Questing for Un’goro: Warrior

Introduction

And we’re back to the top. Mage was a nice break on the quest train, but it is time to shift gears to Taunt Warrior. This is one of the decks I have been most excited to break down on this series because it really is a lot of fun to play. While it may not be as intricate or as in-depth as some of the Control Warriors of the past, there are a lot of fun micro decisions that are to be made here. Taunt Warrior is interesting because it has the shell that every slow Warrior deck has had in the past, but focuses much more on the board.

The Deck

There are a ton (and I mean a ton) of different builds of this deck. Some go ultra-control with very little taunts, some race to the quest, while others sit somewhere in the middle. I personally prefer the more control-oriented decks, and that is what we’re looking at today. This week’s deck is Sjow’s Taunt Warrior that he brought to rank one legend. This version is interesting because it cuts some of the classics like Shield Block and Shield Slam to focus on winning the game through the board.

You are a control deck with a proactive finisher. It is important to remember that because today’s meta is fought in the trenches. Control Warrior has taken on a different face, and while you have the classic tools, you want to fight for board as much as possible. This deck works to stall and remove threats while also building up to your end-game quest. Your taunt minions are never going to push in terms of damage, but they will help you control priority. It is easy to look at this deck as “play taunts and don’t die” but having control of the tempo moving into your quest is even more important. Every tool here helps to make that happen.

Key Cards

This section will explain some of the deck’s most important cards.

Dirty Rat

Dirty Rat is one of the hardest to use cards in this deck because it has so much swing potential. Sometimes this card blows your opponent out and crushes them, while other times you lose the game on the spot. The two drop works very nicely against things like Quest Rogue because it shuts down their finishers, but it also is good at taking away big threats or finishers that many decks rely on. The main combo here is going to be Dirty Rat and Brawl, which can blow out a ton of different popular decks. However, if you have an Execute in hand you should not hesitate to pull the trigger. Eating a big value battlecry target like Sunkeeper Tarim or Gentle Megasaur can cripple your opponent’s value and keep you in control until you complete your quest.

I never run this out on turn two against anything except maybe Aggro Druid. This is because almost all decks have some big threat you just cannot afford to hit. Yes, it feels good when you rip a Pirate Warrior’s Southsea Deckhand or Bloodsail Raider, but giving them a free Kor’kron Elite or Frothing Berserker can lose you the game on the spot. The reason that Aggro Druid is the exception is because they have a ton of small minions that are very weak without buffs. Even so, you still want to be careful about giving them priority because of things like Savage Roar or Power of the Wild. Also, as noted, Quest Rogue gets hit very hard by the rat. You should save the 2/6 until you’ve seen what card they want to play multiple times and then try to hit it before they go off. Though, taking a bounce card works as well.

Sleep with the Fishes

Sleep with the Fishes is one of the strongest AOEs in the current game and one of the biggest reasons to play this deck. In fact, it is so powerful that you are running a single Whirlwind to power it. Minions do not have much health these days, and you can realistically use this to clear a lot of boards. Not only that, but many decks like Murloc Paladin and Aggro Druid love the flood. That means cards like Ravaging Ghoul or Whirlwind with the fishes just ruins them. You want to treat the spell as your third and fourth Brawl, but you do not have to get greedy with it. Using this to take down two or three threats is more than fine, especially if you also plan to play your own threat on that same turn.

Setting up Sleep with the Fishes is very important, and if you have the two mana card in hand you typically want to hold onto an activator. Primordial Drake is the best one during the later stages of the game because it is a five damage Flamestrike that also gives you a gigantic 4/8. However, Whirlwind and Ravaging Ghoul also do a nice job when filling in at different stages of the middle game. Fishes is typically going to be a tempo play where you clear out your opponent’s minions and add your own. Something like Ghoul/Sleep into a Stonehill Defender or Direhorn Hatchling can give you a massive amount of tempo. Always look for those plays when possible and see what you can play alongside the two mana clear.

Stonehill Defender

Most taunts are very simple. You play them when you have the mana and they lock down the board until you can put the next one down. However, Stonehill Defender is different because it gives you a wide range of choices. Picking the right taunt is key with the 1/4, and what you take is going to change in each matchup and situation. You need to make a read early on when playing this deck about how your are going to complete the quest. Against some decks, like Priest, Freeze Mage, or Midrange Paladin, you have to race for it as quickly as you can. However, against decks like Midrange Hunter, Pirate Warrior or Aggro Druid, you typically want to focus more on getting control of the board before you change your hero power. This is important because the class you are up against (as well as your available mana) all affect your end decision.

The general rule is if you need to get the quest right away you go with a low-cost taunt, but if you have the time you should try and take the biggest threat you can. Beyond that, there are a few cards that can be very useful in separate situations. Cornered Sentry is very strong with a Brawl, while The Curator is great at fetching you an on-curve Primordial Drake if you don’t have one in hand. Soggoth the Slitherer is very close to an auto-take against control and when facing midrange decks it is often best to just try to fill in your curve.

Brawl

This deck plays a lot of minions on curve and it often paces the mid-game board. For that reason, it is easy to forget that you are a control deck. At the end of the day, it does not matter how many minions you have. Once you finish Fire Plume’s Heart you should be able to dominate almost any game. That means you can easily leverage Brawl in a lot of different situations. You are much more proactive than Warriors of the past, so you can pull the trigger on Brawl much earlier than you may be used to. Just using this to clear three minions is fine against a lot of classes, and you can even try and get a 50/50 to take down a big threat if you have no other options. Waiting a turn to bait your opponent is often correct if you have no good threats, but you can be more aggressive if you want to keep your health high.

The ideal way to structure this deck is to control or stall for most of the early and mid game and then Brawl once you have Sulfuras equipped to give you the best chance at taking out your opponent’s minion. This is not always going to happen, but if you have the luxury to save a clear for after your quest you should every single time. Brawl is going to have two modes. You either need to pull the trigger on five or six to blow out an aggro opponent, or you need to use it to set up your end game. Both situations are very strong, but you should make an early read on what you need. This will help you stagger your turns and enable you to know how much you need to fight for board.

Sulfuras

Sulfuras is the entire reason to play this deck, and its use is pretty straightforward. However, there are some things you need to remember when setting it up. The biggest of those is that you can no longer gain armor once the weapon becomes active. That may not seem like a big deal, but many decks on the current ladder love to do damage. The new freeze list pack more burn than God, and Hunter, Paladin, and Priest all can just pour on damage in their own way. You only want to take the new hero power once you are sure you have control of the board, when you have AOE, or when you have no choice. Doing eight each turn is very strong, but there is some RNG built into it. Simply praying for it to hit the right targets is not the best way to go. Rather, you should try and switch while you are in an advantageous position or when you have priority. This makes it so you will still have other ways to take over the game.

Matchups

The most common matchups I’ve seen while playing the early meta.

Pirate Warrior

The Pirate Warrior matchup is easily the number one reason to play this deck. While you do not have the inherent armor gain of some other lists, your hero power can do a lot of work. Pirate also has a ton of trouble with taunts. Though they may be able to answer one or two efficiently, they are not going to be able to reliably keep up with your endless string. You just want to work hard to keep your life total up at all times. Use your hero power as much as possible, clear everything they put down, and always try to get a body between you and them. It does not matter how big the minion is, just having a wall can soak up damage. And that matters. Even something like a Stonehill Defender can soak up half of an Arcanite Reaper or a charging Kor’kron Elite. That then gives you a chance to play another wall.

This entire game is going to be about running your opponent out of cards. Once Pirate starts to topdeck they will crumble, and you need to work hard to get to that point. As the game goes on you want to always count the different burst options your opponent has. While you may feel safe behind a 2/7 wall, all it takes is for one Fiery War Axe/Heroic Strike to clear it out and put you under blast. Leeroy Jenkins is in pretty much every single deck, and you need to watch out for Mortal Strike as well. Always try to fit in your hero power when possible and make sure to never put your opponent to twelve until you have a firm hold on the game.

Control/Burn Mage

Mage just continues to climb in popularity, and for very good reason. The class has some of the best early game in the current meta, great stall options, and a nearly endless supply of burn. This matchup is going to come down to how you start out. You either want to lock down the board and try to gain armor as much as you can, or you want to race to Fire Plume’s Heart. You need to make this decision quickly because it is going to impact the way you play cards. If you care about getting armor you should use your removal liberally and try to limit your damage as much as possible. However, if you have a way to get to Sulfuras you should just spam taunts and see how many answers your opponent has. Even if they do clear in this type of situation, it is often going to be with burn that could be going at your face.

This is not going to be an easy matchup. While you can hold off Mage’s board quite well, you are going to have a problem when they start discovering endless Pyroblasts. Not only that, but Medivh, the Guardian can give you a real headache. Do your best to save your Brawls for the Atiesh when possible. The way you win this game is getting to your hero power at a comfortable life total and then blasting Mage over and over again. Just be careful not to attack into double secrets during that stage of the game. One of the question marks is likely going to be Ice Barrier, and there is no reason to give your opponent a free heal. Rather, just shoot them over and over again until they stop moving. That is the one way you can match them in a race.

Midrange Paladin

Another tough match, Midrange Paladin is all about getting your quest. Yes, you need to use your removal efficiently for the first few turns, but Uther is going to outvalue you once you get to the later stages of the game. Tirion Fordring is a real problem, especially when he’s combined with things like Stampeding Kodo and Repentance. For that reason, it is important to get a hold early. This is a game where you just want to clear whatever your opponent plays. Do not worry about damage here. Rather, you want to focus on maximizing your taunts in order to build up into your finishing game one step ahead of your opponent. It may feel bad if your opponent is at thirty, but if you can do eight a turn it won’t matter.

The biggest card you want to watch out for is Sunkeeper Tarim. The six mana legendary is a very strong tempo play that can blow you out (or lead to a quick lethal) if you aren’t careful. To prevent yourself from falling victim to the ability you should diligently clear your opponent’s board every chance you get. Beyond that, you just need to make sure you don’t get overrun by murlocs during the early stages of the game. The fish creatures do a very good job of taking over the board, and they will pick off your taunts as your opponent moves up their curve. Kill them as effectively as possible. This can cause Paladin to have some dead mid-game turns, allowing you to take the board. It is also important to clear your opponent’s minions on turn five to prevent them from sticking Spikeridged Steed (which can be a real hassle to deal with).

Midrange Hunter

Another example of how the tables have turned. Midrange Hunter was once the bane of Control Warrior’s existence. Now, this game falls largely into your favor. Rexxar depends on building out quickly and then wrapping up the game around turn five or six. Your game-plan directly contradicts that route because your big-bodied walls force Hunter to use multiple resources a turn. That stretched them thin and rapidly runs them out of resources. Just be careful about giving your opponent’s beasts. Do not hesistate to clear their board when possible, no matter how innocuous it might seem. Using a Ravaging Ghoul on an Alleycat and a Jeweled Macaw may not seem amazing, but it gives you board and stops a turn four Houndmaster, which is all you want.

This is a matchup where you often want to mulligan away the quest. While eight damage a turn is good, you’d almost always rather have a way to negate your opponent’s hero power once you are hiding behind a wall of taunts. Treat this game a lot like Pirate, where you work to wear down your opponent and slowly run them out of value. You are just a control deck in this matchup, doing everything you can to keep your life total above any burst potential you might see. The most important rule of this game is, as always, to try to get a handle on things by turn six. Even with your taunts and removal, Savannah Highmane is going to be difficult to deal with. However, once you make it past the lion you should be in the clear.

Mulligan Guide

You want to keep Fiery War Axe and Stonehill Defender in every game you can. Fire Plume’s Heart should be kept in every matchup except Hunter. You can also ship it against Rogue if you think you just want to find as much early presence as possible. Slam is very strong against any deck with early minions (most decks in the game) and you can keep Sleep with the Fishes if you have an activator and you are playing an early flood deck.

Whirlwind and Ravaging Ghoul are both strong cards against aggressive decks like Druid and Hunter. Always look to keep Tar Creeper and Acolyte of Pain with a good curve or the coin. Execute is typically too slow to keep these days against anything but Priest, and Dirty Rat can be useful against Druid and Quest Rogue. Finally, Bloodhoof Brave is a solid card if you have the curve and the coin.

Conclusion

Now that’s what I call a quest deck. Taunt Warrior is nothing new, but it is a very cool deck that gives you a chance to play some very strong cards (and you get to turn into Ragnaros!). Yes, it is not as intricate as past iterations, but it still is very fun to pilot. Un’goro continues to impress as we move forward, giving almost all classes a chance to shine. There are currently two versions of Warrior, and I think this versions is much more fun than Pirate. I hope you agree. Until next time, die insect!

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