Introduction:

Neeru Fireblade. That’s all. That’s the whole guide. 

I have a unhealthy love and appreciation for this card ever since he was first revealed. I love this card despite his drawbacks…which are many. I love this card despite him being nigh unplayable in nearly every situation. I love this card so much that I crafted him day 1 of Forged in the Barrens FULL KNOWING he would not be good. I think that this “deep”/self-burn idea is an incredibly interesting one for Warlock and it is an archetype I hope they continue to explore at some point in the future to open up a new avenue of decks to try. 

Mr. Fireblade has been sitting in my collection more or less unused since Barrens, staring at me with puppy dog eyes hoping to get his moment in the sun. I theorycrafted different uses for him, tried the turbo burn versions centered around a Zephrys the Great finisher, and tested him in a clunky disco deck to badly mixed results. Then, Onyxia’s Lair came along and brought Kazakusan with it. Not only does the black-dragon-all-along provide a deck refill akin to Archivist Elysiana to stop the fatigue issue, the quality of cards he brings with him are much, much higher on average. Also, I happen to greatly enjoy duels as a game mode and bringing the treasures over to constructed is just bonkers to me. After conversations yet again with Swizard, I threw together the first version of this deck to finally give Neeru a chance to see some play and it has proven to be quite fun in the early going. 

As always, this deck is FOR FUN. I make no claims to the competitive viability of the deck, which is quite low I am sure. Also, I am missing some staple Warlock cards that would probably be better in the deck and will update as I acquire them and try them out. I am sure anyone out there reading this with a more extensive collection will think of substitutions to make quite easily. 

Win Conditions

This deck takes the win conditions of the turbo Neeru style decks, namely Neeru and Zephrys, and removes the turbo element of Hemet, Jungle Hunter in favor of a slower, more control-focused game plan. The overarching goal of the deck is to get a board of Imp Familiar with initiative to stick and then use either Zephrys the Great or Kazakusan to provide buffs/clears for a lethal push. Along the way, you can clear multiple boards, draw through your deck, and hopefully disrupt some of your opponent’s plans through card burn. Kazakusan provides a stall for fatigue once Neeru is active as well as a good variety of potential win conditions on his own. This opens up many more possibilities than just relying of Zephrys alone and can be quite fun depending on the treasures you roll. 

Self-Burn/Card Destruction

Alongside Neeru, I have always had a soft spot for Altar of Fire. I don’t know if it’s the sadistic part of my brain or just the fact that misery loves company, but there’s nothing more satisfying than hitting a combo piece off of an altar followed by an immediate concede. It can be really tough to figure out when to play an altar short of any specific tells like the opponent dropping Lorekeeper Polkelt so I tend to just go with how I feel in the specific game, usually playing it around turn 4 or 5. I do my best to hold off on burning my own stuff until I have some of the win conditions in hand, so if at all possible exercise a little restraint. Gnomeferatu is usually played on tempo or as close to on tempo as possible for the body, and can snipe combo pieces herself very early in the game if lucky skilled enough. Soul Rend is a very effective clear, doubly so if you have your win conditions in hand and don’t care about your deck any longer. Also once you have no deck left, the card is just a free five damage to the board with no drawbacks. 

All in all, the general rule of thumb is: deck yourself out in a way that is efficient but minimizes the chances of tossing a win condition out the window. It’s not gonna work every time, so be prepared for some altars where you burn all three of the win con cards in a row. Laugh at your luck, shrug it off, and move on to the next one. 

Cards for the “Deep” Game

These are the cards that benefit from running your deck low and can provide big swing turns to get you back into a game you have fallen behind in. While not a Reno deck per se, given your goal of burning through your own deck you can use Reno Jackson once you hit your fatigue state to give yourself a reset as you transition into the treasures phase of the game. Barrens Scavenger and Blood Shard Bristleback become incredibly strong cards once you meet the deck requirement, and can work in conjunction to swing the board right back to you if needed or to make up a large chunk of health and provide removal. Against aggro decks, this swing turn has occasionally been enough to stabilize and seal the game in one action. All in all, this deck gains a surge of power once you hit 10 cards or less remaining so you should seek to get there as quickly as possible in a way that makes sense for the given gamestate. 

Board Control to Get You to the Deep Game

There’s not too much to say about these cards, all tried-and-true Warlock removal and support. Dreadlich Tamsin has been a great addition to this deck, as her battlecry draw is just fantastic alongside the board damage she provides. It is important to note that almost all of the removal in this deck right now are shadow spells, so be sure to maximize the Tamsin Roame synergy as much as possible to extend your mileage. 

Card Draw

Again, not too much to say here. Draw often, get your deck smaller as fast as possible, and be careful not to mill due to a full hand. Taelan Fordring is here primarily to grab you Kazakusan, but can also get you Neeru or Reno as well depending on your draws. He is a valuable tool to protect you from your own milling and allow you to begin burning both decks once you have something to win with. 

Substitutions

Off the top of my head, Dark Skies, Touch of the Nathrezim, and possibly Runed Mithril Rod should/could fit in the deck. I do not currently own them so I could not test them out. You could also drop the Gnomeferatus for more draw/survival at the expense of disrupting your opponent’s plans, or add Raise Dead to double dip on the battlecries found in the deck. These are all changes I will be trying out, so I will update as I gain more experience playing the deck. 

Curse of Agony is another card I am very interested in from the mini-set. I tried it out at first as some extra damage I didn’t have to think about, but it isn’t the most synergistic when you are also blowing up cards in the opponent’s deck. That being said, it does partner with Tamsin Roame to provide extra copies, so maybe there’s some version of this deck that uses the card to further combat combo instead of aggro. Who knows? 

Edit #1: I have saved up for and crafted 2x Dark Skies for the deck. I know I’m late to the party, but this is a wonderful card and additional removal to get you to Neeru/Kazakusan. I removed 1x Mortal Coil and 1x Backfire, since draw did not seem to be much of a problem in my games so far. 

Mulligans/Matchups/Etc.

I’m not good at suggesting mulligans or matchup advice in general, and especially not with a deck I just threw together. Broadly speaking, this deck fares well against aggro and can struggle against combo. However, the card burning options do give you some protection against combo if your luck holds out. Depending on your meta, you could modify that portion of the deck to lean more into anti-aggro or extra over the top damage options to close games faster. Either way, you are more often than not the reactive deck in your matchups, and should manage resources to tidy up your opponent’s threats as you march towards that fiery pit of an empty deck. 

In Closing:

The first game I played with this deck, three 10/10 Kazakusan swung for a 30 damage OTK after I played Banana Split on the original. In the next game, I became Taunt Druid for a while once my board of Imp Familiars were given the Canopic Jars deathrattle and out popped Greybough, Plaguemaw the Rotting and Hadronox, among others. The third game featured another board of imps swinging for lethal this time, after Zephrys gave them Bloodlust and Gnomish Army Knife provided way too many keywords for one minion to handle. Seeing the deck win in different ways, most of them involving my boy Neeru in some way, was very gratifying and just plain fun. This doesn’t count the multiple games against [Hearthstone Card (C’thun, the Shattered) Not Found], [Hearthstone Card (Mecha’thun) Not Found] or Shudderwock where opponents conceded after a key card was burned from their deck. Some of these opponents even added me to their friends list to share their appreciation for the deck! 

If you want to ladder and reach legend, go use a good deck. If you want to use an underplayed, not good card and have some fun: break Neeru out of his spot in the binder, throw him up on the back of the worst kept secret black dragon in Hearthstone history, and let the sweet flames of utter chaos unfold. This deck has already been a great deal of fun, and it will be my go to for casual enjoyment through the rest of this expansion and hopefully beyond! 

If you actually made it this far, thank you for reading! I’ll keep updating as I play the deck and change out cards here and there. Most importantly, thank you for your interest in the more off-meta. No shame on people who play meta decks to ladder as fast as possible, but I always love connecting with those who take the road less travelled and live for the more random, insane, and unpredictable moments that Hearthstone can bring. Good luck out there!