Leyline Exodia Mage w/ In-Depth Analysis
- Last updated Apr 16, 2018 (Witchwood)
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Wild
- 16 Minions
- 14 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: TTK Mage
- Crafting Cost: 8500
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 2/7/2018 (Patches Nerf)
- blackhinder
- Registered User
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- 2
- 9
- 11
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Battle Tag:
BlackHinder#1195
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Region:
US
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Total Deck Rating
134
**Updates**: Newest to oldest updates are from top to bottom
-2 Ice Block, -1 Arcanologist, -1 Novice Engineer, -1 Bloodmage Thalnos, +2 Tar Creeper, +2 Book of Specters, +1 Molten Reflection
With the new Witchwood expansion, I have updated my list at a new post, including some new analysis! Give the new post an upvote if you like the new list :)
https://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/1094309-rank-4-leyline-exodia-mage
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-1Cult Apothecary, +1Novice Engineer
Wasn't too happy with how Cult Apothecary performed. Most of the time I found it awkward to play, and it was only good early in the game before I started freezing the board. I'm happier with Novice Engineer when I'm cycling into cards that can consistently stall.
From my last update, I've been happy with how Dragon's Fury has been performing against Paladin and Hunter. I don't think it's worth adding a 2nd Fury instead though because it's mostly useless in other matchups. Sometime it is possible to find use with 1 Fury, but I'd imagine the 2nd one being a dead card.
Potentially, a Cone of Cold can be added, but I prefer the Novice Engineer for the same reason as why I dropped Cult Apothecary.
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-2 Novice Engineer, +1 Dragon Fury, +1Cult Apothecary
While trying to climb the ranks at Rank 5 over ~60 games, I've been seeing a lot of paladins lately. While my winrates vs slower decks were near 100%, Paladin and Hunter were rough matchup. With these changes, I expect better outcomes. Dragon Fury is a good board wipe against murlocs or wolves, and Cult Apothecary is a good additional heal. I chose to cut the Novice Engineer because I believe there is already enough cycling in the deck and the body is too weak against Paladin and Hunter.
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-2 Coldlight Oracle, +2 Novice Engineer
After further testing, I realized that having too many Acolyte of Pain or Coldlight Oracle in hand caused hand management issues, so I replaced Oracles with Novice Engineer because it's easier to play. I chose to drop the Oracles instead of the Acolytes because Acolytes are better against aggro decks (*cough cough* Paladin). If you face more control decks like Warlock, then you can consider switching to Oracles.
Introduction
Hello, with the new nerfs on Patches the Pirate and Corridor Creeper, Exodia Mage's winrate is more likely to rise. Thus, I attempted to optimize the Exodia Mage list.
Why not use Open the Waygate?
While Open the Waygate enables another exodia combo, I would rather not rely on RNG to dictate whether I can get useful random mage spells. Therefore, I favor the Leyline Manipulator combo because I know that my wins come from my skills.
How to Fully Utilize the Combo
Before reading ahead, if you're not familiar with the combo, google "Leyline Manipulator OTK" and read up on it. If you know of the combo, you probably do not know the true flexibility of this combo because based on my own research, every popular Hearthstone figures had a rigid mindset on how to pull off the combo.
While people will think that both Simulacrum needs to land on Sorcerer's Apprentice, the combo also works if one of them lands on Archmage Antonidas. In fact, it's better if one of them lands on Antonidas because then he can be discounted twice by two Leyline Manipulators, allowing flexibility in mana.
Also, instead of a Molten Reflection, Coin + 4th Apprentice can be used in the combo (though it is less likely).
Deckbuilding
The bare minimum of cards required to pull off the combo is:
With this in mind, these cards should be separated into two categories: the Set-up and the Actual Combo.
Set-Up: Cards that lie in this category are the Simulacrums, Leyline Manipulator, and Apprentice because we must set up discounted copies of either Apprentices or Antonidas. This means that it is absolutely bad if any of these cards end up being at the bottom of the deck because then the game would go into fatigue, leading to demise.
Thus, including an extra copy of each of the set-up cards is a necessity. That means running a second Leyline Manipulator, a second Sorcerer's Apprentice, and Zola the Gorgon as the third Simulacrum.
Actual Combo: These cards are Antonidas and Molten Reflection because they are only going to be used on the exodia turn. It is okay for either of them to be at the bottom of the deck, so no extra copies are needed.
Other than those cards, there is a mix of cards that draw and stall. While there are many ways for this to be changed, I prefer the list that I have posted. This can be changed to your own liking, but the core cards for drawing and stalling are
2x Arcanologist
2x Ice Block
1x Ice Barrier
2x Frost Nova
1xBlizzard
2x Doomsayer
How to play this deck?
The deck played similarly to Freeze Mage. There are many in-depth guides on playing Freeze Mage if you need more info, but it's basically prioritizing draws in the early turns, and stalling when your life total is lowered. While stalling, you are looking into drawing and setting up for the combo.
Conclusion
Thanks for taking the time to read this. If there is anything I wasn't clear about, or if you have any questions, feel free to comment below. Also, remember to upvote if you like :)
Bad news: Ice Block is getting Hall of Fame'd. What now?
Pray for suitable replacements in the upcoming expansions.
Otherwise, despair
Rework the whole deck into Frost Lich Jaina elemental mage 24-card + 6 combo card deck. Otherwise, no chance.
Hi hi, I don't know if you will be interested but I reworked the list in the new Witchwood expansion to compensate for the loss of Ice Block. Check out my new post that can be found in the update log!
The latest changes are interesting:
-2 Novice Engineer, +1 Dragon Fury, +1Cult Apothecary
I was actually considering adding in 2 cone of colds somehow to stall even further. I may replace novice engineer with those instead. Still considering oracle over acolyte...
Hey, I actually just updated the deck again! I decided that Cult Apothecary wasn't good enough, so I switched back to Novice Engineer.
As for your consideration of adding 2 Cone of Cold and Oracles, you can try testing them and see which cards you prefer! My list isn't the best there is, but I consider it perfect for my own personal playstyle.
If you'd like to hear my opinions on those cards though, here are my thoughts:
I chose Acolyte over Oracle, it is mainly because it is a playable card on Turn 3, and the matchup with slower decks (such as Warlock) is already good enough that I don't need the Oracles. I see both Acolyte and Oracle as equals in terms of viability, but in the current meta, Acolyte helps a lot against Paladins.
Not a huge fan of Cone of Cold in the Paladin matchup because it doesn't hit the whole board. I'd go for Dragon's Fury and Flamestrike if I wanted additional stalling. But that would be bad in other match-ups, so I've limited myself to just one Dragon's Fury. Cone of Cold is good against slower decks like Warlock and Priest, but I find that the matchup is already good so the additional stalling isn't necessary.
Here is a picture to help out new players with this deck. Though there are many other ways of doing it.
Exodia Combo
I guess, -2 Acolyte of Pain and +2 Coldlight Oracle. Most of players prefer control deck. Acoltye is too slow to draw, and already hard to win this deck ,aluneth mage and zoolock. Atleast with oracle you can mill control warlock, priest and kingsbane rogue. Also in 1 turn you can get possible combo pieces.
Fun deck and way easier to pull off than quest mage IMO. Biggest issue is just not finding pieces, but if you play it right you can cycle through your deck most games quickly enough to find everything before x2 ice blocks are popped. 5-2 at rank 15/14
I am glad you are having fun with the deck :)
So, this deck has weaknesses which I'm sure many have come across, so I'll just post the ones I've found so far:
Dirty Rat: rip combo pieces. 'Nuff said. Fortunately, this is rotating out soon, so it won't be an issue for much longer.
Mill Rogue: Yup, again, rip combo pieces.
Mage: Facing another Mage is a huge issue, as their secrets will more often than not destroy you if you're not careful, and Ice Block is a huge shutdown against the combo as we have next to no way to pop it before unleashing the inf fireballs.
I agree that those are some weakness, so I will be addressing how I usually deal with them.
Dirty Rat - Hold on to extra combo pieces and doomsayers. If Antonidas comes out, and it is left on the board, generate as many fireballs as possible. There was one game where this happened to me, and I managed to win with discounted Fireballs + Bloodmage Thalnos.
Mill Rogue - Dump your hand. Use Ice Nova on an empty board if you have to.
Mage - Secret Mage is a hard matchup; I do not have a good gameplan against them. Against other kinds of mages though, it's basically a race of who can pop the ice block first. After popping an Ice Block, clear the enemy board and hold on to as many fireballs as possible in your hand. Usually, two or three fireballs are enough because opponent needs to deal with your board and armor/Ice Block#2.
Can't you have both Open the Waygate and Leyline Manipulator and have better chance of pulling off combo?
Open the Waygate requires 6 more random spells, which means cutting some cards in the deck. I've tried having both in a deck, but it was lacking in survivability.
Yeah... no. Not much point in discounting cards you get randomly. You need at least 2 generated cards to get the minimum value out of it, and even if you do, there's no guarantee that the generated spells are any good. Not much sense in building around that aspect of the combo, so focus on either Leyline or Waygate, not both.
I don't have Bloodmage Thalnos. Any suggestions for replacement?
I'm thinking of Frost Lich Jaina. I'm not sure though.
Primordial Glyph would be a fine replacement. Frost Lich Jaina doesn't really fit in this deck. Every single card you play wants to get you closer to your OTK.
how to use Zola the Gorgon ?
Play an original Sorcerer's Apprentice (not a simulacrum copy) then use Zola the Gorgon to add a copy to your hand, which can then be discounted by Leyline Manipulator. Generally do this in a single turn so that your apprentice can't get killed before you copy it.
The rough idea is that you get 2x Apprentice from simulacrum, one from Zola, and one original. So 3 of them can be discounted to 0 mana. You also have Molten reflection so there are quite a few combinations you can use.
Some possible replacements are Cone of Cold, Coldlight Oracle, Flamestrike or Primordial Glyph. It really depends on preference, but if it was me, I would go for 1 Coldlight Oracle and 1 Cone of Cold. Please do know that I haven't done any testing to find the best replacement options.