Hearthpwn

Hi, 

i´m by no means a Pro Player or even consider myself very good, but i´ve been playing HS for quiet a while now and reached Legend multiple times. I´ve been a huge Fan of Grinder-Style Mage Control Decks and was excited to try the "Big Spell" Archetype with the Witchwood Expansion. 

I tried a lot of different variants and Tech-inclusions and finally locked down on this list, my Winrate instantly skyrocketed and i´ve been able to push to Legend with this exact List from Rank 4. 

If there is a huge interest i can write a detailed Guide, but since it´s not changed that much from Big Spell of Last Season i will only point out a couple of things and my experiences against the current popular Decks. 

General: 

The Goal is to grind your opponent out of Ressources by constantly wiping the Board with your great AoE-Removal. Your Main Win-condition is Jaina, once you played her it´s very hard to beat you! 

Matchups:

VS Aggro:

You absolutely annihilate all aggro Lists. Paladins, Hunter, Zoo and even Spitefull Decks generally just can´t kill you. Early Board Defense with Doomsayer, Tar-Creeper and Applebaum help you buy time, until you can start constantly chaining your removal. Your Lategame cards often don´t even need to be played, since you can stabilize long before that point. 

VS Control:

The Main opponents are obviously Warlocks in the Control Sector. The Match can go either way depending on the Draw. Cubelocks can be outgrinded, with Jaina and well timed Polymorphs, if you draw your Ooze to kill the Weapon you are in a very good spot. If they draw the Nuts, they can overwhelm you in the Midgame though.

Controllock is different, it basically all depends on if and when they draw Rin! When they Play and kill it on 7, you´re in trouble if not you´re favoured to win.

Worth mentioning is the new Hadronox Druid List, i faced it 5 times from Rank 1 to Legend and won every single game. Even though they got a lot of pressure lategame, your removal just lines up perfectly and the sheep from Polymorph messes up their Hadronox resummon. Once Jaina is up - you auto win the Match! 

VS Combo:

Shaman and the new Mind-Blast Priests are the only Combo Decks i faced. Shaman is really difficult, since this list is designed to grind out the opponent and doesn´t put on enough pressure to stop them from completing their Plan. Thankfully Shudderwock Shaman is godawfull and looses to everything else on the Ladder, so i only faced them 4 times and even managed to get a win once. Mind-Blast Priest is a lot better, i won 3/4, i don´t suspect we´ll see this list for long on the ladder.

 

Card Techs: 

I tried Vodoo Dolls but ended up cutting them for Tar-Crepper, the Deck just has enough removal and doesn´t need an Assassinate. It´s good with Jaina - yes -, but plying Jaina usually already wins you the Match, so it turned out to be a win-more card.

Lich King is an option, but i did cut it for Ooze, since i value the weapon removal more and The Lich King is more of an Midrange finisher, since lots of the Death Knight Cards are bad for our Gameplan! 

Alexstraza sucks without Ice-Block - Cut that shit! 

Applebaum is awesome, it´s body is sizable enough to matter and it does exactly what this Deck wants, which is buy time to play Jaina! 

Arcane Keysmith is probably the most interesting Card, i was unsure about it early on and honestly misplayed with it a bunch of times, but it turned out to be an absolute allstar in the Deck - it´s actually hard to play around the Secrets when you don´t know what to expect and it´s so flexible that it´s just good in every Matchup - Great Card! 

 

Replacements: 

Pyros: Maybe another Ooze or Bloodmage Thalnos.

Sindragosa: Lich King or Ysera or another Big value Minion!

Baron Geddon: Historically not a Legendary that´s been played a lot, but it´s excellent in this Deck. Once you played Jaina, he becomes a Big Bomb that AoE´s the Board and heals you to full. Mossy Horror could be a Techoption vs Aggro and Lich King or another Bomb vs Control.

Dragoncaller Alana: Hard to replace - you often play her very late so Deathwing works semi simmilar, Lich King or another Lategame Bomb would work probably, but i consider Alana by far the best option.

Jaina cannot be replaced at all! It´s the key card of the Deck and the entire Plan revolves around her. You can win without her against aggro Decks, but i would advise crafting her or playing something else.