Blackrock Mountain is now out! This adventure is 5 wings, and gives us a bunch of new cards and challenges to play! While the normal mode will not be super difficult for most experienced Hearthstone players, the Heroic mode can present quite the challenge! As each wing is released, I will be releasing a deckbuilding guide for each challenge to help you unlock all the cards and earn your Heroic cardback! This guide series will be covering wing #1, Blackrock Depths, which will have you face off against “Coren Direbrew,””High Justice Grimstone,” and “Emperor Thaurissan.” This article will be giving you the strategy and decklists to beat the Grim Guzzler, “Coren Direbrew.”

Coren Direbrew is the first boss of Blackrock Depths. He is the champion of the bar, and there is always chaos! Coren has a special hero power to simulate the craziness that happens at the bar. His hero power costs 0 (zero), and he will use it to start every turn. On normal difficulty, he will summon a random minion from his deck and from your deck, and these minions will be put on their respective owner’s board. On Heroic, not only does he start with an additional 15 armor, he obviously has more friends at the bar. His hero power is upgraded to give him two minions at random from his deck, and only give you one with each activation. This can be a real challenge, especially if he rolls two of his biggest and best legendaries.

Coren also has a few special cards it is important to know. Coren likes to have control of the bar (aka the board state). When he starts falling behind, he will play his 3 mana unique spell, "Get 'em!" This spell summons four Guzzlers, which are 1/1s with taunt. Later, if he is really falling behind he will play his unique minion, Dark Iron Bouncer, which kicks troublemakers out of the bar. Dark Iron Bouncer will always be the minion that remains after the spell, "Brawl," is used. Coren will play Brawl after Dark Iron Bouncer every time. The trick is to hopefully beat Coren down before he wipes the board and forces you to fight an uphill battle to regain control of the board.

Coren's Normal Deck

2 x Dark Iron Dwarf
1 x Whirlwind
1 x Baron Geddon
1 x Inner Rage
1 x Elite Tauren Chieftain
2 x Dark Iron Bouncer
1 x Core Hound
2 x Grim Patron
1 x War Golem
1 x Mogor the Ogre
1 x Succubus
1 x Brawl
2 x Force-Tank MAX
2 x Execute
1 x Dark Iron Skulker
1 x Ancient Brewmaster

Coren's normal deck includes a few legendary cards, as well as a couple bombs. In normal mode, Force-Tank MAX and Mogor the Ogre are the biggest annoyances. The normal deck has an extra execute, and fewer minions than the Heroic deck, so he won't always have the best minions on the board or in his hand. Make minion trades when favorable for you, otherwise go for his face and try to beat him in the damage race.

Coren's Heroic Deck

2 x War Golem
2 x Boulderfist Ogre
1 x Whirlwind
2 x Dark Iron Dwarf
1 x Mogor the Ogre
1 x Spiteful Smith
2 x Force-Tank MAX
2 x Venture Co. Mercenary
1 x Dark Iron Bouncer
2 x Grim Patron
1 x Execute
1 x Stormwind Champion
2 x Core Hound
1 x Succubus
1 x Ravenholdt Assassin
1 x Elite Tauren Chieftain
1 x Ancient Brewmaster
1 x Inner Rage
1 x Brawl
1 x Baron Geddon

The Heroic deck adds a few more big baddies that we have to deal with. Venture Co. Mercenary, Stormwind Champion, Ravenholdt Assassin, and Core Hound can all be massive problems, and increase his chances of hitting a bomb instead of a little Succubus or Dark Iron Dwarf. Stormwind Champion is the nightmare minion of the match. He makes everything even bigger, plus he makes Coren's special, "Get'em!" spell extra annoying. Be sure to remove this as soon as possible. If you're playing Mage, prioritize using your hero power to remove Force-tank MAX divine sheild, so Coren doesn't get free minion removals. There's not much we can do about the Assassin until after he swings with it, so hopefully you can get a couple taunts on the board and force Coren to make a bad minion trade.

Beating Coren relies on abusing his Hero power and making good minion trades. Stacking your deck with good removal and big, high cost minions will maximize your chances of beating him. There is some RNG in beating this challenge, especially on Heroic mode. If he gets early Stormwind Champion or Force-Tank MAX, it will be very difficult to beat him. Avoid cards that have "Battlecry" and "Charge," as they will have beneficial effects for this battle. I highly recommend including big taunt minions, such as Sunwalker, Lord of the Arena, and Sludge Belcher. Forcing him to fight through the taunts give you the chance to beat him in the damage race.

Coren can be beaten with any class, since most of the deck will mostly be neutral cards or neutral legendaries. Several class cards are really good against Coren, and should be included if you decide to play that class. While any class can be good, this challenge is likely the easiest using Mage or Shaman. Below is a list of cards I recommend for each class. Remember, big minions and favorable trades!

Paladin: Eye for Eye, Equality, Consecration, Tirion, Hand of Protection, Blessing of Kings, Avenging Wrath

Priest: Shadowflame, Shadow Word: Death, Divine Spirit, Power Word: Sheild

Mage: Almost all the class spells. Polymorph and Fireball are musts.

Rogue: Assassinate, Sap, Vanish, Betrayal, Backstab, Fan of Knives

Warlock: Shadowflame, Mal'Ganis, Void Terror, Siphon Soul, Anima Golem

Hunter: Bestial Wrath, Hunter's Mark, Kill Command, Freezing Trap, Explosive Trap, Deadly Shot, Explosive Shot, Gladiator's Longbow, Savanah Highmane, King Krush

Warrior: Bouncing Blade, Sheild Slam, Battle Rage, Armorsmith, Crush, Mortal Strike

Shaman: Ancestral Spirit, Ancestral Healing, Crackle, Bloodlust, Hex, Earth Elemental, Al'Akir

Druid: Naturalize, Mark of the Wild, Mark of Nature, Savage Roar, Swipe, Ironbark Protector

Thankfully, the neutral card pool is fantastic for this challenge. Those cards you would never include competitive constructed are Heroic challenge heroes. Below I have listed some non-legendary neutral cards that will help you beat Coren at his own game. Most of the Legendaries are excellent for this challenge; include them at your leisure.

-Force-Tank MAX
-Mind Control Tech
-Stormwind Champion
-War Golem
-Sunwalker
-Core Hound
-Sea, Molten, and Mountain Giant
-Bolderfist Ogre
-Gurubashi Beserker
-Sludge Belcher
-Lord of the Arena
-Venture Co. Mercenary
-Big Game Hunter

Below I have included some pre-made decks and videos for you to check out! These are all tested decks that are proven to have a high chance of success against Coren.

Heroic Coren Free-To-Play Mage

2x Arcane Missles
2x Arcane Explosion
2x Frost Bolt
2x Frost Nova
2x Fire Ball
2x Polymorph
2x Water Elemental
2x Gurubashi Berkserker
2x Archmage
2x Boulderfist Ogre
2x Lord of the Arena
2x Flamestrike
2x Core Hound
2x Stormwind Champion
2x War Golem

Credit to TommyJtheGamer for this great budget freeze mage list! Check out his video guide below:

Heroic Coren Yusnaan's Reanimator Shaman

I've won 9/10 tries with this deck, so I'm pretty confident that it it will do just as well for you. It has Dr. Broken, how could it lose? :) Check out my video of the deck beating the challenge below!

I hope you enjoyed this guide and best of luck! Be sure to let me know how you do and any cool tricks you used in the comments! This is also my first article for which I made a supporting video; let me know what you think! Finally, be sure to watch for my second Blackrock Mountain guide on beating High Justice Grimstone on Heroic! -Yusnaan

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