Bloodreaver Gul’Dan discard lock[tier 1 deck]

This deck is very expensive and requires a lot of legendaries to work properly. 

Prince malchezaar is very important for this deck to work, to make you avoid going into fatigue extremely fast and not having any benefit of infinite value. 

Lakkari Sacrifice Warlock quest to get permanent board control 

Clutchmother Zavas potentially negates the discard effect and turns it into a buff. 

You must think of your deck as a control deck, and your cards are fuel to be discarded as fast as possible to open a portal to never ending Imps, to overwhelm your opponent. The faster you discard 6 cards, the faster you can safely draw and play Bloodreaver Gul’Dan. Discarding 6 cards can easily be done in the first 6 turns, casting the portal on turn 7.  This means you must see any card you have in your hand as fuel to the quest, no matter what it is–  There are some exceptions like Bloodreaver Gul’Dan*.

I don’t get why a lot of people consider this deck type to be bad. Warlock can now benefit so much from discarding that its no longer a bad mechanic.

 Playing Discard Lock

The goal of discard lock is to turn the negative effects of discarding into positive effects through buffing Zavas, summoning golems or summoning discarded legendaries with Cruel Dinomancer – and ultimately completeing your quest to get infinite 3/2 board value. 

Playing this deck is a gamble, as the first 10 cards you draw will be discarded.  if you draw Bloodreaver Guldanl in your mulligan, you consider it discarded already as it isn’t worth to wait* for 10 mana if you could be completeing the quest on turn 5 or 7.

*Always draw to fill your hand with cards and increase the odds of not discarding Gul’Dan if you have to discard, as this is often also the right thing to do.  If you have 5/6 quest and draw Guldan on turn 6, with a soulfire in hand, I’d play the soulfire and take the chance. You then play the portal afterwards.  

Life Tapping 

Discard quest and warlock fit really well together because of life tap, enabling you to discard a lot of cards at the cost of health. Blood’reaver Gul’Dan and Blood’Queen provide good heals if you’ve drawn them at the right time too, so don’t worry about your health, life tap whenever you can to speed up the quest! 

You can life tap to increase the odds of keeping a important card, or finding Clutchmother Zavas or drawing Silverware Golems or Lakkari Felhound/Doomguard, which complete 33% of the quest with 1 card. 

Drawing into cataclysm in the first rounds (1-5 mana) is the fastest way you can summon the portal- If you get it in your early draws, life tap until you hit 7 cards in hand on turn 4. If you have cataclysm + coin in your opener, you can complete the quest on turn 3 with 8 total cards in your hand. 

 When you have Clutchmother Zavas in hand, you can stop drawing to increase odds of discarding and buffing it. Draw afterwards if you have enough mana and need a discard card for next turn.

Mulligan and early game

Keep: Lakkari Sacrifice, Clutchmother Zavas, Malchezaar’s Imp. 

Mulligan anything you get and look for Clutchmother Zavas, as you lose potential free discards without it. Cast quest on turn 1, and start looking for some specific minions using life tap;

Malchezaar’s Imp is a really powerful 1-drop to draw cards as you discard, keeping your hand full. It can be worth it to hold on to it to use with a Lakkari Felhound or Doomguard, but getting it out early (<5 mana) with a coin and a strong 2 drop is worth the tempo aswell. 

Tempo in a control deck?

Yes, but get board control, then go face. Charging doomguards and never ending 3/2 imps on turn 7 happens a lot, and most of the time you’ll win by charging them fast with good draws or winning the long game with Bloodreaver.

Darkshire Librarian cycles on death to keep you drawing discards. 

Lakkari Felhound a strong 4 mana taunt that discards 2 cards, thats 33% of the quest. 

Goal

Play discard minions / spells as effectively and fast as possible to complete the quest. 

Survive by lifestealing with Lana’thel and Bloodreaver if they haven’t been discarded. 

When you’ve won board control, go face and win. 

Tips on how to use the cards in the deck

Always cast Lakkari Sacrifice on turn 1.

If you have a 2x Discard card like Felhound or Doomguard, it’s often best to play those before drawing to avoid discarding a 2nd Felhound, doomguard or key card that you could draw. 

Lakkari Felhound

Discards 2 cards out of 6 towards the quest for 4 mana, and provides a 3/8 taunt to hide behind. 

Blood Queen Lana’thel

To play this deck you must use life tap a lot to keep the tempo up when discarding, and Blood Queen can help you survive. If they don’t have a fireball, you’ll gain some life and be able to life tap more and complete the quest faster.

When drawn late game, it can have between 6 and +12 attack, which heals you if traded in 1 hit. If they trade 2-3 minions into it, it kinda feels like Reno Jackson is back. 

Blood Queen gains +1 attack for every card you’ve discarded in the game, even while on the board. 

Prince Malchezaar

This minion is very important for this deck to work. It gives you +5 cards in your deck, and your quest requires 6 discarded cards. The random legendaries are discard fuel, and the 2x Cruel Dinomancer in the deck can summon them back if discarded.

You can play them too if the quest is completed to reinforce board control, but they are mostly there to keep you from fatiguing 6 turns earlier. 

Malchezaar’s Imp

This minion works great with the coin, and when drawn it should be played before any discards, as you may discard it. It can be worth it to hold on to it if you have a Lakkari Felreaver or Doomguard, as they provide a taunt or charge to defend it aswell as 2 cards. 

Howlfiend

This minion is mostly a discard filler card, but if no other discard minions but this one is drawn, its a great way to get your quest completed. Be careful if you have it on board and keep discarding at 4/6 or 5/6 (Quest), as it can give your opponent a opportunity to discard your quest. You don’t want to play it if you could be discarding it instead.

Cruel Dinomancer

Discard a Cruel Dinomancer and play a cruel dinomancer to get a infinite 5/5 minion.

While that might happen in 1 out of 100 games, this minion is discard fuel unless you have no discard cards, then you can play it as a sticky 5/5 with a potentially awesome deathrattle. Prince Malchezaar’s legendaries are often highly statted and get discarded quickly. 

Cataclysm

If you draw this on turn 1-4 then do go ahead and cast it if you have enough cards in your hand to complete your quest on curve turn 5. Lategame it’s either a complete board clear or discard fuel for something else. Can be replaced by a 2nd Lakkari Felhound like I’m using because no dust and no luck. 

*Drawing Bloodreaver Gul’Dan and Blood Queen Lana’Thel on turn 1

If you draw Bloodreaver Gul’Dan or Blood’Queen Lana’thel in your opening hand or first couple turns, it’s mostly best to consider it bad luck and keep discarding, but minimize the odds of discarding them by drawing with Life Tap or Malchezaar’s Imp.  Bloodreaver Gul’Dan is often drawn before 10 mana, and depending on the board situation, it can be worth it to stop discarding for up to 3 turn if you haven’t summoned the portal. 

Blood’Queen is best to play on turn 5 or as soon as you draw her, unless the board state demands a different answer. When she’s on the board, you can buff her attack by discarding next turn if she survives.