Hearthpwn

Control demon lock

Hello I am Bart and I present you a variation of a control lock, what currently do a very well in this meta . I do apologize for my english, I know it could be better. 

So if you like control decks and warlock this is the deck for you!

Thanks to a lot of zoo warlock at the ladder, we will have strategical advantage, because oponents needs to mulligan against them.

This deck is oriented with lifegain, great AoE clears,. It should counter aggro decks. Yes, all these prince skilleseth decks all around. Well as a warlock class we will use hand advantage and plenty of options every round, so its fun and interactive deck.

Update Legend rank: performing the best win ratio of my all decks at legend rank. I do enjoy its consistency.

card changes

season 43 -1 Tainted Zealot +1 Bloodmage Thalnos It has more option to be played alone as a cycle, still quite good with defile.

Update season 44: -1 Abyssal Enforcer -1 Drain Soul -1 Shadow Bolt +2 Stonehill Defender +1 Hellfire Meta has slightly changed to super agresive mode, so the logical conclusion is to cut abyssal  (Its too expensive in already high curve, we have plenty of late game cards). Drain soul is kind of weaker card in the deck and I usually prefer turn 2 life tap anyway. Well Shadowbolt isnt that bad, but its more valuale for control to have board wipes, so i rather switch here to double hellfire, its sometimes crucial turn 4 play vs these aggro decks. Stonehill adds taunt in the deck, can be combined it with doomsayer and add another taunt. I currently playtesting these changes, but I am feeling quite alright with them and more comfortable.

 

Gameplan

Lets start with talking about your gameplan. Your goal is to establish big hand while you keep removing opponent stuff, you dont realy care much about oponent lifes total. Thus you have a reactive strategy in the early game and therefore is better to life tap than play a minion in the early game (app till turn four), understand when lifetap and when you should clear the board is the key in your gameplan.  (Hint: try to sum att of enemy minions, if it is higher than your available mana crystals, its usually bad and you should clear rather than life tap)

In the middle game you start developing your minions, as you can see their effects helps you to keep board nice and clean or not so big. Try to maximalize their power Despicable Dreadlord value trade or nice removal with Abyssal Enforcer (hint. think twice if it is worth to playing it, sometimes you might damage your board far more than his board) . If your hand is small and health level is high, try to utilize life tap better ;).

The Late game vs aggro decks you should be in a position when their hand is just one card or out of ressources, your deck has contains huge bombs at the end with cards like  The Lich King, Medivh, the Guardian and Bloodreaver Gul'dan - this cards win fatigue game all by itself, the health swing by 6 is so huge. So you practicaly win value game vs almost everydeck.

Card Inclusions

Most of the deck are removals, AoE thier purpose is obvious, clear the board.

Lifegain cards - keeps you alive, while we hurts ourselve quite a lot with life taps etc.

Demons - synenergy with guldan - core, try to profit as mussh as you can from their battlecries

Doomsayer - a card what helps with stalling the game till later stages, can prevent enemy from redeveloping the board or deny a good play, while making their turn weaker.

Mortal Coil - draw and draw, its bread and butter, every control lock loves to draw a card beacause it makes the deck more consistent with responses and it helps with clearing a board, sometimes can be used as a tool in defile clear.

Medivh, the Guardian - this guy synergize with Twisting Nether or Siphon Soul - this card improves matchups vs tempo and control

Skulking Geist - If Jade druid is still a thing this card is must inclusion in all control warlocks. Its decent vs priest as well.

Tainted Zealot - this card makes Defile remove all stuff for just four mana almost vs every big board! Keep it in your hand for Defile or other spell damage cards to combite with it

The Lich King - its just value card, its a taunt so its decent vs aggro as well as it is vs control or tempo, its not must inclusion, but in playtesting do well.

Bloodreaver Gul'dan - MVP of the deck, i would say the best DK in th KTF. His HP is monster and wins you a lot of games. Especialy every aggro deck is scared of this card. It is just nail in their coffin.

Mulligan strategy

Druid - Jade druid : (slightly favourable) Skulking Geist is a key card and Bloodreaver Gul'dan - Strategy - life tap early so your hand is big and have responses after oponents go wide and big, also its good to find Skulking Geist by the time he will find the second jade. Just praise RNg god, that these two cards arent at the bottom of your deck.

update: beware the aggro druid become popular again - Defile, Doomsayer and Hellfire on a coins is an option to keep (but our deck counters it very well with board clears. (favourable)

Hunter - midrange, aggro: (slightly favourable) The key card is Defile, Doomsayer, Voidwalker, Mistress of Mixtures - keep only one one drop, you want to mulligan for defile or doomsayer. Hunter is a all about his board, keep removing it and you will prevail, be carefull with lifetap in this matchup, at the start its optional especialy with mixtures, but have in mind every hunter plays double kill comand and have his hero power, so I would say be cautious and play around hat and their bow, sometimes he just smorc you down, with nut draw, but most of a time you should win, with your removal and heals. You win almost every late game due Gul'dan.

Mage - tempo mage (most of the time) -  (Slightly favourable) The key card is Doomsayer - mirror entity just call for it, Mistress of Mixtures  (hint. try to save it for entity check if you arent under a preasure) optional is Defile, Stonehill Defender. Clear their board, keep your health level high above ten, fifteen is better or higher, beacause they have all kind of burst from spells. They will just run out of cards or you will outvalue them, Bloodreaver Gul'dan wrecks all mages, play him asap

control - (favourable) Bloodreaver Gul'dan just win this matchup, life tap it till you find it, your DK is superior to his, just suck him u dont even have to play a minions to prevent him from making more elementals. But 90% of the time you will face aggro/tempo mage anyway

quest (unfavourable): luckily for us very few player plays it, especialy on a legend level only, meta nowadays wrecks it, try to preasure it hards as you can, almost never trade full face smorc the key card The Lich King- his Death Grip can steal his wincon and quest struggles in removing big stuff only from discovery.

Paladin - aggro, buffs , etc - (favourable) The key card is Defile, Doomsayer, Voidwalker, Mistress of Mixtures - keep only one one drop. Its optional to keep Hellfire especialy on a coin. Paladin is similar to a hunter, its all about the board, so wipe it every time, so he can´t buff it etc.

Priest - highlander -(even) If he goes curve, raza, anduin and have response for all that you play its gg, but in this meta, where zoolock is popular this matchup improved from unfavourable to even, thx to mulligan.The key card is Bloodreaver Gul'dan, obviously, optional is Skulking Geist, Medivh, the Guardian or Despicable Dreadlord. Smart preasure is the key, try to handread enemy if he doent have dragonfire (It was for example bets paly last turn or anduin) and punish his missing cards. Try to push mid- end game with huge tempo swings

Shaman - evolve, etc (extremely favourable) - The key card is Defile, Doomsayer, Voidwalker, Mistress of Mixtures - keep only one one drop. Its optional to keep Hellfire especialy on a coin. Try to utilize your answer what he can play, geist is decent here removing his evolves. He is same guy as hunter and paladin, all around his board keep clearing it, warlock has best aoe in the game of the hearstone. Enemy usualy concede when they run out of cards.

Rogue - prince (slightly favourable) Defile, Doomsayer, Voidwalker, Mistress of Mixtures keep only one one drop, if you have at least on if thsi card you might keep Stonehill Defender or Hellfire esp on a coin. Your wincon is to keep his board small and cleared. You will prevail in late game, be carefull with leeroy finisher and bonemare turn. This matchup he try to snowball, his deck is pure highroll, lack of card draw gets him later in the game.

Warlock - zoo (heavily favourable) The key card is Defile, Doomsayer, Mistress of Mixtures, Hellfire is good on coin optional is Stonehill Defender, etc. Same story all over again clear his board, outvalue him mid game with demons, stabilize your health total and win late game.

Warrior - pirate, quest , fatigue, nzoth - well all of them are pretty bad, so i would say favourable, but dunno they are very few players on ladder right now playing a warrior. At lower ranks i would expect an aggro - so mulligan is the same. Defile, Doomsayer, Voidwalker, Mistress of Mixtures - keep only one one drop. His weapons hurts a lot, but its is highroll deck as a rogue alll prince decks. If you dont face aggro, you should win demons with bloodreaver, their decks are super slow.

Update - Possible card replacements

due to many comments on that matter, I will suggest a few things, take in mind that every replacement can have inpact on a winratio, so lets get right to it. I did include thalnos in the main deck, becase the draw overvalued a little better aoe.

Medivh, the Guardian - for all those who dont have an adventure, is an option to -1 Twisting Nether +2 Twilight Drake (to improve tempo/control)

Prince Valanar - possible replacement for Hellfire - I usually prefer to play hellfire thx to immediately impact on a board. update ( no longer an option with double hellfire)

Gameplay

Here is good gameplay of the deck, there are more gameplays, which can be found in the comment section. The best was to improve with the deck is practice, learn from your mistakes and think about of your possible play options like it is showcased here in a clip.

Epilogue

Enjoy the deck and if you like it dont forget to give it thumbs up! Its not an easy deck to play, so it may take a while to play it properly, but it is fun to play not a mainstream deck and actualy have good WR with it. 

So enjoy the ladder once more.

Cheers,

Bart.