Mass Production
A 1-mana spell that draws 2 cards? This is an incredibly efficient card draw engine for Warlock. There are two drawbacks for Mass Production: The self-damage and the shuffle effect.
Self-damage is a very minor drawback that can turn into an upside if we’re playing a deck like Pain Warlock, or even Insanity Warlock. Aggressive decks will not be bothered by it too much, while slower decks should have the healing to offset it to an extent.
The shuffle effect drawback only really comes online at the later stages of the game, where we get closer to the end of the deck and potentially have a lot of Mass Productions sitting around, preventing us from finding our last few cards. Once again, this drawback is not relevant if we’re playing an aggressive deck that tries to win before that’s ever relevant. We’re not even sure this is something slower strategies will be bothered by if it helps our consistency earlier.
A staple for Pain Warlock and a likely inclusion in most other strategies, we consider Mass Production to be one of the best cards on this set.
Score: 4
Domino Effect
Domino Effect goes in one direction, dealing 2 damage to the first minion it targets and then dealing more damage as it jumps onto other minions. It cannot jump over locations, dormant minions or objects like a Sargeras Portal. Since it goes in one direction, you want to target one of the side minions in a wide board to have it hit the maximum number of minions possible.
This is a weird spell with very fun and flavorful design. It’s a bit hard to evaluate at initial glance. The important thing to note is that it’s an asymmetrical AOE effect. A 3-mana AOE spell that simply dealt 3 damage to all enemy minions would be considered strong, so Domino Effect looks very powerful in comparison due to its scaling damage, even though it’s not guaranteed to hit all minions if other objects are on the board.
Its ‘ceiling’ of efficiency is reliant on minion placement since the opponent has a way to reduce its impact by placing its biggest minions in the middle of the board. Nevertheless, considering its cheap cost and high ‘floor’ impact on a wide board, Domino Effect should become an important spell for defensive Warlock decks. It’s a very clean way of dealing with flooding aggression.
Score: 3
INFERNAL!
This card may not deal self-damage (it sets remaining health), so it does not discount Imprisoned Horror, but it should be strong in Pain Warlock thanks to its synergy with Molten Giant. A turn 4 Infernal makes a turn 5 Molten Giant guaranteed, potentially at a 0-mana cost if we have enough self-damage effects to play on the same turn. It can also turn on Molten Giant on Turn 4 if combined with a Blood Treant on Turn 4.
The other thing we like about Infernal is that it potentially heals Pain Warlock. Pain Warlock tends to kill itself very quickly if the game is prolonged, so having a 4 mana 6/6 taunt that protects us while giving us a second wind could be valuable.
Score: 3
Final Thoughts: Warlock gets the most creative set, with three cards that should boost both existing and future strategies. The biggest winner might be Pain Warlock.
