The Comprehensive United in Stormwind Preview

 

Bloodbound Imp

A 2 mana 2/5 body is nice on-curve, and Bloodbound Imp has multiple synergies that can work in several archetypes. Anything that discounts Flesh Giants might consider it, its demon tag means that Zoo might be interested in it since it works well with Shady Bartender. It’s strong with Man’ari Mosher as follow-up. It’s potentially an early-game staple for Quest Warlock. We don’t anticipate all these possibilities to pan out, but the fact they’re there and we’re not completely disgusted by them tells us this is playable.

Score: 2

Demonic Assault

This is a superb card for different kinds of decks. Any slower Warlock deck would love to run it since it offers removal paired with defensive development of the board. Killing a minion while summoning two taunts in the process can be such a great stalling tool against aggressive decks. Its development of the board could also be valuable to Zoo, since it can even go face, but most importantly set up a Shady Bartender follow up. What’s not to love about this card? Absolutely nothing.

Score: 4

Shady Bartender

This is the kind of payoff Zoo needed, and it highly encourages the archetype to heavily focus on a demon build to maximize its value. Tradeable makes Bartender so much stronger since expensive cards are hard to fit in aggressive decks, and the ability to cycle them out helps minimize the moments in which they’re drawn at the wrong time. We’re unsure whether the cards Zoo Warlock got are enough to bridge the gap in power it currently exhibits compared to the rest of the field. It has a lot of catching up to do, but this helps.

Score: 2

Touch of the Nathrezim

Removal paired with healing in Warlock? Sign us up immediately. Touch is the kind of card that defensive Warlock decks would always want. Healing for 4 with such a cheap cost is huge in the early game, and the class should not have too much trouble manipulating health totals to land this perfectly. This is a big survivability boost for any deck that likes to Life Tap on 2 and/or 3.

Score: 4

Runed Mithril Rod

This weapon is exciting since its ceiling seems high. We’re looking at two Thaurissan discounts at the end of its role, which is a very powerful effect. But, getting there can be difficult considering it’s a slow initial play that can be punished by the opponent. It requires us to potentially invest in draw engines such as Backfire and doesn’t synergize particularly well with a Handlock plan. Quest Warlock could be interested in this more, but considering its early card disadvantage, is it not a little optimistic to expect value from it without dying? With that being said, Mithril Rod is the kind of card you can build a whole deck around, so we’ll respect the mana cheating upside.

Score: 3

Dark Alley Pact

So, they went ahead and printed a stronger Mountain Giant? What makes it so good and superior to the old favorite is its flexibility. Need to address the early game aggression of an opponent and happened to draw this? It’s okay to give up one of those early game taps and still be able to develop this on 4. It might not be as big, but it won’t be the dead card Mountain Giant turns into in these situations. You can play it whenever, and tapping is simply about maximizing its usage, rather than allowing its usage. Oh, and it can also be a 9/9 and heal you with Man’ari Mosher.

We think this might be the card that paves the way for Handlock to return. So, so good.

Score: 4

Dreaded Mount

Dreadsteed, one of the greatest meme cards of all-time, has made its return in the form of a buff. Alas, this buff is extremely slow and is unlikely to be utilized by competitive decks. The best application we can think of is as a sticky Zoo card, since it makes landing a good Shady Bartender a little easier. But is that worth the awful, frontloaded power of a single point of attack for 3 mana? We press (x) for doubt.

Score: 1

Entitled Customer

Team 5 has sent us a subliminal message that nothing beats an Entitled Customer. Apparently, the customer can destroy every card they design with one fel swoop. Karen over here is one of the best cards in the set, and an unreal defensive tool for Control Warlock decks. With a full hand, it deals 9 damage to the board, essentially a Twisting Nether coming down on turn 6 while developing a serviceable body. We’re not sure at which point this card isn’t worth playing. Warlock will basically always have it online for insane value and decks looking to pressure it are just going to hope it is never drawn.

Score: 4

The Demon Seed

Here’s what we like about this quest. Its win condition doesn’t require you to do anything special other than surviving. If you complete the quest, you’re invulnerable to fatigue and your opponent will start taking that damage for you. This means you can almost entirely focus on removal, draw and self-damage mechanics to produce a functional quest deck. Of course, you’d like to accelerate your finishing potential, but we think that’s not going to be “the” problem.

“The” problem is, of course, not dying in the process. Starting with one less card in the early game means you are less likely to answer the opponent’s pressure consistently, and your need to deal damage to yourself to further your game plan means you need to pack tons of healing to offset both your self-damage and your opponent’s damage to you. This is a challenge, but with Warlock’s new survivability tools, we like the possibilities offered.

Score: 2

Anetheron

This is basically a 1 mana 8/6 in Handlock pretty much throughout the game. You can even play it as early as turn 3 with the coin after two life taps, which is pretty insane. We suspect this is the main reason why it is a legendary minion: having two copies of this in the deck might have been too much. Regardless of the early game power on coin, Anetheron can be great when paired with another threat on the same turn in the mid-game, making it difficult for your opponent to answer both. This feels like a blunt, somewhat boring power boost to Handlock. It doesn’t need to be more than that.

Score: 3

Final Thoughts

United in Stormwind Set Rank: 1^st

Overall Power Ranking: 3^nd

What a phenomenal set Warlock is getting. The class set alone doesn’t do it justice, just go through the Neutral section to observe how methodically Team 5 is pushing towards Handlock. If this doesn’t work, we’re not sure what will!

Indeed, Warlock is getting the kind of set that can push it from the bottom of the meta to close to the top. This is a tough prediction to make, since the deck currently does not exist at all and there is no great way to assess how it could perform in a new environment, but we really like the look of Handlock. It got a stronger Mountain Giant, it has multiple other ways of cheating a lot of stats for very little mana, it got an unbelievably strong board clear in Entitled Customer (we still can’t quite get over this card) but most importantly, Warlock got burst healing.

Whenever Warlock has access to burst healing, its late-game strategies become increasingly powerful. We’ve seen it all before. Soul Fragments are nice, but sometimes you need that one big heal to save you when you are on the brink of death. It might not be a Warlock card, but you might as well put a purple border around Spicy Bread Baker. Add Touch of the Nathrezim and Demonic Assault to the plethora of removal that Warlock has access to, and you start looking at an increasingly effective defensive kit.

But that’s not all, Control Warlock could also become a stronger deck, perhaps with an alternative win condition in Demon Seed rather than the notorious Tickatus. All these defensive boosts to the class are just as likely to thrive here, and though we’re generally down on quests (you probably noticed it already), if we had to gamble on a couple that are most likely to succeed, Demon Seed would be one of the two. Zoo Warlock is also getting some decent cards, though in this case, the design pushes aren’t quite there.

If everything that looks good on paper works in practice, Warlock will make a triumphant return to the format. A big one.