[Rank 9 to Legend] Reno Mage (Edited x2 Matchup...
- Last updated Jan 15, 2017 (Gadgetzan)
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Wild
- 16 Minions
- 14 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Reno Mage
- Crafting Cost: 12300
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 1/9/2017 (Gadgetzan)
- user-29991618
- Registered User
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- 13
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Battle Tag:
N/A
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Region:
EU
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Total Deck Rating
63
[About me]
Spaniard who started Hearthstone at Beta. Now I only play when new cards are released (the game/meta is more interesting). Got 4x top 100 ladder finishes, including last season.
Twitter - https://twitter.com/Ineefable
Twitch Page - twitch.tv/ineefable
[About this post]
I'll be answering in the comments section as long as people keep interested in this deck. Also i will try to make updates until we get a complete guide as soon as possible.
Im surprised my guide reached the main page of HearthPwn! Thank you all for reading/upvoting! I updated this with matchups/mulls guide, hope it helps you.
[About the deck]
This is the list I used to climb from Rank 9 to Legend this season. There is two versions of this deck. The "value version" relies more on creatures and has Medivh, the Guardian as win condition. The "spell version" (this one) is pretty much like a Freeze deck with Reno Jackson and Kazakus.
I think this is the first time since the game release that we can talk about a true Control deck. Both Reno and Kazakus are extremely powerful cards that justify by their own building a deck around them. Also the deck is so flexible that you can adapt it to the meta or simply run whatever you feel confortable with. A truly customizable deck is something that doesnt happen often, so if you like Control decks I highly recommend this one to you!
[Stats]
[Matchups & Mulligan Guide]
Aggro Shaman / Pirate Warrior
-Gameplan is identical for both matchups: you just try to survive until they get out of gas.
-Cards to keep: Doomsayer, Reno Jackson, Kazakus, Acidic Swamp Ooze, and all the early game stuff. If you already have a decent hand you can keep Polymorph against Shaman.
-Cards to not keep: Secrets are too slow and they give you time but not board advantage. Volcanic Potion seems like an early game card, but in fact it as a mid game one. Today a lot of early minions have 3 or 4 toughness besides pirates.
-Tips: Keep in mind that usually you need Reno Jackson or/and Kazakus in order to win, so don’t be too conservative at mulls. A hand of Doomsayer, Frost Bolt, Forbidden Flame and Arcane Blast can be nice, but I prefer to mull out Frost Bolt and see a new card. If you are making 1-for-1s every single turn they are in advantage, also your Hero Power can replace a removal card. You need to find the balance between surviving and trying to get the winning cards as soon as possible.
Reno Mage / Reno Warlock
-Gameplan here are similar again: you try to outvalue them in a long and grindy game.
-Cards to keep: Forbidden Flame / Polymorph (you need one to deal with some mid game stuff like Twilight Drake). Brann Bronzebeard and Kazakus, because this combination is key to resolve the game. Arcane Intellect / Cabal Courier (at first turns both players uses their Hero Powers, so it better to play this cards in the “dead” turns and trying to build a solid hand fast).
-Cards to not keep: Mistress of Mixtures and Water Elemental are irrelevant. I like to wait until Brann or I really need a card to play Babbling Book, so it is better to mull him out and try to find a more important card.
-Tips: Be patient! Keep Alexstrasza for their Reno Jackson.Dirty Rat may be the 2nd most important card in this matchup. Stealing a Brann Bronzebeard, Kazakus, Reno Jackson, etc can make win you the game. A proactive way to play the Rat is in combination with Brann to increase the chances you get an important guy or when they play Doomsayer. Hold in your hand the irrelevant guys as long as you can to make their Rat worse. The most important card in this matchup is Brann, so try to get the maximum value of him. Emperor Thaurissan is also key, so try to play him when you have a decent hand and his effect allows you to start some engine (Antonidas plus spells or Brann/Kazakus/Courier/Book). I could write an entire article for this matchup, but you will get better the more you play it if you care more about learning than about winning or losing.
Rogue
-Gameplan consists in surviving and trying to stop their combo… usually at the same time, which in my opinion makes this a tough matchup.
-Cards to keep: The mull is similar to aggro decks, but Polymorph becomes more relevant to stop their Edwin VanCleef, Questing Adventurer or Tomb Pillager.
-Cards to not keep: All that is irrelevant to stop their combo.
-Tips: They start the game as an aggro deck and ends in mid game with some giant monster or a combo that you can’t stop most of the time. Polymorph, Dirty Rat, Doomsayer and Kazakus are the most important cards. Flamestrike helps with Conceal, but usually they draw a lot of cards anyway. Kazakus helps at sweeping board or transforming their big guys into Sheeps. You are always in a reactive position, but Rogue is the kind of deck that is unstoppable if curves properly. That doesn’t mean that you don’t have tools to stop them.
Druid
-Gameplan: Druid benefits of your usual gameplan - making the game as long as possible. In this matchup it will result in an infinite Jade Golem army. Your gameplan consists in trying to do a board swing with some sweeper plus Doomsayer or a good Kazaku's Potion (clear the board + 8/8 demon/summon 3 minions) and then finish with Alex or Antonidas.
-Cards to keep: Kazakus! Sweepers are good but too slow to keep them in hand. I like to keep a minion-heavy hand in this matchup and try to get the board advantage. If they have to deal with minions their engine with start later or at least you can make trades and get some value from your guys until you draw the sweepers or start to be the aggressor with Alex or Antonidas.
-Cards to not keep: Already explained and easy to guess, right?
-Tips: Use your sweepers wisely, especially Doomsayer. If you fail at managing the damage you can do or the time to get the maximum value from them it will cost you the game. Also always kill Fandral Staghelm!
Proof
Hey guys! i tried out this deck and I was wondering if you could watch it and try to find some missplays, cuz I cannot get to legend and even I am not able to get possitive winratio with reno mages :/ Video shows matchup vs shaman and I won that game, but there could be missplays also!
Thanks see ya! :)
Alex+Tony+Emp Combo or Medivh+2 Kazakus Potions combo? What's better? I just tried the first one, and the problem is, you try so much to remove minions and keep low cost spells for Antony, and then, you wait until you get all the minions for the combo, and then you die.
Any mulligans against Jade Druid ??? They are so hard to be defeated
Let me ask about Arcane Intellect, Acolyte of Pain seems like a better choice. Your thoughts?
Draw 2 cards? (typo probably)
I guess my logic is this, 3 - mana draws you realistically 1 card since you already wasted the initial spot drawing Arcane Intellect. Now while it is true it acts as a filler to get the cards you need, Acolyte gets you an on the board minion that your opponent has to now deal with, plus potential 1 damage, plus potential*** 3 card draw.
Thanks Ineefable. Cool choices, keep it up
What about mulligan and game plan vs Dragon Priest? According to your stats you were very lucky to meet only 5 of them, for me the ladder is flooded with them at the moment.
If you're running Dirty Rat and Brann Bronzebeard is it worth trying to fit Mind Control Tech in for the combo, or is that too greedy?
It is my personal opinion that the Brann + rat + MCT combo is terrible. I can't for the life of me figure out why people keep including this in their reno mage lists. What probably happened is that some popular twitch streamers did some funny shenanigans with it when the set first came out, and it gave people the impression that the combo actually had some merit to it. It makes for a funny youtube highlight compilation, but when it comes to winning you games, including MCT probably does more harm than good.
More often than not, MCT just comes down as a vanilla 3/3. It's become pretty common practice not to flood the board with more than 3 minions, and that's because MCT is less of a concern than a board clear. The only time a board gets full of minions is against aggro or against jades.
Against aggro, MCT isn't great because they fill the board with lots of weak minions... so stealing one isn't that important. If you let an aggro deck get to the point where they have 4+ minions on board, you're probably nearing death, anyway. Stealing 1 won't make much of a difference if you're basically dead on the next turn. Instead of stealing minions, you want to be clearing them with single target or AOE removal. Eventually they run out of cards, then you stabilize and win... no MCT needed.
Jade decks can fill the board with multiple golems in a single turn. But even if you manage to steal the largest golem, it just gets value-traded by the next golem. Best case scenario: you steal their Aya to deny the deathrattle. But if you are hoping to steal specific minions, then MCT is bad because you have, at best, only a 1/4 chance of stealing their Aya (or Rag, or Tirion, or whatever). MCT is very inconsistent.
"But if you combo with Dirty Rat, you can force your opponent to over-commit to the board, and then steal a minion! Or even two with Brann!" This tactic is really only doable in slow control vs control matches, and those games are mostly determined by value, not by minions. The best that you can hope for is that you pull your opponent's win-condition. In those cases, it's best to use Dirty Rat as a punish for a doomsayer, or to immediately destroy whatever comes out with a removal spell. Attempting to steal whatever the Dirty Rat pulls out is of little concern/consequence.
Brann should be saved for other battlecry minions in order to get maximum value (two Kazakus Potions, two Courier discovers, two random spells from Babbling Book, etc). Using Brann to try and pull and steal two minions (which, even if it works, doesn't guarantee a good steal) is a waste of the card, because chances are good that whatever you steal is just going to get wiped on the next turn anyway. And yes, I have seen the highlight videos where Brann + Rat + MCT gets a game-winning steal... but those results are definitely not common.
TL:DR - Mind Control Tech is a very inconsistent card that, on average, provides little or no value. And saving 3 cards in hand for a potential combo is generally a bad idea (unless those 3 cards are a game-winning combo, such as Leeroy + PO + Faceless). Basically; MCT takes up a valuable card slot that is better utilized by just about anything else that provides guaranteed and consistent value.
So, what u suggest insteade of MCT?
There are a few decent options to consider:
Against aggro, it is very often a 3-cost card on turn 3, and can really slow them down. Against Priest, the 4 attack means that it can't be Shadow-Worded. Against control, it's 5 health helps it survive most AOE's. Also, it is a very good minion to have in the rez pool for a kazakus potion.
Pretty basic card draw minion. Good to drop on curve against aggro to help dig through your deck for removal/Reno, good to play late game with a ping in slower games to help gain card advantage (just be careful not to get ahead in card count if the game looks like it could go to fatigue).
Not a great card to topdeck when facing aggro, but when it comes to winning the value game, Cabalist's Tome goes a long way. With Antonidas and Emperor Thaurissan in the deck, I'd almost say that this card is a must-have. Some people find it to be too slow, but hey; Reno Mage is a slow deck.
Once again, a card that will help you win the value game. Brann + Kazakus + Soulcaster can net you up to 4 Kazakus potions in a single match. Soulcaster on Reno is sometimes the correct answer, but often not needed. But getting a second copy of any of your value minions, such as Kabal Courier or Emp Thaurissan can be useful. And the 3/4 body isn't terrible to drop on curve in faster match-ups.
short on alex. i think she s really important and cant be replaced right?
I'm more interested in your 100% win rate paladin
Hey guys! Try out this deck and I was wondering if you could watch it and try to find some missplays, cuz I cannot get to legend and even I am not able to get possitive winratio with reno mages :/ Video shows matchup vs shaman and I won that game, but there could be missplays also!
Thanks see ya! :)
Could you please add a mulligan?
And how do i play against Shaman with this deck?
replacement for antonidas?
and whats the usual mulligan for this deck?
What about mulligans ?
Replacement for Archmage Antonidas?
Pyroblast can be decent enough.
Missing Antonidas, Thalnos, and alexstraza, but have everything else. I have enough dust for another legendary and was wondering which of these i should craft first. Also if there is anything i could use as a replacer until i have the other legendaries. (I have all adventures besides the last wing of blackrock, which i will get soon.)