Even Warlock Deck Guide – Boomsday – August 2018

Even Warlock (Handlock) Card Choices

At the very core of Handlock is the threat and Taunt package. You want big minions on the board, and you want them to have Taunt if needed:

• Mountain Giant – The main threat of the deck, coming to a board near you as early as turn three.
• Twilight Drake – The secondary early-game big minion.
• Hooked Reaver – Swing-providing four-mana 7/7 Taunt, when your Health gets low. Sometimes a plain 4/4 for tempo.
• Sunfury Protector – Cheap minion that gives Taunt.
• The Lich King is kind of the odd one here, but it is a core card. It comes down a little later than the others, but it is a big Taunt minion with an upside, and the deck needs enough big minions to keep applying pressure. In the current card pool, there are no serious alternatives to the King.
• Bloodreaver Gul'dan – Bloodreaver Gul’dan is a big late game tempo push, usually made to close out the game quickly. While you sacrifice the cheaper Hero Power, you get a new, powerful one instead and you re-summon all your Demons. With a few threats on the board and a great Hero Power, you want to close out the game quickly, before running out of steam. Alternatively, it’s also a great defensive option vs Aggro if you survive that long.

Another package that you need is the removal package. All of Warlock’s good removal pieces are even-cost cards, so there are plenty of options to choose from.

The core removal package:

• Defile – Key early-game removal piece, especially great against Paladin.
• Hellfire – Flexible removal piece that also provides some reach through face damage.
• Lesser Amethyst Spellstone – Removal, and a lot of it when buffed, together with healing.

These removal pieces are simply too good not to include and form the basis of your control capabilities.

Next we arrive at a more controversial territory. Choices need to be made, as there is not enough room for everything.

The optional removal pieces:

• Drain Soul – Early-game removal and some healing. Especially good in Face Hunter / Odd Rogue type of meta.
• Shadowflame – Removal piece that can be used to clear Taunt walls, so it can also be used while on the offense. Effective use requires including Ancient Watcher in the deck as well, old-school Handlock style.
• Siphon Soul – Powerful single-target hard removal. Snipes away Taunts or big threats.
• Twisting Nether – Full board clear. Unfortunately, also wipes your own board, and you’re playing a proactive deck that relies on minions for damage, so you don’t really want to do that.

There are another two core cards left:

• Genn Greymane – Needed to reduce the cost of the Hero Power. Also a reasonable threat itself, even if it is nothing special.
• Shroom Brewer – Seriously, this card is incredibly important for the archetype. Not only can it be used to heal your Hero, but it can also be used to heal your major threats, preventing the opponent from removing them as easily. Healing a Mountain Giant with Shroom Brewer is perfectly fine.

After the threats, removal pieces, and other core cards are in the deck, all that remains is to fill up the list with some more defensive tools and tech cards.

Defensive and tech toolkit:

• Acidic Swamp Ooze – The ideal weapon removal tool for the deck. Cheap, so you can also do other things on the same turn.
• Spellbreaker – Even-cost Silence effect. The deck cannot run Ironbeak Owl, which would go well with Defile.
• Plated Beetle – Early-game minion that can take effective trades and provides some Armor when killed.
• Doomsayer – Early-game board clear that can allow you to set up for your own minions. Not that impressive in Handlock later in the game, as your own game is heavily board-based. 
• Vulgar Homunculus – Early-game Taunt minion that also buffs up your Lesser Amethyst Spellstone.
• Dread Infernal – Potential threat and additional removal tool in a Paladin-heavy meta. Buffs up your Lesser Amethyst Spellstone.
• Rin, the First Disciple – It’s an interesting choice, and doesn’t exactly fit into the deck’s game plan, but it comes handy in some slower matchups.
• Ancient Watcher – Cheap target for Shadowflame, Sunfury Protector, Defender of Argus, or even Spellbreaker, if you want to let it attack.

Even Warlock (Handlock) Mulligan Strategy & Guide

You really want to find your early threats. Even in the matchups where you are on the defense, you need to turn things around and start hitting face with big minions, you cannot stall indefinitely. Look for the appropriate removal pieces, but do not ignore the importance of your big minions.

VS Fast Decks

Higher Priority (Keep every time)

• Mountain Giant – Your main game-winning tool.
• Defile or Hellfire – Your main board clears. You keep one or the other depending on the matchup – if your opponent will likely have a 1-health minion to start the chain, Defile is better. On the other hand, against decks with 2-3 health early game minions, Hellfire is better.
• Doomsayer – Good Turn 2 or 3 play vs Aggro – at worst it baits the Silence or heals you for 7, at best it clears the board and stalls your opponent for a whole turn.
• Vulgar Homunculus – Early-game Taunt minion + it can potentially upgrade your Spellstone.
• Plated Beetle – Another solid 2-drop with healing potential.

Lower Priority (Keep only if certain conditions are met)

• Sunfury Protector – Keep if you have a big minion to Taunt up.
• Twilight Drake – Your secondary big minion, not needed against fast decks if you have a Giant already.
• Lesser Amethyst Spellstone – With Homunculus. It’s not great without upgrading, but even at 5 damage/healing it’s already very efficient for 4 mana.
• Shroom Brewer – Against decks that will want to rush you down and have a lot of burn damage, such as Tempo Mage.

VS Slow Decks

Higher Priority (Keep every time)

• Mountain Giant – Your main game-winning tool.
• Twilight Drake – Your secondary big minion. Against slow decks, you keep as many Giants and Drakes as you can find – you pretty much hard mulligan for those.

Lower Priority (Keep only if certain conditions are met)

• Acidic Swamp Ooze – Against weapon decks.

Even Warlock (Handlock) Win Rates

Winrate stats are currently unavailable for this deck at the moment!

Even Warlock (Handlock) Play Strategy

Even Handlock is not a fatigue deck. Do not be fooled by the control cards in the deck. This is a deck that wants to win games by being active and hitting the opponent in the face with huge minions. No matter the matchup, that is your ultimate goal.

When you’re on the coin, you can play Mountain Giant as early as turn three: Hero Power on turn one, Hero Power on turn two, play Mountain Giant on turn three or optionally coin Twilight Drake on turn three.

When you’re on the play, you can play Mountain Giant on turn four: Hero Power on turn one, Hero Power on turn two, Hero Power and play a two-cost card on turn three, and either Hero Power and play Mountain Giant on turn four or play Twilight Drake on turn four.

This early-game power makes all the difference and is the reason to play Even Handlock in the first place. Even though you do not get to play Mountain Giant until turn four when you’re on the play, the same as other decks, the cheaper Hero Power allows you to weave in a two-drop (such as Doomsayer, which can set up the board really nicely for the Giant) on turn three without compromising your ability to play the Giant.

Once you have your big minions on the board, you can Taunt them up with Sunfury Protector – or you can Taunt up other minions to prevent the opponent from hitting back at your big ones. You can also heal them up with Shroom Brewer to keep them out of reach of the opponent’s removal.

VS Aggro Decks

In the current meta, aggressive decks do not run out of steam easily. You need a plan on how to take the fight to them. Sometimes, the Mountain Giant plan works: you rush for your Giant, clear the board afterwards, and proceed to hit them in the face and Taunt up your big minion (also doable with Twilight Drake to an extent) or play a buffed-up Hooked Reaver to take the heat.

However, sometimes the pressure is too much to get to that Giant and you need to improvise an alternative game plan where you do not tap as much. Defile, Plated Beetle, Doomsayer and Vulgar Homunculus are often the cornerstones of the alternative early game, where you focus on stabilizing without the big minions and look for a swing a little later in the game. Hooked Reaver can be that swing card if you drop to 15 health or below.

Pay close attention to your Health total and the opponent’s expected reach. Especially Leeroy Jenkins can be scary if you have no Taunt minions up, even more so in combination with something like Cold Blood. Odd Paladins want to Level Up! their Silver Hand Recruits, and Tempo Mages have a lot of reach in form of Frostbolts, Fireballs and even a Pyroblast. Silence effects are also common in the meta, so don’t bank on a big Taunt to always save you.

Heal as needed, but if you have a Hooked Reaver available, it may be desirable to temporarily dip to under 15 Health to play it, and heal up afterwards.

VS Control Decks

Against slow decks, you want to tap, tap, and tap at the start. You do not have to worry about your life total, your worst fear is not finding Mountain Giant early. Get big early and protect and heal your big minions so that they can push damage. You need to self-inflict damage to get Hooked Reaver buffed up, but sometimes it can also get the job done as a 4/4, adding a bit more power to your push.

Play around the opponent’s key removal pieces, such as Swipe and Hellfire by healing your minions. Avoid going too wide into a Psychic Scream or Brawl and keep track of which minions return to your hand and which ones die if the opponent plays Vanish. On the other hand, against opponents with individual removal but no board clears, go for multiple big minions at once.

You are the beatdown. You will inevitably lose a long game, but try to prevent the game from going long in the first place. Spellbreaker is your friend against Taunt minions, use it.

Bloodreaver Gul'dan is often the final swing you need. If you know that you want to play it soon, prioritize some Demons. Even if Hooked Reaver is still a 4/4, for example, drop it just so it will die and you will get it back – it’s worth it. Also, try to bait an AoE board clear right before your Gul’dan turn. Play 3-4 minions on the board. If your opponent has no AoE, great, you deal a lot of damage and don’t play Gul’dan. And if he does – you get a refill and hopefully he has no other way to clear it. Use your Hero Power every single turn after playing him – either to clear minions and protect your own board (especially if your opponent still has lots of health), or use it to deal 3 damage per turn and put them on the clock (especially useful if your opponent is low on health and/or has limited life gain).

Even Warlock (Handlock) Card Substitutions

At around 7,000-10,000 Dust (depending on the list), Even Handlock is a medium-high cost deck. Sadly, it can’t be made much cheaper, as the core of the deck is quite expensive. Here are the Epic & Legendary cards with potential replacements, although don’t expect to cut that much from the cost:

• Genn Greymane – Obviously, the main card in your deck – if you don’t have Genn, try out a regular Handlock (although it’s not that strong) or a Control Warlock instead.
• The Lich King – Not exactly a necessary core card, but it’s one of the best Even late game threats you can use. You can try out a Primordial Drake instead if you face lots of board flood decks, or Argent Commander if you’re playing beatdown more often. Alternatively, Bonemare is also an option, it’s not optimal, but gets some extra points thanks to the surprise factor.
• Bloodreaver Gul'dan – I feel like in the current form of the deck, Bloodreaver Gul’dan is a must. While Mountain Giants and such are still your main win condition, if you get into the late game, you might need that final tempo push DK Gul’dan provides. On top of that, it’s often a life-saved against Aggro – it gives you LOTS of healing and extra removals in the long run thanks to the Hero Power.
• Doomsayer – It’s a good card, but not 100% neecssary. Even though at this point everyone should have it in their collections, you could replace it with Drain Soul, Bloodmage Thalnos or Tainted Zealot.
• Mountain Giant – Probably the most important card in the deck after Genn himself, your main win condition. Can’t be replaced.