Krul-Reno Lock

 Been having a lot of fun with this deck. (around rank 7)

The Reno deck has been pushed to 2nd class and so I’ve been toying with the backbone of it and trying to make something else competitive. I’ve found by playing a lot of reno decks that I run out of cards and have full hands with nothing to do, not enough threats. Hence the demon package, including Prince Malchezaar. 

General gameplay is the same as the main reno deck, but I find I hit the hero power a little bit less and am able to curve better in the late game with better threats. Turn 2 is still almost always a “tap”. Krul the Unshackled is actually really hard to deal with for most of the top tier decks at the moment and if you can get there.

Here’s some card justifications:

Anti-Aggro package – the following cards are in to counter the pirates and shamans of the world in the early game

Mortal Coil: target any 1 health minion

Mistress of Mixtures: great keep in any matchup. make trades and heal after you “tap”

Voidwalker: good to absorb early pirate damage and isn’t horrible if dropped late with Krul (so not completely dead, due to the taunt)

Demonfire: mostly here to hit small time buccaneer, but can also pump an imp gang or voidwalker to help gain great early advantage on aggro.

Imp Gang Boss: great turn 3 play against aggro and control.

Shadow Bolt: has a lot of targets in the current meta 

Doomsayer: great turn 2 play vs aggro, and in late game great before dropping Krul

Demonwrath: anti pirate and shaman totems, but unfortunately falls short against the dreaded trogg, totem golem, wolves combo. pray for hellfire and reno 

Acidic Swamp Ooze: anti pirate/shaman 

Dirty Rat: tech choice at the moment, but with a few sport removals, isn’t dead late game and can actually take out a threat

Hellfire: great against shaman, but you’ll have taken a lot of damage and have to play defensively afterwards.

Refreshment Vendor: good to fill the board and gain some health 

Elise Starseeker: tech choice, might change to something with taunt… second rate bruiser or senjin

 Kazakus: unique in this deck is that he doesn’t get “brann’d”, so he’s actually more of a 4 drop, finding either a 5 caster to curve and defend, or to store something for later (works well with Cho'Gall)

Reno Jackson: Key heal card. No explanation necessary.

Late Game package – the following cards are your bread and butter and are mostly what make this deck different from the regular RenoLock

spot removal in Siphon Soul and Blastcrystal Potion. Be picky about what you hit, depending on the matchup

mass removal in Felfire Potion and Twisting Nether. Twisting is your best chance against Jade decks that have gotten out of control. 

Demons:Doomguard Prince Malchezaar Abyssal EnforcerKrul the Unshackled Lord Jaraxxus Sense Demons. All of these have great bodies and are awesome summoned by Krul or by themselves. A Krul dropping at least 2 other big bodies is really hard for any deck to deal with (dropping lord jaraxxus is ok in many situations). Sense Demons is a great draw mechanic in this deck (compare to Arcane intellect… it’s the same cost to card ratio, but I would argue that knowing what you are getting, minions vs spells, allows you to know your deck better and draw in to solutions more easily). I know Prince Malechezaar thickens your deck and can make you draw in to a millhouse instead of AoE or something, but I find getting to later games is doable and this helps you outvalue your control opponents…in the end he is high risk, high reward.

Value Town: Ragnaros the Firelord Emperor Thaurissan Faceless Manipulator Kabal Trafficker Cho'Gall. All of these cards are the late game pressure that current renolocks do not run and help to swing games in your favour. So many of these say kill me now, and force your opponent to waste removal before you krul.