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Renolock deck list guide - March 2017 (Standard)

How to climb the ladder with the best Renolock deck for Season 36.

Renolock is a Hearthstone deck which takes great advantage of the Warlock's awesome Life Tap ability in order to build an exceptionally fat hand of equally powerful cards. Something you might already have deduced from the name, however, is that the real secret sauce behind this archetype comes from the ability to field Reno Jackson onto the board when you're close to death, and instantly restore your health to maximum.

Given the fact that you've been sacrificing your health to build up a massive hand, your rapid rejuvenation should then place you in a superb position to start taking charge of the match, and dominate it all the way through to the finishing line. Chuck in the potent, potion-crafting powers of Kazakus and you'll find yourself with one seriously fun and flexible deck on your hands! Powerful as it is though, it can be quite tricky to field though, so it's not one we'd recommend for newcomers.

In the next of our Gadgetzan deck spotlights, we're going to take a much closer look at what it is that makes Renolock such a powerful forced to be reckoned with right now. First of all we've outlined what we believe to be the best deck list for the current competitive season, then provided some general strategy advice which should help you understand what exactly it is that makes the deck tick. After that, we've outlined some Mulligan tips to help you make sensible early card picks, before we finish our guide with a list of all the most important combos you need to be thinking about.

Editor's note - March Update: Not a lot has changed for Renolock in what will be the last full month of Gadgetzan before the new Un'Goro set lands. When that happens, Reno will be sailing off into the Wild format forever, so you might want to make the most of things on the ladder this month!

(For the Wild version of this deck, make sure you take a look at our Wild Renolock deck list guide)

BREAKING NEWS! - Don't miss our Journey to Un'Goro guide, which contains everything we know about the next expansion for Hearthstone!

Renolock (Standard) deck list and strategy - March 2017

We think this is just about the most powerful deck list for Renolock in the current Hearthstone season, although do keep in mind that all Gadgetzan continue to undergo a great deal of refinement right now.

This one has quite a few expensive new cards in it, so you might want to give it a pass if you've only got access to limited amounts of crafting dust. A lot of key cards rotate out of the Standard format soon, so be careful what you craft.

WarlockNeutral
1 x Mortal Coil1 x Mistress of Mixtures
1 x Voidwalker1 x Acidic Swamp Ooze
1 x Demonwrath1 x Dirty Rat
1 x Imp Gang Boss1 x Doomsayer
1 x Shadow Bolt1 x Sunfury Protector
1 x Blastcrystal Potion1 x Brann Bronzebeard
1 x Hellfire1 x Earthen Ring Farseer
1 x Shadowflame1 x Mind Control Tech
1 x Siphon Soul1 x Defender of Argus
1 x Abyssal Enforcer1 x Kazakus
1 x Twisting Nether1 x Refreshment Vendor
1 x Lord Jaraxxus1 x Twilight Drake
1 x Second-Rate Bruiser
1 x Emperor Thaurissan
1 x Reno Jackson
1 x Sylvanas Windrunner
1 x Ragnaros the Firelord
1 x Mountain Giant

Alternative Renolock lists

While the deck list outlined above is our recommended one for climbing the ladder this month, you might like to check out some of the other options that are available.

If you're at all familiar with the old Handlock archetype then you shouldn't have too much trouble adapting to this format at all. You'll spend much of the early to mid-game hitting Life Tap in order to fatten up your hand at the expense of your Health. Instead of putting Handlock's defensive wall up in the late-game though, you'll instead power up Reno Jackson for a total reset of your health. From here you're free to start building a deadly fighting force out of what should almost certainly be a superior hand.

As you're doing all this, of course, you also need to ensure you control the opponent's board development - fortunately you have plenty of tools at your disposal to achieve this. In the very earliest turns you can use the likes of Dark Peddler, Imp Gang Boss, Mortal Coil and Shadow Bolt to control the board or gain some kind of minor presence. You must at the same time be fearless though - if you have to hit Life Tap, then do it. This time around, however, you've also got Kazakus and to play around with.

Quite honestly there'll rarely be a bad time to play Emperor Thaurissan onto the board once Turn 6 has rolled around, although the more of your late-game cards that you can cheapen with this powerful minion then the better, of course. If things start to get just a little too close for comfort, you should fire off your Reno Jackson, although you obviously want to cut this timing as fine as possible. In general, don't forget to hit Life Tap before popping this minion as well (just watch your hand size so you don't burn a vital card!)

Although the deck list used by Trump in the video won't be entirely up to date with the latest shifts in the Gadgetzan metagame, we strongly recommend that you take the time to watch how the deck plays out in practice.

Do make sure you watch it all the way to the end though, as it highlights several different games that demand different approaches from the deck.

Cover image for YouTube videoHearthstone: Gadgetzan Prototype - Reno Lock - Oldie But Goodie

Renolock (Standard) Mulligan guide - March 2017

We recommend holding onto Doomsayer, Void Walker, Imp Gang Boss, Mistress of Mixtures and any other cards that fall into your 2/3 Mana curve during the Mulligan phase (except Dirty Rat). Against very aggressive opponents, cards like Hellfire and Mortal Coil become very useful picks as well.

It can be tough to get a good starting hand with Renolock, so don't be afraid to be aggressive in getting your early game plays lined up nice and neatly in front of you.

More great Warlock guides:

Renolock (Standard) tips, combos and synergies - March 2017

A lot has changed for this deck in a very short amount of time, and so we've completely overhauled our combo list to take into account all of the exciting new synergies introduced by the new Gadgetzan cards.

- Every Battlecry effect that's featured in this deck list will be activated twice if Brann Bronzebeard is out on the board when the card in question is played.

- Demonwrath will not damage any Demon class minions that are on either your side of the board, or the opponent's. That last point is crucial!

- You can detonate Sylvanas Windrunner using Shadowflame. Assuming she's active on the board though, don't forget to do something useful with her first before making the sacrifice!

- Make sure you have a good look through our comprehensive Kazakus spell guide for more information on the kind of potions you can craft using this new Legendary minion.

- Every turn that Emperor Thaurissan survives on the board will cause the cards in your hand to become one Mana Crystal less expensive. This becomes increasingly powerful as you approach your late-game plays, allowing you to do more work each turn with creatures that would otherwise have an awkard Mana cost.

- Abyssal Enforcer's Battlecry hits everyone: friendly and enemy minions, as well as both heroes. Watch your health if you're cutting it fine with your Reno Jackson play!

- Twilight Drake gains an extra point of Health for each card in your hand.

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John Bedford avatar

John Bedford

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John is Metabomb's Editor in Chief and looks after the day to day running of the site when he's not writing about Hearthstone.

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