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Corey Burkhart

I had some people message me on Facebook and comment that the decks I've been writing about recently have one thing in common: Alarm-o-Bot. They really wanted to see an Alliance deck without Crime Scene Alarm-o-Bot. I promised one individual that it could be arranged, so here's a different take to an aggressive deck I've been toying around with the past few weeks.

When I think of aggro decks, I generally think about decks playing tons of allies with cheap costs and solid effects, trying to deal fatal damage to the opposing hero before they stabilize. Recently, the most successful of these decks has been of the Grand Crusader type because of how big their allies become. Despite that, what if I told you there was a Warrior aggro deck out there that is not getting the hype it deserves? One that only needs two cards on turn 4 to deal 14 points of damage to the opponent's hero. The deck I'm talking about is none other than Bash and Slash aggro.

Ben Isgur was the first person I've heard of playing this deck. To my knowledge he was playing it at The Metamart 3k tournament held in Arizona, but I never had a chance to see his decklist. The deck was put on the back-burner for me, and I didn't really see anyone talking about the deck. Recently, I've been on a mission to find aggressive decks in this format as I prepare for the upcoming Realm Championships, and I decided why not try and make my own version of Ben Isgur's Warrior Bash and Slash deck. Here's my first go at it:

Hero: Steelguard Adamson

Allies: 35
4 Jadefire Scout
4 Garet Vice
4 Vakus the Inferno
4 Loriam Argos
3 Jeishal
3 Jerrick Valder
2 Burly Berta
3 Bronze Drakonid
4 Jadefire Trickster
4 Magni, the Mountain King

Abilities: 18
4 Juggernaut
4 Furious Strike
3 Boundless Rage
4 Bash and Slash
3 Raging Shout

Quests: 7
4 Seeds of Their Demise
3 If You're Not Against Us. . .

The combo in this deck clearly involves its namesake card, Bash and Slash, but the ally you're planning to use it with is Jadefire Trickster. It seems crazy to be playing a card like Jadefire Trickster, a card that is only decent in Sealed and Draft, but it definitely is good here. Jadefire Trickster is one of those allies that passes the “class matters” test because he's a Rogue. Alliance has a slew of awesome Rogue allies, and some of them didn't even make my deck like Latro Abiectus. With Bash and Slash you want a Rogue ally to get both Empower effects, considering you hero is a Warrior. Thus, what this gets you is simple: your Jadefire Trickster gains 3 ATK and Stealth and double the damage, which means 14 to the face. This damage alone is generally enough to finish off an opponent after a quick opener. The combo is not solely for Jadefire Trickster, but ideally it will use him because as a 4/4 for three it is difficult for any opponent to deal with before you can threaten approximately half their health total with one four cost ability. The Bash and Slash can also be used for any of the other allies in the deck, assuming you have a Rogue in play, but the other method of forcing through huge damage is with Boundless Rage.

I had never considered this card playable before I heard of this deck, but Ben clearly proved me wrong. Boundless Rage seems like it would be best in a control deck going up to eight or nine resources to have one ally deal a giant strike, but in reality it's great to use just as a Primal Strike effect. Most of the time when playing this deck you're just one or two key attacks away from finishing the opponent off, and Boundless Rage adds enough attack to count for multiple attacks.

Another great use for Boundless Rage which I've seen people talking about is with Arcanomage Misti, but I feel that's too cute and not reliable enough with people playing Flame Lance, Gnash, and Explosive Shot among other powerful ways to fight allies. Boundless Rage really shines with the second half of Bash and Slash, as simply adding 5 ATK to a Vakus the Inferno and then doubling its damage to 18 will easily kill someone even without a Rogue ally. The reason I'm only playing three is because I do not want to draw more than one in most games, and two generally ever. They're pretty poor in the early game as you want to apply pressure with your early allies, and then play it for at least four or five damage. Also, because Boundless Rage has Eternal, if you want to draw it again, you can shuffle it back into your deck, but I have not seen that come up often enough to matter.

Considering we need Rogue allies, we should go over which ones we're playing and why. The Rogues are what draws us to Alliance, as the faction has the most cheap cost Rogues (excluding the infinite Murloc Coastrunner decks) with powerful effects. Garet Vice and Loriam Argos are both amazing as they have Abberation, a keyword that has been getting its fair share of love since Worldbreaker. Abberation is enough to keep them alive against non-ally based decks until the later portion of the game, where Jadefire Trickster and Jerrick Valder can take control. Jerrick Valder was a card I liked in draft, so I decided to give him a try in this deck, and he has been awesome. In this deck you have some issues with cheap protectors like Telor Sunsurge and Thadrus, Shield of Teldrassil, and exhausting them is a huge gain for your non-Stealth allies. Generally, I try and hold on to Jerrick unless I need a turn 2 play, and I use him for his Stash effect to combine with any Vakus the Infernos and Boundless Rages I hold in my hand for the finishing blow.

The rest of the abilities in the deck are designed to keep opposing allies off the board, and add damage in any spot they can. Raging Shout is almost always used as a resource to slow your opponent down and keep your allies alive. In games I haven't played it too frequently, but I could see some merit to playing it if you have a very explosive draw with multiple Magni, the Mountain King tokens.

Furious Strike however is just amazing. It acts as a Flame Lance or Blistering Fire for your hero's attack, and it has delve. When you're an aggro deck with a built in two card combo I'll take any way to filter through my deck, and even when I'm not looking to combo kill my opponents with Bash and Slash, making sure you are drawing cards that help win the game is a great upside. Juggernaut is the other heavy lifter in this deck, and was really the reason I began tinkering with Jerrick Valder. The power to exhaust the opponent's entire party, plus giving your hero the ability to take out an opposing ally or bash in for three, is excellent. I was originally working with Shockwave, but in a format with so many Empower allies I don't want my opponent's getting to draw their awesome allies and get their effects again.

There are quite a few reasons to be playing this deck, but two of the most important are the explosiveness and the hero. Bash and Slash clearly leads to games where the opponent goes from perfectly fine to perfectly dead. I for one love decks that have this potential, especially when you are playing cards that are good at almost all times during the game. Another reason for this explosiveness is Bronze Drakonid, and its ability to combo with both Bash and Slash and Boundless Rage. It's difficult to use it with the four cost ability, but I have definitely set up plays with Vakus the Inferno, Boundless Rage, and Bronze Drakonid and they lead to huge swings in the opponent's health total. Unsuspecting opponents may go from a seemingly awesome position to dead in a single turn by not leaving a Protector ready or healing their hero with Bronze Warden style effects immediately.

The reason I like the hero, on the other hand, is completely different. In fact, each one of the Alliance Warrior flips is useless in this deck, but the reason I like having Steelguard Adamson is that it leads your opponent to believe you are Solo Warrior at first. Alliance Warrior is the preferred version for the late game Vindicator Saaris, and the fact is that the hero flip is very versatile, but for this deck you're hoping that your opponent will keep a poor hand versus you, and that it gives you a free victory!

Again, this is my first attempt at working through this deck. It is definitely a blast to play, and I recommend anyone who likes hitting as hard as Warriors do with weapons to try it out with allies and abilities. I think this deck could make a splash with some more work. Share your thoughts in the forums, as I'd love to hear them as always.

-Corey

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