Hearthpwn

Greetings, new adapt of demons and wheels!

As an avid control fanatic and demon friend, I was pretty happy about the announcement of Wheel of DEATH!!!. In this little guide I will elucidate the advantages of this deck, as well as recommend both advice and alternative cards!

Gambling for DEATH!!!
The Path of the Wheel

With its 8 mana cost, Wheel of DEATH!!! serves as a great accelerator and finisher for matchups against other (control) decks that gain more power over time. The core concept of this deck is to control the board until you win by doing nothing (except building up your defense line or even crash you enemy with it) before the wheel turns to 0!

In most matches, the wheel will be used to make your opponent sweat and despair, but not always is it needed or even advisable to use it. It acts more or less as a small bonus in your deck, that gives you fun and thrill, and sends a deadline to your opponent by which they must have defeated you - or not. All cards in this deck are completely viable on their own and can lead you to victory even without the help of the ticking time bomb!

How to Play
Make your Enemy sweat

Basically, the play style of this deck is explained quickly and easily: Control the board in the early game until you get your important cards and then consider whether it makes sense to use the wheel or just crush your enemy with an army of 8/8's on turn 6. It needs a little bit of practice to judge whether you should use the wheel or not, but in order to use it, you should...

1. Have Fanottem, Lord of the Opera in your hand to immediately play it after using the wheel.
2. Have at least Sargeras, the Destroyer, Yogg-Saron, Unleashed OR Reno, Lone Ranger in your hands (at best, all of them).
3. Have Felstring Harp and/or Symphony of Sins in your hands to mitigate fatigue damage.
4. Have at least 2-3 board control cards like Reno, Lone Ranger, Gul'dan's Gift, Twisting Nether, Table Flip or Reverberations in your hand.
   

As soon as the wheel has been spun, your opponent has four rounds to send you into the happy hunting grounds. During this time, it is advisable to stop attacks against the enemy hero and concentrate completely on surviving and keeping the board free of any threats.
If the opponent has a very aggressive deck (vs. Aggro Demon Hunters & Spell Hunters) and you are constantly loosing life, you shouldn't use the wheel, but instead play like a normal Control Warlock. Never spin the wheel if the enemy has a full board!

As for mulligan, keep cheap control cards and discard everything that costs 5+ mana. If you sense a potential win through the wheel, keep the wheel.

Card Synergies
Happy little card friends

Wheel of DEATH!!! harmonizes perfectly with cards like Fanottem, Lord of the Opera and Reno, Lone Ranger! By joyfully destroying your own deck, you can even play Fanottem in the same turn in which the wheel is played. In order to counteract the impending death due to card loss, it is recommended to use Felstring Harp and Symphony of Sins to both mitigate the fatigue damage and to shuffle more cards into the deck.
Other alternatives would be Zilliax Deluxe 3000, Void Virtuoso, Son of Hodir, Floppy Hydra, as well as Photographer Fizzle. Remember that you must have these cards in your hand before playing the wheel!

Loken, Jailer of Yogg-Saron allows for great combinations with Forge of Wills, Fanottem, Lord of the Opera & Sargeras, the Destroyer. Together with Taelan Fordring you get the important core cards into your hand more quickly. With a minion pool of only 7, you almost always have the minions you want to choose from.

Reverberations is one of my favorite cards of all time as you can use it both aggressively and defensively. Combined with Mortal Coil from Gul'dan's Gift, Defile and the other spells, large enemy minions can easily be eliminated. Try to aim for Titans!

In case you don't have all the cards for this deck, you can replace some missing cards with Gloomstone Guardian, Siphon Soul, Elementium Geode, Opera Soloist, Rustrot Viper. Be aware that using cheap minions reduces Loken, Jailer of Yogg-Saron strength!

Advices & Tricks
Be clever, be victorious

• While using Defile, deathrattle effects will trigger during the spell.
• While using Mortal Eradication, deathrattle effects will trigger after the spell.
• Always play Forge of Wills as soon as you can.
• Combine Forge of Wills with Reverberations.
• Dark Alley Pact is one of your strongest cards early. Use it together with Forge of Wills and try to play as few cards as possible in round 1-4.
• Use the original Twisting Nether instead of the one from Gul'dan's Gift first.
• Felstring Harp works on Movement of Wrath.
• Felstring Harp works on Death Knight's plagues.
• Frost Plague does not affect Table Flip (Bug?).
  
• Against Plague Death Knights, use Wheel of DEATH!!! to delete plagues from your deck, at best after Helya was played.
• Reno, Lone Ranger COUNTERS Sargeras, the Destroyer's portal! Try to bait Reno first and if possible, always play Sargeras after Reno is played.
• Sargeras' To the Void! will NOT trigger deathrattle & reborn effects.
• Playing against another Wheelock means: the first wheel wins.
• Do NOT use your coin for Table Flip!

Thank you for reading this guide and a little owl wishes you a lot of fun in the game!
If this deck gains traction, I will add guides against specific Decks in the near future!