NOTE: This guide discusses a decklist that has since been modified to the current decklist.
Scholomance Academy
With the release of Scholomance Academy, I am extremely excited to test out the new cards. From the looks of it, Scholomance Academy brought us some cards with lots of potential to shake up the meta while also improving existing archetypes--in particular, Even Warlock is a deck I am desperate to experiment with using the new cards.
Reviving Even Warlock?
Scholomance Academy appears to be offering Even Warlock a handful of strong additions including a new giant, single target removal, health manipulation, and--most importantly--deck manipulation. All of these additions play to and enhance the strengths of Even Warlock, offering buffs or synergies that have not existed until now.
A Fleshy Addition
I love using Giants in any way I can (you can check out my "Magic Giant Token Rogue" if you don't believe me). When I saw this Juicy Boy, I was immediately drawn to it and started thinking how to implement it best. Well, where better for it to go than Even Warlock--an archetype that plays with and manipulates its health more than Christian Bale.
Since the card text requires the health change to be on our turns, the existing Even Warlock archetype already lowers the cost of this giant with discounted Life Taps, Vulgar Homunculus, and Hellfire. Moreover, since the aim of this deck is to hero power often, Flesh Giant will often be discounted to 4 mana by turn 4-6 which makes it about as good as Mountain Giant.
Destroying Minions... On a Stick!
Brittlebone Destroyer seems like it is going to be a staple in Warlock (and Priest) for quite some time. The fact that Brittlebone Destroyer is even cost and has beautiful synergy with Warlock's hero power makes it the perfect fit in Even Warlock.
So Much Value!
I overlooked this card upon release, but have quickly release its incredible potential. Not only does it damage us to buff our Lesser Amethyst Spellstone and reduce the cost of our Flesh Giant, but it also increases our handsize to reduce the cost of Mountain Giant. And, of course, this card also provides more minions for us to keep throwing at our opponent.
Did Anyone Order These Giants?
This card is an incredibly cool addition to Hearthstone, and I had high hopes for Lorekeeper Polkelt to bring Even Warlock back to the top. Although he was in the original list, he didn't make the final cut after I did some experimentation. Many speculated that this card would alter how the game functions, but it doesn't seem that Lorekeeper Polkelt was that strong of a card. He is still a great addition to this archetype, so if you have him and like the way he feels, then feel free to swap him into the list over Mojomaster Zihi. His ability to put all of our giants on the top of our deck is immensely powerful. Once his effect is active, the only bad draw this deck will have is Genn, but at least he has good stats for the cost, amirite?!
The Future of Even Warlock (Updated)
Since there has been more testing with Even Warlock during Scholomance Academy, I have made some adjustments to the list I am using. Although Even Warlock doesn't look to be Tier 1, it is still a really solid list that has enough robustness to compete in the meta.
(+2) Lifedrinker / (-2) Faceless Shambler
The first issue with the original list was the lack of healing. Originally, I added [Hearthstone Card (Shroombrewer) Not Found], but a 4/4 that restores 4 health is too reactive for the wild meta. I saw other lists experiment with Soul Shear over Darkbomb--trading burn damage for Soul Fragment healing--but I found that the ability to go over the top with burst damage is much more valuable; keeping with that theme, Lifedrinker ended up being the card I put into the list as the extra healing because it provides unexpected burst damage that is very strong in the current meta.
(+1) Mojomaster Zihi / (-1) Lorekeeper Polkelt
Swapping Lorekeeper Polkelt for Zihi isn't necessary--especially if you want to keep the Scholomance Academy flavor--but Zihi provides an out against control/value matchups that Lorekeeper Polkelt does not. Moreover, because the deck draws so quickly, draw consistency is less valuable than the ability to prevent our opponent from winning the game or clearing our entire board.
I am really enjoying the new and improved Even Warlock, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for the archetype.
Good luck out there and have fun!
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Hello again! I'm just wondering, are any of the cards from the new set worthwhile? I know that they're essentially made for the deck, but are they good enough to replace any of the ones currently in it?
Yes! I think many of the cards from United in Stormwind (UiS) support Even Warlock. However, in my opinion, the cards from UiS support the archetype in a way that goes in a slightly different direction from the traditional Even Warlock archetype. Specifically, I think that the UiS cards push the archetype into a more control-focused build that really tries to drop endless giants as the win-condition. On the contrary, the previous versions of Even Warlock generally tried to mana-cheat giants quickly while keeping its health total in precarious spots to maximize the effectiveness of cards such as Hooked Reaver, Lesser Amethyst Spellstone, and Molten Giant. Unfortunately, I'm not sure which style is more effective, but I think you can use the UiS cards to take the deck in this kind of direction:
Control Even Handlock Card Swap Ideas
+1 Anetheron, +2 Dark Alley Pact, +2 Entitled Customer, +2 Spice Bread Baker, +2 Goldshire Gnoll, +2 Faceless Shambler
-1 Sunfury Protector, -2 Molten Giant, -2 Lifedrinker, -2 Vulgar Homunculus, -2 Lesser Amethyst Spellstone, -2 Hooked Reaver
(Also, swapping out Darkbomb for Drain Soul or dropping Hellfire entirely might be worth it in this more control focused list.)
There are other cards that are certainly worth considering (e.g. Encumbered Pack Mule), but I haven't gotten to playtest these ideas yet. I will definitely be experimenting with Even Warlock this expansion, and there is a decent chance I will make a new guide/list after I get around to testing it out. I'll be sure to link it in this guide somehow if I do get around to making a new list.
Thank you! I have to ask about Entitled Customer in particular. My main concern with that is that it is also capable of clearing out your own giants. As it is also rather slow, (6 mana) the main use I see for it is in mirror matchups or against similar decks, where your opponents board is more likely to be greater in value than yours. Otherwise, Hellfire and Defile seem better against aggro. Another thing I've been thinking about is with Guild Trader and Royal Librarian. You can just trade them away on turn 2 if you don't need them (which can also help you find those all-important giants), and librarian can deal with taunts and other non-stat based threats, while the trader can especially make Drain Soul (if included), the spellstone, hellfire, and defile much better. However, my main predicament with those is what I would drop for them instead. Also, is Mojomaster Zihi still worth it in this deck?
Is this decklist going to be updated for darkmoon faire? I'm not quite sure what the set brought for even warlock.
I don't have any plans to alter this list based on Darkmoon Faire's cards because I don't think many of the new cards fit into the game plan of this particular version of even Warlock. There is one card that might be worth experimenting with: Deck of Chaos. I think Deck of Chaos will be too slow for this list (6-mana do nothing spell); however, dropping a 0-mana 20/8 Molten Giant or 0-mana 12/8 Mountain Giant or a 2-mana Abyssal Summoner or a... (you get the point)... could be really strong for this archetype. If you have Deck of Chaos, I think it might sub into this list pretty well over Mojomaster Zihi.
The new set definitely brought some interesting even cost cards that could be implemented in a list that has a different game plan or tries to be a little more high-roll-y. As mentioned above, Deck of Chaos is definitely one of the cards that might be worth experimenting with--especially if we add in cards like Faceless Shambler, Enhanced Dreadlord, Zzeraku the Warped, etc.
The new set might also enable a control-oriented even Warlock thanks to cards like C'Thun, the Shattered, Cascading Disaster, and Fire Breather. It would certainly be easy to cycle through the deck to draw all of C'Thun's pieces with the 1-mana Life Tap. The win condition might then be focused around C'Thun instead of Giants.
Lastly, "Corrupt" even Warlock could work as well--either as a control list or as burn list. Tickatus and Cascading Disaster would work really well in a control-focused list (maybe even Highlander?). On the other hand, Circus Medic and Y'Shaarj, the Defiler have already shown their potential, so I don't see why they couldn't work in even Warlock too! Knife Vendor could possibly fit into a burn list as well.
This question has me inspired, and I might just experiment with a new list. However, I don't think I'll change this list unless my experimentation shows that this list could benefit from some new cards.
Update: I've done some testing with Ring Matron since I had gotten it out of booster packs, it actually works surprisingly well so far instead of Abyssal Summoner. The testing hasn't been super extensive yet, but it's nice how ring matron's effects don't dwindle as your hand size drops. The two imps also work as O.K. targets for Sunfury Protector too.
I was of the same mindset you are on this subject. The only cards that I would have considered before I saw this would have been Deck of Chaos, Cascading Disaster, or Ring Matron. Circus Medic has some potential that I didn't realize with even warlock, as well. And I didn't want to craft Deck of Chaos without knowing that it was good, as a F2P player.
How would Cheaty Anklebiter work in the deck over Lifedrinker? The lifegain is less impressive, but it has the potential to get you more than lifedrinker might. In addition, it's a lower cost to bring out in a pinch in aggro decks.
Cheaty Anklebiter definitely has a lot of synergy with this deck that I may have overlooked. Cheaty Anklebiter could definitely provide some early game board control and/or health manipulation to cheat out Flesh Giant faster. Furthermore, it could be used in tandem with Brittlebone Destroyer as another activator that doesn't consume health while being low cost.
However, in my experience, Even Warlock almost always wants to Life Tap for the first 3 turns to keep our hand full to drop Mountain Giant ASAP. Additionally, the deck needs big healing bursts to compensate for the incremental life drain constantly persisting from our cards and hero power, so the 1-3 lifesteal gained from Cheaty Anklebiter probably isn't impactful enough. It also has some anti-synergy with Raise Dead--we want to be getting giants back, not 2-drops. I think Cheaty Anklebiter works better for the Pain archetype more than the Even archetype--Pain wants to cheat out lots of minions fast whereas Even wants to cheat out big minions with consistency.
Restoring health was my main focus for the Lifedrinker slot. Originally, I ran Shroom Brewer, but the 1 extra healing and additional 1/1 in stats didn't provide enough tempo. Most lists don't even bother to add in the extra healing and instead run Faceless Shambler for the extra body, but I found the extra health more impactful. Ultimately, I went with Lifedrinker because the deck needed more burst healing in my experience (not more health manipulation or board control), and the burn damage allowed me to get wins I otherwise couldn't with such a minion based deck--two Lifedrinkers and a Darkbomb on turn 10 can deal 9 damage to our opponent's face which is something most decks don't have the ability to play around and almost never expect from Even Warlock.
Thanks for the quick response! Glad to see you're still paying attention to my all-time favorite deck. (I've been playing even warlock since Genn came out.) As a side note, what kind of decks do you enjoy brewing? I enjoy the process of making my own decks, but lack the finesse to make them good.
In general, I find a card, synergy, "flavor," or strategy that I find particularly enjoyable (and often underplayed or very situational), and then I experiment until I find something that enables me to fully enjoy that element. Sometimes there is a single card that drives me to make a deck, and other times it's simply a mechanic or synergy that I particularly enjoy. Most importantly, I usually focus on the "fun" elements over the competitive elements, and often I end up creating a better deck by viewing it that way because, in order to make a deck fun, it usually has to be successful.
For example, I really enjoy the card art, flavor, and effect of Archwitch Willow, so I spent a lot of time experimenting with decks that allowed me to actually experience her in game. Once I found a list that finally felt good to play, I created a guide for the list, and other people seemed to enjoy it too!
Another example is with this deck I created (which is one of my favorite decks I've created). I really like the idea of deathrattle Rogue, and I really liked the idea of using the relatively new Cursed Vagrant in a "Big Deathrattle Rogue" archetype. Additionally, I have a special affinity towards alchemy-oriented cards (as you can tell by my profile picture), and I REALLY liked Necrium Apothecary when it was first released, but its nerf sent it to the shadow realm; so I decided I wanted to put both of those cards together and revive/create a new playstyle for Rogue. Obviously Rogue doesn't have great tools to allow it to play big/late-game decks in standard, but one tool it does have that I think is really underutilized is Bazaar Burglary--in fact, that quest is one of my favorite quests from Saviors of Uldum, so I am always looking for a way create a tempo/control Rogue using the quest. Putting everything together, I ended up combining two mechanics/ideas that I really enjoy in a list that is deceptively strong in my opinion.
As a final example, if you check out one of my first deck creations for this site, Magic Giant Token Rogue, you can see another "deck concoction" that combines cards I really enjoy with mechanics I find fun all while prioritizing "bad" and rarely played cards (the holy trinity for me LOL). More importantly, because it was one of my first guides, I created a little write up at the end explaining how I ended up with such a deck concoction; so, if you are interested in seeing a very specific take of how I came up with one of my unique lists, that guide has a really in-depth overview of my thought processes.
Wow, thanks for the in-depth reply. If you're interested, I've been trying to make an idea work that seems to fit right in with the decks you enjoy making. It's a priest deck based around Northshire Cleric, Acolyte of Pain, Hooded Acolyte, and Crazed Worshipper. I'm going slightly off the topic of the even warlock deck, but I've been trying to make a deck based around damaging then healing all minions. Although I haven't quite been able to make it work, I thought you might enjoy giving it a shot.
That certainly sounds like an interesting combination of cards to work with! I understand the idea you are aiming for, but the execution of the deck (i.e. what cards you use, your deck's game plan, your deck's win condition, etc.) highly depends on what your goal of the deck is.
For example, if your goal is to make the biggest C'Thun possible (with a focus on abusing Hooded Acolyte and Crazed Worshipper), then I would probably focus on cards that enable AoE damage and health restore to all minions (e.g. Wild Pyromancer+Circle of Healing/Divine Hymn/Holy Nova, Tentacle of N'Zoth/Explosive Sheep/Unstable Ghoul+Potion Vendor/Holy Ripple).
If your goal is to use Cleric and Acolyte of Pain to cycle through your deck while also having synergy with Wild Pyromancer, that is a tried and true combo/synergy. However, it has grown to be a little too slow for Wild to be your main tool to get your win condition. But if you simply have them to for the synergy/flavor of "Healing/Pain," I respect that and they can work well together to help you get to your desired cards.
On the other hand, if you choose an AoE style with deathrattle minions, it might be worth adding in Awaken the Makers+Twilight's Call to allow you to survive longer and stabilize until you draw your C'Thun. Quest Priest is very competitive, and some of the cards run in Quest Priest have synergy with your "healing/damage" flavor (e.g. Explosive Sheep, Spirit Lash), so it might not actually be too hard to manipulate Quest Priest to have a C'Thun win condition.
It sounds like a tricky idea to work around, so I think it is best to focus on building the deck around what makes those cards most fun for you (whether it be the flavor, the "healing/damage" synergy, buffing C'Thun to be huge, the massive board swing turns, etc.).
Thanks a bunch for all the ideas. I think I'll go with the quest route, adding [Hearthstone Card (Exploding Sheep) Not Found] and the like. However, I'll definitely keep an open mind about things, and try different ideas until one of them actually wins with a decent rate. Thanks!
I like what you have done with this deck. I too have an affinity to giants. I was playing with my Even Warlock build and tried to use Frost Giants. Unfortunately, it isn't as consistent as other giants.
11/10 for composition
Thanks! I try to make my guides easy to read and as straight to the point as possible.
"An archetype that plays with and manipulates its health more than Christian Bale."
lol