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Control Warrior deck list guide - Forged in the Barrens - Hearthstone (April 2021)Our guide to climbing the ladder with the latest Control Warrior in the Barrens meta.

Our guide to climbing the ladder with the latest Control Warrior in the Barrens meta.

Control Warrior is aHearthstonedeck archetype that explains exactly everything you need to know about it through the name alone. Your goal is to maintain control of the board in every stage of a match through many of the efficient removal cards available to the class, while also steadily moving towards powerful late game threats that can overwhelm your opponent.

It’s a deck archetype that’s been around in Hearthstone for quite some time and has always found a position in the meta. Do be warned if you’re considering playing it though as the cost is extremely high due to all the epic and legendary cards you’ll need. Nevertheless, it can be well worth the investment as it does a great job of holding off all the aggro decks in the early days of an expansion release, while remaining a solid meta pick at all times.

In our Control Warrior guide, we’ll start with a look at the most commonly played deck list right now and offer some insight into how you should be piloting the archetype. Later on you’ll find Mulligan suggestions, as well as a closer look at the important cards and combos found in the deck.

Control Warrior deck list and strategy

Here’s the Control Warrior deck with the best win rate at the moment. Keep an eye out for changes though - Forged in the Barrenshas plenty of time left so there’s always the chance things go differently!

Select and copy the long ID string below, then create a deck in Hearthstone to export this deck into your game.

Deck Import ID:AAECAQcIqooEtIoEuIoEiqAEi6AEkqAEo6AEqqAEC//nA6+KBJ6fBJ+fBLSfBIagBIegBIigBImgBIygBO2gBAA=

More great Warrior guides:

The following guide refers to an older version of Control Warrior - we’ll be updating this in future if the deck makes a splash in the meta though!

General strategy:

When you’re ready to play more aggressively in the late game the deck has some absurdly powerful options. Many of these will be too much for your foe to deal with, or will enable you to outlast them as they slip into Fatigue.

Early game:You’ll want to take a slow and reactive approach in the early game. There’s no need to rush anything at all. Clear your opponent’s creatures where you can, or lure them into playing more so you can take everything out with a single board clear. It’s perfectly fine if you just spend a few turns bulking up your Armor with you hero power too.

Mid game:Stick with the reactive approach to each of your opponent’s plays and they’ll find it impossible to get a foothold in the match. If they’ve managed to build a wide board you can useBrawlto reduce it down to a more manageable size. For weapons there’sHarrison Jones.

Late game:Now is your time to assert full control of the match as you drop continual threats that your opponent will struggle to remove. For starters, you can combineDr. Boom, Mad GeniuswithOmega Assemblyto generate a electrifying army of Mech minions with Rush. Or, you can make use ofArchivist Elysianaas a way to fill your deck with more copies of your most powerful cards.

As you keep piling on the pressure your opponent should be running out of resources and looking to concede. If the game looks like it’s going to Fatigue that’s perfectly fine with you as you have the reach and the Armor to see it through. Make sure you saveOmega Devastatorfor turn 10 as well, just in case your opponent has one last surprise ready to go

Aggro opponents

Here are some important tips to help you best aggro decks:

Control opponents

These tips will see you to victory against other control decks:

Control Warrior Mulligan guide

For the best start with Control Warrior these are the cards you’ll want to aim for in the Mulligan phase:

Control Warrior tips, combos and synergies

Control Warrior has a pretty obvious game plan but there are some cards combos in the deck that are especially powerful. We’ve listed the best and most important ones here.

  • Always aim to hold backOmega Assemblyuntil you have ten Mana. That way you’ll receive all three Mechs that were selected as part of the Discovery process and they will synergise perfectly withDr. Boom, Mad Genius.

-Shield Slambecomes more powerful for each point of Armor you have at the time it’s cast. You can boost its damage using your hero power as well as cards likeShield BlockandWeapons Project.

  • Speaking ofWeapons Project, you can combine it withHarrison Jonesin order to negate half of the benefits for your opponent and give you some much-loved card draw.

  • If an enemy minion has received even the most minor of wounds, you can useExecuteto take it out of play. Cards that empower this removal effect in this deck are:Shield Slam,Warpath,Dyn-o-maticand any of your actively inflicted weapon damage.

  • IfMilitia CommanderorZilliaxare still in your deck,Town Crierwill pull one of them into your hand when played.

-Dr. Boom, Mad Geniusgrants Rush to all the subsequently played Mech minions. That means they can attack enemy minions immediately. You also gain five new Hero Powers which are selected at random each turn:

  • Consider carefully which cards you want to replace your deck with when usingArchivist Elysiana. Anything that gives you more late game reach and Fatigue survival is good, such asOmega Assembly,Weapons Project,Zilliaxand so on.

Card choices and substitutions

As it’s loaded with epics and Legendaries you can expect to invest a lot of dust into Control Warrior. There are some cards that are vital to make it work but some others can be substituted, as we’ve listed below: