Introduction
There are many Warrior builds on the ladder right now, and all of them are strong. One of the best is Dragon Tempo, an aggressive list that has plenty of strong mid and lategame threats to back up early damage. As a result, if you want to climb you need to know how to take down the deck. This guide will look at how C’thun Druid, with its strong minions and reliable curve, manages that task.
Sample Decklists
While C’thun Druid has many cards you need to run in order to make the deck work, there are several popular versions of the deck. Some lists run bigger finishers, some run more removal and card draw, and others sacrifice their end-game for a lower cuve and more consistency. Each version is tuned for a certain meta, and each yields to a different playstyle. To help you figure out what build is best for you, two lists and a guide have been linked below.
Mulligan Guide
When facing Warrior you need to mulligan for all of your low cost cards. This is because you cannot afford to get stuck with a bunch of big minions when you’re fighting a low-curve Warrior deck. A lot of this game is going to be about the first couple of turns. You cannot afford to falter or miss a minion early on, so you need to go only for your early threats.
Cards to Keep
Situational Keeps
C’thun’s Chosen and Klaxxi Amber-Weaver should both be kept with the coin and a good curve.
Swipe is a good keep with a strong curve.
How to Win
You are going to spend most of this game playing the role of Tempo-Control. What that means is you want to play defensively in the way where you are trying to get the lone minion on the board. You are not merely trying to stay alive, you are playing towards a goal. As soon as you can get a taunt or hefty minion on the board alone you should be able to lock them out. Tempo is the way you are going to do that.
Though they are disguised as a midrange deck, make no mistake that Dragon Tempo is aggro. They have countless ways to pressure the board and do damage. Even if they don’t have immediate lethal, there are a lot of cards that help them quickly set it up in two turns. This is important to remember because it will help you count out the way you play your turns and whether or not you need to get a taunt down.
Early Game Strategy
The opening turns are where you pull ahead. The middle game is largely going to be a toss up of large minions and powerful removal, so you need to start building your board as soon as you can. The earlier you get control of the board the earlier you are going to take priority over your opponent, which then means you can play the game at your pace. You want to do something proactive each turn, whether you get full value or not. Having a body on the board is always better than hero powering.
Warrior’s two opening minions are Faerie Dragon and Alexstrasza’s Champion. Champion powers damage through and Faerie Dragon is very hard to kill with your removal. You need to make sure these cards are dealt with as easily as possible. This can even mean using Disciple of C’thun or Living Roots to set up the hero power kill the next turn.
Be aware of Frothing Berserker. The 2/4 can be tricky to deal with, especially if you have already used removal dealing with something else. This is a card that get out of hand in a hurry, so make sure you have a way to kill it before it comes down. Swipe does it the cleanest, but don’t be afraid to trade your board as well.
Set up Klaxxi Amber-Weaver as well as you can. The 4/10 is a great way to get early board presence and bait out an Execute. You should always try to get it online, even if that means burning an Innervate.
Midgame Strategy
The middle turns of the game are when you are your opponent start shifting into your real threats. A lot of this is going to come down who can get the largest minion first. Clearing is very important, and the more big threats you can play the more you will be able to run your opponent out of resources. Your goal here is to throw up big threat after big threat and force your opponent to answer them rather than push for your face.
Twilight Guardian is one of Warrior’s best tools and one of the hardest walls for your minions to punch through. While it is not a “must kill” threat, you should do what you can to have six damage at your disposal come turns four and five. One of the best ways to deal with the four drop is a small minion or removal combined with a charging Druid of the Claw.
The two cards you want to watch out for during these turns are Blackwing Corruptor and Kor’kron Elite. Each of these cards add a hefty body to the board and act as removal or damage. When going into turns four and five you want to always make your plays based on how these can affect your board and your life total.
Cthun’s Chosen is one of the best cards at holding the board. Even though they have tools like Slam and Blood to Ichor, Tempo Warrior is not a deck that enjoys wasting time getting rid of a divine shield. Not to mention, this also challenges things like Kor’kron Elite and Blackwing Corruptor really well. Set up the 4/2 as best you can.
If you have not seen one, you need to keep Execute in mind during these turns. The one mana spell can really blow you out if you depend on one giant minion to keep you in the game. Typically, try your best to play multiple threats or try to bait the kill spell out before playing your real threats. In addition, if you have a big minion you want to live try and make sure it doesn’t take damage.
Finally, you always need to watch your life total and try to keep it above fifteen. Drakonid Crusher is not the strongest card in the game, but there is a huge difference between a 6/6 and a 9/9. Anytime your opponent pours on pressure, be wary and play carefully so that you aren’t suddenly staring down a massive threat.
Late Game Strategy
The final stages of this game are going to be all about taunts. The reason is that Dragon Tempo has a lot of big threats and game-ending burst. Putting down your beefy minions and stacking up walls can shut those down, but only if you are ahead. Your life total is often going to be low during the end of the game, so if you make it here just try to do what you can to clear and stay alive. C’thun will come eventually.
You also need to keep track of Tempo’s big minions. Most lists these days pack both Ragnaros the Firelord and Grommash Hellscream in addition to things like Malkarok and Deathwing. What makes most of the big threats so powerful is that they can instantly do damage or act as removal to the board. Those cards will punish you if you fall behind, so always calculate their damage when deciding your plays.
Though C’thun is going to win a lot of games, your real win condition is Twin Emperor Vek’lor. So much so that you should try and do what you can to stay alive until turn seven if you have him in hand. Most of Warrior’s removal is going to be spent during the middle of the game, and being able to power out two 4/6 taunts on turn seven shuts out their damage and gives you a way to fight their finishers.
Final Tip
Be aware of the way that Sir Finley Mrrgglton can change a game. Though the Murloc comes down early, it can really swing the way Warrior plays. Hunter hero powers means you need to be more careful, while Druid hero power means you need to be more cautious of weapons and Warlock hero power means you need to much more careful with your hand so you don’t lose to card advantage. It is easy to forget your opponent played the Murloc, and that can get you blow out in some situations.
