With all the cards revealed, the good news is that there is no Silver Bullet against Handlock like Loatheb for Miracle or Unstable Ghoul for Zoo. We already run 2x Owls, so we should be fine in the silence department as well.
Do you guys think there's room for Feugen and Stalagg in Handlock? They seem to fit the playstyle. Also, 1x Sunwalker can be switched out for Sludge Belcher against an Aggro Heavy Meta.
I'm thinking of cutting the Twilight Drakes if everyone is going to run silence. I'll probably slot in Chillwind Yeti and a 2nd Ironbeak Owl (I have Sunwalker, BGH, and Rag in my flex slots now). Feugen and Stalagg are also considerations, but I think there will be a lot of tempo and aggro so I want some more early plays. HNandlock already stomps zoo so I don't think you need Deathlord.
I pretty much main Handlock recently, and I'm tempted to keep the Drakes just because they give your opponents more Silence targets. If they are just running two Owls, and they use them on Drakes, that means they aren't using them to remove taunts to go for aggression. Though Yeti isn't the worst idea ever. Spectral Knight might have a place too, being just one more mana than Yeti, but so much harder to remove. If they have to use buffs and silences to get rid of him, then my Giants will be safer.
Also tempted to take Rag out of my build and replace it with Kel'Thuzad Same mana cost, but the idea of making Giants that come back at the end of turns just makes me laugh. "Go a head, put that beast in your sights. I dare you."
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You thought there would be something inspirational here didn't you?
Loatheb seems like the only really good addition to Handlock after reviewing the spoilers, I think it's really going to come down to whether or not Poison Seeds becomes popular or not.
Handlock can't affort to drop Twilight Drakes no matter what. Whats the point of HANDlock if only 2 minions in the deck can benefit from huge hand size? Silence or not, I see drakes as a necessity. Yeti is not a viable replacement.
I am concerned about the Nerub'ar Weblord. The battlecry blocking ability is too broken not only against handlock, but also against pretty much any deck that has a lot of battlecries.
Loatheb seems like the only really good addition to Handlock after reviewing the spoilers, I think it's really going to come down to whether or not Poison Seeds becomes popular or not.
I bet Poison Seeds is going to be extremely popular. In the best case scenario, is basically a poor man's Twisting Nether. In the worst case scenario where the opponent have only one threatening minion on the board, it is still a weaker version of Polymorph. At only 4 mana, it is a ridiculously strong AoE hard removal, which Druid lacked.
I think good replacements for the Twilight Drake would be 2 singular minions of the following:
Spectral Knight as it prevents casted silences like hex, earthshock, silence; Sludge Belcher as it is a very tanky minion to counter aggro; Shade of Naxxramas to build up until it is an OTK on its own; Maexxena to bait removal (not everything is a silence) and Stalagg/Feugen to either have some tank powah or BGH bait (and silence bait regardless)
Spectral Knight sounds good. Shades of Naxxramas looks good in almost any control deck. In the case of Handlock, it can also be useful to bait out Silences early game(Spectral Knight too), so you can play big Taunts safely later on. Sludge Belcher sounds ok, but I think a 1/2 Taunt is a bit too low-impact.
Nevertheless, I think none of above cards will be any better than Twilight Drakes. Belcher and Knight are 5 mana, as opposed to 4 mana. Considering how important reliable 4-drops are, I doubt if these cards can replace the Drakes. Shade itself is a good card to add, but not replace the Drakes.
Poison Seeds is bad. I had a game yesterday where the opponent poison seeds'd and killed my taunted Giant and watcher, theSunfury Protector between them, and an Earthen Ring Farseer, and then just died to four 2/2's trading with his two 2/2's and me playing another guy. Even the best case scenario Poison Seeds against Handlock isn't going to win Druid the game.
Poison Seeds is bad. I had a game yesterday where the opponent poison seeds'd and killed my taunted Giant and watcher, theSunfury Protector between them, and an Earthen Ring Farseer, and then just died to four 2/2's trading with his two 2/2's and me playing another guy. Even the best case scenario Poison Seeds against Handlock isn't going to win Druid the game.
Poison Seeds turned out to be a lot less problematic for Handlocks than some theory crafters thought. Druids are still generally favored against us because of BK, BGH, Keeper, and their combo burst damage, but it's not too bad; something around 40-60 to 45-55 in my experience.
I think the real problem for Handlock is the resurgence of Hunter over the past few days. Face Hunters are our hardest matchup by far, and even the more Mid Range variants are still highly favored because of their cheap removal and ways to deal direct damage
I don't know about your matchup analysis. I've played against one Midrange Hunter deck since hitting rank 5 this month (and I won somehow), so I can't accurately comment on that matchup, but I'm 11-3 against Druid. It feels like a bye - they kill the first giant by 3-for-1-ing themselves, use up a minion and a Keeper battlecry to kill a Drake, and then die to more huge taunt guys they can't deal with. Having a guy BGH'd or TBK'd sucks, but they're so weak to another one that it doesn't matter most of the time. The game I've lost have been T2 Harvest Golem T3 Sunwalker and T3 Yeti T4 Rag. I also lost to a bizarre Silver Hand Knight deck that was extremely aggressive and played 2 Innervates on the first 3 turns of the game.
So far Handlock still seems playable in the meta, Poison Seeds is only a 1x in Druid and a very situational card because they have to be able to sacrifice their board and win.
Even without Void Terror, I think we should be experimenting with Nerubian Egg in the 1xSunwalker or maybe the Mortal Coil slots, it gives the deck some pretty insane plays.
i played around 20 games today.most of them aggro and a lot of zoo.i won almost every game.i lost to 2 zoo cause of bad draw to one and in the second game the enemy was playing it right.and 1 game from an aggro rogue cause of a mistake at the mulligan.so i think yes,HandLock is still viable
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Famous last words, Mind if i roll Weed? Weed Hoarder, Azeroth
From all the cards that revealed the only cards i see use is Unstable Ghoul to stop aggro and Zombie Chow if he can synergy with giants
Famous last words, Mind if i roll Weed? Weed Hoarder, Azeroth
My decks: please, take a look if you want- a lot of dust-free decks-feedback more than welcome
http://www.hearthpwn.com/members/akasumi/decks?sort=-viewcount
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oopppssss Zombie chow was a mistake :)
Famous last words, Mind if i roll Weed? Weed Hoarder, Azeroth
My decks: please, take a look if you want- a lot of dust-free decks-feedback more than welcome
http://www.hearthpwn.com/members/akasumi/decks?sort=-viewcount
Blizzard's news portal in Greeks wastedmurlocgang.gr
With all the cards revealed, the good news is that there is no Silver Bullet against Handlock like Loatheb for Miracle or Unstable Ghoul for Zoo. We already run 2x Owls, so we should be fine in the silence department as well.
Do you guys think there's room for Feugen and Stalagg in Handlock? They seem to fit the playstyle. Also, 1x Sunwalker can be switched out for Sludge Belcher against an Aggro Heavy Meta.
I'm thinking of cutting the Twilight Drakes if everyone is going to run silence. I'll probably slot in Chillwind Yeti and a 2nd Ironbeak Owl (I have Sunwalker, BGH, and Rag in my flex slots now). Feugen and Stalagg are also considerations, but I think there will be a lot of tempo and aggro so I want some more early plays. HNandlock already stomps zoo so I don't think you need Deathlord.
I pretty much main Handlock recently, and I'm tempted to keep the Drakes just because they give your opponents more Silence targets. If they are just running two Owls, and they use them on Drakes, that means they aren't using them to remove taunts to go for aggression. Though Yeti isn't the worst idea ever. Spectral Knight might have a place too, being just one more mana than Yeti, but so much harder to remove. If they have to use buffs and silences to get rid of him, then my Giants will be safer.
Also tempted to take Rag out of my build and replace it with Kel'Thuzad Same mana cost, but the idea of making Giants that come back at the end of turns just makes me laugh. "Go a head, put that beast in your sights. I dare you."
Loatheb seems like the only really good addition to Handlock after reviewing the spoilers, I think it's really going to come down to whether or not Poison Seeds becomes popular or not.
forget about handlock man,these new cards just killed the handlock,its just like blizzard wants us to play zoo hahahah
I can't wait to put a Void Terror into my Handlock build with the 2 Nerubian Eggs.
Or, a Wailing Soul, to remove Aldor Peacekeeper debuffs, while also activating 2 Ancient Watchers.
Handlock can't affort to drop Twilight Drakes no matter what. Whats the point of HANDlock if only 2 minions in the deck can benefit from huge hand size? Silence or not, I see drakes as a necessity. Yeti is not a viable replacement.
I am concerned about the Nerub'ar Weblord. The battlecry blocking ability is too broken not only against handlock, but also against pretty much any deck that has a lot of battlecries.
Put your faith in the Lock. *Desideratus Bellum*
I do think the nerubar weblord hurts the drakes a lot.
One other thought is that the new Handlock will be the Handpriest.i had played against one handpriest few days ago and it was a nice match up
Famous last words, Mind if i roll Weed? Weed Hoarder, Azeroth
My decks: please, take a look if you want- a lot of dust-free decks-feedback more than welcome
http://www.hearthpwn.com/members/akasumi/decks?sort=-viewcount
Blizzard's news portal in Greeks wastedmurlocgang.gr
I bet Poison Seeds is going to be extremely popular. In the best case scenario, is basically a poor man's Twisting Nether. In the worst case scenario where the opponent have only one threatening minion on the board, it is still a weaker version of Polymorph. At only 4 mana, it is a ridiculously strong AoE hard removal, which Druid lacked.
Put your faith in the Lock. *Desideratus Bellum*
Spectral Knight sounds good. Shades of Naxxramas looks good in almost any control deck. In the case of Handlock, it can also be useful to bait out Silences early game(Spectral Knight too), so you can play big Taunts safely later on. Sludge Belcher sounds ok, but I think a 1/2 Taunt is a bit too low-impact.
Nevertheless, I think none of above cards will be any better than Twilight Drakes. Belcher and Knight are 5 mana, as opposed to 4 mana. Considering how important reliable 4-drops are, I doubt if these cards can replace the Drakes. Shade itself is a good card to add, but not replace the Drakes.
Put your faith in the Lock. *Desideratus Bellum*
Poison Seeds is bad. I had a game yesterday where the opponent poison seeds'd and killed my taunted Giant and watcher, theSunfury Protector between them, and an Earthen Ring Farseer, and then just died to four 2/2's trading with his two 2/2's and me playing another guy. Even the best case scenario Poison Seeds against Handlock isn't going to win Druid the game.
The thing is it's important that the drakes are 4 drops and not 5. So you have 2x + chance to drop something big on turn 4 (or 3 with coin).
Cutting them makes the 3x hero power a lot more punishing I think.
Poison Seeds turned out to be a lot less problematic for Handlocks than some theory crafters thought. Druids are still generally favored against us because of BK, BGH, Keeper, and their combo burst damage, but it's not too bad; something around 40-60 to 45-55 in my experience.
I think the real problem for Handlock is the resurgence of Hunter over the past few days. Face Hunters are our hardest matchup by far, and even the more Mid Range variants are still highly favored because of their cheap removal and ways to deal direct damage
I don't know about your matchup analysis. I've played against one Midrange Hunter deck since hitting rank 5 this month (and I won somehow), so I can't accurately comment on that matchup, but I'm 11-3 against Druid. It feels like a bye - they kill the first giant by 3-for-1-ing themselves, use up a minion and a Keeper battlecry to kill a Drake, and then die to more huge taunt guys they can't deal with. Having a guy BGH'd or TBK'd sucks, but they're so weak to another one that it doesn't matter most of the time. The game I've lost have been T2 Harvest Golem T3 Sunwalker and T3 Yeti T4 Rag. I also lost to a bizarre Silver Hand Knight deck that was extremely aggressive and played 2 Innervates on the first 3 turns of the game.
So far Handlock still seems playable in the meta, Poison Seeds is only a 1x in Druid and a very situational card because they have to be able to sacrifice their board and win.
Even without Void Terror, I think we should be experimenting with Nerubian Egg in the 1xSunwalker or maybe the Mortal Coil slots, it gives the deck some pretty insane plays.
i played around 20 games today.most of them aggro and a lot of zoo.i won almost every game.i lost to 2 zoo cause of bad draw to one and in the second game the enemy was playing it right.and 1 game from an aggro rogue cause of a mistake at the mulligan.so i think yes,HandLock is still viable
Famous last words, Mind if i roll Weed? Weed Hoarder, Azeroth
My decks: please, take a look if you want- a lot of dust-free decks-feedback more than welcome
http://www.hearthpwn.com/members/akasumi/decks?sort=-viewcount
Blizzard's news portal in Greeks wastedmurlocgang.gr
what exactly is it about naxx that people think handlock will die out? the minion that increases battlecry cost?