Hearthpwn

Thanks! Right, I added some spoilers right at the top of the article explaining that is was not posted as a competitive deck (beyond mid-gold, at least not until maybe post-nerf), and that the intent was to explore the question "How do I build and play to most consistently maximize accelerating a Corrupt Tickatus into play?" 

Beyond that, it is an exercise in creative (not competitive) deck building and learning.  For example, even though I have played over 10,000 games, I learned something about that weird interaction between discounted demons and Corrupting, something that might save me or other more serious competitors from a serious error someday with a competitive list.

As is, the list requires some serious gambles a lot of the time, with the mulligan and the plays, to pay off in otherwise fringe auto loss games.  Add those occasional wins to the games you get good draws and it wins well enough below mid gold, but starts to push even by upper gold, and starts to lose more than it wins there. 

Hoping the meta shifts enough after the nerf that it can get a boost.  Ironically, if they nerf Far Watch Post, that might help it as it would free several slots for other cards, back toward a Soulciologist Malicia build, but retaining the Tickatus acceleration.

Cool! Thanks for the update!  Yeah, I added right at the very top of the deck guide that this is not competitive at higher ranks and too slow until at least post nerf.  Also explained the reason why I posted the list and am putting the work into it, which is not at all any misconception that the deck is competitive right now.  Take a look at that and let me know what you think.  Trying to make it obvious that there is no value added by saying its not competitive, lol, and it bothered me that people might waste dust crafting stuff thinking that is why its here.  

I have thought about Silas... if you try him, let me know some war stories about how well he works!

Thank you for the comment.  I have posted in the article (In the 'Deck of Lunacy' spoiler)) and the comments (several times) that this is not competitive in the current meta at ranks above Gold.  I believe it will become more competitive post-nerf next week, but until then, it is a 'fun' deck at platinum and higher, intended for the rank floors or casual.  I did succeed with it (solely) from Bronze 10 to Gold 2 in just a couple days, but that is when the streaks stopped and the opponents became nearly all decks needing nerfed (Mage, Pally, Rogue) or the aggro that does well against them (aggro being Warlock Control's archenemy).

Just curious, did you not see those comments?  Should I move one to the very top of the article? [Edit: Added that right up front in the guide].  Tried to be transparent.  When I posted the list, it was because of the success I was having at the lower ranks.  Never dreamed it would make front page, so the attention it has gotten should NOT be construed as any claim or endorsement of it as competitive in the current meta.

Hey, Vicarious_Russ, thanks for the question!  So, in the current list, these are all your options for help to pull them (forgive the obvious ones, just trying to be thorough):

1.) Mulligan:

2.) Hero Power: 

3.) Claw Machine:

4.) Demonic Studies: 

5.) Timing of Envoy Rustwix and Kanrethad Ebonlocke: 

6.) Mortal Coil, Altar of Fire & Shadow Council from Wandmaker + other discovered cards:  

7.) Tech in something that helps:  

 Hope that helps you out! 

I wish I still had my stat tracking subscription... if you did, you could compare the win rates for Wandmaker vs. Venomous Scorpion vs. Mor'shan Watch Post.  They would be generic win rates, not specific to this list, but would be a good starting point.  That would probably be the logical way to decide.

Discovery feels like one of the most powerful effects in the game to me.  Plus, I like to combo them with Hysteria when the board is right.  You could do that though.  I get it.  

Been thinking about that... the last Mor'shan Watch Post might be better to remove than Kanrethad Ebonlocke.  It is more situational, and really only great in matchups that are already bad. 

The Far Watch Posts do a lot more consistent work, and Kanrethad Ebonlocke directly supports the deck's strategies.  Even if its only marginally good at that, it is always marginally good, unlike Mor'shan Watch Post, which is sometimes no good at all.  Removing that feels like a lower opportunity cost. 

At  that point, with one less Lookout, Soulciologist Malicia starts to look more attractive in place of Kargal Battlescar, too.

I like Tamsin Roame.  She could generate more Demonic Studies, removal, and cards from Wandmaker, so yes, could be a great sub for something.  One of the others asked about putting it in for Kanrethad Ebonlocke and I wrote in depth on that farther down in the thread.

Soulciologist Malicia would not get as consistent a board of 3/3s as in other lists, unless you basically convert this to those lists, BUT I still think its a viable sub for Kargal Battlescar (or for something else if you want both)...  my list isn't optimized for Kargal Battlescar either. 

So, sure, it could work, as long as you are not expecting to fill the entire board.  I am sure situationally 3/3 Souls with Rush would be better than 5/5 Lookouts at times.  No card has to be maximized to be worthy, we just tend to like that, lol.  Mana value wise, if you only get one Soul, you are ahead, especially if SM corrupts Tickatus, which is sometimes more important than the board state impact.  Sometimes, lol.

Ohhh, you meant Kanrethad... sorry, drew a blank.  Hey, see comment #39, I answered that in depth for a different person.  Sorry about the confusion.

Demonic Studies is so key to this deck, one of the most valuable cards. This deck is gutted without it, if you read in the guide about how integral it is to accelerating Tickatus for early corrupted play. 

Plus Discover is just so powerful.  You can choose cheap demons often, or lifesteal ones, or taunt ones all to help with aggro, too.  This list actually tries to get extra Demonic Studies by playing the Wandmakers, it is so important. If you want Spirit Jailer, I suggest you just play the usual list.

Not personally a fan of Defender of Argus, but you can try it and let us know how it feels/works for you in the deck.  Control decks always struggle with aggro, though... it is the scissors to our paper, so, I doubt any one or three card subs will change that a lot.  A second Mor'shan Watch Post would fit with the list's intent and help against aggro, though at the expense of being more dead against minion-less decks.  Everything is a trade-off.

Sure! As a risk manager and student of economics, I always look at things in terms of trade-offs.  Kanrethad Ebonlocke is part of the accelerated Tickatus combo-enabler, but he is the least used, least reliable, least effective part.  To use him for acceleration, you have to play him AND have him survive a turn (you can play him and a corrupt trigger minion same turn, but that means waiting longer, which is ok if necessary, but not as good as the banked discounts from Demonic Studies).  So, not having him is not a deal-killer. 

The other two things he does is give you Kanrethad Prime, which is actually a better reason to have him, because that plays into bringing back a second Envoy Rustwix.  You can make up for that a bit with a Felosophy or, less reliably, Shadow Council from Wandmaker, or Raise Dead off of Venomous Scorpid, etc. occasionally, though often one Envoy Rustwix is plenty.  I consider KB one of the lower ranked cards in the deck necessity wise, just like it because it is cheap, with a couple effects that are powerful for two of the win cons.

I do think Tamsin Roame could work and may be one of the better options to preserve synergies.  The deck features key Shadow cards (Demonic Studies, removal, and several of the other cards from Wandmaker).  She is basically a later game card than turn 3 though, just keep that in mind as one of the tradeoffs.  But if you want to replace it with a card that has similar synergies with the win cons, you could do a lot worse.

If this is basically your tech slot because you don't have it, you can consider any tech card for it, too.  Horde Operative comes to mind, or even Acidic Swamp Ooze.  Or the popular and valued Mankrik. 

Because you asked, I got looking at cards that can actually be played at 2-3 mana and besides maybe a second Mor'shan Watch Post, there are several other viable (or at least interesting) candidates.  Not sure if it would help more than hurt, but to boost the Far Watch Post's effects, but you might try Revenant Rascal or Cult Neophyte?  I may play around with that concept for a different build.

There are a lot of choices, depending on your preference in the trade-offs.  As with an earlier comment, these are not recommendations as much as suggestions on the thought process I would use, but in addition to the above thoughts, Brightwing could add some interesting RNG and additional win cons (or crud, of course).  Educated Elekk might be interesting, but could slow you from digging your stuff out.  Sunwell Initiate has been seeing a lot of play. Sneaky Delinquent could help against aggro some.  Or you could just add some more removal, like a one of Soul Shear.  You could main deck a card like Shadow Council or Altar of Fire.

Season to taste and let me know what you settle on!

Thanks!  Agreed!  I often try to use the Circus Medics to gain life against aggro, even though that 4 life costs you 8 potential damage, as you have to live to win, and there are fewer Soul Fragments to help out.  Plus you get that body on the board faster than trying to corrupt them.  Also, when casting Demonic Studies, will be thrilled if I can discover demons with Taunt, Lifesteal or any form of removal.  But yeah, I like Tickatus decks because of how it plays against control and midrange, not how it plays against aggro, lol.

Excited the deck made the front page overnight.  I see the views climbing and just wanted to say thank you for checking it out!  As you can see in the comments, I try to respond to all, so, just wanted to say, I work today and will not be able to get back on until after work, so, expect replies from me in the evening (EST).

For those checking the list for the first time, who might not have time to read through all the comments, know that I posted this deck and guide as I was playing it from Bronze 10 to Gold 2.  It was competitive for me through those ranks, but I did hit a wall at the top of gold due to the state of the current meta. 

So, please, don't craft anything for this that you might regret, knowing this deck is not competitive at higher tiers yet, and will have to be tested after next week's nerfs (one of which may hit the Watch Post part of this list) to see if it becomes competitive once the meta is rebalanced. 

I believe it will, but don't want you to think that just because this got enough attention to reach the home page (thank you everyone!) that it means its competitive at the moment in high tiers... it is not.  You can have fun with it (I do) at the rank floors and then give it another shot when the nerfs go live.  That's my plan!  Will make more updates at that point in time relevant to the meta change, in case you want to turn notifications on for the list.

Thank you for respecting the effort on the guide!  It will continue to be refined more when the meta changes next week.

Hey, sorry if you missed the several times I said this is not good in the current meta above Gold tier in the comments or that there are more effective lists in the current meta in the Deck of Lunacy Spoiler at the end of the article. 

I do believe that it will become competitive at the higher tiers after the 6 nerfs next week, though, as they will bring Mage, Paladin and Rogue down to earth quite a bit, I believe.  So, don't count it out yet, just play more effective lists till then, maybe practicing with this at the 5 and 10 rank floors to get a feel for how to mulligan with it and time stuff, etc. until then.

In general, unless I have a LOT of dust (which I often do on my Americas account, but not on my free to play Europe or Asia accounts), I usually try new lists with subs instead of crafting speculatively, unless it is a meta-defining card I know I will use in other decks.  Most of the cards in this list are usable in other builds and either core, common/rare or free.  I think the only legendary card that is not either a staple, meta-defining, or usable in other builds would be Kargal Battlescar, right?  Hopefully you are not out more than one legendary worth of dust and feel better if you give it another chance after the nerfs.

Thanks!  If by Kan you mean Kargal Battlescar, that card is basically in the slot that other Tickatus builds feature Soulciologist Malicia, so that would be my first sub recommendation, which would also require subbing in Soul Shear for Drain Soul and thinking about if you want to sub in any of the other Soul Fragment generators.  At that point, you are moving back toward the more standard version of the archetype, which is fine, but comes with tradeoffs, too.  

If you do not have or want to play either of those, look through your 7-9 cost non-demon minions for other options, and your 8-9 cost demons, and see if any sync up with the role the card has. 

For example, the new Onyxia the Broodmother floods the board AND it replenishes each turn.  That is not a recommendation, as I am sure others in those ranges might be viable, too, with different strengths to play to, and tradeoffs for how soon they can corrupt Tickatus in the early game.  There are a lot of cards you could potentially sub, but I have not treated that as a tech slot and tested any subs for it, so, this is more about suggestions on the thought process than the specific sub.

Once the meta shifts after the upcoming nerfs to Mage, Paladin, Rogue and some neutral cards next week, I do plan to add a sub list based on the meta at that time, which is when I have been saying this deck will become competitive beyond Gold tier.  Since first posting this, I have advanced past the level where this deck works well enough in the current meta, so, won't be testing subs before it level-sets next week.