Tiny Demons

Tiny Demons, tiny demons everywhere.

As Husband and I have hinted/blatantly expressed throughout the podcast. I have one deck that continues to bring me joy, and one deck that I claim to be “mine” though I certainly was not the person who came up with it or tweaked it in any way. Doesn’t stop me from loving it! This deck centers around Soul Drinker Bogmara.

Orgrimmar orcs was my first foray into aggro. When I was introduced to the MMO I was never really tempted to join the Alliance, with the possible exception of the gnomes. Even though my first inclination was to work along side the blood elves, I quickly migrated to Kalimdor and started to love the orcs. When I was introduced to Kazamon Steelskin (Hardy Har Har) in the card game,  I found what became one of my favorite cards in the entire TCG. The deck originally centered around building an army of orcs and giving them ferocity with Orgrimmar. As time went on, Orgrimmar orcs fell by the wayside, and I had to look for new ways to use my favorite allies. Initially I wanted to keep as many of my friendly orcs together as I could, but it didn’t work. So instead of having many orcs of all shapes and sizes, I found some other friends all of which come to the party early.

Thus my love for Bogmara was born. Because play all the dudes then turn them sideways is one of my favorite ways to play, and Bogmara makes that a reality.

Bogmara’s flip is: when you control another Warlock (like a turn one Bloodsoul or Rosalyne for example), she can ping an opposing hero or ally for 1 shadow damage and heal one from herself. While this one damage could be useful against opposing tokens or Broderick, it is most useful against an opposing hero because of one card. This card is Twilight Vanquisher Knolan.

Twilight Vanquisher Knolan is a three cost, 3 attack 2 health undead ally who can be played for free if an opponent’s hero had shadow damage dealt to it. So if on turn one you play a Bloodsoul or a Rosalyne, you can flip and play as many Knolans as you have in your hand. While I’ve only gotten the “god play” of four Knolans on turn one once, even one (in conjunction with your other turn one drops) is enough to put a large amount of pressure on your opponent. He also has one big advantage over his smaller allies, he costs three despite being able to hit the board on turn 1. This makes him immune to Poison the Well. I would say in general sweepers are one of my biggest fears with this deck, and Poison the Well is the most frustrating. It took me awhile to err on the side of caution against Rogues and other decks with board clears. Generally the plan with this deck is to dump as many cards as possible as quickly as possible, but you may want to play it slightly more cautiously against classes that can sweep them all away. Learning to keep a couple of cards tucked in your hand to see if the sweeper does come is a skill you’ll quickly develop. Who knows? If you’re lucky and you attack with only a couple of guys on the board before playing any cards they may get anxious and waste their instant sweeper early. 

As with most Horde decks, the first little dude it runs Broderick, who is useful to trade with any of your opponents smaller guys and then to give your hero a little bit of action as well. And as husband says, if you’re playing Horde and you’re not playing Broderick… why? However the crux of the deck surrounds shadow damage.

Another helpful shadow damage dealer is Bazul, Herald of the Fel who on turn two can deal three shadow damage and heal three from your hero. He is much more useful than Husband and I initially anticipated, and can be used to apply as much pressure as possible, and also get rid of the burn of Rosalyne. Aside from his initial shadow damage, Bazul deals three shadow damage when he attacks, but he only has one health, so unfortunately he folds to any graveyard Broderick. Still, he’s incredibly useful just by his entrance. He gives the deck one of many “off-the-top” threats where you can end a game even if you can’t manage to keep an ally on the board. 

The two useful ferocity minions are the two cost Dagax who can come in and deal 5, but dies at end of turn. That’s a pretty big chunk of someone’s health total. The other is Takara Timewalker Warlord. She costs 2 and attacks for three damage, however when she attacks your opponent is able to reveal the top card of their deck and if it is an ally they are get to put in into their hand. While there is a chance you can get lucky and never have their opponent draw a card from her attack, you’re really betting on your opponent being dead long before anything they draw really matters. When your opponent gets a free card they can play almost immediately, it can feel bad, but hopefully you’ve done enough damage to ensure her downside really isn’t much of one.

We all know Cairne right? The big hulking Tauren of awesome? The one that has a big swing if you play him outright, but is possibly just as, if not more, useful as a turn one stash for a 1/1 tauren? No, I almost never see six resources out on the board unless something has gone seriously wrong, but his stash is great. Cairne is a freebie. A single 1/1 token may appear innocuous but when coupled with a 3/2 and maybe additional 3/2’s on turn 1, that gets ugly for your opponent real quick. At worst you can use the tauren warrior to help clear a path for your other threats.

Hesriana acts as removal for any obnoxious allies on your opponent’s team. While that is her primary purpose, in a pinch she can always swing for 2. Her power is well documented so there really isn’t a need to dwell on it. She is a perfect fit for a deck that wants to constantly go for the throat but also wants to clear a path. Speaking on a clear path let’s take a moment to look at Lesson of the Nether. Given the high quantity of warlocks such as Rosalyne and Bloodsoul you frequently will cast it for free. Tearing away a clutch removal to buy even a single turn can mean you just obliterate your opponent. Remember your goal is to close the game out quickly and efficiently, all the Armies of the Dead in the world won’t matter if you’re onto game 2 already.

Generally the plan for the deck is swarm the board with low cost allies and turn them sideways. Of course playing a deck with a large number of low cost allies is not without its risks. Poison the Well has been discussed, but Carnage, Despair of Winter, and a bunch of other cards can cause mass death just as easily. If your deck has stalled out and more allies are not to be found it can be hard to come back from. You want your characters to stay out as long a possible obviously, but if they die don’t get too upset because there should almost always be a low cost ally in your hand or coming up to take their place. While sweepers can pose a problem, generally you should have enough low cost threats available to you that you can continue to provide pressure. Plus even your some of your quests and spells can be utilized to keep the heat turned up. Fel heat that is.

Quests are another area that the deck finds synergy. Since this deck centers primarily around little dudes and shadow damage, it wont surprise you how the quest-base develops. Many times, because the allies are so low cost and so aggressive, you end up with an empty hand. Because of this Orders from Lady Vashj is an incredibly useful quest. It’s not difficult to end up with an empty hand, so pay two draw two is great, especially since there’s a solid chance you can still play one of the two cards you draw that turn. The other quest is If You’re Not Against Us where you pay one and your opponent chooses to eat some shadow damage, or they have you cards which are likely more damage. Promises of Darkness helps round the deck out by provided yet another Knolan activator but also helping refill. Pinging their hero for one is useful if you want a Knolan, but that one damage is a great way to get rid of early Broderick’s, Bazuls, or any one health ally that may pose a threat to your own. Promises is useful, but many times is one of the first to get the axe when sideboards come out.

However the biggest aid, especially if you happen to be falling behind, comes in the form of Bottled Void. The warlock item costs three, deals three, heals three, then you exhaust your hero, and repeat the process. So you deal six damage to your opponent and heal six from your hero. Between the various ferocity allies and bottle you can burn someone out even from seemingly safe life totals. 

Recent testing and Gen Con have showed me the biggest downfall of this deck: Silvermoon City. Remember how we talked about how this entire deck does Shadow Damage? Well guess what Silvermoon can turn off? It can be dealt with if you board in Skumm Bag’go, but then you have to draw Skumm Bag’go, and then decide what to cut (usually I cut one of each of the other allies in the deck but Knolan because I may be too emotionally attached to him, or Promises of Darkness). Hopefully you get lucky enough for them not to interrupt Skumm Bag’go, because experience tells me if they’re playing a blood elf, they are probably some kind of Mage, and he does his job with Silvermoon.

Even with its noticeable pitfalls, I love this deck. I like only playing a few resources and then all the little demons (ok undead/orc warlocks, and  undead mages, and goblin rogues etc. too, but demons are so much fun). The benefits of this deck really center around its rush. You play fast, there is not too much decision making that needs to go into it, you go for the face and hope it works out. Against other ally decks you get to Hesriana and steal them, or Broderick and end them. You can end the game astonishingly quick if things go well for you.

Little dudes are fun! Especially demonic little dudes! So if you’re looking for a quick aggro deck and feel the call of the Warlock, this is the deck for you!

Hero
Souldrinker Bogmara

Abilities (8)
4x Lesson of the Nether
4x The Promises of Darkness

Allies (40)
4x Bloodsoul
4x Broderick Langforth
4x Cairne, Earthmother’s Chosen
4x Hesriana
4x Rosalyne von Erantor
4x Twilight Vanquisher Knolan
4x Dagax the Butcher
4x Jadefire Scout
4x Bazul, Herald of the Fel
4x Takara, Timewalker Warlord

Items (4)
4x Bottled Void

Quests (8)
4x Orders From Lady Vashj
4x If You’re Not Against Us…

Total cards in deck: 60

Side deck:
4x Cromarius Blackfist
4x Munkin Blackfist
2x Skumm Bag’go

Total cards in sidedeck: 10