Handlock is back! 2019 (updated)
- Last updated Apr 15, 2019 (Rise of Shadows)
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Wild
- 22 Minions
- 8 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Handlock
- Crafting Cost: 8020
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 4/10/2019 (Rise of Shadows)

- DoubleSummon
- Registered User
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- 17
- 63
- 245
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Battle Tag:
DoubleSummon#2578
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Region:
EU
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Total Deck Rating
178
Ok I kept playing around with cards and I think this version of Handlock is much better I saw the warmage package and I am digging it actually
I cut almost all healing cards from the deck as they are too weak.. so what if you lose hp? you don't HAVE to heal, healing is low tempo, you gain HP by not losing it in the first place, by playing taunts and going aggressive. Currently running owl cause there are too many 4 cost cards in the deck, might be just a dumb choice most people run spell breaker.
Also I cut rafaam he is bad in the deck, it's not like the deck is irrelevant in the late game, you have jaraxxus vs long control games.
Anyway I will make a short mulligan guide:
ALWAYS KEEP Mountain Giant IN HAND NO MATTER WHAT, best card in the deck, the reason you are playing it, the second best card in the deck is Twilight Drake
While playing second you can still play a giant at 4 if you play a card and tap, if you go first if you want to play a giant on 4 you need to tap once and not play a card, coining drake is not a mistake it's ok to play giant on 5.
VS Druid(expecting tokens): Hellfire,Doomsayer,Ancient Watcher+ taunt giver,Doomsayer.
VS Warrior: Oozes, Twilight Drake mostly, giant obviously you are going aggressive in this matchup.
VS Rogue(expecting "tempo"(face) rogue): same as druid but also oozes are good.
VS Priest: haha priest
VS Mage: they are mostly khadgar now, so keep giant and drakes, always kill their giant unless you can see a 2 turn lethal.
VS Warlock(expecting zoo or mirror): keep giant but also an AOE just in case both decks are popular so who knows... I would still keep hellfire.
VS Paladin(expecting mech paladin) keep owl against egg, secret paladin is bad against this deck I played the matchup, it wasn't even close.
VS hunter: you can keep owl vs mech hunter if you see them a lot maybe tech another owl. also taunt givers, didn't see many hunters lately.
VS Shaman(expecting murloc shaman): keep AOE, taunt givers, vs big shaman you should be favored as they don't run earthshock.. mostly, and it's ok if you kept a hellfire or shadowflame + watcher I guess you will just tap once you see no murlocs.
Since you draw a lot you are expected to hold those cards in your hand by then I think twisting nether is MEH in this deck but warmage is really good and I foundmyself lacking 4 damage to finish the game most of the time..
Sunreaver Warmage is really necessary? I mean, we only have 3 spells in the entire deck that synergizes with her. Isn't Aranasi Broodmother or Rotten Applebaum better?
Looks very good! 2 questions.
1. Are Zilliaxand Lord Godfrey major key cards? I dont have them at the moment.
2. In what way do you fight Lackeys? they are powerful and crush all the taunts
1.Zilliax is a priority craft it's the most versatile card in the game I would recommend crafting him ASAP, he is not a key card as the deck doesn't run mechs except the experimental safe I am trying currently (and it does OK I think). He is really good but the deck can function without him.
Lord Godfrey is one of many AOEs in the deck he is VERY powerful and crushes aggro if they try to develop a board in the mid/late game he isn't a must but very powerful, and really good against token druid.
2. By lackeys you mean rogue? cause I try to play as much proactive as I can mulligan for taunt givers, drakes,ooze, and giants as always a 4 mana 8/8 is good against any deck., play your AOEs efficiently be greedy when you can afford to and don't be afraid to tap even if it's aggro if you play the key taunts at the right time it's better than having 2 more HP.
Normally too many 1 offs indicate of an unrefined deck.. which is great in my opinion cause it means the deck has place to evolve I will try to implement your ideas into the deck and dalaran librarian is probably not so good as I thought it would be, yes sometimes you draw the nuts but it only works with 4 cards in the deck.. thanks for the input! I am really excited to try new variations/ improvements to handlock.
Umm most of my 1 ofs are Legendaries or tech cards. Control Warlock decks have always ran many singletons. You don't run 2x Siphon Soul, you don't run 2x Ooze, the single Ancient Watcher is just there for synergy, you can cut it and run another Applebaum, but Applebaum isn't worth running 2x, Safeguard also isn't worth running two. Mosh'Ogg is there in place of Twisting, you aren't running two. Having a taunt minion for each turn is much more important in a deck like this.
I did a little experimenting with your deck list and came up with something a little different. I love the shadowflames, but hate the watchers. Replace with heal package and it's much stronger. You still have plenty of minions to Shadowflame/Taunt-up, but now they heal you and provide pressure. Additionally I switched out Rafaam for Leeroy, going for the "kill you first" approach to bomb warriors. Check out link below.
http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/1264573-handlock-very-aggressive-ros-build
I change the list a bit, will update shortly, too many watchers and the librarian turn out to be too many, I cut one ancient watcher and tried the list above I quite liked it but I didn't include "a 8 cost card cause the original list had a 8 cost card" been running thalnoa to activate the watchers, and also shriek to combat aggro, didn't lose to aggro yet, also I decided that healing is overrated I cut off healing almost entirely, healing is expensive taunt minions are not.
Yeah you are probably right, I didn't play this deck too much yet I think dalaran librarian might be a weak link, specially not a 2 of.. maybe just 1, and probably some 1 mana cards like shriek or better survavility, this deck is probably yet to be optimized.. need some more removal as far as I saw maybe the whizbang deck is right to include shadowbolt...
I've been play testing Handlock since the set came out, having a lot of success with it, just hit Rank 4 all the way from rank 14 (I haven't played the last two months). At first I was trying to fill holes in the old Control Warlock shell, but all the healing cards left kind of suck (Zilliax is the best by far, then Jaraxxus if you're really low). So I went all-in on the taunt package (because not taking damage is better than healing). Broodmother just isn't worth it with no demon synergy, and the heal would pop too early some games, so I cut it for Safeguard (way more value and combos with Zilliax). Beefy early minions (Giant, Drake, Faceless Rager) can overwhelm your opponent most times and you just win. Arcane Watcher has just been insane as a Shadowflame/Argus/Sunfury/Faceless target, and so many people will end up trying to get rid of it. Against aggro decks you just snuff them out gradually and win, and against control I've noticed early bombs or stalling into Jaraxxus/Rafaam is key.
With all the OTK/Combo decks gone Jaraxxus is also amazing again (especially with Guldan gone), setting him up against another control deck is usually hard for them to out value. I also cut Twisting Nether because you end up nuking too much of your own board most times, I subbed in Mosh'Ogg Enforcer as another taunt bomb which can also be targeted by Faceless (though that 8 mana slot is flexible). I'm running 2x Shadow Flame which is much better than Twisting with all the good sac targets. Rafaam has been surprisingly strong, though you don't always need to even play him. I try to get Jaraxxus down or make sure I'm controlling tempo before I ever play him. One crazy game he gave me Talanji and she summoned my whole hand. He also nukes the effect of Bomb Warrior/Hakaar decks at the right moment. Anyway, here is my list if you wanna check it out.
### Handlock
# Class: Warlock
# Format: Standard
# Year of the Dragon
#
# 2x (1) Mortal Coil
# 1x (2) Acidic Swamp Ooze
# 1x (2) Ancient Watcher
# 2x (2) Doomsayer
# 2x (2) Sunfury Protector
# 2x (3) Arcane Watcher
# 2x (3) Faceless Rager
# 2x (4) Defender of Argus
# 2x (4) Hellfire
# 2x (4) Shadowflame
# 2x (4) Twilight Drake
# 1x (5) Rotten Applebaum
# 1x (5) Zilliax
# 1x (6) Safeguard
# 1x (6) Siphon Soul
# 1x (7) Arch-Villain Rafaam
# 1x (7) Lord Godfrey
# 1x (8) Mosh'Ogg Enforcer
# 1x (9) Lord Jaraxxus
# 2x (12) Mountain Giant
#
AAECAcn1AgrdBIkGigfMCMXzApz4AqCAA9iJA5eXA8CYAwqKAZMB+wX7BrYH4QeNCMQIrpsDyJ0DAA==
#
# To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthston
Nice deck. Thank you.
Great deck.
With the intentions of potentially 4 taunt givers and 2 Shadowflames you have already in place for the 4 "can't attack" minions, do you feel Dalaran Librarian has a place in the deck when nearly every other minion in the deck suffers from silence directly, through the loss of taunt, healing capabilities, and/or health total (for example: Twilight Drake), resulting in Dalaran Librarian being an otherwise dead card in hand?
it has 2 targets in the deck at least. I see your point though.
have you tested it out at all or just a theory?
I used two copies of it in a similar Handlock build in lieu of a copy of each Sunfury Protecter and Defender of Argus, so there were fewer situations during which Dalaran Librarian would have a significant drawback on the board, and still found it to be a dead card too frequently for my preference. I opted to remove it to make space for the Sense Demons, Plot Twist, and Aranasi Broodmother combo.
In the end I cut him, I cut also a silence target and I run thalnos to sometimes activate a watcher and amplify the AOE cards sometimes..
I feel like I am almost there in this deck I am mostly reaching a situation where I need 5 extra damage then my opponent AOE my board.. I think this deck needs more burst potential, looking to add a leeroy or argent commanders to the deck.
I can see sense demons being good to pull jaraxxus more often as well as healing I am not sold on the broodmother a 4/6 taunt for 6 is weak and the healing is only for your face.