Hearthpwn

Quote from Kovachut >>

Ok, I will ask a stupid question. How does the Plot Twist Augmented Elekk combo work?

If it does create a warlock version of DMH, then control warlocks won't need Archivist Elysiana at all. We will just shuffle our best cards in the deck and outvalue the opponent. I haven't entered a Fireside Gathering, where I could open my RoS packs and test this interaction, but if this does work like the way I want, then the Archivist is kinda useless.

 

[edit 2] Barista Lynchen offers a good combo with Omega Agents. You can add that to your post.

 In (late) reply to the post: 

The DMH control warlock combo with Augmented Elekk and Plot Twist works as followed  (as seen in the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myJHQIL67ik)... 

First, you shuffle your desired cards back into the deck via Plot Twist. Doing so with Augmented Elekk, you first copy all the cards before drawing. If you want to 'really' go infinite, you make sure your second copy of Plot Twist is in hand together with your second Augmented Elekk, similar to how Dead Man's Hand needed to copy its twin. 

Furthermore: I added your suggestion to my initial post! Very good! 

Lastly: I'll be doing some polishing to my first post, slotting in a paragraph about 'Meta Prediciton' for Handlocks and how our matchup or decklist would be potentially influenced (based on what we've seen so far from Fireside Gathering material and other theorycrafted lists). 

Introduction:

Welcome, welcome, to the Handlock thread for Rise of Shadows. I intended to create this thread first and foremost to share my own take on the deck, but then I thought "what better would it be to create a deck where all can join in for debate and discussion?". And thus the thread was born (let's see if the thread actually accomplishes anything!). Feel free to read, post and discuss down below. 

The Handlock:

"Handlock (also known as Hand Lock or previously Control Warlock, before the other control warlock decks existed) is a type of warlock control deck that commonly has a high number of cards in the hand, thus earning the name Handlock. Handlock uses synergy with high hand size and low Health to produce sudden and devastating board plays, while keeping itself narrowly out of reach of defeat. Handlocks rely on Taunts, limited removal and good healing in order to stay alive long enough to play out a flurry of powerful minions, with which they then tend to very quickly overwhelm the opponent."

Link: https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Handlock

 

Handlock has been a surviving, viable archetype since the early days of hearthstone. From the start, the cards that stood as foundation for the deck were minions such as Twilight Drake, Mountain Giant and Molten Giant (the latter of the three now only seen in Wild decks). Support in the form of healing came initially through Earthen Ring Farseer and Siphon Soul, and both Sunfury Protector as Defender of Argus made sure your powerhouse guys were given Taunt. 

During Naxxramas, Handlock received a few beneficial cards to slot into the deck. Zombie Chow gave more early board control and Sludge Belcher provided a stickier taunt minion on board. Goblins and Gnomes gave the Handlock community some more viable cards to work with. The staple card of the expansion, 'Doctor 7' (or better known as Dr. Boom), was an auto-addition in almost any type of deck. Aside from the good doctor, some other cards really 'improved' the Handlock deck: Antique Healbot provided a beefier heal and Darkbomb provided flexible, single-target removal. Finally, Blackrock Mountain gave birth to Emperor Thaurissan as a nifty addition to the deck. 

Expansions like The Grand Tournament and The League of Explorers didn't provide much for the Handlock community: a card like Wilfred Fizzlebang turned out not worthy enough to accompany Lord Jaraxxus and the big ol' meanie Reno Jackson gave birth to Renolocks, effectively putting a stop to Handlock being the popular deck of choice. 

Whispers of the Old Gods put forth the Faceless Shambler and Cult Apothecary as a nice additions to the Handlock archetype. One Night in Karazan seemed to provide little, sadly, when compared to what the Mean Streets of Gadgetzan gave us: Mistress of Mixtures was very versatile during any stage of the game. Dirty Rat gave Handlocks combo-disrupting abilities, Abyssal Enforcer was a body with a built-in Hellfire and Blastcrystal Potion saw some sporadic play here and there. 

The Handlock community embarked onto a Journey to Un'Goro, where it was pleasantly suprised with a newfound combo to play around with from Karazan: Bloodbloom and DOOM! paired nicely with Medivh, the Guardian (wiping the board and summoning a big minion onto the empty board!). Aside from the 'Bloodbloom Handlock', our journey into Un'Goro provided other useful cards such as Elise the Trailblazer as staple card or Humongous Razorleaf as extra pair of Ancient Watcher.

Next came the cold days of the Frozen Throne, where we were introduced to Bloodreaver Gul'dan and his bloodthirsty antics. Our bloodreavin' friend from the dark beyond had some tricks up his sleeve in the form of Defile for calculated board clear and Despicable Dreadlord as a 4/5 body with a 1 damage tick every turn. Lastly, Kobolds and Catacombs brought tons of changes to the table, and just to name some examples: Shroom Brewer was effectively a better heal and Lesser Amethyst Spellstone was target removal with a built-in heal! 

For the past three expansions (The Witchwood, The Boomsday Project and Rastakhans Rumble), we've seen one predominant type of Handlock arise. The 'Evenlock', featuring Genn Greymane, sported an improved hero power for 1 mana, allowing the player to accelerate their potential to draw cards by a turn. The deck contained even-cost cards such as Hooked Reaver, Plated Beetle, Vulgar Homunculus, just to name some examples. That type of Handlock, however, is rotating out with Rise of Shadows, when Genn Greymane is leaving for the Hall of Fame...

Enough with the (not-so) brief overview of the Handlock. Let's dive into Rise of Shadows! 

The Rise of Shadows Handlock:

 Let's go over a few possible card choices and/or combinations which seem to be strong, viable options for Handlock during the Rise of Shadows expansion...

• Lord Jaraxxus seems to be getting his old spot back with the leave of Bloodreaver Gul'dan, getting the works done with his army of 6/6 Infernal warriors? 
• Fel Lord Betrug has potential as a game swinging mechanic, filling your board with powerful rush minions (with potentials such as Mountain Giant) by using Plot Twist...
• The package of Oondasta and Amani War Bear seems to be compatible with Betrug's plot-twisting schemes!
• Faceless Rager, a descendant of a long line of not-so-good ragers, seems to be a nice way to get a beefy minion out onto the field. Pairs nicely if you have a Mountain Giant or a Twilight Drake on the field. 
• Archivist Elysiana is an overall well-valued card for control match-ups, filling your deck with 10 cards. Fatigue changer? Or not potent enough for the Handlock archetype?
• Arcane Watcher seems rather reminiscent of Humongous Razorleaf, giving you a 5/6 body to taunt up.
• Sunreaver Warmage and Twisting Nether or Siphon Soul is a potential package to include, giving you a 5 mana 4/4 body dealing 4 damage to any target. 
• Aranasi Broodmother seems to be a viable 6 mana taunt minion. Activators such as Plot Twist and even Sense Demons can provide heal on demand.
• Hecklebot could be the new Dirty Rat for Handlock, providing a beefy 3/8 taunt and getting a minion out into play for your opponent. This bot pairs well with Siphon Soul and could mean Zilliax has a potential target to morph with. 
• Arch-Villain Rafaam seems to be another viable game closer next to Lord Jaraxxus, turning your less useful cards into Legendary minons. Question is... is Rafaam worth it? 
• Rotten Applebaum and Proud Defender are both good options to fill in a slot as an extra taunt minion in the deck...
• Doomsayer has been a viable anti-aggro card in past variants of Handlock. Other anti-aggro cards, aside from the Ancient Watcher and Arcane Watcher set could be cards such as Belligerent Gnome or Saronite Taskmaster.
• Barista Lynchen could work well with many of our (already included, or) Battlecry minions!

 

Current Meta Predictions (and their influence on Handlock decks):

Warrior

Warrior seems to have three solid archetypes to roll with: Bomb Shuffle, Dragon Rush Warrior and Big Warrior. Depending on the type of deck, our play as Handlock can be adjusted accordingly. 

Should Bomb Shuffle be a 'real' strong deck in the Meta, we'll have a hard time struggling against the potential random burst from our deck. The value from our Plot Twist will diminish greatly, since we can draw any number of bombs from drawing after shuffling our hand back into the deck. Also, big daddy Lord Jaraxxus will have to be kept in the hand untill such a time presents itself when all the bombs have been omimtted from the deck (making our good ol' demonic overlord a dead card really).

Dragon Rush Warrior seems to be a fine match-up, in all seriousness. Plenty of chances for both parties to win through board control. It is true, Warrior will have loads of value from Dragons Roar and War Master Voone, but we'll likely keep initiative through our big core cards. Furthermore, Handlocks will too seem to have a rush potential through Fel Lord Betrug, filling our own board for one turn to turn the tides of battle. 

Big Warrior seems to be as problematic as Bomb Shuffle. Dr. Boom, Mad Genius will be very dangerous with a mech-filled decklist (potentially getting huge swing turns with cards like The Boom Reaver). Possibly, Handlock will have to seriously rely on running at least one copy of Twisting Nether to provide solid board clear against a huge board. 

Druid

So far, I haven't seen any potential meta-breaker Druid list (?). Could change, though. If Lucentbark decks become a big thing, we could see Handlock teching in cards like Ironbeak Owl for silence or The Black Knight as taunt-smasher. 

Hunter

For Hunter, it's kinda like Druid for me; I've yet to see a meta-breaking decklist. However, there is one interesting list that I've seen pop up recently, revolving around an OTK-style build with Jepetto Joybuzz, Malygos and Alexstrasza. The aim is to one-shot the opponent by drawing 1-cost copies of both dragons, followed by playing Arcane Shot and/or Rapid Fire. Only tech option for Handlock would be to hope a Hecklebot or two might do the trick by pulling out either of the three combo cards. 

Mage

Coming soon maybe; I've literally got nothing on Mage so far aside from a weak list for Freeze Mage. However, it would be wise to note that Khadgar and Archmage Vargoth both seem like powerhouse tools in Mage decks, with the former sporting Mage players the chance to double-up on Ragnaros the Firelord via Jan'alai, the Dragonhawk.

Paladin

Secret Paladin seems to be making a comeback, much like Dragon Paladin. I would fear the latter more than the former (if I am not mistaken). We have more than enough walls of taunt to deal with the puny minions Secret Paladin sports; the only fear we could really have is letting cards like Secretkeeper or Commander Rhyssa spiral out of control. 

As for Dragon Paladin, there are some dangers lurking in their decklist. Paladin has always been able to clear the boards repeatedly with cards like Equality, Consecration and Wild Pyromancer. Added to that, Paladins have their own built-in combo breaking card via Duel! and board control via Shrink Ray. Furthermore, they have some hand buffing madness through Dragon Speaker, building up their dragons slowly, and a healthy value package through dragon core cards like Firetree Witchdoctor and Scaleworm. For all intended purposes, let's keep an eye on those pesky Dragon Paladins, shall we? 

Priest

Ouch... Priest seems to be getting two strong archetypes, both which will be quite challenging for Handlocks...

Silence Priest seems to be coming back through cards like Hench-Clan Shadequill, Arcane Watcher and Dalaran Librarian. Check up the Silence Priest decks from the Fireside Gatherings; you'll witness first-hand how fast they can spin out of control. Odds are Handlock will need to incorporate early-game aggro control, alongside a pletora of strong taunt walls via Ancient Watcher and Faceless Rager. 

OTK Priest with [/card]Archmage Vargoth[/card] is already achieving meme-status. Imagine copying multiple Vargoths (or resurrecting them) before unleashing dozens of Mind Blasts... Yeah, you guessed it. Your toast (not a disguised one!). Only chance you'd have is running the Hecklebot package and hoping for the best...?

Rogue

Ah, Rogue... Sweet, sweet rogue. Seems to be running three potential archetypes for Rise of Shadows: Burgle Value Rogue, Miracle Aggro Rogue and Pogo-Midrange .The former will be banking on stacking the deck through cards like Togwaggle's Scheme and Tak Nozwhisker, alongside Academic Espionage, out-valueing us in the long-run. Maybe we'll see Handlocks double-up on the value against these value barons through an Augmented Elekk infinite style-Handlock? 

Miracle Aggro seems to be another type of deck to come back in Rise of Shadows, running a Heistbaron Togwaggle-meets-Myra's Unstable Element-meets-Waggle Pick type of antics. The idea is to just go full-face - nothing we can't handle if we mulligan right and pick the right anti-aggro minions for our decks. 

Pogo-Midrange is interesting, but it banks on their drawing power mostly (in my opinion, could be wrong there of course). If it does prove to be as dangerous as it looks, we'd see the same with Big Warrior: at least one copy of Twisting Nether.

Shaman

Like Warrior, Shaman seems to be in a fine spot by being allowed to keep Hagatha the Witch as a hero card. They have two archetypes to run in Rise of Shadows so far: Control Value Shaman and Murlock Shaman. The latter is really a win-lose for Handlock matchups, being decided on either opponent getting the god-draw (or mulligan) or not - If Murlock Shaman draws well, they'll snowball out of control. If Handlock draws the tools they need to maintain board control, they win. 

Control Shaman seems to be an interesting decklist. Running cards like Swampqueen Hagatha, Walking Fountain, Hagatha the Witch, Al'Akir the Windlord, Archivist Elysiana and even Malygos backed by control tools such as Hagatha's Scheme, Hex and Lightning Storm, Control Shaman has a decent early- and mid-game with loads of value in the late-game. Handlock will have to compete against the pure value pouring from Hagatha the Witch with value-busters of their own like Arch-Villain Rafaam or Archivist Elysiana. 

Warlock

Of course, there will be mirror matches - I won't go into depth about those. I'd rather focus on the other archetype that will be prevalent in the meta of Rise of Shadows: Zoolock. Just like Handlock, Zoolock has seen almost every expansion since launch. It is a concept that works time and time again. The Zoo archetype will lose some of its power with the loss of Prince Keleseth, Fungalmancer and most importantly Doomguard, but will gain some nifty tools. Arch-Villain Rafaam will likely gain a spot in Zoolock decks to ensure they can still battle on in the late game. Zoolock will see play with Jumbo Imp, Sea Giant and Rafaam's Scheme alongside staple cards like Knife Juggler or Dire Wolf Alpha. The plan is simple for Handlock - tech in the aggro control cards, clear the board with Shadowflame and Hellfire and keep alive through heals. 

 

Some examplary decks to link (including shameless self-post):

• https://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/1244003-handlock-rise-of-shadows - Runs the Oondasta package alongside two copies of Plot Twist.
• https://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/1253180-akawonders-handlock-pre-expansion-event - Runs the Arcane Watcher set with High Priestess Jeklik and Omega Agent. 
• https://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/1248970-e-v-i-l-handlock-rise-of-shadows - My own version, running the Hecklebot package. 
• https://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/1253141-handlock - Runs the Twisting Nether and Sunreaver Warmage package.
• https://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/1253033-ros-handlock - Runs Archivist Elysiana and, interestingly, Shriek as staple cards in the deck. 

Come across any other interesting Handlock decks? Do you have a decklist which you want to showcase? Be sure to link them down below in a post! The more the merrier! 

Without further delay... What do you think about the new potential cards and lists for Handlock? Will it be viable, and if that answer is yes: what version is the most optimal and why?