[Legend #3] - Discardlock Guide
- Last updated Apr 10, 2017 (Un'Goro Launch)
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Wild
- 28 Minions
- 2 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Discardlock
- Crafting Cost: 1640
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 4/7/2017 (Un'Goro Launch)
- Zananananan
- Registered User
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- 8
- 13
- 44
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Battle Tag:
N/A
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Region:
EU
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Total Deck Rating
2967
[Legend #3] - Discardlock Guide
"Your soul shall suffer!"
Zananananan here (https://twitter.com/Zanananan, https://www.twitch.tv/zanananan). I just wanted to share my new Zoo with you. Ravasaur Runt and Ravenous Pterrordax are just insane, you are almost always getting value.
I offer coachings for 20,00 €/hour. If you are interested, please leave me a message on Twitter or Hearthpwn.
Table of Content:
1. Intro
2. General Strategy
3. Stats
4. Placement
5. General Mulligan
6. Class Specific Mulligan + Tips
7. Questions
8. Possible Replacements
1. Intro
Hey Hearthpwn,
I'm Florian 'Zananananan' Marschner, 18 years old and a German Hearthstone player for Wolves esports. I've been playing Hearthstone for almost 2 years now. During my early days I was a huge fan of Zoo. I've been playing tons of Zoo on ladder and in tournaments and it's been doing very well for me. I'm also the guy who built the first refined Discardlock when Karazhan came out. This deck is probably easy to learn but I believe that it is one of the hardest decks to play perfectly in the game.
2. General Strategy
Classic Zoolock is a strategy that revolves around taking the board early, using minions and buffs to trade favorably with higher-value minions. It also relies on high-impact/swing turns (such as a free Silverware Golem or extra card draw from Malchezaar's Imp).
The key is to realize when you have to go all in and when you can afford to play around AOE.
3. Stats
I'm not a big fan of posting stats with a small sample size, it doesn't say anything. But people asked me over and over again, that's why they are here anyway.
4. Placement
Most of the time it doesn't matter, but it can still win or lose you some games. You always want to maximize the efficiency of Dire Wolf Alpha.
- In general you want big minions, minions with deathrattle or taunt on the side and small minions in the middle.
- Knife Juggler has to be on the side (Taunt or deathrattle doesn't matter). You don't want to trade with him.
5. General Mulligan
If you don't have the coin and you don't have a 1 drop throw everything away, it's key to have a turn 1 play.
- Keep Dire Wolf Alpha and Ravasaur Runt if you have the coin and 2 1 drops.
Ravasaur Runt is just insane. You can get a better Haunted Creeper with Living Spores and Haunted Creeper was already broken.
- You can keep Darkshire Councilman or Ravenous Pterrordax if you have the coin and a 1 drop.
Only good against slower decks. The Ravenous Pterrordax is so powerful, it could be a Flamewreathed Faceless without overload.
- If you have Malchezaar's Imp, Darkshire Librarian and Silverware Golem you can consider keeping everything.
You have a 33% Chance to discard the Silverware Golem and to win the game on turn 2.
6. Class Specific Mulligan + Tips
Quest Rogue
heavily favored - Keep Darkshire Councilman or Ravenous Pterrordax if you have the coin and a 1 drop.
This deck eats Quest Rogues for breakfast. The Caverns Below is way to slow, they can only win with an Edwin VanCleef. Make sure to play around Fan of Knives. Don't play around Sap, most lists aren't running it.
Pirate Warrior
slightly favored - You really want your 1 drops in this matchup. Soulfire is a fine keep if you have a good curve.
Soulfire deals with Frothing Berserker and Bloodsail Cultist. Make sure to clear his pirates because of Bloodsail Cultist and Southsea Captain. You can play around N'Zoth's First Mate and Patches the Pirate by playing Voidwalker or Malchezaar's Imp instead of Flame Imp turn 1.
Quest Warrior
unfavored - Keep Darkshire Councilman or Ravenous Pterrordax if you have the coin and a 1 drop.
The key is to realize when you have to go all in and when you can afford to play around Ravaging Ghoul or Brawl. You can play around Fiery War Axe by playing Possessed Villager or Argent Squire instead of Flame Imp turn 1.
Token Druid
slightly favored - You want your 1 drops in this matchup.
Always clear their stuff to play around Mark of the Lotus, Power of the Wild and Mark of Y'Shaarj. You win if they don't cheat with Innervate.
Jade Druid
heavily favored - Keep Darkshire Councilman or Ravenous Pterrordax if you have the coin and a 1 drop.
It's really hard for them to deal with Darkshire Councilman. Keep Wrath and Swipe in mind. Poison Spit on Ravasaur Runt is fine. They can't play Ancient of War then.
Face Hunter
even - You want your 1 drops, the early game is really important.
Dire Wolf Alpha is really good with Possessed Villager or Argent Squire. You can kill a Crackling Razormaw, a Knife Juggler or the deathrattle from Kindly Grandmother with it. Try to not give him beast synergy with Crackling Razormaw and Houndmaster. The only comeback mechanic they have is Knife Juggler + Unleash the Hounds. You are slightly favored if they don't run Knife Juggler.
Midrange Hunter
slightly favored - Same as Face Hunter but without the Knife Juggler Unleash the Hounds combo.
Quest Hunter
heavily favored - The Marsh Queen is bad, way to slow.
Quest Mage:
slightly favored - Keep Darkshire Councilman Ravenous Pterrordax if you have the coin and a 1 drop.
Play Possessed Villager on turn 1 over Argent Squire to play around Doomsayer. This matchup comes down to Frost Nova + Doomsayer. It's nearly impossible for them to win without this combo. You can tech in Crazed Alchemist or Devilsaur Egg to make the matchup better. Most lists aren't running Volcanic Potion, you don't need to play around that. Be aware of Blizzard, you can buff 2 2 health minions with Defender of Argus to play around it. Make sure to not fill up your board, you want to be able to kill them with Doomguard if they freeze your minions. Other then that you have to hope that they don't highroll with Babbling Book Primordial Glyph or Cabalist's Tome.
Zoo
even - You want your 1 drops.
I love the mirror, you are getting punished for every single small mistake. The early game is very important, Zoo doesn't have a comeback mechanic. Make sure to always clear his minions to deny Dire Wolf Alpha, Ravasaur Runt, Ravenous Pterrordax and Defender of Argus value. You should also clear Malchezaar's Imp.
Handlock
heavily unfavored - Keep Darkshire Councilman Ravenous Pterrordax if you have the coin and a 1 drop.
This is probably the worst matchup, you can only win if they draw bad. They have big taunts and you can't do anything about it. Corrupting Mist is extremly powerful. Hellfire and Doomsayer destroys you too. Don't play around anything and hope they don't have the answer.
Elemental Shaman
unfavored - Keep Darkshire Councilman Ravenous Pterrordax if you have the coin and a 1 drop.
Be aware of Maelstrom Portal and Lightning Storm. You can't play around Devolve. Kalimos, Primal Lord is really annoying because of Invocation of Air and Invocation of Water. Most of the time you can play around 1 AOE but you never beat 2. Liquid Membrane on Ravenous Pterrordax is not that bad to play around Hex.
Aggro Shaman
favored - 1 drops are important.
They aren't playing AOE, you win.
I haven't really faced a lot of Paladins and Priests, they feel like bottom tier again. I'll update the guide when they are getting more popular.
7. Questions
Room for Clutchmother Zavas?
Just a worse Silverware Golem. Not enough impact if you discard her.
What about Lakkari Sacrifice?
Bad. Hard to discard 6 cards and it's way to slow.
Other discard cards, e.g. Lakkari Felhound?
You don't want to make the deck to inconsistent. Lakkari Felhound is terrible compared to Doomguard. It's only good with Malchezaar's Imp.
How does the Coaching work?
First of all I'll ask you a few questions, e.g. What was your highest rank so far? What are your goals? Then we'll start playing some games. I'll talk about the specific matchup and the gameplan. You'll suggest a play and then we'll talk about the reasoning behind it. We'll also talk about reading the opponent's hand and when you have to take risks.
We can obviously talk about the prize if you are booking more than 1 hour.
8. Possible Replacements
Devilsaur Egg for Argent Squire or Darkshire Librarian
I guess it depends on the meta. It's really good against Doomsayer or AOE. Also synergy with Ravenous Pterrordax on curve. Not to great in an aggro meta, that's why I'm not playing it at the moment.
Fire Fly for Argent Squire
Definantly possible, it's a good gap closer.
Crazed Alchemist for Argent Squire or Darkshire Librarian
Insane versus Doomsayer, also fine against Quest Warrior.
Update 10/04: -2 Argent Squire, +2 Fire Fly; -1 Darkshire Librarian, +1 Devilsaur Egg
I underestimated Fire Fly, it's a really good card. Darkshire Librarian is not that great of a card and the meta slowed down a bit, that's why I put 1 Devilsaur Egg in.
You should really have a mulligan list for Priests. They are what many streamers consider to be the most value/fun decks, and i do see them quite a bit.
Any suggestions as to what's an easy cut in order to play Clutchmother Zavas? I have to in order to call my deck "It's Clutch Time"
Great deck. Great guide/explanation. First time playing Warlock on ladder and I'm diggin it.
is there any sort of replacement for Malchezaar's Imp and Silverware Golem?
I don't think so... those are really needed for a lot of sinergies in the deck.
Wouldn't be much of a Discardlock without the two main Discard cards...
This is great for new players!
Already rank 15 works very well for me
есть видео как играть на этой мете ?
The guy who wrote this has clearly never played against quest rogue with this deck
Even though I havent played many matches against Quest Rogue with this deck (around 5 matches), I can confirm the authors statement. I have won all 5 games and I consider my self as a mediocre Hearthstone player. I dont know how many games you had against them and how your hand was, but you either were extremely unlucky and they complete the quest in turn 4 or you hand was extremely bad.
Honestly it was probably a combination of everything you said, only really wrote this comment because of the salt as you can probably guess. I'm sure it has a decent winrate over a larger sample size than the few games I played before giving up.
The guy who wrote this comment clearly doesn't know how many games it takes to get to Legend 3. Come on, to get to Legend 3, you would have had to have played against a good amount of quest rogue. This comment section has no need for your exaggerations.
I went from 15 to 9 with this deck
This deck works until u reach rank 10 where u get bombarded by Quest Warriors over and over. And our highly favourable matchup is quest rogue which is NEVER played in high ranks. The only rogues ive encountered are tempo rogues with gadgetzan and such.
Eater of Secrets against Quest Mage and hunters with traps. One copy of it. It's great!
However, according to the recent meta snapshots, rogue and warrior are the top decks at the moment. Its hard to justify running Eater of Secrets just for two specific classes. In fact, most hunter variants don't have a single secret in their decklist. And even if you go up against a mage, you con't reliable draw this card and get good value.
I went from rank 17 to rank 13 with only 1 loss with this deck (against Miracle Rogue with perfect starting hand).
I have much experience with playing discardlock, played it for few past seasons as my main deck.
I'm thinking to try to replace Darkshire Librarian to put second Devilsaur Egg in this deck, since this egg has so much synergy with this deck (with Defended of the Argus and Ravenous), while Darkshire Librarian is... well it sometimes enables draw and saves you the game, but I rarely see that card to win me the game, while this Egg can literally win you some games.
Probably this will not be the top deck of this season, but certainly, it is one of the cheapest and it's worth trying unless you definitely get tired of discardlock (even with modification) or you hate playing it.
don't do that, darkshire is key here and he has more than 2 synergies
mmm if this deck is not good enough to pass rank 6, how can he be legend and win with this same deck?