I don’t really like calling any deck “cancer” and I always defend Aggro decks, even though I dislike this kind of playstyle myself. It’s just not fair, the fact that you don’t like the deck or the play style doesn’t mean that people who do are worse.

The deck isn’t problematic at all, because it’s easy to counter. It’s not Midrange Shaman, which had good matchups across the board. I don’t like Pirate Warrior too. That’s why I wrote this article and that’s why I was playing decks/techs that are strong against it and I was farming the matchup quite easily. Not to mention that in Legend it’s not even that popular.

You have two choices – first one is to complain about cancer decks and second one is to do something with it. The more people tech against it, the less people will play it in the end, because it’s not worth it.

RenoLock got much more popular after the Savjz was playing his list in high Legend. And yes, Pirate Warrior has been less and less popular as people started teching against it. But according to stats, Pirate Warrior is still by far the most popular deck – Warrior’s representation on the ladder is at around 23%. Shaman is second with 16%, Warlock and Druid third with ~15%.

I don’t know at which rank you’re playing, because the distribution varies by rank, but on most of the ranks, Warrior is still most popular. I think that your 10 games sample size just isn’t big enough.

I would gladly write a guide on how to counter RenoLock, but that’s very hard. The deck’s popularity is so high because of how flexible and adaptable it is, which means that playing against it and countering it is rather a hard task. But I’d still say that playing Jade Druid should be a good idea, it’s pretty bad matchup for Reno decks. But on the other hand, it sucks really hard against Pirate Warrior. That’s the circle of life.

As it happens, I write for HSTD too 🙂

You see, “mastering” is a big word. I have over 2k games with RenoLock under my belt since the deck was released (probably closing in on 2.5k now), with many different lists, and I can hardly tell that I’ve mastered the deck. Not only each version is unique, like for example this one – adding Dirty Rat is only a single card change, but it changed the deck’s play style a lot. It changed which cards you save in given situation, it changed your game plan against some slower decks (you want to wait with Brann + Rat to pull out the crucial cards). So while I’m a very experienced RenoLock player, I’m not sure if I can tell that I’ve mastered this specific list.

But by “mastering” I mean playing flawlessly, or nearly flawlessly, which maybe only a few pros does. If you mean playing on a decent level, I’d say that it depends on your experience with similar decks (well, Zoo or Secret Hunter aren’t really similar decks) and the overall pace at which you’re learning. You might start playing it on a good level after 100 games, but it also might take you 200 or 300 games. The most important skill when playing this deck is not playing YOUR deck, it’s playing the matchups, so that’s why you need quite a lot of practice. You need to understand your win condition in each of the matchups, which cards you need to save and which you can throw away, how early you can play Jaraxxus (and if you can play it at all), how freely you can use your removals, if you have to save Dirty Rat for a certain cards, whether you need to go for more tempo or value with Kazakus etc. Those things come with experience, and that’s why you just need to play the deck a lot to learn it.

You’re right – both Bloodfury Potion and Crystalweaver make sense in Zoo, I’ve theorycrafted about them a bit before release, but in the end I thought that the list would need to be slightly more Demon-heavy to make them work. For example, Crystalweaver would be AMAZING in Wild with Imp-losion. But it might have too little average impact on turn 4 compared to Argus (which is guaranteed buffs + Taunt on 2 minions, but with weaker body).

I didn’t see any new lists with those cards, but I’ve seen people (including pros) playing the old Discard list, so I’ve assumed that they were tested and didn’t perform well enough. That’s why I’ve said that Zoo didn’t get anything new. But I still might be proven wrong, we’re very early into the expansion after all 🙂

N’Zoth one isn’t good in this meta. Leeroy combo is just more flexible – since it takes less “pieces” in total (you only need 3 cards to make it work, since you run Emperor anyway), you can add more anti-Aggro techs to your deck.

If the meta would get slower, N’Zoth version might become better.

So I’d say to for Leeroy.

I’d say that Loot Hoarder if you want another early cycle, but it’s already in the deck. So probably Cult Sorcerer, Spell Damage is pretty useful in the deck and instead of the cycle you get a stronger body. Thalnos is still better, but it’s an alright replacement.

Well, not only Jade Druid is great against slow decks, this deck is also more equipped to fight against Aggro.

The bes way against Jade Druid is to add a little more punch to your deck – especially some finisher like Antonidas or Ragnaros. And then the way to play against Jade Druid is putting as much early/mid game pressure as possible. You just need to kill him before he can start summoning the 8/8+ Jade Golems. Druid struggles with board clear – it’s hard for Druid to kill both single big threats and multiple medium-sized threats. But some games you just can’t win, if he gets great ramp into cycle into Jade Golem cards, you can’t help that.

Although much weaker, Imp Gang Boss can be subbed with Harvest Golem. If you want to go for a more value option, try Kabal Courier.

There is no direct replacement for Demonwrath and as much as the card wasn’t THAT important pre-Gadgetzan, right now it’s amazing because of all the Aggro decks on the ladder. Spreading Madness is pretty good against Warrior, but it’s kinda RNG and you will probably take some face damage for no reason. The card can be great, but can also backfire horribly. I’d just replace it with some solid anti-Aggro minion, like Mistress of Mixtures or Sen’jin Shieldmasta.

When it comes to this deck, definitely Leeroy. The 20 damage combo is really strong, for example it’s the main way to win a mirror matchup.

But you should probably look at the other decks too, which ones you play more. Kazakus is also strong in other Reno decks – Reno Mage and Reno Priest – even stronger than in RenoLock. On the other hand, Leeroy is a good finisher in Aggro decks like Pirate Warrior. It’s also a Classic card, so it should stay in Standard forever.

Thank you! I’ve shared my thoughts about Wild on the reddit, so I will just copy & paste my comment here:

“I don’t really think much about Wild, because it would be just guessing. I have no clue how Wild meta looks like, what people play there at different ranks, if certain techs are necessary or not etc. To really determine which cards would fit there, I would have to playtest it carefully.

But yes, some cards would definitely fit into the deck. I’d 100% play Lightbomb instead of Excavated Evil, the card is so much better. Especially against Giants (2x 0 mana Arcane Giant are really hard to deal with) and Jade decks.

Loatheb too, it’s an amazing tech card. The 5 mana Kazakus potion that spawns stuff + Loatheb would be a great combo, you would be able to flood the board and stop the potential AoE clears. Great finisher in some matchups in which it’s hard to stick the board in (CW, RenoLock).

I’d probably play Dark Cultist instead of Blackwing Tech too. One less health, but a great Deathrattle + doesn’t require Dragon synergy.

Probably Zombie Chow too. Maybe instead of Holy Smite.

And I’d definitely fit Dr. 7 somewhere in there. No way to pass on that card, it’s too strong, especially after the BGH nerf.

Actually, there would be a lot of Wild cards I would want to test in this deck. Vol’jin (probably should leave Holy Smite then, but still great turn 10 removal with Corruptor or Nova), Belcher, Deathlord, Velen’s Chosen.

But like I’ve said, without playtesting it’s mostly just guessing.”

Ooze goes in instead of the Faerie Dragon. It reduces the early Dragon consistency a bit, but gives you a way to deal with the weapons (obviously ;p) I think it’s a nice trade. It also helps a bit in RenoLock matchup, because destroying that Jaraxxus weapon is a big deal (you can survive a turn or two longer if you don’t take the extra 20+ damage).

That’s how I’m playing it right now. I was doing fine with Faerie Dragon, but after facing Pirate Warrior and Aggro Shamans all the time, Ooze was a better choice.

That’s a good question and really no one knows that. It all depends on what they give us next expansion. Reno Priest is the only one to likely still play Highlander deck, because self-healing is less of a problem in the deck.

But they might release more cards like Kazakus etc. or more Neutral healing that will make the decks viable even with Reno rotating out.

I’m not saying that StrifeCro’s version is terrible against Pirate Warrior, it’s just not as optimized vs Aggro as this one. 5 games sample size is way too low to compare.

I’ve faced J4CKIECHAN (inventor of the original Egg Druid) yesterday around rank 2-3. He was playing a new version of Egg Druid 😀 If he was playing it on stream too, that might be the reason why some people started netdecking it.

It didn’t seem as strong as the old one, though.

If you mostly face slower decks like Jade Golems or N’Zoth, go for the more end-game heavy list instead. For example, StrifeCro’s one (linked in the Closing). Savjz was also playing Reno Mage in Legend recently – he was playing the Brann + Dirty Rat combo instead to improve Control matchups by pulling a win condition out of their hands. For example, pulling out a N’Zoth against Deathrattle deck is a huge hit.

Dog’s list is meant as an anti-Aggro deck to counter the Pirate Warriors, who are all over the rank 5-Legend ladder.

I don’t think you should compare those two to begin with, because they’re completely different decks. But if you want one solid reason, it’s the Pirate Warrior matchup. Pirate Warrior eats Freeze Mage, the matchup was terrible for Freeze Mage even before Gadgetzan and now that Freeze Mage didn’t get anything this expansion and Pirate Warrior got even stronger, I can’t imagine how bad the matchup must be now.

This, on the other hand, is anti-Aggro build aimed to deal with those pesky Warriors that are all over the ladder. Freeze Mage was one of the worst decks to ladder with pre-Gadgetzan, because it had so many bad and only a few good matchups. This hasn’t changed in Gadgetzan – right now if you want to play the slower Mage, Reno is the way to go. Freeze Mage is much better in a tournament environment when you pretty much know what you will be facing, so you can pick it as a counter, and you can ban something you don’t want to play against.

Sure, you’re right. But I won a lot of games without ever drawing Reno. Hitting some early game plays into board clear is another way to win it. The deck also has enough Taunts + other ways of healing to prevent some of the damage. Turn 5 Raza is good, because then you can heal every turn, especially if you follow it with Justicar.

My score with the deck against Warriors is 23-10 right now. Since 90% of them are Pirate, I think that I can say that it’s a solid matchup with a lot of confidence. But it’s also a hard matchup to play correctly.

On the other hand, my worst matchups are RenoLock (almost impossible to win, they need to draw REALLY badly so you can rush them down or Jaraxxus needs to be their last card) and Jade Druid (same thing – they need to draw poorly and you need to rush them down, you can’t win the late game). Oh, and Miracle Rogue, but that’s a given against Priest, however I only faced 2 of them with the deck, so it’s not a big deal.

Thanks! I’m glad that you like it. Yes, there is definitely a place for Shadowform, but you need to choose between Shadowform and Justicar, as those two don’t synergize with each other. It depends on whether you prefer 2 damage (3 if you want to go extreme and play one duplicate, which is pretty risky, but might still be good) or 4 healing in the long run. I think that both strategies have their merits and are viable. Some players are even going all-in on the Shadowform/Hero Power synergy, I don’t have exact lists right now, but I know that some people were playing it. Stuff like Garrison Commander, Confessor Paletress, Prophet Velen and even Auctionmaster Beardo (the one that resets your Hero Power). Pretty fun deck, but I’m not sure if it’s stronger than this one.

About Kazakus being neutral, it’s a hard thing to judge. In theory, tri-class cards are under Neutral, because they don’t belong into only one specific class. But on the other hand, you can discover them with Kabal Courier (which clearly states that it discovers class cards) and it gets higher offering rate in other discover effects (just like class cards). So while in the collection it’s listed under Neutrals, when it comes to in game mechanics it’s closer to Class card.

Yes, sadly, just like Darkseid said – I think you would be better off playing a normal Dragon Priest with the Raza. I’d argue that it might be the most important card in the deck and the main reason why you run Highlander version of the deck instead of the normal one. You CAN sub it, but the deck won’t be that effective.

If you want to drop Raza, you probably want to drop Justicar Trueheart too. But if you really want to test it, you can try the Acidic Swamp Ooze/Harrison jones + Sylvanas Windrunner combo instead of those two. Another option is to play Forbidden Shaping instead of one of them.