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Deck of the Week #40: Kolento Warrior Deck

by - 9 years ago

Every Friday a legendary member from team IHearthU breaks down IHU’s “Deck of the Week” . These decks are seeing a lot of play either in constructed ladder or tournaments. Team IHU explains the deck lists and how to play them. View past Deck Lists of the Week.

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Hi I’m Impact from Team IHearthU here bringing you the deck of the week here at BlizzPro.com. Today we will look at Kolento’s Warrior deck from Dreamhack Winter. This Warrior deck was tuned to absolutely destroy aggro decks – which were the most popular archetype in the entire tournament. Most players brought both Zoo and Hunter, so he was able to withstand the aggression as well as use his ban on other strategies, like Handlock or Shaman. I will go as far as saying that the Warrior deck Kolento brought to the tournament was essential to his success. When you plan to bring a control deck to a tournament, every card choice you make is super important. Your deck has to not only be fine-tuned to beat the decks you expect to see, but you have to even question the ‘staple’ card choices. Kolento left out some popular cards in Warrior decks like Harrison Jones and The Black Knight and made smarter metagame calls – which made his deck much better overall for that tournament.   We will go over every card choice as well as point out the particular tech choices that made his warrior deck stand out from the rest.

Deck List

kolento-warrior2 Execute – Arguably the best removal card in the entire game – Execute lets you eliminate any minion with even just one point of damage on it. With Death’s Bite, Cruel Taskmaster, low cost minions, Baron Geddon, Slam and even weapon hits, you will be able to trigger this card super easily and maintain control of the board in pretty much every match up. This card really shines in the control matchups, as it always has.

2 Shield Slam – If Execute was the best removal card in the game, this is quite possibly the second best one. For 1 mana and a bit of set up, you will be able to take out any threat. Shield Slam goes along with the warrior game plan of removing minions while restoring your life in the form of armor. Once the armor hits a critical point, it’s almost impossible for any deck to break through and actually kill you.

2 Fiery War Axe – Not only do warriors have access to the best removal cards in the game, they happen to have access to the best weapon in the game. Often dubbed Fiery Win Axe – games are often decided as early as turn 1 if Warrior has access to Fiery War Axe and the Coin vs aggro.  Later in the game this card gains value with Slam as well as your minions.

1 Slam – While not the strongest removal card, Slam was an excellent tech choice for this event. Slam has been almost entirely rotated out of Warrior builds but this weekend it allowed Kolento to set up huge swings with Death’s Bite as well as give him more cycling and the ability to set up Execute. In addition, it is another card that deals with Knife Juggler and other aggressive low cost minions for only two mana. A very flexible card choice and a perfect fit for a toolbox deck like the Warrior.

2 Armorsmith – Armorsmith allows the warrior player to gain absurd amounts of life combined with the whirlwind effects of Unstable Ghoul and Death’s Bite. In addition, the card is the perfect counter to Leper Gnomes and Haunted Creepers, making this a staple against aggressive strategies.

2 Cruel Taskmaster – Quite possibly the most flexible minion in the game. It can act as removal for 1-health minions like Leper Gnome, it can be cycled with Acolyte of Pain to draw cards and apply pressure. It can trigger Grommash and set up lethal with Death’s Bite after an Alexstraza and can activate execute by itself. No less than 2 in any warrior deck.

1 Ironbeak Owl – A popular tech pick in the recent meta. Ironbeak Owl has been increasing in popularity, pushing out the once popular Spellbreaker. Ironbeak gets the nod due to its cheap mana cost and the ability to silence a turn 1 Undertaker. It also has flexibility silencing taunts in the late game so that you can kill them with the Grommash + Death’s Bite combo.

2 Unstable Ghoul – This card was losing popularity but Kolento decided to play not one but two copies this weekend! This card is your bread and butter against aggro. It effectively blanks all 1-health minions on the board while threatening to kill 2-health minions that are forced to attack it. In addition, it gives you armor with Armorsmith and free cards with Acolyte of Pain. Even though it’s weak in the priest matchup, it shines in the aggro matchup and you can still use it to set up lots of free card draw in matchups like Druid or Shaman where they have to deal with it inefficiently.

2 Shield Block – The best heal card in the game. For 3 mana, you gain 5 life (which activates your Shield Slams) and you draw a card. This is one of the cards that truly gives warrior the resilience to survive rushes as well as give you the bounce-back ability vs stuff like Kill Command. Think about it like this, it negates their Kill Command or Soulfire then draws you a card. When you think about it like that, you really begin to see the power of the card.

2 Acolyte of Pain – This is the deck’s main card draw mechanic. You should only be throwing this card down when you’re able to get multiple card draws off of it guaranteed. For example – you should be using it in conjunction with Death’s Bite to draw extra cards while potentially combining it with the Unstable Ghoul to guarantee even more cards.

2 Death’s Bite – The best midrange weapon, quickly replacing Truesilver Champion as the most annoying weapon. This card allows you to take out deathrattle minions like Haunted Creeper and Harvest Golem with ease (provided they were played before the Death’s Bite) as well as allowing you to kill 5 health minions like Chillwind Yeti, Loatheb and Sludge Belcher. The first half is able to kill early minions such as SI7 Agent, Undertaker, Animal Companion or any minion from zoo. The card also kills every minion in Miracle Rogue except for a large Edwin Vancleef. Truly a powerful card.

1 Sen’Jin Shieldmasta – An additional taunt to slow down aggro to let him get towards his end game. Once Kolento’s used his taunts to drain the opponent of their aggressive forces, he can drop his bombs and trump anything most decks are able to do. In addition, it’s a fairly cheap taunt he can play and still do things in the same turn, like play a Loatheb or weapon, etc. It allows him to fortify his board and protect from early assaults or all-in pushes from the opponent. Great card in the current metagame.

1 Brawl – One of the most feared mass removal spells in the game, this card is used at its best when you are able to combo it with Sylvanas Windrunner or a weapon to full clear the opponent’s board. Most games are won immediately when you get a favorable outcome from the Brawl. You should avoid using this card early as it lets your opponent develop as many minions as they want without fear. Be extra careful when you use this.

1 Loatheb – The best minion in the game. Loatheb allows you to dictate the tempo of the game immediately when you play it. Being able to deny your opponent from playing spells efficiently and being able to interact with you when you’re setting up for the kill or even just stabilizing or snowballing the board is an almost unfair ability. Everyone should know the power of Loatheb by now. Truly a force to be reckoned with.

2 Sludge Belcher – Sludge Belcher has become a mainstay in every control deck since the card’s release. The card is flexible and can be used offensively as well as defensively. The card has harvest golem like stickiness while protecting your life and minions very efficiently for 5 mana. This card’s strength is amplified in Kolento’s deck because of all of the removal and other taunts that by the time you play the Belcher, you’ve run them out of steam. A bit of synergy like that pays off huge when you’re trying to make sure you outlast the aggressive strategies.

1 Sylvanas Windrunner – This card is the most feared card in any control matchup. No card swings the game like a Sylvanas does. This card will steal the tempo of the game immediately when it’s played and if they don’t have a silence, they’re forced to make extremely awkward plays. This, again, is amplified with all of the removal and taunts in the deck. They will use a lot of their answers early to deal with the strong board control and by the time you get to Sylvanas, they won’t be able to answer it efficiently and lose the board almost immediately.

1 Baron Geddon – The trump card in aggro matchups. This card clears entire boards of minions at the cost of only 7 mana and 2 life. This card races aggro decks really easily while making it super hard for them to ever get back on the board. Synergizes with Acolyte and Armorsmith to gain life and draw cards and can be used in combination with stuff like Slam and weapon hits to set up board clears in non-aggro matchups as well.

1 Grommash Hellscream – Grommash is played as the deck’s true finisher. Combined with Death’s Bite or Cruel Taskmaster – you’ll be able to deal 10-12 extra damage out of seemingly nowhere. Best used after Alexstraza on their life so that you can close out the game with Cruel Taskmaster and a weapon once you’ve established complete control of the game.

1 Ragnaros the Firelord – Ragnaros, one of the most powerful cards in the entire game. If you’re willing to put your faith in Ragnaros’ hands, you can potentially be rewarded with instant tempo and a commanding board advantage. This card also is an efficient clock vs Hunter since it lets you beat them without triggering any traps.

1 Alexstrasza – This card can be used to either heal yourself against aggro decks or actively kill them in control matchups. Alexstrasza is an absolute powerhouse that affects the gamestate the second you have 9 mana. Opponents have to play around Alexstrasza because if they hit your life too low and you just Alex yourself back up to 15, they’ve spent all their damage trying to get you over two turns and simply cannot win. Aggro players must have a contingency plan against this card at all times or they will lose. In those tough control matchups – you can use this card to gain insane tempo. You play it on your opponent’s life and you can force them to make awkward plays to not immediately die. Often times though, they’ll still just get killed by Alexstrasza without problems.

The Mulligan

When you’re playing against aggressive decks, you’re looking for your two mana cost cards. If you don’t have an Ironbeak Owl or Fiery War Axe, throw away everything to try and get those cards. If you have one of them, support cards like Taskmaster or Armorsmith are important to have as well. If you have a solid enough curve vs those aggressive decks you can keep Death’s Bite as well. If you keep Death’s Bite you need to plan your game around it, such as save your coin, etc. If you have Fiery War Axe however, you’re going to be on easy street in those matchups.

When you’re playing against control decks, you’re looking for Death’s Bite over all other cards. It’s pretty much the card you will be gaining advantage with. The other control decks have so many ways to outcard you, so you really have to play for total value in these matchups unless you have the tools to tempo them out with Alexstraza into Ragnaros and Grommash.

Against Miracle Rogue – you are looking for Death’s Bite because that card is the number 1 answer to their minion threats. Loatheb is also a must-keep if you’re against Rogue. Simply too strong of a card to not keep against a spell-heavy combo deck.

The Game Plan

The game plan with warrior is to sit back and gain life against control matchups. Your life total will be a buffer between their threats and your actual life total. If you are able to just gain life, you can force your opponent to overextend into you just to begin removing your board. Once you generate the life lead, you can use your removal and weapons to slowly grind back the board control. Once you have it- you can begin to tempo them out with Alexstraza into Ragnaros or Grommash so just try and follow that game plan a lot versus control. The control vs control matchup takes a lot of practice. You won’t understand it at first but hopefully these tips on how to play it give you a bit of an edge even going into practice.

Versus aggressive decks however, you’re looking to establish early board control with the taunts and Armorsmith. Once you have Armorsmith and taunts in place – you will gain life almost at your leisure. This life total puts the aggressive decks out of range to kill you or even touch you in some cases. Mulligan every card for Fiery War Axe as resolving that card is your true win condition against aggro.

Try and stabilize until you can take control of the game with Ragnaros and/or Alexstraza. Once you’ve exhausted the aggro player of resources, you will be able to draw your legendaries and kill your opponent at moments notice.

Final Thoughts

Kolento’s Warrior deck was tailor made to beat aggressive strategies which makes it a perfect fit for the metagame at the moment. If you have the time – you should check out this deck and use it if you’re having trouble climbing in the Zoo/Hunter metagame. In tournaments, this deck should prove useful as it allows you to better build your strategy, the more options you have.

If you want to see this deck and other decks in action, check out my stream at http://www.twitch.tv/impactcg. Don’t forget to check us out at ihearthu.com.

 


JR Cook

JR has been writing for fan sites since 2000 and has been involved with Blizzard Exclusive fansites since 2003. JR was also a co-host for 6 years on the Hearthstone podcast Well Met! He helped co-found BlizzPro in 2013.


0 responses to “Deck of the Week #40: Kolento Warrior Deck”

  1. Marsupial Lion says:

    Isn’t Hunter’s Mark is the best removal card in the game?

    • Hunter’s Mark is very meta dependent. While using it on a minion with 5 or more health can provide significant value, the current meta is very aggro focused. As an aggressive deck in an aggro meta, you would much rather play minions or spells which allow you to trade or race more effectively. Additionally, Hunter’s Mark requires you to have another minion to take advantage of its effect. In many racing situations you may not be able to afford to lose a minion like this or come back from a 1-for-2.