The full Aggro build that Standard wishes it could run ;)
I like it. I remember in Open Beta my first ladder deck was Inner Fire Priest. Of course back then the deck really wouldn't get you past Rank 15, but you could build it in your first week of F2P.
I had both a Shaman quest and a Murloc quest to clear out and since I like Wild I gave this a try. A few immediate comments. I pulled Bilefin and Finja (don't have him) for 2x Flamewreathed Faceless. Frankly, 4 mana 7/7s are just really hard to pull from any Shaman list.
I'm still trying to figure out what else I could pull for Neptulon (maybe a Mana Tide Totem since they're basically both card draw).
So basically those of us with a large collection will just play Wild Format and new players will play Standard Format.
I say that because if you look at what Standard won't allow it's first season live (Duplicate and Healbot for instance), there's already several fun & competitive decks that flat won't be build-able in Standard.
I did remove Sap for Earthen Ring Farseer. I've never found Sap to be overly valuable in Mill Rogue and with Brann Bronzebeard you can get extreme value. It also helps versus the cancer decks to have both a minion to trade with an early game heal.
Unfortunately I've had to update the list further this opening season and so it's even more standard with the inclusion of secrets again.
I've found that the more you change Tempo Mage from the standard list the more it becomes Casino Mage. I never liked Randuin Wynn so playing a Mage version doesn't sound like it would be fun either.
This is my latest take on Tempo Mage. It's a little different from most builds, but I explain my choices in the write-up.
A few key things of note about Tempo Mage success on ladder.
Firstly I find one *must* include a more aggressive opening with lots of 1-drop spells and minions. I chose 2x Arcane Blast, but Clockwork Gnome is a really good replacement. This aggressive opening is necessary to keep pace with Aggro's early game tempo. Tempo Mage loses when you can't maintain pace.
Secondly, Reno has changed the meta. To counter Reno and Control decks in general, I wanted a way of gaining burst and extra damage late game. This is also when you can "cash-in" on your built up Tempo to push for fatal. Archmage Antonidas and Rhonin are how Tempo Mage does this, but Ethereal Conjurer also helps a lot by potentially inserting some extra Pyroblasts into your deck.
Let me know what you think and, as always, constructive criticism welcome.
I was bored with conventional Control Warrior so I decided to see if Mill Warrior would work in this meta. To my surprise, it actually seems to. This deck can be played either as Fatigue Warrior in style with massive armor gain or through Deck Mill/Mine Laying.
A few notes:
After watching Strifecro play and discuss tactics on how to play Control Warrior Mirror match-ups, specifically how all the draw cards were useless in control vs control games, I removed all draw from the deck other then Coldlight Oracle and replaced it with stall/control cards. Most lists I've seen of Mill Warrior aren't built this way.
In aggro match-ups I tend to use Youthful Brewmaster to "heal" Deathlord on turn 5+. Aggro decks REALLY have a hard time getting through this guy multiple times and he acts like a 16 point heal much of the time.
In control match-ups, Deathlord should only be played when you're sitting on removal for dealing with the possible monster deck pulls like Ysera and Dr. Boom.
The problem with Fel Reaver isn't the card burning, but that he burns butt-loads of cards and then gets instantly removed. When he sticks he's amazing, when he doesn't, you lose.
The silence play is less draw back in the case of removal, but I have to agree with the OP, generally that's not actually a good play as you also want to play him on curve. A turn 7 Fel Reaver (Fel Reaver + Owl) is worse then just including powerful 7 drops in your deck or charge minions and calling it a day.
That said, I hate the card and refuse to play him. I'll always adjust decks to be more tempo/mid-range or include a burst combo or direct damage spells in his place.
In contrast, Mysterious Challenger is so powerful because the secrets he pulls actually make him very hard to remove the next turn.
Buccaneer basically replaces Southsea Captain from the old lists. The reason why it's so much better is we now have a 1-drop pirate that can be comboed with Ship's Cannon that isn't also meant to be saved for combo oil finish (AKA Southsea Deckhand).
Also, Southsea Captain just never got good value unless comboed with Dread Corsair, which made him a worse Tinkertown Technician most of the time (he filled the same slot for Pirates as TT does for Mechs).
I do think Assassin's Blade doesn't really fit well in this deck. Feels too slow to me. I would definitely try Skycap'n Kragg in that slot if I had him.
It's very tempting to pop that guy early as most classes can't punish you for doing so, but against Paladin it's usually what makes your opponent rethink the consec. Clear 4 damage, but leave another 2 behind? Doesn't sound like a good turn too me.
I've actually been testing quite a few changes including King's Elekk and Freezing Trap. In control and midrange matchups I'm finding people know how to play around Bear Trap and won't proc it until after they've secured the board, making it nearly worthless at that point.
I've noticed Paladin and the new Priest are both bad matchups for the above deck (original post) and they along with Tempo/Mech Mage are what I'm seeing the most. The Dragon Priest in particular has a lot of 2 attack creatures with high health so I've been trying Stampeding Kodo with reasonable success.
I had a bunch of Hunter quests to clear today so the first TGT updated deck I put together was based around Ram Wrangler. I found that card insane in the brawl (though the rest of the deck was crap).
In my first iteration I was using a stock standard Midrange Hunter, but I found it difficult to get Ram Wrangler off on turn 5. My solution is the use of traps to help insure a beast on board for on-curve play. I also found Haunted Creeper was a dead draw so I subbed in Scavenging Hyena for removal bait and potential Snake Trap/Bear Trap synergy.
I think this deck could use more optimization, but I've been hitting a lot of win streaks with it in the hour or so I played it today. I'm very open to suggestions. The Hunter list is getting rather tight these days so a lot of card choices are becoming meta responses rather then main-stays.
Good point about Joust decks and needing early game to be non-minion based.
A bunch of cards that have come out seem under-whelming also seem to be aimed at letting us build decks with purely spell/weapon based early games to help increase the Joust odds above 40% by stacking the deck heavily with mid/late game minions. Cards that weren't viable on ladder before suddenly need a second consideration (Seal of Light as you pointed out, for instance).
The more I see of this set the more it seems the intent is to use spell based early game in jousting decks to help raise the joust odds above 40% (jousting doesn't pull spells).
Regardless, I like this card quite a bit in all versions of combo druid (Token, Beast, Value builds).
0
The full Aggro build that Standard wishes it could run ;)
I like it. I remember in Open Beta my first ladder deck was Inner Fire Priest. Of course back then the deck really wouldn't get you past Rank 15, but you could build it in your first week of F2P.
It's nice to see it viable again.
2
I had both a Shaman quest and a Murloc quest to clear out and since I like Wild I gave this a try. A few immediate comments. I pulled Bilefin and Finja (don't have him) for 2x Flamewreathed Faceless. Frankly, 4 mana 7/7s are just really hard to pull from any Shaman list.
I'm still trying to figure out what else I could pull for Neptulon (maybe a Mana Tide Totem since they're basically both card draw).
Thanks for the list!
-1
So basically those of us with a large collection will just play Wild Format and new players will play Standard Format.
I say that because if you look at what Standard won't allow it's first season live (Duplicate and Healbot for instance), there's already several fun & competitive decks that flat won't be build-able in Standard.
0
Justicar Trueheart + Sir Finley Mrrgglton seemed like odd includes, but they work amazingly well.
I did remove Sap for Earthen Ring Farseer. I've never found Sap to be overly valuable in Mill Rogue and with Brann Bronzebeard you can get extreme value. It also helps versus the cancer decks to have both a minion to trade with an early game heal.
0
Unfortunately I've had to update the list further this opening season and so it's even more standard with the inclusion of secrets again.
I've found that the more you change Tempo Mage from the standard list the more it becomes Casino Mage. I never liked Randuin Wynn so playing a Mage version doesn't sound like it would be fun either.
0
This is my latest take on Tempo Mage. It's a little different from most builds, but I explain my choices in the write-up.
A few key things of note about Tempo Mage success on ladder.
Firstly I find one *must* include a more aggressive opening with lots of 1-drop spells and minions. I chose 2x Arcane Blast, but Clockwork Gnome is a really good replacement. This aggressive opening is necessary to keep pace with Aggro's early game tempo. Tempo Mage loses when you can't maintain pace.Secondly, Reno has changed the meta. To counter Reno and Control decks in general, I wanted a way of gaining burst and extra damage late game. This is also when you can "cash-in" on your built up Tempo to push for fatal. Archmage Antonidas and Rhonin are how Tempo Mage does this, but Ethereal Conjurer also helps a lot by potentially inserting some extra Pyroblasts into your deck.
Let me know what you think and, as always, constructive criticism welcome.
Update v10
Secrets back in.
2
I really quite like this. I don't have Crowd Favorite (dusted my golden one a while back) so I subbed in Antique Healbot. Works really well.
0
Intro
I was bored with conventional Control Warrior so I decided to see if Mill Warrior would work in this meta. To my surprise, it actually seems to. This deck can be played either as Fatigue Warrior in style with massive armor gain or through Deck Mill/Mine Laying.
A few notes:
After watching Strifecro play and discuss tactics on how to play Control Warrior Mirror match-ups, specifically how all the draw cards were useless in control vs control games, I removed all draw from the deck other then Coldlight Oracle and replaced it with stall/control cards. Most lists I've seen of Mill Warrior aren't built this way.
In aggro match-ups I tend to use Youthful Brewmaster to "heal" Deathlord on turn 5+. Aggro decks REALLY have a hard time getting through this guy multiple times and he acts like a 16 point heal much of the time.
In control match-ups, Deathlord should only be played when you're sitting on removal for dealing with the possible monster deck pulls like Ysera and Dr. Boom.
The Deck
As always I'm interested in any advice, comments, alternative builds, etc.
0
The problem with Fel Reaver isn't the card burning, but that he burns butt-loads of cards and then gets instantly removed. When he sticks he's amazing, when he doesn't, you lose.
The silence play is less draw back in the case of removal, but I have to agree with the OP, generally that's not actually a good play as you also want to play him on curve. A turn 7 Fel Reaver (Fel Reaver + Owl) is worse then just including powerful 7 drops in your deck or charge minions and calling it a day.
That said, I hate the card and refuse to play him. I'll always adjust decks to be more tempo/mid-range or include a burst combo or direct damage spells in his place.
In contrast, Mysterious Challenger is so powerful because the secrets he pulls actually make him very hard to remove the next turn.
3
Buccaneer basically replaces Southsea Captain from the old lists. The reason why it's so much better is we now have a 1-drop pirate that can be comboed with Ship's Cannon that isn't also meant to be saved for combo oil finish (AKA Southsea Deckhand).
Also, Southsea Captain just never got good value unless comboed with Dread Corsair, which made him a worse Tinkertown Technician most of the time (he filled the same slot for Pirates as TT does for Mechs).
I do think Assassin's Blade doesn't really fit well in this deck. Feels too slow to me. I would definitely try Skycap'n Kragg in that slot if I had him.
Oh, and Captain Greenskin is crap in the list. Tried it. Would rather run Loatheb or Antique Healbot.
2
The best counter to Consecration is Haunted Creeper.
It's very tempting to pop that guy early as most classes can't punish you for doing so, but against Paladin it's usually what makes your opponent rethink the consec. Clear 4 damage, but leave another 2 behind? Doesn't sound like a good turn too me.
0
Thanks!
I've actually been testing quite a few changes including King's Elekk and Freezing Trap. In control and midrange matchups I'm finding people know how to play around Bear Trap and won't proc it until after they've secured the board, making it nearly worthless at that point.
I've noticed Paladin and the new Priest are both bad matchups for the above deck (original post) and they along with Tempo/Mech Mage are what I'm seeing the most. The Dragon Priest in particular has a lot of 2 attack creatures with high health so I've been trying Stampeding Kodo with reasonable success.
I'm also running more end-game minions and less removal spells in my latest iteration with 2x Frost Giant, Deathwing, Dr. Boom, and Ragnaros the Firelord.
Here's my latest iteration.
0
I had a bunch of Hunter quests to clear today so the first TGT updated deck I put together was based around Ram Wrangler. I found that card insane in the brawl (though the rest of the deck was crap).
In my first iteration I was using a stock standard Midrange Hunter, but I found it difficult to get Ram Wrangler off on turn 5. My solution is the use of traps to help insure a beast on board for on-curve play. I also found Haunted Creeper was a dead draw so I subbed in Scavenging Hyena for removal bait and potential Snake Trap/Bear Trap synergy.
I think this deck could use more optimization, but I've been hitting a lot of win streaks with it in the hour or so I played it today. I'm very open to suggestions. The Hunter list is getting rather tight these days so a lot of card choices are becoming meta responses rather then main-stays.
And the list.
0
@LeajaWijac
Good point about Joust decks and needing early game to be non-minion based.
A bunch of cards that have come out seem under-whelming also seem to be aimed at letting us build decks with purely spell/weapon based early games to help increase the Joust odds above 40% by stacking the deck heavily with mid/late game minions. Cards that weren't viable on ladder before suddenly need a second consideration (Seal of Light as you pointed out, for instance).
0
The more I see of this set the more it seems the intent is to use spell based early game in jousting decks to help raise the joust odds above 40% (jousting doesn't pull spells).
Regardless, I like this card quite a bit in all versions of combo druid (Token, Beast, Value builds).