Warrior Wavering

So I'm desperate to play some of these hot new warrior decks that are storming their way up ladder, but am unsure what my best crafting options are.

I currently have The Boom Reaver, Blastmaster Boom and Armagedillo, plus two of each class epic from the Classic, Rise of Shadows and Ashes of Outlands sets and the cards from the Galakrond's Awakening solo adventure.  I also have a big pile of dust, but the reason for that is that I'm very stingy about what I craft with it! 

I'm looking for advice on what are currently the best legendaries to craft for the class, as I see a lot of different variants of pirate, bomb/control and enrage warrior, all of which seem to use different combinations of the cards listed below:

Grommash Hellscream - appears in a lot of decks, and is Classic, so shouldn't rotate

Ancharrr - seems to be a must-have, but is from Year of the Dragon, so will rotate sooner

Deathwing, Mad Aspect - seems to be less ubiquitous than other legendaries, plus it's Year of the Dragon

Kargath Bladefist - Year of the Phoenix, so will stick around for a good while, but only seems to be used occasionally

Teron Gorefiend - another Phoenix card, and neutral, but seems to be declining in popularity since egg warrior gave way to enrage builds

I also realise a lot of decks run Livewire Lance and Bloodsworn Mercenary,  again cards from Year of the Dragon.

So, what should I invest in? I'm looking for fun, competitive decks, but also value for dust. I also subscribe to the philosophy of 'craft decks, not cards', but figure many of the cards I've listed above will fit into a range of warrior decks.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Start with Ancharrr and you'll be able to pretty much play pirate warrior already.

Go for Grommash Hellscream afterwards if you want to play bomb/enrage warrior. Ancharrr is also required for both decks, hence why you should craft that one first.

The other legendaries aren't really mandatory so I'd start with those two.

There are 3 Standard Warrior decks: 1) Enrage is the best; 2) Bomb is quite high, too; 3) Pirate is fast and good overall, but you know... consistency of aggro decks depends on a curve you get.

Wild Warrior decks: 1) Pirate Warrior rules again, it can draw and almost looks like a combo deck and not like some versions from the past; 2) Galakrond Warrior beats Priests; 3) Bomb Warrior appears to be strong, too; 4) Odd Warrior is the king of inconsistency. It demolishes aggro, but dies to late game powerhouses which outvalue Warrior. But you can disrupt them with Coldlight Oracle + Zola the Gorgon + Brann Bronzebeard combo.

Warrior is currently very strong and fun. I think you should relax and craft a bit more now, enjoy the game and decks now, don't suffer from some future uncertainty. Blizzard will give you back some dust through events, nerfs and such. Every card in meta decks is there for a reason. So, cutting one of them will cost you roughly 2% of winrate; and current meta has a lot of close matchups. For example, in my last game before legend vs. Rogue, Deathwing, Mad Aspect and Grommash Hellscream were absolutely crucial and I wouldn't stand a chance without them.

So, yeah... Ancharrr is the best craft. Deathwing, Mad Aspect and Grommash Hellscream are utility cards and I would get at least one of them, if not both. Probably, Grom would be my first pick, because he wins games. He's rarely a staple, but pops up from time to time in Warrior decks. Deathwing is a fabulous board clear, but I guess you can try Brawl or Plague of Wrath instead.

Kargath Bladefist isn't good yet. Players play him in Bomb Warrior, but he doesn't perform well there. Bomb Warriors need cards to win, not those to not lose. 

Teron Gorefiend is another card pros are over-hyping. The thing is, you're gonna lose 90% of Priest games if you play Teron / Eggs. And you watch that on their streams and pros still will not admit it. The card can get better later, but rn, Meati's Captain Greenskin version is better, especially vs. Priest and Mage. As you can see, Warriors play Greenskin, but if you can't get it, play Injured Tol'virs instead. Get Greenskin from [Hearthstone Card (Sky Rider) Not Found].

Both epics you're mentioning are really good. Livewire Lance and Bloodsworn Mercenary. The first one is played in all Warrior decks, while Mercenary only in Enrage (and there it's the most crucial card, not some Eggs).

You have Blastmaster Boom, so you're closer to play Bomb Warrior. Bomb Warrior's future is slightly less certain than of Enrage. In your place I would wait for upcoming Blizzard's announcements before crafting anything. We're getting PvE content soon, but maybe some event with new cards can happen, too (and change the meta).

Do you have the Adventure? Bomb Wrangler and Risky Skipper are core cards.

Armagedillo can become useful later this year.

Thanks for these posts - very considered and insightful info that is a big help.

Also glad to see that there appears to be a consensus, in that Ancharrr and Grommash Hellscream are the two best options for crafting. I'm gonna hold fire until the vs report comes out tomorrow (a final bit of wavering) and, unless something drastic happens between now and then, reckon I'll craft them both. Who knows, maybe I'll even pack a Grommash after the tavern brawl tonight :)

My advice is go with Grommash for crafting.  I was in the same boat as you with Warrior a year ago while I was trying to get to 500 ranked wins with it.  The ability to have a solid charge minion that probably isn't going anywhere because it's not busted or over played, but still exceptionally useful were my deciding factors.

Ancharrr is the safest craft, imo. Pirate Warrior is viable in standard AND wild right now, so you won't lack for avenues to use it. When it rotates, you can still play with it in wild since Pirate Warrior never really dies. 

Then craft Grommash Hellscream, not only because it's classic, but because there's nothing sweeter than a Grommash lethal. 

Thanks to all. I crafted Grom and Ancharrr last night and have been having lots of fun with bomb warrior. Still learning the deck, so not great with it yet, but it's exactly what I was hoping for - a fun, powerful deck that takes some time to master.

What's the list you are playing? We can give you some card suggestions and gameplay tips to improve your performance with the deck.

Thanks mate, that's a kind offer.

For anyone interested, my decklist is as follows:

### Control Bomb Warrior
# Class: Warrior
# Format: Standard
# Year of the Phoenix
#
# 2x (1) Risky Skipper
# 2x (1) Shield Slam
# 2x (1) Sky Raider
# 2x (1) Sword and Board
# 2x (2) Armorsmith
# 2x (2) Battle Rage
# 2x (2) Corsair Cache
# 1x (3) Ancharrr
# 2x (3) Bladestorm
# 2x (3) EVIL Quartermaster
# 2x (3) Shield Block
# 2x (4) Wrenchcalibur
# 2x (5) Brawl
# 1x (5) Captain Greenskin
# 1x (7) Blastmaster Boom
# 2x (7) Bloodboil Brute
# 1x (8) Grommash Hellscream
#
AAECAQcE0gLIA5uUA96tAw1LkAOiBNQE/wealAPZrQPdrQOktgO4uQPAuQOcuwP2wgMA
#

It's the vs list, except I've added a second Brawl instead of Deathwing, Mad Aspect. I may craft DW if he proves to be core, but I feel the archetype is still settling down.  I'm mulliganing for Skipper, Armorsmith, Corsair, Ancharrr and Sky Raider, as per hsreplay data, but I suspect I need to vary this more depending on the matchup. Also think I'm playing too aggressively atm. Have been watching a few streamers (Zeddy, Rarran), so I'm sure I'll get the hang if it eventually, but I've got a way to go yet :)

I asked for your list in fear you picked up something random and obsolete; but VS list is really the right choice. So, there's nothing much too add or take away... only that your replacement is totally fine. :) A good thing is that you have Captain Greenskin (a replacement for him would have been Hoard Pillager).

It seems EVIL Quartermaster is doing great and it's a good mulligan keep. Regarding the mulligan in general, yes you usually prioritize the mentioned cards, but don't keep Risky Skipper, except vs. Demon Hunter, where it's a must. I'm not sure about Armorsmith; I would keep it vs. DH 50% of the time, namely only if I have some other core cards like Corsair Cache, in the first place. It's not a keep in slow matchups.

Judging by Enrage Warrior mulligan strats, it's good to keep Battle Rage vs. Priest. This is unfavorable duel and your game plan is to draw cards, feed the board bit by bit and deplete some hp... all that to surprise and burst with Grommash Hellscream.

As with any new deck, you need some time and practice. So, don't mind experimenting with plays and forcing the deck to the limits, until you get use to it. Bomb Warrior is better than Enrage Warrior - vs. Druids and Mages, it's slightly weaker vs DH, but still very favorable (I was 5-0 yesterday). EVIL Quartermaster helps here, together with Sword and Board. The most challenging turns are t2-t5 vs. DH. You need to do it right, because we don't have [Hearthstone Card (Warmaul Challanger) Not Found] here. Tough decisions like: [Hearthstone Card (Bladestrom) Not Found] before 1/1s or draw with Ancharrr right now and use blades later as a single target removal - [Hearthstone Card (Glavebound Adept) Not Found]...

When you calculate Bloodboil Brute, this is my formula to not screw up: a) count Brute's full cost, which is 7; b) count how many wounded minions are on the board that will survive "#" pings; s) count how many new wounded minions will show up and survive. So: "a)" - ("b)"+"c)")  = exact mana.

Thanks for this info, it's really helpful. I've played the deck today and think I'm gradually improving with it.

What you're saying about mulligans for different matchups really makes sense - I was keeping Risky Skipper and Armorsmith irrespective of matchup, and a lot of the time they're been dead cards.  This has been compounded by the fact that I must have faced only one or two Demon Hunters all weekend - my local meta (EU D5ish) has been warriors, rogues and druids for the most part.

It's a deck with a lot of decision-making to be done, which is one of the things I like about it.  A few I'm still wrestling with are when to tempo out a Sky Raider and when to hold on to him as a cheap Risky Skipper activator.  Similarly, I think I sometimes let Armorsmith sit in my hand too long, waiting for the Risky Skipper / Armorsmith / other cheap minions combo, whereas it may have been correct to have played it out a bit early and settled for using it to gain 3 or 4 armour, or even just as a soft taunt.

There are plenty of complex decisions in the late game too, and I also think I can be a bit greedy with these.  I get that Grommash Hellscream is primarily there as a finisher, but sometimes I think I need to use him as board control - the same goes for holding on to Risky Skipper or Sword and Board as a combo activator for him.  Similarly, with [Hearthstone Card (Blaster Boom) Not Found], I tend to wait with him too long, hoping to play him with Risky Skipper on to an empty board to shower the enemy hero with bombs.  I need to get better at recognising when he's best played with fewer than three bombs in the deck, as a board control option, or (on the very rare occasion) as a vanilla 7/7.

All in all, plenty to keep me busy.  It's fun to be trying to get my head round a deck like this, expecially when the meta is starting to stabilise and some are starting to find it a bit stale.

You've nicely recognized some of those tricky situations.

Best cards.... best to the least:

Ancharr >= Lirewire Lancer > Grommash >= Deathwing Mad Aspect == Kargath >= Teron Gorefiend

If you look with future in mind:

Grommash > Kargath == Teron Gorefiend > Ancharr > Lirewire Lancer > Deathwing

So Grommash is a must have card for a Warrior player, Grommash has proven its useful since dawn of Hearthstone. It's arguably the best class Legendary.

Kargath and Teron Gorefiend are good because they stay here for a very long time. You never know what's going to happen in next 5 HS expansions.

Ancharr is powerful it enables Pirate Warrior and is powerful in Wild, arguably more powerful than Patches the Pirate.

Death Wing isn't THAT special, he is oke/good, but that's it. It's just late-game removal. Again, nothing special about Deathwing because he is the most easiest to replace, why? Warrior has first class removal/boardclear support. Deathwing is just one of the many removals Warrior has and gets. Very unlikely Death Wing doesn't get competition as removal for Warrior. Deathwing is still good, just not a "must have" imo.

Lirewire Lancer is just like Anchar. But less consistent and it's Lackey based instead of Pirate. It's good weapon for sure, but isn't a must-have. But it's a good weapon for Warrior.