Hearthpwn

HI Everyone! After an up and down season, making it up to rank 1, then riding some failed experiments back down to rank 3, I recently ranked up to legend with this deck on roughly a 17-3 game streak. I do not claim that this deck is the single best dragon deck possible at the moment, but I think it's an excellent building block and as a result I wanted to share it. Would love to hear thoughts and updates on the deck, and am happy to discuss my card choices.

Legend Proof: http://postimg.org/image/t6feo9sl5/

Edit2: Testing week 5 cards, update soon.

Edit: A number of people have mentioned in the comments problems with face hunter, so I thought I would address that here. Yes, if you are facing a lot of face hunter, it is okay to tech in a healbot. However, if you are merely playing against face hunter once every 5-10 games, you should not tech in a healbot. There are multiple reasons for this:

1. Healing is only very good against a few decks, including face hunter, freeze mage post alex, occasionally combo druid, occasionally oil rogue, etc. Against other decks it is so bad that it will lose you games. You won't notice it, but the games you lose with healbot in your hand the entire game are in fact games that you might have won with a different card in your hand. There is too much confirmation bias in favor of this card, so people play it much more than they should

2. Healbot is NOT generically good against aggro, it is good against face hunter style decks. Why? Because against this decks, healbot acts as a strong 2 or 3 for 1, and the 3/3 body is able to trade with a creature. Against board-control based aggro decks like zoo or even mech mage, healbot is extremely bad.

3. Against Priest, Demonlock, Handlock, most varieties of Paladin, Shaman, Taunt Druid, Mill decks, Control Warrior, Combo Warrior, Midrange Hunter, etc., healbot is also bad. This makes the card okay to very bad in a majority of matchups. And this is not bad in the Kezan Mystic 4/3 for 4 or BGH 4/2 for 3 sense, this is bad in the 5 mana 3/3 unplayable in Arena sense.

Given this, you should feel free to play antique healbot, but do so only if you truly are facing abnormally high levels of face hunter. Furthermore, I would recommend instead of playing healbot trying a second Blackwing Technician - it is also strong against early aggression while being a powerful turn 3 play in other matchups. Active cards like this that seek to wrestle for board control rather than hastily patch up your life total are more in line with this deck's plan, and ultimately will lead to more match wins.

Card Choices:

2 Zombie Chow - 2 Zombie Chow is a tough call, and I thought about 1. The reason to play 2 is that this deck wants badly to play Hungry Dragon on 4 whenever possible, and Chow often makes this easier. However, Swapping one out for another Blackwing Technician, or a Coghammer would be very justifiable. I think 1 is probably necessary.

1 Equality - I also wanted a second equality in theory, but when playing the deck I didnt find it necessary. Still, worth considering 2, as equality is an excellent card.

2 Shielded Minibot - Paladin Staple, helps control the board early to stall or set up for Hungry Dragon

2 Muster for Battle - Extremely strong in this deck, allows for almost guaranteed turn 4 Hungry Dragon, and contests the board well. 2 Muster is why I didnt play Coghammer, because that seemed like an overload of weapon charges.

1 Acolyte of Pain - This was a midway addition, and it was excellent. Good against aggro, a soft counter to board wipes, and synergistic with hungry dragon, I think this is an excellent 1-of in the deck. Another reason for this card is that it lets you draw with Chromaggus the turn you play it, which is very powerful. 

2 Aldor - Paladin Staple, one of the reasons to play the class

1 Blackwing Technician - Initially I was playing 2, and cut the second mostly for space. I didnt regret either 1 or 2, but it is a little too inconsistent for my liking. Still, a 3/5 is very strong against aggro, so it wouldn't be a mistake to play 2.

2 Truesilver - Paladin Staple

2 Consecration - Paladin Staple

1 Defender of Argus - This was a later addition, but one I really enjoyed. The deck has a lot of toughness, and sometimes has trouble stabilizing. It's not hard to get value out of this 1-of, and it sometimes saves the day against aggressive decks. I wouldn't cut it.

2 Hungry Dragon - Crazy card. If you can play it uncontested on turn 4, and clear the 1 drop with anything, you're extremely far ahead. 

1 Kezan Mystic - This is the tech slot. At first it was BGH, but I cut that fast and don't regret it. Kezan Mystic makes hunter matchups much better, makes Freeze Mage almost a guaranteed win, and is strong against Tempo and Mech Mage. It's not great in other matchups, but overall it does a lot more than BGH on ladder.

1 Azure Drake - This was also a later addition, but another great card. The thing that makes this card good is the combos with Dragon Consort. Consort into Turn 7 Azure Drake, Consecration, for instance, is a combo that can really surprise people and turn a game. Also, a little mid-game draw is useful. 

2 Dragon Consort - One of the Midgame Tempo-Gaining cards of the deck, this card leads to some excellent follow up plays, including Chromagus, Coin Ysera, or the aforementioned Azure Drake Consecration with 7 mana. It's not an incredible card, but it makes the deck operate more smoothly and can lead to strong plays. This card's synergy with Chromaggus is one of the deck's strengths

1 Loatheb - I think this card is near mandatory in most decks, assuming you know how to play with it. The ability to "buy a turn" in some matchups is crucial (for example, freeze mage, combo druid, etc.), and it's often one of the best ways to get control of the board on turn 5. That said, Loatheb is a card that one could theoretically cut from this deck if something much better were available. For instance, it may be cut next week for the new 5 mana Fire Elemental. 

2 Sludge Belcher - A control staple, I'm not sure how required these are, but they're always good. I could see cutting one but not both.

1 Dr Boom - A strong card, but there are arguments for cutting it here for something else. It's the only BGH target in the deck (though that's not a big problem). It synergizes with the deck in the sense that it's a huge threat that maintains positive tempo. I might experiment without it, but I would probably say it should be in the final list. Actually, let's be honest, Boom is too strong not to play in this deck.

1 Lay on Hands - Need heal somewhere, and this card is excellent at what it does. Also very strong with Chromaggus, if you can pull that off. 

Chromaggus - I was skeptical about this card at first, but it impressed me. 6/8 is an excellent body, and the ability to play it turn 6 with dragon consort makes it very very strong. If you draw once with it, it has already done a good job, but the body is good enough that it's not embarassing to just play it and force your opponent to handle it.

Tirion - Strong card, a huge roadblock, and another must-answer threat.

Ysera - Another late game card, another card that plays nicely with Dragon Consort, and a way to grind out games. Also an excellent Defender of Argus target. 

 

Cards that didn't make it:

BGH - Could tech this in over Kezan, but I wouldn't recommend it. Another card people play too much, given that the only good and commonly played target is Dr Boom, against which it is strong but not gamebreaking.

Sylvanas - I think this card is overrated. It's that simple. I end up cutting it from many decks and never regret it. It's slow, often horrendous against aggro, and usually too hopeful of a play against control. There are certainly situations in which this card is incredible, but they happen far too rarely. 

The Black Knight - Too situational and reactive, doesn't fit the theme of the deck (large minions that need to be dealt with). I would play a second equality over this anyway.

Emperor Thaurissan - This was in the initial build of the deck, but I cut it and didn't really look back. Like Sylvanas and the Black Knight, this card is simply a little too weak stats wise, despite it's powerful effect. You are often looking to make power plays from turns 5-9, and this rarely fits in well. 

Alexstraza - I'm not sure why people play this card in decks like this - it doesn't do anything you want, and is slow and overcosted for it's stats to boot. You have no interest in putting your opponent on 15 life at the cost of a turn, because you don't actually play burst, and "stabilizing" at 15 life yourself isn't a good reason to play a 9 mana 8/8. There are numerous other cards I would play over this.

Antique Healbot - I believe healbot has a place in some decks, but this really shouldn't be one of them unless the meta turns into a huge amount of face hunter. Healbot is simply too reactive of a card, and often is more of a salve than a real way to win. Healing is important in this deck, but it is better to get it through cards like Lay on Hands and Truesilver that have other applications as well. Therefore while this is an option, I would absolutely not play it right now (even though there are a fair number of aggressive decks) because it is truly awful against control, and not at all necessary against aggro. It's possible Guardian of Kings is a better fit than this card, since the body is more relevant and the deck already plays enough 5 drops. 

Potential Swaps/Ideas:

Coghammer - as mentioned earlier, Coghammer could easily have a place in this deck. The creatures make it seem a good fit, the only problem is the overload of weapon charges and the possibility that, without zombie chow or minibot in hand, you may not be able to get full value out of playing it on curve. Still a reasonable thing to try, particularly if you are having trouble with aggro.

BGH - If Ragnaros becomes more popular, this card becomes much better. I think with only Boom as a target, it is quite weak and worse than 2nd Equality

Ragnaros - A reasonable swap if you are missing something at the top end of the deck or want to experiment. I wouldn't swap the dragons with this, since that decreases the power of Dragon Consort, but a reasonable Tirion replacement.

Rend Blackhand - This guy got a lot of flak, but he's not that bad. That said, this is not the meta for him.  If people severely increase the number of legendaries they are playing, (control becomes more popular) then he could be excellent. A strong counter to cards like Chromaggus, which makes him a pretty viable option in my opinion. 

Harrison Jones - Always an okay tech option, though less good in this deck than most, I think. Too situational most of the time.

Mind Control Tech - This is something I was thinking about for a while, but I'm not convinced it's better than just playing a second Blackwing Tech. However, if swarmy zoo decks become very popular, this card may actually be a necessity. 

2nd Azure Drake - This is justifiable. Azure drake impressed me, and though I think 1 is the right number, playing 2 is reasonable if you are missing something else in the deck.

Kel Thuzad - It's always reasonable to try Kel Thuzad in a deck with 2 sludge belchers, but I'm not sure this deck needs him given that it really wants to play Chromaggus and Ysera, and can't overload on high end value-oriented cards. Still worth trying, and if people have good experiences, feel free to post in the comments. 

Best of luck to everyone! Please leave a +1 if you've enjoyed the deck or the write-up!