Hearthpwn

THello Hearthpwn,

In the grind to rank 5 I found myself in an icky position. The decks I was playing were very tempo based (aside from Fat Warrior which I love to play) and most of the decks you face near rank 5 are very aggressive since people are pushing to climb the ladder. Alot of games with diverse decks, especially in aggro mirrors, the player with the best hand / draw rng usually won since those first 2 / 3 turns decide the pace of the game, and in an aggressive matchup this usually meant that the player with the clunkier hand lost. Of course, this is not always the case, there are alot of ways of coming back on the board but there are also alot of ways of losing the game because you have no way of coming back on the board.

Since I actually am not facing that many priests nor druids, I deciced to create the embodiment of anti-aggro and what better class than Warlock. Here's my perspective on the deck.

Matchups:

Midrange Hunter - Highly Favoured. You can keep the Hunter at bay in the early game due to the incredible amount of board control cards we have. Defile, Doomsayer, Prince Valanar, Tar Creeper, Mortal Coil even sometimes Despicable Dreadlord turns the board around. Save Siphon Soul for Bittertide Hydra / Savannah Highmane. 

Murloc Paladin - Highly Favoured. Same principle as Hunter. With Hunter you wanna remove every Beast from the board, with this you wanna remove every Murloc from the board.

Secret Mage - Favoured. Secret Mage can high-roll sometimes on those early turns but from personal experience this doesn't happen very often. Even so, you have alot of counters available to shut the mage down.

Tempo Rogue - Favoured. Same principle as Secret Mage. Go for early board control and they can't win. Early Keleseth is a bit of a problem but regarding that there's nothing we can do. Try to follow the ogue's pace, save removals smartly and when Bloodreaver Gul'dan usually seals the match.

Token Shaman - Highly Favoured. You pretty much can't lose this matchup. Yes, the lack of Hellfire hurts the matchup slightly but I personally haven't lost against them with this deck. There's just so many ways you can shutdown a wide board as Warlock, which is what Token Shaman detests. I find this matchup even easier than Hunter, since Hunter usually has thinner but bulkier boards. 

Pirate Warrior - Slightly Favoured. Yes, they still exist. As with every deck, this matchup also depends on the PW players' hand. Doomsayer / Tar Creeper / Prince Valanar and Mistress of Mixtures are KEY here, can't stress it enough. If you manage to contain the board until turn 5, you usually win. Don't be afraid of tapping occasionally since we have lots of ways of healing but obviously, be careful. The hardest of the aggro matchups but still fairly easy to beat.


Now, as you've realized by now, this deck is very meta scentric and the meta is quite aggressive right now with Hunter's return. The problem lies here. This can't beat slower Control Decks 80% of the time. Which means Jade Druid, Razakus Priest and Grinder Mage / Exodia Mage are VERY HARD matchups for this deck specifically. Sure, you can tech against with certain cards like Mountain Giant but then you might as well just make a Handlock, which is more rounded torwards all archtypes but can struggle alot against aggro. 

Now this deck is not tier 1, I don't even think it's tier 2 or tier 3, it's just a deck that wrecks aggro decks. If you, like me, were tired of losing to those fast ninjas, this is the deck for you. Now go out there and keep those hunters on a leash!