Multiplayer Domination: Warlock

[iNano78]

In principle, this book could work for either Warlock.  I chose Adramelech because (1) I don't feel I need Curseweaving or Battle Skill and (2) I like the idea of moving Burn tokens around (via "Fireweaving") to fuel my demons (e.g. Wildfire Imps, and via "Demonic Reward").

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]And Hell Followed With Her[/spellbookname]
[mage]Adramelech Warlock[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFA01]1 x  Devil's Trident[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1a04]1 x  Fireball[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1a05]2 x  Firestorm[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1A06]2 x  Flameblast[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1a12]2 x  Ring of Fire[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWBG1J01]1 x  Altar of the Iron Guard[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j06]1 x  Gate to Hell[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1J12]1 x  Mana Crystal[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j17]1 x  Pentagram[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1J20]1 x  Sacrificial Altar[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1w03]2 x  Wall of Fire[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNW02]2 x  Wall of Bones[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFC04]1 x  Cerberus[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c15]3 x  Firebrand Imp[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c16]1 x  Flaming Hellion[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFC06]1 x  Goblin Alchemist[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWBG1C03]1 x  Skeelax, Taunting Imp[/mwcard]
[mwcard=]1 x  Unstable Fire Imp[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFC13]6 x  Wildfire Imp[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MW1E09]1 x  Agony[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWBG1E01]1 x  Astral Anchor[/mwcard]
[mwcard=]2 x  Badger Frenzy[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWE02]1 x  Circle of Fire[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e14]1 x  Enfeeble[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e20]1 x  Harmonize[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E21]1 x  Hawkeye[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e22]1 x  Hellfire Trap[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e25]1 x  Maim Wings[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e27]1 x  Marked for Death[/mwcard]
[mwcard=]2 x  Panther Stealth[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWBG1E03]1 x  Sentinel of V'Tar[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFQ01]1 x  Adramelech's Torment[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFQ02]1 x  Bloodfire Helmet[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q06]1 x  Dragonscale Hauberk[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q10]1 x  Fireshaper Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=]1x  Wychwood Ironvine[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1i02]2 x  Battle Fury[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFI05]2 x  Ignite[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFI06]3 x  Defend[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i07]1 x  Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i06]1 x  Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i12]2 x  Force Push[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWI04]1 x  Force Wave[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I15]1 x  Knockdown[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWI07]1 x  Repulse[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i24]1 x  Seeking Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i28]1 x  Teleport[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]

* Edit* Made the following changes after a first (close) match.

-[mwcard=MWBG1A02]1 x  Dragon's Breath[/mwcard] (too expensive for what it does)
-[mwcard=mw1a04]1 x  Fireball[/mwcard] (Devil's Trident is better aside from the range; Flameblast is cheaper for most purposes)
-[mwcard=mw1e14]1 x  Enfeeble[/mwcard] (rarely need more than 1)
-[mwcard=mw1e22]1 x  Hellfire Trap[/mwcard] (only have time to use 1)
-[mwcard=mw1e34]1 x  Reverse Attack[/mwcard] (was intended to put on a Sslak an opponent wanted to take, but it's too expensive; might replace with the Academy equivalent when it's released.
-[mwcard=mw1q14]1 x  Lash of Hellfire[/mwcard] (too expensive; basic melee is sufficient for tapping orbs)
-[mwcard=MWSTX2FFI01]1 x  Combustion[/mwcard] (unnecessary most of the time)
-[mwcard=mw1i10]1 x  Evade[/mwcard] (unnecessary when you have Panther Stealth)
-[mwcard=mw1e28]1 x  Mongoose Agility[/mwcard] (Panther Stealth is cheaper; most creatures worth making Elusive are Minor)
-[mwcard=mw1i29]1 x  Vampiric Strike[/mwcard] (not strong enough)
-[mwcard=mw1i28]1 x  Teleport[/mwcard] (great card, but I needed points; besides, my Imps already teleport)
-[mwcard=mw1w03]1 x  Wall of Fire[/mwcard] (to make room for 2x Wall of Bones)

+[mwcard=MW1J20]1 x  Sacrificial Altar[/mwcard] (cheap conjuration for Cerberus to protect in an important zone, plus can be beneficial to sacrifice a creature that's going to die anyway)
+[mwcard=MW1J12]1 x  Mana Crystal[/mwcard] (because 9 channeling sucks)
+[mwcard=MW1A06]2 x  Flameblast[/mwcard] (cheap attack spell with chance to Burn; more versatile than Lash of Hellfire + melee attack)
+[mwcard=mw1c15]1 x  Firebrand Imp[/mwcard] (early enablers for Wildfire Imps that follow)
+[mwcard=MWSTX2FFC06]1 x  Goblin Alchemist[/mwcard] (versatile; enables Wildfire Imp and benefits from Flame +1 on cursed creatures; drops armor of Sslaks; can tap orbs; cheaper and better range requirements than Flaming Hellion's ranged attack)
+[mwcard=MW1E09]1 x  Agony[/mwcard] (great on an Usslak or on your opponent's best creature)
+[mwcard=MWBG1E01]1 x  Astral Anchor[/mwcard] (keep Cerberus in position, although it goes against Wildfire Imp strategy)
+2 x  Badger Frenzy (cheap Battle Fury for Minor creature that you can cast in an earlier round and reveal when desired) (*edit* Non-animal demons are illegal targets for Badger Frenzy)
+[mwcard=MW1E21]1 x  Hawkeye[/mwcard] (for stronger Attack spells)
+1 x  Unstable Fire Imp (flava-flav; hilarious to guard with in a busy zone; enables Wildfire Imps, etc)
+1x  Wychwood Ironvine (protection; more versatile / cheaper than Reverse Attack)
+[mwcard=MWBG1E03]1 x  Sentinel of V'Tar[/mwcard] (a better Astral Anchor just for Cerberus)
+[mwcard=DNW02]2 x  Wall of Bones[/mwcard] (stronger area control than Wall of Fire, and cheaper both in sbp and mana)

Usually open with Harmonized Pentagram, then get out some Firebrand Imps and boost them with a curse on the nearest Sslak + Bloodfire Helmet, then bring out Wildfire Imps when things are burning nicely.

But you could instead gear up for a 10-dice Fireball on a Sslak (Fireshaper Ring; Hawkeye; Marked for Death; Fireball) and summon creatures manually as needed.  Would probably be a better strategy if Galaxxus was legal, since then hypothetically you could tap the orb + cast Galaxxus in round 3, then summon Cerberus on the following round to protect your orb. (He'll need a Dark conjuration in that zone, though, to enable his ability)

I'll be honest: This book attempts to use a bunch of "bad" cards that rarely see play - like Pentagram (the worst spawn point, especially in the Domination format), Cerberus (a powerful guard, but very pricey and easily Teleported away from his conjuration), and Gate to Hell ('nuff said).  It also uses an unorthodox Domination strategy that aims to aggressively burn everything in sight in order to both disrupt opposition strategies and activate friendly creatures (e.g. Wildfire Imp teleporting, "Demonic Reward," Bloodfire Helmet, etc).  There are some other obvious weaknesses (Wall of Earth comes to mind), and I'm not sure it will work against the swarmiest of mages (Necromancer, Straywood Beastmaster, Bloodwave Warlord), but it looks like a fun book to try.  I'd love to hear thoughts on how I might improve this book before taking it into battle (e.g. [mwcard=MWBG1E01]Astral Anchor[/mwcard] to pin [mwcard=MWSTX2FFC04] Cerberus[/mwcard] to his Pentagram or Gate to Hell zone?).

I'm looking forward to the Academy Warlock deck to flesh out some of the themes with cheaper versions of some spells benefiting minor creatures. 

When in doubt, kill it with fire!

* This is part of a series of spell books designed for Free-for-all Multiplayer Domination.  The main discussion can be found here. *

[iNano78]

Made +/-20 sbp worth of changes after a first run. 

It was a close 3-way match with a Bloodwave Warlord commanding a [mwcard=FWC01]Dwarf Kriegsbiel[/mwcard], [mwcard=MW1C22]Knight of Westlock[/mwcard] and [mwcard=FWJ01]Akiro's Hammer[/mwcard] coming out on top against this Warlock and a Skeleton Necromancer who led with [mwcard=DNJ01]Altar of Skulls[/mwcard] and [mwcard=MW1J11]Idol of Pestilence[/mwcard]. 7 walls were summoned, many Wildfire Imps died, the Warlock got pushed back and forth through her own wall, and she died from direct poison damage (Idol) during the upkeep that the Warlord won by V'tar.

[SharkBait]

I'm a bit late to the party here, but I figure now's a good time to jump in. Keep in mind, I've got a very arena centric hat on in general right now because i don't have much experience with Domination (Though I'm looking to change that since I'd like to include a domination bracket in season 2 of the League.)

So, with that in mind....

I'm tempted to say that you can get by without Gate to Hell, and possibly pentagram freeing up a lot of space. I also HATE walls of fire, wall of bones is better in pretty close to every situation. Could be a personal thing there though

 In terms of Cerberus, do you tend to use him to protect orbs, or just spaces in general? I really like your Sac-Alter idea, but what if you added a Sentinel of V'Tar and arcane warded it? It'll take a lot to get him out of there without you being able to react to it if you have him guarding an orb zone (or a zone with 2 orbs)

Another trick I like to pull in arena that I think would work here is to cast a mage wand and attach ignite to it. I call it a zippo lighter, but it can be really effective in spreading burns as necessary for cheap.

Overall, I'm curious as to a bit more detail on how this performed. I'm not personally a fan of harmonizing the 'gram, but I can see where it might be useful in a domi game. I'm going to put together a Domi-AW book in the near future too, so I figure we can compare notes

[iNano78]

I'm a bit late to the party here, but I figure now's a good time to jump in. Keep in mind, I've got a very arena centric hat on in general right now because i don't have much experience with Domination (Though I'm looking to change that since I'd like to include a domination bracket in season 2 of the League.)

Welcome!!

I'm tempted to say that you can get by without Gate to Hell, and possibly pentagram freeing up a lot of space. I also HATE walls of fire, wall of bones is better in pretty close to every situation. Could be a personal thing there though

Gate and Pentagram are kind of bad cards... but I'm determined to try them until I conclude that using them costs any hope of winning. As for Walls, right now there is at least a lot of apprehension about walking through them, and anything that could put Burns on enemy creatures is a plus.  If I had more copies of Wall of Bones, I'd put at least a couple of them in this book, but they're all in my Necro and Wizard books at the moment.

In terms of Cerberus, do you tend to use him to protect orbs, or just spaces in general? I really like your Sac-Alter idea, but what if you added a Sentinel of V'Tar and arcane warded it? It'll take a lot to get him out of there without you being able to react to it if you have him guarding an orb zone (or a zone with 2 orbs)

Cerberus is included as a guard for double-orb zones that tend to be hotly contested in the mid-late game (once everybody has the easy first orb).  He is a big deterrent.  Of course, he isn't that hard to deal with, as he could simply get Tanglevine'd or Knockdown'ed.  And he's SOOOO expensive to cast.  Not sure he's ever worth it, but he's another "try until I prove it never works" challenge.

Another trick I like to pull in arena that I think would work here is to cast a mage wand and attach ignite to it. I call it a zippo lighter, but it can be really effective in spreading burns as necessary for cheap.

That's a neat idea.  Not sure it's the best spell to put on your valuable Mage Wand, but Ignite is pretty sweet.  I used it to set fire to an Altar of Skulls (note Ignite's target is Corporeal Creature or Conjuration) so my Imps could teleport to it.

Overall, I'm curious as to a bit more detail on how this performed. I'm not personally a fan of harmonizing the 'gram, but I can see where it might be useful in a domi game. I'm going to put together a Domi-AW book in the near future too, so I figure we can compare notes

In multiplayer Domination, I often start with Spawnpoint + Harmonize on Spawnpoint - especially with the ones that require 2+ mana in order to use them (Gate to Voltari, Temple of Asyra, Pentagram).  This turns them into a Lair even if you don't manage to trigger the channeling bonus - which you often do anyway, especially since it's multiplayer and a creature-friendly format.  But Harmonize isn't absolutely necessary.  That said, 9 channeling sucks, so if you aren't going Harmonize on the spawnpoint, you might want to consider a Mana Crystal/Flower... and Harmonize is cheaper mana-wise, so...

*edit* Dropped a Wall of Fire and a Teleport for 2x Wall of Bones, a Sentinel of V'tar and another Badger Frenzy Battle Fury.

[iNano78]

Here is my Warlock, updated with PvS and Lost Grimoire v1 spells. Still trying to get Gate to Hell to work, although I've given up on Cerberus.

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]And Hell Followed With Her v2.0[/spellbookname]
[mage]Adramelech Warlock[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFA01]1 x  Devil's Trident[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1a04]1 x  Fireball[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1a05]1 x  Firestorm[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1A06]1 x  Flameblast[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWA02]1 x  Force Hammer[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1a12]1 x  Ring of Fire[/mwcard]
[mwcard=]1 x  Twin Fireball[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWBG1J01]1 x  Altar of the Iron Guard[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j06]1 x  Gate to Hell[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j17]1 x  Pentagram[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNW02]2 x  Wall of Bones[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1w03]2 x  Wall of Fire[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MW1C01]1 x  Adramelech, Lord of Fire[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFC02]1 x  Blood Demon[/mwcard]
[mwcard=]1 x  Combustion Demon[/mwcard]
[mwcard=]1 x  Drakas, Imp Overlord[/mwcard]
[mwcard=]1 x  Drokarr[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c15]3 x  Firebrand Imp[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c16]1 x  Flaming Hellion[/mwcard]
[mwcard=]1 x  Kharne, Horned Demon[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWBG1C03]1 x  Skeelax, Taunting Imp[/mwcard]
[mwcard=]1 x  Unstable Fire Imp[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFC13]3 x  Wildfire Imp[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=]1 x  Chant of Rage[/mwcard]
[mwcard=]2 x  Demonic Link[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e20]1 x  Harmonize[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e22]1 x  Hellfire Trap[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e25]1 x  Maim Wings[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e27]2 x  Marked for Death[/mwcard]
[mwcard=]2 x  Panther Stealth[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWBG1E03]1 x  Sentinel of V'Tar[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFQ02]1 x  Bloodfire Helmet[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q06]1 x  Dragonscale Hauberk[/mwcard]
[mwcard=]1 x  Eye of Bael[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q10]1 x  Fireshaper Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q19]1 x  Mage Wand[/mwcard]
[mwcard=]1 x  Wychwood Ironvine[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1i02]1 x  Battle Fury[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFI06]2 x  Defend[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i06]1 x  Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i07]1 x  Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i12]2 x  Force Push[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWI04]1 x  Force Wave[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFI05]2 x  Ignite[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I15]1 x  Knockdown[/mwcard]
[mwcard=]1 x  Lesser Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=]1 x  Mend[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWI07]1 x  Repulse[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i24]1 x  Seeking Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=]1 x  Siphon Life[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i28]1 x  Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=]1 x  Unholy Blood Ritual[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]

* This is part of a series of spell books designed for Free-for-all Multiplayer Domination.  The main discussion can be found here. *