Hearthpwn

Hey, y'all! (Or, "I greet you" in our native tongues.) I've got a pretty standard post-GvG handlock going. Jaraxx, Dr. Balance, both giants, etc. I'm debating as to whether or not to keep Emporer Thaurissan in my handlock.

I haven't noticed any substantial change in having him played out on a board I already control. If anything, he functions as an alternative to Loatheb in that it helps me keep my board control solid, but in a different way. I want to know what other handlock players (and theorycrafters who have yet to finish piecing together their own handlock decks!) think about it.

Also: 500 decks lay torn up behind me, so my Gul'dan is shiny. Just wanted to put that out there, too. :D

What where you thinking of putting in if you got rid of Emporer Thaurissan?

Congrats on the shiny Guldan, friend. I also am running a pretty standard handlock deck with Thaurissan in it, and have been wondering the same thing lately. He's definitely helped me before, but I also feel as if he may be a win-more kind of card. He is excellent removal bait, however, and can function as a board-clear essentially when the opponent only has two or three minions on the board. No one ever wants to let homie live more than a turn. At the very least, he's removal bait. I haven't removed him just because I don't really know what else I'd want to run instead. He's definitely done his fair share of sitting idly in my hand, though. If you're interested later I'll post my deck list if you wanna compare/exchange thoughts or whatever.

Do you ladder from 20 with Handlock or just aggro until the high levels and then switch? I've been practicing with a hand lock deck but I'm not sure if it will work on the early ladder ranks.

I am also playing with Emperor Thaurissan but thinking about playing Harrison Jones instead because I am facing a lot of warriors (Patron mostly). 

I switched a Faceless Manipulator for [card]Emperor Thaurissan[/card] and until now it runs really smooth. The Emperor is a win more card but in most cases it works. In a small percentage of games he helped me get the board back or do turns i normally could not, but a Faceless always seems as a good replacement for me. So I am switching from time to time between these two but as of now, im still running Emperor.

After a lot of thought, if I were to get rid of Thaurissan, I'd probably throw in Sylvanas. I'm taking the whole ladder with handlock as it's my only real competitive deck.

The thing about Thaurissan is that I had the idea to throw him into my handlock (where the slot was previously taken by one faceless manipulator, now I only run one in my deck w/ Thaur in it) from a guide that recommended him as an anti-aggro card, but by turn 6 I'm already playing my healbots or a second belcher. Now that I'm at rank 13 (A new personal record for me!) I'm really not seeing a slot for him anymore, and the aggressive decks I'm facing off against now just seem to make him a dead card in my hand.

An idea that'll probably get me lynched is to run a Deathlord for those pesky face hunters, but we already know the risk/reward of that card against everything else, so I'm truly at a loss here. :/

Thaurissan is definitely worth running, but he's not always worth playing on turn 6. If you can force a 2-for-1, you'll mitigate the tempo loss and the discounts will pay dividends.

Though, if you want to run Thaurissan in Warlock, I think he's more interesting in Malygos Lock.

thaurissan is a must in handlock,even more so than most control decks.while he does fuck all against aggro,he will skew your matchup against slower decks considerably.since handlock always has a full hand,you will essentially be getting around 7-8 free mana when you play him(and this is obviously assuming they kill it in the same turn,otherwise you just win the game),which will allow you to gain incremental advantages over the rest of the game.for example,you will often be able to clear out an opponent's minion,and play your own in the same turn,in a situation where you would usually have to choose between doing one of the two.

the idea people have that thaurissan is only good in combo decks like freeze mage and mally lock is just dumb,honestly.

Quote from Morcains jump

I don't agree that Emperor is a must, as some of you are suggesting. However it is by far one of the strongest cards for the typical Handlock, and I don't really see what card could take it's place.

Sure, the cards might not affect the board in any significant way, but it most definitely affects the rest of the game. With just one charge the Ancient Watcher + Sunfury Protector only costs half. HALF!!!

In a deck with so many high mana cards + the fact that you'll 85% of all will get charges on at least 5-6 cards makes the card a perfect fit for Handlock. You can always mess around with replacements, but I have yet to see any great success in the attempts made.

 is he a must in the sense that you can't play the deck properly without having access to him?certainly not.handlock was already a good deck before BRM,and you can win games just fine without drawing him early.

is he a must in the sense that,if you do have him,there is absolutely no reason you would choose not to use him?yes,he is.

Considering you have constant card draw with the warlock class, and each card affected by the emperor in effect actually can be considered as a free "coin" being applied to each one, overall the emperor gives you immense advantage. Think about being able to play Jaraxxus AND activate his hero power t10. Thats just one example. 

well i have him and i dont play him...

by the time i can play him he gets instantly removed - sure i get a nice discount but against aggro im all the more dead.

against control if i wait till enough removal is gone (or i draw him too late) my hand is so small that the discount doesnt matter at all...

so why play him then? i tried it, its not worth it, at least not for me.

he is not a dr. boom where you just drop him and 'let your opponent deal with that crazy shit' - if you do that he just goes '..mmmm k!' and your emperor is gone. same thing with control warrior, emperor doesnt really do anything at all in that deck. he is really insane though in decks where a single discount can mean the biggest difference like freeze mage, oil rogue or combo druid.

everyone profits from his ability, its just that handlock doesnt really need it.

but thats exactly my point, it is useless against aggro! which is really all what matters, handlock already has an awesome matchup in any control type...

yes i ignored druids and paladins, i know. NO MATTER WHERE U ARE ON LADDER you have like 1 druid and 1 pally in 10 matches, where as you face 5 hunters/mages/zoo and kinda 3 warriors/mirros. i know im simplyfying things here but seriously dude, what the fuck does it matter how u do against midrange and control if u get ur shit flipped against aggro? once again u are the one ignoring the facts, when have u been on ladde the last time? handlock with his lineup of boom, sylvanas and jaraxxus is great as it is and that cannot be denied where thaurissan AGAIN!!!! doesnt do ANYTHING!!!

also like in every tournament i have seen since thaurissan came out, handlock who included that card got their heads ripped off by aggro AND midrange because midrange just goes aggressive once he finds out hes playing against handlock.

when will the lies finally stop, kick this card out of ur decks if u wanna get anywhere on ladder as handlock.

actually again, the opposite is true, the higher u climb the more aggro u face up until legend. when did u do ur last climb? where do these crazy ideas come from?

Handlock is all about early control followed by cheap or free Giants that don't need Emperor T. In the 6 mana slot I'd much rather have Syl, Syphon Souls, and maybe Mogor.

wow dude seriously, how did u do that? all i was facing from rank 5 on was fucking aggro, didnt even matter the class (though most of them were paladins) , just aggro aggro aggro... and like i said, in tournaments all i see is thaurissan discounting 3-5 cards which is not worth it. especially because most the times its cards which u then play off curve so all u did was playing a 5-5 body for 6 mana... 

Emp T is essentially one of the best cards for any non-zoo warlock deck.  The nature of our hero power gains the most value from Emp T.  It sounds like most people are struggling at lower ranks against aggro/rush decks.  Swapping out Emp T probably isn't going to fix it and I wouldn't recommend teching him for anti-aggro.  I would do something like 2xzombie crows, 2xhellfires, 2xshadowflames, and siphon life if you want to better handle aggro.  Emp T also provides tremendous value vs tempo and mindrange decks.  They often do not carry a lot of removal so getting your opponent to spend a firebal/sheep/removal on Emp T before you drop your big boys is crucial.  I tend to load my deck with as many "auto-win" cards as possible, like 2xticks from Emp T is basically a win, great card of bane of doom same, and I always carry unstable portal in my mage decks.

lately i am having this problem too there is just so many times i cant play thaurissan because i will be dead next turn...  i am having so much problem with secret paladin now my winrate is only about 30% i am thinking of putting zombie chow but still having doubt about it any of you guys run zombie chow in demonlock?

oh common, its not so weak agains aggro. its true that in turn 6 he wont clear a board but from other point of view at turn 6 if u are not contolling board u are either dead or u have jackson. if u play jackson u will have more than enough hp to play thaurisan ( u will not play boom without controlling board for sure) if not u are more or less dead, aggro is aggro but there is another side of thaurisan mechanics, sunfury protectors, anciant watchers, bgh, shadowflames a lot cheaper, so if u are actualy alive at turn 6-7 u are god in the match. as for the combo, u cn play reno/combo lock :))

mby its not must have in the deck but it makes a lot of pressure to the enemy at least it takes 1 or 2 removal spells, sometimes some aggro minions ;)

p.s by the way, if its killed he doesnt die doing nothing, hes ability works at the same turn. boom + sunfury at turn 7 which makes u 2 taunts? saved a day for me quite a few times