DECKLIST
ORIGINAL POST
USE THIS DECK, QUALITY GUARANTEED OR YOUR MONEY BACK
Hello /r/hearthstone. I’m currently Rank 24 legend NA, and I’d like to share with you the low budget deck I used to get there. It is my sincere hope that you can use it to become a legend too… though ideally you wont use it to actually surpass me. I guess what I am saying is this: use this deck to reach rank 25– reach rank 23 and I will cut you.
IT’S CHEAP BUT CLASSY, LIKE BOXED WINE
OK! Enough with the pleasantries, let’s get down to business. The first thing to note about the deck is that it costs a mere 1840 dust to craft. At any given time, 12-14 of the cards are basic cards you get for free, there are only two epics, and the only legendary (Old Murk-Eye) is given to you for free once you have one each of all the murlocs.
Moreover, the one-off 1-drop commons (Abusive Sergeant, Argent Squire, Flame Imp, and Worgen Infiltrator) are all more or less interchangeable, so if you already have a couple of some and none of the others, it’s not a big deal to double up.
You could pretty easily obtain this deck right now so long as you have a golden legendary or a couple golden Blizzards/Argent Commanders to disenchant. Other decks, like the one-turn-kill warrior decks, control druid, etc are far more expensive– I’m a guy with a lot of 9/12-win Arena runs under my belt and enough constructed play to make legend rank and I still cant afford those decks, that’s how expensive they are.
PLAYS SMOOTH, WITH GREAT AFTERTASTE
The second thing to note is that the playstyle is quite straightforward. Four times out of five, the correct play is to lay out as much as you can per turn and swing to your opponent’s head.
There are three exceptions, and each is used sparingly: 1) To make an advantageous trade (trading a 1/3 into a 2/1 or a 2/1 into a 3/2 for example), 2) To insure against potential AOE clear (trading a 2/1 into a 2/2 so that your 3 and 4 health creatures wont die to a Consecration/Holy Nova/Blizzard after the 2/2 attacks them), or to screen for a high value creature like a Murloc Warleader or a Knife Juggler (you might play out and run a Bluegill Warrior into an opponent’s 3/2 to make sure your important creature survives).
It’s important to note that these exceptions are not the norm, they are special circumstances for the following reasons:
1) “Advantageous” trades where your creature lives and theirs dies often leave the surviving creature vulnerable to AOE clear, 2) trades to insure against AOE clear (like throwing a 2/1 against their 2/1 are often too conservative and you end up stalling out against their late game, and 3) trading to protect a given creature often just ends up with that creature killed by single target removal anyway (you screen for your Warleader only to have him frostbolted the next turn).
So if you played the deck purely aggressively, and always swung at your opponent instead of his creatures, you’d still be getting it right most of the time. Learning the nuances of when to attack what is tricky, but the general tendency is simple, and new players of the deck should have ample time to learn.
EVERY STARTING HAND IS PLAYABLE
The second factor that makes the deck easy to play is that because the mana curve is so low, you can afford to mulligan very aggressively for the cards you want and not have to worry much about not having early plays. Sometimes it is as simple as: “I am playing against class Y, I should ditch everything but X”.
Against Druids and Rogues, Blood Imps and Voidwalkers are highly desirable in order to negate the effect of their hero power on your squishy Tidehunters, Bluegill Warriors, Voodoo Doctors, Raiders, Oracles, Young Priestesses, and Abusive Sergeants, all of which should be thrown away unless you already have a way to protect them. Against Mages, the same is true– Voidwalkers are still sometimes useful as tanks for early Arcane Missiles.
Against other classes, a few other cards take priority, and the main factor to consider is what type of removal the opponent might have. Against Shamans and Paladins, I will often hold on to a Coldlight Seer or Murloc Warleader to try and buff my guys before a turn 3/4 Lightning Storm/Consecration.
I might also hold on to Young Priestess so that she can increase the health of vulnerable targets– against classes with 1 damage AOE removal, YP perfectly complements a Blood Imp. And finally, against classes with strong early single target removal (usually 2-mana weapons or single target spells) I’ll often assign 3/2’s lower priority– playing a Flame Imp or coining out a Knife Juggler on the first turn is a nice play, but it’s less nice when your opponent can Wrath, Smite, Frost Bolt, Demon Fire, Fiery War Axe, Shadow Word Pain, etc etc. Sometimes it’s better to hold on to an Argent Squire + Abusive Sergeant combo than go digging for a Knife Juggler– or likewise it might be better to play out the squire instead of coining out a juggler.
The only other big consideration besides removal is when playing against fellow Warlocks. I usually ditch Soulfire in all but a few rare scenarios (since having two of them in your hand at any given time is generally bad), but against Warlocks it is one of the best cards to have. In the mirror matchup, the first player to get board control usually wins just by playing creatures down and swinging them at their opponent.
A turn 1, 2, or 3 Soulfire is a great tempo play that often decides the game. Also against Warlocks I will usually ditch all Flame Imps– they rarely trade better than a 2/1 would, they die to Warlock removal just as quickly, and the Warlock matchup is one of the few where losing three life is something you care about.
IT LIKES TO EXPERIMENT, JUST LIKE YOU AFTER DRINKING A LOT OF CLASSY BOXED WINE
One of my favorite things about this deck is how flexible it is. Between every game I’m usually swapping out at least a couple cards depending on who I just played and what their deck had. Adding an extra Flame Imp, tossing out a Voodoo Doctor or a Soulfire, changing a Soulfire into a Power Overwhelming, maybe even swapping in a Shadowflame. Almost all the one-drops are interchangeable.
And if you’ve got more gold, you could put in a Leeroy Jenkins (good for a finishing blow) or a Tinkmaster Overspark, which even in the worst case scenarios provides you with a way around a big taunt creature in the late game. It’s common to play the same person again and again and again on the ladder– this deck lets you make super quick tweaks in the middle of such a series.
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