Hearthpwn

Hi, my name's Ezekiel, and I've been a big fan of hardcore control decks for a while now.

So here's my newest version of full on grinder fatigue mage, where the point is to deal with literally every card in their deck, put a few more cards into yours, and win in fatigue (although Elise Starseeker also gives an alternative end game win condition of having more threats than they can deal with.

Whenever I've built grinder mage before, there have been some cards I needed to run 2 of, so I've never had Reno Jackson in the deck before. But with the new cards from Mean Streets, in particular Inkmaster Solia and Kazakus, Reno Mage just got a hell of a lot better.

 

Mulligans:

In general, mulligan for: Babbling Book, Doomsayer, Frostbolt, Jeweled Scarab, Mad Scientist, Medivh's Valet, Forgotten Torch, Kabal Courier, Kazakus.

Against Secret Paladin, you can also keep Polymorph, Twilight Flamecaller and Reno Jackson.

Against all aggressive decks you should also keep Reno Jackson, and you can keep Manic Soulcaster just as an on curve play.

Against Priest you can also keep Duplicate.

 

Gameplan:

Play out your discover minions, remove their minions where possible in the early turns. If there isn't that much damage coming in you can afford to be greedy, but against more aggressive decks it's important to keep dealing with stuff. If you need to, playing Manic Soulcaster on turn 3 for no battlecry value is absolutely fine.

In the mid-game, if you've got some space, play out the beefier discovers, or try to set up a duplicate on one, or try to double up on a discover or two with Brann Bronzebeard. Basically just try to gather spells and answers in your hand for use in later turns.

For Kazakus, the 5 mana spell is usually the best, but if you have Inkmaster Solia in hand the 10 mana spell is obviously better. Against other heavy control decks the 10 mana spell is again the best, and getting 2 or more of those spells with Brann Bronzebeard or Duplicate is game-winning.

 

Possible Card Substitutions:

Many of you won't have access to all of the cards in the deck. Some of them are integral, others can be replaced. I will only talk about the epics and legendaries in my list here.

Doomsayer: The card is very powerful. If you don't have it though, I would suggest an Acidic Swamp Ooze

Brann Bronzebeard: Brann is integral to the deck. He cannot be substituted.

Ice Block: Ice block is certainly very good in the deck, but if you don't own it, then either put in a Potion of Polymorph, or replace it with a heal card, like a Refreshment Vendor. If you do swap it for something that isn't a secret, make sure to also remove Medivh's Valet from the deck, as it will be too inconsistent then.

Manic Soulcaster: Honestly this card is completely expendable. You can swap it with just about any decent value card you like. I would recommend going for something reasonably low cost though.

Elise Starseeker: This card is very good in control match-ups but not essential. It can be substituted with Water Elemental.

Kazakus: This is probably the most powerful card in the deck. It's really important. If you want to play a grinder deck and do not own this card, I would suggest going for one that isn't a Reno deck.

Cabalist's Tome: Just another high value card. There's nothing else that can do what it does though, so if you don't have it I would just go for another value card like Azure Drake or Grand Crusader

Reno Jackson: ... Yeah he's pretty important. If you don't have him I would look elsewhere for a deck.

Inkmaster Solia: She is not essential. She's a good way of establishing a body on the board while you answer their threats. If you don't own her, I would just add another card that can help the tempo-game against aggressive decks, like Mind Control Tech.

 

Winrate:

Overall, across 34 ranked games so far this season, the deck is at 27 wins to 7 losses (79.4%) Individual win rates against each class are as follows:

Druid: 0 Wins -1 Loss

Hunter: 0 Wins - 0 Losses

Mage: 6 Wins - 1 Loss

Paladin: 4 Wins - 2 Losses

Priest: 4 Wins - 1 Loss

Rogue: 0 Wins - 1 Loss

Shaman: 4 Wins - 0 Losses

Warlock: 2 Wins - 0 Losses

Warrior: 7 Wins - 1 Loss

It's also worth noting that this deck hasn't ever lost to another control or fatigue deck, including one where the opponent had Prince Malchezaar in their deck.

 

So that's the deck

If anyone's got any questions, just leave a comment below and I'll answer them for you. Likewise if anyone thinks they can improve the deck, just leave a comment.

Also if anyone wants me to record some gameplay of the deck and explain it a bit, I suppose I can do that.

I hope you enjoy playing the deck!