Bloodreaver N'Zoth Renolock v2.1
- Last updated Aug 28, 2017 (Frozen Throne)
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Wild
- 21 Minions
- 8 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Renolock
- Crafting Cost: 14340
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 8/11/2017 (Frozen Throne)
- Royal_P
- Registered User
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- 3
- 28
- 33
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Battle Tag:
N/A
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Region:
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Total Deck Rating
91
Update to V2.1: More testing, and more awesome feedback! Only one list change with this edition, but a detailed "Tech/Replacement" section has been added based off of feedback and testing. Please continue to leave comments and suggestions, as well as any questions you may have. Huge thanks to the members who have provided feedback on the list and helped answer questions posted by other HearthPwn members!
BLOODREAVER N'ZOTH RENOLOCK
"Become a warlock," they said. "You get to enslave demons," they said.
Want to feel like a terrifying heroic boss on the Wild ladder?
Try out this very fun & powerful Reno deck.
This deck is featured on HSReplay.net - currently 62%+ overall winrate.
In combining the top tier Demons & Deathrattles, major threats in N'Zoth, the Corruptor and Bloodreaver Gul'dan come together for massive value in the late game.
Playing the deck/notable card inclusions:
This deck plays like a standard Renolock, with the sole exception of Doomguard (detailed below).
The Demon Package
Voidwalker is a solid early early game play that returns as a 3/5 taunt with Mal'Ganis. Voidcaller provides a way to cheat out Doomguard, a powerful charger that returns as a 7/9 charge with Mal'Ganis. Despicable Dreadlord functions as a constant board clearing threat and solid body when resummoned with Bloodreaver. Abyssal Enforcer is a big body attached to a solid board clear. Krul the Unshackled provides an incredible & reliable way to pull out the heavily costed demons in this list, but his real value lies in a guaranteed pull of Doomguard. Krul has a massive body on his own, and becomes a terrifying 9/11 when revived, without the fear of diluting your res pool. As an alternate option for Krul, Lord Jaraxxus is highly versatile - from additional 6/6 demons every turn to be brought back with Bloodreaver (in the event you play him early) to a 3/7 weapon to a late game health gain - he can close out games. Mal'Ganis provides immunity/heal for 7 and a massive board buff/immunity when brought back with Bloodreaver. Bloodreaver Gul'dan brings back a highly threatening board, coupled with 7 burst damage, 12 health worth of taunts, and immunity, not to mention deal 3/heal 3 every turn after.
The N'Zoth Package
Sludge Belcher and Deathlord provide huge value with taunt and deck thinning. Sylvanas Windrunner is a dangerous threat that can be combo'd with Shadowflame. Mistress of Mixtures can stave off aggro and provide healing later on. Piloted Shredder offers immense value and leaves you with something after a board clear. Voidcaller is an additional body that can pull Doomguard/Mal'Ganis from your hand later on in the game.
The Reno Package
Reno Jackson needs no explanation. Brann Bronzebeard and Kazakus provide immense value - with the inclusion of Bloodreaver, the 5/5 and 8/8 demon picks can make your late game even more threatening.
V2.1: Tech/Replacement Cards:
- Lord Jaraxxus , + Krul the Unshackled : If you are missing Krul and do not want to craft him, Jaraxxus is an excellent replacement. My winrate with Jaraxxus in place of Krul is nearly 60%, but Krul seems to be the more consistent and stronger play in many matchups, testified by many users who have left feedback. It can suck to pull Krul late in the game with Voidcaller, but it is much worse to pull ol' 3/15 Jaraxxus. Krul has the capability of flooding your board with heavy demons - from granting 5+ burst damage (with Doomguard) to immunity to taunts & board clears, Krul fits in this list very well. Review the positives of both options in the section above. Both kick ass!
Tar Creeper : This card is in the definite position of 'tech card'. With the amount of aggro I commonly encounter in wild, TC is a cheap option to buy you additional turns to find answers to your opponent's threats. Consider Demonwrath, Ironbeak Owl, Earthen Ring Farseer, or a spell damage minion in place of this card if the decks you are encountering call for it.
Acidic Swamp Ooze : I think it is much to dangerous to play a control archetype without weapon removal in the age of pirate Warrior, aggro Shaman, and Paladin. Replace at your own risk.
Mistress of Mixtures : I would not recommend replacing this card, as it is likely one of the best turn 3 plays for Renolock (in my experience). The battlecry for this card on turn 3 is essentially "Draw 2 cards, heal your hero for 4". Hard to replace, but Zombie Chow trades a bit better if you are encountering many Hunters/Paladins/Tempo Mages etc.
Brann Bronzebeard : In my opinion, Brann + Kazakus is one of the strongest reactive/aggressive plays in the game of Hearthstone, and this list is usually able to take advantage of it very well. You can almost always find the spells you need with this combo. He is one of the top 'must kill' targets in Wild, and functions nearly as a hard taunt. Cutting Brann is not recommended, but if you find he isn't providing enough value for the archetypes you are encountering, he is a card you can consider replacing.
Blastcrystal Potion : With how heavy this list is built, I haven't found a place for Blastcrystal in this list. Reducing your mana count means one further turn away from playing Reno, DK Gul'dan, Krul, Mal'ganis, N'Zoth, etc. If you are encountering enough greedy control, Shadow Bolt might be the card to swap for it.
The Lich King/Arfus : While I do think these cards can certainly be played, the massive variance between a game-winning DK card and a useless one has made them unreliable for a deck filled with threats and removal. If you are missing Krul/Jaraxxus/Mal'ganis and would like to try out this deck, either of these could be solid replacements.
Barnes : Pulling a demon or deathrattle minion can be completely nuts, but the odds of pulling a useless card (or worse, Doomsayer), make this card too unreliable. Barnes can be a very fun card to play in this list and can be subbed for cards you may be missing, but beware.
V2 list changes:
- Skelemancer , + Doomsayer : A staple in Renolock. Buys you a turn, heals you for ~7. Needs answering.
- Infested Tauren , + Piloted Shredder : Great stats and better with N'Zoth, incredible value card.
- Arfus , + Shadow Bolt : Consistent spot removal and enabler for other board clears/trades.
- Flame Imp , + Mal'Ganis : Huge threat that can be played twice a game. Invulnerability and +2/+2 to your demons can save your face and finish your opponent off.
OG V1 (experimental):
The initial list aimed to primarily test a few cards introduced with KoFT and get a bit more value out of DK Gul'Dan and N'Zoth.
- Arfus : included as an "earlier game" play in place of The Lich King. I won a handful of games pulling "Army of the Dead" early on, but there is such a variance in pulling cards you don't need/can't play that I don't believe DK cards have a spot in this Renolock/1-of deck.
- Flame Imp : not a terrible T1 play, and a decent body to bring back with Bloodreaver. However, it isn't going to help vs much aggressive decks and better options exist for Bloodreaver.
- Skelemancer : included as board-wipe protection with an existing board/N'Zoth turn. Often ignored without the ability to taunt it, and too slow to make an impact vs a solid board.
- Infested Tauren : included as a buff to a N'Zoth turn, which was sometimes useful if you hadn't found both Deathlord/Sludge Belcher yet. Just too weak to stave off aggro, better options exist.
Will continue to update as I test and continue to hear your thoughts and suggestions.
I don't like defile in this deck, with no spell damage cards like thalnos or zealot i can't rely on this card...
What do you think about kabal traffiker or Lich king? pretty good value cards in this deck IMO.
I will give it a try with a few changes.
How about a little bit of that Wilfred Fizzlebang action huh ;)
(probably too garbage)
i want to use geist in this deck what should i remove then?
remove the other tech card acidic ooze
I used this deck against The Lich King. Ez win first try. For the whole game it felt as if I was the evil boss not him. Great deck!
Can I get some help against priests. Of course as soon as I craft this deck I go up against 4 priests in row. Every game went to fatigue and they just outlasted me. ☹️
After taking Modealf's advice into consideration (see below comment), I've replaced both Shadow Bolt and Hellfire with Skulking Geist and Prince Malchezaar.
While the complaints about Malchezaar ruining draw consistency (e.g. top decking one of Malchezaar's legendary drops when you actually needed an urgent AOE response/hard removal against faster matchups) certainly have merit, there are several other points to consider when evaluating Malchezaar's worth.
Point 1: Warlock having easy access to card draw (from Life Tap) inherently mitigates Malchezaar's side effect of draw consistency.
Point 2: As a demon, Malchezaar obviously has synergy with Voidcaller, Krul the Unshackled, and Bloodreaver Gul'dan
Point 3: The current Wild meta (in general) has become slow-paced/Priest-infested enough to take the risk of including Malchezaar as a tech card
Point 4: Malchezaar will always respect the "no duplicates" condition required for your Highlander battlecries to work
Jade Druid (with their usual Jade Idol spamming and damn Ultimate Infestation shenanigans) and the average Priest (with their damn Raza the Chained & DK Priest combos) are currently the two biggest nuisances to ladder against (in my personal opinion).
Which two cards should I (reluctantly) cut out to make room for both Dirty Rat and Skulking Geist?
I would cut out Shadow Bolt and probably Hellfire since a lot of the time its a dead card in my hand
Let me know your list changes if they end up making a significant impact & I will add to the tech section!
I'm considering crafting Bloodreaver Gul'dan, but I'm also missing Mal'Ganis and Krul the Unshackled. Would you recommend crafting Bloodreaver Gul'dan even if I can't get Mal'Ganis for a while?
I crafted Bloodreaver Gul'dan since the earlier versions of this deck (then without Mal'Ganis and Krul the Unshackled)... unfortunately back then when I opened Krul the Unshackled in a pack he was not even close to usable so I dusted him (really needed the dust, haha)
Anyway, to answer your question, I wouldn't consider crafting both of them (this is from a perspective of a person who doesn't have dust to spare) as Krul the Unshackled is rotating out of standard in half a year's time and Mal'Ganis has already rotated out.
You might think, "what are you talking about? we are playing wild." Well, its difficult to predict if these cards will stay in the wild meta, especially Mal'Ganis which has always been on and off in the meta (since the prehistoric times of pre-standard format). Of course, if you're fully devoted to wild and you have a little dust to spare, then you can proceed to craft them for whenever they enter the wild meta.
Maybe the above doesn't make a lot of sense to you guys, but tl;dr if I were you I'd go ahead and craft Bloodreaver Gul'dan but I wouldn't spend dust on Mal'Ganis and Krul the Unshackled. Hope this helps!
P.S. if Krul the Unshackled was more usable in standard, even if its just for half a year, I would be more incentivised to craft the card. Maybe there is a standard deck out there that has Bloodreaver Gul'dan and Krul the Unshackled synergy.
EDIT: changed "entering wild" to "rotating out of standard", haha.
EDIT 2: added post script.
How did you deal with Jade druids? I always get floored by them when I don't hit the right draws (which is most of the time).
Replaced Doomguard with Prince Malchezaar and had hilarious games with MVP's like Majordomo Executus whose hero power won me a game against a Control Warrior.
5-0 so far <3
K.
Switched Lord Jaraxxus for Krul the Unshackled and my winrate is absolute nuts! 27 wins and 6 losses! That's pretty cool!
Right now rank 4, hoping to make it to legend!
And the best imo: I just beat the heroic Free Medivh with the deck, and gosh I was strugling with it for a while but that was first try!
Love your deck; I had a very similar in Wild Un'Guro but now it's totally viable!
After testing over the past 10 days, you are definitely on point with replacing Lord J with Krul.
There have been times where only Mal'Ganis & an additional demon made it out on the board, and after a few turns of Jaraxxus, DK Gul'Dan brought back 5+ 8/8 demons and immunity which in turn has won a handful of games.
However, Krul the Unshackled is a much more consistent option , and a much better body to pull if Voidcaller decides to ignore the Doomguard in your hand. In most cases though, Krul gets you a guaranteed pull on the free buffed up Leeroy which can be vital in pressuring/finishing off the opponent.
Thanks for your feedback - let me know if you reach legend!
Btw - awesome you beat Prince Malchezzar with this list! I smashed the Lich King today first attempt with it!
You know a deck is great when you overwhelm a Jade druid who drew his entire deck. Thanks for sharing this, I love it.
This deck is quite alright; daresay not a bad deck at all!
I am having a bloody fine time using it. Indeed it's the bee's knees! And I congratualte you, firstly and foremost, for having theorycrafted it and wrought it. My thanks, to you.
However, I fear a well timed priest with Shadowreaper Anduin can counter my Bloodreaver Gul'dan and if he has a Dragonfire Potion he can also make short work of N'Zoth, the Corruptor's effect, even on full boards, in both cases.
And if said priest were to be using a Prince Malchezaar, he'd undoubtedly win a fatigue encounter; if nothing else, only due to sheer card number.
Summing it up: a priest can out-control it.
Any ideas as to how to counter this situation? Granted, it shan't be a usual situation, but I reckon it's best to be prepared for such setbacks.
Doomguard turns me off a bit because if you dont draw it withVoidcaller it may discard important cards like reno, n'zoth Kazakus or Bloodreaver Gul'dan).
i agree but for me i changed the deck a little since i didnt have sylvananas windrunner switched her out for Krul the Unshackled and the deck became much stronger since i can summon Mal'Ganis and doomgaurd [/card]and other demons all for free and to make it all better i even added in [card]sense demons by replacing Shadow Bolt so that not only can i draw krul easier i can also draw other demons for him to summon