Hi. I haven't been playing for more than two months, but built some decks after reading on the net and it's been decent for a noob. But lately I'm constantly running into druids and locks that only draws cards and at the end make huge taunts. I used a trump aggro deck that works on most stuff, but I have no idea how to beat this. Any help would be appreciated, I know all here are leaguesabove me ofc. Any idea what to search for or anything? Cheers
Unfortunately sometimes Handlock is truly very challenging to defeat. The general advice is to "rush them down," or so I've heard, but a lot of times that just plays in their favor if they have molten giants in hand.
The best strategy to adhere to is, upon recognition you're against a handlock, fat paladin, or late game druid is to save your direct removal for their late game. If you can, for example, clear something with Fireball instead of Polymorph, if you HAVE to clear it, use the fireball first.
Same goes for Hex or any other direct removal, save the stronger more versatile removal if you anticipate you'll need it.
Id say add some silence into your deck, or perhaps a removal or two. Depending on the class you play with, this can be something like Polymorph, Sap, etc.
So as a f2p myself, I totally recognize that the game can be challenging without buying lots of packs to start out. I don't blame you at all for playing an aggro deck; I think that aggro is the only competitive way to play if you're on a budget. And to those above who are really salty because they hate aggro, remember that having plenty of deck types spices up the game and adds more variety. Don't hate on people just because they spend less on their hobby than you do, but still want to have fun. But I digress. If you want to play rather easily, I recommend Mech Mage. It's a budget deck, but still works great in Ranked. Just take out Antonidas or whatever high cost card is at the top for a Force-Tank MAX or something else until you can afford legendaries. Hope this helped!
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Question: If you're in a canoe, paddling upstream, and all four wheels fall off, how many pancakes does it take to sand the doghouse if there's 28 frogs in the oven?
Thanks for the sincere answers. I understood that that deck wouldn't work, I was wondering if there was a deck out there that was sort of built against those decks.
I tried saving up silence and such for later, but I just keep losing. Best rank is 8 so far, but now I can't seem to get past 9 no matter what.
No idea why people are lashing out against new players. How was I suppose to know that some decks or some play styles are frowned upon?
Appreciat the help Tourneyz and cindovin. The reason I started with those aggro decks was just because I had the cards for it.
Would it be better to craft some cards for a class deck? I know it sounds more logical to craft neutrals, but then it's sort of all over the place. Seems like lock and hunter has the cheaper decks that work, and god knows there's a lot of them out there, but I like shaman better. Takes a little more thinking to handle.
I tried this shaman:
2x earthshock2x rockbiter
1x zombie
1x crackle
2x swamp ooze
2x flametoungue totem
2x haunted creeper
2x feral spirit
2x hex
2x lightning storm
1x BGH
2x harvest golem
1x mana tide totem
1x defender of argus
1x piloted shredder
1x azure drake
1x loatheb
2x belcher
1x fire elemental
1x dr. boom
But I always run out of cards on my hand and they clear the board. Probably cause I'm too eager.
That deck was from the net, but I had to change it to whatever I had for some of the cards.
Just so you know, people also hate on other users who post decks in that format; use the deckbuilder and insert a link :)
Also, I'd say run double Azure and no Loatheb, as well as double Chow and no Crackle, but that's just me. Do whatever you want.
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Question: If you're in a canoe, paddling upstream, and all four wheels fall off, how many pancakes does it take to sand the doghouse if there's 28 frogs in the oven?
Yeah I can understand that. I bought 2x40 packs, that helped. Still there are a lot to get..
Just lost to a handlock again. Found a thread here that actually recommends aggro against it, never worked for me though. Now it's getting ridiculous. So many of them playing it.
No idea why people are lashing out against new players. How was I suppose to know that some decks or some play styles are frowned upon?
Don't sweat it. The reality is the same people that berate you for playing the deck are the same people that would recommend it if you were to ask for a cheap, noob-friendly deck to succeed with. It's the nature of the beast. Just play what decks are available to you and carry on. The best thing to take away from it is that you're learning this deck archetype, so you should also know how to play against it.
Yeah I can understand that. I bought 2x40 packs, that helped. Still there are a lot to get..
Just lost to a handlock again. Found a thread here that actually recommends aggro against it, never worked for me though. Now it's getting ridiculous. So many of them playing it.
Hehe OK pieguy, I'll remember that.
Thanks for the tip, I'll try it out.
The key to winning against handlock is to STOP hitting face once he's around ~16 and trying to set up a OTK from there on by expanding the board and saving up on direct damage spells & key removal in hand. Shaman and mech mage should be able to do that.
That said, Handlock is in a pretty bad spot right now since mech mage is so common.
Yeah I can understand that. I bought 2x40 packs, that helped. Still there are a lot to get..
Just lost to a handlock again. Found a thread here that actually recommends aggro against it, never worked for me though. Now it's getting ridiculous. So many of them playing it.
Hehe OK pieguy, I'll remember that.
Thanks for the tip, I'll try it out.
The key to winning against handlock is to STOP hitting face once he's around ~16 and trying to set up a OTK from there on by expanding the board and saving up on direct damage spells & key removal in hand. Shaman and mech mage should be able to do that.
That said, Handlock is in a pretty bad spot right now since mech mage is so common.
Handlock is not in a pretty bad spot. People just stop playing it but it's still a pretty strong deck that can outrun any deck type. It's all down to the player behind the deck and his understandinfg of the matchup. Legend player season 11 handlock player speaking here !
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Used to be a proud Handlock player.
Legend 17 times.
Still flirting with the ladder from times to times with Renolock.
Yeah I can understand that. I bought 2x40 packs, that helped. Still there are a lot to get..
Just lost to a handlock again. Found a thread here that actually recommends aggro against it, never worked for me though. Now it's getting ridiculous. So many of them playing it.
Hehe OK pieguy, I'll remember that.
Thanks for the tip, I'll try it out.
The key to winning against handlock is to STOP hitting face once he's around ~16 and trying to set up a OTK from there on by expanding the board and saving up on direct damage spells & key removal in hand. Shaman and mech mage should be able to do that.
That said, Handlock is in a pretty bad spot right now since mech mage is so common.
Handlock is not in a pretty bad spot. People just stop playing it but it's still a pretty strong deck that can outrun any deck type. It's all down to the player behind the deck and his understandinfg of the matchup. Legend player season 11 handlock player speaking here !
Well, people don't stop playing something because they get bored with it all at the same time. They stop because it isn't performing as well as it used to. Of course, a skillfull player can take nearly every deck to legend with the right tech choices, so I congratulate you on that, but that doesn't change imo that the currently popular decks aren't good match-ups for handlock.
Yeah I can understand that. I bought 2x40 packs, that helped. Still there are a lot to get..
Just lost to a handlock again. Found a thread here that actually recommends aggro against it, never worked for me though. Now it's getting ridiculous. So many of them playing it.
Hehe OK pieguy, I'll remember that.
Thanks for the tip, I'll try it out.
The key to winning against handlock is to STOP hitting face once he's around ~16 and trying to set up a OTK from there on by expanding the board and saving up on direct damage spells & key removal in hand. Shaman and mech mage should be able to do that.
That said, Handlock is in a pretty bad spot right now since mech mage is so common.
Handlock is not in a pretty bad spot. People just stop playing it but it's still a pretty strong deck that can outrun any deck type. It's all down to the player behind the deck and his understandinfg of the matchup. Legend player season 11 handlock player speaking here !
Well, people don't stop playing something because they get bored with it all at the same time. They stop because it isn't performing as well as it used to. Of course, a skillfull player can take nearly every deck to legend with the right tech choices, so I congratulate you on that, but that doesn't change imo that the currently popular decks aren't good match-ups for handlock.
Why would that be true ? I understand you having an OPINION. It's fine. Backing it up with facts or something less clunky then ''imo'' would help me understand this point of view.
Handlock is not in a bad spot against popular decks. The strenght of handlock it's the fact that it stands a good chance of winning against the bad matchups. I would say that the normal rate against ''bad matchups'' is somewhat around 45/55 or 50/50.
Might be only me, but I never saw on the ladder someone finishing myself with a handlock deck running the Arcane Golem, Power Overwhelming and Faceless Manipulator combo. I've got a tremendous amount of wins using part of those cards, even against aggro. That with the fact that you can outrun many opponents, still fight for early board presence with strong early drops...
Handlock is not in a bad spot. It is in a bad spot in term of representation but it is still the strongest deck in term of stability. You may argue that BGH will screw you... that's not a problem when you are running more then 1 7-attack target.
Again... playing handlock while being not able to predict what your matchup is and which cards you are more likely to see... is what drag this deck out. Requires too much skill... players prefer fast decks that grind stars faster.
For your personal record, here is my stats against what you consider to be, unfavorable matchup.
MechMage : 57 wins in 81 matches past rank 10
Hunter (Face, Midrange) : 42 wins in 68 matches past rank 10
Zoo : 4 wins in 5 matches past rank 10
MechShaman : 12 wins in 19 matches past rank 10
otherMechDecks : 7 wins in 7 matches past rank 10
The most common way to deal with them : Zombie Chow...
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Used to be a proud Handlock player.
Legend 17 times.
Still flirting with the ladder from times to times with Renolock.
I have most cards and I prefer to play rush over control any day. Still takes skill to climb ladder with it. The only difference is with rush you can play 4-10 games an hour, control is what? 2-4? No thanks!
Anyways, don't listen to the haters and just play the way YOU want to play :)
As for suggestion: rush/aggro decks can't win in the late game, hence you have to take down your opponent before they stabilize, so if you haven't won by turn 8, you'll most likely lose. Losing is fine since you can just jump right into another game for the wins!
If you know what deck you're facing, save your silences/removals until they play taunts. Silencing a 4/10 drake is fine, but silencing it AFTER they put taunt on it is better. Timing is everything.
Good luck out there!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
If you're happy and you know it... well that's good :)
Hi. I haven't been playing for more than two months, but built some decks after reading on the net and it's been decent for a noob. But lately I'm constantly running into druids and locks that only draws cards and at the end make huge taunts. I used a trump aggro deck that works on most stuff, but I have no idea how to beat this. Any help would be appreciated, I know all here are leaguesabove me ofc. Any idea what to search for or anything? Cheers
[deleted]
Thanks. You've been a great help.
Hey Cros,
Unfortunately sometimes Handlock is truly very challenging to defeat. The general advice is to "rush them down," or so I've heard, but a lot of times that just plays in their favor if they have molten giants in hand.
The best strategy to adhere to is, upon recognition you're against a handlock, fat paladin, or late game druid is to save your direct removal for their late game. If you can, for example, clear something with Fireball instead of Polymorph, if you HAVE to clear it, use the fireball first.
Same goes for Hex or any other direct removal, save the stronger more versatile removal if you anticipate you'll need it.
Id say add some silence into your deck, or perhaps a removal or two. Depending on the class you play with, this can be something like Polymorph, Sap, etc.
throwin some badass spells require such skill :p
So as a f2p myself, I totally recognize that the game can be challenging without buying lots of packs to start out. I don't blame you at all for playing an aggro deck; I think that aggro is the only competitive way to play if you're on a budget. And to those above who are really salty because they hate aggro, remember that having plenty of deck types spices up the game and adds more variety. Don't hate on people just because they spend less on their hobby than you do, but still want to have fun. But I digress. If you want to play rather easily, I recommend Mech Mage. It's a budget deck, but still works great in Ranked. Just take out Antonidas or whatever high cost card is at the top for a Force-Tank MAX or something else until you can afford legendaries. Hope this helped!
Question: If you're in a canoe, paddling upstream, and all four wheels fall off, how many pancakes does it take to sand the doghouse if there's 28 frogs in the oven?
Answer: I have no time for games!
Thanks for the sincere answers. I understood that that deck wouldn't work, I was wondering if there was a deck out there that was sort of built against those decks.
I tried saving up silence and such for later, but I just keep losing. Best rank is 8 so far, but now I can't seem to get past 9 no matter what.
No idea why people are lashing out against new players. How was I suppose to know that some decks or some play styles are frowned upon?
Appreciat the help Tourneyz and cindovin. The reason I started with those aggro decks was just because I had the cards for it.
Would it be better to craft some cards for a class deck? I know it sounds more logical to craft neutrals, but then it's sort of all over the place. Seems like lock and hunter has the cheaper decks that work, and god knows there's a lot of them out there, but I like shaman better. Takes a little more thinking to handle.
I tried this shaman:
2x earthshock2x rockbiter
1x zombie
1x crackle
2x swamp ooze
2x flametoungue totem
2x haunted creeper
2x feral spirit
2x hex
2x lightning storm
1x BGH
2x harvest golem
1x mana tide totem
1x defender of argus
1x piloted shredder
1x azure drake
1x loatheb
2x belcher
1x fire elemental
1x dr. boom
But I always run out of cards on my hand and they clear the board. Probably cause I'm too eager.
That deck was from the net, but I had to change it to whatever I had for some of the cards.
Just so you know, people also hate on other users who post decks in that format; use the deckbuilder and insert a link :)
Also, I'd say run double Azure and no Loatheb, as well as double Chow and no Crackle, but that's just me. Do whatever you want.
Question: If you're in a canoe, paddling upstream, and all four wheels fall off, how many pancakes does it take to sand the doghouse if there's 28 frogs in the oven?
Answer: I have no time for games!
Yeah I can understand that. I bought 2x40 packs, that helped. Still there are a lot to get..
Just lost to a handlock again. Found a thread here that actually recommends aggro against it, never worked for me though. Now it's getting ridiculous. So many of them playing it.
Hehe OK pieguy, I'll remember that.
Thanks for the tip, I'll try it out.
Don't sweat it. The reality is the same people that berate you for playing the deck are the same people that would recommend it if you were to ask for a cheap, noob-friendly deck to succeed with. It's the nature of the beast. Just play what decks are available to you and carry on. The best thing to take away from it is that you're learning this deck archetype, so you should also know how to play against it.
The key to winning against handlock is to STOP hitting face once he's around ~16 and trying to set up a OTK from there on by expanding the board and saving up on direct damage spells & key removal in hand. Shaman and mech mage should be able to do that.
That said, Handlock is in a pretty bad spot right now since mech mage is so common.
Handlock is not in a pretty bad spot. People just stop playing it but it's still a pretty strong deck that can outrun any deck type. It's all down to the player behind the deck and his understandinfg of the matchup. Legend player season 11 handlock player speaking here !
Used to be a proud Handlock player.
Legend 17 times.
Still flirting with the ladder from times to times with Renolock.
Well, people don't stop playing something because they get bored with it all at the same time. They stop because it isn't performing as well as it used to. Of course, a skillfull player can take nearly every deck to legend with the right tech choices, so I congratulate you on that, but that doesn't change imo that the currently popular decks aren't good match-ups for handlock.
This is the best reply when you get people like that. Aggro decks are the cheapest and most efficient decks, you shouldn't be blamed for playing them.
Why would that be true ? I understand you having an OPINION. It's fine. Backing it up with facts or something less clunky then ''imo'' would help me understand this point of view.
Handlock is not in a bad spot against popular decks. The strenght of handlock it's the fact that it stands a good chance of winning against the bad matchups. I would say that the normal rate against ''bad matchups'' is somewhat around 45/55 or 50/50.
Might be only me, but I never saw on the ladder someone finishing myself with a handlock deck running the Arcane Golem, Power Overwhelming and Faceless Manipulator combo. I've got a tremendous amount of wins using part of those cards, even against aggro. That with the fact that you can outrun many opponents, still fight for early board presence with strong early drops...
Handlock is not in a bad spot. It is in a bad spot in term of representation but it is still the strongest deck in term of stability. You may argue that BGH will screw you... that's not a problem when you are running more then 1 7-attack target.
Again... playing handlock while being not able to predict what your matchup is and which cards you are more likely to see... is what drag this deck out. Requires too much skill... players prefer fast decks that grind stars faster.
For your personal record, here is my stats against what you consider to be, unfavorable matchup.
MechMage : 57 wins in 81 matches past rank 10
Hunter (Face, Midrange) : 42 wins in 68 matches past rank 10
Zoo : 4 wins in 5 matches past rank 10
MechShaman : 12 wins in 19 matches past rank 10
otherMechDecks : 7 wins in 7 matches past rank 10
The most common way to deal with them : Zombie Chow...
Used to be a proud Handlock player.
Legend 17 times.
Still flirting with the ladder from times to times with Renolock.
No, I think toxicity in the community is a larger problem, as you demonstrate fantastically.
I have most cards and I prefer to play rush over control any day. Still takes skill to climb ladder with it. The only difference is with rush you can play 4-10 games an hour, control is what? 2-4? No thanks!
Anyways, don't listen to the haters and just play the way YOU want to play :)
As for suggestion: rush/aggro decks can't win in the late game, hence you have to take down your opponent before they stabilize, so if you haven't won by turn 8, you'll most likely lose. Losing is fine since you can just jump right into another game for the wins!
If you know what deck you're facing, save your silences/removals until they play taunts. Silencing a 4/10 drake is fine, but silencing it AFTER they put taunt on it is better. Timing is everything.
Good luck out there!
If you're happy and you know it... well that's good :)
Apart from using agro, are you missing out on BM ? Make them rage quit with your BMs!