New Warlock Spell - Backfire

Compared to the Warlock hero power Life Tap this is one more mana, one more self damage, draw 2 additional cards!

Looking forward to reworking my old Malygos Lock list in Wild now with this crazy card draw addition.

Arcane Intellect on steroids and synergizes with BDSMlock.

Looks like Darkglare Warlock has become even stronger :(

Strong card, but I feel like this card gets overshadowed by the mere fact warlock has *so many* different draw options that it's almost inundated by how to draw cards.  

I think this is mostly better than the other draw options, especially in standard.

Quote From Thonson

Compared to the Warlock hero power Life Tap this is one more mana, one more self damage, draw 2 additional cards!

Nope, it’s just one additional card since you have to spend a card doing so. And for a card to be stronger than a hero power is not exactly a good reference.

At first I was thinking what would warlock do after Veiled Worshipper rotates and they lose that massive card draw engine, and here comes that one card that handlock needs.

Basically you're drawing 3 cards for 3 mana. How much more insane can it be?

Wowzer, great card - auto include in most Warlock brews

WHAT. WHY would they print this? This is Arcane Intellect but WAY better! Does it even have a downside? Because self damage is something Darkglare Warlock and zoolock loves so they can refresh mana crystals and cheat out Flesh Giant. Heck even Tickatus Warlock MIGHT consider Backfire in order to draw more cards.

Standard: Zoolock/Darkglare Warlock will have a field day with this giant buff of a card. Standard players beware the atrocity that is darkglare warlock.

Wild: Darkglare warlock was already decent, and now it's probably going to be oppresive again. "can't wait" to see turn 3-4 Flesh Giants and Molten Giants again...

Such a great card. I can see this being an auto-include in almost any kind of Warlock archetype: Zoo and Darkglare Warlock could definitely use this as a reload option, and slower Warlock decks could probably slot this in too since card draw is always welcome. 

it's about time warlock got some busted cards. Those zoolocks are gonna run rampant now

Quote From Bersak

Quote From Thonson

Compared to the Warlock hero power Life Tap this is one more mana, one more self damage, draw 2 additional cards!

Nope, it’s just one additional card since you have to spend a card doing so. And for a card to be stronger than a hero power is not exactly a good reference.

Saying it's only one additional card because you have to spend one to draw three is Mountain Giant math I suppose, but in actual card draw math it's three, two more than the hero power.

And I don't think it's wrong to compare Life Tap and this card as they basically do the exact same thing but on different levels.  Of course the card is stronger, otherwise why print it?  But making this comparison is the same as comparing Lost in the Jungle to the Paladin hero power, and even to the upgraded hero power.  Or comparing Kobold Librarian to Life Tap as the minion is the hero power for 1 mana and with a body.  This is an actual comparison I saw many times when Librarian was revealed.  So yeah, when a card comes out that does something the class's hero power does, but better or more efficiently it's a valid comparison to set a baseline.  Especially when talking about Life Tap, which most people would agree is the most powerful of the original nine base hero powers.

To further that comparison, you ARE drawing three cards, paying three mana and three health.  While you have to first include the card and then draw it to play it, you essentially use it to replace three Life Taps, and in doing so save an accumulative 3 mana and 3 health.  This comparison shows the card's playability.

Now compare it to Hand of Gul'dan.  Both area a card that draw three cards!  Both cost 6 resources, but Hand is all mana, while Backfire is 3 mana and 3 health.  Hand is used a lot right now in discard decks, because the discard can be targeted to discard Hand and draw 3.  Because paying 6 mana for three cards is way too much.  Backfire brings that same level of card draw to Warlock decks without discard mechanics.  Which is why I mentioned Malygos Lock in my initial post, because in combo decks like that I want great card draw options without having to risk discarding essential pieces.

All the recent card draw that Warlock is getting is great.  I'm just hoping that we can utilize it better than Mountain Giant and Abyssal Summoner

This is a great Warlock card. It does exactly what any Warlock deck already wants to do. Honestly, this would be a good card for almost any class in almost any deck.