Climbing the October Ladder with Discolock

Hipsters is proudly sponsored by:

Last week you voted for me to continue playing Discard Warlock (a.k.a. Discolock) on the October Standard ladder after reaching rank 11 with the deck in September. This week I’ll evaluate each card in the deck to see how they’re performing and then let you vote on which change you’d most like to see me make to the deck going forwards this month.

As of writing we’re sitting at rank 15 after quickly climbing out of the lowest rungs and then hitting a wall. That’s not entirely unexpected as the competition becomes much more difficult once you get to the four-star ranks. One of the surprising challenges we’ve been facing comes from the rise of Resurrection Priest decks, but we’ll get into match-ups shortly.

Since there are fifteen cards in the deck we can easily classify them into five tiers of three cards apiece. We’ll start at the bottom with the worst three performing cards and let you vote on replacements for them and then we’ll work our way to the top cards in the deck. Let’s get started!

Grade F Cards

[Abusive Sergeant] – [Flame Imp] – [Flame Juggler]

These three cards have been incredibly underwhelming for me. Flame Imp especially is a card I will sometimes hold on to so I have a card I don’t care about to discard to [Soulfire] or [Doomguard]. Abusive Sergeant isn’t the same anymore both because it can’t trade with two-toughness creatures and because the decks it was very good against aren’t being played as much (e.g. Shaman). Flame Juggler similarly is good against aggressive decks but those are also not seeing a lot of play. The lower rungs of the ladder have been full of Tempo Mage, Control Warrior, and Resurrection Priest.

I’d like to replace all three of these cards so pick three from the list below and I’ll put them in for next week. Should I put [Forbidden Ritual] and [Knife Juggler] back in to try to combo out? Do I need [Power Overwhelming], [Shadow Bolt] and [Hellfire] to play my own control game? What about adding some more big threats in the form of [Frostwolf Warlord] and [Sea Giant]? Or maybe I just need different cheap creatures like [Succubus], [Acidic Swamp Ooze], and [Faerie Dragon].

Let me know what you think and then we’ll talk about the cards that aren’t so terrible!

 Loading ...

Grade D Cards

[Dire Wolf Alpha] – [Darkshire Councilman] – [Defender of Argus]

I almost always mulligan these three cards away but they have their moments in specific match-ups. Defender of Argus is best against Tempo Mage when you need to toughen up your troops. Councilman is best when you can coin him out early against an opponent who doesn’t have easy ways to remove him (like Druid or Warlock).

I’m surprised at how unimpressed I’ve been with Dire Wolf Alpha. I think this is because the quick aggro strategy in general hasn’t been as effective this season. If this doesn’t improve we might be replacing the wolf next week.

Grade C Cards

[Voidwalker] – [Darkshire Librarian] – [Silverware Golem]

These cards are amazing in the right situation but only meh otherwise, but not awful. Voidwalker is obviously great when you can use it to buy yourself some time against an aggressive opposing board. It’s better than Defender of Argus since you can play it into an empty board on your side and have some effect.

Librarian and Golem are only stellar with Malchezaar’s Imp in play because you get to combo which is tons of fun. Otherwise I don’t mind playing them, because three power is a good place to be, but they’re not always great. Obviously they go well together, which is fitting for them to be in this class with each other.

Grade B Cards

[Argent Squire] – [Possessed Villager] – [Soulfire]

I almost always want these cards. Squire and Villager are pretty much the best turn-one plays in this deck. They’re difficult to deal with and can help me chip away some early damage. Soulfire is the best and practically the only removal spell in the deck but it’s also a one-mana means of discarding for Malchezaar’s Imp.

These are also cards I almost always take when I play Dark Peddler, as they’re all one-mana. Since Discolock wants to win fast it needs mana-efficient threats, which these all qualify for.

Grade A Cards

[Malchezaar’s Imp] – [Dark Peddler] – [Doomguard]

I could probably put Malchezaar’s Imp in it’s own A++ category because it’s that amazing in this deck. Removing the disadvantage from cards like Darkshire Librarian and Soulfire would be enough to run the Imp but the combination with Doomguard puts it over the top. Doomguard is already fantastic and is really the Mariano Rivera of Discolock.

If you’ve been paying attention you’ll notice that six of the top nine cards in this deck cost one mana. This makes Dark Peddler phenomenal allowing us to pick another one-mana threat to add to our arsenal while also providing a serviceable 2/2 minion as well. These three cards, and the Grade B cards as well, form the core of the deck and I don’t foresee changing them at any time.

Don’t forget the poll at the top and with your help hopefully we’ll be able to make it closer to Rank 10 next week!

Rich has been playing Hearthstone on and off since the closed beta and has a golden E.T.C. to prove it. He enjoys playing Warlock on the ladder and wishes he could get more than five wins in an Arena run. He’s trying desperately to figure out how Hunters always seem to have Call of the Wild on curve.