Hello, my nickname is Grubos and I'm F2P player from The Czech Republic.

I reached legend rank on EU server with this deck in season 9. It took me 4 days with no regular playing time to get from rank 5 to legend

• UPDATE 18/01/2015: Working on this deck postponed, but I'll get back to it, don't worry guys. Right now (SEASON 10) I'm playing new Mal'Ganis Handlock deck, so give it a try, leave there a comment and don't forget to rate +1 if you like it. Thanks! ;-)

[Grubos] Mal'Ganis Handlock S10 Unknown Deck by Grubos - Jan 18, 2015 View Deck String Export to BBCode Export to Cockatrice Export to MarkDown Export to Html Clone this deck
Minion (23) 1x Dr. Boom 1x Mal'Ganis 1x Sylvanas Windrunner 2x Molten Giant 2x Mountain Giant 1x Recombobulator 1x Ancient Watcher 1x Defender of Argus 2x Sludge Belcher 2x Sunfury Protector 2x Twilight Drake 1x Antique Healbot 1x Dread Infernal 1x Ironbeak Owl 2x Voidcaller 2x Zombie Chow	Ability (6) 2x Shadowflame 1x Siphon Soul 1x Darkbomb 2x Mortal Coil	Playable Hero (1) 1x Lord Jaraxxus
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• UPDATE 09/01/2015: First update for season 10, but work is still in progress (still not sure about Siphon Soul and still thinking about Sylvanas Windrunner and about adding some anti-aggro 1-drop).
• UPDATE 27/12/2014: Added three MATCHUPS (Druid, Control Warrior, Aggro Hunter)
• UPDATE 26/12/2014: Added MULLIGANING, POSSIBLE REPLACEMENTS, FAQ

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GUIDE STILL IN PROGRESS (right now working on other MATCHUPS).

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MULLIGANING

• Against AGGRO you want Ancient Watcher+Ironbeak Owl/Sunfury Protector, good is also Molten Giant to taunt up when you're low health. And of course also good are removals like Mortal Coil, Darkbomb and Hellfire/Shadowflame.
• Against CONTROL mulligan for Twilight Drake, Mountain Giant and in mirror match Big Game Hunter.

• If you face Shaman Twilight Drake usually loses his value because of Earth Shock so you can throw him away.
• Agains Warlock I mulligan like it is a ZOO because it is the most common Warlock archetype at this moment.

MATCHUPS

Druid

• In general the slower the Druid is, the better matchup it’s for us. But I think all versions of Druid are favorable for Handlock 65/35.
• Druid’s only way to get rid of our Giants is usually Big Game Hunter, so Mountain Giant on turn 4 is the best scenario (another Mountain Giant on turn 5 is fantasy). Sometimes you have to play just Twilight Drake, but you have to think before playing him if you have another option – it is very probable that it will get silenced by Keeper of the Grove and if he has Harvest Golem/Haunted Creeper out already, it‘s really valuable silence+trade for him (with 2 minions remaining) and you’re very close to some serious Savage Roar suprise. That reminds me: Always clear their board so you don’t just die to Savage Roar! (But you of course don’t attack for example Haunted Creeper by Mountain Giant.)
• Never tap below 14 health if you don’t have to!
• It’s much better to taunt up Ancient Watcher to protect your Giants from „Black-Knighting“. (Well, The Black Knight is not so ussual in this meta so this point you don’t have to take so seriously at this moment.)

Control Warrior

• 50/50 matchup, maybe 55/45 for Handlock if you play smart and you don’t get very bad draw.
• Try to get their armor to 0 before playing a Giant so you can avoid Shield Slam.
• Use your removals wisely – Big Game Hunter for 7+ attack minions (Dr. Boom/Ragnaros the Firelord), Siphon Soul for other big threats (usually also legendaries but it’s not a rule).
• Don’t let them to get extra value from Armorsmith and especially form Acolyte of Pain.
• Usually it’s possible to create solid board presence but don’t over-extend because of Brawl, also use your Loatheb smartly against Brawl and other removals if you have to.
• Sylvanas Windrunner+Shadowflame combo has huge value very often.
• Try to stay above 12 health so you don’t die to Grommash Hellscream+Cruel Taskmaster.

Aggro Hunter

• Probably the worst matchup – something between 30/70 & 35/65.
• Hellfire/Shadowflame & taunting Ancient Watcher is crucial. Sludge Belcher can also stop them for awhile if they don’t have silence. The best scenario is taunting 2x Molten Giant and then heal with 2x Antique Healbot.
• Don’t Life Tap so often if  you don’t have to.
• Sometimes you get lucky and they don’t have the card that beats you, so play risky - hit face when you have reliable taunts instead of clearing the board etc.

MORE COMMING SOON...

POSSIBLE REPLACEMENTS

• If you don't have Lord Jaraxxus which is a core card you can substitute him just with Alexstrasza.
• Feel free to play Dr. Boom instead of Sylvanas Windrunner. In that case you can also play 2 Hellfire and 1x Shadowflame, but I personally preffer Shadowflame.
• If you face a lot of AGGRO you can replace Big Game Hunter with second Defender of Argus, another possible replacement is 2nd Mortal Coil/Hellfire for 1x Siphon Soul.

• Another cards that are possible to remove (but I DON'T really recommend that) are: 1x Antique Healbot, Recombobulator and Loatheb.
• Another cards that are viable for this deck are: Earthen Ring Farseer, Faceless Manipulator, Ragnaros the Firelord, meta-dependent cards like Harrison Jones/The Black Knight, Bloodmage Thalnos.

FAQ

Q: What are your thoughts on Ogre Brute vs Ancient Watcher?

A: I tried to play Ogre Brute instead of Ancient Watcher, but that 1 health and 1 mana difference was too much for me. I feel that Ancient Watcher has better stability in the long run. But you can definetely try it for yourself, maybe you're going to have more success than me. ;)

Q: What do you use the Recombobulator for?

A: It is an instant complete heal for the Mountain Giant & Molten Giant. Then you can upgrade Antique Healbot, which has great battlecry but stats are not so good and there are many better 5-cost minions with taunts etc. (Sludge Belcher for example). Another possible targets are silenced/damaged Twilight Drake, Defender of Argus. Also great targets are silenced Sylvanas Windrunner or Infernal - there is a big probability you'll get a legendary, there are many of them on 6-mana cost.

Q: Why don't you use at least one Soulfire?

A: Soulfire is a card that I never liked in Handlock, it is so inconsistent because of that discard. And now when it costs 1 mana it's even worse. I think that with 2x Darkbomb is the deck much more stable.

Q: From what rank you started to use this deck before reaching legend?

A: I started at rank 7, but I used this as my only one deck that I haven't switched once from rank 6.

Q: Why Sylvanas Windrunner instead of Dr. Boom?

A: Sylvanas Windrunner has great synergy with Shadowflame, she is great silence bait and I don't own Dr. Boom so that's also why I run Sylvanas Windrunner. But feel free to play anyone of those two as I mentioned above. ;)

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GUIDE STILL IN PROGRESS (right now working on other MATCHUPS).

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I will answer every question, so feel free to comment or add me in the game - grubos#2906. !

I was also wondering if there will be an interest about streaming, so please let me know guys. ;)

And don't forget to rate my deck if you like it! Thank you.