Grim Patron

Introduzione

This is my version of the Grim Patron Warrior.
I tried to built the deck all around card draw. The more cards you draw the more likely you will have the right cards to combo in your hand at the same time.
I did reach legend Rank 1 with it on April 18th. (just for a short time but still)
Also I did reach legend Rank 1 with it on May3th. (after changing one card)

Gameplay

This is my version of the Grim Patron Warrior.
I tried to built the deck all around card draw. The more cards you draw the more likely you will have the right cards to combo in your hand at the same time.
I did reach legend Rank 1 with it on April 18th. (just for a short time but still)
Also I did reach legend Rank 1 with it on May3th. (after changing one card)

My patron list is very standard, but I really wanted to write a guide explaining how to play it: I think most guides are incomplete or outdated. Please leave comments or questions and I will try to either answer them directly or incorporate the answer into the guide.

A huge thanks to Zalae, nephew of Gauss, for being the most useful streamer in shoring up my patron game. It’s my dream that he sees this post and responds.

Before talking about how to get better at patron, a few words about how to get better at Hearthstone. I’ve been in the top 15 legend for 5 or 6 seasons of hearthstone: each time, I got there by essentially copying successful streamers who were also high ranked. If you want to learn a deck, look for every VOD of a streamer who was top 10 legend with it within the last few days. It takes me about 7 hours of concentrated study of footage to “download” a player’s mindset, and this study can only come from VODs. I think it’s impossible to do this in real-time: it takes a lot of pausing and rewinding. If you are lucky, two or more players (aka Sjow, Zalae, Lifecoach) will all be playing the deck you want to learn: they will play it differently, and you will get to merge the strengths of all of them. I can look at a situation and think of how Lifecoach would play it vs Zalae, and that gives me more options.

The most delicate part of the patron game plan is understanding when to play combo cards and when to hold them. This includes not only your 3 and 5 drops, but also your inner rages and whirlwinds. I was most surprised by how often it is correct to hold inner rages. Against zoo, if you have a patron in hand it is very often incorrect to inner rage an early 3/1 knife juggler for example. It’s impossible to fully explain when to use combo pieces early, but you’ll get a feel for it as you play the game or watch videos. Just remember after every loss to ask yourself if you played some cards too hastily or held them too long.

Mulligan

Mulligan

vs Aggro:

Fiery War Axe , Unstable Ghoul, Whirlwind, Frothing Berserker (Dread Corsair if you have a weapon already and Death’s Bite if you have a Dread Corsair already)

vs Control:

Fiery War Axe , Death’s Bite, Gnomish Inventor, Slam(Emperor Thaurissan against really slow control decks only, Dread Corsair if you have a weapon already)

How to play:

vs Aggro:

Just try to fight for board control as much as you can in general. Anything else should be fine then. Against Face Hunter: try to race them with your weapons and Frothing Berserker

vs Control:

Try to draw as many cards as you can while not loosing the board too much (the more you draw the more likely you will be able to play your little combos). Play a couple of Grim Patron if you know your opponent should not be able to clear them or just save them for the combo with Warsong Commander ( + Commanding Shout eventually). Also always keep in mind that you might be able to almost oneshot your opponent with a big Frothing Berserker especially after you got some value from Emperor Thaurissan.

Questions and answers:
Why do you not play…
…Grommash:
It could be good but i never saw a reason to put him in. I think I do not need him as a finisher. And playing him just as a big guy makes my opponent get more value out of his single target remove cards (which he usually does not get against this deck).

…Axe Flinger:
I do not need face damage on like turn 4 or in midgame in general. I prefer playing Gnomish there for an extra card draw. It also is not the best finisher in this deck in late game.

…Inner Rage:
My Mana curve is pretty low already. Still it could work well with Acolyte, Grim Patron, Battle Rage.

…Bouncing Blade:
Why would I? The card is just too inconsistent in my opinion. Also I do not want to fill up my entire board with Grim Patrons. Because in case of AoE damage I need space for new Patrons to spawn.

In general I think it is always much easier to say what card could be good in a deck than saying what card would I remove for that. And all the cards I am playing right now are working just fine.