You need both Faceless Manipulators to get four archaeologists on the board. The other thing is this deck has a significant amount of minions and if you draw, for example, 2 archaeologists, then you still need Thaurissan. Thaurissan is more consistent, you can get to the cards you need quickly due to the draw engines. You can play Jepetto Joybuzz on turn 8 and by then you have often already drawn through almost your whole deck anyway.
That’s actually a really good idea, with Malygos and Ancestor’s Call instead of 2 mana tide totems you can have a higher chance of dealing enough damage to your opponent in the combo turn to kill them.
I tested this deck more and against a solo bot I easily drew through the deck, got the combo, played it, and then played about 20 Fireheart spells in order (each time at least one spell was cost 4 or less, in wild at least there are a lot of cheap shaman spells) with the result of removing the enemy board and killing them from full health with armor. It could have continued with even more face damage spells if needed, with just playing cheap non face damage spells in between. So, the deck concept and the OTK totally worked.
However, in ranked the timer usually runs out before you have a chance to kill them. The animation time for the archaeologists is just too long, and the animation triggers once for each archaeologist.
In standard, this combo would not work because after testing it seems that it is unreliable to get 2 or less cost spells for each discover so the Fireheart spells would end if you had only 2 archaeologists and you cannot get 4 without Emperor Thaurissan.
If animation times for the archaeologists are ever reduced this deck will become much more consistent at actually killing the opponent in ranked. Right now it is still fun to play but you will not win with it very often.
One change that can be made to the deck to make it more consistent at finishing off the opponent even with a timer is adding in one Malygos and one [Hearthstone Card (Ancestor’s Call) Not Found]. That way you would have to clear your hand of non combo minions, then discount your combo pieces, play the original combo, and then use [Hearthstone Card (Ancestor’s Call) Not Found] to get Malygos on the board. This way your spells have more damage and you would need less face damage spells to kill the opponent. However, the combo becomes harder to pull off and you might as well play a Malygos Shaman deck at that point for competitiveness. Still, it might be fun to try the infinite Fireheart spells with Malygos, I would just remove the Mana Tide Totems for it and [Hearthstone Card (Ancestor’s Call) Not Found].
Sadly after testing it more, the animation time makes it so that you rarely win before you run out of time. It’s funny to actually cast over 50 spells in one turn in solo play against a bot, but in ranked this deck will not have enough time to win even though conceptually it works. I am going to try and develop a new deck using the Fireheart potentially infinite spells concept but where it’s not necessary to have that as your only win condition
I played a [Hearthstone Card (Dwarven Archeologist) Not Found] in arena and suddenly realized its synergy with Instructor Fireheart. I made an initial deck that just draws through the deck to play that combo
, but I feel like it might be better in some control shaman deck as a value generator rather than a win condition. If you play one archaeologist and Fireheart you can generate a lot of value, with 2 even more, and it’s easier to put 1 or 2 in the deck than doing a Thaurrisan combo for faceless manipulators.
I only play wild, but maybe someone has ideas for standard as to how to insert this combo into decks. If anyone has any ideas for either standard or wild (doesn’t have to be in competitive decks) about how to insert that combo into any decks I would be happy to hear them.
I did consider it, but I think that there are a lot of pieces that sit in your hand already and it’s better to have more removal to survive as if you do manage to turn into a 40 health Ragnaros, you pretty much win from there very often. Thanks for commenting, I love this kind of deck too! It’s less competitive than regular reno priest but it’s more fun.
Replace Fencing Coach with Tour Guide for this expansion, this will improve the deck significantly in fast matchups, 1 mana is much easer than 3 mana to fit in a turn.
Thank you so much for this article! Brawl Haul is my favorite content on outof.cards and the reasoning behind the card choices makes this section very enjoyable to read even if I’m not going to play it. So far I finally saved up wildcards and crafted the Chandra Brawl deck coincidentally today and it’s really fun and more interesting than constructed for me, this will be my next craft. Also I like Nicol Bolas a lot and the idea behind this deck
I think it's fine to cast Shadow Council if you have a full hand or at least close to a full hand as the tempo from all the buffed demons will outweigh the gain you get from the highlander cards in most cases, although it depends on the situation, if you have low health and really need Reno then it may be better to try to get to Renounce.
Kanrethad Ebonlocke is really good in Discard Warlock and some Reno Warlocks.
You could try life tapping more in the beginning and having a large hand size which you usually try to get anyway for Renounce Darkness to get Dark Skies to work better. It's usually an amazing board clear and is in most competitive warlock decks.
Imprisoned Scrap Imp isn't really there for any synergy, you usually use it before one of the two cards to make all your transformed cards buffed
I agree with a lot of the other changes, I will at least try some of them out, especially Gnomeferatu for Kanrethad Ebonlocke.
Thanks for giving your thoughts on this deck!
It's definitely one of the few decks that you enjoy playing even if you lose as you never know what can happen, or what crazy synergy you can get.
To have more than 12, you need to draw Valdris Felgorge first and then still have to play this minion and use the hero power 10 times while having to empty your hand and play all cards in it. In the standard meta even against something slow like resurrect priest it is not certain the warlock can survive for 10 turns. In wild, I think Mechathun warlock is too one dimensional and this would fit more in a control tool like Renolock. Renolock is currently weaker than Reno Priest and Mage as it is the only one without a good finisher, and I was envisioning this card in Renolock as a potential finisher that can be strong but not oppressive. Compared to Rin, the First Disciple which often destroys only a few cards in their deck by the time you activate its condition, this will let Renolock have a way to win in the end of the game. It's definitely hard to predict exactly how good this card would be but I think for autowin cards like this it's better to have them weaker so they don't turn into Mechathun decks which have very linear playstyles.
You need both Faceless Manipulators to get four archaeologists on the board. The other thing is this deck has a significant amount of minions and if you draw, for example, 2 archaeologists, then you still need Thaurissan. Thaurissan is more consistent, you can get to the cards you need quickly due to the draw engines. You can play Jepetto Joybuzz on turn 8 and by then you have often already drawn through almost your whole deck anyway.
That’s actually a really good idea, with Malygos and Ancestor’s Call instead of 2 mana tide totems you can have a higher chance of dealing enough damage to your opponent in the combo turn to kill them.
I tested this deck more and against a solo bot I easily drew through the deck, got the combo, played it, and then played about 20 Fireheart spells in order (each time at least one spell was cost 4 or less, in wild at least there are a lot of cheap shaman spells) with the result of removing the enemy board and killing them from full health with armor. It could have continued with even more face damage spells if needed, with just playing cheap non face damage spells in between. So, the deck concept and the OTK totally worked.
However, in ranked the timer usually runs out before you have a chance to kill them. The animation time for the archaeologists is just too long, and the animation triggers once for each archaeologist.
In standard, this combo would not work because after testing it seems that it is unreliable to get 2 or less cost spells for each discover so the Fireheart spells would end if you had only 2 archaeologists and you cannot get 4 without Emperor Thaurissan.
If animation times for the archaeologists are ever reduced this deck will become much more consistent at actually killing the opponent in ranked. Right now it is still fun to play but you will not win with it very often.
One change that can be made to the deck to make it more consistent at finishing off the opponent even with a timer is adding in one Malygos and one [Hearthstone Card (Ancestor’s Call) Not Found]. That way you would have to clear your hand of non combo minions, then discount your combo pieces, play the original combo, and then use [Hearthstone Card (Ancestor’s Call) Not Found] to get Malygos on the board. This way your spells have more damage and you would need less face damage spells to kill the opponent. However, the combo becomes harder to pull off and you might as well play a Malygos Shaman deck at that point for competitiveness. Still, it might be fun to try the infinite Fireheart spells with Malygos, I would just remove the Mana Tide Totems for it and [Hearthstone Card (Ancestor’s Call) Not Found].
Sadly after testing it more, the animation time makes it so that you rarely win before you run out of time. It’s funny to actually cast over 50 spells in one turn in solo play against a bot, but in ranked this deck will not have enough time to win even though conceptually it works. I am going to try and develop a new deck using the Fireheart potentially infinite spells concept but where it’s not necessary to have that as your only win condition
@dapperdog I tried in wild and there seemed to be at least one cheap spell each discover so I chained more than 10 spells together.
You're right, that could work-- maybe even in wild in some kind of Corrupt the Waters value generating discover deck! Thanks for the idea
I played a [Hearthstone Card (Dwarven Archeologist) Not Found] in arena and suddenly realized its synergy with Instructor Fireheart. I made an initial deck that just draws through the deck to play that combo
I only play wild, but maybe someone has ideas for standard as to how to insert this combo into decks. If anyone has any ideas for either standard or wild (doesn’t have to be in competitive decks) about how to insert that combo into any decks I would be happy to hear them.
I would be very interested in one of these for Thassa, the Deep Dwelling.
Thanks for the detailed response!
How would you update this deck for MTG Core 21?
Replace Fencing Coach with Tour Guide for this expansion, this will improve the deck significantly in fast matchups, 1 mana is much easer than 3 mana to fit in a turn.
Thank you so much for this article! Brawl Haul is my favorite content on outof.cards and the reasoning behind the card choices makes this section very enjoyable to read even if I’m not going to play it. So far I finally saved up wildcards and crafted the Chandra Brawl deck coincidentally today and it’s really fun and more interesting than constructed for me, this will be my next craft. Also I like Nicol Bolas a lot and the idea behind this deck
Will there be a brawl haul with Nicol Bolas?
Yes, it's transformed. I tried it and the way to do it is with Expired Merchant which is amazing when it works but not very consistent.
next: a mage beast
I think it's fine to cast Shadow Council if you have a full hand or at least close to a full hand as the tempo from all the buffed demons will outweigh the gain you get from the highlander cards in most cases, although it depends on the situation, if you have low health and really need Reno then it may be better to try to get to Renounce.
Kanrethad Ebonlocke is really good in Discard Warlock and some Reno Warlocks.
You could try life tapping more in the beginning and having a large hand size which you usually try to get anyway for Renounce Darkness to get Dark Skies to work better. It's usually an amazing board clear and is in most competitive warlock decks.
Imprisoned Scrap Imp isn't really there for any synergy, you usually use it before one of the two cards to make all your transformed cards buffed
I agree with a lot of the other changes, I will at least try some of them out, especially Gnomeferatu for Kanrethad Ebonlocke.
Thanks for giving your thoughts on this deck!
It's definitely one of the few decks that you enjoy playing even if you lose as you never know what can happen, or what crazy synergy you can get.
It's especially OP to get all demon hunter class cards with a cost reduction and scrap imp buff
To have more than 12, you need to draw Valdris Felgorge first and then still have to play this minion and use the hero power 10 times while having to empty your hand and play all cards in it. In the standard meta even against something slow like resurrect priest it is not certain the warlock can survive for 10 turns. In wild, I think Mechathun warlock is too one dimensional and this would fit more in a control tool like Renolock. Renolock is currently weaker than Reno Priest and Mage as it is the only one without a good finisher, and I was envisioning this card in Renolock as a potential finisher that can be strong but not oppressive. Compared to Rin, the First Disciple which often destroys only a few cards in their deck by the time you activate its condition, this will let Renolock have a way to win in the end of the game. It's definitely hard to predict exactly how good this card would be but I think for autowin cards like this it's better to have them weaker so they don't turn into Mechathun decks which have very linear playstyles.