Hearthpwn

Hi, my name's Ezekiel, and I've been a big fan of hardcore control decks for as long as I've actually owned the cards to make them.

I had a lot of success with the previous version of this deck, which can be found here: http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/693865-why-cant-i-hold-all-these-spells-wild-grinder-mage.

This is kind of an update to it, but I felt the decklist was different enough, and the meta was different enough, to warrant a new write up.

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, and Elise the Trailblazer also give alternative end game win conditions of having more threats than they can deal with. 

Mulligans:

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

Against Secret Paladin, you can also keep Polymorph, Volcanic Potion, Polymorph 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, Polymorph and Arcane Intellect.

 

Gameplan:

Play out your discover minions and spells and 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. If the opponent really isn't applying any pressure you may be able to play Cabalist's Tome on curve.

For Kazakus, the 5 mana spell is usually the best, but against any N'Zoth, the Corruptor deck the 10 mana spell is obviously better for the chance to get the board polymorph. Against other heavy control decks the 10 mana spell is again often the best, and getting 2 or more of those spells with Brann Bronzebeard or Duplicate is game-winning. If you have some other board clears (such as a 5 mana Kazakus potion, and a volcanic potion) and you are very behind on board and life total, the 1 mana potion may be the correct choice simply to give a bit more clearing potential.

It's worth noting also that Kazakus has synergy with Pyros, as an early  5 mana resurrect potion can let you get back an additional Pyros for future value.

 

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

Pyros: The card is good in the deck but not essential. I would suggest swapping out for an anti-aggro card, rather than another value card, as the deck is already quite greedy. Dirty Rat, Acidic Swamp Ooze, Twilight Flamecaller, or even Golakka Crawler are all reasonable substitutions.

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.

Elise the Trailblazer: This card is extremely good in the deck, as it puts you further away from fatigue, and has ridiculous value if you can play more than one of her in a game. If you don't own her, replace with another high value card. Medivh, the Guardian, Ragnaros the Firelord, Archmage Antonidas and Nefarian are all reasonable options.

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.

Firelands Portal: Good value, but not essential. Add a Fireball, or if you have one, a Meteor. 

Winrate:

The deck has had a win rate of around 85% from rank 20 to rank 10 in wild this season. I shall try to gather more specific win-loss ratios against each class, and shall update this guide accordingly. 

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!