Hearthpwn

Hi everyone, I have been an active reader of this subreddit and after really focusing on ladder for the first time in June I finally reached legend this past (September) season. I decided I would make this deck guide to not only help others who may be in my position, but also to share my thoughts on how I teched my deck different than other control warriors. Here is my legend proof, decklist, and stats.

Deck, Proof, and Stats: http://imgur.com/a/pYyfo

Now on to the deck itself and my climb to legend. Earlier in the season I was running a slightly different CW list (Here: http://imgur.com/7khdiTy) and had climbed to one win away from legend before losing a few games, becoming tilted, and dropping down to rank 4. I took a little while away from the game and came back only to find that I was struggling to break past rank 3. After analyzing my stats, what I was facing, and reflecting on what I was struggling with against certain decks I decided to make some changes.

So on to specifics of the deck. I found that for me personally running double brawl was necessary. With the litany of decks that flood the board, having one was sometimes not enough, and having 2 usually guaranteed I'd have at least one when I needed it. There were times when my hand felt clunky with double brawl but I found I had enough ways to stall the game that it rarely became an issue. From my initial decklist I also decided to cut emperor and the revenge. Both cuts scared me slightly as I could seemingly come up with a million reasons to keep both, but ultimately I went for it and cut them both in favor of running double bash. My reasoning for this was that I felt as though often if I didn't draw a weapon early against almost any deck, be it control or aggro, I was at a huge disadvantage. Bash served as a 5th and 6th single charge weapon, life gain, execute/shield slam activator, and sometimes even the extra burst for lethal. I considered slam in its place, but felt as though the versatility, albeit at a higher mana cost, was more important than the ability to play slam one turn sooner and cycle. Having 2 copies of both bash and brawl made me feel as though the copy of revenge was no longer necessary, thus it was removed.

Next was emperor. This was a very hard decision given how many high cost cards this deck runs, his solid stats, and his virtual taunt. I decided that in the control matchups, where he might help the most, I was already in a strong enough position that his effect was only mildly beneficial. In the more aggro matchups I often found that dropping emperor rarely was enough to stem the bleeding and that there his effect was virtually useless. Despite his power I looked at emperor as being a "win more" card in this deck, and chose to cut him in favor of the second copy of bash.

There are a few other changes from many lists I've seen that I found to be beneficial as well. First, is the exclusion of Harrison Jones. This is another card I agonized over leaving out of the list. I ran him in my original list, but felt that in the matches with weapon classes, besides rogue and shaman which I rarely saw, the rest of my deck allowed me to survive/pressure enough that removing a weapon wasn't an issue. In the mage an druid matchups, of which I saw frequently, he was just an overcost 4 drop with poor stats. Additionally in the CW mirror match games often go to fatigue and the extra card draw only ends up hurting.

I also saw a few lists that ran gorehowl, but again this helps mainly in control mirrors and I felt as though I was already strong enough there that it's inclusion was unnecessary.

Now to the card that I included "over" harrison jones, Justicar Trueheart. This is the card I feel that really allowed this deck to function. While it's relatively easy to remove with it's 3 health, the 6 attack still gives it some power. However it's not the stats that matter with this card, the tank up perk is game changing. This card alone improved my matchups across the board, as you can essentially armor up out of range of ever dying in control matchups, and can be the extra health pool you need to survive against more aggro decks. Plus it enhances the value of the shield slams in the deck, which is just icing on the cake.

Other cards-I'm not sure that there are any other big changes from standard CW lists, outside of maybe running two shield blocks. The cycle can hurt you in matchups where fatigue is an issue and there is enough life gain elsewhere in the deck to make running two unnecessary.

Now on to piloting this deck. Playing this deck is hardly different than a more standard CW list. Early game you are looking for weapons, bash if on the coin, and maybe an armorsmith or an acolyte depending on the matchup and what other cards you have. Against aggro decks you especially want to prioritize your early drops so you don't fall to far behind. Against some classes, namely paladin, I might keep a single brawl if my early game is taken care of to deal with them flooding the board and the potential of Dr. 6 being played on turn. Either of your weapons is an auto keep and I'll keep a bash as well if i'm on the coin. Against faster decks I always keep armorsmith, and depending on the hand possibly my acolyte as well. You should always be aware of your opponents strongest play on their next turn and try to play around that without weakening the board state too much. In most matchups fitting in your hero power as often as you can is also important, as you have the lasting power that other decks don't. It's hard for me to elaborate too much further on playing this deck only speaking in general terms, so with that lets just move on to specific matchups.

Druid-50/50: General mulligan for all games is similar, weapons, weapons, weapons, and as such can be assumed for all matches going forward. Specific for druid I prioritize fiery war axe and bash, in order to quickly remove the darnassus aspirant. I also don’t mind holding onto an armorsmith for board presence, and outside of those cards you can toss back pretty much everything else. In the matchup it’s important to try and keep up, as druid has a lot more “big burst” than even some of the more typical “aggro” classes. The war axe and bash are particularly useful as they can allow you to kill darnassus, quickly deal with a shredder, and handle a taunted up druid of the claw. Outside of the early game and mulligan phase you really just need to be mindful of combo. Always keep track of how much damage they could do with their given mana, and keep track of innervates used/emperor reduced cards to help you navigate your way through the match. Brawl doesn’t get a ton of use in this matchup outside of the occasional token druid, so don’t be afraid to use a brawl on 2 minions to help you gain a foothold on the board. You’ll often be able to find times where you’re dead to combo if “they have cards a, b, and c” but you if you are playing around it too much you’re only giving them time to actually draw into those cards and leave yourself in a worse position. I never felt like this was a bad matchup for me, and again justicar can come through in a big way here.

Hunter-55%: Armorsmith is an auto keep. Helps deal with most early minions, especially since I mainly saw hybrid and face hunter. I also usually keep my one cruel taskmaster in this matchup for the same reasoning. In this match you need to try and figure out which type of hunter you are facing ASAP and play accordingly. I never felt bad using armor up shield slam for 2 on a huffer even if I had a weapon up, as the hunter can run out of steam far quicker than you. Justicar is a huge help in these matches (never keep it in mulligan though) as it negates their hero power and in late game that can be all the difference. The name of the game in this match is really just keeping up life total. This is probably the only matchup that made me consider putting Harrison back in but, again, I decided that simply removing the weapon wouldn’t have often enough made the difference in enough games. Midrange Hunter was by far more problematic, as they can actually sustain into the late game much better. Highmane is such a problem to deal with as a warrior, as leaving any damage up is often worrisome. Against midrange just play as best you can and hope they don’t draw too well. Two of the losses against hunter were midrange, and I played one other game against a midrange that I won, so this wasn’t too much of an issue.

Mage-64%: keep armorsmith, bash, possibly acolyte and maybe brawl depending on hand. Ok so this is one of the matchups where bash really shined for me. Mage’s had given me a fair bit of trouble previously and the changes I made helped me out immensely. Pretty quickly you can determine what type of mage they are, if it’s freeze mage just wait 15 minutes for an auto win. You’re mulliganing in this matchup solely for tempo/mech mage. Early removal is a priority so that you don’t fall too far behind on board, also I would tend to hold onto my armorsmiths if at all possible to have something to play into mirror entity. Whether this is correct or not I don’t know, but previously I had too many occasions where I was stuck not wanting to play my high drop minion into a board I’m already behind on, and holding the armorsmith helped with that. Mech mage is similar to hunter in that you just want to keep up. The bash is so good in this matchup for dealing with a snowchugger by itself, or hidden behind an annoy-o-tron. I also never felt bad using an execute on a water elemental either, as being frozen just puts you behind so much in these matches. If possible I would always try to ensure that I had some form of removal for an Antonidas, as pretty much every mage list is including him now. Outside of that this match became a lot easier for me after tweaking my deck.

Paladin-52%: By far the class I saw the most. I always mulligan as if it were secret paladin, though the mulligan would be fairly similar for mid-range as well. Any early drop is a must keep, if early curve is set then I’ll hold onto a brawl. As everyone probably knows now it’s important to know the paladin secrets and mentally go through the outcomes of activating each secret. I rarely played around divine favor, as it’s simply difficult to do with this deck, and instead tried to play a couple turns in advance and act accordingly. Bash was also helpful in this matchup as it allowed for much easier removal in every phase of the game. This deck can outlast secret paladin as well so I never felt as though having to make plays such using grommash to help clear were a waste of my win condition, as once you gain a foothold on the board the secret paladins have a hard time recovering. Most of my losses were due to not drawing removal, or the secret paladin just having too perfect of a curve to overcome. Four of the losses came from midrange paladin, which is a matchup I felt I struggled with the most, so I can’t offer much advice there.

Priest-83%: If I queued into a preist I considered it an auto win. My only loss was to a priest I drew no removal against and that dropped a turn 8 chromaggus (who runs that card anyways?) that I couldn’t answer. Justicar is really the card that decides this matchup, as you can almost always just win the fatigue war. I would almost never play my ysera either unless I saw both cabal shadow priests dropped as well as their sylvanas, as almost every priest is running those cards and every one I faced tried tohold onto them for my ysera. Ysera simply isn’t a win condition for you here. The double brawl tech helps out immensely as the priest can keep minions on the board much better than other classes, but really as soon as you drop justicar the game is over.

Rogue-50%: My favorite class, sad to see that it’s dropped so far as I only played them twice. Mulligan is standard. I played one oil rogue and one “agro” rogue, losing the former and winning the latter. I would generally just play as if they are oil rogue, so keep track of oil combo damage potentials, be aware of sap, clear their board as often as possible. If there were more rogue on ladder I’d have more to say, but as things stand I don’t think any more is needed.

Shaman-100%: Shaman, the other forgotten class. Mulligan is same though I’d keep a brawl as I feel token shaman is more likely than mech (at least that’s what I played against). They have limited damage and you can actually be the aggressor in this matchup generally, as once you clear their board they have trouble coming back. If you see both hexes used and can drop ysera it’s GG.

Warlock-44%: The one matchup I struggled with. I often tried to mulligan for handlock, as only one loss was to zoo, meaning death’s bite, BGH, execute/shield slam. Even so I just had a difficult time handling the consistent pressure than handlock can sustain. Generally if Juraxxuss was played and I didn’t have grommash combo in hand the game was lost. It’s hard for me to provide insight since I struggled so much against handlock, but I feel like being the aggressor is the best answer here, while keeping mindful of moltens. The handlocks I faced were exclusively of the demon variety and if you can get a voidcaller to pull juraxxus out the matchup becomes worlds easier. As for zoo just try and play it similar to other aggressive decks, brawl still gets value despite the plethora of death rattle minions, and once you can drop a belcher and start developing threats zoo has a hard time recovering.

Warrior-69%: The class I saw the most of behind only paladin and mage. Here mulligan is pretty much exclusively weapons, bash, acolyte. I saw a good mix of both CW and patron, so though I imagine I would keep a brawl in my opening hand if I knew which deck I was facing, I never actually did. The CW mirror pretty much comes down to which player drops justicar first, as the game likely will go to fatigue and there’s almost no coming back from the early advantage it provides. Limiting your card draw is important for the same reason. Your brawls won’t typically get much use in the CW mirror as they wont be flooding the board, so for that reason I never felt guilty simply brawling away Dr. Boom and his bombs, and saving my other removal for the rest of the big minions. I found that, if possible, holding back some pressure in this matchup is helpful, as you’ll be able to clear the opponents minions handily then wait to safely drop yours. Taking face damage is almost always the right play if possible as you both with be gaining so much life that it is unlikely to matter. Now for the patron matchup. I actually found myself hoping it was patron when I queued into a warrior because of just how strong this variant of the deck feels against it. There is little variation among patron decks so you pretty much know what they can do the entire game. Justicar really helps in this matchup, as does the double brawl tech. Always be thinking of what they might do on the next turn and what your answer will be. Going into their turn 5 I would always try and have a weapon equipped, Harrison jones be damned, so that if need be I could brawl and clear on my 5 (or 6) mana turn. You can also just start holding back after you drop justicar. For the most part the huge combos patron warriors produce need to have minions on board. I’ve often dropped a shieldmaiden only to promptly shield slam it just to prevent them bouncing an unstable ghoul off of it. I also often saw inexperienced patron players drop an early frothing, which pretty much guarantees a win for this deck as a double frothing combo is usually the only way to do enough damage. Play smart, and this matchup feels heavily favored.

So with that I’ll go ahead and wrap up this guide. I hope that some will find this helpful, as so many of the guides posted on this subreddit have done for me. I’ll do my best to answer any questions some may have regarding this deck, card choices, matchups, or whatever else. Thanks for reading and good luck to everyone out there that is still trying to hit legend for the first time like I was!

Also to any mods, if there is anything I need to do to the formatting, or anything else involving my post, please feel free to let me know I will make the necessary changes immediately.