[Standard] Bomb Warrior Counter Warlock
- Last updated Apr 15, 2019 (Rise of Shadows)
- Edit
- |
Wild
- 20 Minions
- 10 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Handlock
- Crafting Cost: 7140
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 4/10/2019 (Rise of Shadows)
- Sovereign_State
- Registered User
-
- 1
- 10
- 24
-
Battle Tag:
N/A
-
Region:
US
-
Total Deck Rating
51
Welcome to my TL;DR sized deck guide! Hope you enjoy!
Deck Breakdown:
This deck takes classic Handlock staples such as Mountain Giant and Twilight Drake and pairs them with a timely win condition in Arch-Villain Rafaam.
The deck also features a strong spell presence, which is bolstered by the inclusion of 1 copy of Mana Reservoir, which possesses one hell of a unique stat-line at 0/6 for 2 mana, and +1 Spell Damage, of course.
Faceless friends total 0 in the updated version of the decklist, but could total upwards of 4, should you desire. Lastly, the deck has access to a new shuffle mechanic introduced to Warlock with the most recent expansion.
Use Plot Twist in conjunction with Aranasi Broodmother and Sense Demons. Aranasi Broodmother heals the hero for 4 upon being drawn, turning Sense Demons into a 3 mana, draw two specific minions, and heal 8. Not to mention the combo's hand size advantageous outcome.
Finally, the new legendary that everyone gets for free for logging into Hearthstone, helps extract more value from the numerous spell options you have at your disposal, while also providing a 2/6 stat-line and soft-taunt status.
Card Replacement Options:
For starters, all of the legendaries are core to this deck archetype and its objectives. Further legendary considerations include Leeroy Jackson (in conjunction with Faceless Manipulator), Bloodmage Thalnos, or Zilliax.
Going down the list provided in the deck breakdown section, each paragraph served as a separate package of certain cards - spells and minions, all bound together by a specific theme, with a singular intent and objective in mind. Tie all the packages together over the course of a match with the inherent synergies that exist between them and you will find success. As such, the aforementioned, themed card packages are also core to the deck.
Meta-dependent Card Adjustments:
EDIT 1 (4/10/2019): -1 Faceless Manipulator, -1 Mana Reservoir, +2 Acidic Swamp Ooze - deals with prevalent weapons such as Spectral Cutlass and Wrenchcalibur better.
EDIT 2 (4/15/2019): -2 Faceless Rager, +2 Spellward Jeweler - ensures better longevity versus spell and hero power combos when at low health.
+1 Ancient Watcher, Sunfury Protector, Defender of Argus, and Shadowflame - ensures better overall longevity through the increase of taunt-enablers and a 2 mana 4/5 body that can receive taunt or be utilized with the additional Shadowflame copy also added.
-2 Arcane Watcher and Hecklebot - Arcane Watcher underperformed in the prior edition of the deck due to the lack of taunt-enable and consistent spell damage. Hecklebot was also counter-intuitive to the goals of the deck, although providing a 4 mana, 8 health target for Faceless Rager, was not worth the downside.
If people want, I can provide gameplay videos or further strategy discussion, such as specific matchup guidance, mulligan information, etc. I have provided some of this for the Bomb Warrior matchup in the comment section already. Please give me your thoughts in the comment section below and good luck laddering!
Here's one hint to help you succeed in a common matchup you'll be having on Ladder:
Use Arch-Villain Rafaam to turn all the bombs they shuffled into your deck into legendaries that you can get value with! Prioritize Arch-Villain Rafaam in your mulligan and keep him until they've shuffled a majority of their bombs into your deck already, unless you need to use him earlier to survive or feel you can outright take the game by playing him. Arch-Villain Rafaam is not a card you use at the end of the game once you've hit fatigue. Ideally, you'd use him on Turn 7,
follow-up with a Princess Talanji (generated by Arch-Villain Rafaam) on Turn 8,
and proceed to out-tempo and out-value and oppress your opponent with your newfound legendary friends.
However, Archivist Elysiana is included in the deck as a handcuff (in Fantasy Football: the idea behind handcuffing is drafting a player’s direct positional back-up as an insurance policy should the starter get injured). To complete the analogy, Archivist Elysiana is included in this deck as an insurance policy should Arch-Villain Rafaam, our star player, get "injured". In this case, the term "injured" refers to Arch-Villain Rafaam being played just shortly before or during fatigue, with little or no resources and/or value generated. By including Archivist Elysiana in the deck, you have the opportunity to generate 10 net cards (assuming fatigue), which can be upgraded to legendaries with Arch-Villain Rafaam. Additionally, Archivist Elysiana can provide you with another deck cleansing, should those pesky bombs be plentiful.
Why would you wait so long to play Rafaam? Well, here are a number of possible reasons:
1. Rafaam was taking a sweet vacay at the bottom of your deck, so you didn't get a chance to play him earlier.
2. Rafaam wanted to join the party but you had to send him away with a Plot Twist in order to survive a significant threat presented by the opponent. This is not ideal but may prove necessary over the course of the match against a Bomb Warrior, specifically if you find yourself without an answer to an early Blastmaster Boom with prior bomb-shuffle investment by the opponent.
3. The opposing Bomb Warrior thought they were clever by holding onto their bomb-shuffling cards until you only had a few cards remaining in their deck, expecting you to blow Rafaam early. The aforementioned strategy does not work in Bomb Warrior's favor, for reasons I would love to explain, if it didn't play right into the hands of Bomb Warrior players viewing this deck (this is war, people).
Not this time, chiefy ;P