Nadia’s Crushin’ it with Warrior
Writer: Julio “Noobberry” Liu
DeerNadia’s “Crush” Warrior guide.
Introduction
HeyGuys, Noobberry here and I’m writing about Nadia’s Warrior deck which features the signature removal card “Crush”. This control warrior deck exceeds in the late game but struggles difficultly against decks that swarm amounts of tokens such as Shaman and Paladin (Totems and Silver Hand Recruits) and Druid due to tough minions with high attack and health making it difficult to remove.
Decklist:
Mulligan
During the mulligan phrase look for these following cards
- Fiery War Axe (or win axe, DIG FOR THIS CARD)
- Death’s Bite (Especially again Paladins)
- Armorsmith
- Cruel Taskmaster
- Acolyte of Pain
Situational Keeps:
- Big Game Hunter (Against warlock if you think they are running Handlock
- Whirlwind (Against Hunter’s low health minions, could be comboed with Armorsmith for Armor and Acolyte of Pain to gain card advantage)
Combos and Strategies:
Cruel Taskmaster + Armorsmith or Acolyte of Pain
During the early game, this combo gives you the upper tempo to remove early threats. Against decks that are aggressive, when your Armorsmith or Acolyte of Pain is buffed with Taskmaster’s ability, it will remove certain creatures to buy turns enough to lead to the mid and late game. Buffing your Acolyte will bring up its value since it draws you an extra card to improve your card advantage.
Whirlwind + Armorsmith + Acolyte of Pain + (Bonus: Extra minions on your board)
Whirlwind + Execute (3 Mana removal)
Whirlwind is a card that damages all minions for one damage on board. Armorsmith and Acolyte of Pain benefit this due to their card effects (gaining and draw cards). With extra minions on your side of the board, you will also gain additional armor thanks to Armorsmith. Combination with whirlwind and execute can lead to a cheap minion removal if needed, just remember, you can’t execute your own minions.
Armorsmith or Shield Block or ShieldMaiden + Shield Slam
Shieldslam is one of the best removals in the deck. Early game, it is used effectively with Armorsmith to pick off minions with low amount of health. Usually during the midgame, your armor should be enough to remove minions with Shield Slam when you keep gaining armor with your hero power (Armor up). Not enough armor? No problem, Shield block cycles itself with a card and provides 5 armor to pick off minions with high health. Another card that gains armor is Shieldmaiden. Shieldmaiden not only provides 5 additional armor but as well as a though 5/5 body on board. Shieldmaiden is a great 6 drop because it contests with many 5 health ceatures such as Loatheb and Sludge Bulchers.
Crush + Enemy minion (Or even your own Sylvanas Windrunner)
Crush is a hard removal card which removes a minion completely of the board. If you have a minion that is damaged on your side of the board, Crush will cost at a discount 3 mana. Using Crush on your own Sylvanas Windrunner and to steal a minion on the other side of the board could lead to a stage in your favour.
Gnommash Hellscream + Cruel Taskmaster or Whirlwind or Death’s Bite
The winning condition against your opponent, this deadly combo can lead to your opponent to death when triggered. When engaged, it will increase Gnommash’s attack to 10 (12 if Cruel Taskmaster). Attempt to set up lethal with Ragnaros and Alexstraza before setting up for the kill.
Match Ups
Good Match Ups
Miracle Rogue – With the Auctioneer nerf, this match up became easy against Rogues. Loatheb is a great card against Rogues which completely blocks them for one whole entire turn. Fiery War Axe is a great keep since it deals with most of their 3/3 bodies on the board. Piloted Shredders could be an annoyance due to their cycling body. In the late game, you should be dominating on them because of your hero power.
Aggro Hunter – Attempt to armor up every single turn and play all minions to gain board advantages. Armorsmith is a great minion to gain armor until you reach the end game.
Bad Match ups
Paladin (both Control and Midrange) – Those tokens will annoy you like no tomorrow. Removing them is a huge pain and sometimes hard. The best one is to keep your whirlwind or Death’s Bite to remove those tokens. During the late game, Paladin tends to win due to their board preserve of 1/1 Silverhand Recruits (at worst, combined with a Quartermaster).
Zoo – Oh boy where can I begin. When you see a warlock, ALWAYS mulligan for Fiery War Axe before their board swarms of minions after minions each turn. If fails, they will gain the upper advantage and beat you until you are dead. Unstable Ghoul is a great card to keep as well. During the mid-game, Brawl will become amazingly useful to reset the board. If you survive enough for the late game, Zoo will eventually run out of gas and it’s your turn to bring in the beating. Life tap for them will turn into easy damage for you at the end of the game.
Druids – Especially Double combo druids, Ancient of War serves as a powerful threat to you due to their draw mechanic. Wild growth and Innervate can come in with no surprise and could eventually catch up with powerful minions that could be difficult to remove. Watch out for Force of Nature and Savage Roar combo when you’re at a very low point of health. Attempt to wipe their board each turn to stop the Savage Roar build up.
Playthrough
Early Game
- Maintain board control with Fiery War Axe, draw cards with Acolyte with Pain and get Armor with Armorsmith.
Mid-Game
- Start putting out creatures out to increase your board state and find ways to draw more cards. Dig fast your deck fast and increase the hand size. Use combinations of cards to eliminate threats on the other side of the board.
Late Game
- Attempt to start looking for lethal with Gnommish Hellscream. Cards such as Alexstraza and Ragnaros can bring their health to a decent amount to win the game.