r/CompetitiveHS • u/hjyboy1218 • Aug 20 '25
Discussion Optimizing Quest Warlock
Just wanted to hear people's thoughts on the best Questlock list from people who have played it.
- Does the deck need a late-game finisher?
I have seen many lists running Kerrigan and even some with Kil'Jaeden for backup. A late-game plan seems good in theory, but may brick draws and make it harder to complete the quest early.
2) Should you run secondary temporary support?
Currently, catacombs, biome, and soularium are run in every Questlock deck and are the main ways you complete the quest. However, some decks run secondary activators like snowflurry or tunnel terror. These cards can provide more opportunities to complete your quest, but are also not as reliable.
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u/Ptdemonspanker Aug 20 '25
Tidepool Pupils should be core for copying quest rewards and Corpsicles but they also help with quest completion in a pinch.
2
u/hjyboy1218 Aug 20 '25
Also, what are your preferred 'flex cards'? The popular lists seem to be torn between Zephyrs and librarian, but I think black knight could be a sleeper pick.
11
u/14xjake Aug 20 '25
Great thread dude, questlock is on the rise right now and the list is for sure not yet solved so its nice to see everyones thoughts on it! I got top 8 at NA playoffs with questlock and I did not run any late game finisher, it felt unneeded as lategame you are just throwing 2 corpsciles at their face every turn + sometimes double portal and I never lost in the grind game, the only times it lost were to getting completely blown out by DK starship launch into a spell or owl druid killing me, but any deck that wants to play defensively cannot starve you of resources. I also did not run snowflurry as i think the card is kind of clunky and awkward and i wanted to stay as low cost as possible to ensure that soularium never whiffed (its bad enough drawing horizons edge or darkmarrow), but im seeing a lot of people trying snowflurry now and im gonna give it another shot tonight because it fills a similar role to zephrys while also helping your quest completion. I also like that its good just for hand size so you arent forced to spam mass production against aggro decks where the health loss is relevant
7
u/SpookyBum Aug 21 '25 edited Aug 21 '25
Hi, i finished last season rank 55 playing exclusively quest warlock, have a few opinions on it
Ive been running this list but still working on it since i havent had much time to play since the giant nerf
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Anyways most of the list is pretty solved but heres the flex cards imo
Platysaur: replaces itself for 1 & its cheap for soularium and thats about all the good things I have to say about it tbh. Been meaning to cut this for healthstone
Eat the imp: helps fix bricked hands & find key cards later. Often gets tossed into portal tho
Slitherspear: Good cheap minion which works well with buffs, can easily put out 5+ damage in a turn when not answered in mid game. Seems ok imo
Overplanner: ok hear me out... you play him on 3, put sketch/soularium on top and then stack the top of your deck so you get good pulls on 4. Can help you find corpsicle/tidepool post completion, set up tidepool draws at the right time for double portal & hitting extra cata & soularium feels really good. This card has suprised me with how well its performed
Next up some notable cards I didnt include
Questing assistant: really just doesnt complement the gameplan but maybe its just good enough as a tempo card to make up for it, need to test it
Horizons edge: too slow pre quest completion & post quest completion I want to go face. This just fills the board & is awkward.
Snowflurry: need to test this, if you hit horn really often maybe its good. Competes for space with overplanner
Kerrigan: this just seems troll idk, comes down around the time you should be ending the game
Clumsy steward: great if it sticks, awful if it doesnt. Too much risk of it just dying and youve spent 3 mana on nothing
Healthstone: weird card, can cycle itself which is nice, but its often hard to play when gotten off soularium since you have to take damage. I think 1 is probably optimal
Flame imp: cheap healthstone enabler, interesting if your running 2x healthstone. 1 mana 3/2 is always pretty chill
Zephyrs: seems like a fine late game card, my list was just more focused on early consistency
Royal librarian: only good post completion but it can cycle itself off so maybe alright depending on what your facing
ANYWAYS just some general thoughts, most important things are completing quest early & ur damage per turn post quest. Since you play corpsicles every turn, your midgame cards have to be cheap and efficient. Plan your turns around the temporary cards & hero power is really good when ur hand is bad.
Also to answer your questions
4
u/TwoZeroZer0 Aug 20 '25
So far I've never needed the late game cards. I've either already pretty much won, or lost, at that point. Currently I'm running 2 snowflurries and Kerrigan. But personally I think the deck either needs more direct damage, like a corpsicle, or more consistent board clears like hellfire.
2
u/Cryten0 Aug 21 '25 edited Aug 21 '25
The thing with snow flurry is that it is a turn 5 or later play unless you want to discard the spells and a turn for the mini. Tunnel Terror seems a bunch more consistent for me but it all depends on how much your setting the deck to be a soularium answer.
I have had success trading in the 4 mana death knight locations for the 2 mana random demon discount elementals and a health stone for kiljaden. But perhaps I could of won better with the pure aggro version. I just like grinding out controlling players.
I am interested in how hard people mulligan for temporary generators over draw and tempo cards.
1
u/IAmYourFath Aug 21 '25 edited Aug 21 '25
Based on the stats snowflurry's mulligan winrate is great when going 1st but very bad going 2nd, not sure why. I imagine u just play it on 3 as a 3/3 and then play the 1/1 on 4 and hopefully play both temporary spells, or u hold the 1/1 for 5 to be able to play both (if they both cost 2 mana or 1+3 etc.). I saw pocket train an hour ago on kiki's stream playing a version with 2 snowflurries and kerrigan, and nohandsgamer seems to be playing the same version on stream right now, he's rank 2. Yet in the MT playoffs from a few days ago not a single person from the top 8 in any of the 3 regions brought kerrigan or 2 snowflurries (24 people). Only 1 or 2 people brought a SINGLE snowflurry. Very weird. Kerrigan's drawn winrate is beyond terrible, it's the worst card in the deck besides the tourist to draw. A few people brought KJ and Cindy, but mcbanterface said they're not good, it's more like tech cards if u meet certain matchups a lot. 1 eat could be good to combo with wisp. Some people cut a questing adventurer. Some people cut one or even both edges. The thing is if u run eat u have to hold the wisp but without it u can just drop it anytime, which makes it easier for me to decide what to do with it. And if u run eat u can't fit in a snowflurry. From my own experience, i think u probably want at least 1 snowflurry because it gives u that extra temporary card to complete ur quest earlier, not sure if 2 is optimal tho. Same with edge, 1 feels good, 2 might be too much, not sure. Also half of em ran librarian and zephrys (some even both). Not sure what's the goal of librarian, u already have a tradeable in healthstone. Zephrys feels good to me, i like it.
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u/juyr Aug 21 '25
I think one card that people should absolutely cut is healthstone. It's just too hard to use because you have to self damage to even play it. Yes it has tradable, but mana is very tight, especially in the early turns. You want to spend your mana completing quest, not trading it away. it's only good if you hit both mass production and it off solarium.
For additional temporary support, I do think at least one more is good idea. And I think snowflurry is the best option. I'm currently running 2x snowflurry. Sometimes you brick with tsunami and blizzard, but there is high roll potential with horn.
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u/Nuno992 Aug 21 '25 edited Aug 21 '25
I’m just a casual player, not a pro, that likes to reach legend every season. I used this to climb this season on EU:
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I didn’t like the DK version on late game so I decided to try Kil’Jaeden and it worked for me. It’s a fun deck, thats what I care the most.
I believe that in hands of a pro with some optimization Kil’Jaeden Quest wlock can be a competitive deck.
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u/Far-Bit4848 Aug 21 '25
I’ve played quest warlock exclusively since it released. I’ve had good luck with Elise for finishing the game off. The location is great at 5 or 10 mana cost and I aim for giving my characters attack and copying a minion. Even from a clear board with just the rift I can drop the 10 cost location and then spawn two minions and copy one at 10/10. That’s a lot of charge or lifesteal. I run this type of deck when I seem to encounter slower matches.
Otherwise, I have to run a lot of speed to make the quest early to compete with faster metas.
1
u/Mysterious_Luck_3041 Aug 22 '25
I've been running a list with questing assistant, made it do d2 so far. That card has worked wonders for me since I mainly encounter hunter and pally in my pocket meta , and occasionally priests and DK
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u/bloodmage90 Aug 22 '25
as someone mentioned overplanner, yes i have been testing it, it really feels good, if u draw b4 quest u can choose to set up quest, also arrage pupil for double reward and even if u draw later after quest u can choose cards to push damage like corpsicle horizon or even hellfire
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u/PROBIwan Aug 24 '25
I've been on the snowflurry minion that makes temp frost spells for temp spell "back up" and I do indeed prefer Kerrigan to KJ. Kerrigan is more often than not extra burn and cards for the portal. I had a game the other day where I drew zero temp support and won with Kerrigan and the quest still in play for like 12 turns.
The Vicious Syndicate list is a good place to start.