My thought about the current format

I got all the ways to rank 150 legend in NA server, then stand still at that place. It isn't that I'm coward, but I figure that it's pointless to grind to top rank at the moment. The favor in legend ladder is either miracle or anti miracle. If you play decks that don't fall into either one of these two categories, you may have to make sure your deck functions well enough to keep up with the etablished decks. I have been watching Realz's stream for days, there's no doubt that his skill is good and he rarely makes misplay, but by the end of each stream session, he would stay around rank 60-200 anyway, because of heavy RNG/bad draws he occasionally had.

My main is handlock as always, of course it's techy enough to earn the surprise factor in my favor, but I don't feel 100% confident when I ladder with it. The deck is still vulnerable to counters.

So yeah, until next season, I will just turtle and try various things to smoothen my handlock. No try hard, no top 16 grind.

How to beat shaman as handlock?

I'm going to quote my post from hearthpwn forum to this blog, since I believe it's easier to maintain control of it. Threads may get bumped up and down, after all. The original post could be found here: http://www.hearthpwn.com/forums/class-discussion/warlock/12882-how-to-fight-shaman-with-handlock#c9

- Save Hellfire for Feral, or any kind of board with Flametongue.

- Save Shadowflame for any board that include Feral and/or Azure Drake.

- Save Siphon for Fire Elys.

- Play Alex/Jaraxxus after they unleash reach spells on you, like Bolts, Donghammer+Rockbiter, or Lava Burst. Generally at this stage you might die anyway so the better play should be play a very huge board protected by taunts, then next turn Alex/Jaraxxus.

- In early turns, if they want to turtle with Squires and tokens to set up free bodies for Flametongue, don't hesitate to throw out some random 2 or 3 drops to force Shaman to clear it, whether it's Owl, Earthen, BGH, Sunfury, Argus etc. If they Bolt/Rockbiter it, it's still perfectly fine because they now have less reach spells and their curve is getting fk up byoverload.

- Ideal handlock hand with Giants and Drakes should just ignore tiny shaman minions and go for face, tap when you have taunts to set up cheap Moltens. When they run out of Flametongues, Hexes or cards in hand, you win outright. Jaraxxus is a backup plan if they decide to try hard and Lightning Storm your 2 moltens and suicide their potatoes into yours.

- If your hand isn't ideal, then buy time with Hellfire/Flame, any kind of janky taunts like Watcher, Senjin etc, and trade with Azure thanks to Coil or Soulfire.

- Calculate their lethal damage every turn. I personally don't factor in gimmicky cards like Bloodlust or Leeroy Windfury, but I do count 2x Lava Burst, or Donghammer+2x Rockbiter.

- Just concede if you lose to any kind of shaman that run BGH or TBK. You can't afford to play around them...

 - Tbh I believe Drakes are an integral part of Handlock. Having at least 2 more health than Yeti definitely improves your winrate vs Warrior and Priest and Miracle by a lot. It also bypasses most single reach spells of Freeze (Giant) mage, so they have to rely on ping+Blizzard+Flamestrike, or Doomsayer to do clear Drake. You can take out everything except Drakes, and 4 giants.

From rank 150 legend Handlock ~~