Firestorm - Legendary control
- Last updated Jul 7, 2015 (Blackrock Launch)
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Wild
- 19 Minions
- 11 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Unknown
- Crafting Cost: 6860
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 11/5/2014 (Naxx Launch)
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Battle Tag:
N/A
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Region:
EU
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Total Deck Rating
1562
PLEASE READ
You love Mage? You are a control Player? Than its your deck. It has been successfully played in both legendary and non legendary Ranks, also i do strongly recommend reading the whole guide and asking after it, if needed.
Let me explain the Idea behind this (until now) new/different concept.
I tried to transfer the concept behind a control Warrior deck on a Mage with the best parts of a secret Mage and this is what came out. It took me very long to solve the issues against aggro decks, but now i can honestly say, that your having a good time against any type of deck, just like control warrior. If you have any questions beyond this Guide, feel free to contact me per PM or ask me on twitch.tv/brookandlyn and if you like it, leave a +1.
The Core
Frostbolt (2)
Counterspell (1)
Duplicate (2)
Kirin Tor Mage (1)
Fireball (2)
Polymorph (1)
Water Elemental (2)
Flamestrike (1)
Mad Scientist (2)
Unstable Ghoul (2)
Acolyte of Pain (2)
Loatheb
Sludge Belcher (2)
Sylvanas Windrunner
Slots for changes
Earthen Ring Farseer (1-2)
Counterspell (1)
Polymorph (1)
Sen'jin Shieldmasta (1)
Faceless Manipulator (1)
The Black Knight
Ragnaros the Firelord
Alexstrasza
Ysera
Pyroblast (1)
Cairne Bloodhoof
Harrison Jones
Acidic Swamp Ooze (1)
Arcane Intellect (1)
Twilight Drake (1-2)
Big Game Hunter (1)
Spellbreaker (1)
Ironbeak Owl (1)
Flamestrike (1)
Abomination (1-2)
FAQ
Q: Too little card draw?
A: No. This deck cycles well and you will quickly overdraw after using Duplicate + draw engine. If you desperately want more draw, add one Arcane Intellect as suggested above.
Q: I think some of your choices suck, can i replace X with Y?
A: Yes. Any Card I recommend for a swap is listed in the Section above.
Q: This deck seems slow, sucks vs aggro?!
A: I heared that quite often and its not exactly true. Im sorry to say that but playing mage is different from any other control Deck and you are more likely just unexperienced with it, besides it is "harder" to play than control Warrior. Even though i have to admit that this deck is not made as an aggro counter so you will have to make some changes if you want to build it like that. Be aware that it will hurt your control Matchup. The changes i do recommend are listed below in the specific Matchup section and will include most likely changes for Zoo (ofc suggestions for others), because against other aggro decks changes are not necessarily needed.
Q: How can i replace Alexstrasza?
A: I do not recommend replacing her because you can use her so fine for a heal against aggro decks. If you dont need her for that, i would suggest Pyroblast for the offensive nature.
Q: Is it possible to swap core cards?
A: Yes but i would be careful with that. One thing i can suggest : replace Kirin Tor Mage for a Spellbreaker
Q: Suggestions if facing a lot of Handlocks?
A: Big Game Hunter (1)
Q: Suggestions against Zoo?
A: Abomination, Zombie Chow
Videos - HOW TO PLAY CONTROL MAGE
VS Aggro Paladin
VS Aggro Hunter
VS Control Priest
VS Freeze Mage
VS Zoo
Mulligan and Rules
General rules against aggro : Try to mulligan for Mad Scientist, Earthen Ring Farseer, Frostbolt, Unstable Ghoul, than Sen'jin Shieldmasta and Acolyte of Pain. You want to draw into your Sludge Belcher, aswell as Flamestrike. It is important to understand that aggro Matchups are more a Battle for the Board and Life as for Resources, because its very likely that aggro Decks are running out of steam very quick (zoo loses his life). Therefore aggro Decks wont trade if they dont absolutely have to and that is the Key, you have to force them to do that and that is the Reason why taunted Minions are so good. Aggro Decks tend to establish a large board and taunt Minons force them to downsize it. Also you can see now why AOE is so good against aggro and why Unstable Ghoul and Earthen Ring Farseer are Keycards. Besides their body Ghoul is a taunted Minion which also provides AOE, while Earthen Ring gives you health. The Water Elemental on the other hand can keep weapon classes off your face and if your facing a lot of Weapon Classes, consider putting in Ooze is maybe worth it.
General rules against control : Mulligan for Mad Scientist, Water Elemental, Kirin Tor Mage, Frostbolt. One of my friends found fitting words for the key in control Matchups "once you can duplicate your 4+ Minions its gg anyway." If you get the combo Unstable Ghoul + Acolyte of Pain keep it. While control Matchups are much more complex than aggro, their general understanding is as simple as aggro. Its just the opposite, control Matchups are a Battle for Ressources first, than Board and after that Life. It constitutes the Reason why Duplicate is the Key Card in control vs. control, especially in combination with Sylvanas Windrunner. She alone is a Card which forces your opponent get a answer as she not just destroys his Ressources but steals them for you at best. Duplicate doubles that effect on her and on any other good Minion (Ragnaros the Firelord just for expample) in control Matchups which you now can hopefully understand a bit better.
Matchups
Hunter
Mulligan agressive for Unstable Ghoul, Earthen Ring Farseer, Mad Scientist, Frostbolt. Water Elemental and Acolyte of Pain are also a good keep. Every hunter will try to face you down as quickly as possible and therefore you have, as might noticed plenty of answers in this deck to stall their agression. Ghouls are very strong in this Matchups as they will rape Huffer, Haunted Creeper, Leper Gnome, Mad Scientist and Webspinner. Sometimes everyone at the same time.
Frostbolting Undertaker is a good play, otherwise save it for Houndmaster. Polymorph will take care of the Savannah Highmane and if you dont have it, use Fireball.
Dont be afraid of the Eaglehorn Bow, because once if you have a living Water Elemental, he wont be able to use it and its much more safe to activate his traps and even if your Elemtal dies, it will stall 6 Damage.
Counterspell is able to crush his Kill Command and your Farseer will keep you alive and also represent a solid body for the board. Acolyte of Pain seems weak but its likely that they will kill him also as soon as possible to denie you from drawing answers. Both is good for you!
Things you want to get duplicated : Ghoul,Farseer,Senjin, Belchers, Water Ele. Once you can duplicate one of them the Matchup gets highly in your favour Just watch out for a Flare but nowadays many of them only run 1 or even zero.
Priest
Keep : Frostbolt, Earthen Ring Farseer, Mad Scientist, Kirin Tor Mage, Fireball, Water Elemental.
Duplicate : Water Elemental, Sludge Belcher, Loatheb, Sylvanas Windrunner and any other 4+ Drop.
Frostbolting the Northshire Cleric is fine alswell as using it on a turn 3 Blademaster without Circle of Healing. Kirin Tor Mage is excellent here because of the 4 Attack and overall this Matchup is really ok. Priests will have a very hard time to deal with a duplicated 4+ drop and Flamestrike will almost certain kill all oh his Minions. Try to ping his minions over face unless he has Cleric in play, that implies you have Flamestrike ready and make him fear a boardclear even if you dont have it, it will make your trades easier for you. Counterspell is a very powerful tool because unless he has a Power Word: Shield or Coin it will hurt him very much to remove it. This is also why a duplicated Loatheb can seal the game right away. I cant really say much more here because fighting Priests is just a slow grind and you will do fine if your Duplicate does its Job. Just make Sure he cant Cabal Shadow Priest your Acolyte of Pain, Unstable Ghoul and Mad Scientist and not to get caught by Mind Control.
Warrior
Keep : Water Elemental, Mad Scientist, Kirin Tor Mage, Frostbolt, Earthen Ring Farseer, Acolyte of Pain
Duplicate : Water Elemental, Sylvanas Windrunner and your other 4+ drops (but Senjin)
Your goal : Denie his card draw and give him as little armor as possible.
How to do? Use Frostbolt on Acolyte when he is not already activated by Cruel Taskmaster. Try to maximum two hit a Armorsmith. Avoid playing your unstable gouls against his Armorsmith or Acolyte unless you hold a Frostbolt or have something on board which will deal with them right away. DO NOT play a duplicated Sylvanas Windrunner or other Legendarys if he hasnt already played his Brawl. Using Fireball for Baron Geddon or leftovers of Grommash Hellscream is a really good move, also you will try to save your Polymorph for his Ysera if he runs her. Always value Polymorph over Fireball. Once you can establish a good board and maybe duplicate your Water Elemental he will be forced to Brawl or use his hard removal on "just" a 4 drop which will lead in a huge advantage for you in the lategame.
Warlock - Zoo
First note : If you facing a lot of Zoo, make some changes or this will be a bad Matchup. Change for example Sen'jin Shieldmasta and one Counterspell for two Abomination.
Keep : Frostbolt, Unstable Ghoul, Mad Scientist, Sen'jin Shieldmasta
Duplicate : Unstable Ghoul, Abomination, Sen'jin Shieldmasta , Sludge Belcher
Your goal : Grind him out of Steam if possible
How to do? Make sure that your mulligan is agressive and hope for the best. Frostbolt his Undertaker, Knife Juggler, Flame Imp. Fireball his Doomguard, Dark Iron Dwarf, Nerubian and Flamestrike his board when possible. Even though this battle is almost entirely for Board and Life, you have sometimes to play it slow to make best use of your Hero Power. Even if it seems that this play can hurt you a bit more, but if that increases your chance of a great Duplicate it is often worth it. Use Alexstrasza for heal on yourself. Nothing more to say.
twitch.tv/brookandlyn
I rolled up this deck today for my "seven wins" quest, and earned the whole thing in one sitting, going 7-1, losing only to a control warrior after six straight victories. Even after my quest was completed, I won two more consecutive games before taking a break, for an overall record of 9-1 on the decks very first tests.
I don't have The Black Knight or Ragnaros the Firelord, so I ran Cairne Bloodhoof and Bloodmage Thalnos in their place because Cairne makes just about every deck he's in better, and we all know how backbreaking Duplicate and Thalnos can be.
I only had to play around Thalnos and Unstable Ghoul dis-synergy once, because nine times out of ten, you're holding Thalnos until he's relevant, or you can guarantee a duplicate, and he worked amazingly. I'm not saying it'd be super common, but during one game against a shaman, I had three Thalnos on the field because he walked right into duplicate twice. I'd say 1 Thalnos would be almost strictly better than 1 Arcane Intellect because of how easy it is to walk him into duplicates.
The core of the deck, as mentioned multiple times is Unstable Ghoul, Acolyte of Pain, Earthen Ring Farseer, and Sludge Belcher, and the deck definitely wants to see those cards all the time - running less than two of each would be a huge mistake, in my opinion.
The singleton Sen'jin Shieldmasta was useless and/or redundant in every single one of my matches, and I'd recommend dropping it for a second Polymorph, another legendary, or something that can silence.
This deck is legit. I suggest everyone who's thinking about it try it out. This may very well be direction mage decks start taking. Huge props to Brooklyn.
Also, in response to the complaints about zoo: remember your hero ability. Mage is pretty resilient to zoo inherently because you can just pick off 4-6 minions in their deck and Unstable Ghoul puts 4-8 more of them in ping range. Duplicate on Ghoul is pretty tough for them to overcome, and Duplicate on Sludge Belcher pretty much just wins the game outright.
The unsung hero of this deck vs. Zoo is Water Elemental because they have a really hard time getting rid of it. You can keep their board in relative check because Water Elemental can usually take 2-3 minions with it before it dies, and will almost always boil down to a 2-3 for 1 trade.
I just wanted to thank your for this good summary and to your point on [card]Sen'jin Shieldmasta[/card], i recommend Spellbreaker if swapped.
This deck is dog shit, whats the point of a deck that you have to change half the cards for depending on the meta. There's no consistency at all which is what is sorely needed.
That's how you play control. You actually have to think about your cards.
You probably only play hunter and warlock.
I've been playing this deck for the past couple days. Its very strong against control and favorable against hunters, I think. I'm having a lot of trouble against zoo, but thats been discussed to death already in the comments. I will try some variants with zombie chows and abomination to see if that helps.
I'm wondering how you feel about cutting the kirin tor mage. I feel like kirin tor mage and mad scientist are kind of awkward in the same deck, because they require different mulligan strategies to work properly. I usually mulligan away secrets in my opening hand, to try and get more mad scientist value, but this often leaves me with a no-value kirin tor mage stuck in my hand. Kirin tor mage into free counterspell is certainly a strong tempo play, but I rarely find myself with both cards in my hand at once. Additionally, kirin tor mage into duplicate seems kind of weak. I think the deck would function better if you only either kirin tor mage or mad scientist. I'm currently cutting the kirin tor mage for a zombie chow.
Hey there, thank you for your thoughts on the Kirin Tor Mage and i can agree with you in your point of view, also i have nothing to say against it. This is one of the personal opinions based on that she is there for you when having secrets in your hand but dont want to waste 3 mana just for a secret. I do recommend not to mulligan her which is why i never mentioned it so far. I guess a Zombie Chow wont hurt the Matchup against aggro ;) but i felt he is really weak when facing handlocks. The Abomination will work more constant, but i have to say here, i just dont like the chow so im maybe a bit blinded. Regardless, Zombie Chow and Abomination will increase your Matchup against Zoo by a high amount.
I had to comment on this deck. I love it. I was a little worried that it didn't carry any silence, and thought about trying to get at least one in, but I am terrorizing. It is fun to play also, much like a Grommash Warrior or the Deathwing Shaman, but doesn't rely,even a little, on gimmicks, just solid plays throughout, great job.
Thanks man, i appreciate that !
Hey that's not true. Polymorph also basically silences the target.
I do not recommend replacing her, but for agression Pyroblast works out. The strong negative side is you cant use Pyroblast defensively.
rogues are kicking my A, any pointers?
Rogues have a lot of answers, I found backspace to just be a bad matchup. This deck is fun but not really viable right now in the meta. It simply needs too many things to go right to counter aggro.
I havent any problems against Rogues because of double Counterspell , Loatheb , Earthen Ring Farseer and Frostbolt. It depends on drawing not too bad as always. I also got myself kicked by a Rogue, that happens but in general, you should be favoured.
Switch Senjin and Earthern Ring to Abom's... works well against Zoo with this deck, [Or at least Senjin for Abom]
Hey, thanks for that suggestion, it works out perfectly. Big thanks.
I have to agree with the comments regarding zoo. I have played a lot of games now and have not won any against zoo. Without a great draw and a near-perfect game I don't see how it can be done. I am doing great against priests, druids, and warriors. Hunter was about as ugly as zoo.
Zoo used to be just a bad Matchup, contrary to Hunter, they have a nearly infinite supply of Minions wich can overwhelm you easily in the end. That is based on the Decks tactic, to grind out your opponent due Duplicate, Warlock Hero power is able to counter it. I recently tested the Abomination and its a destroyer.
have enough dust for one legendary for this deck. Which one should I take?
Seems like Sylvanas is the heart of the deck. I would go for that one. Plus its very meta right now.