Hearthpwn

AKA The Brotherhood of the Boom, Bomb Mage or I Like Big Bombs And I Cannot Lie

With the cards coming in the new expansion I can finally live my dream. My dream of a deck entirely made out of bombs and bombers. If it doesn't explode it can get right out of my face! 

Core Cards

The core cards to this deck are obviously the ones with stuff like 'Bomb' or 'Explosive' in the title. Explosive Sheep, Mad Bomber, Madder Bomber, Bomb Lobber and Dr Boom are absolutely indispensable. 

 

Why Mage?

Mage is the only class with a lot of explosive class spells. This includes Pyroblast, the biggest bomb of all!  They also get Goblin Blastmage, a neat little bomber who can trigger off Demolisher or Explosive Sheep. Mage has enough explosive spells that it is honestly just down to taste which ones you want to include. 

As well as the aforementioned Pyroblast, I took Fireball for its efficient and reliable explosion damage, Arcane Explosion because it had the word Explosion in it and Vaporise because it explodes enemy attackers. You might choose something different, like Antonidas for his constant supply of fireball bombs or Arcane Missiles for a cheap Mad Bomber-lite effect. Mage has a lot of bombs!

 

Playstyle

Uh, you play to control the board I guess? I can guarantee that things on both sides of the board will be dying like crazy. It'd probably be for the best to control yourself when playing minions as they have a very high chance of teamkilling each other. Chances are that your minions are going to get all up in each other's grills a whole lot. All of the decisions on when to play a bomb minion into a board that already has many other bomb minions will require a great deal of precision and skillful play.

And thats it. You play the bombs, they explode and then at some point you win? Honestly this seems infallible, future Blizzcon 2015 winner here for sure.

 

Hold on, for a deck this obviously complex I'm gonna need an individual card breakdown. Please grant me your wisdom as the strongest deckbuilder on this site.

Sure thing, friend. Allow me to walk you through my tour de force.

Explosive Sheep: A sheep that explodes. Have you ever played Warcraft III? You know that shit is tight. As a Mage you can detonate it yourself immediately if you want. Good at stopping early aggro and your own 2 health minions.

Arcane Explosion: Basically a smaller sheep explosion that doesn't hurt your own units. Doubles in power with Wild Pyromancer out and can give your many other explosions the extra bit of AOE damage they just might need. Don't bother using it unless it helps kill at least two enemy minions or you're desperate.

Mad Bomber: You all know him and love him. This unsung hero of Arena is finally ready to take Constructed by storm! You must have faith in him. Equally good for killing enemy minions, hurting the enemy's face, hurting your own face and killing your own minions. But then again, a lot of your minions explode on death so this could be considered a Plus. 

Unstable Ghoul: Straight outta Compton Naxxramas, this fella is basically a Voidwalker with an Arcane Explosion stapled onto it. Good against early aggro, his Deathrattle can also blow up your Sheep, your Bomb-Bots, etc, potentially starting a massive chain reaction. I don't actually know why a Ghoul explodes, I assume it's a WoW thing? 

Wild Pyromancer: You might have noticed by now this deck has a lot of 2-drops. Well, here's the thing. A lot of these 2-drops don't want to be always be played on Turn 2 necessarily. Wild Pyromancer is a good example. Pyromancer can explode up to two times, making him extremely good for this deck. He's also just a 3/2 for 2 even if you have to drop him without anything to combo.

Vaporize: No other Mage secrets even remotely count, sorry. As well as exploding the next enemy to attack your face, this card can also be used to play mindgames against your opponent. No, not that Mindgames. They'll be expecting just about literally any other Secret except Vaporize, granting you the element of surprise.

Demolisher: The Demolisher does not actually explode by itself but it's basically a cannon that shoots bombs. It's going to be a Mech card too when GvG actually hits, giving it that all-important Mech synergy that only matters for one card in this deck.

Fireball: Extremely cost-efficient, extremely versatile directed explosion. Can be used to destroy annoying fatties or to help burst the opponent down for lethal. Just imagine some smug fucker, probably a Warlock yeah let's say a Warlock, that smug douchebag happily about to kill you in his next turn and feeling safe with having completely cleared your board and all while still being on 13 Health. He thinks he's safe. He is not.

Goblin Blastmage: Goblin Blastmage is just a really good card. A 5/4 for 4 mana with an improved version of Arcane Missiles if you have a mech out? Noice. You can trigger his effect with the Demolisher, Explosive Sheep or a Boom-Bot and even if he's not triggered he's still pretty good stats. But he still wouldn't make the cut if it wasn't for the fact that his Battlecry randomly blasts things. Yes please.

Abomination: The OG living bomb minion. Younger living bomb minions like Explosive Sheep and Unstable Ghoul are on his lawn and he is mad as hell about it. Acts as a slightly slower counter to both enemy aggro and your own creatures. He's also another lynchpin in setting off extreme chain reactions.

Bomb Lobber: Better than he looks, most of the time. If you can control where the bomb is gonna land by killing other minions, Bomb Lobber becomes very good. Wipes his butt all over concealed Auctioneers. 

Madder Bomber: THE KING HAS ARRIVED. I can only dream of the theoretical Maddest Bomber. Some people have been concerned that he may make Mad Bomber feel envious and inadequate. In my personal Hearthstone fanfictions I prefer to imagine them having a more brotherly relationship and a shared mutual respect as another member of the Brotherhood of Boom. NOTE TO OTHER FANFICTION AUTHORS: BOMBER/BOMBER YAOI SHIP IS NOT CANON, IT IS PURELY PLATONIC

Baron Geddon: Fire-aspected Elementals are not only extremely cool, they are all also very explosive and burning. This is good.  And the good Baron is by far the most explosive of them all. He just never stops exploding, it's sort of ridiculous! A wise word of warning: Do NOT play Baron into a board that contains two Explosive Sheep and an Unstable Ghoul or anything similar. As long as you can dodge this hurdle he owns bones.

Dr. Boom: The Godfather of the Brotherhood of Boom. Doesn't personally explode, he has people for that. He is 9/9 worth of stats for 7 mana which is great and there is no fucking way that the opponent is going to silence both of your Boom-Bots so the value only increases from there. Even more importantly for this deck is that the Boom-Bots all only have 1 health, making them extremely volatile and they will trigger on the deaths of any of your explosive minions. Now attacking your Explosive Ghoul carries even more of a drawback.

Flamestrike: Flamestrike is a bit of extra insurance. You're already putting down a LOT of AOE damage upon the board but adding more can't hurt. I originally disqualified this card for not being an explosion in the card art but if Fireball is in I don't see why this isn't.

Ragnaros the Firelord: Oh boy we getting ALL of the Molten Core boys in here today. Well not Magma Rager but we don't talk about Magma Rager. Ragnaros is often disparaged for being too random but if anything, his inability to hurt your own minions makes him one of the most consistent and reliable cards here.

Pyroblast: The biggest direct-damage bomb there is. Emoting 'Sorry' before using this for lethal is mandatory and makes you a better person.

Deathwing: If Pyroblast is the ultimate in direct damage, Deathwing is the ultimate in board clear. The problem here is that he's also the ultimate in destroying your own hand, which is sort of bad. The sort of YOLO required to play Deathwing as anything more than a desperation play is a level of YOLO far above that of Mad Bomber or Ragnaros. Excellent counter to Mill decks??????

Flame Leviathan: OH BABY. OH BABY. OH MAN. I hope you're ready for your board to blow up literally any time because Flame Leviathan is here and you have absolutely no control over when his explosion happens. YES PLEASE.

I am pathologically unable to play Mage but do not want to be excluded from the incoming Bomb Meta. What do I do?

Fear not, my child. The answer is, like it is to so many of your Hearthstone laddering woes, to play Hunter. Keep all the neutral cards and take out the ten Mage cards. Then add the following:

2x Explosive Trap

2x Explosive Shot

2x Hunter's Mark

2x Flare

2x Doomsayer

Unfortunately I do not consider Bomb Hunter to as be as good for the theme for Bomb Mage. I had to really reach for some of those cards. That said, we are all equal within the Brotherhood of the Boom and the appropriate reaction of a Bomb Mage meeting a Bomb Hunter is not that of disgust or pity but simply respect for another connoisseur of the explosive arts.

 

ANOTHER UPDATE: FLAME LEVIATHAN IS REAL AND STRONG AND HE IS MY FRIEND, GvG COMING OUT ON THE 8TH. GET READY BOYS

 

UPDATE: RARE UNEDITED FOOTAGE OF THE LADDER DURING EXPANSION LAUNCH DAY