Hearthpwn

walloficecream here, a.k.a Balzack, back for another edition of deckbuilding.  To the right is my decklist that made me golden Warlock.

Today's write-up is going to be completely different, as it is concerning 1. Disguised Toast hitting Legend this month with Medivh Warlock 2. Disguised Toast winning a spot in day 3 of the Winter championships 2017 by casting Sacrificial Pact.  3. What we can do about it, how to open our binders more, and how to perform thought experiments on the next set with Warlock, in no particular order.

Previous works: Legendary player Trumpsc, also known as Trump, has messed around with 3-gods decks, gaining popularity on YouTube with very few cards for C'thun. 2. Disguised Toast's Warlock deck.

Manifesto, Metagame, & Strategy - Zoom! We're going fast this so quickly I'll spell it wrong. Xoom! This is my 2016 deck, but it's necessary to include in this discussion, as several points of it is relevant, or will be relevant, in deckbuilding for 2017.

Deck construction:

The "primary standard package" hero (TM) of Warlocks this month is a tag-team combo of Kazakus with Jaraxxus.  Say those last three words five times fast. Why does this combo work well? It calls upon the old formula of the last half of 2016 with C'thun and Jaraxxus.  Decks need win conditions, and the primary win condition of big Warlock has always been Jaraxxus. (I've always considered Molten Giants secondary.) Any number of cards can be used to support Jaraxxus after he's in play. Examples include Sunfury Protector on Jaraxxus' demons, or Earthen Ring Farseer for a quick refill. 

A card that support the primary standard package, (cough) Reno Jackson (cough) is rotating out this month.  So why not include Sacrificial Pact? (gets thrown out of the room)(comes back) I'm serious! Earthen Ring Farseer does its job, but a Sac pact is an Earthen Ring Farseer #2, plus it allows for Twisting Nether + Demon with its zero casting cost. So how can the primary support package(TM) be supportive enough without Reno Jackson?

The key here is what I call the Dreadsteed package.  It's: Mortal Coil/Dreadsteed/Sacrificial pact. Mortal Coil on Dreadsteed is a cheap cycle that gets to Jaraxxus faster.  Sac pact on Dreadsteed does no harm and is a playable version of Flash Heal.  Sac pact may just kill an opponent's Jaraxxus, like it did with Disguised Toast's kill in the Winter Championships this week. Power Overwhelming on Dreadsteed is a thing, too.

The second card in the primary standard package here is C'thun.  I think players misjudged C'thun during the entire time it was played.  Too many spots were taken up with Beckoner of Evil, Twilight Elder, et al.  I've gone a step further here and made an unusual choice with Twilight Geomancer, and a very unusual choice with Skeram Cultist (I don't have Twin Emperor Veklor.)  I think players would have done well doing more experimenting with C'thun during its time.  Rogue made a very successful C'thun deck using only Blade of C'thun and C'thun for its C'thun cards, and Reno C'thun warlock could have done well by its example.

What's important here is that, maybe there isn't a second hero in the primary standard package these days.  What's that you say?  There's Kazakus?  Because I wrote it up there? Yeah, but this deck also rocks "Doom!"  "Doom!" Never got much play in 2016 because it wasn't part of the metagame, and I don't think players really appreciated it that much. Kazakus is really a "Doom!" reincarnated.  Disguised Toast, also known as Toast, picked Medivh in his deck and smashed with it.

The secondary standard package (TM) for Warlocks is Power Overwhelming/Faceless Manipulator/Leeroy Jenkins.  Support cards for these include Dark Peddler for another Power Overwhelming, and Kabal Courier, for another Power Overwhelming.  I think this package is flawed, for the same reason C'thun was flawed - players invested many cards into it.  I don't mean to say it's bad, because I've died to it a few times, but it's flawed.  

Is it time for the Dreadsteed Package(TM) because there's fewer cards? Medivh is a good replacement for C'thun.  Should everyone be playing "Doom!"? What other packages can Warlock think up, now that there's a new set? What deck would you make?