Hearthpwn

If you want to play Control, there is nothing best than Warrior. This time is even more fun and skill-based, having its best list as an Highlander! This deck is outperforming most of the decks out there and it’s going to help you climb fast to Legend.

Libram Paladin, Big Beasts Druid, Tempo Aggro Demon Hunter, Tempo Rogue, Token Druid, Spell Burst Shaman and Totem Shaman will be your farming preys with this list. Check out this guide to learn how to play it and how to overcome your opponents!

Thank you for your comments and suggestions, enjoy this guide!

MULLIGAN:

In these first days of the new expansion different decks within a same class are being tried. Therefore these mulligan suggestions will cover the most used archetypes and they will be uploaded in the following weeks.

• Zephrys the Great is a must keep for every matchup. It is particularly useful to have it in your opening hand during these first days of the new meta, where people are trying new decks and you might not know which archetype you are going to face;
• Lord Barov and Ramming Speed are great keeps against big decks such as Big Beasts Druid. The later, in particular, is a great response to an early Guardian Animals from the opponent, as it will likely kill both beasts, even if one of the two is a stealthed Twilight Runner;
• Sword and Board is a fantastic cheap removal to keep against Aggro Demon Hunter and Aggro Shaman. In the first case you will either trade a Battlefiend or a Satyr Overseer, in the latter you will be able to trade any totem;
• Coerce might be a useful keep if you are against Miracle Rogue to counter an early big Edwin VanCleef or a buffed Questing Adventurer;
• Acidic Swamp Ooze is a must keep against those classes which are currently using many weapons, specifically Rogue, Demon Hunter and Warrior

 

PLAY STRATEGY:

• Minions below 5 mana are mainly used for trades and board control. As a consequence, it will be very difficult to have minion advantage before the mid/late game. Here you’ll have powerful tools to take over the board, in particular Headmaster Kel’Thuzad,Troublemaker, Dragonqueen Alexstrasza and Kargath Prime;
• Lord Barov is the real star of this deck and having so many activators for its effect is the main reason why Highlander is viable. In particular, a board clear is possible with Whirlwind, Risky Skipper (to be played before Barov), Bladestorm plus the cards which allow you to destroy Barov and trigger it’s deathrattle such as Shield Slam, Sword and Board and Warmaul Challenger,
• Be aware of the deck weaknesses: in particular card draw and value generation. The first one can be an issue against Aggro decks, where you will be tempted to use all your removals and you will end with no cards in your hand. This is an issue especially in the upcoming meta, where most of Aggros will have powerful card draws such as Secret Passage. The second can be an issue when playing slower matchups, such as against Control Priest or Libram Paladin, which will have an advantage in cards generation. For this reason, you will need to put early aggression and always have minion advantage on the board to close and he game before their value generation overcomes your deck

 

DECK TIPS:

• Use wisely your Playmaker: this card is incredibly powerful with Restless Mummy and Kargath Bladefist. However, if you use it in combination with the latter, you will shuffle two Kargath Prime in your deck, nullifying both Zephrys the Great and Dragonqueen Alexstrasza;
• Do not waste Athletic Studies: even if this card doesn’t look much powerful, it allows nice combos. If you are playing against Aggro, playing before turn 3 will allow you to play a powerful rush minion one turn prior to its cost. If you are playing against slower decks, you will keep this card in order to play it in combo with Playmaker. In fact, you might either be able to play one or two Kargath Bladefist (if you are lucky to discover another one) and, as a consequence, to put 2 or 4 additional cards in your deck to delay fatigue. If fatigue is not an issue, you might also play it to discount a Kargath Prime to be played on next turn in combination with Playmaker for a powerful board swing (this combo is also possible if you keep the Coin);
• Do not waste your Zephrys! This may seem pretty obvious, but you should play Zephrys the Great as a last resource or to access mechanics not included in this deck. Specifically, you might be looking for a silence such as Hex or Polymorph if you are facing a Libram Paladin or a Big Warrior with Rattlegore; a The Black Knight if you can’t deal with a buffed Winged Guardian; a Lay on Hands if you need both card draw and healing;
• Headmaster Kel’Thuzad is one of the most powerful comebacks of this deck, so always keep it in combination with another removal. Your desired outcome is always a cleared board on the opponent’s side and 2+ minions on yours;
• Lord Barov is not only important for its battlecry: most of the times you will clear the board and your Barov will remain as a 3/1. Its deathrattle could be used again next turn for another clear, having the optimum in combination with Plague of Wrath (this two turns board clear is incredibly powerful against Big Druid)

SUBSTITUTIONS: (do not craft cards in these first days of the new expansion)

• Lord Barov: very hard to substitute as facing Big decks will require frequent board clears and this one is the cheapest and most flexible. For these reasons I don’t think you will be able to substitute this card, but if you like to play Control this one is surely a safe craft as long as it remains in Standard;
• Kargath Bladefist: another card which will lower your win rate if not included. If you want to substitute this legendary, you will also need to remove Playmaker, as there will not be enough Rush minions to justify its presence. Possible substitutions for those two cards are Corsair Cache and Livewire Lance if you need more presence in the early game, or In formation and Frightened Flunky if you need more value generation;
• Deathwing, Mad Aspect: it’s a good flexible card, as it will likely clear the board and put a big treat but it might be replaced. You could try using the original Deathwing if you are looking for a similar (but more radical) effect, Grommash Hellscream if you are missing that kind of damage to close your games, Batterhead if you are missing the previous legendaries;
• Headmaster Kel’Thuzad: this card is particularly good against Libram Paladin and Big Druid, but some substitutions are possible. If you want to increase your presence on board and you are facing slow matchups you could try King Phaoris (The biggest spells in this deck are 5 mana, but might get good value out of this card), Big Game Hunter or Faceless Manipulator if you are facing lots of Big decks, Cobalt Spellkin if you want a little bit of extra value and cheap removals;
• Zephrys the Great and Dragonqueen Alexstrasza: impossible to play this deck without them
• Epic cards: most of them are removals, and they are hardly replaceable in a Highlander deck. Warmaul Challenger is probably the only one which can be replaced, specifically with either Frozen Shadoweaver or a Livewire Lance;
• Risky Skipper: some people will not have this card if they didn’t purchased the adventure, so here are some suggestions. You could try to substitute it with cheap removals like Rocket Augmerchant (which can be used in combination with Barov); a silence like Ironbeak Owl if you are facing lots of Libram Paladins; or put a Transfer Student if you just want a fun card which might be quite useful  with some boards (like deal 2 damage, discover a dragon, add a random Plague or add a random biclass

POSSIBLE META ADDITIONS:

• If the meta becomes slower and value based decks will be top tier, Rattlegore could be a fitting add, due to its stickiness to the board. However this card is terrible against Aggro/Tempo, Token and Spell burst decks, which are currently being played;
• If Libram Paladin is your major encounter and you are having difficulties in beating them you could add a Bad Luck Albatross to counter the Lightforged cards. This will basically kill their playing strategy as they will run out of cards in hand pretty fast;
• If Big Beasts Druid or Libram Paladin are your major encounters and your removals are not enough, you could include either a Tinkmaster Overspark or a Ironbeak Owl to add a silence option other than Zephrys;
• If you are having troubles with priests you could try running Archivist Elysiana to force the match into fatigue and use it as a viable win condition;

MATCHUPS (if you have any requests/suggestions write down in the comments):

• BIG BEASTS DRUID: this is one of the easiest matchups for this deck. As already said,Ramming Speed is your best counter to an early Guardian Animals, Coerce, Execute and Shield Slam are your best response to kael’thas sunstrider. Zephrys the Great is your best response to Winged Guardian, specifically at 8 mana to get a The Black Knight. Brawl, Plague of Wrath, Lord Barov and Bladestorm will be your answers to big boards (the deck has a limited amount of minions, once you have traded them Druid will automatically lose).Headmaster Kel’Thuzad is a strong win condition as Druid will have difficulties in trading 1+ big minions and you will obtain board advantage;
• LIBRAM PALADIN: one the most popular decks right now, it’s not a difficult matchup as long as you play on the weakness of that deck. The basic idea is to always control the board so the opponent will not have good targets for its Librams other than its Silver Hand Recruit (not a major treat). You have two cards to deal with the weapons equipped by Lightforged Zealot. Use your single target removals to destroy buffed minions such as the 8/8 from Libram of Hope or a buffed Argent Braggart. Your Zephrys will be useful to get a silence. Make the opponent exhaust its cards, knowing that its only card “draw” is Lightforged Crusader. Divine shield minions such as Devout Pupil, Goody Two-Shields and Murgurgle Prime are the main treats as they will allow your opponent to have several minions on the board. The main answers to these cards are the AoE removals, especially Bladestorm is a good response. With these strategies this matchup will be easy to play. If you are still having trouble with this matchup, add a Bad Luck Albatross to counter it and always search for it in your mulligan;
• TEMPO AGGRO ROGUE/DEMON HUNTER: this is obviously the easiest matchup as the combination of armor gains, AoE removals and single target removals will prove more than enough to beat these decks. The only suggestion is to always keep one of the two weapon removals (if not in hand while the opponent plays the weapon you might also get it from Zephrys) and always be aware of potential damage coming directly from the hand, such as Eviscerate and Glaivebound Adept;
• TOKEN DRUID: Risky Skipper for sure shines in this matchup. Do not keep your Bladestorm without any other cheap single target removals as it will be useless alone if the opponent plays a Gibberling followed by buff spells (you will only kill the last spawned Gibberling with 1 health). For this reason, Sword and Board is a good card to have in combination. Keep in mind that this matches usually ends by turn 4, after you cleared their board and they will have nothing in their hands, so do not be afraid to use all your resources in the first turns to shut down their board

CURRENTLY TESTING: (if you have any suggestions let me know in the comments)

• - Kobold Stickyfinger / + Harrison Jones: surely this increases the overall cost of this deck, but Harrison Jones card draw might prove useful, addressing one of the weakness of this deck;
• - Kobold Stickyfinger / + Rattlegore: moving up the mana curve and including a hard to remove treat might prove useful against slower matchups