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Shield Slam full

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 LegacyArmor Up!, as well as spells like LegacyShield Block, and minions like LegacyArmorsmith and The Boomsday ProjectEternium Rover. 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 LegacyShield 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. The ultimate goal of the Control Warrior is to outlast the opponent through sheer amount of armor and wiping the opponent's board at the right time.

Control Warriors aim to survive the early game using weapons like Knights of the Frozen ThroneBlood Razor and The Boomsday ProjectSupercollider, board-wide AoE spells like The WitchwoodWarpath and Saviors of UldumPlague of Wrath, and small Taunt minions like Journey to Un'GoroStonehill Defender and Saviors of UldumFrightened Flunky.

Mid-game involves clearing the board and delaying the opponent, while seeking various synergistic combinations. Many Rush minions like The WitchwoodMilitia Commander, The WitchwoodDarius Crowley, and Saviors of UldumRestless Mummy aid in both removal and making sure their board always has something on board.

LegacyBrawl is another key Control Warrior card for wiping out their opponent's board. LegacyExecute is is also used. LegacyShield 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.

Control Warrior often sometimes assembles small combo pieces to use them once their opponent runs out of steam to lead to a quicker victory. Some common cards for this purpose include LegacyGrommash Hellscream with LegacyCruel Taskmaster, LegacyYsera, and LegacyAlexstrasza.

The Boomsday Project gave Warrior invaluable cards to win the value game in long games, the cornerstone of the deck being The Boomsday ProjectDr. Boom, Mad Genius, where permanently giving Mech minions Rush, combined with value cards like The Boomsday ProjectOmega Assembly and minions with removal like The Boomsday ProjectDyn-o-matic, makes out-tempoing the Warrior much more difficult for the opponent, while also providing unpredictable but very powerful Hero Powers.

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.

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:

Armor Vendor
Shield Slam
Sword and Board
Bladestorm
Coerce
Lord Barov
Kargath Bladefist
Outrider's Axe
Rancor
Sword Eater
Brawl
Shieldmaiden
Stonemaul Anchorman
Rattlegore

Optional cards[]

The following cards are played more than occasionally, but not always.

Athletic Studies
Imprisoned Gan'arg
Stage Dive
Armorsmith
Bulk Up
Corsair Cache
Execute
Slam
Bulwark of Azzinoth
War Cache
Circus Amalgam
Reaper's Scythe
Whirling Combatant
Cutting Class
Mor'shan Elite
Scrap Golem
Kresh, Lord of Turtling
Bloodboil Brute
Overlord Saurfang
Gorehowl
Strongman
Grommash Hellscream
Alexstrasza the Life-Binder
N'Zoth, God of the Deep
C'Thun, the Shattered
Yogg-Saron, Master of Fate
Y'Shaarj, the Defiler

Wild cards[]

Wild iconThis section concerns content exclusive to Wild format.

Wild cards that fit well into this deck type:

Eternium Rover
Omega Assembly
Risky Skipper
Town Crier
Battle Rage
Dirty Rat
Drywhisker Armorer
Revenge
Sleep with the Fishes
Warpath
Ancharrr
Bash
Bloodsworn Mercenary
Deathlord
Ravaging Ghoul
Reckless Flurry
Shield Block
Tar Creeper
Blood Razor
Death's Bite
Elise Starseeker
Alley Armorsmith
Direhorn Hatchling
Dyn-o-matic
Elise the Trailblazer
Emberscale Drake
Plague of Wrath
Sludge Belcher
Supercollider
Zilliax
Justicar Trueheart
Sylvanas Windrunner
Security Rover
Dr
Archivist Elysiana
Deathwing, Mad Aspect
Primordial Drake
Ragnaros the Firelord
The Lich King
Baku the Mooneater
N'Zoth, the Corruptor

Galakrond Warrior variant[]

Wild iconThis section concerns content exclusive to Wild format.

The following cards are commonly played in the Galakrond Warrior version.

Dragon Breeder
Ritual Chopper
Awaken!
Scion of Ruin
Devoted Maniac
Shield of Galakrond
Barista Lynchen
Kronx Dragonhoof
Galakrond, the Unbreakable

Gallery[]

Control Warrior mirror match

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.

External links[]

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