Hearthpwn

Intro

Hi everyone, I have been playing on a mostly casual basis (scrubbin' it up since November 2014), and this is my first attempt at a publicly listed deck build.  I am not a pro legend player or anything, but I find enjoyment from trying to come up with interesting ideas and I think this 1 has some merit, enough to create an account and submit it to public scrutiny.  From what I can tell this deck is a unique creation on hearthpwn, though not without significant influences from SirFuchalot's Majordomo Grinder Mage.  I came up with this independently, and only cross referenced hearthpwn, but if someone else has come up with a 95% similar deck somewhere else I apologize.  If all else fails I at least have an interesting title.  This is a theorycraft deck so its not particularly refined or going to crush the current meta, but I think it would be fun, like 80 random damage off hero power fun (it could happen!?!).  Being a more casual player and free to play up till Blackrock Mountain, and pre-purchasing 50 TGT packs, I don't currently have all the cards listed.  For a more in depth guide on how this deck might play, see the link directly below, other then that you will kind of have to wing it.

For more refined deck, see SirFuchalot's Majordomo Grinder Mage.

http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/247608-s14-top-100-legend-majordomo-grinder-mage

As of the time of writing (11th Sept 2015) his grinder mage is still listed in a pre "The Grand Tournament" (TGT) state, which may change in the future.  So this is my attempt at putting in some interesting TGT tech.  I have included 8 different cards (not counting Ice Barrier) and it kinda comes out like a combo deck. 

Combo Tech

When Justicar Trueheart was revealed, it didn't take long for people to wonder what effect it would have on alternate heroes like Lord Jaraxxus and Ragnaros, which turned out to be nothing.  Then with the reveal of Maiden of the Lake and Coldarra Drake, it would now be possible to use hero powers 10 times, or, theoretically more, with mana boosters like the coin or innervate.  What heroes could get maximum value from this? it is of course Lord Jaraxxus and Ragnaros again, although mage can kind of turn their hero power into a Pyroblast and druid's a giant weapon.  It doesn't take a genius to see that if you could keep everything alive with Ragnaros' hero power you could do like 1,2, ... 8, ... 16 ... 73, ... 80 damage a turn!  Just 1 small problem, unless you can some how Sideshow Spelleater it from your opponent, Ragnaros is your hero ... . 

Inactivated secrets do survive the hero transformation into Ragnaros, whereas armour does not.  Coldarra Drake is a mage class card, and given mages can survive to later in the game it seems the natural choice of class for attempting to run Majordomo Executus.  Pre TGT you could buff Ragnaros' health to 15 (with Alexstrasza), protect him with Ice Block and with Ice Barrier that could bring him to 15+8(armour) health and you might be able to survive long enough to start getting that sweet, sweet hero power value.  If things are going badly for you in a particular game, Majordomo Executus can be used as a yolo play.  When facing down near lethal damage you have an opportunity to make your opponent think twice about what to next. if you have Majordomo Executus out and the opponent can go face to leave you with less then 8 health, transforming to Ragnaros will effectively restore you to 8 health, undo some of their efforts and leave you with access to the new hero power, and maybe just allow you to draw another card to turn things around.  In a niche situation like that he will need to be played around with something such as a silence.  Also as a regular body on the field, if he can't be killed straight away (yes, he is in BGH range but if that's not available then and there) he can get value before he dies and you may even choose to deliberately kill him off with your own spell or hero power to restore some health.  As with Shadowform/Justicar Trueheart/Lord Jaraxxus transformations if you have the mana you can use your new hero power, even if you used your old 1 that turn.  For example, with Wilfred Fizzlebang on the field -> warlock hero power -> draw Lord Jaraxxus -> play him -> use new hero power. 

Where it starts to get interesting is with the introduction of Garrison Commander.  It occurred to me quite some time ago that if Majordomo Executus could be played with Kel'Thuzad the hero power could potentially be used 2 times a turn.  With a revived Majordomo Executus and Ragnaros as your hero, hero power -> hit something to kill Majordomo Executus again -> retransform into Ragnaros -> use hero power again.  With Garrison Commander this chain suddenly becomes twice as effective, play Garrison Commander from hand -> hero power x2 -> retransform -> hero power x2, 32+ damage, not bad.  And of course retransforming replaces any health lost that took you below 8, which might be relevant if you took a hero power or small/medium size charge minion to the face, or a silenced Icehowl on the turn it was played ... oh wait ?!?.

That's the offensive combo with Kel'Thuzad covered, now for the defensive 1, it uses Bolf Ramshield. and might just be the niche where he can shine.   People have speculated that he could be good with Majordomo Executus and I will have to agree.  Bolf Ramshield has a few neat tricks.  I have tested this myself (got a Bolf Ramshield from my 50 TGT packs), if there are 2 of him on the field, only 1 takes damage when your hero is attacked.  I speculate its because the first 1 absorbed the incoming damage the hero is not damaged, so by the time the 2nd Bolf Ramshield checks for incoming damage to the hero, its been redirected away already and doesn't trigger his effect (by design or by luck, nice work Blizzard).  A second interesting property, is that any overkill damage is still absorbed by Bolf Ramshield and does not pass through to the hero, this can also include fatigue damage.  Related to this is Bolf Ramshield takes damage before armour does, so if Ice Barrier has been activated and Bolf Ramshield is out your hero has an extra layer of protection.  If your hero and Bolf Ramshield are both on 1 health, you can take a Pyroblast to the face and if that's all there is you do not even have to worry about your Ice Block activating.  Because Bolf Ramshield is a minion, he can be revived by Kel'Thuzad, so he now has a similarity to the Mal'GanisKel'Thuzad combo.  And if you were to say use Faceless Manipulator on Kel'Thuzad and kill off Bolf Ramshield, that there is some serious BM potential, you can take 9+ fatigue a turn and just shake it off (in testing while playing against my friend we got the fatigue to over 50 before we hit the turn limit and both exploded).  Another interesting aspect is that 2 lots of simultaneous damage can still be counted in the overkill, for example, if you are in fatigue and someone plays a Coldlight Oracle, even if the first lot of fatigue damage does 10+ damage, the second lot will do 11+ damage overkill to Bolf Ramshield leaving your hero unharmed.  I have heard it said Bolf Ramshield would be a lot better if he had taunt.  From my theorising, I think its good that he doesn't have taunt as regular taunt minions provide yet another layer of defences allowing Bolf Ramshield  to attack face or attack another minion, so he dies and revives with a full 9 health.  As has been said before, he is a damage spell taunt.

It is worth noting that there is anti-synergy between using Alexstrasza on yourself and repeated transformations, same with the armour from Ice Barrier.  This might not be all bad, as it may present the option to use Alexstrasza offensively.

Closing Thoughts

In summary, if you can put all the pieces together, the dream is you can defensively stack: Kel'Thuzad, Faceless Manipulator, Ice Block, Ice Barrier, Bolf Ramshield and Alexstrasza (self cast).

Offensively you can stack:  with Ragnaros as your hero, Coldarra Drake and Maiden of the Lake or Kel'Thuzad, Garrison Commander, Majordomo Executus, , and Alexstrasza (cast on opponent)

In this version of the deck, its a first attempt and I tried to jam a lot in to give greater combo potential.  With the deck stretched Chromaggus seemed like a good idea to multiply combo potential so only having 1 of an obviously useful card didn't seem as bad, not saying its ideal of course.  Emperor Thaurissan is also a combo booster.  An example would be Frostbolt, I left the 2nd 1 out so I could put in 1 Arcane Intellect, and only put in 1 Ice Barrier to make room for a Duplicate.  Like a shotgun blast, perhaps something will hit the mark.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading  and I have stimulated your thought processes to come up with something new and original.  Its always good to realise some untapped potential.  Its the new and improved Majordomo Executus, TGT edition, now with 20% reduced unplayability, don't miss out, get yours today.

P.S.- Try not to hero power Dreadsteeds.