Hitting [Legend] with Handlock - Classic variation
- Last updated Aug 1, 2014 (Naxx Launch)
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Wild
- 20 Minions
- 10 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Unknown
- Crafting Cost: 5400
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 7/5/2014 (Live Patch 5506)
- take_eacy
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Total Deck Rating
92
I just finished a 6000 word article on Legend Handlock play focusing on how Legend Handlock players think about each card as well as expert tips related to each card and relevant matchups. Hearthstone Players made what was originally a wall of text prettier and hosted it for all visitors (not just premium subscribers) to read it for free. I believe it will offer a much fuller answer to many of your questions and concerns. Thank you again for all your interest and support!
The fully updated guide is here -
I'll be updating and commenting there!
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Credits to fellow Handlock Legend Trakkyhoon for helping me tech the deck. I ranked up with Handlock exclusively from rank 9 to Legend, and I peaked at rank 469 with this before I started trying to learn Miracle and tanked ranks. My win percentage was around 60% maybe a bit higher between rank 5 to Legend; I only say this because the 500 win counter indicated around 75 wins between rank 5 and legend (speaking conservatively).
I hit Legend on 6/26, so it was a pretty diverse meta - I probably could have hit Legend earlier, but I took a break for about half a week. My deck is teched towards a diverse/unclear meta to be jack of all trades and master of none. There are other variations of Handlock, but this is a variation on the most vanilla/classic Handlock. Handlock is a tough deck to play at its full potential, and I'm not sure about it's place in the meta game - this variation has like a 60% or less against top Legend miracle rogues, probably 55% against the midrange Druid, also like 60-65% against top Legend Zoos.
I watched a lot of Reynad VODs to improve my play, and it definitely improved my play from rank 5 status to rank 1 status. The key thing to remember is to try play more proactively and less reactively (aka throw down your mountain giant or farseer for 2HP gain) unless you're really trying to bait out removal, but the number 1 rule of handlock is still to make sure you're always out of the other deck's lethal combo range unless it's super low probability (they've played parts of their combo already).
Tech choices:
2 Soulfires - learning how to Soulfire is also a big part of this deck; soulfire to clear board when you can. This is usually after you play Mountain Giant or Twilight Drake and is recommended unless you have basically the best hand in the world to counter their deck.
2 Ironbeak is important vs Freeze Mage, Control Warrior, silencing Ancient Watcher against cancer/aggro decks to race them/dump cards from your hand. Owl will probably also get better with Naxx's incoming Deathrattle minions.
2 Hellfire is good for most metas where there is aggro around. 2 Shadowflames is nice if you see mostly Miracles and Druids, but if there is any decent amount of aggro, I think 2 Hellfires is better. 2 Hellfires can also be used to deal damage to the face and win. I've closed out a few games with double Hellfire + Soulfire.
2 Facelesses - I really like Faceless for the Leeroy PO combo (it closes out a lot of games), and it's pretty decent in a lot of matchups to copy your own taunted Giants or copy whatever is worst for the other deck (IE copy Twilight Drake versus Priest). I want to play Alex, but I'm not sure how I feel about that. That versus second Faceless is still a debate for me. Alex is marginally useful against Druid for dodging the 14dmg combo, but it's not useful against Miracle Rogue. Alex is a bit better for Control Warrior, but the matchup is not that common and Alex isn't that game swinging other than having another 8/8 (which you can have with Faceless anyways). Alex would shine most against burn/aggro decks, but living to turn 9 is already so hard - it's not really a reliable option. I would rather Faceless copy a big taunter. A good handlock game will have you close out the game within 2-3 turns of having a Giant stick to the board anyways, so you might not even make it to turn 9 or you might not really need Alex on turn 9. Faceless can also often be a cheap/free Giant and offer a lot of flexibility. Sometimes, you just copy a doomguard and try gain more board control. Against control decks, you can also copy Ragnaros and hope to RNG snipe theirs back.
1 Sunwalker - made all the difference for me. I would only play BGH if you see a ton of 7+ attack decks like mirror match, Control Warrior, old school ramp druids maybe. But Sunwalker is really solid in mirror, against aggro and zoo, can't be killed instantly by burn spells, and it offers you a decent midgame play. I have tried Shadow Bolt (nice turn 3, but only really shines on turn 3 otherwise you should just soulfire). I tried Black Knight, but I think Sunwalker is better against aggro. Sunwalker versus a second Shadowflame is tough, but Sunwalker can be better against aggro matchups where you havent drawn many cards. Shadowflame is hard to use when you don't have many creatures in your hand. Shadowflame is also more of a reactive card -Reynad was commenting about how Handlock play needs more proactive play since it's strength is kind of mid-late game. You'll lose in the long run against Control Warrior, Priest, Paladin decks, so it's important to play in a way that wins quickly once you play out your Giants. Sunwalker is a bit more offensive than Shadowflame.
No Bloodmage Thalnos - I tried it, and it's really good for those two dmg Mortal Coils, 5dmg soulfires versus Druid but I felt like it was too inconsistent. You always have to pair it with another card to get value out of it; it felt a bit win-more than a necessity. Handlock's slots are really tight so while it is pretty good, I don't think it's good enough to justify a slot. There are better cards to run in its place.
Acidic Swamp Ooze was great in metas that heavily feature Warriors and Trap Hunters. These are the scariest because they represent easy ways to kill off Giants or consistent face damage. We're lucky that we're not in that general meta now. Rogue weapons are not as big of a deal, and there aren't enough Shamans with Doomhammer to necessarily warrant Ooze yet.
3 versus 4 AOEs: I think Handlock only really needs 3 AOEs - whether that's double Hellfire or double Shadowflame. More than that has made me feel like I'm holding one too many AOEs. Reynad had made a similar comment, but he wasn't sure what was a better replacement for the 4th AOE. I also find that in a typical game it's hard to get the opportunity to use Shadowflame twice. I used to run the 4 AOE build, but I felt like a more judicious use of Shadowflame has been sufficient. Hellfires are also really good for the Shaman matchup. I like being able to play Hellfire on turn 4 and having to be able to tap turns 2 and 3 (or hope to dig into a Hellfire). Shadowflame on turn 4 requires setup and you draw into one less card - thus this means that an early Shadowflame would require you to have a hand mulliganed in such a way to play a turn 2 or 3 creature to prep for the t4 Shadowflame. I like having the option to tap more in case if I draw into a Mountain or Twilight.
My other beef with Alex (even though I reallly like her - I ran her in the previous season) is that I oftentimes found that T9 just came around too late - a lot of matchups like Huntard and Zoo can end before 9. Or if you're winning, you often don't really need the Alex on T9. It'll just take a turn longer to win. Faceless isn't as strong, but it's much faster.
i agree with that logic, but against most hunter decks if I get the shadowflames and hellfires and such, I find that using Alex on yourself can really help, however the highest I have gotten is rank 6 so you could be playing in a whole different world than me.
From what rank?
Unless you're facing a ton of Agro decks, there's tons of things to copy! Ex. any legendary
Also, you probably have to tap more to get more threats to copy! If you do and you get unlucky that also happens, but I feel the game is decided a lot by T9 anyways especially if you play against Agro, so you often don't even get a chance to play or need Alex
Good job to you too man! There's just not much you can do against BGH and TBK (not too common in mirror) unfortunately, but I imagine his other matchups aren't going as well.
Hi there. It's a very nice deck.I started playing with it and I still need more training. I replaced 1 mortal coil for 1 BGH and 1 hellfire for another shadowflame. I am having troubles against druids that play a fast yeti.When they do that, do I need to play something too like a farseer or a watcher or should I tap so I can play giant or drake?
Nah, I wouldn't really recommend another BGH. Mortal Coil is an iffy card I agree, but it can be good for Farseer + Mortal Coil trades into Azure Drakes and Keepers. Also, you can Soulfire + Mortal Coil against Yetis and Ancient of Lores. It's really hard for Handlock to take care of low HP minions, so they're not without use. Another Sunwalker would be more useful than the BGH if you really want to switch.
Shadowflame > Hellfire in that matchup; it's worth making the switch if you truly are seeing a lot of midrange druid. The midrange druid is only slightly in your favor at around 55% I feel.
In your example, I assume you're talking about going first since if you went second. You would definitely want to play Farseer regardless on T3 when it wouldn't be important to tap b/c it would put you at 10 cards. Generally, you'll want to tap until T4 especially if you have a Mountain Giant in hand (best card to keep in the matchup) or a Twilight Drake (pray for no Keeper, but it's alright on T4 if he has to trade a minion to kill it). If he plays Yeti on T1, then you're in a tough spot for sure, but depending on what you have in your hand you can see what you can do - if you have Moltens, don't rush to Soulfire. Moltens are pretty decent in the matchup if they try rush you down; I sometimes keep these. If you have Mountains and Twilights, just tap. If not, then you can consider Soulfire + Mortal Coil. Otherwise, T3 Farseer + T4 Hellfire. I don't really like early Watchers against Druid b/c you play into their game of trading minions (which they are better at) and you can't play your huge threats. Once you play early Watcher + Owl/Sunfury then you can't play Mountain or your Twilight will be pretty small. Another concern with the Farseer play is if they have Wrath - if they mulliganed expected you to be Zoo, it is not unlikely that they will have Wrath. It'll keep up his Tempo and your T4 play may be ruined. Ofc, if he T1 or T2 Yeti'd then the probability for Wrath is much lower since he's have to Innervate for it.
TL;DR - Generally, you gotta play like a Handlock - tap and tank the hits until T4 and then taunt up preferably two minions or at least a Giant or a huge Drake. The midrange druid matchup is brutal, but once you can get your big dudes to stick from t4 and onwards, and they don't have BGH or Black Knight, then your game is set. If your hand is bad, then you can consider Soulfiring if you can clear it with a Farseer/Mortal Coil.
thank you for your help. At first, i wanted to put BGH because i wanted to combo him with shadowflame and maybe kill some rags but i noticed in most matchups i can't do the combo because i have a giant on the board. I decided to put the coil back in and swaped a syphon soul for a senjin shieldmasta because I heard people saying syphon soul is kinda expensive and may slow you. Any opinions about it? Also, can you give some advice against paladins?They seem to be pretty strong with their equality and peacekeeper. And do you think handlock will be playable when naxx comes out considering druids get that crazy poison seeds spell which kinda ruins you and aggro decks get undertaker which will probably force you to soulfire him and delay your mountain giant?
I think it's too early to comment on Naxx. Undertaker won't be too much different from any other aggro deck build right now. We'll see how useful it is based off of the Deathrattle cards that come out with Naxx. Poison Seeds is a lot more concerning, but I'm not sure about how it'll be used. It seems pretty detrimental to the Druid player if they're playing more ramp/midrange styled, and it's cost isn't cheap. It seems rather OP to me if it were in a Token Druid.
Yeah, I agree Siphon is a bit slow, and it's good when you have a board - not so great when you don't. You could replace it with a Senjin or a Sunwalker I think. I'm currently experimenting with that now, but I didn't want to update this until I was more sure. The decklist I posted is IMO the best for well-rounded laddering under the traditional Handlock shell. It goes in the right direction I think Handlock needs to go in - more proactive and away from the vestiges of the old Jaraxxus controllish build.
Season's always start off harder! There are still some late starters who used to be legend hanging around there playing around with new decks. Handlock takes a while to learn - I had hit rank 2 with Zoo the season before, but Handlock was much harder. The playstyle takes a while to get used to, and if you play against unknown decks, it's pretty tough since Handlock requires a delicate balance of keeping yourself around the lowest safe life total. Keep trying! It'll pay off :)
i am playing a simillar deck and you only have to learn the mechanics of the deck.just play some games and always count the damage on your hand
Very well balanced deck. I've just started testing and got 4 wins in a row. Swapped 1x Faceless Manipulator for 1x Sunwalker - op taunt is op.
yeah, I'm also considering a 2nd Sunwalker too - it's just too good!
I use a very similar deck to this (-sunwalker, -1 molten (don't have two), - 1 faceless, +cairne, +BGH, +shadow bolt) and reached rank 3 last season. I am going to try swapping the cairne for a sunwalker because I think sunwalker is much better vs aggro, miracle and druid and cairne is a bit underwhelming at times. Come on legend!! :)
P.S. Good cheap, strong, back to basics Handlock deck which is good for new Handlock players.
If you don't have the molten, I would recommend 2 Faceless + 2 Sunwalkers instead of BGH and Shadowbolt! BGH is really good if you see tons of Handlocks, Earth Elementals, and Control Warriors, but that's not the meta I've been seeing now. You'll love Sunwalkers. Trust :)
ok, your right actually, sunwalkers are really good. just won two games against a druid and a rogue and got my mountain giants and drakes behind a turn 6 sunwalker when it looked bad for me, hit back for huge damage and won turn 8. im going to add another one know thank you for the advice!!!!
congrats - Handlock is just too fun! I'm also F2P and I grinded many arenas to build this deck too lol
If you don't have enough dust for both Facelesses - a second Sunwalker would be decent too I think
Very good list, balanced for ladder climbing. I think that two faceless and a sunwalker helped a lot against druids.