Just curious about why this deck mot seeing a lot of play, like what seriously counters it?
When played righte it is hard to beat
Never really tried to make one yet myself, maybe i can look into it soon. 
Face hunter and Poison Rogue beats it really bad.
Other than that, I have a winning rate over most everything else.
I don’t know why people aren’t playing it. I think it’s a combination of people not playing the right version so they think it sucks, or they are just bored of it.
IMO It’s the #1 deck to play right now if your goal is to win. And I think people want to win, so my guess is the reason people aren’t playing it is ignorance. And I think this forum has helped backup that guess for me. People are trying to say it sucks and that it’s a tier 3/4 deck. When I hear people say that on these forums, it tells me they’re clueless.
For example:
Then when I call him out on it, he insists the deck sucks. Even goes so far as to say it’s Tier 3 at best in another thread.
The reason people aren’t playing Handlock is because they literally don’t have a clue that it’s good. That’s my guess.
You should go have a chatty chat with mister “six warlocks in a row” in the next thread over lol
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Deck list please? I like to win….
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Handlock Decklist
Schyla’s Warlock
Class: Warlock
Format: Standard
Year of the Gryphon
2x (0) Raise Dead
2x (1) Tour Guide
2x (1) Touch of the Nathrezim
1x (1) The Demon Seed
2x (1) Shadowblade Slinger
1x (1) Mortal Coil
2x (2) Drain Soul
1x (3) Tamsin Roame
2x (3) Full-Blown Evil
2x (3) Blood Shard Bristleback
2x (3) Backfire
2x (4) Soul Rend
1x (6) Dreadlich Tamsin
1x (6) Battleground Battlemaster
2x (6) Barrens Scavenger
1x (6) Anetheron
2x (10) Goldshire Gnoll
2x (10) Flesh Giant
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To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone
Find this deck on https://hsreplay.net/replay/F2R52rXstoUzCuacoBbSwf
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Face Hunter is really popular Diamond - Legend and counters Handlock.
For Legend to High Legend, Poison Weapon Rogue counters it.
If it weren’t for these two problematic matchups Handlock IS pretty darn strong.
A few other classes can adapt to a Hand-lock meta but it’s mostly just these 2 that Hand-lock has issues with and they’re pretty popular in their respective rank brackets.
Since Handlock is kept in check right now there’s no real need to try to counter this matchup… so Handlock is performing well.
As with any ‘strong’ deck it only becomes an issue when it has no consistent counters or reasonable counter-play.
Can I ask how effective hand lock would be without the legendaries? I don’t have either Tamsin, Anetheron, or Full Blown Evil.
I used to have The Demon Seed but I disenchanted it after the nerfs because I never had the legendaries to support it, but I’ve been thinking I might re-craft it if it’s still good without any legendary support.
I really appreciate your insight on this.
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becaus it’s too expensive
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As for so many things, there’s not a single reason for Handlock’s lack of popularity. As @Schyla points out, one reason is that players are simply unaware of how powerful the deck can be. Another reason is cost; it’s not the cheapest deck, and many players disenchanted Demon Seed some time ago. Thirdly, the deck is old, and so too boring for many players. I believe these are the main reasons its playrate is not high. There are probably more I’m missing.
For me the main reason is - “its old”. I have played it, enjoyed it and moved to other decks because it gets boring fast.
For me its the same problem as other straightforward decks - mozaki mage, quest warrior etc. - the gameplay is same. It follows the same pattern. You win exactly the same way, you lose exactly the same way. It has exactly the same power turns, it has the same answers etc.
Compared to other PC/mobile games HS is a game with very low skill ceiling so for me the main aspect what makes the game enjoyable for me is just that - how it keeps me entertained. And while handlock is pretty strong deck - its old deck and I do not enjoy following same patterns over and over again.
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They are definitely needed. With Anetheron, it’s a big body on turn 4 that you’ll play about 20% of the time. It’s huge. It’s basically another giant.
Tamsin is needed for doubling your healing and removal.
The only cards I’d say that you can cut or switch without ruining the deck is full blown evil. You can replace those with something like cult neophyte or the other damage/self damage spell that’s 2 mana.
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It’s a popular deck. And powerful!
I personally find it so awfully boring to play though and so I’ve been playing druid and rogue. I think I find it boring because I played so much handlock in wild back in the day and I guess I just got bored
I feel the same way.
I’ve played the deck. It’s strong. I climbed to high legend multiple times with it in United in Stormwind. I can’t bring myself to play it anymore though. It’s just so boring. As you point out - almost every game plays out exactly the same way. There’s no variation, there’s no adaptation, there are no memorable moments. All the matches blur together, and it’s hard to remember which is which.
At some point I made the decision to stop playing decks that bore me. Whether I make it to legend on the 5th, the 15th, or the 25th doesn’t really matter to me. I’ll get there eventually. I just want to enjoy myself along the way.
2 Likes
Sadly I don’t think I’ll be crafting it then 4800 dust is a huge investment at this stage of the meta right before rotation.