Hearthpwn

Hey guys !

A dream of mine just came true. I wanted to get legend with a fatigue deck but couldn't make those work...

... until now ! So here it is : the fatigue mage deck I used to climb from rank 10 to legend.

 Why a fatigue deck ?

First of all, I love control decks. I want to win my games because I found the right answer(s) to my opponents' threats, not because THEY couldn't deal with mines.

Now, the thing is, in Hearthstone, Magic, and such games, in almost every match there's a control player and an aggro player (If you want to learn more about that, just type "Who's the beatdown on Google").

It's kind of a problem for me because I only enjoy being the control player. In order to always be that person, I had to have a very reliable win condition. In HearthStone, a very reliable win condition is either a huge burst combo or a plan to win the fatigue war. The problem with the combo plan is that it's weak to ice blocks and to warriors with tons of armor.

So I went with fatigue.

Plus, let's face it, playing a fatigue deck is freaking awesome. It's basically the equivalent of saying : "Do what you want, I'll just deal with it, and then I'll win without even attacking you".

The problem :

As said above, the fatigue gameplan is pretty cool, but it is also quite ambitious.

Since you don't have ways to pressure the opponent, you'll have to deal with every threat he has before they kill you. Keywords here are every and before. You need to generate enough value / use your existing ressources wisely so that you have enough answers for the entire game, and you need to do so in a timely manner. Also, you need to make sure the opponent reaches fatigue faster than you do, but that part is pretty easy (except against priest)

How the deck adresses the problem : 

1) Identifying threats and having the right answers : This is actually quite simple : threats are going to be either minions or direct damage. To deal with minions, you have removals (global or targeted) or taunts. To deal with direct damage, you have heals and ice block.

2) Not getting out-valued : While you have a limited amount of removals, you can generate more taunts/healbots/doomsayers with cards like duplicate, echo and N'zoth.

3) Not getting out-tempoed : So, we have answers, and we can generate more of them if needed. We still need to not get too far behind in terms of tempo. Cards like frost nova, blizzard, frostbolt, doomsayer, mind control tech, thaurissan, and deathlords are here for that.

4) Making sure the opponent reaches fatigue before you : As I said, this part is pretty simple. Just by playing a deck with 2 deathlords and no asymmetrical draw engine, we'll reach fatigue after most opponents. But sometimes (say against priest with entomb and deathlords), you'll need to duplicate your deathlords in order to do that. Mad scientist actually hurts this fatigue plan, since it pulls a card out of your deck, but the card is just too good not to play.

 

Final words :

The deck is really hard to play. You have to constantly assess the situation and decide if you need to go for the tempo play or the value play. You also need a good knowledge of the existing decks to know what their threats are going to be. You also need a sufficient knowledge of the rules, specifically interactions between deathrattles and secrets. And a single mistake can often cost you the whole game.

But in my mind, it is also the reason why this deck provides such a great gaming/learning experience.

I know I'm not the only Hearthstone player who loves control decks, but finds himself struggling in this meta filled with brainless agression.

So if you're one of these players, this deck might be what you're looking for. (And it's really cheap if you allready have the cards from the adventures). I hope you'll like it !