Before Mean Streets Of Gadgetzan , if anyone told me the most powerful deck in the Hearthstone meta would center around pirates, I would have laughed my ass off. How could gimmicky little pirates like Dread Corsair and Bloodsail Raider possibly keep up with the strength of OP cards like Flamewreathed Faceless and Tunnel Trogg?
Pirate Warrior is now the strongest deck in Hearthstone, making Aggro Shaman look like child’s play in comparison. If you’ve been playing on the ranked ladder, you must have encountered dozens of net deckers capitalizing on the dumb, raw power of weapon buffs and one-mana 3/2 minions. You’ve come here seeking advice on how to beat Patches and his rag-tag group of mercenaries and I think I can help you out.
How To Beat Pirate Warrior
In order to beat Pirate Warrior, you have to understand why it’s so popular. Like Secret Paladin, the deck relies on straightforward combos that even a monkey with a tablet can pull off. A N’zoth’s First Mate combined with a Small-Time Buccaneer or Southsea Deckhand gives you the strongest early game board of any deck in the game. Garrosh then uses other weapons like Fiery War Axe and Arcanite Reaper and buffs them with Southsea Deckhand and Upgrade! to beat you into submission before turn five.
Surviving a 6/3 weapon while your opponent just played an Argent Horserider might seem impossible, but it isn’t. If you want to win against Pirate Warrior, you must slow down the game. Letting your opponent stack their strongest cards on top of each other with little to no response from you will cost you the game. Jade Druid will never have time to ramp up properly and survive until late game and neither will Jade Shaman.
There are a few important cards you’ll need in your deck if you want to focus solely on beating all the Pirate Warriors you see.
Acidic Swamp Ooze- This two-mana minion destroys any weapon your opponent wields. Tired of that buffed Fiery War Axe slapping you for four every turn? Drop down your little pile of sludge and destroy your opponent’s advantage.
Dirty Rat- A two-mana minion that plays a minion for your opponent sounds terrible -- remember Deathlord ? -- but in the right circumstances it’s OP. Stopping a Pirate Warrior from comboing is the only way to win the game, having them waste the Battlecries of Bloodsail Raider or Southsea Deckhand nets you a serious advantage. It helps that you have a 2/6 taunt on the board against a deck that chooses not to run Execute.
How are you handling Pirate Warrior? Tell us in the comments.
