Hearthpwn

INTRODUCTION

I’ve been finding wild to be a really fun and interesting format at the moment – and since there hasn’t been a lot of wild content produced yet, and since I’ve been having a lot of success in the format recently with a fairly innovative deck, I thought I’d produce a guide for it.

That deck is N’Zoth patron – a patron warrior deck with N’Zoth the Corruptor added in and built to maximise N’Zoth value. Current win-rate is 62% over 230+ games, although that includes a fairly lengthy stretch at the beginning where I was still figuring out some of the play patterns and the win-rate hovered around 50%. Moreover, I was able to take this deck from rank 10 to legend very easily, and have found it significantly stronger than more traditional patron variants in wild.

Why put N’Zoth in patron? Well, firstly it gives you a lot of late game power for a fairly low cost – the deathrattle minions I’ve included (Unstable Ghoul, Loot Hoarder, Piloted Shredder, Sludge Belcher, Sylvanas, Boombots) are mostly ones that have floated in and out of patron lists anyway, and clearly all individually support the modern patron game plan. And importantly, adding N’Zoth solves two major problems for patron decks:

1. It gives you a solid and powerful game plan that doesn’t resolve around patron combos. Sometimes you draw badly, and your patrons are stuck at the bottom of your deck. And sometimes you’re getting run over by flood decks and are forced to use your whirlwinds and your activators defensively, rather than saving them to generate patrons. Both those types of games were previously very difficult for the patron player to win – sure, sometimes you could grind out a value game with shredders/elites into Boom into Gromm, but it always felt like you were fighting an uphill battle. Now, with N’Zoth, you can play those sorts of games knowing you’ll be able to put the game away decisively after turn 10 without ever playing a patron. That has huge implications for the sorts of plays you can make.

2. Against control decks packed with sweepers, it effectively gives you a third wave of minions. Patron has traditionally struggled against controlling decks like Control Priest, Control Warrior and Renolock that were able to answer multiple waves of patrons in an efficient and fast way. In my experience, N’Zoth completely changes that. Firstly, the deathrattle minions N’Zoth encourages you to include are good against control decks anyway. Secondly, and more importantly, you now have a way to pressure them after you force them to deal with your patrons – and after you force them to use all of their sweepers.

The above point about fighting control decks is worth some elaboration, as it’s one of the big reasons to play this deck. The way those matchups typically play out now is that you put pressure on them with sticky minions while drawing tonnes of cards with battle rages and acolytes. You add more pressure to the board with patrons, forcing them to use their sweepers – if they play big threats of their own, you deal with them using executes and things like Sylvanas. Typically, both of you will have nearly full hands the whole game and by the time you get close to fatigue you’ve forced them to use a lot of resources dealing with your threats. Then, you play N’Zoth, creating a huge board that is a) filled with taunts, preventing them from killing you if they also have a board and b) filled with sticky minions that are resistant to board clears. They’ll try their best to clear it, but won’t be able to without leaving some of your minions on the board (from shredders, belchers, etc.) and/or taking a lot of damage (from boom bots). This then puts you in a great position to win on the next turn using whatever you still have on the board and Gromm-based burst.

This ability to grind out control decks has turned matchups that were previously very unfavourable, like control warrior and control priest, into very favourable ones. I’ve been facing a lot of these decks on the wild ladder from rank 5 and up, so would recommend considering this deck if you’re playing at that sort of level.

CARD CHOICES

Since this is a new approach to patron, it’s worth going over the individual cards and talking about how they’re used in this deck (I’ll assume familiarity with patron decks in general):

• Inner Rage: core part of the patron engine. Against control decks, you really want to try to save one if possible to use with Gromm to maximise damage the turn after you N’Zoth. Against aggro and midrange decks, don’t be afraid to use them defensively to kill their minions (especially in conjunction with execute). As mentioned above, you can do so much more liberally now that N’Zoth lets you win without using patron combos.
• Execute: another core part of patron decks, not much difference here in how you use it.
• Whirlwind: as with Inner Rage, you can use it much more liberally now to deal with things like Muster for Battle.
• Sir Finley Mrrgglton: some patron players run it, some don’t – but in this particular build it’s been an all-star. The body is very relevant in a lot of matchups – particularly Paladin, where it helps remove divine shields, adds power to early Battle Rages, etc. I’ll almost always pick fireblast if it’s offered as it synergises so well with the rest of your deck – beyond that, you need to make a decision based on the matchup and the game state. Armor Up is even less relevant in this deck than in other patron decks – your survivability in this deck comes in the form of 4 taunts (2 of which are Belchers) plus N’Zoth to bring them back, unlike in other patron decks where your survivability is from your hero power plus Armorsmiths. I’ll talk more about this design decision later.
• Fiery War Axe: one of the best cards to have in your opening hand, the primary way you keep aggro decks from running away with the game before you can spam patrons.
• Battle Rage: another core part of the patron engine, and your main tool for keeping up with control decks. Against mid-range decks, you’ll often want to try to set up a scenario where you can battle rage for a lot of cards as you approach turn 10 to try to find N’Zoth.
• Loot Hoarder: potentially one of the more controversial cards, but I’ve found them to be exactly what the deck wants to be doing in the early turns. Because you have the lategame N’Zoth plan, even more than in traditional patron decks you want to be moving through your deck with substantial velocity. The fact that they apply relevant pressure and trade reasonably makes them even better. You might think that they have anti-synergy with N’Zoth – you want to bring back Shredders and Belchers, not Hoarders, particularly if you’re also bringing back Unstable Ghouls. That’s true against control decks, but in all the games I’ve played I don’t think I’ve ever been burnt by bringing back a Hoarder that could have been something better – you just get so much material on the board anyway that you can afford to waste a few slots (moreover, if you don’t draw them till later on you often won’t need to play them against control). However, against mid-range decks the Hoarders are often fine to bring back. In those sorts of matchups, you’re typically N’Zothing much earlier, before you’ve even had a chance to play all your bigger deathrattle minions, and you just want to win off the back of post-N’Zoth value.
• Unstable Ghoul: even better here than in normal patron decks, because after you N’Zoth you want lots of taunts on the board to protect your bigger threats (N’Zoth, Sylvanas) and your face.
• Acolyte of Pain: keeps the cards flowing, same as in normal patron.
• Frothing Berserker: not a core part of your game plan, but tough for a lot of decks to deal with and occasionally lets you play a very different sort of game. Definitely worth a slot as a one-of.
• Death’s Bite: crucial card on multiple axes, always keep a copy in mulligans.
• Piloted Shredder: great card to bring back with N’Zoth, key part of your midrange plan.
• Grim Patron: obvious.
• Sludge Belcher: probably the best card to bring back with N’Zoth. Against control decks, you’ll often want to be planning out specific turns to play your Belchers to make sure you get them down before N’Zoth.
• Sylvanas Windrunner: another great card to get back with N’Zoth, while also giving you more ‘power plays’ against midrange decks. A curve of Shredder into Belcher into Sylvanas into Boom is often enough to win a game on its own, regardless of the patron and N’Zoth engines.
• Dr. Boom: has been a staple in patron for a while. The boombots are surprisingly good to get back with N’Zoth, and actually synergise well with Unstable Ghouls. If your opponent doesn’t have a board, they add extra face damage to help you close out the game. And if they do, they will often help protect your bigger threats like N’Zoth and Sylvanas. If you have a Ghoul as well, they will have to deal with the Ghoul before they can attack N’Zoth/Sylvanas – and often, the damage from the ghoul plus damage from the boom bots will be enough to take out their minions before they can use them to answer your threats.
• Grommash Hellscream: as mentioned above, very synergistic with N’Zoth, and they combine well for a lot of late game damage that control decks can’t deal with.
• N’Zoth the Corruptor: said plenty about him already.

The most notable card not in the deck is probably Armorsmith. After playing the deck extensively, I’m confident that you don’t need them. Your game plan is all about digging through your deck while applying relevant pressure, and Armorsmith doesn’t help with those goals. I’d much rather spend my early turns playing Loot Hoarders and Ghouls, that actively help with the deck’s game-plan while ensuring more value from N’Zoth if I need to play one early.

Between your Belchers and your Ghouls and your N’Zoth bringing them all back, you have the potential to play 12 taunt minions over the course of a game. That should be all the survivability you need in the vast majority of matchups.

The one matchup where not having Armorsmiths does hurt you is Freeze Mage – experienced patron players will know that the plan in that matchup was normally to use Armorsmiths to make more armor than they can deal with and force them to fatigue. However, I’ve run into very little freeze mage on the ladder, so don’t feel that this is a major issue. And the matchup is certainly winnable even without Armorsmiths, given the amount of pressure you apply – it’s close to 50%. If you see a lot of Freeze, then yes, you should definitely consider adding them back in, but otherwise it’s simply not worth it.

MULLIGANS

As wild is still an unsettled format, I don’t think it’s worth going over specific mulligan advice for individual match-ups; a lot of classes don’t yet have distinct deck identities. Broadly, you’re looking for two sets of cards:

• Against aggro or midrange decks (e.g. Zoolock, Shaman, Secret Paladin) you want ways to interact with their board early – Sir Finley, Fiery War Axe, Loot Hoarder, Unstable Ghoul, Frothing Berserker, Death’s Bite, sometimes Whirlwind and Acolyte of Pain (dependent on what deck you expect and what else is in your hand).
• Against controlling or combo-ish decks (e.g. Control Warrior, Patron Warrior, Control Priest) you want ways to pressure them as you push towards a Patron turn – Sir Finley, Loot Hoarder, Death’s Bite, Frothing Berserker, sometimes Grim Patron, Inner Rage, Piloted Shredder, Whirlwind (dependent on what deck you expect and what else is in your hand), Fiery War Axe if you know what you want to answer with it (e.g. Northshire Cleric).

MATCHUPS

As lots of people may not have played much wild yet, I’ll also go over each individual class and cover the sorts of decks you might expect, how the deck fares against them and important points to be aware of. Note that the below is based on the EU ladder – your mileage may vary.

Warrior [26-9]

I’ve faced a relatively even split of control warriors and patron warriors, and some control warriors seem to have adopted N’Zoth. Against control, you’re a heavy favourite – force them to use their brawls on your patrons and then play N’Zoth and follow up with Gromm to kill them. Against patron you’re a slight favourite. As has always been the case in the mirror, whoever makes 4+ patrons first usually wins. Having Loot Hoarders though means that you’re slightly more consistent at doing that, and all of your sticky deathrattle minions plus N’Zoth means that if both of you stumble at making Patrons, you can normally win. As always in the mirror, be wary of playing Unstable Ghouls.

Shaman [11-13]

Most shaman decks in wild are aggro, and most seem to have adopted Flamewreathed Faceless, as in standard. There are also a smattering of totem and midrange strategies. In the pre-standard era, I always felt that Shaman vs Patron was close to a 50/50 matchup. Now, I think you’re a clear underdog, as their deck asks so much of you. In order to win, you have to have a way to answer their early threats without taking too much damage, AND you have to get a taunt down to block their Doomhammer attacks, AND you have to have an Execute for their Flamewreathed, AND you have to start applying enough pressure in the mid-game that you can close out the game before they can just burn you out. Sometimes you manage to do that, but if you stumble at all you just lose.

Rogue [4-0]

Rogues are virtually non-existent in Wild, and I believe all the Rogues I’ve faced have been Miracle decks. With Blade Flurry nerfed, they don’t have good answers to your Patrons, and they definitely don’t have good answers to N’Zoth. Confident in saying this is an easy matchup (despite the small sample size).

Paladin [49-29]

Paladin is, as you could probably guess, far and away the most popular class in Wild. However, something interesting has been happening to the decks. Essentially, you now have 3 core Paladin strategies in wild: Flood Aggro, Secrets and N’Zoth Control. For each of those strategies, there are decks that focus on one aspect, but there are also hybrid decks: you can play Aggro Secret Paladin, and you can play Secret N’Zoth Paladin. Then there are also Anyfin Paladin decks which are a bit rarer and exist separately, doing their own thing and mostly not hybridising with the other strategies.

I think N’Zoth Patron is a favourite against pretty much any Paladin deck, but the variety of strategies can make things tricky – you don’t know whether you need to get on the board before their Challenger turn or whether you’re supposed to play around Equality + Consecration/Wild Pyromancer. My approach has been to mulligan as if you’re facing a relatively aggressive build of Secret Paladin (i.e. look for FWA to answer Secretkeeper and Juggler, Ghoul and Whirlwind to answer Muster, etc.) as in my experience the main way you lose against Paladin is by not having good answers to their early threats, allowing them to put the game away with Challenger.

Against aggressive builds, if you can deal with their early aggression and then make Patrons on turn 5/6, you should win. Against all other builds, if you can survive to the late game with enough resources, you should be able to win off the back of N’Zoth.

Hunter [6-5]

Difficult to say too much about this matchup given the small sample size. There seem to be Face Hunters, Midrange Hunters and Midrange Hunters with N’Zoth. Against Face Hunters, you’re a slight favourite – if you can deal with their early aggression without taking too much damage, you should be in good shape, but if you can’t then they can often put the game away with Unleash the Hounds. Against Midrange, you’re a very clear favourite, as you can afford to take a bit more damage and they just don’t have good ways of dealing with your Patrons or your sticky deathrattle minions.

Druid [1-4]

Like Rogues, virtually non-existent in wild. I think the above record reflects the fact that I got quite unlucky against the few druids I’ve faced (which have been mostly C’Thun with maybe one ramp druid) – as theoretically Druid doesn’t have good ways to deal with Patrons or a way to close a game out anymore.

Warlock [17-9]

Warlocks in wild seem to be a relatively even split between Zoo and Renolock, but there are many different flavours of both. You’re a favourite against most forms of Renolock and Zoo if they’ve built it similarly to Standard Zoolock, with lots of board flood and one-health minions, but you can sometimes struggle against builds of Zoolock with more sticky minions and/or more reach. Also sometimes they have an early Giant and you don’t have an Execute and you just lose – nothing you can do. Against Renolocks you just need to be careful you don’t fall behind on resources (i.e. make sure to get lots of value from your Acolytes and your Battle Rages). Reno himself is typically largely irrelevant in the matchup.

Mage [20-14]

Mage decks seem to be going in some strange directions in Wild – you have Freeze Mages, and then you have a weird continuum that starts with hyper aggressive builds of Tempo Mage and then gradually gets more controlling. Freeze Mage is close to a 50/50 matchup, as mentioned earlier – you can’t win through Armor like other variants of Patron, but they do have to have good answers to your pressure, and you can use Gromm and your weapons to pop Ice Block quite quickly. Pure Tempo Mages you’re maybe a slight underdog against, as they can often get in a lot of damage early and then ignore your board of Patrons and kill you with Fireballs – consider saving Finley and Ghouls for Mirror Entity. More controlling Mage decks you’re a favourite against, as it’s hard for them to get damage in in the mid-game while also dealing with your board, and then N’Zoth often puts the game away.

Priest [13-7]

Most of the Priest decks I’ve faced have been Control Priests, and that’s a very favourable match-up and plays very similarly to the Control Warrior matchup. There have also been a smattering of C’Thun priests, which is closer to 50/50 and basically comes down to whether you N’Zoth before they C’Thun or vice versa.

CONCLUSION

To sum up – having piloted this deck to legend and tried various versions of Patron in wild, I’m convinced that this deck represents one of the best ways to build Patron Warrior. It has almost all of the strength of traditional Patron builds, while also adding consistency and turning some traditionally unfavourable matchups into very favourable ones. If you want a Patron deck in wild, particularly if you’re running up against a lot of control decks, this is a solid option.

It’s also an absolute blast to play, as N’Zoth and Grim Patron both let you flip games you had no business winning. If you have any questions about the deck, just ask in the comments.