Highlander Taldaram

The deck is somewhat of a classic highlander warlock deck, with the exception of having only ONE 3-drop; Prince Taldaram. This card is highly underestimated in warlock. There are maybe two 3-drop you would want in a normal highlander warlock deck. Tar creeper and shadow bolt. But cutting those two for prince taldaram is really worth it.

I built it because my first legendary in the new set was a golden prince taldaram. I just had to make something work. And this deck works all right. I’ve climbed to rank 6 with it quickly since the new expansion got released. If there is time before school begins again I’ll try to go for legend. It runs really well in the current, unexplored meta. Then again, so does most decks maybe..

How the deck functions: 
It runs mostly like a normal highlander warlock deck. It has a lot of answers to a lot of things due to it’s versatile card pool. The most important new feature in this deck is the prince. Prince Taldaram has been performing well over expected. Due to the meta being slower, there will almost always be a high value minion on the board for him. The deck itself doesn’t rely on minions that will work for him, tried it and it wasn’t reliable. So you only have a few good targets like Lich king, some saving taunt or even Despicable dreadlord. You could also be cheesy and copy some high value battlecry minion with him, then bounce him back to your own hand and he will stay as your copied minion instead (enemy kazakus or something similar). I’ve been experimenting a lot with the deck and I think this is where it should be. Sure, youthful brewmaster is probably not that good in the deck, but he’s funny with the prince. And works with kazakus. I’ve also been thinking about cutting Jaraxxus but there are a few times when you don’t draw your Bloodreaver Gul’dan and he will save you instead. Or in a really slow, high value game jaraxxus might end up giving you a few 6/6 demons for your death knight battlecry. I guess you could say the same thing about Elise, not being needed. But she too is a cool, fun card to play and in really high value match-ups she could just save the day.  

Match-ups:
Good old aggro decks like pirate warrior, aggro druid or any fast paced hunter deck are tough to beat. Murloc paladin as well, altough it’s a bit easier than the others. The match-ups aren’t impossible like before, mainly because the new card defile. The card alone wins you games. 2 mana twisting nether? Yes please.

Any mid range deck struggels vs this. Especially if you are able to play Bloodreaver Gul’dan pretty quickly. It’s just insane.

Control and OTK should not really be a problem. The deck is teched for a lot of late-game match-ups. Just make sure that those cards serve their purpose. Warlock is no longer that weak in fatigue due to bloodreaver’s insane hero power if you just keep track of the cards in the enemy deck and try not to go all in in your card draw.

Mulligan:
If you suspect you’re playing against an aggro deck, always mulligan for Doomsayer, defile, mistress, voidwalker and golakka (if pirates are a possibility). Even an Ooze might make the difference against a turn two 4/3 weapon. Hellfire and and kazakus could be worth saving if you are facing murlock’s or token-decks.

Against any control or mid-range kind of decks mulligan for twilight drake and mountain giant. A kazakus could be worth saving. By turn 1-3 you will be aiming to life tap just because you have the opportunity this early in the game. And a 4/10 or 8/8 turn four never hurts.

Some notes about a few surprisingly good cards: 

Dirty Rat – Nothing new really. If you face any OTK-deck save this bad boy until you know he will hit something good. Also works out well once the enemy puts down a doomsayer for some surprising destruction.

Defile – This card might just be the best card in the new expansion! 2 mana twisting nether pretty much. Just don’t miscount when playing it.

Prince Taldaram – Really fun card in general. Due to it’s low cost it’s easy to copy for instance enemy Tirion and then just siphon soul/blastcrystal him. Or any other good target.

Cult apothecary – Surprisingly good against a lot of token matchups. He pretty much gives you an extra turn. Heal for a whole turn and next turn clear in some way with all your AOE.

Skulking geist – Bye bye jade druid (most of the time at least). Evolve shaman gets even more destroyed by this card. Nice against control warrior also whenever that will come back.

The Lich King – Huge board impact. If he survives one turn your prince will make it even more hopeless for your opponent.

Bloodreaver Gul’dan – INSANE card. Hero power is nuts. Battlecry is really nice. Most times you get a small taunt and a decent demon or two (kazakus potion summons a demon for you which is really nice). And as soon as you played him you are almost guaranteed to win just due to the sheer preassure you hero power gives.

Good luck!