Although 3 fire elementals is admittedly awesome, the most important for arena is always going to be value trades.
With the alchemist, rockbiter, lightning storms, knife juggler, hex and stormforged axes, most games were just about doing the most value trades at the beginning. With enough board control, I held back on some minions and instead spammed totems in case of AOE clears.
It works really well not to over-extend yourself, but also not limiting your board presence too much to risk getting gimped by a large minion spam with no lightning storm in hand (aka pants-down-moment). I had a lot of fun having the many choices in the late game.
The mana curve looks weird with 2 peaks, but it actually worked out really well because my responses were almost always better quality than the opponents'. Ancient mage actually paired really well with spells, which surprised me because I always thought it was a dead card. But a shaman actually has a huge advantage from existing totems- opponents sometimes love to ignore those. Lightning storm + 2 spell damage and another spell damage totem (total 3) wreaks absolute havoc on the opponents board.
I also initially thought that having a weird array of different minions might have less synergy, but in fact they just allowed me to have many more creative plays.
Best cards:
Hex is always so good at eliminating huge threats, but should not be overlooked as a value trade card.
Rockbiter is undervalued but can really give you a value trade, especially if you already have decent card draw.
Cult master value play is extremely essential in a deck where its the only way of drawing cards. I literally had to hold this card back till I was sure I could at least get 2-3 cards out of it. Once you establish dominance with Culter Master on the board, the game is yours.
Stormforged Axe is obviously great for dealing with random threats on the board.
Windfury single-handedly won me 2 of my games. The surprise double damage of a 6-7 damage minion behind another taunt is insane. When combined with rockbiter/Dark iron dwarf, its literally GG. Having more than one of these would seriously gimp you though.
Worst cards:
Well I'll be honest, the entire deck synergised so well that I'd be hard pressed to find any. I do have to say Earth elemental is a bit overrated though. If played early on turn 5 or 6, it can literally break your game if it gets sheeped/hexed and you have nothing on your next turn. Its a much better play when mana is no longer an issue or you're topdecking.
I do have to admit, the deck was really much better drafted (despite the mana curve) than I initially thought. I was literally beating priests with double MC and shadow games, Mages with 3 flamestrikes, Druids with 3 swipes. Made me re-evaluate taking too many spells in my future arena drafts.
The only loss came to an opposing Ragnaros who hit my face for 16. Afterwards, I stabilized the board and got lethal on the board, but the opponent had reach damage to finish me past my taunters.
Flametongue Totem was MVP. Combined with a bunch of taunters and chargers, it won me half of my games. Ysera won me 3 games, but arguably any large minion would have won those games for me.
Back again, this time with Rogue featuring Leeroy Jenkins ;)
This deck way amazingly fun to play, many very tight games where I had to stall and manage HP alot before the ol' Leeroy could swing in for the win, I think he finished at least 8 of my wins.
A couple of eviscerates and some stronger end-game minions and this could have been a 12-0 deck.
This deck is ridiculous. I had a rough start going down 4-2, then blasted my way through 8 wins. I would have loved another fireball for more reach and some more worthwhile murlocs. Completely steamrolled all the unfocused mid-range decks. Despite looking good on paper, Dalaran Mage did +1 spell damage once and made a good Defender of Argos target but was very disappointing. Funnily enough, Acolyte of Pain probably drew my opponent's almost as many cards as he did me - Arcane Intellect would have been much better. I also regretted not picking an Acidic Swamp Ooze. MVP was probably Stranglethorn Tiger as fireball #2.
This deck is ridiculous. I had a rough start going down 4-2, then blasted my way through 8 wins. I would have loved another fireball for more reach and some more worthwhile murlocs. Completely steamrolled all the unfocused mid-range decks. Despite looking good on paper, Dalaran Mage did +1 spell damage once and made a good Defender of Argos target but was very disappointing. Funnily enough, Acolyte of Pain probably drew my opponent's almost as many cards as he did me - Arcane Intellect would have been much better. I also regretted not picking an Acidic Swamp Ooze. MVP was probably Stranglethorn Tiger as fireball #2.
It's a nice touch that your mana curve is giving us the finger. Well played.
Alot of solid stuff in the deck, but the thing that stood out the most to me was the fact that it contained absolutely 0 4-cost cards, hence I had to be very wary with the curve/overload.
MvP was undoubtedly Bloodlust, finished well more than half of my wins :)
When I first drafted it, it honestly looked pretty average- only 1 flamestrike and 1 fireball? Sadfaise. On the other hand, it worked out really well, and I actually look less at taking too many good spells now. Polymorph is always on the money because of its synergy with fire blast, but I realise that fireball and flamestrikes can be rather situational. Having more minions out was definitely a huge plus.
I'm also quite impressed by the ancient brewmaster, and am considering him as the choice pick in future decks. He can literally save your minions from dying and still attacking. He also allows you to replenish an-otherwise empty hand with a full health minion which you can play again after you've already attacked.
Top cards:
Frostbolt was amazing if an early game pick- it allows my minion to survive 1-2 extra turns to deal that awesome extra 3 damage per turn.
Mad Bomber synergised with Acolyte of pain amazingly well. If I needed to finish off a 1hp minion and actually want to get some card draw, these 2 cards work amazingly well- the ''drawback'' of hitting your own minion is totally diminished.
Frost nova was absolutely essential in about 3-4 of my games. Ignoring your opponent's minions and rendering useless for 1 turn does wonders for your finisher. Having only 1 copy of it was important though- it was actually quite a dead card most of the time.
Raging worgen, when behind a taunt, netted me so much damage (8!!) that it single-handedly won me 2 of my games. It also has a natural 'taunt' on it so it absorbs some nasty stuff like fireballs and polymorphs.
Water elemental is really so essential for a mage. Freezing the hero works wonders sometimes, and stops any weapon shenanigans that might otherwise occur. It also trades really well with most minions, and I actually picked both of them over fireball and flamestrike- SO worth it!
Stormpike commando added some much needed 2 damage removal, and if that cleared the opponent's board, the 4 damage is sweet!
There aren't any bad cards tbh, but I was rather underwhelmed by Big game hunter. It did allow me to easily kill some Venture co. mercs, and I actually had to use Dark iron dwarf to buff some minions into 7 attack kill range. Sort of regretted taking it but it is a pretty nice insurance in case your opponent pops a huge minion in your face.
All in all, the mage ability really is one of the sickest hero abilities- it synergises so well with so many cards.
My first 12 win arena yet (took me a month of playing this game to finally get there). Went 12-1 as mage, actually 12-0 after losing my first match. Wouldn't have guessed that this would be the deck that got me there. MVPs were my 2 Blizzards and the 1 Flamestrike. I won several games where my opponent loaded up the board and saw everything get wiped with one spell the next turn. I was also surprised at how much value I got out of the auctioneer as well, and I had a few games where I pulled my Kirin Tor Mage + Mirror Entity combo which always really helped. Only cards that I didn't get much value from were the injured blademaster and the Mogu'shan Warden.
Missing from the deck photo were an Arcane Missiles, 2 Mana Wyrms, 1 Worgen Infiltrator, and 1 Arcane Explosion.
Surprisingly went 12 wins with this deck, i was just happy to reach 8 wins on this one tbh.
Arcane Missiles and Emporror Cobra were my MVP's, coining a cobra out at turn 2 or playing it turn 3 onto an empty board gave me a advantage as my opponent would sometimes play nothing and hero power. If he played any strong minion at all it was just dead next turn.
Normally when i use Arcane Missiles it will only hit an enemy minion once and i am forced to trade my minion into it, with this arena run it hit the enemy minion at least twice on almost every occasion resulting in a kill or just finishing it off with hero power. It traded 1 for 1 with a Spellbreaker in my 11th win against a hunter and after that he Conceded due to me having a Water Ele and an emporror cobra on the board.
Flamestrike wasn't really a big factor, there was maybe 2-3 games where i got strong flamestrike value. Water Elemental was a great minion to have, trades so well with almost any minion and it took the odd silence as well.
Onyxia maybe won me 2 games but at that point i think i was already ahead. Playing it onto a board with a low lv minion is crazy good. At that point mostly both of us are top decking and he has no answers for her.
I felt like my competition was not generally strong and i have definitely went up against much better decks before i still dont know how this one reached 12 wins.
Missing form the picture: 1x Lord of the Arena 2x Argent Commander 1x Flamestrike
Water Elemental was MVP. Also, 1x Fen Creeper was surprisingly good for me. For example, turn 4 Ancient Brewmaster into turn 5 Fen Creeper was occasionally able to deal 20 damage to the opponent.
loved this deck, nothing outstanding but super solid, really unluky in 1 of the games i lost, the other one i got rushed down and didn't have the right answers. the 30th card is the 8\8 with taunt it didn't fit the image.
Back again, had no idea this deck would go 12 wins or any where close to it for that matter.
Eviscerates, Argent Commander and Perditions Blade were my best valued cards through out my runs. Argent Commander was a great finisher to combo with an Eviscerate or a deadly poison.
Just out valued my opponents a lot of cards went 2 for 1, Blood Knight was not really used to any effect at all he was just a dead in my hand most of the times as i only wanted to rob a divine shield off of someone.
Deadly poison is so good early levels it's guaranteed 2 for 1 trade most of the time wish i had more of them tbh.
Only used Vanish once when my opponent summoned a yeti and a Dark Iron on the board, i had an Argent Commander without Divine Shield on the board so decided it was a good turn to use it and then summon a Scarlet Crusader.
Not the most OP mage deck, just mostly solid cards, a good curve and of course two copies of both Fireball and Polymorph. Most times I managed to hold board control for the entirety of the game but for a couple of them in which I regained it with my sole Flamestrike. Pyroblast was only ever used in a single game early on in the run, and I would have won that game regardless, I only drafted it because my other options were terrible (Murloc Warleader and Ice Block).
MVP was Cult Master, good usage of the card guaranteed the win in half of the games, honorable mention to Counterspell which saved me a good amount of times. A nice combo that I managed to pull off in 3 games against Warriors and Paladins was Freeze from Water Elemental + Cult Master + Counterspell making it pretty much impossible for them to get rid of my Cult Master.
Shaman with 12-2 wins.
Although 3 fire elementals is admittedly awesome, the most important for arena is always going to be value trades.
With the alchemist, rockbiter, lightning storms, knife juggler, hex and stormforged axes, most games were just about doing the most value trades at the beginning. With enough board control, I held back on some minions and instead spammed totems in case of AOE clears.
It works really well not to over-extend yourself, but also not limiting your board presence too much to risk getting gimped by a large minion spam with no lightning storm in hand (aka pants-down-moment). I had a lot of fun having the many choices in the late game.
The mana curve looks weird with 2 peaks, but it actually worked out really well because my responses were almost always better quality than the opponents'. Ancient mage actually paired really well with spells, which surprised me because I always thought it was a dead card. But a shaman actually has a huge advantage from existing totems- opponents sometimes love to ignore those. Lightning storm + 2 spell damage and another spell damage totem (total 3) wreaks absolute havoc on the opponents board.
I also initially thought that having a weird array of different minions might have less synergy, but in fact they just allowed me to have many more creative plays.
Best cards:
Hex is always so good at eliminating huge threats, but should not be overlooked as a value trade card.
Rockbiter is undervalued but can really give you a value trade, especially if you already have decent card draw.
Cult master value play is extremely essential in a deck where its the only way of drawing cards. I literally had to hold this card back till I was sure I could at least get 2-3 cards out of it. Once you establish dominance with Culter Master on the board, the game is yours.
Stormforged Axe is obviously great for dealing with random threats on the board.
Windfury single-handedly won me 2 of my games. The surprise double damage of a 6-7 damage minion behind another taunt is insane. When combined with rockbiter/Dark iron dwarf, its literally GG. Having more than one of these would seriously gimp you though.
Worst cards:
Well I'll be honest, the entire deck synergised so well that I'd be hard pressed to find any. I do have to say Earth elemental is a bit overrated though. If played early on turn 5 or 6, it can literally break your game if it gets sheeped/hexed and you have nothing on your next turn. Its a much better play when mana is no longer an issue or you're topdecking.
I do have to admit, the deck was really much better drafted (despite the mana curve) than I initially thought. I was literally beating priests with double MC and shadow games, Mages with 3 flamestrikes, Druids with 3 swipes. Made me re-evaluate taking too many spells in my future arena drafts.
Cheers!
Pretty sick one. Had a chance to get 7 truesilvers total.
No AoE, no Hex, no problem.
The only loss came to an opposing Ragnaros who hit my face for 16. Afterwards, I stabilized the board and got lethal on the board, but the opponent had reach damage to finish me past my taunters.
Flametongue Totem was MVP. Combined with a bunch of taunters and chargers, it won me half of my games. Ysera won me 3 games, but arguably any large minion would have won those games for me.
Back again, this time with Rogue featuring Leeroy Jenkins ;)
This deck way amazingly fun to play, many very tight games where I had to stall and manage HP alot before the ol' Leeroy could swing in for the win, I think he finished at least 8 of my wins.
A couple of eviscerates and some stronger end-game minions and this could have been a 12-0 deck.
Forgot to take pic of rewards though :(
This deck is ridiculous. I had a rough start going down 4-2, then blasted my way through 8 wins. I would have loved another fireball for more reach and some more worthwhile murlocs. Completely steamrolled all the unfocused mid-range decks. Despite looking good on paper, Dalaran Mage did +1 spell damage once and made a good Defender of Argos target but was very disappointing. Funnily enough, Acolyte of Pain probably drew my opponent's almost as many cards as he did me - Arcane Intellect would have been much better. I also regretted not picking an Acidic Swamp Ooze. MVP was probably Stranglethorn Tiger as fireball #2.
It's a nice touch that your mana curve is giving us the finger. Well played.
twitter.com/MattDoc
Back again, this time with a Shaman.
Alot of solid stuff in the deck, but the thing that stood out the most to me was the fact that it contained absolutely 0 4-cost cards, hence I had to be very wary with the curve/overload.
MvP was undoubtedly Bloodlust, finished well more than half of my wins :)
12/0 valeera.
smooth run, good amount of backstabs, assassinates and a dominating early game. It was one of the easier 12 wins I got.
missing from pic is argent commander and molten giant.,http://prntscr.com/3wodb4
Got another 12-2 win today, mage deck
When I first drafted it, it honestly looked pretty average- only 1 flamestrike and 1 fireball? Sadfaise. On the other hand, it worked out really well, and I actually look less at taking too many good spells now. Polymorph is always on the money because of its synergy with fire blast, but I realise that fireball and flamestrikes can be rather situational. Having more minions out was definitely a huge plus.
I'm also quite impressed by the ancient brewmaster, and am considering him as the choice pick in future decks. He can literally save your minions from dying and still attacking. He also allows you to replenish an-otherwise empty hand with a full health minion which you can play again after you've already attacked.
Top cards:
Frostbolt was amazing if an early game pick- it allows my minion to survive 1-2 extra turns to deal that awesome extra 3 damage per turn.
Mad Bomber synergised with Acolyte of pain amazingly well. If I needed to finish off a 1hp minion and actually want to get some card draw, these 2 cards work amazingly well- the ''drawback'' of hitting your own minion is totally diminished.
Frost nova was absolutely essential in about 3-4 of my games. Ignoring your opponent's minions and rendering useless for 1 turn does wonders for your finisher. Having only 1 copy of it was important though- it was actually quite a dead card most of the time.
Raging worgen, when behind a taunt, netted me so much damage (8!!) that it single-handedly won me 2 of my games. It also has a natural 'taunt' on it so it absorbs some nasty stuff like fireballs and polymorphs.
Water elemental is really so essential for a mage. Freezing the hero works wonders sometimes, and stops any weapon shenanigans that might otherwise occur. It also trades really well with most minions, and I actually picked both of them over fireball and flamestrike- SO worth it!
Stormpike commando added some much needed 2 damage removal, and if that cleared the opponent's board, the 4 damage is sweet!
There aren't any bad cards tbh, but I was rather underwhelmed by Big game hunter. It did allow me to easily kill some Venture co. mercs, and I actually had to use Dark iron dwarf to buff some minions into 7 attack kill range. Sort of regretted taking it but it is a pretty nice insurance in case your opponent pops a huge minion in your face.
All in all, the mage ability really is one of the sickest hero abilities- it synergises so well with so many cards.
Cheers!
My first 12 win arena yet (took me a month of playing this game to finally get there). Went 12-1 as mage, actually 12-0 after losing my first match. Wouldn't have guessed that this would be the deck that got me there. MVPs were my 2 Blizzards and the 1 Flamestrike. I won several games where my opponent loaded up the board and saw everything get wiped with one spell the next turn. I was also surprised at how much value I got out of the auctioneer as well, and I had a few games where I pulled my Kirin Tor Mage + Mirror Entity combo which always really helped. Only cards that I didn't get much value from were the injured blademaster and the Mogu'shan Warden.
Missing from the deck photo were an Arcane Missiles, 2 Mana Wyrms, 1 Worgen Infiltrator, and 1 Arcane Explosion.
Surprisingly went 12 wins with this deck, i was just happy to reach 8 wins on this one tbh.
Arcane Missiles and Emporror Cobra were my MVP's, coining a cobra out at turn 2 or playing it turn 3 onto an empty board gave me a advantage as my opponent would sometimes play nothing and hero power. If he played any strong minion at all it was just dead next turn.
Normally when i use Arcane Missiles it will only hit an enemy minion once and i am forced to trade my minion into it, with this arena run it hit the enemy minion at least twice on almost every occasion resulting in a kill or just finishing it off with hero power. It traded 1 for 1 with a Spellbreaker in my 11th win against a hunter and after that he Conceded due to me having a Water Ele and an emporror cobra on the board.
Flamestrike wasn't really a big factor, there was maybe 2-3 games where i got strong flamestrike value. Water Elemental was a great minion to have, trades so well with almost any minion and it took the odd silence as well.
Onyxia maybe won me 2 games but at that point i think i was already ahead. Playing it onto a board with a low lv minion is crazy good. At that point mostly both of us are top decking and he has no answers for her.
I felt like my competition was not generally strong and i have definitely went up against much better decks before i still dont know how this one reached 12 wins.
Pilleri here.
12 with a really typical Mage deck.
Missing form the picture:
1x Lord of the Arena
2x Argent Commander
1x Flamestrike
Water Elemental was MVP. Also, 1x Fen Creeper was surprisingly good for me. For example, turn 4 Ancient Brewmaster into turn 5 Fen Creeper was occasionally able to deal 20 damage to the opponent.
2x Force of Nature and a Savage Roar combined with decent early game and a lot of powerful 5+ drops. Only loss was to a mage with Pyroblast.
Current Decks: Everfree (Ramp Druid), Nameless One (Control/Burn Priest), Discord (Thief Priest), Provost's Dogs (Aggro Rogue), Randar (Random Hunter), Cherubim (Zoo Priest)
Pilleri here again.
12 with Priest.
loved this deck, nothing outstanding but super solid, really unluky in 1 of the games i lost, the other one i got rushed down and didn't have the right answers. the 30th card is the 8\8 with taunt it didn't fit the image.
Back again, had no idea this deck would go 12 wins or any where close to it for that matter.
Eviscerates, Argent Commander and Perditions Blade were my best valued cards through out my runs. Argent Commander was a great finisher to combo with an Eviscerate or a deadly poison.
Just out valued my opponents a lot of cards went 2 for 1, Blood Knight was not really used to any effect at all he was just a dead in my hand most of the times as i only wanted to rob a divine shield off of someone.
Deadly poison is so good early levels it's guaranteed 2 for 1 trade most of the time wish i had more of them tbh.
Only used Vanish once when my opponent summoned a yeti and a Dark Iron on the board, i had an Argent Commander without Divine Shield on the board so decided it was a good turn to use it and then summon a Scarlet Crusader.
back again with some 12-0 rogue action. many combos were pulled with the questing.
Wow must have played really well to go 12-0, has a very good 2,3,4 curve though which is always nice.
Not the most OP mage deck, just mostly solid cards, a good curve and of course two copies of both Fireball and Polymorph. Most times I managed to hold board control for the entirety of the game but for a couple of them in which I regained it with my sole Flamestrike. Pyroblast was only ever used in a single game early on in the run, and I would have won that game regardless, I only drafted it because my other options were terrible (Murloc Warleader and Ice Block).
The draft: http://arenamastery.com/PqWf
MVP was Cult Master, good usage of the card guaranteed the win in half of the games, honorable mention to Counterspell which saved me a good amount of times. A nice combo that I managed to pull off in 3 games against Warriors and Paladins was Freeze from Water Elemental + Cult Master + Counterspell making it pretty much impossible for them to get rid of my Cult Master.
Reward was 330 gold, 1 golden common and 1 pack.
Went 12-1 with this Druid decklist:
Was stunned to do so well without any Swipes or Wraths, but I did pick up a lot of quality class cards.
Best combo in the deck was the synergy with Power of the Wild and Raging Worgen, Force of Nature, Amani Berserker, etc.
3x Legend | 2 Gold Heroes