Hearthpwn

The idea/developement:

After theorycrafting with the burnlock concept,

 it turned out that it was really really tough to make the wincondition work. The matchups it was good in, namely mage, priest, ánd other handlocks had too much staying power, even after getting their hand discarded. In turn, you struggle to find healing against any decks that do not need board, namely hunter and agressive mages. Those were more prevalent on the ladder than i thought.

However, the idea worked, and it was amazing in the good matchups.

That got me thinking: what if you could have it as a tech in a normal control lock, that had enough winconditions against resilient decks?

That was the starting point. The main issue is in order to have it consistently you need to draw a lot, so anything hyper controlly will most likely die to fatigue. Therefor you need to run threats.

Running threats however holds the issue of dying to the hyperagressive boarddecks, namely Buffdruid (Most people still call it tokendruid for some reason, even though the only token generator it runs is Fire Fly) and Bloodlust Shaman (i know most people call it Evolve Shaman, but the wincondition is Bloodlust, the other cards are just there to make a board). 

One thing that warlock has going for it though is the fact that, with all the new toys released in the last expansions, you have a critical mass of early to midgame boardclears. So a Kazakus variant made the most sense. After reaching that point, the deck almost built itself.

Edit: Streamlined it a bit, and made it fast enough for the post nerf aggro meta.

- Felguard + Earthen Ring Farseer: While i would still like 2 taunts with Bloodreaver, the guard is simply unplayable in aggro metas. A more generic healcard worked out way better.

- Shadowflame + Shadow Bolt: Shadowflame is too heavy, since we don't run good cheap targets. The bolt on the other hand is almost always useful.

- Wild Pyromancer + Dirty Rat: This one is controversial, but my worst matchup is hunter so i'd rather have a strong taunt to shut out games. It is also  a good card due to all the Doomsayers running around, or just for pulling out Raza the Chained or Lyra the Sunshard if you can't get your combo in time.

- Alexstrasza + Despicable Dreadlord:  As powerful as she can be, 9 mana is too heavy in this meta. Dreadlord is simply a good card in every situation, and gives your Bloodreaver Gul'dan a bit more Oomph. Also, Thoughtsteal into alex lost me more than 1 game.

- Acidic Swamp Ooze + Skulking Geist: This seems counterintuitive at first, until you think about it a bit. Firstly, pirate warrior is all but gone from the meta currently, so the only real targets are Eaglehorn Bow and Jade Claws, both of which don't mind being destroyed so much.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are several t1 decks that hate getting geisted. It eats Shamans Evolves, Rogues Cold Bloods, Razakuses Arsenal of 1 mana spells, as well as Zoos Soulfires.

It also spares you from drawing into a low impact Mortal Coil later on. Additionally, you can hardly beat leftover Jade druids without it, and the whole premise of the deck was having no unwinnable matchups. But if you really want the weapon removal, you can cut an Earthen Ring Farseer for it, which i don't recommend since the heal is always useful.

 

The strategy:

Boardclear and taunt your way to the later turns against aggro, tap when you can against control. You win by exhausting their answers, or discarding their threats and combopieces if necessary.

Cards you want to keep in the opening hand:

Early game boardclears against the hyperaggro decks (Druid/Shaman Edit: and paladin, murlocs are back), namely Defile, Doomsayer and Hellfire or Bloodbloom if you have either Twisting Nether or DOOM! with it.

Against warriors, hunters, mages and rogues you want early taunts and Defile, Doomsayer, Kazakus or Mistress of Mixtures, as well as Drain Soul Mortal Coil, maybe even Earthen Ring Farseer. Basically anything the allows you to fight for the board as much as you can.

Against Priest you want either as many combopieces as possible, a way to get early threats down or Dirty Rat for disruption. So i would keep the aforementioned card, Mountain Giant, Kazakus, Sense Demons, Bloodbloom and any piece of the discard Combo.

Against Warlock, you want to mulligan as if it were hyperaggro Zoo, since you can hardly lose to any control variant anyway.

Card Choices/Combo Explanations:

The discard Combo:  You can skip this if you read up on the burnlock, or know how it works.

The Bloomdoom combo: Same principle.

Doomsayer + Treachery: Doomsayer triggers at the start of your turn. However, "you" in hearthstone always refers to the controller of the card. So in the same way this enables the discard combo, it also means that if you give a doomsayer to your opponent, it will blow off their board at the start of their turn before they can do anything about it. Against matchups you want to discard their hand however, don't use this unless you have to, since the chance for you to use the discard combo is only 15% otherwise.

Sacrificial Pact: This is an emergency heal, or a way use an otherwise uselessHowlfiend in an aggro matchup. It also allows you to combo if you fear the 3 damage from your Howlfiend might kill you otherwise. Also, with a good amount of discardzoolocks on the ladder at the moment, this card can actually win you games.

Mortal Coil: A really flexible card. Can be used to extend your discard combo, set up a good Defile, or just finish stuff off and cycle. Edit: It can be and often is correct to just pop divine shields with this, just a heads up.

Possessed Villager: Your Defile starter. Guarantees at least 3 aoe. Edit: In tempo based matchups it is often correct to play it turn 1, since it will distract the opponent/make them hero power instead of using their mana efficiently (especially tempo rogue) and sometimes allow you to hit stuff you could not hit before with Drain Soul or Mortal Coil

Drain Soul Basically a playable version of Drain Life. It kills Sorcerer's Apprentice and Thing from Below after a Hellfire. Also brings any power totems into the range of Despicable Dreadlord.

(No longer in deck)

Chittering Tunneler: A good flexible card. Do you want a boardclear? 63% chance you get one of those, even better if you have a Doomsayer to go with it. Do you need a removal for a Gadgetzan Auctioneer? You have a 56% chance to not lose on the spot, with a lot better chances if you have a Drain Soul to go with it. You also have a 15% chance to get another Treachery if you had to burn your first one off to clear with Doomsayer. It is advised to use it alongside Violet Illusionist if you can afford to, in order to avoid the potentially heavy recoil.

(no longer in deck)

Edit: Howlfiend: Where do i start with this guy.... he is one of the most complex minions in the game in terms of risk reward management. It can be correct to simply play it turn 3 against pirate warrior or hunter, if their opening was good and you have expensive cards in your hand. Usually he will cost you 2 cards, but i'd rather be alive without the deathknight and stabalize turn 8 with taunts than dying  turn 5 because of an out of reach Scavenging Hyena.

Sense Demons: The only reason the discard combo works in a highlander deck. Also searches out taunts or a Hellfire on legs respectively.

Stonehill Defender: You need a good amount of taunts, and in some matchups you need them early. So what is better than an early taunt that gives you more taunts? Not much to be honest. While the class bonus on discovers is more of a hindrance sometimes, you almost always welcome another Voidwalker.

Edit:Kazakus: The most flexible, frustrating, and rewarding card in the game. Choosing the correct potion alongside your gameplan will make or break hard games. I'll try to break it down into guidelines as best as i can.This is a long one, so feel free to skip it if you have played a lot of him already.

(no longer in deck)

Medivh, the Guardian: You play 3 big spells, and 3 midsized spells. This makes this preferrable to its contender, The Lich King, in my opinion. However feel free to disagree, if you don't mind the rng and prefer guaranteed value over potential high tempo + good value, you can run him instead.

(no longer in deck)

Bloodreaver Gul'dan: Really powerful in every matchup. There is literally no reason not to run him if you intend to go late. Edit: Keep in mind, this resurrects the demon from Kazakuses Potion.

Conclusion:

I will be updating the list if I or either of you finds good tech choices, or ways to circumvent some of the flaws the deck has. However, you have decent matchups all around, and its a matter of decisionmaking and outplaying. It has a really high ceiling, but if you don't mind that and like having outs to almost every matchup, feel free to give the deck a try. Thank you for your time.

Edit: New season, let's see how well we do.