Michael Lum
10/6/2009

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Last time we talked about the basic steps to building a World of Warcraft Drums of War Block Deck – and covered the analysis phase. Today we'll go over my experience with trying out two different decks.

The Deck – Initial Build

Alright, now that we've done our work and taken a look at all of the viable cards (and mind you, you should do your homework and take a look at the various decks popping up online, and know your local meta), we can begin to build a deck.

These two decks I built with the intention of taking to our local tournament scene.

The first was an experiment with rogue. I liked what rogues could do and I thought they had some potential, especially with their ability for hand control.

Deck #1 – Rogue Hand Control

Hero: Gyro of the Ring (Alliance Gnome Subtlety Rogue)

Gyro had the bonus of being both a gnome and a Subtlety rogue, which allowed access to Deadliness and Dimzer the Prestigitator.

Abilities:
The abilities I mostly picked for board and hand control; as that seemed to be the rogue's strengths.

Carnage x3: A combo card that would wipe the entire field preceding turn 5? Sounded good.
Deadliness x3: Couldn't see the downside to always drawing one of these, so I dropped three into the deck.
Detect Traps x2: I love this card and figure that it's good in most matchups, but drawing a bunch against a rush deck just didn't seem optimal. So I put two more in the side in case I would face a control deck or a deck with lots of draw.
Lose Control x4: I figured that this card would be a fun first turn play and it would disrupt my opponent's hand.
Stab in the Dark x3: I would have put 4 in, but our local meta seemed to feature a lot of solo decks, and so I felt that the fourth would be better in the side deck.
Surge of Adrenaline x2: Some draw would be nice, and since I had Carnage in the deck too, I figured a little synergy wouldn't hurt.
Victimize x2: Adding to the hand disruption theme, I went with two copies of this. I know now in hindsight that perhaps another copy of this and Stab in the Dark would have been better, and would have dropped the Surge of Adrenaline.

Allies:
Allies were pretty standard for Alliance in this deck; and they were the deck's main road to victory.

Adam Eternum x3: Because he's simply good.
Dimzer the Prestigitator x2: Card draw, beefy ally, and hard to kill.
Mikael the Blunt x4: Ally control.
Pappy Ironbane x2: Noticing that I had no real way of destroying abilities, I decided to main deck Pappy. This caused me to put my Demolish card into the side deck.
Weldon Barov x4: A counter to Adam Eternum, and something that most decks have to deal with if they're attacking.

Equipment:
My equipment was designed for taking care of problems.

Black Amnesty x2: Took care of pesky allies, could sit alongside a Blackout Truncheon, and only cost one to swing for two.
Blackout Truncheon x4: I wanted to be able to deal a blow back to Adam to cause him to back off. It would also work well to exhaust a threat for a couple of turns, and it a meta with solo decks, I thought this would be useful.
Cowl of the Guiltless x2: I thought a first turn drop of armor might not be so bad, and it allowed me access to actually using Gyro's flip, which was otherwise inert for the whole game.
Shuriken of Negation x2: A little ability interruption can go a long way, although four was a lot to leave open.

Locations:
Eye of the Storm x4: Works well with Adam, Mikael, and Deadliness, as well as Gyro's own flip.

Quests:
The Last Barov x4: As I was running Weldon Barov, I figured that this quest would work out nicely, especially since so many others would run similar allies to my own.
A Question of Gluttony x4: I wanted my early options quickly; and I wanted to refill my hand as I emptied theirs.
Rise and Be Recognized x4: A standard 4 resource cost quest to draw 2 sounded okay. I couldn't think of anything better at the time.

Side Deck:
Demolish x2: To destroy early pesky equipment.
Detect Traps x2: If the opponent's deck had a lot of draw or was somewhat Slow, additional copies would prove useful.
Pappy Ironbane x2: Because I wasn't sure what I would run into, I didn't want to be unprepared.
Stab in the Dark x1: Allies in the opponent's deck that I don't want to see? Swapping out a Lose Control for this card was a pretty easy choice.
Yoink! x2: I figured that this card would be useful to grab equipment on the other side, since things like Battlecast Pants were popular and annoying.

The second deck I adapted from my constructed deck of the summer (that I brought to Nationals) and I noticed that it stayed mostly the same – at least in the ally area.

Deck 2 – Warlock Control
Hero: Ryno the Wicked (Alliance Gnome Destruction Warlock)

Ryno has been touted as one of the more popular choices of the format. I debated with Pidge Filthfinder for awhile, but in the end Ryno won out for me as I would have access to Backlash.

Abilities:
Backlash x3: Without this card, I would have selected Pidge as my hero, so I had to make sure I had good use out of it.
Drain Will x4: This seemed like a clear and easy choice, being that the deck was focused on hand control. Plus, this card would be amazing with Battlecast Pants late in the game during the opponent's draw step.
Owned! x2: An amazing card sure to put away annoying cards like those found in this deck.
Suspended Curse x3: Although not that great, with Battlecast Pants this would essentially become a 2 cost removal card, for anything.
Victimize x3: Without Drain Mana, Voidfire Wand, or Eye of Kilrogg, I felt I needed another hand control card; and since I also needed some card draw, I felt this would fit better than Bloody Ritual.

Allies:
Adam Eternum x3: Not much needs to be said of this guy.
“Bladehands” Spigotgulp x3: A 2 cost 2/3 sounded good, and would provide an answer to opposing Eye of the Storm locations, hopefully.
Dimzer the Prestigitator x2: Draw, a big ally, and seemed useful, as always.
Mikael the Blunt x2: I wasn't actually sure about this guy. I debated about trading him in for Gromble the Apt or perhaps another copy of Bladehands and Dimzer, but in the end I left him in the main deck. The main reason I can't seem to see his usefulness is that so many allies in the format seem to have more than 2 health that he doesn't really control the board as well anymore.
Pappy Ironbane x2: Being able to have an answer to abilities and equipment is a necessity in any constructed deck, and this wouldn't be an exception.
Tinker Bixy Blue x2: After watching the finals match between Ian Toffler and Jamie “Robert” Lefeaux at our local Realm Qualifier, I thought I'd give Tinker Bixy Blue a try; hopefully with either Weldon Barov to stand behind or a quick Battlecast Pants to lock them down quickly.
Weldon Barov x4: He just seems an Alliance standard.

Equipment:
Battlecast Pants x3: This was a cornerstone of the deck, although not necessary to draw.
Battle Mage's Baton x2: An answer to everything, although somewhat late in the game.
Blue Suede Shoes x2: With so much targeted removal, I thought that having a pair of these in the main deck would be pretty useful.
Sunfire Handwraps x1: I wanted to try these; thought it might be fun if I had multiple allies, or if I could play it off of Battlecast Pants while Weldon Barov was in play for an easy set of cards.

Locations:
Eye of the Storm x4: I couldn't think of a better location to use with Adam Eternum in this deck.

Quests:
The Last Barov x4: I figured with both Weldon Barov and the possibility of their having tokens with Blues Brothers that I might be able to pull off drawing 2 cards. That, and Alliance seems to run into counterpart allies a lot.
The Ring of Blood: The Blues Brothers: To draw 2 cards for 3 is highly efficient, and the threat of Rain of Shadow looms over anyone who dares to take the tokens. And taking the tokens simply fuels The Last Barov quest and it's easily enough countered by using Mikael the Blunt after an attack.
A Question of Gluttony x4: Early turn draws seemed important, and with so many x2 and x3 of cards, I wanted to make sure that I got my options in early.

Side Deck:
Blue Suede Shoes x2: If I saw a lot of targeted removal, this would definitely be going in, bringing the Shoes up to x4.
Curse of Weakness x3: To stop solo decks, this seemed a highly effective card.
Dominate x2: Killing off all their allies sounded good; especially with things like Will of the Forsaken and Escape Artist running rampant.
Mikael the Blunt x2: On the off-chance that I was completely off base on there being 2 health allies in droves, I put 2 more of Mikael in the side deck.
Suspended Curse x1: If I needed earlier answers to things, I could increase the number of Suspended Curse in the deck to x4.

Testing the Deck

I took the first deck of the two, the rogue deck, to our Block Constructed event on Saturday. I was a little uncomfortable because I hadn't had any time to really try the deck out – work and life had kept me busy.

Round 1 – Tom Nute (Alliance Warlock)
Stepping up to play Tom, I felt a frissure of trepidation. Ryno was a strong deck in the format, and it was at this point I began to doubt my choice for rogue – after all, it was very similar to the warlock deck with the notable changes of Blackout Trucheon for Wub's Cursed Hexblade, and a few more abilities instead of Hesriana.

After playing all three games, and winning close to time in the third, I discovered that the Blue Suede Shoes were awesome, I forgot to pack Owned! into the deck, and Mikael the Blunt was really only useful against other Mikael the Blunt allies. Food for thought. Also, the games with the rogue were very long, as I had no way to really push for the win or some giant victory condition. In essence he would Victimize, I would then Victimize, then he'd Drain Will, I follow up with Lose Control and then use Surge of Adrenaline – there would be consecutive turns of sitting around drawing and discarding cards.

Round 2 – Ian Toffler (Alliance Warlock)

Another warlock, but this was instead Pidge Filthfinder, so we wouldn't have to worry about Backlash. Instead, I'd have to worry about a turn four Eye of Kilrogg destroying the best card in my hand.

The first game was back and forth and took a great deal of time, but I was able to stave off his attacks for awhile – but eventually was overwhelmed, having my Weldon Barov taken over by Hesriana and having multiple Dimzer the Prestigitator allies beat me down. The second game was a lot faster – I managed to score my weapons out earlier and was able to land some quick hits in with Adam. The third game he locked me down in overtime and he would've won anyway – his field was much larger and more impressive, and all I could do was stall with Eye of the Storm and Black Amnesty.

I learned that rogue just seemed inferior to warlock – or least, my build did. Pidge's flip was very strong through these games.

Current record was now 1-1, and for games I was 3-3.

Round 3 – Curtis Klajch (Alliance Mage)
Curtis was running Loraala the Frigid and I knew that his major win condition was allies to deal non-combat damage with Ossus the Ancient as the main keystone of the deck.

The first game was a back and forth battle which I almost managed to control, but he managed a Mana Ruby and refilled his hand, and then proceeded to get his Gladiator's Regalia into play, followed by an Ossus the Ancient. Without an answer, I now seriously regretted my lack of Owned! in the deck.

The second game I was able to hit a good Lose Control and blew out his hand with Detect Traps and with no hand, my Adam Eternum went to town.

In the last game, I mulliganed, but drew into a hand with 2 Pappy Ironbane. I had side decked two of them because I had seen Blizzard, Mana Ruby, Spell Suppression, and other abilities I'd like to be rid of. But my next two top decks were also…Pappy Ironbane. With no play until turn 4 (Detect Traps), I had nothing to do until that turn – and then Curtis drew and plopped down a Mana Ruby. With nothing else left to do, he used it, filled his hand, and I was left being countered by Taste of Arcana, Nether Fissure, and Mystic Denial until his Gladiator's Regalia showed up again to ruin my day, and he then was able to finish it up with Loraala. Admittedly, if my hand wasn't so bad, I may have been okay. We'll never know, but a loss is a loss.

I ended the day in 5th (out of 8) – you can check out our World of Warcraft Tournament Results by going to our local web site.

Conclusion

Although I saw potential in the rogue deck with several tweaks, the one thing I couldn't get over was a seeming lack of victory condition or “big hitter”. Adam was fine, but there were a lot of people who knew how to deal with him, and Weldon Barov proved more of a liability than anything, as Hesriana and Owned! proved time and time again.

I decided to scrap the rogue deck for the moment and head over to a warlock deck for the next week.


The Next Week with the Warlock Deck

Overall, I did better with the warlock deck. My overall record was 3-1, and the game score was 7-2; and there were four rounds, so it was a more intensive test.