I've been playing Hearthstone for two years (always maining as a Mage), but FINALLY the meta has turned simply beautiful for us Mages. Enjoy this deck, until people figure out the tech slots, it will tear up the ladder.
Mulligan: Always throw away anything but 1 drops. I throw away Sorc Apprentices if I'm going first (except against Aggro/Pirates, as they can eat Weapon attacks), as you want to get value from them. KEEP Medivh in hand if playing against Mage - He turns the battle, and Mages on ladder have a slow enough start that it will work out for you. I had a string of 4 Mage wins in a row to get from Rank 1 to Legend, all with mulliganing/keeping Medivh.
Mulligan aggressively for Arcanologists as well. When in doubt, always play an Arcanologist on Turn 2, even if you have other "better" plays (over 1 drops, or Sorc Apprentice + coin + Primordial Glyph), as you will be thinning out your deck for better future draws. Also, on Turn 3, play Arcanologist over Arcane Intellect - same reason as before (plus minion on the board).
Mulligan hard for 1 mana drops/Frosbolt vs. Pirate Warrior. Save Frostbolt for their 2 mana 2/3 Pirate.
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This deck destroys:
Mage Mirror Match (that doesn't have Gluttonous Ooze)
Quest Mage
Pirate Warrior
Paladin (all types, including Murloc. Unless you get an awful mulligan and they get an insane one)
Jade Druid
Quest Rogue
Midrange Hunter
- In short, all of the decks that are in the Meta in high ranks on ladder now.
-This deck requires expertise, you will need to learn and get a feel for how everything works, the flow of the curve, and gameplay. Keep it up though. The deck is hella fun, hella strategic, and very successful.
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My tech choices are the optimal ones for this deck, IMHO:
1 Polymorph and one Spell bender to simply destroy Paladin (very prevalent in the top 5 ranks). The spellbent 6 mana spell can cause an insta-concede. Spellbender also works nicely against Rogues to steal a Shadowstep! And it can't be countered by Coin, etc. Also, destroys Quest Mage and their 4 mana Molten Reflection combo. It also protects Medivh and Alex late game, and disrupts Silence Priest. I think this is the most powerful secret (along with Ice Block) this meta.
The double Meteors, are absolutely key, as they trigger off Medivh, and take out the Priest archetype (along with the one Polymorph). Flamestrike also works nicely with Medivh, and in the aggro meta (you can survive till then with your excellent early game)
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Hardest Matchups:
- Agro Druid is Sickening against this deck. Expect to see a lot more of it if this deck takes off.
- Quest Warrior can be tricky. Be very judicious with your burn. Play it like a Chess match. Wait for them to trigger their quest, and make sure to have Medivh ready a turn before that, so you can apply more pressure. Also, try to cast your more expensive burn first (Pyroblast, Firelands Portal)
- Miracle Rogue (Quest Rogue is EZ with this deck) - The variant with Sherazin + 2 Arcane Giants + Sherazin + 2 Auctioneers can be VERY difficult. Save Polymorph for Sherazin (along with Highmane in Midrange Hunter, and Tirion/Ragnaros Lightlord Paladin, one of the main reasons I teched in the one copy of Polymorph). Try to save Flamestrike for Auctioneer so your other burn can go face.
I find it pretty hard to pilot this deck ... Other decks mostly are just faster
This deck might be a bit tougher to pilot, but it is fine tuned against the meta. It can take you places, and win against decks you have no business winning as standard Burn Mage.
I saw this deck (maybe one or two card difference) played by quite a few streamers almost since the start of Ungoro ...
Spellbender is key! If you read the writeup, there are about 6/7 cards that other variants of this deck don't include.
I did see Reynad play a similar deck, and he did inspire me to modify his to come up with this version. I found my version got more mileage than his (for me) (after 50 games of each on the ladder).
I have a hard time believing this "destroys" all paladin decks. Maybe you got lucky or faced bad players. I faced tons of similar burn mages at high ranks over the last couple weeks and had an about even, if not slightly favorable, win rate with my aggro murloc. In a few games I won I just ran the mage down before they could do much, but more often the mage was forced to waste burn to clear my board and in the end (usually with the help of Tarim) I was able to get the mage down to 1 health and play eye for an eye ftw.
Still, I think your deck is much better than freeze mage. Pally kills that deck.
I have a hard time believing this "destroys" all paladin decks. Maybe you got lucky or faced bad players. I faced tons of similar burn mages at high ranks over the last couple weeks and had an about even, if not slightly favorable, win rate with my aggro murloc. In a few games I won I just ran the mage down before they could do much, but more often the mage was forced to waste burn to clear my board and in the end (usually with the help of Tarim) I was able to get the mage down to 1 health and play eye for an eye ftw.
Still, I think your deck is much better than freeze mage. Pally kills that deck.
Yeah. I mulligan hard for Frostbolt, Mana Wyrm, Arcanologist (can 2 for 1 the Murlocs, plus Spellbender in hand), which helps even more. Truthfully, Aggro Murloc Paladin (without the Stegodon) IS a harder matchup but Control Paladin is indeed easy.
Also, Paladin has no other spells generally to trigger the Spellbender, so Stegodon is auto-stolen in any Paladin deck that runs it.
I have a hard time believing this "destroys" all paladin decks. Maybe you got lucky or faced bad players. I faced tons of similar burn mages at high ranks over the last couple weeks and had an about even, if not slightly favorable, win rate with my aggro murloc. In a few games I won I just ran the mage down before they could do much, but more often the mage was forced to waste burn to clear my board and in the end (usually with the help of Tarim) I was able to get the mage down to 1 health and play eye for an eye ftw.
Still, I think your deck is much better than freeze mage. Pally kills that deck.
Yeah. I mulligan hard for Frostbolt, Mana Wyrm, Arcanologist (can 2 for 1 the Murlocs, plus Spellbender in hand), which helps even more. Truthfully, Aggro Murloc Paladin (without the Stegodon) IS a harder matchup but Control Paladin is indeed easy.
Also, Paladin has no other spells generally to trigger the Spellbender, so Stegodon is auto-stolen in any Paladin deck that runs it.
I don't run the stegadon spell, so maybe that's why my win rate was so much better. In fact, looking at my list, my deck doesn't run a single spell that would trigger spellbender!
in this meta, i can see people testing for ice barrier and, once failing, thinking spell bender is ice block.
that level of deception can be quite handy*
*since this is not a random spell, it's more likely to be mistaken for ice block and not played around
EXACTLY! People very often mistake it for Ice Block.
And often it'll steal an Execute from Warriors targetting Medivh/Alex in Control matchups, or Shadow Word Death from Priest. Besides for the Paladin kill.
decided to build the deck and went about 50% wr. hit a few tilting losses so I'm pretty sure thats why I wasn't playing so great, other than that the deck plays great!
Had a good run of luck with this deck and then lost maybe eight games in a row.
I'm not getting a lot of value from Spellbender and not much from Frostbolt either as I rarely find a good time to use the freeze effect. I was thinking of swapping it out for Medivh's Valet which would at least put a body on the board. Also, as I'm playing against a lot of small minions, I was thinking of swapping the Fireballs for Twilight Drakes.
Having said all that, I'm not a particularly strong player so my success or otherwise might be more me than meta.
Sorry about the bad luck at the end. This deck does have issues with the small minion board filling decks (i.e. I mentioned that Agro druid is a problem). I personally only got that matchup one out of 5-6 games, interspersed among Quest Rogue, Warrior Pirate/Quest, Priest, Paladin, ele Shaman and Mage, and constituted most of my losses with this deck. If that's the meta you're seeing, I don't think there's very much to do about it (read: this deck might not be ideal for that meta). I might swap out a Meteor for a Blizzard/Flamestrike, or add another Volcanic Potion.
The problem I had with Medivh's Valet is that it's very conditional early game, compared to Frostbolt. Frosbolt is a guaranteed kill of a high threat minion instantly, without having to wait to use it turn 4 by getting the secret into play on turn 3. Think Northshire Cleric, or Hunter Hyena.
Also. Fireballs are essential. You never want to remove them.
how can play 40 games in 240 min with this control deck? ~ 6 min per game seems unrealistic unless ur chuck norris!
It may have been closer to 5 hours total, but I play this deck very quickly now (quick concede when a loss is coming, and often steamroll wins). I had been tinkering with variations of it this whole month, and then this build did the trick.
I'm really curious how you beat Midrange Hunter, they always run easily over me.
Mulligan aggressively for early game. Keep killing their minions till they stall out, with Meteor, Flamestrike, Polymorph, Volcanic Potion. Destroy Eaglehorn bow with ooze. End game you usually have to Alexstraza yourself, and then Alex to face plus burn wins. Hunter doesn't run healing, so once he runs out of gas (they have horrible card draw) it's pretty much over. Similar to Pirate Warrior, except with more minions, and more Fireballs hitting dangerous targets (including Hyenas, if you don't have Frostbolt).
is there any way at all to beat a jade druid at higher ranks? feral rage + earthern scales negates our whole strategy...druid in the end gets around 30-40 armor and we simply cant deal with that dmg output wise...i know you wrote this deck destroys it but its actually vice versa in my experience
the thing is....by the time you have your end game fatal...druid already has jades at 7 or 8...one earthern scales heals gets him 8 armor + 8 from feral rage...even if we medievh and alex he "heals" for another 20 in 2 turns + has taunts on board so you cant face...seems like the worst matchup for this deck
Yes. Jade Druid can be devastating. The build I was running into on ladder didn't run as much healing, and wasn't as fine tuned. It was also extremely rare from Ranks 5- Legend, when I was playing.
I've been playing Hearthstone for two years (always maining as a Mage), but FINALLY the meta has turned simply beautiful for us Mages. Enjoy this deck, until people figure out the tech slots, it will tear up the ladder.
Mulligan: Always throw away anything but 1 drops. I throw away Sorc Apprentices if I'm going first (except against Aggro/Pirates, as they can eat Weapon attacks), as you want to get value from them. KEEP Medivh in hand if playing against Mage - He turns the battle, and Mages on ladder have a slow enough start that it will work out for you. I had a string of 4 Mage wins in a row to get from Rank 1 to Legend, all with mulliganing/keeping Medivh.
Mulligan aggressively for Arcanologists as well. When in doubt, always play an Arcanologist on Turn 2, even if you have other "better" plays (over 1 drops, or Sorc Apprentice + coin + Primordial Glyph), as you will be thinning out your deck for better future draws. Also, on Turn 3, play Arcanologist over Arcane Intellect - same reason as before (plus minion on the board).
Mulligan hard for 1 mana drops/Frosbolt vs. Pirate Warrior. Save Frostbolt for their 2 mana 2/3 Pirate.
------------------------------------
This deck destroys:
Mage Mirror Match (that doesn't have Gluttonous Ooze)
Quest Mage
Pirate Warrior
Paladin (all types, including Murloc. Unless you get an awful mulligan and they get an insane one)
Jade Druid
Quest Rogue
Midrange Hunter
- In short, all of the decks that are in the Meta in high ranks on ladder now.
-This deck requires expertise, you will need to learn and get a feel for how everything works, the flow of the curve, and gameplay. Keep it up though. The deck is hella fun, hella strategic, and very successful.
------------------------------------
My tech choices are the optimal ones for this deck, IMHO:
1 Polymorph and one Spell bender to simply destroy Paladin (very prevalent in the top 5 ranks). The spellbent 6 mana spell can cause an insta-concede. Spellbender also works nicely against Rogues to steal a Shadowstep! And it can't be countered by Coin, etc. Also, destroys Quest Mage and their 4 mana Molten Reflection combo. It also protects Medivh and Alex late game, and disrupts Silence Priest. I think this is the most powerful secret (along with Ice Block) this meta.
The double Meteors, are absolutely key, as they trigger off Medivh, and take out the Priest archetype (along with the one Polymorph). Flamestrike also works nicely with Medivh, and in the aggro meta (you can survive till then with your excellent early game)
------------------------
Hardest Matchups:
- Agro Druid is Sickening against this deck. Expect to see a lot more of it if this deck takes off.
- Quest Warrior can be tricky. Be very judicious with your burn. Play it like a Chess match. Wait for them to trigger their quest, and make sure to have Medivh ready a turn before that, so you can apply more pressure. Also, try to cast your more expensive burn first (Pyroblast, Firelands Portal)
- Miracle Rogue (Quest Rogue is EZ with this deck) - The variant with Sherazin + 2 Arcane Giants + Sherazin + 2 Auctioneers can be VERY difficult. Save Polymorph for Sherazin (along with Highmane in Midrange Hunter, and Tirion/Ragnaros Lightlord Paladin, one of the main reasons I teched in the one copy of Polymorph). Try to save Flamestrike for Auctioneer so your other burn can go face.
68% is to low... you need at last 120% to be good !
There is no cancer deck in hearthstone ! You are the Cancer !
Thijs is playing a very similar version on stream right now in the high legend ranks
I have a hard time believing this "destroys" all paladin decks. Maybe you got lucky or faced bad players. I faced tons of similar burn mages at high ranks over the last couple weeks and had an about even, if not slightly favorable, win rate with my aggro murloc. In a few games I won I just ran the mage down before they could do much, but more often the mage was forced to waste burn to clear my board and in the end (usually with the help of Tarim) I was able to get the mage down to 1 health and play eye for an eye ftw.
Still, I think your deck is much better than freeze mage. Pally kills that deck.
in this meta, i can see people testing for ice barrier and, once failing, thinking spell bender is ice block.
that level of deception can be quite handy*
*since this is not a random spell, it's more likely to be mistaken for ice block and not played around
decided to build the deck and went about 50% wr. hit a few tilting losses so I'm pretty sure thats why I wasn't playing so great, other than that the deck plays great!
I'm really curious how you beat Midrange Hunter, they always run easily over me.
What is region do you play?
One day this game will stop existing. I can't wait.
+1 Deck feels good. Thanks for sharing homie. Its a nice switch up from standard freeze/tempo decks.
Went 7-2 starting from rank 5. Only lost to two quest warriors, my first two games (one of which had devastating Dirty Rats)
Warrior 0-2 . Priest 1-0 . Hunter 4-0 . Rogue 2-0
can i friend u on NA? ShootingStar#1114