Tick Tech
- Last updated Sep 26, 2021 (Demon Seed Ban)
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Wild
- 15 Minions
- 14 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Corrupted Warlock
- Crafting Cost: 17220
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 4/3/2021 (Forged in the Barrens)
- PowerOfCheez
- Registered User
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- 14
- 57
- 97
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Battle Tag:
PowerOfCheez#1873
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Region:
US
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Total Deck Rating
224
Bottom Line Up Front, or TLDR, is this deck good or just 'fun' ? (revised for Tick Tech on 4/26):
Tick Tech is competitive. Control Warlock decks rarely do well against aggro, but the shell this based on is competitive across all classes, with exception of Warlock itself, and my changes attempt to resolve that.
The question I asked that led to this build was "How can I improve the competitiveness of a Tickatus Control deck across all classes?" The goal is to be even or better odds vs. all classes, not necessarily the best overall win rate. However, achieving this (or even just vs 8-9 of the 10 classes) would make for a far more even and likely enjoyable piloting experience.
This build has a nearly full heal/removal package (missing only Armor Vendors). It also features singletons of several tech cards, which together, give tools to deal with almost anything an opponent can throw at you, except secrets, which require the usual tactics to test and play around.
Will update this periodically as the meta continues to shift and players of the list continue to improve their experience and win rates with it. Would love to hear player's good war stories in the comments!
Prefer Wild? Check this out:
Guide and article here.
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Minion (24)
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Ability (5)
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Playable Hero (1) |
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Behold the PowerOfCheez! This is my latest take on Tickatus Control. Tickatus builds that keep you in the game early give you a chance in most matchups (dominating Priest). Tickatus is one of the few reliable cards against other control decks, especially those which rely too heavily on C'Thun, the Shattered.
This list has the usual win conditions (Tickatus, Y'Shaarj, the Defiler, Envoy Rustwix, and minions in general). Games against control decks often go to fatigue.
Tech choices and play tips:
This is a card many Tickatus Control lists leave out. I found the mirrors (and to a lesser degree, games vs. other class' control builds) really need it to win in the late game.
In matchups against Warlock and Priest, it is really important not to play this too early. The three Primes you get into your deck against Warlock will become either bricks that slow you getting to other key cards or become food for the enemy Tickatus, which is only good situationally.
Against Priest, you can play him early, but have to kill him the turn played, or they can Soul Mirror it and you lose the edge it provides, and worse, they can then rez him back to out-edge you. A frequent play of mine is to play him then Hysteria an opponent's minion to clear the board, load my deck, and often, use two remaining mana for Lord Jaraxxus' hero power.
Ironbeak Owl is in this list in place of the second Acidic Swamp Ooze, so, if you do not like it, that would be the card to sub in for it. The owl gives you a key tool against enchantments (Paladin, Priest and sometimes Warrior and Hunter), Taunts, Deathrattles (like opponent's Taelan Fordrings used in several classes to protect a win con from Tickatus), and end of turn effects, etc.
Helps against the several classes which run weapons... Hunter, Demon Hunter, Paladin, Rogue, Warrior and Warlock all run them. I have seen Mage and Priest running Sphere of Sapience occasionally, also. Have even had occasion to use this against a Priest who got a copy of my Lord Jaraxxus.
Shadow Hunter Vol'jin is tech similar to the Ironbeak Owl, but with the added twist of being able to bounce your own cards situationally, when your hand is right. Can enable a third Tickatus play via bouncing him, or a second Y'Shaarj, the Defiler. Edge cases, but still valuable.
More commonly, its important use is for its Dirty Rat effect, which can force important cards out of your opponent's hand before they get to play them for their Battlecry. This can be crucial, as their hand is the only place safe from Tickatus, and this list has tons of removal and life gain to let you take it out soon after.
Soul Shear and Drain Soul
This builds run both. Soul Shear can net you one additional life over the course of a game (if you don't burn a Soul Fragment than Drain Soul. The price is that the gain is later, and random; that is actually a good thing if you are at full life when you cast it, as you store the gain for when you aren't (hopefully).
Soul Fragments also dilute your deck against an enemy Tickatus, so you usually want to prioritize playing them in the mirror, especially as they approach the ability to play any card that costs 7+.
Note, in some matchups, and when I have a well curved hand with Spirit Jailer and/or either/both of these two removal cards, I often elect to use The Coin to hero power on turn one. It is important to get to the win cons, and because we do not want Soul Fragments or Lifesteal to be wasted, taking two damage and drawing on turn one can be a good move with this list, as long as you can remove an enemy drop on turn 2 (and, if you do not have to, even better to draw again).
Mulligan Guide (in development)
In general, you really want the affordable stuff first, and, in non-aggro matchups, Tickatus (best if you have some other early plays with it, but a keep against the mirror always, as may be Lord Jaraxxus). Taelon Fordring can be a good keep if you have 2-3 other early plays.
Will try to get some matchup specific stuff in here if stats become available.
Baseline Matchup Stats (from usual Control Warlock shell)
Here is a free external link to the HSReplay matchup percentages for an established list that much of the card shell comes from (a high win rate Standard Control Warlock build).
The link in this spoiler (to the deck the shell comes from) should provide more useful baseline data to analyze likely win rates (approximately) against specific deck archetypes. To get archetype specific matchup %s for Tick Tech will require many more games before we get that variety of info.
Would love to field any questions, hear your suggestions or comments. Until next time, (in a James Earl Jones voiceover) "Aaaah, the PowerOfCheez!"
Appendix Spoilers (Deeper Dive stuff, not needed to play):
How do I approach deck building and guide creation?
I always start a new deck with a question and try to answer it. 1.0/2.0 asked and attempted to answer "How do I build and play to most consistently maximize accelerating a Corrupt Tickatus into play?" While those were failures at being competitive, they taught me which cards were really best to achieve improvement toward that goal, and which were too marginal.
It is not always the success of the deck you build (to start) that is as important as what is learned by how you answer whatever question(s) you ask, and how the process informs your future play and build refinements, to improve both. 1.0/2.0 were great examples of taking what is learned from failure to move toward success.
This process has been evident in writing here. Given several positive comments about the quality of the guide (if not the 1.0 and 2.0 decks, lol), I felt like the early effort was rewarded enough to continue the work. I hope the rewards are enhanced now that I have applied the best of what was learned from 1.0 and 2.0 failures and successes to a refined 3.0 build.
This approach drives my building, play choices, and guide writing, not always what will get me to Legend fastest. Experienced players already know most (and more) of this stuff, but illustrating this creative deck building process may help newer or more casual players with how they think when playing other lists or building their own.
I am experienced (over 10,000 wins on the North American server alone, more on the other two), and the 1.0 and 2.0 decks taught me several things, especially about an odd interaction I describe in the guide (which I still have some questions about). 3.0 attempts to harvest just the essential core parts of ramping Tickatus out and slowing the opponent, while reclaiming much of the sustainment of the more standard Control Warlock build.
This is the evolution of how/why I put effort into a guide for a what started as a 'fun' experimental deck, but continued working with it to see if it can become competitive. I thank you if you do read it (or re-read it with the extensive changes), maybe play with the latest version and comment with this context (and thoughts about the post-nerf meta that may impact a 4.0) in mind.
Until then, if you read the guide, hope to see you in the comments!
List Development History:
After a brief experiment with Southsea Scoundrel, reverting to a teched version of the more established proven list. Tech cards in this build give you some answers against almost every threat. Aggro will still be our worst enemy, but the deck does have removal and life gain enough to bring the odds to a little better than even, something a lot of Ticklock decks can not say.
Adding a recent summary of the stats with (3.0) Claws of Tickatus here now that I am trying out 4.0 to try something new. The stats at 2300 games follow:
In 3.0 (Claws of Tickatus) I targeted a 54% overall win rate. As various meta shifts occurred and people learned the deck, it did rise to a 54.95 win rate (4/19) but fell back to 51.42% on 4/20 and has a lifetime 50.5% win rate at 2300 games. It murdered Priest (83.2%) as Control Warlock tends to. Great against Warrior (68.1%). It did very well in the near mirrors against Warlock (58.9%, or 56.4% vs the most played build) as its tech would be expected to give it an advantage there. It broke even against No Minion Mage (51.6%) though was only 47.8% vs. Mage overall. It was sub-par against Paladin (44%), Rogue (43.3%), Shaman (41.8%) and Demon Hunter (40.4%). Hunter (29.7%, as low as 19% vs. some builds) absolutely destroyed Claws of Tickatus.
The rest of the below was written before Southsea Scoundrel Tickatus (4.0) was posted.
List History: Posted the alpha version of this deck at mid-Gold near the end of a fun run with it from Bronze 10 to Gold 2 over two days. Never dreamed it would make front page at that stage, while the deck was still in its experimental genesis stages (Thank you, mates!). Once it was getting tons of views, added full transparency up front (as stated many times in comments and once near the end of the guide), 1.0/2.0 was NOT a competitive deck in the current meta above Gold. The intent was to continue work to refine it and update this along the way.
I finally saw some stats (renewed my stat tracker), and 1.0 was only about 42% win rate (33 vs. Lunacy mage) in @550 games. Made a few changes, and 2.0 gained a point or two, but still abysmal. So I had posted that, until the nerf, play 2.0 only in Bronze thru mid-Gold, in casual or at rank floors after Gold 5 and that I would re-evaluate after the nerfs and keep refining the deck.
I decided not to waste this space on Hearthpwn for that long and to improve this from 'fun' to competitive before the nerf. I did the stat research and after looking at the data (which I had NOT, initially), made extensive changes for 3.0. This list reverts very closely to the standard Control Warlock shell that features Soulciologist Malicia and her support, with only minimal and targeted changes (four cards required to accelerate playing Corrupt Tickatus and two to slow the opponent).
Gone are the wide range of experimental cards which proved marginal or worse at fulfilling the intent of the experiments (see next spoiler). The greed has been greatly reduced, the goal, focused in on. This deck plays much better.
Most recently, Watch Post Tickatus was renamed Claws of Tickatus, shifting the emphasis to the Claw Machines, and in anticipation that the big nerf of Far Watch Post will cause it to need replaced. Personally, I think a better nerf would have been to have it only increase the cost of spells drawn by 1, instead of all draws by 1, as lowering its health to 3 just completely thwarts any cumulative effect by making it so easy to kill. Restricting it to spells would have weakened it a LOT against most aggro, but left it as a good tech card against spell heavy decks.
Been thinking about that... the last Mor'shan Watch Post might be better to remove than Kanrethad Ebonlocke. It is more situational, and really only great in matchups that are already bad.
The Far Watch Posts do a lot more consistent work, and Kanrethad Ebonlocke directly supports the deck's strategies. Even if its only marginally good at that, it is always marginally good, unlike Mor'shan Watch Post, which is sometimes no good at all. Removing that feels like a lower opportunity cost.
At that point, with one less Lookout, Soulciologist Malicia starts to look more attractive in place of Kargal Battlescar, too.
Why not one of the scorpions? Seems pretty insignificant compared to a watchpost.
Discovery feels like one of the most powerful effects in the game to me. Plus, I like to combo them with Hysteria when the board is right. You could do that though. I get it.
Good point, well then a wandmaker makes more sense to me.
I wish I still had my stat tracking subscription... if you did, you could compare the win rates for Wandmaker vs. Venomous Scorpion vs. Mor'shan Watch Post. They would be generic win rates, not specific to this list, but would be a good starting point. That would probably be the logical way to decide.
So i dont really play warlock, but i see a lot of people struggling against aggro. So I was thinking.... add a Defender Of Argus? so they cant ignore the towers? Also -2 demonic studies for 2 spirit jailer, the extra sustain helps a lot.
Demonic Studies is so key to this deck, one of the most valuable cards. This deck is gutted without it, if you read in the guide about how integral it is to accelerating Tickatus for early corrupted play.
Plus Discover is just so powerful. You can choose cheap demons often, or lifesteal ones, or taunt ones all to help with aggro, too. This list actually tries to get extra Demonic Studies by playing the Wandmakers, it is so important. If you want Spirit Jailer, I suggest you just play the usual list.
Not personally a fan of Defender of Argus, but you can try it and let us know how it feels/works for you in the deck. Control decks always struggle with aggro, though... it is the scissors to our paper, so, I doubt any one or three card subs will change that a lot. A second Mor'shan Watch Post would fit with the list's intent and help against aggro, though at the expense of being more dead against minion-less decks. Everything is a trade-off.
Can I replace Kanrethad? Missing Tick and him, but plan on crafting Tickatus after I get my dust back from lunacy. Ebonlocke's gotta wait. Maybe Roame instead?
Sure! As a risk manager and student of economics, I always look at things in terms of trade-offs. Kanrethad Ebonlocke is part of the accelerated Tickatus combo-enabler, but he is the least used, least reliable, least effective part. To use him for acceleration, you have to play him AND have him survive a turn (you can play him and a corrupt trigger minion same turn, but that means waiting longer, which is ok if necessary, but not as good as the banked discounts from Demonic Studies). So, not having him is not a deal-killer.
The other two things he does is give you Kanrethad Prime, which is actually a better reason to have him, because that plays into bringing back a second Envoy Rustwix. You can make up for that a bit with a Felosophy or, less reliably, Shadow Council from Wandmaker, or Raise Dead off of Venomous Scorpid, etc. occasionally, though often one Envoy Rustwix is plenty. I consider KB one of the lower ranked cards in the deck necessity wise, just like it because it is cheap, with a couple effects that are powerful for two of the win cons.
I do think Tamsin Roame could work and may be one of the better options to preserve synergies. The deck features key Shadow cards (Demonic Studies, removal, and several of the other cards from Wandmaker). She is basically a later game card than turn 3 though, just keep that in mind as one of the tradeoffs. But if you want to replace it with a card that has similar synergies with the win cons, you could do a lot worse.
If this is basically your tech slot because you don't have it, you can consider any tech card for it, too. Horde Operative comes to mind, or even Acidic Swamp Ooze. Or the popular and valued Mankrik.
Because you asked, I got looking at cards that can actually be played at 2-3 mana and besides maybe a second Mor'shan Watch Post, there are several other viable (or at least interesting) candidates. Not sure if it would help more than hurt, but to boost the Far Watch Post's effects, but you might try Revenant Rascal or Cult Neophyte? I may play around with that concept for a different build.
There are a lot of choices, depending on your preference in the trade-offs. As with an earlier comment, these are not recommendations as much as suggestions on the thought process I would use, but in addition to the above thoughts, Brightwing could add some interesting RNG and additional win cons (or crud, of course). Educated Elekk might be interesting, but could slow you from digging your stuff out. Sunwell Initiate has been seeing a lot of play. Sneaky Delinquent could help against aggro some. Or you could just add some more removal, like a one of Soul Shear. You could main deck a card like Shadow Council or Altar of Fire.
Season to taste and let me know what you settle on!
Fun guide. Control warlock always gets stomped by aggro so to the people complaining about that stop whining because most control decks do in general. Watch posts at least makes this deck semi viable vs aggro
Thanks! Agreed! I often try to use the Circus Medics to gain life against aggro, even though that 4 life costs you 8 potential damage, as you have to live to win, and there are fewer Soul Fragments to help out. Plus you get that body on the board faster than trying to corrupt them. Also, when casting Demonic Studies, will be thrilled if I can discover demons with Taunt, Lifesteal or any form of removal. But yeah, I like Tickatus decks because of how it plays against control and midrange, not how it plays against aggro, lol.
congrats on the guide, but regretfully a control warlock cant afford to run super greedy cards or u gonna get trampled by aggressive decks after u brick on your draws
Excited the deck made the front page overnight. I see the views climbing and just wanted to say thank you for checking it out! As you can see in the comments, I try to respond to all, so, just wanted to say, I work today and will not be able to get back on until after work, so, expect replies from me in the evening (EST).
For those checking the list for the first time, who might not have time to read through all the comments, know that I posted this deck and guide as I was playing it from Bronze 10 to Gold 2. It was competitive for me through those ranks, but I did hit a wall at the top of gold due to the state of the current meta.
So, please, don't craft anything for this that you might regret, knowing this deck is not competitive at higher tiers yet, and will have to be tested after next week's nerfs (one of which may hit the Watch Post part of this list) to see if it becomes competitive once the meta is rebalanced.
I believe it will, but don't want you to think that just because this got enough attention to reach the home page (thank you everyone!) that it means its competitive at the moment in high tiers... it is not. You can have fun with it (I do) at the rank floors and then give it another shot when the nerfs go live. That's my plan! Will make more updates at that point in time relevant to the meta change, in case you want to turn notifications on for the list.
Despite the overwhelming effort to write a good guide, I regret crafting this deck at diamond 5. It's really bad in the current meta, and the current control warlock deck I went back to using now is much better (i am back to diamond 3 now).
Great idea though - but it's one of those decks that sounds nice in theory but in the meta/practice it's just not working.
Thank you for respecting the effort on the guide! It will continue to be refined more when the meta changes next week.
Hey, sorry if you missed the several times I said this is not good in the current meta above Gold tier in the comments or that there are more effective lists in the current meta in the Deck of Lunacy Spoiler at the end of the article.
I do believe that it will become competitive at the higher tiers after the 6 nerfs next week, though, as they will bring Mage, Paladin and Rogue down to earth quite a bit, I believe. So, don't count it out yet, just play more effective lists till then, maybe practicing with this at the 5 and 10 rank floors to get a feel for how to mulligan with it and time stuff, etc. until then.
In general, unless I have a LOT of dust (which I often do on my Americas account, but not on my free to play Europe or Asia accounts), I usually try new lists with subs instead of crafting speculatively, unless it is a meta-defining card I know I will use in other decks. Most of the cards in this list are usable in other builds and either core, common/rare or free. I think the only legendary card that is not either a staple, meta-defining, or usable in other builds would be Kargal Battlescar, right? Hopefully you are not out more than one legendary worth of dust and feel better if you give it another chance after the nerfs.
Hey! I was looking forward to seeing Control Warlock with Tickatus being an even better deck and with this expansion and with your great decklist and guide this is the way to go! Thank you :)
By the way, what card do you think is a good replacement for Kan?
Thanks! If by Kan you mean Kargal Battlescar, that card is basically in the slot that other Tickatus builds feature Soulciologist Malicia, so that would be my first sub recommendation, which would also require subbing in Soul Shear for Drain Soul and thinking about if you want to sub in any of the other Soul Fragment generators. At that point, you are moving back toward the more standard version of the archetype, which is fine, but comes with tradeoffs, too.
If you do not have or want to play either of those, look through your 7-9 cost non-demon minions for other options, and your 8-9 cost demons, and see if any sync up with the role the card has.
For example, the new Onyxia the Broodmother floods the board AND it replenishes each turn. That is not a recommendation, as I am sure others in those ranges might be viable, too, with different strengths to play to, and tradeoffs for how soon they can corrupt Tickatus in the early game. There are a lot of cards you could potentially sub, but I have not treated that as a tech slot and tested any subs for it, so, this is more about suggestions on the thought process than the specific sub.
Once the meta shifts after the upcoming nerfs to Mage, Paladin, Rogue and some neutral cards next week, I do plan to add a sub list based on the meta at that time, which is when I have been saying this deck will become competitive beyond Gold tier. Since first posting this, I have advanced past the level where this deck works well enough in the current meta, so, won't be testing subs before it level-sets next week.
Ohhh, you meant Kanrethad... sorry, drew a blank. Hey, see comment #39, I answered that in depth for a different person. Sorry about the confusion.
This deck looks great at first look. Whats even better? I had all the cards and now I will start playing with it, will come back with a feedback. Also, thoughtful guide, helps a lot.