Vampilock (Vampiric Warlock)

[Milevan_Faent]

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]Vampilock[/spellbookname]
[mage]A Warlock Spellbook[/mage]
[mage]built by the OCTGN SBB[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Key Cards[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MW1J04]1 x Battle Forge[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1J12]1 x Mana Crystal[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWPROMO13]1 x Mana Vampirism[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWE02]1 x Circle of Fire[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q09]1 x Enchanter's Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q28]1 x Ring of Curses[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFC02]2 x Blood Demon[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWAWLC01]2 x Afflicted Demon[/mwcard]
[mwcard=LG01C05]1 x Magma Golem[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MW1E28]1 x Mongoose Agility[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWAWLE03]2 x Demonic Link[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E40]1 x Vampirism[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E08]1 x Death Link[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWAWLE01]1 x Theft of Life[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWAWLE01]1 x Curse Item[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E24]1 x Magebane[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E04]1 x Chains of Agony[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E27]1 x Marked for Death[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E31]2 x Poisoned Blood[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWE02]1 x Circle of Fire[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWBG1E02]1 x Plagued[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWAPROMO#10]1 x Stench of Death[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MW1Q12]1 x Helm of Fear[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWQ02]1 x Defense Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q22]1 x Moonglow Amulet[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWAWLQ01]1 x Burning Cuirass[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWAWLQ02]1 x Cloak of Fire[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q04]1 x Deflection Bracers[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWA01Q04]1 x Leather Chausses[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q15]1 x Leather Boots[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q23]2 x Regrowth Belt[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWPROMO26]1 x Spiked Buckler[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWQ09]1 x Sectarus, Dark Rune Sword[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q14]1 x Lash of Hellfire[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWQ01]1 x Dancing Scimitar[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q08]1 x Elemental Wand[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWAWLI03]3 x Siphon Life[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I08]2 x Drain Life[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKI01]2 x Drain Soul[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWI11]2 x Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWI16]2 x Dissolve[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MW1A04]2 x Fireball[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFA01]2 x Devil's Trident[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MW1J22]2 x Tanglevine[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]

Open with Battle Forge and Mana Crystal, then get out Moonglow Amulet and rush into Blood Demon with Reaper as soon as possible. From there, the tactics are simple. Deal as much damage as possible while healing everything the other guy throws at you. And despite having lost my Blood Demon in the middle of the match to a Siren with both Kraken AND Leviathan out in the middle of a Shallow Sea, I was able to successfully tank all 3, kill the Leviathan, and ultimately win the match thanks to my healing and DoTs.

Abuse the crap out of cards like Mana Transfer and Demonic Link on Blood Demon to increase mana and healing while potentially dealing as much as 7-8 dice per attack. Afflicted Demon was recently added as a backup demon in place of another vampiric non-demon creature i had before so i could double up on Demonic Link and have a cheaper backup Reaper.

Against nonliving the deck is significantly weaker, but to deal with them (and swarm in general) drop the Magma Golem, power it up with Poison AoE effects, and let it terrorize the swarm.

Between the various defenses and healing, it's VERY hard to take this Warlock out. Especially when you can turn an assured victory into sudden defeat by using a well timed Drain Life (or Soul if you can get the mana for it).

While primarily meant for melee combat, don't be afraid to switch to range using the Elemental Wand and some handy fire magic if you need to get some space. Elusive is there to help you get that space, and to ignore those pesky Guards. The name of this game is focus fire on the mage. As the enemy tries to kill you with creatures, you're killing the creatures without even touching them through burn, the aura, and the occasional Death Link (which as a curse, comes right back after they're dead for another round of kill-healing).

Tell me what you think! The deck has proven very powerful against an opponent NOT abusing the crap out of undead (after like 6 matches in a row where the other guys did). The combination of healing and defenses allow you to almost completely ignore everything but the mage, and when needed, you can even trap them with a well-placed Tanglevine to leave them to the tender (or not-so-tender) mercies of a Magma Golem.

[Keystone]

Hello, tried bulding a somewhat similar deck a while ago on top of an older AC warlock book, still work-in-progress 'cause I didn't have enought sps to include everything I wanted from the new card pool.

Anyway, these questions popped to mind:

what if the enemy mage abuses defences as well? No falcon precision or similar tech. You have curses, but only 1 copies of most, pretty easy to dispel/remove curse, even if just the damage ones.

Similar concerns about heavily armored enemy, no rust or acid balls.

No teleports, tanglevine will stop you. The lash will ofc disintegrate tanglevine quickly, but it can always be disarmed/dissolved/whatever, so multiple copies of tanglevine will pretty much negate your melee dmg. You have a ranged option, but if the wand gets dissolved, you have limited attack spells, not to mention these eat mana meant for curses/other contingencies. Ranged backup is nice, but you should have more ways to get to deal your primary dmg. Stopping you also potentially negates healing from Vampirism, if they kite and use no other creatures. Similar concerns regarding the Blood Demon as well, if maim winged/knocked down+ tanglevined outside of party square, it will spend at least 2 turns biting away the vine with demonic link, 3 without the link.

You have 2 dissolves, that can potentially be used to solve either the defence or armor issue (but leaving no spares for wands/other key items), but if they have multiple copies of said tech, or defence+armor at the same time, it could prove to be a problem. Happened to me once against an AT warlord.

How about stun books? Holy and lightning come to mind. You do have several incantation 'attacks', though drain soul and drain life are very expensive. 3 siphon lifes are nice, how about a mage wand to spam those even more? Helps against heavy defence/armor as well.

Regarding your healing, it's formidable, true, if left alone. But what if the enemy casts poisoned blood and arcane wards it? No seeking dispel, reveal magic, decoy or ward of your own to pop the enemy ward, you would have to use both of your dispels to get rid of a single PB. Most mages I've seen carry at least 1, many have 2 copies. After the second PB you might be in trouble. Similar problems with enfeeble+ward etc. As with tanglevine, stopping you causes trouble if they baited your dispels. Cheetah speed would help here, mage wand as well.

After shutting down your healing (fighting a druid comes to mind looking at this book =) ) be it with deathlock or PB, acid ball/rust on you and a falcon precision on a strong creature would start to look scary.

This is speculation, of course, maybe the opponent doesn't have the actions/opportunities/tech (most have the tech though) to carry out those actions, maybe you get to deal your damage quickly. A lot depends on the match up, as you said yourself.

Death link is excellent, I usually carry 2 because the first one often gets dispelled. If you feel only one is enough, maybe consider a ward to protect it?

Oh, and maybe add 1 bear strength for yourself for good measure? I find it excellent to be able to punch with 6 dice using only 1 action and 5 mana to prep, even when weapons got destroyed/didn't use them.

Just some thoughts, AC lock is one of my long time favourites.

[Milevan_Faent]

Hello, tried bulding a somewhat similar deck a while ago on top of an older AC warlock book, still work-in-progress 'cause I didn't have enought sps to include everything I wanted from the new card pool.

Anyway, these questions popped to mind:

what if the enemy mage abuses defences as well? No falcon precision or similar tech. You have curses, but only 1 copies of most, pretty easy to dispel/remove curse, even if just the damage ones.

Similar concerns about heavily armored enemy, no rust or acid balls.

No teleports, tanglevine will stop you. The lash will ofc disintegrate tanglevine quickly, but it can always be disarmed/dissolved/whatever, so multiple copies of tanglevine will pretty much negate your melee dmg. You have a ranged option, but if the wand gets dissolved, you have limited attack spells, not to mention these eat mana meant for curses/other contingencies. Ranged backup is nice, but you should have more ways to get to deal your primary dmg. Stopping you also potentially negates healing from Vampirism, if they kite and use no other creatures. Similar concerns regarding the Blood Demon as well, if maim winged/knocked down+ tanglevined outside of party square, it will spend at least 2 turns biting away the vine with demonic link, 3 without the link.

You have 2 dissolves, that can potentially be used to solve either the defence or armor issue (but leaving no spares for wands/other key items), but if they have multiple copies of said tech, or defence+armor at the same time, it could prove to be a problem. Happened to me once against an AT warlord.

How about stun books? Holy and lightning come to mind. You do have several incantation 'attacks', though drain soul and drain life are very expensive. 3 siphon lifes are nice, how about a mage wand to spam those even more? Helps against heavy defence/armor as well.

Regarding your healing, it's formidable, true, if left alone. But what if the enemy casts poisoned blood and arcane wards it? No seeking dispel, reveal magic, decoy or ward of your own to pop the enemy ward, you would have to use both of your dispels to get rid of a single PB. Most mages I've seen carry at least 1, many have 2 copies. After the second PB you might be in trouble. Similar problems with enfeeble+ward etc. As with tanglevine, stopping you causes trouble if they baited your dispels. Cheetah speed would help here, mage wand as well.

After shutting down your healing (fighting a druid comes to mind looking at this book =) ) be it with deathlock or PB, acid ball/rust on you and a falcon precision on a strong creature would start to look scary.

This is speculation, of course, maybe the opponent doesn't have the actions/opportunities/tech (most have the tech though) to carry out those actions, maybe you get to deal your damage quickly. A lot depends on the match up, as you said yourself.

Death link is excellent, I usually carry 2 because the first one often gets dispelled. If you feel only one is enough, maybe consider a ward to protect it?

Oh, and maybe add 1 bear strength for yourself for good measure? I find it excellent to be able to punch with 6 dice using only 1 action and 5 mana to prep, even when weapons got destroyed/didn't use them.

Just some thoughts, AC lock is one of my long time favourites.

Thanks for the feedback. This deck is still a bit of a work in progress. I only really play casually, so I don't take into consideration more competitive strats most of the time since they dont come up as often. Tanglevine usually dies the turn its cast even without teleport, and definitely the next turn. For that reason, I don't fear them too much. Annoying, but I can deal. Personally, I hate that you are basically required to have Teleport + Tanglevine or lose. That's a very annoying thing in a game like this where the decks are so flexible. Since my Lash is my back-up weapon, I usually won't play it unless I need the burn or fire damage for something, or I've lost my Sword. Because of that, it's usually not dissolved before it can destroy a tanglevine.

As for Defense+Armor, about half my damage tends to be Direct, either burns or Curses. Both bypass the Defense and Armor of my enemies, so I can generally ignore them. Stun is a bit more of a problem, but there's only so much that can be done about that. If I have to, I Tanglevine + Magma Golem + Plagued + Stench of Death and they're taking damage that completely bypasses all their armor and defenses, while I still have a moderate chance to hurt them with my attacks. It does mean my healing is weaker, but I just switch over to my direct damage Incantations to heal instead of Vamping. Not an ideal option, but enough to potentially kill the opponent before I die.

PB is annoying as hell, but that's what I save all my Dispels for anyway. If I can't get rid of it, I usually just forfeit then and there and call it a bad matchup. I've been thinking of other ways to deal with those problems that stop me from healing, but haven't made much progress.

I'm thinking of removing the Dancing Scimitar, but it's so damn useful as either an extra defense or bonus damage that I'd rather keep it. Not sure where else I can squeeze SBPs from though.

[Werekingdom]

Hey Milevan_Faent

If your looking for cutting some spell book points then you could get rid of the enchantment ring, you only have 5 enchantment targeting friendly creatures so it's only saving you 3 mana if you use all your friendly enchantments.
Maybe down grade one fireball to a fire-blast (it would give you a unavoidable attack). You could probably do with only three Afflicted Demon/Blood Demon's instead of four.

Werekingdom