Shields are usually defensive items. Usually.
Control Warrior is a type of control-oriented warrior deck, aiming to achieve victory through amassing huge amounts of Armor and clearing the opponent's board in the early and mid-game, and crushing the opponent with powerful minions in the late-game and outlast them as the game reaches fatigue.
Note that while Control Warrior could refer to any warrior deck that aims for late-game victory, the specific options open to warriors means such decks tend to gravitate toward a particular play-style, which is the focus of this page.
Deck type
Control Warrior decks most notably revolve around generating Armor. This is achieved through their Hero Power 
Armor Up!, as well as spells like Shield Block, and minions like Armorsmith and 
Alley Armorsmith. The Armor serves a double purpose - it protects them through the early and mid-game, provides breathing room when fishing for the right cards later on, and allows the use of Shield Slam to devastating effect. With Armor totals of 50 not uncommon, this stack provides ample security against quick defeat from burst damage such as Tempo Mage. If the Control Warrior is allowed to gain high enough levels of Armor, they may even end up winning by Fatigue.
Control Warriors aim to survive the early game using weapons like 
Blood Razor, spells like 
Warpath, and small Taunt minions like 
Stonehill Defender.
Mid-game involves clearing the board and delaying the opponent, while seeking various synergistic combinations, chiefly involving either Blood Razor on minions such as Acolyte of Pain. These serve the Control Warrior's two main goals: high Armor, and searching for the right cards.
Brawl is another key Control Warrior card for wiping out their opponent's board. Execute is is also used. Shield Slam is extremely effective and efficient once the warrior has a good stack of Armor, allowing them to take out the largest minions for only 1 mana.
The ultimate goal of the Control Warrior is to gather the right cards in their hand, and unleash a devastating comeback when the opponent runs out of answers. The most common and effective combo involves Grommash Hellscream, usually with a Cruel Taskmaster as activator. However, unlike some decks the Control Warrior does not rely on a single combination, but features numerous high value cards that can steadily beat the opponent down. Examples include Ysera and Alexstrasza, who is particularly effective since the warrior may well not have dealt much damage to their opponent before she is played, often allowing her Battlecry to deal 15 damage in itself. Baron Geddon is useful for his high Attack and also his triggered effect, acting both to weaken or destroy the opponent's minions and if necessary to trigger the warrior's combos.
Once the late game is reached the Control Warrior is usually unbeatable by lighter decks, unless the warrior's combined Health and Armor level is low, the opponent has a game-ending combo, or capable of outvaluing them in the late game.
Common cards
The following cards are usually in the deck.
Core cards
The following cards are played in most or all versions of the deck:
Dragon Warrior variant
Optional cards
The following cards are played more than occasionally, but not always.
Wild cards
This section concerns content exclusive to Wild format.Wild cards that fit well into this deck type:
Gallery
  Control Warrior mirror matches are some of the slowest and most protracted in all of Hearthstone. Note the high Armor and Health totals, the full hands, and the almost exhausted decks. Such matches are often decided through fatigue damage. |
