Hearthpwn

Quote from jainaishot >>

 Maintaining an even or a positive winrate against the unfavoured match ups is the proof of skill mate. Everyone can win favourabe match ups lol.

Quote from GMAlon >>

Looks like it's working fine, you're facing mostly unfavored opponents, yet you're rank 1 so those matchup are not unfavored as you describe them if you can maintain ~50% winrate.

Quote from James_Doakes >>

Idk about unfavored matchups, but i ran into several legend players at rank 5 today.

I am curious to hear about your experience of queueing into other decks on ladder. I personally have experienced mostly unfavored matchups against my decks. It is really funny how I pick control warlock and I am facing Hadronox Druid, or Mind blast Priest instantly. Then I switch to Odd Rogue and have two paladins in a row and this is happening more than 60% of the time. (Rank 1). 

I am curious to hear your thoughts and experience on ladder. Maybe it is just my experience, or my karma :)

Quote from Lavok >>

 

Quote from Healingpower >>

 

Quote from Decadence99 >>

Tinkmaster Overspark

Not the greatest tech but it gives taunt druid a 50% chance to not get Hadronox from Witching Hour.

And as a spiteful druid - try to silence their first Hadronox if they don't insta naturalize it or their first cube. Don't waste a silence on their taunt minions. Also - as other people already pointed out - keep up the pressure, try to play as aggressive as possible, so if they don't have hadronox + naturalize once they hit 10mana they are dead.

 

 In my experience this rarely happens since typically the taunt druid players are not stupid enough to play Hadro on board if they cant proc it instantly.

 

Well, from my experience playing for both sides, you just have to pressure constantly. It also depends on their draws. Obviously, taunts are annoying but they sometimes may not draw important cards. You have to keep spiteful in your hand, obviously. Remember that they only have 2 naturalizes ,spellstones and swipes so you can try to play around. Cobalt Scalebane is just too good in the matchup so if you stick him around that would be great. MCT is also a good one as you can steal his taunts once he Hadronoxes.

Quote from Saucy_pup >>

 

Quote from Aspect >>

Another thought is that warlocks would be just dying if there was no dark pact. Think about it: amethyst, siphon, gul'dan. Only Amethyst is cheap enough for you to survive against aggro. Yeah, you have defile and hellfire to clear, but how often do you draw them when they are so needed? Well, if dark pact was to be removed and there is no dark possession which could be its substitute then warlock cannot effectively draw out strong demons from the deck which is a big cut on the warlock's ability to be a control deck. I mean people can obviously try different versions and such but still. Pact gives this ability to survive. Lackey and skull are reasonably costed in my opinion. I understand it is frustrating to see doomguards and voidlords that early in the game sometimes, but it is perfect for warlocks to survive against aggro. In Control people have more tools to deal with demons. Aggro uses silence to get through and they do it perfectly most of the time.

 How many deckslots do you think an Aggro deck should sacrifice for silences in the Cube matchup? There's 2x Voidlords and 2x Cubes minimum- and Pact happens on your opponent's turn so you only get to silence 1x of the 2x spawned Voidlords.

Balancing your taps/life total is a small price to pay in a deck that out everythings everything in everything besides early turn aggression. 

I don't know how many heals you need in your deck but please realise that losing Pact would not kill the deck. There's Rogue players theorycrafting Rotten Applebaum for Miracle simply because the health total is that threatened for God's sake (only board clear is fan of knives) , the fact you wouldn't even consider slightly sub-optimal cards to smoothe out your class weaknesses shows just how spoiled Warlock has been. 

 

Like I said before I understand the aspect of heal and getting a demon out, but then warlock has little heal against aggro until at least the next expansion. Dark possession will just replace dark pact, so I am not sure how you want to nerf it.

I am sorry if I missed your way to nerf it.

Jaina is definitely a go-to, but like others say it is not a tier-1 deck. Big spell mage is really good overall and you might need alanna for it. Pyros is meh. Sindragosa is also an interesting inclusion which I prefer since got it off of packs. Alex is less useful now without ice block.

Quote from jiggs >>

Dark Pact is fine. Cubelock is fine. While the aggro player is trying to take down the lock player, the lock player is trying to survive till the end game. Win before the endgame as aggro or survive till the endgame and combo out. Both types of decks are capable of winning against the other. Healing and board control are core components in combo/control decks. Cubelock is mainly a combo deck. 

The issue is the players who can't think for themselves on how to go about playing against specific decks. Once their style of play is stifled by a different play style, all they know how to do is complain. Don't want to play the counter against a specific deck or tech against it or learn the matchup and just improve as a player overall? Just leave the game because it's people like that who kill diversity.

Quote from 1HuntAlone >>

And that would be fine, since they wouldn't have the stabilizing power of 8 health

Quote from Aspect >>

They printed a new 1 cost card Dark possession, so if dark pact is to be nerfed, some may run Dark possession instead; it just won't give 8 health right away.

 

 

Quote from Zukuu >>

There is nothing wrong with Dark Pact. In fact, it's actually underbudgeted. You gain a measly 1 mana advantage of a dedicated "Restore 8 health to your hero", which is worth less than 2 mana, for killing your own minion.

Possessed Lackey is the only issue whatsoever and I'm amazed how everyone keeps saying something else, like Dark Pact, Doomguard, Voidlord or Cube. It's just crystal clear.

Quote from gepetto1er >>

Dark pact is definitely strong with cube + doomguard or voidlord but  I feel it is the most frustrating when you get to deal 15 dmg in a turn when using it with cube doomguard .

I think the best fix of all is to have doomguard gain charge with his battlecry.

Quote from iFaisal11 >>

 

Quote from Aspect >>

They printed a new 1 cost card Dark possession, so if dark pact is to be nerfed, some may run Dark possession instead; it just won't give 8 health right away.

 

 the idea of Dark pact isnt the 8 health, it's activating the cube. 

Another thought is that warlocks would be just dying if there was no dark pact. Think about it: amethyst, siphon, gul'dan. Only Amethyst is cheap enough for you to survive against aggro. Yeah, you have defile and hellfire to clear, but how often do you draw them when they are so needed? Well, if dark pact was to be removed and there is no dark possession which could be its substitute then warlock cannot effectively draw out strong demons from the deck which is a big cut on the warlock's ability to be a control deck. I mean people can obviously try different versions and such but still. Pact gives this ability to survive. Lackey and skull are reasonably costed in my opinion. I understand it is frustrating to see doomguards and voidlords that early in the game sometimes, but it is perfect for warlocks to survive against aggro. In Control people have more tools to deal with demons. Aggro uses silence to get through and they do it perfectly most of the time.