Hearthpwn

Hi guys, I just wanted to share the deck I used to get legend from diamond 5 this season. I had a steady win rate of 64% (34W-19L). It's pretty consistent at beating DH and rogue but struggling against priest.

Full Guide at 10 upvotes!

Proof of legend : 

 Let's get started with the guide :

Game Plan :

First of all, remember that this deck is much more of a combo deck than a tempo or control deck. A lot of the cards are combo pieces and have to be treated as such. You don't want to keep skipper, wrangler, or armorsmith to drop them on curve in the early game.

Early game :

You want to control the board with weapons and Warmaul Challenger. In this meta, a lot of early drops are 2 health minions so you will easily be able to remove them. If your draws are nuts against classes that don't have cheap removals or ways to deal with big minions, a coin Injured Tol'vir on T1 followed by a Rampage on T2 and a Bloodsworn Mercenary on T3 can single-handedly win you the game VS Demon Hunter for example. Warmaul Challenger is also a very good target for this combo with its really high health pool.

Mid Game :

The mid-game is where this deck really shines. What you will aim to do is to create insane value with the combo pieces. Stop the onslaught of aggro decks using Risky Skipper + Bomb Wrangler + Armorsmith while putting bombs on the fields and generating a lot of armor to keep you safe. This is the moment where you want to be using your Battle Rage to refill your hand since you are going to have a lot of damaged minions. It will also enable you to play cheap Bloodboil Brute for trading into bigger threats or to push for lethal in the following turns / forcing your opponent to use his removals. Keep in mind that the evolve lackey that you can get with livewire lance can allow you to get a value trade on the brute + an 8 drop after that.

Late Game :

This is where you will want to finish off your opponent using your potential otk cards.

Kor'kron Elite + Inner Rage + Rampage + Bloodsworn Mercenary is 18 damages from hand. Add in another inner rage and it's 22, enough to finish off most opponents at this stage. It's also one of the win conditions against priest. In the same way, you have the Grommash Hellscream + Inner Rage + Rampage for 15 damages.

Most of the time, vs aggro, you will be able to finish the game around turn 8 with what you have on the board. I'll add some matchup specific win con in the matchup breakdown.

 

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Mulligan :

Always Keep :

Warmaul Challenger - The stats on this card are way too good, its large health pool makes it really hard to remove for most of the classes and it will usually kill a minion with its battlecry, while remaining something like a 1/5 at the bare minimum. It's also a good rampage target on the following turn.

Corsair Cache - No reason not to keep it, it curves into a T3 weapon and the +1/+1 buff enables it to remove almost any early game minion.

Ancharrr - Used to tutor the skipper and great overall value, mulligan it away if you already have a Corsair Cache.

Sometimes Keep:

Livewire Lance - If the rest of your hand is pretty poor, keep it to have a weapon to play on turn 3, which is never a bad play.

Sky Raider - Keep vs aggro, help contest the board and can sometimes give you a skipper or a good pirate, mull away against control.

Injured Tol'vir - Worth keeping against aggro if you are on the coin, always a keep if you have rampage as well.

Rampage - Keep to combo with Injured Tol'vir or if you already have Warmaul Challenger and you want to make a sticky minion early. Throw away otherwise.

Bloodsworn Mercenary - Only time I would keep it is if you already have Coin + Injured Tol'vir + Rampage against aggro and you want to snowball the game.

Never Keep: 

Armorsmith, Risky Skipper, Bomb Wrangler, and Battle Rage - They are combo pieces, you don't want to use them before the mid-game so don't clog your hand with them.

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Matchup Breakdown:

Demon Hunter 13-2: Classic gameplan vs aggro, remove his stuff while trying to keep your hp high, perfect opponent to make a big sticky minion with rampage and bloodsworn since they don't play any removals.

Druid 2-2: Winning mostly depends on the quality of your opponent draw, if he ramps up super fast, you will most likely lose. You won't be facing much of them though.

Hunter 5-3: Same as DH, keep in mind you can use his explosive traps at your advantage with armorsmith or to enrage grommash for lethal.

Mage 1-1: Just try to kill him, get through the early game with the classic gameplan then finish him off with a big enrage combo.

Rogue 9-3: You will beat rogue consistently unless they high roll with their random card generation. Two of my three losses, the pulled off dark pharaoh tekhan from  Dragon's Hoard.

Warrior 2-0: The mirror will come down to experience from both players, try to anticipate your opponent play. If you face a lot of mirror match, consider the tech replacements that will be described in the last part of the guide.

Priest 2-8: This is by far your worst matchup since their deck only aim is to beat warrior. One thing I urge you to do is keeping the coin if you start second, as Grommash + Inner Rage + Coin + Bloodsworn mercenary is what won me those 2 games. Try to rush them down early with big rampage play and pray to dodge their removals.

Warlock, Shaman, Paladin: I haven't faced any of those but the gameplan vs ZooLock and Murloc paladin would be the same as DH. 

 

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 List Variation :

OG Egg warrior: -2 Injured Tol'vir -1 Grommash Hellscream, +2 Serpent Egg +1 Teron Gorefiend

Anti Highlander / Bomb Warrior : -2 Livewire Lance -1 Grommash Hellscream, +2 Wrenchcalibur +1 Blastmaster Boom

Mirror and control focused: -1 Grommash Hellscream -2 Injured Tol'vir, +1 Deathwing, Mad Aspect +2 Execute

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Final Words: 

I hope the guide was useful and will help you understand the deck a bit better, good luck on your climbing and feel free to ask me any questions in the comment.