FIF: Break the Warlock's Curse

[ChimpZilla]

Well, that changes things. So they take what is already the best offensive mage class in the game, make it better, but cast it as a glass cannon (worst health/channel ratio and Druid doesn't count). I can dig it.

[isel]

Druid dont like her, i believe its unbalanced, too strong, i hope in this pack will be cards versus this amount of fire.

[silverclawgrizzly]

I gotta say I'm digging the fire mistress here. This is pretty much the right balance I was hoping for with her. I can see how she'll tear a fiery path through a lot of spell books, but there's certainly room to exploit her weaknesses.

[lil_drag_n]

I'm not particularly impressed with him abilities right now. But if the spells synergize them it would be awesome. She looks good now. Maybe she'll be great when you the right cards in her spell book.

[Kharhaz]

Well, that changes things. So they take what is already the best offensive mage class in the game, make it better, but cast it as a glass cannon (worst health/channel ratio and Druid doesn't count). I can dig it.

I do not know if I would go so far as to say that is better than the classic lock. She just has a different wheelhouse. Two of her abilities are dependent on the burn condition, which are not 100% without using AT.

Demonic Reward is neat little boost to all her demons in play but I prefer the reaper overall.

I also like curseweaving a little more compared to fireweaving. Fireweaving is very neat as a setup for demonic reward; along with some other spells. As was previously mentioned it is also a sleeved ace in the hole vs all burn markers. She can move burn markers from a burning object to another so it does not get wasted when some demon smashes an outpost for example.  However recycling curses has a lot more weight, IMO, than passing around burn markers.

Smoldering Curses is my favorite ability she has. In my books she preferred the lash a lot more than Sectarus

She was actually one of the more difficult cards to finalize in this set all things considered. I am trying to remember some other the other abilities she had in consideration but I am drawing a blank

[Zuberi]

I think the description of "glass cannon" was an apt one. Comparing her to the other mages, all of the mages with 32 or less life have obvious defensive abilities to prolong their survival (Treebond, Deflect, Voltaric Shield, and Divine Reward). Those with 34 life have less obvious means to help keep them alive (Holy Avenger, Sprinting, Runesmithing/Tough). She sits in the middle with 33 life and her only ability that may be aimed towards her own survival is her ability to remove burns from herself. This makes her very fragile.

Meanwhile, the Arraxian Crown Warlock not only has the most life of any mage at 38, but he is also the only mage with more than 34 life with an ability aimed at keeping himself alive (Bloodreaper). This makes him extremely hardy and his new counterpart is looking extremely fragile in comparison.

However, she also has Smoldering Curses, which is probably the best damage boost in the game. It boosts her basic attack to doing the same amount of damage roughly (on average) as her counterparts Battleskill boosted base attack, and lets her do slightly more damage on average with Lash of Hellfire (due to increased Burn chance). More importantly, it can boost the damage of ALL of her creatures as well (if she focuses on ones with flame attacks). Even if she only summons two creatures with flame attacks, she has gained an extra 3 attack dice of damage per round and an extra 25% chance to apply a Burn during the round from this ability.

Conclusion: She has the worst survival odds but the best damage boost out of any mage thus far. Her damage is very specific and fairly easy to counter however. How often these counters pop up and how well she can respond to them will greatly determine her popularity. In their absence, she is a beast.

[sIKE]

The main thing about her are Elemental -x on the mage. So the focus is to get Burns on Creatures and then shift the Burns to the opposing mage.

[Kharhaz]

However, she also has Smoldering Curses, which is probably the best damage boost in the game. It boosts her basic attack to doing the same amount of damage roughly (on average) as her counterparts Battleskill boosted base attack, and lets her do slightly more damage on average with Lash of Hellfire (due to increased Burn chance). More importantly, it can boost the damage of ALL of her creatures as well (if she focuses on ones with flame attacks). Even if she only summons two creatures with flame attacks, she has gained an extra 3 attack dice of damage per round and an extra 25% chance to apply a Burn during the round from this ability.

For melee I prefer the classic lock for sure

Warlock sits at a 4 dice standard compared to her 1 flame attack. You have to factor in the cost (action and mana) of a curse to even come within sight of the classic lock and her best case scenario is to break even with the classic lock (with a +1 burn chance being the only thing in her favor). Original has the "beat down" style in an Arraxian chokehold.  Do not forget that while Bloodreaper also increases his "hardiness" it also is a bloodthirsty +2 buff to that creature, which is the same bonus damage that smoldering curses provided in your example, but without having to spend the actions and mana to summon two creatures with a fire attack.

Smoldering curses only really has a chance to shine when you are able to swarm creatures with flame attacks, and that is just not where the dark school shines. In most situations it only really helps her with the ranged game, which we have not really teased so to be continued........

I do not mean to come off as bashing her mind you, mark for death and a few other cards not teased yet and she can get out of hand QUICKLY!

[Aylin]

However, she also has Smoldering Curses, which is probably the best damage boost in the game. It boosts her basic attack to doing the same amount of damage roughly (on average) as her counterparts Battleskill boosted base attack, and lets her do slightly more damage on average with Lash of Hellfire (due to increased Burn chance). More importantly, it can boost the damage of ALL of her creatures as well (if she focuses on ones with flame attacks). Even if she only summons two creatures with flame attacks, she has gained an extra 3 attack dice of damage per round and an extra 25% chance to apply a Burn during the round from this ability.

For melee I prefer the classic lock for sure

Warlock sits at a 4 dice standard compared to her 1 flame attack. You have to factor in the cost (action and mana) of a curse to even come within sight of the classic lock and her best case scenario is to break even with the classic lock (with a +1 burn chance being the only thing in her favor). Original has the "beat down" style in an Arraxian chokehold.  Do not forget that while Bloodreaper also increases his "hardiness" it also is a bloodthirsty +2 buff to that creature, which is the same bonus damage that smoldering curses provided in your example, but without having to spend the actions and mana to summon two creatures with a fire attack.

Smoldering curses only really has a chance to shine when you are able to swarm creatures with flame attacks, and that is just not where the dark school shines. In most situations it only really helps her with the ranged game, which we have not really teased so to be continued........

I do not mean to come off as bashing her mind you, mark for death and a few other cards not teased yet and she can get out of hand QUICKLY!

Many Arraxian Warlock books I've seen don't use Blood Reaper at all, in favour of Adramelech. Besides Swarm, books focusing on Legendary demons will be slightly better with this Warlock I think since her base abilities give them buffs.


For Curseweaving, I've found that when I play Warlock I rarely recast a curse I've weaved back in. Iirc there's only one Epic curse that I really like (the one that lets you move 2 damage from your mage to the cursed creature). Unless Swarm is coming back into favour there really isn't a need for Curseweaving tbh. =\

[krj]

some cool variant come into my mind if your opponent starts the game with initiative and move at least one field in first round. of course it will work only for careless player or focused on sth. else then armor at the beginning.

1. round (move one field)
hawkeye, ring of fire

2. round (move one field)
marked of death, fireball

so you he face 10 dice attack from fireball  and 83% chance for at least one burn.

of course against Dwarf Warlord chances  for burns are lower, and facing forcemaster you have 50% chance to hit so you would probably think about some other opening, but in othe cases it can be nice start

[ChimpZilla]

I do not know if I would go so far as to say that is better than the classic lock.

I didn't. I meant better offensively, not overall. AC 'Lock is way more durable.

[Aylin]

I get the feeling that this Warlock will rofl-stomp a Priest. Malakai's Fire just becomes dead weight in that fight.

[silverclawgrizzly]

I get the feeling that this Warlock will rofl-stomp a Priest. Malakai's Fire just becomes dead weight in that fight.

Indeed. One of her neatest tricks is that she can take Burn tokens off friendly creatures and place them elsewhere.

[Aylin]

I get the feeling that this Warlock will rofl-stomp a Priest. Malakai's Fire just becomes dead weight in that fight.

Indeed. One of her neatest tricks is that she can take Burn tokens off friendly creatures and place them elsewhere.

I'm seeing a lot of potential with Adramelech's Torment with Fireweaving. Essentially paying 2 mana (as a free action!) to burn your opponent every round is nasty. Especially with Adramelech's Touch.

[Zuberi]

I get the feeling that this Warlock will rofl-stomp a Priest. Malakai's Fire just becomes dead weight in that fight.

Yeah, I've been thinking about this myself. I'm not sure what I'm going to do when FiF releases. Even before she was fully revealed I was debating the possibility that I may switch allegiances when she came out, and now the fact that she neuters the Priest's signature ability really puts some points in her favor. It's still only one bad match up out of 12 possible match ups (15 if you count each variation of the Wizard separate), but it does factor in.

I do play a lot of team games, though, and her plus a Priest on the same team would be pretty awesome.

Even if I do switch over to using the Adramelech Warlock ability card, I shall keep the Priest art card I think and continue calling myself an Acolyte of the Dice Gods. In all honesty, more demons probably serve the Dice Gods than Angels. They are very chaotic and fickle deities.