Demon Handlock; Paladin Killler

  Introduction:

Not sure why I didn’t try this out earlier, but this deck works pretty well. Voidlord and Despicable Dreadlord are OP vs paladin, and the demons and Shadowflame manage to beat midrange and control reasonably often. Swift Messenger is great with Shadowflame. Spellbreaker is a tech option that can be replaced with Acidic Swamp Ooze, another Siphon Soul, a Voodoo Doll, a Faceless Manipulator, or pretty much anything proactive. 

    Mulligan:

Control/Midrange/Combo: (In order of what are best to have in your hand 1st Rin, the First Disciple, 2nd Mountain Giant, 3rd Twilight Drake, 4th Kobold Librarian, 5th Spellbreaker, 6th Lesser Amethyst Spellstone, 7th Swift Messenger, 8th Shadowflame, 9th Mortal Coil, 10th Dark Possession. Generally, you want the most proactive plays, which means things like Ancient Watcher are mostly a waste of two mana. An optimal hand when going first would probably consist of a Mountain Giant, a Rin, the First Disciple, and a Kobold Librarian. When going second, then a Rin, the First Disciple , a Mountain Giant, a Twilight Drake, and a Kobold Librarian would be ideal. 

Aggro: 1st Defile, 2nd Ancient Watcher, 3rd Mortal Coil, 4th Sunfury Protector, 5th Kobold Librarian, 6th Shadowflame, 7th Hellfire, 8th Twilight Drake, 9th Mountain Giant, 10 Despicable Dreadlord. In these matchups, you want a diverse hand with some proactive plays (probably Twilight Drake and less so Mountain Giant). When you’re going first, you may want a Sunfury Protector and a Defile or a Ancient Watcher. If you go second, you can go for two Twilight Drakes, and the big 3. (If you tech in another Defile or a Acidic Swamp Ooze, you may keep them as safe keeps.

    Card choices/Replacements:

Dark Possession = flexibility for aggro or control matchups. Not great in the mullagin, but nice for midgame/possibility of getting Voidlord or Despicable Dreadlord. Also synergizes with Bloodreaver Gul'dan.

Kobold Librarian = cycle, Lesser Amethyst Spellstone buff, early game presence.

Mortal Coil = cycle, early game presence.

Ancient Watcher = early game presence, combos with Sunfury Protector and Shadowflame.

Defile = paladin killer, early game reactive card. However, it hurts our minions, and we already have Kobold Librarian, Ancient Watcher, Mortal Coil, Sunfury Protector, and 2 copies of Shadowflame AND a Hellfire, so I don’t generally like playing two copies. 

Sunfury Protector = makes Ancient Watcher OP. Also a decent 2/3.

Hellfire = straight up aggro reactive card. It works, can it has decent value for the cost.

Lesser Amethyst Spellstone = efficient removal, but it’s sometimes clunky and we don’t need tons of healing for the aggro matchups.

Shadowflame = very efficient removal, especially with Ancient Watcher, Mountain Giant,  and Swift Messenger.

Spellbreaker = tech card, see intro.

Swift Messenger = Fireball, also is great with Shadowflame.

Twilight Drake, Mountain Giant = handlock mainstays. The most OP card statwise turns 3/4.

Despicable Dreadlord =  Possessed Lackey fodder. Also great for finishing minions off.

Possessed Lackey = cheats out demons.

Rin, the First Disciple = Control/combo killer. It’s also 1 mana more expensive than average for a jade idol effect into a massive Gnomeferatu. OP.

Siphon Soul = removal.

Twisting Nether = mega removal.

Voidlord = taunt wall.

Bloodreaver Gul'dan = heal up, resummons a million demons.

Changes: +2Tar Creeper +1Defile for aggro matchups and +1Lord Godfrey instead of Twisting Nether, Mortal Coil, Spell Breaker, and a Swift Messenger.

    Strategy:

Try to survive, and get tons of stats. Proactive plays are your friend. Health is generally more important than value. Rin, the First Disciple is great to get out asap, but Bloodreaver Gul'dan you want to save, not only to get more demons, but so that you get the most cards out of your default warlock hero power. Almost without fail, turns 1 is pass, (unless you have Kobold Librarian, which is generally good to play out immediately) turn 2 tap, turn 3 coin Twilight Drake if you go second, and turn 4 Twilight Drake or Mountain Giant.

You may need to play the big 3 to control the board early, but if you can get away with tapping, it’s probably a good idea. Rin’s seals are decent plays when you have no proactive plays, or if you want to get rid of their deck asap, (think control mage with frost lich jaina). Try to use your removal somewhat sparingly, but saving a Twilight Drake or a Mountain Giant from dying is your first focus. Twisting Nether is best played immediately before Bloodreaver Gul'dan. Always try to count up the opponent’s removal and burn damage used. When confronted with the option to trade or go face, think about the worst punish the opponent could deal. However, in control matchups usually it is best to SMorc, and in aggro matchups, you almost always want to trade.

Important TIPS: Your max hand size is 10 cards, so NEVER life tap when you are at 10 cards (which happens pretty frequently). Also, DON’T try to coin out a Mountain Giant, because the cost goes up one as you gain one mana. Try to curve out your Twilight Drake into a Mountain Giant. Against aggro, usually you want to play Twilight Drake first, because it often will have one more health. Against control matchups, if you have a hand that can deal pressure, go Mountain Giant so you can SMorc, but otherwise, try to bait removal on your Twilight Drake. For removal, Ancient Watcher + Shadowflame is OP. When given the option of using different removal options, try to use your more clunky removal first. Try not to take games into fatigue. After you’ve Azari, the Devourer, try to grind out the opponent and watch your life total very carefully. Never try to go even on the board, if given the option, getting another minion out is probably better. Don’t play too hard into equality or brawl. And remember, if your opponent turns into Frost Lich Jaina, you’ve probably already lost, :/