"Fractured" Big Warrior Updated!

Update Below - 3/10/22

Hello everyone!  It's a few days after the Thief Rogue nerfs and I thought I'd try some BIG Warrior w/ Lokholar the Ice Lord!  Since the meta is still changing....PLEASE Craft At Your Own Risk!

The idea for Big Warrior is simple...use spells and weapons to survive early, and swing the game in your favor w/ your 6 and 7 mana cards.  I usually save Rokara, the Valorous for the end, but his 10 armor can help your survive as well.  Since I'm using Cowardly Grunts and Commencements, I decided to leave out all of the Big Battlecry minions.  

I still use spells during the mid-late game to help clear the board, and I use the minions with Rokara, the Valorous to win the game.  

Substitutions:

Honestly, I'm not sure how many of each spell to include....but I def like two Frozen Bucklers and two Shield Shatters.  One Provoke and one Corsair Cache feels right.  One Shield Slam and one Sword and Board have felt right as well, but I could see adding a second.  Not sure about two Bladestorms, or the Heavy Plate. 

Outrider's Axe feels ok.  Maybe Reaper's Scythe is better?  I'm not sure.  Lothar feels like the weakest minion, but he's been ok.  Grommash Hellscream was my latest addition.  He has anti-synergy with Commencement, but you have many ways to trigger his "frenzy" effect with your own spells.  I think he's really good here.  Lokholar the Ice Lord also feels great.  It's tough to beat a 5-mana 8/8 with rush and windfury.  You could certainly swap out Lothar for a different Big minion.  You could try a Plagued Protodrake, Abominable Lieutenant, Runaway Blackwing, Scrapyard Colossus, or even a Baron Geddon or Humongous Owl.  I'll prob be trying a few of these options.

For Matchups:

Mostly I've faced Quest Warriors, Face Hunters, Shamen and Quest Priests.   The Quest Warriors have been ez wins for me so far.  The other 2 matchups have felt good overall, but sometimes Face Hunter is just too quick.  If I change the deck, I'll prob try to make it better vs aggro.   Priest and Shaman matchups feel ok, but you might need to be clever w/ Rokara, the Valorous to finish the game.  I consider him the win con for some matchups.  Paladin has been my worst matchup so far (only faced one), and I haven't seen many Warlocks or Druids yet.

Let me know if you have any suggestions.  I climbed from Rank D5 to D3 today.  I'll try to update if I keep winning.  

Good Luck!!

Update - 3/10/22

- Shield Slam, - Sword and Board, - Outrider's Axe, - Lothar, - Grommash Hellscream, Lokholar the Ice Lord

+ Provoke, + Minefield, +2 Cutting Classes, + C'Thun, the Shattered, + Scrapyard Colossus

(Craft at your own risk here....a few of these legendaries are rotating in a month or so.)

So, I added C'Thun, the Shattered awhile ago, but I wasn't winning with the deck.  He's not necessary and could make the deck worse, tbh.  The spells aren't great, but you usually have some options on turn 5, which can be a tough turn.  Recently, I made some other changes to try to refine the deck that I thought I would share:

Basically I dumped the "bad" big minions and replaced them card draw and a Scrapyard Colossus.  I've only played C'Thun, the Shattered once, but usually your opponent concedes if you out value them and survive.  (Rokara, the Valorous is a great freakin' card, btw.  If you like playing Control Warrior in general, I'd craft her.)  For me, this deck is just a fun way to play some of these cards before they rotate.

Mulligan suggestions:

I don't know the exact mulligans, but in general you need to keep some removal against aggro.  Always keep Corsair Cache.  I'd only keep Shield Shatter if I have Frozen Buckler as well.  I almost always keep Cowardly Grunt.  I like keeping Commencement too, but it can be risky and may not be correct.  Never keep any other minions.  Often I'll keep a Provoke or a Heavy Plate to trade on turns 1 and 3.

Usually I win by trying to outvalue my opponents.  Against aggro, play very defensively and just try to survive.  Against Kazakusan decks, save your spells for their big wave of minions and try to outlive them.  Those matchups feel about 50/50 with my opponents sometimes just running out of cards.  Quest Rogue is a bad matchup since they can "Sap" your minions back to your hand.   

I'll update if I gather more data.  Good luck out there!