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 guys and welcome back for another Legendary Deck Introduction. First off, I have to say that this season's climb was especially hard, mostly because of the high difficulty level of the deck at hand. It took me quite a while to get used to the intricacies of this list so please believe me when I say that you will need to practice with the deck to have a high winrate. You will need to Identify what your opponent is playing and as a result adjust your strategy accordingly. Now you may be thinking. If the deck is so hard, then why should I play it? Well, to be perfectly honest, the answer is variance. No two games feel the same and once you get the hang of the deck, not only is it super fun but it is also extremely punishing if your opponent misplays. So if I have interested you with my words thus far, please continue reading as I present to you one of my favorite decks to date: Burn Reno Mage.

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The Burn Combo

A big part of what makes this deck so hard but also devastatingly good and fun to win with at the same time, is its ability to deal an absurd amount of damage from hand with minimal setup. This fact alone has allowed me to win against metadecks like Cubelock and Razanduin Priest and even snag away wins from Renomage mirrors. No-one expects a Renomage to run this much burst and as a result, they believe they are safe at absurdly low health totals.

The damage combo does a minimum of 23 damage from hand with one Emperor Thaurissan discount on 3 combo pieces. Furthermore, you can potentially deal 29 damage from hand but that is a very niche scenario dependent on getting good one mana Kazakus potions and further discounting them to zero mana thanks toEmperor Thaurissan. Finally, please note that you can deal 16-17 damage from hand without any discounts which is plenty of damage to TTK your opponent after dropping Alexstrasza and assuming they don't heal. The combos are as follows:

23 Damage: Inkmaster Solia -> Pyroblast -> Roaring Torch -> Frostbolt -> Ice Lance
(This combo requires an Emperor Thaurissan discount on any 3 combo pieces, with the exception of Pyroblast which does not need one since its cost is already reduced to zero thanks to the Inkmaster Solia Effect)

16-17 Damage: Inkmaster Solia -> Pyroblast -> Roaring Torch or Inkmaster Solia -> Pyroblast ->  Frostbolt -> Ice Lance 
(These combos do not require any Emperor Thaurissan discounts).

As stated above, the key to winning is identifying in which matchups your burn setup is necessary and in which you can dispense with it and use the combo pieces in a way that better suits your alternate win conditions and strategies. 

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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. 

a) Tinkmaster Overspark: This is a transformation card tech that has proven to be very useful against the likes of big priest and cubelock, since it can potentially remove a win condition. As such, its a great inclusion alongside Polymorph.

b) Zola the Gorgon: This card is currently included over Brann Bronzebeard due to the fact that she has potential synergies with a lot more cards in the deck and as a result is way more versatile.

c) Medivh, the Guardian: Outside of the burn strategy, this list required some alternate win conditions to stay afloat. Medivh fit the bill quite nicely, due to the great amount of high costing spells that we are running in addition to weapon tech removal becoming less common.

d) Frost Lich Jaina: I should think that this is obvious. You don't play a control-style mage without the Deathknight.

 (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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Flex(ible)  Slots

This deck, although quite rigid when concerning the bulk of its list, has considerable flexibility in some of the 2-3 mana slots. Specifically, Pyros & Tinkmaster Overspark can be replaced by the following cards that although offer a different dimension to the deck still do not impact its main win condition:

a) Gluttonous Ooze: Not extremely relevant in the current metagame but it did save me several times against pirate warrior with the armor gain when I had it teched in.

b) Sorcerer's Apprentice: You can potentially include this card over Pyros. Although I do not recommend it due to the loss of value, it can make setting up your burn combo way easier and more efficient.

c) Acolyte of Pain: This card will get you closer to your potential win conditions, so it's just another great option for additional cycle.

d) Loot Hoarder: Same reasoning as above. Plus it has the added synergy of being useful for spawning a water elemental with Frost Lich Jaina.

e) Explosive Sheep: Good anti-aggro tech and synergy with Frost Lich Jaina.

f) Duplicate: Although not heavily used by me as it only saw play in a handful of games, this little secret definitely sealed the deal against the greedier pocket metas. So it is worth consideration

g) Deathlord: Personally, was not a huge fan of its inclusion at certain points but while I was testing the deck they did show promise.

h) Dirty Rat: A more skill oriented disruption card. Did prove to be useful against Raza priest but that is a match-up that is already decently favored for us even w/o disruption cards.

I) Counterspell: A nice secret that your opponent occasionally does not see coming and even if they do can lead to them awkwardly playing around it thus gaining you additional time to work towards your own win conditions.

j) Arcane Artificer: Can potentially be subbed in instead of Antique Healbot. Both are good but both yielded on average the same results so I personally conflicted over which on is superior.

k) Frost Nova: An additional board stall mechanic that is especially prevalent in pocket metas where Giantslock is prevalent since you can pair it early with Doomsayer.

l) Ice Barrier: Potentially more healing to deal with an aggro onslaught.

m) Voodoo Doll: More dedicated single target removal that can actually target a minion unlike the transformation effect of Tinkmaster Overspark.

All these card substitutions were used at some point in time during this deck's climb up the ladder. Therefore there is merit to each and every tech choice listed at the present time. But it is up to you to correctly identify the pocket meta and adapt the list as necessary.

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Guide & Match-ups

Yay, even more reading! Well, I am sure you are sick of this at this point but please do keep going as it is quite important to recognise the match-ups as doing so should significantly increase your winrate.

Vs Warrior (Pirate: 7-0 Favored): Faced a few this season and most of them were not bots. This deck is favored overall given all the healing and anti-aggro tools at its disposal. Sadly in my climb this season, I did not face any other type of warrior.

Vs Warlock (Cubelock: 19-9 Favored | Control Warlock: 8-1 Heavily Favored |Giantslock: 0-1 Unfavored | Zoo: 5-2 Favored): Tons of warlock on ladder this season due to the surge in popularity. Luckily for us this deck is favored in most of these class match-ups. The giantslocks game was not unwinnable but it required me to have Frost Nova + Doomsayer on five which I did not so I inevitably lost. In these match-ups, your transformation effects are key. Thus you will want to use Polymorph and Tinkmaster Overspark sparingly and aim to get Polymorph potions off of Kazakus. Mal'Ganis is priority no.1 kill with a transformation effect since he can block your burn win-condition.

Vs Shaman (Aggro: 7-6 Slightly Favored | Malygos: 1-0 Slightly Favored | Evolve: 8-3 Slightly Favored): In every kind of match-up against the shaman class we are slightly favored. However, most of the match-ups are draw dependent so it is crucial you don't waste resources too quickly or allow your health to drop too low.

Vs Rogue (Mill: 0-2 Heavily Unfavored | Kingsbane/oil: 1-1 Even | Tempo: 10-3 Favored): Mill rogue is essentially an autoloss, no way around it. Kingsbane rogue is one of those match-ups where the Water Elemental Freeze Effects really shine and creating one almost every turn is imperative. Make sure you save some of your one health minions to summon some in emergencies and baiting out their key removal like Bladeflurry and Doomerang is key.

Vs Priest (Razanduin: 27-13 Favored | Big Priest 2-7 Unfavored): You are actually favored against the Raza + Anduin combo. The key to winning is to never let your opponent pop your Ice Block w/o them committing Spawn of Shadows. If they do, you either played the match-up incorrectly or got unlucky drawing cards. I hate Big Priest because unless you get the perfect answers for their Barnes and stall out the game long enough to the point where you have Kazakus potions, it is an almost autoloss.

Vs Druid (Aggro: 19-15 Even |Maly: 0-3 Unfavored | Big: 1-0 favored): You stand almost zero chance against Malygos Druid and against aggro you are very draw dependent. At the very least you are favored against big druid thanks to the wide array of stall and clear spells at your disposal.

Vs Mage (Tempo: 11-5 Favored | Renomage: 8-5 Skill based | Big Spell: 1-0 TBD): When facing tempo mage, it is like a fairly typical aggro match-up. If you hit your healing, you win. Alternatively, renomage mirrors are really skill intensive. Honestly, I faced a lot of different builds and even though I want to say my decklist is favored, winning has heavily influenced by skill and knowledge of potential card inclusions. For BSM, I do not have enough information to give a conclusive report.

Vs Paladin (Aggro: 15-12 Favored): The stats do not show it, but the deck is actually favored against aggro paladin, which although a super strong deck I personally feel is overhyped. I wanted more varied matchups but sadly the class was not well represented during my ladder climb with only one archetype showing up.

Vs Hunter (Giants: 0-1 Unfavored): Not much to say. Found one hunter during my climb with this deck and it did not go well. Much like against Giantslock, you need Frost Nova + Doomsayer just for a chance to win.

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Do You Hate Burn Decks?

In the eventuality that you like Renomage but hate the idea of playing this burn variant than fear not for I have another deck that is equally as powerful. This suggested deck at hand, instead of a burn win condition focuses on slowly grinding your opponent out of resources until they can no longer deal with your threats. As such it has been aptly categorised as a Grinder Renomage Deck that packs a hell of a lot of value while retaining a consistently high winrate against aggressive decks.

Gunnolf's Wild Reno N'zoth Grinder Mage N'Zoth Mage Deck by Gunnolf - Apr 25, 2017 View Deck String Export to BBCode Export to Cockatrice Export to MarkDown Export to Html Clone this deck
Minion (15) 1x Bloodmage Thalnos 1x Brann Bronzebeard 1x Kazakus 1x N'Zoth, the Corruptor 1x Pyros 1x Ragnaros the Firelord 1x Reno Jackson 1x Sylvanas Windrunner 1x Zola the Gorgon 1x Doomsayer 1x Gluttonous Ooze 1x Skulking Geist 1x Deathlord 1x Sludge Belcher 1x Mad Scientist	Ability (14) 1x Flamestrike 1x Forbidden Flame 1x Ice Block 1x Meteor 1x Primordial Glyph 1x Blizzard 1x Volcanic Potion 1x Arcane Intellect 1x Duplicate 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

As always, please take your time to familiarise yourself with the intricacies of the list at hand. It truly isn't an easy one to master and requires a decent amount of games played on ladder to know the match-ups. Also take into careful consideration, the tech possibilities as they can win you games if you are able to properly recognise the pocket metas of each rank (an element of laddering which can be crucial to a very high winrate).

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. 

 

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