Undead Scourge

**Overview**

*The Undead race from Warcraft 3 is now available in Smash Up. The undead specialize in overwhelming the base with skeletons from the discard pile, extracting life out of opponent minions, and sacrificing themselves for great power gains. In this faction, you will be able to play all four undead heroes.  Death Knight’s ability to raise the dead is replicated.  Cryptlord’s locust swarm is manifested by him reducing other minion’s power for power gain.  Dreadlord has his sleep ability represented as a power reduction.  He can also summon infernal to the hand.  The Banshee can use possession at a high price.  Frost Wyrm can slow opponent minions down replicating splash and slowing effects from wc3.  All these advantages are awaiting for you and more when you choose the Undead Scourge faction!*

This faction is part of the Warcraft 3 custom expansion! Other factions from the expansion: Burning Legion, Naga, Night Elves, Human Alliance, Orcish Horde, Draenei, and Goblin Mercenaries. Games involving this faction can also use the Warcraft 3 Buildings Decks (follow the link to learn more).

**New Mechanic**

**Skeletons:** a skeleton is a minion with 1 power and no abilities.  When a skeleton leaves play, it is returned to the discard pile.  Skeletons are controlled by the player who used an ability to create that skeleton (unless a card changes control).  In order to signify that a minion is a skeleton, place it sideways on the base it is played on.  Alternatively, use tokens to signify it is a skeleton.  If this were published, I would have one side of the power counters have a skeleton pic to mark a card as a skeleton.

Clarifications for potential questions: If you cancel a skeleton’s abilities, it does nothing since it has no abilities.  It does not transform back into the minion it was. When a skeleton leaves play, it goes to the discard pile even if the card says to return it to the hand. This is just how skeletons need to be for balance purposes.  It is also thematically fitting since skeletons are rather fragile units.

**Details**

**General**

* Name: Undead Scourge
* Author: Lonan
* Complexity: 3.5/5
* Version: 7?
* Last Updated 7/21/23

**Breakdown**

This faction has an atypical minion structure of one 5 power minion, three 4 power minions, one 3 power minion, and five 2 power minions. This is 30 total printed power or 3 power average per minion. Undead Scourge has 10 actions classified as follows:

* 4x Play on Base Actions: 2x Blight, and 2x Vampiric Aura
* 2x Play on Minion Actions: 1x Unholy Frenzy and 1x Rod of Necromancy
* 4x Standard Actions: 1x Animate the Dead, 1x Necrowagon, 1x Infernal, 1x Death Coil

**Cards**

**Minions**

**1x Death Knight (5):** Talent: Play two skeletons here from any discard pile. Return them to the discard pile at the end of your turn.

**1x Cryptlord (4):** Ongoing: Each time you reduce the power of another player’s minion, this minion has +1 power until the end of the turn. Talent: Choose another player’s minion to have -1 power until the start of your next turn.

**1x Dreadlord (4):** Search your deck or discard pile for Infernal and add it to your hand. Talent: Choose another player’s minion here. That minion has -4 power until the end of the turn.

**1x Frost Wyrm (4):** Talent: Choose up to two minions here to have -1 power until the start of your next turn.

**1x Lich (3):** Talent: You may destroy one of your minions to add +1 power counters equal to its power to this minion.

**1x Banshee (2):** You may destroy this minion and another one of your minions to take control of another player’s minion.

**4x Necromancer (2):** Ongoing: You may turn minions that are destroyed here into skeletons here. Talent: If you have another necromancer here, place a +1 power counter on a skeleton here.

**Actions:**

**2x Blight:** Play on a base. Ongoing: Your minions here have +1 power.

**2x Vampiric Aura:** Play on a base. Talent: Other player’s minions have -1 power here until the end of the turn. If any minions are affected by this, you may place a +1 power counter on one of your minions.

**1x Unholy Frenzy:** Play on one of your minions. This minion has +4 power.  Destroy this minion at the end of your turn.

**1x Animate the Dead:** Place a minion from your discard pile into your hand.

**1x Necrowagon:** Choose a base. Play a minion there from any discard pile for each of your minions there as a skeleton.

**1x Infernal:** Choose a base. Destroy all other players’  minions of power 2 or less there.

**1x Rod of Necromancy:** Play on a minion. Talent: Play a minion from any discard pile as a skeleton.

**1x Death Coil:** Destroy a minion of power 3 or less OR place two +1 power counters on one of your minions.

**Bases**

**(21) Stratholme Ruins (4 3 1):** After you play a minion here, you may play a minion of power 2 or less from any players discard pile here with cancelled abilities. Return that minion to the discard pile at the end of the turn.

**(23) Icecrown Citadel (4 2 1):** Ongoing: The player who destroys a minion here may turn it into a skeleton here.