Darkmoon Faire-The Experience

Before I get into the meat of today's post, I'd like to let everyone know that I will be reviewing decklists from Regionals across the country starting again this week, so if you have results from any of the Regionals held this past weekend, please let me know so we can start to get a handle on the new metagame.

Today, I'm just going to talk about the Faire itself. I will go into more details regarding the tournament later in the week along with my decklist for the event, and what our testing process was like.

Let me start off by saying to anyone who has been to premier events in other games, Darkmoon Faire is like nothing you have experienced before. It has everything you would expect (huge area dedicated to the TCG for the main event and side events, dealers, etc.) and so much more. The most impressive "side item" was the LAN set up for PvP tournaments. In addition there were carnival games like the ring toss, the game where you try to knock over the cans, etc. I was actually a little shocked to see how many people were playing these games throughout the day. There was also a lady there doing tattoos (which I assume probably had something to do with the online game, but I'm not entirely sure.

Unfortunately for me, this weekend conflicted with things that needed to be done in "real life" so the weekend was short for me. We drove down Friday night and got a hotel room ($194 a night for a Hampton Inn, sigh). After we checked in, we headed over to the convention center around 10:30 p.m. or so to see if anything was still going on, and sadly to buy copies of our heroes as they had somehow not made the trip with the rest of our decks. The scene had kinda died down for the night, so we got our cards and headed out to get something to eat. We ended up going to a sports bar where the Mavericks/Warriors game was on every tv and obviously everyone was rooting for the Mavericks.....who got crushed.....bad. After that, we headed back to the hotel to rest up for the big day tomorrow.

We got back to the convention center the next morning around 9:30 or so. The tournament was scheduled to start at 10:00. 10:00 rolled around and there weren't very many people around, so we though turnout was going to be pretty low. Then they announced that there was a marathon in town that was diverting a lot of the traffic toward the convention center so they were extending registration. Around 11:00, the tournament finally got started with 89 participants. Some people say that this was lower than expected, but it's not much lower than I was honestly expecting.

There were several factors, IMO, that led to the number of players being what it was. The first was that there were a lot of people at the Faire who simply chose not to play in the Dream Machine Tournament. People kept coming in all day and playing in side events, but I guess the super computer just wasn't enough to lure a lot of them into the competitive arena. The second factor is that Austin is really expensive. It doesn't have a major hub airport, so flying in is expensive. The hotels downtown are just ridiculously priced. Did I mention we paid $200 for one night at a Hampton Inn? One big factor (the biggest in my mind) is that it's hard to justify shelling out the money to travel to this event when you have such a small chance of making any of your money back. I hope no one takes this as me lobbying for money to be put into the game. I'm just pointing out that it's hard to justify the cost of the trip to Austin unless you just want to vacation at a Darkmoon Faire. Please don't think I'm being critical or negative here, just some things that I think contributed to what some called a low turnout. Also, the number of people at the event was far higher than the number who entered the Dream Machine tournament.

The highlight of the weekend for a lot of players and the thing that really separates Darkmoon Faire from other premier events was Quest-Austin. People were given a checklist of things they had to find throughout the town. You could play in teams of up to 5. When you found an item on the checklist, you had to take a picture with at least 75% of your team in it with the Quest List in the picture as well. A lot of the items on the list could be found in the convention center, but many of them required people to get out and actually explore the town which is a nice bonus. I didn't participate because I had to come home before lists were able to be turned in, but I would have liked to have taken part.

Everyone who played in the DM tournament got a Darkmoon Faire playmat. I ended up giving mine to someone who didn't play but was collecting playmats. I also gave him my Aspect of the Hawk mat from Regionals last month because he didn't have that one yet. I don't use them personally, so hopefully they've found a good home.

Well, that about wraps up the Faire overview. Tomorrow, I'll talk about what deck I played and some of the card choices that we made based on what we were expecting to see.

Darkmoon Faire-Austin

As most of you know, Darkmoon Faire Austin is coming up this weekend. Due to real life, I will probably only be playing in the main event. I have been slow to post this week because of the DF coming up and other things keeping me busy. Next week, will be a big week here though. I will have a full tournament report from the DF Main Event. I will also go into some of the thoughts and decks that came up during playtesting. I'll give you a look at some of the decks we considered playing and why plus the decks we felt simply weren't viable and why. Metagame madness will make its triumphant return with new numbers to crunch. There are 6 Regionals this weekend in addition to the DF so we'll start to get an idea of what the metagame looks like now, which should start us down the road to Nationals with only Molten Core to add to the card pool before then. If you are attending an event this weekend, in addition to which heroes make the top 8, please try to find out what type of deck it is as well. Several classes will have more than one viable decktype to choose from so further definition within each class will help to better define what the metagame looks like. Well, that's all for now.

The New Contenders-Part 2

First, and a little off-topic, let me say that my metagame breakdowns will be returning after Regionals start using Through the Dark Portal. I just think that the current metagame has been analyzed enough and more people are already focusing on what will happen after the new set becomes legal. In that vein is today's post about another deck that has gotten some goods and has a good chance to step up and become a player in the metagame, Morganis Blackvein.

I say specifically Morganis instead of Frost Mages in general because as an Undead Mage, Morganis has access to the very-powerful-against-rush-decks Cannibalize, which helps shore up what I consider to be a bit of a weak spot for the Mage.

I'm going to be honest here. I've been working on a Morganis build, but I just can't seem to find one that I really like. That doesn't mean it's not there, just that I haven't found it yet. The deck does have some very useful tools though, and while I'm not going to post a decklist today (because I don't have one), I will talk about all the tools that I think will help Morganis in the new environment.

I think the first thing a deck has to do, even in the post-TTDP environment, is be able to play against a rush deck. A lot of people seem to be writing off rush decks like they don't have a chance against the sea of control. While I think that rush decks will be a little weaker as a whole, they will still very much be a force to be reckoned with. Hunter rush (or perhaps Shaman) will still be the first deck I test anything against. If it can't handle a rush, it's still unplayable. This doesn't mean it has to be 80-20 vs. rush, but it has to have at least some game. So what does this all mean for Morganis?

Well, Morganis has some tools to play against rush decks. First, I think it will run a small ally suite. Steelhorn has the ability to make early trades and generally buy you a turn on the play as most player are reluctant to run their 1-drop into Steelhorn unless it is Bloodclaw. Taz'dingo is still a solid play at three, and Ja'Zaron offers a protector. The 4-spot is a tough call. You have two really good protectors in Guardian Steppestrider and Ophelia Barrows. Steppestrider will 2-for-1 anything but Fury and Moko, but she takes them down with her whereas Ophelia doesn't. Ophelia, however, has the ability to heal herself and more importantly eat the graveyard. Right now, I think Steppestrider may be the call with Ophelias in the board, or maybe even 2 Ophelias main, but I just like the extra ATK on Steppestrider.

The Mage also has access to an ample supply of burn. Morganis can use burn spells as 1-for-1 removal early on, knowing he will have access to greater card draw in the mid and late game with amazing cards like Mana Agate, Evocation, and The Haunted Mills. It also has some decent AoE effects with Frost Nova and Flamestrike. I think a lot of people, know I'm on the record preferring Ice Block to Frost Nova since it's better in so many more matchups. I don't think Frost Nova is good enough anymore, although I could definitely see it coming in from the board against rush decks. Flamestrike is probably too expensive. Between your early protectors and your removal spells, Flamestrike would generally just be better as another burn spell. If you want the ability to kill two allies with one spell use Arc of Flame, although I'm not a big fan of that card.

I think being able to run Cannibalize is huge in the rush matchup. 25 health isn't a lot. When a rush player starts taking chunks out of it early, even if you stabilize the board, you're never far from death. Cannibalize gives you the ability to undo a lot of the damage they did early on. Once you stabilize the board now, a Cannibalize will all but seal it up.

So Morganis it looks like Morganis has some game against rush, but how will he handle the other decks that are sure to come about. I've felt for a long time that in control on control matchups, Mage is the best class to be playing. I already felt that their card drawing was better than any other classes and now they've added even more. Evocation is a ridiculous card. It will swing a lot of control on control games in favor of the Mage player. The Haunted Mills is WoW's versin of accumulated knowledge and while it's not a Mage ability it is available to Morganis. The other Undead quest also works very well with Ancient Cornerstone Grimoire.

Solo decks also figure to be more prominent in the new metagame. They all have different ways to kill you. Warriors figure to pump up a huge Mortal Strike/Slam to finish you off. Hunters will Rapid Fire you out. Paladins will just chip away, eventually grinding you down. One card that solo decks hate to see is Ancient Cornerstone Grimoire. This forces them into a different win condition. Warriors and Hunter will be forced to combo you out. Warriors also have another option along with Paladins, and that's switching to a Deathbringer. I have discovered a trick to beat the Deathbringer though, and I stumbled into it by accident. I was testing a Paladin against a Priest deck. The Paladin had equipped Deathbringer, and the Priest was "fighting it off" with ACG. The Priest drew and played Hierophant Caydiem. Then I realized I could make a Skeleton, protect with it, and then hit it with Caydiem before combat resolution and dodge the Deathbringer. This trick could also work here for Morganis.

So what about the "combo" decks. How does Morganis stop those? Well the first and best answer is Counterspell. Counterspell one piece of the combo and you should generally be able to survive it. The next answer Ice Block and is one of the reasons, Ice Block is so much better than Frost Nova. Say a Hunter plays Rapid Fire going for the kill turn. An Ice Block shuts him down, where a Frost Nova would have just exhausted his Stronghold Gauntlets. It also works against Warriors who don't have Lionheart Helm and Rogues who are looking for several combo cards to finish you off.

One thing that is a little worrisome for the Mage is an actual win condition. It's hard to run 1 Saurfang, 1 Rexxar, and 1 Zy'lah like the Alliance control decks do because they have Missing Diplomat and Horde doesn't. I like Rexxar quite a bit as a finisher along with Saurfang and Zy'lah. It's just a matter of finding the right number to play.

Well, I think Morganis has a very good shot to make some noise at Darkmoon Faire next weekend. It could finally be the Frost Mages time to shine.

The New Contenders-Part 1

Today I'm going to start a series of posts talking about some of the top new decks to emerge from Through the Dark Portal. First up is the Paladin.

Paladins very quietly got a lot of good stuff in this set. I know Lay on Hands is getting a lot of the hype, but I can tell you at least one card that is significantly better for Paladins, Argent Defender. This nifty little shield will help to alleviate every Paladins biggest problem, recurring equipment removal. There are some tricky little ways to make this instant speed to negate a Medoc or Chasing A-Me. For anyone who wants to play on the Horde side, you also get Ophelia Barrows as a reliable answer to recursion.

Another card that really helps Paladins is Onslaught Girdle. I know this card is getting a lot of hype for the Warrior solo decks, but it is also very effective in a Paladin deck. This card allows a Paladin player to actually end a game in a relatively short amount of time. This is important because it puts less emphasis on a Paladin to win game 1 since playing the deck doesn't automatically require going to time every round. It's actually possible to lose game 1 with a Paladin but still have time to come back and win games 2 and 3 before you run out of time.

Okay, now we can talk about the Paladin card that everyone else is talking about, Lay on Hands. While I'm in the group that think this card is incredible, I will say that after I have played a Paladin deck quite a bit in testing, Lay on Hands isn't as good as I had originally thought. Part of that is the fact that in many games the Paladin simply doesn't need it. I have played a lot of games where I stabilize the board and then Wraith Scythe + Seal of Light does all the healing without me having to skip a turn. The only matchups I really want to play Lay on Hands in are the aggro matchups.

Having said all that, let me say that anyone who thinks the card is not good is simply not using it right. Everyone talks about how when you play it and then skip the next turn you're going to end up right back where you were. If you're facing down an army of allies that is doing 25+ damage to you per turn, you're in bigger trouble than Lay on Hands can get you out of. Most of the time I have played Lay on Hands, it is usually preceded by a Consecration or Skullflame Shield. Ideally, you can play a Blessing of Protection during your opponent's end step and then Lay on Hands keeping yourself safe through that skipped turn. After the Skullflame or Consecration resets the board, you're fully equipped with a new health total. Lay on Hands is not a card that's going to be relevent in every matchup and it's not going to greatly skew the metagame, but when used properly in the right matchups it is very strong.

Why the Paladin might be really good:

So far in testing the Paladin deck doesn't have any bad matchups. Usually that's a very good thing, but on the flip side, it doesn't have any great matchups either. Almost every matchup, we've played is pretty close. This is good because it means you'll have a shot in almost every match, and you'll have a big advantage if you know your matchups well. Another thing the Paladin really has going for it is its versatility as a control deck. It has good answers to ally-based rush decks and solid answers to the combo oriented solo decks. Skullflame Shield and Consecration are good cards to thwart a rush strategy although a little slow. Wraith Scythe + Onslaught Girdle also allows the Paladin to quickly heal a lot of damage. Against the solo decks that look to deal a lot of damage in one big turn the Paladin has several good answers. Blessing of Protection prevents all damage that would be dealt, Blessing of Freedom makes the Paladin untargetable, and Divine Shield does both. If you play the Horde Paladin, you get Arcane Torrent. The Dwarf Paladin gets The Perfect Stout (which is especially good when people want to attack more than once per turn).

Why the Paladin might not take the next step:

It doesn't have any great matchups. Not having any bad matchups is good and all, but do you really expect to be able to play 6 or 7 rounds of Swiss against a bunch of 50-50 and 60-40 matchups and come out on the winning side all day? All the versatility that I mentioned can blow up in your face. What if you draw your solo answers against a rush deck or vice versa? The deck is difficult to play. There are a lot of very tough decisions to be made over the course of a single game. Making the wrong one anywhere along to the line can lead to disaster. Again, with the amount of close decisions through 6 or 7 rounds, how confident are you that you are going to make the right one every time? Despite the deck's ability to win faster than it could before, it is still by no means a fast deck. Many of your matches will still go to time or close to it. Many people don't like to play decks that are going to produce that many long matches as it can take a lot out of you at the end of the day. There are a lot of factors that can keep the Paladin down, but it also has the chance to rise up and be a player in the Through the Dark Portal metagame.

Hero Selection

With the new heroes we have access to in the new set, selecting which hero is right for your deck is becoming a more important decision during deckbuilding. With only Heroes of Azeroth, "choosing" your hero was simply a matter of double checking which ally matched your abilities and allies. If you were playing Alliance Hunter rush, you were playing Elendril. Horde solo Warrior, Gorebelly's your only option. But with more than one option in each faction and class, you now have a choice which hero you want to play. Let's take a quick look at some of the factors leading to which hero fits your deck.

For the purposes of this exercise, I'm going to assume you have already chosen Horde/Alliance and which class you will be playing and simply need to choose which hero best fits your deck.

Factor #1: Race

Not to sound racist, but some races just have it better than others. When evaluating race for your deck, right now there are 4 things to consider. The first is your race specific ability. Each race got an ability that is only playable by that race. Some are very good (Cannibalize). Others are not so hot (War Stomp). Whether you want to play one of these abilities or not will help determine which hero is best for you.

The second thing to consider when thinking about the race of your hero is your race specific quest. Each race got one quest that is only playable by a hero of that race. Again, some of these are very powerful and others aren't quite as good, but getting access to one of these quests might help you decide to play one hero over another.

The third racial consideration is still in the quest department, and that is your 2-for-1 quest. There are 10 quests that give you a choice of rewards, but if you're playing a certain race you can do both. Getting both rewards from one of these quests may be the deciding factor in which hero to play.

The last thing to consider as far as race goes is your race specific ally. Each race has an ally that requires a hero of that race. To me, most of these are rather unexciting but a few seem pretty good. These are the four things to consider when thinking about letting race decide your hero.

Factor #2: Talent Spec

This factor may be more important than Factor #1. The talent spec of your hero gives you access to either one or two extra abilities that are only available to a hero with that talent. If you choose to play an ability that requires a certain talent, that inclusion makes your hero choice for you since neither faction has access to more than one hero with the same talent spec and class (2 notes here. There are 2 Retribution Paladins for Alliance already so this doesn't apply there, and don't forget I'm still assuming you have already chosen your faction). For example, if you decide you want to play Aimed Shot in your Hunter rush deck, you have to play Elendril.

Factor #3: Flip ability

If you've already decided that none of the available races are exciting enough to base your decision on, and you're not using any Talent Spec'd abilities, you've always got the flip ability to fall back on. Some flip abilities are better than others, and some are just not very good at all. If you're playing Alliance Mage and can't decide between Litori and Ruby, don't particularly like either race enough to let that be your decision and don't want to play any Arcane or Frost talents, then Ruby's flip is just light years better so there's your choice.

Hero choice is going to become even more important as more sets are released and open up even more options for deckbuilding. Professions should start to mean something in a future set, and I wouldn't be surprised to see more racial abilities quests.

Here I go again on my own

Through the Dark Portal officially comes out Wednesday, but everyone is already proxying up their new decks trying to find The Next Big Thing. Of all the potential metagame developments resulting from Through the Dark Portal, one of the most significant is the viability of solo decks. 6 of the available classes will seemingly be able to go it alone (or at the very least nearly alone). Warriors, Rogues, Hunter, Paladins, Shamans, and Druids are all seeing solo builds pop up in deckbuilding forums all over the net. There are even a few brave souls attempting solo Mage decks. Is the loner revolution a passing fad or the future of the game?

The answer is somewhere in between. It's definitely not just a passing fad and although not all the classes will be successful in their pursuit of solo careers 2 or 3 classes will probably be able to pull it off. I don't think that they will ever truly dominate a metagame as it seems like it would be too easy to hate out of a format if a solo deck were ever to truly take over. They will definitely have a spot in a balanced metagame.

So what's causing the solo craze? First and foremost is the power of the control cards in Through the Dark Portal. This has two effects that lead people towards control. The power of the cards themselves leads people to want to play them, and the perceived vulnerability of aggressive ally-based decks against these new power cards leads people away from these aggro decks. Another main contributor is the lack of pizzazz in good beatdown cards compared to good control cards. We're still in what I like to call the hype phase of the new set. It's a lot more fun to talk about cards like Lay on Hands and Hellfire with their gross displays of power than it is to talk about the really efficient allies beatdown got. People can go on and on talking about Eye of Kilrogg and all the combos and great cards you can hit with it, but talking about the efficiency of Jeleane Nightbreeze is a little boring. I'm not saying that aggro is going to dominate, but there will still be plenty of cheap efficient allies at top tables all over the country.

So which decks actually have a chance to pull off a winning solo build? I'll start with the ones that I think have the best chance and move along to the end with the classes that I think are more style than substance.

1. Warrior. The Warrior makes the top of the solo list because it's the only deck that has already posted some success in the solo arena. The biggest questions regarding solo Warriors are which hero do you use and to combo or not to combo? From where I'm sitting there are three viable solo Warrior heroes, Gorebelly, Warrax and Azarak Wolfsblood.

Gorebelly let's you combo if you choose (but some Gorebelly decks will forego the combo) and gives you Mortal Strike. Warrax gives you Stoneform, the excellent Dwarf quests The Perfect Stout and Stolen Stash, and a potentially huge 1-drop in Steelsmith Joseph Carroll. Azarak grants you Cruelty, the first card to buff your hero all the time instead of just while attacking. I can see all three getting some play, but I think Gorebelly is probably still the best bet because of the power of Mortal Strike.

2. Paladin. One card really helped Paladins in this set and it's gotten a lot of hype, Lay on Hands. This 1-cost instant let's a Paladin trade its next turn to reset all damage on itself. The new Alliance Retribution Paladin's ability is very good for clearing the field of an initial rush and he is a Dwarf so he also gets all those goodies I was talking about with Warrax.

3. Shaman. This is one that people don't seem to be talking about in regards to running it solo, but I think it has a lot of potential. They still get access to a lot of the big armor and great weapons the previous two classes do, but they also have excellent abilities from Heroes of Azeroth. Don't be surprised to see some Shaman equipment decks popping up.

4. Rogue. I think Rogues have gotten a lot better since the first set, but I think they need a little help in the ally department. Mind you, I'm not saying Rogues are bad, but I think a Guardian Steelhorn and a Ja'Zaron will go a long way in helping a Rogue deck win.

5. Hunter. This is another deck that I think is a pretty good deck but might not want to go control so much. When you have friends like Chops, Old Bones, and Fury they tend to make you think twice about going it alone.

6. Druid. A lot of people are pretty excited about Cat Form, but to me it just seems too fragile. The fact that playing the Druid's best abilities is also a turn off to me, and I don't really like the idea of my hero being my main attacker with little armor and cards like Guardian Steelhorn and Steppestrider running around everywhere.

Well, that's how I rate the possible solo decks. I just don't see a Mage deck being viable as a solo build, they're just too fragile.

Overrated/Underrated

The buzz for Through the Dark Portal is getting bigger as the spoiler madness settles down, but people get to work building new decks. There are a lot of cards that have gotten a lot of hype already and some that are flying under the radar despite, IMO, being very good cards. Therefore, I give you the top 5 overrated/underrated cards in TtDP.

Overrated:

Number 5: Illumination

Ever since this card popped up, people have been talking about how unfair the Paladin's healing cards have become and how broken this would be in conjunction with cards like Holy Light. I can tell you I have been working feverishly trying to make a great Paladin deck, and this card just doesn't have room in a very tight decklist. The only cards that even trigger it in most Paladin decks will be Seal of Light (which is actually really good, essentially making all your swings free) and Lay on Hands. The problem with Illumination is that on its own, it's just bad. Even with healing spells, the only one that is consistent is Seal of Light. I just don't think it's worth taking up a card slot to make Holy Light free. I also don't think it's worth it playing enough healing spells to make Illumination actually have a significant impact on the game, because then, you're just healing and doing nothing else.

Number 4: Cat Form

A lot of people are talking up Cat Form Feral Druids. Relying on having an ability in play in a format that promises to be packing ability hate everywhere is a recipe for disaster. First of all, any time you don't draw a Form card, you're just screwed. I'm not big on the idea of devoting 8 card slots to getting myself into Cat Form or the inconsistency that would come with running fewer form cards. I'm also not a big fan on not being allowed to play Druids best abilities. Even if you manage to find the right balance with the Form cards, the format won't play nice as ability hate is sure to start becoming more popular with a lot of good new abilities. Even if you manage to survive all the ability hate, you're talking about either trying to outrace rush decks (by sending your hero into combat) or have to fight through a sea of protectors to get to a control player's hero. There is just too much that can go wrong for Feral Druids right now. However, people will play them, and the games they do win will be in spectacular fashion.

Number 3: Arcane Torrent

First of all, the only two Blood Elves in the set have access to better interrupts. The Mage has Counterspell which is better because it costs less and the Rogue has Kick which is better because it actually deals damage. You'll be very surprised over the first month or so how many people accidentally counter their own abilities with this card because their opponent responds to an ability and they Torrent their opponent's ability (and then get their own by mistake).

Number 2: Distract

Everyone is raving about this card. First let's look at the facts. It's a 3-cost Fog. It sets up Slaughter From the Shadows, but if your opponent isn't attacking you, that's just fine with you anyway and if he is attacking, well his allies are already ripe for the Slaughter. Okay, but it moves Protectors out of the way though. Right, because Rogues worry about Protectors. The number one reason though that Distract is grossly overrated is that Vanish does the same thing for less AND puts you in Stealth. Because Distract is not an instant, it only buys you one free turn (and doesn't stop Ferocity during that turn). Vanish also keeps you from getting attacked for a turn (and does stop Ferocity) while costing only 1 and putting you in Stealth.

And the most overrated card in Dark Portal.........Dual Wield

The idea of Dual Wield is great. The execution is just bad. First, you have to draw the Dual Wield and put it into play. Then you have to draw and play both weapons you want to play. Lastly, you will lament how unfair it is when your opponent destroys your DW and takes out one of your weapons for free. It suffers from most of the same problems as Cat Form. It all but requires the deck to plan on playing it. If you don't run extra weapons you run the risk of not having an extra to take advantage of Dual Wield. But then if you run say 8 weapons, you run the risk of clogging your hand those times you don't have DW. Not to mention the whole set up takes up very valuable deck space. And then there's that tendency to set yourself up for getting 2-for-1'd.

Now let's take a look at what I think are the most underrated cards in the set. I was planning on putting Boneshanks in here, because he hasn't gotten nearly enough pub based on how ridiculous he is, but then Mike Rosenberg went and said he was the best ally in the set. Sigh.

Number 5: Quests

I just decided to put quests in general as No. 5. There are a lot of really good quests in this set, and I am finding myself actually wanting to make room for more quests in my decklists. Obviously, they're not as flashy as the Eye of Kilrogg's of the set, so they're not getting much attention, but I expect quests to take on a greater role in the game when this set becomes legal.

Number 4: Meekway Humzinger

I love this Elusive ally. It has 2 health which is important since there are now so many 1-damage abilities. It's elusive which means to remove it your opponent has to use an ability which is very nice. And it gives you a card for three resources. One nice bonus is that you can split the resources over 2 turns, or after the first time you play Meekway, you can get one card per turn. Just return Meekway, then replay him that turn and he will be ready to get another card next turn. And as we all know, recursive card draw is very good.

Number 3: Steelsmith Joseph Carrol

I'm not going to go into great detail here, but expect to see lots of 4/4+ Josephs out of the Alliance "turtle" decks (Warrior, Paladin, and Shaman can all do the turtle thing).

Number 2: Cruelty

For anyone playing Warrior, this card alone should be enough to at least make you consider playing the Fury Warrior. The thing that makes this card so good is the fact that it doesn't say while attacking. That means that everyone that crashes into your hero is taking damage back. It's also stackable which can be a very bad thing for little guys wanting to take small shots at your hero.

And the most underrated card in Dark Portal......Scorch

I think this card has the potential to make Mage aggro the premiere aggro deck in the game. I know what you're thinking. Hunter and Shaman both play aggro better than Mage. That was true (and may remain so), but Scorch is the first card that can undo the damage of going second in the aggro matchup. Aggro matchups are so often defined by the die roll in this game. Whoever goes second is put in the painful spot of having to play control with an aggro deck, removing their opponent's allies instead of attacking directly since they will inevitably lose the race. But with Scorch, you have the ability to remove your opponent's one drop and play one of your own, re-seizing the aggro. Suddenly, your opponent who went first, doesn't have an ally while you do. He's up a resource, but you're up a card and an ally.

Well, there you have. What I think are the most overrated and underrated cards of the Dark Portal.

Feeling Overwhelmed by the new set?

Right now, in World of Warcraft, we are experiencing a very rare phenomenon and one we are unlikely to experience again in this game. We have a card pool that has been effectively doubled. One big set, added to another big set comprising the entire cardpool for a format. The closest Magic comes to what we are currently experiencing is when a new big set comes out each fall. However, in Standard which is the format most affected by new sets, one big set is added to another big set, 2 small sets, and a base set. The closest VS. comes is Modern Age right after a new set, but even then one set is added to three sets that are the same size. In WoW, he have one set added to one other, both of relatively equal size.

To add to the complicated situation we are facing, Dark Portal appears to be significantly more powerful than Heroes of Azeroth. There is seemingly a double digit amount of decks I would like to build and test just based on the new cards we have. That doesn't even include updating older decks with the new cards. With all this new information, where do we even begin to decipher what the metagame is going to look like?

The best place to start is obviously the Heroes of Azeroth metagame. Dominated by Shamans, with healthy portions of Hunter, Warlock, and Warrior, the decks that have been successful over the past few months are unlikely to just disappear. During the beginning stages of the metagame development, many people will choose to stick with tried and true decks. They know these decks are good and feel comfortable playing them. When you start building your new decks for the post-Dark Portal metagame, start by testing them against the old decks first.

It would be nice to have some kind of idea though of what will pop up out of the new set. Here is a list of possibilities with how likely or unlikely they are to come about, IMO.

This set is very control-oriented so a shift in that direction seems likely. The early weeks of Dark Portal legality will likely be won by aggressive decks as they historically thrive in undefined metagames. But as things settle down, control decks will rise to the top.

Likelihood: Very high

The class that got the most out of the set is Warlock. Warlock control, Undead specifically, got some wonderful toys. This is the deck I predict is going to start moving toward the top, and I guarantee a Warlock will be Tier 1.

Likelihood: Very high

Rogues have been the popular underdog throughout Heroes of Azeroth. This set they got a lot of much needed help. I think early in the season especially, Rogue decks will come out in full force as a lot of people try to take what was once a worthless class to the top. I think the Rogue deck will be very solid, but I'm not sure if it will be a Tier 1 deck or not. Only time will tell.

Likelihood: High

Many games are going to end up going to time as people refuse to die with Lay on Hands. The Blood Elf Paladin specifically will have the ability to play 4 Lay on Hands and then recycle them with Solanian's Belongings. Whether the Paladins can actually finish a match under an hour is still to be determined.

Likelihood: High

Hunter control will surface as a viable decktype. With most of this set focusing on Hunter abilities that are more controlling and adding more good pets, Hunters could slow down and play a more controlling game with cards like Trophy Kill, Lightning Reflexes, and Frost Trap.

Likelihood: Medium

Holy Priests will become playable thanks to all the great healing abilities in the set. Just imagine Mojo Mender Ja'nah sitting behind a sea of Guardians and Meatwalls just healing away while you can't get through the protectors (unless you're a Rogue, in which case you laugh at the utter uselessness of their allies). You finally get someone big enough to start taking out chunks of their health only to find him Brainwashed.

Likelihood: Medium

Warrior solo will continue to improve as a control deck. With its slew of new control abilities combo'ing isn't as important as Warriors are now even better "turtles." The wealth of new graveyard hate makes recurring equipment destruction less of a problem and you can never deal damage through their Demo Shouts and armor.

Likelihood: High

Now you know some of the things I expect to happen in the coming weeks as we prepare for Dark Portal play in tournaments. I would recommend starting your testing with the current metagame and then add decks to your gauntlet as they do well in your testing.

Ranking the Classes in Dark Portal

Well, the spoilers are up and all the cards have been opened. I must say that this is a very good set. Heroes of Azeroth really looks more like the foundation set now, because the power level of this set is much higher. I'll have more reviews in my TCGPlayer article this week, but here is how I think the classes rank based solely off of their Dark Portal cards.

1. Warlock. I think the Warlocks got the best cards in this set, and I don't think it was very close. I'm predicting big things from the Undead Warlock specifically in the near future.

Best card:Hellfire

2. Warrior. I wanted to put Rogues here because they were so bad in the first set, but I think the Warriors just got better cards to be honest. Cruelty is incredible due to the lack of the phrase "while attacking." It also combos very well with Killing Spree.

Best card: This one's pretty tough, but I'm going to say Bloodrage.

3. Rogue. The Rogues got some much needed love in this set. They got some more nifty combos and some potentially backbreaking finishers.

Best card: This is another tough choice because they got so many good ones, but I'm going to say Slaughter From the Shadows.

4. Mage. The Mages got a whole bag of new tricks. Aggro Mages got some more burn to add to their arsenal, but the Frost Mages finally got some protection. Ice Block is a big addition for them and it may be time to break those Cold Snaps out of your binder.

Best card:Ice Block

5. Hunter. The majority of the Hunter abilities seem to be geared toward Hunter control although there are some nice new allies that will probably find there way into Hunter rush decks as well. Hunters will now have the bonus of playing multiple archetypes not giving away as much information when the match starts.

Best card: Frost Trap

6. Priest. Some people may disagree with me here, but I think Holy Priests finally have a chance to just negate every attack you make for the entire game and then probably kill you with your own guys. Solo decks in particular (except Rogues) are going to find tough sledding trying to kill off a Holy Priest.

Best card: Brainwash

7. Paladin. I think Paladins got about 3 really good cards and one incredible card, but they didn't get to add much depth and the majority of the equipment in this set seems to be geared toward the smaller classes.

Best card: Lay on Hands.

8. Shaman. A lot of people are going to disagree with this but I just don't see but about 2 cards that are going to replace current cards in Shaman builds. Shock and Soothe is obviously very good, and I think Shaman decks will continue to be a force, but they just didn't get a lot in this set to improve on what they already had.

Best card: Mana Tide Totem is probably the best card, but since it's unlikely to affect many games that haven't already been basically decided, I'm going to say Shock and Soothe here.

9. Druid. Don't get me wrong the Druid got some good cards. There's just a lot of conflict within the Druid abilities. The best Druid deck that doesn't seem like it could be done better by another class is the Cat Form almost solo deck. The problem with this deck of course is that you can't play the Druid's best abilities in Innervate, Wrath, Nature's Majesty, etc. You're going to be able to deal abut a million damage in Cat Form, but you're not going to get to do much else.
I still think that Cat Form Druids will at least be worth giving a shot, I just think that the Druid's best abilities seem to play against each other.

Best Card: Wrath

Best non-Class specific cards.

1. Cannibalize
2. Escape Artist
3. First to Fall
4. Heroic Presence
5. Stoneform

So there's a starting point for the abilities of Through the Dark Portal.