Cubelock Deck List Guide - Boomsday - August 2018

Posted by: StonekeepPublished: December 18, 2017Updated: October 16, 2026Dust: 10,160Rating: 0.5/5 (1823 votes)

Class: WarlockFormat: StandardType: ComboStyle: Featured Meta DecksArchetype: Cube Warlock

Our Cubelock deck guide for The Boomsday Project expansion will teach you how to play this popular archetype. This Cubelock guide includes Mulligans, Gameplay Strategy, Card Substitutions, and Combos/Synergies!

Introduction to Cubelock

Cube Warlock is a slow Warlock archetype first introduced in Kobolds & Catacombs. To be fair, the deck is very hard to classify - it has lots of Control elements (high cost cards, many removals), but very often you want to play it proactively. The deck also has some combos that you want to perform, and you could say that Carnivorous Cube combos bring it closer to a Combo build. In the end, the deck is somewhat of a mix between different archetypes, such as Midrange, Control and Combo, and that's exactly what makes it so powerful. Cube Warlock can adjust its play style depending on the matchup it faces. With lots of removal (especially AoE), healing and Voidlords, it stands a chance against most of the aggressive builds. And thanks to the Mountain Giants and Doomguards, it can put enough pressure on a slower deck. Because the Standard rotation didn't affect it much, Cubelock remained as one of the strongest decks in the early Year of the Raven meta. The only new card that's an auto-include is Lord Godfrey, a very powerful late game AoE (much better than Twisting Nether against Aggro builds), but given that the deck kept most of its power, it has once again wrapped the entire meta around it... until the nerf patch happened. Recent balance changes have hit this deck most. Between increasing the mana cost of Possessed Lackey (from 5 to 6) and reducing the healing from Dark Pact (from 8 to 4), the deck lost a lot of momentum. Does it mean that it's no longer viable? No, not at all! Even though it lost a lot of its power, at the same time other players stopped teching against it heavily, so in the end, the deck is still good. While it doesn't appear to be very popular, it's a solid Tier 2 deck, especially in the higher ranks.

Check out our Wild format Cubelock Deck Guide!

Update - The Boomsday Project

We've listed a popular version of Cubelock below, we'll be updating the guide soon!

Warlock Cards (20)

Neutral Cards (10)

Deck Description

Cubelock Mulligan Strategy & Guide

Against Aggro you want to have early board-clears and life-gain cards, and against Control you want essential combo pieces.

VS Everything

Kobold Librarian - Cheap minions that draw cards have always been good, but this is one of the better ones. It activates Lesser Amethyst Spellstone, cycles through your deck, and provides you with a much needed 1-health minion for Defile that you don't hate to put into your deck.
Skull of the Man'ari - Pulling big Demons from your hand is your best way to win in the mid game. The slight downside is that you might not draw any of your big Demons by Turn 5 (although it doesn't happen often).

VS Fast Decks

Higher Priority (Keep every time)

Defile - One of the strongest board-clearing tools in all of Hearthstone, Defile is amazing at getting you through the early game. Defile handily clears small minions, and is one of the only ways to do so while also removing Deathrattle-produced tokens.
Doomsayer - The reason you play Doomsayer is that the card is amazing vs Aggro. When played on Turn 2, it usually pops and destroys the whole board. Not only you can clear some early game minions this way, but you also force your opponent to skip board development on his turn.
Stonehill Defender - It's not an amazing card, but it's your only Turn 3 play, and it's better to drop a 1/4 Taunt than just tap most of the time, especially vs Odd Paladin, where it can actually trade into some of the 1/1's.

Lower Priority (Keep only if certain conditions are met)

Lesser Amethyst Spellstone - This card is pretty bad at first, but even after just a single upgrade, it gets amazing. That's why you keep it with Kobold Librarian, so you can guarantee a 5 damage + healing on the curve.
Hellfire - While it might seem like a desperate keep, your ability to clear the board in the mid game is often what wins you the matches vs Aggro decks. Keep it against decks that like to flood the board a lot, such as Odd Paladin.

VS Slow Decks

Higher Priority (Keep every time)

Mountain Giant - Against slow decks you can afford to spend your first few turns Life Tapping, which sets you up to play Mountain Giant on turn 4. Mountain Giants that early can often win you games, but it also soaks up opponents removal, making your later threats harder to respond to.
Possessed Lackey - After the nerf, Lackey is too slow to keep vs Aggro, but it's still good vs slower decks. After all, you want to pull out those Demons from your deck somehow.

Lower Priority (Keep only if certain conditions are met)

Doomsayer - Keep when going second and the rest of your hand is okay. Even though it's more of an anti-Aggro card, sometimes you can keep it vs slower decks too, in order to answer their early game plays and stall their board development. DO NOT keep it if you're going first, because you will need Taps on Turn 2 and 3 to play Giant. Going second, you can Tap on Turn 2 and drop Doomsayer on Turn 3, setting up a Turn 4 Giant really well.
Carnivorous Cube - This deck is built to take full advantage of the Cube, and if you keep it in your opening hand you don't have to find it. You probably want to have at least a Mountain Giant or Skull of the Man'ari before you keep a Cube though.

Cubelock Win Rates

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

Cubelock Play Strategy

With this deck you're trying to set up powerful plays with Carnivorous Cube, either to make an unbreachable wall or an OTK combo.

Vs Aggro

Games against Aggro aren't different than usual. Most important thing is to constantly clear the board and survive. In case of Cube Warlock, the key moment is usually surviving until you clear the board and drop Voidlord your opponent can't answer (e.g. he has no Silence). It can sometimes happen as soon as turn 6-7, although the biggest swing with Cube Warlock happens on Turn 10 - thanks to the Bloodreaver Gul'dan. But, how can you survive that long when your opponent is constantly trying to push damage?

Most important part is AoE damage. Your deck runs two AoE damage spells - Defile and Hellfire + a slightly different form of board clear, Doomsayer. All of those are really strong in different cases. Hellfire is just your generic 3 AoE damage - it's enough to clear most of the early game minions your opponent will play. Defile is better when it comes to those tricky boards - if you can line up the health totals of minions, you can even clear 4-5 health minions, as well as everything up to that point. Doomsayer is easiest to counter, but also strongest in the early game, as your opponent will have to skip a turn if he can't clear it. It's also a good "proactive" stall tool - after you clear a board, you can drop Doomsayer to force your opponent to skip a turn. Very useful during later turns, when you have something you want to play next without being interrupted. Sometimes you can also drop two Doomsayers on a single turn - it increases the chance of them blowing up quite heavily. Yes, you use two cards instead of one, but it might be worth it if you need to stop your opponent from getting huge board.

On top of those, this build uses Lord Godfrey. Even though 7 mana cost seems quite expensive, it's very useful, especially against those board flooding Paladins or Zoo Warlocks. Not only it should be able to clear the board quite easily (it's almost impossible to play around it AND putting multiple minions on the board at the same time), but it also leaves a 4/4 body that you can get another trade with next turn.

One of the most important skill is picking the right AoE for the right situation. Generally, in the early game, try to rely mostly on the Doomsayer. Later in the game, it really depends on the deck you play against. If your opponent doesn't really play 1 health minions, then you should take Defile value whenever you can. If he does - then you can be a little more greedy with it and wait for a good opportunity. Don't use your AoE too lightly - Aggro decks usually have multiple ways to refill the board, so if you AoE down two small minions, you might not have a way to deal with e.g. Call to Arms or board flood from Zoo.

But, even with lots of AoE, your opponent will still deal damage - it's just something you can't help. For that reason, in order to keep yourself alive, you run quite a lot of healing. Sadly, the Dark Pact nerf reduced the total healing of your deck by 8, which is massive in Aggro matchups. Still, between 2x Dark Pact and 2x Lesser Amethyst Spellstone, you can heal for quite nice amount, not to mention that Bloodreaver Gul'dan is usually a game over for your opponent, not only because you resummon Demons, but also because you heal for 3 more per turn.

Preserving your life total is important, but don't mistake not taking damage at all with preserving health. Kobold Librarian is still one of the best cards vs Aggro, even if you take 2 damage. If it trades into your opponent's 2/1 (for example), then you indeed took 2 damage, but you saved probably 4 or 6 in the long run. Life Taps are similar - even though taking damage and doing nothing is terrible against Aggro, tapping brings you closer to your big Demons (and ways to summon them), as well as AoE and healing cards. You should still Hero Power in the early game, and in the mid/late game if you have free mana and still lots of health. Safe health really depends on the matchup and situation - e.g. aggressive Paladins don't have a lot of ways to deal damage without board, but Tempo Mage can kill you from 20+ health over 2 turns, with no minions at all.

Voidlord is a key card when it comes to surviving. But one is often not enough - not only it can get Silenced, but opponents sometimes have ways to get through it (e.g. Sunkeeper Tarim). That's why cards like Faceless Manipulator and Carnivorous Cube + Dark Pact are so great - you can extra copies of it, so now even if your opponent Silences or deals with one, he still has another to go through.

If you get to Turn 10, a big Bloodreaver Gul'dan is usually GG, assuming that you can revive at least one Voidlord (+probably a bunch of Voidwalkers and possibly some Doomguards). If you have Gul'dan in your hand already and you're just a few turns off, try to not make any risky plays. Just clear the board constantly and heal up as much as you can. Turn 10 swing is going to win you the game almost every time, so there's no reason to risk it. If your opponent somehow answered your board (e.g. Even Paladin running Equality combos - not really an Aggro deck, but you get what I mean), then try to Hero Power every turn and continue with your previous game plan of clearing the board. Now with a better Hero Power, there is no way that a faster deck will outvalue you.

Vs Control

When playing vs slower decks, just surviving is not enough. Cube Warlock is not a high value deck. You don't run multiple tools that generate extra resources, or ways to win a slow, fatigue-oriented game. In the long run, lots of decks are going to destroy every threat in your deck (e.g. Control Warrior), destroy your deck (Rin, the First Disciple or just kill you through some combo (e.g. Mind Blast Control Priest can deal lots of damage from the hand after setting you up to 15 with Alexstrasza). Of course, it all depends on the match, but you usually have to just kill them before you run out of resources.

First and one of the most important cards in those matchpus is Mountain Giant. I'd say that around 1/4 of the games with Cube Warlock are won around Turn 6-7 thanks to the Giants. Dropping a Giant on Turn 4 is really big when your opponent can't answer it right away, mostly because you can do so many things later while still putting pressure. Your opponent has to play defensively, while you can push. Most of the time, unless there is some high priority target on the board, you just push face damage. 8 per turn is a lot and can't be underestimated, especially against Warlocks (which should already be around 20-24 health from the taps and Librarians). After dropping the Giant, you have a few things to do. You can play another Giant, copy the one you have with Faceless Manipulator, play Skull of the Man'ari. On Turn 6 you can either drop Possessed Lackey (good thing is that if you have something on the board already, your opponent might be too busy to worry about silencing it). You can also eat your Giant with Cube and Dark Pact it. The last play is especially powerful if you need to attack something and lose health in process. For example, your opponent drops a 5/5 minions. Hitting it, then dropping Cube and killing it results not only in healing your Giant up, but also getting an extra one. However, if you play a matchup in which putting pressure is important, you'd want to do that even on a full health Giant just to get an extra 8/8.

However, that aggressive push won't always work. Your opponent might have an answer, or put a Taunt wall. If that's the case, take the game a bit slower, especially with a very reactive hand. There is no harm in just clearing the board and waiting until Turn 10 swing or Cube combos to close out the game.

Talking about Cube combos - in slow matchups, it's usually better to copy Doomguards than Voidlords. While Voidlords provide a huge wall, not only they aren't aggressive enough, but Voidwalkers also dillute the Bloodreaver Gul'dan spawn pool. It's a big issue a lot of players don't think about - reviving 3-4 Doomguards is usually game-winning, while reviving 6 Voidwalkers and Voidlord is... not bad, but underwhelming. So it's generally better to save the Cube combos for Doomguards. The best way to set those up is Skull of the Man'ari. Once it summons Doomguard, you go face (or bump it into something, you can even get the first one down to 1 health as long as it doesn't die), then Cube + Dark Pact it, and then get another 10 damage. That's already up to 15 damage, with two 5/7's on the board your opponent has to clear. Then, if you go into your Gul'dan turn, you will most likely re-summon more Doomguards, often closing out the game as soon as Turn 10.

Since the deck runs no Siphon Soul or Twisting Nether, your reactive game vs slow decks is much weaker. You can still kill a single minion with Voodoo Doll + Mortal Coil / Dark Pact, but once your opponent puts two or more big threats, you might have a very hard time. That's the problem you solve by simply putting pressure all the time. If you have minions on the board and your opponent is pretty low, he has to remove them / Taunt up / heal up all the time, leaving no room to develop. However, this strategy takes a huge toll on your value. If you constantly push, your opponent usually gets the better trades, removes your minions efficiently etc. and you often end up getting outvalued. It doesn't matter as long as you can kill your opponent first, though.

Talking about the Hero Power, once you transform into DK, that Hero Power is often one of your main win conditions. Simply using it on your opponent every turn can put a lot of pressure on their health - like a better Hunter's Hero Power. It's best when you face a Warlock who hasn't transformed yet. Generally, try to use it every single turn - in the best case scenario you "suck" their Hero, while deal with the board with removals like Hellfire, Spellstone etc. However, if you have a board yourself and clearing something will protect your board, it's often worth to clear with the Hero Power too. It all depends on the context, how much burst you have, how much health your opponent's at, board states etc.

Alternatively, since the deck runs 2x Stonehill Defender, there is also a chance that you will discover Rin, the First Disciple. She gives you an alternative win condition, especially against decks that can outvalue you. Against decks that can just kill you, like Mind Blast Priest or Quest Warrior I'd mostly ignore her and go for the pressure - you need to win fast. But she's an amazing win condition for example against a Quest Priest or against a regular Control Warrior.

Card Interactions

Faceless Manipulator and Prince Taldaram (this build doesn't run it, but he's a viable option) summon the targets of Carnivorous Cube when they die if they copied it. If they copy a Doomguard, Bloodreaver Gul'dan is that much more likely to summon additional Doomguards when played. Also keep in mind that while targeting Carnivorous Cube is their intended purpose, they can also target opposing minions such as The Lich King.
If you think your opponent has Explosive Runes, you can use it against them by playing Possessed Lackey or Carnivorous Cube into it. You'll still take four damage when you play Lackey, but the Cube absorbs all of it.
Carnivorous Cube is a great way to punish your opponent for playing Doomsayer.
Skull of the Man'ari and Doomsayer have an interesting interaction a lot of people don't think about. Start of turn effects are resolved in the order they were played in. So if you play Doomsayer first and THEN Skull, even if you have a Demon in your hand, Doomsayer will proc first and only then your skull will summon a Demon. However, the other way around is more common. If you have Skull already equipped and a Demon in your hand, it would often be foolish to play Doomsayer, as that Demon will immediately die.
Another interesting Skull of Man'ari interaction is that it pulls out a Demon BEFORE you draw a card. So, as long as you have a Demon in your hand and you don't suspect that your opponent will destroy the weapon, it is possible to finish turn with 10 cards in your hand and not overdraw. Whether it's worth it or not really depends on the situation, but sometimes you really don't want to play any card and it's better to take a slight risk of him destroying the weapon than to let's say play Hellfire vs no minions.

Cubelock Card Substitutions

Although Despicable Dreadlord and Vulgar Homunculus are excellent cards that otherwise have good synergy with the deck, you can't include them because they derail your consistency with Possessed Lackey, Skull of the Man'ari and most importantly Bloodreaver Gul'dan. You really want Gul'dan to summon as many Doomguards as possible to end the game.

Skull of the Man'ari, Carnivorous Cube, Voidlord and Bloodreaver Gul'dan are absolutely irreplaceable. Other cards, however, including Doomsayer, Spiritsinger Umbra or Mountain Giant can indeed be replaced. Here are some of the cards you can consider using instead:

Siphon Soul and Twisting Nether - These cards are often run in Cube-based Warlock decks, and there's nothing wrong with them. They are absent from this list to make room for Faceless Manipulator and Mountain Giant, so if you don't have or don't want to run that package these are good choices to replace them with.
Prince Taldaram - While it's not really a "budget" replacement, if you have Prince, but you don't have Voodoo Doll, you can drop all of the 3-drops and run Prince Taldaram instead.
Faceless Manipulator - Again, if you're missing one of your Epics/Legendaries, you can try out a Faceless manipulator. It's a flexible card that fits into Cube Warlock really well - you can put more pressure by copying a Giant or Doomguard vs Control decks, or you can put another huge Taunt by copying Voidlord vs Aggro.
Bloodmage Thalnos or Tainted Zealot or Kobold Geomancer - Spell Damage combos well with Defile, so slower Warlock often include it. Defile is a strong enough card on its own, so it's not necessary to run any Spell Damage, but if you're looking for spots to fill this is a good place to look. Each of the cards above have their individual strengths. Thalnos draws a card when he dies, Zealot adds Spell Damage to an additional Defile tick, and Geomancer is guaranteed to be in your collection!
Acidic Swamp Ooze - Weapon destruction isn't a bad tech in the current meta. It works best against Tempo Mage (Aluneth) and in the mirror matchups (Skull of the Man'ari), but destroying a Vinecleaver or even Unidentified Maul versus Odd Paladin will also hurt him a lot. And most importantly - it's a cheap way to fill some of the gaps in the deck.

P.S. If you don't have Skull or Cubes, but want to play a similar deck, you can always try out the Demon Control Warlock. However, keep in mind that it still requires a different set of Epics to run.

Card Omissions

Cube Warlock is one of those decks in which you'd like to play more than 30 cards, but you have only 30 card slots. Some of the cards are missing simply because they HAD to be cut. It doesn't mean that they are necessarily bad, and different lists might still run them, but you just had to remove something.

The most notable exclusions is probably Rin, the First Disciple. The Cube-less lists based around Voidlord are very passive, waiting for their opponents to run out of threats. For these decks, Rin is way more helpful than for this build. Rin dramatically accelerates the plan of running your opponent out of threats by removing their deck entirely. The strategy is effective in a lot of the Control matchups, but doesn't go well in pair with the more aggressive strategy of this list. The turns Control Warlock decks would be spending to cast Rin seals are the turns this deck spends comboing Carnivorous Cube to end the game.

You might be skeptical about playing the slow Warlock deck without any copies of Siphon Soul or Twisting Nether, but they don't fit this deck perfectly. These cards are very defensive, and great for outlasting your opponents threats, but this is a deck that wants to be proactive during the turns those cards would be necessary. You can still add one copy of each if you want, and it will make your value game much better. However, if you want to slow down and drop some combo consistency, you might as well just play the Demon Control Warlock instead.

286 Comments

Angelos December 19, 2017
Thank you so much for this article. I am trying to get back into hearthstone. Why do you say “against slower decks you really don’t want your Voidlords to ever enter the battlefield”?
1. PaconBancake December 20, 2017
  they dont help you close out the game
2. Martian December 20, 2017
  In games against other late-game decks you really want Guldan to summon a bunch of Doomguards for a bunch of burst damage. Each Voidlord you play adds 4 non-Doomguard minions to the pool of cards Guldan randomly pulls from, making your burst less significant.
Nuntius December 20, 2017
Angelos, it means that when you play against control decks that rely on big minions, you don't want your Voidlords to be pulled from the deck, let's say from Kabal Lackey on turn 6 because you need these minions later in order to block your opponent's big damage after turn 10.
Lordfolken52 December 20, 2017
sub 40% winrates against priest? SeemsGood
1. Martian December 20, 2017
  I think that might have something to do with players getting used to the deck, I didn't feel all that oppressed by Priest. You do have to worry a lot more about blowing up your own minions, but the deck is built to accommodate that. If that turns out to be an issue in the long run I bet Rin will find her way into the list.
  1. woocko December 20, 2017
    rin + manari = pretty shitty
    a free 10/10 is not bad but not worth going throu 6 rituals and not as good as destroying opponents deck
zongeedongee December 20, 2017
summoning voidlords pollutes your guldan turn with voidwalkers and reduces the likelihood you resummon doomguards from it
Esphona December 20, 2017
Keep in mind that you can't cube the cube. It won't work
1. Swatchblade December 20, 2017
  I mean you can you just dont copy its deathrattle, but you will be summoning to new cubes upon death
Blitz December 22, 2017
So the prince and faceless can copy the enemies cubes if they havnt popped! Super sneaky! I just used a faceless and prince to copy a priests valen and hero powered for 12, great addition to the deck
1. Blitz December 27, 2017
  Another gangster move: Big priest drops a singleton O. Statue. You copy it with Prince T, then cube it, which triggers your own death rattle killing the enemy statue, which kills the cube, giving you two statues for 8 mana.
DanTheMan December 24, 2017
so im still crafting my epics for this... How do people feel this version performs?
better than umbra nzoth etc?
I like the look of this one
looks more consistent and maybe aggro than other versions ...
would really appreciate some feedback since im still missing five epics...
and on hsreplay the giants version has a lower wr.
1. Martian December 24, 2017
  What epics are you missing?
  1. DanTheMan December 24, 2017
    atm a cube and a voidlord that im about to craft, then for this version another faceless and the giants...
    but my question is, how this version stands against umbra/no giants etc.
    some people think umbra will fade...
    1. Martian December 24, 2017
      Faceless and Mountain Giant are part of the classic set, and have been playable on and off throughout Hearthstone, so they're pretty safe cards to craft. If you don't like them in this deck, you're almost guaranteed to get use out of them sometime. That being said, the core of this deck is strong enough on its own. You could run a giantless version for a while to see if you even like the playstyle, and consider faceless/giants later when you're more confident you want them. Do you own umbra? Are you deciding between it and the giants?
      1. DanTheMan December 25, 2017
        Im playing around with the deck already and I really like the cards... so yeah crafting the taunt another cube to begin with and the giants probably after that... Nah, I dont have Umbra and I'm not in a hurry to craft it unless it shows that it will stay around in the deck. For now I'm trying to make some more aggro oriented versions of the deck... I have also been experimenting with adding Ebon Dragonsmith for cheaper weapon and Corpse raiser to play on Cube.
        My concern for the giants version is mainly why it has a lower wr than the non giant version on HSReplay.
        But I been thinking that its a skill deck and maybe that's why.
      2. DanTheMan December 25, 2017
        Just now I'm having fun with this list. :)
        ### CUBE NEMSY
        # 2x (1) Dark Pact
        # 2x (1) Kobold Librarian
        # 2x (1) Mistress of Mixtures
        # 2x (1) Mortal Coil
        # 1x (1) Patches the Pirate
        # 2x (1) Southsea Deckhand
        # 2x (2) Defile
        # 1x (3) Prince Taldaram
        # 1x (4) Ebon Dragonsmith
        # 2x (4) Hellfire
        # 2x (4) Lesser Amethyst Spellstone
        # 1x (5) Carnivorous Cube
        # 2x (5) Doomguard
        # 1x (5) Faceless Manipulator
        # 2x (5) Possessed Lackey
        # 1x (5) Skull of the Man'ari
        # 1x (6) Siphon Soul
        # 1x (7) Corridor Creeper
        # 1x (9) Voidlord
        # 1x (10) Bloodreaver Gul'dan
        #
        AAECAcn1AgqTBMwIkbwCl9MCydMC+9MCi+ECneIC6OcC2+kCCvcE1AW2B8QI3sQC58sC8tAC+NACiNIC/OUCAA==
        #
      3. DanTheMan December 26, 2017
        Crafted another cube and Am playing this list for now...
        Hope it's ok I post it here, since I'd like to hear what u think.
        # 2x (1) Dark Pact
        # 2x (1) Kobold Librarian
        # 2x (1) Mistress of Mixtures
        # 2x (1) Mortal Coil
        # 2x (1) Wax Elemental
        # 2x (2) Defile
        # 1x (2) Plated Beetle
        # 1x (3) Prince Taldaram
        # 1x (4) Ebon Dragonsmith
        # 2x (4) Hellfire
        # 2x (4) Lesser Amethyst Spellstone
        # 1x (4) Spellbreaker
        # 2x (5) Carnivorous Cube
        # 2x (5) Doomguard
        # 1x (5) Faceless Manipulator
        # 2x (5) Possessed Lackey
        # 1x (5) Skull of the Man'ari
        # 1x (9) Voidlord
        # 1x (10) Bloodreaver Gul'dan
        #
        AAECAcn1AgiTBPIFl9MCydMCneIC6uYC6OcC2+kCC/cEtgfECN7EAufLAvLQAvjQAojSAsfTAovhAvzlAgA=
        Im thinking maybe Crafting Another Faceless before the giants perhaps?
        I struggle sometimes in the early game against Hard aggro...
        So I aded some early defence.
        It feels like One voidlord might be enough, since I don't really want voidlords in my end game anyways right?
        Thanx in advance.
        peace
      4. Martian December 27, 2017
        How have the dragonsmiths been working out? Id be surprised if they were worth it. Im always tempted to cut a Voidlord, but theyre super good against aggro. If you're having trouble with aggro, you might consider spell damage minions instead of wax elemental. I think Faceless is more staple than Mountain giant, but Im pretty sure Mountain Giant is optimal.
      5. DanTheMan December 27, 2017
        I ended up going deep in to my collection, and dusting a pile of stuff that will rotate soon anyways... So now I finally have your deck as a whole, Yay! Time to give it a proper spin. :D
        Nah, I only ever had one Dragonsmith, so for it to end up in hand with the weapon was kind of not happening much, when it did once or twice u did feel good about playing weapon for 3, but not sure it is worth it... I will try it with two sometime if I get one from a pack... Then u can play them both and play the weapon for one mana.
        I still have a the concerns about umbra... Since I do see her in allot of winning lists...
        Like here for example, http://metastats.net/archetypedecks/Handlock/
        Also this is a bit of a concern,
        https://hsreplay.net/decks/#playerClasses=WARLOCK&archetypes=197&sortBy=winrate
        It's so weird how different sites run so different meta reports.
        If u look on Tempostorm and such they run the giants list with Umbra though.
        Thanx again.
        Peace. :)
      6. Martian December 29, 2017
        Those programs take from a selection of games played by people using their trackers, so results vary by population and skill of the player. For example, Umbra is usually not a good on curve play, but can be great if you combo it with a Cube same turn. A player who recognizes that will have more success with that list than a player who doesn't. If the player who doesn't represents a large amount of the data, then the numbers imply that the deck is worse than it is because a large portion of the player base is using it wrong. That's just an example, the stats are a good tool, but they aren't infallible. Good luck with the deck!
  2. DanTheMan December 29, 2017
    Thnx. Dude.
    Still struggling sometimes with early aggro, but I do Love the deck.
    And I love that it makes me think.
    Just having this happen once in a while makes it all worth it. :D
    https://image.prntscr.com/image/t8p_8cW1SAehtJdVl1AHUw.png
    1. Martian December 29, 2017
      Lol nice
shamanking December 26, 2017
I just hit rank 3 with this deck. I run N'zoth instead of prince though. Really fun but aggro can be hard to deal with. Turns 3/4/5 can be really slow as well.
DWC December 27, 2017
I am very confused by this deck. Either it is horrible against aggro or I am just extremely unlucky. I’m 1-7 versus aggro.
I can almost never get a faceless giant out until turn 7-8 and have used Faceless manipulator 2 times in 15 games. I am 5-10 overall.
Have a really hard time against dragon priest. Without the Soul Siphon, have almost nothing to deal with high cost minions.
1. dwhy December 28, 2017
  you may want to look into other variations of this deck. the current one im running absolutely destroys paladin
2. DWC March 14, 2018
  It is op against aggro. Only a few matchups are unfavored and the only real counter to the deck is Combo Priest. The deck is easy to play. You just have to mulligan correctly.
Abakxi December 27, 2017
Any replacements for taldaram?
1. DanTheMan December 28, 2017
  Taldaram is very strong in this deck... its another faceless for 3 mana.
  I love his performance since he's so cheap. making it easy to copy a cube after it eaten a demon.
  this version here has no taldaram and no giants, but a good wr.
  AAECAf0GBO0FzAiX0wLb6QIN9wTbBrYHxAjexALnywLy0AL40AKI0gKL4QL85QLq5gLo5wIA
2. Martian December 29, 2017
  Chittering Tunneler is an ok option if you don't have him. He's great but I wouldn't say he's essential. Tunnelers help activate spellstone which is nice, but they're epics. If you don't have them already that dust is probably better spent towards your Taldaram. You could also run stonehill defender, he can grab Voidlords and Rins.
cptmeatballz December 29, 2017
Any ways you see if I don't own the Guldan?
1. Martian December 29, 2017
  Guldan is pretty essential. You COULD try running it without Guldan, maybe run Jaraxxus instead if you have it, but the deck would be significantly worse. Guldan is great, it's gonna be great for a long time, so if you have the dust its a very safe craft.
  1. cptmeatballz December 29, 2017
    I have the dust, but only for one legendary and I dont own the weapon either. Though I'm considering dusting all my Naxx legend. I stopped playing from end of Naxx to Knight of the frozen throne... so really low of dust and stuff.
    1. Martian December 29, 2017
      You can dust maexxna without regret lol. Id play without weapon before Id play without guldan
    2. Chris December 29, 2017
      Honestly if you don't plan on playing wild I would say dust the out of standard cards. I don't regret it for a second. If you aren't using the cards why just let them sit around when you can get mileage out of new cards? That is just my opinion. I am also one of the wallet players who has a golden Guldan though and completely understand the free to play mentality. :D
  2. DanTheMan December 29, 2017
    Jaraxxus is dust... it would be suicide running him in this deck.
    1. Martian December 29, 2017
      Dont dust Jaraxxus, Guldan will rotate eventually and then he'll be playable again.
      1. DanTheMan December 30, 2017
        for the longest time I tried to win a game with him... Problem is he has 15, health... Most decks like 'Clown Priest' eat that in one turn... I dusted mine, no regrets... It's hard to imagine a world without Guldan btw.
    2. Pikasalt January 1, 2018
      Yes, now its suicide. But if the meta control decks don't run burn ( like wild ungoro), its just op. Then it is an instant win.
2. WildRage January 14, 2018
  Regretfully, Gul'dan is essential. This deck is defined by card interactions with Carnivorous Cube, as the author says, but your end-game is Gul'dan.
  You see, Gul'Dan allows you to trade resources (like your army of Doomguard clones) efficiently, stopping your opponent from furthering his gameplan. Why? Because even if you trade all your Doomguards, or your Faceless Manipulator Doomguards and all your Carnivorous Cube-generated Doomguards to keep yourself from dieing, Gul'Dan will still provide you in the end with an OTK by bringing everyone back.
  If you don't have Gul'Dan, I find it a bit pointless to try running this deck. :/ It will reduce your winrate by too much. I'd suggest either craft him (which is safe to do, he is a must in Warlock decks and will stay in Standard for a while) or just try running a different deck instead.
  1. cptmeatballz January 14, 2018
    Exact. I crafted it since. I have 58% WR over 70 games. Not bad. Fun deck to play.
DanTheMan January 1, 2018
I'm going nut's on with running in to Raza Priest. Getting a Giant on board by 4 is not that hard... making a copy on five is also easy enough... but, many times it's just not enough... I can have the biggest minions going face and still somehow these clowns manage to Always get Raza on 5, DK on 8 and OTK Velen combo a few turns later.
Would umbra actually help in these matchups?
Looking at this it does look like the umbra version does do much better in priest matchups. http://metastats.net/archetypedecks/Handlock/
By the way I think 'corpse-raiser' can be a decent replacement in the deck for someone who's not ready to craft a second faceless or Taldaram.
Thanx in advance.
cptmeatballz January 4, 2018
I'm missing 2 faceless and one Mountain. Will craft as soon as possible.
How exactly does the facelss works on the cube, gets the exact same deathrattle ? (summons 2 doomguards for example).
Also, should I get both Mountain Giant before crafting my first faceless?
1. Martian January 4, 2018
  Yeah Faceless copies it exactly. I don't think it matters, they're both great for the deck in their own ways. Second Mountain would give you more consistency in the matchups where it matters, and if you get tired of this deck Mountain Giant is more likely to be relevant in future metagames.
cptmeatballz January 6, 2018
Hi Martian, I have build yet 99% of your deck, only exception is Siphon instead of Taladram (don't have it). I need to be convince. How much more powerful is Taladram versus siphon. currently have 60% WR.
1. Martian January 6, 2018
  Id say its significantly better. It does a lot of handy things like adding Doomguards to your Guldan pool and copying Cubes. Its also helpful in the mirror and occasionally good against aggro (copy Patches or Righteous Protector). That being said, it isn't mandatory, and that it even found one deck its good in is a miracle, so crafting it may not be worth it unless you LOVE the deck. Not including it lets you run Tar Creeper and/or Stonehill Defender, which the deck probably otherwise wants.
  1. cptmeatballz January 7, 2018
    Thank you very much. Appreciated. Love the deck, love the playstyle. The only thing that refrain me from crafting it is I don<t know how much Taladram is good in other decks. I mean I knew the skull and Guldan would stick all the way till it rotates out. This one, I don't know, I don't remember seeing it in any other deck. Still 'm kinda noobish, haven't played between Naxx and KoFT.
    1. Martian January 7, 2018
      You're welcome! It was good in Mally druid until Innervate got nerfed. It probably won't see much play in other decks, but unless Warlock gets a GLORIOUS 3-cost card I bet it will be in this one until the deck is obsolete.
Flokinchen January 7, 2018
Hey,
I just wanted to tell you, that there's a small mistake in the guide (I think).
Substitutions:
"You could also consider Unwilling Sacrifice, but at only one less mana it’s really hard to justify running a worse Deadly Shot."
They both cost 3 Mana so that's no argument isn't it?
Thanks for the guide it really helped me to improve my winrate with the deck!
1. Martian January 7, 2018
  It's worse because it has a secondary cost for the same benefit (having to destroy your own minion). Glad you liked it!
2. Matt January 7, 2018
  1 mana less than shadowflame. That's the shadowflame section.
  1. Martian January 8, 2018
    Ah, I get it now. Yeah, what Matt said.
Benjamin January 8, 2018
What would a good replacement for Prince be? Would it just be a simple switch out or would you add more three drops with him gone?
1. Martian January 8, 2018
  Id go for tar creepers probably. As long as youre adding one you could find space for another.
  1. cptmeatballz January 19, 2018
    Good replacement. I've used Siphon soul and I must say, it's pretty bad. When I end up using it, it doesn't win me the game...
Godrazil January 8, 2018
Hey im missing the legendary weapon, is it still playable without it?
1. Martian January 8, 2018
  Definitely playable, but strictly worse.
2. MrMeme February 5, 2018
  without weapon get rid of doomgards
3. Nillernig Geraferater March 14, 2018
  If you don't have the weapon, Doomguards are dead cards in hand. This deck is completely unplayable because the "Cube" part of the deck involves Doomguards and Carnivorous Cube. However, if you have Rin, you can play a similar version of this deck. Control Warlock
Cody January 8, 2018
Hey! Love the deck. I'm just missing faceless, noth, prince. But I'm doing well quite well
I have omitted some of the board clearing spells to allow Rin, and two others that add an additional copy of void or doom.
Zola the Gorgon, makes a copy into your hand
And corpse raiser, give a resummon rattle.
Let me know what you think!
1. Martian January 9, 2018
  Gorgan is interesting, if it werent for Prince Id probably try that. Your card choices look fun, good luck on the ladder!
2. kvmevl January 21, 2018
  Rin can be so risky for this deck when Azari can land on board from weapon.
BroomNinja January 18, 2018
Thoughts on using one of the minions that swap attack and health of minions in this deck? A 7/5 Charge or a 9/3 Taunt seems solid for surprise burst.
1. Martian January 18, 2018
  Interesting, that could be good. Just remember the new one is a Demon.
  1. MrMeme February 5, 2018
    I think he ment crazed alchemist?
Shane January 20, 2018
Has probably been asked, but I have dust for one more Legendary. Thoughts on Prince Taldaram vs Spiritsinger Umbra? Leaning to the Prince, but open to suggestions.
1. Martian January 21, 2018
  Thoughts on Umbra are pretty polarizing. It's great if you can set up a 25 damage turn but outside of that it's bad. Taldaram is a staple, I recommend going that way.
  1. Shane January 22, 2018
    Thank you! Agreed and I did. 3-0 so far!
    1. Martian January 22, 2018
      Awesome!
WildRage January 24, 2018
I feel like defending this deck, since it has earned itself an "overpowered" sort of reputation. I'm sure Warlock players will find what I have to say familiar, but I'll write it anyway. This deck is by no means overpowered and to start of, let me just explain my view on what an overpowered deck is:
An overpowered deck would be a deck that either can and does win opposing decks by a simple combination of thoughtless plays & top decks (example: Gadgetzan's Pirate Warrior), a deck that can both answer any opposing play and advance its own tempo (example: Aggro Shaman) or a deck that simply is too fast for you to compete against (example: Gadgetzan's Pirate Warrior).
Now, obviously Cube Warlock doesn't fall in the first category. To humour anyone that disagrees with this point, Cube Warlock recquires both skill & thinking to make "value plays" as well as long-term planning (example: your end-game, the Gul'Dan turn, might change depending on your opponent. Your usual plan is to fill the board with Doomguards, but that plan changes if your opponent's a very aggressive deck and you weren't able to slow them down. Another example would be the choice between keeping your Carnivorous Cubes for your Doomguards or to use them on your Mountain Giants).
Cube Warlock also arguably can't fall in the third category either, it's a combo deck. Drawing into your combo cards, even with Life Tap, recquires a lot of turns. Another point is the fact that most of the cards in Cube Warlock's deck recipes are above 5-mana.
Taking these into accounts, people can only argue that Cube Warlock falls in the middle category and to those people I propose a few examples that mind you are not rng-influenced or improbable but rather actual plays from meta decks that are often done normally throughout regular matches and definately prove Warlock can't really answer all plays. Full disclosure, my point is not that Cube Warlock's the victim here. It's that he's beatable.
Aggro Token Druid: This deck's main strength against Cube Warlock is the fact it doesn't allow him to set up a good Defile. You'll need to either play your own Kobold Librarian or have a Mortal Coil and even then, they can easily dodge your Defile through Buffing- a tactic that Druid is especially good at. If you waste your clears too early to stop a buffed board, there are two more threats you won't be able to deal with: Living Mana and Bittertide Hydra. There's not really a good way to deal with Hydra, Warlock's strongest removal generally is a buffed-up Amethyst Spellstone, unless you're running a recipe where you included Siphon Souls. For Living Mana, if you had to waste your clears in the early turns (which you probably did because that's what they're there for), your only hope is to top deck Hellfire or (if you run it) Twisting Nether. Both Twisting Nether and Siphon Souls aren't a regular inclusion, by the way.
Highlander Priest (and Priests in general): There's not much to say here, matches between these two are a combo race. If Anduin draws his combo, there's not much a Warlock can do. If a Warlock's quick enough and dodges their clears, there's not much an Anduin can do either. It's equal footing from where I see it. As for Priests in general, Mind Control does really mess with Voidlords and your Gul'Dan turn since you're looking to survive behind these guys against Spiteful Priest. Anduins have started included Potion of Madness in their decks, which is a killer for your Possessed Luckey (one of the most essential combo pieces).
Secret Mage: These guys can and usually do prove a problem against Warlock due to their many many burn effects like Fireball, Explosive Runes etc. These cards limit Gul'dan's ability to Life Tap, which is essential for both drawing into your combo (your only win-condition) and for your Mountain Giant turn. The fact that it's burn damage Mages focus on also means your Voidlords won't be able to protect you, so the only way to survive (which is the tactic Cube Warlocks employ against faster decks, which Secret Mage definately is) is to hopefully draw most of his heals, have enough removals to clear the Mage's board and regain control of the field before Mage draws Alu'Neth.
I won't continue providing examples, but most decks do have regular examples of plays Warlocks can't answer to. Let's just mention the fact Cube Warlocks are gravely susceptable to Spellbreakers. And that's what makes Cube Warlock beatable. Granted it's a powerful deck, but it's by no means overpowered. It's on equal footing with most Tier 1 decks and can definately be beaten by Tier 2 decks. The factors that do play on whether you'll beat a Cube Warlock are the factors that usually have a say on how you'll beat any other deck:
1) RNG
2) Your own Skills & knowledge of the meta decks
1. WildRage January 24, 2018
  To close the matter, like any decks Cube Warlocks have specific weaknesses that all decks can exploit.
  1) If you're too fast for Cube Warlocks to deal with you on the early turns they won't survive.
  2) If you mess with their Possessed Lackey, Carnivorous Cubes and Voidlords with silence like Spellbreaker, they'll lose their win-condition.
  People usually argue that Warlock's unfair advantage over Aggro decks is how easy it is to cheat out Voidlords before turn 9 and to those people I have this to say: it's not an unfair advantage, it's they only reason Cube Warlocks can beat Aggro Decks. If this tactic didn't exist they wouldn't win against Aggro decks plain & simple. To say it's unfair to utilize this tactic is to say it's unfair for Warlocks to win against Aggro decks, it's vanity.
  Control/ Combo players don't argue that much against Cube Warlocks, but I'll try to cover this point as well. The main reason Warlocks beat other slow decks is how, in similar fashion to the previous point, how easy it is to cheat out Doomguards without suffering the discard effect. The main strenght of the deck against slow decks is the fact you can trade your Doomguards and you'll still have an OTK turn with your Gul'Dan. And to those people I adress the point I raised on my Highlander Priest section: it's a combo race. If Gul'dan draws his combo, he wins. If his opponent draws his combo Gul'dan loses.
  Cube Warlock's main strenght is just how flexible and strong it is against any deck. But the fact remains that to beat any deck, you need to be flexible and strong too. You need to be able to read your opponent's tactics and answer them and even then, if your opponent does that better you lose.
Bailbond January 30, 2018
This deck is not that strong when all your recruit cards are stacked in the last few of your cards. Happens more often than you might think.
Gloshu February 1, 2018
What can i do if i dont have the giants?
1. Martian February 2, 2018
  Any of the cards in the substitution section would work fine.
2. Enzzo February 8, 2018
  Craft the giants.
MrMeme February 3, 2018
Only missing prince taldaram so i replaced him with shadowflame because it combos great with giants, I'm open for better sugestions
Godho February 5, 2018
Do u guys think that lich king will a ok addition to the deck
1. ZergVolution February 6, 2018
  no
2. Martian February 7, 2018
  As a sub for something you're missing? Sure. I can't imagine he's optimal but you could probably throw him in there somewhere.
lemontree February 7, 2018
I found stone hill defender in place of prince to be highly successful against aggro decks. It's a great way to save hp and even stall a turn or two!
1. Martian February 7, 2018
  Yeah that's not bad, especially if you don't have Prince.
RaiderSpike February 7, 2018
worst possible deck. Wins against nothing. Losing with it over and over and over again. How is this a good deck?
1. Ivan February 8, 2018
  You dont know how to play it, thats the problem
2. MrMeme February 8, 2018
  I have 74 % winrate over 50 games, just learn the deck it's rlly gud and fun
  1. plyzd February 9, 2018
    Same here. 1-40 with this deck.
Jonathan Hobbs February 8, 2018
I made cubelock after this nerfs, I started at rank 20 since I didn't play much after I hit legend 2 seasons ago, and since I've been grinding cubelock I have 40ish games in and I'm already rank 8. This deck is very good and rewards you for being a skilled player. I didn't notice when I copied the list that I put in 2 Dirty Rats instead of Prince and Spellbreaker, but Dirty Rat has been great, I don't know if that would be the correct replacement or the right cards to cut, but I recommend trying them out in the deck.
elzein February 8, 2018
There are so many Cube Locks on ladder that mirror battle is a main concern. I've been using Rin on my deck and it works wonders. A lot of players get nervous with the perspective of losing their deck and start pushing life tap at all turns and making poor trades as soon as you start playing the seals, which is actually good for you. The only drawback is that the first two seals are terrible, so you need a good opportunity to play them in a single turn.
1. Daniel February 9, 2018
  What did you replaced to use rin ?
  1. elzein February 9, 2018
    Prince Taldaran, which I don't have. You can use Rin in the place of a Faceless Manipulator too.
2. Kyle K. Kotley March 14, 2018
  You forgot to mention that Rin is a dead card when you have Skull equipped.
  1. elzein March 14, 2018
    It all depends on you opponent. If you face aggro/murloc paladin, secret mage, pirate warrior, hunter, etc. go for the skull. Otherwise, if you are up against cube/control warlock, big priest, jade druid or any slow deck, play Lackey on turn 5 and Rin on 6. Leave the skull. It’s a high bargain having two legendaries in your deck that don’t work well together, but versatility has a price.
pepesarjv February 9, 2018
what do u think is it better to put umbra instead of the prince
1. Martian February 9, 2018
  Umbra is much less versatile than Prince.
Spyder9899 February 10, 2018
What are some thoughts about running just one mountain giant. I only have one, plus it lets me put both Umbra and spellbreaker.
1. Martian February 10, 2018
  Mountain Giant is optimal but you could easily play the deck without it, I say go for it.
Captram77 February 10, 2018
How can this be top deck, its getting destroyed.....by 2 priest decks, secret mage, hunters can beat it, control warlock, kingsbane rogue........
Saying this is deck is TOP dog is like leading the lambs to the slaughter. JUST Saying ...
I played this deck alot pre and post nerf.
Goshoo February 10, 2018
Hi guys! So, i came here to see if the deck i that good as nany people say and i can say that it's true - many people said it to me and many people say it here. Last week i just opened a golden Grumble, worldshaker (or something like that :D). I dont really play shaman but i really like it just for the collection. Now im trying to make my choice - to dust my grumble for 2 voidlords and cubes or to keep it and collect dust from something else.
1. Martian February 11, 2018
  Grumble is pretty mediocre... right now. If you're limited on dust then disenchanting it for Voidlords makes a lot of sense, but if you really like it it's the kind of card that may see play eventually.
Spyder9899 February 11, 2018
Should I feel dirty playing this deck? :p
I'm so close to golden Guldan. I've gotten about 400 wins with zoo and only needed a couple peices to craft this deck, so I did.
But I've gotten a few rage quits before I thought the game was decided....
1. Martian February 11, 2018
  Don't feel dirty, this deck isn't brainless. It's very strong, but you have to be decent to win with it :) GL on your golden hero!
Belton February 11, 2018
What are good substitutions if you don't have blood reaver guldan or skull or the manari?
1. MrMeme February 12, 2018
  Those cards can't be replaced, they're essential and it says at the top of Card Substitussions
  1. Martian February 12, 2018
    I hear Spiteful Priest and OTK Paladin are doing all right.
Kalinouski February 11, 2018
I dont have taldaram but i am facing alot of Jade Druids! Is Skulking Geist a good idea for the meta? I really need it
1. Martian February 12, 2018
  That would be more for Demon-lock, Cube-lock can just Doomguard them to death.
GR3N February 12, 2018
Skull of the Man'ari > Bloodreaver Gul'dan? plz halp
1. MrMeme February 12, 2018
  Bloodreaver Guldan is played in all control warlock decks, Skull only in cubelock. I'd say craft Guldan but don't play cubelock without Skull since you'll probably have to play the doomguards from hand making you discard 2 cards.
  1. GR3N February 12, 2018
    ok ty
Godric February 12, 2018
I am really tired playing vs this deck. what's the best counter? spitful priest is an easy win sometimes. Combo priest is good, but harder to play and can go south.
1. Martian February 12, 2018
  You could play an aggro deck with Spellbreakers to get through the Voidlords.
Shacksta February 13, 2018
Is this THE best deck list ? I think that Trump’s deck is a bit better, the one with Oakheart, Stonehill Defender and Tar Creeper.
1. Martian February 13, 2018
  That sounds like Demonlock, which is a more Voidlord-centric deck. Runs a lot of similar cards but functions very differently.
  1. Shacksta February 14, 2018
    I guess you're right, the main point in that deck si to get your voidlords in any situation : skull, oakheart, lackey. And then just add N'zoth instead of the second mountain giant and make your opponent ragequit.
GR3N February 15, 2018
would it be ok to run Twisting nether instead of the giants and Rin instead of Taldaram?
1. Martian February 15, 2018
  That’s typically better in the cube-less control variant, but you could try it.
GR3N February 16, 2018
im having trouble getting to mid/late game with this deck it always seems like i go up against a secret mage/innerfire priest and end up not having enough clear to stop them from buffing and 1 hitting me or trying to play my Lackey and the secret turns it into a 1-1 sheep and i cant stop the mage from throwing spells in my face it seems like this deck gets counter played really easy? any cards to help with this?
Vallidus February 17, 2018
Having a rough time against big/spiteful priest decks. Any tips or card subs?
1. elzein February 23, 2018
  I find those matches very hard too. Having a Twisting Nether helps in both cases. Don't try to win the game quickly, usually won't work. Just trade minions constantly and take the game to fatigue.
yeetmaster February 18, 2018
Which substitution do you recommend the most instead of Prince, I have everything else
1. tom February 19, 2018
  Another spellbreaker, umbra, siphon soul, twisted nether, shadowflame, n´zoth
Penoyer79 February 22, 2018
i chuckle seeing Prince Talderan in this deck... I remember how bad everyone thought those cards would be. Opening them on launch day was like a pack meme. All over them have since popped up in tier 1 decks.
1. Penoyer79 February 22, 2018
  of*
Najim February 23, 2018
I replaced the Prince with Zola the gorgon. What do you think about that?
1. Stonekeep February 23, 2018
  Replaced as in you don't have Prince or you wanted something else instead?
  Zola is not a great replacement, she doesn't find that much of a use in this deck, because she's pretty slow. I'd rather run something like Tar Creeper to make the Aggro matchups better.
  1. Najim February 23, 2018
    I don't have Prince.
    But she synergizes good with Skull of the Man'ari imo.
    1. Stonekeep February 24, 2018
      That's true, but it's like a "win more" scenario. If you get Skull of the Man'ari and pull out a big Demon, you're already on a good way to win. Not to mention that you often want to Carnivorous Cube it right away and not use Zola the Gorgon on it.
      Prince Taldaram is more flexible, in a way that you can copy a Righteous Protector to get a 3/3 Taunt with Divine Shield, you can copy Mistress of Mixtures if you need healing, you can copy opponent's Possessed Lackey in the mirror if you don't get your own, and copying a Cube is a crazy good play.
      So I'd rather play Tar Creeper, or maybe Stonehill Defender. But if you want to be a little bit greedy, then I guess that Zola might also work.
      1. Najim February 24, 2018
        Yes, I think that is right.
        Thanks for your help!
DestinyXXX February 24, 2018
This list is awful, you absolutely need N'Zoth as a second board refill, both against control and aggro (against aggro when you don't have Gul'dan, N'zoth does the same work). 1x Sanguine Reveler works well, just like a third dark pact (when you are > 20 health it is better actually). 2x Faceless Manipulator has shown to be too much (you already have Taldaram, which is better because it costs just 3 mana). The following IMO should be the standard decklist.
### cubelock
# Class: Warlock
# Format: Standard
# Year of the Mammoth
#
# 2x (1) Dark Pact
# 2x (1) Kobold Librarian
# 2x (1) Mistress of Mixtures
# 1x (1) Sanguine Reveler
# 2x (2) Defile
# 2x (2) Doomsayer
# 1x (3) Prince Taldaram
# 2x (4) Hellfire
# 2x (4) Lesser Amethyst Spellstone
# 2x (5) Carnivorous Cube
# 2x (5) Doomguard
# 1x (5) Faceless Manipulator
# 2x (5) Possessed Lackey
# 1x (5) Skull of the Man'ari
# 2x (9) Voidlord
# 1x (10) Bloodreaver Gul'dan
# 1x (10) N'Zoth, the Corruptor
# 2x (12) Mountain Giant
#
AAECAf0GBpME4KwCl9MCieICneIC2+kCDIoB9wS2B+EH3sQC58sC8tAC+NACiNICi+EC/OUC6OcCAA==
#
# To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone
Let's discuss about 2x Doomsayer vs 2x Mortal Coil vs 1x of both... I have seen for example that with 2x Mortal Coil you lose the mirror because of fatigue disadvantage.
1. elzein February 26, 2018
  Sanguine Reveler looks interesting, will definitely try it!
  I really like running a Spellbreaker, it’s a very flexible card. Finds itself useful in more situations than a seccond Doomsayer.
  I don’t like mortal coil in this deck at all. Feels like a dead draw most of the times, and the truth is that the meta is so intense right now that you just can’t afford to lifetap a lot in the game. So drawing it at a tense late game without a crucial defile to set up sucks.
  I don’t have N’Zoth and obviously won’t craft it right now... that must be the case for a lot of people. So I’m trying Twisting Neather instead.
  1. DestinyXXX February 26, 2018
    I'm playing this list right now. Against secret mage and murloc paladin I was losing aniways, so I just cut the 2x Doomsayer to play 2x Faceless, 1x Spellbreaker and 1x Reveler to win the mirror and to have extra power against other control decks (when you have the coin and you can do T4 skull or lackey, faceless manipulator is actually stronger than carnivourous cube and you need it in the mirror).
    ### cubelock
    # Class: Warlock
    # Format: Standard
    # Year of the Mammoth
    #
    # 2x (1) Dark Pact
    # 2x (1) Kobold Librarian
    # 2x (1) Mistress of Mixtures
    # 1x (1) Sanguine Reveler
    # 2x (2) Defile
    # 1x (3) Prince Taldaram
    # 2x (4) Hellfire
    # 2x (4) Lesser Amethyst Spellstone
    # 1x (4) Spellbreaker
    # 2x (5) Carnivorous Cube
    # 2x (5) Doomguard
    # 2x (5) Faceless Manipulator
    # 2x (5) Possessed Lackey
    # 1x (5) Skull of the Man'ari
    # 2x (9) Voidlord
    # 1x (10) Bloodreaver Gul'dan
    # 1x (10) N'Zoth, the Corruptor
    # 2x (12) Mountain Giant
    #
    AAECAf0GBvIF4KwCl9MCieICneIC2+kCDJME9wS2B+EH3sQC58sC8tAC+NACiNICi+EC/OUC6OcCAA==
    #
    # To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone
    1. Ghost February 28, 2018
      Sanguine Reveler is definitely awesome in this deck, however, I was also looking at Ravenous Pterrordax. I know its 3 more mana, but its a much more powerful card that also destroys a friendly minion. The only real downside is the mana cost of course, as it cant be played early game (turn 6) with a cube.
      1. DestinyXXX February 28, 2018
        You can play reveler in place of umbra because at 10 mana the effect is the same
        Umbra + Cube + Pact = 4 more doomguards
        Cube + Taldaram + Pact + Reveler = 4 more doomguards
        You would have been right if "charge" and "taunt" would have been "adaptable" into
      2. elzein March 2, 2018
        Taunt is adaptable thou.. but Sanguine Reveler is much better than Ravenous Pterrordax, since you can have a super aggressive/defensive play on turn six if you equipped Skull of the Man'ari on turn 5.
thesnowball February 25, 2018
What do you think about removing 1 mortal coil and putting harrison in there for the matchups that run weapon like dude paladin with vinecleaver or secret mage with aluneth or even the mirror with the skull (seems like an autowin if you harrison the skull in the mirror)
1. DestinyXXX February 26, 2018
  You can't play Harrison because you risk to overdraw every time. You can play it in control n'zoth mage and in control jade shaman because they don't have powerful draws. One of the the ooze works fine, but 1x Spellbreaker is probably better.
2. Stonekeep February 26, 2018
  Harrison is a really bad card in slow Warlock decks. Not only it's pretty expensive, but those draws are often bad - by drawing 3 cards you risk milling yourself.
  Weapon destruction is definitely a viable tech in the deck, but if anything, you want to go for the good old Acidic Swamp Ooze and not Harrison.
  1. DestinyXXX February 28, 2018
    The "gluttonous" one (the ungoro's epic) is better. 3 armor against paladin and hunter DOES matter. The "acidic" one is off-curve with the 3 mana weapons...
    1. Stonekeep February 28, 2018
      Yes, it is, BUT you can't play it in the same list as Taldaram :)
      1. DestinyXXX February 28, 2018
        You're right, I forgot... :O
      2. DestinyXXX March 4, 2018
        Maybe the better one is the "new" KnC 5-mana ooze. You destroy Skull and Aluneth on curve while dropping a decent 5/5 body (which takes just 1 dmg from explosive runes).
3. Henrik March 2, 2018
  Actually I wouldn't recommend putting Harrison into a warlock deck.
  It has never seen play so far for a very good reason: In some cases you would draw 2 to (in this case) even 3 cards and your hand usually is full all the time so in most cases you would just self-mill yourself.
  However, just as stonekeep wrote Ooze is a fine card but I personally don't think it is that important.
  Indeed against warlock it would be crucial but vs. pally it doesn't matter that much and mage is winnable without it so I prefer different cards.
  If the meta gets even more weapon oriented though it should be a fine choice.
  1. Henrik March 2, 2018
    Sorry - didn't see the reply before. I'm new commenting here lol
Ghost February 27, 2018
I’m sorry but I just can’t seem to grasp why Prince Taldaram is so important... I do not own him and am trying to justify crafting him. I feel like if I craft him then I’m going all-in on this deck and only want to if it’s 100% essential. Could someone give some game-breaking examples of his use in-game?
Also, specifically against “Revive/Y’Sharaj” priest, this deck suffers, especially without N’zoth because you get outlasted and out-controlled. Happens every time... I personally feel like Rin would be amazing in this situation. I’m not crafting N’Zoth since he’s rotating. Does anyone have any advice for this matchup and others like it where you can potentially get outlasted/controlled to where you have no demons left?
1. Stonekeep February 28, 2018
  Prince Taldaram is good, because of its flexibility. You can copy a Taunt if you need one (Voidlord in particular is amazing, but copying your opponent's Righteous Protector ain't that bad), you can get a 3/3 Charge with Doomguard in case you need to kill something right away or deal more damage, you can copy Mistress of Mixtures for more healing, but the best use is to copy the Cube once you've eaten something big. For example, if you Cube the Doomguard, and then copy it, you have a 3 mana 3/3 which Deathrattles into two freakin' Doomguards.
  Of course, the card is not absolutely necessary, you can run the deck without it. But it is a really good card in this deck.
  About that matchup, I think you're talking about Big Priest, right? In that case, with this deck you should try to win through the aggression, not outlast them (because you won't be able to). The best way to kill them is through an early Mountain Giant (assuming they can't answer it) or multiple Doomguards. Cube is great, as you can duplicate your big threat. Turn 10 Bloodreaver Gul'dan is also a great way to finish off the game, especially if you've managed to get a few Doomguards onto the board before that - charging 3 or 4 of them at your opponent is usually a good way to close the game.
  It's not a good matchup and the deck will often start reviving stuff as early as Turn 4-5, meaning that some of the games simply can't be won. On the other hand, sometimes they draw really poorly and don't do anything for the first 6-7 turns, and those games are auto-wins.
  But yes, N'Zoth would make that matchup better, because if your initial aggression failed, you could always have another big board refill that they absolutely have to answer.
2. RandomBoi March 4, 2018
  But the skull defeats the whole purpose of Azari, doesn’t it?
  1. Coolbreeze March 13, 2018
    That's one of the decisions you have to make when playing Controlock. If you use the skull, you'll almost never get to use Azari's battlecry, except for the rare moments when you have your second Voidlord in hand. The dream vs control is to Possessed Lackey both Voidlords, and ultimately never needing to use the skull.
Spyder9899 March 3, 2018
Any good tips for the mirror matchup?
mmaamm March 4, 2018
So as nzoth is rotating in april what can I replace him with?
1. mmaamm March 4, 2018
  also is there anyway i can fit oakheart into this deck if i dont have taldaram?
  1. Josse March 13, 2018
    Oakhart is really good.
2. Josse March 13, 2018
  Wait for new cards to get printed in mid-April, in the current card pool there's surely no replacement for a card like N'Zoth...
Hotchocofudge March 4, 2018
i realized 2x mortal coil is replaced with Doomsayers. Any suggestions which i should put? Currently I'm running mortal coils.
1. zeldaplays March 10, 2018
  Doomsayers. But Cubelock isnt the strongest deck anymore. Play Spiteful Priest. This deck is top tier rn.
  1. DestinyXXX March 26, 2018
    Lol. Cubelock IS the strongest deck around. Both control and aggro decks need to heavily tech against it to be 50-50 most of the times.
    Spiteful vs Cubelock is favorable to spiteful only if you run something like 2 weapon removal and 2 silence.
    Moreover Warlock is still the most banned class in tournaments (especially cube variants).
Darkfaith97 March 14, 2018
With this deck I won 7 games in a row, then lost 6 games in a row, then won 6 games in a row and then lost 8 games in a row...
Darkfaith97 March 14, 2018
Of 15 games only 2 won now. This deck is not good anymore.
1. MrMeme March 21, 2018
  I've played this deck and I've achieved a 78% winrate from rank 7 to rank 4
  1. Darkfaith97 March 21, 2018
    Well I got 55% with this deck and 82% with Zoo
    1. MrMeme March 22, 2018
      This is a skill heavy deck so you have to think very carefuly about what you do and you need to have a plan for the game
2. Stonekeep March 22, 2018
  It is good. People are teching against it and have learned how to play against it, but it's still good. I think that the problem lies somewhere else, maybe you're playing a bad build (the one in the article is a general one - you might want to adjust it to the meta you face), maybe the meta you play against is not friendly for Warlocks, maybe you aren't playing it optimally, etc.
Allison March 22, 2018
How do you know whether to mulligan against a fast or slow deck before the game has started?
1. Spyder9899 March 22, 2018
  You just have to get a feel for what's being played. Depending on the class you're facing, you can usually guess what deck your opponent has. Right now of the top decks, paladin is just about the only aggro deck going. A little bit of hunter too. Warlock and priests are going to be slower matchups. Mage will try to burn you down fast.
  Just try to learn the decks as you go. There won't be too many different decks that'll you'll be playing against.
2. Stonekeep March 22, 2018
  Of course, you can never "know" for sure, but it boils down to the meta knowledge. For example, take a look at the deck stats from Vicious Syndicate: https://www.vicioussyndicate.com/vs-data-reaper-report-84/
  And now you face Paladin. Significant majority of the Paladins on the ladder are playing aggressive decks, so you mulligan vs a fast deck. You CAN be wrong, let's say 1 in 15 games you will meet a Control/Exodia Paladin, but majority of time you will meet fast decks.
  On the other hand, look at the Warlock. 16% is Control and 3% is Zoo. So it's safe to say that you want to mulligan vs a slow deck, because that's what most of the Warlocks play.
  You also need to be aware of the meta around the rank you're playing, because it differs. E.g. in lower ranks, you might meet more Zoo, so you need to be ware of that (just an example).
  Sometimes it's impossible to determine that, e.g. back in Un'Goro, there was a point where Pirate Warrior and Taunt Warrior was 50/50. In such cases, you generally want to mulligan for the faster deck. You can recover from a bad mulligan vs a slow deck, but if you keep your greedy cards and throw away removals / cheap stuff against Aggro, you will have a very hard time. In general, reading the meta is one of the most important skills to learn when playing Hearthstone.
DestinyXXX March 25, 2018
What about mistress vs beetle? It really sucks to resummon 2x mistress with nzoth when you're above in hp and board (but i.e. a little below in the fatigue count).
Hydro March 29, 2018
Use dog's version where he replaces one faceless for spiritsinger. It makes the deck a lot better and way more consistent. I kept losing games using this version of the deck, however when I add spirtsinger my winrate jumps way up.
1. DestinyXXX April 1, 2018
  lol, faceless manipulators are a lot more consistent than umbra.
  You can copy:
  your own voidlord summoned via lackey or skull turn 5;
  you opponent's voidlord in mirror matches or late game against priest (but you should play trying to avoid them stealing your voidlord);
  your own mountain giant summoned the turn before in slow matchups;
  your opponent's mountain giant in mirror matches;
  your own doomguard for burst damage (though it's better to cube it because of guldan);
  something good on the opponent's side (i.e. obsidian statue or lich king against big priest; tirion or other big minions against spiteful, etc),
  etc.
  Umbra is almost completely useless before turn 9 and it does only work with doomguards (with voidlords there's an insane voidwalker flooding). If you want the same result (but with more flexibility) you should try playing 1x sanguine reveler. At 10 mana with Prince Taldaram the result is the same (cube + taldaram + pact + reveler).
MarmotMurloc April 4, 2018
The second legendary I ever got was prince taldaram. I was just a beginning player, and there was no use for taldaram in the frozen throne. A friend advised I try to make a simple secret mage, so I used the dust on an ice block.
I play mainly warlock now, and have regretted dusting him ever since.
Lesson learned, wait quite a while before dreaming a legendary bad.
Or, use this sites guide, it's pretty useful for deciding whether to dust (At least for me!)
1. invector April 12, 2018
  deeming*
Battousai April 6, 2018
I see the value of running N'zoth, but since I've never owned him I guess a Mortal Coil will have to suffice until the rotation.
Ghostdragon April 11, 2018
Still have mistress of mixtures in Witchwood version
1. JoeBar April 12, 2018
  And N'Zoth :)
2. Stonekeep April 12, 2018
  The deck list at the top hasn't been updated to The Witchwood yet - we just don't know how it will look.
  We posted the cards that are rotating out and a list of potential replacements in the Introduction, and we'll update the deck & guide once the expansion hits and play test the new version :)
HRWAS32 April 13, 2018
THIS DECK MUST BE NERFED FAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cthun April 13, 2018
This Is The Best Deck Ever And I Think IS Unbeatable.
X April 14, 2018
Is there any substitute for umbra and for one voodoo doll?? Or maybe I should make these cards??
OldManPastry April 14, 2018
is this going to be the final deck for witchwood or do you think it will change alot. Basically should I craft this deck now or wait to see how the meta develops.
1. MooPenguin32 April 14, 2018
  I would wait. The first couple of days of a new expansion, especially with a rotation is in flux. If you're not bursting at the seams with dust, I’d wait a couple of weeks before crafting epics or legendaries. Or anything if you’re really tight on dust.
  1. OldManPastry April 14, 2018
    I got 8000+ from hall of fame and some disenchanting but ill probably wait
    1. MooPenguin32 April 15, 2018
      I’m with you. I’m sitting on 8,800 (8K from HoF). I’ve learned from crafting cards in the past like Don Han’Cho from the early Gadgetzan days.
      Right now, I’m trying to resist the urge to craft Baku.
      1. omegapilot April 15, 2018
        I'm with you. Odd decks seems pretty powerful as well as fun. I was really hoping to get Baku from packs.
      2. Oldmanpastry April 18, 2018
        I opened Baku in my first 10 packs so I’ll probably just play pally
iTzPancakez April 15, 2018
Isit possible to replace all legends in the deck with non legends and still make it work?
1. BranleX2000 April 16, 2018
  not really, bloodreaver gul'dan seem to powerfull. lord godfrey himself make a big difference too.
DestinyXXX April 15, 2018
***IMPORTANT UPDATE***
The best replacement for the rotated 2x Mistress seems to be 2x Gluttonous Ooze.
Unfortunately that also means the end of Prince Taldaram, which seems to be a little too greedy in the actual meta.
***IMPORTANT UPDATE***
plyzd April 15, 2018
Can someone explain to me why Voodoo Doll is in this list? With 2 Lackeys, 2 Cubes and more by Faceless wouldn't Sanguine Reveler be the better option? Even more if you're above 22 HP.
And with all the mirror matches and Paladins why is there no weapon removal? I think you could easily cut one Mortal Coil for an Ooze.
Robert April 15, 2018
First time played cube lock today.
A slightly different list but mechanic is the same.
What I have to say is the deck feels really really good when it works. Like I can win games with paly and others but they always feel very close, like I have to struggle a lot.
Not with this deck though! The games you win feel amazing, like not even close. Sometimes you feel like there is nothing the opponent could possibly do to you. It's amazing.
TrungNguyen April 16, 2018
I want to play this deck so much but I may have to disenchant all of my legendaries plus my secret tempo mage and odd paladin in order to do so
1. ltsAlvin April 16, 2018
  It’s never worth disenchanting all your cards for one deck plus. Odd pally is one of the highest rated decks in the meta. Learn your way around that deck and you’ll be good with that. Same thing goes for secret tempo. All decks have their perks.
Chris April 16, 2018
Replace Tarcreepers and Giants with Stonehill Defenders and Doomsayers. Much better. Rank 3 getting to 2 soon I think. Stonehills give a chance for another Voidlord. Doomsayers for Aggro.
1. Chris April 16, 2018
  Rotten Applebaum instead of Doomsayer working for me to.
MrMeme April 16, 2018
Why no more Faceless Manipulator, it's great for copying cubes, giants, voidlords/doomguards or your opponent's big minions
GlosuuLang April 17, 2018
The deck should have been nerfed before, glad to see it gets punished now.
MooPenguin32 April 17, 2018
Great guide, as always. One suggestion is that you may want to remove Spiritsinger Umbra from the omissions section as it is now included in the deck.
1. SupHypUlt April 17, 2018
  I think it's only the list they updated. Guide is yet to be done.
  1. MooPenguin32 April 17, 2018
    The guide was just updated earlier today (or late yesterday). It also looks like the Spiritsinger Umbra was removed from the omissions section.
Drock April 18, 2018
They need to nerf Cube so that 1. it doesn't trigger deathrattle of the target and 2. it reproduces the minion in the state it was devoured (for example, if voidlord was silenced with 7 health remaining, cube gives back two 3/7's.
1. MrMeme April 18, 2018
  Cube is fine and cubelock itself is not OP if you compare it to other meta decks
  1. WildRage April 18, 2018
    Cubelock is not op - period. There is no comparison needed, it's a strong deck well-deserving of its tier 1 status that can be easily "side-decked" as Yu-Gi-Oh players say. It has a lot of weaknesses that someone can exploit and if you know how Cubelock works, you know how to beat it. It's a fair match.
WarKing April 18, 2018
Can someone tell me how to use this deck? I'm stuck at rank 17 because a priest comes along and mind controls insta kills or board clears my stuff and Odd Hunter kills me with Hero power. I understand the spiritsinger Umbra combo that gets 4 doomgaurds to deal 20 damage but it requires 5 exact cards in your hand!
1. WarKing April 18, 2018
  Should I just make a different deck or keep grinding?
  1. MAtt April 18, 2018
    As long as you have played a few demons before hand you should easily out tempo him after you Guldan. Also priest decks are really slow so u can just cube/giant him. In slow matchups u want to avoid getting a void lord on the bird so u can one shot him with Guldan
2. elzein April 18, 2018
  Spiritsinger is a very hard combo to pull off. The meta is very aggressive right now, so I would suggest you to use other card. Knowing the other decks will help you avoid their strog plays. Against hunter or aggro paladin keep your taunts and use dark pact on whatever you have on board as soon as you’ve lost 8 health. Priest can mind control a voidlord but cannot beat you on the fatigue game, since you have Gundan Deathknight, so imo don’t try to be aggressive and focus on controling the board and killing his minions. People say “omg cubelock is so overpowered” but reality is you will loose some games. That’s life.
  1. dRock April 18, 2018
    I have the easiest time vs Cubelock using Spiteful Priest. When I use tempo or aggro, I always lose if I can't finish before turn 7-8, which doesn't happen often when cubelock drops a few taunts. Feels like a bit of rock paper scissor going on. cubelock beats aggro, aggro beats spiteful and spiteful beats cubelock.
  2. WarKing April 18, 2018
    I agree Cubelock takes more skill then I thought!
  3. WarKing April 18, 2018
    thanks for advice.
3. MAtt April 18, 2018
  As long as you have played a few demons before hand you should easily out tempo him after you Guldan. Also priest decks are really slow so u can just cube/giant him. In slow matchups u want to avoid getting a void lord on the bird so u can one shot him with Guldan
  1. WarKing April 19, 2018
    oh ok I see where I went wrong.
Laino April 18, 2018
Would it be good if i add the black knight to the deck?
Benjaxoul April 19, 2018
Is godfrey a good choice against the odd/even paladins horde in ladder right now?
I mean, defile, hellfire, 3 mana taunts and the spellstone can do his work to survive without the body defile?
1. Flacko April 19, 2018
  yes he got really nice board clear.
  especially in this aggro meta
Z0MB1 April 19, 2018
It bothers me a bit that nothing has been done about this deck at all, even considering it’s domination before The Witchwood rolled around. The deck has made like Bane and bent the whole meta around it’s leg. To start, many of the comments are saying things like “oh it’s not a broken deck, it loses to aggro”, which equates to me as you flip a coin and either play aggro or control, with midrange being thrown off to the side, for the most part, and even in Control v. Control, Cubelock wins unless it’s an OTK like Shudderwock. In the Aggro v. Cubelock scenario, the deck has to lose by turn six, otherwise the Possessed Lackey into Voidlord plus eight health has basically won you the game. Even in aggro, Cubelock has made taking Spellbreaker or Owl in every deck regardless of circumstance a necessity. Back when I played the game, silence was a tech choice, but now Cubelock has the meta so twisted that it’s a guaranteed two-off.
My second problem with the deck is it’s minions. Of course, Blizzard never could have foreseen that all of these cards would interact in this way, and for that, credit goes to the players. The fact remains, however, that these interactions are well... bullshit. The thing I relate it to is the card text for the Dark Magician Yugioh card- “The ultimate wizard in terms of attack and defense.” That's Cubelock: the ultimate deck in terms of attack and defense. Due to the crazy flexibility of Carnivorous Cube, a warlock can either bust out 36 Total health or 15 burst damage depending on what Lackey cheats out, and in either situation, you’re screwed unless you’ve got a silence. The spells are also a huge problem. Of course you’ve got your Defile, but that isn’t really overpowered, nice anti-aggro tool, most of the problem comes from the healing. As if warlock didn’t already have the upper hand on aggro and most other control decks, only two copies of Dark Pact and Amethyst Spellstone end the game with the warlock at 30 health more often than not.
FInally we get into some proposed nerfs, some I’ve heard or seen, as well as a few of my own. Of course, I’m no Blizzard developer. I have no idea what the nerfing process is like, or how much thought is put into changing a card. I’m simply a semi-casual player looking for a better experience by bringing a deck off the throne it’s on, and getting it on a power level around equal to the rest. The goal would be to change the deck to bring its power level down, but not pull a Warsong Commander and make the deck unplayable. The first example of this unplayable nerfing that I’ve heard is “Give Doomguard Rush”. Now, while this works theory, stopping Cubelock’s ridiculous 15-20 Damage burst, it ruins Doomguard’s entire identity. Changing Doomguard would also have a serious ripple effect on Demonlock and Zoo, and create more problems than is necessary, so it’s most likely best to leave the classic cards out of this. Another nerf that completely destroys Cubelock, though, is much more thought out with more reasoning is, “Change Carnivorous Cube to say ‘Battlecry : Destroy a friendly minion with power 4 or Less’”. Now yes, this ruins Cubelock as a deck, which I honestly don’t mind, but keeps it so that it can still be played with, either in warlock or other classes, and still allows Cubing Voidlord. The deck becomes more defensive, loses the burst, and would have somewhat visible counterplay. My nerfs target what I believe to be the two most obnoxious cards in the deck, Voidlord and Dark Pact. Dark Pact is fairly simple, make it cost Two or Three mana. Easy, Execute style nerf, that doesn’t cripple the deck or the combo. Even execute is still being used in control warriors. For Voidlord, I direct attention to the Grizzled Guardian, a Druid 8 Mana 3/5 that recruits two 4-or lower cost minions upon death. Now 4-or lower minion season will basically always be better than Voidcallers, so the mana cost makes some sense, but I still believe that 9 mana for what is essentially a 6/18, not even accounting for any Cubes or Bloodreavers, is norm enough. I think that making the Voidlord 10 Mana might be a little overkill, so the only other place to hit is its stats. Personally, I think that anything from a 3/8 to a 1/9 would make the card astronomically easier to deal with, while still being the wall that it’s made to be.
If you managed to find this and read the whole thing, thanks! I’m happy to know what this community thinks about the deck. Hopefully we can keep it constructive, though. No need to tell me I’m bad and the only reason I lose to Cubelock is cause I play garbage quest Hunter. I already know that. These were just my thoughts on how to inch the deck’s power level down.
M April 20, 2018
In current meta it is impossible to pass rank 2 with this deck because of two specific decks taunt druid & control priest when u face one of them just press the concede button, all my matchups are a loop of taunt druid, control priest, spiteful druid (unfavored), any mage deck (unfavored). after this loop i play against one of the decks that i could beat like : paladin,tempo rouge,zoo warlock,hunter (if u lucky),mirror.and so on.
1. Flacko April 21, 2018
  Yeah taunt druid is big problem. Only way to win him is early mountain giant
  But in standard i cant find way to beat frostlich janna.
  1. M April 21, 2018
    Also if the mountain giant with me They always have Naturalize and mill me for two cards :( ,Big spell mage also auto-lose by their Ooze,Harrison,Poly.
2. SEBO23 April 21, 2018
  It's because Taunt Druid and Control Priest hard counter both aggro and Cube Warlock. Right now most logical choice for a deck I would say.
3. Lol April 22, 2018
  I mean I’m 5-0 vs taunt Druid you just got to get doom guards and then otk with guldan. Pray they don’t have Harrison on 5 too.
owo April 21, 2018
i have 1600 dust which should create SPIRITSINGER or LORD GODFREY ? :/
1. Flacko April 22, 2018
  I would craft spiritsinger because of 25 dmg combo.
  You can substitute lord godfrey for twisting nether etc
Flacko April 22, 2018
Great deck i hit legendary from rank 13.
Yeah it has problem with some decks on lader but in right hands this deck is insane
Goshi April 22, 2018
Hi! I really like this deck and (somehow) got the 2 legendaries from packs (hero and weapon). I am a f2p player and whenever i spend dust, i go ask people on the internet for their opinions about is something worth crafting. My question is - are the mountain giants worth crafting? I thing they work great but my goal is to craft cards that can be played in a lot of decks...pls help ;(
1. Goshi April 22, 2018
  Sorry for my bad english...i am practising a lot but still..
2. Flacko April 22, 2018
  Read guide careful it says that mountain giant isnt necessary
to April 22, 2018
I'm not a fan of this deck, however having all the cards necessary to build it I put it together and went on a 14 game winning streak... Cubelock is so over the top its sickening... having played the previous 2 most cancerous decks in hearthstone ( jade druid and Rasa priest) I thoroughly believe this is perhaps the most vile deck in HS history... it needs merged badly.
1. fastteag April 22, 2018
  Same feeling here, not a very engaging deck to play and I feel weird playing a deck that just outright wins me games unless my opponent draws insane. Its unstoppable against almost every deck.
Haleybear17 April 23, 2018
Hello! I don't have Doomsayers, Voodoo Dolls, or Spiritsinger Umbra. Is there anything that I can replace these cards with? I have all the other Legendaries but I think I'd like to avoid crafting Umbra if I can.
1. shaoxia57 April 23, 2018
  You should probably craft doomsayer if you have the dust, as they are being used a lot. I don't have Umbra either, and I threw a faceless manipulator in. It's actually decent and very flexible. You can copy your opponent's big minions or your own voidlords/cubes/giants.
2. Stryder April 23, 2018
  Umbra is such a powerful card in this deck. Cubing a Doomguard with umbra in play, then nuking the cube gives you an immediate 20 point damage spike. You can do without the doomsayers or voodoo dolls, but if you can craft umbra, go for it.
MrMeme April 24, 2018
Why cut Faceless Manipulator?
ZergVolution April 24, 2018
Main lock here and cubelocker since day1 :) i've played many versions of cubelocks,but imo this list:
-umbra was good pre-nerf for raza priest after turn 8-9,now is usually a dead card in hand
-tar creepers is not good in this deck...when you topdeck it in late usually is useless...we have many answer for first turns
-2x faceless is better for many reasons -> copy your cube or the opponent cube(and void and doom),doomguard for encrease number for dk ,giants for a good turn 5 and it's very powerfull vs aggro with weapon cause you can target your voidlord on turn 6 for prevent silence
-i play 1 owl(better for defile combo) and gluttonous for mirrors and it's good
-sometime i think to cut godfrey...imo could be better in a control more than here...i give him another 1 month chance,not anymore
1. Flacko April 24, 2018
  Why would you cut tar creeper.
  You know in this meta is a lot of aggro decks there is no better answer than tar creeper for turn 3.
  Like the creator said this is deck that you want more than 30 cards
  1. ZergVolution April 24, 2018
    cause you have all cards for play 4 turn if you manage them good :)
    i didn't write that i use 2 plated beatle for good treads
    1. ZergVolution April 27, 2018
      reach legend yesterday. XD
2. Flacko April 24, 2018
  Umbra USELESS???
  r u serious this card give you insane OTK combo
  She gives strenght to this deck, combo and control
  1. ZergVolution April 24, 2018
    better faceless
3. U Wot M8 April 24, 2018
  Main Cubelocker since day 1? May I kindly ask for your address? I'd like to personally express my pent up emotions towards everybody who is playing this extraordinary deck. :)
  1. DeadlyBlinke April 26, 2018
    hahahaha lmao. Hopefully ur not playing as odd paladin which is even worse!
4. Opressive May 2, 2018
  Any chance you could post your deck list?
chansford April 24, 2018
Nerf time for this. Just because it's not aggro doesn't mean people can take the moral high ground. It's too dominant and is becoming as boring and depressing as Pirate Warrior back in the day. There's some skill but not much beyond turn 5 or 6.
brotherhood April 26, 2018
so... been thinking about this, taunt druid and quest rogue (maybeb pala 2). Which is the most funny deck and/or op?
SEBO23 April 27, 2018
Many people crying about this deck, many waiting for a nerf, but to be honset this is a combo deck, so it is pretty easy to mess your opponent up. Deny him dark pact, Gul'dan or just hit his face with burn dmg and he is screwd. Geist, tempo mage and milling is the right answer (and of course weapon removal + silence).
1. SEBO23 April 27, 2018
  And just to add something: not that i'm against the nerf, but game developers shouldn't touch doomguard or pact cause zoo and control warlock are innocent and shouldn't be punished with this deck as well. I think enough is just putting cube on 8 mana (cause its stats plus agony effect just begs for that) insead of 5 and problem is solved.
  1. Apackawolves May 2, 2018
    The developers actually released a statement about a week ago in regards to this deck. They said they have no immediate plans of nerfing this deck. They said given the current win/loss ratio they don’t believe it’s overpowered, and that success with this deck is based off skill level more than anything else.
    1. SEBO23 May 2, 2018
      I would say it's a weird statemet. 10% of players are using this deck. Cost of it in dust is extreme, multiply it by number of players in total and we have the same story as jade druid. :) Well this is business, but only skill you ever need in hearthstone is to know what your opponent has in his deck and just play the worst card they would expect for their next turn.
  2. Tony May 10, 2018
    I use a cube free control and I would hate it if they nerfed dark pact and lackey just because of this deck.
2. CD001 May 2, 2018
  I've been running variants on Malygos Miracle Rogue on and off for a very long time, it's like my go-to kind of build. Although it's not in a good place right now, requiring Wanted! to get extra coins, it does pretty well against Cubelock as long as they don't get Skull of the Man'ari on curve.
  The trick is to kill the Possessed Lackey then Sap the resulting big demon back to their hand... hence the problem with the Skull on curve. Should probably try and tech in an ooze or Harrison Jones.
Azog April 30, 2018
Why don´t use "Zola the gorgon" in this deck? U can get even more combo.
1. Jin May 4, 2018
  prince3 and faceless are usually better since u get those on board. Zola can copy cube which is good but it require alot of mana and set up.
  1. Azog May 4, 2018
    But its good if you run out of demons, i mean u have one more Doomguard (if u copy)to get from Skull of the Manari.
Azog May 4, 2018
And also "Balebul Banker" could be used in this deck for more Doomguards
Ro May 5, 2018
Right now, how crucial is Umbra? is the only card missing
1. Jin May 6, 2018
  i played a list like this for quite a while. He kinda bring life to this deck and won me mirror matches/control match due to umbra + cube + doomguard combo burst. I think that umbra is really good from my experience, but he is NOT NEEDED.
  1. GenderEqualist June 17, 2018
    Umbra is a she, actually. I respect she does have a somewhat manly appearance due to her cross species thing, but seariously, respect the pronouns. (Such as he, she, ze, and bhe)
2. Pinnski3 May 12, 2018
  Science N'Zoth is dead in Season its pretty nice to have
bpapao May 11, 2018
Jesus, just spent 3000 dust on it and it just dosent click, no early game.
1. SEBO23 May 11, 2018
  1.Kobold 2.Tap 3.Board Clear 4.Giant 5.Weapon 6.Lackey + Pact. After that any combo with Cube and Doomguard. That should click. :)
Pegasus May 11, 2018
Everybody is using weapon destroyer these days to counter cubelock. So if you have a doomguard in your hand you cant summon it to not lose your other cards. What would you suggest if our weapon is destroyed? Shuld I craft a rummaging cobold and put it into deck to use ün case of skull is destroyed?
1. SEBO23 May 11, 2018
  Weapon is not the only method of cheating minions in this deck (if opponent doesn't have any answer for it you probably won). As a backup you've got lackey + pact and always you could use faceless to multiply your winning conditions.
2. Lazyboy May 13, 2018
  I play this deck and i am rank 3 but if i play against face hunter or burn mage i insta lose.
  Are there some card replacemants so those matchups arent so unfavered ?
  1. SEBO23 May 13, 2018
    2 plated beetles could give you extra 6 health and are good against aggro in general (but ther's not too much room for such a replacement). If you see tempo mage or face hunter ther's not much you can do. Heal, press them with giants and pray for bad draws for them. :) Every deck has some weak match-ups.
3. Stonekeep May 14, 2018
  Sometimes just playing Doomguard from your deck is the right answer. Losing two random cards is often not a big deal. But it really depends on the matchup and the situation. For example - do you NEED those Doomguards to win the game? If you do, go ahead and play them, there is nothing else you can do. Or let's say that you stare at a 5/5 minion that will put you on a quick clock if you don't kill it - also play that Doomguard and pray that you don't discard anything valuable.
  To be fair, the only discard that REALLY hurts is Bloodreaver Gul'dan. As long as you don't discard it, you still have a way to win the game.
Celestica May 11, 2018
i had a nightmare where i was assaulted by two Carnivorous Cube...seriously.
Warpath May 14, 2018
Hey guys, im about so craft this Deck, but i dont have enough dust for LORD GODFREY and SPIRITSINGER UMBRA, do you have a good idea on what to replace them until i can craft the 2 cards?
1. MrMeme May 14, 2018
  Replace Umbra with taldaram and cut the 3 drops, and craft godfrey. If you don't want to craft godfrey add a twisting nether
2. Stonekeep May 14, 2018
  Umbra can be somewhat reliably replaced with Spellbreaker. The card really improves some combos, but it's not necessary.
  As for the Lord Godfrey, in this specific list I'd just run a second Doomsayer (since it uses only one). Other solid replacements are e.g. Acidic Swamp Ooze/Gluttonous Ooze, Plated Beetle or Stonehill Defender. Twisting Nether might also be a replacement, but only if you face more slow decks and not Aggro. Nether is often too slow vs Aggro, and you'd rather have some more solid early game instead.
Belton May 14, 2018
What is the best counters to cube lock?
1. Stonekeep May 14, 2018
  When it comes to common ladder decks, Tempo Mage is probably the best one against Cube Warlock. Odd Rogue should also be fine. Those decks should be about 60/40 vs Cube Warlock.
  Odd Control Warrior and Control Priest are also favorable, but those decks are much more difficult - if you haven't played them in the past you will most likely lose against Cube Warlocks, because the matchup is hard to play. However, if you master them, they should also be around 60/40 or at least 55/45 against Cube Warlock.
  The best counter would probably be Odd Face Hunter - the deck is like 70/30 vs Cube Warlock, which is a very good counter. But then again, it's bad against so many other common decks, such as all kinds of Paladin or Spiteful Druid.
Dust_storm May 18, 2018
How you win druid taunt
ZergVolution May 23, 2018
R.i.P. my love </3
1. Cisterna May 23, 2018
  Totally nerfed :(
Rofl yesss May 23, 2018
Rank 5 currently. I hated this deck! I used to lose to it all the time with warlock just scrapping by with 1-3 hp left. Now I can't wait to see warlock! It gets rofl stomped by secret mage and now odd Pali or murloc Pali can put some extreme pressure early on. The Nerf to the dark pact 4 healing instead of 8 is what really nerfed this deck so hard. They can't be so agressive with their hero power or hellfire anymore. I think it's balanced now but apparently people are still playing it super aggressive like they still get 16 healing total from dark pact.
Luke May 24, 2018
Putting this deck under fringe is madness. The deck is still very strong. I played it last season a fair bit because I enjoyed it and never found myself using deathpact on Lacky, I thought it was an awful play and mostly used it on cubes.
Deck is still very strong - though, the past weeks & months have seen multiple changes to this deck from it's rein when Raza priest dominated, some changes I wouldn't agree with.
Did my 5 games for the chest at rank 2 with a slightly edited version, won all 5 and went to rank 1. I wouldn't say this deck is weak or fringe at all. Nerfed and slightly weaker, but not fringe.
1. Evident May 24, 2018
  We base that list on current stats, and currently the stats say Cubelock is low tier at the moment. If it is as good as you say it is, then it will pop back up soon. These decks are going to be constantly shuffling for the next week or so.
  1. Luke May 29, 2018
    Happy to see it back in great decks.
    But yeah of course, I imagine a lot of shifting still to come.
  2. Luke June 15, 2018
    I meant best decks* Haha
to May 25, 2018
I'm so happy they castrated this talentless deck.now other classes actually get played, and it cleared up room for decks that are a bit more skill based... I haven't enjoyed watching a deck die this much since Rasa priest,..good job
1. Josse May 26, 2018
  I can see you know really little about this game.
  Cubelock was one of the hardest decks in the pre-nerf meta to master, and you could actually beat it fairly easily by choosing the right decks, as most people you where seeing on ladder just couldn't play with it.
  And it was indeed maybe a bit good, but yet really skill intensive and it required hours and hours of practice.
  1. chansford May 26, 2018
    Nah, If it was that skilful of a deck it should be bouncing back up at the top tiers. The nerfs weren't that severe. I'd say it's a deck that requires skill NOW not pre-nerf.
    1. SwoleLord June 7, 2018
      It’s back. Sadly people figured out the deck never stopped being good. Shame really
2. Chefburnz June 2, 2018
  So that the real talentless pally builds can be all we see.
3. DestinyXXX June 14, 2018
  You're such a casual player (lame, misplay, etc) . The TRUTH is that they nerfed the only deck with a very high skillcap. Nowadays the meta is full of shit and it is very difficult to have a very high wr (> 65%). Even pally, cubelock and spiteful druid were very good decks both to play and to play against, they shaped the meta in a good way and they represented well the different types of decks (aggro, midrange, combo). The only deck that truly needed a nerf was quest rogue, not because it was too strong, but because it was so oppressive to control decks such as big spell mage and odd warrior.
  1. LulXDDDDDDDD June 17, 2018
    If you can, contact me by my email. (fuk@u.com)
jason June 18, 2018
i wish they would nerf guldan... maybe make his hero power only target minions or something... its just a bit too strong
Foxman June 28, 2018
I've played cubelock some time without the Face Manipulator and the Spiritsinger Umbra (I put Siphon Soul and Moratal Coil instead) and now I have enough dust to craft them. I don't if what should I do, craft those cards or start play tempo secret mage.
What should I do?
Thanks
Marosaur July 3, 2018
I've been getting bored of Evenlock, wanted to go back to Cube to change it up but was utterly crushed by opposing Evenlocks. How do I handle them?
CandyHoliday February 8, 2019
Interesting deck but in the end it is just isn't effective. This is handily beaten by most aggro decks. This deck should be used for fun only and not in ranked games where you want to try and be competitive.

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