Hearthpwn

Hey Guys!

I wanna share with you my current Ladder list of Handlock, which emerged out of playing around with my Silence Priest 2.0 and theorycrafts alongside Trumps first Handlock List for UnGoro --> This list is quite a little different from the one shown here. I will make an extra point about that(especially potential subs and in and out rotations of Tech Cards)

1. General Deckstyle
First of all - to everyone who is new to Handlock - this is a control oriented deck which aims to win via outsustaining and outdrawing the enemy while always stay strong on board with big taunt minions or make super value board clears.
While most of the time playing from the defensive side, there are chances and also complete games where you can early on try to force the enemy into bad options with for example an early played Mountain Giant.

2. How to play Handlock?
a) Aggro Decks: If you face aggro decks you have to always have a careful look about your total life. Since UnGoro Warlock is very limited in Gaining back health ( We only have 1 Earthen Ring Farseer, 2 Mistress of Mixtures, Gluttonous Ooze and Lord Jaraxxus himself).

Use early Mistress of Mixtures to trade and Mortal Coil to kill little enemies (best in Turn 1 - turn 3 after Tabbing if you dont play Razorleaf or Turn 2 if you have to)
That brings us to the most important point to play this deck: You have to play the "Cant Attack Minions on early board and taunt them up (Ancient Watcher, Humongous Razorleaf) and/or bring them together with the early game minions - but care : almost never it is viable to play a Sunfury Protector just as a minion to trade (We usually dont wanna do this!)
Very important is to after that try to bring a good value Faceless Shambler on the board (best target is ofc the Humongous Razorleaf /( or sometimes even better Mountain Giant) Against decks like Pirate Warrior playing Turn 3 Razorleaf into Turn 4 Faceless Shambler on Humongous Razorleaf is very very strong.

Try to Taunt up again and again - if you are facing Pirate Warrior - safe your Gluttonous Ooze for an Arcanite Reaper if possible.

When the time goes on you can start to trouble the enemy by eating big chunks of his life with mountain Giant, Twilight Drake and other Stuff.

b) Control Decks:
Against Control decks you play quite a little different game. You mostly wanna use your hero powers in the early turns so that you can play on turn 4 either a 4/10 Twilight Drake or a cheap Mountain Giant to get a big Thread on the board. Use your ressources wiseley in this games(especially the boardclears - try always to get favorite Clears)

Against Control decks this list works probably quite even better since i teched in The Black Knight and another Faceless Manipulator so you can get an extra Mountain Giant or sth useful from the enemy. Most of the time your Win Condition will be Lord Jaraxxus though. Also Elise the Trailblaizer brings a lot of Value in this Matchups. You most of the time have to go the distance here. But quite good chances to win due to good boardclear and Jaraxxus!

c) Midrange:
Midrange decks are often Considered as the strongest vs Handlock due to their solid overall balance and the capability to recover even after a good boardclear. You have to play defensive in the beginning but then at some point need to start pressuring the enemy down hardly. Otherwise you most likely will loose against lucky finishes. So try to get good Swingturns(although this is harder with the new handlock Style - but still possible - Shadowflame big minion and then get sth on the board is quite effective for example)

3. Tech and Swap Choices and Possibilities
Handlock lists always life from adapting to what they face most on the ladder and then make some serious but value tech choices:

Some examples: if you face a lot of Aggro: you may Consider adding a second Doomsayer and adding second Earthen Ring farseer and maybe a Golakka Crawler vs Pirates or more weapon removal - therefore cut:
--> The Black Knight / --> Siphon Soul --> Earthen Ring Farseer
--> Faceless Manipulator / --> Flex Spot ( Golakka Crawler, Gluttonous Ooze Acidic Swamp Ooze)
--> Twisting Nether / -->Doomsayer
(If you dont own any of these 3 cards i also recommend to swap them with their equivalent)

If you face many and many Quest Rogues you might consider playing a Felfire Potion - the Problem with this card is : its 1. very expensive and 2. hurts yourself so much. but give it a try maybe.

4.Mulligan:
a) Aggro: Search for Mistress of Mixtures, Mortal Coil, Razorleaf, Earthen Ring and Sunfury Protector, Ooze

b) Control: Look for Twilight Drake and or Mountain Giant and then try to draw into the rest via life tab.

The General Problem with mulligan atm is, that you most of the time dont know what you face even when you see the class - for example Warrior is either hyper aggro or hyper control. So maybe just try to get a well rounded hand overall and sometimes even there you have to gamble a little at the start of the game!

Good Luck though!

5. Ending
AS always Have a great time playing the list - may you have a lot of success and a good time - thats what matters most - remember ;-) !
Feel free to upvote ,leave a comment or some thoughts below!

Best wishes
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