Some decks in Hearthstone are mindless. You throw down whatever minions you have in your hand, trying to get the most out of your mana curve. Decks like Aggro Shaman usually don’t require much brainpower to figure out how to do damage to your opponent’s face. Other decks require painful, meticulous attention, where every card played factors into a win or a loss.
Tempo Warrior is one of those decks, and Whispers Of the Old Gods gave Garrosh the kick in the butt he needed to be top tier.
Before the format change, Warrior was stuck in a bit of an identity crisis. Their main combo of Warsong Commander and Grim Patron was beaten so hard with the nerf bat that Warsong Commander never got up. Grim Patron decks were still viable, but they weren’t the tier-S juggernauts that dominated the meta anymore.
In comes Whispers of the Old Gods and Warrior got a few new toys, and Grim Patron finally got put back in the toy chest. Blood to Ichor activates most Warrior cards, like Armorsmith, Acolyte of Pain and Grommash Hellscream and gives you a 2/2 minion. For one mana that’s a steal, and it has become a staple in all Tempo Warrior decks. It also works alongside Ravaging Ghoul , which is a Whirlwind on a 3/3 body to help damage your minions, and even clear your opponent's board. It’s the bane of Zoolock, clearing their little minions.
Bloodhoof Brave is another big Warrior card from WOTG. Warriors don’t really have a lot of good four-mana minions, and this angry cow filled that niche nicely. Combine it with any of those other damaging abilities, and it turns into a 5/5 with taunt for four mana. It needs to be killed in one hit, before it gets Enraged and that’s not always easy. I’ve lost games because I couldn’t kill that stupid Tauren in time.
Tempo Warrior likes having hand advantage, the more tools you have at your disposal, the more damage you can put out. Battle Rage can turn the tides of a game, drawing a bunch of cards for two mana is no joke. Certain Tempo Warrior decks even use Varian Wrynn , a card that sounded amazing when it came out in The Grand Tournament , but never really saw play. Now, in a meta where strong minions stick around, he’s great. Imagine summoning a Ragnaros The Firelord for zero mana, and you draw two cards. That’s what makes Tempo Warrior so powerful.
Tempo Warrior is about the long game: knowing what cards and tools you have left is what wins you games. You don’t want to waste your damaging abilities when you have a Grommash Hellscream in hand. Like Freeze Mage, Tempo Warrior is not a beginner-friendly deck. Still, if you want to call yourself a good Hearthstone player, you need to learn how to use it.
Here’s a version of the deck I’m currently playing with from Icy Veins :
Warrior:
2x Blood To Ichor
2x Execute
2x Whirlwind
2x Armorsmith
2x Battle Rage
2x Fiery War Axe
2x Slam
1x Fierce Monkey
2x Frothing Berserker
2x Ravaging Ghoul
2x Arathi Weaponsmith
2x Bloodhoof Brave
1x Malkorok (if he gives you Cursed Blade just rage quit)
1x Grommash Hellscream
1x Varian Wrynn
Neutral
2x Acolyte of Pain
1x Cairne Bloodhoof
1x Ragnaros the Firelord
