Plague Demonsoul

Allies
4 - Lokholar the Ice Lord
4 - Lady Vashj
2 - Prince Kael’thalas Sunstrider
4 - Vexmaster Nar’jo
4 - Tatulla the Reclaimer
3 - Outrider Zarg

Abilites
4 - Ripped Through the Portal
4 - Eye of Kilrogg
4 - Steal Essence
4 - Shadow Bolt
4 - Cannibalize

Equipment
2 - Abyss Walker Boots

Quests
4 - Donation of Wool
4 - Donation of Silk
2 - Donation of Mageweave
4 - Haunted Mills
3 - Solanian’s Belongings

Sideboard
4 - Drain Mana
4 - Illusionary Rod
2 - Doshura Risestrider

This list was far from what Armando originally built. The deck was heavily played in the 4 or so days leading up to Realm Champs; after every match, 2-10 cards in the deck changed. After all the changes and testing, the deck could beat Desecrator, Runetusk, Lionar, Kil'zin, and nearly any “control” deck. The only weakness was Purloin and Pickpocket. Reesa was the only “bad” match-up that we thought would see play. Even then, the Reesa would have to know what to Purloin and Pickpocket (although in most cases it would be obvious).

It was decided, then, that this was the deck for Realm Champs. It was a blast to play; it was one of the most fun decks I have ever touched. Playing against rush? Rip a turn 5 Lokholar. Playing against Control? Rip a turn 5 Vashj. We figured that most opponents would figure out what we were doing, but wouldn't really have an idea of how to play against us. Since this deck has its own game-plan regardless of what your opponent is playing, it makes it a powerful choice. You don't have to wait around and respond to your opponent's cards. You can rip in a turn 5 Vashj and win two turns later. The deck was very, very strong (no matter how janky it looks).

There has been some discussion as to the strength of the deck, specifically “how do you deal with [fill-in-card].” Some notables include Purloin, Arcane Torrent, Puncture, Sudden Death, and rush. Alright, rush isn't a card, but I included it here anyway. First, Purloin is bad news. It is probably the worst card for Ripped, so we definitely didn't want to sit across from Rogue. But, that isn't saying Rogue is an un-winnable match. In fact, Reesa loses to Lokholar. The key to beating Reesa was having Solanian's ready for turn 4, insuring a turn 5 rip on the big ice lord. Throw out a Cannibalize the following turn, and Reesa is pretty much dead. The worst match by far was solo Rogue. You have to rip Lokholar on turn 5 or 6 or you lose. In fact, sometimes you lose even if you get him in play. Ultimately, though, we accepted that Purloin/Solo would be a bad match and built the deck to beat rush and control.

Next comes Arcane Torrent. While in theory this card wrecks ripped, in testing it didn't matter. The decks that played this card were slow control decks; they could interrupt a rip or two, but they couldn't answer a turn 9 Vashj or Kael. Speaking of Kael'thalas, he made Paladin and Warrior control decks very favorable (he was even good vs Runetusk). Most people wouldn't expect him, so if they ever pass with 3-6 resources open, Kael was ready to steal them. Back on Arcane Torrent: it just isn't enough to answer an entire strategy. Yes, it is great for cards like Darkness. But Runetusk doesn't have Solanian's to bring Darkness back. So what if Arcane Torrent interrupts a turn 5 or 6 ripped? Solanian's the Ripped back and try again. If it gets interrupted again, then just hard cast a fatty. Keep in mind Eye of Kilrogg will be stealing opposing answers, so Arcane Torrent turns out to be more of a nuisance. After experiencing the red Pally match (with Arcane Torrent), I feel very confident in saying that Ripped had a huge advantage in that match. Maybe not anymore, since people will obviously play new cards to deal with this strategy. A local player showed me Preparing for War as a possible answer.

Lionar with Puncture and Sudden Death was a bad match-up initially, but after testing, it became much, much better. Eye of Kilrogg on their Bloodrage or Drain Mana alone was usually game. Even if they kill your ripped fatty, you can often rip another one and then start hard casting more on turn 9. At that point, Lionar is out of gas and the game ends shortly after. The only time Lionar had a chance was when it drew multiple Bloodrages and Ripped never saw a Drain Mana.

Finally, we made sure that rush in general was favorable. With 4 each of Vexmaster, Steal Essence, Shadow Bolt, and Cannibalize, early allies get destroyed and Plague's health stays full. No rush decks were planning on facing a turn 5 Lokholar, so many games just ended when he entered play. Surviving until you get him in play is sometimes tough, but overall it was not rare to see Lokholar on turn 5 or 6. At that point Desecrator, Kil'zin, and Reesa could do little to make a comeback. Outrider Zarg was included to attack pesky Myriams, since that was the only other card giving the deck problems.

The main strength of the deck was the surprise factor. We planned on nobody having answers to Lokholar, Vashj, or Kael. Even if they did have answers, the number would be relatively small, around 2-4. This meant that many matches would end with a turn 5 rip. Since this happened well over 80% of the time in testing, this gave the deck an enormous advantage in a relatively unknown meta. Added to this the fact that the deck performed well vs. most of the known decks, we decided that this was the deck for us.

In the end, I really didn't want to play Desecrator because I hate playing rush (one reason I didn't want to play Reesa, either). Unless there is really good tech for rush mirrors, you have many matches that are coin flips. I didn't feel that Desecrator had good mirror tech (maybe Vexmaster, but I'm pretty sure most people knew about him). You just needed to win the dice roll and get a good hand to win the mirror. Also, Desecrator didn't feel “special”, so I really liked the idea of playing something unique, like Ripped. I'm not trying to take a cheap shot at anyone who played Desecrator, but I feel like it's the new Gorebelly.

Feel free to ask any questions in the forums. I also recently got a screen-name on AIM (I'm high-tech like that), so if you want to chat send me a message at Empekay. Hope to see you all in Seattle!

Congratulations to everyone who won or top 8'ed Realm Champs!

-Matt

P.S. For anyone who like statistics, the Ripped deck was played by myself (4-2), Armando (5-1), and Brad (6-0). Our combined swiss record was 15-3, with 2 of those loses coming from teammates.