Quest/Control Warrior (Budget)

About me

Hey guys, my Hearthstone tag is Rsenic and I’m a relatively new F2P Hearthstone Player. Before I lose your attention, this deck got me to Rank 5 pretty quickly and I probably could have used it to grind to Legend, but as a college student, I don’t really have the time for that. I played a long while back, when Old Gods first came out, but I was originally bored with the game because I didn’t really understand the strategy. Anyways, since coming back to Hearthstone, I’ve become more and more fascinated with the intricate details involved in each and every Hearthstone match. This is my relatively budget deck of Quest/Control Warrior I’ve fallen in love with and now want to share with you guys. 

Intro to Quest/Control Warrior Guide

Quest Warrior itself is an incredibly fun deck. Play 7 taunts and get infinite Ragnaros the Firelord? Sign me up anyday! Although actually reaching your Quest reward can take quite a while, this deck contains quite a large amount of board clear, removal, and sustainability from your hero power to get you to the late game. 

Like many other aspiring Hearthstone players, I came across this deck while perusing through top tier decks on this website and found the wonderfully crafted Quest Warrior deck by Stonekeep (http://www.hearthstonetopdecks.com/decks/quest-warrior-deck-list-guide-witchwood/). I am not quite as eloquent as Mr. Stonekeep, nor do I have as much game knowledge as him so please head over to the attached link and check out his guide, you won’t regret it. I’ve changed very little compared to his deck there but I’d like to add on my own insights and thoughts regarding my experiences with this deck, as well as why I changed what I changed.

As I mentioned above, I am a F2P college student, so I actually just crafted this deck by disenchanting a couple legendaries (2) and some other epics and rares. Of course, it definitely helped to already have both primordial drakes and brawls, so it might take a couple more disenchants for the newer players. 

Strategy Guide/Mulligan Against Common Class Archetypes

Tempo Mage

Let’s not fool ourselves here. Tempo Mage is just Aggro Mage. Quest/Control Warrior does great against aggro decks and this one is no different. Although we usually mulligan away our Fire Plume's Heart against most aggro decks such as even/odd Paladins or Baku Hunters, I find it better to keep the Quest in this case just because of the resurgence of Big Spell Mage. Over my past week on ladder, I’ve faced only 2 Aggro Mages and roughly 20 Big Spell Mages. Either way, the best way to deal with Aggro Mage is to fill your board with taunts, as they have no real board clear.

Mulligan for your low cost taunts such as Stonehill Defender, Tar Creeper and Saronite Chain Gang. Also mulligan for your Blood Razor, which can let you take care of many of their 3-health minions (Kirin Tor Mage, Arcanologist). 

Finally, try to conserve your health and armor when using weapons and weave in your hero power whenever possible. That means avoiding your Reckless Flurry unless absolutely necessary. Be wary of Pyroblast and always assume its in their hand. 

Big Spell Mage 

This is a fun matchup. I don’t typically have very much problem with this deck as long as I dont have a starting hand of The Lich King and 2x Primordial Drake, continuously fail to draw my taunts AND my opponent plays Frost Lich Jaina on curve.

As per usual against most Control Against this archetype, you want to rush your quest and try to play a taunt every turn, or more than one using Phantom Militia. This means a hard mulligan for said taunts. Once you have your new hero power, try to fire it off every turn and pressure your opponent. Your “DIe, Insect” hero power is a perfect answer against Water Elemental with lifesteal. Make sure you make it difficult for the Mage to summon more elementals by considering his possible trades that maybe leave your minions at 1-health. 

Spiteful Priest

Another matchup that should go in your favor. Spiteful Priests typically have a very slow early game with only Northshire Cleric and Shadow Ascendant to help them snowball the early game. Play against this deck like any other Control deck: stack taunts and rush Fire Plume's Heart. Avoid playing your The Lich King into his Mind Control; save your Brawl and Execute for truly desperate situations. Most of the time, his big minions can be stopped with a couple of taunts, but play around his Duskbreaker in those situations. 

You want to keep your low cost taunts and a single execute in case of his early Spiteful Summoner. 

Mind Blast Priest 

Once again, this matchup favors the Warrior. What better way to counter a more or less OTK deck than to stack up an absurd amount of armor? In this matchup, make sure you get the most out of your Drywhisker Armorer, that means dropping it whenever your opponent has a decent sized board or playing your Cornered Sentry to set up a decent board. Try to save your Reckless Flurry unless you’re going in for lethal by clearing his board and using your DIE, INSECT!. Also make sure that you don’t overcommit to the board and fall prey to his Psychic Scream. 

Mulligan like any other control deck and rush your quest. 

Cubelock (Applies to handlock as well) 

It’s the dreaded Cubelock we all love so much. This matchup is tricky. It’s a little bit of skill and a little bit of luck. Playing against Warlock with Doomguard + Carnivorous Cube + Dark Pact is honestly the most annoying thing possible. Especially when he can achieve that around turn 5 after using Possessed Lackey. 

When facing Cubelock, you want to save a Brawl for his Bloodreaver Gul'dan, and make sure you clear his Doomguard before he creates 4 more. Rush your quest for the your hero power and hurl them fireballs at his face. Keep track of his Lesser Amethyst Spellstone and Dark Pact as they are his only heals aside from Gul’dan. Don’t waste your Execute or any other card removal if there are only a couple Voidlord on the board, a couple taunts will stop those pesky 3-damages. 

Mulligan for your taunts to rush the Quest but also keep at least one Execute for an early Mountain Giant.

Zoolock

Play like you would against any other Aggro deck except expect larger minions with larger health points. Filling the board with taunts is a good way to keep up with with his overflow of minions and lack of AOE. In this case, you don’t typically mulligan away your Fire Plume's Heart because you would typically expect a Cubelock. 

Spiteful Druid

Spiteful Druid is actually a pretty easy deck to play against with Control Warrior. Save your Execute for his Spiteful Summoner high rolls. Spiteful Druid is also heavily minion/board based with his only spell being Ultimate Infestation, which is perfect for the Control portion of this deck as all of your removal deals with minions.

The timing of your Brawl is very crucial against this deck. If his board can be stopped with a couple of taunt minions, don’t waste your removal. Let him Grand Archivist into Ultimate Infestation or just simply UI, wait for him to fill up his board and empty his hand, and then hit him with a Drywhisker Armorer + Brawl + fireball. Mulligan as you would for a Control deck.

Taunt Druid

This deck is the sole reason I included Cornered Sentry instead of an extra Tar Creeper or Rotten Applebaum. Besides being an extra low-cost taunt, the three 1/1 Raptor it summons for the opponent significantly decreases the chances of Witching Hour summoning his Hadronox again. 

Mulligan for taunts and save your Brawl for his Hadronox + Naturalize.

Aggro Odd Rogue

Odd rogue is a bit awkward to deal with. The minions summoned are not as susceptible to your AOE from Blood Razor and they don’t often flood the board with minions like Even or Odd Paladin does for your Brawl. Play as you would against any aggro deck and flood your board with taunts, but be careful about relying on a single big taunt in case of Vilespine Slayer. Watch your own health and always assume Leeroy Jenkins + 2x Cold Blood. 

I personally mulligan away Fire Plume's Heart every time I face a Rogue for the extra chance of getting the right removal. In addition, the quest aspect is often too slow against Rogues; even if completed, I find it much more important to stack armor rather than dealing damage randomly. 

Quest Rogue

Uhhhh yea… might as well concede right now. Quest Rogue  out-values you by the time they finish their quest, and removals don’t stop them for much time at all. Pray to the gods of RNG that he has a terrible hand and somehow complete your quest before theirs and hit them with fireballs. 

Quest Warrior

Purely based on topdecks and a little bit of skill. Should be a mostly even matchup with both parties rushing their Quests. 

Control Warrior

Whether it be Odd Control or Rush Control, play the match like any other control deck and rush the Quest.

Spell hunter

Rush the Quest like you would against a Control Deck. Even though Spell Hunter can still be relatively aggressive, they lack a lot of early game momentum as long as you don’t trigger their Secrets. Try to clear his board and keep a relatively healthy board size, trading off minions when you feel threatened by Unleash the Hounds. Even Deathstalker Rexxar is not a huge threat as it only generates a single minion at the time, easily countered by your Quest hero power. Finally, keep on eye on your health and armor in case of Kill Command and whatever charge minions he could possibly have. Never rely on a single large taunt as it is easily removed by Deadly Shot

Baku Hunter

Personally, I’m not all that bothered by Aggro Hunter. Survive his early game onslaught and you’ve automatically won the game. This deck has a large amount of AOE removal for most of his minions and taunt minions are always great against Aggro decks. Try to weave in your hero power whenever possible to stack your armor and conserve your health as much as you can.

I don’t typically mulligan away my Quest just purely because I encounter more Spell Hunters or the occasional OTK Emeriss Hunters than this Face Baku Hunter. 

ODD/EVEN PALADIN

THIS IS WHAT WE’VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR. This is the reason why Control/Quest Warrior thrives in a meta such as this. It gives me IMMENSE pleasure every time I beat the degenerate Odd Paladin and the slightly-less-degenerate-but-still-pretty-degenerate Even Paladin. Cards such as Blood Razor, Warpath, Primordial Drake, and Reckless Flurry have beautiful 1-damage AOE effects that perfectly counter Divine Shields and all of the Paladins’ Dudes. Buffed up dudes by Sunkeeper Tarim are also prime targets for Brawl, and Execute answers possibility of a Sea Giant. I’ll include separate mulligan guides and strategies for each Paladin deck. 

Odd Paladin

This is the deck against which I spam my “Oops” emote every couple seconds. Although you are highly favored against this archetype, there are some rare occasions where you mulligan everything and still get an awful starting game.

Always keep Blood Razor in your starting hand if you get it, 2x of them is even better. This weapon is a godsend against current aggro archetypes and especially against this braindead deck. Your Battlecry is essentially the Whirlwind + the 2-damage attack allows you to remove divine shield AND kill the Righteous Protector AND you can save the deathrattle effect until whenever you feel like triggering it AND your opponent now has to play around the possible 1-damage AOE effect just to add insult to injury. 

Warpath is also an incredible spell that can often clear the entire board. However, I like to save this spell for more desperate situations as it requires more mana to be really effective.

Mulligan away your Quest 100% of the time against Paladins. It takes up space in your hand and prevents you from drawing your potentially lifesaving board clear. There’s also no point in shooting fireballs when there’s the chance of hitting his 1/1 dudes. 

The key to winning against this deck is to survive the early game and maybe sometimes mid game. Play to clear his board and always opt to trade rather than go face. If given the choice to kill a 1/1 dude or a 1/1 Argent Squire, kill the dude to minimize value of Level Up!. 

Even Paladin 

Even Paladin is very similar to his Odd brother, but also significantly different in some cases. Even Pali has a lot more sustainability throughout early, mid and some of late game. Unlike Odd Pali which loses if he doesn’t maintain board control by turn 6, Even Pali can outlast your early removal and slap a Spikeridged Steed onto one of his dudes. Turn 8 Silver Sword with even a couple of minions on board can be extremely powerful. Even Pali also has some very very effective board clear against your giant taunts through Wild Pyromancer + Equality or Equality + Consecration or even just a Sunkeeper Tarim.

Once again Blood Razor and Warpath will be your greatest friends, as well as a Brawl against a Tarim/Silver Sword-buffed board. Obviously try to save Acidic Swamp Ooze for the Silver Sword, but using it to take out a Truesilver Champion that’s threatening your board is also a decent tempo swing. 

Because Even Pali has much more sustain than Odd Pali, try and conserve your board clears and AOE, or have a backup in your hand before he uses Call to Arms. Don’t overcommit to the board and don’t rely on single large taunts too much. Remember you are not only trying to survive each turn, you are also trying to set up for a win. 

Shudderwock Shaman

I’m not going to go much into Shaman matchups mainly because it’s such a rare occurrence on ladder and also because it’s pretty much the same as every other Control deck. Play like you would against Control and watch out for board clears and such. 

Final Thoughts 

Like I said before, a very fun deck imo. Works very well against the meta Paladin decks right now and matches up pretty well with Control and the Spiteful decks too. Does require some getting used to as well as some serious thinking sometimes when faced with probabilities so don’t get discouraged too early. The deck itself does rely on a little bit of RNG, but then again, you’re playing Hearthstone: there’s bound to be RNG involved. 

Please leave a comment and I’ll try to respond ASAP. This is the first Hearthstone guide I’ve written so any constructive criticism is very much appreciated! 

See you on the ladder!