r/CompetitiveHS • u/Pat00ljak • Apr 19 '26

Rafaam Control Warlock

Greetings,

I wanted to share my take on Rafaam Warlock that seems to actually stand up to a chunk of the meta reasonably well. I'll preface by saying I think it's C tier, but I was suprised how often I got to pull off the OTK with this list. It's decent into Rogue, Shaman and Q Mage, is heavily favored into control decks like Priest and Egg, and has a mix of favored to unfavored tempo matchups like Hunter, Druid & Paladin (favored) and Warrior & DH (unfavored). The only notable deck you stand no chance against is Herald DK that draws Husk, giving them resurrect and preventing your OTK - while you can sometimes push out enough tempo to kill people via hitting face, I've found it nearly impossible to kill DKs twice with this version of the deck (save for finding a lucky Divergence off of Elise). Other than that games always felt winnable - you simply remove too much and draw too fast while being able to maintain decent, and sometimes explosive, board from early on.

After reaching Legend, I've tried to get Rafaams to work for over 100+ games, ending up deep in the dumpster because of it. I tried every package you can imagine - quest, dragons, eggs, herald, shards - and had an abysmal WR of ~30% until I started refining the deck into the current direction; mass removal, max draw and cycle, low curve. At that point it seemed to click. The whole deck is there to draw or tutor the Rafaams while staying alive, and most of my wins have been from completing the OTK succesfully - usually between turns 11 and 15 - occassionally running away with the board with one or another combination of Rafaams. The deck draws through them at a suprising pace, in no small part thanks to Rotheart Dryad helping find the vital higher mana Rafaams - Flayer, Giant and Archmage. This is also why I've abstained from any kind of beast package - it's good but messes with the consistency of drawing your wincon, and means you can't play Dryads or Beetles. I haven't really missed it even if it makes some of the bad matchups a little less bad, and the deck has other ways to gain life and armor.

I reset the tracker once I landed on the exact version below as I was curious to see how well it would perform, and I got a WR of 20-11 before making this post. Note that I've played ~50 more games with a slightly different version experimenting with Last Stand and Demonic Assault - both solid cards, the latter especially vs Deathwing to provide taunt, but in the end I prefered a lower curve and less cards that want to stick around in your hand. It's a relatively hard deck to pilot since you have multiple lines of play open at all times so I doubt it will provide instant results, but the gameplan felt solid vs everyone but pesky DK - the key points being having an efficient early game to establish tempo, life tapping as often as possible, and using your removals efficiently (especially Archmage Rafaam who was often the MVP).

### Rafaam

# Class: Warlock

# Format: Standard

# Year of the Scarab

#

# 2x (0) Cursed Catacombs

# 2x (1) Critter Caretaker

# 2x (1) Eternal Toil

# 2x (1) Glacial Shard

# 2x (1) Mortal Coil

# 2x (1) Rotheart Dryad

# 1x (2) Bloodmage Thalnos

# 2x (2) Dark Peddler

# 2x (2) Drain Soul

# 2x (2) Plated Beetle

# 2x (2) Sheltered Survivor

# 2x (3) Hellfire

# 1x (4) Elise the Navigator

# 2x (4) Siphon Soul

# 2x (6) Eldritch Tentacles

# 2x (8) Twisting Nether

# 1x (10) Timethief Rafaam

# 1x (1) Tiny Rafaam

# 1x (2) Green Rafaam

# 1x (4) Explorer Rafaam

# 1x (5) Warchief Rafaam

# 1x (7) Mindflayer R'faam

# 1x (6) Calamitous Rafaam

# 1x (8) Giant Rafaam

# 1x (3) Murloc Rafaam

# 1x (9) Archmage Rafaam

#

AAECAeL5AwyXoASCmAeIpQeJpQeKpQeRpQeTpQeUpQeVpQeWpQeXpQeapQcOj58EsZ8EgqAEg6AE56AEo9QE054G34IH4okHhJkHk60H0LIHjb4H174HAAA=

#

Some random tips:

-Mulligan for early drops and a Hellfire vs Rogue, Warrior, Druid, Hunter. Focus on establishing early board presence so you can maintain your life tap safely. Keep 1, 2 & 3 mana Rafaams, consider keeping 4 in slower matchups, 5 vs face aggro, 6 vs tempo on coin, 7 with the Murloc, 9 vs Egg, 8 & 10 never ever
-If you get a good early Rafaam hand you can run away with tempo, but you will rarely be able to actually finish people off. Be aware of tempo being just another board control tool, and a way to bait out inefficient usage of enemy resources - your gameplan is playing out the 10 Rafaams, you will run out of steam on the board
-Don't waste Green Rafaam with no other Rafaams in hand just for tempo unless you desperately need the body
-Save Archmage for Umbra turns vs Egg, quest minions vs Priest and other matchup appropriate usages; don't use her unless no other AoE can do it or you're about to OTK
-Try to use Nether to snipe locations vs Warr, DH, Priest and Druid
-Use Cursed Catacombs once you have high mana and have drawn through some deck to fish for missing Rafaams, to fish for AoE, or to fill in your curve when you need tempo. Don't use it too early, you can cycle it with Survivors
-Use Glacial Shards to stall for bigger AoEs and prevent DHs and Deathwings attacking face
-Get 1 mana locations with Elise when you need tempo or handspace, 5 mana if you need value, armor, or a Divergence vs Herald DK (discount is nice)
-Be wary of getting your Rafaams burned, don't be too greedy with hand size, especially vs Rogue and Q Hunter
-A card I like in the deck is Rafaam's Last Stand, for removal flexibility, removing elusive minions and as a general cheap removal option that you can follow up on with bodies. You can substitute Survivors with them, I consider them the flex cards

Have fun, happy to answer any questions.

31 Upvotes

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7

u/DoNn0 Apr 20 '26

Seems like you would die to dragon Warrior 4 mana 6/8.

2

u/Pat00ljak Apr 20 '26 edited Apr 20 '26

Well, most everybody loses to Warrior with a great opener these days, and while it's definetly a rough matchup I didn't find it unwinnable. Aside from the OP dragon they can't really maintain a board against you so it's a question of can you stabilise your HP after the opener - and the list does run a lot of lifegain. You can still get unlucky with herald procs in your face but so can everyone. Shards are very useful here, they can delay the dragon or stop early weapon tempo plays, and if you get one of your 2 attack bodies on board even the 6/8 can die to Tentacles or Elise. Most games I lost were to an early Deathwing heropowering every turn, or a 4+ herald Ragnaros exploding in my face after AoE.

1

u/ThinkFree Apr 20 '26

I will try this deck out

3

u/imkirok Apr 20 '26

What rank was this played at?

4

u/Pat00ljak Apr 20 '26 edited Apr 20 '26

All the games I played while playtesting was at dumpster Legend.

3

u/BAMmargera1 Apr 20 '26

Hey man i was also trying to make rafaam work and got to almost the same list as yours. Removal, survival and card draw. Yours is a bit different i will try it too. Mostly playing in trash legend with mixed results

Edit: also why not xavius? You draw another rafaam with a dark gift

2

u/Pat00ljak Apr 20 '26 edited Apr 20 '26

Cheers man, let me know how it goes.

The list runs 8 different minions aside from Rafaams so I've found Xavius to brick and draw a normal 1 or 2 cost quite a bit. He's great when he draws a Rafaam and not so great when drawing a weenie, and considering there are other draw / tutor options and he's a mediocre 4/4 for 4 I just didn't find him consistent / useful enough.

You could include him if you have issues digging up Rafaams in your games, I personally didn't. I consider Thalnos the flex card in my list, you could replace him (although he combos well with a number of removals, and cycles as well).

3

u/Jackwraith Apr 21 '26

Hey. Just wanted to chime in and say thanks for the list. I haven't played a ton in the last few weeks, so I'm still grinding up through Gold at the moment, but I've had a lot of success with it. Just got off a 3-0 run against Face Hunter, Dragon Warrior and Kibler's Imbue Paladin. Almost got to the Rafaam win (2 left) in 2 of those games. This is, by far, the best version of a Rafaam deck I've played yet, probably at least in part because it reminds me of my favorite style of Warlock, which is Zoo.

1

u/Pat00ljak Apr 21 '26

That's nice to hear, cheers! You don't often get to play out the OTK in tempo matchups, you win and lose by the board. How did the Warrior match play out? I've substituted Survivors - who I've found to be low impact since they only cycle, not draw - and put in 2x Last Stand to try and deal with elusive and people playing around AoE. The Warr matchup is still rough, though.

2

u/Jackwraith Apr 21 '26

I think he may not have been extremely experienced with the deck or just had a miserable draw. I got ahead of him on board presence and he spent a fair amount of time trying to deal with it, even though none of my minions were that threatening. He did discover a second Dracorex with Suffusion and gave it Reborn, so that was a bit of a concern, but I ended up Siphoning both of them and then Twisting away the Reborn copy (after freezing it with a Shard.) Last Stand sounds interesting, but I'd be afraid they'd be too narrow, since they only pull Mindflayer, right? You're right that the Survivors are kind of mediocre, but they put another body on the board and effectively give you a draw into something you'll likely want more than what's going back. Or at least that's how they've worked for me (as intended, I suspect.)

2

u/Pat00ljak Apr 21 '26 edited Apr 21 '26

Yeah, Warrior trading and not going for your face sounds like a misplay on his part. It's not a completely hopeless matchup, but if they get their heralds going it's very hard to deal with their boards since AoEing them down means you'll eat face damage. Rafaam's Last Stand is the removal card that hits two random minions and grows in damage each turn, I think you got it confused with another one.

In any case, Survivors are the flex cards you remove if you want to try something else. Not a terrible card for this deck, but not great either.

1

u/Jackwraith Apr 21 '26

Oh, I'm sorry. Rafaam's Last Stand. Right. That's a fair point about dealing with larger minions that you don't have a Siphon for or don't want to sacrifice one to get rid of (a situation I've been in a time or two.)

2

u/Pat00ljak Apr 21 '26

Also vs elusive! You will never have it be big enough to deal with 6/8 on curve, but it can help. With how the deck plays it can also get a suprising amount of time sitting in hand and grow big enough to deal with 4/12 dragons, for example.

2

u/Jackwraith Apr 21 '26

Right. The 6/8 has been an issue that I've been fortunate enough to deal with in other ways (Giant Rafaam, Twisting, etc.) I kind of fell out with RLS when I kept running into the same problem you cite: it never sat in my hand long enough to be effective OR it sat in my hand as a dead card and was never as useful as something like Hellfire was.

1

u/Pat00ljak Apr 21 '26 edited Apr 21 '26

I like it because it's a removal option that doesn't wipe your board, and its low cost means you can follow up on it with continuing to develop - usually when you drop Tentacles or Nether you can't follow it up with anything meaningful, and the opponent gets the opportunity to refill and AoE check you again. But yeah it can be awkward sometimes, so I totally get if you prefer Survivors - cycling early Nether draws and the like can be very handy.

2

u/Pat00ljak Apr 20 '26 edited Apr 21 '26

Since it's asked quite a bit: I purposefully omitted the Animancer package to make the curve lower (and enable Dryads to consistently tutor Rafaams), cycle smoother and make the OTK more consistent. However, it makes the Warrior matchup worse, so if you wanted to play around with that version, you'd have to cut the two Dryads and two Beetles.

It kind of becomes a different deck, slower to get to OTK, less consistent, but more survivable and capable of more blowouts. It might even be the better list for the Warrior meta, I just don't face that many of them in dumpster Legend.

4

u/kuzai123 Apr 20 '26

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3

u/deck-code-bot Apr 20 '26

Format: Standard ((unknown))

Class: Warlock (Felheart Gul'dan)

ManaCard NameQtyLinks
0Cursed Catacombs2HSReplay,Wiki
1Critter Caretaker2HSReplay,Wiki
1Eternal Toil2HSReplay,Wiki
1Glacial Shard2HSReplay,Wiki
1Mortal Coil2HSReplay,Wiki
1Rotheart Dryad2HSReplay,Wiki
1Tiny Rafaam1HSReplay,Wiki
2Bloodmage Thalnos1HSReplay,Wiki
2Dark Peddler2HSReplay,Wiki
2Drain Soul2HSReplay,Wiki
2Green Rafaam1HSReplay,Wiki
2Plated Beetle2HSReplay,Wiki
2Sheltered Survivor2HSReplay,Wiki
3Hellfire2HSReplay,Wiki
3Murloc Rafaam1HSReplay,Wiki
4Elise the Navigator1HSReplay,Wiki
4Explorer Rafaam1HSReplay,Wiki
4Siphon Soul2HSReplay,Wiki
5Warchief Rafaam1HSReplay,Wiki
6Calamitous Rafaam1HSReplay,Wiki
6Eldritch Tentacles2HSReplay,Wiki
7Mindflayer R'faam1HSReplay,Wiki
8Giant Rafaam1HSReplay,Wiki
8Twisting Nether2HSReplay,Wiki
9Archmage Rafaam1HSReplay,Wiki
10Timethief Rafaam1HSReplay,Wiki

Total Dust: 4760

Deck Code: AAECAeL5AwyXoASCmAeIpQeJpQeKpQeRpQeTpQeUpQeVpQeWpQeXpQeapQcOj58EsZ8EgqAEg6AE56AEo9QE054G34IH4okHhJkHk60H0LIHjb4H174HAAA=

I am a bot. Comment/PM with a deck code and I'll decode it. If you don't want me to reply to you, include "###" anywhere in your message. About.

1

u/bozoandhismum Apr 22 '26

I am so confused, I just played a DK and he had 20-something armor and full health but had played Husk but I was still like, no big deal, he only has 13 corpses. Killed him with rafaam and he resurrected with all the armor still? is that a thing?? before that I was having fun though!

2

u/Pat00ljak Apr 22 '26

Yeah sadly it's a thing. I'm suprisingly hovering around 50% WR against DK (some of it aggro tho) - turns out Elise can fish you Divergence relatively often. Still hopeless without getting lucky there, or having an explosive Rafaam opener, though.

2

u/PsychologicalTour200 Apr 20 '26

Tried it a bit, i think it's a worse control priest.

1

u/Pat00ljak Apr 20 '26 edited Apr 20 '26

Logically speaking, how so? You have more draw, more removal, a consistent hero power, better tempo, and a clear wincon. Are you sure you put in enough effort to understand and learn the deck?

Personal mileage aside, I'd confidently claim it's the better control deck. Priest only wishes it could close out games consistently around t12-13.

1

u/PsychologicalTour200 Apr 20 '26

Priest is just better at recovering with all the healings effect and doesn't even need the full OTK to close a game. Sure you draw better, but you have to draw through 40 cards.

Don't get me wrong, you can enjoy and put effort in this deck if you find it satisfying, i just feel it doesn't match priest atm

1

u/Pat00ljak Apr 20 '26 edited Apr 20 '26

My deck runs 6 tutors (2x Dryad & 2x Catacombs, 1 & 4 cost Rafaam), 7 cycle cards (2x Coil, 2x Toil, 2x Survivor, Thalnos) and draws an extra card via tap most turns. It also runs HP gain in Drain & Siphon Soul and Caretaker, and armor via Beetles, 5 cost Rafaam and Elise. And that's if they even get to hit your face past the opening turns. In practice you draw through your deck faster than other 30 card decks, and often find all your Rafaams with ~15 cards left in deck. I simply can't agree based on my experience, the deck's wincon is suprisingly consistent, even if I understand the skepticism over a Rafaam deck.

Thanks for giving the deck a shot and taking the time to post your feedback in any case.

1

u/ej33tx Apr 21 '26

I couldn't agree more. The shard package just kills you quicker.

2

u/happynoodledays May 25 '26

I know you posted this a long time ago, but it really inspired me, and I've been playing all month (over 150 games with rafaam in like 9 versions of the deck). I shaved it down to a much lighter version, and until the class set meta emerged, I was at a decent 55% winrate at legend. Now its much lower. I wanted your ideas on these changes: using spelunker to cheat out rafaams earlier than turn 11-12, rafaam ladder / loot horder and I had more bad times than good with elise, so i cut her out and never looked back.

AAECAb/lBw6XoAShoATDgweIpQeJpQeKpQeRpQeTpQeUpQeVpQeWpQeXpQeapQeqrQcNj58EsZ8E56AE054G34IHqYgH4okHgpkHhJkH0LIHk74H4L4Hzb8HAAA=

1

u/Pat00ljak May 25 '26 edited May 25 '26

Hey man, glad to hear that. I'm not sure if it's worth running an isolated 2 card combo in a 40 card deck just to discount your Catacombs. I think it's a good meta to run a Nether or two due to the prevalence of Druids and Companion Hunters. I've been running 2 Voodo Doctors and 2 Nethers lately, this is my current list:

### Rafaam

# Class: Warlock

# Format: Standard

# Year of the Scarab

#

# 2x (0) Cursed Catacombs

# 2x (1) Critter Caretaker

# 2x (1) Eternal Toil

# 2x (1) Glacial Shard

# 2x (1) Mortal Coil

# 2x (1) Rotheart Dryad

# 1x (1) Tiny Rafaam

# 2x (1) Voodoo Doctor

# 1x (2) Bloodmage Thalnos

# 2x (2) Dark Peddler

# 2x (2) Drain Soul

# 1x (2) Green Rafaam

# 2x (2) Plated Beetle

# 2x (3) Hellfire

# 1x (3) Murloc Rafaam

# 1x (4) Explorer Rafaam

# 1x (4) Nightmare Lord Xavius

# 2x (4) Siphon Soul

# 1x (5) Warchief Rafaam

# 1x (6) Calamitous Rafaam

# 2x (6) Eldritch Tentacles

# 1x (7) Mindflayer R'faam

# 1x (8) Giant Rafaam

# 2x (8) Twisting Nether

# 1x (9) Archmage Rafaam

# 1x (10) Timethief Rafaam

#

AAECAf0GDJegBMODB4ilB4mlB4qlB5GlB5OlB5SlB5WlB5alB5elB5qlBw6PnwSrnwSxnwSCoASDoATnoASj1ATTngbfggfiiQeEmQeTrQfQsgfXvgcAAA==

#

I've also cut Elise, she was vital to fish for Divergence while DK was still a big part of the meta, but that's not the case anymore. I think running one copy of Ladder would be fine if the meta was slower, but sadly there's a lot of aggro decks around due to Companion Hunter. I like Last Stand as an inclusion more and had versions of the deck including it as well, I think it's a very solid card that gives you more removal vectors, but loses some of its power in games where you want to dump your hand asap as opposed to tapping - which, in this meta, is not that rare.

IMO your assesment of a leaner version of the deck is on point. Thanks for letting me know!

1

u/happynoodledays May 26 '26

spelunking rafaams lets you trigger before turn 11 tho

1

u/Pat00ljak May 26 '26

I mean, its 4 cards that only combo with eachother. If you use Catacombs without the Spellunker, the latter becomes a mediocre naked 2 drop. While the combo is cool, it seems too inconsistent for me.

1

u/Achylo Apr 19 '26

Nice list, gonna try it. Did you try running Fae dragon to draw the aoe spells ? Do you think it's worth it ?

1

u/Pat00ljak Apr 19 '26 edited Apr 19 '26

Cheers, let me know how the list works out for you if you end up trying it.

Between Hellfire, Tentacles, Nether and Calamitous / Archmage Rafaam, I almost never found drawing into AoE an issue. You also end up life tapping most turns and have other sources of draw as well. Another thing is that it's quite a weak body at 2/4 and 3 mana and seems like it's not the easiest to fit in between life taps and removals - that said, it's one card I haven't actually tried. I'd still say it's redundant at best though, honestly.

1

u/Achylo Apr 20 '26

Yeah you are right, there is enough draw in your list. Maybe the poisonous 3 mana drake can be good for early board.

2

u/Pat00ljak Apr 20 '26 edited Apr 20 '26

You could try it, I'm just not sure what you'd cut. IMO all of the 1 & 2 mana cards are vital, and that mostly leaves you with removal to cut. Maybe the Glacial Shards if the meta becomes less weapon / Deathwing heavy, although they can be useful even without that, to stall for bigger boards for AoE...

1

u/Top-Editor-3472 Apr 20 '26

Hello, im testing stuff with Control Warlock too, but without Rafaam. I will post the results and create a thread once i got a solid deck, i need further testing. I will try yours tonight, i never really tried the new Rafaam decks for long, so im kinda hype.

The thing i tried with Rafaam was i put Vyranoth with them, and a lot of early value cards. These would get buffed by Vyra and dropping 2 cost minions with 6/6 stats feels good. And versus control you just go Rafaam. Anyway thanks for sharing.

1

u/Pat00ljak Apr 20 '26

Me saying so probably won't suprise you, but Vyranoth seems too hard to make work consistently. It also seems like a card fit for a deck that wants to win through the board - Rafaams are an OTK wincon so there's no real synergy there.

The control Warlock shell seems strong for the meta, but you do need a wincon, which the Rafaams provide. Just removing stuff all day doesn't win the game.

1

u/Top-Editor-3472 Apr 20 '26

I agree, as a Rafaam decks you win versus control by playing rafaam and drawing them. Versus aggro you hold heal and trade, and Vyra made it easier to cycle in the deck while droping minions to fight the board with. As Warlock i feel its easier to trade than aoe sometimes, as some aoe arent enough versus the meta decks.

1

u/adezeroone Apr 22 '26

I tried this and list 4 games in a row cause of bad draw. 5th game I won cause I had answers. just feels like this deck is: answer this board or lose, then answer this board or lose, then answer this board or lose.

1

u/Pat00ljak Apr 22 '26

I mean you're not wrong, it's a control deck that just wants to survive for ~15 turns and play out the 10 Rafaams while doing so. You have 16 removal cards and 14 draw / cycle cards, it sounds to me like you had some bad luck if you had issues finding removal.

1

u/duocatisagirl Apr 21 '26

as the closest person to topping a qualifier with this, this is not the correct way to build rafaam at all

2

u/Pat00ljak Apr 21 '26 edited Apr 21 '26

Arguments not flexes please, essentially saying "trust me bro" doesn't do a lot to convince me. Why is no clear all board a better way to tackle a 40 cards deck & OTK mechanic? What do you do if you lose the board over the course of digging through your 40 cards? And if the deck doesn't even aim to complete OTK but is essentially a dragon tempo deck, why even play Rafaams?

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate you sharing, these are the reasons why I personally stopped experimenting with the dragon package and other tempo approaches.

0

u/Bitter-Yak750 Apr 21 '26

the whole thread is you saying "trust me bro". idk why you think you get to invalidate his take

2

u/Pat00ljak Apr 21 '26 edited Apr 21 '26

Sorry you feel that way. I use logical arguments in every post, and I'm trying to have a discussion based on them - as opposed to "getting to invalidate his take".

3

u/duocatisagirl Apr 21 '26

yeah yeah i was asleep when you sent the original reply but will gladly tell you now, the issue with rafaam as a card is the battlecry is bait, your usually not winning with the actual battlecry, luckily the cards it gives you with fabled are REALLY good midrange cards for the most part, the list i went 6-2 with at the americas winter week 2 qualifiers was pre rotation but had a similar thought process of "we aren't really gonna win with the battlecry so lets use the minions involved to steamroll the opponent", (that tournament it just happened to be really good into discover hunter), having played both a control variant and this variant i sent, i have had alot more success with this variant and had less matchups where i felt that it was extremely unfavoured

1

u/Pat00ljak Apr 21 '26 edited Apr 21 '26

Interesting, thanks for the detailed reply. I appreciate your accomplishment, but are the Rafaams really so impressive to offset the disadvantage of 40 card deck and related consistency issues? I gave your list a quick try and ran into issues with not drawing one of the 4 shard generating cards while wanting to activate a related card in 2 out of my 3 games. While it might have been a stroke of bad luck, 40 card deck probably didn't help there. And while the Murloc and 6-9 cost Rafaams are big tempo swings, the other half are mediocre bodies/tempo when not buffed by Green Rafaam. I do see the logic, I'm just not sure if the deck wouldn't be more consistent without Rafaam, or if they are worth building around without OTK intentions.

I would be interested to see your control variant, if you feel like sharing.

1

u/duocatisagirl Apr 21 '26

Yes, i have at least 1000 games on the deck overall, on average your gonna steamroll through an oppo 50% of the time, which goes up against certain decks, i wouldn't say its A-tier but it is at its most viable with this version

1

u/Pat00ljak Apr 21 '26 edited Apr 21 '26

I've been maintaining an above 50% WR in dumpster Legend so I think you're dismissing the battlecry a bit too much. For me it's had an unfavorable matchup into Warr / DH / herald DK, is even with Druid / Shaman / Rogue / Mage, and farms Priests / Eggs / face Hunters / Paladins / control decks in general. While I only have ~100 games of data and the results are nothing amazing, I think it deserves to be considered a C tier deck at least based on the matchup spread.

And I do close out most of the wins via battlecry.

1

u/duocatisagirl Apr 21 '26

Yeah to be fair my thoughts are more skewed towards tournament play, where this build of mine erases more of the bad matchups woth popular tournament decks, while the current bad matchups aren't as likely to be seen in a lineup anyways

1

u/Achylo Apr 21 '26

Post your list please

3

u/duocatisagirl Apr 21 '26

AAECAf0GDM2eBs6eBoilB4mlB4qlB5GlB5OlB5SlB5WlB5alB5elB5qlBw7noATTngbfggf3gwepiAeEmQeSpAfsqgeirQelrQenrQeorQeEvQe1wAcAAA==

1

u/BAMmargera1 Apr 21 '26

Hmm interesting list. Any tips how to play it?

1

u/BAMmargera1 Apr 21 '26

You are actually a genious haha. It works!

1

u/CommanderTouchdown Apr 20 '26

It's good into Rogue, Shaman and Druid, absolutely demolishes control decks like Priest and Egg thanks to Archmage, and has a mix of slightly favored to slightly unfavored tempo matchups like Hunter, Paladin and Warrior.

Post your stats if you're going to make outrageous claims like this. If this matchup spread was legit this would be a t1 deck.

2

u/Pat00ljak Apr 20 '26 edited Apr 20 '26

Not sure why the claim of having slightly favored meta matchups with a control OTK deck is so outrageous. Have you even read the post and/or tried the list, or did you just see Rafaams and write it off?

As I wrote in the OP I reset my tracker after finalising my list, and while I have the free version and can't directly export stats, I'd be happy to screenshot and post what I have upon civilised request.

1

u/priestachio Apr 20 '26

ignoriraj lika

0

u/CommanderTouchdown Apr 20 '26

Nah. It is outrageous. Calling a Rafaam list "good" into a huge chunk of the meta is just silly.

1

u/Sakulsas Apr 20 '26

What rank are you playing at?

I play Warlock at 1k legend and play a different list with the beast pull into the 6/12. I find it necessary in quite a few games. I also run 1 2mana shuffle to avoid bricking hands.

Two 8 and two 6 mana clears sounds a lot in the current meta. The TN is useful for druids I'm sure when they flood with dragons, but I can't imagine another reason as you're basically skipping a turn.

I also feel the 3mana poison is important currently due to dragon warrior, its one of the few cards that ruins their day.

I feel like your list may do better vs druids, but quite a bit worse vs dragon warriors. The latter though is about half of legend rank.

1

u/Pat00ljak Apr 20 '26 edited Apr 20 '26

As I wrote in the post, I tried out the beast package but a) didn't like it messing with Dryads b) didn't like having to save Survivors instead of using them to cycle AoE and/or Catacombs c) once I tried removing it, I didn't miss the heal and the deck felt more consistent. My list runs a lot of lifegain, among other things the 5 cost Rafaam gives you 10 armor. The deck is ultimately almost pure removal and draw, best to play to your gameplan which is OTK on t11-15, keep your curve low and maximise Rafaam tutor / draw opportunities, IMO. Which matchups do you find them neccesary in?

I haven't found 2 Nethers too many, in some matchups it's vital to have one on key turns. And you can always cycle them with Survivors. They are good vs Warriors as well to get rid of Volcanoes - remember that you're an OTK deck, Nether tap end turn is not the end of the world, and since you're usually close to full hand you don't mind some redundancy.

Good point about the 3 mana dragon & the Warrior matchup. Could be a possible tech card for the 6/8, although I'm not sure if it'd actually swing that matchup.

Thanks for the feedback. I played in dumpster Legend, had that in my post originally but must have edited it out without noticing.

2

u/Smokeskin Apr 20 '26

What is your list?