66.7% WR [legend] KafkeKretz's Secret Geyser Mage
- Last updated Mar 7, 2018 (Patches Nerf)
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Wild
- 12 Minions
- 17 Spells
- 1 Weapon
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Secret Mage
- Crafting Cost: 4800
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 2/24/2018 (Patches Nerf)
- KafkeKretz
- Registered User
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- 7
- 24
- 69
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Battle Tag:
N/A
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Region:
EU
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Total Deck Rating
584
- With 25 likes I will post mulligan strategies. 👍
- With 50 likes I will add matchup strategies. 👍
- With 100 likes I will add more tips&tricks that will boost your winrate with Secret Mage! 👍
Changelog:
- 25.02.2018 - deck created
- 26.02.2018 - mulligan and strategy added
- 27.02.2018 - featured video from kiwiinbacon
- 01.03.2018 - added success stories
- 02.03.2018 - adding more and more tips
- 03.03.2018 - changed formatting and linked cards
- 07.03.2018 - deck hit 100.000 views - woohoo!
Thank you all for the upvotes and great feedback! I am super happy that it works for you as well. It feelsgoodman to hear someone hit rank 5 or even legend (especially for the first time!)
Success Stories:
Awesome deck man after reading all the notes and watching the video also had the mulligan page up before every game. Gave me a 10 win in a row streak for the first time ever and it was vs 6 different cube/control warlocks. From rank 14 -> 9 and still climbing!
wow thanks a lot I just made it to rank 5 !! I was stuck at rank 6-7 using another secret mage deck. The extra ice block and geyser did help a lot more then expected. just went 6-0 3 lock 2 pally 1 priest
Was stuck at about a 50% winrate at rank 5 (I'm a scrub I know) using a different secret mage, but went like 14 and 4 with this up to rank 3. Flame Geysers feel pretty nice. Thanks for sharing.
For the last few days i struggled to reach legend, always bouncing up and down between rank 1 and 2 (...) I saw your deck 1 hour ago and tried it and I reached legend just now! For the first time btw Thank you very much, Geyser with the 2 dmg + the body were extremely helpful against paladin, nice to play into secrets in the mirror and extremely easy to dump with Aluneth!
picked it up an hour ago, 6-0 vs paladin, 1-0 vs mill shaman, 0-1 vs spiteful priest.
I build this deck today just to climb. Was rank 18 and now 9 lol. won 26 and lost 5 games. Its a very powerful and pretty straightforward deck to play. So im very impressed!
Strategy and Tips&Tricks:
General tips:
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- obviously, you need to be smart about mulligans. if you have Kabal Lackey, secret and Medivh's Valet it is probably worth to keep everything even if it's not described here - this combination it just super rare so describing it is like saying "go and win a lottery"
- Flame Geyser is a keep against paladin and sometimes mage
- I usually keep Explosive Runes as early damage is very important and puts pressure on opponents
- minions are more important than spells as you want that cheap damage so always mulligan for minions and leave Aluneth or Explosive Runes if you already have two minions. The only exception is Flame Geyser vs Paladin
- Pinging face is very important, for example, if you have 4 mana and Medivh's Valet and Frostbolt in hand you don't play both: play Valet and ping face. Other situations: if you have 5 mana and Fireball and Frostbolt: play Frostbolt and ping face
- Trade with the board only vs Paladin and Mage however only until mid-game. Recognizing the moment when you stop trading and go only face is the most important thing
- You want your opponent to trade: he will try to be effective but for that, you have Flame Geyser and ping
- using Counterspell to counter Coin is ok against Paladin and Warlock: they will protect their Call to Armsanyway - the goal is to slower those plays down (you will not counter them anyway and if you have the second counterspell there is a chance net turn)
- Kirin Tor Mage + Secret is usually a keep if you have Coin
- Ice Block is a keep only with Kabal Lackey - it will make your Medivh's Valet more useful
vs Warlock
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- Mulligan: go hard for minions as you only have 5-6 turns before taunt will keep them away from face. Keep Explosive Runes - playing it early is the only way to put damage from it to the face, you will also get rid of early taunts, Doomsayer or Mountain Giant. Keep Aluneth but don't keep both (only time when you do that is if you have Card NameKabal Lackey)
- the matchup is pretty straightforward as Warlock doesn't play many early minions
- it is ok to waste coin if your opponent played Mistress of Mixtures on turn 1 (don't trade with it)
- vs Warlock 90% of games are won by finishing them with Pyro
- try to keep Counterspell for after turn 5-6 when they want to use Dark Pact or Lesser Amethyst Spellstone
vs Priest
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- Mulligan: go for minions but keep Explosive Runes and Aluneth (yes, you can keep both)
- Play Kabal Lackey even if you don't have secret to follow up
- it is ok to coin out Arcanologist even if they have Northshire Cleric on the board - they will be tempted to draw
- don't use Frostbolt or Medivh's Valeton minions, the only time you use Frostbolt this way is if you need to stop some bullshit minion from killing you
- Do not over invest to the board turn 3-4 if you are playing against Dragon version. Duskbreaker will clear your board so ideally you want to have Explosive Runes and refill
- If they have Drakonid Operative on the board and you Kabal Crystal Runner ping it so its 5/5. Priest will have to spend 2 mana to heal it before the attack or trade, if he trades he will have 1hp left anyway
vs Paladin
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- Mulligan: Flame Geyser is a keep but you really really need minions, if you have 1 and 2 mana minion you can keep Primordial Glyph: look for cheap AoE from it (2 mana Fireball is also fine;-))
- this (and vs Mage) is the matchup when you don't care about pinging face that much: focus is to win the board, however, don't over commit to that as you really need damage to go face
- matchup is actually not that hard - the most tricky part is to recognize when you lost the board - usually turn 4-6 you will know. Often you will win the board (I know this sounds surprising); with some early minions and Kabal Crystal Runner it is possible(!). If you lost it your only way to win is go face
- if you have Mana Wyrm it is ok to use Frostbolton face to prevent them from using a weapon
- Don't ping Righteous Protector on turn 2, it is way better to play minion instead
- if Paladin is face tanking your 4/3 it is fine but you probably need to change strategy and go all face
- vs Murlocadin: do everything to clear the board until turn 4-5, if you manage that you should be fine
vs Mage
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- Mulligan: as usual: you want minions. If you have 1 and 2 mana minion you can keep Aluneth or mulligan for it. I usually keep Aluneth if I have 1 mana minion or 2 mana minions with Coin
- In this matchup, your Medivh's Valet Battlecry probably trades
- if you have two minions and one of them is cheap Kabal Crystal Runner and you expect Explosive Runes play one with less health first (except Kabal Lackey - 5 damage is too much)
- Don't give too much credit to counterspell (Flame Geyser is perfect card to sacrifice it, but Primordial Glyph is also fine)
- Flame Geyser and token are perfect to finish minion or kill Sorcerer's Apprentice
- Usually, however, starts trading minions will get behind and lose
- Trade with spells not minions
- If you feel or you tested and know he played Counterspell sacrifice yours instead of sacrificing Explosive Runes. Damage will be important than spell if you want to win.
- This matchup is not race - it is fight for the board
vs Hunter
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- Mulligan: wait as much as possible and see how many cards opponent kept - usually they mulligan hard for Barnes and you want minions but keeping Primordial Glyph for Barnes bullshit is good
- Explosive Runes is useless, almost the same with Aluneth (too slow)
- you want to play Counterspell turn 3 to prevent Animal Companion
- don't use Frostbolt on the face - you want them to face tank, keep it for Barnes bullshit
- the matchup is pretty good actually
vs Rogue
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- Mulligan: minions, Explosive Runeis always a keep
- this is easy if you see it is Kingsbane Rogue don't equip Aluneth [/card]and keep [card]Frostbolt to use it when the weapon will become big as you don't want them to heal
vs Druid
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- Mulligan: minions but keep counterspell (you want to slow them down/prevent turn 4 armor) and/or aluneth (depends if you have turn 1 play)
- hardest matchup as Druid has a lot of armor gain, fortunately there isn't many druid on the ladder
vs Shaman
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- Mulligan: minions, Explosive Runes is a keep
- turn 6 or 7 they will do evolve bullshit but it should be too late
- Jade version has some heal but you should be good with doing enough cheap damage early (Counterspell on Jade Lighting is great) to finish it it in the mid-game
vs Warrior
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Mulligan: as always:-) keep counterspell, don't keep Aluneth as they play Coldlight Oracles and can make you overdraw
Video from kiwiinbacon
Comments to the video
- he 3-0s while playing against 3 worst matchups: Murlocadin, Big Priest and Druid
- draws are good but not best ones, however, he did read the strategies and kept good cards!;-)
- in the game vs Murlocadin Flame Geyser helps with removing a minion which is super important in the early game
- in that game he recognized very well the point from where you should go face
- in the game vs big priest constant pressure won the game but remember to draw first;-) also keep frostbolt for Obsidian Statues
- in the game vs druid he made correct decision and played counterspell before opponents turn 4, Aluneth wasn't even necessary but it would give a win anyway
Wow, thank you so much! From rank 5 non legend to legend in 12 hours (36-20) (65%WR). That tech of geyser was so OP!
I have basically the same deck but swap geyser with firelands portal. And only one ice block and + an arcane intellect.
I'll be testing out versions of this deck and geyser will definitely replace valet once raven starts but what are your guys thoughts on how bad mage will get hit when raven starts? I know I'm losing 8 cards from my deck and 4 of them burn cards and the other 4 for board control. Mage is the only class I can ever really do well with (hunter I do decent with likewise with pally) but I really love aluneth mage and I'm not looking forward to the changing of seasons. Just wanna know your guys thoughts on changes.
It will be really hard without Ice Block :( mage in HS is like in normal games = a lot of dmg but losing HP very fast. Mage doesn't have single class taunt and spells aren't that cheap (like in Hunter). Almost every mage deck in HS history had at least one Ice Bloc - even super control ones with Jaina are better with at least one copy of IB
I'm less concerned about iceblock and more concerned with losing portal, valet., kabal, etc. Firelands is a big part of our burn phase plus throwing something on the board.
New xpac sounds cool but the odd/even deck building is totally gonna bone mage the most :/
Just a note to say I'm currently sitting at 306 legend with this deck. Feelsgoodman!
I love the edit after going higher in ranks! :D
Feelsgoodman! I am so happy to read comments like this! I hope we will have another one from you soon saying that you reach legend! As mentioned before I tried to abuse Aluneth power and I believe in that funny Geyser tech;-).
Really really happy that you enjoy it and thank you for dropping by again and sharing your experiences with it. GL on the ladder!
When it comes to Druid: not much can be done, every fast deck has limited damage. You manage to keep high WR against them by playing smart around plague (they only have two) so not dropping firefly on the board, etc, keeping counterspell for later (to prevent armor gain, draw or taunts) and hoping for Aluneth as usually, they can't keep up. Also keep Kabal Lackeys for later to dump hand (I will add those tips later even tho there arent many Druid out there). The matchup is bad but not that terrible - they need really good draw to survive
Got my wish, - rank 5 :D Thank you. bro!
Nice!
Went from rank 11 to 4 with a slight variations of this deck.
Druid matchups are the hardest by far.
I have tried Secretkeepers and I have tried Firelands. The problem is when in 20 games you draw well and/or Aluneth and AI's seem like too much but then next 10 games after you remove the one you got this one Firelands instead AI "to get you there" and you lose. Before I decided to stick with this exact build I played ~200 and games season before to test everything and I believe 2x Arcane Intellect will give you best consistency. When you get Aluneth you want to dump hand while playing secret NOT play one Firelands turn 7.
Secret Keeper is very easy to trade to especially if you don't play secret in the same turn (and I tested Secret Keepers in more secret heavy version as well) so I also don't recommend it. I also don't recommend potion of polymorph as its often useless and you want turn 9 to draw second Ice Block not that potion:D If you really want to replace AI try Tar Creeper should work well against Paladin and Hunter it can also soak some damage from Mage (Explosive Runes/Fireball). Against Warlock it won't matter.
so you found the dust! I am happy you are not disappointed:-)
Got 10-0 from rank 8 to 5! Awesome deck to climb fast! Thx bro!
💪🏻🤨👍🏻
soo if in first 10 games you won 0 and lost 7 what happened in the remaining 3? :D
To be fair, with the meta being 40% paladins you have to be very lucky to maintain a decent winrate with this. Most of the time you just fall way way too far behind on board too fast especially against dudes (murloc is not as bad). Warlock games are very dependent on hitting just the right healing spell with cs, after they play DK on turn 10 you usually just get outhealed.
Excelent deck with excelent guide :)
I do not have Aluneth, so I replaced with Blizzard. I also tried Frost Nova in place of Geisers and it worked so much against aggro decks.
I do not know what version worked better, but the two versions are incredible. Thanks for the list :)
thank you for kind words!
Arcanist is too slow. Turn 4 you wanna play Kabal Crystal Runner (or even two!) or two secrets (with Kabal Lackey) or Mana Wyrm + secret or Valet + ping, things like that. Arcanist *maybe* would make sense if he would grow like Gruul or something. It is weak vs most board oriented decks and will probably only hit once vs Warlock.
I tried fungal but I don't really like it. It is not board deck and it doesn't have enough burst so instead of being great vs everything it is weaker vs everything.