Welcome to the first entry of the Throwdown.

The Throwdown is a new article series pitting Internet writers and bloggers of the WoW TCG against each other in three game matches, featuring decks that are rising stars, revisions of Top 8 classics or experimental new designs built around cards that haven't had their chance to make a big splash yet on the scene.

More than just typical game coverage, the Throwdown gives you the turn-by-turn commentary on the match as it happens. The idea is not only to provide exciting reads in the form of a game report but to provide coverage of some of the testing and decision making that goes into deck decision and deck execution while playing, moreso than you usually get in a typical 'deck design' summary. Nobody plays a perfect game or builds a perfect deck, and in the Throwdown you'll see the good, the bad and the ugly of what the TCG can be. But you just might also catch a glimpse of the next big thing to hit the tournament scene, get inspired to build or try out a build of your own, or witness some gauntlet testing that you might not have had a chance to try out yourself.

Introducing the Throwdown:

Madjinn's Decklist

Crusader Michael Goodchilde

Allies
3 Bizzazz
3 Weeble
3 Steelsmith Joseph Carroll
2 Moira Darkheart

Abilities
4 Seal of Betrayal
3 Seal of Redemption
2 Consecration
3 Hammer of Justice

4 Avenging Wrath

Weapons
3 Mass of McGowan
3 Obsidian Edged Blade
2 Demonslayer
1 Felsteel Reaper

Armor
2 Gauntlets of Vindication
1 Doomplate Chestguard
1 Girdle of the Endless Pit
2 Fanblade Pauldrons
2 Herod's Shoulder
1 Doomplate Warhelm
1 Doomplate Legguards
2 Vambraces of the Sadist

Quests
3 A Final Blow
2 Corki's Ransom
3 Sunken Treasure
4 Totem of Coo

Sideboard
3 Sacred Purification
2 Ishanah, High Priestess of the Aldor
3 Niyore of the Watch
2 Chipper Ironbane

This deck was made around the new Traitor card Seal of Betrayal. The card offers the paladin a new mechanic and neat ally-stealing power that I couldn't help but build a deck around. This incarnation of a Seal of Betrayal deck looks to hold off early damage in the first few turns of the game with armor, then drop Seal of Betrayal turn 4 or 5 and turn board position and tempo back into my favor with a few swings of the big weapons like Obsidian Edged Blade and Demonslayer.

Vindictus' Decklist

Halavar

Allies
4 Apprentice Merry
4 Jeleane Nightbreeze
4 Jubilee Arcsparc

Abilities
4 Rend
4 Mortal Strike
4 Heroic Strike
4 Puncture
3 Bloodrage
3 Slam

Equipment
4 Perdition's Blade
4 Obsitian Edged Blade

3 Gauntlets of Vindication
2 Eskhandar's Collar

Quests
4 One Draenei's Junk
4 Corki's Ransom
4 A Warm Welcome
1 Sunken Treasure

Sideboard
1 Bloodrage
3 Berserker Rage
2 Hellreaver
4 Withering Shout

Vin's Comments:
This decklist was taken from DMF Orlando's top decks, only modified with the A Warm Welcome quest from SotB. I thought this would be a good decklist for the first Throwdown, as it has relevance to today's metagame.

Vindictus wins the dice roll

Madjinn's Notes:
“On the draw, game one, against Halvaar. Knowing the speed and potential explosiveness of that deck losing the dice roll already puts me at a disadvantage. I wouldn’t mind some armor in my opening hand and a Mass to start smashing allies as soon as possible. If I can get a Seal of Betrayal up in time, I can turn the tide of Untargetable allies back his way... though I have to hold off the damage long enough to get there. This deck is no where near the speed of a rush archetype like Halvaar, so the test is if I can hold out long enough to drop my big cards and try to take the game home. Let’s see what the top of the deck brings…”

“Not too impressed with my opening hand. Best plan I have with this is playing the Girdle on turn two to use A Final Blow to speed up my draw, but then my curve won’t start again until turn four. I have ten weapons in the deck, but only one quest to draw before I’m top decking… it’s a mulligan.”

“The second hand’s a little better. I’ve got a Moira for a little equipment hate, a turn one and turn two armor drop and a weapon. I’m questless, of course, but I’m stuck with what I’ve got after the first mulligan, and I could’ve always done worse.”

Vindictus' Notes:
"I'm not sure what to expect from Madjinn's deck, but I anticipate the speed of Halavar to be tough to handle. I'll be keeping an eye out for Blessing of Freedom, but other than that, there's not much I am worried about."

"An interesting starting hand. No weapon, but three Rends will help put the pressure on early. I'll keep."

Vindictus, turn 1: "I play Junk, and play my first Rend."

Madjnn, turn 1: “I draw a Seal of Betrayal and face down the second copy of Seal of Redemption into the resource row. Doomplate Chestguard’s the obvious first turn play, so I plunk it down and prepare to prevent the Rend damage that's coming my way...”

Vin, turn 2: "He uses his armor to block Rend damage. I draw an Apprentice Merry, play a second Junk, play another Rend and play the Apprentice Merry."

Mad, turn 2: “I look to my top deck and draw myself a quest in the form of Totem of Coo. That goes right down into the resource row and I exhaust two to play the Fanblade Pauldrons. I won’t be able to prevent damage from all sources but Fanblade will stop Merry and only one Rend tick should be getting through. I start flexing my wrist to prepare for all the armor tapping I’ll be doing as I pass the turn over to Vin."

Vin, turn 3: "I draw a Bloodrage, then play A Warm Welcome and a third Rend. I attack with Merry. He uses Fanblade to prevent the damage. I'm thinking I'm in a good spot now, hoping to pull Gauntlets of Vinidcation or a weapon by completing Junk at the end of his turn."

Mad, turn 3: “Good lord, three Rends?! The last thing I want to see hit his side of the table now is a Gauntlets of Vindication. I top deck a Bizzazz and now I’ve got the choice of the Bizz, the Mass of McGowan or a Seal of Redemption to play on turn three. I don’t like Bizz just trading lopsidedly with Apprentice Merry, so I’ll put the Mass down now, then slam into his Merry and drop the Bizz on turn four. Seal of Betrayal’s not fitting into my three turn game plan right now, so it hits the resource row face down, I play the Mass and pass the turn back over to Vin."

Vin, turn 4: "EOT Junk reveals Perdition's Blade, A Warm Welcome, and an Obsidian Edged Blade. I take the P-Blade, as it's the only valid choice. I draw for my turn, pulling a Jubilee Arcspark (and wishing she'd have shown up one card sooner, so I could have pulled an extra card from Junk). I send Merry in, then play P-Blade and attack with it. His armor is slowing me down a little, but I haven't seen many threats and the tempo is in my favor."

Mad, turn 4: “I top deck a Herod’s Shoulder. I’ll keep that around my hand in case he goes after my weapon with some hate. Now I don’t know what to row. Bizz hits the table and nets me a Steelsmith Joseph Carroll. I exhaust one and swing into Merry with the Mass of McGowan, exhausting the Chestguard to prevent one of the damage coming my way. Unfortunately, that's all my armor. I pass the turn and reach for those damage counters three ticks of Rend damage start coming my way…"

Vin, turn 5: "My 3 Rend's all hit, dealing 3 damage. I draw another rend, and play it as a 4th resource. I attack with my P-Blade for 2, giving me the 5 damage I need to complete A Warm Welcome, and adding an Obsidian Edged Blade and a Jeleane Nightbreeze to my hand. I drop Jeleane into play and pass the turn."

Mad, turn 5: “I top deck an Avenging Wrath. It's a good card, but a bit dead without a bigger weapon, so I row it to play the Steelsmith and Seal of Redemption. Bizzazz trades with Jeleane Nightbreeze and I swing into Halvaar with the Mass of McGowan for two to put the Bizz right back into my hand.

When I played Steelsmith, Vindictus commented that I must be running the Bracers of the Green Fortress as well, which I’m not. Without the protection of Wreck or Gear Upgrade, I’m a little equipment hate-shy and worried about getting my resource row destroyed by Bringer of Death. Maybe if I ran a cheap bracer replacement like Black Felsteel Bracers I’d consider it, because it’d pump my Steelsmith up something ridiculous and help me fight back against the increasing frequency of DoTs. Anyway, that’s something to think about afterwards. The turn gets passed back over to Vin.”

Vin, turn 6: "I draw Esknahdar's Collar after inflicting some damage with Rend. I'm in a good board position now, and the draw power from Bloodrage seems like the best choice, as the card advantage it provides is very tough to compete against. I'm not expecting him to do any explosive assaults yet. Maybe when he hits 8 resources, I'll have to watch out for the Felsteel Reaper. I play Bloodrage, drawing Corki's and a Junk. I attack with the P-Blade."

Mad, turn 6: “I draw a Demonslayer. Well, now I don’t need to hang on to Herod’s Shoulder anymore so that hits the resource row. Those Rends have got me on a clock but with some Redemption shenanigans with Moira and Bizzazz I might just be able to pull something off. I exhaust four resources and Moira Darkheart hits the table. I promptly pay one and destroy her to send Perdition’s Blade to the graveyard, then slam into Halvaar for two, recur Moira and Steelsmith Joesph Carroll pounces in for another four points of damage. Rend damage is going to put me at 11 health next turn, but my board position’s decent and I’ve got a Moira in hand. Still, it is Halvaar… so we’ll have to see what happens."

Vin, turn 7: "I draw Slam and Gaunlets of Vindication. I play Corki's, flip Halavar to play the Obsidian Edged Blade, and attack for 4. Beginning the first of several misplays throughout the event, I then play Gauntlets of Vindication. I really should have played that before my attack. I'm thinking that, with a Mortal Strike / Slam in hand, 3 Rends and GoV inplay, and only needing to push 7 damage through that I'll be in good shape. I'm expecting him to destroy my weapon, and hoping I draw into another one."

Mad, turn 7: “Totem of Coo comes off the top deck and plops down into the resource row. Those Gauntlets of Vindication make my ‘prospects’ suddenly look pretty grim. With only one Moira, I’ve got to choose between the Obsidian Edged Blade and the Gauntlets and I can’t attack freely this turn either, because I need to be able to exhaust my hero to use Fanblade Pauldrons for armor. Being unable to keep up with Halvaar in the damage race, it looks like I’ve gotten myself backed into a corner. I’m looking at five damage from the sword or six from the Gauntlets… but with my health so low if the sword stays out I won’t be able to enter combat with Halvaar directly anyway and he’s got no equipment recovery out on the table yet, so I Moira the sword and glumly pass the turn over to Vin."

Vin, turn 8: "He has to use his armor to reduce the Rend damage from 6 to 3. I'm hoping for a weapon. With Bloodrage down I draw 2, getting another Gauntlets of Vindication and a Sunken Treasure. That's enought to seal the deal. I recur the Obsidian Edged Blade for 3, play 4 to play it, and I've got 1 left to strike for fatal damage."

Madjinn: “The recursion hijinks with Moira was a nice trick, but the Rends and Halvaar’s wild, swinging two-handers had me at pretty much a locked-down board position. If I had Moira’d the Gauntlets that last turn instead of the OEB, I could’ve blocked the four damage coming my way with the Fanblade Pauldrons if he had attacked me. However, he could have just waited for me to come to him so I couldn’t exhaust to use the Pauldrons with the Rends ticking away every turn and the result would’ve been the exact same in near as many turns anyway.

The damage from the Halvaar deck is fast and whatever stall that I had planned bringing about through armor doesn’t do the trick and I can’t swing or bring a Seal online until turn four or five and that’s my biggest problem. If I could change my deck around mid-match I’ve already got a pile of changes in mind to speed this thing up, but as it stands with the deck I’m running, my strategy for the next game is going to be doing my best to stall the inevitable damage coming my way turns one, two and three and get a big weapon online mid-game to recur my ally pool and swing in for big damage with a well-timed Avenging Wrath…”

Vin's thoughts: "I'm still not sure what to expect from his deck, as I didn't see any finishers come down. I'm still anticipating the usual Felsteel Reaper. Since he's running a Traitor, I'd expected Seal of Betrayal, but he played a Seal of Redemption in this match, so I'm not sure if he's running two Seals or not."

Madjinn's Notes:
“Ok, so my sideboard is weird. While my deck is mostly theory-crafted, my sideboard may have been a little late night whiskey-crafted *clears throat* but who’s to say really… Looking at what I’ve got though, I’m bringing in some Sacred Purifications to turn those Rends into card draw and a pair of my other experimental, anti-DoT tech Niyore of the Watch.”

“My opening hand has the turn 1 and turn 2 armors that I need to bring his opening damage to a halt and a Hammer of Justice to lock him down when he brings out a weapon. Then there’s Bizzazz, Weeble, a quest and a weapon card. This hand’s not ideal, but it’s got a lot of what I’m looking for this time around. Keep.”

Vindictus' Notes:
"I choose not to sideboard. I didn't see much need for Withering Shouts, or Berserker Rages."

"A great opening hand. I keep and get ready to play"

Mad, turn 1: “My one game on the play, so let’s see if I can make it good. At 0-1, I’m the one with the burden of victory and knowing what Halvaar can do I’m not feeling too confident. Totem of Coo goes down on the table and the Doomplate Chestguard follows close behind. I pass the turn.”

Vin, turn 1: "I draw a Puncture, play A Warm Welcome and an Apprentice Merry."

Mad, turn 2: “Seal of Redemption comes off the top deck into my hand: things might be starting to look up. I’m faced with a tough face-down choice, though. I’ve got two turn 2 plays and I don’t really want to row anything else in my hand so I can keep curving out, so one of the two-drops is getting played as a resource. Do I play the Pauldrons, which I know become a blank armor once I get a weapon online and start attacking, or do I row the Pauldrons and hold onto the Hammer of Justice, predicting that he’ll be playing a weapon in the next few turns and I can lock his hero down for two turns once he tries to swing in? I place the Fanblade Pauldrons face-down in the resource row and get that ominous ‘I just may have misplayed’ feeling in my stomach as I pass the turn over to Vin.”

Vin, turn 2: "I draw Eskhandar's Collar, and place it face down in the resource row. I send Merry in, he blocks with armor, and I play a second Merry before passing the turn."

Mad, turn 3: “I draw a Demonslayer, but I’ve already got the Obsidian Edged Blade in my hand and I’d like to get a weapon online sooner than later, so the Demonslayer gets faced-down. I’m losing board position here fast. That choice to face-down the Fanblade Pauldrons is haunting me, so I play a Bizzazz to try and regain some board position, which nets me another Weeble into my hand. He’s probably not going to play a weapon next turn anyway, right?”

Vin, turn 3: "I draw another P-Blade, and put it into play face down. I attack with both Merrys, then play my P-Blade and strike. Thinks are going well so far. I'm expecting a Mass of McGowan or a Seal of Betrayal soon."

Mad, turn 4: “Sigh. What am I doing? Victory is feeling like sand between my fingers. Well, I draw another Bizz and put it face-down in the resource row. My side of the table is embarrassing looking after a first-hand keep, but I know I’ve got the Hammer of Justice waiting for him next turn. The Bizz trades with a Merry and the turn goes back over to Vin.”

Vin, turn 4: "I draw another Jeleane. Keeping the ally-based beats going, I play two Jeleanes after turning Merry sideways to attack.. I used Puncture as a resource this turn. At the end of my turn, a Hammer of Justice strikes Halavar. "

Mad, turn 5: “The HoJ put an Avenging Wrath into my hand (not what I need) and Totem of Coo came off the top of the deck at the start of my turn and goes right down into the resource row. With five resources in play, I bring out the Obsidian Edged Blade and swing it into Jeleane Starbreeze to send her packing away. I have a feeling this game is going to be ending soon…”

Vin, turn 5: "I draw a Heroic Strike. I attack with both Merry ane Jelene, putting him at 15 damage. Then I pull my second misplay of the match, and play Heroic Strike. I get ready to attack with Halavar, but realize he's still exhausted from the Hammer of Justice. At this point, I'm embarassed. I'm certainly not a world class champion, but I am a good player. Just not today, it seems. I mutter to Madjinn about how I'm getting sidetracked by taking notes while playing. To make some use of the Heroic Strike, I go ahead and Mortal Strike him for 5, then pass the turn. I'm obviously on tilt at this point. I pass the turn."

Mad, turn 6: “Have you ever played any of the Ace Attorney games? You know that ‘ding’ sound the game makes when Phoenix realizes something important during a trial? That’s the sound Niyore of the Watch made when he came off the top of my deck into my hand. Barring any direct ally hate – which I haven’t yet seen – I’ve suddenly got a great way to hold back his attacks and regain some board advantage in the process. With two more Weebles in my hand, I’ve sitting on both protection and card draw for my next two turns, and he’ll need to trade both of his allies and take five damage on his hero to put Niyore away.”

Vin, turn 6: "I draw another OEB. I attack Niyore with Jeleane, then flip Halavar to play the OEB and I attack his hero, sending 4 dmg to Niyore and taking 2 back. I pass the turn quickly, still brooding over my earlier misplay. As he draws I stare at my ready Apprentice Merry and wonder why that little !@#! didn't attack this turn."

Mad, turn 7: “The Obsidian Edged Blade coming down was unfortunate, but I still have a few more tricks waiting. After drawing a Seal of Redemption, I put down a Weeble and draw Avenging Wrath and Mass of McGowan. I face down the double of Seal of Redemption and swing into Halvaar for four with the Edged Blade, trying to even out these damage totals.”

Vin, turn 7: "I draw a Junk and play it. I use an OEB in hand to boost the one I have in play, then attack weebble for 5, I take 4. I complete A Warm Welcome and draw Gauntlets of the Vindicator and another Warm Welcome."

Mad, turn 8: “I draw Corki’s and play it in the resource row. I need to play that other Weeble now or I’m hosed. I’d like to be able to play the Seal of Redemption, swing to recur Niyore and replay him, but I definitely don’t have the resource count for that yet. Vindictus missed a resource drop a while back so I’m two ahead of him in the resource curve and well ahead in the card draw game.

Weeble goes down and I draw a Hammer of Justice and the Gauntlets of Vindication off of it. He’ll probably see this coming a mile away, but I’ll hold off on the attack to leave two resources open for the HoJ when he comes in attacking next turn.”

Vin, turn 8: "I draw another OEB and hold onto it. I play a Warm Welcome and Gauntlets of Vindication. I declare an attack and another Hammer shuts me down. I end my turn at that point."

Mad, turn 9: “Mass of McGowan gets faced-down and I draw a Sacred Purification off the top deck. How I am still staying alive in this? It’s got to be the protectors and the insane gnome card draw that’s allowing me to compete with Halvaar and even the damage totals on both the heroes. The game’s still close and, as always with Halvaar, I’m just a top-decked Mortal Strike away from losing anyway.

So what do I do now? If I attack him, he’ll swing back at me for six (of which I can block one) which will put me at 26 damage and only two health remaining. It places him, however, after my two Avenging Wraths at only five points away from death. I could try to attack with Weeble first to see if he’d take the bait and use up the swing on her, but then I’m open to attacks on his turn anyway and the Apprentice Merry he still has down on his side. No thanks.

So I do it. I attack swing and after the attack is on my hero play two Avenging Wraths one right after the other for a total of 16 damage on his hero that round of combat. It’s no Mortal Strike, but it’s still nice to know my deck can also go boom.”

Vin, turn 9: "I'm 4 damage from dead, and I draw a Bloodrage. With no other options, knowing that fatal damage is incoming next turn, I play the Bloodrage and cross my fingers, hoping for a Mortal Strike. I draw another Bloodrage and a Heroic Strike. I can't get past his protector without dying, and he's coming at me full force next turn. Still beating myself up over my earlier misplay, I scoop and give Madjinn props for the interesting and unexpected Avenging Wrath action."

“I pulled victory in that game out of nowhere. The card draw that the gnome allies brought me and the protection that Niyore and Weeble offered kept me alive long enough to pull out the tricks that I needed to win. Niyore really was the MVP. He shone in this match-up and I think he’s going to be replacing Consecration in the main deck. In most situations in the current meta, he’s going to be packing more damage potential than Consecration will, and he stays on the board to keep fighting. This match 2 win also gives me a chance to fix my whacky side boarding last game of my whacky side board."

Madjinn:
“For sideboarding, one Fanblade Pauldron, two Consecrations, a Seal of Betrayal and both Vambraces of the Sadist are out. Three Niyore of the Watch (Consecration 2.0), two “Chipper” Ironbanes and one Ishanah, High Priestess of the Aldor are going in.”

“As I staring at this hand, I realize I don’t know my deck well enough yet to be able to read and judge an opening hand, which is a serious handicap and a skill that is often overlooked. I do, however, feel like I’ve got a decent grip on Halvaar. I want to be able to keep playing cards to match his curve the first few turns of the game so I can get my protectors and mid-game card draw on the board to rocket me towards a possible repeat of the double Avenging Wrath win.”

Vindictus' Notes:
"Well, I lost game 2, but I'm pretty determined not to let that happen game three. Not only do I feel like I need to make up for my dumb mistake in game 2, I also know a lot more about his overall gameplan now. The Avenging Wrath's are interesting, but at the high cost of 4 each, I don't think they worry me too much. I know what to watch for. I'm also going to focus less on taking notes and more on playing."

"I keep. This is a solid hand with two weapons, a first turn rend, and a bloodrage to fuel me to an explosive end game. With a MS in hand already, I feel confident that this will play out better than game 2."

Vin, turn 1: "Drop a Junk, slide it sideways and toss a Rend onto the board."

Mad, turn 1: “On the draw again and he starts with a Rend... I top deck a Corki’s, play Sunken Treasure and the Steelsmith and pass the turn.”

Vin, turn 2: "Draw Jeleane. I play Corki's, the drop Perdition's Blade into play to kill his Steelsmith while he's still a little guy."

Mad, turn 2: “Herod’s Shoulder comes up off the top deck. Corki’s Ransom goes down in the resource row and a stop a second to think. I won’t be able to Chipper his weapon until turn four and by then I’ll be facing two more turns of dagger damage and there’s a very good chance he’ll just have an Obsidian Edged Blade to play right afterwards anyway. On the other hand, if I put Chipper down he’ll probably kill it but it’ll put three damage on his hero and keep the pressure off me. There’s always the chance I’ll draw that Seal of Redemption too. I think I’ll try and stay aggressive.”

Vin, turn 3: "I draw another Junk and put it into play. I don't like having Chipper just sitting around, so I stab him with my dagger. Before passing the turn, I drop Jeleane into play."

Mad, turn 3: “A second Avenging Wrath comes off the top deck. It’s definitely worth keeping those around. Herod’s Shoulder hits the table face down as a resource – I haven’t seen any equipment hate yet, so it seems safe to assume he’s not packing any. I throw down a Bizzazz, draw myself the Steelsmith and pass the turn over to Vin.”

Vin, turn 4: "I draw Rend, and use it as a facedown resource. I've already got one ticking on him, and I feel like I need to be more aggressive to keep control of the game. I flip Halavar, and play an Obsidian Edged Blade. I attack with the blade and with Jeleane, putting him at 10 damage. I'm planning to drop Bloodrage next turn to refuel. If I can keep that in play, I'll expect to win."

Mad, turn 4: “The damage per turn that I’m taking from him just got a spike with that OEB. I draw and play the Totem of Coo, exhaust three for the Gauntlets of Vindication, one more for the Steelsmith Joseph Carroll and run Bizzazz into Jeleane. My alternative is playing the Obsidian Edged Blade this turn and dropping the Gauntlets or an Avenging Wrath with a swing in the next, but I’m just trying to keep up board position with this guy, so Gauntlets and Steelsmith it’ll be.”

Vin, turn 5: "I draw Slam, and put it into the row face down. Then I play Bloodrage, and draw Eskhandar's collar and Heroic Strike. With OEB and Heroic Strike, I'll be able to do 7 + 8 damage next turn. If I draw another Heroic Strike and he doesn't have a Hammer of Justice or a Blessing of Freedom, that'll be it."

Mad, turn 5: “I top deck a Corki’s and plop it down in the resource row, glad I don’t have to suffer through deciding on another card to have to face down. He played Bloodrage last turn so I know he’s digging for those Heroic and Mortal Strikes, but I’m two turns away from winning myself with a pair of consecutive turns of Avenging Wraths swinging for 10 and an increasingly buff Carroll to back me up.

I exhaust four for the OEB and one more to swing into Vin’s hero for five damage. Joseph Carroll follows in behind me for three more. Can I last two more turns? Here’s hoping I top deck a protector or a Hammer of Justice next time around…”

Vin, turn 6: "I draw a Slam and an Obsidian Edged Blade and follow through with my earlier plan. Heroic Strike, swing for 7, Mortal Strike for 8. He's sitting at 25 damage, I'm at 13. He doesn't have enough resources to drop two Avenging Wrath's next turn, so I think I'm in the clear."

Mad, turn 6: “It’s like watching someone step on my sand castle (it may be a lopsided sand castle but it's still mine, dammit). Halvaar brought the damage last turn in what was effectively an all but exact play-out of my worst fears. Now I’m against the ropes. I’ve got a chance if he doesn’t draw another Slam or Mortal Strike, but only if I can get a protector or an HoJ.

My draw for that turn is Bizzazz. My heart sinks. This isn’t the first time this match-up that I’ve wished that card were a Parvink. The Bizz does draw me a card, though, when he enters play. Maybe the next one down is an HoJ? I exhaust three and play the Bizz. The Felsteel Reaper appears off of the top of my deck.

That’s game. With no way to stop his attack next turn I concede. Sigh… Halvaar and his Crazy Exploding Deck, ladies and gentlemen.”

Winner: Vindictus

End of Match Wrap-Up

Vindictus:
"Having limited playtime with Halvar prior to this Throwdown, I'd have to say that the results speak for themselves. The deck is pretty straightforward, and can dish out some heavy damage very quickly. The game loss certainly wasn't the deck's fault, as it could have been a completely different game if i'd been more focused on the match."

Madjinn:
“Kind of a rough first match for a new deck, but Halvaar is going to be in any testing gauntlet when you’re taking a new build for a spin just to see if you can match yourself up against the speed and explosiveness that Hal brings. I think the match-up in general is a little tough on my Traitor Paladin side, because it seemed to take me until turns four or five to stabilize and by that time I was well within Mortal Striking range, which was an obviously dangerous place to be in.

With changes to the deck, I’d start by switching out Bizzazz for Parvink. There were countless times in this match were I found myself wishing for a protector when my Bizzazz’s would hit the field. Bizz was there for the three attack and aggression, but Parvink could’ve saved me damage and misery where Bizz had to hang around a turn to trade with an opposing ally drop, at a resource (if not card) disadvantage. I want to keep in the draw one when they enter play camp because of Seal of Redemption, so for the time being I’ll stick with the Parv over a more efficient protector like Xanata. Which leads me into my next alteration…

I’d switch the Redemption and Betrayal numbers around. At least. Seal of Betrayal, rather than being a staple, looks like it’s better in smaller numbers or even in the sideboard depending on the meta, because you’re relying on your opponent’s deck bringing allies to the table, rather than only supporting your own.

Consecrations are out. Yes, the two damage AoE is nice (three if I have the Gauntlets of Vindication) but it’s a one time use card that this deck has no way of recurring. Niyore, who I for some reason in my deranged side deck building I put into the SB, is the new Consecration. True, the damage is not unpreventable and is not a true AoE, but Niyore is a solid body for the 6 drop and does not lose his effecacy when you’re leading either. He’s great against one tick DoTs like Rend, Moonfire and Fel Fire, paying the opponent back 2 for one for trying to DoT you up.

Hammer of Justice… I think maybe Xanata would be a better fit for that slot. She works with Seal of Redemption, and when you judge the two cards in terms of trying to delay the game, of trying to protect the board while the deck builds towards its win condition, Xanata outperforms HoJ, particulary in the early part of the game. She won’t even fall to a single blow of Obsidian Edged Blade, unless it’s backed up by the damage boosting Gauntlets of Vindication, and she eats low cost allies like candy. The Hammer might make a better sideboard card, because it's still does an incredible job of bringing control to a halt.

This deck can also go Horde. The question, I think, revolves around the question of Rak Skyfury. Basically, the ability to swing with an Avenging Wrath pumped sword twice in the same turn is beyond tempting. I lose out on the card draw that gnome allies bring me, but Rak Skyfury and other enters play Horde allies provide more aggressive possibilities for Seal of Redemption recursion. I also need to look at being better against the rush. Seal of Betrayal doesn't help me until turn 4 or 5, so in its current form it'll be more useful against a mid-range or control meta than it is a good choice in a rush heavy environment.

(Note: It has actually been ruled over on the UDE forum that Avenging Wrath and Rak do not actually work together in this fashion. A second attack from Rak would not in fact deal that double damage that the first one would. This has to do with Avenging Wrath only affecting attack values that existed before Avenging Wrath was played. Click here for the full text of the ruling.)

Finally, while the Seal of Betrayal build needs a little more work, I think there's another build there with Avenging Wrath, big two-handers and some early game control. Not necessarily stuck to Traitor, this could be a Protection deck for Holy Shield..."

Tags: Warcraft Throwdown

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Servants of the Betrayer may just see the rise of the solo paladin deck build, based around the new powerhouse Traitor rare that the paladin class has access to, and with Omedus rush on its way out of the metascape there may just be a home in the new competitive environment for a Priest-based deck of discard.

With the new set only days old, the structure of whatever the new meta may be is near impossible to define. The best way, however, to get a feel for it, is to jump into deck-building yourself and find the most powerful manifestations of the deck types that we've seen before and that you envision being seen in the future... and then pitting them against one another in a looping cycle of build-test-modify. There's no better place to start than with the cards that you're most excited about, and for me it's priest and paladin, both classes of the Traitor variety from SotB.

Without a doubt the defining card for a new solo Paladin is Seal of Betrayal. It's Traitor, so we're from the onset limited to a selection of only two heroes, but because the solo Paladin deck will be made up of predominantly abilities, weapons and armor, faction choice is a less important decision here than in other deck types.

The Seal is a phenomenally powerful card and a step above anything else we've seen before in the paladin class. It takes the act of clearing your opponent's side of the board with the broad sweeps of a two-handed sword into positive card advantage on the paladin's side. In anything but an ally-starved meta if you're opponent doesn't have an answer for it, any lethal swing from your hero results in a net gain of two in terms of board position for your side of the table. To get everyone on the same page here, this is what the card will do:

Traitor Hero Required
Ongoing: When an ally is destroyed by combat damage dealt by your hero with a weapon, put that ally from its owner's graveyard into play under your control.
2, Destroy Seal of Betrayal Gain control of target ally that your hero dealt combat damage to this turn.

The key phrase in the top half of the card is combat damage with a weapon. The destruction trigger on the lower half doesn't stipulate weapon based damage, so if you're powered up by Aura of Fanaticism or other cards that pour attack directly into your hero you can still use the Seal as an kind of pseudo-Twist of Faith (though more than likely, the pay 2 and destroy power will come in handy stealing a high health ally that your weapon isn't big enough yet to destroy). Including weapons in this kind of deck is, regardless, a necessity without question, and we'll want to start the weapon damage going as soon as we possibly can.

Re-enter Mass of McGowan. It's the cheapest decently-powered weapon a paladin has access to and, if you already have an Andis Butchersson or other strike cost reducing card in play, you can actually start stealing allies with it on turn four when you drop the Seal. Where it'll only hit heroes for two, the Mass smashes allies for four, which is just the right amount of attack to take down a Kulvo Jadefist or the vast majority of any of the other three and four drops in the game. There's the Hellreaver as the other possibility, of course, but that requires the opposing allies coming to you.

After Mass, we need to keep curving our weaponry up so as to keep up with the rising health of opposing allies and provide bigger and bigger packets of damage that we can put onto the opposing hero when the board is clear to swing through. That calls for the Obsidian Edged Blade - a four cost, swing for four with a strike cost of one two-handed sword that can be discarded from your hand to boost existing two-handed swords that you already have on the table - followed by the MotL epic, the Demonslayer, which swings for five. Follow those up with the end game closers of the Glaive of the Pit or the Felsteel Reaper, and you have a decent weapon curve that can support ally thievery through Seal of Betrayal up through the health values of the majority of the most commonly played allies in the game.

A turn three Mass leaves us with a vacant first two turns of the game. Against the rush, these two turns can mean damage in the double digits. The early game portion of the plate armor suite was a little later in coming, but Servants rounded it off nicely with the addition of a particular pair of 'sharp' looking shoulders. Armor in a soladin deck I recommend taking mostly in twos. If you mind the uniqueness violations via armor slots carefully enough, more often than not armor draws that would normally have been dead draws because they are duplicates will become viable plays to lay down a more ominous looking wall of gray steel.

1-drop: Doomplate Chestguard, Girdle of the Endless Pit (Chest, Waist)

2-drop: Fanblade Pauldrons (Shoulder)

3-drop: Gauntlets of Vindication, Herod's Shoulder (Hands, Shoulder)

4-drop: Doomplate Legguards, Doomplate Helm (Legs, Head)

5-drop: *empty*

6-drop: Vambraces of the Sadist (Wrist)

The Doomplate Helm might be the first to go if you need to trim the fat a bit, but once you have five or more pieces of equipment out on the field, your armor becomes unbelievable powerful until your opponent draws a decent answer. The Fanblade Pauldrons are a Servants addition that provides a stellar four defense when you exhaust your hero. In the early game, this is more than enough to thwart most any damage that might be sent your way (though it will fall to a Voss Treebender or other hero exhausting tech). Vambraces of the Sadist has some sick synergy with Seal of Betrayal, because not only are you taking allies away from the opposing player and using them as your own, you're dealing damage to that hero every time you rip an ally of his away.

The Seal of Betrayal is our all-star ability. But there's one other card in Servants that gives solo paladin another push towards viability. That card is Avenging Wrath. It's a four cost instant-speed play that quite simply doubles you heroes attack that turn. Play it while your weapon swing is still on the chain in the last stage of combat and outside of an interrupt the soladin has a brutal, explosive closer of its own (even more so if you can ready your hero).

Solo paladin could round itself out with other of its more staple abilities like Hammer of Justice, Consecration  (which can do a board wipe for three with Gauntlets of Vindication in play) and even Divine Riposte, though having not pulled one, I have yet to actually test that particular card yet. There's Hammer of the Righteous if you want to stem the flow of early ally rush, Lay on Hands for late-game staying power and the Blessing of Freedom to interrupt targeted damage spells and even some of the equipment hate out there that targets your hero specifically.

If you decide to go pseudo-solo and include a minor ally suite of your own, there's the cantrip Redemption and the Servants card Seal of Redemption, which while not compatible with the Seal of the Betrayal can create respectable card advantage of its own, retrieving allies from you graveyard with every swing.

A soladin could go Horde, for the variety of increasing potent equipment and ability hate cards that the class has access to along with the staple Horde solo quest Counterattack! The deck could also go Alliance for the virtual insanity of blue card draw through cards like Weeble, Bizzaz, Corki's Ransom and Totem of Coo. Horde paladin can also field the Blood Elf cards Solanian's Belongings and Arcane Torent, which might be reason enough to stay red.

This kind of solo paladin deck I see first off as having a bit of trouble against other solo decks, if unprepared. In these match-ups, the Seal of Betrayal becomes more lackluster and the relatively slower nature of the paladin deck puts the soladin player in the losing position in a damage race. Hammer of Justice is a powerful card in this match-up, however, as is Seal of Redemption if a more pseudo-solo deck with a modest ally suite is designed. 

But now, what about the other side of the coin? The softer half of the martial clergy of the church of the WoW TCG. Omedus rush is on its way out and while discard never was able to keep up that well in competitive play, a few additions from Servants of the Betrayer may be enough to push the class over the edge into competitive playability.

First and foremost among these is, again, the Traitor rare ability. In this case, it's Spiritual Domination. Spiritual Domination runs a similar course as Seal of Betrayal, in that it steals ally cards from opposing player's zones, but whereas the Seal took allies from play, Spiritual Domination goes digging in the opposing player's graveyard. And if you're playing discard, there might just be a fair number of choices in there.

Let's start with the tradition suite of discard abilities first. For the Priest class, early game discard follows the 1-2-3 curve of Touch of Darkness, Mind Spike, and Mental Anguish. For putting cards in the graveyard, those traditional abilities have been supplemented by Melt Face, non-targeting ally destruction courtesty of SotB. There's also the incredibly strong ally Shadow Silhouettes, which under controlled circumstances has the potential for some fast damage or positive card trades. It's risky, because damage on your hero might mean the card turns into simply an overly expensive heal, but in the right deck it may just have a place in a build that all but lost Shadowfiend and Morlug as its all-star allies.

Servants, however, had more in store for the Priest class than shadows and face melting. A certain pair of cloth shoulders can turn every discard the opponent makes into a 1 damage AoE. These shoulders are the Mana-Sphere Shoulderguards. Every Mental Anguish suddenly becomes a Consecrate. With the Essence Focuser in play, these discards turned AoEs become positive card advantage when they turn into card draw. The Focuser, not to be confused with the Essence Gatherer, is an uncommon wand that reads the following:

"When an opposing ally is destroyed, you may pay 1. If you do, draw a card."

With Servants of the Betrayer, discard wasn't given more powerful discard cards it was simply made a more powerful game mechanic for the priest class. Whereas before a Mental Anguish would be a 2-1, it can become a 4-1 if you have the Mana-Sphere Shoulders in play and two opposing two-health allies to destroy. It can become an incredible 6-1 if you then possess the Essence Focuser.

Priestly discard is no longer simply just the act of depleting your opponent's hand with abilities. R&D rightly saw that this was simply not a strong enough mechanic in the WoW TCG environment to exist on its own as simply and purely 'discard.' Instead, with SotB it's become a multi-faceted play strategy and can generate monumental card advantage in the right situations. Play a Horde hero, for example, and complete a pair of Swift Disciplines before you Touch of Darkness the opposing hero, and the Mana-Sphere + Essence Focuser combo lets you draw 4 cards for 4 resources and generate card advantage of 5 for 1.

What about Eclipse? If we're going Traitor for Spiritual Domination, the possibility of the inclusion of this card is going to invariably come up. Could it be the Priest deck finisher? Greater Heals are suddenly both a way to keep you alive and a finishing move if the opposing hero has more than 14 damage counters. Keep in mind, though, healing abilties only count as having healed the number of damage counters that they actually removed, so a Greater Heal on a 2-damage hero will net you a damage total of... 4.

Having not tested the card yet, I can only speculate really. I have to think that, given R&D's rather solid track-record of keeping card power levels relatively even through the sets, that the Eclipse + Greater Heal combo isn't the incredible closer that it might seem to be.

Constructed play with Servants is, relatively speaking, still a little ways away, but construction for it starts now and the new meta will begin to take form in theory on the Internet and within your individual play groups until the ideas and predictions of players across the country collide at the Realm Championships to flesh out what the first incarnation of the SotB meta will be.

Tags: Warcraft

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Well, it's Thursday now and all the hero cards, Traitor and faithful Alliance/Horde alike, have been spoiled. On Tuesday, I talked about a few of the hero cards seemingly at random, saying what initially came to mind when I saw them and musing over where they might take deck building. Only two days left until the Sneak and all the new cards from SotB hit the public eye, and only two more days to look over what cards we do now and ponder what changes they might bring.

Fallingstar/Fallenstar

Night Elf Warrior - Fury/Traitor

1, Flip Fallingstar Allies in your party with damage have +2 ATK this turn.

2, Flip Fallenstar Fallenstar deals 2 melee damage to target hero or ally without damage.
Use only on your turn.

Fallingstar is the new, rather androgynous-looking Alliance warrior hero. Seriously, the obvious cleavage on Fallenstar and the lack of 'plate-like' armor made me double-take to make sure they were supposed to be one and the same good guy/treacherous evil twin pair.

In Constructed, I don't see Fallingstar replacing Fillet as the Alliance fury warrior of choice at the moment. Shadowmeld doesn't compare with Escape Artist in terms of making your hero "untargetable" nor preventing him or her from getting slammed by a opposing big fat ally's attack.

If Bloodbath, however, is ever going to see any play I think it's going to be on the side of the Alliance. Yes, there's Mya and the Bearlady, but a dual-wielding Traitor Bloodbathing a Wisp will net you +2 attack for your hero for 3 resources as often as you can afford to pay for it.

Neither of the flips are particularly spectacular for Limited. If you're ahead in terms of board position and tempo with your little blue men towards the end of the game, Fallingstar's flip might help you seal the deal a turn or two sooner than you otherwise might have, but you probably would've been on your way to victory anyway.

It also might help you make a good ally trade where one wasn't possible before, or make the opponent think twice about that Holy Nova or Arcane Blast, but again, it's conditional on having damage counters on your ally already.

Fallenstar has a nice two for two printed on the front side of her card, but it's nothing more than that.

Ixamos the Redeemed/Ixamos the Corrupted

Draenei Shaman - Enhancement/Traitor

3, Flip Ixamos the Redeemed, exhaust one of your Totems Ready target ally.

2, Flip Ixamos the Corrupted, destroy a friendly Totem Ready Ixamos and all of your weapons

Ixamos the Redeemed has one of the cheapest ways to ready an ally on your turn outside of Metzen the Reindeer on the side of the Alliance. And that in itself is nothing to shake your nose at.

Being a Draenei, he also has access to ways of buffing all your allies attack power with Heroic Presence and Ka'lai the Uplifting so if your opponent's not careful, a friendly totem and a ready ally with big enough attack power could easily net you damage in the double digits in a single turn with Ixamos' flip. Not bad.

Shaman's been kind of written off lately as a Tier 2 class, but if you find yourself across the table from a Ixamos the Redeemed at the Sneak this Saturday, don't let this flip power catch you off guard. Gabbles and Stoneclaw Totems, for example, are commons, and an opponent could easily lock down your side of the board for a turn or two, then send 14 damage your way without blinking an eye.

On the Corrupted side of things, Ixamos the Corrupted allows you to ready your hero and weapons for more ways to let your shaman attack multiple times in the same turn. Shamans already have plenty of ways of doing this and, being a Traitor, Ixamos the Corrupted can't even use Stormstrike or Shamanistic Rage. Unless the rare Shaman traitor card has some powerful synergize with him, I don't see Ixamos' traitor side seeing much play.

Jonas White/Jonas the Red

Undead Rogue - Assassination/Traitor

3, Flip Jonas White, exhaust an ally in your party That ally deals melee damage equal to its ATK to target ally.

2, Flip Jonas the Red When target friendly ally deals combat damage to an ally this turn, destroy both.

Another example of very cool art on a hero card for Jonas White. Nicely done, Mr. Tallman.

Jonas White has got a fairly decent flip for Limited. In essence, it's a lot like Sharpshooter Nally's, which gives target hero or ally long range, except Jonas' power can only be used on an ally. In Limited, though, that's not as big of a problem as it would be in Constructed.

He's an equally viable Assassination rogue option for the Horde, though Zomm will be better if you opt for a strictly solo in an ally light environment, while Jonas White gives you access to Cannibalize for that strategic heal to stay in the game.

If you've get a rogue weapon on Saturday, Jonas the Red is a hero to consider. If you got a chance to peak at a Scrye, or saw the post in the general forums, Traitor rogues get something called Sacrificial Poison, which forces the opponent to destroy allies in his own party at the start of every one of his turns. In Sealed, that can mean big card advantage.

Plague Fleshbane/Plague Demonsoul

Undead Warlock - Demonology/Traitor

2, Flip Plague Fleshbane If Plague would be dealt damage this turn, you may choose a Demon in your party. If you do, that damage is dealt to that Demon instead.

2, Flip Plague Demonsoul If a Demon in your party would be dealt damage this turn, it's dealt to Plague instead.

Along with being the art chosen for the first place playmat at the Sneak this weeekend, Plague Fleshbane's flip is going to be pretty wicked... in Constructed. The situation where it really comes in handy (namely, when your hero is being targeted by a nasty powerful damaging ability) isn't going to be as prevalent in Limited or at the Sneak Preview event.

It's not that the flip's bad, but it doesn't generate any card advantage for you. I'd much rather have a protector who could jump in the way and trade ally for ally then put all the damage that I would normally be dealt onto an unsuspecting Demon in party instead. Thankfully, it doesn't target, so you could dump the damage on, say, Rulrin, if you really wanted to. Though with his one health he'll only be able to take the damage dump once.

Though decent, both of these Horde warlocks are far out-shined by their Alliance counterparts. Both of the Marlowes' flips are just plain ridiculous. They're able to effectively reduce your hero's health total from the start of the game (unless, of course, you're able to end it by earlier than turn 6). You may see Demonsoul around Constructed in the sure to by many attempts to jankify Ripped Through the Portal, but frankly speaking his Alliance counterpart from a purely "heroic" perspective is simply better.

Vor'na the Disciplined/Vor'na the Wretched

Blood Elf Mage - Frost/Traitor

3, Flip Vor'na the Disciplined Allies can't attack this turn.

3, Flip Vor'na the Wretched At the end of this turn, the player whose turn it is destroys each ally in his party that neither attacked nor entered play this turn.

Given the right circumstances, Vor'na the Wretched could be the best new hero for Limited in terms of pure card advantage. And all she needs is one common to do it (Cold Front). Her extremely low health is the big disadvantage of playing her, but for the mage class (which has been notoriously frail and easy to kill), this flip power and its mirror Tomb of Ice are important steps in the right direction.

If you sit down across from a Vor'na the Wretched player, I would all but assume that they're going to have either a Cold Front or a Tomb of Ice handy, so be careful not to overextend yourself to early, and to keep your options for card draw open until you absolutely need them.

If you're playing a class with substantially higher health, don't sweat letting a few points of damage through if you need to, because one good turn for the opponent might mean you just lost your entire side of the board.

Outside of Limited, though, I think the Horde-faithful version of the Vor'na card might be the better hero. She's the first Blood Elf frost mage in the game, and with the combined recursion power of Solanian's Belongings and Cold Snap, a Vor'na "Cold as Ice" build may become a viable option in the near future.

Though they were never "previewed" the new Frost specific cards for SotB were unveiled courtesy of the updated FAQ, and it looks like part of Frost's new direction will involve shutting down your opponent's hand via making it's maximum size smaller and making cards played from it more expensive.

Lady Katrana Prestor/Onyxia

15 Remove all of your cards in all zones from the game and start an Onyxia Raid.

How fortuitous! Usually I must leave my lair in order to feed.

This is a straight up fun card, but I wouldn't sweat it too much. Sure, there are ways to make this happen sooner than turn 15 and people will be trying to find them, but it's more a TCG accomplishment to take a picture of and put up on your wall than something to spend to much time striving after.

***

So good luck at those Sneak previews this weekend and don't forget to post tournament reports and new card impression for everyone to read! And if you do get that awesome Vor'na + Cold Snap combination or Ixamus, a totem and Gabble, snap a grin and flip it, sir, flip it good.

-Ryan

Tags: Warcraft

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Sneak Preview is coming up in just a few days. At the very worst, it's a great opportunity to pick up cards from the new set before their street date, get a cool EA and spend an early part of a day playing an awesome game with exciting new cards - and hey, you get exactly your money's worth in cards that you paid. At best, you're spending $25 and walking away with your deck packs plus prize packs and maybe that playmat at the end of the day.

We're seeing previews trickling in every day, and they've got me pacing past a computer with Internet access every chance I get around that time of the afternoon watching for what's going to be unveiled next. From a deck building perspective, Traitor heroes open up a whole new avenue of builds to make and we don't know yet how many Traitor specific cards each class is going to get (we know at least a common, an uncommon and a rare Traitor required ability for each) so playing with SotB might alter strategies in Limited to a much greater degree than Aldor/Scryer ever dreamed of doing.

So with that in mind and more cards coming in every day, let's take a look at some of the new heroes, faithful and traitor alike, seeing what new race/spec/talent combinations they open up and how they can be used to strike a new path through Constructed and Limited competitive play. 

Warden Stormclaw

Tauren Druid - Feral

2, Flip Stormclaw, destroy a Form you control Destroy target ally. Use only on your turn.

Better than Telrander for a cat form deck? Possibly. If Chew Toy weren't an ability that all druids have access to I would say definitely because her flip allows you to tear that big protector out of the way, or dangerous targetable ally that threatened to thwart your gameplan, when a Claw or Shred isn't going to be big enough to get the job done. Chew Toy being Chew Toy, it's not as big of an advantage.

Nonetheless the Warden might be reason enough to switch your feral druid aggro over to red for a change. You gain Solanian's, Rak, Counterattack! and even War Stomp and Poison Water if you find decent ways to synergize them well.

The flip is also a Limited stick of beating. Less so in the Sneak because chance plays a stronger factor there, but more so in Draft play a two cost Vanquish is a boon, especially when you were just going to play another Form card that turn or next turn anyway.

Morn Salts-the-Land

Tauren Hunter - Traitor

3, Flip Morn You can play target ability card from an opponent's graveyard this turn.

Part of me wants to scream "best flip in the game" when I see this card. It's graveyard recursion Traitor style and it allows you to play abilities that Hunter player has no way of ever accessing. It allows you to throw parts of your opponent's gameplan back in their face with a flick of a hero and a few resources exhausted. From something as mundane as stealing any opposing Cruelty to taking Gift of the Wild. And it doesn't even say "use only on your turn," a restriction which a lot of other powerful flip power's have.

Upon further reflection, it's of course not the blow me out of the water flip that it seems to be. It's still a neat ability and will definitely be used frequently, but you're also relying on the fact that the cards in your opponent's GY synergize with your own or are useful against anything else the opponent's playing. You're also spending, for example, your turn 6 playing something they put on the table on their turn 3.

It's most probably a better Constructed flip than Limited, but if you find yourself going Horde Traitor hunter at the Sneak, just keep your little 3 cost graveyard robbing in mind as you watch you opponent's hand for any interesting looking abilities that you may just want to give a play yourself... 

Obora the Wise

Draenei Mage - Arcane

4, Flip Obora When you play an ability this turn, draw a card.

Because Alliance and draenei needed more ways to out draw you like crazy. Seriously, with the new Arcane Focus and a mage deck full of cheap arcane abilities or allies this flip could be really cool. All of your abilities are suddenly cantrips and replacing themselves faster than you can play them, and if you have Arcane Focus and you're playing Arcane abilities you're readying resources and really make this flip a one turn explosion that can fill your hand or deal damage faster than your opponent can deal with them. It's pricey, but the potential is really there.

Commander Michael Goodchilde

Human Paladin - Retribution

2, Flip Michael If a friendly ally would deal combat damage while defending this turn, it deals that much +2 instead.

While his flip is certainly nothing to write home about (trying this with Donna Calister is just going to a: make your opponent just not attack anymore this turn or b: take Donna out with removal and plow into you anyway) Goodchilde is the first human retribution paladin in the game and he opens up the possibility of Sanctity Aura and Seraph the Exalted shenanigans.

I remark on this, honestly, because as my blogs attest I've always been a bit of a Sanctity Aura fan and although the deck's never made Tier 1 it's competitive enough and fun, and Seraph may make it a neat little control deck to play around with. Seraph's power is instant, so it gets around the liability of having holy allies around on the table for a turn before they can attack, not benefiting from that nifty +2 damage that you're trying to give them.

Lelora the Dawnslayer

Blood Elf Paladin - Traitor

1, Flip Lelora If combat damage would be dealt to or dealt by target opposing ally this turn, double it instead.

Cool art. Really cool. Props JonBoy, props.

Lelora's got a very respectable flip for Limited. You can suddenly make a 2/1 trade up with a 4/4 for a single extra resource, which when you're rushing allies at each other trying to gain some tempo, can be a very handy thing. There's also the access to Seal of Betrayal that the alternate universe evil twin version of Lelora gives you.

If you happen to pull a weapon in your Limited games, then you're in luck and you may just have yourself a very significant advantage if you can keep that weapon in the game for a few turns and start swinging away. Otherwise it's a Twist of Faith for six resources, and one that can't be dispelled. Not bad. Lelora's a Blood Elf too, so if you want to give this a try in Constructed you're in luck because you can Solanian's back up to your hand and pseudo Twist of Faith again to take another ally from your opponent's side and put it to work as a betrayer.

Runetusk

Troll Priest - Shadow

2, Flip Runetusk Target opponent discards a card. Use only on your turn.

Runetusk is the second Shadow hero Horde gets to play, and the first Shadow troll. This card is meant to be a proverbial elbow nodge from UDE to play a Horde discard priest with Root and Thwarting Kolkar Aggression quest hate. I think a lot of people will take the hint and try this out.

He comes with a very respectable flip: decent in Limited and pretty damn good in Constructed in a discard deck as well. If you're playing Runetusk in Limited, say, at the Sneak Preview in 4 days, don't feel compelled to pay the 2 and flip on your second turn for a discard... even if you don't have any other good plays. On turn 2, you're given your opponent the option to choose what he doesn't want to keep, and he's probably got a card or two he could live without.

Play the flip rather on turn 5 or 6, when the opponent's hand's down to one card that he's saving. Might be a Weeble or a Gabble, and for two resources you'll see it in the gy and your opponent won't have much they can say.

Bloodtusk

Troll Priest - Traitor

5, Flip Bloodtusk Discard your hand. Each opponent discards a card for each card you discarded this way. Use only on your turn.

I spent some time mulling over this one. He's, of course, the Horde Traitor priest so if you want to go red and priestly and you're looking to use Spiritual Domination he's your one-tusked troll. A good number of discard decks went red in the past to amp their discard through Mias the Putrid and Finkle recursion, but Hypnotic Blade is an equally potent card for the two-slot. It's not as fast, but it can potentially go much farther.

His flip is kind of a chin scratcher at first. It's obvious multiplayer utility is, well, obvious, but uninteresting so it's not really worth talking about. Bloodtusk's flip power has the potential to shine in situations where you're playing against an opponent with a combo deck, or an opponent who's collecting combo pieces in his hand waiting to combo out against you on the appropriate turn. It sends those Mortal Strikes and extra Twigs to the graveyard and the opposing player back to completing quests and top-decking in order to rebuild the proper combo hand that he needs.

Rather than fast discard or a discard rush, Bloodtusk as a hero points you towards a slower, control discard deck type. With 4 of Spiritual Dominations, you're just daring an opponent to put big game winning allies into their deck, so you can play them. Throw in Root of All Evils and Thwarting Kolkar to lock down their quest-based ally recursion and discard might just see it's big day.

Granted, the flip is still not great, but it's certainly a hero power to simply ignore and not learn how to recognize the occasional situation where it might be used to good effect.

(to be continued...)

Tags: Warcraft

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A Player's Toolbox

There's been a rise in slower, control minded decks of late. Rush is still out there, but more and more you see people toying with different kinds of control (rogue discard, warrior control, warlock control) and you see them packing at least a few of the big end game allies like the Greench or Varimathras or Ishanah. The allies in themselves are basically the win conditions and the entire purpose of the rest of the deck is to drag the game out until the big ally can be dropped to lock the game down.

Over on wowtcg.com, John Tatta posted a mage control deck a while back that made use of the card Portal. He ran 1-ofs of every ally he could need in most any situation he thought he might encounter (including the big end gamers like Greench) and used Portal to fish them out. Yet another Tatta article a week later showed off a Dralnor discard deck that used much the same idea, running instead The Missing Diplomat to search the allies out and bring them to the top and into your hand.

Generally speaking, you design decks for consistency. And that means putting in multiple copies of the key cards you need to make sure you draw them every game. Of course, you're sacrificing diversity of options, but with a carefully constructed deck consistency in the cards you do draw should get you through. The control decks like the two John Tatta wrote about use a different strategy. They pack as diverse a group of allies as they want and then use search cards to pick and choose which ones they need at any given time.

This technique is called toolboxing.

Toolboxing used to be soley the province of the Alliance player (as far as allies are concerned). MotL gave Horde the power with the mage spell Portal. Toolboxing with allies though is just the most popular method at present. There are other cards that do the same thing, searching out other tools for your decks.

So let's go over these cards, their strengths, weaknesses and synergies, and find out how they can be used and what ways there are to counter them.

Top Shelf Toolbox

The Missing Diplomat - The staple toolboxing card. It's Alliance only, and while it's more expensive then the mage ability Portal, it serves double duty as a resource and a search card. The best way to stop it is with The Root of All Evil. Targeted resource destruction really isn't effective enough now and the other quest flipper, Thwarting Kolkar Aggression, lets your opponent chose which face-up quest card he wants to turn down. In a toolbox-control heavy meta, The Root of All Evil is a good choice for your side deck.

Portal - Now you're thinking with portals. This is a mage only ability, non-instant, but costs half the price of The Missing Diplomat and the Horde can use it to, making it very much Varimathras friendly. If you're running it, you probably shouldn't be relying on the ability heavily in the early game, as it'll put you behind on your play curve, even while you finding all the right answers that you think you need.

Gear Upgrade - Gear Upgrade is great. Not only can you toolbox with it and pull out the bigger equipment cards late game, it's a perfect response to targeted equipment destruction. Might as well get some use out the item anyway and using it to fish out a better card with Gear Upgrade is a not a bad deal. Most players use it to fish out weapons, but you can also use it to throw away a dual-wielded weapon for a shield to help stave off an overwhelming rush.

The Lower Tier

Kralnor - LOOK IT OVER. Kralnor doesn't see a lot of use because he's a bit more specific than other toolbox cards. He'll only find your staves. He also only puts them on the top of your deck, rather than onto your hand. The most obvious use with him is fishing out your Bringer of Deaths, but a druid deck might also enlist this orc warlock to pull out Braxxis' Staff of Slumber. There's also the Mag treasure card Crystalheart Pulse-Staff that's just waiting to be used and absued, and if you're not playing priest (who has access to much cheaper ally stealing) a sidedecked Staff of Dominance could snag an opposing Greench or Ishanah from the opponent and turn the momentum the other way...

Herod's Shoulder - In one sense, Herod's Shoulder works the same way as Kralnor: it puts the card on top of your deck, rather than into your hand. Paired with A Final Blow, however, it becomes A Missing Diplomat costed play that nets you a piece of armor as well. This card's fallen a bit out of favor because solo decks have been trying to become faster and faster in order to compete. While this card may not have a place in these faster solo decks, it can fish out a Sulfuras, a Thunderfury or a Glaive of the Pit and still net you a piece of armor for your Steelsmiths or Onslaught Girdles.

Bottom of the Box

Meeting Stone - Really hasn't seen use yet because it's much too expensive. Comes oniine two turns later than the Spirit Healer and isn't an automatic ally so much as you need two other allies already in play to bring it out.

Swiftshift - It's nice in that it can bring form abilities back from you graveyard as well, but it's pricey at four resources. Probably best used in Boomkin decks to because the Moonkin form card has no way of recycling itself if it gets destroyed. Could also be used in a future competivie bear form deck to bring out your Demoralizing Roars.

Premeditation - Would be so much more useful if it weren't subtley heroes only. But as it is, combo cards aren't generally worth four resources to fish them out, and subtley rogue doesn't really have much else to offer.

Deadly Brew - Only a toolbox card in the sense that it allows you to search your deck. It caught my interest when it first came out, but I never really ran with it. It could concievably work towards a rogue discard deck, stacking Anesthetic Poisons on the opposing player and exhausting their hero with the Bloodfang Hood...

Circle of Life - It's a nifty enough card. I remember it seeing some use in the days when all that was was HoA. But since then, it's just too expensive at eight cost to really be effective enough. Granted, it still has some potential abusing allies with come into play powers, but the Crystalheart Pulse Staff does the same thing a lot more effectively.

***

So toolboxing is another option in deck construction that gets you away from having to run multiple copies of cards for deck consistency and allows you to run a diverse number of cards. Generally, you'll use toolboxing for situational combo pieces or for ability/equipment/ally hate.

We've seen what toolboxing can do for the decks John Tatta posted, but why not take it a bit further and see what else toolboxing has to offer.

Wrath of Demia

Mesmeri the Channeler

Allies (22)

4x Kulvo Jadefist

3x Syluri

3x Porto

3x Acolyte Demia

3x Vindicator Kaldel

1x The Abominable Greench

1x Shem Reznict

1x Enfea Contha

1x Lt. Commander Dudefella

1x Lady Kath

1x Prophet Velen

Abilities (14)

4x Totem of Wrath

3x Stoneclaw Totem

3x Shock and Soothe

2x Earth Shock

2x Chain Lightning

Equipment (8)

4x Aegis of the Vindicator

4x Terror Pit Girdle

Quests (16)

4x The Missing Diplomat

4x Forces of Jaedenar

4x The Defias Brotherhood

4x Rescue the Survivors

(Thanks to manu-fan, frdrake, & yayaorbaldy for tips and advice) 

First up is an elemental shaman combo deck. This is based around an idea a friend of mine at the local game shop started playing with one day and I used his original idea for this list. It uses the prototypical toolboxing card, The Missing Diplomat, to ensure its combo (Acolyte Demia + Totem of Wrath) goes off in time and it plays a little shammy control to get to that point.

A Glaive Situation

Ona Skyshot

Allies (13)

4x Chops

3x "Acid Hands" McGillicutty 

2x Doshura Risestrider 

2x Shadala

2x Stone Guard Rashun 

Abilities (14)

4x Silencing Shot

4x Trophy Kill

4x Wing Clip 

2x Aimed Shot 

Equipment (19)

4x Blackcrow

4x Herod's Shoulder

3x Devilsaur Leggings 

3x Hellreaver 

1x Glaive of the Pit

1x Demonslayer

1x Flame Wrath

1x Sonic Spear

1x Hemet's Elekk Gun 

Quests (14)

4x A Final Blow

4x Swift Discipline

3x Sunken Treasure

3x Poison Water

This deck uses Herod's Shoulder to fish up its finisher (Glaive of the Pit) along with a few other situational tools (Flame Wrath for rush, Sonic Spear for solo, Elekk Gun for control, Demonslayer for lock control). Like the previous deck, it plays a little bit of control to get itself up to the position it need to to lay down its Glaive of the Pit and finish off the last few points of health with Aimed Shots and big weapons.

Tags: Warcraft

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So Last Time...

So last time, Deck Building 101 took a look at constructing a deck under very tightly controlled cirumstances. Beginning with one card (Sanctity Aura), a deck for each faction was constructed that focused soley on cards that dealt damage of the holy variety. Despite having been built under tight limitations, the Holy Roller deck still performs competitively. The version I use personally includes the Greatsword of Horrid Dreams (fantastic card, especially again protectors and the myriad of Horde allies with come into play powers), Paladin Training to turn allies into impromptu Wraith Scythes (it can be quite a tempo swing when a 2-cost Tyrennius Scatheblade slams into one of your opponent's five health allies and heals five points of damage off your hero in the process) and the Sheath of Light, thwarting burn decks and especially ones running Dragon's Breath.

The next logical step is to branch out a bit more, try including a greater card pool and starting a deck building project with a little bit of a wider scope. The deck project that I'm talking about was one that I touched on a little while ago, back in the pre-MotL days, but one that March of the Legion made all the more interesting and possibly lethal. In a way, it revolves around a theme again (like the Holy Rollers last time) but the theme is a much more general one and is provided by the words "Troll Hero Required."

Blood for the Warcaller

Warcaller Zin'bawa was released back in Through the Dark Portal, along with three other "troll" themed cards: the lackluster Berserking and Zalazane and the occasionally used Thwarting Kolkar Aggression. Zin'bawa was one that always caught my attention I have been tinkering with a Warcaller deck ever since the day I pulled the card out of its pack.

The Warcaller is a bit of a sadist. At the cost of three, with five health and protector, he'd be worse than iffy at best, if not for his unique power. For every point of damage on any one of your allies, Warcaller Zin'bawa gets +1 to his attack. What this means is we want to have as many high health allies out of the field as possible and we want them to have damage on them to buff the Warcaller, but not enough to be lethal. The reason then why March of the Legion was so kind to a Blood for the Warcaller style deck is because it loaded the Horde side down with tons of high health allies for costs that were much lower than previously allotted to cards of that size. The big three are the Blood- siblings, but those aren't the only ones that are worth taking a look at...

The fun thing about this deck is that it focuses on being big. Big allies, big health totals, big damage. In doing so, it uses a game mechanic that turns the drawbacks that some cards possess into advantages (suddenly the damage piling on from Intensify Rage and Marka Addington are helping you!).

So the goal here, initially, will be to find a decent ally base that Warcaller Zinbawa can be built around. Another one of the great things about this ally is he's not unique, meaning you can have two or more of him out of the table at one time, so including 4 copies of him is a given. To construct our ally pool, we'll use the old ally curve chart from the last Deck Building article.

1-

2-

3- Warcaller Zinbawa

4-

5-

6-

7-

8-

From here, we can go through the Horde ally cards in terms of each one of the ally slots, finding which ones are the most efficient cost-to-health ratio deals while still being potentially threatening allies on the field in their own right.

At the 1-cost slot, Bloodsoul is a shoe-in. His combat effectiveness doesn't really need to be proven any further, and at 3 health he's a possible two point boost for the Warcaller if he stays out on the field.

At 2-cost, Kagella Shadowmark is a solid choice. As experience shows she's at the very least a 2 attack, 3 health ally and in most cases she'll end up swingiing for even more. Guardian Steelhorn, the 3/3 staple from HoA, is definitely a good pick too... although, she does have the disadvantage of not being able to be attack. Borlis Brode is a big body for his price as well, but in most situations his disadvantage makes him a waste of your deck space.

Warcaller Zinbawa's already holding down the 3-slot for us, but if we want another big bodied protector, One-Thousand-Battles is an awesome choice. Bala Silent Blade also has a high health-to-cost ratio, but her situational attack power puts her into the "maybe" bin, depending on what other cards we eventually run that she synergizes with.

The 4-slot is a little less generous to our build. There's, of course, Guardian Steppestrider... but playing another ally that lacks the ability to attack isn't exactly what this deck needs. Doshura Risestrider, with a suitable 4 health but an awesome come-into-play ability and the protector keyword, is probably our best choice here, though depending on the meta, I wouldn't rule out Ossandran, Crematorium Master either...

The 5-spot shines with another MotL card, and that card is Marka Addington. At 7 attack and 7 health she's an absolute bargain at the price of five resources. Sure she's a little suicidal, dealing herself three damage at the start of each of your turns, but with Warcaller Zin'awa out, she's a 10 attack upswing on your side of the field after she's been in play a turn, and practically any ally the opposing player sends her way to kill her will die too. And because we're focusing on ally-based damage, Instructor Anethol is an awesome card to include too, giving you the option to shut down opposing protectors at 1 resource a turn.

Also at the five-slot is the Warcaller's devioius cousin, Ash'ergi. Ash'ergi has a similar sort of power as Zin'bawa, though his attack only benefits off of damage counters on himself. However, that's not to say every damage on him doesn't count for 2 or more when he and Zin'bawa share the field, and if we give a few slots up to Ya'mon, we've suddenly got a bloody trinity of sado-masocistic troll allies who dig the pain and grow stronger in leaps and bounds when the damage counters begin to pile up around them.

You can go on a little further with the other few slots on your own time, but right now let's take a lot at the updated ally curve with the shoe-in choices we've identified so far.

1- Bloodsoul

2- Kagella Shadowmark, Guardian Steelhorn

3- Warcaller Zin'bawa

4- Doshura Risestrider

5- Marka Addington, Instructor Anethol, Ash'ergi

6- Ya'mon 

There are also other allies that could make up a list of the "potential inclusions," depending on what kind of other cards go into our build and the possible synergy they might have. Malwani is one of them, as would I say is Elithyis Firestorm, Groundshaker Earnheart, Volin Netherburn and Metzen the Reindeer (huh?!). But naming those is jumping a little ahead of myself anyway. We have another set of decisions to make next. And for those, we'll take a look at the...

The Class Divide

Troll Hero Required. That's the fundamental limiting factor for this deck, and by including the Warcaller we're sticking to that formula for our hero choice. Luckily, trolls are one of the races with the most classes available to them. As a troll player in the MMO, you can be a warrior, hunter, shaman, priest, mage or rogue. Translating that over to the TCG, things get a little more specific, because not every class and talent spec combination is available in the troll flavor. In the TCG, then, we have the following options:

Protection Warrior

Fire Mage

Holy Priest

Arcane Mage

Combat Rogue

Beast Mastery Hunter

Restoration Shaman

So technically, this deck could go in six, if not seven different directions from our initial card pool. You can look over the choices yourself at your leisure, but ultimately not ever class offers cards that synergize with our ally and health/damage based deck build. Certainly, if you were planning a deck type with something else as its spine, theme, or whatever (such as a fire mage burn deck with decent protectors) you could use the Blood for the Warcaller ally pool as a supplement and go that route. However, starting with the Warcaller as our base, three particular classes offer our current card pool some kind of direct synergy: warrior, priest and shaman.

Each of these classes offers a slightly different deck type for the Warcaller ally base.

** 

Warrior abilites, for example, start out by amplifying the allies' combat capabilities.

Intensify Rage - This is the big one. It's a three attack and three health on-going boost to an ally for two resources, and it's instant so you can throw it down after the declaration of a protector in the combat phase to surprise your opponent. And what's usually seen as a drawback (the fact that it puts two damage on the attached ally at the start of your turn) is for this deck a boon, making Warcaller Zin'bawa (or Ash'ergi or Ya'mon if you through it on them directly) more powerful with each tick.

Commanding/Withering/Rallying Shout - Of course there's Battle Shout too, but with this deck, the +1 health from Commanding Shout does more for combat proficiency in the long run than +1 attack does. Rallying Shout is pretty obvious as well, it can make all of your allies suddenly protectors, which depending on how many allies with the actual keyword already that you take, could be a bonus. Withering Shout I included not because it boosts combat skill directly (though it can make your allies trade with card they normally couldn't have) but because it facilitates the inclusion of two other cards for warrior that this deck could like: Swift Discipline and Metzen the Reindeer.

Devastate - If we're going prot already, devastate is the only ability worth taking a look at. If you include a weapon (say, Hellreaver, for example) it's a decent 3 for 2 instant damage card, but more importantly it can help you get around your opponents wall of protectors and make that clothie warlock hero who wouldn't normally be attacking, charge your hero and smash directly into a beefed up Zin'bawa or other protector instead.

Salt the Wounds - This card could only work in a certain type of deck, one using impartial AoEs. By impartial, I mean that they damage your allies with just as much impunity as the opponents. So, cards like Elithys Firestorm or Ramstein's Lightning Bolts. Salt the Wounds can pile even more damage on your opponent and cantrip to draw you a card in the process. Also, if you're using things like the Ramstein's, the inclusion of Groundshaker Earnheart seems all the more tempting...

** 

On the more pious front, Priest cards boost ally health totals, bring dead or almost dead allies back from the brink, provide a little ally control or add a discard element in the process.

Prayer of Fortitude - Again, starting with the big one. The additional advantage of five extra health to all your allies for this deck should be obvious: it's just more potential attack power from damage for your troll allies to deal. The smaller, Infusion of Fortitude of course does the same thing and is instant, though Prayer may be a more economic use of card space.

Power Word: Shield - Though slightly in tension with the whole more damage is better idea, this nonetheless can keep your 7 attack Ash'ergi with 4 damage on him alive for an extra turn so he can strike again.

Resurrection - Obvious. Allies coming back from the dead, going right back into play. Because it's probably better used as a more late game card, this card's probably not one to include 4 copies of, but 2 or 3 would do this build just fine.

Soul Rend - High health, low attack protectors on the opponent's side are cards that this deck simply does not want to see. It halts our momentum and doesn't provide the damage we so desperately need to keep going. Soul Rend throws those cards out of the way. It'll also answer big lockdown control allies your opponent might try to throw at you in the late game.

**

Shaman abilities can rejuvinate dying allies to keep them in play (though here again is the tension between desiring as much damage as possible and keeping allies on the field), shares with the priest class the ability to put allies from the graveyard back into play and also has ways of letting your allies attack repeatedly in the same turn.

Ancestral Spirit - For the shaman class, this is the big one. Like Resurrection, it brings allies from your graveyard and puts them directly into play. It does so, however, by putting damage on them equal to their health totals minus one - the most damage they could possibly contain without dying. So a Spirited Marka Addington played the turn that Zin'bawa goes for an attack is a 6 point upswing for the Warcaller attack power.

Life Arc - This card works off of the "drawbacks" of cards like Marka Addington and turns it into damage, as well as keeping Addington (or an ally scheduled to die your next turn from an Intensify Rage) alive for more beats. The cool thing is that it's instant, and you can play it to surprise your opponent: that damage ally that he thought he could kill this turn suddenly has full health... and that damage that was on it just took down another one of his allies that he was going to attack with next. The disadvantgae of this card is that it can only damage allies.

Shaman Training/Windfury Totem - Why attack with a maxed out Ash'ergi only once a turn when he could clobber the opposing hero again for a single resource? That's what this two cards promise: more mileage out your allies. Windfury Totem is arguably the weaker of the two, because at 1 health its a rather flimsy target, though it does provide the ability to attack multiple times to all allies in your group.

**

Blood for the Warcaller then, has several possible directions it could go in and become a competitive build. The possibilties are worth tinkering around with, and if you feel so inclined, make up a decklist and post it in the comments and we'll see where this thing could go...

-Ryan

Tags: Warcraft

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Righteous!

In the last Deck Building 101 article, we covered the basics of how one can think about a deck. Decks in the WoW TCG fit into a number of archetypical categories that describe how they are played (for example, rush, solo and control) and their construction is directed by a set of fundamental principles (such as synergy, curve and efficiency). Once you’re armed with these concepts and ideas, the best way to advance your deck building skills further is just to jump right in and get your hands dirty trying to put together new decks, and that is the purpose of these next few articles in the Deck Building 101 series.

The first thing to do when beginning a deck project is to decide on a goal and direction for the deck. The goal can be something like a deck archetype and it tells you how you’ll want your deck to play when you have it finished. Your direction helps you narrow down your potential card pool. Picking a class and faction can give you some of your direction, but oftentimes there will be a certain card or combination that just begs for a deck to be built around it.

Surprise Attacks! formed the foundation of the Rotun solo deck that had its heyday at last years Worlds. Dragon Breath facilitated fire mage burn decks’ rise to power by allowing them to handle threats that would’ve otherwise overwhelmed them. Shadowfiend, with its ability to ready a resource upon damaging an enemy hero, calls for a deck filled with cheap allies and abilities to pile damage onto the opposing player before he ever has a chance to respond. Other allies like Kagella Shadowmark and Broan Charges-the-Fight (along with Omedus’ killer flip) pretty much locked this particular build in for the Horde.

March of the Legion gave us a new kind of card, one that referenced the type of damage that an ally or ability deals (e.g. fire, shadow, holy). Of this card kind, there are three talent spec abilities (Fire Power, Shadow Weaving and Sanctity Aura) that reference that little graphic in the bottom left corner of your ally cards, as well as a mini-host of rare allies that power up your allies or provide other benefits for your deck in the same way.

Shadow Weaving and Fire Power have already found themselves a place in the current meta, partly because they fit rather cozily into existing builds that had already proven themselves top-tier in the pre-MotL competitive meta. Sanctity Aura, on the other hand, hasn’t seen much of the light of the day since its release, but it practically screams for a new deck type to be built up around it.

From a deck building perspective, Sanctity Aura is advantageous because it provides a very clear direction for a deck to be built with. Sanctity Aura is an on-going ability that boosts the attack of holy allies in your party by two while attacking and increases the holy damage that your hero might deal with powers and abilities by two (righteous!). Therefore, it begs for a deck with holy-dealing allies and abilities to be built around it, a deck where these cards will form the structural backbone. Of course, we’ll need other non-holy cards like quests and class abilities to fill in the gaps, but our holy cards will take up the majority. We’ll start with them as our potential card pool.

The Holy Rollers

Usually, when I begin deck building, I’ll lay all of my potential cards out on a big table and sort them into groups. As it is, this is the Internet, so instead of a table, we have lists, charts and, well, walls of descriptive text that will have to suffice.

When I start grouping my card pool, I’ll put cards together by card type and go through them to determine the possible synergies that they might offer, as well as starting to determine which cards just aren’t efficient enough to make the cut (there are a lot of cards from the HoA days, for example, that are simply starting to show their age and are no longer worth their cost). Generally after this I’ll lay the cards out in a row according to their costs to determine the deck’s potential curve which in turn will help you decide at the very end how many of each particular card you’d want to include (take a look back at the first Deck Building article for a refresher if you’re not sure what to make of the italicized words).

Sanctity Aura is a retribution paladin card, so of course we’ll require a ret pally hero. Luckily, there are three (two Alliance, one Horde) so we’re free to make a Sanctity Aura deck of either faction, although granting that one of the Alliance heroes was a Burning Crusade promo and so is not exactly easily to get. As you’ll notice below, any neutral ally cards that we may want to include are going to be Aldor (with the notable exception of A’dal), so if we’re going to include a sub-faction, Aldor’s going to be it (unless, you opt out of any holy-ally Aldor cards and go instead for non-holy Scryer: that’s an option, but they certainly won’t synergize with Sanctity Aura like the rest of our deck).

I mentioned above the fact that every good deck building adventure should start out with a direction and goal. The direction was provided for us pretty clearer from Sanctity Aura (aggressive holy allies and abilities) and our goal is provided from exactly the same source. Consider Sanctity Aura for a moment as a card: it’s a four cost on-going ability (four cost meaning that the earliest it could come on-line is turn four) that benefits steady attacking. It couldn’t be any more tempo of a card. Like a tempo deck then, the idea is for our Sanctity Aura deck to be able to deal with opposing threats while steadily piling up damage towards a mid-game turn victory (as in, later than rush’s victory range but earlier than control’s).

So anyway I did the grunt work for you, and here is the list of all the potential cards that fit our holy requirement:

Allies (Horde)

Blood Knight Tarae, Dark Cleric Jocasta, Deacon Johanna, “Fungus Face” McGillicutty, Grandma Deadsie, Katsin Bloodoath, Kelvor Valorshine, Kiana De’nara, Lessa the Awakener, Nalonae, Ra’chee, Shadala, Tyrennius Scatheblade, Zul’that Steeltusk

Allies (Alliance)

Alhas, Archbishop Benedictus, Caretaker Mooncrier, Champion Zosimuus, Dorric the Martyr, Freya Lightsworn, Hailey Goodchilde, Hanaga Silvervein, High Priestess Tyrande W