Rythmc’s Rank 1 (Wild) Legend Control N’Zoth Warrior (November 2016, Season 32)

If you’re getting bored of the Standard meta, why not give Wild a shot? Thanks to Rythmc for allowing us to re-host their guide!

Hey guys, today I reached Legend Rank 1 in Wild with Control N’Zoth Warrior.

Proof

From Rank 5 to Legend I had a 72% winrate. I entered Legend at Rank 16 and didn’t lose a game until Rank 5 Legend. I then went 9-4 to reach Rank 1 Legend. Below is a list of card choices and matchups.

Card Choices

Most of this is pretty standard, but I’ll go through some of the more interesting choices.

• 2x Revenge: This card can be a lifesaver against many decks (Secret Paladin, Midrange Shaman and Hunters in particular). I initially had one but later chose to add two, which has really helped.
• 2x Deathlord: Very good in the Control Warrior mirror and of course against the occasional face deck. Against a strong board you can use it to stall for a turn, protecting your life total and allowing a more comfortable Brawl the next turn. Despite this, try not to force yourself into using Brawl unless that’s really going to be your only option.
• Eater of Secrets: This is the flex slot. I added this one in since there were a lot of Secret Paladins around. It helps a lot and means you often don’t have to Brawl after a Challenger, which is important since a lot of Secret Pally lists run N’Zoth now. I’ll go into detail about this matchup in the Matchups section. Keep in mind that this card doesn’t actually help the Freeze Mage matchup (although that matchup clearly doesn’t need it).
• Piloted Shredder: I initially ran two but took one out for Eater of Secrets. I felt like two didn’t really work since Shredder doesn’t actually have an immediate impact on the board and Control Warrior is about having immediate answers. One helps the deck quite a lot though since N’Zoth gets a lot more powerful when you bring back a Shredder – it means you still have a decent board even after your N’Zoth gets Twisting Nethered.
• Grommash Hellscream: The burst is way too valuable to be cut. In many games Grom provides the lethal punch after the opponent spends their turn clearing the first part of N’Zoth.

Matchups

Secret Paladin (Good)

Mulligan for Fiery War Axe, Death's Bite, Ravaging Ghoul. Deathlord and Acolyte of Pain are good keeps if you have backup (mainly weapons). Often keep Eater of Secrets provided the rest of your hand is okay. This deck has a lot of answers to Secret Paladin. There are obviously always the games where you draw terribly and the Paladin has the god curve, but there are also the games were you draw well and have the easiest win of your life. Try to use your Brawls in the best way possible (e.g. Using a Deathlord to stall against a large board and preparing a weapon allows you to Brawl and hit the surviving minion). Keeping Sylvanas Windrunner and Shield Slam for Tirion Fordring is ideal, but don’t get too greedy with it – don’t hesitate to use Sylvanas to take back the board if you’re behind. Try to save a Brawl for N’Zoth (I played against quite a few lists with N’Zoth), but if you N’Zoth first it’s very often a win for you.

Zoo (Good)

Mulligan for the same cards as Secret Paladin (minus Eater of Secrets). Bash is an acceptable keep. This is very similar to the Paladin matchup but Zoo has less large threats and more damage. Obviously your weapons, Brawl and Revenge are key in this matchup. Draw as much as possible from Acolytes – if you run out of cards before they do, you lose.

Renolock (Good)

Since you rarely know what type of Warlock it is, you should usually mulligan assuming it’s Zoo. (Always mulligan assuming it’s the more aggressive archetype since you get less punished if it turns out to be a slower deck). You always want to be slightly pressuring them, so draw as much as possible. Cairne must die on your side of the board, so be wary of Sylvanas+PO. Avoid playing Deathlord without any answers for threats like Emperor and Ragnaros the Firelord. Your win condition is obviously N’Zoth. It almost always gets Twisting Nethered so make sure you can win with the remaining board or with burst from Grommash. You want him at a low enough life total when you N’Zoth since he can’t heal and clear in the same turn.

N’Zoth Priest (Slightly Bad)

Mulligan for Fiery War Axe, Death's Bite, Piloted Shredder, Acolyte of Pain. Execute can be acceptable with an activator. This matchup is actually a bit similar to Renolock. You have to play aggressively in this matchup and hope that he can’t pressure you more. Try to combine Sylvanas with Shield Slam to take a Deathrattle minion from his side. It’s better to play Cairne earlier than later since he has a smaller chance of having Entomb. Draw as much as you can, since you’ll likely lose if this game goes to fatigue. Play N’Zoth and set up for lethal with Grommash. It’s often good if they play N’Zoth first since then they can’t play N’Zoth to answer yours; just Brawl. They can Entomb your N’Zoth but then they can’t answer the other minions and will usually lose. Play around Shadow Madness (usually on your Belcher). Be careful of their Deathlord pulling your N’Zoth!

Control Priest (Even)

Mulligan the same as N’Zoth Priest. Try to play Deathlord before they can Cabal it; Shadow Word: Pain should be fine for you. It is even more important to draw in this matchup (obviously don’t let them mill you though). Deny their draws from Northshire Cleric. Sometimes they won’t try to draw or will even draw you cards because they think the match will reach fatigue – they will run out of answers/cards and you will overwhelm them. Your goal is to take advantage of the fact that they have to draw all their answers – play fast and force them to use their answers inefficiently. Be careful of Shadow Madness.

Freeze Mage (Very Good)

If you know it’s Freeze Mage, mulligan for Justicar Trueheart, Fiery War Axe (for their small minions like Acolyte of Pain and Mad Scientist), Acolyte of Pain. Prioritize your armor/hero power. If you have Justicar in hand, you can maximize your armor by not playing Shield Blocks until you can Shield Block and Armor Up in the same turn. If you don’t, play Shield Blocks and search like crazy for Justicar, since if you don’t get her you could actually lose. Don’t neglect your armor to focus on pressuring them even though you have Eater of Secrets since the deck isn’t made to overcome all that stall.

Tempo Mage (Good)

Mulligan for Fiery War Axe, Death's Bite, Acolyte of Pain. Bash, Slam and Shield Block+Shield Slam are acceptable. Justicar is great to draw into since they will eventually try to burn you down. Dealing efficiently with their threats is extremely important.

Control (N’Zoth) Warrior (Even)

I had a very high winrate against Control/N’Zoth Warrior, but I’ll list this as even since it is the mirror. Mulligan for Fiery War Axe, Death's Bite, Justicar Trueheart, Piloted Shredder. DO NOT DRAW CARDS unless you absolutely must or have many more cards in your deck compared to your opponent and need to use Shield Block for a Shield Slam or something. I often win games by making them steal Acolyte of Pain with Sylvanas Windrunner and drawing them cards. Deathlord is helpful in this matchup – if you’re lucky you pull out their N’Zoth. If you’re unlucky they pull out your N’Zoth (so you can even just not kill Deathlord until you draw N’Zoth, especially if you have Tank Up. If your deck has few cards left, just don’t kill it until it doesn’t pull a card from your deck). Never play Sylvanas without Shield Slamming it to steal an important minion (Deathlord, Cairne Bloodhoof, Sylvanas, maybe Sludge Belcher). Don’t let them steal your important minions with Sylvanas + Shield Slam. If you have more cards in your deck than them by fatigue, you usually win.

Pirate/Face Warrior (Slightly Good)

Mulligan for Fiery War Axe, Death's Bite and any other early removal (Bash, Shield Block + Shield Slam) Weapons and Taunts are usually enough to control the board and stabilize. After the first few turns prioritize your life total over the board as the opponent will just try to smack your face repeatedly with various weapons. These games may be pretty close. Make sure to play around Mortal Strike(s).

Midrange/Secret Hunter (Bad)

Mulligan for Fiery War Axe, Death's Bite and any other early removal (Bash, Shield Block + Shield Slam). If you have Death’s Bite, you can keep Acolyte. Deathlord may be too risky to keep. If you draw well, this matchup can be an easy win, but cards like Savannah Highmane are a pain to deal with. Eater of Secrets will likely only hit one secret, but if it hits a Freezing Trap that can be enough to swing the game in your favor. Try to not let their board get too powerful while waiting for a good Brawl as Loatheb may shut down the game.

Malygos Druid (Even)

Mulligan for Death's Bite, Fiery War Axe, Slam, Acolyte of Pain, Piloted Shredder, Shield Block+Shield Slam. I didn’t face very many Druids in Wild. Manage your removal well. If you deal with their threats (Arcane Giant, Ragnaros the Firelord, Malygos) as they come, you can use the time you get to armor up out of range of their combo. The best case scenario is that you draw your Deathrattles in time to do a relatively early N’Zoth to just win the game on the spot.

Midrange Shaman (Good)

Mulligan for Fiery War Axe, Death's Bite. Keep Acolyte of Pain and Deathlord if you have weapon or other backup. Shield Block + Shield Slam can be kept. Keep Ravaging Ghoul/Slam if you have FWA for Totem Golem. This deck has enough answers to deal with everything in their deck until you drop N’Zoth for the win. The gameplan is simple: control the board and don’t die until you drop N’Zoth and win. Even if your Sylvanas and Cairne get Hexed it’s fine because Belchers and Deathlords from N’Zoth is good enough. Grommash is also a big threat that they have to deal with. Use Grommash to remove annoying targets like Azure Drake.

Raptor Rogue (Slightly Bad)

Mulligan for Fiery War Axe, Death's Bite, early game tools like Slam and Bash. Keep Acolyte if you have a weapon. If you have a great hand keep Belcher since your goal is to drop a good N’Zoth as fast as possible. If it isn’t too difficult remove Nerubian Eggs yourself so they don’t Raptor them.

Thanks for reading! I would advise trying the deck out in Casual or something first as it takes time to get used to.