I bring all of this up so that you'll know I'm not completely out of my mind when I say that Ras Frostwhisper might be better than we gave him credit for.

This article isn’t going to break any amazing new ground, but I do want to call some attention to older Core Set pieces that might have improved since the release of Spoils of War. I also want to note how important it is to constantly reexamine tempo in your games.

Vashj is widely considered to be the perfect example of a powerful tempo figure. The idea is that you destroy an enemy piece, separating it from its allies, and then pull the allies away from their spawn point. This buys you time to kill another ally before the first can rejoin their party. If you do it right, the enemy will never have all their guys on the table at the same time. Thus you will maintain a constant advantage and wreak havoc upon their party's ability to work together.

Plus, she's capable of massive damage output.

Let’s recap that, because it is important to my central point. Vashj excels at damage output and at timing her kills so that the enemy is perpetually staggered in their attacks against you. The latter gains you tempo and helps keep your epic alive.

Ras does not put out as much damage as Vashj, but when Ras deals the killing blow against an enemy, the tempo swing is far more significant.

Chill Aura, while incredibly tricky to pull off, has an effect similar to Vashj's, functionally speaking. It can lock down an enemy character or two, and wreck their ability to perform.

What I want you to notice first about Chill Aura is the wording:

“Come closer, or let me come to you. I want to tell you a secret.”

See it? We’ve all looked at Chill Aura and said a few things about it.

• A Mage in melee is a terrible thing.

• It only lasts until the end of ticks 5/10

• If they already have a -1 move counter, Ras won’t even give them one.

I agree wholeheartedly that a Mage in melee is rough. Ras doesn’t even have a significant enough resist value to warrant being hit by magic attacks, let alone powerful melee ones. Epic Kael effectively sports 1 armor and 4 resist—and confers this bonus to adjacent allies. And yet, to make Ras work, we have to get him into melee combat.

Yes, the effect only lasts until the end of ticks 5/10, but we’ve all been playing enough now to know that if you can shut somebody’s movement down completely for 4 or 5 ticks, you have basically stolen 25% of the game from him. The name of the game is not to complain that the effect is so temporary, but to figure out the timing that will make it last, and give you maximum value.

And lastly, Ras won’t give them a -1 move counter if they already have one—a la Kelp Net or Bogstrock—but there are other ways. Oh yes, there are other ways.

“Fish people use nets; rogues have their blind-dust. I prefer to cut their Hamstring."

Now that I've piqued your interest, I should point out that this probably won’t work on the World Championship map. Unless you are smarter than I am, an inability to teleport and the Action Bar Cards you lose will render this list less than perfect on that map. And I’m not even talking about Blink! Anyway, here is a list that might have worked at Worlds. Remember, I know there are better options. I’m building without any cards that allow teleporting.

Here’s the deal.

Ras Frostwhisper needs to get into melee, and he needs to crit. Getting into melee is always going to be bad for a Mage. So, in this case, I think we almost have to bring Ice Barrier. However, if we do the army right, you might be able to forgo this card and use Frostbolt Volley instead. The card you cannot forgo, in most games, is going to be Arcane Flux. Ras needs to kill, and Ras needs to crit. Otherwise, you won’t do 2 damage to the next victim you want to kill. Which means you won't get the tempo bonus. Which means you should just use Vashj.

“Some say the world will end in fire . . . but . . . I think I know enough of hate, to say that for destruction ice is also great, and would suffice.”

Ras Frostwhisper

Notice how Frostbolt Volley and Polymorph both have tick-ups built into them—this is important for Ras. First, Chill Aura is not stopped by an inability to target. If you can Polymorph somebody on tick 4, pushing them to 7 while you only go to 6, then on tick 6 you can safely Chill Aura them. Half of your puzzle is solved right there! But again, this is a direct and fragile way of performing the combo. I don’t recommend Polymorph until you’ve had a few games to experiment with a backup Ice Barrier to bail you out.

Frostbolt Volley more or less does the same thing, but on a larger scale. On Master Clock tick 3, get two enemies to tick 6 (cough: Mocking Blow) and then Frostbolt Volley them to 7. Ras will remain at tick 6, giving him a chance to fire Chill Aura and get away. If your Warrior is packing Hamstring alongside that Mocking Blow, then life—well, unlife—is looking pretty sweet.

“Slow and dumb. Just how I like ’em.”

There are a couple of ways to build this force. Here is the one I want to highlight.

Ras Frostwhisper

Extras:

Notice all the tick-ups! Mocking Blow, Thunder Clap, Rotten Eggs, Talon of Justice, Polymorph, and Frostbolt Volley all give you plenty of room to play with tempo. If you are clever, even Ice Barrier can function as a tick up.

These are all ways to get an enemy on the correct tick, to enable the Chill Aura/Hamstring combo. You want them on tick 7 and/or 2, giving you a relatively safe way for Ras to be in melee and to have Chill Aura trigger.

“They do more than smell bad.”

Rotten Eggs is very difficult to get right, but what you want is to drop it at the end of tick 10, so that the enemy ticks straight to 12. That maneuver will allow Ras to step up, safely, for a tick 11 Chill Aura, followed up by another Hamstring. In theory, that will lock the target character down for another set of ticks.

Other options exist, if you're in a teleportation-friendly environment. I would also consider Slitherblade Tidehunter with Intercept and Heroic Leap, or Dagg’um Ty'gor with Blind and Distract. I hope we all had fun at Worlds, and congrats to our new champion!

—Corle