69.7% WR [update] KafkeKretz's Keysmith Mage [l...
- Last updated May 6, 2018 (Witchwood)
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Wild
- 12 Minions
- 17 Spells
- 1 Weapon
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Aggro Mage
- Crafting Cost: 6340
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 4/22/2018 (Witchwood)
- KafkeKretz
- Registered User
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- 7
- 24
- 69
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Battle Tag:
N/A
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Region:
EU
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Total Deck Rating
584
Hi there!
- With almost 4k wins with mage, I decided to post another deck I used to reach legend this season.
- My previous deck: 66.7% WR [legend] KafkeKretz's Secret Geyser Mage got over 250 likes and over 150k views with many people reporting to reach legend for the first time with it (see Succes Stories and comments).
- The deck is not super-new but it uses the different combination of cards then decks we can see on the ladder right now
- I am posting after reaching legend instead of high legend as this season I don't really have tome to play more :(
- It took me 65minutes to reach legend from rank 4 with this deck
- I strongly believe mage has great matchups against every other deck including Paladins and control decks
Same as with the previous deck:
- With 75 likes I will post mulligan and general strategies
- With 150 likes I will post general tips useful for almost all Aluneth decks
Note: sorry to be little late with additional tips, I am unfortunately traveling and to be honest didn't expect deck to be that popular - I will add tips as soon as possible!
Changelog:
- 22.04.2018 - deck created
- 24.04.2018 - featured video from kiwiinbacon
- 24.02.2018 - added mulligan and general strategies after reaching 75 likes (Thank you all!)
- 25.04.2018 - DECK UPDATE: I replaced Archmage Arugal with Mirror Image I still believe the deck is very good against almost all other decks but since there are fewer Rogues and Warlocks (best matchups) I am not recommending it if you are not mage specialist
- 28.04.2018 - Deck confirmed as Tier2 deck (vicious syndicate report) however, I believe the Keysmith variant should perform as tier 1
- 28.04.2018 - deck reached over 100 views and 200 likes. Thank you all sooooo much!
- 28.04.2018 - highlighted a very important comment that should help you understand the deck more than any of my tips PLEASE READ THIS COMMENT from Tharvolde (thank you dude!)
- 06.05.2018 - Updated the deck to its final form.
I am now working on Dollmaster Dorian Hadronox Druid. Let me know in the comments if you are intersted in the deck like this;-)
Success Stories (from comments!)
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http://prntscr.com/j9kfaw
"from rank 17 to rank 10 in less then a day. i posted once alrdy but tnx a lot. didnt play for a long time so ididnt think i'd reach this far this soon ;)
I hit legend with this deck in idk 2, 3 days? I have hit legend twice before, back when I first played three years ago. Gotta say this deck reminds me of mech mage from G&G.(...)
I reach legend for the first time with this deck.
(i’am a casual player in HS since 2014)
Very good deck , i reach legend with 64% WR (23-13) today, worst match up was baku hunter i lost every single game against them, but i only face 3 of them so it wasn't a big deal .
Also the mulligan guide is great, helped me a lot to understand the matches.
Thanks a lot.
- Malt
I'm really enjoying this deck. Rank 15 to 10 with 63% win rate
- NaskaraKaBigML
Played 12 games so far and won all, Im now at rank 6
- Malt
KafkeKretz, I had to give you an update on how much I'm loving this deck. Went from rank 15 to rank 5 with a 70% win rate (44-19). I actually had more wins than losses against every single class.
Mulligan strategy
- there are less early game synergies than in the previous-meta-secret-mage so mulligan is much simpler
- always mulligan hard for 1 and 2 drops
- Aluneth is a keep vs Warlock and Priest but only if you have at least 1 drop or 2 drop and coin, never vs Paladin
- I always keep Explosive Runes if I have a drop (but never leave Aluneth and Runes
- the priority is: Cheap Minions > Explosive Runes > Aluneth
- don't leave cheap spell in hand to combine it with Mana Wyrm - you really want minions!
General tips:
- you want minions and you want to go face in almost every matchup
- Arugal can be played tempo but only very early - this way you force the opponent to react and this slows him down and very likely he will valuable waste resource. Don't play him if the opponent has a good trade and if you can't combine him with Arcane Intellect or Aluneth (unless you have nothing else to play or not even a good ping)
- ping is important so after playing a minion don't play Frostbolt, just ping face instead (the rare situation is if you have good curve and Aluneth in hand (you wanna dump cards))
- Arcane Keysmith is awesome for extra dmg (Explosive Runes) or for 4x Counterspells
- Arugal can be switched for Frost Nova (if you play a lot vs even paladin and priests) or Spellbreaker vs Warlocks (I still think Frost Nova might be a better choice)
- Cinderstorm is great 5dmg to the face if the board is empty but always keep it for trades vs Paladins.
- against heavy minions classes (basically non-paladin) if you don't have Mana Wyrm in starting hand but you have Arcane Missles you can play them on turn 1 (it's always 3dmg to face!)
vs Warlock
- the matchup is pretty straightforward as Warlock doesn't play many early minions
- it is fine to use Counterspell to counter coin but obviously, it is better if you can hit Hellfire and protect your board
- the best choice from Arcane Keysmith is Counterspell or Mirror Entity as Warlock has minions with high HP, but(!) mind board state and always keep in mind Lord Godfrey on turn 7
- play Spellbreaker on Possessed Lackey instead of trading and silencing Voidlord as the latter one will trade with your board
- if Voidlord is on the board don't trade in with 3/3 Mana Wyrm, let him trade and waste turn (unless your Mana Wyrm is like 7/3)
- vs Warlock you usually win in turns 4-5 not with late Pyro as in the previous meta
vs Priest
- do not over-invest turn 3-4 if you expect Duskbreaker. It will clear your board so ideally you want to have Explosive Runes and minions refill
- pick freezing effects from Primordial Glyph
vs Paladin
- you really want minions but depending on what you get you might consider leaving Arcane Missles in hand
- pick freezing effects from Primordial Glyph vs even version (blizzard is perfect)
- remember to protect your Sorcerer's Apprentice with ping + trade vs even paladin (you don't want to die to token on the board + Dire Wolf Alpha
- it is ok to Counterspell coin to slow down Call to Arms (especially with Keysmith in hand!)
- turn 4 they might play weapon so it is ok to freeze face with frostbolt instead of just pinging (if you have something to protect)
- Cinderstorm is a keep if you have 1 and 2 drop
vs Mage
- Don't give too much credit to counterspell
- Trade with spells not minions
- If you feel or you tested and know he played Counterspell sacrifice yours instead of sacrificing Explosive Runes. Damage will be important than spell if you want to win.
- This matchup is not race - it is fight for the board
vs Hunter
- don't play minion before testing his secrets
- this is easy matchup you are just faster
- Counterspell [/card]might be a keep instead of [card]Explosive Runes
vs Rogue
- easiest and most straightforward matchup, the mage is extremely favorable against ANY rogue
- the only way to lose is to never draw secret or keysmith but it is hard to imagine
vs Druid
- I was surprised how easy this matchup is (in previous meta it was very bad)
- same as vs Hunter Counterspell is a keep over Explosive Runes
- it is ok to put Fireball into Crypt Lord if you have minions on the board
vs Shaman
- Secrets destroy shamans it is hard to imagin to lose versus Shaman (are there any anyways?)
vs Warrior
- pick Explosive Runes, Mirror Entity or Frozen Clone from Arcane Keysmith / Primordial Glyph
- trade with spells as loosing board early might lose you the game, Warrior has bad draw that you should counter anyway so try to win early/mid-game
- Tank Warrior is the hardest matchup so ideally you want to play a lot of minions early and counter Brawl, in general you need to be lucky to win this one as the deck does not play Archmage Antonidas
Video showcasing the deck from great guy kiwiinbacon
Note on screenshots below:
- 23/10 is with this variant only. I was testing other cards (like Vex Crow, Lifedrinker, Elementals or Frost Nova but eventually decided that Arcane Keysmith is the best choice.
- I never play Casual especially while testing new variants. This is very well known bug from Track-o-bot (read more here)
I think arugal doesnt fit in the deck to well. Its ok but i think pyros or mad bomber may be a better choice. Arugal is only good if you play him early and the opponent cant answer him immediately and in later turns mostly a dead draw. Intellect + arugal is a slow combo and a big tempo loss. Often you loose the board on turn 5-6 and then want to start to burn the face. so an additional wyrm or apprentice from arugal doesn't matter much because you'd rather burn the face than playing some small minions which cant contest the board or get easily removed.
Arugal is good in this deck, even if it doesn't draw you any additional minions, it makes your opponent want to kill Arugal instead of your Mana Wyrm or other damage dealing minions, which helps you buff up Mana Wyrm even more for the next turn. And when you do have Arugal with Aluneth, it's insane value.
Stats are in casual mode guys...
Oh wow it is!
"I never play Casual especially while testing new variants. This is very well known bug from Track-o-bot"
Fun deck, I had given the Vex Crow mage deck a shot, and it was okay, but this has been performing much better. Haven't played seriously since probably 2015, so my collection is quite limited, but this isn't an overly expensive deck! Has pulled me from rank 20 to 15 in about half an hour I'd say. Currently replaced Arugal with another spellbreaker. Thanks for the deck! More climbing to be done!
5 games 5 pallys 5 loses kkk
Cinderstorm also surprised me! good against paladins and it is always 5dmg to face with empty board;-)
First game was against Voidlock and they got the weapon out... pretty smooth win on my part! Hoping this will be my supplement to Secret Mage from last season!
what the fuck is void lock
Im getting like 53% winrate in Rank 13. Pretty fun deck, but I feel there is something missing to be more competitive (A board cleaner, perhahps?).
sorry to hear that:( maybe tips will help? some people find success with it, also what is the sample?
0% win rate so far for me, 4 games in.
i've replaced spellbreaker for polymorph, because of big taunts (voidlords) or something else that need to be polymorphed, sometimes silenced isn't enough. I know it's not sinergy with archmage... It's a mistake KafkeKretz?
might work but in games where you don't have big target to silence it is better to have 4/3 minion, for example vs Palain you can silence 1/1 taunt and go face with everything on board while adding 4/3, with Poly you just leave them with 1/1 sheep and you add nothing to the board. vs Warlock you will lose the board anyway so again: something on the board means they have to trade (see tips vs Warlock)
Thank you. I used to play with silence (double) or one poly even in last meta. I take places in deck by removing 1 of the arcane intellect, but with arugal i don't feel it's a good move so now There is only 1 place. I did the same your thinking about put a 4/3 minion instead of leaving him with a 1-1. I will retry spellbreaker instead of poly.. maybe i've got just unlucky matches or make some missplays. Thx again :)
Do u have any replacements for keysmith x2 and Arugal?
I'm missing the keysmiths and primordial glyphs. I subbed in Vex Crow for the Smiths, which is another type of aggro deck maybe, but it's been working.
I would suggest Elisa Trailblazer if you're missing Argual. The pack might be overkill, but it could give you some final steam after Aluneth has run your deck.
Arcane Keysmith is crucial for this deck. If you don't have them you should try different version like Vew Crow one. See general tips for Arugal replacements
Ive been playing the Vex Crow deck and i made it to rank 8 but i was wondering if maybe this deck would work better cos im used to playing secret mage