Hearthpwn

Welcome to Soulbound's UnLock decklist and guide! Here we will be discussing an Aggro Warlock deck and explain some of the specific card choices.

Deck Summary:

This deck is designed to have a very strong board presence in the early game, ramp up some strong damage dealing minions in the mid game, and then finish the opponent off with a damage spike, even if they've wiped your board.

Pros:

• Warlock is an extremely versatile class with one of the best hero powers in the game. 
• An Aggro deck tends to be time efficient when grinding, you will win or lose quicker than you might with other decks.
• Warlock has some of the strongest cheap cards in the game.
• This deck has not only the cards for a strong early game, but also the cards for a lethal burst in the mid to early late game.

Cons:

• Generally vulnerable to Taunt/AoE heavy decks.
• Some players will act like jerk to you simply because you're running an aggro deck.
• Early removal spells will be a pain.
• Unleash the Hounds... *sobs quietly*

Introduction

I'm modded, a member of Soulbound, an up and coming deck building team. Hearthstone has been my main game for a few months now, after mainly playing FPS games. When I started playing Hearthstone, I was drawn to the Warlock class due to its theme and self-abuse mechanics.

About this Deck and Warlock Aggro in General.

Warlock is not uncommon to see on the ladder nowadays; it can be played in a large variety of ways from Aggro (Zoo) to Control (Handlock). The main reason for this is its consistent card draw in the form of its hero power. The ability to draw 2 cards per turn is very powerful and fuels aggro decks that burn through cards left and right. This deck capitalizes on this fact by rewarding  and making it easier for a player to burn through their cards quickly. The whole point of an aggro deck is to deal damage to your opponent's face faster than they respond to your minions, resulting in a quick win. Where this deck deviates from the standard formula is that it focuses on providing a way to deal significant amounts of damage even when you're starting to fizzle out. This deck only has 2 charge minions, as the charge effect tends to be an expensive one. However, they are necessary for a large damage burst.

Warlock Cards:

Soulfire is very useful card in this deck. It can be used to take out a troublesome minion (like a Gadgetzan Auctioneer) or it can be used for lethal burst damage. While it won't happen every game, when your hand is empty it can be cast with no penalty.

Flame Imp is an Aggro Warlock staple, putting out a (relatively) massive 3/2 minion for only 1 mana and 3 health. This is usually a strong turn 1 play, though I would not recommend it vs. Priest/Hunter due to their Holy Smite/Arcane Shot respectively.

Mortal Coil is a cheap minion finisher and card draw, making it extremely mana efficient. Also nice to use to pop a Sunwalker's divine shield if you don't have a silence.

Power Overwhelming is mostly used for powering a massive damage spike to achieve lethal. Sometimes it is best to use this to clear a dangerous minion if you don't have Soulfire (or can't afford to discard what is in your hand).

Voidwalker is a very strong 1 drop that will survive most cheap spells (the exceptions being Frostbolt and Lightning Bolt) and will also help protect your more valuable minions.

Hellfire is a reset card that is only to be used if you're way behind on board control. I only put 1 in the deck because most of the time it is a dead card, but sometimes it'll pull you through. I've also used it as a finisher more than a few times.

Neutral Cards:

Argent Squire is very durable, the only spell in the game that can efficiently one-shot her is Earth Shock, which often is great because that's one silence that cannot be used against your more valuable cards. She is a great target for your Shattered Sun Cleric as that increases the amount of damage you can do to a minion without losing one yourself.

Leper Gnome is great has he will almost always guarantee 2 damage to the enemy hero, which means you can get a 2 for 1 when you smash him into another minion. Power Overwhelming and Hellfire can also trigger his deathrattle if you need extra damage for lethal.

Faerie Dragon is like the Argent Squire in that it's supposed to be difficult to remove. This card is an excellent early play against a class with cheap removal spells (so fun to mess Tempo Rogues up with). It's text is a double-edged sword however, as you can't cast spells on it either, which means that you can't cast Power Overwhelming on it. However, if you're desperate you can silence the Faerie Dragon with an Ironbeak Owl, then cast Power Overwhelming on it.

Ironbeak Owl is a cheap silence, great for getting taunts out of the way, wrecking Twilight Drakes, and occasionally salvaging a minion that you cast Power Overwhelming on.

Knife Juggler allows you to dish out even more damage to your opponent, sometimes safely finishing off minions that would've been a problem otherwise. Be careful to not play them when your opponent has a card that will benefit from taking damage, such as Acolyte of Pain/Gurubashi Berserker/Frothing Berserker/Armorsmith/any card with an Enrage effect.

Pint-Sized Summoner is an amazing tempo card. Since there are so many 1 drops in this deck this minion basically gives you a free 1-drop minion every turn it stays alive. More minions played = more knives thrown and a stronger Questing Adventurer. It's also usually a strong play if you can Turn 1 coin out a Pint-Sized Summoner and then Turn 2 buff it with a Shattered Sun Cleric. That's a 3/3 and a 3/2 on the board, and it's only your second turn.

Arcane Golem is like Power Overwhelming, you can use it if you REALLY need to, but it's meant to be used for that lethal damage burst to finish the game.

Flesheating Ghoul is a card that can quickly become very strong. Your minions will inevitably die, and this lets you recover some of the damage output lost. I only run one because he can be cleanly removed sometimes without costing your opponent a minion due to his low starting damage. If you're 1 damage short of lethal, have an active Flesheating Ghoul and have a popped Argent Squire or a Leper Gnome, ram it into an opposing minion that you can kill, and your Flesheating Ghoul will gain +2 attack.

Questing Adventurer is a minion that synergizes well with Pint-Sized Summoner, as you can usually play several cards per turn. This makes him not only a strong damaging minion, but it also makes him resistant to AoE spells. If you're lucky, since most Warlocks don't run this card your opponent will have already spent their silence on something smaller. That's assuming they have a silence of course. This guy is also great because he turns your Power Overwhelmings into a +5/+5. Also, NEVER play this guy without playing another card after him. A 2/2 is way too easy to clear, but a 3/3 is respectable, and a 4/4 is out of range of most AoE and in a Priest's dead zone. Then the next turn he'll easily be a massive 5/5 or 6/6.

Shattered Sun Cleric provides some versatility to your deck, as it lets you either trade a minion up or protect a minion that you want to keep alive. Really fun to use on a Flesheating Ghoul so that you can nuke the board with Hellfire (after attacking with your minions of course) then swinging in with a crushing blow.

Leeroy Jenkins is a finisher, plain and simple. He does an impressive amount of damage for his mana cost, making him perfect for a lethal burst. Since you can't run two of him I included the Arcane Golem to improve your chances of drawing a charge minion.

How to use this deck:

The basic concept behind this deck is simple:

• Flood the board with minions and ram the face.
• Hang on the cards you need for burst damage until you can finish your opponent off in one fell swoop.

Your chances of winning the match decrease the longer it takes for you to get them to ~10 hp. Depending on your opponent's deck, you can sometimes last a turn or 2 doing almost nothing but Life-Tapping in the late game just waiting to draw into the card that will give you the last bit of burst damage needed for lethal, but this only works if your opponent is sufficiently low on life once they gain board control.

Do your best to be creative, this deck has plenty of ways to sneak in a win. Below is win I pulled off with this deck against a Control Warrior that decided to try and beat me down by throwing Alexstrasza and a Gorehowl at my face.

Burst damage tips:

Leeroy Jenkins or Arcane Golem + 1 or 2 Power Overwhelmings + Soulfire provides somewhere between 8 to 18 damage in a single turn.

ALWAYS use the Soulfire LAST! The last thing you want to do is discard the 1 card you need for lethal.

If you're 1 or 2 damage short of lethal, check to see if you have an active Leper Gnome in play. If you do, cast a Power Overwhelming on it instead of your charge minions, when you end your turn it will trigger the death rattle dealing the last bit of damage you need to finish the enemy hero. Sometimes you can just throw a Leper Gnome on the board and then finish with Hellfire, this has actually won several games for me.

Substitutions:

If you don't have a second Questing Adventurer, a second Flesheating Ghoul will work.

If you're facing a lot of face-rush decks, you could consider replacing Hellfire with Shadowflame.

If you don't have Leeroy Jenkins, you can use either another Arcane Golem or an Argent Commander. I would not recommend using Doomguard, because he will almost never end up being played on an empty hand, and he'll end up discarding the cards you need for a lethal damage burst.

If you're missing any other cards, replace them with a neutral card of the same mana cost. For example, replace Faerie Dragon with Acidic Swamp Ooze. I say neutral because the Warlock alternatives (like Succubus) are terrible.

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, please leave a comment below and I will do my best to respond!

If you like this deck and/or end up using it, please upvote it so others can see it!