Hack the System

Deck Overview

Like every other class, Warrior got a brand new Quest in Saviors of Uldum - Hack the System. This Quest asks you to attack five times with your hero before giving you Anraphet's Core, allowing you to summon 4/3 Stone Golems every turn - sometimes more than once!

There are no fancy tricks or crazy gimmicks to this list - you want to complete the Quest as soon as possible and then overrun your opponent with 4/3 Golems. It takes advantage of some of the great new Control tools offered in SoU to help manage your opponent's board before turning the tide and putting them on the defensive with your new, more aggressive Hero Power.

Frightened Flunky is a great early defensive option against token decks, and thanks to the class bonus on Discover has a high chance of finding himself again, letting you build a safe wall to hide behind. Restless Mummy is a fantastic control tool, and works well against the very common 3-6 Health range, either taking out the entire minion itself or in conjunction with a weapon to leave a body behind. The standout card, however, is definitely Armored Goon. This tough guy works perfectly in the deck, allowing you to tank hits to minions better if needed or charging up a Shield Slam in the late-game after you've given up your original Hero Power. He works perfectly on Turn 10 with two Hero Powers (and a weapon from a previous turn to activate them).

Hacking the System

So how do you go about getting this fancy new Hero Power? There's several options available in the deck, so let's go over each one.

• Upgrade! - An old favourite of weapon-based Warrior decks, Upgrade! is a fantastic addition to the list. Generally in the early-game you want to try and hold it to use on one of your other weapons as a buff, but don't be afraid to slam it as a 1/3 if you're struggling to complete the Quest, or in the late-game where any method of attacking will net you an extra 4/3.
• Weapons Project - This one is interesting. There are very few decks right now where removing your opponent's weapon is important, so more often than not this is simply a great method of controlling the board in the early-game or activating a Shield Slam. Having three whole charges to progress your Quest or make more 4/3s makes this a good, if a little unorthodox inclusion in my book, but you may find yourself swapping it out for a second copy of our next weapon depending on the meta.
• Livewire Lance - The new SoU weapon. Surprisingly enough the Lackeys this generates have been a great help, especially the new Titanic Lackey or the old favourite Ethereal Lackey. This and our next weapon are perfect targets for Upgrade!-ing to get more value from their effects, and depending on what decks you're facing you may prefer to make this your 2-of instead.
• Wrenchcalibur - Ah, the good ol' Bomb Wand. With the prevalence of the new and exciting Zephrys the Great, shuffling duplicates into your opponent's deck has never felt better. The Bombs themselves are a good clock to put on some opponents - if they don't have healing, they'll be more wary of drawing cards in the future.
• Sul'thraze - Finally, Sul'thraze. More included for its beefy 4 Durability than anything, I've never the less had some fantastic turns of clearing out some Murlocs or Treants and creating a 4/3 after each swing. You really have to play with it to gauge how you feel about it - you might prefer a lower-cost weapon to make comboing with the Hero Power or cards like Armored Goon easier, for example.

Overall, we've got somewhere between 15 and 19 weapon charges available to the deck naturally (with potential for more if you get very Lackey). This might seem like overkill for a Quest that only requires 5, but remember, every additional charge after that could be an additional 4/3. Even before that, getting the Quest completed as quickly as possible can matter a lot depending on your match-up.

Mulligan

Naturally, you'll always be keeping the Quest - the deck simply doesn't have the value to win without it.

Your next best keeps will vary depending on your match-up, but as a general rule, anything over 3 mana should be tossed back - even a Wrenchcalibur or Sul'thraze in most cases. Surviving the early-game takes precedence over completing your Quest.

The cards I'd value highest as keeping are Frightened Flunky, Weapons Project, Livewire Lance and Acolyte of Pain. Depending on how aggressive you anticipate your opponent being, you might also consider looking for a Shield Block or Warpath. I'll go into more detail in our next section.

Common Match-ups

The meta has yet to solidify into something more immutable, so these are based on the decks I faced when putting this list together. This does focus entirely on Standard - use your best judgement if you feel this deck would make it in Wild.

Quest Rogue - A fairly good match-up for the deck. Ancient Blades does counter our Hero Power quite effectively, so it's important to get out two or more in a turn when you can. The fact that their Hero Power will often be occupied with ours can actually be a bonus in some ways, as it forces them to play more defensively than their deck can keep up with. Getting the Quest completed as quickly as possible is important here due to how fast they can complete theirs - aggressive mulliganing for activators is a must.

Highlander Mage - One of the match-ups where keeping a Wrenchcalibur to hand is one of your best options. Denying the opponent their fantastic board clear in Reno the Relicologist and their fantastic whatever-they-want in Zephrys is both game-winning and deliciously satisfying. Take care to save cards like Restless Mummy or Dyn-o-matic to help take care of things like Water Elemental - shutting down your ability to attack, even for a single turn, could be all they need.

Murloc Shaman - This deck shines against board flood decks. Definitely look for Warpath against this deck, with the handy bonus that it isn't a bad card against Quest Shaman either (though admittedly, I somehow managed to face no Quest Shamans when testing the deck).

Quest Druid - Beware the power of an easy-to-complete Quest. This deck can outvalue you very easily, and has the healing to power through a more aggressive strategy. That said, your best bet is to try and kill them as quickly as possible - the longer the game goes on, the more chance they pull out a Hidden Oasis and undo all your progress.

Quest Priest - This is a questionable to bad match-up, and certainly one of the most difficult to navigate. Early versions of the deck struggled greatly against it, but the addition of two Executes exclusively to handle their large Taunts has swung the bar back a bit. You want to try and damage them as little as possible early on - once your Quest is online, then you can start going in. Weapons Project is a real standout here, giving them extra armor to make it more difficult for them to heal themselves.

Dr. Boom Warrior - Bomb Warrior, Mech Warrior, Taunt Warrior, whatever. Dr. Boom, Mad Genius just provides too much value, and it comes online at Turn 7 at the earliest, where the earliest our Quest can be completed is Turn 6. I do believe that with a bit of luck this match-up can be won, but it is definitely favoured towards the other Warrior.

Highlander Hunter - Another case where Wrenchcalibur will save your life. This isn't as easy a match-up as some others - they can put a lot of pressure on you even without their Dinotamer Brann finisher - but looking for Warpath and Frightened Flunky to mitigate their early aggression will do wonders. One of the most important things to remember - a Rat Trap will kill you, so be very careful when you choose to go over 3 cards in a turn. You need to be able to take care of that if it comes up.

Quest Warlock - You should face no problems from this deck. Their reward is simply not good enough, and you have the tools to deal with any wide boards they might build. I'd suggest keeping Warpath against a Warlock, not just because of the potential Plot Twist and Dollmaster Dorian shenanigans later on, but because it's a great tool against Zoolocks as well. Wrenchcalibur is a potential keep in your opening hand, because it dissuades them from drawing too aggressively.