A gorgon in the necro deck is expensive but definitely worth it. Not only is she fantastic for getting weakness counters out onto the board, but it also gives the deck some much-needed anti-air capabilities. And the Gorgon can be reanimated back into the arena for only 8 mana (after which she begins regenerating her reanimate damage)

I've been putting some thought into how to make the Warlord a more viable mage. (I've gone through three or four decks and I'm still trying to find one that works well)

His biggest handicap by far is the triple-cost arcane school. Other decks that have triple cost spells can simply avoid playing that school. But the arcane school is a must have for dispels and seeking dispels, if nothing else. The dispel wand would have been a good fix for this, except it's nerfed - it costs too many spellbook points (2 arcane times three for the Warlord) and it can only dispel level 1 spells. I might as well stock a mage wand (same spellbook cost) since it's more flexible. 
arcane one-handed weapons. So he has to choose between using his +1 melee skill with a two handed weapon or using Horn of Gothos (or paying a triple-cost premium to use the mage staff)

His second biggest handicap, IMO, is the total lack of non-arcane one-handed weapons. So he has to choose between using his +1 melee skill with a two handed weapon or using Horn of Gothos (or paying a triple-cost premium to use the mage staff)

The second problem could be easily solved by the addition of a one-handed melee weapon in the war class. I think there's a promo card along those lines already. The first problem is tougher. One solution would be to create a non-arcane alternative to dispel which can be used against both unrevealed or revealed enchmantments, but whichs costs more mana than ordinary dispel.

"the 3-hour match Mark alluded to was NOT a tournament game, but a casual game he played with a friend/fellow gamer. " -- that's not correct. The three hour game I played against Graham was my second match during the Tuesday pre-lims. (Both Graham and I had won our first match that day). The 75 minute time-limit was imposed later in the week, I think.

Hi guys. I won the DTC tournament playing a Warlock. My deck was very heavy on enchantments and armor, with few creatures. The best decks I played at the con were a Priestess and two Forcemasters.

The Priestess (played by Graham) was a very solid turtle deck. The main creature was Brogan Bloodstone, supported by a few Knights of Westlock and an Angel or two. He also deployed two Temples of Bim Shalla and a Temple of Light. I was kept alive by judicious use of Deathlink. It was an extremely long match (3 hours), at the end of which I had 0 damage and he had 35-ish damage and 60 life. We drew, but if we had continued, I'm certain I would have won.

The first Forcemaster, played by Jesse, went very aggressive early. I countered by kiting and using curses. When he brought out his Thoughtspore (with dissolve), I immediately took it down with a fireball (+Fireshaper Ring). He got my battleforge with a psychic hammer. Eventually, he ran out of dissolves and dispels, and I got a Ghoul Rot on him. Meanwhile, my regrowth belt was keeping me alive. He got out an Invisible Stalker, and had it following me around, hitting me at the end of each turn. I used the reflex boots to dodge. I got out a mage wand, attached dissolve to it, and dissolved Galvitar. He got it back, recast it, and I redissolved it. After that, he stopped trying and began to run away. Eventually, the ghoul rot (plus my attacks) took their toll and he lost.

The second forcemaster, played by Phil, played more conservatively. I came to him. He got out a thoughtspore, which I attacked with a fireball and damaged for 6 life. Next turn, I ran away (mongoose agility + cheetah speed), and he got out a second spore. On the following turn, I used battleforge to get out a lash, ran up, killed the new thoughtspore with the lash, and quickcast a flameblast on the other one. I fell back again, to one of my corners; he attacked, I hit him back with 9 dice (Lash + 1 fireshaper ring + 1 gauntlets + 2 bear strength + 1 warlock ability) and hurt him badly. He changed tactics, moving away and casting hidden Hellfire traps on both zones adjacent to my corner. Next turn, I seeking dispelled one of the zones, he countered by casting a poisned cloud in my corner and walls of fire on both adjacencies. I killed the cloud with a lash attack followed by a dancing scimitar. By this time, we were both hurting pretty bad - I had about 22-ish damage and he was up around 25. He had a ghoul rot on him, and a temple out, for 1 net damage per turn. I had lost all my regen (the regrowth belt had been exploded and got the vampirism with purge magic). So, with no other options, I cast Goran, put deathlink on him, and left him in the corner (the walls of fire block line of sight, preventing the Forcemaster from mind controlling him) I came out through the walls of fire (Haberk + clock meant it was fairly painless) and attacked him. He used reverse attack to hit me back with my own lash.

At this point, we were forced to quit (the con was ending) so we had to call it a draw. I had 33 damage on me, Phil had about 28; I was healing two per upkeep and he was taking one damage. In the last turn, we were both in the same space, he had initiative (and agony). I think if we had played one more turn, I would have finished him.