Standard Deck Guide: Zerg Death Knight - The Most Efficient Zerg List

Greetings! I don't know about you, but we, at Cards Realm, have been enjoying Heroes of StarCraft (the biggest mini-set in the history of Hearthstone!), and working on deck techs so we can all learn how to play these new decks and mechanics. Today, we'll go through Zerg Death Knight!

Zerg Death Knight is the most popular faction/class combination. It has over 55% win rate on HSReplay, and it's more efficient than Zerg Warlock or Demon Hunter.

Let's explore this list's main game plan, win conditions, and mulligan!

This deck may play many low-cost cards (cards that cost between 1 and 3 mana), but it actually needs you to be patient and slow. You can't just play any card and focus on putting pressure on your opponent because this list actually works best when you fill your board with multiple Zerg minions and then buff them.

If you pilot it correctly, you'll save your resources until you can build a brutal board, like the image below:

Cards

Let's understand each card and see how they'll help you throughout the game:

Cheap minions that are useful to fight your opponent's first minions are Miracle Salesman, Dreadhound Handler, Harbinger of Winter, and Chillfallen Baron.

Zergling might cost one, but I don't recommend using it on turn 1. Wait until after you play Infestor.

Right away, as soon as you take a look at this list, you'll notice it plays many Deathrattles. So, it also plays Brittlebone Buccaneer, Mosh Pit, and Death Growl. The first two cards grant Reborn to your Deathrattle minions, and, like so, they'll activate twice. As for Death Growl, it spreads Deathrattle to adjacent minions, so instead of one Deathrattle, you'll have three.

You can use these minions in the first few rounds to grant Reborn to Infestor, Harbinger of Winter, or Chillfallen Baron and already buff Zergs, or at least filter your deck by drawing cards.

However, I highly recommend you save at least one copy of any one of them so you can take advantage of Reska, the Pit Boss' powerful Deathrattle.

Your other important Zergs are Brood Queen and Viper. Brood Queen will give you many Zerg resources, while Viper will be a removal as well as another Reborn tool.

This list also plays Baneling Barrage, Spawning Pool, and Nydus Worm to create, or buy, new Zerg cards. At the same time, they'll grant other benefits to these minions, like Rush, or even discount their cost.

Finally, this list's greatest highlight is Kerrigan, Queen of Blades. She will bring you two Brood Queens, which in turn will give you more resources, and also give you a Hero Power that deals three damage to random enemies. You'll deal more damage according to each Zerg you control, up to 10.

Win Condition

When you play this list, don't treat a single card as a win condition, as you'll actually have to use a combination of them to win. Some of them stand out, like Infestor (particularly if you manage to copy its Deathrattle) and Kerrigan, Queen of Blades, as they both benefit Zergs immensely and also deal a lot of damage to your opponent.

If your board is full after you play Kerrigan, you'll randomly deal 10 damage each turn for just two mana. This is an extremely useful unit to end the game.

Here's a secret for your starting hand: get Spawning Pool so you can get a minion, then look for Infestor and Brittlebone Buccaneer so you can activate its effect twice. These are your first three moves.

Aggro

Against aggro decks, I highly recommend you keep Miracle Salesman and Dreadhound Handler. That way, you'll be able to remove enemy minions quite fast.

As you'll take a lot of pressure early on, another great option is Harbinger of Winter. It will always draw Horn of Winter when it dies, and this spell refills two mana crystals. This way, you'll be able to handle enemy pressure a lot better.

Control

Slow decks that don't threaten your early game often don't disrupt your plans at all. In these games, prioritize your ideal mulligan and look for more ways to create resources, like Brood Queen and Nydus Worm.

Zerg Death Knight is one of the most viable options in this meta. Besides fun, it is cheaper as well as more efficient than other Zerg lists. I highly recommend it if you're a free-to-play player that just got the new mini-set and don't have many other cards.

Keep in mind: this deck isn't that easy to pilot, but I hope this article helped you understand it a bit better.

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Thank you for reading, and see you next time!