Last Updated: October 06, 2015
Playing grim patron here gained Reynad 22 armor before his next turn and cost him the match. It also cost him the chance to play in regionals.
Why? Reynad misunderstood how his deck wins.
Planning to Win
But before we get into that let’s give some context. On turn 6 Bloodyface played a shade of naxxramas (pictured above) and sent a full force of nature
to Reynads face putting him at 12. Previously in this game Reynad had played a frothing berserker
, for tempo, meaning he has 1 still left in his deck. The grim patron
already on the board has been there for a few turns. Alright, now we can talk about how playing that grim patron
leads to this:
The Patron Warrior deck has 2 win conditions: frothing berserker
and grim patron
s. Part of piloting the deck well is knowing which win condition you are going to be using with that game. Against Druids it's often grim patron
since once you make 4+ grim patron
s the Druid needs to have a hand like wrath
+ wrath
+ swipe
or lose. In the situation above it's clear Reynad knows this: he is trying to make a ton of grim patron
s to keel Bloodyface over. However, Bloodyface has telegraphed a few turns earlier that he has force of nature
+ savage roar
. The combo will clear the grim patron
s but give Reynad a ton of armor. It also leaves Reynad with his solitary frothing berserker
+ warsong commander
to win. As it turns out Reynad dies while waiting for a good chance to kill with the frothing berserker
. Bloodyface knows Reynad has literally one shot at winning so he can play it safe by limiting the number of minions he plays, prioritizing taunts and even using ancient of lore
to heal if need be. Had Reynad kept that grim patron
he would still have the option to use his inner rage
s and whirlwind
effects later in the game to flood the board.
Plans in Non-Combo Decks
Alright, it's obvious that when you are playing a combo deck you need to be mindful of what your combos are. Is that all this article is about? The advice here is: Making a game plan is crucial to winning This applies to non-combo decks as well. Let’s look at this game between Phonetap and Muzzy in the World Championship Qualifier. Muzzy is right to be holding his head in his hands, the situation is pretty rough for him. Phonetap has 2 secrets up which Muzzy knows to be an avenge
and a redemption
. If Phonetap has 5 damage from his hand the current board is lethal. Muzzy has only used 2 taunt givers in this game, meaning he has 2 left in the deck. What is the game plan that is most likely to win Muzzy the game?
The good Doctor?! Doesn’t that leave Muzzy dead to several combinations of cards? Muzzy could have ensured he lived one more turn if he played either antique healbot
or shadowflame
! Yes, but both of those plays make ever clearing the board almost impossible. Playing Dr. Boom
here means it will probably survive until next turn which lets Muzzy clear with shadowflame
. From there Muzzy just needs to draw a taunt giver and he can stabilize. For the record, Muzzy does clear the board in the following turn but then dies to due to a lack of taunts. Is the correct play seriously ‘Hope he doesn’t have lethal and you draw the card you need’? Anyone can give that advice. Why is this an article? Well it’s not that simple. It's more like: “I need to clear the board or I have 0% chance of winning this game, hence I’m going for the line of plays that is most likely to clear”. It's unfortunate for Muzzy that clearing the board involves hoping Phonetap doesn’t have 5 damage from his hand in a deck that runs many weapons and possibly a few blessing of kings
. If Muzzy was not this far behind in the game his plan could involve something more sensible like “keep the board under control until I can out-muscle him with giants.”
Another Example
Here is another situation from the world championship, featuring Ostkaka and Kolento:
Your Opponent Has Plans Too
When you are in the lead your plan is unlikely to change as the game develops. You built your deck to do a specific thing, then it does it. Win board control with my expensive minions then combo kill on turn 9 to 11. - Druid Play powerful sticky minions until turn 6 to 8 then burn the opponent out - Hunter Tap tap tap into absurdly powerful minions turn 4 then follow up with undercosted giants and strong board clear - Handlock Drag the game on until turn 25 then win with some legendary or another - Control Warrior As things get worse it's perfectly fine to have your plans devolve into “Go face and pray I draw a fireball






- Control the board until you can burn them out (8-11 turns)
- Play around combo
Trump’s choices boil down to 2 lines: unleash the hounds + mad scientist
or loatheb
. In terms of how well these plays clear the board the are largely on par. loatheb
gives you a 5/5 against their 2/4 keeper of the grove
and matches up nicely against their likely turn 6 plays, whether it be sylvanas windrunner
, emperor thaurissan
, azure drake
or druid of the claw
. The unleash the hounds
play leaves you in a similar position with a mad scientist
into a clear board. It is worse to contest big minions coming down next turn but it does help you develop traps earlier. However, loatheb
can do something almost no other card in your deck can do: protect you from the combo for a turn. Up until now all the talk about plans has been about executing your own combos or accomplishing your goals but a good plan keeps in mind your opponent's combos as well. I am not advocating to keep loatheb
until turn 8, but in this case you save him from being used for tempo without taking a large board control penalty.
Being Flexible with Win Conditions
When thinking about how to beat a Patron Warrior as a Druid the idea of using your combo to clear patrons and giving your opponent armor in the process is a depressing thought. Your plan involves many charging 4/2's going face.
What Have We Learned?
The main takeaways are these:- Know how your deck wins in the specific match up you are playing
- Have a solid understanding of both your win conditions and your opponent's win conditions so you can take advantage of opportunities during the game.
Sign off
If you liked this article check out my other article for HSP here: The Trap of the Best Case Scenario or my YouTube channel Enter the Hearth. Please hit the up vote button if you'd like to see more articles like this!SHOW MORE
Last Updated: October 06, 2015
Playing grim patron here gained Reynad 22 armor before his next turn and cost him the match. It also cost him the chance to play in regionals.
Why? Reynad misunderstood how his deck wins.
Planning to Win
But before we get into that let’s give some context. On turn 6 Bloodyface played a shade of naxxramas (pictured above) and sent a full force of nature
to Reynads face putting him at 12. Previously in this game Reynad had played a frothing berserker
, for tempo, meaning he has 1 still left in his deck. The grim patron
already on the board has been there for a few turns. Alright, now we can talk about how playing that grim patron
leads to this:
The Patron Warrior deck has 2 win conditions: frothing berserker
and grim patron
s. Part of piloting the deck well is knowing which win condition you are going to be using with that game. Against Druids it's often grim patron
since once you make 4+ grim patron
s the Druid needs to have a hand like wrath
+ wrath
+ swipe
or lose. In the situation above it's clear Reynad knows this: he is trying to make a ton of grim patron
s to keel Bloodyface over. However, Bloodyface has telegraphed a few turns earlier that he has force of nature
+ savage roar
. The combo will clear the grim patron
s but give Reynad a ton of armor. It also leaves Reynad with his solitary frothing berserker
+ warsong commander
to win. As it turns out Reynad dies while waiting for a good chance to kill with the frothing berserker
. Bloodyface knows Reynad has literally one shot at winning so he can play it safe by limiting the number of minions he plays, prioritizing taunts and even using ancient of lore
to heal if need be. Had Reynad kept that grim patron
he would still have the option to use his inner rage
s and whirlwind
effects later in the game to flood the board.
Plans in Non-Combo Decks
Alright, it's obvious that when you are playing a combo deck you need to be mindful of what your combos are. Is that all this article is about? The advice here is: Making a game plan is crucial to winning This applies to non-combo decks as well. Let’s look at this game between Phonetap and Muzzy in the World Championship Qualifier. Muzzy is right to be holding his head in his hands, the situation is pretty rough for him. Phonetap has 2 secrets up which Muzzy knows to be an avenge
and a redemption
. If Phonetap has 5 damage from his hand the current board is lethal. Muzzy has only used 2 taunt givers in this game, meaning he has 2 left in the deck. What is the game plan that is most likely to win Muzzy the game?
The good Doctor?! Doesn’t that leave Muzzy dead to several combinations of cards? Muzzy could have ensured he lived one more turn if he played either antique healbot
or shadowflame
! Yes, but both of those plays make ever clearing the board almost impossible. Playing Dr. Boom
here means it will probably survive until next turn which lets Muzzy clear with shadowflame
. From there Muzzy just needs to draw a taunt giver and he can stabilize. For the record, Muzzy does clear the board in the following turn but then dies to due to a lack of taunts. Is the correct play seriously ‘Hope he doesn’t have lethal and you draw the card you need’? Anyone can give that advice. Why is this an article? Well it’s not that simple. It's more like: “I need to clear the board or I have 0% chance of winning this game, hence I’m going for the line of plays that is most likely to clear”. It's unfortunate for Muzzy that clearing the board involves hoping Phonetap doesn’t have 5 damage from his hand in a deck that runs many weapons and possibly a few blessing of kings
. If Muzzy was not this far behind in the game his plan could involve something more sensible like “keep the board under control until I can out-muscle him with giants.”
Another Example
Here is another situation from the world championship, featuring Ostkaka and Kolento:
Your Opponent Has Plans Too
When you are in the lead your plan is unlikely to change as the game develops. You built your deck to do a specific thing, then it does it. Win board control with my expensive minions then combo kill on turn 9 to 11. - Druid Play powerful sticky minions until turn 6 to 8 then burn the opponent out - Hunter Tap tap tap into absurdly powerful minions turn 4 then follow up with undercosted giants and strong board clear - Handlock Drag the game on until turn 25 then win with some legendary or another - Control Warrior As things get worse it's perfectly fine to have your plans devolve into “Go face and pray I draw a fireball






- Control the board until you can burn them out (8-11 turns)
- Play around combo
Trump’s choices boil down to 2 lines: unleash the hounds + mad scientist
or loatheb
. In terms of how well these plays clear the board the are largely on par. loatheb
gives you a 5/5 against their 2/4 keeper of the grove
and matches up nicely against their likely turn 6 plays, whether it be sylvanas windrunner
, emperor thaurissan
, azure drake
or druid of the claw
. The unleash the hounds
play leaves you in a similar position with a mad scientist
into a clear board. It is worse to contest big minions coming down next turn but it does help you develop traps earlier. However, loatheb
can do something almost no other card in your deck can do: protect you from the combo for a turn. Up until now all the talk about plans has been about executing your own combos or accomplishing your goals but a good plan keeps in mind your opponent's combos as well. I am not advocating to keep loatheb
until turn 8, but in this case you save him from being used for tempo without taking a large board control penalty.
Being Flexible with Win Conditions
When thinking about how to beat a Patron Warrior as a Druid the idea of using your combo to clear patrons and giving your opponent armor in the process is a depressing thought. Your plan involves many charging 4/2's going face.
What Have We Learned?
The main takeaways are these:- Know how your deck wins in the specific match up you are playing
- Have a solid understanding of both your win conditions and your opponent's win conditions so you can take advantage of opportunities during the game.
Sign off
If you liked this article check out my other article for HSP here: The Trap of the Best Case Scenario or my YouTube channel Enter the Hearth. Please hit the up vote button if you'd like to see more articles like this!SHOW MORE
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