Hearthpwn

Greetings,

If you are looking for cheap deck to defeat each boss in heroic mode, you are in the right place (checkout my profile to see the whole set).

This time again, we are quite happy because the deck is free to play (no legendary). In my case, I needed 2-3 tries to win.

Overview of the boss

Each player gains +5 spell damage. This is huge, and this is definitely an incentive to play a maximum of spells :-) The opponent's deck includes a lot of burst, some secrets, including Counterspell and Flame Wreath. To defeat this boss, you'll have to successfully play around these two secrets, and kill it as fast as possible!

Overview of the deck

Due to the spell damage bonus, your opponent can easily clear your board. So the plan is to do a maximum of direct damage with our own spell.

Burst: This is a race so Sorcerer's Apprentice will basically improve your throughput of burst damage (Arcane Missile, Cinderstorm, Forgotten Torch, Fireball, Firelands Portal, Pyroblast).

I will survive: Ice block gives you one more turn to defeat the boss. Animated Armor will be a prior target and hence "redirect" one burst. Moreover there is a trick (see next section).

One could wonder why this deck includes minions. Indeed, the Shade of Aran can easily kill them with an AoE. To undertand this let see how this deck is built. That is why we do not run Mana Wyrm for instance it dies to early, and an Arcane Missile deals definitely more damage..

Secrets synergy:  Mage's secrets (Counterspell, Explosive Runes, Mana Bind, Ice Block) are great in this matchup. That is why we play Arcanologist (to draw them as soon as possible) and Kirin Tor Mage (to play them for free).

Tricks

One weakness of the deck is to draw the card in a favorable order, especially for the two following tricks.

Flame Wreath: Most of time I observed that the first secret played by the Shade of Aran is precisely this one. My first idea was to play Rogue to trigger it with my hero power, but a Mill rogue does not survive long enough most of time. The heroic power of the mage is won't trigger this trigger, but Mage has the perfect answer: Animated Armor. If you play this minion T4 and go face T5, you will trigger Flame Wreath and only take 1 damage!

Avian Watcher: The opponent loves Avian Watcher and will probably plays this minion T5. So if you have set up an Explosive Runes, he will basically waste his turn!

Counterspell: Be very careful to not waste your best spells against opponent's Counterspells. Do not play your own Counterspells while the opponents still has The Coin in his hand.

Play on curve: (meaning, try to invest all your mana): play your minions as soon as possible because contrary to spell, they'll do damage over time. For the same reason, play Firelands Portal as fast as possible.

Chaos spells: Cinderstorm and Arcane Missiles can help you to clear the opponent's board and to finish them with your ping, but it an incredible source of damage if there is no minions against you.

Mulligan

• Animated Armor
• Arcanologist
• Kirin Tor Mage
• Arcane Explosion
• Explosive Runes
• Cheap spells

Possible replacements

• Some of you guys might regret the presence of some epics (especially Ice Block, which is now in the Hall of fame!). If you do not own them, try with Ice Barrier.
• Forgotten Torch is provided by the League of Explorers adventure. If you do now own them, you could probably play another burst spell.
• Maybe another Arcane Explosion to increase the probability to clear the opponent board.
• You could try some minions increasing spell damage (e.g. Bloodmage Thalnos, Tainted Zealot, etc), but remember they can be easily killed, that is why I did not considered this option.
• Pyroblast is not mandatory and could be replaced by another burst. But it is a good card and... I already have included the most relevant bursts in this deck :-)

I hope this deck will help you. If you enjoyed the decklist and the guide, feel free to upvote and to leave a nice comment :-)