Why Warlock?

 

        In the current "death rattle" heavy meta, a few classes stand out among the rest (Ie. Shammy, Warlock, Priest). Shaman arguably seems to be the strongest class at the moment, but in my opinion Warlock is second if not just as effective. Check out my complete Warlock Class Guide soon to come!

 

Why Handlock?

 

         It seems as though the most common opponents while ascending the ranked ladder are using either pesky low-gem rush decks, irritating control decks with Ragnaros and Alexstrasza, as well as miracle/fatigue rogue decks. Thankfully Warlocks have a number of handy removals/boardwipes that take care of problematic minions, an extremely good legendary class card, and a hella good hero power. Handlock is able to take down some of the toughest matchups against the most popular classes, which makes it a wise deck to invest in due to it's versatility. ALSO: Handlock can be tweaked to your liking to compete against the current meta, be it aggro heavy decks or control.

 

*COST= 6860*  - I've seen some similar decks on here that go up into the 5 digits... there is no need to go bankrupt in order to have a competitive deck!!!!! This deck is a decently affordable investment if you want to win matches and have fun! I'm nearing 500 ranked wins with warlock using this deck and it never gets old!!!! so give it some consideration!

Warlock Class Cards

Soulfire x2 - This card is an excellent removal spell that you'll be using to take down potential board threats! It can also be used on your own minions to proc certain deathrattles/effects/etc. (USE WISELY!) 

 PROS: 0 Gem CARD! Useful for removing a buffed Undertaker, an annoying Knife Juggler, a newly hatched Nerubian, etc.

CONS: Cost 1 discard to use! DO NOT use this if you fear you'll lose a valuable card! If possible, wait until you have a larger hand so that the odds of discarding the card you need decrease.

 

Mortal Coil x1 - This card is used primarily to dispatch 1 health minions like Loot Hoarder and Leper Gnome. This card is optional and not vital to the deck.

 

Hellfire x1 - This is your main tool for clearing the enemy's board of cheap 1-3 health minions. Can also be used as a finisher but i've only used it that way once.

 

Shadowflame x2 - The ultimate sacrifice. This card is used as a board wipe tool, that destroys a targeted friendly minion and deals it's damage to all enemy minions on the board INCLUDING STEALTHED MINIONS.

PROS: Combos with one of your minions to wipe opponents board.

CONS: Kills the minion you use it on! MAKE SURE, IF POSSIBLE, YOU ATTACK WITH THE MINION BEFORE SACRIFICING IT! 

 

Siphon Soul x2 - This card's function is to destroy your opponent's beefy minions like big taunts/legendaries/high damage dealers. USE IT CAREFULLY YOU ONLY HAVE TWO!

 

LAST BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST

 

Lord Jaraxxus x1- This card is, in my biased opinion, one of the best legendary class cards in the game. Here is why you need him:

• Replaces your hero with Jaraxxus. Jaraxxus has 15 health. Works great if you use him when you are below 15 heath as it functions as a heal for your hero! Can also create win conditions using his built in weapon.
• Gains a 3/8 weapon called Blood Fury, usable immediately on summon 
• Replaces your Warlock Hero Power with INFERNO!, which for only 2 GEMS summons a 6/6 infernal.... Without a doubt the best hero power....

 

NEUTRAL CARDS

Ancient Watcher x2 - Although on it's own, the watcher can't attack and will likely be bypassed by your enemy's minions, it's an important card! This minion has a number of uses crucial to this deck. It's primary use is to apply taunt to it, creating a wall of defense in the early stages of the game. It can also be silenced with an ironbeak to remove it's card text and allow it to attack freely. Thirdly, it can be used in conjunction with Shadowflame for a cheap board clear.

 

Ironbeak Owl x2- This card is your only means of silencing minions in the deck, so conserve them until you need them. Combos with Ancient Watcher to allow him to attack, but used mainly for silencing enemy threats.

 

Sunfury Protector x2- These two cheap taunt-granting minions will be used to create a defensive line on your board. You use these in conjunction with your buffed up Twilight Drake's, Ancient Watchers, Giants, and other beefy bodies. Used properly, you will force your opponent to make bad trades with your shielded minions giving you an advantage.

 

Big Game Hunter x1- This card is a useful tool for getting rid of those inevitable legendary threats like Ragnaros the Firelord, Deathwing, etc.. It works extremely well if you use your Faceless Manipulator on their minion first, then use Big Game Hunter to destroy theirs. TADA! you basically stole their 7+ attack card to use for yourself!

 

 Earthen Ring Farseer x2- These guys are handy for healing up your taunters, giving you a little more sustain, or avoiding fatal damage from being done to you.

 

Defender of Argus x1- In addition to your Sunfury Protectors, this taunt-granting card gives the taunt buff to surrounding minions and also gives them +1/+1! Useful for helping your minions survive trades, survive your hellfire, and giving them enough umph to take out minions just out of reach. 

 

Twilight Drake x2- A Staple in any Handlock deck! Basically, for every card you have in your hand when you play this minion, it gets +1 health per card. NOTE: The Twilight Drake counts as a card, so if you had a drake and four other cards your drake would get +5 health not 4. Great for turning into souped up taunt cards with your protectors or defender, BUT BE WARNED! Your opponent will likely silence your drakes, reducing them to 1 HP! 

 

Faceless Manipulator x1- This is in essence a wild card. It makes an exact duplicate of any minion on the field. It can be used on Friendly minions or Enemy Minions alike! Say for example that you have a Molten Giant on your field buffed with taunt. TIME TO COPY THAT SUCKER AND HAVE A SECOND 8/8 ON THE BOARD! CAN BE USED WITH BIG GAME HUNTER TO STEAL AN ENEMY'S 7+ ATTACK MINION!

 

Loatheb x1- In the current meta, Loatheb is commonly included in control decks to stop spell reliant classes like mage or priest from using spells the next turn without paying a steep mana cost. I'd say that since you basically get him from buying the Naxx expansion, it's worth putting him in the deck. Also he is a 5/5 so regardless he packs a decent punch (and is a good taunt candidate)

 

Sludge Belcher x2- Welcome to the foundation of most current control decks. These bad boys make for an annoying 3/5 wall to knock down, but also leave behind a 1/2 taunt as well when they die. A good turn 5 defensive choice! it will make your opponent choose to either burn a precious silence to bypass it or take it out with force. Cool!

Sylvanas Windrunner x1- She is definitely a useful card to have up your sleeve when your opponent summons a scary minion. Her death rattle effect allows you to steal an opponents minion at random. The downside is that if they have a number of cheap 3 gem drops out as well, odd's are against you stealing their steroid minion. In rare situations, i use Shadowflame to sacrifice her for a better enemy minion, but only if they have one minion out!

 

Mountain Giant x2- THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTION FOR THESE BABIES! Mountain Giants' mana cost scales proportionally with the number of cards in your hand. The more cards you have, the cheaper it is to play them! Because this is a Handlock deck, you will be saving up your cards and will likely be able to play one of these mid game!

 

 Molten Giant x2- AGAIN, NO SUBS FOR THESE. These bad boys become cheaper and cheaper when you take more damage! SOME THINGS TO REMEMBER:

• They cost 20 at full health, so your health has to be significantly lower in order to even play them! In other words, you'd have to have lost 10 HP to even be able to afford one of these on round 10.
• Their cost scales to your current health total, so if you heal yourself using a spell or minion, their cost increases respectively

 BASIC STRATEGY:

     

 Early Game: The name of the game is card conservation! You want to hold on to as many cards as possible in order to buff your Twilight Drake and your Mountain Giant's. The goal of this deck is to outlast your opponent's early/mid game plays, and hunker down for the late game! IF YOU CANT MAKE A PLAY ON YOUR EARLY TURNS, USE YOUR HERO POWER TO DRAW CARDS!

- Use cards like: Sunfury Protector, Ancient Watcher, Ironbeak Owl, Hellfire, mortal coil

 

MULLIGAN:

It would be pointless to tell you to "try" to get certain cards.. but you can certainly hope!

It all depends on what you draw into. Wether or not a starting hand is considered "good", depends heavily on your opponents deck.

 

Against Rush Decks/Death Rattle: Hold onto hellfire, shadowflame and a sacrificial minion, early taunt combo, OR keep your molten giants and get ready for some damage dealing against you

 

Against Control: Hold onto an owl, keep your mountain giant, possibly a siphon soul for removal, twilight drakes

 

You'll begin to have a clear understanding of what to keep and what to trade quickly.

 

 

EXAMPLE STARTING HAND:

         - The Coin, Sunfury Protector, Ancient Watcher, Ironbeak Owl

Turn 1: pop your coin, put out your watcher

Turn 2: you have a choice to make between giving the watcher taunt with your sunfury, or silencing it to enable it to attack for 4 damage. (silence to deal with low gem minions or hit their hero. Taunt to stall.

Turn 3: HERO POWER: DRAW CARD
Turn 4: HERO POWER: DRAW CARD / Put out Twilight Drake for increased health

...

 

EARLY GAME COMBOS:

Ancient Watcher + Sunfury Protector = 4/5 taunt obstacle (no attack potential)

Ancient Watcher + Ironbeak = 4/5 turn 2-3 minion who can attack

 

MID GAME: This is where you can afford to make more aggressive plays. Now is a good opportunity to use your bank of saved up cards to place your drakes, remaining watchers, Sludge Belchers or an early giant! Use your removal spells sparingly and try not to waste silences or siphon soul unless necessary! Make careful trades and utilize your earthen ring farseers to heal up your taunts. Try and keep board pressure maintained with taunt cards!

- Use cards like: Twilight Drake, Sludge Belcher, Defender of Argus, Sylvanas if you need to, loatheb to stall spell use

 

MID GAME COMBOS:

Mountain Giant + Sunfury/defender = Huge taunt/damage threat

(A Friendly Minion) + Shadowflame = Deal damage to all enemy minions = to minions attack

Faceless Manipulator + Giant/Enemy Minion/ETC = Duplicate

 

LATE GAME: This is where the fun really starts! Hopefully you survived the enemy onslaught long enough to make it to round 6-7. This is when your deck shines! By now you've probably taken considerable damage to your hero and your molten giants probably cost somewhere between 4-8 gems! get them out there and try to give them taunt! You can use sylvanas to apply pressure and unnerve your opponent into making poor trades to remove her. You can faceless manipulator and enemy minion and destroy their copy with Big Game Hunter. You have so many options here! During this time, your removal spells are going to be key! knock out your opponents minions that attempt to kill your giants! 

REMEMBER: WHEN YOUR HERO IS AT 10 HEALTH, YOUR MOLTEN GIANTS ARE FREE!!!!!!

 

YOU FACE JARAXXUS! : Even after all the hero powers you used to draw cards, all the frontal damage done from minions, and maybe even fatigue damage, you're still in the fight! When you are at less than 15 health, it's probably a good idea to use Jaraxxus. Likely you are nearing fatal damage from enemy spells or minions. If you have a sunfury left or defender, utilize his hero power, create a 6/6, and give it taunt! finish them off with giants, infernals, and your weapon!

 

DONT FORGET!

REMEMBER TO HUMILIATE YOUR OPPONENT BY USING JARAXXUS' CUSTOM HERO EMOTES!

This deck isn't very combo intensive on the surface, but it relies heavily on minion buffing and card conservation. sorry there aren't any fancy quadruple Thaddius combos ;) !

LIST OF CARD COMBOS/PLAYS:

• ANCIENT WATCHER + SUNFURY = 4/5 TAUNT NO ATTACK
• ANCIENT WATCHER + OWL = 4/5 
• SHADOWFLAME + MINION
• SHADOWFLAME + SYLVANAS WINDRUNNER = BOARD CLEAR & MIND CONTROL
• FACELESS MANIPULATOR (ENEMY 7+ ATTACK MINION) + BIG GAME HUNTER = MIND CONTROL 

In this section i will go over some common class match-ups AND give you an easy to use cheat sheet with potential hazards and counters!

 

BEST AGAINST:

• Other Warlocks-
• Face-Rush/Aggro Decks can't hold up well to the enormous taunters on your board, plus hellfire can remove a whole board of pesky low gem minions!
• Demon Lock's are a bit tougher because of cards like Pit Lord that are tough minions to effectively control. You still have a slight advantage, due to your late game presence. Be wary of counter removals! Try and bait out their silences and removals early with drakes and watchers!
• Hand/Control Locks are dead even against this deck! If you face a lot of these decks, consider adding more removal to the deck such as Twisting Nether
• Shaman-
• Your deck contains a number of cards useful for countering a shaman! I'll list some counter plays...
• Opponent plays Feral Spirit, counter with Hellfire
• Opponent plays Flametongue Totem, counter with Soulfire
• Opponent plays a big minion like Flame Ele., Alakir, Earth Elemental, Counter with Siphon Soul
• AGAINST REZ SHAMAN: SILENCE DANGEROUS DEATH RATTLES! (IE: FUEGEN, STALAGG, CAIRNE BLOODHOOF, SYLVANAS, ETC!
• As long as you can wipe their overload cards, you can exhaust their mana pool into limiting what they can play. Watch out for resurrection shammy's
• Druid-
• Druids are most likely running control decks, ramp decks, or rush decks with minion buffs! All of these can be countered!
• Be aware of their 4 gem silence keepers of the grove! They will try and silence your drakes and taunted giants!
• Likely they will attempt to utilize innervates to put out big threats early on, try to dispatch them without using precious removal cards!
• Druids are likely running both tree epics, silence the taunt tree or remove with spells!
• Turn 6, they can summon 3, 2/2 treants with charge which can be buffed with their give +3 damage to all minions card. Make sure you have adequate taunts and maybe even loatheb ready!
• Also, don't always resort to wasting your silences on gift of the wild buffed minions! try soulfire/hellfire/shadowflame!

STRUGGLES AGAINST:

• Rogue-
• Miracle rogues are going to be a pain in the ass... You may have more minions and higher damage output, but spells like Assassinate, Vanish, and sap will make you crazy. Imagine having four giants out on the field and all of a sudden, they return all of them to your hand (PS: if you're hand is full, you'd lose the cards instead of putting them in your hand). THIS IS GOING TO HAPPEN. A LOT. I've lost to many a rogue who killed me at 30 HP with fatigue damage! Just try your best to hold out until late game, use minions sparringly, and USE SOULFIRE TO REMOVE THEIR AUCTIONEERS IMMEDIATELY!
• CONTROL PALADINS... Equality + Consecration = bye bye giants! or the newer combo they like using, Aldor Peacekeeper + Stampeding Kodo.... Bastards.....
• NAXX HAPPY PRIESTS- As long as they can keep a 3/5 sludge belcher healed, they win... Easy big taunt removal spells like Shadow word: Death and such... Mind Control, etc.
• FACE RUSH HUNTERS- Cheap disposable minions + Freezing Trap + Hunter's Mark = Bad Time.... Half of the time, they will Freezing Trap your giants, and make them basically too expensive to play

HERE IS A TABLE/CHART THAT WILL HELP YOU PREDICT POSSIBLE COUNTERS!

 

Against A Druid:

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TURN 1 - Innervate = combo's for 3+gem Naturalize *likely used later on for removal*

TURN 2 - Wrath, *for draw or removal*            Wild Growth *ramp druids use to play big cards*

TURN 3 - Savage Roar, *Board buff, used in rush*

TURN 4 - Poison Seeds, Swipe *clears*     Keeper of the Grove *silence*

TURN 5 - Starfall *removal*

TURN 6 - Force of Nature *summons 3 2/2 w/ charge* Ancient of Lore *heal 5/draw*                           Ancient of War * 5/5 with +5 Attack or +5hp taunt*

TURN 7 - Card Name *removal*          Druid of the Claw *4/4 chrg. or 4/6 taunt*

TURN 8 - Ironbark Protector *BIG TAUNT*

TURN 9 - Cenarius +2/+2 Buff or 2/2 Tree w/taunt*

TURN 10 -