#grimy goons

[aranyaphoenix]

^Very intense match with an opponent who Threatened instead of Greeted, and used "Thanks" and "Wow" sarcastically.

My deck was originally made to complete the For Azeroth! quest, but ended up having such a good win rate that I took it to the ladder, too.

The strategy of the deck revolves around its all-battlecry-minions composition synergizing with murlocs and buffs.

[aranyaphoenix]

Tavern Brawl - Grimy Goons

Last day of the Gadgetzan crime families in the Encounter at the Crossroads Tavern Brawl. Today's family: the Grimy Goons, with hunter, paladin, and warrior. RNG giving hunters no beasts yields less than grand results, but you can always put your faith in the light! Victory or death? Either way, make it spectacular!  -- Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/aranyaphoenix

[aranyaphoenix]

Got ‘em all!

[overloadedshaman]

The Grimy C’Thuns

My first deck in this Overloaded Library is The Grimy C’Thuns. Let’s be clear: I hate Warrior. I dislike playing it, I don’t like its core strategies and mechanics, its admittedly powerful synergies and methodologies have little to offer my play style, and I feel super ridiculously bored whenever I play the class for quests. But I actually like this deck.  I’ll post its code and layout below, and then go into my thoughts on it.  Hopefully that format’ll work, I’m still trying to figure things out for this.

### Grimy C'thuns # Class: Warrior # Format: Standard # Year of the Mammoth # # 2x (1) N'Zoth's First Mate # 2x (1) Young Priestess # 2x (2) Beckoner of Evil # 2x (2) Friendly Bartender # 1x (2) Grimestreet Informant # 1x (2) Master Swordsmith # 2x (2) Twilight Geomancer # 1x (3) Bloodsail Cultist # 1x (3) Disciple of C'Thun # 2x (3) Drakkari Enchanter # 2x (3) Grimestreet Smuggler # 2x (3) Twilight Elder # 2x (4) C'Thun's Chosen # 1x (4) Faceless Shambler # 2x (4) Grimy Gadgeteer # 2x (5) Cobalt Scalebane # 2x (8) Doomcaller # 1x (10) C'Thun # AAECAQcG3wKTrQKprQLJrwKIsAKavAIM4gyLrwLLrwLPrwLQrwLUrwKCsAL4vAKnvgLSvwLKywL94QIA # # To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone

I made this deck shortly after Knights Of The Frozen Throne came out. I was desperate to find *something* for Warrior, and I also had a passing interest in making use of Drakkari Enchanter. Drakkari Enchanter’s ability to make end of turn effects happen twice sounded weirdly workable, but I’d never seen anything that really capitalized on it.

A search for End Of Turn effects pointed out that Warrior had a few. No class had a lot, but some notable ones popped up that, when combined with neutral cards, suggested synergy with buffing effects. Both regular buffing, and a few Grimy Goons-era hand buffing, had end of turn support for warrior. One easily forgotten card for this was the Twilight Elder; while technically a neutral, its already potent ability to boost C’Thun at the end of your turn could be doubled.

So I tossed a deck together and saw surprising results! I loved the wins it gave me. It was never amazing, but I finally had a Warrior deck that I enjoyed playing, probably because it wasn’t focusing on Warrior mechanics so much as it focused on Grimy Goons and C’Thun mechanics.

Plus I was really super proud of myself for the name Grimy C’Thuns. It just fit so well.

Sadly, both The Grimy Goons and C’Thun feel like their time in the spotlight is done in the current meta, and the next expansion (whenever it hits) will herald the end of The Grimy C’Thuns in Standard mode. I played it twice right before writing this, and lost both times... though admittedly, once was to a C’Thun Priest, so maybe I shouldn’t count that.  Either way, I love this deck but it’s time to place it here in the archives.  Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

[charsiewspace]

Gadgetzan asked me to pick a side.

[hypexion]

Mean Streets: Grimy Goon reveals

Many more cards have been revealed for the Grimy Goon classes, including the leader of the Goons, Don Han’Cho. More statbuffs and things that benefit from statbuffs lurk in Grimestreet, but will they lurk in decks?

Don Han'Cho Legendary Grimy Goon Minion 7 Mana, 5 Attack, 6 Health Battlecry: Give a random minion in your hand +5/+5.

Don Han'Cho raises an interesting question: what makes a legendary card 'good'? Reactions to the Don have been fairly tepid, with comparisons to Kazakus' effect being the main focus. Don Han'Cho's effect is more of the same when it comes to the Goons. Obviously, giving a minion +5/+5 is a strong effect. And there are quite a few minions that would benefit from such a thing. But until the set is released, it's hard to tell exactly how effective this ability will be. And the Don's relatively low stats could prove an issue even if his ability ends up being strong overall.

Dispatch Kodo Rare Hunter Minion 4 Mana, 2 Attack, 4 Health Battlecry: Deal Damage equal to this minion's Attack. Beast

Dispatch Kodo is another card designed to be buffed before play. A single +1/+1 boost puts it slightly under vanilla stats, with a useful Battlecry. Even without buffs, Dispatch Kodo is similar to pre-nerf Keeper of the Grove, which saw a fair amount of play. Additionally, due to the weird event sequencing in Hearthstone, it can benefit from on-board buffs such as Leokk. If the hand buffing mechanic does work for Hunter, Dispatch Kodo could see a lot of play.

Rat Pack Epic Hunter Minion 3 Mana, 2 Attack, 2 Health Deathrattle: Summon a number of 1/1 Rats equal to this minion's Attack. Beast

Unbuffed, Rat Pack is an okay card. Like Haunted Creeper and Infested Wolf, it has a weaker main body, but leaves two small minions behind. But once Rat Pack gets any kind of attack buff, it becomes much better. This could be playable independant of various in-hand buffs, as it can also benefit from cards such as Abusive Sergeant, Leokk and Houndmaster. Rat Pack's main weakness is cheap AOE, which does weaken it against Warroir and Shaman, who have easy access to 1-damage spells and effects.

Knuckles Legendary Hunter Minion 5 Mana, 3 Attack, 7 Health Whenever this minion attacks a minion, it also hits the enemy hero. Beast

With Knuckles, it seems Team 5 have stopped trying to push some strange deck called 'Control Hunter', and embraced Hunter's true calling: hitting face. Knuckles is nothing to chuckle at. Sans buffs, his seven health makes him hard to remove, while allowing him to clear up the board. Given a +1/+1 or +2/+2 boost along the way, Knuckles can take out tougher minions while being harder still to destroy. And his ability means that each time he attacks a minion, he also hurts the enemy hero, pushing the Hunter closer to victory. At five mana, Knuckles is in a good spot. No only does Hunter currently lack a strong five mana choice, following him up with Savannah Highmane should be a great combinaion. Even if Knuckles dies, the opposing player will have had to use removal or minions to clear him, reducing the opposion Highmane will face.

Smuggler's Run Common Paladin Spell 1 Mana All minions in your hand gain +1/+1.

Another hand buffing card. Playing this turn one onto a bunch of cheap minions could be effective, since you can follow up with several above-curve minions. Alternately, you can go full greed and follow up with a 2/2 Outfitter, then unleash the one cost minions on turn three.

Grimestreet Protector Rare Paladin Minion 7 Mana, 6 Attack, 6 Health Taunt. Battlecry: Give adjacent minions Divine Shield.

This is a good card. Maybe not gameplay wise, but in terms of design. Anything involving positioning is good, and anything suggesting the game is moving towards using the mechanic more is good. The actual card seems okay if you can get at least one shield deloyed, allowing for better trades. However, at seven mana, Protector might not fit into Paladin decks if a faster deck is viable.

Grimy Gadgeteer Common Warrior Minion 4 Mana, 4 Attack, 3 Health At the end of your turn, give a random minion in your hand +2/+2.

While Paladin is spreading the buffs around, Warrior is concentrating them. Gadgeteer is unlikely to survive to provide a second buff, but giving out a +2/+2 makes it similar to Piloted Shredder in terms of total stats. Following this up with a 4/9 Alley Armorsmith is good, and hitting a Dopplegangster could also be nice. In the rare case where Gadgeteer provides multiple buffs, the resulting empowered minions should be able to ensure the boardstate that allowed such a thing continued. All in all, this card should be good if Grimy Warrior is good.

Thorium Knuckles Epic Warrior Minion 4 Mana, 2 Attack, 3 Durability After your hero attacks, give a random minion in your hand +1/+1.

Another bad weapon, because filling the Epic slots with trash is a good way to sell packs. While Thorium Knuckles eventually does six damage and gives +3/+3 in buffs, I'd rather have a 4/3 minion and a +2/+2 buff right now. Presumably the idea is to use a weapon buff on this, but once again a War Axe or Arcanite Reaper is a better choice. Maybe the Basic and Classic weapons are as good as weapons get.

Next time, a new gang will be have been revealed, with a mysterious new and/or old mechanic. Exciting!