Let’s play Vorix again. Instead of making an article to explain Vorix, this is a report on how I played an updated version of the deck at the last Darkmoon Faire in Cologne. The next article will be the one that explains the deck in detail, including how to play it and how to play against it.

After the Realm Finals I needed a good Classic deck. I started building a Draenei Mage hero that used a lot of card draw and the mount, [Great Elekk], and a lot of burn spells. This was because of the new set. [Arcane Barrage] and [Arcane Foresight] meant a lot of damage with the mount out. The deck also used [Blistering Fire] and [Ripple] to really burn people out. Although the deck was really good I probably didn’t want to play it at the Darkmoon Faire.

Because I really liked how Vorix was in Core I wanted to test it in classic. The biggest card it gains is [Overkill]. This card is so powerful and because of all the mill effect it works really easily. The changes that I made with my Core deck are:

-1 [Boundless Agony]

-2 [Steal Steel]

-1 [Raze]

-1 [Ruthlessness]

+3 [Overkill]

+2 [Kidney Shot]

I still wanted some [Ruthlessness] in the deck. The main reason is because of resolved [Tuskarr Kite]s. After an [Overkill] get rid of all cards, every ally they draw after that can get extra cards. A [Ruthlessness] after an [Overkill] means a lot of damage. Because I wanted to play [Ruthlessness] I needed to cut some high costing cards, so that’s why I only play 3 [Overkill].

Classic means you can also have a side deck. I chose some extra removal and key cards against some matchups. This was my final list I played.

Hero: [Vorix Zorbuzz]

Allies: 4

4 [Broderick Langforth]

Abilities: 40

2 [Raze]

2 [Kidney Shot]

4 [Deathblow]

2 [Ruthlessness]

4 [Surge of Adrenaline]

4 [Seal Fate]

2 [Burgle]

2 [Carnage]

4 [Gouge]

3 [Thud!]

4 [Slay the Feeble]

4 [Poach]

3 [Overkill]

Equipment: 3

3 [boundless agony]

Locations: 3

3 [Eye of the Storm]

Quests: 10

4 [The Ring of Blood: The Warmaul Champion]

4 [for greater honor]

2 [Junkboxes Needed]

Side Deck:

2 [Junkboxes Needed]

2 [Detect Traps]
3 [Cloak of Shadows]
1 [Carnage]
1 [Raze]
1 [Boundless Agony]

After I got my deck ready I still needed 2 more decks for 2 friends that were also going. One got my Mage burn deck and the other got an Alliance Warlock toolbox deck ([Pidge Filthfinder]).

After we had all our decks we had to travel to the event. We went by car with 4 people (Myke de Boer, Christian and Johannes Michel and me) and met Erik van der Laan and Wouter de Koning at the hotel. We tested some games the night before and made some small changes to the decks. Then we got some sleep and it was tournament time!

Round 1 vs Bernhard Preis - [Witch Doctor Koo'zar]

I was thinking he was playing a rush deck. A turn 3 [Shadowfiend] + 1 drop or [Joja'bee] into flip with [Ruby Enforcer] and [Babagahnoosh the Grumpy] can be a lot of damage. I had to mulligan to some removal. [Deathblow] can take out [Shadowfiend] and I just needed to stabilize quickly. I won the die roll and started with a [Broderick Langforth] but when he started with a turn 1 [Mind Vision] I really needed to switch gears. Was he a combo deck? Or was this player a beginner with just a limited cardpool? Or was something else happening. A turn 2 [Poach] didn’t help much as I saw 2 [Waz’luk]s 1 [Shadowfiend] but also 1 [Dr. Boom!] 1 [Forces of Jaedenar] and another [Mind Vision]. So again a rush part and a control part. He played some dudes and a turn 5 [Overkill] killed everything. His draw was [Halion, Staff of Forgotten Love]. I now knew he played a combo deck. The [Waz’luk] could trigger the staff but because he played [Dr. Boom!] he probably doesn’t play the Master Hero. So his win would be something like [Selin Duskrunner]. I played a [Boundless Agony] and he scooped the game.

Game 2 looked a lot like game 1 except I had the extra [Junkboxes Needed] to stop the combo. His turn 1 [Rosalyne von Erantor] dealt some damage (nice thing is that she also triggers the staff) but an [Overkill] into [Boundless Agony] was game. For the newer players the combo is: [Halion, Staff of Forgotten Love] + [A Taste of Divinity] + [Azure Drake] with [Selin Duskrunner] means infinite damage because you keep targeting the dragonkin with the [A Taste of Divinity].

1-0 (2-0)

Round 2 vs Claudio Steffanetti - [Triton the Sacrilegious]

This matchup I played a lot in Core. The Death Knight deck doesn’t have many more tricks in Classic but the Rogue’s [Overkill] is really good. This is the first time I played against the deck with [Gargoyle]. Game 1 he opened with 2 [Broderick Langforth]s and a [Kor’kron Vanguard], so he dealt a lot of early damage. A [Kidney Shot] into [Overkill] stopped everything. His draw for the turn after I emptied his hand was [Gargoyle]. So I quickly was in 20 + damage but some [Gouge]s stopped him a bit. I dealt some small damage and eventually took control with a [Ruthlessness]. His draw wasn’t a Ferocity guy so I took game 1. Game 2 I controlled the board more and [Burgle]d his board after seeing his hand a few times. My draw was another [Slay the Feeble] and I dealt 30’ish damage in one turn to finish him.

2-0 (4-0)

Round 3 vs Helge Wieder - [Thoros the Savior]

I already played a few times against Helge. He always plays the same deck. Last time I beat him with a [Descrator Stormclaw] deck because I could spam him with [Moonfire]. This time it would be harder. The deck contains a lot of exhaust effects, [Silvermoon City] and [Blessed Life] to stop a lot of damage. Game 1 could deal some early damage and I got the weapon in play. [Overkill] took all his cards from his hand. Then I flipped and dealt the last damage with [Seal Fate] and [Deathblow]. Game 2 took a lot longer because he drew a lot of exhaust effects but he tapped out for a [Chief Researcher Amereldine]. I dealt fatal to it and also got some damage in on the hero. He tried to interrupt a [Seal Fate] with [Arcane Torrent] but a response [Deathblow] killed him.

3-0 (4-0)

Round 4 vs Andreas Both - [Ressa Shadeshine]

Erik van der Laan tried testing a deck the night before but lost hard against [Vorix]. If he plays [Detect Traps] the matchup really improves for [Ressa]. Game 1 I just stopped him a few times and a [Kidney Shot] into [Overkill] killed everything. 2 Weapons, 2 armors, [Steelsmith Joseph Carroll], ["Lowdown" Luppo Shadefizzle] and 2 cards in hand all went to the grave. Game 2 was almost the same. I just waited for an [Overkill] and won. After the match he told me he didn’t play [Detect Traps] and also no [Junkboxes Needed] so he knew the matchup was really bad.

4-0 (8-0)

Round 5 vs Zeljko Jankovic - [Zaritha]

[Zaritha] has only 4 good cards ([Wind Shear]) and a bunch of annoying cards against Rogue. We both started with a mulligan and I started with a [Broderick Langforth] into [Junkboxes Needed]. He didn’t have much after I took a [Wind Shear], leaving only a few [Crusade Engineer Spitzpatrick] but a midgame [Overkill] got back the card advantage and some [Broderick Langforth]s killed him before he got to the late game. In game 2 the [Boundless Agony] stopped his [Voice of Reason], as [Broderick Langforth] with some [Slay the Feeble] and [Deathblow] did a lot of damage. He played a [Malfurion Stormrage] but then I killed him with a [Seal fate].

5-0 (10-0)

Round 6 vs Oliver Gehrmann - [Ringleader Kuma]

This match is almost the same as [Zaritha] only this deck has a quicker win condition in [Feral Spirit] but I have more removal for that. The match was covered by Rich here. Game 1 was pretty standard but game 2 was really bad for me. He got 2 [Tuskarr Kite] in play and drew almost 20 cards more but he couldn’t win. So small damage got the game for me.

6-0 (12-0)

That was the end of day 1. We had to play 2 more rounds on Sunday and then top 8 but I was 90% sure I was already in the top 8. After the day we went to the hotel to drop our bags and then went out to eat and drink with some of the dutchies. It was a good night only and I had little sleep. But hey, let’s play some more games.

Round 7 vs Hans Joachim Höh - [Plague Fleshbane]

Normally this is a bad matchup for me. It's still winnable but [Dethvir the Mallignant], [Undercity], [Eye of Killrog]/[Lesson of the Nether] pressure me BUT he made a lot of mistakes and because I know he is probably reading this I have to remind him ;). Both games where about the same. [Boundless Agony] stopped [Undercity] healing and [Overkill] made a lot of card advantage and I eventually won with a [Burgle].

7-0 (14-0)

Round 8 vs Krzysztof Morzyc - [Spellweaver Jihan]

I had no idea what he was playing. It could be a [Slow] Mage version like Stuart and Brad played at Worlds 2010 but also aggro decks were possible. I started with 2 [Broderick Langforth]s so that was good against both versions. He killed both with a [Blizzard] and got [Lady Bancroft] in play but the damage was too quick. I know he played the more aggro version but the [Broderick Langforth]s just did so much damage that my hero could finish game 1. Game 2 his draw was really bad. He only played 3 [Mana Sapphire]’s and died. I could play around all of his counters with [Junkboxes Needed] and the damage was easy.

8-0 (16-0)

I didn’t lose a game in any swiss rounds. I probably have the curse now but I’m happy with this score.

Also another dutch guy made top 8 with a really interesting deck (a deck almost nobody else can play the way he plays it). I played the deck the night before and I can only say…Right. BUT GZ! WOUTER DE KONING finally got a top8 (after doing really well at other tournaments 8-1 world cup, 11-0 EUCC etc.etc.). The other dutchies didn’t do well except Myke de Boer who made 5-3 with the Mage deck I gave him.

Round 9 vs Sascha Odoj - [Phadalus the Enlightened]

Okay, another [Zaritha] matchup only this time another hero and some more Totem interactions. The fun thing is that you can double kite with the [Earth Elemental Totem]. He did play 4 interrupts but only 2 [Adam Eternum] and some other strange amounts of cards. [Everfrost] can be annoying but most of the time it's too expensive. The decklist is posted and I knew the list before the match.

Game 1- I had to mulligan and he was also thinking of a mulligan but he did not. My hand was decent with a [Broderick Langforth], [Poach] and [Junkboxes Needed] but the rest wasn’t good for the matchup. I started with a [Broderick] and he played [A Question of Gluttony]. A turn 2 [Poach] saw 2 [Tuskarr kite], [A Question of Gluttony], [Earth Elemental Totem], [Squall Totem], [Wind Shear] and [Everfrost]. I really don’t know why he wanted to mulligan this. I took the [Wind Shear]. I could deal some damage but my draws weren’t good. Of course he drew a [Wind Shear] turn 4 so he could stop my [Surge of Adrenaline]. I got a [Ruthlessness] resolved but it only gave me [Gouge]s and 2 [Slay the Feeble]. He then hardcasted when he had 2 cards in hand a [King Varian Wrynn] and then on turn 10 a [High Tirion Fordring]. With only [Gouge]s I couldn’t win this.

Game 2 – This time I resolved an [Overkill] for a lot of cards. He had only 1 [Tuskarr Kite] in play but after I emptied his hand he drew an [Ancestral Awakening] for an [Adam Eternum] so he could attack and drew cards with [Tuskarr kite]. Eventually I won this game because he made 3 mistakes in 2 turns. He forgot his quest [Cleansing Witch Hill] was an on your turn only quest, and then in his turn he completed it turning one of his other resources facedown (you can target itself!). Then I played a [Burgle] and he just gave me his [Adam Eternum] (didn’t jump with it for the 2 resources you can pay) and I just attacked for a win.

Game 3 – This game I had a slow hand and he started rushing with [Earth Elemental Totem], [Myriam Starcaller] and [Mikeal The Blunt]. I [Carnage]’d the board but couldn’t find an [Overkill] for the full win. He drew 2 of the interrupts in the beginning and when he wanted to complete his [Everfrost] with one card in hand I responded with a [Surge of Adrenaline] but of course the last card was another [Wind Shear]. He drew his cards played a resource and then played an [Ancestral Awakening] for a [Savage Raptor] and just killed me. My last card was a [Ruthlessness] which would have killed him the next turn.

8-1 (17-2)

After a nice winning streak, I got a bit unlucky in the top 8 match but my opponent played decent so better luck next time. It's a pity Wouter de Koning didn’t win his match also. After I lost I played some free Two Pack (yeah! Realm VIP pass) and some other games. See some people won their drafts etc. But then it was time to go home. I still needed to travel a few hours.

It was a really fun weekend with the dutchies and a lot of other players from over the world! I did miss some people but hope to see them at EUCC in Rimini or I’m maybe going to Vegas (still not sure).

I have to thank some people. The group of dutchies (Wouter de Koning, Erik van der Laan, Myke de Boer, Johannes and Christian Michel, Wouter Egas and some others that played there), all the judges and other people helping there, and all the people I spoke there! See you next time!

-Jeffrey Verwoerd