Icecrown Preview - Where Will Death Knight Take You Next?
September 3, 2010
Icecrown Previews are upon us, and I’m sure I’m not the only who is really pumped to see how the fine folks at Cryptozoic close out the Wrath of the Lich King block. If the power level of the cards previewed at worlds is any indication, Icecrown is going to shake things up. While some will hit you over the head with their power, others can be a bit more subtle. Check out Death Gate:
The bottom line is that this card does two different things that no other cards can really do. It searches your deck for a specific card (cards that do this tend to be powerful, though this is quite limited in scope), and it also is one of the most efficient ways to get a card into your graveyard. That package should give creative deckbuilders some great food for thought. Most importantly, Death Gate is the sort of card that will only get more powerful as new locations enter the game.
Most decks currently do not play more than one type of location; Death Gate might change that. You could go with a toolbox approach, giving access to Undercity vs rush and something like Auchindoun Spirit towers against control. Sometimes, though, you don’t care about other locations, you just want to make sure you have yours; Orgrimmar would be a perfect example of this. I think Krog the Deathfist loves this card as much as anyone, since it puts DK in the running to house the Orc shell most effectively. Given the correlation between not drawing Orgrimmar and losing, Death Gate might be just what the faltering archetype needs to start putting up some finishes again. And of course, if the Flying Carpet deck is ever going to take off, I’m sure this will figure in somehow.
But this card does a lot more than just search you up a location. Cycling the resource to the graveyard can easily turn into a positive. There’s the obvious Broderick/Uruka synergy, both of which can help absorb the tempo loss of spending two resources to search for a location. You could use the destruction as a way of creating some ghoul food for one of the numerous Death Knight abilities, and you could similarly use it to power up your newly fetched Undercity. If you were so inclined, you could play Unearthed Broadsword and grind out a little good old fashioned card advantage. With the graveyard being a major theme in this block, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some more ways to take advantage of this effect in Icecrown.
That’s all I’ve got for you today. Join me next week when we talk a little Warlock, and enjoy tomorrow’s Druid preview. I know I’ll be watching them closely.
-Phil Cape
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