New Warlock Spell - Rain of Fire

cheap "self damage" activator + aoe a third of a Hellfire, easy to scale with spell damage compared to other cards warlock has, this and Nether Breath might be enough for dragon control warlock to consider running Bloodmage Thalnos.

Mini hellfire, but I don't think the effect is something you'd want to take up space in your deck. I don't think this will make any final list. 

This effect is great for triggering self damage related stuff, but Warlock isn't know for being a spell damage class and even with the option to, this rapidly kills your side as well when it amps off spell damage. I think the effect is a bit too narrow to see consist play, but the right kind of deck will want this.

Baby'S first Hellfire

I like it a lot. It's simple, straightforward and it works with Malygos in case that's ever a consideration.

With this and Dark Skies Warlock finally has an early boardclear package. NOt only that, it also encourages spell damage (which is really underated keyword in Warlock)

Cheap self damage synergy and a minor board clear. Bloodmage Thalnos is a highly flexible card that could help this become better for the purpose of removal. Not bad, not great, totally playable.

Good control card for Warlock.

As others have stated, its a baby Hellfire that can activate self damage cards. Also benefits greatly from spell power.

Despite the many ways in which self damage and AOE are a boon to Warlock, the opportunity cost of running such a weak card in your deck is so high that I don't think this would see play at zero mana, let alone one. (E.g. does Beakered Lightning see any play despite the overload synergies?)

board clear vs any zoo deck...wait... warlock archetype is... ouch

Quote From meisterz39

Despite the many ways in which self damage and AOE are a boon to Warlock, the opportunity cost of running such a weak card in your deck is so high that I don't think this would see play at zero mana, let alone one. (E.g. does Beakered Lightning see any play despite the overload synergies?)

Whirlwind sometimes sees play in aggro warrior. I think the real issue isn't opportunity cost, it's the obvious counter-synergy between damaging everything and building wide token boards. which is typically what the warlock self-damage cards try to do.

Lots of synergies (both new and well established) are possible here, and it will be nice to see what another class can do with a Whirlwind.

But can we take a moment to look at the art: I'm not sure Reno's choice of a longboat-airship really prepared him for this fight.

Kinda meh for a small board clear.

Quote From AliRadicali

Quote From meisterz39

Despite the many ways in which self damage and AOE are a boon to Warlock, the opportunity cost of running such a weak card in your deck is so high that I don't think this would see play at zero mana, let alone one. (E.g. does Beakered Lightning see any play despite the overload synergies?)

Whirlwind sometimes sees play in aggro warrior. I think the real issue isn't opportunity cost, it's the obvious counter-synergy between damaging everything and building wide token boards. which is typically what the warlock self-damage cards try to do.

Whirlwind sometimes sees play because Warrior frequently has ways to gain loads of tempo or armor by combing with small damage effects (e.g. Execute, Plague of Wrath, Bloodsworn Mercenary, Frothing Berserker, Armorsmith, etc.).

Warlock, on the other hand, gets one tick of self-harm out of this. You can get that easily from hero powering, it takes up zero card slots in your deck, and it draws you a card.

solid board clear? these are all 1 damage, does blizz really expect this many tokens on board? this pairs nicely with spell damage though

Mini Hellfire. Seems pretty weak without spellpower

Good for self-damage decks but not very useful in general. Early game board clear vs aggro decks...

basically, a Whirlwind that hits heroes. It isn't bad, but it is kinda weird, I really have no idea where to use this. Considering the rest of warlocks set, it looks like this is a card you would want to use against other warlocks as it kills all of their tokens. 

I think the best way to use this is to take advantage of the fact that it hits your hero to upgrade your spellstone, or summon a 3 drop or a 6/6. 

I guess it could be used as a small board clear to use in the first few turns against aggro decks, but this card just seems too underwhelming to be used in a control deck, and not relevant enough to use in a midrange deck. You wouldn't play this in handlock as you are losing a card from your hand to do such a small effect, and you wouldn't run this in zoo/galakrond warlock because it kills all of your tokens. 

This card is just all around an odd card, and yet something about it makes me want to play it in every single one of my warlock decks, just something about the card is very appealing to me.

not very impressive, maybe self damage, but weak

would have been nice with the spell stone

This card shouldn't see any play. It's a bad board clear and it doesn't work well in a self damage deck since you might end up hurting your own board.

Meh I don't really see this being included in any deck, but as I've said on other cards Warlock is all over the freaking place right now so I have no idea where 70% of these cards are supposed to go...maybe a month in someone will "solve this puzzle" and come up with some OP Warlock nonsense.

Not really convincing, tbh. It's too weak without help and if you want to hurt yourself you can just HP or use Hellfire, which is way more effective.

Maybe if Quest-Shaman will stay, but even then it's mediocre. 

Not a bad card, but it's really dependent on synergies, which makes it useless alone.

Doubt this’ll see much play unless there’s a lot of small token decks showing up in the meta at some point

does not seem that good but it does have some synergy with inflicting damage on yourself. 

The upside of whirlwind was all the other cards thst did stuff with damaged minions. Warlock does not have this type of cards so I don't see much use of this.

Quote From meisterz39

Quote From AliRadicali

Quote From meisterz39

Despite the many ways in which self damage and AOE are a boon to Warlock, the opportunity cost of running such a weak card in your deck is so high that I don't think this would see play at zero mana, let alone one. (E.g. does Beakered Lightning see any play despite the overload synergies?)

Whirlwind sometimes sees play in aggro warrior. I think the real issue isn't opportunity cost, it's the obvious counter-synergy between damaging everything and building wide token boards. which is typically what the warlock self-damage cards try to do.

Whirlwind sometimes sees play because Warrior frequently has ways to gain loads of tempo or armor by combing with small damage effects (e.g. Execute, Plague of Wrath, Bloodsworn Mercenary, Frothing Berserker, Armorsmith, etc.).

Warlock, on the other hand, gets one tick of self-harm out of this. You can get that easily from hero powering, it takes up zero card slots in your deck, and it draws you a card.

Warlock also gets tempo advantage from damaging itself, similar to warrior having masochistic minions. That's pretty much analogous, see: Diseased Vulture, Duskbat, Zzeraku the Warped or Deathweb Spider.

Life tap costs too much to be reasonably combined with most of these minions, which is why this type of synergy didn't really see play until Neferset Thrasher and Diseased Vulture were released. I don't think this card will be much use in that regard because of the aforementioned counter-synergy with tokens. Spirit Bomb does a better job at being a self-damage proc that's actually useful in that style of deck.

This makes Cobalt Spellkin even better card for Dragon Handlock.

Yay, the hype of Dragon Warlock !

Great against pesky Reborns and Divine Shields, not that any of that stuff is relevant this expansion.

good for aoe..but not really that strong..probably won't be played considering a lot of other options with better effects..

Quote From DoubleSummon

cheap "self damage" activator + aoe a third of a Hellfire, easy to scale with spell damage compared to other cards warlock has, this and Nether Breath might be enough for dragon control warlock to consider running Bloodmage Thalnos.

You comforted my first impression of the card - thanks or jinx ? - guess I would have phrased it differently and also imply in my initial statement that it may not be worth a deck slot, as far as consistency goes. It seems rather weak, depending on how the meta will shape up, it could end up like a David versus Goliath dragon-rehash. 

A mini hell fire, for me is "meh" at least it scalates with spell damage, but not a big deal overall, don't see who will play this

I like it alot, cheap spell with area damage. In wild it can be combined with spell stone.

It doesn't look good enough to justify a spot in the deck. Still a nice card if discovered by some effect or added randommly in your hand (like the new 3/5 dragons that add 2 1 cost spells in your hand).

Interesting card. I don't think it fits current decks, but there might be a new variant of Warlock that becomes viable in the metagame. The effect and cost are fair, and there is nothing wrong with the card per se, it's just nothing too spectaculair.

Good card for it's value. Played together with a Bloodmage Thalnos definitely can many small minions boards. Very good tool anti aggro.

It's cheap and work well with spell damage...but in my opinion the problem of this card is that require one/two slot in your deck. If you want put some aoe in your deck, this isn't your first or second choise

Cool card to support self damage while dealing with 1 damage aoe

With Bloodmage Thalnos, this has potential to wipe out the aggro threats on the board, but I'm not convinced that this will be a priority in any deck at the moment.  In Wild through, it will help to trigger the spellstone cheaply, so that may be worth it. 

Good control card for Warlock.

As others have stated, its a baby Hellfire that can activate self damage cards. Also benefits greatly from spell power.

I dont know... Do you want to hit everything for 1? Feels like a waste of a cardslot in your deck.

Not very good by itself, but could gain value with spell power.

At first look, seems underwhelming, but when you think about it, it's much better arcane explosion that can go face. Spell damage makes this an interesting cheap aoe for standard warlock.

its like hellfire except a bit weaker but also stronger since its cheaper easy to pop divine shields and could handle N'zoth if he was still in standard when this came. I can't see myself running this in a deck but I do expect it to be useful when coming from random effects.

Warlock’s own Whirlwind. Will do just fine, especially with all Gul’dans self-damage synergy.

Decent card. Strong in wild with cards that need dmg to be taken to have strong effects. Not sure in standard, but wild is a must.

I don't like this card, maybe with spell damage is a thing, but it's just a boring and weak card.

The small version of Hellfire. I don't think that this card is strong enough for constructed decks, since Control Warlock usually wants to play stronger AoE's.

Whirlwind effect but in warlock class? Weak...

Another bad warlock spell its a tradition at this point.

So just warlocks version of whirlwind. Seems decent but idk if id actually run it.

I don't think there is a posiibility to play it as a token removal but as a self damage tool it's good! There are some cards which benefit from taking damage so Rain of Fire might actually work.

Really boring card. Basically Hellfire but dramatically scaled down. Some limited synergy with Zeeraku I guess? Even that probably doesn’t amount to much. The AoE effect is really weak too unless there’s a ton of 1/1 tokens running around. And any deck that generates 1/1 tokens will try to buff them ASAP for precisely that reason.

Historically, 1 damage aoe spells were only played for two reasons: as an activator (warrior) or had a small cheap body attached to it (shaman)

This is kinda neither, and warlock as access to way better cards. 

Agressive whirlwind i dont see it specially because warlock has a ton of aoe 

Overall on the weak side just by itself. Can't think of any good combo with this.

I can't see the usefulness of this card in Warlock. It's too weak. Maybe with other card from future expansions? In Wild maybe you play it with Defile to help clear the board.

Why does t5 hates warlock so much? Too be short it has been : handlock, zoo, and for some time cubelock. 3 viable archetypes. I can't even remember if renolock was a thing in standard... Where the hell are the demons? The fact that this class has no real identity besides spamming 5 different tribes on the board is really painful to watch. Damn, I miss a good old thoughtful handlock: it was so rewarding to play... We'll see with this set. As for this card : gtfo.

For a class that excels in boardclears almost as much as Priest, I'm disappointed. It's not really that bad, but since Whirlwind sees no play, neither will this.

Without spell damage is this complete garbage. Lock has no ways to utilize damaged minions so existence of this card is behind my comprehansion.

When compared to Dark Skies, this seems so much better because the latter would require 14 cards to possibly do the same effect.

Quote From DoubleSummon

cheap "self damage" activator + aoe a third of a Hellfire, easy to scale with spell damage compared to other cards warlock has, this and Nether Breath might be enough for dragon control warlock to consider running Bloodmage Thalnos.

My exact same thoughts. Thalnos would be a good combo for this card. 3 mana 2 damage AoE + draw + 2 damage to enemy + 2 damage activator is quite cool!

It's better than it looks and Warlock needs some early AoE, may see some experimentation, but I doubt will find its home in a specific deck.