War-lock! What is it good for? Well, let's find out together! (Say it again now)
Captain's Log // Stardate 768-Alpha // I found some old journals in storage from a distant ancestor. She's hailed as one of the greatest strategists of her time; perhaps there is something here that can help us win the war? She cites a being known only as OoC for her vast tactical knowledge - apparently they were always 100% accurate in their predictions, leading her to victory many times. I can only hope she recorded some of them, that we may also know this great wisdom.
It was said that you would bring balance to the fel!
Quote From Demonxz95 Unstable Felbolt is a weird card that I question in a few ways. Hilariously, it compares unfavorably to the newly changed Holy Smite.
The main question I have is if you can use it while you have an empty board. If you can, then this card can be pretty decent if your board is empty and negate the downside (although at that point, it's literally just Holy Smite). Otherwise, it dealing damage to one of your minions can contradict the purpose of burn damage. If you have a 3-Attack minion on the board, you could very easily just trade that instead of using this spell and get roughly the game result (the only difference is that it can attack if it doesn't die). I don't really see a place for it.
Belladonna girl, yeah // All she ever wanted was to kill
Quote From Noxious Rush? Check. Targeted discard? Check. Good stats? Check. If you're actually looking to discard your highest cost card, this card is perfect for you. It fits into aggro decks (with the new Hand of Gul'dan to complement it), it fits into discard-heavy decks, and most importantly, it fits on the board as a strong removal option at a pretty good cost.
It works very well with other Ashes of Outland cards as well: A turn 2 Imprisoned Scrap Imp will buff your Matron just in time to play her and make your opponent shudder in fear. Kanrethad Ebonlocke and Kanrethad Prime can also make her cheaper, summon her back with her beautiful rush effect but with no pesky discard. All in all, a very versatile card, if used at the right time.
'Gul'dan, Man with a Plan' sold separately.
Quote From Noxious Promising card for aggro decks. Coupled with Expired Merchant or the new Nightshade Matron, it can give you the card boost you need to keep plonking those lil' minions on the board and get to that opposing face. The high cost definitely means this is a card you actually cast only if you are desperate. It could see play in more control-oriented decks, provided you have the safety net required to throw an entire 6 mana on card draw, and be left with only 4 to actually do something your opponent can react to, but this is definitely tailored towards those decks that need to draw fast, don't have time to heal, and would prefer to get some card draw without using the hero power.
Hoarder? I prefer to think of myself as a professional collector.
Quote From Noxious Beautiful Magnificent! You don't even need to look at this imp's stats to know it'll do a good job. Aggro Warlocks are gonna' adopt this mechanical horror right away. +2/+2 is an awesome buff, the likes of Embiggen, but without the drawback, which is what makes this imp so delicious. Aggro decks don't have time to pay more to summon buffed minions, and time is money. Sure, you only get the minions in your hand buffed, but isn't that enough to horrify your opponent already?
This card can make even Worthless Imps useful. You could argue the trade-off here would be that you must hold on to your minions until the Scrap Imp does his thing, but even getting 2-3 minions buffed is going to give you a good advantage, when all you care about is going face.
Khadgar really is a pretty shit wizard.
Quote From Noxious Handlock liked this. Are you a Warlock looking to play some big boys? Are you in the market to make those big boys airdrop faster? Then look no further, because The Dark Portal (yes, the actual Dark Portal) is open for business!
Holding 8 cards at once is not hard for Warlocks. You can basically catch'em all by turn 4, when the Portal can be played. What happens if you draw and reduce the cost of a minion like Fel Lord Betrug? What about Voidlord or Krul the Unshackled? Handlock will have a tougher time this year, with Mountain Giant moving into the Hall of Fame, but The Dark Portal might still be able to save it. If Enhanced Dreadlord is any indication, those two cards show that Warlock is going to get more support for Handlock decks throughout the Year of the Phoenix, and I'm excited to see what other interesting cards join the fray.
Enhanced? No, no, this is my natural hair colour.
Quote From linkblade91 8-mana is a lot to ask for in a Taunt minion, so for that cost it's got to deliver something good. Enhanced Dreadlord might not be the second coming of The Lich King, but what it offers is still pretty good. Altogether a 10/12 in stats across two bodies, the defensive combination of Taunt followed by Lifesteal should help you stick around in longer games. The question really comes down to whether or not the Warlock cares to play such a heavy minion; does their Year of the Phoenix game-plan include an 8-mana card? Could be much better with Kanrethad Ebonlocke and a new wave of Demonlock, but we'll see. Should be solid in Arena, at the very least.
Announce Darkness
Quote From GoliathTheDwarf Do you like playing with demon synergies? I do. Do you ever have a problem with getting a hand of cards that you can’t use? I do. This card gives a nice assortment of demons—more if you have a large hand of course—and buffs them up so that even the cheapest demons have an advantage. If you play wild, things might get really fun and crazy with the sheer amount of warlock demon legendaries.
Lorewise, the Shadow Council was a powerful secret shadow organization of warlocks, chiefs, and ogres formed by [Hearthstone Card (Gul’dan) Not Found] in order to secretly unite and manipulate the mostly-peaceful orc tribes into becoming the blood-thirsty Horde and puppets of the Burning Legion. Years of secretive manipulation on the part of this council cumulated in Gul’dan corrupting the orcs by convincing them to drink demon blood, which transformed them and imbued them with fel power and increased physical strength. This is reflected in the card as the Shadow Council transforms the cards in your hand into demonic ones with greater stats.
Has a bad case of Resting Eldritch Face.
Quote From Noxious Good 3-cost with good stats. At first glance, this minion will obviously get you "free" card draw from your Hero Power, and that's already good enough to make it a decent pick in any deck you're planning on drawing a lot. It can work well in aggro, with Flame Imp actually giving you an extra mana crystal if it's played with Darkglare on the board. It can do a good job in midrange/control decks as well, with Riftcleaver essentially costing 4 mana.
There are also interesting avenues to explore in Wild, with Kobold Librarian netting you an extra mana crystal, just like the Flame Imp, or summoning a boatload of cheap minions alongside Unlicensed Apothecary, if you've got a death wish.
Keep in mind this card refreshes your mana crystal, a very important thing to take note of. It will not give you two mana crystals permanently and it will not give you two extra mana crystals this turn only. It will simply refill mana crystals that have already been depleted this turn, so don't think you can get some extra juice by playing Darkglare and then Blood Witch.
One day, I'll be just like you!
Quote From linkblade91 My first instinct with this card is to put him in a Big Demonlock deck, preferably in Wild where you can use Bloodreaver Gul'dan as well. Double the revives! Big Demonlock has often lacked an early play beyond the Hero Power - can't play Demons, as they would be small - so you have to stall for time and wait until your bigger stuff comes online. Well, not only do you have something to put on the table, you can use it to drop your Demons ever sooner; turn-3 Voidcaller, anyone? It will be harder to utilize Kanrethad Prime properly in Standard, because you don't want to waste the Battlecry on little 1/1 Imps. Nightshade Matron and Enhanced Dreadlord are a good start, but what else are you planning to run? At least for Standard, you might have to wait for the next expansion to really start exploiting Kanrethad Ebonlocke.
He just loves to make an entrance.
Quote From Demonxz95 Oh boy do I have quite the thing to say about this one. 6 mana 3/3 that destroys a minion is already fairly strong, kinda like Flik Skyshiv.
But, the mechanic of "if drawn this turn" is exactly Quick-Time from my long ongoing Time Traveler class, so it's amazing to finally see it in the game in some form. Although it's in a class that can't really use it outside of just getting lucky with their draws. There's no Scry effects, no mechanic-centric support. Nothing. This is just another card that absolutely screams that we need Scry in the game. Perhaps this is a hint that we'll get it in the next set?
If you do manage to get the bonus effect off, it will require a bit of a "heart of the cards" draw when your opponent has a board, but it's quite massive. A 6 mana 3/3 with a free Twisting Nether is obviously incredible, but it's not guaranteed you'll be in a situation where it will be that useful when you draw it (in fact, sometimes it might actually be a downside). Still though, a 6 mana 3/3 that destroys a minion is strong, so it might see play just for that alone.
Comments
I think the best thing about all these AoO reviews is the amount of effort the OoC moderators put in from the start. Every review starts with a very creative joke that makes me laugh. Keep up the good work guys!
Cards that are obviously good and will see some play at some point;
- Darkglare, Hand of Gul'dan, Nightshade Matron, Kanrethad Ebonlocke
Cards I'm personally most interested to build decks around;
- The Dark Portal, Imprisoned Scrap Imp, Shadow Council
Others;
Keli'dan the Breaker - Interesting card, but its the sort of card I dont think would be all that useful. It always seem better to simply play the card you want the effect of. But hey, maybe the 3/3 stick is good enough for this to see play.
Enhanced Dreadlord - Good, but perhaps too slow. had this been a lifesteal taunt that generates a 5/5 on death it would be absolutely amazing, but its not. Maybe as fuel for Kanrethad Prime, it would be necessary to play this. Its still a 5/7 taunt if nothing else.
Unstable Felbolt - making a comparison with holy smite is apt. But warlock cards have never been that simple. I personally think this is trash; there's few warlock decks that can win without a board, and since Mountain Giant has rotated there's no reason to believe warlock will hold out until turn 4 without playing anything. So best case scenario, this card will be a 1 mana deal 3 damage with no trade off, or it pops your deathrattles, but majority of the time you will have a board and have to weigh a random shot at your own minions for a mere 3 damage. To illustrate further, Spirit Bomb deals 4 damage but has a trade-off that is at very least consistent (and which I personally think is better than the trade off from unstable felbolt), and that card's barely seen in standard since DoD launched.
I am so hyped to try all of the new warlock cards. In my opinion, Warlock has the most interesting set this expansion.
Looking forward to trying all these thangs. I love Warlock shenanigans!
Unstable Felbolt is indeed a weaker Holy Smite, but warlock has something priest doesn't have and that' card draw, so it's weaker by a margin except when played on an empty board.. mostly spells and board clears are played while behind, if you have no board it's a good card, would definitely run it in a handlock deck.. which wants to run shadow council as well, so if it's useless in the matchup and you are ahead, turn it into a +2/+ 2 demon.
Reading the dark portal's text made me think of a certain red panda
Demonx95's review for Keli'dan the Breaker and the Heart of the cards analogy got me like
Isn't Unstable Felbolt made for a specific deck, and not just to function as a Holy Smite? (Looking at you, Egg lock).
It would fit perfectly in such a deck, as it's cheap, deals damage of your choice and destroys one of your eggs.
Late game Plot Twist could work for Keli’dan. Deathrattles like Enhanced Dreadlord also works well in that deck. Early game is still missing though
I read this while hearing my roommate watching TNG in the other room
Legends speak of a time when all five pieces of Guldan are completed, instant victory will be achieved.