There was an expansion called The Burning Crusade. The special edition super set of the Burning Crusade World of Warcraft MMO came with 3 shiny collectors cards including Through the Portal, and the Servants of the Betrayer set introduced the world to the treacherous Ripped Through the Portal. There have been many portal references in the TCG. The Dark Portal is a pretty significant part of the Warcraft lore. The Burning Legion used the portal as an entryway to unleash their destruction, and I fear that the portal will ultimately be used an abused again for the same type of evil plan. The release of the Hunt for Illidan might allow players to rip an Epic Pit Lord with 50 ATK and 50 Health through said corridor of doom! This is going to be a problem.

Armando Bulnes and team Cheatyface piloted a deck based on the Ripped Through the Portal at one of the Realm Championships, and Bulnes landed a solid finish with the deck at Darkmoon Faire Seattle. The deck is a dark horse, underdog deck that should be in most players’ test gauntlets. It has not yet gained mass appeal in the face of decks with more raw power or a less complicated pilot’s license. However, the Ripped decks can be a huge pain in the metagame and offer some really decisive victories. Check out the original form of the deck that Matt Spreadbury cited on Starcitywow.com.

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

Abilities
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

The strengths of the deck included the abusive 5-cost ability that could bring huge, epic drops that were removed from the game into play to wreck havoc on opposing boards. There were selections to fit various situations. The Ice Lord was nice against rush decks; the good Lady made an appearance against control builds and worked nicely against the Discard Priest. There were big, nasty drops to establish win conditions for a number of game situations. To supplement the theme, there were quests that helped with draw, removal, and cycling through the deck for answers and ways to best set up the win condition. Utility allies allowed you to support removal and to deal with annoying personalities or to stave off rush until you are ready to break the rules of the game by ripping a huge drop from outside the game into play.

With the introduction of each new set, one of the first things that us card board addicts like to do is fish through the new ranks and identify cards that might build upon or improve established deck ideas. There was one card that jumped off the spoiler and into the hearts of Warlock fans everywhere: Azaloth. This epic, 12-drop, Neutral
Ally is a Unique Pit Lord Demon. It should be one of the more expensive cards from the set. I imagine it will have appeal among tournament players and should give casual fans plenty of love. Aside from the mass appeal and chance to actually play an ally that is also a Pit Lord Demon, it seems like the shabby 50/50 stats might attract some attention.

Abusing Azaloth

The way that this guy works is simple. When Azaloth enters play, choose an opponent. That opponent puts five Warlock ally tokens with 0 (Shadow) ATK / 5 health into play. Azaloth can't attack while any of those tokens are in play. While this first seems like a pretty large restriction, the creative mind follows a certain path. Initially, you might identify ways to do 5 damage to get rid of those annoying Warlock tokens that hold your Demon suppressed. There is a 6-cost card that deals 5 damage to everything, but that is just not good enough. Panax could cause come problems, but all of this just seems too slow. There must be something more abusive.

By the end of a deep mind-melting journey into brokenness, you look up at the clock and a couple of hours have passed. There are whispers in the background and a slight blurriness around each solid object. But you have the answer. Cull the Weak. Cull is a terribly underused Warlock ability that allows you to throw the attack of one of your allies at an opposing hero. You just off your own ally, in true Warlock style, and throw its ATK at the face of your favorite target.

After working through the game ending situations in which you can simply pay 3 and hit for 50 to the dome, you might come to realize that there is yet another way that Warlock can win the game by abusing the epic stats. The traitor Warlock hero our of alliance, Marlowe the Felsworn, is a human Warlock with a very synergistic ability. You pay 2, Flip Marlow and destroy a friendly ally (or in our case, a not so friendly Pit Lord) and => Target hero or ally has -X health this turn, where X is that friendly ally's health. You can only use the ability on your turn, but I am sure that you might not mind. It seems only fair. If you have a huge smile on your face right now, then I have done my job. Pretty slick. You get to decrease a target hero’s health by 50!

Making it Work

Most of the groundwork has already been laid. You have to port the deck over into the Alliance. If you want to stand on the shoulders of giants, simply take some of the great ideas in the successful Horde versions and keep consistent. I think that Azaloth with give you outs in situations which you previously lacked outs. The huge stats and hero flip effect will allow you the chance to instantly win games rather then having to actually do things like attack and keep your big dudes on the board.

Removing the large personalities might become a little harder, so you will need to pack in cards like Alas Anderhol and rely more heavily on the Abyss Walker Boots. Those may become a 4-of in the deck. You now have access to even more cards that allow you to peak at your opponent’s hand. Eye of Killrogg is a key to making the deck type work. It runs interference on counters and interrupts that might give your copy of Ripped Through the Portal a chance to resolve. I might even think about running Manhunt just to draw and look at opponent threats. There is also a one-drop that might allow you to look at an opponent’s hand and call a card that is off limits until he dies. If you have that dude protected behind Sarmoth, then you might be in business. There are a ton of janky ideas that should make this build very viable in the tournament scene.

Top Cards for the Deck

1. Ripped Through the Portal
2. Abyss Walker Boots
3. Eye of Killrogg
4. Azaloth
5. Christopher the Felsworn
6. Cull the Weak

There are so many directions that you might run with this build. You basically need to survive until you land the set-up for your combo. Therefore, you will likely want tons of draw and great stall cards. I have heard that there are some excellent low-cost protectors in both the Alliance and Aldor factions. You can take your pick based on the most likely constructed field. I would explore the new Warlock abilities and might like to find out if any of the new cards will work to supplant classic removal like Steal Essence and Shadow Bolt. Sarmoth might make a comeback or you could explore the power of some of the new pets. If you miss Outrider Zarg in your Horde version of the deck, just make your deck more fun and explosive with a substitute worthy of mention, Leeroy Jenkins. He is also fun to use with Cull the Weak and can remove Myriam Starcaller with the best of em. Enjoy playing around with your new 50/50 and consider giving that Portal a real work out. I am sure that snatching that turn 6 or 7 win with this ally might make for a pretty fun deck!

Jeremy Blair is a member of Team East Coast (TEC) and is a little sad that a card has been printed with better stats than his current 49 ATK and 49 Health! Power creep is a real bitch. Questions, thoughts, and deck lists to Tampakingpin@yahoo.com