Hearthpwn

I believe enhance-o-get windfury-PO might be outright broken, maybe to the poit where 2x PO is viable. Anima golem+PO+PO+windfury=34 damage!

I am cooking the evil brother of handlock, the boardlock, to try to make sure the anama survives...

So far it seems like there's even more aggro than before with all the small mechs. Yesterday I was dominating with my handlock. Now it's a different story...:/

If anima golems become a thing I will be compelled to test 1 wailling soul

If anima golems become a thing I will be compelled to test 1 wailling soul

Yes, but that would probably have to be a non-handlock deck, as it would have anti-synergy with twilight drake, defender of argus, sludge belcher, sunfury protector as well as sylvanas. A tempo warlock with wailing soul sounds interresting though!

They are cheap enough to combine with shadowflame, I am going for a 1 Anima golem one Fel Reaver though.

Quote from Slydie »

So, lets assume that Handlock will continue to be an archetype, just as it did for Nax. Naxramas saw most handlocks add Sludge Belchers, and Lord Jaraxxus found his way back in. What will the new standard handlock build look like after the release of GvG?

-Soulfire will be nerfed to 1 mana, and is actually counterproductive to the handlock style. This could be the first card to go. However, more solutions to heal or early game stalls need to be found.

-Enhance-o Mechano could be interresting, maybe at the expense of an Defender of Argus. All of his buffs can be useful, but rolling windfury on a giant sounds particularly compelling!

Anima Golem could also be an iterresting addition, as it is yet another big threat. If you have ancient watchers he is amazing, and he is a fantastic shaddowflame target, guaranteed clearing everything up to 9-life, excluding deathrattles.

Mal'Ganis is maybe the most obvious card that needs to be tried in handlock. He gives you immunity, and if the deck is viable with that many big minions, Mal'Ganis could outright win you the game in many situations, just as Lord Jaraxxus has done so many times for us already.

Maybe will there even be multiple styles of handlock, like a demon one and a mech one as well as the classic, but that will be explored soon!

Lets brew awesome decks!

GvG Handlock Unknown Deck by SlydE - Dec 3, 2014 View Deck String Export to BBCode Export to Cockatrice Export to MarkDown Export to Html Clone this deck
Minion (22) 1x Alexstrasza 1x Loatheb 1x Sylvanas Windrunner 2x Molten Giant 2x Mountain Giant 2x Defender of Argus 2x Sludge Belcher 2x Sunfury Protector 2x Twilight Drake 1x Antique Healbot 2x Earthen Ring Farseer 2x Ironbeak Owl 2x Ogre Brute	Ability (7) 2x Shadowflame 1x Siphon Soul 2x Darkbomb 1x Hellfire 1x Mortal Coil	Playable Hero (1) 1x Lord Jaraxxus
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Changes I see happening might be -1 soulfire +1 darkbomb

Maybe -1 Ancient watcher +1 enhance-o-mechano

perhaps -1 hellfire +1 recombobulator

Tap Coin Twi...OGRE?!?! Unknown Deck by iLoveTriples - Dec 10, 2014 View Deck String Export to BBCode Export to Cockatrice Export to MarkDown Export to Html Clone this deck
Minion (22) 1x Loatheb 1x Big Game Hunter 1x Faceless Manipulator 2x Molten Giant 2x Mountain Giant 2x Defender of Argus 2x Sludge Belcher 2x Sunfury Protector 2x Twilight Drake 2x Antique Healbot 1x Ironbeak Owl 2x Ogre Brute 2x Zombie Chow	Ability (8) 1x Shadowflame 2x Siphon Soul 2x Darkbomb 1x Hellfire 1x Mortal Coil 1x Shadow Bolt
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This is my GvG handlock in the first revision;

Darkbomb replaced Soulfire entirely, in matches where you went to fatigue how good has been to play with 28 cards? 4 health minions aren't popular anyways.

Ogre Brute replaces Ancient Watcher, both as shadowflame fodder and as taunt bodies for argus. The fact that he can attack even with the 50% chance to miss is a great plus, considering watchers couldn't attack at all.

Antique Healbot is just retarded op with molten giants, it's sad not being able to heal giants / drake but you'll get over it. Recombobulator can be added for more giant healing, for less mana.

Zombie Chow, Mortal Coil, Shadow Bolt are flexible slots where you can slam legendaries in case the meta becomes slower. You may also add a second Ironbeak Owl in that slot.

Mana Curve

Handlock typically doesn't uses 1 mana crystal in its turns 1 and 3 (unless coin watcher > owl). The ogres and the zombie chows still allow you to tap and play a minion or, play a threat on 3 that has to be dealt with.

If the match is going slowly enough, just tap and play your giant or drake as you normally would. Now you have the option to threaten shaman totems, leper gnomes, haunted creepers and whatnot with the Chow and the Ogre. Darkbomb is a fantastic turn 2 removal for Undertaker, Mana Tide Totem, etc.

So it's all better?

No it's not. Soulfire got nerfed two times; the first time when they increased its mana cost (marginal), and the second time (indirectly) when Darkbomb came out. It's a tempo loss not to use it but it's a gain in card overall potential from the deck, as you now play with 30 cards like the other decks. You decide.

Noob you can't shadowflame an ogre on turn 6!

Yeah well. I guess i'll have to live with flamestrike like mages :P

Possible card swaps;

As mentioned above i believe Mortal Coil, Zombie Chow and Shadow Bolt to be flexible slots. You can put Lord Jaraxxus, Sylvanas Windrunner, Ragnaros the Firelord or whatever works for you. Recombobulator is also a possibility if you're intrested in rejuvenating your giants.

I'm curious to hear how this deck works out for you, personally i believe this version is faster, stronger and more versatile then the classic "naxx" one i used to play before GvG.

First inpressions after buying 73 packs and fooling around...

It is not that hard to make a deck that negates the drawback of anima golem. However, I have problems surviving, new decks pack a punch!

Enhance-o mechano can work, but is NOT good with ancient watcher! He is a dude for minions with high attack to get value from devine shield and windfury.

Demonlock with floating watchers owned me badly one game, that kind of deck might replace handlocks...

That's what i use 

Blingtron Handlock Unknown Deck by Randymarshlol - Dec 11, 2014 View Deck String Export to BBCode Export to Cockatrice Export to MarkDown Export to Html Clone this deck
Minion (23) 1x Alexstrasza 1x Blingtron 3000 1x Loatheb 1x Ragnaros the Firelord 1x Sylvanas Windrunner 1x The Black Knight 2x Molten Giant 2x Mountain Giant 1x Ancient Watcher 2x Defender of Argus 2x Sludge Belcher 2x Sunfury Protector 2x Twilight Drake 2x Earthen Ring Farseer 1x Ironbeak Owl 1x Ogre Brute	Ability (7) 1x Shadowflame 1x Siphon Soul 1x Power Overwhelming 1x Darkbomb 1x Hellfire 1x Mortal Coil 1x Soulfire
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I don't have Jarraxus or Mal'Ganis but Bling Tron is pretty fun 

So the last few days I have been testing a lot of different Handlock builds, and really it comes down to one thing: Antique Healbot is the most incredible, broken thing to happen to Handlock since Blizzard settled on Life Tap. It doesn't really matter what else you do, if you run Healbot you will destroy most decks. It dramatically improves matchups vs both aggro decks and decks that rely on Alexstrasza. Last night I played at least 20 games and lost a total of 2. Running 2 X Healbot, 2 X Siphon Soul and Mal'Ganis gives you at least 59 effective health even before you factor in a heal from Lord Jaraxxus. It's insane.

There are some other nice changes. I think 1 X Watcher and 1 X Ogre is probably correct, and if you are facing a ton of aggro (which doesn't really seem like a thing right now) you can sub out some late game for another Watcher.

But anyways in short, you are crazy if you don't play Healbot.

 

Quote from Semioteric »

So the last few days I have been testing a lot of different Handlock builds, and really it comes down to one thing: Antique Healbot is the most incredible, broken thing to happen to Handlock since Blizzard settled on Life Tap. It doesn't really matter what else you do, if you run Healbot you will destroy most decks. It dramatically improves matchups vs both aggro decks and decks that rely on Alexstrasza. Last night I played at least 20 games and lost a total of 2. Running 2 X Healbot, 2 X Siphon Soul and Mal'Ganis gives you at least 59 effective health even before you factor in a heal from Lord Jaraxxus. It's insane.

There are some other nice changes. I think 1 X Watcher and 1 X Ogre is probably correct, and if you are facing a ton of aggro (which doesn't really seem like a thing right now) you can sub out some late game for another Watcher.

But anyways in short, you are crazy if you don't play Healbot.

 

I love sneaking over here to spy on what you handlocks are up to. I have some comments from the other side of things:

The Antique healbot is pretty swell when you figure you will be taking a lot of heat. Problem is that it costs 5 and you basically lose a turn over it. Vs priest you don't want to be waiting until you think youre safe by dropping double giants into agrus only to be lightbombed. Preist control is definately not afraid of handlock at this point, but i guess it never was. Vs aggro healbot gives you an extra turn to slam down taunts before youre dead, but a good aggro deck has handlock beaten by turn 6 unless you've been able to fire off multiple Hellfires or get those watchers taunted early. If you catch an opponent not running double owls then win rates will probably be higher. I run demonlock as my main and the matchup has been alright vs many iterations of handlock since my deck is mid-range it stands to beat handlock more than 50% of the time. If the game gets to the point of Jaraxxus, sacrificial pact shames them. In my mind the way to fix handlock is to stop ignoring the 3 drop and put something in to mitigate early damage as opposed to relying so heavily on your late game walls. I like 1 enhanco, 1 argus for variety and utility. Throw a few Ogre Brutes in to beef your early-mid game up because all too many times have i see an ancient watcher come out only to sit there for 6 turns until it finally gets argused. Not to mention that yetis and tech just obliterate you mid-game.

Quote from Rusery »

Quote from Semioteric »

So the last few days I have been testing a lot of different Handlock builds, and really it comes down to one thing: Antique Healbot is the most incredible, broken thing to happen to Handlock since Blizzard settled on Life Tap. It doesn't really matter what else you do, if you run Healbot you will destroy most decks. It dramatically improves matchups vs both aggro decks and decks that rely on Alexstrasza. Last night I played at least 20 games and lost a total of 2. Running 2 X Healbot, 2 X Siphon Soul and Mal'Ganis gives you at least 59 effective health even before you factor in a heal from Lord Jaraxxus. It's insane.

There are some other nice changes. I think 1 X Watcher and 1 X Ogre is probably correct, and if you are facing a ton of aggro (which doesn't really seem like a thing right now) you can sub out some late game for another Watcher.

But anyways in short, you are crazy if you don't play Healbot.

 

I love sneaking over here to spy on what you handlocks are up to. I have some comments from the other side of things:

The Antique healbot is pretty swell when you figure you will be taking a lot of heat. Problem is that it costs 5 and you basically lose a turn over it. Vs priest you don't want to be waiting until you think youre safe by dropping double giants into agrus only to be lightbombed. Preist control is definately not afraid of handlock at this point, but i guess it never was. Vs aggro healbot gives you an extra turn to slam down taunts before youre dead, but a good aggro deck has handlock beaten by turn 6 unless you've been able to fire off multiple Hellfires or get those watchers taunted early. If you catch an opponent not running double owls then win rates will probably be higher. I run demonlock as my main and the matchup has been alright vs many iterations of handlock since my deck is mid-range it stands to beat handlock more than 50% of the time. If the game gets to the point of Jaraxxus, sacrificial pact shames them. In my mind the way to fix handlock is to stop ignoring the 3 drop and put something in to mitigate early damage as opposed to relying so heavily on your late game walls. I like 1 enhanco, 1 argus for variety and utility. Throw a few Ogre Brutes in to beef your early-mid game up because all too many times have i see an ancient watcher come out only to sit there for 6 turns until it finally gets argused. Not to mention that yetis and tech just obliterate you mid-game.

I have yet to lose to a Priest this season. It is almost never correct to go all-in on your giants vs a control deck unless you know they have used their AOE or you can block with Loatheb. Lots of newer Handlock players see 2-cost Moltens and get giddy, but you are usually better off playing one at a time.

Quote from Draco_Cracona »

Quote from Semioteric »

I have yet to lose to a Priest this season. It is almost never correct to go all-in on your giants vs a control deck unless you know they have used their AOE or you can block with Loatheb. Lots of newer Handlock players see 2-cost Moltens and get giddy, but you are usually better off playing one at a time.

What are you doing to not lose to control priest? When they don't hit you and instead heal you, you're 2 moltens down immediately. Vol'jin is basically removal for giants, that plus 2 SWD takes care of most of your big stuff, and your smaller stuff just gets picked off by their buffed minions. Lightbomb? Not worried about that. Extra priest removal? Nasty.

Priest as it is currently built doesn't have any burst so you will eventually get to play your Moltens. Also, I have yet to go up against one that has both Lightbomb and 2 X Death. Most also don't run silence so you play out your Drakes early and can usually use them to take care of their clerics/cultists/blademasters. There is usually a swing turn where you are able to play a Giant and Loatheb on the same turn, at which point they respond with an overcost Death or Sylvanas. If they play Sylvanas they lose (Silence + Siphon basically ends the game). Eventually they have exhausted their removal at which point you play Jarraxxus and again it's game over. I run BGH so if they mind control any of the big threats I can easily remove it and tempo up.

I don't think it's the greatest match-up ever, but I do think played properly Handlock is favored and as I mentioned I have won a number of them in a row.

How are people liking the Ogres over the Ancient Watchers?

After playing around some theblast couple of days:

-I loved the ogres! Thanks for the idea, might update the OP...

-Enhance-o mechano is a good 1-of. You dont want 2 in your hand, and if you run watchers, maybe just skip him.

-Anima golem might not work because you need to build too much around him, and he cant be dropped on an empty board like your other minions.

-Dark Bomb is nice

Quote from Ser_Wa »

Quote from thedarkonexx »

 Sea Giant instead of Anima Golem. Its very easy to play it on 6 mana, or even less possibly, and doesn't have any of the downsides of killing itself sometimes. 

P.S Sea Giant recombobulated is either another sea giant or death wing ;)

A Sea Giant in a Handlock? How is this supposed to work?

I guess using your opponent's minions? Seems dodgy to me, though. If you survive long enough to drop a cheap giant and aoe, then, em... well done?

I tried it a while, he is a surprise! Can work in the place of Ragnaros the Firelord

Bad vs warriors and miracle.

Quote from Poghy »

I think that Clockwork Gnome might be a really good addition to the handlock arsenal. When you dont have the coin, and want to go for a T4 giant, you can stil play this and it wont screw up your hand size. Combined with Mortal Coil, you can kill an early Northshire Cleric, Mechwarper, or once-buffed Undertaker and still have the T4 giant. The spare part can also be useful, especially if its taunt or stealth.

I still think Ogre on 3 is better than Clockwork on 1 with coin.

OP is updated, I will follow the thread and update again when trends emerge.

If anyone has reached legend with a deck, please inform us!

Im having good results with this pretty straight forward list.

 

Deck Export to BBCode Export to Cockatrice Export to MarkDown Export to Html Clone this deck
Minion (22) 1x Alexstrasza 1x Loatheb 1x The Black Knight 2x Big Game Hunter 2x Molten Giant 2x Mountain Giant 2x Defender of Argus 2x Sludge Belcher 2x Sunfury Protector 2x Twilight Drake 2x Earthen Ring Farseer 1x Ironbeak Owl 2x Antique Healbot	Ability (8) 2x Shadowflame 2x Siphon Soul 2x Darkbomb 2x Hellfire

BGH replaced the Watchers, because the meta is slower and more targets are played. 

Bomb over Soulfire

Ancient Healbot replaced Mortal Coil

Alexstraza over Jaraxxus, because it is the bigger threat. 

 

 

OP updated again with Forsens deck.