[LEGEND] Gunnolf's Wild Kalecgos OTK Giants Mag...
- Last updated Apr 28, 2019 (Rise of Shadows)
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Wild
- 14 Minions
- 16 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: TTK Mage
- Crafting Cost: 8880
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 4/10/2019 (Rise of Shadows)
- Gunnolf
- Registered User
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- 16
- 41
- 88
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Battle Tag:
00100100
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Region:
EU
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Total Deck Rating
1076
Come in and Warm your Frozen Boots by the Fire!
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Gunnolf, and I am originally from the Land Down Under a.k.a. Australia. I am an avid gamer that has acquired a real passion for card games, which originated from my humble beginnings as a Yu-Gi-Oh collector and eventually grew from my dabbling in Cardfight Vanguard and Buddyfight, until we reached the game we know as Hearthstone.
I've played Hearthstone since the days of classic, with multiple accounts on both EU and NA servers. Despite having reached the Rank of Legend and my own personal mentality of equating 'having fun' with 'winning', I am not really a fan of meta power-grinding & net-decking, not that there is anything wrong with that. Therefore, I enjoy thinking about new, cool and fun deck ideas that push boundaries while also allowing you to win and those are what I want to share with you guys every-time I post a decklist.
I have presently become a contributing writer to WILDHS and will be posting articles there on a semi-regular basis, regarding deck-archetypes the status of the meta as well as how to get the most fun out of this game even if you aren't a big spender. If any of this sounds interesting, then I highly recommend that you check out of the website, as the writers and the owner himself are some of the nicest people you'll ever meet with great in-game knowledge (link to be website can be found HERE). You can also follow me on Twitter for latest updates.
If you genuinely like my content and would like to see me produce more of it, then please consider supporting me on Patreon. This is by no means necessary but it will definitely help me out in the long run. Thanks for Reading ^^
Deck Introduction
Hey guys and welcome back. I am super excited to bring you the first of many decks involving the Mage Quest Open the Waygate. Today I discovered a super cool interaction with Archmage Vargoth where the quest reward Time Warp actually stacks. While that was not the initial win condition I was going for, it actually made the deck so much better as it truly adds consistency to it. So without anymore ado, let's get into the OTK/TTK stretegy.
Card Choices and Deck-building Explained
In this section, I will explain some of the card choices I opted for and the reasoning as to why they were included over potential counter-parts.
1) Banana Buffoon: This is probably the most efficient way to to trigger the quest count since each minion provides two cheap spells.
2) Magic Trick: Apart from giving our opponents the finger, the card itself allows for the discovery of random spells within a controled mana group ensuring that they are always castable.
3) Kalecgos: While a lot of people would be tempted just to include Vargaoth for the OTK, you can pull it off with this dragon as well. Therefore, since we have two ways to complete the combo it seriously increases the consistency of the deck.
(At the present time, only a few cards have been listed but I will include more if questions pop-up within the comments section regarding substitutions and why other cards were included.)
The Combo Explained OTK/TTK
Assuming you have completed the quest, here are in fact three ways to complete the quest:
a) Triple Turn OTK: Archmage Vargoth + Time Warp + x2 Arcane Giant (costing 0) -> Give you two extra turns to deal as much damage as possible.
b) Double Turn OTK: Kalecgos + Time Warp (costs zero thanks to the dragon's aura) + 2x Arcane Giant -> Next Turn you play Alexstrasza and set your opponent's life to 15. With 20 damage on the board and a free spell to be cast thanks to Kalecgos.
c) Classic Giants: 2x Arcane Giant + Time Warp (5 mana left to play discovered spells) -> Next Turn you play Alexstrasza and set your opponent's life to 15 with 16 damage on the board.
As iterated above, the reason I am running all the combos is for the sake for versatility. It is worthy of note that even outisde of the actual combo itself the cards function well independantly and add a decent amount of versatility to the deck.
Open the Waygate, Keep or Mulligan?
In certain circumstances and other quest decks, there is legitimate merit in mulliganing away the quest in order to increase your odds of discovering anti-aggro tools to deal with aggressive opponents. In this deck, I would in the vast majority of cases recommend not doing so. The main reason is due to the fact that the quest itself is your true win condition as such the only way you win even against aggro is by competing the quest and initially your OTK turn since there is no comeback mechanic like Reno Jackson.
Alternate Legend Deckbuilding
After a few discussions with readers and avid players of this kind of decks, a few alternate suggestions were brought forward that have real merit, especially since these changes were used to break into Legend and even reach top 50 Legend. As such, I would like to bring present them to you, thus allowing you to play around with the build.
Specifically, by substituting out some of the defensive cards and adding in more threats or threat generation you can substantially increase the amount of damage/ attacks your are capable of pulling off during your extra turns.
The cards you can replace are as follows:
-1x Mad Scientist &/or -1x Arcane Artificier &/or -1x Ice Barrier | +2x Molten Giants or +2x Echo of Medivh or a mix and match of both.
However, please do be careful when deciding what extra threats to run. Don't forget you run a very potent draw engine and spell generating cards. As a result, if your hand gets too clogged with unplayable giants you might burng the quest or Bananas.
Further to the above, there is also the twinspell variant inspired by another reader. Specifically, he capitalised on the fact that the second spell actually counts towards the question completion. As such, you can make the following substitutions:
-1x Ice Barrier & -1x Magic Trick | +2x Ray of Frost
-1x Kalecgos | +1x Conjurer's Calling
-1x Alexstrasza | +1x Kahdgar (entirely optional and not even necessary for the Twinspell build)
As a final note, if you want to, you can probably dispense with Kalecgos (I personally don't even when I play Molten Giant). In this particular deck, he is mainly included to increase versatility. However, I would always keep Alexstrasza. She is far too good at setting up lethal scenarios without Archmage Vargoth that her inclusion is warranted.
(As always special thanks to everyone that partiticpated in the conversations for their great insights and recommendations.)
Othe Gunnolf Decks
While I am still working on fresh new decks utilising the new cards from the RiseofShadows expansion, here are a couple of decks with updated guides and lists that do in fact use new cards to boost their strategy.
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Author's Notes
This was truly a lot of fun to make and a great way to combine two new legendaries with a flavor from Un'goro. The deck does require a significant amount of practice but if you are in any way acquanted with Exodia or Freeze Mage, then this deck should not present any problem to you.
I enjoy deck-building a multitude of interesting decks that are both entertaining and Legend viable (with some odd Free-to-Play lists mixed in). So if you like this deck (or anyone of my other ones) consider leaving a thumbs up, as it really helps in the long run! :)
Thank you guys for all your support and if you have any suggestions, let me know.
Check out my other decks!
>>> CLICK HERE <<<
That's a good question about Doomsayer. It's hard for me to answer without bias, especially since I pretty much got my Golden Mage almost excluisvely playing Freeze Mage, which the playstyle of the deck is somewhat modelled after. Personally, I run it because it stalls development and combos great with freeze effects but even when I got it silence, it was always ignored and thus a great target for the Bananas.
Additional freezes could work for sure. Probably Ray of Frost since it counts towards the quest but I'm still in favor of Doomsayer. Feel free to experiment however. ^^
In terms of dealing with taunts, I've found that small/medium taunts are not really an issue especially if you wait until the Archmange Vargoth Turn. Similarly, one voidlord isn't a problem with the same combo and especially if you're able to play Kalecgos on your free turn for a double aoe clear with Vargoth. The main problem is when there are multiple taunts.
Obsidian statue is a pain on its own and not really eaily dealt with unless you discover a Polymorph of any kind.
Big Priest is one of those annoying match-ups but when it comes to warlock in particular I find that milling them helps a lot.
I am also not sure about Doomsayer. He is very good in first 3 turns, but in a late game he is often useless. But i prefer keep him in deck.
As for big taunt minions. Last time i play against Big Priest he has two statues on a board. So i play four giants than Archmage for double extra turn, on next turn i play murloc and monkey to increase chances for my giants to survive after deathrattles triggers and than kill him. I think it is favorable matchup.
Yeah it's probably more of a favorable match-up with Quad Giants. I'll let you know what happens with this list. Last few times I faced BP I either lost caus of a turn 4 Barnes or highrolled with poly effects. So it needs more testing on my end :)
I have updated my current deck:
Manage to climb to top50 with it, so it is preatty solid :D
Awesome, nice going matey ;).
I've started using Moltens too after some playtesting and your recommendation. I'm still running Alexstrasza and Kalecgos through. I like the versatility too much. ^^
Edit: I cut the barrier and the scientist for them.
Nice) glad that my expirience helps you)
This deck is so cool, i cant remember when another one gave me so much of excitement!
Its like u almost want to concede but after a few turns, some crazy draws and rng u crush opponent face with a horde of giants!
Also its hard to play with it, and u need to think a lot and made right desicions to win a game)
Best way to play the game haha.
It reminds me of old miracle rogue with how much it can draw over several turns. Magic trick is just such a good card.
I think this and Holy Wrath Paladin are my two new go to combo decks now. That is until they unnerf (maybe) some druid cards. ^
Your string is wrong.. No molten there.
I've included the option to build the deck with Moltens in the guide. I switch between the two depending on whether I am facing aggro or control ^^
Thanks for another great deck! :)
Very fun and technical deck to play! Thanks for sharing. Even when I lose, the games are super fun/epic.
Thank you for playing it. It always makes my day to hear someone is having fun. You should also check out the reno variant if you like technical decks! :)
nice one
Thanks so much. I really appreciate it! :)
Heya Gunnolf, have you considered Ray of Frost? I find the card to be huge in terms of negative Tempo AND Quest completion at the same time. Do you think Arcane Artificer is so much better of a survival tool that it keeps you alive longer enough to complete the Quest anyway?
On the other hand, while playing another version of Vargoth Quest Mage, I also fell back to Banana Buffoon for consistency. But have you tested Mana Cyclone? Do you think it is an option, if the deck pilot is skilful enough?
Ray of Frost is really good no doubt. I use it in Odd Tempo Mage and in Reno Quest Mage on occassion. For this deck in particular though I prefer artificer cause it allows for multiple armor stacking if you play them right.
Mana Cyclone can be good but I don't like him for quest. He's a little bit like Kabalist tome. You have no idea what random trash you'll get and some of it might be unplayable :/
I see. Well, I kept my Ray of Frost so far.
But I introduced 1x Arcane Artificer back in my deck, and indeed it feels much safer now. In particular because Wild contains a whole lot of damage burst from hand, that board freeze cannot prevent. Basically, my list uses double Molten Reflection, and one can still be used out of the Combo, on Artificer.
Thanks.
Very interesting deck! I wonder if its possible to set up OTK with mimirons head, but maybe that would need too many combo pieces
Thank you. You should see my Reno Mage variant ~ that's even more interesting. ;)
Getting back to Mimiron's head, what you would need is 2 mechs and ideally 2 molten reflections. Threfore, right off the top of my head you can make the following changes:
-2x Arcane Giant | +2x Target Dummy
-1x Kalecgos | +1x Mimiron's Head
-1x Alexstrasza & -1x Archmage Vargoth | +2x Molten Reflection
Keep in mind that this is largely untested as I type it out but in theory it should work. The only thing you are losing the versatility of the win condition.
Play either Kale or Archmage doesn't seem to make much sense since in the end all you do is achieve the same result i.e. similar to what would happen if you play out Mimiron the two dummies and just time warp.
I'll do some testing and add it to the guide
thanks for the awesome suggestions ^^
Did you ever ended up trying this version?