Weekly Top Legend Decks #7

Introduction

Welcome back for the 7th episode of Weekly Top Legend Decks! Click here if you want to check out the previous episodes.

The point of this series is to analyze the competitive Hearthstone decks both from the community (you!) and pro players. While all the decks are Legend-worthy, I don’t necessarily pick the BEST ones each week, but rather the most interesting ones. It means that a lot of my choices won’t be your standard meta decks.

Even though it’s called “weekly” series, the intervals between episodes might be slightly longer during the holidays or when there will be no new, fun decks worth writing about. After all, if the meta hasn’t changed, there is no point in writing about the same stuff over and over again.

Since I’ve already hit Legend a few days ago, all the decks here were tested in Legend on EU server.

Fr0zen’s Dragon Warrior

Check out the author’s original post about the deck!

Overview

Warrior is consistently showing that narrowing the class to playing only the one, standard “Control” version is a bad idea. There are just so many interesting stuff you can do with the class. Fr0zen and his friend Sylv (both high Legend players on NA) have built an interesting Warrior build. Dragon Warrior. The idea is not really new, because many have done that before.  First Dragon Warrior decks were just couple of big Dragons to activate the synergies + couple of smaller cards that synergize with them. This one is, just like other successful Dragon decks, much more tempo based and more Midrange than Control.

Unlike the standard Control Warrior, which just wants to survive until mid/late game and doesn’t care about developing minions early, this one wants to play on the curve, with a strong drop or removal or weapon on each turn. And so, the perfect “minion” curve would be Alexstrasza’s Champion into Fierce Monkey into Twilight Guardian into Blackwing Corruptor. But that’s not the only way Warrior can do it – with a lot of different removals – Execute, Slam, Bash, Fiery War Axe, Death’s Bite and tons of “support” cards like Cruel Taskmaster, Acolyte of Pain or Brann Bronzebeard, the deck can be really flexible. That’s one of the strengths – depending on the situation it can really adjust and go for different lines of play.

The first thing I found interesting is using Fierce Monkey instead of the Blackwing Technician. And I mean – it does make sense. Blackwing Technician gets +1 health IF it procs, but loses Taunt. On the other hand, if you don’t happen to have a Dragon in your hand, Technician gets -1 Attack and -Taunt. Having a relatively small Taunt is a good thing, because in the early game it can make the Aggro decks hit exactly what you want them to and it’s still pretty cool thing in the late game – a 3/4 that protects your bigger stuff.

Another interesting pick is Brann Bronzebeard. I’ve seen it being used in some Dragon decks, like Dragon Priest, but I was never impressed. And honestly, in the time I was testing the deck I also wasn’t impressed, but it worked okay. The best synergies are the ones with 5-drops – Azure Drake draws an extra card and Blackwing Corruptor deals 6 damage instead of 3, allowing it to one-shot pretty much every mid game minion. But there are also some other, smaller synergies. Alexstrasza’s Champion gains an additional point of attack (4/3), Twilight Guardian too (4/6), but those are pretty small things. Cruel Taskmaster ping two times, which might increase the attack of your own minion by 4 (at the cost of 2 health), ping enemy minion two times (instantly clearing 2 health minions) or puts anything above 3 attack in Big Game Hunter‘s range (I found it really cool against decks that don’t run BGH targets – like Control Priest). The last Brann synergy card is Dr. Boom – 4 Boom Bots instead of 2. While it is really cool, I rarely got the full value. Dr. Boom + 4 Boom Bots take 5 board space (out of 7), Brann must already be on the board, so that’s only 1 more minion you can have until you start losing the Boom Bots. I often had bigger board, resulting in only 3 or the standard 2 Boom Bots (which is still fine, obviously, just not a big Brann value).

When it comes to the “Dragon package”, there are “only” 6 Dragons to activate the synergies. But that should be enough considering that two of those are big, late game legendaries. Meaning that if you draw them in the early/mid game, they’re just going to sit there and activate your synergies. There are two Twilight Guardians (which actually require another Dragon to activate the synergy), two Azure Drakes, Onyxia and Ysera. Ysera is very standard, but I haven’t really seen Onyxia in Constructed outside the Druid and Shaman classes yet (because of the Savage Roar/Bloodlust synergy). And as an Arena player I can definitely tell that the card is good – if you have an empty board, not only it provides a big 8/8 body, but also six 1/1’s (another 6/6 of stats) that you can freely trade just as you like. To completely clear Onyxia you need both single target removal and AoE, so it almost always gets 2 for 1. The reason why it’s not really used is mana cost – 9 is a lot, maybe even 1 less mana would make it more common. Especially since we have Dr. Boom right now, which are comparable (7/7 vs 8/8 body and 2 Boom Bots vs up to 6 Whelps, but Boom Bots are way stronger) even though Onyxia costs 2 mana more. Sad.

I think the deck is very good. People who like the Midrange play style more should definitely like it.

Strategy

• You don’t want to play the deck like the standard Control Warrior. Armor up + pass is not a good play most of the time. You want to play for the tempo – e.g. if you have 2 mana and Fiery War Axe in your hand, you want to develop it even if enemy didn’t play anything you can hit. The reason is that Hero Power + pass doesn’t do anything to affect the future board state, while playing tempo Axe maybe allows you to play Slam + hit something next turn, maybe it allows you to develop a 3-drop while still having a removal ready.
• Cycling through your deck is also important. You don’t aim to play the fatigue game, you actually don’t want to do that (because you don’t even play Justicar Trueheart), so try to draw as many cards from your Acolyte of Pain as you can and don’t worry about using your card draws (e.g. cycling the Slam instead of finishing with it) in slower matchups.
• Take the aggressive stance whenever you can. This is a pretty fast deck, so you can actually find yourself in a situation where you’re nearly killing your enemy by turn 5-6. Don’t stop – push him even harder. When playing from behind, enemy rarely makes best plays, rather the plays he needs to survive. This way not only you can force him into “you have an answer or I win” situation by setting up lethal, but also make him use his cards the way he doesn’t want to. Let’s say forcing Mage to Fireball your 3/4 or Druid to use combo to clear your board.
• If you’re the aggressor, you can hit enemy Hero with the weapons, especially if you have more than one in your hand. Weapons are great source of damage over two turns – Fiery War Axe is 6 damage for 2 mana and Death’s Bite is 8 damage for 4 mana, both are great burn. Combine it with Alexstrasza’s Champion, Bash and Grommash Hellscream and you can actually pull out a lot of damage from your hand.
• On the other hand, if you’re playing defensive, you can use your Grommash (main source of burst) as a removal. You can run him into a small minion (up to 4 health) and it will most likely still survive at decent health, leaving a pretty big body on the board for future trades.

Alternate/Tech Cards

• Blackwing Technician – Well, just like I’ve said in the description. It’s whether you prefer the bigger potential (3/5 for 3) or the guaranteed solid drop (3/4 with a Taunt). Both options are fine honestly.
• Brawl – What the deck really lacks is AoE removal. While it’s true that the deck assumes that it will fight for the board control constantly, so enemy will rarely develop a big board when you have nothing in play, but it might happen. For those situations, or against the decks that like to flood the board, Brawl is pretty decent. For example, the deck might have hard time dealing with turn 6 Mysterious Challenger if it didn’t have board control going into turn 6, it might have hard time dealing with a strong Zoo Warlock start, or even the Patron Warrior Grim Patron spam. Brawl is useful for those kind of situations.
• Volcanic Drake – A great tempo card for this kind of deck. Just trading 1 for 1 with your minions already makes it cost 4 mana, which is fine. Since Warrior can have pre-equipped weapon, maybe throw another removal from the hand too, lowering it down to 2 mana should be relatively easy. And 2 mana 6/4 is really strong. Sometimes you can even play it for free thanks to the Death’s Bite – against Paladin or Warlock you often clear the whole board of 1/1’s, resulting in a free (tempo-wise) 6/4.
• Chillmaw – Gives you a board clear on demand, great against a lot of decks like Secret/Midrange Paladin, Zoo Warlock and Patron Warrior. The downside is that if you have the board lead, you can’t really play it, because it can kill your own minions.
• Nefarian – It guarantees “drawing” 2 spells, really depends on the class you play against, as opposed to Ysera’s one (but Ysera has bigger potential in the long run), 8/8 body is also way more offensive (but dies to BGH). It’s also a cool thing to play if you face tons of slower Warlock decks, as it has ~10% chance to draw you Sacrificial Pact. While a gimmicky win condition, having a 10% chance to win the game as soon as enemy plays Jaraxxus is pretty good. It also has potential Brann synergy, getting you 4 cards instead of 2 (but your Brann needs to survive if you want to do it).
• Deathwing – An ultimate “oh shit” card. If you find yourself in a terrible situation, where you’re losing the game no matter what you do, Deathwing can come handy. Giving you a board reset and a huge 12/12 body can pretty much seal the game if enemy has no immediate answer. The obvious problem is that discarding your whole hand isn’t good. But in most of cases it’s still better than just losing.

SuperJJ’s Malygos Rogue

Be sure to tune into SuperJJ’s stream on Twitch.tv!

Overview

A very interesting deck that reminds me of the old Miracle Rogue. Most of the versions were using the Leeroy combo, but there were also some that decided to go for the Malygos combos instead. SuperJJ’s list is similar. The idea behind the deck is to stall out the game with the removals, mid game minions and heals, draw into the Gadgetzan Auctioneer, cycle through your whole deck, draw all the combo pieces, play Emperor Thaurissan and then burst them down with Malygos.

That’s the main idea, but the deck can sometimes win even without Malygos. If you draw the right balance of mid game minions and spells, then you can win the game more in the Oil Rogue style, by controlling the board while having the minions of your own and bursting enemy down with the spells. That’s actually how you win in most of the Aggro matchups. Because let’s be honest – what you need against Aggro is to survive and keep some attack on the board, not play a huge “I am the essence fo magic” Dragon with a bunch of spells. But against the slower deck, Malygos becomes a main win condition.

The deck runs TONS of spells, which synergize with Violet Teacher, Gadgetzan Auctioneer and all the Spell Damage minions (Bloodmage Thalnos, Azure Drakes and obviously Malygos). Malygos combos can be really strong once you’ve played the Emperor. Even something like Malygos + Sinister Strike + Eviscerate + Blade Flurry (on 1 attack weapon) is 8 + 9 + 6 = 23 damage. The deck can pull out a crazy burst that is nearly impossible to play around.

But it’s not that easy. You first need to cycle through the most of your deck, you need to stall the game, survive and what’s most important – know just how much removals you can use to still have something to play with Malygos. Because yes, Eviscerate is 9 face damage when combined with Maly, but a lot of times you need to play it on opponent’s minions. If you don’t put enough pressure with the minions, if you use too many removals in a non-burn way, you might find yourself in a situation where you’re out of the damage. That’s possible in some slower matchups, where enemy can heal back to full (or even OVER the full) – Control Warrior, possibly even Control Priest.

The deck is pretty hard to play. I’ve always said that Rogue is probably the hardest class out there and combo decks are generally tricky. But if you like the SLIGHTLY gimmicky approach to the Rogue, you should definitely try SuperJJ’s list.

Strategy

• The deck really requires a lot of experience, so writing just a few tips probably won’t help you a lot. I’m probably not even the one who should write them, because I didn’t play enough games with the deck to begin with. This is one of those decks you need to master over hundreds of games, not just jump into it and expect it to work perfectly. Luckily for me, a lot of experience with the old Miracle Rogue has helped me a bit, but it was still far from perfection.
• Sinister Strike is mainly there for the Malygos synergy, but it doesn’t mean you should always keep it. Yes, keep it in slower matchups, where you really need the Malygos burst, but in the faster ones it can be used with Gadgetzan Auctioneer, as the combo activator for SI:7 Agent or even to spawn an additional 1/1 with Violet Teacher.
• Emperor Thaurissan‘s dream is when it survives more than one turn. It means that in perfect world you want to drop him when you have almost full hand and he’s the only minion on the board. It won’t happen that often, though. Against faster decks where you really need the minions on the board, drop him whenever you can. Having a 5/5 body that needs to be removed is fine and discounts on the other cards, while not necessarily good with Malygos, can help you to maintain the faster pace or let you draw more cards from Auctioneer.
• Knowing how to use Preparation is what really separates good from great Rogue players. The card will always give you some sort of tempo, allowing you to squeeze one more spell into your turn. What is important is knowing when you need it most. Pushing for the tempo at the right time is crucial, because enemy might be forced to make a bad move instead of the best play (like Druid’s turn 7 – instead of one of the Ancients or Boom he might be forced to play defensively or play a removal). On the other hand, the card is ALWAYS a card advantage loss. You play the card and you don’t gain anything besides the tempo. So if you play it when you don’t really need it, when it’s not optimal, you might start losing value and it might hit your hard in the future turns. Obviously, Preparation is also good thing to combo with Malygos, as it allows you to cast even more spells on Maly turn.
• Malygos might be used as a board clear if you’re in a rough spot. Enemy flooded the whole board and you can’t clear it? Malygos + Preparation + Fan of Knives is a 6 damage AoE. Sometimes you even want to drop Malygos on the empty board just like that. If you know that enemy has gone through all of his possible options to kill it, having a 4/12 body and big spell damage boost is incredible. Even if you can’t OTK enemy, if your Malygos survives until your next turn it usually means you have won the game. 6 damage AoEs that cycle, 6 damage single target removals that cycle, 0 mana 7 damage removals, it’s not really something a lot of decks can deal with.
• Gadgetzan Auctioneer is a key draw mechanic. Unlike the Oil Rogue that runs Sprints to refill the hand, here you really need to get Auctioneer value. It means that dropping it just to play one or two spells is a really desperate move. You want to cycle at least 4-5 spells, possibly even more. The only situation where I’d drop an Auctioneer without cycling a lot is when I already had another one in my hand (and wanted enemy to use an answer on the first so I could drop second and go all-in) or my hand quality was so terrible that I would never win the game without cycling the Auctioneer.

Alternate/Tech Cards

• Edwin VanCleef – I like Edwin. Especially in the deck that can consistently combo him out in a pretty impressive way. I mean, with tons of cheap spells, getting a 6/6+ Edwin out is relatively easy. And a 6/6 3-drop is already good. Often you don’t even want to play him bigger, because of the Big Game Hunter. But there are some situations where you can try rolling a dice. You can make them have it or lose the game in the early turns. Like playing a 10/10 Edwin on turn 3. Silence or BGH are the only real ways to deal with it, so if they don’t – well, you hit them 2-3 times and win the game.
• Sludge Belcher – Another defensive option, but bigger body than the Antique Healbot. They’re pretty interchangeable against Aggro, as the Sludge Belcher provides a bigger body and “hits back” whatever attacks him at the expense of being weaker against Silence, while Healbot is guaranteed to heal you for 8, but the 3/3 body is really small and it doesn’t kill as many minions as Belcher. Which one is better is pretty debatable, it mostly depends on the decks you face. For example, Belcher is better against most of the Midrange decks (as it provides a bigger body) like Secret Paladin or Midrange Druid and Healbot is better against straight up Aggro decks that either run 2 Silence (Face Hunter) or a lot of spell burn that can pass through the Taunt (Aggro Shaman).
• Loatheb – Even another option in the 5-drop slot. This one is better if you face even less Aggro. Awesome against decks that are heavily spell-based, like Tempo Mage/Freeze Mage or another Rogue. Also cool against Midrange Druid, because it stops the spell removals (and Druid already struggles with removals) + the combo.

Moorguard’s Mech Aggro Druid

Check out the author’s original post about the deck!

Overview

Another week, another Mech deck. Can’t help that it’s probably the most popular tribe in Hearthstone. On a side note, I’d really like Blizzard to introduce more tribes – like Ogres, Undead etc. and make some synergies between them. How could would that be?

But, the Mech Aggro Druid deck. To put it simple, it’s a mix between a Mech Druid and an Aggro Druid. Or rather an Aggro Druid with a few Mech synergies here and there. What’s the point of running it over the standard Aggro Druid? Why it might be stronger? The answer is: Mechwarper. It gives Aggro Druid yet another way to ramp up and another 2-drop that needs to be answered or things can well, get out of the control fast.

The deck doesn’t run tons of Mechs – that’s not the point. The point is to tempo out even better in the early game. One game I had the “dream” start of Coin -> Darnassus Aspirant into 2x Mechwarper into 2x Piloted Shredder. Yeah, things like that can happen thanks to the Mechwarpers. That, and getting Fel Reaver out a turn earlier, which is the main point of the Aggro Druid in general – you want to get Fel Reaver before enemy can answer it and smack the face.

The only “unusual” choice for a Mech deck is Anodized Robo Cub. The only reason to run it over let’s say Knife Juggler is that you hard mulligan for Mechwarper, and Mechwarper makes it a 1 mana 2/3 or 3/2. Another tempo move. The Taunt is pretty useful in certain scenarios too. Not to mention that the ability to choose between 2/3 and 3/2 is also cool – let’s say you can play a 3/2 into Northshire Cleric and 2/3 into Dark Peddler.

I can’t say much more about the deck, because besides that it’s a standard Aggro Druid. You want to curve out, flood the board, play big minions before enemy can answer them and finish enemy off with a combo (or Savage Roar itself).

Strategy

• You mulligan hard for the Innervate and your small drops, especially Living Roots, Darnassus Aspirant and Mechwarper. Clockwork Gnome and Sir Finley Mrrgglton are okay keeps if you’re going first (so you can curve out since turn 1).
• You’re the Aggro deck, but it doesn’t mean that you don’t want to trade. First of all, you want to protect your ramp minions – Aspirant and Mechwarper. Second thing is that you want to keep as threatening board as you can, so you want to protect your low health minions with the high health ones (while playing around the AoEs, obviously).
• Fel Reaver is the MVP of the deck. You want to get him out as soon as you can – Innervate him out on turn 2/3 if you can. Opponents usually aren’t keeping big minion removals or Big Game Hunter in their starting hand, so having an 8/8 on the board so early can lead to a fast win.
• Combo pieces – Savage Roar and Force of Nature can be used separately as the removal or just to push for damage. Let’s say if it’s turn 6 and you have no other play – you can play FoN and push for 6 damage. Or if you have a lot of minions on the board and Savage Roar is going to deal 10+ damage, go for it and take the value if you fear that your board might be removed next turn.
• Try to plan out your turns so you’ll push for as much damage over the next ones. Charing the Druid of the Claw is good, because you’re pushing for more damage. Even dealing 2 damage to opponent’s face with Keeper of the Grove is good if you have no other 4-drop. Getting enemy closer to dying is really important, because almost 1/2 of your deck can deal some sort of instant damage. If you push hard and get him low, there is a big chance that your top deck is going to kill him. Setting up lethal is also important – this way enemy a lot of times can’t go for the good play, but has to heal up/Taunt instead. Let’s say it’s turn 7 and you set up next lethal with FoN into enemy face – enemy can’t play Dr. Boom, which could possibly lead to a comeback, but is forced to play Antique Healbot instead. The healing just buys him a turn and doesn’t really affect the board state, which is good for you.

Alternate/Tech Cards

• Spider Tank – You can play Tanks instead of Shades. Both cards have their pros and cons. Spider Tank is better in Aggro matchups, because it provides a 3/4 body instantly, while Shade is just a 3/3 the turn you can use it. This means that if you need to trade into I don’t know, Knife Juggler, the Shade dies and the Tank survives. Spider Tank also has the synergy with Mechwarper, although this one isn’t particularly impressive unless you coin out Mechwarper on turn 1 and play Tank on turn 2. On the other hand, Shade is better in slower matchups, because you can leave him in Stealth and threaten a huge burst with combo or just kill a big Taunt later in the match. The Stealth also makes it harder to remove, but starting with 2 health (it’s still 2/2 on opponent’s turn) means that it’s vulnerable to 2 damage AoEs like Consecration and Holy Nova. I prefer Shades, but Spider Tanks aren’t bad here.
• Annoy-o-tron – You can play those instead of the Robo Cubs. Just like above, both have their pros and cons. The fact that Annoy-o-tron needs to be hit 2 times to die means that it’s better in matchups that can’t ping off the Divine Shield easily. For example – against Warrior it’s awesome. It often tanks 2 weapon hits, which is amazing. It’s also good against hyper-Aggro decks that really flood the board with tons of 1 health minions, like Aggro Warrior or Aggro Paladin. But I still think that Robo Cub is overall a more solid choice.

ModgnikHS’s Anyfin Paladin

Check out the author’s original post about the deck!

Overview

I’ve already covered Anyfin Can Happen deck, it was on the third week if I remember correctly. But that was the first version and the deck has gone through a lot of changes. And I have to say it – I was wrong about the card. I thought it’s going to be gimmicky thing that will work once in a while, but not something so consistent. Yeah, the current Anyfin decks are really consistent and competitively viable.

The idea behind the deck is simple. Like, really simple. You want to play your Murlocs out, make them die, play the first Anyfin, which respawns all of them (with a 10/6 Charger and two 6/3 Chargers) and if it’s still not enough and you need to trade them off or enemy kills them, you use second copy and now it’s OTK. If I remember correctly, every combination of Murlocs is over 30 damage (I say every combination, because you have 10 dead Murlocs and you can only respawn 7) unless enemy has played some too – like Sir Finley Mrrgglton can screw the combo a little. But most of the time it’s 30+ damage. I think that the lowest damage combo (considering no other Murlocs besides yours have died) is 4x Warleader + 3x Bluegill (30 damage), while the highest is 3x Warleader + 2x Murk-Eye + 2x Bluegill (44 damage). But I might be wrong here, please correct me if I am!

But, to play those combos first you need to draw the Murlocs, play them and survive. Which is probably the hardest task – surviving. Luckily, the deck runs A LOT of tools to make surviving easier. You can reduce big minion’s damage with Humility or Aldor Peacekeeper. You can clear the board or tank 7 damage (well, or bait the Silence) with Doomsayer. You can AoE enemy minions down with Wild Pyromancer + spells or Consecration. You can punch enemy mid-sized minions with Truesilver Champion. And you have two complete board wipes with Equality. Then, there are healing and card draw – Antique Healbot, Acolyte of Pain, Solemn Vigil, Lay on Hands. Oh, and there is a single Sludge Belcher on top of that, just for the good measure.

As you can see, the deck has tons of ways to stall the game, either by removals, by healing or just by reducing enemy minion’s attack so they tickle you instead of hurting. The Murlocs themselves also aren’t useless – Bluegill Warriors are 2 damage removals, Old Murk-Eye is also 2 damage removal, but it might survive to see another turn because of 4 health + Murloc Warleader are 3/3 for 3 (not great, but something) that can turn your other Murlocs into even better removals.

And that’s it. Theory is rather simple, but practice is harder. The deck isn’t a mindless, auto-pilot deck. It’s not as hard as the old Patron Warrior, no, but still a pretty big challenge. But if you master it – it’s worth it. Not only it’s good, but it’s also really fun to play.

One thing I don’t understand is Blizzard’s design philosophy. I mean, the same team that nerfed Miracle Rogue (because it had too big burst, possible OTKs) and Patron warrior (for the same reasons) released a card like that. I mean, even if the deck didn’t become top tier, this card SCREAMS “otk deck”. People were already thinking about that the moment they’ve seen the card. And yet, devs didn’t predict it after going through the whole design & testing process? I really don’t get it.

Strategy

• You want to keep at least one Equality activator in your hand (if you already have Equality). This way no matter what happens you can guarantee board clear. Wild Pyromancer is probably a better one to keep as an “emergency button”, because even if enemy plays Loatheb you can still Wild Pyro + Equality for 9 mana. In case enemy has some strong Deathrattles that would kill you next turn you also have enough free mana to play Antique Healbot or Sludge Belcher after.
• Doomsayer is a great 2-drop. Enemy rarely has enough power on the board to kill it, so in case of no Silence, not only it kills whatever is already on the board (usually 1 or 2 minions), but also stalls one turn, because enemy can’t develop anything into the Doomsayer. Doomsayer is also a good thing to drop in the later game just like that. It might stall for one turn (which is exactly what you want) or at least tank 7 damage. 2 mana card that heals you for 7 (sometimes even more if enemy needs to overkill it) is good too.
• Both Wild Pyromancer and Aldor Peacekeeper (Humility) combo nicely with Acolyte of Pain. The first one deals 1 AoE damage, forcing the Acolyte to draw. The second one sets minion’s attack to 1, then you can throw Acolyte fo Pain into him and also guarantee additional draw.
• Solemn Vigil should be kept as a more of a “tempo” draw. 2 card for 2 mana is really weak, sometimes you need to use it if you have no other play, but it’s just too slow. Solemn Vigil is an awesome card to use after board clear – Doomsayer play, Equality play etc. With just 3 minions dying it’s already worth to use it and you can often play it for free.
• You don’t have to wait until EVERY Murloc dies before playing Anyfin Can Happen. Old Murk-Eye is most important, but missing one or two other ones isn’t the end of the world if you really need to play it. You absolutely need to keep track of the dead Murlocs, though. This way you can see how much damage you can deal. Let’s say enemy is at 15 health and Murk-Eye, Warleader and two Bluegills already died. If you do the fast counting, you’ll see that you can deal exactly 15 damage (8 from Bluegills + 7 from Murk-Eye). If you didn’t keep track of the dead Murlocs, you could easily miss it.

Alternate/Tech Cards

• Loot Hoarder – Version with Loot Hoarders is better against Aggro decks, because it allows you to drop something on turn 2 if you don’t get the Doomsayers. Wild Pyromancer is important to deal AoE damage, so you don’t want to drop it, and a 2/1 minion is often as good as the 3/2 in faster matchups. It also makes the deck even more cycle-heavy. But you need to sacrifice something instead – probably Humility, making the matchups like Druid harder.
• Keeper of Uldaman – Yet another “defensive” option. Keeper of Uldaman is best when used on big minions, so that you can turn a big threat into a pretty small one. 3/3’s are way easier to remove too – they die to most of your minions (Pyromancer, Healbot, Belcher, Warleader and Uldaman itself all have 3 attack).
• Muster for Battle – I’ve seen the card in a few versions. It makes the deck little more Midrange’y and helps greatly with the early game board control. Three 1/1’s can make some good trades and the weapon gives you a way to ping.
• Cult Master – Another card draw mechanic. You can play 1 instead of Solemn Vigil, two is probably too much. Cult Master is great when you already have some minions on the board. Opponents often ignore your board once they know you’re playing the Anyfin deck and they need to push the damage, especially 1/1’s, because they know that you probably have no buffs. Cult Master can punish that and draw tons of cards. The 4/2 body is very weak, but this deck doesn’t care about big minions. With 3 Charge minions it’s also possible to get some instant Cult Master value in the late game – for example on turn 8 you can play Cult Master and 2x Bluegill for 4 charge damage and 2 card draws.

Closing

If you want to submit your own decklist – send it to me at stonekeephs@gmail.com with a proof of Legend, matchups statistics (it’s best to use some sort of tracker for that), your own thoughts and stuff like that. Or if you’ve already described the deck somewhere, you can just send me the link to your Reddit/Hearthpwn/etc. post! I’ll definitely try to put at least one deck submitted by you guys every week.

If you have any other suggestions or comments, leave them in the section below!

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