by JR Cook - 10 years ago     show comments

Heh, greetings! My name is Kevin Hovdestad, and I’m very pleased to have joined BlizzPro’s Hearthstone team to help provide you with a look at high level Hearthstone play. Whether it’s recent tournament-winning deck lists, great decks for Ranked play, analyzing the shifting meta in top end play, or simply discussing card valuation (whether for constructed or draft format), I hope you will find the columns useful, educational, and entertaining!

I try to stream several times per week at OdinnTV on Twitch, and would be happy to have you join me there to get more in-depth answers about decision making, or just so you can revel in the innumerable and varied mistakes I inevitably make when streaming.

This week, I wanted to bring you a competitive take on the Control Warrior. It’s an expensive decklist to craft, but its success is less about its expensive cards and more about carefully considered use of the inexpensive core class cards!

The Decklist

First off, let’s walk through what cards are in the deck and why:

2x Execute – Control Warrior plays heavily on getting valuable trades and keeping your opponent from developing an overwhelming board presence. Execute is your hard removal to facilitate that. Ideally, you want to pair it with a low-cost, low-damage spell like Whirlwind or Slam, or even the point of damage from a Cruel Taskmaster, to clear beefy enemy minions. In an emergency, though, running one of your minions into a threatening enemy minion and taking it off the board with Execute can be the difference between victory and defeat. Don’t be afraid to use it on a buffed Knife Juggler against a Zoo deck!

2x Shield Slam – One of the most cost-effective spells in the game, played well. At worst, you can do two damage for three mana on the back of your Hero Power; at best, you might have enough Armor built up to use it to clear Ysera! As with Execute, use these efficiently – clearing a 4/2 minion in an aggro deck is as good a trade as using a Shield Slam to blow up your opponent’s Ragnaros. The Shield Block into Shield Slam combo on turn four is one of the best anti-Yeti solutions in the game, too.

2x Whirlwind – As much as it does damage to your opponent’s minions, this is a defensive card. You’re almost always using your Whirlwinds to build armor with your Armorsmiths, draw cards from your Acolytes, or buff up your Berserkers. A turn 9 Grommash with Whirlwind is one of the best finishers in the game, too.

2x Fiery War Axe – One of the best weapons in the game for its cost, and probably second only to Truesilver Champion overall right now. Great against aggro decks, emergency face damage, or even just as a way to set up an Execute and keep your board control.

2x Slam – Quick and dirty damage. This multi-purpose card will do everything from clear Knife Jugglers, to help cycle your deck late game, to setting up Execute combos, to hitting your own minions for armor/draw/enrages. There’s almost no wrong way to use this spell.

2x Armorsmith – In almost every matchup, you want to mulligan for one or both of these ladies aggressively. They pair well with your spells, help take advantage of your growing or established board presence by converting it into armor, and combo excellently with your Taskmasters and Berserkers. A phenomenal opening play is to Coin out an Armorsmith on turn one, then hit her with the Battlecry from a Cruel Taskmaster turn two. You’ve got armor and a 3/3 minion that can clear almost anything that could be on the board, plus an almost guaranteed minimum of another point (or more) of armor from her effect.

2x Cruel Taskmaster – Exceptional minion is exceptional. Early game, he can clear weak minions on your opponent’s board or power up your minions. Late game, he can be the necessary cog to facilitate an Execute, or fire up your Grommash. There’s almost always a great play for this guy. He pairs with almost every other minion you run beautifully.

2x Shield Block – Armor does a lot of work for Warriors. It’s what stops Mages in their tracks, slows down aggro decks, facilitates your Shield Slams, and makes going for it with Gorehowl possible. These are also a couple of your guaranteed ways to get card draw, which can be crucial as the game wears on – especially if your Acolytes don’t get to fire multiple times.

2x Acolyte of Pain – The primary draw engine for this deck. With Whirlwind, Taskmasters, Slam, and Geddon, you have lots of ways to set them off yourself. They also pair to malicious effect with Armorsmiths or Berserkers on the board. You won’t always get the amount of draw you want out of them, but they tend to be a priority target for your opponent’s silences, which draws them out before your Cairne or Ysera hit the table.

2x Frothing Berserker – This is a contentious slot. A lot of people have transitioned to running Kor’kron Elite for the fast damage and emergency removal, but this deck is all about momentum. You’re rarely, if ever, going to get a chance to attack with this minion as a 2/4 – it’s all but assured to be a 3/4, 4/3, or even stronger by the time it gets to play. If your opponent is wasting removal or silences on these, that’s great for you. If you can hide it behind a taunt or hit a board with a lot of minions with a Whirlwind or Geddon, these can become the source of the majority of your damage very, very quickly.

2x Sen’jin Shieldmasta – Again, probably not how a lot of people are running this deck any more. You might be seeing Cleave, or a Big Game Hunter, or Black Knight, or Harrison Jones, or any number of other things instead. This card slot is what I like to refer to as the anti-meta slot – it’s a place where you can fill your deck with whatever is appropriate for what you’re seeing right now, because it isn’t central to the deck’s success. Personally, I like the taunts to protect Armorsmiths and Berserkers, or to slow down aggro and mid-game decks while you fish for your solutions to them. If you find yourself in need of BGH (vs. Handlock), Black Knight (vs. Druid), Harrison Jones (vs. Shaman), Kor’kron Elite, or otherwise, replace these guys.

1x Brawl – You’ll play maybe one game in 20 where you really wish you had a second one of these, and maybe one game in every 10 where it’s a totally dead drop. In every other game, you’ll either play it, or be mad as sin that it didn’t show up. RNG can make you very, very unhappy sometimes, but generally speaking, there is no better value board clear in the game when you’re behind.

1x Cairne Bloodhoof – Solid value, and a good filler on your way to the big legendaries. Baits silence and removal (Polymorph, Hex, etc.) because of the Deathrattle – no one wants to deal with Double Yeti – but you can often use him to great effect as a damage dealer, combo into Brawl, or just to get your opponent using up their critical spells.

1x Gorehowl – Sometimes a seven damage for seven mana burst to end games, but Gorehowl will most often help you clear out your opponent’s mid-game minions. Every swing after the first one is tremendous bonus value.

1x Baron Geddon – I hated this guy for some seven years, but that’s a story for another time. Great for clearing out low hit point minions on your opponent’s board and feeding the damage taken effects on yours, Geddon is also your first line of defense to fish out your opponent’s (usually lone) Big Game Hunter before Ragnaros or Grommash make an appearance.

1x Grommash Hellscream – Ideally one of your win conditions, the big finisher with Grommash and a Whirlwind, Slam, or Taskmaster can be devastating. Sometimes, though, you need that four damage charge and to bait out removal or just buy yourself a turn, and as much as that’s not what you want, it’s okay in a pinch.

1x Ragnaros the Firelord – That random burst of purging fire is often set up to go straight for your opponent’s face, which is ideal. When it’s not, you’re often actually looking for him to clear a crucial enemy minion. Wherever possible, try to set the board up so that no matter what he hits, you’re getting a good trade if you lose Raggy.

1x Alexstrasza – An offensive damage dealer in drawn-out games or a defensive emergency heal, Alexstrasza’s value cannot be understated. Remember – if you’ve got a weapon out, take whatever damage you need to (and can survive!) BEFORE she comes into play, if you’re using her for the heal.

1x Ysera – This is a judgement call, and lots of people don’t bother. Personally, I love Ysera, because she avoids a lot of the non-class hard removal (BGH), sits in the blind spot for Priests, and the spells she coughs up can be game-changing. As a Warrior, I’d say you’re hoping for Ysera Awakens 90% of the time, but none of the Dream cards are poor value.

How To Play It

That’s a lot of words to get you through why this deck is set up the way it is! If you’ve made it this far, thanks for sticking it out – now, let’s talk about how to play with the deck. The individual card explanations hopefully gave you some idea of what the general angle is, but the more you know, the better you’ll be able to play this style of deck and the class in general.

One thing to note right out the gate: There is no hard counter to this deck. Every matchup is winnable, and most are even favorable. A huge portion of your success will come down to successful mulligans, efficient trades, and a little bit of draw luck. You’re most likely to struggle with lucky Zoo Warlocks, Miracle Rogues that catch you with light armor and/or no taunts, or the meteorically popular midrange style of Shaman. Basically, decks that have really massive burst damage potential paired with tempo (Miracle Rogue is the best example of this) or decks that can easily flood the board (Zoo, Shaman, certain styles of Token decks) have the best chance of catching you without the right answers in hand.

For mulligan advice, I always recommend trying to get your one and two drops in hand to start. Ideal opening hands will have an Armorsmith, a Fiery War Axe, or maybe a Slam. If you’re reasonably confident you’re dealing with something like a Handlock or a Ramp Druid, it’s not a bad idea to hold or fish for an Execute, too. Against Shaman or Warlocks who don’t mulligan as aggressively (usually indicative of some kind of aggressive deck, as opposed to Handlock), you can choose to hold Brawl, but that’s probably the only time keeping anything above a three drop is a good idea.

Control decks are all about keeping your opponent from leaving something up unanswered. You don’t absolutely have to clear the board every turn, but you should be looking for cost efficient ways to do that, and to build your own board. Your best case early game is to be dropping Armorsmiths, Acolytes, or Berserkers in tandem with one another, or paired with Taskmasters for the damage effect. Ideally, you’re seeing Executes, Whirlwinds, Shield Slams, and Shieldmastas come up on your draw to develop follow ups.

When you don’t have a good play or don’t have an immediate threat to respond to, Armor Up! You’re looking to build up a buffer against incoming damage and set up your Shield Slams. Against opposing control-style decks, you can easily get 10-15 armor before they can keep something sticky on the board. Against aggressive decks, it helps buy you critical time to get your removal and other answers out.

If you have more questions about how to play this awesome deck style, hit me up! I’m happy to go deeper in the comments.