Deathrattle Warlock

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Deathrattle / Plot Twist Warlock

Screw upvotes for likes, here's my guide straight away. Would love to hear some feedback. 

With Plot Twist a very powerful card was added to warlock that enables various deathrattle effects multiple times throughout a game. As a heavy warlock and control player, I felt it was not exploited to its full potential yet.

This is how I came up with the list: it's control heavy and a lot of fun to play. Although it needs patience and care in the beginning once the stone is rolling an avelanche of powerful deathrattle minions is filling your board quite quickly. My current win rate it about 60 percent though it has obviously strengths and weaknesses depending on the matchup.

Fel Lord Betrug Card Image

 

 

Gameplay

Early-Game:

This deck is a long sleeper. It fully unravels its potential after turn 7 with powerful combos such as Plot Twist and Dollmaster Dorian. So in the beginning it's mainly important to stay alive and prevent opponents to gain too much board control with giant minions known from Mech Paladin or Mech Priest.

Agains wide aggro decks like Token Druid or Murlock Shaman board clears and many taunts help you to stay aboard. Leave Doomsayer as early as possible delaying a turn you can make use of soon. Agains current warriors - well, simply wait with them until they make a wrong move or you have a combo set up. 

Clear the board if you can with Hellfire and silence stacked up mechs with Spellbreaker.

Since your handsize will usually be quite large,  dropping a Mountain Giant for some early pressure is quite useful. It will most likely not be the game winning card, but it will force your opponent to deal with. Use it to buy more time for later.

 

Mid-Game:

Depending on the matchup you shouldn't need to worry about your health too much. If playing agains other control decks you probably have full or close to full life. If playing against aggro you might suffer a little but the mid game is there to fill you back up.

Aranasi Broodmother is always great for this. If not totally necessary keep her in hand to shuffle her back into your deck with Plot Twist. Possibly even multiple copies with Augmented Elekk. Though, don't be afraid to simply drop Augmented Elekk if needed. You got a second copy and it's a card your opponent will want to get rid of as soon as they see it.

The mid game is where you want to change the board dynamic to your advantage and gaining control. Turn 7 Plot Twist plus Dollmaster Dorian, with The Coin even turn 6, you establish a wide board filling it with nice taunts: Safeguard and Rotten Applebaum heal you up and leave larger bodies behind. Mechanical Whelp will give you a nice body for Zilliax that otherwise has many more opportunities to dock on to. Gaining a lot of life has not been a problem for me yet.

 

Late-Game:

You should be in control of the board by now. Now, Fel Lord Betrug is you main man. With him and Plot Twist it should be easy to not only clean the board at least once but also leaving strong bodies behind when growing whelps and proud fathers (Cairne Bloodhoof) are replaced by there kin.

If your opponent is set up too wide, Twisting Nether can be a nice forerunner of any combo this deck has to offer.

Now, I haven't mentioned The Soularium yet. That's because it is a little risky. in the Early Game it's mostly a dead card. You won't have any cheap minions to get off it. In the Mid-Game or better the Late-Game it can be a very powerful swing though, that either gives an immediate second effect for Dollmaster Dorian or may help changing a bad board situation for the better. Playing it at the right time I made really good experiences with it so it's definitely worth keeping.

 

Mulligan

Agains Aggressive Decks (Token Druid, Murlock Shaman, Mech Hunter, Cyclone Mage):

Definitely keep Doomsayer and any copy of Hellfire. A copy of [Hearthstone Card (Mortal Coyle) Not Found] is a nice to have as well. You want to keep the board clean as long as possible. Also Bloodmage Thalnos may help but it's not a strong start. Since the early game is the toughest part you might even want to consider keeping Zilliax for some support and life gain in turn five. Not the best to keep in all matchups though. Again it's the late game where we will shine!

Even though most aggro decks don't run weapons, keeping Acidic Swamp Ooze presents a solid vanilla body for 2 mana. It's the best (and only) early minion that can help maintain a board. Same goes for Augmented Elekk. Though not as good as any board clear these guys can do their part. 

 

Against Control Heavy Decks (Control Shaman, Control Warrior, Mech Paladin, Midrange Hunter, Mech Priest, Dragon Mage):

[Hearthstone Card (Doomsayer/card] is still a safe keep. Either it may mess up just nicely set up board or block a spot in your hand. In this deck it mostly supports the Early-Game. The most important cards to keep here are Mountain Giant and [Hearthstone Card (Speelbreaker) Not Found] to put pressure on the board and counter any magnetic magic. Always mulligan Aranasi Broodmother. We need her heal effect throughout the game. If drawn through Life Tab she makes up for two uses of your hero power. That's quite nice!

Agains Control ShamansWarriors, Hunters, and Paladins keep Acidic Swamp Ooze for obvious reasons.

Against any Mecha'thun deck: Good Luck! Put as much pressure onto the board as possible and go face. Probably always, but to be honest, this is a tough one. The most prominent might be Mecha'Thun Shaman (introduced by player Dog) or Mecha'thun Warrior. I am gonna post my list of the Shaman version later. It's also a lot of fun to play.

 

Notable Combos

Here some combos to safe your cards for:

3 Mana: The Soularium + Plot Twist Will fill your hand right up and cards shuffled into your deck from The Soularium won't be discarded in the end! Also each time you use Plot Twist you potentially heal at least for 4 through Aranasi Broodmother. An Augmented Elekk supports this a lot!

5 Mana: Augmented Elekk with Plot Twist (and maybe even another Plot Twist in hand) will fill your deck with more powerful minions.

Early Swing on Turn 6: [Hearthstone Card (Dolmaster Dorian) Not Found] and The Soularium is a desperate temp swing. Though you lose 3 cards their 1/1 copies hopefully inherited nice deathrattles.

Turn 6: Augmented Elekk. Hopefully it sticks but it might just get destroyed. That's not too bad though, since it will leave one less counter for the next card in turn 7: Dollmaster Dorian! He + Plot Twist will fill the board with baby version of your powerful deathrattle minions. Hopefully Doomsayer is not amongst them.

Turn 10: Fel Lord Betrug + Plot Twist - this will be the main combo to aim for giving you a solid board clear and leaving a full board and full hand behind. What else would you want?

Another expensive Fel Lord Betrug combo might be Oondasta with itself, since it will most likely overkill and you'll get the 'real' one for free that might get other cards. If you exchanged Batterhead with Amani War Bear for example you might get another big beast with rush out there. BUT this is a very unlikely combo and only worth considering if you run into a lot of control heavy decks or for memes.

 

Possible Card Changes

Bloodmage Thalnos for SN1P-SN4P helps maintain a board against aggressive decks.

1x Augmented Elekk for Spellward Jeweler is top against aggressiv decks and may buy some extra time. But it's not much help agains big boards or an earlier silence by Ironbeak Owl

Dollmaster Dorian: Even though it's a key card to many combos of this deck, it's not very helpful during the early stages of the game. Big Game Hunter is another counter for large minions that might be a good fit here.

Batterhead is an amazing board clearer agains aggressive decks but otherwise a big body that doesn't do too much harm. You could change it for an Amani War Bear

Da Undatakah for Deranged Doctor is valid change if you're facing more aggressive decks. As powerful Da Undatakah's possible deathrattles are, they also come late and agains fast decks he might end up as a dead card in your hand. 

 

TBH there's no real budget version of this deck. It loses much of its grip when you get rid of all the big guys. If you're f2p and just want to rank on ladder this might not be your deck, however I am between rank 6 and 5 with it atm.

 

Hope you enjoy this deck as much as I do. Leave your opinions in the comments!

 

 

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Comments

  • furyle's Avatar
    30 1 Posts Joined 07/09/2019
    Posted 5 years, 4 months ago

    This deck is very fun to play.

    Unlike others, i find hunter and mage matchup very easy. However, warrior, priest or other greedy decks are very hard to beat.

    Tbh i know if i win or lose even before the match based on opponents' class

    0
  • Argantyr's Avatar
    35 2 Posts Joined 06/01/2019
    Posted 5 years, 5 months ago

    I haven't played it more than a few games, but I have a few suggestions.

    I do not like Batterhead, or doomsayer (drawing a doomsayer can lose us the game), and I've removed to mortal coils.

    I've put in two spirit bombs, 1 Hecklebot and 1 shriek.

    Cards I'm considering at the moment, Earthen farseer and Diretroll (a 2/6 taunt seems to take care of early agression), Perhaps even Lord Geoffrey.

    1
  • the9tail's Avatar
    30 4 Posts Joined 06/08/2019
    Posted 5 years, 5 months ago

    Doomsayer in this deck?

    Why hamstring yourself like that - everytime you combo off you could literally wipe your own board.

    Like I understand the need to run an early game threat like it, but in this deck it is literal suicide. Tempo Deathrattle cards would be more cohesive in this type of deck.

    1
  • MurlocAggroB's Avatar
    COMMENT_COUNT_900_HS 1170 933 Posts Joined 06/12/2019
    Posted 5 years, 5 months ago

    This deck sucks so much. I don't want to be so negative, but playing this has been a horribly negative experience. You can't do anything in the early game, so aggro decks can freely wail on you long before any of your combos matter. Granted, I haven't seen it against slower decks... because there are none. This deck is waaaaay too slow to actually function.

    I also want Warlock to be good right now, but it just ain't.

    0
    • Cardinal's Avatar
      65 16 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
      Posted 5 years, 5 months ago

      Instead of blatantly copying decks, it is no secret that all decks need to be adjusted based on your own rank and the decks you're facing. It's not the next tier 1 deck, and OP isn't suggesting that. Think about replacing a few cards, like I did myself.

      -1
  • Zwane's Avatar
    Wizard 320 423 Posts Joined 06/04/2019
    Posted 5 years, 5 months ago

    Only lost with this deck, no fun at all.

    1
  • turn1manawrm's Avatar
    35 9 Posts Joined 05/28/2019
    Posted 5 years, 5 months ago

    How necessary is Dollmaster to the deck? Looks like a blast to play, gonna try it without hi

    0
  • ArngrimUndying's Avatar
    Draconically Dedicated 520 626 Posts Joined 06/11/2019
    Posted 5 years, 5 months ago

    This is very fun! I've played ~10 games with it and you can tell people don't know what to do with it. Only change is I don't have Solarium, so I swapped in a Portal Keeper for a cheaper body that can help build presence and play on the shuffle/draw effects. Seems to be working okay.

    1
  • ilnosferatu's Avatar
    105 27 Posts Joined 04/04/2019
    Posted 5 years, 5 months ago

    Wow, this looks like a very fun deck. Good job.

    1
    • Wackweasel's Avatar
      85 2 Posts Joined 06/15/2019
      Posted 5 years, 5 months ago

      thank you! I am also very glad I came up with it. still improving though this deck has a learning curve

      0
  • Cardinal's Avatar
    65 16 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 5 years, 5 months ago

    I'm a simple man.

    I see Control Warlock, I press like.

    10
    • dracobk201's Avatar
      Frog Prince 285 16 Posts Joined 05/28/2019
      Posted 5 years, 5 months ago

      A simple man, a good man.

      0
    • Cardinal's Avatar
      65 16 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
      Posted 5 years, 5 months ago

      Okay, so I've actually played a bit on ladder, and I've not had this much fun since the start of the expansion. 

      However, Aggro matchups are ridiculously hard. If you don't find Hellfire or Doomsayer, you're basically done. One idea I had is to add in one or two copies of Spirit Bomb, which got buffed. It deals with problematic early minions such as Underbelly Angler and Keeper Stalladris, and it even makes drawing Aranasi Broodmother early not that much of a 'disaster'. In my opinion, Mortal Coil has been underperforming, except when using Bloodmage Thalnos in conjunction. I'm also looking at Proud Defender to maybe help out a bit.

      Also, fun tip: Waiting for both Plot Twists to sit in your hand, before you Elekk + PT, means you can go infinite. Legend has it that Warriors do not like that.

      2
      • Wackweasel's Avatar
        85 2 Posts Joined 06/15/2019
        Posted 5 years, 5 months ago

        Those seem like some legit changes. I am also still tweaking to get the deck to its full potential.

        Yeah had that infinite combo happen only rarely but when it works out its basically infinite healing with Aranasi Broodmother and Rotten Applebaum. Though, 'filter' out unnecessary cards for each match up before doing so, but I had some simply concede to me after they realised what's happening.

        0

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