Hearthpwn

Happy New Year everyone! I'm Kuonet, a Taiwanese player plays on NA, EU and Asia server. I reach legend on every server every month with handlock/patron mostly, and climb to top 20 several times.

This month (Jan 2016), I reach legend using crane333's patron deck on Asia server in 15 hours and 21mins. This is my first time winning the legend climbing race and I would like to share the guide for this deck. 

Proof:

(I live in California, server resets at AM 8:00 local time)

Winrate:

VODs:

Rank14 to Rank10   Rank10 to Rank5 (I didn't stream after R5 in case of sniping) 

 Why Patron?

Patron is extremely good in the beginning of the season because most of your opponents play aggro decks and most of aggro decks are countered by patron warrior. However, it requires lots of practice for mastering patron. If you used to play patron a lot, you can rank up really quick; if not, you can watch some good patron streamers like Sjow, Purple and Justsaiyan and learn from their plays.

Why Sir Finley Mrrgglton?

For Patron warrior, hero power is almost useless in every matchup, most of the time you want to spend all your mana playing cards instead of armor up. Sir Finley Mrrgglton provides a better solution for patron. In my opinion, hero power ranking is 

Mage > Priest >> Warlock = Shaman > Hunter >> Druid = Paladin >> Rogue

Warlock hero power is not as good as people think it is, because you may lose tempo by drawing a card.  Priest hero power is pretty good especially when you heal up your Frothing Berserker or Grim Patron and make your opponent unable to deal with it next turn. Mage hero power is the best because you can

• Grim Patron + Hero Power + Whirlwind = 4 * Grim Patron
• Grommash Hellscream + Hero Power = Enraged Grommash Hellscream
• Acolyte of Pain + Hero Power = Draw a card
• Enemy minion + Hero Power = Can be Execute
• Friendly minion + Hero Power = 1 more draw from Battle Rage

Also, don't use Sir Finley Mrrgglton on turn 1 against mage because armor up is the best hero power against freeze mage.

Why Kor'kron Elite?

• Sometimes you need a charger to keep up the tempo, especially when playing against zoolock or mech mage. Also, there are many two attack minions on ladder, for example, Ferel Spirit, Mechwarper, and Dark Peddler, which makes Kor'kron Elite a valuable trade.
• For some matchups you need to put pressure on your opponent. 4 attacks to face may enable Grommash Hellscream lethal in the following turns. Besides of that, you also put a 4/3 body on board, which means your opponent needs to deal with it next turn.

Basic Strategy

• Nowadays, patron is a combo-tempo deck, if you lose the board, you probably lose the game.
• Weapons are more important than past. Against Zoolock and Mech mage, no weapon in the starting hand often indicates a loss.
• In some matchups like Renolock or Priest, you need to ignore AOE spells and go full YOLO. 
• The flow of most of the games is

• Weapons (clear the board) => Grim Patron (force opponent to waste cards to deal with it) or Kor'kron Elite/ Dr. Boom (put on pressure) => Grommash Hellscream (finisher)

Matchup and Mulligan

• Control Warrior/Fatigue Warrior

  Unfavorable matchup. Hard mulligan for Death's Bite and Grim Patron, and keep Inner Rage if you have both. I often keep Acolyte of Pain but it's debatable. Try to flood the board with 4+ Grim Patron, this is the only way to pressure CW. Keep drawing as  fast as possible since patron can't win the fatigue game.

   

  If there are too many CW on ladder, take out Kor'kron Elite and put Piloted Shredder, Loatheb and Ragnaros the Firelord into the deck, this matchup will become super easy if CW doesn't play Justicar Trueheart in the early game.

• Patron Warrior

  Even Matchup. Hard mulligan for Death's Bite and Grim Patron, and keep Inner Rage if you have both. Who makes 4  Grim Patron on turn 5 wins the game. Sometimes you can just SMOrc your opponent down if they don't put pressure on you in the early game. Frothing Berserker is an important tempo card in this game for baiting out Execute or second hit of Death's Bite. Moreover, you can play it with Grim Patron on board, which puts your opponent in an awkward spot.

   

  If there are too many patron warriors on ladder, take out Unstable Ghoul and put Harrison Jones and Loatheb into the deck, these two cards are nightmares for patron warriors.

• Secret Paladin

  Favorable Matchup but the player has to think carefully. Mulligan for Death's Bite, Fiery War Axe, Unstable Ghoul, Whirlwind. If you have a weapon, also keep Armorsmith and Acolyte of Pain.

   

  This is a tricky matchup, the player need to build a decent board before Mysterious Challenger comes out. To achieve this goal, player should use weapon/whirwind effect to clear the board as clean as possible before turn 4. Around turn 4 there could be Keeper of Uldaman or Blessing of Kings, these two cards almost guarantee a good trade, so always think carefully for how to maintain the board state. Execute is really important to keep up the tempo, don't hesitate to use it if you're about to lose tempo in the early game. The best situation is having 2 or 4 Grim Patron on the empty board before turn 6 since it's really hard for secret pally to deal with multiple patrons without Equality. 

   

  For secrets, most of the time if there are 2+ secrets and you don't have a healthy board or weapons, just don't trigger it. Competitive Spirit only should be considered when there are 3+ minions on board.

   

• Midrange Paladin

  Even Matchup, who wins the tempo race wins the game. Mulligan is the same as secret pally. Most of the time you can't play around Equality and Quartermaster, just do your best to create a bigger board.

• Murloc Paladin

  Extremely unfavorable matchup. Two Equality and 4+ heals makes murloc pally hard to be defeated. Execute Doomsayer and Sludge Belcher to keep up the tempo and Try to SMOrc him down.

• Face Shaman

  Favorable matchup. Mulligan for Fiery War Axe, Unstable Ghoul and Armorsmith. Keep Death's Bite if going second. Kor'kron Elite is really useful for dealing with Feral Spirit or other 2 attack minions, and the 1 health left can be very problematic for shaman.

  The most important part for this matchup is to survive until Dr. Boom and Grommash Hellscream come out. Don't be afraid to play all your hands or Execute to keep the board clean. Hero power is the least important thing if your opponent doesn't equip Doomhammer. Try to build a bigger board and force your opponent to trade.

   

  If there are too many face shamans on ladder, put Harrison Jones into the deck and enjoy the free win.

• Face Hunter/Midrange Hunter

  Face hunter is a good matchup, while midrange hunter is in contrast. Mulligan for Fiery War Axe, Unstable Ghoul, Armorsmith, Death's Bite and Acolyte of Pain. The most important concept for this matchup is to build the board and draw as fast as you can, not armor up every turn. It's common to turn around the game around 10HP with Armorsmith and whirlwind effect.

   

  For midrange hunter, the winning condition is multiple Grim Patron on board on turn 5 or turn 6 because it's almost impossible to deal with Savannah Highmane without pre-nerfed Warsong Commander combo. Unlike druid, midrange hunter can put pressure on his opponent from turn 1, which means you can't keep Grim Patron in the starting hand because it's too slow.

• Oil Rogue/Malygos Rogue

  Even Matchup, maybe warrior is slightly favored imo. Hard mulligan for Fiery War Axe and Death's Bite, keep Armorsmith and Acolyte of Pain if there is a weapon in the starting hand. Basically the winning condition is keep the pressure on rogue then kill her with Dr. Boom and Grommash Hellscream. Most rogues can't deal with these two cards because they don't have Big Game Hunter. Kor'kron Elite is also important in this matchup since it can put the pressure on and force rogue to spend Deadly Poison or Eviscerate on it.

   

  Observation is really important in this matchup. Here are two examples:

   

  1. If a rogue uses Deadly Poison on Acolyte of Pain and Shiv + Deadly Poison second charge on Frothing Berserker next turn.

   

  Shiv -> Malygos Rogue -> Only have two Deadly Poison and no Tinker's Sharpsword Oil -> There is a high chance she can't deal with 4 Grim Patron -> equip Death's Bite and ready to make 4 Grim Patron next turn.

   

  2. If a rogue uses Backstab + weapon on Unstable Ghoul on turn 2, next turn she uses Backstab + SI:7 Agent to kill off Frothing Berserker.

   

  I will equip Death's Bite on turn 4 and make 2 Grim Patron on turn 5. Because she has run out of Backstab, she can't Azure Drake + Backstab on turn 5. The best solution is probably Deadly Poison + SI:7 Agent, but we know she already uses 1 SI:7 Agent and didn't use Deadly Poison to kill off the Unstable Ghoul, there is a high chance that she doesn't have these two cards. If she uses Blade Flurry to clear the board, it's also good for me because I can develop my board in the following turns.

• Midrange Druid/Aggro Druid

  Favorable Matchup. Hard mulligan for Fiery War Axe, Death's Bite and Grim Patron. The winning condition against midrange druid is 4+ Grim Patron on board before turn 9, to achieve this goal, you have to play small minions/weapons and Execute in order to keep up the tempo.

   

  For Aggro Druid, Keep Execute and Unstable Ghoul in starting hand. It's a harder matchup compare to midrange druid, you have to keep an eye on life total - Aggro druids can easily put their opponent into lethal range. Use all your resources to keep the board clean except Execute, which should only be used on Fel Reaver, Druid of the Claw and Dr. Boom.

• Control Priest/Dragon Priest

  Unfavorable matchup. Hard Mulligan for Execute, Fiery War Axe and Death Bite. ExecuteDeathlord or Velen's Chosen target. Try to get warlock hero power from Sir Finley Mrrgglton and try to draw as fast as possible. If there is no Battle Rage in hand, it's ok to YOLO 4 Grim Patron on turn 6. Just keep the pressure on, if priest runs out of AOE spells or force to play Auchenai Soulpriest + Circle of Healing with low life in the late game, you may win the matchup with enough cards.

   

  Also, because of Cabal Shadow Priest, don't play Armorsmith or Acolyte of Pain too easily after turn 5. I only play these two cards in the late game when I need to draw with whirlwind effect and/or Battle Rage. Entomb is neglectable in this matchup, most of the time it is used to kill the Frothing Berserker and lose the tempo.

• Tempo Mage

  Favorable matchup. Hard Mulligan for Fiery War Axe and Death Bite. Keep clearing all enemy minions with weapons and try to build the board with Frothing Berserker and Multiple Grim Patron. Make sure to kill the Sorcerer's Apprentice and Flamewaker ASAP, if Flamewaker is behind a taunt just Execute it to prevent huge amount of damage. Flamestrike only should be considered when you're in big advantage since most tempo mages only run at most 1.

• Mech Mage

  Even matchup. Hard Mulligan for Fiery War Axe and Death Bite. It's a matchup of clearing the board and surviving. Use Execute smartly to keep the tempo. Snowchugger should be rushed down ASAP in case you can't swing the weapon in the rest of the game. Keep fighting the board with all your hand, once Mech mage run out of resources and patron still have 10+ HP, the game is over.

• Freeze Mage

  Favorable and tricky matchup. Mulligan for Armorsmith, Execute, Fiery War Axe,  Death's Bite. Actually, all you need are two Armorsmith and two Execute. Don't draw too fast, let the freeze mage draw faster than you. Keep armor up every turn and use Execute on Alexstrasza and Archmage Antonidas. Use Slam + Fiery War Axe or Death Bite to kill Emperor Thaurissan. Always keep one Inner Rage or Whirlwind in hand in order to deal withArchmage Antonidas + freezing spell play.

   

  After Alexstrasza on your face, play double Armorsmith +  minions + double whirlwind effects + Execute and you should be fine. If Emperor Thaurissan haven't being played, the lethal damage should be 20 or 21 (with Bloodmage Thalnos) at most on turn 10. Just carefully count the maximum damage freeze mage can deal and go for the fatigue. Most of the time freeze mage just don't have enough damage and die in fatigue. Sometimes patron warrior may breaks the Ice Block before fatigue and win, but the fatigue plan is still the best strategy against freeze mage.

   

  If there are too many freeze mages on ladder, put Ragnaros the Firelord into the deck and enjoy the easy win.

• DemonZoolock/Zoolock

  Slighty favorable matchup. Hard Mulligan for Fiery War Axe and Death's Bite. One Weapon is usually not enough for this matchup, you need two more weapons to stall the game until making multiple Grim Patron. Voidcaller should not be killed unless you have the answer for the Doomguard or Mal'Ganis. Acidic Swamp Ooze, Shadowflame and Hellfire should not be considered most of the time because most of the players don't run these cards.

   

  Three cards may change the game: Imp-losion, Nerubian Egg and Defender of Argus. Always take these three cards into consideration.

• Renolock/Handlock

  Extremely unfavorable matchup. Mulligan for Death's Bite, Armorsmith, Acolyte of Pain, Frothing Berserker and Unstable Ghoul. Build the board with little minions in the early game and try to draw as much as possible. Frothing Berserker is the best card to play on turn 2 or turn 3, because it's not easy for warlock to deal with 4 health minion. Kor'kron Elite is really important to put on the pressure in the middle game. I often keep double Inner Rage against Renolock to let Grommash Hellscream deal 14 damages. Making only 2 Grim Patron is a good strategy because it makes Renolock kind of awkward to deal with it without AOE spells.

   

  Unfortunately, with Twisting Nether, Shadowflame, Hellfire and Demonwrath, Renolock almost guarantees to have the answer of your board. And last straw - Reno Jackson in the late game can make you not have enough damage to kill your opponent in the rest of the game.

Hope you enjoy the guide and Happy New Year 2016 again!

Please let me know if you have any question and suggestion :)