Hearthpwn

Warrior 

Patron – Average Matchup - 50% – These new Patron Warriors can be a mess if you don’t manage to establish board as quick as possible. Be on the look out for his Death's Bite and know that if it’s on one stack he has the trigger to create at least one more patron. Try to save your Eviscerates and Bloodmaged Backstabs for Patrons but if it comes to that that you need to use them to get your tempo back, do it. Sap is money here to return those crazy Berserkers. Patrons are suckers against taunts, so Argus rocks too, just try not to taunt your egg when there is a patron out or else you will give him another patron.

Key cards: Eviscerate, Sap, Defender of Argus.


Control (Normal or Dragon) – Good Matchup – 65% - It’s never easy to see a manic warrior infront of you, building his armor like Metapod on drugs. The advantage of this deck over control warrior is the stickiness of the cards and that’s what should give you the advantage. Because when you have an Unearthed Raptor with the rattle from the Nerubian Egg and the Nerubian Egg for example, if the warrior uses Brawl, you will still have 2 strong minions on the board. Try to somehow lure out his Executes and Shield Slams so that your Stalagg&Feugen can survive easier. Feugen is better as he controls the board easier and needs more armor with Shield Slam to die.  

Key cards: Nerubian Egg, Unearthed Raptor, Feugen. 

Warlock 

Midrange Zoo – Average Matchup – 45% - Decks that flood the board with minions with more than 2 HP are generally a pretty big problem for this rogue. You might need to get another Skulker instead of an SI:7 Agent for example if you are dealing with a lot of these. The early control of the board is VERY crucial and helps you tip the game. Control his minions, make smart trades, remove with the FoK and use Skulkers smartly and you should be good to go. Early aggression is key.

Key cards: Backstab, Fan of Knives, Dark Iron Skulker, Haunted Creeper.

RenoLock/MalyLock – Good Matchup – 60% - I am loving this match-up. One would say that it’s a hellhole due to their solid AoEs but my scores seem to differ quite a lot. With copying the God deathrattles (Nerubian Egg, Piloted Shredder), you should manage to assemble a killer board that even with his Reno you will just be able to swoop up and kill him in the matter of two turns, if executed properly. Try to pop your eggs early, but see if you can save it as much as you can in order to copy the rattle. Malylock is a bit of a bigger problem, but just try not to run into his Hellfires that easily.

Key cards: Nerubian Egg, [card]Abusive Sergeant[/card], Unearthed Raptor.  

Paladin 

Midrange – Good Matchup – 60% - There are quite a bit of midrange paladins out there now. Rogue never had that many problems with paladins and this rogue is the same case. The Shielded Minibot is the biggest problem early on, and those quality trades are very important with it. Haunted Creeper is almost always a good trader for it and cards like Nerubian Egg and Raptor are the ones that really shine in this match-up. Out biggest and baddest enemy here is the Truesilver Champion, as it can deal with our Nerubians pretty easily. Try to trade your egg into a Knife Juggler.

Key cards: Nerubian Egg, Dark Iron Skulker, Unearthed Raptor.  

Secret – Very Good Matchup – 80% - This is where I perfected my deck and the deck was made to directly counter the secret paladin so these matches go pretty smoothly. The fact that there are two Fans of Knives, Backstabs, and Sir Finley who is a trading monster should bring you a pretty steady game. Sylvanas is really important to be dropped on turn 5 or 6 just to try to get that lovely Mysterious Challenger and finish the game off. The stickiness of the minions should be a massive pain for the paladin if you execute the deck properly.

Key cards: Nerubian Egg, Piloted Shredder, Sylvanas Windrunner, Fan of Knives.

Hunter

Face/Hybrid – Very Good Matchup – 80% - They barely stand a chance. Even though the deck has been made to deal with Control easier, with the latest introduction of two Fans of Knives, this deck should really shine against aggro too. Quality Backstabs are key here. Haunted Creepers are really important for those early game trades, and Defender of Argus and the Antique Healbot should connect the two ends of your game and lead you to a very smooth victory.

Key Cards: Backstab, Haunted Creeper, Defender of Argus, Antique Healbot.

Rogue

Rattle – Average Matchup – 50% - The one who gets to use eggs and copies eggs first, usually wins. Keep in mind that you can also remove his egg and remove the nerubian under it with your Piloted Shredder, or that Eviscerate perfectly fits in killing a Nerubian that comes out of that nasty egg. It’s also quite important that you change to a better hero power before he does, like Steady Shot.

Key Cards: Sir Finley Mrrgglton, Nerubian Egg, Unearthed Raptor.

 
Shaman

Aggro – Bad Matchup – 40% - Far from unwinnable, but when they actually manage to roll you down with a crapload of spells, you can go down faster than titanic did. Try to get those Backstabs rolling, stop him with taunts, and heal yourself on top while keeping constant pressure with the Raptor and Shredder and you should be fine.  

Key Cards: Backstab, Haunted Creeper, Defender of Argus, Antique Healbot.

Priest

Control – Bad Matchup – 40% - AoEs. The biggest problem this priest can throw at you. Try to have good Saps on any potential Velen’s Chosen minions, while applying strong pressure, and be careful how you taunt your eggs because they might be gone in a second with the help of Cabal Shadow Priest. Try to not run into AoEs way too much, and you should be fine. With the introduction of Entomb, this matchup is enough to be a complete nightmare. A pretty long and boring match-up, get prepared for it.

Key Cards: Piloted Shredder, Feugen, Stalagg, Unearthed Raptor.

Dragon - Good Matchup – 60% - The matchup is an all-out fight for tempo. The one who loses it will have a very hard time getting it back. He will have it easier than you though as they run a Lightbomb. The point is to overwhelm him and be able to outstretch your board to take down high HP minions like Twilight Guardian.

Key Cards: Sylvanas Windrunner, Piloted Shredder, Feugen.

Druid

Midrange/Ramp – Average Matchup – 50% - The way you should try to approach a Midrange Druid is something in between control and tempo. You need to race with them, but you also need to try and establish some taunts to protect yourself from the wombo combo. Unearthed Raptor and Piloted Shredder are there to control mid and the Naxx duo to transfer your game to Boom, who should finish it off. Sapping big minions like Druid of the Claw can be pretty devastating for the druid.

Key Cards: Unearthed Raptor, Piloted Shredder, Feugen, Stalagg.

Aggro- A solid Backstab + hero power on turn 2 is pretty important here, or some SI:7 Agent just to deal with the Darnassus Aspirants, which are usually the biggest problem against aggro druids. If facing a lot of these getting in a BGH instead of one FoK is a pretty good choice. Taunts and FoK are also what screws up these druids quite a lot.

Key Cards: Backstab, Fan of Knives, Defender of Argus.

Mage

Flamewaker – Average Matchup – 55% - Try to save some early minions if you can or if you have a better play and throw them out on the Mirror Entity. Screws up the mage’s game completely. You can even give them an Egg. This is probably where Backstabs do a lot of heavy work, and so do the Eviscerates. Defenders of Argus help you hold your game together while the Shredders are supposed to be used for awesome trades with the Azure Drakes, among other minions.

Key Cards: Backstab, Defender of Argus, Unearthed Raptor.

Freeze/Echo – Good Matchup – 65% - This matchup is awesome. The Feugen + Stalagg combo can be incredibly devastating here, and it will make the freeze mage cringe like there is no tomorrow, knowing that after these two lads he will have to face a 11/11 monster. Keep the Antique Healbot for after Alexstrasza, get Armor up! As a hero power and you should have no problems whatsoever.

Key Cards: Feugen, Stalagg, Antique Healbot, Sir Finley Mrrgglton.

Piloted Shredder (vs Control) –Piloted Shredder can be pretty amazing in some of the matchups, like control warrior and midrange druid. It’s a card that usually sees play either on turn 3 or turn 4 and is a really important and stabile board presence, so I started keeping one copy if I get it against something I believe will be pretty slow until midgame.

Sir Finley Mrrgglton(vs. Control) -  Even though dr. GG is a good body on turn 1, it’s sometimes good to keep him in your hand for some time, especially if you are new to the game and don’t have that much experience to know exactly what archtype you are playing against from the first two or three cards that are being played. Check the Dr. GG tier list for more info!

Fan of Knives (vs. Aggro) – Only keep if you have something cheaper already handed to you, like Backstab, Sir Finley Mrrgglton or a Haunted Creeper.

The Early game is where this deck needs to either stop the aggression from the opponent with the use of Backstab, SI:7 Agent, and the hero power, or Nerubian Egg + [card]Abusive Sergeant[/card] combo, or to build up the board against slower decks, or fast decks with a bad opening, and try to reach that mid game where this deck truly shines. Good turn 3 damage with Backstab + Hero power is sometimes incredibly good and immensely important.

One of the optimal play would be: Turn 1 Sir Finley Mrrgglton, Turn 2 Nerubian Egg, Turn 3 Unearthed Raptor, Turn 4 Piloted Shredder/Defender of Argus in between the raptor and the egg.

The Mid game. The most important part of the game for this deck. The deck has been made so that with the help of the Unearthed Raptors, Piloted Shredders and Feugen & Stalagg the mid game should be heaven and a proper playground for people of all age. The board should’ve been properly controlled by now and preferably clear and for you to have an Egg out with a lovely Raptor accompanying it, having those two nasty Nerubians lurking in the Deathrattle, awaiting for their chance. There will be a lot of games where there won’t be a need for you to use the coin at all, so getting out Feugen or Stalagg on turn 4 can easily win you games if you play against the right classes, who just don’t manage to reach out to them, and then get hit in the head by Stalagg. Boom! Note that you can even manage to get up to three Stalaggs in the game, but the Unearthed Raptor needs to copy the Deathrattle from the SECOND one of them two that dies, or else the Deathrattle won’t have an effect (unless you copy Stalagg, then play Feugen, then both die before your raptor does). Dark Iron Skulker is also there to keep enemy minions in check and help you control the board, while Defender of Argus is there to keep enemy minions at bay and help you direct the tempo. If you are playing against aggressive decks, the Antique Healbot or the Sludge Belcher should help you quite a bit to give you space to establish your board.

The late game is where you should be working your way up to creating Thaddius, using Sylvanas smartly to get a good minion from and Boom to just own the game like he always does. Even though Sap can be used during the entire game when your opponent uses up his entire mana (5 mana on) to drop a minion which is for example a taunt, in the late game is where Sap really gets to have a deeper meaning when it comes to board control. The more expensive the minion is, and the less board impact it had, the more the Sap will pay off, as that minion will probably never see play again.

I will not name any non-adventure rare cards and lower, the rest I will try to cover, even though you have to be aware that you really shouldn’t expect the same results as I had if you change a lot of the cards from the original setup.

I do believe that the Backstab, Eviscerate, Nerubian Egg, [card]Abusive Sergeant[/card], Unearthed Raptor, Defender of Argus, Fan of Knives, Piloted Shredder, Feugen, Stalagg, Sylvanas Windrunner and Dr. Boom are more or less self-explanatory so I will not explain them, I will rather pay attention to the “unorthodox” cards in this deck which might confuse some.

Sir Finley Mrrgglton – Just an amazing versatile card that can make your game 100% more fun and make a useless hero power into something amazing.

2x Haunted Creeper  – Absolute must because of all the aggro decks. This little spider is amazing as it gets you 3 damage in overall.

1x Bloodmage Thalnos, 1 Loot Hoarder– The spell power is really awesome. 3 damage Backstab on turn 2 is sometimes winning games easily.                            

1x Antique Healbot, 1 Sludge Belcher – I believe that the Belcher can be silenced which ruins your game pretty easily and makes you lose pretty quickly. Healbot is something better, faster, stronger.

1x Dark Iron Skulker – Skulkers are probably one of the biggest MVPs in matches against paladin and warlock. You might consider getting another one in if you are facing a lot of these.

Why no Leper Gnome?  I don’t think there is a need for another 1 HP minion, which doesn’t have that much impact on the board and as I wanted a deck that deals with control as good as with aggro, I decided to leave them out.


Why no Cold Blood? Don’t get me wrong, Cold Blood is a pretty cool spell. But I just used the Abusive Sergeats so many times to trade off that I completely forgot I ever ran Cold Blood. The damage on the minions is alright if you have to stretch out and kill a Twilight Guardian for example, but as there aren’t that many dragon priests the card is usually an overkill of putting on a minion to hit face more and usually go away with the minion that you put it on.

Why no Gang Up? Too slow of a card. Duplicating your minions is all fun and games, but this deck isn’t supposed to go into fatigue, so the chances are pretty big you will never see what you ganged up, while you could’ve played something for the same cost that would have a bigger impact on the board.  

Why no Assassinate or Sabotage? Sap is supposed to help you establish board better and prepare you better for whatever the guy is going to drop. It can also stop your opponent from playing that minion completely, while both assassinate and sabotage are much slower and will usually take you one whole turn to play.

Why no Baron Rivendare?  Don’t get me wrong, Baron Rivendare is a very FUN card, but unfortunately, without any deathrattles on the board, which also happens sometimes of course, it’s a pretty damn useless card. It’s also very hard to trade with it, as it basically doesn’t trade into anything properly, and costs 4 mana. Also, if you have it in your hand, one would actually think of not playing it on an empty board without any deathrattles, simply because it’s more of a combo card than a tempo one, so he had to go out for the sake of legend. RIP, you will always be remembered, prince of darkness. BibleThump

Why no Kel’Thuzad? Tried it out, never gave me too much value unfortunately. It helped me get a minion or two which didn’t even have a solid Deathrattle, so I decided to get him out and never looked back.

Why no Anub’arak? The concept of having him in this deck is amazing, and probably the dream of every control matchup. But he is just TOO. DAMN. SLOW. 9 mana for a minion that can be removed with a 3 mana minion? Nah thanks. The fact that he is leaving a Nerubian behind him doesn’t mean that much, its like getting it Sapped, but somehow managing to break the game and leaving a 4/4 behind. You will still have to spend all of your mana pool in order to get him out, which sucks big time.