Hearthpwn

***LAST EDIT*** : DISCLAIMER: LACKEY AND SAC PACT ARE BEING NERFED.  CRAFT AT YOUR OWN RISK.  IF YOU ALREADY OWN THE CARDS, TRY THE DECK OUT BEFORE ITS NERFED.  I CANNOT GUARANTEE IT WILL BE GOOD POST-NERF.  THE NERF HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED TODAY (5/15/2018) AND WILL TAKE PLACE NEXT MONTH.

Ended up getting top 100 legend with this deck list.  I could have potentially got higher, but decided to sit on my rank to guarantee my placement.  If this gets enough attention I'll write out a mulligan guide and match ups, explaining why sac pact is so valuable in the deck.

The idea for the deck isn't exactly new but I figured I'd upload it since I ended up teching in the Sac Pact and it worked nicely.  This is the exact list I used.

Proof:

https://imgur.com/a/GGwq4Ft

I'll be streaming, giving tips and explaining how to play control warlock, as well as other decks :) feel free to drop by

https://www.twitch.tv/backdoorandrun

Edit/Update: Just hit rank 6 Legend with the deck https://imgur.com/a/bNiN4dc

For those of you who don't want to read the full guide, I made a video on the deck.  I talk about some of the situational cards and explain them, then showcase the deck with some gameplay.

For those of you interested, I made a video giving some of my personal tips on how to reach legend, or just improve your gameplay in general:

 

So, upon request I've decided to write out a deck guide.  This will be my first guide, so please, let me know if I can improve it in any way and if I missed anything.  I apologize if it is too long but I will also be making a video for those who don't want to read the guide and just watch how the deck plays.

Before I begin the guide, I would like to address a VERY important question I get asked which is, why don't I just play Cubelock? Why play Control Warlock? The answer to this is that Control Warlock is simply more consistent against aggressive decks (such as Paladin (Odd and Even), Baku Rogue, Tempo Mage, Control Mage, Spiteful Druid, and Control Warrior.

To put it simply, in the current meta it is just overall better.  You give up some of your match-ups against say, Quest Rogue (Where you will have an underwhelming winrate) to have a better match up.  This is very important when climbing.  You want a high overall winrate against what everyone else is playing, even if it means you give up some of the less popular match ups, since you don't face them as often.  This is extremely important to consider when going for high legend or just legend in general (which I do touch upon on my general "tips" video on reaching legend).

So to put it simply, if instead of Even Paladin being one of the most dominant decks in the meta right now, Quest rogue was the most dominant deck, then you should definitely not be playing this specific deck.

One more quick question I'd like to answer here is: Why run only Voidlord? Why don't you run other demons? The answer to this is pretty simple.  We want to get Voidlord out of our Possessed Lackey, and we want to be able to do that with consistency.  In many situations, you don't want to rely on RNG pulling out a Despicable Dreadlord, only to have the opponent inflict lethal damage the next turn.

Deck Strategy

The overall strategy for Control Warlock is simple, yet can be decently complex to perform consistently.

Against Aggro / Midrange - Against both of these deck types your strategy is generally the same.  You want to "survive" and "outvalue" them, by efficiently using your early game minions to trade, once you lose the board, use your spells to clear the board and heal up, and develop a voidlord as soon as possible.  This is important to consider.  Even if you have a 2/1 Kobold Librarian on the board, unless you specifically need it to stay alive for a future turn, it can be worth trading into a 1/1 to save that "face damage".  

To put it simply, damage to your opponent's face isn't important at all.  If the game goes on long enough, they will lose.  With the amount of board clears this deck runs, big taunts, heals, etc, they will run out of resources long before you do.

You will need to plan ahead in order to damage minions accordingly for a future defile play if you can't afford to defile on the same turn.  A tip to keep in mind, is say you have two Defiles and one Hellfire, if you can afford to it is definitely worth using the Defile instead of the Hellfire in order to keep your options open (if they both give you the same clear), and vice-versa.

Against Control - Playing against control can be quite tricky depending on the class you're up against, I will go into more detail further into the guide, but a general guideline is you want to hide behind a wall of taunts, play Rin, the First Disciple and Dark Pact her when possible to avoid a silence, then summon your Azari as soon as possible, as that tends to be the general win condition.  We will get into the specific match ups a bit later in the guide as they all play a bit differently.

Situational Card Breakdown

Something you will notice about the deck is that there are only "one of" situational cards.  And for that very reason - they are situationally good, which means they are VERY powerful in their own way, but having two of them will just clutter your hand. I'll be explaining the situational cards, as they are the ones I get the most questions about.

The first card on the deck list is also the card that has gotten the most questions.  Sacrificial Pact.  Why is it in the deck? What use does it have?

Sacrificial Pact is an INSANE card in the mirror match up, if you're playing against a Cubelock or Control Warlock, it is absolutely huge to kill their Voidlord or Doomguard without using any mana.  This is absolutely devastating when both players are fighting for the board, and gives you a massive edge on the "Rin Race", as I like to call it.

Against other classes, it also isn't bad.  A lot of OTK priest decks run Skulking Geist, which they will play and you will suddenly have a lot less healing.  Sacrificial Pact allows you to have some more "pocket healing" against Priests, or against other aggressive decks in general, where you only give up a 1/3 demon in most situations for it.

Another cool combo you can do with it is you can kill off your own voidlord on turn 10 and play Bloodreaver Gul'dan on the same turn, which can be a big deal if you wouldn't be able to kill it off otherwise, especially if it is silenced.

The Spiteful Druids (Mind Control Tech) Spiteful Priest (Mind Control) decks also have ways to steal your minions, so keep this in mind if you can afford to save it for these situations.

Acidic Swamp Ooze - Some deck lists have been running Gluttonous Ooze.  The reason this list runs Acidic Swamp Ooze is because it is 1 mana cheaper and has 1 less health, which we actually want, in order to facilitate activating Lord Godfrey. 

We don't really care for the body nearly as much as we do the effect, which Gluttonous Ooze is only more useful against Hunter, Rogue, and Paladin.  And we're already favored against Paladin and Odd Rogue.  As far as Hunter goes, there are so few on the ladder that running Acidic Swamp Ooze is enough.  And this list is actually not too bad against odd face hunter, with all the heals and the Plated Beetle you'll win more than you'd expect.

Ironbeak Owl - The reason this card is in the deck isn't hard to guess, in the meta right now having at least one silence can be a very big deal.  Sometimes you absolutely need to silence something or you will lose, and sometimes you don't need a silence, so having two of them in your hand is extremely "clunky".  Not many people seem  to be asking why the deck has a silence, but the reason it runs Ironbeak Owl instead of Spellbreaker is very simple.

The Ironbeak Owl is a 3 mana 2/1, whereas Spellbreaker is a 4 mana 4/3.  At first glance you may think it is worth paying that extra mana for +2 attack and +2 health, but in this specific instance it is not.  Ironbeak Owl can also serve as activation for Lord Godfrey incase no other minion on the field has 2 or less health.  It also serves to activate Defile, so while the card is a situational card, by being cheaper and having less health, it has more synergy with the deck.  The offensive ability of the card simply does not matter in the scenario you want a silence in.

Voodoo Doll - This is a pretty flexible card (can activate Lord Godfrey).  Notice a trend so far? All of our situational (that aren't core in the deck) minions can activate Lord Godfrey.  This one, like the Ironbeak Owl also activates Defile. 

The reason we run this card is while we do have a lot of AoE, sometimes there is just 1 big creature that your early game cannot handle (Tyrantus off of Spiteful Summoner, I'm looking at you).  Voodoo Doll can also be quite useful against Cubelock's early Mountain Giant or other decks that run one or two big minions.

 Next up on our situational card list is Lord Godfrey.  He's been mentioned a few times so far, but to put into perspective just how valuable he can be, he costs 1 less than Twisting Nether, but under the right circumstances he can clear a full board of voidlords.  The reason he is so incredibly valuable is he bypasses deathrattles.  He does all of this for 1 less mana than Twisting Nether, AND develops a body so you have immediate board control/pressure.  I'll be sure to include an example of this card being used in the video.

The next card on the list of situational cards isTwisting Nether.  If we could run 2Lord Godfreys instead of 1 Twisting Nether and 1 Lord Godfrey, I'm not sure I would.  Twisting Nether has its own special place in the deck, because it requires no preset conditions.  You simply kill absolutely everything on the board and get a fresh start (it doesn't quite bypass deathrattles like Lord Godfrey does, but in most cases it will clear the entire board).

 The last card on the "Situational" card list isn't really situational as it is core to the deck, but I feel I have to explain it's value, because it is situationally good but under no circumstance can be replaced.  The card is: Rin, the First Disciple.  The reason she cannot be replaced is she has a very unique effect.  You essentially lose part of the "heart" of the deck if you replace her.

The reason Rin, the First Disciple is so useful, is once you start using your seals, the opponent is on a clock to pressure you.  And with your efficient board clears and wall of taunts, if they can't pressure you fast enough they instantly lose.  If they over extend and waste all their resources, you can clear the board, and they will get out valued and lose as well.  This is normally only used against other Control decks, but often needed in order to win.  I'll be sure to demonstrate this in the video as well.

 

Mulligan / Match-up Strategy

I'll only be going into how to Mulligan based on the most popular decks for that specific class on ladder, that you face from rank 5 to legend.  This guide won't cover how to mulligan/play against minion mage, for example, or any other deck that isn't the "most popular" right now.

Druid 

  Against Druid you typically want to mulligan for Spiteful Druid.  Here, you want to keep the following cards: Kobold Librarian, Hellfire, Defile, Possessed Lackey, Plated Beetle,Stonehill Defender, and Gnomeferatu.

Situational keeps are: Voodoo Doll, if you have the coin, a Mortal Coil, AND you also have a turn 2 play, such as Plated Beetle, and a Hellfire.  This is to have an answer in the case they have Spiteful Summoner on curve and get Tyrantus, or another 12/12 that you wouldn't be able to deal with.

So basically, if you hand is near perfect, it is okay to keep Voodoo Doll, as long as you have a way of activating it (Defile, Mortal Coil, Dark Pact).

Your Strategy: The basic strategy against Spiteful Druid (Or any other Spiteful Summoner deck is going to be to deal with their early aggression, efficiently use your removals, plan ahead (for example, not wasting Voodoo Doll if you have a better answer.  You're going to want to get a Voidlord out as early as possible, and eventually use Bloodreaver Gul'dan to secure the win. 

Sometimes they will have spiteful on 6 into Tyrantus and you will have no answer, but overall in this match up you will be slightly favored.

Taunt/Hadronox Druid strategy: This match up is fairly unfavored.  Your best chance will be to use Rin, the First Disciple to destroy his deck, or get lucky with Gnomeferatu and destroy a key card.  Lucky for us Spiteful Druid is the more common deck archetype right now.  

Your game plan against Taunt Druid is to hide behind an early voidlord, and try to summon Azari and destroy your opponent's deck before he can threaten you enough.  Don't try and rush him down- it won't work.  And be cautious of trading your minions into his taunts late game, as you could be potentially killing off your own minions and he will just bring them back with Hadronox.

Another thing to keep in mind in this unfavored match up is he can use Naturalize to potentially mill a card, or even Rin's seal if you aren't careful.

Hunter

Regardless of the hunter you are facing, spell or odd, your Mulligan will be the same.

Plated Beetle, Gnomeferatu, Stonehill Defender, Kobold Librarian, and Mortal Coil. The most valuable card in this match up will be the Plated Beetle.  You will also want Defile, and Hellfire, but if you get Defile, make to just keep Defile and throw the Hellfire back into your deck, because in the case it is Odd Hunter, you will not want to use the Hellfire.

Contrary to popular belief, you are actually favored against Hunter (all variations).  With all the heals in the deck and the Plated Beetle, they're relying on you not drawing anything to win, which is rather unlikely.

Strategy- Against Odd Hunter, you should be very careful when tapping.  Only tap if you must.  Against Spell Hunter, it's okay to tap and try to dig for Hellfire incase you didn't keep it in your opening hand.  Odd Hunter is more common and has a much stronger early game, so you will have more time to deal with any other Hunter variant (such as Spell Hunter).

Mage

Against Tempo Mage, you're going to want to keep: Plated Beetle, Gnomeferatu, Stonehill Defender, Kobold Librarian, and Mortal Coil. The most valuable card in this match up will be the Plated Beetle, as it can save you a lot of health.

Situational keeps: Situational keeps will be the Lesser Amethyst Spellstone, the only scenario you will want to keep this card is if you have a hand with Kobold Librarian, and Plated Beetle.

Strategy-

Against Tempo Mage- You will have to be very careful about tapping.  If you already have all the cards you need in your hand, it's correct to stop tapping.  Once you control the board, they have a limited amount of damage they can deal to you.  Keep this in mind, and heal accordingly.  Keep in mind what to play around, as most tempo mage decks run very similar lists - with no polymorphs or silences for the most part. The match up for this deck is surprisingly not that bad, at around 50% winrate.

Against Control Mage- You NEED to get rin off in this match up if you want to win.  If you're 100% certain its Control Mage because you just played the opponent, it's correct to keep Rin, the First Disciple and Dark Pact, because many of these lists run Skulking Geist, which can really hurt your combos.  The match up against this deck is slightly favored if played correctly.

Paladin

Up next is the Paladin class.  You should always grin when you face a Paladin, odd or even.  Against both of them your mulligan will be the same.  You wantKobold Librarian, Defile, Hellfire, Plated Beetle, Gnomeferatu, Stonehill Defender and lastly, Possessed Lackey in your opening hand.  It's okay to keep a Lesser Amethyst Spellstone if you have a Possessed Lackey and a Defile or Hellfire.

I personally have over 80% winrate against every type of Paladin with this deck.  This is by far your most favorable match up, which is good considering it is the most common deck on ladder right now.

Your game plan is very simple, efficiently trade your minions and use your board clears to keep control of the game.  Hold off on clearing the board as long as you can if you only have one board clear in your hand.  Also- Plan ahead.  If you can use Defile to clear, use Defile.  Try to save Hellfire for his Sunkeeper Tarim.

Another thing to be careful of is Equality +Avenging Wrath combo (in case you only have 1 voidlord and think you are safe).  Play around this if you can afford to, as your deathrattle will only activate after all the damage is dealt.

Priest

The most common variant of Priest right now is OTK Priest.  Against Priest, you want to keep Rin, the First Disciple, and Possessed Lackey in your opening hand every time.  Bloodreaver Gul'dan is also a 100% keep, as you will need him in order to beat OTK Priest. It's also okay to keep cards like Plated Beetle, GnomeferatuStonehill Defender.(Maybe you can discover Rin, in the case you don't draw her, you still have her). KeepHellfire incase he gets a decent start on board, and Kobold Librarian. 

Situational keep: If your hand is perfect (Rin, the First Disciple, Coin, Dark Pact, for example), you can consider keeping an Owl.  Silence can be very strong against Priests.  You can also keep your Lesser Amethyst Spellstone if you have a Kobold Librarian already in your hand.

This match up isn't very straight forward so I'll elaborate a bit on how to play it. 

Against OTK priest, you have to play very carefully.  The maximum amount of damage the most common variant of OTK priest can deal in one turn is 19, so play above that health total if possible.  Try and save your heals (unless you must dark pact a lackey or rin) until after they use Alexstrasza.  It can also be wise to hold onto your beetles for extra heals in the late game.  DO NOT hesistate to play them early on, but if you have the luxury of holding them in the late game, you can kill them off yourself for additional heals.

The match up against OTK priest is won either through a lucky Gnomeferatu, Azari, by slowly killing him while healing as Bloodreaver Gul'dan, or by Fatigue.

In this match up you will want to Gul'dan as early as possible.  Then, try to use your hero power every turn to maintain a healthy amount of HP.  Don't feel silly if you have to sacrificial pact a voidlord, sometimes it must be done.  Especially if you can play Gul'dan on the same turn, it isn't a bad move.

This is one of the match ups that Sacrificial Pact can really make a difference with some "pocket healing" that they don't expect, especially if they play Skulking Geist.  Remember - Onyl use all of your heals after they use Alextrasza, if you can afford to wait.

Keep in mind that if they kill your Voidlord, they can fill your deck with trash minions by using Psychic Scream, which will result in poor draws.  You will really have to count his cards, as well as your answers/heals in this match up.  

Rogue

Right now the most popular Rogue decks are Baku Rogue and Quest Rogue.  They are played about the same amount.  The mulligan against them will be the same, because against Quest Rogue you are highly unfavored and against Baku Rogue you are favored.  You will basically hope that they are Baku Rogue, or you will have a very bad time.  Thankfully, there aren't too many Quest Rogue players on ladder because they get destroyed by any aggro/midrange deck.

Against Baku Rogue, your game plan will be the same as against any other aggro deck.  To use your minions and board clears efficiently, get out your Voidlords and outvalue them.  Against Quest Rogue, you will try to kill them as early as possible while trading with minions they could use to complete the quest.  If this fails, try to Fatigue them.  This is the only way to win.

The mulligan will be as follows: 

Kobold Librarian, Plated Beetle, Gnomeferatu, Defile,Stonehill Defender, Hellfire, and Possessed Lackey.

Situational Keep - Lesser Amethyst Spellstone ONLY IF you have Kobold Librarian and another play (2 drop or Stonehill Defender, for example).

Shaman

Shaman is very uncommon on ladder right now, 1% of my matches were against shaman.  We should still be favored against all Shaman variants, the only one that should give this deck a bit of trouble is the OTK Shudderwock Shaman, which suffers greatly against other aggro decks.

Against Shaman, you want to keep your board clears (Defile, Hellfire), Plated Beetle, Gnomeferatu, Kobold Librarian, Stonehill Defender, Possessed Lackey, and Rin, the First Disciple.

Situational keep- Dark Pact, if you have Rin AND the coin.

Against Shaman, if they're an aggro variant you're going to want to simply outvalue them.  If they are Shudderwock, you're going to want to get your Azari as soon as possible and destroy their deck, while delaying their combo as much as possible.

Warlock

Warlock is the second most common class right now, due to how many Paladins there are on ladder.  Against Warlock, you're always going to assume it's cubelock, even if Control Warlock is more popular on ladder right now.  The mulligan wouldn't be too different, and it's just much safer to assume they are Cube.

Your general strategy is going to be to hide behind your voidlord and summon Azari as soon as possible.  Be sure to have a way to kill off Rin, the First Disciple, as she could be silenced and you end up having a very hard time.

In many games, even without Rin you simply outvalue them. Gnomeferatu really helps in this match up as well, not only forcing them closer to Fatigue but also potentially Milling a key card.

The key to this match up is using your resources pretty greedily if you can afford to.  If you have the board, and are working on summoning Azari, the match is pretty much over.  This is one of the reasons Sacrificial Pact is in the deck.  You can really dominate the board state and force your opponent ot put off summoning his Azari if you take the board by killing a big minion with a 0 cost card.  This way, you can use two seals on turn 10, AND kill a big minion, instead of only being able to use one seal.  It's just a massive tempo swing.

Against Warlock, you want to keep - Kobold Librarian, Acidic Swamp Ooze, Gnomeferatu, Plated Beetle (unless you already have Gnomeferatu), Stonehill Defender,Possessed Lackey, Rin, the First Disciple, and Bloodreaver Gul'dan.

Situational Keep - Dark Pact if you already have a good hand AND have a Possessed Lackey WITH the coin.  Voodoo Doll IF you already have a good hand (cards listed above) AND have a Mortal Coil (incase you need to deal with a mountain giant.  But only keep this if you at least have a turn 2, and turn 3 play).

Warrior

Lastly, we have Warrior.  The most common Warrior decks right now are Baku Control Warrior and Baku Quest/Taunt Warrior.  Those decks are built to beat aggro/midrange, and while some can tech in some cards to try and beat Control Lock, it's an uphill battle for them.

The strategy against Warrior is going to be just to summon Azari.  They won't be able to go through your Voidlord walls in time.  The only things you should be wary in this match up is Brawl, Reckless Flurry, and whether or not they will complete the quest and kill you with their hero power before you summon Azari.

Your board clears aren't going to be too efficient in this match up, so the main cards you want to look for are:

Kobold Librarian, Gnomeferatu, Plated Beetle (if no Gnomeferatu), Stonehill Defender, Possessed Lackey, Rin, the First Disciple, and Bloodreaver Gul'dan.

Situational keeps can be: Dark Pact, IF and ONLY IF you have the coin, a turn 2-3 play, AND Rin in your opening hand.

That's going to be it for the guide :) I'll be uploading a video a bit later where I showcase the deck and go into a bit of detail for those of you who don't have the time to read the entire guide.  Thanks for reading, and happy climbing!