Darkest Hour Warlock



Darkest Hour Warlock is a combo Warlock deck type.

Darkest Hour Warlock uses spells that summon minions like Rafaam's Scheme to fill the board with small minions and then uses the namesake card Darkest Hour to exchange them for much more powerful minions from the deck.

Since the nerf to Bloodbloom in Ashes of Outland, Darkest Hour Warlock is no longer considered a viable deck type, although it is still possible to play the deck.

History
Darkest Hour Warlock was a highroll Big Warlock archetype that would cheat out a board of huge minions, possibly as early as turn 4, by casting Darkest Hour on a board of tokens after being discounted by the formerly 2-mana Bloodbloom. Other decks are not equipped to deal with such a large and wide board that early in the game, so pulling the combo off was often a guaranteed victory. The deck could also use Fiendish Circle or Rafaam's Scheme on the same turn as Bloodbloom and Darkest Hour, meaning it wasn't even possible to keep their tokens clear to counter them.

The deck was of course prone to lowrolls as well. Drawing only large minions, missing a token generator, or simply never drawing Darkest Hour meant the deck was entirely worthless. This meant that the deck did not have a massive winrate, however it still had a positive one due to how unstoppable the combo was if pulled off. This made for a very unfun game experience for both players, where the outcome of the match only depended on what the Warlock drew and not how either player actually played the game. Despite this, Darkest Hour Warlock was a popular laddering deck thanks to its fast game times and positive winrate.

Eventually, Blizzard slashed the deck's viability by doubling the cost of Bloodbloom, making it far too slow to play tokens and Darkest Hour on the same turn.

Common cards
The following cards are usually in the deck.

Core cards
The following cards are played in most or all versions of the deck:

Optional cards
The following cards are played more than occasionally, but not always: