Hearthpwn

Come in and Warm your Frozen Boots by the Fire!

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Gunnolf, and I am originally from the Land Down Under a.k.a. Australia. I am an avid gamer that has acquired a real passion for card games, which originated from my humble beginnings as a Yu-Gi-Oh collector and eventually grew from my dabbling in Cardfight Vanguard and Buddyfight, until we reached the game we know as Hearthstone.

I've played Hearthstone since the days of classic, with multiple accounts on both EU and NA servers. Despite having reached the Rank of Legend and my own personal mentality of equating 'having fun' with 'winning', I am not really a fan of meta power-grinding & net-decking, not that there is anything wrong with that. Therefore, I enjoy thinking about new, cool and fun deck ideas that push boundaries while also allowing you to win and those are what I want to share with you guys every-time I post a decklist.

I have presently become a contributing writer to WILDHS and will be posting articles there on a semi-regular basis, regarding deck-archetypes the status of the meta as well as how to get the most fun out of this game even if you aren't a big spender. If any of this sounds interesting, then I highly recommend that you check out of the website, as the writers and the owner himself are some of the nicest people you'll ever meet with great in-game knowledge (link to be website can be found HERE). You can also follow me on Twitter for latest updates.

If you genuinely like my content and would like to see me produce more of it, then please consider supporting me on Patreon. This is by no means necessary but it will definitely help me out in the long run. Thanks for Reading ^^

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Deck Introduction 

Hello dear Hearthpwners and welcome back for the second installment of my BIG DECK series. Today we'll be focusing on the Mage Class and the various ways in which you can build your big spell mage. As always, you'll find more deckbuilding options deeper into the guide since my current listed version of the deck is a Burn Iteration geared towards between control and combo decks. Unfortunately, since the Big mechanic was more or less pushed in Kobolds & Catacombs, Wild cannot offer too much alternative support in terms of how the deck is built. However, there is a greater variety of options when it comes to drawing your spells and thus improving the overall deck consistency. So without further ado let's get into the core of the deck.

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Deck Strategy

The basic strategy behind playing Big Spell Mage revolves around gathering a collection of spells together in the early game. In turn you will use these spells to control the board during the mid stages of the game, and upon transitioning into the lategame initiating giant swing turns that should inevitably win you the game.

To be able to achieve this plan you will want to search for cards like Raven Familiar, Mad Scientist, Arcanologist and Medivh's Valet. These cards will allow you to control the board and provide and provide incremental additional value through chip damage and value trades.

When transitioning into the mid to late game portion of your match you should have enough spell fuel in your hand to clear away your opponent's board, while retaining Medivh, the Guardian and  Dragoncaller Alanna as your swing turn cards in the eventuality that you need them. Further to the above you also have Alexstrasza + Pyroblasts to finish off your opponent in addition to Frost Lich Jaina should you be required to grind out a win.

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Card Choices & Deck-Building Explained

In this section, I will explain some of the card choices I opted for and the reasoning as to why they were included over potential counter-parts. 

1) Ice Block: You may have seen some Big Spell Mages not running this card. Although, it is certainly possible to play the deck without Ice Block, it is NOT recommended if you want to have a decent chance of beating a combo deck like Razanduin for example.

2) Polymorph: Although it may not be the biggest spell, transformation effects are necessary in this meta because of decks like Cubeblock.

3) Alexstrasza: Whether you are running the Burn list or not, this dragon artifact is a great source of neutral healing that can also be use in an offensive capacity. I consider it a must include.

4) Dragoncaller Alanna: No matter what tier crafting guides may tell you, if you want to play a Big Spell Mage successfully this card is very important. She provides a full on swing turn that you can easily setup by virtue of all your high costing spells that is second to none in terms of value.

(At the present time, only a few cards have been listed but I will include more if questions pop-up within the comments section regarding substitutions and why other cards were included.)

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Mulligan Guide

The mulligan is the most important part of learning how to play any deck. Fortunately for you dear reader, it's not actually that hard to Mulligan this deck. Why is that you may ask? Well it's because in pretty much all the current foreseeable match-ups at the present time, you'll benefit from holding onto the following cards: Raven Familiar, Mad Scientist and Arcanologist. However, in the eventuality of an aggro match-up there is serious merit in holding onto Arcane Artificer for potential combo healing with large spells.

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Alternate Deckbuilding

The way in which you can build Big Spell Mage is actually quite varied. I chose to take the Burn ~ Anti-Control route. However, that being said should you face aggressive pocket metas I strongly recommend making the following changes that will transition this deck away from the burn strategy and push it towards a more defensive anti-aggro build. The changes are as follows:

-2x Medivh's Valet | +2x Doomsayer
-2x Pyroblast| +2x Blizzard
-1x Arcanologist | +1x Arcane Tyrant
-2x Spiteful Summoner | +2x Tar Creeper

Through further playtesting and some inspiration by another well known Wild Player RenoJackson, it is possible to play a slightly greedier version of Big Spell Mage with N'zoth the Corruptor. For this to work you can make the following substitutions:

-2x Medivh's Valet | +2x Doomsayer
-1x Ice Block & -x1 Arcanologist | +2x Deathlord
-2x Pyroblast | +2x Sludge Belcher
-2x Spiteful Summoner | +x1 N'Zoth, the Corruptor & +1x Pyros
-1x Skulking Geist | +1x Blizzard

Further to the above N'zoth variant of Big Spell Mage, I have experimented with building the deck in another way. Those of you who know me and my decks, know that I love using The Curator as a draw engine. As such due to the fact that the deck suffers from draw occasionally, he made a great alternate inclusion. Please do keep in mind that although not listed below, you can include Plated Beetle for even more draw synergy off of The Curator.

-2x Medivh's Valet |+1x Pyros & +1x Bloodmage Thalnos
-2x Pyroblast | +2x Blizzard
-2x Spiteful Summoner | +2x Sludge Belcher
-1x Medivh, the Guardian | +1x N'Zoth, the Corruptor
-1x or -2x Azure Drake | +1x The Curator and/or Sindragosa

Woohooo. This is fantastic. The Witchwood has given us yet another way to build the deck. This most recent expansion has given us more removal and cycle options thus allowing us to make an even more hard-core removal deck. The changes are as follows and feature some really cute cards.

-2x Pyroblast | +2x Voodoo Doll
-2x Spiteful Summoner | +2x Witchwood Piper
-2x Medivh's Valet | +2x Blizzard or +2x Arcane Tyrant or +1x Zola the Gorgon & +1x Pyros (Note: keep in mind that you really don't need to substitute out the Valets. They still work quite well. I am just giving you the option. ^^)

If you would like to go even further down wild Territory, there is one more substitution you can make, which I highly recommend (for fun purposes as I tried to make him work in competitive Hearthstone but he was just too slow). I am of course talking about the One, the Only RAFAAM THE SUPREME ARCHEOLOGIST, whom you can slot into this deck instead of Medivh.

On a final note, please remember that alternate deckbuilding is just a series of recommendations based on what I have observed through playing with the deck. It is still very possible to mix and match cards to fit your playstyle, which is something I strongly recommend that you do! ^^

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Other Big Decks

As I may have mentioned above, I attend to make a series of Big Decks with at least one for each class. Presently, there are not too many but when I have completed them all, this will serve as their directory for your convenience:

1) Gunnolf's Wild Woecleaver Recruit Warrior

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Want to Get to Legend with Mage?

Want to get to Legend with mage but don't want to play aggressive, burn or tempo variants? Well then I have the deck for you. It is not easy to pilot at first but when you master it you should be smashing your way through the ranks. I hope it brings you as much enjoyment as it did to me this season! ^^

[LEGEND] Gunnolf's Wild Burn Renomage Reno Mage Deck by Gunnolf - Jan 31, 2018 View Deck String Export to BBCode Export to Cockatrice Export to MarkDown Export to Html Clone this deck
Minion (15) 1x Alexstrasza 1x Bloodmage Thalnos 1x Emperor Thaurissan 1x Inkmaster Solia 1x Kazakus 1x Medivh, the Guardian 1x Pyros 1x Reno Jackson 1x Tinkmaster Overspark 1x Zola the Gorgon 1x Doomsayer 1x Azure Drake 1x Antique Healbot 1x Mad Scientist 1x Novice Engineer	Ability (14) 1x Flamestrike 1x Ice Block 1x Meteor 1x Primordial Glyph 1x Pyroblast 1x Blizzard 1x Volcanic Potion 1x Ice Lance 1x Arcane Intellect 1x Fireball 1x Firelands Portal 1x Forgotten Torch 1x Frostbolt 1x Polymorph	Playable Hero (1) 1x Frost Lich Jaina
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Author's Notes

I enjoy deck-building a multitude of interesting decks that are both entertaining and Legend viable (with some odd Free-to-Play lists mixed in). So if you like this deck (or anyone of my other ones) consider leaving a thumbs up, as it really helps in the long run! :)

Thank you guys for all your support and if you have any suggestions, let me know. 

 

Check out my other decks!

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