** Highlander Mage - Zephrys Revenge **
- Last updated Aug 7, 2019 (Saviors of Uldum)
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Wild
- 20 Minions
- 10 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Khadgar Mage
- Crafting Cost: 20940
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 8/7/2019 (Saviors of Uldum)
- AsherWare
- Registered User
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- 2
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- 41
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Total Deck Rating
19
This is the highlander Mage deck I've been running on ladder around Rank 7 (EU) with great success.
It's shown no signs of slowing down and doesn't seem to have any hopeless matchups and many strong ones.
Zephrys the Great is an extremely strong card and this list is designed to be able to play him more than once in slower matchups.
We achieve this by either Getting another copy with Barista Lynchen (hopefully with some other strong Battlecry cards on the board although Zephrys the Great is strong enough to copy on his own) or by the combo of Archmage Arugal + Sandbinder that will either draw you Zephrys the Great and a copy or Siamat and a copy or Mountain Giant and a copy.
Zephrys the Great is usually the preferred pull but I think you will agree that drawing two Giants or Siamats is never going to feel bad.
Reno the Relicologist has seen some mixed responses from the community but is still a strong option here, and can clear token boards or a big threat on his own and often get you back in the game if things are going wrong.
Your hand is often quite full with a lot of cards replacing themselves or drawing so Astromancer is another strong choice in this deck and can be a great target for Barista with whatever it summons.
Luna's Pocket Galaxy was hopeless at 7 mana but is now a very playable card at 5 and if you're up against a slower deck it's often worth keeping off the mulligan if you can play it on 5 without being too far behind then your opponent is in for a really bad time.
Conjurer's Calling is a completely busted card. I think it would be viable without the Twinspell keyword. It's that strong.
Giant is the preferred target but with a lot of big minions in this deck don't be shy about throwing it down on anything that costs 6 and above if you haven't drawn your giant.
Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron is a super fun card that can swing a game or finish a stubborn opponent on its own.
With the Naga Sand Witch , we can reduce our Pyroblast ,Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron, Blizzard and Flamestrike by slapping a 5/5 body for 5 on the board. With big spells, the Sunreaver Warmage is an easy include and stays active after the discount.
That's an incredibly good deal and a huge discount that can swing games.
Arcane Keysmith: I don't think I've played this once without it giving me the Flame Ward option. Bye, bye aggro.
Vulpera Scoundrel This card is bonkers. Has impressed me a LOT in the games I've played. You can find really useful spells off of it and it has been fantastic in all the games I've played with it.
Matchups:
Warrior: Something has to go badly wrong to lose against Warrior. They can't cope with this deck.
Priest: The quest priests I've played just get overwhelmed before they can get online and start fighting back usually. This deck is swing play after swing play.
Shaman: The Shaman quest is NUTS and this is a tough matchup but in no way unwinnable. I'm around 50/50 with the ones I've played against.
Druid: Another very strong quest for Druid but this deck should be favoured
Warlock: We have a lot of zoo control options here so unless they go lackey mad with their quest this is usually favoured.
Paladin: The reborn decks I've come up against are a pain, as they can create very sticky boards that spiral out of control quickly but again, it's far from unwinnable.
Hunter: I haven't seen a ton of them on the ladder but I think this deck can keep up with their aggression.
DISCLAIMER:
These are EARLY days in the meta and this deck is expensive. Don't go wasting all your dust if you don't have a lot on this deck since you should wait for the meta to settle first.
This deck will probably stay competitive though if I had to guess. It had a lot of aggro tools and insane value in the long game.
It really doesn't have a lot of weaknesses even with the one of restriction. There are some really strong cards this expansion (and a lot of them) which makes Highlander decks very viable.
If you have the cards or dust to burn though, this is one of the most fun decks out there. Good luck!
Nice deck and nice explanation! Guides should be like these both for begginers and advance players.
Keep the good work!
Fun. Played only a couple rounds. As is usual with highlander decks, sometimes your draws just suck. But compared to the old reno highlander deck, this has a lot of versatility and plenty of options. I played it on ladder in Rank 10 and managed to climb to Rank 8 within the hour.
Other decks can certainly be competitive at a much lower dust cost. Since I already had all of the cards, it was well worth my time. Thx. :)
The problem with people that have a lot of legendaries is they sometimes don't include a lot of thought into deckbuilding and they just throw in a card because it SEEMS good right?, i thought it was only a thing in wild, this deck can easily be made without at least 5 legendaries(Archmage Arugal,Luna's Pocket Galaxy,Kalecgos,Barista Lynchen,Siamat, and Alexstrasza) I was even generous enough to leave Khadgar in because unlike most greedy lists like this i've seen you are playing Conjurer's Calling AND Power of Creation where most lists i personally have seen only run khadgar with just power of creation. Reno the Relicologist is not a card that i have played or seen played but i have a soft spot in my heart for it as a "Meteorologist that always deals 10 damage"
I have already talked about khadgar and reno so now let's talk about why i think the legendaries i threw out already i don't think belong.
Archmage Arugal i feel only belongs because you decided to run all these other minions and if i'm kicking out most of the minions it's pretty redundant, not to mention the fact that i might be a bit biased here because i also made a burn mage deck like this one without many minions myself, so use your own brain on this one, because mine is not to be trusted.
Luna's Pocket Galaxy Second verse same as the first, if we're slimming down minions this isn't as good, compare it to the new warlock quest where after they draw 20 cards(give or take a plot twist) they are topdecking cards that cost 2 mana, when you have a lot of potential high rolls it's good, but like i said with arugal i'd kick out most of the "high rolls"
Kalecgos is a card i don't have a real argument for, if you have a copy feel free to include it since it fits with the khadgar package, really well, however it is really slow and most of the time you trying to dig for something specific like another boardclear with it's battlecry in my experience rather that just more 6 cost minions
Barista Lynchen having played this card myself my ape brain tells me it's really slow, and smart opponents know to kill high value battlecries if i don't play this simultaneously with them, since apparently everyone sees this as an "autoinclude" card. Is this a good enough include for double Zephrys the Great? I doubt it because in my experience of playing 30 games with zephrys after you play him you're usually far enough ahead to win soon anyway to where it's redundant, and other than him there's no real use of her with any card except maybe sunreaver war mage, Naga Sand Witch, or with The Coin
Alexstrasza we will talk about before siamat because i feel i will have a bigger section for him. If you're playing a majority burn mage deck(which once against is an opinion based off my ape brain comparing this to my similar deck i made so use your own brain) you are planning on getting your opponent to less than 15 health by the time turn 9 comes around, and since this is a singleton mage deck where you are limited on boardclear, against aggro you probably won't live to turn 9 to buffer yourself with the 15 health either.
Siamat the new "autoinclude" card for every deck so they keep saying. Personally i think it's overrated.(again ape brain use your own) I would rather have a Khartut Defender in most situations over this, or even a Rotten Applebaum, or witchwood grizzley, or Rabble Bouncer, Conjured Mirage and i'm done naming neutral cards that are cheaper in both dust and manacost
This is not all gospel it's opinion from someone with an biased ape brain take it seriously based on your own ape brain.
I didn't make this long rant because my deck is better than yours and i have a bigger internet penis than you do, my deck sucks, it literally says "Just play reno as a 6 mana 4/6" you clearly put more thought into it than i ever will, i made this rant because i didn't sleep last night and i am on enough caffeine to kill a horse right now, with no vent for it except the computer in front of me.
Upvoted deck btw
I like trying fully made decks then trying to take out a lot of the legendaries and making it as budget as possible, and I have to say I LOVE the comments you made. Mostly the Barissta, Archmage, and Alex. Siamat I have used a lot and I really like but DO think is slightly overrated but still a very good card, Kalecgos is nice but not NEEDED either, same with pocket galaxy (except with all the big minions it is actually quite strong but if you take out these big minions I feel like it would be easier to take out. I have to ask, what win conditions will you have in the deck if not these bombs though, cause they are all strong cards in their own rights and I will figure something out but you were very smart with your initial opinions and I would love to hear some more.