Hearthpwn

My first deck post, so it's a work in progress, and enhancements are forthcoming (and comments welcome)...

I had been looking for something completely different for Warlock and wanted a deck to be more of a "toolkit" approach, rather than a strict "meta"-defined Handlock-style deck. As a result, I architected a deck with three possible win-conditions, and the lack of this defining characteristic will keep your opponent's guessing as to how to work around your cards. Here are my win-condition "toolboxes" built into this deck:

1) Early game Demonlock: It is a Demon-centric deck but there are intentionally no discard mechanic Demons, esp. in light of all the "mill" Rogue and Priest decks around. I wanted a deck that gave you the most options as possible and the smallest likelihood of losing cards to mill or some random discard mechanic. Voidwalker, Unlicensed Apothecary, Bane of Doom, Blood Imp, and Bloodfury Potion help to build a sticky board presence quickly with some limited protection against aggro. Make sure you have just one Violet Illusionist in your hand when you play Unlicensed Apothecary, so that you can play Tar Creeper next turn to protect them both against aggro. Most players don't seem to know what to do facing UA and will likely leave it alone, so you can buff it. At worst (best, if you are thinking late game), your opponent will do you the favor of Polymorphing/Hexing/Devolveing your UA, disposing of it and simplifying your late game arrival of Bloodreaver Gul'dan. Honestly, by the time your opponent realizes UA has gotten out of control, they'll be expecting to play those spells upon the arrival of The Lich King, which then never happens.

2) Mid-Game Control: Depending on the mulligan choices, I wanted a deck that could play against aggro or against big minions, or "Handlock-lite", without that single board clear win-condition taking over the entire deck like Stancifka's BloomDoom. The idea being that once you achieve board presence, you really don't want to give it up until you have some really strong out-value options late game. Mid-game focuses on board clears and removals so Shadowflame, Defile,Siphon Soul, Drain Soul, Shadow Bolt, Twisting Nether, Despicable Dreadlord, and DOOM! makes fast work of any board advantage your opponent might be gaining. Tech cards like Bloodbloom, Eater of Secrets, Violet Illusionist, and Medivh, the Guardian also ensure that you won't lose health or value too quickly in the mid-game.

3) Late Game "Battle of the Titans": if your opponent survives long enough or is milling you into fatigue, you will need a two-headed end-game strategy. First, play Lord Jaraxxus, to continue your mid-game Control a lttle longer, spawning 6/6 Infernals every turn and beating down weak 1-3 health taunts with your 3/8 weapon. In most cases, you will want to play LJ first from T9-T12 turns max, mind you, at the expense of Medivh, the Guardian's value generating 1/3 weapon and dangerously low Hero health stat. Secondly, as soon as is possible, usually T-11 or T12, play Bloodreaver Gul'dan and let the Lifesteal healing begin. You will want to hold onto at least one Violet Illusionist to play right before you re-summon all of your dead Demons, in case that recent anti-nerf of Unlicensed Apothecary forces those 5 health damage vials on top of your Hero. If you've lost both your VI's earlier due to milling (or killing) just DON'T PLAY Bloodreaver Gul'dan.

There are some tech card options, depending on what you are seeing played against you.

Eater of Secrets is very useful against Secret Mage, aggro Hunter, and most Paladin decks. You only really need one EoS, but play it wisely because they will spray the battlefield with more once you clear them.

Faceless Manipulator is included mostly to give you some ability to clone a valuable and healthy card from your opponent. You could also use it as a double down for Despicable Dreadlord, which are pretty OP cards on their own. With Pirate Warrior nerfed, I am not seeing much need for Golakka Crawler and Hungry Crab for aggro Murlocs, but you may want to replace FM with Skulking Geist if you are up against a lot of Jade Golem decks like Druid and Shaman.

Tainted Zealot is mainly needed for Defile, Shadow Bolt, and Bane of Doom to give your spells an extra bump in your early board clear. I originally considered swapping in a Doomsayer instead, but I found that I typically don't need it esp. if you can play on curve and it will just clog your hand late game when your opponent is trying to force you into fatigue. By contrast to Doomsayer, Tainted Zealot can ALWAYS be played, esp. if you are being milled. You can also sub in  Twilight Drake for Tainted Zealot, if you are facing more mill decks than aggro.

Some caveats...This deck will probably be weakest against Evolve Shaman and Quest Mage, who will likely break your Demon synergies with Devolves or hit face with a lot of high damage spells, like Pyroblast and Fireball, fueled by Archmage Antonidas. I could also imagine Big Priest could outvalue you quickly, esp. if your mulligan was bad and you couldn't kill off Northshire Clerics quickly enough. Like a Handlock deck, you don't want to give your opponent an opportunity for more card options, as they will likely find a way to exploit your bad hand.

Mulligan: With the exception of Bloodreaver Gul'dan (which you should definitely keep in hand over Lord Jaraxxus), I would mulligan away any card costing over 3 Mana, trying to keep one Shadow Bolt, one Demon, and one Bloodfury Potion or Drain Soul spell, as a general rule. If you suspect aggro, keep Shadowflame and Tar Creeper to hold off the madness. In the event you get a mulligan and early draws of the very situational tech minions and spells, that's just bad, so just sit tight and tap every turn. I've had a heavy aggro Druid concede on T10 after I played Violet Illusionist into Bloodbloom into DOOM! with 12 health left, drawing me five more cards while they topdecked. This deck will surprise you with options, so never concede.

Good luck and (most of all) have fun!

Here are some recent wins on HSReplay.net:

https://hsreplay.net/replay/vyVjrNocYdoWF449a4TrKd

https://hsreplay.net/replay/QCuq8ufn72Dge8nHGLjT3m