Also, just wanted to point out. I actually found the most useful card in the deck to be the Frothing Berserkers. They just do an extraordinarily good job of bridging the early to mid game. For example, if you put something on the board on turn 2, like a Cruel Taskmaster or an Armorsmith…just hitting an enemy with that puts the Frothing out as a turn 3 4/4…which is a really strong play. Moreover, it is just a very threatening card. If left unimpeded…it can win the game for you. There were a great many games that I won simply by playing this card out early and then defending it and removing obstacles for its hits.

Secondly, it actually can be used to combo out similarly to our big finishers. With just one of the Frothings and a Zola, you can Frothing, Zola, Golden Frothing, and Whirlwind. Even on a totally clear board this produces a 6/3. a 2/1, and a 6/3. On a properly set up board, it can be far more. Couple that with the ability to further copy it with Faceless. It can really get out of hand. I simply cannot overstate the utility of this one card in this deck. It just niches so perfectly well.

Since we are up against alot of paladins, one of my absolute favorite plays vs Odd Paladin is to play a Frothing on turn 3, and then coin a Whirlwind. Usually, they just have two silverhands when I make that play. But it clears them and sets the Frothing as a 5/3 leading into their turn 4. If they played Into the Jungle on turn 1, then he comes out as a 7/3 on turn 4 instead. And since they are odd, there is no Truesilver Champion to deal with it. It is often an unrecoverable situation, typically leading to a death blow if they try to churn out more Silver Hands.

Just fyi.

Made it from 25 to 4. I probably could have gone higher, but it just requires alot. The deck is slow, so it can be frustrating to climb with. I will say, this iteration is what I settled on. Haven’t made a single change since. Pretty happy with it and THIS version brought me from 16 to 4.

Actually the Animateds worked better than I thought they would! Just wanted to say thanks for bringing their utility to my attention. I actually made a different deck that works off using them to hit Amani Berserkers and Redband Wasps to come out super strong on turn 2. It’s a pretty good rush warrior aggro deck, and I attribute that idea to your highlight on the Animateds. So thank you for that.

However, after trying out both styles of decks, the rush deck being more aggro and this deck being more control…I found that the Animateds have a more natural fit in the aggro deck. They are unfortunately very one-dimensional. Great at what they do, but one-dimensional in that they give you less options than other cards that may cost more. In my experience with playing control, the cards that give the most utility are generally the cards that will work best overall. For example, compare the Animated Berserker with a Cruel Taskmaster. The Animated is cheaper on mana and has a better “sticky” or defensive stat line at 1/3, but it can only damage your minions with its ability…albeit repeatedly. Cruel Taskmaster is slightly more expensive, but it is a 2/2 body (which is decent in terms of tempo for a deck that easily finishes 1 health creatures). It also inherently brings an Inner Rage, which you already use; and the adaptability of Inner Rage is such that it can be used to buff your minions or finish off an enemy. So It can act like an Animated in that it can hit a friendly creature to trigger its effect, it can act like an Elven Archer to finish off an enemy, it can act like an Inner Rage to buff a friendly unit’s attack, AND it leaves a 2/2 body on the board. More importantly, since it essentially IS an Inner Rage…the spots in your deck that were inhabited by both the Animateds and Inner Rages can be tuned from 4 total cards to 2…leaving you space for other useful cards. That is the sort of adaptability and utility that a control deck seeks to achieve with every single card in the deck.

So, I’ve actually made some tweaks and saw a significant improvement. First definitive answer is the Brawl vs Reckless Flurry question. I’ve finally settled on Brawl. It is the better of the two, and mostly because Reckless requires other investment…investment in armor, which you must spend. And that’s the difference, Brawl lets you keep the armor…and that face alone pulled a higher win rate.

Second change. And I know you’re not gonna like it even before I start lol. I actually got rid of Sudden Genesis entirely. BUT, it was for a good cause! I am instead using two Faceless. I know the “Combo” in its most awesome and kick ass form was 4 hurty charging Groms…but it was such a slog to get there. Sudden Genesis is a card that you can ONLY play from a position of strength; or namely, when you’ve really already won. However, Faceless Manipulator…that is an adaptable card; and boy do I love adaptability. So here was the clinch….and honestly, the opening up of really cruising down the ladder….dropping Sudden Genesis, opening myself up to using Faceless as a defensive maneuver (such as copying the enemy finisher or giant creature), using Zola to copy things based on those plays. It took my game to a whole new level, just letting go of that upper end combo potential to make the deck significantly more adaptable.

I’ve made my own page to keep up with my own changes as well:
http://www.hearthstonetopdecks.com/decks/zyrens-whirlwind-combo-deck/