So since the expansion released: I have done close to nothing but playing HS in ranked or VS a friend (Me and my friend in particular have tried out certain decks to see what ACTUALLY counters what) - And at the end of the day: neither of us understands how anyone can defend Quest Warrior atm.
It’s averaging what seems to be a 70% winrate by not just the tracker but looking at HSReplay as well. It has close to no weaknesses or counters, and even the other “still kinda viable” Warrior decks just does not hold a candle to the pure Warmachine that is Pirate Warrior.
The nerf it got back when they changed the quest was in no way enough and this rotation has just done Pirate Warrior more good than harm.
Until this get’s patched: I for one will be intentionally roping every Pirate Warrior I see. If someone plays the game to waste my time by playing a deck I can’t beat unless I have the 1/1000 luck and the Warrior has the 1/1000 bad luck; then sorry mc-flurry, then I will waste your time as well and hopefully spare 1-7 players the dread of having to face this deck within a limited timeframe.
This is by far the pettiest I have ever been regarding this game but unlike before where I could look at some thing and think “Yeah… It’s not crazy that this went by testing” - The current Pirate Warrior just isn’t excused, this is just ridiculous.
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How can anyone DEFEND Pirate Warrior?
Easily. Next!
With an attitude like that, you likely do that plenty (and not only to pirate warrior) already, sweetie.
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Contradicting your own point with your own reply. Neat. My work was done before I even had to think about a reply. Next!
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I wonder what they’ll actually wind up nerfing. Cannon guy to 4 mana might be a thing, or maybe even pushing back Smite.
The deck as a collective is just so synergistic, it’s hard to pick a particular cornerstone to hit that would really matter without damaging neutrals.
One thing’s for sure. While it’s beatable - hilariously enough by Naga Mage - it’s generally favored in pretty much every matchup. This deck ain’t lasting very long, methinks.
Make quest 3 3 3 like all the others that reward super powerful rewards.
Turn Juggernaut into something attackable, goes dormant “for repairs” for a turn after killed. To be fair, make it immune to silence
Unfortunately i wouldn’t touch the pirates themselves because we are back in the era of a “4 mana 7/7” 
However, there really needs to be some sort of internal cd that doesn’t spawn the same pirate / weapon until others show up.
Far to many times have games been won when multiple “bulwarks” or “smitehowls” occur
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I just won a Warrior mirror where I had Control Kazakusan against Quest Warrior. Played every removal, every Onyxian Drake, just in time, Onyxia, Kazakusan, Rokara Hero Card and just survived by the skin of the teeth. Then played two Annoy o Horn which he removed all divine shields by the pirate that deals one damage when hero attacks. And he cleared all of it. I then played ancient reflection on this pirate to clear his board, survived on one health, and killed him next turn. One of the hardest games I ever played, and I am just thinking of joining them now. Q Warrior seems very strong to me.
How does Naga Mage beats it? Genuinely interested.
You beat it with priest.
You defend/heal early, clear boards with desperate prayer and xyrella, get your own juggernaut with murozond the infinite, wall them off with big taunts, play your hero card to heal and armor, and they will concede.
It’s kind of funny, but I’ve had a lot of success VS pirate warrior with pirate Rogue. I’m like 4-1 vs it so far. It’s a fairly close matchup, but the player who gets the early board usually can win from there. I was trying to link Lunaloveee’s twitch stream from today because I beat her earlier when she was on Quest warrior and I was on pirate Rogue. It’s a good example of how to fight for the board early while doing chip damage face
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1455043684
I couldn’t get it to load but this is the link to it anyways. Should be in the “legend meta decks” steam from today if you can get it to work let me know. I dunno why I can’t get it to.
It’s super fun when you can go second and coin into Vanessa and play the quest, too.
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Murozond doesn’t actually repeat the battlecries of minions it replays for the record. You are correct that taunt is really good vs both of these decks though.
The Vanessa quest steal sounds pretty sweet if you play Vanessa lol. I remember trying that with theif Rogue but not actually having enough pirates to complete before the xpac
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Good early tempo into Spitelash popoff turns to flip the board and push from there.
As others have said in various threads, if you can manage to fully steal the board from a PW in the midgame before they’ve taken you into Smite range, you can usually push into a win. They can go piece-for-piece extremely well which is why the cave most decks’ faces in, but they have nothing that can deal with an explosive board out of nowhere.
Here’s an example from Orange, who’s also been practicing with the deck (there’s a video)
https://twitter.com/HS_Orange/status/1514382892587274245?t=OaA3nwCyrUxmn66nAfAahg&s=19
Turns like that happen a LOT more often than you’d think, sometimes two or three times in a match.
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The only way to beat Pirate Warrior is to play Pirate Warrior and start on turn 1.
This feels like day 1 Demon Hunter all over again, it’s irrelevant if the deck can be beaten by certain strategies. The fact is every other match right now seems to be against this deck… And it is no wonder, the deck is not only incredibly powerful, but it is one of the most autopilot decks anyone has ever seen. I can almost guarantee that this deck will receive at least 2 major nerfs in the near future.
The quest needs another nerf
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“pirate warrior” is fine, the quest is not. Just having a turn one play that always generates value is huge.
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I will tell you how people are defending Pirate Warrior!
As soon as they start doing it.
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Oh, pirate war was the first thing I built on launch because it looked like it was going to be a powerhouse even before accounting for week 1 jank metas.
What pushed it over the top isn’t any one card (Nellie, but really only because of Mr. Smite), but the absurd amount of consistency and sustain that it picked up in the new pirate dredges, amalgam, and cannoneer 2.0. They don’t really have awkward draws anymore because they can fix them to be whatever they need.
At this point you could easily push Rokkara back another step on the quest to make it 3/3/3, and I don’t think it would make more than a dent because I frankly just don’t need her much. It’s the weapon draw on stage 1 that’s the most valuable step most games.
Now, all that said, there are some tempo decks that are nearly as toxic (mech mage) that run the risk of taking over completely if one of their biggest competitors vanished due to nerfs. That deck is entirely capable of making pirate warrior look slow and inept at times.
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Omg why does everyone hate Mage? Let it go
Until this get’s patched: I for one will be intentionally roping every Pirate Warrior I see.
Omegalul. Nobody forces you to play a game you don’t enjoy. You realise this makes you a worse person than the mean Pirate Warriors, right?