Hearthpwn

Above: proof of legend over different seasons. The screenshot outside the spoiler is the one I made on 5 January 2016

 

Updating

 

Hello, I'm Sjoesie, a legend belgian hearthstone player. At this point, I've been legend for about 11 times, and most of the times I hit it with this very deck: echo mage. Post-TGT echo mage got a lot weaker due to other decks getting huge powerspikes, while echo mage in particular didn't really get anything valuable in order to keep up. Not even LOE was able to change this fact, hence echo mage was considered dead by a lot of players. I continued playing it however, and finally found a version that works good overall. Below is the explanation of the deck as well as other useful information, so feel free to try it out and give your opinion on the deck ^^ 

You can always scroll down the changelog in order to try an other version. None of the previous versions are bad, and they're not even necessarily outdated. This is the version closest to what I'm playing at this point, and is just another alternative to play the deck.

Questions? You want to see me this deck and others? Any suggestions? Then you can join my channel: http://www.twitch.tv/sjoesie_hs

Also, a huge shoutout for RUZ3, a totally awesome team! You can check their twitter here: https://twitter.com/RUZ3GAMING

Pros/Cons:

Pros:

• Good waveclear with Explosive Sheep and Flamestrike.
• The opponent rarely knows what you're playing until turn 4/5 -> Mindgames!
• Decent drawing power
• Rarely running out of minions with echo and duplicate.
• Doesn't have a hard counter
• Doesn't only rely on molten combo (mainly vs control)

Additionally, this deck is extremely fun to play and you'll have a lot of interesting matches. Every turn can be played in a lot of different ways, meaning that you have to make choices according to the situation each time, which is awesome for people who like tactical games.

Cons:

• Bad single target removal, with only Polymorph (the addition of Ethereal Conjurer partly solved this problem)
• You can easily run out of waveclear if used too early.
• People can play around your moltens
• Kezan Mystic is a huge problem, so is Loatheb.
• Can get outbursted early game before you can draw into your combo.

This deck has a lot of cards which are useless early game (near half of your deck probably), which means you can have extremely horrible hands.

General Tactic:

Split up in early, mid and late. This is the case against most decks, but you'll get to late faster against aggro than you would against control. Just try to feel in what phase you're in.

1. Early, Draw : Try to draw as much as possible early game. Mad Scientist gets the secrets out of your deck, so having at least one secret in play early on both gives you a bit of tempo and ensures that you won't draw the secret. Acolyte of Pain will draw you at least one card, but you should always aim to draw 2 cards from it. Against aggro just dropping this will mostly ensure this, but there are situations where you want to keep it in your hand so you can ping it on turn 5. Use Explosive Sheep as removal if the board get too overloaded. If, by any chance, you get Duplicate in play early on against a token deck, don't be afraid to use it on an explosive sheep. This will give you a lot of clear and tempo early on!

2. Mid, Strengthen: Turn 4/5 is usually the turning point for this deck. You can start throwing out Twilight Drake, Sludge Belcher and Emperor Thaurissan. Having a Duplicate in play by that time is really strong, since it makes the following turns pretty awkward for your opponent. From this point, you're gonna start trying to claim board control. Having board control is great because you both have time to draw into your other pieces (like echo and Thaurissan etc) and you can probably deal with whatever threat your opponent throws out. There are situations, however, where it's better to get a secret up than having board control (when you're expecting a burst for example), so it's not an ironclad rule. 

3. Late, Echo: Turn 7 and after you want to look for a good Echo of Medivh. Most of the time you'll be low already by that time, so you can play Molten Giant and echo them quite easily. If you manage to get an echo off against a control class, Don't ever play all of them on the field except if you know for sure they can't clear them! A Shadowflame on a mountain giant is all it takes to remove ALL of your giants. A lightbomb is even more deadly. If you're sure you have enough power on the board, just keep a few in your hand, so that if they manage to clear them, you still have a backup. If they're not putting pressure, you can Alexstrasza their face and put some pressure yourself, or your own face in order to play your giants. Play it smart and predict your opponent's moves.

Note: Don't be afraid to echo early on to get some board pressure, for example if you have two drakes and a mad scientist on the board, and you need those additional minions in order to keep the board. It really depends from game to game whether this is good or not, so you'll have to experience yourself what's a good time to echo.

Card Explanation:

Possible tech cards:

- Harrison Jones against lots of weapon classes. (I like to play it instead of a Twilight Drake)

- second Sludge Belcher when you're feeling you need more taunts (instead of Loatheb / Twilight Drake)

- second Ethereal Conjurer when facing a lot of reno/handlocks (instead of Twilight Drake / Explosive Sheep)

- Big Game Hunter instead of Polymorph if you don't feel like you can deal with boom properly without.

1. IN THE DECK:

 

 

 

 

2. NOT IN THE DECK:

 

 

 

Matchups:

• Always keep Mad Scientist and Acolyte of Pain .

The others are situational (described in mulligan for each class).

Druid : 

Mulligans: one Twilight Drake, Frostbolt. If you know it's aggro, keep Explosive Sheep

Tactics:

Druids are a hard matchup to play, and it all depends on how good their tempo is. If they get too much tempo with their wild growths and innervates, you'll be dead in no time. Their main weakness is their lack of aoe, which means you can practically spam your minions if you have a lot of them. Early game, try to draw as much as possible and try to get an ice block up (!). If it's a combo druid, try to remove their minions as efficient as possible. There are two ways to win this matchup: Either get full control of the board in the midgame or put up a wave of moltens and either burst them or heal back up and clear the board.

Against aggro druid you'll be wanting to clear their board as long as possible. All you need is a few bigger minions like sludge belcher or loatheb, and then start clearing their board. Their way to win is to burst you before you're able to stabilize, so if you ever manage to claim the board once, victory is yours. You can also try to mill them when they play fel reaver, but keep in mind that you have to survive, even when their deck is empty. Most of the times you just want to remove it and buy yourself a bit more time by doing so. Also, keep track of the cards they discard, especially combo cards and dr boom!

 Warlock: 

Mulligans: Frostbolt, Explosive Sheep, Twilight Drake.

Tactics;

Against zoo you want to keep the board as clear as possible early game, only removing the most dangerous minions (knife jugglers and wolves). Try not to clear when they have a nerubian egg up or to clear only 2 minions. If you're lacking aoe early on, try to duplicate explosive sheep, which'll help you big time in clearing their minions. Your midgame minions (Twilight drake, sludge belcher) wreck theirs, and will give you enough time to draw into your combo. When you're getting low, putting down a lot of moltens at once will usually win you the game. That's what usually decides the game, so try to draw into them before they pop your block. Also, Flamestrike is hyper effective! Time it well, and it will make things easier for you. The longer the game goes on, the more likely you are to win! 

Handlock/Renolock is a hard matchup. Try to draw as much as possible, clear/slow down their big minions and surprise/outvalue them with your echoes and duplicate.  Don't overextend and throw all of your giants on the board at once, because shadowflame can singlehandedly win games. Make good use of your flamestrikes and don't just waste them to kill that 4/4 twilight drake. Very interesting games, where every game has a lot of difficult decisions involved in it. The important part is that you outvalue them, so you have enough threats left when jaraxxus comes down. Ethereal conjurer is one of the mvp's in this matchups, since it will give you the burst you're lacking. Don't be afraid to take a pyroblast or fireball in order to give you a burst when they go into Jaraxxus, which is probably the best card they have against this deck. A good echo can give you too many threats for them to deal with, and can turn the game around fairly quickly. Always be aware that they might run some kind of combo! You can use that against them though, by baiting it out and healing back up afterwards while reclaiming the board. 

 Mage: 

Mulligans: Frostbolt, Explosive Sheep, one Twilight Drake.

Tactics:

Against tempo/flamewaker mage you're trying to claim the board and play around their secrets. If possible, use their mirror entities on your explosive sheep! (or mad scientist/healbot/acolyte otherwise) They tend to run a few bigger minions like boom and antonidas, deal with them efficiently while setting up your own board. The minions you need to remove as soon as possible are flamewaker and sorcerer's apprentice, because those two can deal a lot of damage if left alone. Beware of counterspell, try to trigger it with the spell you need the least! 

Freeze mage shouldn't be a problem, because you have almost infinite healing and ice block to counter their burst. Heal, echo and heal again and again when you're feeling that you might get bursted. Keep note that if you have a full field and it gets frozen, you can't heal anymore. If they throw down doomsayer and you can't remove it, you can throw down your useless minions such as explosive sheeps, so you make place in your hand for possible echoes/duplicates. Keep polymorph for Antonidas and Thaurissan, or possibly Alexstrasza. Every time you echo, try to echo at least a healbot or Loatheb, because a lot of healing counters their burst and they'll just run out of cards. Most of the time you'll just fatigue them or they will run out of burst. If you lose this matchup a several times in a row, you're doing something wrong.

 Priest: 

Mulligans: Twilight Drake.

Tactics:

A really intensive skill matchup, which is hugely in your favor. Try to not let them draw too much. Beware of lightbombs, shrinkmeister + cabal combos and always keep in mind that they MIGHT run or Sylvanas + death and DEFINITELY the new entomb. Make good use of your echoes and duplicates. Early Twilight drakes can take their early game away really quickly. A good duplicate/thaurissan usually wins you the game. Just like the handlock matchup, try to outvalue them. Priest is the class you have to mindgame the most. Make them think you're freeze, let them do some face damage, and then outvalue them. If they're playing a lot of minions early on (and are clearly having a godhand), you'll have to start playing your threats early on as well and hope you can outvalue them. Even though it's not an aggro or token deck, flamestrike is a really good card in this matchup, but it requires a lot of timing and preparation. Hard games which can go both ways, depending on each player's skill level. 

 Warrior: 6 - 5 (55%)

Mulligans: Twilight Drake, Emperor Thaurissan, Frostbolt.

Tactics:

Against control warrior, you use the same tactic like handlock and priest. Make good use of your duplicates and echoes, and this matchup should be very good,  if not almost impossible for them to win. Warriors normally run a lot of legendaries, so don't simply waste all of your spells to remove one, because you won't have nothing left for the next one.  Try to get good duplicates and echoes. Beware of brawls (also the double brawl decks), play around them by always having a backup in your hand. Count executes and shield slams (and keep in mind that they usually run 1 bgh). This matchup is 50-50 if you play it well, and maybe even more if you play it very well, but it's one of the hardest games in hearthstone in my opinion.

The new grim patron warrior can be tricky. It's not an aggro deck, but they can outrush you if you don't draw in your answers soon enough. Try to draw a flamestrike for the patrons, and clear their board as efficient as possible. Their biggest burst is grommash + inner rage (well, they can use cruel and another but that rarely happens), so keep in mind that they can do 12 burst at any time past turn 8. Lots of board pressure or an early patron clear usually wins you the game, but you can also just look to fatigue them down. A slightly favored matchup for echo mage.

 Rogue: 

Mulligans: One Twilight Drake, Frostbolt

Tactics:

This matchup is pretty decent. Usually they will just play reactive the first few turns because they don't know you're playing giant mage. After that, they'll get more and more aggressive and rush you down eventually. Try to establish a bit of a board before that with drakes and other not easy to remove drops, a good duplicate is also nice early game. Remove their minions, this way you'll take away a lot of damage from the oils. The teachers are difficult to deal with, but even if he starts to spam tokens, you can always remove them with a flamestrike later. Counting the saps is important, because it's probably the best card against your deck. Also, count the weapon upgrades (deadly poison and, possibly, oil) and flurries in order to know how hard they can burst you at any time. They will probably burst you at least once, if that happens, make sure you have a heal/another block ready in your hand. Drawing is extremely important against them, as well as not giving them time to do whatever they want (especially for oil). Most of the times you will simply outheal/value them, which is something rogue can hardly handle. 

 Shaman:

Mulligans: Explosive Sheep, Frostbolt, one Twilight Drake. If playing: Harrison Jones

Tactics:

The only dominant archetype at the moment is aggro shaman. They're a harder version than face hunter, since they just have more damage overall. Survival is the most important. Get an ice block up, stall them as long as you need, play your moltens when you're low and heal back up. Taunts are great, and duplicating one of those are game deciding. If you're really having problems with them, you can consider adding an ooze or harrison in order to deal with the doomhammers. It's no shame losing this matchup, because they are sometimes just too fast to deal with.

 Hunter: 

Mulligans: Explosive Sheep, Frostbolt. If second, one Twilight Drake

Tactics:

Against any kind of hunter. Generally speaking this deck is very good against them because you can kill their minions without having fear to die really fast because of the ice block and the healing. Keep in mind that explosive trap kills you when you trigger it and have 1 or 2 hp left, even if you have ice block up. Play around their traps. Triggering freezing traps on a healbot or triggering a snake trap into unstable ghoul or flamestrike are good examples of this. If it's more of a midrange hunter, keep your polymorph for highmane, except if you have to use it in order to survive. Both a good boardclear or a lot of pressure and healing usually easily wins you the game.

Midrange hunter is slightly harder than Aggro hunter, but a well timed flamestrike will really destroy them. Until then, just try to survive and clear as well as possible. Let your minions soak the damage and don't take too much face early on, because the best way they can win is actually outrushing you or curving out perfectly.

 Paladin: 

Mulligans: Explosive Sheep, Frostbolt, Twilight Drake

Tactics:

Midrange Paladin is sometimes really annoying to deal with because of their equality combos and their musters into quartermasters. Use explosive sheep to kill the musters or a big board early on, throw giants and drakes out and try to make good use of your duplicate and echoes. Paladins don't have a burst, so even when you're at 8 hp, you generally don't have to worry about dying when they have nothing on the board. Try to keep polymorph for tyrion, but don't be afraid to use in on a sylvanas for example. Don't overextend into an equality play.  This matchup is most of the time decided by the early/mid game. If they don't have an insane curve, it's a decent matchup.

Aggro Paladin is really annoying and probably one of the worse matchups of this deck. The sole reason for that is Divine Favor, which will usually draw them 5 cards or more. The way to win this matchup is to keep the board as clear as possible, to keep you ice block up as long as possible and to draw into your moltens/echoes or enough healing. In other terms: the same way you play against face hunter, but a much harder version of it. 

Secret Paladin is a hit or miss. It all depends on both of your curves. If you can't clear any early game minions, they can outrush you. If they, however, have a bad start and you can get a headstart, the game is in your favor. Use explosive sheep and frostbolt to block their early game aggression, while drawing cards with acolyte and mad scientist. Just curve out midgame, and try to get rid of their minions before challenger comes down. A sylvanas turn 6 can really help, since it directly threatens challenger, or when played in a lot of secrets it can take the repentence. If it comes down eventually and they still have a board, either set up for an aoe removal (such as flamestrike), or put down a minion they have to deal with (like sylvanas or thaurissan). It's not necessary that you proc their secrets as soon as they come down, sometimes it's better to wait for the right moment. Try not to stall it too long though, because the secrets alone give him a huge advantage over you. Also, you can wait proccing their secrets early on if there's no pressure, since that will make challenger much weaker.

Tip: when they have 7 minions, noble sacrifice won't activate. Make use of this! If you have 2 moltens on the board and alex in your hand, you can just kill them (and yes, these kinds of things happen :D). This is an extreme example, but you can use it in your favor when you want to trade for example.

Lastly, against murloc paladin, you have a couple of ways to win. Below I will give a list of task in order of importance.

- Polymorph their Old Murk-eye, if they can kill it before you can polymorph it, polymorph their Murloc Warleaders. Also, Conjurer can give you one of those polymorphs, so definitely go fishing if you don't have one in your hand, even when there's not a murloc on the board at that point.

- Echo or duplicate Loatheb! Doing this repeatedly will deny them from playing anyfin and will eventually give you enough pressure to finish him off!

- Pressure them and echo a lot of mid-game minions such as twilight drake, sludge belcher, conjurer etc. Bait out both of the equalities, and keep swarming your board with big minions, so they will be unable to deal with it.

- Deal with both of the anyfins and survive. This will almost never happen, so don't hope for this.

 

 

Other notes:

Like I said in the beginning, this deck takes a while to get used to. You can't play it in ranked for the first time and expect to instantly climb a few ranks. I got stuck around rank 3 for a while in the beginning as well, and because of lots of practice and experimenting I finally got where I wanted to be. If you really want to play this deck, have patience, play a lot, learn from your mistakes and learn to recognize your opponent's mistakes. But most of all: believe in the heart of the cards!

Q&A:

Q: Why don't you keep moltens in your opening hand?

 

Q: My opponent stole my ice block, what do I do?

Thank you for reading the guide, sorry for my bad English from times to times. If you have questions, you can send me a message on twitch (the link on the top).

Changelog: