Besides everything else running rampant in the meta currently, I've been having some trouble with the mirror match. I never know how to play it, whether be aggressive with my giant/drakes or play defensive and continue to clear their board at the expense of not developing a board for myself. (Siphon soul/Shadow flame blah blah)
Just as a note I started playing handlock, 4 days ago and I'm at around ranks 8-5 right now.. Depends on how many hunters I see that day.
What are you mulligan tips etc. ?
I usually mulligan for my drakes and mountain giants, and btw I do run two shadow flames but it seems to be really clunky atm.
The Handlock mirror its pretty advantageous to go first. It can be a really tough matchup if you go second and your opponent draws decently, (like REALLY tough). Mulligan for mountains + drakes of course (if you know they're handlock)... Although in the mirror match if I'm playing against a warlock that could be zoo, I will sometimes keep a soulfire. (having soulfire to use vs zoo directly after your turn 4 mountain giant/drake can win you the game, or after turn 5 belcher, for example). It takes away their board trade-capabilities and just cripples them as result.
There are also obvious RNG aspects to the draws in the handlock mirror that can lead to frustration (for example having your opponent play a t4 mountain giant then a drake a turn or two later and you not drawing any siphon souls by turn 7. (its a pain in the ass to not draw siphon by the mid-lategame stage, but I still don't think its quite worth keeping in the mulligan). Pretty much just need to hope you draw a siphon by turn 6/7.
Sometimes you'll have to burn a siphon on their drake if you don't have an owl, or an owl + coil combo.
Also, really important thing about the mirror is that having more HP doesn't mean you're in the lead, in fact, its typically the opposite. (exception being: unless they're like really low hp). Don't be scared to drop below 18-20hp.. Just make sure they can't stack the board heavily if you don't have a solid shadowflame combo. If you have a molten or moltens and a taunter, you can play a lot more risky. You also need to run 2 shadowflames to make sure you have one when you need it.
When you have coin, turn 2 watcher is good to setup a good shadowflame target or silence target (or taunt target) for later. (you can still turn 4 giant cause you have the coin). If you mulligan with coin and you get owl + watcher in your hand, you can go aggressive and turn 1 coin watcher into turn 2 owl silence on your watcher; also a perfectly viable offensive play (although this is really high risk/high reward). Also make sure you don't make any blunders like throwing down a turn 4 mountain giant when you have first turn, then them dropping t4 giant, then you faceless'ing one to give yourself two, then attacking face. (then they just shadowflame their giant turn 5 and kill both your giants and get a good trade). When you faceless, always trade your first giant so you're left with 1 giant and their board is clear.
Try not to be too trigger happy with your siphons, use them as last resorts only if you have no way of dealing with something at the current stage of the game. For example, if its turn 7 and they have a giant on the board or something... I would much rather just drop a sludge belcher and tap as opposed to using a whole turn to Siphon (and not developing the board or drawing any cards as result. Its especially important to tap in that situation if your hand sucks), although I could also make an argument for just using the entire turn to siphon if you have a good hand; you just have to go by what your cards are when you make those kind of decisions. Generally, you want to have more tools at your disposal than they do, and tapping as much as possible is your means of doing that). If you have coin, feel free to coin siphon turn 5 on their giants, etc if that will clear their board. Most of all though, best tip, just make sure you're getting at least even and or better trades.. Or that you're putting something on the board. Oh, and make sure you're using mortal coil properly; lots of people miss key mortal coil plays.
Oh, and be liberal about using Soulfire, like in general with playing handlock vs any deck. Too many people hold them and are scared, and then just lose from looking for that perfect play. I'd rather lose by doing a decent soulfire and getting an unlucky discard then lose by holding it too long. The earlier in the game you can get the benefits of the tempo gain from it, the better. Take a quick glance at the board, if you see a solid use for it, then just use it.
And if you want to watch a twitch stream/VOD to learn handlock, I would highly recommend sifting through Reynad's stream VOD history for handlock play. He's an insanely good handlock player and you can learn a lot from him. Arguably #1 handlock player world, no joke.
While laddering I typically mulligan for zoo (i.e toss mountain giant) unless the other guy toss his hand. So far I have met like one or two mirror this season.
Actually I dont like to rush mirror games, always save owls for drakes or possible sylvanas, or push through taunts for lethal. Watchers I rather leave as wall or for shadowflame.
Dont worry too much about your hp, at least as long as you are over 12hp with clean board you are usually more than fine. Taking a lot of face danage early is fine, as long as you can clear board later.
If you can get a board with moltens before the other guy you typically win, as they will have wasted removals on other stuff by then. And watch for molten + shadowflame if opponent have mana for it.
It is quite complex to play it correctly, but can also depend a lot on luck if you draw removals etc in time.
Tech cards like bgh, black knight are really good in the mirror match, ragnaros is good for surprise burst. if u go first and they dont have an amswer for ur giant loatheb can seal a game early
Besides everything else running rampant in the meta currently, I've been having some trouble with the mirror match. I never know how to play it, whether be aggressive with my giant/drakes or play defensive and continue to clear their board at the expense of not developing a board for myself. (Siphon soul/Shadow flame blah blah)
Just as a note I started playing handlock, 4 days ago and I'm at around ranks 8-5 right now.. Depends on how many hunters I see that day.
What are you mulligan tips etc. ?
I usually mulligan for my drakes and mountain giants, and btw I do run two shadow flames but it seems to be really clunky atm.
Handlock veteran here.
The Handlock mirror its pretty advantageous to go first. It can be a really tough matchup if you go second and your opponent draws decently, (like REALLY tough). Mulligan for mountains + drakes of course (if you know they're handlock)... Although in the mirror match if I'm playing against a warlock that could be zoo, I will sometimes keep a soulfire. (having soulfire to use vs zoo directly after your turn 4 mountain giant/drake can win you the game, or after turn 5 belcher, for example). It takes away their board trade-capabilities and just cripples them as result.
There are also obvious RNG aspects to the draws in the handlock mirror that can lead to frustration (for example having your opponent play a t4 mountain giant then a drake a turn or two later and you not drawing any siphon souls by turn 7. (its a pain in the ass to not draw siphon by the mid-lategame stage, but I still don't think its quite worth keeping in the mulligan). Pretty much just need to hope you draw a siphon by turn 6/7.
Sometimes you'll have to burn a siphon on their drake if you don't have an owl, or an owl + coil combo.
Also, really important thing about the mirror is that having more HP doesn't mean you're in the lead, in fact, its typically the opposite. (exception being: unless they're like really low hp). Don't be scared to drop below 18-20hp.. Just make sure they can't stack the board heavily if you don't have a solid shadowflame combo. If you have a molten or moltens and a taunter, you can play a lot more risky. You also need to run 2 shadowflames to make sure you have one when you need it.
When you have coin, turn 2 watcher is good to setup a good shadowflame target or silence target (or taunt target) for later. (you can still turn 4 giant cause you have the coin). If you mulligan with coin and you get owl + watcher in your hand, you can go aggressive and turn 1 coin watcher into turn 2 owl silence on your watcher; also a perfectly viable offensive play (although this is really high risk/high reward). Also make sure you don't make any blunders like throwing down a turn 4 mountain giant when you have first turn, then them dropping t4 giant, then you faceless'ing one to give yourself two, then attacking face. (then they just shadowflame their giant turn 5 and kill both your giants and get a good trade). When you faceless, always trade your first giant so you're left with 1 giant and their board is clear.
Try not to be too trigger happy with your siphons, use them as last resorts only if you have no way of dealing with something at the current stage of the game. For example, if its turn 7 and they have a giant on the board or something... I would much rather just drop a sludge belcher and tap as opposed to using a whole turn to Siphon (and not developing the board or drawing any cards as result. Its especially important to tap in that situation if your hand sucks), although I could also make an argument for just using the entire turn to siphon if you have a good hand; you just have to go by what your cards are when you make those kind of decisions. Generally, you want to have more tools at your disposal than they do, and tapping as much as possible is your means of doing that). If you have coin, feel free to coin siphon turn 5 on their giants, etc if that will clear their board. Most of all though, best tip, just make sure you're getting at least even and or better trades.. Or that you're putting something on the board. Oh, and make sure you're using mortal coil properly; lots of people miss key mortal coil plays.
Oh, and be liberal about using Soulfire, like in general with playing handlock vs any deck. Too many people hold them and are scared, and then just lose from looking for that perfect play. I'd rather lose by doing a decent soulfire and getting an unlucky discard then lose by holding it too long. The earlier in the game you can get the benefits of the tempo gain from it, the better. Take a quick glance at the board, if you see a solid use for it, then just use it.
And if you want to watch a twitch stream/VOD to learn handlock, I would highly recommend sifting through Reynad's stream VOD history for handlock play. He's an insanely good handlock player and you can learn a lot from him. Arguably #1 handlock player world, no joke.
Hopefully that helps.
And if you guys have any other questions, feel free to ask.
How do you know if its a zoo or handlock?
I always have difficulty in pointing out, sometimes alot of mulliganed hand turned out to be zoo (while previously thought it was handlock)?
That is the most difficult thing in handlock mirror.
While laddering I typically mulligan for zoo (i.e toss mountain giant) unless the other guy toss his hand. So far I have met like one or two mirror this season.
Actually I dont like to rush mirror games, always save owls for drakes or possible sylvanas, or push through taunts for lethal. Watchers I rather leave as wall or for shadowflame.
Dont worry too much about your hp, at least as long as you are over 12hp with clean board you are usually more than fine. Taking a lot of face danage early is fine, as long as you can clear board later.
If you can get a board with moltens before the other guy you typically win, as they will have wasted removals on other stuff by then. And watch for molten + shadowflame if opponent have mana for it.
It is quite complex to play it correctly, but can also depend a lot on luck if you draw removals etc in time.
Hope you go first....go for mountain giants
for mulligan against warlock:
I would keep 1 card that's good for handlock and then mulligan thinking they are running zoo
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Favorite Classes: Warlock, Paladin, Priest, and Mage
Tech cards like bgh, black knight are really good in the mirror match, ragnaros is good for surprise burst. if u go first and they dont have an amswer for ur giant loatheb can seal a game early
Current Deck: [Moon-Arcane Medivh]
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