Introduction
Hello Hearthstoneplayers Premium Community, and what a nice day! I just got to legend playing Warrior Control halfway through, and then switching to Paladin on the last games because of how many mirror matches I was facing. Control warrior was the first strong meta deck to settle, probably because of the obvious additions it got and how easy it was to introduce them to the deck.
I am here today to talk about all these new changes, and explain to you why each and every card are in the deck and their uses.
I will also talk about playstyle, give some tips, talk about sideboarding options, and some extra things I feel like you need to get in touch in order to get the best experience playing Control Warrior you can!
Lets get right into the action!
Upgrading Warrior with GvG
Many people argued with me, saying that my thoughts on shieldmaiden being one of the strongest GvG additions was completely wrong. Haha, I was so right! It gave Warriors so much strength with a strong, defensive 6-drop that fits right on the problematic anti-aggro curve. At the same time, we had some other new Warrior tools that ended up not making the cut, such as crush and bouncing-blade.
The reason these cards didn’t make the cut was that Warrior already had very strong slots with very little room for innovation, and only the weak slots were replaced, which made Warrior the most complete Class in the GvG launch.
Explaining the Card Choices
Now, everyone here is very familiar with Warrior Control and the uses of most of the cards, but just in case you aren’t: there are just about a ton of Warrior Control guides that explain every single card containing in this deck very well and detailed, what I am going to write here is about the different cards that were added to the deck and how they changed the deck making it look like it does nowadays:
whirlwind: No decent Warrior deck was using Whirlwind before GvG, what changed then? Why sudenly everyone is playing Whirlwind? The biggest reason for this add was not even imp-losion, the new token generating spell that replaced Soulfire in Zoo, or the 1/1 tokens from Haunted Creeper spiders or clockwork-gnome or leper-gnome or anything like that: The biggest reason behind this was the rise on Control Warrior’s strongest Enemy: Control Paladin. Combined with the fact you run dr-boom and you already have a few cards that sinergize with whirlwind, there is current no reason to not run at least 1 Whirlwind in your warrior deck.
shieldmaiden: The strongest and most reliable option for the 6-slot, even if you did not used to run as many 6-drops before GvG, you are for sure going to be adding 6 Shieldmaidens to your warrior list. The reason behind this is that besides the obvious strength against aggro, this card also allows us to have alternative ways of stacking armor as well as pose a strong threat on the board while doing so, and a 5/5 minion can evenly trade with Loatheb in 1 turn as well as kill Sludge Belcher in 1 hit, and these are very strong pre-requisites for 6-drops. The game has come to a point you can no longer run “ok” cards in your deck, you have to run the best option available if you wish to obtain success, because your opponents will be running the strongest possible decks available to them. Keep in mind that usually cards with different good effects are prime, and Shieldmaiden is one of these cards.
dr-boom: I said some things about this guy in my Control Paladin deck guide. I would just like to emphasize how important it is to have a card that gives you a strong board presence n its own. This card works somehow like Cenarius does, it gives you a couple of minions, that aren’t that scary or anything, but they’re there! And the opponent will have to do something to deal with those minions, and that is where the card shines and is so good and used in so many decks. This is a really strong card and one of the most non-situational late game threats in the game: there aren’t many situations where you would not want to drop your Boom, the times Boom wont make a difference are the times you already lost and only a miraculous brawl would save you. Remember this card also has some small synergy with Warriors “Whirlwind” Mechanisms (from both the spell itself and deaths-bite) which makes it so this card is a must in competitive Control Warriors.
Sideboard Options!
Alright let us talk a little about some replacements that can be done in this deck:
shield-block versus baron-geddon: In case you are facing a lot of Zoo, Geddon is generally a better option than a Shield Block, because you’ll want more ways to fight for the board.
whirlwind versus gorehowl: Usually Gorehowl is game changing Against Druid decks, Mirror Matches and Midrange in General, like shamans, at the same time Whirlwind isn’t that useful in either of these matchups.
dr-boom versus troggzor-the-earthinator: Another change I talked about on my Paladin guide, do not count Troggzor out yet! It’s a very strong card and in case the meta shifts into a more spell heavy metagame, remember Troggzor can be better than Dr Boom! As I said before: Troggzor is better against Mages, Priests, Rogues, but worse against the other classes. Also remember it’s generally weak/terrible against Aggro while Boom is decent.
harrison-jones versus loatheb: If it comes to a point you’d prefer using Troggzor in your deck over Boom, you are very likely to also want to run Loatheb instead of Jones, so you have more ways of dealing with Spell Heavy decks.
alexstrasza versus ysera: Facing a lot of mirror matches? Ysera sometimes can do a much better job than Alexstrasza can!
General Muligan Strategy
Mulligan with this deck is pretty simple:
Look for stuff that costs 4 or less except for big-game-hunter, feel free to keep double fiery-war-axe, armorsmith and even acolyte-of-pain(this last guy, only in case you are not fighting against Aggro), other things should be mulliganed in case you get double of them. Also remember that your 1-mana-removal should be kept as a 1-of, no matter which. Another important thing to notice is that shield-block is not a good keep in you dont already have shield-slam, and you should also not keep whirlwind against Control opponents, even if you have an Acolyte in your hand. Specials go to keeping harrison-jones in case you are fighting a Mirror match and already have a semi-decent hand and the obvious BGH Keep against Handlocks.
General Gameplay Tips
So here are some tips I can give you on how to play Warrior Control properly, keep in mind this is not an extensive guide so I will not focus on single matchups, but overall gameplay:
- It’s best to only drop your Acolytes whenever you can activate them, don’t throw your draws away.
- Dont mindlessly throw your weapons in the game if you don’t have a target for it. The only way you are allowed to do so is against aggro, and even then, only if you have a clear play next turn that can not be delayed.
- Whirlwind just to obtain armor against Control-ish decks is useless, save your Whirlwind for something more useful later.
- Remember, when facing Midrange decks, that some of them tend to not run big-game-hunter target. Just remember you can still make use of him, by cruel-taskmastering a 5~6 attack minion, into BGHing it.
- It’s always nice to Brawl an enemy board with your Sylvanas on it, since you’ll be stealing whatever survives on the opposing side.
- But don’t always try to throw Sylvanas before Brawling, your safety is more important than fancy plays.
- Always play safe, even if you are going for the lethal, only do so on a sure way. Dont throw away the game because you wanted to rush, you are not playing a Rush deck and your deck is best when played ultra safe.
- Against other Warriors there is no assurance your opponent is going to be running gorehowl, so feel free to harrison-jones whenever you feel like.
- Against Priests Jones can sometimes kill stolen weapons, always remember that but don’t hold on to him if you need the board presence.
- Check for Hunter traps with your shieldmaiden over the small minions, having to cast her back is sometimes useful for us.
- Aggro mage’s most common secret is mirror-entity, don’t forget that!
- We have so much life gain, that sometimes we reach turns 9, against aggro, still with our healths above 15, there is nothing wrong with Alexstrasza-ing the opponents face in case they don’t have any threat left on the board.
- Sometimes playing a little aggressive may make it so the opponent has to play defensively, making different plays that he would have in case he wasnt being pressured, but keep in mind you should only do so on a safe way.
- Whenever you are safe, dropping Big minions on the board is more important than clearing small minions.
- Do not shield-block on fatigue, unless you know you are going to win by the next turn. Remember the draw will eventually deal more than 5 damage to you.
So these are a few of the tips I can give you regarding Warrior gameplay, in case you have some more questions just ask in the comments and I will be glad to answer! =D
Conclusion
Warrior is the most complete deck in GvG, but this is probably not the final version, since the meta shifts, so does the utility cards, but one thing we know for sure: shieldmaiden is here to stay.
Once again, I would like to thank you for joining the growning Hearthstoneplayers community, and I wish you the best of luck playing Warrior in the ladder, remember it’s not an easy deck to play, so it might take some time until you can fully understand it and pilot it smoothly.
I hope you guys enjoyed this article, and I see you all in the next one!
Thanks a lot,
Nuba
 
 
 
