(Wild) SN1P-SN4P OTK Warlock Deck List Guide – Saviors of Uldum – October 2019

SN1P-SN4P OTK Warlock Mulligan Strategy

VS Fast Decks

Higher Priority (Keep every time)

• SN1P-SN4P – It’s your 1-of that opens up the possibility of a turn 5 OTK. The best card to keep in our opening hand in all matchups.
• Mechwarper – Used in each of the combos available in the deck, Mechwarper is another excellent keep across all matchups.
• Kobold Librarian – Librarian is a card you’re always happy to see early, having great stats alongside a cycle-effect.

Lower Priority (Keep only if certain conditions are met)

• Defile – Powerful and cheap AOE, Defile is an excellent keep against the more token-based archetypes that push wide.
• Mecharoo – Particularly good when going first against opposing minions with 1-health. Contests pirates well and also lines up nicely against a Secret Mage’s Kabal Lackey.
• Zilliax – Very strong against burn-based decks. Zilliax is flexible removal that can also help you recover a ton of life.
• Plague of Flames – Very dependent on what you’re facing. Plague is excellent against a deck such as Mech Paladin, which tends to push the board tall using the magnetize mechanic.
• Loot Hoarder – A cheap early game minion that provides some tempo. Best to keep when going first with a 1-drop already in hand.

VS Slow Decks

Higher Priority (Keep every time)

• SN1P-SN4P – It’s your 1-of that opens up the possibility of a turn 5 OTK. The best card to keep in our opening hand in all matchups.
• Mechwarper – Used in each of the combos available in the deck, Mechwarper is another excellent keep across all matchups.
• Kobold Librarian – Librarian is a card you’re always happy to see early, having great stats alongside a cycle-effect.

Lower Priority (Keep only if certain conditions are met)

• Summoning Portal – Can be a worthwhile keep alongside another combo piece.

SN1P-SNAP OTK Warlock Play Strategy

SN1P-SN4P Warlock is a flexible combo deck that can potentially OTK with as little as 5-mana. The deck has a ton of cycle in addition to lifetap which means it can find its pieces very quickly. It also is able to fight for board well using efficient early game minions and removal tools.

There are four different combos that are fundamental to the deck and it is essential you understand them when piloting this archetype.

Note: The order in which minions are played matters, as the sequencing can change how things are discounted.

The Classic

The Classic refers to the most infamous aspect of the deck. By playing Summoning Portal you reduce the cost of your Mechwarper and SN1P-SN4P to 1. By then playing Mechwarper the cost of your SN1P-SN4P is further reduced to 0. This means you’re able to loop infinite SN1P-SN4Ps and potentially OTK an opponent if you already had a mech on board that can attack the opponent’s face. This combo is fairly simple and you’ll generally use it as early as possible. There are some matchups where you may want to hold it until you’re able to get a clean shot at an OTK, as there are potential answers to this board such as Psychic Scream and Devolve. On the subject of Devolve its worth noting that Target Dummy is unaffected by the card as it already costs 0, and so it is an excellent card to buff against Shamans.

Glinda-Bot

By playing Glinda Crowskin and an appropriate amount of Mechwarpers you can have 0-cost magnetic minions with echo. Skaterbot is the most common magnetic card used, although many players also use Bronze Gatekeeper for the same effect. Your potential damage is limited due to animation times, with a maximum number of echo summons in the low-20s. Even though you may not always be able to OTK, you are often able to play a huge number of total stats and make very efficient trades using Skaterbot’s rush effect (or a wall of taunts in the case of Gatekeeper).

Glinda-Zilliax

This combo uses Glinda Crowskin, Mechwarper, and Zilliax. By playing Glinda and 5 Mechwarpers the cost of your Zilliax is reduced to 0 and has echo. Using your final board space you can then begin to infinitely magnetize your Mechwarpers, creating a full board of huge minions with Lifesteal, Rush, Divine Shield, and Taunt. Restoring you hero to full health and putting over 60-attack into play is certainly one way of ending the game against many decks.

Zilliax-Face

This final combo is quite rare to use in practice but can dramatically change many matchups. To begin you must already have exactly 1 mech on board that can attack the opponent’s face. This could mean you had a singular mech when the turn started or perhaps you were able to trade off your other minions. You could even Mortal Coil one of your minions to remove it from the board. With that established, play Summoning Portal, Glinda Crowskin, and then 3 Mechwarpers. You will now have exactly 1 board space left. Your Zilliax is now reduced to 0 and has echo, allowing you to stack damage on your 1 mech which was already on the board. Zilliax can also be used on the Mechwarpers, allowing you to make numerous trades if taunt minions were in the way.

SN1P-Sn4P Warlock is quite flexible, and the combo that you’re looking to play is dependent on the timing you assemble specific pieces, the opponent’s possible answers, and the board-state at any given time. We have access to two potential combos in any given game, as they all revolve around Mechwarper.

In the early game we’re looking to control the board using efficient early card minions such as Kobold Librarian, Loot Hoarder, and Mecharoo. We have efficient removal tools to answer boards that get a little out-of-control – Defile or Plague of Flames are able to reset things to a more comfortable position.

Our opponent will be forced to respect every single mech that we play, due to the threat of potentially dying to The Classic combo. This means we should aware of how we pace our mech minions. We want to constantly make the opponent uncomfortable and have them make inefficient plays. Sometimes if we over-commit we can run out of mechs and put ourselves in a position where we can’t threaten an OTK. On the subject of playing out mechs, Galvanizer is best used when we have at least one Mechwarper in hand. Doing so means our Glinda and Mechwarper combos can be played out a turn earlier.

Mecha'thun is a very common tech choice, as it provides a win condition if our two combos are answered. The cost of Mecha’Thun can be reduced by Galavanizer, and then we are able to kill of our Mecha’Thun using PLague of Flames. It will greatly improve your matchup against decks such as slower Druid lists, which are able to answer our board with [Poison Seeds], but don’t have reliable disruption effects to deny our Mecha’Thun combo. It’s often very useful for players that are learning the deck, as it provides a reliable win condition when all else fails.

The Soularium is a card that can be difficult to use well. It’s almost a panic-button, used to dig for specific cards when you feel you may need them immediately. It’s often best saved for when you have already have at least one of Glinda or SN1P-Sn4P in hand and are able to execute a combo if you hit one specific piece.

Overall, SN1P-SN4P is ridiculously strong and demonstrates a high skill cap. The games where you win on turn 5 are obviously ridiculous and aren’t tough to play out. However, navigating the games where you aren’t able to OTK early or when you’re simply trying to survive are genuinely quite difficult, and figuring out how to win in those situations is key when trying to unlock SN1P-SN4P Warlock’s full potential.

VS Fast Decks

Survival. This is the one goal against aggressive decks. You’ll be looking to fight for board as best you can before executing any combo possible. Each combo is able to push enough tempo to fully control the board, and once you have the board most aggressive most opponents aren’t going to have the necessary recovery tools to take it back.

Against Secret Mage, even though it often feels impossible you can beat them to the board. Mage secrets are most effective when the opponent spends all their mana to do one thing. As SN1P-SN4P Warlock you will be spending you many to do many cheap things. Deny their minions from getting chip damage to your head at all costs. Zilliax and Antique Healbot are both key cards in restoring your life total, and Target Dummy is an excellent option when playing around Explosive Runes.

Mech Paladin has even fewer recovery tools than Secret Mage. and against this matchup is a total dogfight for board control. Don’t be too greedy with Plague of Flames, as you don’t want to put yourself in a position where you cannot guarantee killing the incredibly threatening Flying Machine. A cute combo to use in this matchup is Glinda Crowskin and Target Dummy to fill your board with cheap taunts. Mech Paladin doesn’t have any answer against a protected Glinda, so this swing is often game-winning, giving you a few turns of safety and access to Glinda’s echo effect in future turns.

VS Slow Decks

Most slower decks will have an answer to a full board of highly-statted mechs. Whether that be Doomsayer and Frost Nova in Mage, Poison Seeds in Druid, or simply Zephrys the Great. Therefore, we will often be looking to prioritize OTK-ing these slower archetypes. That said if we are able to make a huge board very early it can be correct to do so, assuming your opponent may not have drawn one of their few answers. Being patient in playing your mechs is key. If we have a potential OTK from hand we want to end every turn with at least one mech on board, while making it difficult for our opponent to remove all our minions.

There are some slower decks where we are able to simply make the biggest board we can. For example, many slower Warlocks don’t have a transform or silence effect, and we can make a board that cannot be answered by a Godfrey clear. It’s very dependent on the specific class your opponent is playing and getting a read on potential answers.

SN1P-SN4P OTK Warlock Card Substitutions

As is the case with many combo decks, there are cards that cannot be removed from SN1P-SN4P Warlock without the whole list falling apart. Below we will provide a brief description of which legendary cared are needed and which are fine perfectly fine with replacement

• SN1P-SN4P – The card is essential to the deck, it’s a part of your main combo, it can’t be replaced.
• Glinda Crowskin – Another essential card, it provides redundancy for your main combo pieces.
• Zilliax – Cannot be substituted. Zilliax is very strong in combination with Glinda, but is also required as a powerful standalone as it provided desperately needed removal and healing.
• Bloodmage Thalnos – Although the cheap cycle and the spell damage is useful, the card is far from necessary. Feel free to replace with Runic Egg or a Mistress of Mixtures.
• The Soularium – Similar to Bloodmage Thalnos, The Soularium is nice but certainly replaceable. Runic Egg or Mistress of Mixtures are fine changes. Worth noting that if you are teching in a Mecha'thun it is highly recommended that you also have The Soularium.