Hearthpwn

Proof

Twitch: twitch.tv/selfdestructv2
Twitter: @marsheesc2

Overview:

Hello everyone, My name is Marshee and I got to Rank 2 Legend with this deck! Unfortunately, I was blocked from Rank 1 from Mira because she top decked Alexstraza. But besides the point, this deck is extremely consistent and great in this meta. 

This deck relies on the semi-ramping tools of Sorcerer's Apprentice, powerful turn 1 damage dealing Mana Wyrms, and free damage generating Flamewaker to deal insane amount of damage to finish your opponent off with a fireball or a 8/3 mana wyrm smashing their face!

 

Tech Choices:

The ladder is host to a variety of metas throughout the ranks and can be used to your advantage! After getting nowhere with pirate warrior, I decided to just farm the meta. At the beginning of the season, aggro decks are extremely prevalent. These were some additions subtractions I did to adjust.

+1 Arcane Missiles
-1 Flamestrike

+1 Spellbender
-1 Mirror Entity

+1 Sludge Belcher
-1 Toshley

The extra arcane missiles destroys early aggro and eboladin especially. Its a powerful turn 2 to develop sorcerers apprentice and to eliminate the turn 1 of your opponent. Flame strike is your come-back spell against control when the game starts to get away from you. This does nothing for the early tempo in the game.

Spellbender is actually extremely good in an aggro oriented meta. It eats removal meant for your important creatures such as Water elemental which is to lock down the hunters weapon. Spellbender also has an interesting interaction that if you play spell bender first, the counter spell does not activate. So if you have both secret up, the execute will kill the spell bender and you will still have counterspell available. Mirror Entity only gets value in Control Matchups which is what I was facing when I got into high legend. Most of aggro minions are tiny and shitty. 

The last card swap is easy. Taunt is better than no taunt. Sludge is better in the aggro matchup than Toshley.

After doing some testing, I have come to the conclusion that I dislike Sylvannas and Ragnaros as replacements for Toshley and Antonidas. While Antonidas is slow, he must be answered due to lots of fireballs
The matchups:

Unfortunatley, I did not track my stats during the first part of the season with my deck. The following will be anecdotal evidence.

Face Hunter:

 

Coin: Mulligan for Mana Wyrm,Arcane Missiles, Mirror Image, and flame waker
Without Coin: Mulligan for Mana Wyrm, Arcane Missiles, Sorceres apprentice, Mirror Image, Mad Scientist

This matchup is either fun or extremely frustrating. If you get a somewhat decent start with images and mana wyrms. Most of the time, mana wyrm ends up being a 2-turn ping to clear out leper gnomes and potentially a mad scientist. If you can get your flame wake to stick for a turn, you generally snowball to an easy game, easy life. Note power turns for hunter, namely turn 3 and turn 4.
Turn 3 the bow or Animal Companion comes out so its better to use our mana wyrm for trading so the bow cannot kill the flame waker. Against animal companion, you actualy kinda want huffer so he is easier to kill. Turn 5 is the infamous Knife Juggler + Unleash Combo. Try to mitigate the damage by trading in minions(Not the flamewaker!) and try to get the counter spell up if you have it in hand. Fireball and Frost Bolt almost always go face 95% of the time

Matchup: Favored

Eboladin: 

Coin:Mana Wyrm , Sorcerer's Apprentice Mirror Image, Arcane Missiles [/card], [card]FlameWaker

Without Coin: Mana Wyrm , Sorcerer's Apprentice Mirror Image, Arcane Missiles [/card], [card]FlameWaker

This matchup is often won and lost in the mulligan. If you can get any combination of early game minion and spell, you often win. Mirror Image allows your Flame waker to survive a turn. Always pop the divine shield effectively. The goal is to dump your hand faster than eboladin. If you succeed and get good value trades then your card quality trumps eboladin's card quality. Its also hilarious watching Spell bender eat a Blessing of Kings.

Matchup: Favored

Demon Zoo:

Coin: Mana Wyrm , Sorcerer's Apprentice, Frost Bolt, Flamewaker, Mirror Image

With Out Coin: Mana Wyrm , Sorcerer's Apprentice , Frost Bolt, Flamewaker, Mad Scientist

This matchup is a rather hard matchup. The swing turns for Demon Zoo are often way more powerful than yours. Flamewaker is sometimes gimped if there is a Imp Gang Boss on the board. In this matchup, you must aggressively try to secure the board. Try to get Counter spell up on turn 4 as this should eat the implosion. Most players do not play around counter spell.

Matchup: Not Favored

 

Midrange/Combo Druid

Coin: Mana Wyrm , Sorcerer's Apprentice, Mirror Image, Flame Cannon, Flamewaker
Without Coin:Mana Wrym, Sorcerer's Apprentice, Mirror Image, Flame Cannon, Flamewaker

This is probably your easiest matchup on your grind to legend. You basically get a minimum of 2 free turns to do whatever you want to the druid and leave him extremely behind. If he Wrath's your early game minion, that mean his ramp is behind. Frost bolt is not all that useful in this matchup. I would rather have a fireball in my opening hand than a frost bolt as their is a distinct lack of 3 health creatures that Druid run. Flame Cannon is a great card to punish a shade of naxxramas start. Remember, power turns for Druid are turns 5 and turn 7, this is when most of Druid's impactful creatures start to show up namely Druid of the Claw on 5 and Dr. Boom/ Ancient of War on Turn 7. I like to trade in my scientist on the turns before so Druid has to think twice about playing a massive minion.

Matchup: Extremely Favored

Midrange Hunter

Coin: Mana Wyrm ,Mad Scientist, Flamewaker, Frost Bolt, Arcane Missiles, Water Elemental

Without Coin: Mana Wyrm, Mad Scientist, Flamewaker, Frost Bolt, Sorcerer's Apprentice,

The key to beating Midrange Hunter is to proc the freezing trap on low value minions. A common series of plays you will see is Turn 1 Mana Wyrm to the Hunter's Turn 1 Coin + Scientist. If you can remove the scientist and freezing trap the mana wyrm then do it. Mitigate the Hunter's early tempo. It is almost always correct to drop Flamewaker on an empty board turn 3. Eaglehorn Bow does not kill him and neither does Animal Companion (Minus Huffer but you still get initiative on turn 4)

A turn 6 Highmane is hard to deal with. Try to put up Mirror Entity on Turn 5 (Mirror Entity + Unstable Portal is a great play on 5) to allow the hunter to play inefficiently.

Matchup: Neutral

HandLock

Coin: Mana Wyrm, Sorcerer's Apprentice, Mad Scientist, Flamewaker, Counter Spell
Without Coin: Mana Wyrm, Sorcerer's Apprentice, Unstable Portal, Counter Spell

This matchup is tricky and a hard matchup. Your direct removal just isn't good enough when it comes to matchup. A well-placed turn 4 hellfire just ruins your day as well. This is why we mulligan for Counter Spell. If you can get counter spell to proc on Hellfire then your early board can stick and push 8+ damage on the following turn. However, more often than not, your win condition is Boom on 7 and Antonidas + mirror image on turn 8. Flamestrike helps to soften the Molten Giants up if you have something of a board. Full SMOrc is often the course of action in this matchup.

Matchup: Not Favored

Grim Patron Warrior:

Coin:  Mana Wyrm , Sorcerer's Apprentice, Flamewaker, Water Elemental, Mirror Image
Without Coin: Mana Wyrm, Sorcerer's Apprentice, Flamewaker, Water Elemental, Mirror Image

Ah the dreaded Patron Matchup. This deck is actually teched extremely well to favor us in this matchup. The Water elemental and Flame strike inclusion was solely to help with this matchup. You never want to drop a naked Mana Wyrm or Sorcerer's Apprentice if you have too. If you have mirror Image in your opening hand then it is a better play to Turn 2 mana wyrm + mirror or Sorcerer's + Mirror in this matchup. This protects them and the warrior has to use removal on your turn 1 or 2 creatures to kill them. If he does this, then your water elemental is almost assuredly will survive. This helps alleviate a turn 5 Grim Patron turn.

Always remove creatures from his side of the board. We want to limit the amount of cards patron can draw through battle rage. Frost Bolting an unstable ghoul is correct if it keeps your minions alive longer or allows. You are expected to win if you can get flamestrike within the top 15 cards in your deck. Do NOT feel bad fireballing Grim Patron if you can limit the patrons spawned on the following turn. Patron has limiting win conditions.

Matchup: Slightly Favored