Hearthpwn

Hey, I'm Evilbaneling, i've been top 100 legend around 10 times now and ive recently come back to Hearthstone after a long break.

I've ALWAYS loved handlock and my handlock guide got really popular a few season ago.

About me/current rank :

Twitch : https://www.twitch.tv/evilbaneling

Warlock wins/rank : https://imgur.com/a/DVfeC

Proof of legend available on old guides / (twitch vods if still up from last season (?))

NOTE: this deck is VERY HARD to master. I have over 1200 warlock WINS (see above picture) and I've had to rope countless turns, as there are always so many options. I've had a 70% winrate from rank 5 to rank 1, however. (>ill be hitting legend again this season on stream)

That being said, please be ready to learn the deck(by playing/seeing guide/watching stream of deck to learn what plays to do in every scenario).

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  - - G u i d e - - 

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The Basics/Strategy : 

This deck plays the same as any old handlock deck ; setup huge minions, use your many removal spells to gain board control and setup many taunts and unstoppable minions early on to overwhelm your opponent.

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WHY THIS INSTEAD OF CUBE?   

The answer is quite simple actually. This deck has a much better winrate against the current meta. Throughout my experience with both decks, not only does handlock win the mirror matchup, but it also does much better against paladin, due to the extra early pressure (4 mana 7/7 taunt reavers, sunfury, etc).

Also cube is boring x)

note - i believe this deck to be strong in the meta, but very hard to play. I encourage all of you to give this deck a chance and to really learn the matchups. It's much harder to learn than cubelock. I believe it to be better, or at the very least, much more fun, and that is, after all, the point of Hearthstone.

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Tech cards/replacements

Greymane is a MUST.

Most other cards, tend  to be replaceable, very flexible deck. Feel free to add a second copy of any  card in this deck for certain matchups. Otherr additions may include  :

Ancient Watcher

Rin, the First Disciple (used to run, too slow for current meta IMO)

Mossy Horror Acidic Swamp Ooze Gnomeferatu are all good tech choices

And many more...

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Essential Combos

-Turn 3 Mountain Giant.  (only against control) The absolute best part of this deck. Against control, if you go second and tap turn 1-2 (life tap only costs one) you can then play a mountain giant on TURN 3! Making your deck very hard to play agaianst.

-Tap - Mountain giant. Remember, tap is only 1 mana so you can tap for free if you want to mountain giant (no mana loss because you draw a card)

-Tap - Hooked reavers to reach the 7/7 landmark

-Self-damage - Spellstone to buff it. Always try to damage yourself before using spellstone, as the damage you take is immediately healed back with the lifesteal mechanic.

-Defile combos. 

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Mulligan :

Against Control : Hard-mulligan for Mountain Giants and Twilight drake. 

Against aggro: keep all early game ; Doomsayer/defile/plated beatle/homonculus. Do not keep too many if you are planning on playing a twilight drake on turn 4. However, that  may not be advised against decks such as Hunter.

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Matchups : (skip to current MU if needed during a game)

From my stats and knowledge of Handlock : 

Paladin 7/10

Early board prescence and hard removal absolutely shuts them down. I am currently 9-1 against paladins. KEEP DEFILE and try to maximise your usage of clears and strong minions. Odd paladins have very few ways of dealing with mountains.

Don't waste defile against small boards unless level up is imminent. If you have multiple clears in your hand, feel free to be more flexible.

This deck DESTROYS paladins if played well. Most difficult matchup to learn IMO due to necessity of saving board clears while playing around level-up (knowing when to clear).

Hunter 6/10

You win if you have a very strong opener with enough heals. If he rushes you down first this matchup can be hard. Usually favoured though.

Warrior 7/10

Rush warrior is easy to beat if you play your big minions on curve. Baku Taunt warrior can be  hard, but you can usually rush him down easily if you have giants, as he doesn't run executes (Odd deck).

Shaman: 6/10*** (lack of games)

Shudderwock shaman: Can overwhelm them early and win, loss if he gets shudder on board. Gnomeferatu can be good here. (5/10 MU)

Every other Shaman deck is an easy matchup.

Rogue: 7/10***

I personally have an amazing winrate versus rogue, but every  game ends up very close, hence my hesitation with the rating. This deck gets shutdown as soon as you deal with his threats and taunt up. However, one lucky face-rogue can destroy you with the perfect cards if you have a bad hand. Tends to be easy. Doomsayer, beatles and big minions with taunt (reaver/sunfury) are very key to winning this matchup

Warlock (cube) : 6.5/10

If you have turn 3 mountain giant, or a better curve than cube you basically auto-win. Voidlords are useless against giants/silences and most of his deck cannot hurt you. If you go too late-game and he gets an amazing guldan, that tends to be his win condition against you, making this matchup hard at certain times.

tl;dr giant threats and huge removal. Consider adding a second Siphon Soul for this matchup

Mage: 6/10

Elemental mage tends to get destroyed by big threats, as they mainly have AoE removal and not huge single target spells. Easy matchup. Face Mages are hard to beat, however, as  they can out-damage your healing, unless you get a great start and rush them down.

Druid 4/10

Hardest matchup. Taunt druid is very  hard to beat  as they can summon so many big minions. However, they do NOT run removal. If you have a strong opener with mountains/twilights, this matchup can be very easy. All about the start. If you go late game vs taunt druid, the matchup is almost unwinnable. Spiteful druid is easy unless he gets Tyrantus and you cannot remove it.

Druid has always been weak to big  minions, as they lack removal. Taunt druid is very hard to beat, however (giant taunts/naturalize)

Priest : 6/10

Tends to be easy. Play big minions, don't over-commit to the board. fairly straight-forward and rare matchup.

- still under construction due to new decks, will be updated -

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Feel free to ask any questions about the deck/comment your concerns.

Will be streaming this deck, drop a follow if you'd like: https://www.twitch.tv/evilbaneling

Upvotes are appreciated for visibility.

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