Season 13 Demon Handlock
- Last updated Apr 12, 2015 (Blackrock Launch)
- Edit
- |
Wild
- 26 Minions
- 4 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Unknown
- Crafting Cost: 8720
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 5/14/2014 (Live Patch 5314)
- SirFunchalot
- Registered User
-
- 16
- 22
- 46
-
Battle Tag:
N/A
-
Region:
US
-
Total Deck Rating
964
Link:
BBCode:
Export to
I've been thinking about how voidcaller might fit into the deck. The problem I have is that the demons it summons skip their battlecry. So it could be a problem with Jaraxxus. But I like the idea of reliably getting voidcaller out on turn 4-5ish and having Illidan as the only demon in your hand. Which you could do if you just replaced Jaraxxus with voidcaller. You could either keep pit lord as a second target for voidcaller or replace it with Alexstrasza which, sadly, isn't a demon. But would give you the same late game health utility.
Just keeping the deck as-is and replacing pit lord with voidcaller is another option. Bringing out a free 3/15 isn't the worst thing in the world. But losing the battlecry would make me sad.
Personally I think Voidcaller has a place in another type of deck where it can put copies of Doomguard and Pit Lord in to play, but this particular deck, being a control deck, is not the place for that sort of strategy as those cards don't help our game plan with the exception of the miser's copy of Pit Lord that's already in the list.
I think it would see its full value realized in another type of deck. But I like the idea of a free Illidan so you can fill up your board with flames immediately.
But thats a best case scenario. It could also get rid of your ataxia or put a voiceover in play and its also taking away from you playing another more powerful 4 drop during your turn like twilight drake mountain giant or pitlord
Really enjoying this deck. I enjoy Handlock, but it's a deck that hadn't really changed much since its inception last October or so. This type of deck is different enough to keep me interested.
I first ran into this deck a couple days ago. I mainly play Ramp Watcher Druid. I was against a Warlock who opened up with two Voidwalkers. Obvious Zoo Lock opening, I thought, so I ramp into Keeper of the Grove to handle early aggression... And then he played Sense Demons. And then he played a Mountain Giant. And then he played Illidan, followed by watchers, followed by Stormwind Champion (to buff the Flames I assume), followed by more Giants. I got beat pretty easily. I was a bit amazed at what he was able to do with Illidan behind taunts, googled "Illidan Handlock", and I was lead to this deck.
I'm liking the use of the Pit Lord. I haven't had a game yet where he's torn up anything or anyone midgame yet, but he does seem to draw premium removal that isn't burned on the Giants. It sucks to draw him late game though, against decks where you're not comfortable losing that 5 health. He definitely is the unexpected minion to show up in the current meta though.
Edit: Just had a game against a Rogue that got an 8/8 VanCleef on turn 3. The only viable option I could do was drop the Pit Lord, which got sapped anyways. Never have I missed the Ironbeak Owl more.
Well I'm glad you're enjoying playing the deck, but that scenario against the Rogue certainly sucks and I've had similar situations happen plenty of times. Owl provides a lot more utility than a lot of people think it does, however Miracle Rogue is one of your strongest matchups and rarely while Pit Lord might not be as helpful there, he certainly is worth his cost against Shaman and Druid which he helps to turn less in to coin flip matches by providing you with another threat that's difficult to deal with outside of spending minions or premium removal. The fact that he's a 5th target for Sense Demons is also big as using your draw spell to draw Wisp's that cost 1 mana is far from ideal and he provides enough utility against slower decks to be worth the inclusion. If only blizzard would just print better demons lol
This deck is sweet! I love the combos and the niche pick up of the sense demons, I think it works great. However, I do not have a Illidan Stormrage, so I am current using a Doomguard as a replacement (also to fill in the 5 mana slot). I have all of the other cards in the deck, what do you think would be a good replacement for Illidan? Maybe Ironbeak, or is five demons a must for the double sense demons, maybe a Faceless Manip?
Illidan is certainly one of the most important cards for the engine, if you don't have him I highly suggest running the standard handlock list instead. There's currently so few playable demons in Hearthstone that losing out on one of the best ones really hurts this deck a lot.
I swapped out the Pit Lord for an Ancient Brewmaster. Same punch, less cost.
Ancient Brewmaster is a terrible card, not only is a 5/4 for 5 not a good buy for your mana but it requires you to bounce a minion back to play it. Yes it can potentially let you heal a Molten Giant for free but that's not worth the tremendous loss in utility you lose for removing Pit Lord who is not only tutorable by the deck's main draw engine but is also cheaper and bigger (also it can help you ramp up to Molten Giant faster against decks that try to keep you around the Mid-Life range before bursting you down in one turn, like current Druid lists running double Savage Roar / Force of Nature combo).
Handlock is one of the strongest CONTROL decks in the metagame. It cannot however keep up with the same early game tempo as aggressive decks because of the nature of control decks in general, where you sacrifice the early game in order to invest in a more powerful late game to close out the match. Molten Giant is an absolute must in this deck and one of your primary resources against Aggro decks since when they get you down low early on he can allow you to come back by dropping him cheaply and taunting him.
The worst match-ups for this deck are Freeze Mage, Aggro Paladin, Hunter Midrange AND Aggro, and Shaman, pretty much every other deck you should have at least a 60% win rate against, even Zoo.
If you don't have Pit Lord I'd consider adding an Iron Beak Owl to allow you to turn on your Ancient Watcher's offensively or the second copy of Shadowflame if you find you're having an especially hard time vs. aggro lists. Personally I think he's worth investing in as well as being able to ramp up to Molten Giant vs. Midrange decks like Druid which is insanely popular as of late is extremely helpful and the fact that he solo's Chillwind Yeti allows you to trade with him profitably usually scoring a 2-1 for just 5 life.
But in all honesty if you're at a low rank and facing a fuck ton of hyper aggressive decks because they're cheaper to build and therefore more common at lower ranks then it might be a good idea to hold off on playing handlock for a while and play an anti-aggro deck like Watcher Druid until you get past the swath of hunters and divine paladins.
Really enjoying this deck as it has a lot of different combo's as well as very nice play alone cards. I made 3 adjustments mainly because I do not own a pit lord and missing one Molten Giant still. Yes the missing Molten hurts, but Argent Commander has been a very decent replacement. I've had an answer to nearly every situation I've come across. Obviously bad draw kills me just like anyone, but so often than not, I have something I can counter/attack with. The Power Overwhelming is such an amazing swing card with so many different uses, and running just the 1 sense demon has worked out very well. I totally agree with using Illidan, as he as forced big removal allowing my giants to storm in just that much easier. Again great deck sir!!! Even if this isn't the best deck in current meta or whatnot, it's fun and that's why I play this game.
-1 pit lord
-1 Sense Demons
-1 Molten Giant
+1 Leeroy Jenkins
+1 Argent Commander
+1 Power Overwhelming
I feel like you need to invest in the Molten Giant honestly it's just too good not to run and by leaving one out you lose a lot of power vs aggro. Also if you want to run the Leeroy Combo I'd just take out the sense demons engine in its entirety as then the draws just get too clunky.
So from my given list I'd make these changes to fit in that combo if that's what you want to run. Although the sense demons variant is better vs. aggro and midrange if you find yourself facing a lot of ramp druid, freeze mage and the mirror match it might not be a bad idea to switch to a version with more burst damage, personally I find this variant to have almost equivalent win percentages vs. those decks and I tend to face more aggressive decks on an average day laddering so I feel the extra defenses added by the Sense Demons variant are worth the slight dip against other control decks.
-2 Sense Demons
-1 Pit Lord
-1 Illidan Stormrage
-1 Lord Jaraxxus
-2 Voidwalker
+2 Ironbeak Owl
+1 Shadowflame
+2 Faceless Manipulator
+1 Leeroy Jenkins
+1 Power Overwhelming
WOW. This deck is SOOOO much fun! Only time it isn't fun is when you get crap draws. Smashing pretty much everyone I am playing (went from rank 9 to rank 7 win streak the whole way). Took about 4 or 5 matches before I got the hang of it.
I'm glad you're having fun and success with the deck! If you have any questions regarding possible replacements for cards to tool it better towards other match-ups feel free to ask away!
To SirFunchalot,
Hey CasualTalis here, a quick question. Have you considered switching out Earthen Ring Farseers for any other 3 mana costs or otherwise 5 mana costs because this deck contains none? I've been experimenting with a lot of Warlock decks as of recent and I find yours most interesting and it actually got me to 112 Legendary from 530 Legendary! However, I just wonder what your opinion is on the Earthen Ring Farseers since you don't go into much depth about it.
Any response is welcomed, and thank you for any respondents! :)
Earthen Ring is a card that is necessary to survive against a lot of Aggro Decks and to put yourself out of burst range from the slower decks that are popular in the current meta. There's really not much to say about it other than it's a solid drop that has a lot of utility and can some times buy you an extra turn. I do sometimes toy around with a variant of the standard handlock with the Leeroy Combo that uses Azure Drakes instead of Earthen Rings in order to add consistency to the burst combo and for additional mid game threats and it does help you beat control decks more but it can leave you a lot weaker to decks like Zoo and other aggro lists.
I would never consider running Sacrificial Pact unless demon based decks become insanely popular on the ladder or a Sideboard type thing is implemented to the game, in which case it would be nothing more than maybe a 1-of in the sideboard for use against opposing Jaraxxus. Most of the time the card is complete garbage though unless you're lucky enough to be facing zoo and they have a doomguard out and it didn't kill you.
I'm glad you've enjoyed playing this deck!
5/30/2014 **The deck has been updated and a copy of Pit Lord has replaced a copy of [card]Twilight Drake]/card]. Explanations in the write-up.**