Hearthpwn

From my experience, it is a terrible card for the deck. The only good I think it offers is as an "Oh Sh*t" card that may buy you a few more turns to get Shudderwock in play. 

Along with the possibility of killing your own Shudderwocks, she also has a nasty habit of filling your hand with the spells from her hero power. 

For me, with a Shudderwock deck, I want as many 1 mana copies as possible, so I want my hand close to empty when I drop him, With the life gain from LifeDrinker, and all or most of your opponent board frozen, you almost always get a second turn, and if you have 2 or 3 Shudderwock for 1 mana, that is pretty much game over. 

Control Warlock is just as viable as any other control deck, but also just as vulnerable. 

As has been discussed, the current state of the game is very much "Rock, Paper, Scissors". 

Control Warlock does at least have a couple tools that at least give it a little advantage ... Gnomeferatu  at least has some RNG chance of breaking up combo decks, and Rin gives you a decent advantage against other control decks. 

To be honest, I haven't played it much this season, but only because I finished my golden Warlock last season, so I have been focusing on other classes, mainly running Quest Priest ... which has seen a significant decline in winrate as the season has passed.  

Quote from MandelbrotorblednaM >>

I play slow decks and not only do I not concede, I be sure to use every bit of rope every single turn for you Shudderwock players for playing such an idiotic deck.

 You do know that, along with just being an ass, you are hurting yourself a lot more than your opponent. Anyone playing a Shudderwock deck is already expecting a long game, so roping them isn't affecting their strategy at all. 

Dusting Barnes because "Why the hell would I ever want a 1/1 copy of a card in my deck?" 

My strategy ...

Open pack, click cards, dust them all. 

Quote from Iceblu31980 >>

Here are my stats. I managed to improve my winrate a bit.

Win/Loss Winrate
111W 117L 48.7%

Class Win/Loss Winrate
vs Paladin 11W 6L 64.7%
vs Mage 19W 15L 55.9%
vs Shaman 14W 13L 51.9%
vs Hunter 13W 14L 48.1%
vs Priest 10W 11L 47.6%
vs Warlock 9W 11L 45.0%
vs Druid 18W 24L 42.9%
vs Warrior 6W 8L 42.9%
vs Rogue 11W 15L 42.3%

I follow the guide closely always playing Amara with Zora and waiting until the last 10 hp. I fight mostly druids and hunters. I suspect I play Benedictus incorrectly and sometime I get bursted down even by holding Amara for too long.

 Taunt Druid and Spell Hunter are two of the tougher matchups.

If you are seeing a lot of Taunt Druid, tech in Tinkmaster Overspark. It isn't perfect, it does cut their chances with Witching Hour down to 50/50. I also try to get a second copy of Mind Control when playing against them. If you can manage to MC their Lich King, you have a lot better chance of getting through their Hadronox turns. Best case scenario, you MC their Lich King, work your way through the first Hadronox, then MC their cube off the second.

Spell Hunter comes down to getting your Duskbreakers at the right times, and if possible, try to get Benedictus out early and copy their DK. I also will try to get as many Crystalline Oracle as possible, again looking to get Rexxar. 

I have noticed my win rate dropping slightly, I believe because people have started to figure out how to play against the deck ... which in most cases is a lot like how we had to play against Exodia Mage ... just slam face with everything early and try to beat the quest.  

Quote from Iceblu31980 >>

Played around 200 games with this deck now and my win rate is around 40% :( Must be doing something wrong.

 I finished the season with about 120 games played, and a win rate of 60%. 

Are you having problems with a specific matchup, or just the deck in general? 

Against Paladin (really doesn't matter which one), you should be almost 100% win rate. Dont stress too much on your early life total and waste your board clears too soon, But dont let them get too far ahead either. The idea here is you just run them out of resources while you get your quest finished. They just simply wont have enough left in the tank to get through 40 or 80 additional health. 

Speaking of that, always try to pair Amara with Zola if at all possible. 

Against Taunt Druid. Can be easy, or can be tough. They start slow, so getting the quest done is pretty simple. You have to just grind through their initial minions, and then you need to mind control their cube. I have noticed some players are playing around this by giving up the cube, and just going for 2 rounds of recall with witching hour, making it a tougher match. This is where having the extra copy of Amara comes in handy. 

Against Token Druid. Save Scream until they fill the board with wisps. Even better if they use their treant spell on them. A second way to deal with them is to Spirit Lash the 1/1's, and Drake the 2/2's. Dont leave them a full board, no matter how safe you think you are on life total. They can buff the crap out of their minions if you aren't careful. 

Big Spell Mage. This matchup is tough. Jaina can easily give them enough value to just outlast you, even with double Amara. I will usually try to get Benedictus out as early as possible, and hope I get Jaina in their deck. If they get her, and you don't, honestly, you probably are going to lose. I have taken some games a LONG way with them, but in the end, you just can't control their lifesteal enough. 

Burn Mage. Get Amara before you die, and you win. 

Odd rogue or miracle. Deal with the Clan Thugs, and you usually are OK. Watch out for big bursts from Cold Blood early. Another match where its really just a race to complete the quest. 

All in all, the idea is just to get the quest done. Try to hold off on using Amara as long as possible, and try to get her copied with Zola. I usually hold off on playing Benedictus until after I have Zola and Anduin in hand, with the exceptions being against Spell Hunter and Big Spell Mage. You really want their DK in those situations, as they will out value you down the stretch. 

Great job!

Spell hunter is a great deck against what I have been seeing in the 3-2 ranks. The new minions added to Rexxar's pool have made him really tough to beat

Right now, Quest Warrior is the better choice. Whether or not it can get you to legend remains to be seen. It's one of the highest ranked decks right now, but I think that is because of the meta shifting around a lot after the nerfs. 

Quote from thazud8D >>

Three games with three different decks, and in all three games I faced a deck that countered mine. I am not on the "THIS GAME IS RIGGED" train but damn it is frustrating. 

 I'm with ya .... check my post above this one. SO blatantly obvious, but impossible to prove it.  

CONFORMATION BIAS MY ASS

Would have made this a topic itself .. but unless you have a signed deposition from Blizzard stating the obvious is true, I guess posting tin foil hat threads is not allowed. 

So far this season I have played 89 games with Quest Priest. I have had EXACTLY ONE mirror match. 88 games ... 

Today I get the quest to play overload cards, so I switch to a Shudderwock deck. First match ... Quest priest. Usually a great matchup .. unless Shudderwock buries himself so deep in the deck the priest has time to beat you down. Literally lost with 3 cards left in the deck ..Shudderwock, Healing Rain, and Lifedrinker. 

Decide to try out Stan's Even Shaman. Looks like a good deck, and quite frankly I am tired of the long games from Quest Priest. First match .. MIRROR MATCH. In the last 3 days, I have faced 4 shaman, and maybe 1 of them has been Stan's deck. 

I am sorry, but matchmaking IS NOT RANDOM. Don't ask me why they would rig it .. BUT THEY DO. 

This shit has been this way since the beginning, and honestly, I don't even care that they do it ... it's the fact that it is so damn obvious, but no one will admit it, and every attempt to "prove" it just gets met with the same "Conformation Bias" "Sample Size Too Small" bullshit responses. 

I think that is what it is. I read that it was 90, but also that it was 90 total player turns (so 45) 

Been a really good deck so far. Biggest drawback is the games will often run 20+ minutes, even longer than other control decks I have played. 

So far, I am about 60 games with it, with a 62% WR. 

Shudderwock Shaman ... forget it. Probably best to just auto concede. Only match I was able to pull off was when I was able to play Benedictus really early, and got enough of the Shudder combo to win with it. 

Tempo mage is tough, but winnable. You need to start good, and they need to start slow. 

Just destroys Paladins. I honestly think I have won all but 1 matchup against them. 

Taunt druid seems to be pretty favored as long as nothing goes weird at the end. Save your Mind Control, steal their cube. You need to be at full health and preferably some armor at this point, because you are going to take a full board to the face on that turn. The games I have lost were usually because they had an Anti-Magic shield to buff on that turn. 

Secret Hunter can be problematic once they get DK Rex going. 

Overall, its a very effective deck. I find it "fun" (but I like control). If you don't like long games, you will hate it. Have had some really fun wins with Benedictus. There is something satisfying when you beat someone with their own tools. 

Oh .. and mirror matches. You should probably pack a light lunch, and maybe a snack. Only had one so far .. but it was the longest game I have ever played ... 43 turns, 52 minutes long    :-)  

 I would say "very highly unfavored" matchup. Not hopeless, but probably better to just concede and move on to a more winnable game. Your only real hope is Benedictus ... when you play him, and whats left in the deck when you do. If you get your own copy of Shudderwock, and a couple of the key battlecry cards, you could maybe win. But that is a pretty tough way to go. 

Quote from SDhn2a >>

Quote from zzAMBIENzz >>

You get stomped by a MURLOC MAGE! ?


What other interesting decks have you seen since the meta shift? 

What rank? That's awesome, dude.

 Was either high 7 or low 6 .... been bouncing around 7-6 all night it seems. 

All I know is ... it roflstomped me. Pretty sure I was dead by turn 6.