Hearthpwn

INFO ABOUT ME

My  hearthstone nick is Buckbeard , im x10 times legend player , i reached several times top 100+ but only two top 100 finish (both with hybrid hunter) , here you can see my  top 86 finish  ,  http://eu.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/19817949/hearthstone-july-2015-ranked-play-season-final-rankings-08-08-2015 , besides ladder i have also won several open tournaments like gfinity , strivewire and so on.

I made a hunter guide before this one where you can find here:http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/471108-s25-top-17-legend-hybrid-hunter-in-depth-guide#c146, my aim was to help lower rank players to climb in the ladder , unfortunately blizzard released the expansion before the end of the season and also nerfed some core cards of this deck and now its not that usefull for low rank players , so i decided to make a new standard guide , the old guide is still usefull though to get some idea about this game and how you should play and it can also be potentially usefull for wild , i didnt test it so i dont promise anything.

I decided not to make another guide for hunters because i think hunter is a new class right now and the best way to play him is not determined yet , hunter has very weak early game and the bans hit him very hard , im not sure what direction he will take now , i can still win on the ladder but i dont feel i perform as good as i did before the release of standard. Pirate warrior is much more similar to the old hybrid hunter deck and also fit well with my deckbuilding style , i reached top 50 with it with 75%+ wr going 14-3 but i recorded only the last 8 games.

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 GAMEPLAY AND TOP 50 PUSH

In this video  i play 8 games where i go 7-1 and reach top 50 , i think the videos are enough to give you an idea how to play this deck but i may upload more of them in the future. There might be some misplays in the video but none is perfect.

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DECK'S  GUIDE

1. INTRODUCTION

Before the release of wog i predicted that pirate aggro will be tier 1 , i play aggro and midrange decks alot and that make it easy for me to notice when something has a lot of potential , the cards made a lot of impression to me , cards like N'Zoth's First Mate and Bloodsail Cultist can offer tremendous tempo on the early game and thats what you want to play successfully an aggro deck , also finishers like Malkorok combined with the crazy reach of aggro warrior lead to this fantastic deck , i dare to say its the best face deck right now and far superior to shaman or to any other aggro deck.

 

 

2.  MULLIGAN

 Mulligan is complicated , i try my best to cover as much as possible but its impossible to cover every single scenario , you should try to be creative and think ahead with your mulligans ,  you should ask yourself:  how my curve will look like during the next turns? whats my chance to draw a specific card that i currently need but dont have?  are my cards good against opponent's class? 

 

GOING FIRST WITHOUT COIN

 

1-cost cards

Always keep:  N'Zoth's First Mate  and  Sir Finley Mrrgglton

 

2-cost cards

Always Keep two of these:  Fiery War Axe >  Flame Juggler > Huge Toad 

 

3-cost cards

Always keep one of these: Frothing Berserker or Bloodsail Cultist 

 

 

GOING SECOND WITH COIN

 

1-cost cards

Always keep:  N'Zoth's First Mate   and  Sir Finley Mrrgglton 

 

2-cost cards

Always Keep three of these:  Fiery War Axe >  Flame Juggler > Huge Toad > Bloodsail Raider 

 

3-cost cards

Always keep one of these if you have at least one 2-cost minion , N'Zoth's First Mate or Fiery War Axe :  Frothing Berserker or Bloodsail Cultist  

 

 

Exceptions and tips

Never keep more than one N'Zoth's First Mate

Never keep more than one Fiery War Axe

You can keep Dread Corsair if you have Fiery War Axe and if you are going second you can keep even two of them

You can keep Bloodsail Raider when you are going first if you have N'Zoth's First Mate or Fiery War Axe and never keep more than one Bloodsail Raider when you are going second and you dont have early weapons.

You can keep a Kor'kron Elite  if you have perfect curve

 

 

3.  MATCHUPS AND STRATEGY

 

General Gameplan

Our plan is to curve well and outtrade+outtempo hard the opponent during the first 2-3 rounds , after this our gameplan varies depending on our hand and how the game is going , in some cases we want to keep trading and in others we want to go for a face push  and in others we want to do both , its hard to give an answer for every single scenario regarding this , gameplay videos will make it easier to understand this part.

 

Vs Cthun Druid  -  We are favorite 60/40

This is a good matchup for us because we can destroy the druid during the early game with our weapons and superior minions and we can gain insane tempo  , it will be VERY hard for him to keep up with us unless he has Innervate , its also easy for warrior to deal with big taunts like Dark Arakkoa thanks to Arcanite Reaper.

 

Vs Hunter - We are favorite 65/35

This deck eats hunter for breakfast , we crush hunter so much during the early game to the point where he can do nothing about it , its exactly the same story like with druid , we outrade him very hard early and its hard for him to recover from this.

 

Vs Paladin Control  - We are favorite 60-40

Paladin control comes in many versions but pretty much all of them no longer have Antique Healbot and Sludge Belcher , just curve well , made good trades when they arise or push face otherwise , he simply reacts to what you are doing , he cant deal with the sick damage of warrior.

 

Vs Rogue - we are favorite 60-40

Rogue is so weak right now , people experiment with deathrattle builds or random control decks but all of them stand no chance to the explosive early game of pirate warrior , they pretty much get destroyed later on due to inability to heal.

 

Vs Zoolock - We are the outsider 45/55

This is probably one of the few bad matchups of this deck , unfortunately zoolock is very popular atm , its very hard to outrade a zoolock because he can always turn it around and it never ends , sometimes you will dominate him but those times will be rare , with the addition Forbidden Ritual zoolocks can pull a lot of combos who are very hard to deal with  , your aim is still the same in this matchup , exploit your superior early game and capitalize on it , the difference is that you will meet more resistance here.

 

Vs Renolock - We are favorite 60-40

Renolocks are very weak atm and not popular , they lost Zombie Chow , Sludge Belcherand Antique Healbot ,they can still be a pain when they draw Reno Jackson but overall they are very weak and you will overwhelm them most of the time.

 

Vs Shaman - Coinflip matchup

Shaman is the only class with a very strong curve similar to pirate warrior , our curve is still better than theirs but they make up later for this with the Flamewreathed Faceless , that minion is VERY hard to deal with and warrior has nothing up to this level but the good news are that our early game is a bit stronger and if we overwhelm them and come out ahead  we will be able to win usually.

 

Vs Cthun Priest - Coinflip matchup

We can destroy the priest in the early game but his big heals can help him stabilize later on and turn the game around , its a tough matchup but it can go either way.

 

Vs Dragon Priest - We are favorite 60-40

Dragon priest has better curve than cthun priest but he has no heal and his curve even though its better  its still no contest for our curve , we will usually destroy him early and there will be nothing he can do.

 

Vs  Cthun Control Warrior - Coinflip matchup

Cthun warrior has alot of armor gain and removal which make things hard for us but if we curve well then we will still win more often than not because control decks are inconsistent and they will not always have answers for our threats.

 

Vs Tempo Mage - We are favorite 55-45

Tempo mage is popular and  strong aswell , our plan is the same aswell , curve well early and outtrade him , our deck is more consistent than his so we will come out ahead often enough.

 

vs Freeze Mage - We are favorite 75-25

Freeze is not popular and there are good reasons for this , its very easy to push around this deck now and even cthun decks can beat it , Mad Scientist ban was fatal for freeze mage as it was for hunters too , with our insane reach and armor up we should never lose to freeze mages.

 

 

4. DECKBUILDING CHOICES AND METAGAME

 

 My pirate version is more aggressive than other pirate decks with the addition of Mortal Strikeand Heroic Strike because i think thats the best way to play this deck , you cant control the game forever especially in this meta with all the cthun and deathrattle decks around , you get the tempo boost early and then you need the reach to finish it , cards like Cruel Taskmaster or Execute are inconsistent and not neccesary , cards like Acolyte of Pain or Ravaging Ghoul are simply not for this deck , they dont help the purpose of this deck , lastly Malkorok offers insane tempo and finishing potential , he is like the god of this deck and you handicap yourself by not including him in the deck.

 

Also i personally love heavy 2-cost minion builds thats why i use cards like Huge Toad  , i do that because it gives me more options during my mulligan ,for ex.  i can keep 3-cost cards easier and stuff like that because i have high expectation to draw a 2-cost minion.

 

For those who will ask for replacements , no card is replaceable on this deck.

 

 

5.  EPILOGUE

I tried to keep this guide smaller compared to my first one on purpose so it will be more readable and because i noticed people prefer gameplay material and learn better this way. I hope you enjoy it and win with this deck.