TGT Warlock Control Line Route Dragon King Art Deck Sharing

The owner has always been a fan of control decks, and the most beloved are the various variants of the Warlock Hand Spell genre, represented by the Great King Spell. However, we have to admit that since GVG, most of the variants of Hand Spells, including the owner's favorite Great King Spell, have lost their T1 status. Regardless of the number of changes brought by the subsequent series, these sets have fallen from T1 to the T2 queue, and if the luck is a little bit closer, it is possible to fall directly into T3 (regarding the owner's understanding of T1 to T3 may be different from everyone else's, which will be accompanied by explanations in the following). Looking at the whole picture, in fact, this is not because of the hand magic genre itself out of the problem, but the entire Hearthstone environment is more and more unfriendly to the control type sets. Once the ice method, milk riding, dirty pastor, wall German, defense and hand magic of these 6 kinds of ideas of control type sets are among the ranks of T1, but with the change of the times, now can barely count on the ranks of T1 (also has been on the edge of the edge of the) is only left in the defense of a family. Therefore, as a favorite control set, the owner has always tried every possible way, hoping to find a way out, so that the hand magic genre can bring back at least one set of cards that can reach T1 strength. Here today the owner will introduce a set that, after TGT and after many attempts, feels has the most potential to reach the above goal - Dragonlord Art!

Attachment - To add to the owner's understanding of the set gradient:

T1 - Active on the ladder, the most mainstream group, i.e., the sets that show up on the ladder from time to time. This means that these sets have a relatively obvious wide range of viability in the ladder, and their strength stands up to the ladder test. And these sets are also regulars in tournaments. In the current environment, Buddha Ride, Medium Speed Hunt, Zoo, Roaring Virtue, and Slave Warfare are still the mainstays of this ladder. T7 Hunting and Defense Warfare, which were relatively common in this tier before, have decreased a lot in the last two weeks, but their very well-established modes of operation still feel significantly stronger, so they should be considered to be on the fringes of this tier at the moment.

T2--There are also appearances in the ladder, obviously a group of people to compete for the T1 strength, with the changing environment, the sets in which there are popular candidates and the existence of relatively cold (some classification will directly distinguish these two into different gradients, but the owner believes that from the perspective of the actual combat, the strength of these sets is actually There is not much difference between the strengths of these sets from a practical point of view). And there is no shortage of these decks that will show up in tournaments. For example, in the current environment, Shifting Sa, Dragon Shepherd, Dragon Warrior, Beast Derby are the hot newcomers competing for T1 strength, while old favorites such as Mechanical Law, Rhythmic Law, and Enchanted Shepherd have been fighting hard since they fell to T2, striving to one day reclaim their former throne. As for the various variants of Hand Spells mentioned by the owner (Maharaja Spells, Evil Magic, Blue Dragon Spells), etc., for the time being they are among those sets that, while still having the strength of this tier, are clearly not very good, have gone cold, and are in danger of continuing to be relegated to the lower tiers. The good thing is that it still has appearances in tournaments, so it's not forgotten.

T3 - Sets in this tier are now extremely rare in the ladder, and even rarer as far as tournaments go. They are likely to be less suited to this era, and crucially, often fail to defend against those T1 tier sets, unlike T2 tier sets that still have some chance of winning against T1s. An obvious example of this is the fact that other control sets are in a much worse position than hand spells. For example, Ice, Milk Ride, Dirty Ranch, and Walled City are now clearly in this category. In addition, the new environment began to hide the knife oil thief also clearly recedes into this level.

T4--This level is not much to talk about, it's just a recreational idea of building a deck, if it's built properly, it also has some strength, but it's too easy to be targeted, unlike those decks in the previous gradient which are so widely applicable. For example, in the new environment, the owner has tried the War Horse Art, and once the dead language pastor, the heart fire pastor, weapon war, explosive card thief. Although there are people who have used these sets of cards to achieve results, but generally is to find a good time to harvest victory by surprise. The problem with these decks is that once they are targeted a little bit, they can't get up again. Even if they are not targeted, these decks have obvious weaknesses, unlike the previous decks which have at least a 30% chance of winning even in disadvantageous matchups. These decks have little to no chance of winning against their own disadvantageous matchups (e.g. War Horsemanship against Slave Warfare, which is a no-win situation).

T5--This one is just a bunch of newbies who don't know how to set up their own decks, or just purely recreational decks based on their preferences. Of course, some of these decks are the result of people's brainstorming in new environments, but in the end, it turns out that one of those brainstorms didn't turn out to be very good. Well, I've had my share of these brainstorming moments, such as the discard spells I tried when this environment came out, and the strength of them was shockingly low. However, this gradient is a breeding ground for all sorts of oddball ideas in Hearthstone, and one day they might just turn around and turn themselves into a phoenix, and anything is possible!

Back to the main text, the owner shares a set of cards that are also trying to compete with the T1 strength of the hand art genre - Dragon King Art:

Set Ideas

This set is actually a slight modification of the TGT version of the Blue Dragon Art. In the current environment, both Dragonlord Art and Evil Magic feel slow-paced. In a world where "environmental slowdown" has become a joke, the only way to stay on top of the game is to control the tempo. Blue Dragon Art has the most reinforcements from TGT and has the best chance of competing for T1. However, the owner has abandoned Blue Dragon King here, and the reason for doing so is that the chances of hitting a Blue Dragon King decimating COMBO in real life are actually too few. Because everyone now knows that Hearthstone needs to be pre-field, spells such as Dark Bomb and Soulfire, which were beautifully intended to be used as kills, have to be used on pre-field fights. And as more and more of these nasty field followers appear, there's no way to fight for the field without the aid of these spells. So in the end, the Blue Dragon King becomes just a decoration. Instead, the owner simply discarded the Blue Dragon King altogether and kept the Red Dragon Queen. After all, Red Dragon Queen is the most offensively and defensively effective dragon.

In the end, the deck went for 6 dragons a **** - the 2 Twilight Hatchlings are traditional for Surgery decks, but in the face of increasing Silence, they're sometimes just used to stay in hand for triggering effects; the new Twilight Guardian from TGT fills in the 4-cost curve as well as being a quality pre-tempo Taunt follower that can effectively deter fast attackers. Can effectively curb fast attack, the actual dragon set of necessities; then TGT also added the legendary dragon ice throat is also a very good choice, it can effectively defend the current mainstream means of killing a variety of (including roaring German and slave wars), but also a really can play the role of the environment to slow down the role of a single card; and finally is the aforementioned red dragon queen, although most of the time to stay in the hand used to trigger the special effects, but the need to time to milk a mouth, or spray the enemy. The last is the aforementioned Red Dragon Queen, although most of the time it is left in the hand to trigger special effects, but when needed, it can be used to milk a mouthful of milk, or spray the enemy to facilitate the final kill is a good choice. From the actual battle experience, although there are a few times when you can't touch the dragon and can't trigger various effects, the density of 6 dragons is quite acceptable. Moreover, the art of hand magic is born with the advantage of hand cards, so this configuration is not bad. Just be aware that if you only have 1 dragon in your hand, try to save it for triggering effects instead of using it directly. The main triggers for this deck are Blackwing Technician and Blackwing Corruptor, and of course the Ice Roar mentioned above. All of these effects, once triggered, can give the deck a considerable tempo advantage. This is the fundamental reason for choosing the Utility Dragon set idea.

Then, the deck is called "Dragonlord" in the sense that, in addition to enabling the Dragonlord idea, it also retains the Maharaja idea. So you can see that the deck also uses a single card, the Maharaja. And such regulars in the Maharaja Spell as Sludge Thrower and Old Driver are also essential. Because of these components, the deck is able to capitalize on the tempo advantage of the Dragon set idea, while also having the innate late-game advantage of the Maharaja spell. The later the game progresses, the more you can be pulled into the deck's tempo, and ultimately, the more you can strike back and win with a semi-control mindset. In order to achieve these purposes, some of the traditional functional followers of Maharaja's Art are naturally indispensable, such as Little Soft and Owl are very good environmental response cards, and Ace and Siphon are the rare hard solutions of the set, which are all necessary for the control set. The Queen has always been one of the best choices among the orange cards for hand spells, and the strongest clearing effect with Shadowflame speaks for itself. And then Dr. Bang Bang is a quality single card used by almost every mid-slow oriented set since GVG, nothing more to explain. And in order to deal with the early part of the battle, some low cost curves in the set are indispensable, such as Deadly Entanglements and Bombs are the best quality early removal type spells, and Kid Chief is the strongest single card that Warlock got in Blackrock Mountain, there is no need to say more about how useful it is. In terms of clearing the field, 2 Inferno Flame + 1 Shadow Flame is a standard that can help Warlock control the current mainstream environment, essential.

Finally, the owner would like to talk about some of the single cards that were discarded. First of all, because the blue dragon king abandoned, so the soul fire also followed the unnecessary to use. Then the Great Emperor is also abandoned, because in this deck, in addition to the 8-cost Shadow Flame + Queen of this special COMBO, as well as 10-cost transformation of the King of the turn to summon hellfire this kind of scenario, the Great Emperor can not bring obvious cost reduction benefits. So this deck doesn't need Archon. Similarly, since the deck also has more low-cost curves, there is no need for Fizban. Then in terms of spells, the owner didn't use the current anti-field artifact Kid Blast, mainly because card-wise, other single cards are more important than it. Because the deck doesn't have a Flying Dagger, Two Kings, Rikidai, or anything like that, then with a darker face, Kid Blast is just a 4-cost spell that plays 2 spawns and 2 kids, and it's not worth giving up the other options to activate it.

Matchup Notes

VS Hunter

Mid-speed hunters dominate the ladder at the moment, with some T7 hunters remaining. It's important to start with Bomb and Deadly Stalker to get rid of the Hunter's low cost followers quickly. The first thing you need to do is to get your hands on some of the most powerful creatures in the world, and you'll be able to do that in a hurry. In addition, if you feel that nine times out of ten, your opponent is a mid-speed hunter, it is best to keep the trump card in your starting hand. Nowadays, medium speed hunters usually bring Dr. Bang Bang, if you don't have a trump card and get crushed by Dr. Bang, it's not worth it. As for the hunter's lion, as long as you have enough creatures in the early game to press the field, then you won't be too worried about a turn 6 lion. Of course the best thing is to get the Queen on the field before your opponent does, and then the results can be quite different.

Overall, Hunter is still the arch-enemy of hand-to-hand combat, and even with its excellent tempo, this deck is still under a lot of pressure when it comes to Hunter. There are times when you have to fight the Hunter for blood, because if you don't catch the Old Driver and other healing, you're likely to lose too much blood in the early stages and be taken away by the Hunter in the late stages. So why don't you just fight a little bit and force the hunters to come in and untangle the field instead?

VS Knight

The main thing here is to play against Buddha Rider. It's important to look for low-cost followers to stand in front of, but it's even more critical to look for Inferno Flame to clear the field! Avoid being puffed up by a bunch of minions. Of course Ace Hunter is also very good against Buddha.

This deck isn't as passive as traditional hand spells in the early game, and it doesn't leave very many cards in hand to be overly earned by Divine Enchantment. So one detail here is to try to activate as few warlock skills as possible to earn cards (this is similar to playing hunters, who use skills sparingly to avoid dropping blood). Unless your hand is really bad, you should only use your skills to fight.

Overall, this is a normal matchup against Buddha Rider, not better or worse, and everyone has a chance.

VS Warrior

Because this deck is still fast-paced, it actually has a bit of an advantage against the current Warrior. You don't need to keep untap cards in your starting hand, and try to find dragons and low-cost followers to pressure the field. If your opponent is a Slave Warrior, it's best to find Ice Roar, which is an effective defense against your opponent's kills. Hellblazer is a good way to clear out a Slavemaster that your opponent has been laying down, and Bomb is a good way to kill Bitterness and avoid getting a big win. If the opponent is a defense, it's actually a bit easier, because the deck can continue to pressure the opponent. The only thing you need to keep in mind is to keep the Queen + Shadowflame COMBO to avoid being flipped by your opponent's tile king pulling a bunch of big brothers out.

Overall, this deck is considered an advantageous matchup against Warrior, and it's generally not a big problem if you don't get seriously stuck.

VS Mages

Currently, the remaining mages on the ladder are mainly mechanical and tempo. The two will not be too different in the early performance, just mechanical laying the field faster, while the center of the rhythm method is the fire demon. Against them, you need to go against them like a zoo set, and keep exchanging them with attachments until you have an AOE to clear the field smoothly and then counterattack. Avoid being robbed of too much blood by your opponent and then eat two Fireballs to be taken away.

Since Mage has the ability to hit the face directly, but not as fast as Hunter, the Great King and Red Dragon will be more important, and milking them that much in the late game often becomes a key turn.

Overall, it's kind of an even matchup (it feels like Warlocks are more annoyed by enemies that can directly hit the face), and the opponent's direct face spells are used to untap more or are not drawn, so Warlocks have a big advantage, and vice versa, it's a small one.

VS Pastor

Now the pastor to the dragon pastor as the mainstream, and this set is also a dragon set of ideas, is considered to be a showdown. Although the number of dragons and the application of the priest than the warlock density, but this set of other single card selection does not lose priests. And the ability to replenish cards has a hero skill gatekeeper, and there is also the ultimate great king can spell late, so it will not be false.

Overall, it's an advantageous matchup, so play it yourself.

VS Shaman

Midrange Shaman is a bit of a headache, and the key is that its Quack and Silence are very much in check with this deck. The first and middle stages of Shaman's game are now as good as Warlock's, so it's a bit of a struggle to beat them. And the shaman to the late stage there are a variety of empty field kill means, always give the warlock threat. In order to win the key, or to find the hellfire, shadow flame these AOE, and then help our follower anti-field, and constantly put pressure on the opponent, forcing it to hand over the solution. Once the opponent Silence and Transformation surrendered (even if only 1, can be a little bit of a gamble), then the Twilight Cub, Queen and Ice Roar and so on can bring a great threat to the opponent, otherwise these cards go down is to give away, loss of their own death.

Counting, this is a small disadvantage matchup, not as dangerous as Hunter, but still difficult.

VS Druid

Traditional Greater King spells are actually a bit more annoying to Roaring Druid, but this deck puts a lot of pressure on Roaring Druid. Plus there's an abundance of taunt followers in the set and the presence of Ice Roar, so there's not a lot of pressure. Enough to start off with Twilight Hatchling only as a trigger effect, and don't play it easily if your opponent doesn't turn in a Silence, then it's not much of a problem. The first thing you need to do is to get a Twilight Young Dragon, which is often the start of a losing game.

Generally speaking, it's an advantageous matchup, but be careful not to play it by yourself.

VS Thief

The Thief is pretty well hidden at the moment, and this deck doesn't put much pressure on Knife and Oil Thief. The followers are big and hard to take out. Thieves are often forced to turn in their mulligans early on, which makes them safe for taunting later on.

There's not much to say, this is an absolutely dominant matchup.

VS Warlock

Inside the game, it's still mainly about dealing with Zoo, which feels similar to the mechanical method, and finding AOE is key. In the early stages of the exchange of high-quality low-cost follower, and then AOE wave of clearing the field under a variety of taunts and big brother, then you can win. Against Zoo only 55 open, Zoo is a set and any set can force 55 open set, enduring.

And as for the other hand spell types, this deck actually can't beat the most traditional classic Maharaja spells, which are really bad matchups. But against others, such as Blue Dragon Spell and Evil Magic it's all half-assed and able to go 55 for 55.

In summary, this deck is currently the only one in the Hand Spells genre that still feels like it's competing for T1 strength in the current environment. Of course, as the environment slowly changes, everything is not necessarily. Anyway, for those who like Hand Spells, you can give it a try.