Hearthstone: Returning to Zoolock (Eloise’s list)

Hello everybody, Geek Generation here.

I tried playing with Warlock again, i watned to return to playing zoo. I went to Hearthpwn to look through the zoolock deck lists and found several which i didn’t really like. I made my own deck list by grabbing elements from all the different decks and the results were disastrous.

I figured i must either be bad at making decks or bad at playing zoolock or both. So i used a deck list wholesale from Heathpwn. I’m going to post the deck list here, so bear in mine, the list is not mine. I think it belongs to a pro player, Eloise. The good thing is that i’m actually getting some wins from this version of zoolock. Plus, she’s cute : D

2 x Power Overwhelming
2 x Imp-losion

2 x Abusive Sergeant
2 x Flame Imp
2 x Leper Gnome
2 x Voidwalker
1 x Annoy-o-Tron
2 x Dire Wolf Alpha
1 x Haunted Creeper
1 x Ironbeak Owl
2 x Knife Juggler
2 x Nerubian Egg
2 x Imp Gang Boss
1 x Void Terror
2 x Defender of Argus
1 x Enhance-o Mechano
1 x Piloted Shredder
2 x Doomguard

When i first copied the list, i didn’t like that it did not have Loatheb and that it played only one Piloted Shredder. I always believed in playing twos to increase reliability of draws. But the thing is, without Loatheb and the second Piloted Shredder, i tend to play Doomguard more often.

The reason for playing Doomguard more often is that, with the lower mana curve, i could empty my hand quicker, so i tend not to waste time trying to rid of my hand before playing Doomguard. Plus, without those mana expensive valuable cards, i tend not to mind getting cards discarded to Doomguard. An early Doomguard means less chance of drawing into a second Doomguard before i played the first and also demands attention from the opponent, which either means your Doomguard hits more often, or your other minions hit more often.

The other thing i didn’t like at first was the single copy of Ironbeak Owl. It always makes me mad when the opponent has a play that requires Owl as an answer and i don’t draw any. But the reverse is also true quite often. Plenty of other times, i would draw both Owls and there was simply no good Silence targets. Which isn’t a bad thing until i drawn Doomguard. Multiple owls are not conducive for early Doomguards.

The last thing i mistakenly didn’t like was the lone Annoy-o-Tron. I truly underestimated the card. The first time i played it against a turn 1 Worgen Infiltrator, i had the giggles for the entire game. The card is.. well.. annoying. It’s capacity for breaking 1 drops’ tempo is amazing. Unless they have Ironbeak Owl (which hunters should always have 2 copies of, because it is a beast and hence enables Kill Command), they don’t usually have a good answer to Annoy-o-Trons.

Ok, so much for how i mistakenly dislike the deck. I’ll come back with more on play and mulligan later, Geek Generation out.

Hearthstone: Warlock Deathrattle

Hello everybody, Geek Generation here.

I was playing Warlock zoo yesterday, and fared really badly. Then i switched to a big minion Warlock deck with Voidcaller and did equally bad. I’m guessing that a big minion Warlock without the legendary cards or good warlock cards to support is just a bad deck. It’s like playing Handlock without the giants.

Today, i scrapped half the cards from the deck and inserted the Deathrattle aggro package. I’m not sure whether it’s because i dropped to rank 12, or it’s the weekend, or the deck really improved, i had much better results today.

2 x Soulfire
2 x Mortal Coil
2 x Power Overwhelming
2 x Hellfire

2 x Undertaker
2 x Haunted Creeper
1 x Ironbeak Owl
2 x Loot Hoarder
2 x Nerubian Egg
2 x Harvest Golem
2 x Defender of Argus
1 x Spellbreaker
2 x Voidcaller
2 x Doomguard
2 x Sludge Belcher
2 x Dread Infernal

Undertaker is really an amazing card if you bring it out on turn 1. It snowballs if the opponent has no answer for it. Coupled with Nerubian Eggs, the opponent’s Silences tend to be diverted away from more important cards like Voidcaller and Sludge Belcher. 

In one game with a Priest, i had a perfect curve. Coin -> 2 x Undertaker -> Haunted Creeper -> Harvest Golem -> Voidcaller -> Sludge Belcher etc. He played turn 3 Deathlord and put back my beats by a turn as i didn’t want to risk losing any Undertakers.

Then on his turn 4, he played Shadow Madness grabbing my Undertaker. I’m not sure whether it was greed or inexperience, but he did not kill off any of the Undertakers. Which proved to be a drastic mistake. Also he attacked with his Deathlord into my minions bringing its health down to 5. 

On my turn, i killed off his Deathlord and it popped a Haunted Creeper. And to my surprise, Undertaker procs off the Haunted Creeper! Then on his turn, he killed my Voidcaller, i think it was with Shadow Word: Pain, and it popped the only demon i had in my hand, which was another Voidcaller. Once more to my surprise, Undertaker procs off that pop too!

Before that game, i never knew Undertaker procs off these “put into play” effects. This makes me wonder if Undertaker will proc off a Shaman’s Reincarnate.

Are all my decks going to turn into Deathrattle decks? Geek Generation out.

Hearthstone: Warlock (Zoo)

Hello everybody, Geek Generation here.

I hadn’t been spending crafting powder for Hearthstone for a long time. I decided to buy 2 x Knife Juggler, which are always useful in most aggro decks. After getting the Knife Jugglers, i looked around for Warlock aggro decks and discovered that one of the warlock decks is called Zoo. I do believe the name Zoo has its origins in Magic the Gathering, back in Shards of Alara where the deck sported Kird Ape, some 3/3 wolf for 2 mana which i don’t remember its name and Lightning Helix.

Zoo in Hearthstone is similar in concept. Put out lots of low mana cost minions and burn for the win. In my opinion, Zoo concept works pretty well for Warlocks as it has the ability to refill the hand after putting out all the minions, which makes Warlock Zoos more resilient against board sweepers.

After trying out some versions of Zoo, i end up with the following deck list.

2 x Soulfire
2 x Mortal Coil

2 x Abusive Sergeant
2 x Flame Imp
2 x Leper Gnome
2 x Shieldbearer
2 x Voidwalker
2 x Young Priestess
2 x Acidic Ooze
2 x Dire Wolf Alpha
2 x Ironbeak Owl
2 x Knife Juggler
2 x Arcane Golem
2 x Defender of Argus
2 x Doomguard

For the longest time, i didn’t understand the role of Shieldbearer. It has 0 attack and yet it found its way into every zoo deck. There were even versions of aggro that played Shieldbearer over Leper Gnomes. After reading up abit, i realized that its role is to divert minion killers like Rockbiter Weapon, Fiery War Axe, Shapeshift etc. At 4 toughness, its survivability helps to keep the Warlock in the game against aggro that try to race with you.

I had Shattered Sun Cleric over Young Priestess but i decided that i didn’t really like the higher mana cost. In most cases, i just wanted to boost a 1 health guy like Leper Gnome to live through Jaina’s Fireblast for a turn or two. Young Priestess simply did the job earlier, which helps to push the aggro.

I played Arcane Golem over Argent Commander simply because i have 2 Golems and 0 Commanders in my collection. But i figure i would still go with the Golems even if i had the Commanders, simply because the Commanders cost 1 more mana than Doomguard. Argent Commanders are simply not Zoo-ish enough.

Geek Generation out.

Hearthstone: Warlock Control (Budget) Analysis

Welcome back to Geek Generation. Previously, i posted a deck list on Warlock Control budget deck. If you’ve played with it, you’ll know that it isn’t very good. In today’s post, i’ll talk about why it isn’t good, aside it being a budget deck.

I’ll start off with a card of the month, that has nothing to do with what this post is about. I managed to open a Mind Control Tech from a pack and i was excited to start using it, but this is what it says on my card.

Back to Warlock Control. I’ve made some changes with the deck and swapped Darkscale Healer for Kobold Geomancer. The Darkscale Healers generally do not do anything useful. Kobold Geomancers gives your board control the reach that would otherwise be short by one.

The deck concept revolves around a pretty simple principle. The warlock’s ability is to take two damage to draw an additional card. So if the majority of the minions have Taunt, then the opponent’s minions can’t race damage by hitting you, and you can afford to draw more cards, hence achieving card advantage. It isn’t very strong, so why play such a deck? It’s the times when the deck does work, it is satisfyingly amusing. More often than not, you’ll win from opponent frustration : D

The biggest problem with such a concept is that Taunt creatures don’t really do alot for you besides absorbing damage and board control. They don’t grow bigger or make your other minions better or make enemy minions weaker or charge or generally change the game state in any spectacular way. The Taunt minions are basically meat shield with your Warlock’s card advantage drawing you into even more meat shield. The way to win with this deck would actually be to race your opponent and throw burn like Soulfire and Drain Life directly at your opponent. Your minions can hit him, but his have to go through your meat shield to get to you.

Therefore, as far as possible, creature trades should not be initiated by you. Pretty much like what happens with aggro decks. It’s a slow deck with an aggro play style.

The second significant problem is the hero’s power. Unlike Mage or Druid control or even Hunter control, where their powers can actually deal damage to the opponent, this deck’s hero ability only lets your draw more meat shield. Other control decks gain advantage naturally by making the games longer while this deck has to rely on its meat shield. Mage have game winning cards like Fireball and Druid their Ironbark Protector. Coupled with a host of other spells that can deal damage directly to the hero, Mage and Druids become the default control decks, as far as budget decks go that is.

That is not to say Warlock control decks do not exist. Just that in most of its forms, it’ll not be a budget deck.

Hearthstone: Warlock Control (Budget)

Geek Generation here. If you’ve been playing against Warlock decks, they’ve probably come in the form of aggro decks, running kobolds that range from cheap to legendary. What they do is to push for damage with quick beats and refill their hand (and board) with the Warlock’s card drawing ability. Compared to Hunter, what it lacks in Starving Buzzard, it makes up for in the Warlock’s card draw.

Speaking of Hunter, Unleash the Hounds is a truly amazing card after the change. You can easily swing for six damage with only three mana.

Anyway, like all budget decks, it’ll probably bring you up to the rank of Novice Engineer and Sorcerer’s Apprentice and no further. Which makes me wonder, all these decks that are filled with rares and wonderful legendaries, are they no stronger than my budget decks : D Why are they still playing against me at Sorcerer’s Apprentice rank?

2 x Soulfire
2 x Mortal Coil
2 x Drain Life
2 x Shadow Bolt
2 x Hellfire

2 x Voidwalker
2 x Frostwolf Grunt
2 x Harvest Golem
2 x Ironfur Grizzly
2 x Sen’jin Shieldmasta
2 x Spellbreaker
2 x Booty Bay Bodyguard
2 x Darkscale Healer
2 x Dread Infernal
2 x Lord of the Arena

The idea of the deck is simple. Since every two health nets you a card, then the less your opponent’s creatures hit you, the more cards you can afford to draw. Which is why there are so many Taunt creatures in the deck. There are plenty of upgrades for the deck. Booty Bay Bodyguard is the least impressive of them all, and i would gladly swap them for Fen Creeper whenever i get any.

The severe weakness of this deck are Hunters and Mages. With mages, they simply wait for their tenth mana to Pyroblast for the win. With Hunters, they turn their decks into a form of control, playing their Hero ability every turn they can. With a Kill Command, they would have taken out half your life by the time you get to plopping Dread Infernal on the table. Warlock control, as it exists now, almost can never win against Hunters and Mages. The hero’s ability become such a big liability that it’s as good as not playing any hero.

Ta now. Geek Generation.