Budget Deathbringer Saurfang

Introduction:

This is the second budget deck I’ve done for the frozen throne adventure because I have a friend whose new and, like many new players, lacks the card collection to do the adventures effectively. The idea of the decks isn’t so much just coming up with a list that can beat the boss, but a deck that can reliably do so. This time we’re going warrior, because the boss only takes damage from weapons and they have the best basic weapon options along with excellent board control. The total cost for this deck is only 160 dust, and they’re both cards that see play in top tier decks so it’s not a waste.

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Strategy:

The boss only takes damage from weapons, and that means no fatigue damage. Your game plan is to control the board while you accumulate weapon damage in your hand, it really is that simple. Note that although Heroic Strike is not a weapon, it does affect the boss. I never checked if this requires the weapon to be equipped to work, but you’ll only use it to hit him when you have one anyway so that shouldn’t be an issue. Don’t be too scared of using a Fiery War Axe or an Arcanite Reaper hit to help control the board, it’s actually the war axe’s primary purpose in the game, just don’t get carried away since you only have 40 points of damage in this deck that can hit him. This may sound like a lot since he has 20 health, but it’s best not to get careless. To make matters worse, he has a minion that heals him for 3 damage each turn, 6 copies of it in fact. Let most of them get out of the way while you keep the board and accumulate weapon damage. Once you’re comfortable you can get him down, get to work. Until then don’t both hitting him, it’s not worth the risk of him just healing it while you wait for more weapon damage.

This may seem a bit fiddly if you’re new to the game, but if you used my budget deck for Marrowgar you should have a bit of an idea about controlling the board. Just be careful not to waste resources, or to be too precious with your health.

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Things to look out for:

Blood razor, the only aoe you can’t see coming:

The boss has 1 copy of Blood Razor that deals 1 damage to all minions when it enters play. Both Blood Razor and Death’s Bite (of which he has 2) do the same on their deathrattles. However, this is at least something you can plan for. Just try not to have a load of minions on 1 health in case of the battle cry or it can take you off guard and punish you.

Blood Beast, because he’s a healing junky:

This is a 2/4 minion that heals its owner for 3 at the start of the turn. If you kill it you don’t have to worry about it, but there are 6 of them and until you have the board you may find it difficult to prevent the healing routinely. This is the primary reason i say to just accumulate weapon damage for awhile, just in case the healing gets out of control.

Execute, a cool card you both have:

This is a really good warrior card, but it’s useless without a way to deal damage. Just make sure you have a whirlwind or ghoul to use to activate it.

Other than that, there isn’t a lot to worry about per se. It won’t necessarily be easy, but if you’re careful with your resources you should be able to find a way to deal with the threats that go on the board. They’re mostly medium threats, so no giant minions to be ready for. If you’re not used to warrior control games this may take a couple goes to get the hang of what resources to use when, but the boss is routinely beatable with this deck once you have that down.

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Crafting cards:

All cards are either basic or common.

Acolyte of Pain – This has seen play all over the place at different points in time. At the moment you see it in some high tier mage and warrior decks. This is a solid craft in general, and a nice card to have for deck building.

Ravaging Ghoul – This is seen in a lot of warrior decks, the vast majority of warrior decks in fact. If you want to build a warrior deck at the moment, this will almost definitely be in it.

And that’s it, I got this list a lot cheaper than the previous one.

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Other choices:

Bloodhoof Brave – An earlier list had this instead of the Archmage and it made things more straightforward although not necessarily easier. This is another solid warrior card, although not really seen in aggro warrior decks. It’s not needed here, but if you’re looking to expand you’re warrior card collection anyway then go for it. Also, if you happen to have it use it in place of the archmage.

Any weapon upgrade cards whatsoever – If you have anything that gives a weapon +1/+1 throw it in (like an Upgrade), take out an archmage or an ogre and throw it in, it’ll make things a lot easier by increasing the amount of weapon damage in the deck. It’s not essential of course, but if you have it then why make life harder?

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Closing:

I didn’t have trouble with this deck, but I can see someone new and not used to the balance of resource usage in a control approach having difficulty. If you have trouble try asking yourself what you gain by playing a card, is it entirely necessary? Could you just take the hit? Would it be more useful later? If you ever watch high level play you’ll see players asking themselves these exact questions. As before, things can go wrong, if you lose just try to think what could have been done differently and have another go. Be patient, accumulate weapon damage in hand, and have minions on the board ready to keep him at bay when you switch to beating him down. And again, go ahead and use the Fiery War Axe early to keep control of the board, you have more damage in the deck and it’s really important he doesn’t just beat you down.