"There is nothing impossible to him who will try."
Alexander the Great

Last time we had the pleasure of each others company, I talked about a Mage deck that like to fling arcane missiles around the place. [Arcane Barrage] is certainly a great card that we can all anticipate cropping up at Continental events. This week I'm going to revisit the archetype that qualified me for the Realm Championships and has steadily evolved over the past couple of months. This week I'm going to re-saddle my [Deathcharger] and turn even more graveyards into minefields.

What is a 'DK S.O.S.' deck? The DK part is easy to identify as it's the shortened form of Death Knight that the card game has inherited from the MMO. But S.O.S? That would be the card that makes the archetype tick: the [Scimitar of the Sirocco].

Deathly Hallows

As this archetype is playable by both factions I'll jump straight to the essentials. It's a Death Knight deck, so what cards can you expect to see? Most builds currently look something like this:

4 [Extract of Necromantic Power]

3-4 [Deathcharger]
3 [Entomb]

4 [Corpse Explosion]
4 [Tuskarr Kite]
3 [Strangulate]

3-4 [Scimitar of the Sirocco]
3 [Gargoyle]

3 [Army of the Dead]

0-2 [Scourgeborne Battlegear]


That's roughly half of the requisite sixty cards right there and gives a good indication of the class specifics. Some builds tend to forgo the Battlegear in favour of chunky allies such as [Rehgar Earthfury] and [Garrosh Hellscream], more on that later but hopefully that clarifies it's inclusion as a 0-2.

The variable numbers on Scimitar and [Deathcharger] come down to preference and hero flip. [Deathcharger] competes against very strong cards in Alliance builds but is still the best anti-aggro mount in the game. Scimitars generally tend to turn up as playsets at this stage of the deck's evolution, but some players tend to scrimp on the goodies because of Artifact's power as a keyword.

There is little disputing that [Corpse Explosion], [Deathcharger] and [Army of the Dead] all equate to a solid game against ally based decks. With Scimitar, Army can now double up as a kill spell using your own allies against control, whilst Corpse Explosion is a puritanical burn spell leaving only the muted hijinks of Deathcharger as a card with limitable applications.

If you thought those three cards were enough to make you dizzy, [Gargoyle] really takes the biscuit. If you were flirting with Blood in order to play [Dimzer the Prestidigitator] or [Silvermoon City], I think Gargoyle solidifies the archetype's Unholy talent choice. A 5/5 ferocious beatstick for 4 is a good deal even at Walmart prices, especially when it can hide in the (relative) safety of your hand to dodge a high percentage of removal if it has just swooped in for a swipe at their hero.

Faction Colors

This is where things get a tincy wincy bit interesting. At the Realm Championships [Erondra Frostmoon] and [Triton the Sacrilegious] were the flag-bearers. The suite of alliance allies nipping ahead in popularity and effectiveness despite the inert power of the Horde's [Dethvir the Malignant] and [Nathanos Blightcaller] at the key four drop place in he curve. War of the Elements definitely brought [Gargoyle] to the table, but it also heralded the ubiquitous continuous flip of [Zin'sul].

I'll be honest, I don't rate [Kray'zin Firetusk] or [Vol'jin]. For a card to only be considered by players after two and a half years goes some way to telling you that whilst decent, they're not back breaking enough for your opponents to deal with. I'd definitely rather play [Sava'gin the Reckless] over Kray'zin because the Stash can be brutal, and I don't want to pay seven for a card that is only powerful if my hero is hobbling into the graveyard.

No, the reason why I like Zin'sul is the flip. Scimitar conveniently has a swing cost of one, and once the Troll goes into Big Bad mode that means your allies and tokens have Ferocity on curve. Once he's flipped, he's flipped. There's no way around it. Conveniently there's very little you ever want to do on turn two anyway, meaning you can nearly always flip before run four.

Unfortunately you're also a troll (and not the Internet friendly variety). This means you lose out on big daddy Dethvir and the possible defensive inclusion of [Undercity]. However, I think Gargoyle and Nathanos together with Scimitar afford more than enough game at the two slot that actually you don't mind missing out on those cards that much. Here's a sample Zin'sul list that coverage guru Dave Sutcliffe has been messing around with.

Hero - [Zin'sul]

Allies: 29
4 [Broderick]
4 [Deathcharger]
4 [Vuz'din]
4 [Sava'gin the Reckless]
3 [Johnny Rotten]
3 [Gargoyle]
3 [Nathanos Blightcaller]
2 [Cairne, Earthmother's Chosen]
2 [Garrosh Hellscream]

Abilities: 14
3 [Entomb]
4 [Tuskarr Kite]
4 [Corpse Explosion]
3 [Army of the Dead]

Equipment: 8
4 [Extract of Necromantic Power]
4 [Scimitar of the Sirocco]

Quests: 9
4 [The Ring of Blood: Warmaul Champion]
3 [A Rare Bean]
2 [The Overseer's Shadow]

The most important observation to make is that there isn't a single location in this deck. Whilst I personally prefer to run one, it's hard to say what you would cut. You can definitely forgo [Saurfang the Younger, Kor'kron Warlord] and therefore [Kor'kron Vanguard] if you feel that [Gargoyle] gives you enough reach, but unless you're not expecting to play against [Death Wish] I think you have to play [Eye of the Storm], although the archetype has a bad match-up against Death Wish anyway.

The only major frailty of this deck is that if its draw power is hit or fails to turn up, you can lose the card race before you even turn the first corner. Whilst Scimitar pseudo-compensates by giving your men ferocity and acting as a persistent threat that Warmaul Champion accelerates, in a format where everyone plays Kite the Kite alone is not enough. In some respect this has lead to the superiority, or at least preference, of Erondra.

Erondra's first advantage is that the Alliance dominates the early game. [Ashnaar, Frost Herald], [Burly Berta] and [Adam Eternum] do play rather nicely together, but specifically they play well with a hero that wants to swing Scimitars at the opponent. Whilst the reverberations of the Alliance hallmark cards echo around this article, I will briefly voice opinion that the best card will inevitably see play.

Needless to say, giving Berta Ferocity can reap substantial reward. Equally Adam, already a nuisance, has nearly nothing to fear from darting in and out of play, and can readily abuse [Crusade Engineer Spitzpatrick] whilst remaining on the offensive.

It is also Erondra that benefits the most from the eruption of Gargoyle onto cardboard. Whilst [Zempre, Grace of Elune] has great synergy with [Tuskarr Kite] and a decent buffer against aggro decks, she can't make that immediate impact a tempo swing necessitates, and this deck lives off of tempo. Playing both Gargoyle and Zempre together afford you the same for drop dominance that the Horde enjoys.

I hope that's given you some creative juices heading into NACC 2011. The most succinct summation of this archetype is that it isn't tier one, and that is because of the clunky draw engine. It might be worth experimenting with Blood for Dimzer, but I think at that point you want to move into Warrior and that's an article for another day.

-Jack C. Fejer