The third season of Organized Play for the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game is in the books. We've witnessed the crowning of a new World Champion and celebrated a new Hero of the Year. We've even played a new format with tons of innovation that gave us a fresh new look at 60-card decks. The next stop on the circuit is Realm Championships 4, which means it's time to turn our attention back to Constructed. Denis Gelrud's aggressive Warlock deck from the 2009 NACC is a good place to start.

Hero: Marlowe the Felsworn

Allies: 24

Quests: 10

Locations: 4

Side Deck: 10

Denis went 8-1 with this new take on blue rush that contains most of the usual Alliance suspects. The aggressive untargetable curve gives the deck early allies that are difficult to answer, while also applying significant pressure. Merry and Jeleane have been staples in aggressive blue decks since the release of Through the Dark Portal, and their inclusion here is no surprise.

Myriam Starcaller is another blue staple, appearing in virtually every Alliance deck these days. However, this deck doesn't solely focus on abusing Myriam in order to win the game, which gives it an edge in the format. Instead, Myriam simply serves as yet another difficult threat for the opponent to deal with. In this case, she's an extra 5 damage per turn that doesn't have to worry about getting her attack through to the opposing hero.

The Warlock addition to the ally base is the incredibly powerful Hesriana. As Constructed decks start to move toward higher ally counts to help combat the constant threat of “Black Ice” Fizzlefreeze (man, it was good to go two months without saying that), the chances of Hesriana finding herself without a target are greatly reduced. In fact, if you look at the Top 8 Day 1 decks from the NACC, the only deck against which Hesriana wouldn't be an automatic two-for-one is Damien Dufresne's Warlock deck.

This deck deviates from the more traditional Alliance rush builds in its choice of hero. While most players choose to play a class with solid weapons to complement the ally damage, Denis chose to go the caster route for a better suite of abilities. Instead of leaning on daggers and swords, this deck slings shadow from its hero's fingertips.

The Promises of Darkness has quickly become a staple card in Warlock decks. Paying 1 resource to get a card and deal 1 damage is efficiency at its best, and this deck screams efficiency. Any time you get to actually kill something with Promises, it's such a good feeling. Destroying one of their cards and drawing a card for a mere 1 resource provides incredible value.

One of the first things you'll notice when you look at the abilities in this deck is the amount of damage Marlowe will deal himself. A lot of amateur players mistakenly believe that damaging your own hero is an inherently foolish thing. While it's true that you don't want to be putting damage on your hero just for funsies, this deck is a classic example of leveraging your health for a distinct advantage in another areas.

One of your main goals in a game should be to procure maximum efficiency from all of your available resources. Your hero's health is probably the most overlooked resource in the game, despite being the one that actually determines whether you win or lose.

Taking some early damage while setting up a better board position is just one example of leveraging your health for a higher purpose. In that case, it's board presence. A lot of people understand that you don't have to stop every single point of damage from hitting your hero, but they don't understand that they are trading one resource for another. This deck is designed to exchange its health for a better board position from turn one onward.

Another card that trades health for an advantage is Life Tap. Life Tap was a very popular form of card draw in early Warlock decks, but lately it has given way to more powerful abilities like Drain Will and Victimize. It makes a comeback here, and it fits into this deck better than those other cards for several reasons.

First off, Life Tap is an instant. That means you can leave two resources up on your opponent's turn, representing removal abilities like Steal Essence or Dark Justice, and then still be able to use Life Tap if you don't need (or don't have) the removal. The added flexibility is worth a trade in power level.

The second reason is the cheap cost. In exchange for 2 damage on your hero, you are essentially able to reduce the cost of this card to 2 resources. Now, there are a lot of people who think that Drain Will is strictly superior to Life Tap because it has the same cost and produces the same net advantage without the 2 damage on your hero. I've already mentioned the power of instants in this deck, but another reason Life Tap is better here is that drawing two of your cards will often be better than drawing one and making the opponent discard their least relevant card. The long-term advantages of Drain Will and Victimize are only relevant if you're planning to play a long game!

Then there's Dark Justice. When you compare this to a card like Shred Soul, you can see that you're shaving 1 resource off the cost and upgrading to an instant for the price of soaking up the ally's damage once. The instant speed is almost worth it by itself for this deck, as the ability to neutralize cards like Weldon Barov and Instructor Giralo is incredibly significant. Being able to represent several different options on your opponent's turn will make their decisions more difficult, because they are relying on your open resources to telegraph your intentions. This can lead to mistakes on their part, which is a good thing for you.

Another abnormal sacrifice for a powerful gain is Dominate, a card that is picking up steam as a solid board clearer and finisher. In this deck, it will most often function as a one sided Engulfing Blaze. Whenever you find yourself with a spare Adam Eternum, you'll frequently wind up chucking him at their board.

Even though we're all still recovering from the recent awesomeness that was the 2009 World Championships, the tournament circuit doesn't give us much time for Rest and Relaxation. The Realm Championships are only a short month away, and preparations have already begun. Will you be prepared?