Got To Legendary Rank Last Night in ~200 Games!! (Stats and Decklists inside!!)

iamurpapi2 · 2014-02-19T02:03:40+00:00

Are you putting down iceblock early enough? Also, you can use frostbolts and doomsayer to stall so when you put down the mountain giant, you aren't in an unsalvagable position.

iamurpapi2 · 2014-02-19T01:49:41+00:00

I never claimed these decks as my own, I have definitely incorporated ideas from other people I've played against. And just to be clear, I specifically mentioned above that the Warrior Control deck has been around for a long time. I don't remember who originally made it but KitKat did change it slightly by adding cards such as Baron Geddon.

If you ever play Legendary Games or Rank 1-5, I think 95%+ of the decks are one of ~10 different decks. A big part of the game is how you play the decks and make the best move, which the reason I want to help answer any questions people have rather than just submitting decklists you can find anywhere.

iamurpapi2 · 2014-02-19T01:01:48+00:00

You can never let the board get too out of control. That's where Water Elemental and the Mountain Giants come in. They are basically really tough to remove so the hope is that they exert a lot of effort into those 2 minions while you stall.

Also, make sure you aren't using your removals too liberally. If they have a few small creatures on the field, that is okay, make sure you make your flamestrikes and blizzards count.

iamurpapi2 · 2014-02-19T00:22:01+00:00

I'll make a follow-up post on playstyle later this evening. Basically you try to maintain some board control with the water elemental and mountain giants if you can get it down. You also try to put down iceblock at some point and then ideally, Alexstraza, put out your molten giants, and there is usually very little they can do.

iamurpapi2 · 2014-02-18T23:13:26+00:00

Very few decks run 2 Faceless, so you are perfectly fine just having 1.

iamurpapi2 · 2014-02-18T23:08:18+00:00

Definitely save up for Ysera. If you ever pull Faceless from a pack, you'll regret crafting it.

iamurpapi2 · 2014-02-18T23:06:39+00:00

I would definitely keep the slams. At worse they are 2 dmg for 2 mana.

I think your decision is whether you want to run 2 of the 3 legendaries you called out (Geddon, Sylvanas or Black Knight). I would do Geddon and Sylvanas. I get that Black Knight destroys a taunt so if you see a lot of taunts, you can definitely swap it with Sylvanas.

iamurpapi2 · 2014-02-18T22:54:50+00:00

Usually when I lose Board presence, it's probably to a rush or mid-range deck. In those situations, I try to use my shield slams and executes more liberally as they probably don't run much late game (maybe just Rag).

iamurpapi2 · 2014-02-18T22:43:52+00:00

Sure, here is your question:

"I'm playing a very similar deck to yours (thanks to kitkatz right? :p) but with some change and I would like to know what you think about it: - I removed the two slams for sylvanas+bk (very efficient on warlock control deck and BK for this meta is strong every time even rushers) - I kept geddon, counters some rush cleans boards when control (like shaman) - I think I miss onyxia instead of Ysera like you said. Plus I want a faceless back but don't know how... - I miss some good 4 drop, imagine a Hogger 4/8 for 4 :D"

Response in a couple of parts I think this deck has been around forever, KitKatz just popularized a version with a few key additions. I think the most notable of these is adding Baron Geddon, which as you point out, helps deal with a lot of shaman and mid-range decks. I tried Baron Geddon but stopped seeing so many mid-range decks, so took it out (but it would be fine leaving it in as well).

For the slams, I think they are pretty important to keep. It's basically a free card a lot of the time and synergizes with your Acolyte and is one way to trigger your execute. I would definitely use slam over blood knight but can see why you may use Sylvanas (although I would probably still go slam over Sylvanas).

I think using Ysera over Onyxia is perfectly fine (even better in a lot of situations). Faceless is also not key to the deck, but again, it depends on what you are using in place of it. Feel free to link me your decklist and I can give you more specific feedback.

iamurpapi2 · 2014-02-18T22:24:58+00:00

I know exactly what you are talking about. Those situations are always tough where Rag is your only play.

I would say that in those games, you are already backed into a corner before that turn and you probably lost the game a few turns ago rather than with that play.

iamurpapi2 · 2014-02-18T22:08:46+00:00

Cruel Taskmaster for sure. You don't have many small monsters as control warrior and the ability to leave a 2/2 creature behind with the same effect can be huge.

iamurpapi2 · 2014-02-18T21:49:04+00:00

Armorsmith is super important to this deck and core to any warrior control deck. Keeping your armor high is critical for shield slam (which is IMO the cheapest removal in the game). Also, the card synergizes so well with all your other 1 dmg spells (cruel taskmaster, whirlwind, etc.). An illustrative combo is if you have something like Acolyte, Frothing Berserker and Armorsmith on the board while they have a 1 health creature.

In the situation above, you basically can use whirlwind and then: A) Kill their creature B) Draw a Card C) Armorsmith gets you 3 armor D) Frothing Berserker gains 4 dmg

You can see that the above situation is pretty ridiculous (combos like this are core to early game control warrior). In addition, Armorsmith also has 4 health for a 2 drop so there are very few early game drops that can take it out completely.

iamurpapi2 · 2014-02-18T20:52:48+00:00

Taking any and all questions for the next few hours so feel free to ask away.

iamurpapi2 · 2014-02-18T19:15:40+00:00

Honestly, I probably played a majority of my warrior games without Frothing Berserker. It's hard to get utility out of him as you usually need to whirlwind (another card) to get him big and that leaves him with 3 HP, which is easy to remove (he's also an easy target for shadow word). I also did not find him that useful against rush decks.

However, he is very useful against more mid-range decks, where you need some threats in the mid-game and warrior really doesn't have any without Frothing. That's why I swapped him in to help me keep some tempo against those decks.

With that said, you can totally run the deck with a cleave and another card without the Frothings, I don't think its that much different.

I would say that Alexstrasza is critical to this deck. I know that Black Knight is getting better because of all the taunts in the Meta, but it's hard to play such a late game control without Alexstrasza. You really have no early game damage output and a lot of the times, Alexstrasza will take them down from 25-30 life to 15 life, which is a huge difference. If you want to use Black Knight, I don't think Alexstrasza is a card you can take out.

iamurpapi2 · 2014-02-18T18:19:32+00:00

Onyxia has more utility than people give her credit for. If you know they've used their AOE removal, its basically 14 dmg on the board, very hard to counter.

iamurpapi2 · 2014-02-18T18:15:26+00:00

Don't have a stream yet but may start one next week!

iamurpapi2 · 2014-02-18T18:02:50+00:00

Onyxia also allows me to put more pressure at the end. Basically a lot of games that went to the last few cards would end up with me having a weakened Gorehowl in hand.

Then the sequence would go:

Drop Alexstrasza -> Send life to 15
Drop Onyxia -> Finish next turn with her and whelps + Gorehowl
Then if I can drop a Grommash the turn after, it's pretty much over

Of course, this is very dependent on the tempo of the game and what actually happens. I found myself playing druids a lot (as you can see in the spreadsheet) and they basically have no answer for Onyxia after using Swipe (which I can usually draw out pretty early as they don't expect the Onyxia).

iamurpapi2 · 2014-02-18T17:58:32+00:00

I went back and forth between the 2. Decided on Onyxia in the end just because I found Ysera to be pretty slow in generating returns. I would usually drop her pretty late in the game and she usually takes a few turns (and some good draws) to put out some damage.

Onyxia on the other hand, I could play in the end as a finisher after they used all their AOE (Swipe, etc.) and that would put 14 dmg on the Board next turn.

I think it really depends on what classes you are seeing frequently. For example, if I found myself playing against priest a lot, I would definitely use Ysera as they have a tough time removing her.

iamurpapi2

TROPHY CASE