http://entertainment.upperdeck.com/wow/ ... px#1869804
Now what makes this tournament unique is that for all intents and purposes it is the first major one where Scourgewar is legal. It is also unique because the format closely resembles the standard type environment that Wizards of the Coast uses for Magic: the Gathering: the last 2 blocks worth of sets released. The Naxxramas raid deck will not be released for a couple of weeks so any information that may be gleaned from this tournament would immediately change, even if this format was adopted on a larger scale. Sometimes the point of playing though is to have fun, and this will certainly not only be fun in playing, but in supporting a great cause (and playing for great prizes to boot!) for the holiday season.
Since the format will be different, I decided to write a series of articles preparing people for the tournament. I hope many of you who read this and live locally can attend, and if you are coming from outside the area, please let me know asap, if more people attend it is possible we may be able to increase the prize support!
So the format for this tournament is standard two-block or the “Heroic Format” as I am calling it. In the MMO players know Heroic Dungeons are your first foray into the raiding world once you hit max level (80), gearing you up for the larger raids, much like how participating in TCG formats that limit the sets you can use can be seen as your “first step into a larger world.” Heroic Dungeons can also get you some gear that will stick with you throughout your raiding experience, and I find that many of the lessons learned from playing TCGs with more restrictive card pools assist your overall constructed game as well. So even if you are not planning on attending the tournament, hopefully you will glean some information for the upcoming full constructed RCQ/DMF season featuring Scourgewar, even without the new Naxx cards.
So where do we start when we have a whole new set to digest in a whole new environment? Well we have to go back and look for some ideas from the last block, and luckily there was a fairly large event that featured Drums Block as a pretty important part of the tournament; Worlds 2009. Let’s look at the top decks from Worlds (the Top 8 and potentially more important the Top decks from Day 1) and how Scourgwar could affect them:
Horde Aggro:
Dusty Hostutler
Hero: Emek the Equalizer
Allies: 18
4 Dark Archon Farrum
4 Nathaniel Voran
4 Sivandra Darklust
4 Dethvir the Malignant
2 Skumm Bag'go
Abilities: 26
3 United Front
4 Power Word: Courage
3 Creeping Shadow
3 Disperse Magic
4 Searing Light
4 Shadow Word: Anguish
2 A Taste of Divinity
3 Splinter Mind
Equipment: 2
2 Dryad's Wrist Bindings
Locations: 3
3 Undercity
Quests: 11
4 The Last Barov
4 Rise and Be Recognized
2 Call to Arms: Arathi Basin
1 Proving Grounds
Side Deck: 10
2 Horrify
2 Merciless Gladiator's Gavel
4 Munkin Blackfist
1 Disperse Magic
1 Splinter Mind
I am pretty familiar with this list, its been in front of my face for at least 6 months and is only 2 cards off from the list I ran and I was its biggest proponent. Dusty kept the 2 Skumm Baggos in and it seemed to work out better for him than for the rest of TEC, I’ll tell you that much lol.
So what options does Searing Light Aggro have adding Scourgewar? First of all for all Horde aggro decks from block (including Valindre) you have to decide whether or not you are sticking with the “all-in Will of the Forsaken” plan. WOTF is extremely strong against the new big contender on the block: Death Knights, forcing them to have constant damage based answers since you allies will not die to the devestating Army of the Dead. I can tell you that Nathaniel Voran was pretty weak, but Sivandra is so strong that you need to continue to include her. Luckily she is a great combo with the new aggro superstar: Broderick Langforth. Conqueror Neusuada is another interesting option with all of the Warlocks that have seen play including Dimzir, Kazamon, Keldor the Lost, and Rula Blackfist (remember Dethvir and Sivandra are immune to his secondary ability). He should at least show up in side decks. The other conquerors are strong enough to show up in side decks if your Horde Aggro deck is weak to certain matchups (Gurzom vs. Gyro, Jarano vs. DK decks, Yun’zon vs. Warriors such as Mike Jacobs deck, see below), but Neusuada on stats alone should be strong enough to make the main deck. Emek should be able to run the new Horde aggro superstar Twilight Vanquisher Knolan, but in its current incarnation it will be very hard to play him ahead of schedule. For that reason alone you can look to Knolan as a later play, but another threat in the arsenal nonetheless. Spectral Kitten could also see some play, but you have to understand with all of these allies that Emek is the type of deck that starts with ally damage and ends with the abilities. It is not a true “all in” ally based aggro deck.
From a priest card perspective Emek gets the extremely powerful Devouring Plague, one of the best cards in the set from a constructed perspective. Shadow Word: Chaos should also find a home because even with the random nature of it, it is too much damage to ignore.
Looking at equipment and quests some jump out as potentially playable. Incursion Vestments would really help in aggro races for a cheap price. Encrusted Zombie Finger is an interesting option, giving your hero something to do each turn instead of attacking for no reason against public enemy #1: Everlasting Cold. Death to the Traitor King is an obvious inclusion for any aggro deck and I feel will be the most played new quest on the day. Defiling the Defiliers is another interesting option, even if it does cost you almost an entire turn to complete it. Finally, Scourge Tactics seems to be another easy inclusion as cheap late card draw, since Emek typically had a problem winning in the end after putting on early pressure. It would cause a shift to not using Undercity though.
If I was to run Emek at the event my list would resemble:
Hero: Emek the Equalizer
Allies: 20
4 Dark Archon Farrum
4 Broderick Langforth
2 Conqueror Neusuada
4 Sivandra Darklust
4 Dethvir the Malignant
2 Skumm Baggo
Abilities: 24
3 Disperse Magic
4 Searing Light
4 Devouring Plague
4 Shadow Word: Chaos
4 Shadow Word: Anguish
2 A Taste of Divinity
3 Splinter Mind
Locations: 3
3 Undercity
Quests: 13
2 The Last Barov
4 A Question of Gluttony
1 Rise and Be Recognized
4 Death to the Traitor King
2 Defiling the Defilers
EDIT: man counted wrong..fixed
Emek has a lot of good options and a lot of questions to ask: Do you need Disperse Magic main any longer? Does the new quest lineup allow for A Question of Gluttony to be played? Do you need Skumm any longer or is Adam Eternum not as big of a problem? Should you cut United Front for the extra damage of Shadow Word: Chaos? I tend to build as aggro as possible and the options in Scourgewar can finally move Emek into a more solidly aggro stance.
Another option is to move Emek more into the control route, relying on powerful DOTs, the card draw of Blind Faith, and Merciless Gladiator’s Gavel as additional damage.
Alliance Mage Decks:
William Postlethwait
Hero: Spellweaver Jihan
Allies: 10
3 Elder Achillia
4 Mikael the Blunt
3 Adam Eternum
Abilities: 26
2 Mana Ruby
4 Everlasting Cold
3 Spell Suppression
4 Blizzard
4 Brittilize
2 Spell Ricochet
4 The Taste of Arcana
3 Heartburn
Equipment: 8
3 Arcanite Dragonling
2 Battle Mage’s Baton
3 Dryad’s Wrist Bindings
Locations: 4
4 Eye of the Storm
Quests: 12
2 Call to Arms: Arathi Basin
3 Darkness Calling
3 Rise and Be Recognized
4 A Question of Gluttony
Side Deck: 10
1 Mana Ruby
3 Wand of Prismatic Focus
1 Spell Ricochet
1 Spell Suppression
2 Wub's Cursed Hexblade
2 Conjured Cinnamon Roll
Matt Markoff
Hero: Loraala the Frigid
Allies: 15
4 Elder Achillia
4 Mikael the Blunt
4 Adam Eternum
3 Loraala
Abilities: 27
3 Nether Fissure
4 Spell Suppression
4 Everlasting Cold
4 The Taste of Arcana
4 Blizzard
4 Brittilize
4 Mana Ruby
4 Heartburn
Locations: 4
4 Eye of the Storm
Quests: 12
4 A Question of Gluttony
4 Outland Sucks!
2 Call to Arms: Arathi Basin
Side Deck: 10
4 Spell Ricochet
3 Wand of Prismatic Focus
3 Wub's Cursed Hexblade
I used Markov’s List as the default Loraala, but that can change based on your personal preferences. All of the the various Alliance mage lists were similar but the concept is the same; Win with a combination of: Everlasting Cold, Mikael the Blunt, Elder Achilia, Adam Eternum, Heartburn, Mana Ruby, Blizzard, Brittilize, Wub’s Cursed Hexblade, The Taste of Arcana, Spell Suppression, and Eye of the Storm. Everything else is just gravy.
Mage did not make out all that well in Scourgewar, but Smoldering Blast should show up in updated lists. Arcane Burst is another option as well. Mana Sapphire seems much worse than its cousin the Ruby. Incursion Vestments may see play here as well.
From an Alliance aggro-control perspective, Flint Shadowmore is always going to be an option. Of the Alliance Justicars, only Broxlo seems playable. The one ally that could really help out Loraala is the Great Elek. The Elek does not help with Everlasting Cold since you cannot cheat a resource into play during the beginning of turn step (oh Fetchquests, wherefore art thou), but it will pump the damage of your Brittalizes and Heartburns. It would also pump up any potential weapons she may wield such as the various wands. It gives you damage only options with A Taste of Arcana if you just wish to deal 3 for 1, or the Flip if you just want to do 5 for 2. Meltdown will be 2 more damage. Arcane Burst will do its best Engulfing Blaze (for your opponent only though) impression and Smoldering Blast will take out Dethvir and Dimzir. All that, AND you get to quest cheaper..woo hoo!
So is it worth to run the Elek? Right now Loraala has a pretty tight early curve without really having to stop and play a 2 drop without an immediate effect on the board. In the mage builds, Elder Achillia is actually a better 2 drop since her effect is more universal for what the deck is trying to accomplish with its main DOTs. Turning your reactive spells (Taste and Brittalize for example, in addition to the flip) into main phase damage spells. I feel the deck would need to change to accommodate the Elek, into a more burn based deck, so that may have to wait until full constructed, but the option is out there.
Stay tuned tomorrow when I continue to look at the additional Worlds Decks and begin my thoughts on new contenders.
Please comment, hope this helps out!
