Hearthpwn

Huh, Greetings ! I 'm Flohunt , Greek player playing on EU (currently rank LEGEND) and I really enjoy the tears of my enemies when they hear " Everyone get in here!" .  Since the rise of the Tempo Warrior , Patron Warrior has been neglected to the point of extinction ( seriously though, i can't remember playing against a patron warrior for a long time). But some of us still remain loyal to this truly awesome deck.

•  Why Patron Warrior ?

Have you got tired facing Aggro Shaman and Zoolock? Patron is here for you. With a plethora of whirlwind effects in your arsenal, any aggro deck  trying to impose you will be stomped. But what about control decks? How do we fight them? I was reminded of a card by my a friend of mine , Yoshiturtle ( thanks bro!).Arch-Thief Rafaam . Long story short , Rafaam will not let you run out of steam even when your patron waves have been cleared. You are going to have the necessary fuel to finish of those pesky control decks.

It is important to understand that Patron Warrior is a heavily combo and synergy focused deck. An experienced Patron player can effortlessly reach legend with this deck. But that requires practice in order to  push this deck's potential to maximum. If you find your self wondering while playing this deck " What's the best play here ?" , I would suggest watching some video's of Patron Warrior Veterans such as Thijs, Sjow, LOKShadow and even Ostkaka during the World Championship.

Also this deck poses great threat to the most popular Warrior deck at the moment, Tempo Warrior. Not being able to deal with huge boards, Tempo Warrior has no efficient way to clear Patrons . That may force him to invest resources into awkward trades ( e.g using a Kor'kron Elite to kill a 3-3 Grim Patron). The key in this matchup is to deny him the chance to build an early board.

Legend Proof ( Rafaam carrying me in the background ) :

Why Sir Finley Mrrgglton?

For Patron warrior, hero power is almost useless in every matchup, most of the time you want to spend all your mana playing cards instead of armor up. Sir Finley Mrrgglton provides a better solution for patron. In my opinion, hero power ranking is 

Mage > Priest >> Warlock = Shaman > Hunter >> Druid = Paladin >> Rogue

Warlock hero power is not as good as people think it is, because you may lose tempo by drawing a card.  Priest hero power is pretty good especially when you heal up your Frothing Berserker orGrim Patron and make your opponent unable to deal with it next turn. Mage hero power is the best because you can

• Grim Patron + Hero Power + Whirlwind = 4 * Grim Patron
• Grommash Hellscream + Hero Power = Enraged Grommash Hellscream
• Acolyte of Pain + Hero Power = Draw a card
• Enemy minion + Hero Power = Can be Execute
• Friendly minion + Hero Power = 1 more draw from Battle Rage

Also, don't use Sir Finley Mrrgglton on turn 1 against mage because armor up is the best hero power against freeze mage.

Why Rafaam? Well, he's an extra threat to our deck. AND by threat, I surely don't mean his stats. 7/8 is great, sure, but every control deck - because that's the kind of matchups we target with this swap - has no problem to deal with him. The reason I included Rafaam is because of his Artifacts. 10 mana 3/3 bodies ( a.k.a. 7 silenced Patrons! ;) ) versus decks like Priest, Renolocks and Control/Fatigue Warriors, 10 split damage versus Paladins and Freeze Mages, and a 10/10 buff for the sudden lethal? This card is great and fits our deck  perfectly. 

Important Note! : I would like to mention some tips to keep in mind especially when playing versus decks like Renolock, N' Zoth Paladin, Midrange Hunter and even some Beast Druids. Both Patron and Tempo Warrior have similar early game minion e.g Frothing Berserker, Acolyte of Pain and Bloodhoof Brave. These particular minions generally the longer they manage to survive on the board the more value they generate. But of course this comes with a price. All of them start with fairly low attack damage meaning they are vulnearable to f@#$%ing Stampeding Kodo run by the forementioned decks. Generally, if  the Kodo succeds on killing, let's say, our beloved Bloodhoof Brave, you are in a pretty fu@$ed up position. He destroyed your 4 drop and he also added a noticeable body to the board. The Tempo swing isn't just huge, its COLOSSAL. So, try to keep in mind things like : does he/she still have the coin by turn 4? Oh, his next turn is 5 maybe I should at least wait a turn see If  I can bait out a Kodo with an Armorsmith or enrage Bloodhoof Brave with Blood To Ichor. At this point, I imagine some of you will say :" Dude, you really expect us to play around Kodo? KODO? As if there weren't other things to worry about". I know but trust me in this. I was watching a friend of mine, who was playing Tempo Warrior, also reached legend and he said to me the exact same thing. Turns out that when he played around it, he was actually playing around it which resulted on him winning the games. That's it for today,fellas. If this deck seems to get more popular I'll invest some of my time to write specifics about match-ups etc. Beware the Kodo, boys and girls!

Mulligans and Match-ups : 

 Most players comfort themselves by finding a guide they prefer and optimize their mulligan according to it. Recently, I have realized that there is no optimal mulligan against every class. Because, in all games, even among same classes, you are called to face a  different situation. Most players don't pay attention to the slight details the game is giving them. What's my point? When you enter the game, you are allowed to see if the opponent keeps or replaces cards. Use that to your advantage! 

Example : "Garrosh vs Malfurion". Allow yourself a glance at your hand and then watch for the druids mulligan. " Hmm, he kept everything. Most druid decks are C'Thun or Ramp. Even Beast druids though can rekt me with a powerful Innervate play. Let's suppose he has that." Back to your own hand now. You have Blood To Ichor , Execute, Frothing Berserker and Armorsmith. Think about it for a moment. " But the guide doesnt show Blood To Ichor and Execute as the mulligan , I should replace them." , some of the players might think.  I disagree! You engineer your hand considering your opponents mulligan as well! Keep all of them , except Armorsmith ( she's weak vs druids) trying to find smth better. Now if the druid does  Innervate a Dark Arakkoa on turn 4 you'll be able to answer it and also gain a huge tempo advantage.

I imagine everyone knows this but when you get Fiery War Axe in your starting hand keep it!

Shaman: Fiery War Axe for Tunnel Trogg, Blood To Ichor for Argent Squire, Execute for Flamewreathed Faceless and a Frothing Berserker for early board pressence . Main winning condition vs either Aggro or Midrange Shaman is Patrons. Try to keep their board clean and prefer tempo over value ( I'll be saying this a lot). Against Aggro, it is safer not to use Sir Finley Mrrgglton , unless you think the situation fits it and you are out of lethal range.

 Warrior: Frothing Berserker ( 4 health minions are diffcult to remove currently), Grim Patron , I know it's expensive but the sooner you let those Patrons out there against any Warrior deck the higher chances you have to win. Fiery War Axe is always good to have especially vs Tempo Warrior. Acolyte of Pain as a card draw mechanic and a target for the opponents Axes. Control Warrior: Extremely unfavorable matchup. Half of their deck is removals. They will be able to deal with your early board and also have a Brawl for your Patrons. Sometimes you have to yolo 4 patrons at turn 6 if you have the combo pieces. But if you also have battle rage in your hand is generally better to at least the Battle Rage value, refill your hand and try again. Arch-Thief Rafaam works wonder here.Usually, you'll want the higher value artifact: 3-3 Mummies. Generally, in this match-up you pray one of your patron waves gets to survive at least once turn. Believe me they can generate a lot of value. Tempo Warrior: Whoever manages to establish a decent board by turn 5 first is the one who wins . Once you've create the first patron wave it's very hard for them to answer it. Try to keep their board clean and prefer tempo over value.

Midrange Hunter : Hard mulligan for Fiery War Axe. Even if you don't have it, never give up. Patron Warrior is the epitome of comebacks. If you have Fiery War Axe keep Frothing Berserker . Also keep Bloodhoof Brave  but be careful when to play him ( see Important Note above). You can't afford to get wrecked by Kodo. Ravaging Ghoul sometimes can be helpful if you are missing that one damage to finish off an enemy minion and also adds a 3-3 to the board which contests a lot of 3 and 4 drops of Hunter. The winning condition here Grim Patron, plain simple. The earlier you manage to unleash Patrons on the board the closer you are to winning. Early in the game focus on keeping your opponent's board in check. Don't hesitate to trade health for tempo. If you have Battle Rage in your hand cycle it even for 1 card. Prefer tempo over value in this match-up, or you'll get overrun. Fortunately, Patron Warrior has the highest win ratio vs Midrange Hunter among all other Warrior decks. That's because Hunters have no clear answer for Patrons and they also can't really ignore them.

Warlock :  Keep an eye out for how many cards they mulligan, more cards= higher chance of Renolock. Zoolock : Hard mulligan for Fiery War Axe and Ravaging Ghoul. If you have Fiery War Axe keep Armorsmith and Frothing Berserker , to back them up. Sir Finley Mrrgglton  can also be kept, choosing hero power like this Mage=Priest> Druid> Rogue .  Bloodhoof Brave is pretty good too. The winning condition here is simple Patron generation. You do that and it's "gg wp". Renolock: Unfavorable match-up , not unwinnable though. If you can pressure them early and force to use some sort of AoE to clear a non-Patron board you are in good shape. Mulligan for Fiery War Axe ,  Frothing Berserker, Kor'kron Elite and  Bloodhoof Brave. Watch for Kodo here as well. Execute helps also deal with early big minions Renolocks have. The winning condition here is to keep pressuring them until they are within Grommash Hellscream range. I often keep both Inner Rage, just for the 14 damage burst. Patrons here are simply to force them lose a turn by dealing with them. Make sure to have your hand filled up and not waste resources unwisely ( e.g If you have a board with 4 patrons do not drop a Frothing Berserker. The patrons already present a great threat that needs to be answered. You don't your Frothing Berserker get caught in the AoE).

Rogue :  Against any type of rogue mulligan for Fiery War Axe,  Frothing Berserker and Acolyte of Pain ( they run only one Deadly Poison which means it is highly possible Acolyte will draw you at least 2 cards).  Also, keeping a damaging spell like Slam can be helpful since a lot of minions Rogues use have 4 health. Miracoli Rogue : Skill match-up. Try to build the board, while removing his threats through efficient trading and tempo spells. Rogue's weakness belongs to her inability to heal and generally protect her self from damage. Winning condition here is either Patron generation or pressuring her into Grommash Hellscream range. Watch out for her burst damage with Leeroy. Use some of your Whirlwind effects with an Armorsmith to secure you are out of lethal range. N'Zoth Rogue: Favorable match-up. That deck is somehow slow and the only way to pressure  you is by having a really good curve of minions. Try to keep the board clean of threats and do not worry for burst damage ( like in Miracoli). Get those Patrons out and win.