Divine Shield Siamat without losing a single minion as well.

(Mulligan Tips) Acidic Swamp Ooze: This is simply to help into Rogue, Warrior, and Hunter which means you should keep it in these matchups. You know what Weapons need to be killed, but just to clarify you want to kill the Necrium Blade, Ancharr/Archonite Reaper mainly, and Eaglehorn Bow respectively.  If you aren’t playing into any of these 3 matchups, you can just play it on turn 2 if it ends up in your hand for tempo.

Deathwing, Mad Aspect: This guy is just a good late game powerhouse that ALSO wipes the board if the opponent gets a decent lead. Pretty solid into a lot of matchups and isn’t needed but is helpful. Can be replaced with something small like an Armorsmith or something bigger like an armored goon or a combo card like Barista Lynchen.

Stats: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/149BEKWOWGgh0vYWhQAOa7X0Ddvg4YHfInVuzMSsw8go/edit?usp=sharing

(This started off as just me, but this doc is open for anyone to add to in order to help get more precise statistics cause my 66 games is a small sample size). Original Stats were: 

 

Opponent's Class	Win	Loss	Avg Winrate	Populatity
Druid	1	1	50.0%	3.03%
Hunter	8	2	80.0%	15.15%
Mage	1	2	33.3%	4.55%
Paladin	1	1	50.0%	3.03%
Priest	2	4	33.3%	9.09%
Rogue	11	6	64.7%	25.76%
Shaman	4	2	66.7%	9.09%
Warlock	6	3	66.7%	13.64%
Warrior	6	5	54.5%	16.67%
Total	40	26	60.6%	100.00%
66

Video Gameplay:

 

Matchups (Only the Important Ones)

Druid: I have 2 games of data with this class, a Token Druid I beat because I used my Invoke and minions to keep the board clear then our valued him later with Galakrond, and lost to a Embiggen Druid because I had a terrible hand and his stats were too big for me to deal with after he baited out my Brawl. His taunts were just too big, but if he didn't Have embiggen turn 1 and Breath or Dreams turn 2 I might have had a better chance.

Face Hunter: The first version of this deck was designed to beat this deck specifically. However, since there have been meta shifts that lowered the consistency of Face Hunter, this deck has changed to make this matchup a little worse (still VERY MUCH in your favor though at about 5-1). Into this matchup you just want to control the board with your minions and deal with important minions with the 3 damage Invoke ability (PHASE STALKER HAS TO DIE, the Dwarven Sharpshooter should die, and the 4 Health animal Companions should die to your Invoke ability). Other than that you want to press your hero power as often as you can and gain armor/health as often as you can. None of the minions that the opponent plays in this matchup will be particularly difficult to remove so you can afford to spend mana on hero powers for armor because most minions you can kill without having to lose your own. Specific things you want to try to do is if you have the Acidic Swamp Ooze you want to play it after he plays his Eaglehorn Bow so he can’t get as much damage out of it. If you have the Spellbreaker, silence a minion that has a deathrattle with damage. If you have the Quicksand Elemental use it with rush minions or the Scions of Ruin in order to get value trades and keep you minions at higher hp so they can trade again. Test the Secrets with your invoke/weapons before play minions in case of explosive trap. Lastly, they have a LOT of 1 health minions, so save Awaken until AFTER they finish their sidequest if they play it turns 1, 2, or 3 because it deals with all their minions at once. In this matchup I actually don’t prioritize playing Galakrond unless I KNOW I can’t die the next turn, so basically if I have total board control and the only way he can hurt me is with spells. This is because after you play it you can’t gain armor anymore and Face hunter might cheese a win (I learned this the hard way…)

Secret Highlander Hunter: This matchup was also pretty good for you because you have a lot of ways to deal with their various plays. This matchup isn’t super aggro so you don’t need to always hero power to stay alive, you can play cards on curve and trade with your face more easily. Not only that, but since the late game of Highlander Hunter is pretty solid, you want to play Galakrond as quickly as possible if you have 4 invokes. If you feel like you REALLY need to pick up the pace because your opponent has a lot of big cards in hand on turn 7, play it before you invoke 4 times UNLESS you have the final Invoke in your hand in which case you can wait an extra turn. This matchup is Secret Highlander Hunter most of the time so again you want to test all the secrets out with your face first before you play minions to protect them, play weak minions first (Like Town Crier) so Snipe doesn’t kill something important, and try to keep a Scion of Ruin in your hand till late game because it is useful into Siamat, Brann, and Dragonqueen Alextraza. These games come down to the late game and if he doesn’t have the highlander cards to close it out, and usually you win with your invoke and Galakrond. Lastly, Hunter lacks board wipe, which means as soon as you can, go wide with as many decent minions as you can and apply pressure. This works because you can do a lot of burst damage with your Invoke ability and Galakrond if you play him which allows you to finish off these games quickly.

Quest Hunter: This deck is lower in popularity than the other 2 so specific mulligans for this one is something I wouldn’t recommend, but you CAN change your playstyle as soon as you see the quest get played turn 1. Once you see that the opponent is quest what you need to do is play on your own terms. By this I mean don’t trade as much with your face and Invokes, go face with it because you want to kill your opponent before they finish their quest. However, you should still use your rush minions to deal with the opponent's board if you can, I am just saying go face with your Hero. Awaken! will do well into this matchup cause a lot of rush minions have 1 hp, so if he plays them for tempo you can easily kill them. The only exceptions to this are the 3 hp minions that can easily value trade into your board, and if that’s the case then use your Invoke on them (sadly…). Lastly, if you have Spellbreaker, save it for either Bone Wraith to get rid of taunt reborn OR us it on a double or TRIPLE Sn1p-Sn4p because that is a huge power swing.

Highlander Mage: This matchup I was 1-2 into, and was a pretty rare matchup. To win this matchup (in the one that I did win) I focused on rushing galakrond and trying to burst the opponent down with straight value and burst due to Mage’s lack of Healing. In the games I lost into this deck I tried to play slow, like deal with his threats and try to get the most value out of every card, but with that strategy the Mage got its Highlander and Dragons synergies and overvalued me, so this is NOT the strategy to go for. You want to play the role of the aggressor and not let the mage get to the late game. Getting your invokes as quickly as possible, going face all the time and making him make trades (again you can use your rush minions to control the board, but if they CAN go face then go face), and using silence on his Khartut defend if he has it are all the things you need to do in order to win. Turn 6 I would be a LITTLE careful of the Reno Jackson play, so maybe that turn you play slow so you don’t lose minions for no reason, and play Galakrond as soon as you can when he hits 4 Invokes. You can play it earlier if you are close to winning and need that final push, but if you aren’t close to winning I would recommend going for the 4 Invoke value. Point is, if you play aggressive like I learned to do, this matchup is probably 50/50 depending on if you get the cards you need to finish him off quickly.

Paladin: I have very little data on this class. I beat an aggro Paladin because I controlled the board and lost to Holy Wrath Paladin because I wasn’t able to kill him in time. THAT BEING SAID, I think that holy wrath Paladin is a good matchup for you if you play it like Highlander Mage, basically going much more aggressive into this matchup and making him make trades. I again tried to go for maximum value, but since he literally has an OTK, he outvalues me late game so trying to end it quickly is the way to go, especially cause some of your damage comes from weapons and charge minions, so his board wipe is less effective. Into Aggro Pally (I think it was Pure Paladin), you want to control the board and go for late game value, while hoping he gets low value out of Lightforged Crusader.

Resurrect Priest: This might be your WORST matchup because of all the healing and the taunt minions, but here is what you have to do from my experience. Play minions but don’t attack his face so he can’t finish his quest, only use them to control the board with the main minions being the Sandhoof Waterbearer and Convincing Infiltrator. After you kill those minions on turns 5 and 6 with the minions you had on the board but never attacked with, then you start going aggro by finishing off your 4 Invokes and hitting him for as much damage as you can. He will then play Khartut Defender so you need to have a Spellbreaker for Silence (This is a card I like to keep in this matchup in the mulligan step), and with your remaining mana play whatever minions you can. As soon as you get Galakrond to 4 you play him for the Max upgrade and hit him in the face, then the next turn use charge minions to burst him if he doesn’t have Mass Resurrection turn 9 or 10. Basically flood the board, kill his 5 drops in a way where he gets no value, silence Khartut defender if you can, or kill it with rush minions and go face with your other minions, Play Galakrond, and try to burst him before he refills the board or plays Cloning Gallery. 

Highlander/Deathrattle Rogue: I hope that the Necrium Apothecary gets nerfed, and all who agree please say something in the comments. It is such a powerful card that you NEED to focus your mulligans around. Always keep Spellbreaker in hand and Acidic Swamp Ooze to deal with the Apothecary and the Necrium Blade respectively. This matchup really relies on them not getting that ridiculous value turn 3 with coin or 4 with a backstab, OR you having a response to it. However, regardless of whether or not you stopped the combo, your only strategy is to go aggro. Due to the lack of removal from Rogue, you want to get as many minions on the board as you can from turn 1, and use rush minions and your Invoke to kill his minions (keeping your minions alive is SUPER IMPORTANT in this matchup because since he has no removal it will get you the most possible damage). If he plays Galakrond on Turn 7 that is the BEST chance you have of winning the game, especially if he only did it for 1 card, so if you haven’t already, DUMP YOUR WHOLE HAND IN MINIONS AND GO FACE because he basically gave you a free turn unless the card he draws is something crazy good like Alextraza, Kronx, or the Anubisath Warbringer. After you dump your hand, THEN you play Galakrond for hopefully 4 Invokes and try to finish him off with burst from your new hero power and buffed charge minions. This matchup is the most common you will face and you are unfavored, BUT, if you go wide and dump your hand (yes that means playing the Scion of Ruin for tempo and not removal) and play Galakrond to refill it and finish him with burst, that is your best chance of winning. Also keep Silence and the Ooze to deal with the early game combo.

Galakrond Shaman: This matchup is kinda bad for you because of the Dragon’s Pack. Keep Galakrond in this matchup 100% of the time because if he doesn’t have his, you can deal with the Dragon’s Pack and close the game out with giant minions. The game is actually pretty easy for the first several turns in this matchup so basically play minions and kill all his totems and small minions to start the game. This is because you want board control for when he plays Dragon’s Pack so you can make the trades. Also, if he has a Healing Totem or Spell Damage totems on the board when he plays the 5/6  taunts you are in a bit of trouble from removal AND having a harder time killing his taunts. You then need to deal with his Corrupt Elementalist play turn 6 which kills your remaining minions. However, this play is easily countered if he played it for tempo (which is common because they want Invoke stacks on Galakrond) because you can play Awaken! and deal with his entire turn 6 play and still have 3 mana up to play a minion yourself. At this point the matchup is Decided by who gets the maxed out Galakrond first, because if you do then you can play your high stated minions to contest his 8/8 Rushes, but if he gets it first, then he gets to hit his 8/8 rushes into your face for 16 damage before you have a chance to respond. Into this matchup, its actually worth it to play your Galakrond after only 2 Invokes so you can draw a few bigger minions early, because he will probably wait to play his Galakrond till its fully Invoked, which means you might be able to cheese a win due to his greed or poor RNG if he doesn’t have Galakrond or enough Invokes. Basically try to keep board control, use Awaken! to deal with his Corrupt Elementalist play, and play your Galakrond for only 2 invokes if you have to in order to try and cheese a win with early value.

Zoolock/Pirate Warrior: This matchup is actually in your favor most of the time, although its not uncommon to lose sometimes. Each of these decks have a decent amount of draw power, the ability to flood the board multiple times, and has burst potential with board buffs (Zoolock) or weapons (Pirate Warrior). Zoolock has more draw and is a little slower, has an easy time rebuilding a board with little minions, and has Galakrond/Sea Giant as giant Tempo Swing cards. You want to save Brawl for after he plays one of these big win conditions and try to remove the little minions with your own minions, your face, and Awaken!. Other than that, let him do damage to himself to draw, control the board, and then try to burst him when you have the chance. You want to play your Galakrond ASAP into both of these matchups because you don’t need the extra weapon and minions to win, you need to hit your power spike on turn 7 so you can play big minions to take over the board with. Pirate Warrior is a slightly harder matchup because it can snowball SUPER hard with upgraded weapons, the ability to replay destroyed weapons, the fast Pirate Tribe, and STILL a decent amount of card draw so they won’t run out of gas. This one you wanna play similar to Zoolock though, with the only difference being you want to keep the Acidic Swamp Ooze to deal with weapons. Matchup is similar in my opinion but due to the use of weapons (not just minions like Zoolock) Pirate is a little harder of a matchup.

Galakrond Warrior: The Mirror match, oh boy. This one is in my opinion the only time you wanna go for maximum value. You kinda want to see him play his minions first so you can remove them efficiently and leave a minion or 2 of your own on the board. If you play smart like this you will probably grind out the win. However, if he chooses to go more aggressive you might need to sacrifice some value to deal with his minions quickly rather than efficiently, basically if he starts to flood the board and doesn’t seem to be playing slow at all. If you play reactively, you will actually end up on top in this matchup as long as you are able to respond quickly. This is true because if the opponent gets impatient he is more likely to make bad plays, so if you make him make bad plays by waiting for him, you will win. If he is playing slow and you need to play cards due to a full hand, play your invoke cards so your Galakrond can get to its full upgrade quickly because that is what will ultimately decide the game. The game will ultimately come down to who plays their fully upgraded galakrond first, AND if the other player has a way to deal with the play (Brawl). If the person who played Galakrond First dumps all his big minions and the other plays brawl, the other player will probably win. If the Galakrond plays 1 or 2 minions to bait a brawl and then plays the other buffed minions the next turn, the Galakrond player will probably win. However, if you play reactively and prioritize playing Invoke cards, you will on average be in a better position which means you can respond to his galakrond easier or win if neither of you draw him. 

 

If you want to support me so I do more guides like this, please check out these other links and/or upvote them and this post. Thanks for reading to this point.

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/eihnb2/galakrond_warrior_indepth_guide_matchups/

https://www.reddit.com/r/CompetitiveHS/comments/eihn4z/galakrond_warrior_indepth_guide_matchups/

Blog: https://betterhearthstone.blogspot.com/2020/01/in-depth-galakrond-warrior-guide.html

Hearthpwn: https://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/1326474-in-depth-galakrond-warrior-40-26

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