Hearthpwn

Vesta (pronounced Westa) was the Roman Goddess of the hearth. Her followers took an oath of Silence. So, in the grand tradition of appending "lock" to the end of any deck name for the Warlock class, I give you: Vestalock.

The concept for this deck is all about getting big stats on the board early so they're harder to deal with, silencing off the problematic effects when possible or necessary, and having fun playing cards that never see play.

When generating a list of minions that are "silenceable" I look for minions whose stats are above the vanilla line whose card text is problematic. Battlecry, Combo, Deathrattle, Discover, Inspire, Overload, Taunt, and Windfury minions are all ignored as this text either cannot be silenced (Battlecry, Combo, Overload), shouldn't be silenced (Taunt, Windfury), or might not be silenced (Deathrattle, Inspire). Ideally I am looking for minions with great stats that can be useful whether they become silenced or not.

This is my list of "silenceable" minions in order of ratio of stats to Mana cost:

1. Ancient Watcher
2. Eerie Statue
3. Wrathguard
4. Fel Reaver
5. Anima Golem
6. Ogre Brute
7. Venture Co. Mercenary
8. Icehowl
9. Mogor's Champion
10. Mogor the Ogre

Ancient Watcher, Wrathguard, Eerie Statue, Fel Reaver, and Anima Golem are auto includes for this deck.

Ogre Brute doesn't have really high stats compared to his Mana cost, but he is a 3 drop so he's definitely in.

Venture Co. Mercenary is great stats, but he makes all of the other great value minions unplayable until he is silenced.

Icehowl is amazing at removing a huge late game threat from the opponent's board, but I don't want to still be playing into the late game. This deck aims to finish the game before turn 9.

Mogor's Champion and Mogor the Ogre are only barely better stats for the Mana cost. Their negative effect isn't as problematic as many of the other cards, but given that they can only be played on turn 6 (or turn 5 with The Coin) or later, their low Health makes them easy targets.

List of "silencing" cards in order of Mana cost:

• Ironbeak Owl
• Light's Champion
• Void Terror
• Spellbreaker
• Wailing Soul

Ironbeak Owl is an auto include for this deck.

Light's Champion isn't really going to be helpful in this list as his only target would be Wrathguard.

Why is Void Terror on that list? From the standpoint of keeping the stats on the board but removing the negative effect, Void Terror achieves that goal.

Spellbreaker's mana cost is too high to be useful in this deck. I need as much Mana as possible to put out the biggest threat on curve. If I ever want to play a "silenceable" minion AND Silence it, Ironbeak Owl allows for a bigger minion to be played. Ironbeak Owl also has the added benefit of being able to Silence early pressure from the opponent's board.

Wailing Soul is another auto include for this deck. In addition to silencing away multiple problematic effects, it can also be used to unfreeze the board to finish off a Freeze Mage, "heal" all minions affected by Equality, etc.

Since most of the "silenceable" minions are problematic when I need to attack with them, giving them Taunt forces the opponent to use removal or important minions just to clear the board. This allows the "silenceable" minions to still be valuable without being silenced. So I added Sunfury Protector and Defender of Argus.

With 22 of the 30 cards selected it's time to add some Warlock spells.

• Power Overwhelming
• Darkbomb
• Shadow Bolt
• Hellfire
• Shadowflame

Power Overwhelming is extremely versatile. It can give a minion enough attack to finish off on of the opponent's tougher minions (or the opponent directly), and it has synergies with Ironbeak Owl for healing, Void Terror for making him even bigger, and Shadowflame for clearing the opponent's board.

Darkbomb is also versatile. It can help finish off a minion, kill a minion behind Taunt, or just be lobbed at the opponent's face to win.

Shadow Bolt is useful for the same reasons as Darkbomb but it costs more and can't target the opponent. This one didn't make the cut.

Hellfire clears the enemy board. Most minions in this deck can take 3 damage and not die. Can also be used to finish off the opponent.

Shadowflame also clears the enemy board, but has the added benefit of removing a problematic effect from a minion by removing the minion. Has synergy with Power Overwhelming.

Whispers of the Old Gods Update:

Sadly there are no new "silenceable" cards added in this expansion. Sadder still is the Ironbeak Owl nerf. I think the simple change from 2 Mana to 3 Mana shifts this deck too far away from viable. Swapping it out for Spellbreaker helps by having a bigger body, but it's harder to play a minion and Silence it in the same turn due to the higher Mana cost.

Mean Streets of Gadgetzan Update:

Unlicensed Apothecary makes an excellent addition to this deck. To make room I took out the Hellfires. While Hellfire was quite versatile, this deck is focused around "silenceable" minions, not versatile spells. This also helps the Mana curve by dropping a 4 Mana card for a 3 Mana card. While Hellfire will be missed, I think Unlicensed Apothecary will more than make up for its absence.

I will do some testing with replacing Spellbreaker with Light's Champion as there are now a total of 4 "silenceable" Demon cards in the deck. I think having the same Health and Attack for 1 less Mana may be worth the switch to a more situational card. Also, one of the reasons for playing this deck is to give rarely seen cards more play, and has anyone ever seen Light's Champion outside of Arena or Tavern Brawl?

Journey to Un'Goro Update:

Thank you Blizzard! Emerald Hive Queen, Humongous Razorleaf, Bittertide Hydra, and Frozen Crusher are all excellent for this archetype.

Emerald Hive Queen gives us our first 1 Mana minion. It's drawback is fairly strong, so I don't know if this will make for a great turn 1 play or not.

Humongous Razorleaf is a slightly more expensive, slightly bulkier Ancient Watcher. While it's still great value, I think the extra Mana for no additional Attack might warrant it's omission from the deck.

Bittertide Hydra is the new Fel Reaver. While taking damage is a bigger drawback than losing cards, you will likely be taking damage far less often than you would lose cards. This might replace Fel Reaver instead of join it.

Frozen Crusher brings an Elemental into the fold. This one is quite interesting as it does not need to be silenced right away like many other minions already in the deck.

After a lot of testing I have found that Emerald Hive Queen is too restrictive for a turn 1 play and Bittertide Hydra is a death wish if you don't Silence it when you play it, so neither of them make the cut. So where do Humongous Razorleaf and Frozen Crusher fit in to this deck? Humongous Razorleaf makes an excellent replacement for Ogre Brute. For the same Mana cost the 3 extra Health is a big help. Frozen Crusher finds a home by displacing one of my favorites, Anima Golem. After your opponent reads the text on Anima Golem they take advantage and clear everything else. I can count on one hand how many times I've actually had an Anima Golem stay alive long enough to attack. Frozen Crusher, while being slightly smaller stat wise, is able to stay alive much more reliably.