You got offended. X’D
But I get what you mean. I personally love the nerfs. You Wilders have enough on your plates, there’s no need for Patches to start being in “charge” of wild.

No sympathy for the pirate scum, he can stay unused in Wild until Blizzard drops the game for all I care.

Warlock…a high roll? And in the same sentence as Big Priest.
Boi, you must be the funny one.

So only Bonemare and Creeper affect Standard…and Bonemare is still playable. I’m surprised they didn’t nerf a card like Skull of Manari or something. Cube Warlock might go out of control after rotation.

I’m not going to support Qhantom’s comment here, but I think to say that the same argument can be applied to any control/ combo deck is a vast exaggeration.

Control/ Combo decks control the board, that means they essentially interact with their opponent every single second of the match. Opposing moves matter. Resource management is a big deal. Their life total matters. Their win-conditions often have room for failure.

Exodia Mage does not interact at all with their opponent. Their moves don’t matter because it’s simply stalling, no clearing/ removing taking place. There is no point in resource management, it’s an all out race with no planning. Life total? Please, we’ve got Ice Block. And their win-condition is the most ridicoulus win-condition in the game. It takes no thinking, it’s Pirate Warrior levels of brainless play. Don’t get me wrong: I do draw comparison between Pirate Warrior and the Fireball turn, but I’m not comparing the whole deck with Pirate Warrior.

I agree that “boring” is subjective and our opinions are similar when it comes to aggro decks, but you can’t argue the difference between Combo/ Control decks and Exodia Mage. Comparing Exodia Mage with solitaire is pretty much right on the money.

To close the matter, like any decks Cube Warlocks have specific weaknesses that all decks can exploit.

1) If you’re too fast for Cube Warlocks to deal with you on the early turns they won’t survive.
2) If you mess with their Possessed Lackey, Carnivorous Cubes and Voidlords with silence like Spellbreaker, they’ll lose their win-condition.

People usually argue that Warlock’s unfair advantage over Aggro decks is how easy it is to cheat out Voidlords before turn 9 and to those people I have this to say: it’s not an unfair advantage, it’s they only reason Cube Warlocks can beat Aggro Decks. If this tactic didn’t exist they wouldn’t win against Aggro decks plain & simple. To say it’s unfair to utilize this tactic is to say it’s unfair for Warlocks to win against Aggro decks, it’s vanity.

Control/ Combo players don’t argue that much against Cube Warlocks, but I’ll try to cover this point as well. The main reason Warlocks beat other slow decks is how, in similar fashion to the previous point, how easy it is to cheat out Doomguards without suffering the discard effect. The main strenght of the deck against slow decks is the fact you can trade your Doomguards and you’ll still have an OTK turn with your Gul’Dan. And to those people I adress the point I raised on my Highlander Priest section: it’s a combo race. If Gul’dan draws his combo, he wins. If his opponent draws his combo Gul’dan loses.

Cube Warlock’s main strenght is just how flexible and strong it is against any deck. But the fact remains that to beat any deck, you need to be flexible and strong too. You need to be able to read your opponent’s tactics and answer them and even then, if your opponent does that better you lose.

I feel like defending this deck, since it has earned itself an “overpowered” sort of reputation. I’m sure Warlock players will find what I have to say familiar, but I’ll write it anyway. This deck is by no means overpowered and to start of, let me just explain my view on what an overpowered deck is:

An overpowered deck would be a deck that either can and does win opposing decks by a simple combination of thoughtless plays & top decks (example: Gadgetzan’s Pirate Warrior), a deck that can both answer any opposing play and advance its own tempo (example: Aggro Shaman) or a deck that simply is too fast for you to compete against (example: Gadgetzan’s Pirate Warrior).

Now, obviously Cube Warlock doesn’t fall in the first category. To humour anyone that disagrees with this point, Cube Warlock recquires both skill & thinking to make “value plays” as well as long-term planning (example: your end-game, the Gul’Dan turn, might change depending on your opponent. Your usual plan is to fill the board with Doomguards, but that plan changes if your opponent’s a very aggressive deck and you weren’t able to slow them down. Another example would be the choice between keeping your Carnivorous Cubes for your Doomguards or to use them on your Mountain Giants).

Cube Warlock also arguably can’t fall in the third category either, it’s a combo deck. Drawing into your combo cards, even with Life Tap, recquires a lot of turns. Another point is the fact that most of the cards in Cube Warlock’s deck recipes are above 5-mana.

Taking these into accounts, people can only argue that Cube Warlock falls in the middle category and to those people I propose a few examples that mind you are not rng-influenced or improbable but rather actual plays from meta decks that are often done normally throughout regular matches and definately prove Warlock can’t really answer all plays. Full disclosure, my point is not that Cube Warlock’s the victim here. It’s that he’s beatable.

Aggro Token Druid: This deck’s main strength against Cube Warlock is the fact it doesn’t allow him to set up a good Defile. You’ll need to either play your own Kobold Librarian or have a Mortal Coil and even then, they can easily dodge your Defile through Buffing- a tactic that Druid is especially good at. If you waste your clears too early to stop a buffed board, there are two more threats you won’t be able to deal with: Living Mana and Bittertide Hydra. There’s not really a good way to deal with Hydra, Warlock’s strongest removal generally is a buffed-up Amethyst Spellstone, unless you’re running a recipe where you included Siphon Souls. For Living Mana, if you had to waste your clears in the early turns (which you probably did because that’s what they’re there for), your only hope is to top deck Hellfire or (if you run it) Twisting Nether. Both Twisting Nether and Siphon Souls aren’t a regular inclusion, by the way.

Highlander Priest (and Priests in general): There’s not much to say here, matches between these two are a combo race. If Anduin draws his combo, there’s not much a Warlock can do. If a Warlock’s quick enough and dodges their clears, there’s not much an Anduin can do either. It’s equal footing from where I see it. As for Priests in general, Mind Control does really mess with Voidlords and your Gul’Dan turn since you’re looking to survive behind these guys against Spiteful Priest. Anduins have started included Potion of Madness in their decks, which is a killer for your Possessed Luckey (one of the most essential combo pieces).

Secret Mage: These guys can and usually do prove a problem against Warlock due to their many many burn effects like Fireball, Explosive Runes etc. These cards limit Gul’dan’s ability to Life Tap, which is essential for both drawing into your combo (your only win-condition) and for your Mountain Giant turn. The fact that it’s burn damage Mages focus on also means your Voidlords won’t be able to protect you, so the only way to survive (which is the tactic Cube Warlocks employ against faster decks, which Secret Mage definately is) is to hopefully draw most of his heals, have enough removals to clear the Mage’s board and regain control of the field before Mage draws Alu’Neth.

I won’t continue providing examples, but most decks do have regular examples of plays Warlocks can’t answer to. Let’s just mention the fact Cube Warlocks are gravely susceptable to Spellbreakers. And that’s what makes Cube Warlock beatable. Granted it’s a powerful deck, but it’s by no means overpowered. It’s on equal footing with most Tier 1 decks and can definately be beaten by Tier 2 decks. The factors that do play on whether you’ll beat a Cube Warlock are the factors that usually have a say on how you’ll beat any other deck:

1) RNG
2) Your own Skills & knowledge of the meta decks

To give my two cents on the matter, since the article sparked an interesting conversation: You seem to follow the logic that “HoF candidates are cards from the classic set that find themselves to be included in most decks of their class or, in the case of neutral cards, in most decks in general” and for the most part this logic isn’t off, but I think it incriminates cards that shouldn’t be HoF material. The point of the Hall of Fame is to promote new strategies, deck archetypes etc.
In order give:

Ice Block: I agree with this pick, especially with your way of describing the type of play it promotes as “solitaire”. Ice Block is too good not to be included, even in decks like Big Spell Mage where it genuinely doesn’t synergize in.

Doomguard: I might be biased, but I disagree specifically because I’m a Cube Warlock player. Doomguard has never been a “broken” card, specifically because his downside of discarding two cards is significant enough to make him balanced. Right now, he has even inspired a new archetype in Cube Warlock that could very well grow in future expansions and is one of the main tools for Zoolock. I think sending Doomguard to HoF would do more bad than good.

Archmage Antonidas: Although I think you raise a good point with Exodia, I don’t think the perpetrator is Antonidas, nor do I think he is a “include in every mage deck” sort of card.

Gadgetzan Auctioneer: I actually think Auctioneer really promotes originality in this game. The miracle-series of decks have been expanding beyond Rogue, making G-Auctioneer quite a pivotal card for ingeniuty in Hearthstone. The main strategy does remain the same, using Auctioneer to draw into the cards you need to win, but it is a significant enough card to promote combos and strategies that would never be possible were it not for this amazing draw engine.

Alexstrasza: I’m honestly not sure how I feel about Alex. You’ve got a point, but on the other hand I don’t feel I ever had a problem with her. On the other other hand it does seem like a pretty straightforward tactic to toss her on turn 8 and set up lethal the next turn….you might have a point here, author.

Doomsayer: I think this is an essential card for the game, but it does limit designer space. If a card from a future expansion could fill its place in some way, I’d agree. But I think it’s too important to be sent to the Hall of Fame.

Thalnos: I think you have a point here. Thalnos leaving could create space for ingenuity, although from where I’m standing he would just be replaced with Zealot.

Mountain Giant: I think you’re right, Mountain Giant is only run by Warlocks specifically because of Life Tap. I do love this card though, it allows Warlocks to be somewhat unpredictable in the first turns which makes games against them much more intense.

I don’t play Wild, so I don’t really think I can comment on the last two entries. I do think Force of Nature would make Aggro Token Druid too much to deal with, but whatever.

You got a point, it’s pretty much a “complete your combo” race. Although I think both decks have an advantage over each other:

Priest can definately mess up Warlock’s combo while if Highlander does draw their combo pieces the match ends.

On the other side, Priest has a more difficult time collecting their combo pieces because it’s like five cards in a 30-card deck. Warlock, on the other hand, has double copies of each card besides Gul’Dan, a Hero Power that allows him to draw and a lot of effects that thin out their deck. It’s a lot easier to draw their “win-condition”.

That’s not really the case. There aren’t really any genuine Control decks out there right now because of highlander, so I’ll asume you’re talking about Combo Decks. And you’ve got a point, it’s pretty much a “complete your combo” race. But that’s not brainless. If you don’t make value plays at the right moment, you’ll lose. Plain simple. For example, it’s pretty risky nowdays to play Possessed Villager on turn 5 because Priests run Potion of Madness. But you don’t want to waste your Dark Pact, you want to use it on turn 6 for your Carnivorous Cube. Recognising the moments you should waste your Dark Pact on Possessed Villager takes some consideration.
There are a lot of examples that prove you wrong. Another example is when it’s better to focus on Cube-cloning your Mountain Giants instead of collecting Doomguards for your Gul’Dan turn.

The “mulligan for mistress of mixture” is not really an argument. It’s as complicated as any deck’s mulligans. As for defile, it sometimes is complicated. Especially against Aggro Paladin, who often times lacks a 1 health minion. But quite honestly, aggro matches are the most straightforward. You’re just looking to survive until turn 6 when they’ll concede, it’s not supposed to be complicated.

Sorry, but Cube Warlock is definately not a brainless auto-pilot. It’s not the most complicated deck in the history of Hearthstone, but to compare it with the likes of “brainless” decks like Gadgetzan’s Pirate Warrior would be ridicoulus.

Scratch that, I mistook Edwin for Anduin man. Sorry.

I don’t think that can happen though..if I understand the logic behind Hall of Fame correctly, the cards need to be from the classic set.
Besides, Anduin’s not played in every Priest deck. The logic behind HoF is to bannish cards that are played in too many decks for originality’s sake, in other words to force us to find unorthodox replacements.

Honestly, calling Cube Warlock brainless is blatantly untrue. It’s fairly complicated and rewards good players that think before the play, know their opponent’s decks and can play around their strenghts & weaknesses.
Believe me, a moron can’t win with Cubelock. Aggressive decks on the other hand, those are “auto-piloted” decks. To be fair though, this meta’s aggro decks are a far cry from the old cancer that was Gadgetzan Pirate Warrior and Aggro Shaman.

Second it.
Also, I don’t much have an opinion for Molten Giant and I don’t play Wild but I think Aggro Token Druid would become too powerful by the addition of pre-nerfed Force of Nature.

And although an unpopular opinion, I don’t think Exodia Mage recquires much skill either. Someone put it quite well by saying “it’s like solitaire”, you just stall in ridicoulus fashion and if you get to draw the cards you need you win. Your opponent’s life is insignificant and their plays are close to to it too.

Scratch that, Aggro Paladin is one of my easiest matches. For some reason I often lose to Token Druid.

Simulacrum makes sense against Warlock, I might add it to my list.

Interesting choices. I’ll test them out. You do have me sold on Doomsayer and Geist.

You’ve got a point there. This site also ranks it at Tier 2.

Ironically, Cube Warlock is Tier 2. I don’t get why, I main Cube Warlock and I know just how good it is.
It should be Tier 1.