by JR Cook - 11 years ago     show comments

Garrosh Hellscream.

The now deposed Warchief of Azeroth summons a number of colorful descriptors when mentioned, most of them not flattering. Tyrannical, brutal, shortsighted, these are just a few of negative adjectives associated with the son of Grom Hellscream. What he cannot be called though, is a coward. Garrosh Hellscream does not turn down fights. Quite the opposite, in fact. He welcomes them. Being something of a lore guy, I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to try and construct a competitive deck honoring one of the most over the top villains in the Warcraft universe.

At present, the Warrior set is one of the weaker ones in Hearthstone. The hero power, Armor Up! does effectively nothing to assist a player in obtaining board control. It’s a stall ability, and unlike Anduin, Garrosh is, perhaps fittingly, only capable of ‘healing’ himself, as opposed to his allies on the battlefield. The area where the Warrior deck does excel though is in boosting the offensive capabilities of minions with enrage, and that’s what this deck, aptly titled ‘Warrior’s Call’, is built to do.

Card List:

• Inner Rage x 2
• Execute x 2
• Whirlwind x 2
• Fiery War Axe x 2
• Cleave x 2
• Slam x 2
• Cruel Taskmaster x 2
• Amani Berserker x 2
• Ironbeak Owl x 2
• Raging Worgen x 2
• Tauren Warrior x 2
• Dark Iron Dwarf x 1
• Gnomish Inventor x 2
• Azure Drake x 2
• Gurubashi Berserker x 2
• Gorehowl x 1

Warrior’s Call is less of a rush deck, and more of a combo deck. Success hinges on getting control of the board before unleashing a massive, one or two minion assault, utterly obliterating your opponent. The most obvious strength of this deck is the amount of burst damage it can put out. Chaining the proper spells and minions together can easily allow you to drop up 15 to 20 points of damage in one turn. The major weakness of this deck is that it’s a combo deck. It needs multiple spells in one turn to function properly. This weakness is lessened by having a fair amount of card draw, ensuring that you’re always cycling towards a spell or two that will make your Gurubashi Berserker a nightmare to deal with.

Amani Berserker, Raging Worgen, Tauren Warrior and Gurubashi Berserker are the meat and potatoes of the deck. They’re interesting minions because, once damaged, they begin to hit incredibly hard. What’s more, because you’ll have access to spells like Whirlwind, Slam, Inner Rage and the minion Cruel Taskmaster, you’ll usually have a way to buff them to their highest damage. This will force your opponent to need immediate answers. What’s great is that, the buffing spells and minion also function as low strength board control, especially in conjunction with Warrior hallmark Execute. There’s nothing more satisfying than utilizing a combo such as Inner Rage and Execute to take down someone’s Malygos. Sure, you spent two cards to take out one, but can’t you just feel them raging through the internet?

Azure Drake provides much needed card draw, along with a slight damage boost to board control spell Cleave. It’s important to be careful, though. Azure Drake’s +1 spell power boost will also boost the damage on Whirlwind, Inner Rage and Slam. That can be good and bad. It’s not always beneficial to do more damage with Whirlwind, especially if you’re just looking to pop multiple enrages across your own board. Gnomish Inventor is a sturdy minion that cycles cards, and Slam can either be used to destroy a minion, or wound it and give you a card. Dark Iron Dwarf should be used when it’s time to make your big strike. If, however, the match goes south and you need to clog the board, he’s also a reasonable 4/4.

Fiery War Axe and Gorehowl allow Garrosh to get on the field himself and take down troublesome minions or, if the situation’s right, end the match with a final, murderous blow. Ironbeak Owl is in here because it’s one of the best cards in the game and should be in every deck, no matter what class or strategy. It perfectly counters entirely too many cards to be left out.

Early in the game, drop Amani Berserker and see if you can’t bait out kill cards. His three toughness makes him inconvenient to deal with, and it’ll be tempting to just use a card to take him down, rather than mess with his enrage. Avoid dropping multiple minions against Hunters, Shamans and other Warriors. Each of those classes feature a kill card that requires at least two minions on the board. The ideal opening hand for this deck includes a Fiery War Axe. The turn two weapon will allow you to keep the board favorable while you set up cards like Raging Worgen, Tauren Warrior and Amani Berserker.

In the midgame, try and get Gurubashi Berserker to stick. If he does, drop your spells, buff him up to something absurd and begin rolling your opponent. This deck, while solid in the early and mid game can stall out late game, so don’t wait too long to begin your offensive. Armor Up!, while not totally useful here, should be used as a mana dump at the end of turns. It never hurts to have more health.