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Tricaster Quest Mage

  • Last updated May 3, 2019 (Rise of Shadows)
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Wild

  • 9 Minions
  • 21 Spells
  • Deck Type: Ranked Deck
  • Deck Archetype: TTK Mage
  • Crafting Cost: 6380
  • Dust Needed: Loading Collection
  • Created: 4/7/2019 (Level Up Nerf)
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  • Battle Tag:

    N/A

  • Region:

    EU

  • Total Deck Rating

    302

View 19 other Decks by RavenSunHP
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Welcome! Fellow Seekers of the Arcane

 

Disclaimer

 

This is a VERY HARD deck to play, and definitely NOT A META-BREAKER. Play it carefully.

 I play this deck mainly to chillout: whenever I want to relax, I like to Discover spells and figure out the best way to use them.

 

The Real MVP: Ray of Frost

Would you like to play Cone of Cold and make it count for your Quest?

Well, Ray of Frost's second spell also contributes to the Quest, as well as with usual stalling purposes.

Basically this card plays the role of Cone of Cold (1 less target, no ping, but (2) mana cheaper!), as well as that of Magic Trick. In other words: playing Ray of Frost means stalling (surviving) and completing the Quest (winning) AT THE SAME TIME.

Also, unlike Cone, the Ray is much more flexible, as you can use it twice on a big minion, in different turns.

This entirely changed my deckbuilding, because it meant 2 extra free slots in the deck, and much less Tempo loss (which also means better chances of survival).

 

Main Strategy and Combo

This deck stems from the original Archmage Vargoth Quest Mage Theorycraft, envisioned a few days ago by other players. The idea is that the Quest with Archmage Vargoth requires less cards than the old Exodia Quest Mage, while generating a different kind of conditional OTK.

From there, I added Kirin Tor Tricaster for an increased damage option.

Either way, you can easily switch your Combo Package back to classic Exodia with Uncle Tony, while keeping the rest of the deck as it is. (see Replacements section below).

The main Combo of this Quest Mage requires the usual setup:

  • Survive long enough to draw all you need (the hardest part of the deck)
  • Complete the Quest and obtain Time Warp

Then comes the Combo, here in its basic form, see below for additional damage and required pieces.

  1. On an empty board on your side, play Archmage Vargoth + Time Warp (this will generate 2 extra turns for you)
  2. (extra turn #1) play 1xMolten Reflection (this will produce 4x Vargoths total)
  3. (extra turn #2) Greater Arcane Missiles (total: 45 damage)

Notice that Greater Arcane Missiles will deal damage also to enemy minions at random, so if you want to ensure lethal, you must count them in. If 45 is not enough damage, you can extend further the combo with different optional steps (you choose which ones fit best your game status):

  • at step #2, cast your 2nd Molten Reflection (total damage increased to: 63 damage)
  • at step #2, play Kirin Tor Tricaster as your last move (total damage increased to: 90-108 damage)

"The Math checks out!"

> NOTICE that you can actually attack with your minions during the Extra Turns. You can either trade to improve the efficiency of the Combo, or go directly to face, if the way is clear from taunts. This will generate up to +15 additional damage. 
Just make sure none of your minion dies in the process!

 

Mulligan & Tips

  • Always keep your Quest, but if you can, without wasting resources, avoid playing it on turn-1, and hide it as long as you can.
  • Always keep Mad Scientist and mulligan away Ice Block.
  • Magic Trick is a great turn-1 play, and it is surprisingly good to find more survival tools for the next turns.
  • The Coin counts toward the Quest.
  • Polymorph is your tech card, mainly for nasty stuff like Ragnaros the Firelord, Malygos, Mal'Ganis, but the spell is pretty versatile in Wild.
  • Arcane Artificer is a key card for survival: try to use it with board freeze effects, to ensure the best chances for the card to survive another turn, and stack up armor.
  • Try to use Arcane Artificer after your Ice Block has be popped: at this point, your opponent is likely to have spent their best resources to rush you down as fast as possible, so now they are vulnerable to stall. Additionally, this is helpful against Fatigue, in case you have to dig your whole deck for Combo pieces.
  • Finally, depending on the state of the game and that of your hand, your 2nd copy of Molten Reflection is not necessary for the final Combo, and can be used on Arcane Artificer or Doomsayer for extra survival.

 

Replacements

You can easily turn from the current Vargoth setup to old Exodia (1-2 more combo pieces are required for Exodia, but you are granted infinite damage instead of 45-108):

Finally, Polymorph or Stargazer Luna can be replaced with a series of cards, adjusting for different situations:

  • Novice Engineer (cheap cycle card, sometimes it's all you need)
  • Violet Illusionist  (to go back to the original wincondition option, based on Research Project and Mill, to be used against slower and/or draw-heavy decks)
  • Doomsayer for early board control (the card is pretty bad in later turns tho);
  • Harrison Jones against weapons (tons of them in Wild);
  • whatever else you like.

 

The Supreme Arcane Missiles Combo

This strategy sacrifices some consistency for an additional Combo piece, leading to slightly weaker middle options than the Tricaster version, but to a higher output in its full version (5 Combo pieces) . Tips to InfiniteAnswers for the Drakkari Enchanter.

  1. On an empty board on your side, Archmage Vargoth + Time Warp;
  2. (Extra Turn #1) play Molten Reflection, and then Cosmic Anomaly (this leads to up to 4x Vargoths or up to 3x Anomalies)
  3. (Extra Turn #2) play Drakkari Enchanter and then Greater Arcane Missiles (total damage depending on the outcome of the previous turn)

This leads to an upper total of 135-147 damage!

Depending on the package chosen, the Combo stages (with required combo pieces, i marked the stages with higher damage efficiency per number of pieces) are:

Tricaster + tech card: 45 (3), 63 (4), 90-108 (4), NA.
Cosmic + Enchanter:  45 (3), 63 (4), 75-84 (4), 117 (5), 135-147 (5).
Exodia:                         NA (3), NA (4), infinite (5).

Basically the best package depends on the average required damage, and on its variance. If ~100 is generally enough, the Tricaster package is better, if you consistenctly need more, Cosmic+Enchanter is better.

For a completely different take at Open the Waygate, check this deck:

Library Miracle Mage Tempo Mage Deck by RavenSunHP - Apr 30, 2019
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