Firestorm 3.0 (Top 100 LEGEND)
- Last updated Oct 24, 2016 (Yogg Nerf)
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Wild
- 15 Minions
- 15 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Unknown
- Crafting Cost: 3500
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 6/15/2015 (Blackrock Launch)
- Zion7
- Registered User
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- 13
- 26
- 120
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Battle Tag:
Zion7
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Region:
US
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Total Deck Rating
1335
About - Greetings, Zion7 here (formerly known as MarineKingHS) to share an interesting Tempo Mage deck which has been working very well this season. I specialize in high level play on NA server and have obtained #200+ Legend Rank legend many times. I have roughly 5000+ wins in constructed ladder and like to help others improve their game.
This deck is called "Firestorm 3.0" because it is based upon the wildly popular Mage decks Firestorm and Firestorm 2.0 made by BrooklynHS. They were wonderful, fun decks for their time but BrooklynHS had retired (now un-retired) from HearthStone and Firestorm 2.0 was his last work so I will be taking over future development of Firestorm. The credit for the original idea behind this deck goes to him.
Deck Explanation - This deck is designed to win by establishing tempo early to mid-game through the use of high value synergies and unpredictable secret plays. This deck is highly difficult to anticipate and has a wide variety of well rounded tools. This is one of the few Mage decks that features both hard removal and anti-spam AOE. Fireballs and Polymorph can be used to deal with big threats, while the dual Flamestrikes deal with annoyingly large boards. This deck is a very good counter to many of the currently popular strong meta decks like Patron Warrior, Zoo/Demonlock, Mech Mage, Hybrid Hunter and many more.
Screenshots of Legend Rank (Season 15)
Update: New videos have been added for Season 18. This is a special "never lucky mulligan" ongoing instructional series (this was provided for all the people who say Firestorm 3.0 can only work if you get great opening mulligans) and more vids are coming soon, enjoy.
Firestorm 3.0 - S18 - Instructional Part 01 (vs Secret Paladin) [Never Lucky series]
Firestorm 3.0 - S18 - Instructional Part 02 (vs Shaman) [Never Lucky series]
Firestorm 3.0 - S18 - Instructional Part 03 (vs Shaman) [Never Lucky series]
Firestorm 3.0 - S18 - Instructional Part 04 (vs Ramp Druid) [Never Lucky series]
Firestorm 3.0 - S18 - Instructional Part 05 (vs Token Paladin) [Never Lucky series]
Firestorm 3.0 - S18 - Instructional Part 06 (vs Midrange Hunter) [Never Lucky series]
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Season 17 - Firestorm 3.0 - FULL PLAYLIST
Firestorm 3.0 - S17 - Instructional Part 01 (vs Midrange Hunter)
Firestorm 3.0 - S17 - Instructional Part 02 (vs Aggro Hunter)
Firestorm 3.0 - S17 - Instructional Part 03 (vs Fatigue Mage)
Firestorm 3.0 - S17 - Instructional Part 04 (vs Midrange Hunter)
Firestorm 3.0 - S17 - Instructional Part 05 (vs Patron Warrior)
Firestorm 3.0 - S17 - Instructional Part 06 (vs Mech Mage)
Firestorm 3.0 - S17 - Instructional Part 07 (vs Aggro Hunter)
Firestorm 3.0 - S17 - Instructional Part 08 (vs Malylock)
Firestorm 3.0 - S17 - Instructional Part 09 (vs Combo Druid)
Firestorm 3.0 - S17 - Instructional Part 10 (vs Combo Druid)
Firestorm 3.0 - S17 - Instructional Part 11 (vs Handlock)
Firestorm 3.0 - S17 - Instructional Part 12 (vs Combo Druid)
Firestorm 3.0 - S17 - Instructional Part 13 (vs Patron Warrior)
<-- Below is a Season 15 Instructional series of Firestorm 3.0 -->
Season 15 - Firestorm 3.0 - Instructional part 01 (vs Demonlock)
Season 15 - Firestorm 3.0 - Instructional part 02 (vs Waker Mage)
Season 15 - Firestorm 3.0 - Instructional part 03 (vs Combo Druid)
Season 15 - Firestorm 3.0 - Instructional part 04 (vs Control Dragon Warrior)
Season 15 - Firestorm 3.0 - Instructional part 05 (vs Ramp Druid)
Season 15 - Firestorm 3.0 - Instructional part 06 (vs Patron Warrior)
Season 15 - Firestorm 3.0 - Instructional part 07 (vs Shockadin)
<-- Below are Season 15 demos of Firestorm 3.0 played at Legend ranks-->
Season 15 - Firestorm 3.0 vs Mid Range Hunter (Legend)
Season 15 - Firestorm 3.0 vs Handlock (Legend)
Season 15 - Firestorm 3.0 vs Freeze Mage (Legend)
Season 15 - Firestorm 3.0 vs Combo Druid (Legend)
Season 15 - Firestorm 3.0 vs Ramp Druid (Legend)
Season 15 - Firestorm 3.0 vs Wallet Warrior 01 (Legend)
Season 15 - Firestorm 3.0 vs Wallet Warrior 02 (Legend)
<-- Below is a video of Firestorm 3.0 submitted by Khristophesaurus -->
Some card choices explained
Most cards should be fairly obvious, so I'm only going over a couple of cards choices that might seem strange.
Duplicate - This secret hasn't been popular for a long time but it really works nicely in this deck precisely because we run so many different secret. Duplicate gets excellent value from so many cards in the deck including Flamewaker, Shredder, Water Elemental, Blecher and more. But it's also very useful even if it duplicates Kirin Tor Mage, Mad Scientist and Mana Wyrm. In most Mage decks you wouldn't want to duplicate a Mad Scientist or Tor Mage because those decks ran very few secret cards and thus couldn't get value, that is not the issue in this deck though because we run 4 different type of secrets.
Vaporize - This is a RARELY run secret card that has been widely overlooked and ignored. Nobody expects it, which is exactly why it's highly effective in this deck. When you have it in play, just focus on removing any small threats with your spells or hero power and let the enemy kill their big minion or burst minion. Buffing up for one big burst dmg charge has become very popular and this secret practically wins the game if they run into it.
Flamestrike - It's not unusual to see 1 copy of Flamestrike, but few Mage decks run 2x copy of it. This reason we run 2 copies is because this deck is less of an aggro deck and more of a partially "stall" deck. What I mean by that is, this deck already has answers to single large minions, it's only real weakpoint is vs spammy boards. Flamestike is our MVP tools for dealing with that and slowing down the game. Once you draw into your Pyroblast, you can begin setting up lethal. Pyro lethal is easy to do if you can stall the game out long enough to chip away the enemies hp down to 10. Flamestrike helps greatly with that.
Pyroblast - This is another card that used to see play but hasn't been popular in a while. This card really gives you that "reach" to finish the game once the enemy has dropped below about 15hp. Basically you want to control the board early and once you draw Pyro, start preparing to nuke the enemy on turn 10. It's pretty easy to set up once you get the hang of knowing what to do with your fireballs and icebolts, depending on the situation. Also, don't be afraid to use Pyroblast even if the enemy lives. This is because you know that you also run 2 Frostbolts and 2 Fireballs, so chances are you will draw into one of them very soon after if you hadn't already.
Mulligans
You typically want to mulligan for 2x Mana Wyrm, 1x Forstbolt, 2x Mad Scientist, 1x Kirin Tor Mage, 1x Unstable Portal and 1x Flamewaker in that order. The reason we want the Tor Mage is because chances are VERY high that one of our 4 secrets will be drawn soon and playing a free secret is a huge tempo gain.
In addition, here are some mulligans you'll want vs each class:
• Against Hunters, you'll want to keep the Arcane Blast.
• Against Paladin you'll want to keep 2x Flamewaker. This is the only matchup where you would purposely keep 2 Flamewakers in your mulligan hand.
•Against confirmed Handlock, keep the Polymorph: Boar.
Strong and Weak Matchups
Firestorm 3.0 is particularly strong against Patron Warrior, Freeze Mage, Zoolock, Demonlock, Tempo Mage, Tempo Shaman, Handlock, Mech Shaman, Mech Mage and Hybrid Hunter (in that order).
Firestorm 3.0 is a little weaker against Dragon Pally, Control Priest and Wallet Warrior.
Card Replacements
This is a carefully designed deck so I would not recommend changing too many things around, but here are a few things you can do:
Vaporize can be replaced with Big Game Hunter or Mirror Entity.
1x Azure Drake can be replaced with Loatheb.
Dr.Boom can be replaced with Archmage Antonidas, Ragnaros the Firelord and Chromaggus (in that order).
Pyroblast can be replaced with Ragnaros the Firelord, Archmage Antonidas, Ravenholdt Assassin and Deathwing (in that order). The purpose of this card slot is for that extra "reach" to finish out the game when then the enemy starts running low on hp. They actually don't even need to be that low for you to begin chipping them down with minion dmg to face, hero power, fireballs and frostbolts etc. Try to think 2 or 3 turns ahead. Even Ravenholdt Assassin can get the job done efficiently if you use a little forethought.
Updates
August 17, 2015 - Season 17 Instructional vids have been added. Harrison Jones replaces Mystic Kezan because weapons and weapon classes are far more common than secrets right now.
August 27, 2015 (Post GT Expansion) - Harrison Jones has been cut because at the moment weapons have become a less less prevalent. In his place we run a simple Arcane Blast because it combines very well with Flamewaker and provides the 1mana spot removal we need now that everyone is playing more low cost early game minions. Polymorph was switched to Polymorph: Boar because it provides us an extra burst option while still giving us a way to deal with super threats and it's 1mana cheaper anyway.
If you have questions about this deck, reach upwards of Rank5 with this deck, or just wanna share thoughts about this deck, please leave a comment. I'll try to stay active within the comments, work schedule permitting.
Good luck, godspeed and happy rank storming!
I have been using Frostbolt and have been really owning with this deck. It is a fantastic deck! Frostbolt works well because it's only one more mana, does the same amount with +1 Spell Damage, and also adds Freeze. Essentially it serves a similar purpose and what you lose in mana cost you gain in the ability to freeze a dangerous powerful minion.
That said I'm currently only at rank 12 with it. I think my highest is 9 or so, but I took a break since right before Black Rock Mountain and just started playing again. I went from 18 to 12 today in one session and lost with this deck around 2 or 3 times.
Edit: The deck-author's suggestion is also awesome, obviously :)
Thx for the reply MarineKingHS , and LiBilius , thx to you too!
Too much rng and no way to draw the cards you need to win
Rorchach, click on your own profile and take a look at every post you've made. All you do, is bitch about every deck you've come across, even the simplest Midrange Hunter wasn't good for you. It's not the decks that are the problem, it's you.
Sorry if I look like that, but the problem in your deck still stands: you can't recover from a bad draw/mulligan. I replaced 1 Kirin Tor Mage for 1 Arcane Intellect and it seems improves the odds
No deck is ever going to preform well if you get bad draws/mulligans, it's just not going to happen. Even Aggro Hunter will fail if they get the wrong cards in the wrong order. That's not a problem with FS3.0, that's a problem with HS in general.
Hey man it's ok. We all get angry some times, even me. I had lost 4 games in a row using Loyans Midrange Shaman deck and I got so angry that I wanted to just curse his deck in the comments. but then I calmed down and realized this is just typical HS bullshit. You can have a decent deck, make the right plays and lose on a coin flip. Ultimately HS is like a controlled dice roll, you can choose which direction you'll throw the dice, when you'll throw the dice and how many dice you'll throw but you can not control what numbers will show up when they land and THAT is going to be the biggest factor in any HS game.
Hey Glitter, just uploaded a new vid series so check it out. It's called the "Never Lucky series" where I mull as badly as I can to address the issue of feeling the deck is too bad when you don't have the perfect draws. Hope it helps.
Yes, that's a pretty accurate summery. This deck really does wreak Warriors but this era of Paladin is something else! It's not just Firestorm, every deck aside from Flare Hunter is running into major problems against this Secret Paladin bullshit lol.
Do you ever keep unstable portal if you have a mana wyrm or already have a good hand? I don't see why you don't have it anywhere on the mulligan guide
That is a most relevant username lol but yes that's a good question and something I need to revise in the guide. Unstable IS something we'd like to keep in most circumstances. I consider a 2mana drop even though we don't actually know how much it will cost. Statistically, you'll be able to play what draw on the next turn (most of the time) so it's a decent gamble.
Hey Nippel, just uploaded a new vid series so check it out. It's called the "Never Lucky series" where I mull as badly as I can to address the issue of feeling the deck is too bad when you don't have the perfect draws. Hope it helps.
The vid is embeded in this very page, scroll up to the video spoiler and there is where the vids are and that is where new ones will be updated.
This deck is WAY too dependent on getting a good draw/mulligan.
Hey Rayban, just uploaded a new vid series so check it out. It's called the "Never Lucky series" where I mull as badly as I can to address the issue of feeling the deck is too bad when you don't have the perfect draws. Hope it helps.
Best replacement for Dr. Boom is crafting Dr. Boom.
I'm finding a slightly modified version of this deck very effective and fun to play on ranked in the mid-teens. I feel it can be competitive at higher ranks as it has answers for so many types of decks and situations you might encounter. Maybe it will stall me past rank 10 but I plan to play it as far as I can this season and see. Currently on a 6-1 run with it since adding Rhonin. While I know 7 games Is not a good test I've played it (before TGT, obviously without Rhonin or Effigy) about 50 times in the past and while not officially tracking the results I'm confident it gets about a 60-65% win rate and in my book that's consistent to climb with. Being casual I only play on average about 5-6 games a day so I take what I can get. I like playing non-standard decks for the surprise factor and to challenge my abilities. Not a huge fan of ultra agro decks but not against them either, just desire to play something different yet effective.
So this is what I changed:
-1 Duplicate for +1 Effigy I toyed with the idea of swapping out Mirror Entity instead but I honestly think Duplicate was not getting me as much. I'm very open to reversing my decision as people tend to play around Mirror Entity but we shall see. So far it's worked just fine and not felt I've lost anything. Duplicate can give me back 2 Belchers or Wakers but it happens rarely.
-1 Kirin Tor Mage for +1 Kezan Mystic With 2 Mad Scientist, the KT Mage can be useful but not often needed. There is not much more satisfying than having a Face Hunter concede when you steal his well placed Explosive Trap or a midrange hunter when you steal his Freezing Trap. And with all the secret pallys out there right now it gives you some decent tempo shift as it can trip up their plans a bit.
-1 Arcane Blast for +1 Rhonin I opened Rohnin in a pack and wanted to find out if he can work outside of a tempo mage deck without Antonidas. (don't have AA) Arcane Blast can easily be replaced if you get his missiles so I think it's a fair trade. I am finding a few things with him. He is a good stall card to get you able to set up your Pyroblast win condition. He must be answered and that essentially gives you a free turn. More below...
Keep Polymorph mainly because I don't have Polymorph: Boar and I've not wanted to craft it to test. I can see the value but not sure it makes that much of a difference, thoughts? Whatever you choose you need some sort of polymorph to clear out Tirion or other nasty threats.
So that brings me to my play style. This is probably considered a Value deck as I can't call it tempo, you can play it that way if you are dealt the cards in the correct order though. Can't really call it mid-range as it has more control mechanics and a late game win condition. But it's not straight up control by any means. You play the curve but look at playing it like this: Use your cards to both control and gain tempo to get you to your late game Pyroblast. So many times I've seen people play around secrets and don't realize they are something totally different than expected. Each one has value and while they can be neutralized if played against correctly, they are random enough (having 4 different ones) that you almost always get value and tempo out of them. It's how a secret should be. Just playing 2 Mirror Entity or 2 Effigy in a deck makes it not a secret any more. Playing it this way makes this deck viable. Just control and work you opponent down to 10 or less health and then Pyroblast then for the win. Rhonin has gotten me the win with this as they focus on keeping him from procking missiles or even living and I use some other threats to get them into lethal range with a Fireball or other high damage spell (boosted by spell damage). Playing the deck this way just works. Well, for me at least...
Do your best to keep his board clear of minions using your removal resources. Frost bolts, Flamestrikes, Polymorphs, Flamewakers + low coast spells, etc. Not saying it's easy and it is very much a difficult matchup but it can be done.
I've been switching one Mad Scientist for a Secretkeeper. And i'm thinking about switching the second one too. The cool thing about the Secretkeeper is, when you get it out early, your (Paladin) opponent does not want to play his own secrets or your Minion gets bigger. Sometimes they even waste an Owl to silence it, which is also a pretty big success. So far this change helps me against this new TGT Secret Paladin.
This deck sucks. How the hell did it get so many upvotes?
1-5 with it, and I was mostly playing against out-dated mech spam garbage decks. This is embarrassing.