Hearthpwn

Hi, I am Jabba, a player from England. I have played Hearthstone Since July 2015 and my highest rank is rank 4 which i achieved last season (S23). This is a post (My first post) showcasing the deck I used with a full guide. It took me about 5 Hours to get from rank 16 to 4 with a 70% WR.

This deck got me comfortably to rank 4 and I believe that it could get me higher if I had put more time in. Which makes me think an experienced player could easily take it to Legend. Whilst this was in the making I submitted it to Firebats 'Deck Doctor' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXLCfbLFzcg) <Video of him playing the original list.

Now, the deck....

I call it 'Torch Mage' the reason being it that Forgotten Torch made it possible. Before forgotten torch it was hard to OTK your opponent (without Malygos with Frostbolts and Ice Lances or an Alexstraza the previous turn) and control the board using spells. Forgotten Torch allows this to happen as it provides a 3 mana removal card and then add a 3 mana fireball to your deck which means it has sustain and added burst. 

It has a max combo of 46 damage for 8 mana with the perfect Emperor Thaurissan Proc into top deck firball.

	Damage	Mana Cost (after Thaurissan+ Apprentice)
Apprentice		1
icelance	4	0
icelance	4	0
frostbolt	3	0
frostbolt	3	0
Roaring torch	6	1
Roaring torch	6	1
Kobold	7	1
Kobold	7	1
Firball	6	3
	46	8

 

'Weird' Inclusion

These are the cards/ choices that may seem weird:

Sir Finley Mrrgglton - This isn't your average Freeze Mage inclusion you may be thinking but this isn't an average Freeze Mage. Why? Well turn 1 allows Sir Finley to trade a couple of 1 health minions against pesky aggro decks just like your hero power would except you want to play draw every turn along side some stall and you don't want to waste early turns playing hero powers unless you get a warlock hero power. 

Which Hero Power?

Against Warrior you need to take Warlock or Hunter because you need to have max damage output which both give you more face damage each turn or more draw into a quicker combo each turn. 

Besides the Warrior match-up you want to be going for a situational hero power if played past turn 1.

Turn 1 Finley Hero Power (Not against Warrior) you should take- Priest/ Warrior> Warlock/ Hunter> Druid> Rogue> Shaman/ Paladin

The first 2 Hero powers allows some heal/ sustain as I don't run any.

Mad Scientist - This is not an unusual card but the unusual part is the fact I only use 1. The reason for this is that with only 2 secrets and no desire for having minions on the board the second one is drawn before the second secret 50% of the time meaning it is a dead card as you don't need damage on board.

Kobold Geomancer - This is a huge part of the deck (and so is Bloodmage Thalnos) this represents 1 mana (After Emperor Thaurissan proc) for 4+ Damage. The reason for having 2 and Thalnos is for the Warrior Match up to reach maximum burst without Antonidas.

Sorcerer's Apprentice - This again is a huge part of the combo as with Thaurissan it becomes 1 mana and allows you to fit more burst, shown in Firebats video.

Mulligan

Mulligan for Forgotten Torchs and for card draw.

The only specific match ups are Hunter, Shaman and Warrior.

Hunter- Mulligan for 2/3 draws (3 if you have coin) and 1 freeze to stop board pressure. This freeze should normally be cone of cold as they play low health minions but frost nova will do as they are both lower cost than blizzard.

Warrior- You should mulligan for Thaurissan and draw so you can combo as early as possible.

Shaman- Besides Warrior this is the hardest match up as they play high health not 'pingable' cards most of the time. You should have 2 stalls and 1/2 draws in your mulligan.

When To Use Cards/ Burn

Mad Scientist should only be used after 1 Ice Block has been drawn because taking 1 of the Ice Blocks out of your deck by using Mad Scientist means it is harder to draw the second one when you need it. Mad Scientist can be used if the Ice Block is needed soon.

Burn- Burn should be used wisely and generally after all else fails. 'Burn' does not include  Forgotten Torch which is used as removal however burn does include Roaring Torch.

Freezes- These should be used in a similar way to Freeze Mage but can be used just to slow damage down or stall a turn.

Emperor Thaurissan - This should be used when you have enough damge in hand or with a lot of damage, a Sorcerer's Apprentice and 1/2 Spell Damage minions.

So after posting this there has been a lot of talking about it being unreliable. It seems to be that people are trying to play it as freeze mage. Here are some common mistakes;

'Precious' Cards- I saw a post on reddit saying that he will draw and his hand will be saturated with cards he 'needs' to keep, this is where a lot of people go wrong, if you are playing against warrior you should use some cards like Forgotten Torch to keep armor down. But against other classes you only need to find 20-30 damage meaning you can use 20-25 damage on the board and stuff. 

Stalls- As a freeze mage you have 24/32 more health than this deck with barriers and healbots. This is why you need to play more aggressively, you need to not spend turns pinging, you need to draw or damage. Now stalls are an important part or freeze mage which also has 2/3 more stalls and clears than this meaning you have to use the wisely and as a last resort when you are at around 15 health start stalling so you can keep buying turns.

'Too Much Draw'- This only comes up when people play against things like warrior or priest where doing early damage sometimes doesn't achieve much as a freeze mage so you keep cards meaning your hand is too full but this isn't a freeze mage. In this deck there are 2 ice lances, 2 frostbolts, 2 forgotten torches and 2 fireballs. Above I mentioned the perfect combo which is very unrealistic but if we see that as you maximum damage output in one turn then you look at the remaining cards that you can use to clear or keep armor down which are 1 Fireball, 2 Forgotten Torches (Roaring Torches are in combo) and 1 spell damage minion. that is maximum of 15 damage to use before the combo so considering you wont need 46 damage all the time you can often use 25 damage outside the combo.

Waiting for combo- Waiting for the combo is a key part of the deck but waiting for thaurissan can be its down fall, against any class you can set up a 2 turn lethal (against priest and warrior you have to consider health gain) meaning you don't always need thaurissan.

CHANGES SINCE POSTING

Finley- No more Finley as the Mage hero power is very good in the meta but he can be put in if facing many Warrior as the Hunter hero power is good and if unlucky with not getting hunter Druid and Rogue are near replacements of the Mage hero power against warrior as the have freezes. Finley is included again as he good for that extra bit of damage and very good in the warrior match up. You don't have to play him turn 1 most of the time as mage hero power is good against aggro.

Doomsayer- Taken 1 out for second apprentice.

Day 9's Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwBPthTyp1g

Thanks for Reading and enjoy the deck!