Got 2,3,5,7 drops play with 4 you can fill with senjin and you have 2 weapons and now you also can add findley too...
What really keeps a midrange bolster warrior deck back.. I don't know really maybe more early game? A win condition? Some tech cards people didn't think about?
I've ran many variants of Warrior, and Taunt Warrior feels like one of the weaker archtypes. The issue I faced was that while you fill the board with taunts, you aren't capable of applying a lot of pressure. It does great against aggro decks, but is out-paced by say Midrange Pally and out-valued by control decks. It's a fun deck to run though, and it gave me an excuse to use Varian d:
Not enough value. The cards designed to get you the extra value (Bolster, Sparring Partner, King's Defender) are kind of crappy, and don't really give you that much extra value to begin with to make it all that viable. King's Defender is a worse version of Eaglehorn Bow that is capped at 3 charges and requires the condition upon play, not AFTER it's been played.
I would also guess lack of value. I personally think that the buff cards would be good enough, but taunt minions usually have slightly inferior stats. And being taunts, the opponent can't ignore them, but has either to kill or to silence them. So they are dead or not taunts any more.
Since it is anyway not too common that minions stay on board for more than 1 maybe 2 turns (if they do, the winner is often already determined), the result is that the taunts are pretty quick removed from the board, rendering the taunt-buffs useless...
I really like the design on Bolster so I've played around with it some. Taunt minions are typically low impact by themselves, so they need Bolster to make them worth playing. If Bolster is at the bottom of your deck you will lose. Also, since opponents are forced to attack Taunt minions, it's tough to build a board of 3 or 4 of them where you can really start to see value.
Playing around with the card, I happened to create what I think to be the strongest Bolster deck out there. They key was to turn it into a more Tempo style deck, and that requires the addition of Hobgoblin. Hobgoblin not only synergizes well with many of the 1 attack Taunt minions, it also synergizes with the card draw you need to help you draw into Bolster. By playing a lower curve it makes it easier to play a lot of minions and turn bolster into 6/6 or 8/8 worth of stats for 2 mana, and by playing so many taunts it helps protect the Hobgoblin for more than one turn. Most importantly having 2 buffing mechanisms instead of 1 makes the deck much more consistent.
Feel free to check out my deck. In an aggro meta, all the taunts just wrecks hunters, shamans and druids, and I've maintained a decent win rate against secret Pally. Basically everything except freeze Mage or Reno Lock feels winnable at the moment, and I've used it to climb from rank 20-10 so far at a 55-60% win rate, including a 7 game winning streak.
Basically the fact that fatigue warrior based on armor gain and removal has pretty much the same gameplan while being better at it. I suppose taunt warrior has the benefit of being more proactive and not losing as easily to things like paladin and druid, but even then the point remains against basically every other deck.
If I have to build a deck around 2 cards (kings defender/bolster) I expect some decent value and tempo. turns out both synergie cards simply suck and thats why nobody plays a bolster deck.
Basically the fact that fatigue warrior based on armor gain and removal has pretty much the same gameplan while being better at it. I suppose taunt warrior has the benefit of being more proactive and not losing as easily to things like paladin and druid, but even then the point remains against basically every other deck.
The problem is thinking of taunt warrior as the same type of deck as fatigue warrior. Taunt minions are nowhere near strong enough to try and control the board and out value your opponents, trying to create a Bolster deck like a fatigue or control one is a recipe for failure.
Bolster is a tempo card, as is the Dread Corsair which I think is key to any sort of bolster deck when played at 0 or 1 mana. Bolster is ideally 4/4, 6/6 or 8/8 worth of stats for 2 mana, incredible value and tempo if you can set things up right. Unfortunately King's defender is the opposite of tempo so it doesn't synergize with how the deck should be played. A better weapon for a bolster deck would be a 1 mana, 1/2 weapon, "When you control a minion with taunt gain 2 attack" or something along those lines.
For it to see play there needs to be cards like a 2 mana spell, summon 2 1/1s with taunt. Anything to help build a board presence for cheap that you can buff using the key to the deck. Unfortunately with standard being implemented shortly it's unlikely Bolster will ever see regular play unless the new expansion seeks to specifically support it. It's an example of a card that needs more options to support it.
Got 2,3,5,7 drops play with 4 you can fill with senjin and you have 2 weapons and now you also can add findley too...
What really keeps a midrange bolster warrior deck back.. I don't know really maybe more early game? A win condition? Some tech cards people didn't think about?
Maybe make the deck combined with dragon synergy?
I've ran many variants of Warrior, and Taunt Warrior feels like one of the weaker archtypes. The issue I faced was that while you fill the board with taunts, you aren't capable of applying a lot of pressure. It does great against aggro decks, but is out-paced by say Midrange Pally and out-valued by control decks. It's a fun deck to run though, and it gave me an excuse to use Varian d:
Not enough value. The cards designed to get you the extra value (Bolster, Sparring Partner, King's Defender) are kind of crappy, and don't really give you that much extra value to begin with to make it all that viable. King's Defender is a worse version of Eaglehorn Bow that is capped at 3 charges and requires the condition upon play, not AFTER it's been played.
I would also guess lack of value. I personally think that the buff cards would be good enough, but taunt minions usually have slightly inferior stats. And being taunts, the opponent can't ignore them, but has either to kill or to silence them. So they are dead or not taunts any more.
Since it is anyway not too common that minions stay on board for more than 1 maybe 2 turns (if they do, the winner is often already determined), the result is that the taunts are pretty quick removed from the board, rendering the taunt-buffs useless...
Stats; Losing turns for taunts instead of control plays; it could work but it would be more for the late game side versus early/mid.
I really like the design on Bolster so I've played around with it some. Taunt minions are typically low impact by themselves, so they need Bolster to make them worth playing. If Bolster is at the bottom of your deck you will lose. Also, since opponents are forced to attack Taunt minions, it's tough to build a board of 3 or 4 of them where you can really start to see value.
Playing around with the card, I happened to create what I think to be the strongest Bolster deck out there. They key was to turn it into a more Tempo style deck, and that requires the addition of Hobgoblin. Hobgoblin not only synergizes well with many of the 1 attack Taunt minions, it also synergizes with the card draw you need to help you draw into Bolster. By playing a lower curve it makes it easier to play a lot of minions and turn bolster into 6/6 or 8/8 worth of stats for 2 mana, and by playing so many taunts it helps protect the Hobgoblin for more than one turn. Most importantly having 2 buffing mechanisms instead of 1 makes the deck much more consistent.
Feel free to check out my deck. In an aggro meta, all the taunts just wrecks hunters, shamans and druids, and I've maintained a decent win rate against secret Pally. Basically everything except freeze Mage or Reno Lock feels winnable at the moment, and I've used it to climb from rank 20-10 so far at a 55-60% win rate, including a 7 game winning streak.
Taunt like stealth does not provide value unlike deathrattle for example,that is the problem.
Basically the fact that fatigue warrior based on armor gain and removal has pretty much the same gameplan while being better at it. I suppose taunt warrior has the benefit of being more proactive and not losing as easily to things like paladin and druid, but even then the point remains against basically every other deck.
If I have to build a deck around 2 cards (kings defender/bolster) I expect some decent value and tempo. turns out both synergie cards simply suck and thats why nobody plays a bolster deck.
I'd say that Warrior needs a spell that summons multiple Taunt minions.
Give a man a Murloc, and he'll eat for a day.
Give him a Murloc Knight, and people will hate him.