Recursive Handlock

First of all, you can go infinite under the following circumstances: Plot Twist x 2 and Augmented Elekk in hand, AE in play.  If you play Plot Twist in that state, you will shuffle two copies of PT and AE into your deck so you have the same number you started the game with.  This is “living the dream”, but don’t get shackled to the idea you must have this setup to fire off a good PT/AE turn.  Of course, with your big card draw like Valdris Felgorge working for you, this becomes much easier to setup.

So what does a good PT hand look like vs control?  In general, the best cards to duplicate are Veiled Worshipper, Kronx, and Galakrond.  You will lose your ability to draw from your hero power as Galakrond, so you want to duplicate card draw before you make the transition.  Incidentally, if you are Galakrond and you play Kronx, he will find a second copy of Galakrond and bring it to your hand while also providing the Devastation.  Keep that in mind when calculating hand size.

So what does a good PT hand look like vs aggro?  In general, the best cards to duplicate are Aranasi Broodmother, Zilliax, and Nether Breath.  With some good AB duplication in particular, Plot Twist can be a massive self-heal.  Kronx and Galakrond are also pretty good if you can get enough time to play them, since they can provide life/armor.  Duplicated Zilliax can actually magnetize to himself.

Invoke Galakrond whenever you have the chance, for the most part.  An exception might be when you are saving Dragonblight Cultist for a Plague of Flames turn, or something of that nature.  Ideally, you will invoke Galakrond early so you can get Veiled Worshipper active, but also because you mostly don’t want to duplicate invoke cards.

Augmented Elekk has a side benefit of empowering Bad Luck Albatross.  This can be a devastating play, and when you are setting it up, looks something like this: Your turn you play BLA onto the board.  The opponent takes their turn and if they make the mistake of leaving BLA in play, your next turn is: Augmented Elekk, kill your BLA to double the punishment, play Plot Twist.  Keep in mind the balance between risking your AE to power BLA disruption versus saving it for PT to restock your deck, so use your judgement if you can’t get it to do both at the same time.

Bloodmage Thalnos empowers Nether Breath (granting more life) and also doubles the damage from every shot in a Dark Skies turn.  It is also a card you don’t mind sacrificing to Plague of Flames, so in general this is not meant to be a card you toss out like combo decks trying to churn through their deck, but instead is something you hold even on turns where you have 2 mana unspent.  NB and DS getting powered up by this guy are extremely valuable.  Also, once he is in play you should keep him in mind when calculating hand size for cards like Veiled Worshipper.

Dark Skies is a fantastic clear on the same turn you become Galakrond.

Brightwing activates Nether Breath’s ability as well as Crazed Netherwing’s ability, so you prefer to not play this card for tempo and rather hold this card for duplicating later.  Duplicating this also helps deal with the power variance of different legends you might discover.

Mulligans into your invoke cards are usually good mulligans.  Early Bad Luck Albatross or Dark Skies is also a solid start against certain decks.  Try to tap when you’re above 26 so that you can get full value from any Aranasi Broodmother you draw.  Try to imagine the best cards against your opponent and focus on duplicating those.  Don’t be afraid to Plot Twist if you are facing aggro and you need life.  Don’t be too aggressive with your hero power against aggro; you can use Veiled Worshipper and Valdris Felgorge to rebuild your hand later.  Balancing tempo versus cards is the name of that game.

This deck does well versus everyone *except* face or secret hunter.  It can beat dragon hunter much more easily than the other two flavors of hunter.  This deck is favored vs rogue and massively favored vs control.  Vs druid, it depends on how your answers line up against their threats (token or embiggen, same story).  In general, your play skill will contribute to your win rate when using this deck.  I was able to reach rank 5 in a single night with this, but I have not hit legend because I keep running into a mass of secret and face hunter opponents back-to-back at times, which this deck just doesn’t deal with well at all.