The Comprehensive Heroes of Starcraft Preview

Data Reaper Report - Warlock

Spine Crawler

Spine Crawler is a Warlock Zerg Common Minion for 2 Mana with 1 Attack, 6 Health and has text - Taunt. Can't attack. Has +3 Attack if you control a location.

Probably the most puzzling Zerg minion. Spine Crawler is unplayable in an aggressive Zerg deck, as it is purely a defensive card that requires support in the form of locations to be stronger than a Tar Creeper. Unless we have Spawning Pool on turn 1, Spine Crawler is a weak turn 2 play, one that could end up being value traded due to its 1 attack. A turn 3 Ultralisk Cavern seems to set us up for the slowest possible game plan without doing anything that wins Hearthstone games.

Surely, this is never a constructed Hearthstone card.

Score: 1

Ultralisk Cavern

Ultralisk Cavern is a Warlock Zerg Common Location for 3 Mana with 3 Health and has text - Deal 1 damage to all enemies. Deathrattle: Summon an 8/8 Ultralisk with Rush.

If we play Ultralisk Cavern on turn 3 and use its durability as early as we can, we summon an Ultralisk on turn 7. That sounds horrendous. A single copy of Consume helps us get there on turn 5, which is still a worse game plan than utilizing a nerfed Forge of Wills alongside Dark Alley Pact.

No matter from which angle we view it, this location seems incredibly slow, with Ultralisk representing a predictable and telegraphed threat. The AOE damage is a very small bonus that shouldn’t have much impact on the game as we cannot reasonably afford to hold charges of this location for the right moment. This is a terrible card without Consume and a weak card with it.

Score: 1

Consume

Consume is a Warlock Zerg Rare Spell for 1 Mana and has text - Remove 1 Durability from a friendly location to restore 8 Health to your hero.

Healing ourselves for 8 is a decent deal for 1 mana but Consume requires us to have a location in play, which is a far more limiting condition compared to old Dark Pact, which we could use with minions.

Consume does have upside with Spawning Pool and Ultralisk Cavern, as they are both locations with deathrattles. The issue is that we see no major reason, based on this set, to run a Zerg Warlock deck. Hunter has far better prospects of an aggressive game plan, while Death Knight has stronger defensive tools. Warlock has Spine Crawler and a Forge of Wills that got nerfed two more times.

Outside of Pool/Cavern, Consume doesn’t have a reasonable application.

Score: 1

Final Thoughts: Unless Warlock surprises with a Seaside Giants location deck, this set looks like a complete waste of time for the class. The chances of Warlock coming up with a Zerg deck that’s only reliant on the neutral package is also low, as the Zerg faction needs a critical mass of Zerg minions to see success.