Deck Overview: Demonlock is a relatively new deck that was created after advent of the Gnomes verses Goblins set, and popularized after Silentstorm’s victory at the ESL Legendary Series Season 1. Unlike Handlock’s focus on Giants, Demonlock runs a large number of powerful demons, which the deck’s Voidcallers can put into play for free. The deck also runs a number of the older Zoo favourites like Nerubian Egg, Abusive Sergeant, and Power Overwhelming to control the board early. Against aggressive decks, it slows your opponent down and allows you to bring your higher cost cards to bear, while against more controlling decks they allow you to present cheap, resilient threats and pressure your opponent.

Decklist: Silentstorm’s Demonlock

Disclaimer: The deck is relatively new and constantly evolving as the metagame shifts and we move towards a more optimized decklist. The list I’ve provided is the most well known and the one I played to write this primer.

Strengths: Any card that can play minions for free is a powerful card, and Voidcaller is certainly powerful in this deck. Using a Voidcaller to play Doomguard, Jaraxxus, or Mal’Ganis for free puts you at a significant advantage in most games. Imp-losion is also a powerful but inconsistent card, ranging from great to terrible depending on RNG. Aside from the decks powerful class cards, it also plays a very effective early board control package that doubles as threats against control. Eggs, Mistresses and Voidwalkers all clog the ground, and then combine with Abusive Sergeant and Power Overwhelming to trade efficiently with your opponents minions.

Weaknesses: The largest weaknesses of the deck are that it lacks removal spells and powerful midgame minions. Demonlock relies on having a comparable number of minions to its opponent and using its buff spells to make its minions stronger. In consequence, the deck has very few answers to any minion with more than 4 health, and often has trouble dealing with commonly played midgame cards like Sludge Belcher and Loatheb. If it gets behind on board, Demonlock usually has to rely on one of its few mass removal spells to get back in the game, or a lucky drop from Voidcaller. Finally, almost every minion in the deck is vulnerable to silence, and sadly one of the core cards of the deck, Mal’Ganis, is weak to Big Game Hunter.

Playing the Deck: It’s important to present a board presence early with this deck, so you should prioritize playing early minions. Build up your board and use spells like Darkbomb, Mortal Coil and Imp-losion liberally to kill your opponent’s minions. Generally you should try trade your Nerubian Eggs at your first opportunity, avoid playing Abusive Sergeant unless you can get some value out of it, as it retains value later in the game to turn a 5 or 6 power minion into a Big Game Hunter target. The deck usually wins by slowly wearing its opponents down with a couple small minions or a single larger minion, but it can also finish the opponent off in a single burst turn if it happens to draw the correct combination of buff spells and burn.

Tips and Tricks: (Some of the Jaraxxus tips carry over from last week)

• In a pinch, you can play Power Overwhelming on a freshly played minion to activate its deathrattle immediately. This is most commonly used with a Voidcaller or Sylvanis.
• Your hero is immune when Mal’Ganis is in play. Your hero power will not damage you.
• When put into play from a Voidcaller, Jaraxxus will not destroy your hero, and Doomguard will not make you discard cards.
• Jaraxxus is technically a minion. You can't play Jaraxxus if you already have a full board of seven minions.
• Jaraxxus has a maximum of 15 health, and can’t be healed beyond it.

This concludes my Demonlock primer! Demonlock is still a new deck, and you can modify it in any way you choose. If you were going to change cards, the first I’d look at swapping out are the Voidwalkers and the Mortal Coils. Sadly I have to advise against playing the deck without at least the class legendaries, as putting Jaraxxus or Mal’Ganis into play off of Voidcaller is much of the decks power.

Your comments and (constructive) criticism of the primers are welcomed and encouraged. I wish to provide the best content that I can, so if I’m missing any information or if you have a tip to share, I’d love to hear about it! Finally, what deck would you like me to cover next? Let me know in the comments below!

Previous Primers: Oil Rogue, Handlock