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Hello, and welcome to another article of Flash of Brilliance. This week, I will be revisiting an idea that I had for the 2009 World Championships. For those of you who were not playing during this wonderful time, the gauntlet consisted of Blue Rogue, Red Mage, and Blue Warlock. While I did not attend the World Championship, I did have multiple decks that I felt very comfortable taking; one of the lists being very similar to the Emek the Equalizer deck that made top 8 that year.
The best way to explain how I came up with this idea is to elaborate on a conversation with my good friend, Austin Haught. We were discussing the benefits of allies with come into play effects, and thinking about ways to utilize these allies to the maximum potential. Being able to play a card and have an immediate change to board position is not something most cards can claim. With a simple idea in mind, we set out on the adventure of deck-building.
After brainstorming many outlets of decks that could feature these allies, we decided that Warlock was a prime candidate due to the tempo swinging cards such as [Victimize], [Drain Will], and the meta-game defining [Hesriana]. Since most of the Alliance cards at the time such as [Mikael the Blunt], [Myriam Starcaller], and many others had to stay in play in order to gain their effect, the new faces of the Blackfist family seemed very suited for our task. [Cromarius Blackfist], [Munkin Blackfist] and other allies from the Drums of War block had stellar come into play effects.
So like all beginning stages of deck-building, we threw together some cards and played some games.
Hero: [Andarius the Damned]
Allies: 26
4 [Skumm Bag'go]
4 [Sivandra Darklust]
3 [Cromarius Blackfist]
4 [ Hesriana]
3 [Munkin Blackfist]
4 [ Dethvir the Malignant]
4 [Charkov]
Abilities: 16
4 [The Promises of Darkness]
4 [Drain Will]
4 [Suspended Curse]
4 [Victimize]
Equipment: 2
2 [Wub's Cursed Hexblade]
Quests/Locations: 16
4 [Eye of the Storm]
4 [A Question of Gluttony]
4 [Proving Grounds]
4 [Legendary Heroes]
Before I go into the negatives of the deck, I will first explain how amazingly this deck surpassed my initial expectations. The first thing I would like to address was the synergy between using [Suspended Curse] along with [Andarius the Damned]'s flip. For everyone who is still having trouble figuring out how chaining works in terms of start of turn effects, I will explain. At the start of turn before anything else happens, all effects that can trigger enter the chain. In response, you flip your hero targeting [Suspended Curse] and then the chain resolves in reverse order. Since the ability was present at the start of turn, the effect will resolve whether the ability is in play or not. The ending result is being able to remove the card [Suspended Curse] was attached to, and then having it back in your hand to play again.
[Charkov] is downright amazing. At first glance, you will notice that his effect not only makes your opponent return an ally, but it returns one of yours as well. With the keyword Will of the Forsaken this almost never applied to the decks that ran him. I used this strange effect to the maximum potential with the “come into play” effects, allowing me to play allies such as Cromarius, Munkin, and Hesriana not only once, but twice!
After testing against the usual gauntlet we ran into many problems. The deck did really well in the early turns and mid game, but withered after the opponent was able to gain any amount of small tempo. Many times after gaining board presence, the loveable face of [Dimzer the Prestidigitator] came down along with his amazing [Parvink] like effect. The biggest ally that we played in our list was [Dethvir the Malignant] which was promptly taken out by Dimzer. The overall effect was a rampart Gnome that could literately shift the tempo of an entire game. The negative synergy of [Sivandra Darklust] with your come into play allies could lead to horrible misplays, such as accidentally destroying your [Hesriana]. Combined with it's weak match-ups against rush decks, we decided to put the deck on the back-burner.
Time passed and many sets went by. We have seen the rise of decks such as Death Wish, and the fall of the oh-so-loved Black Ice. Many more come into play effects were slowly introduced and Warlock regained the ability to remove cards in hand from the game with [Lesson of the Nether]. [Nathanos Blightcaller] and his tokens became a staple in most horde rush decks, and [Thrall, Warchief of the Horde] gave a huge boost to your field of Horde allies. With the idea still lingering in my head after all this time, I decided to bust out the old idea and make it new.
Hero: [Andarius the Damned]
Allies: 34
3 [Skumm Bag'go]
4 [Mias the Putrid]
3 [Johnny Rotten]
3 [Cromarius Blackfist]
4 [ Hesriana]
4 [ Dethvir the Malignant]
3 [Nathanos Blightcaller]
3 [Charkov]
4 [Sava'gin the Reckless]
3 [Thrall, Warchief of the Horde]
Abilities: 11
4 [Drain Will]
4 [Lesson of the Nether]
3 [Victimize]
Equipment: 3
3 [Talisman of the Horde]
Quests / Locations: 12
4 [Undercity]
4 [A Question of Gluttony]
4 [Proving Grounds]
In order to address the previous flaws of the deck, I made several changes concerning the ally suite along with it's ability base. I decided that the slow nature of [Suspended Curse] and it's ability to be countered before the effect triggers merited a cut. In order to deal with the aggro match-ups I added Nathanos his blighthound protectors, and Sava'gin who can take out most early aggression. [Lesson of the Nether] gave a huge advantage against the late game nature of control decks, and and ability to play it turn 2 with [Mias the Putrid] could open the way for your allies to bring the pain. I decided that [Munkin Blackfist] no longer made the cut due to his below average attack and his competition with other 4 drops in the deck. [Talisman of the Horde] became an instant answer to [Tuskarr Kite] which if left unchecked can swing the tempo heavily into an opponents favor. The inclusion of Thrall not only made my low drops such as [Mias the Putrid] and [Skumm Bag'go] beefy, but also allowed me to return [Talisman of the Horde] and [Dethvir the Malignant] multiple times. Thrall also has the ability to infinitely recycle with himself if you manage to get one in the graveyard. [Sivandra Darklust] was replaced by [Johnny Rotten] because his ability to instantly deal with exhausted allies, and his ability to run into [Adam Eternum] forcing him to bounce from play.
I took this deck to a recent battleground and found much success with the build. Many times, I would find myself with great board position and a grip full of cards. Having the early disruption with [Mias the Putrid] and [Skumm Bag'go] created many problems and much aggravation for my opponents, who promptly fell to my card advantage.
An important thing that I noticed while play testing is that this deck is for the most part very reliant on what your opponent plays. Sometimes I would sit with a hand full of [Hesriana] and [Cromarius Blackfist] waiting for my opponent to make a move. While this proved to be troublesome at times, I figured that if I have nothing to deal with from my opponent I would more than likely end up with the match win.
A big thanks to my friend Michael Barnes for the countless hours of play-testing, and Austin Haught for inspiring the idea. Until next time, good luck to everyone with Realm Qualifiers and testing for Realm Champs. Durotar, I am bringing the heat this year!
~Skyler Thomas
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