Can someone please tell me what I am doing wrong? I use Vicious Syndicate's reports and podcast to choose what I thought were the hottest current decks. They are hot on Quest mages so I spent a ton of dust which took months to get and created the Quest mage from their site. After 40 or so games I'm at Silver 8. I started keeping track of my win rate 20 games ago, it's 40%. This is a hot deck? Feeling like I want to quit this grind. Thanks for any advice.
There are two main potential reasons why you might be getting poor results.
One is that Quest Mage has some pretty polarised matchups. It's very good agains most decks, but also very weak against some, so it is possible that you got unlucky with the matchmaking or that at your rank the counters of the deck are popular.
The second is that, although the deck is not especially difficult to pilot, it is very punishing if you make key mistakes. This can be easily solved by looking for some videos or streams of the deck being played by top players.
Problem with the "hot" decks is that they are predictable. Everyone you queue into knows exactly what your deck is the moment you play quest on 1 and has learned the best way to play against it.
Unless you draw your cards in the perfect order every game, your win-rate is likely to suffer.
Keep in mind that it's just a few days into the new month and people are still ranking up. So there is probably a higher chance to queue into counters or other "hot" decks that will punish your deck.
Specially on lower ranks quest mage is expected to be everywhere, so more people build decks against it. Not that you should renounce playing it if it costed you all your dust and stuff, but you have to keep in mind it's easier to find bumps in your road if it's one of the most popular decks and also one that many people ill try and counter because it predates easily on lower ranks while having harder times on high ranks.
What I remember from VS is that quest mage as very overplayed compared to how good it actually is. The decks is very popular on ladder so many decks are either good against you or have tech cards for your deck. So the deck is worse than it looks but should still be better than 40%. Are you tactical with your cram session? Do you have trouble playing your frost spells? (use shattering blast and barrier then) Do you focus enough on completing the quest fast or are you holding too much onto your cards? (just cram session for draw after varden) Did you watch the deck played in grandmasters? The deck is very popular among some of the greatest competitive players. Why not learn from a pro?
I'm sorry, i'm new to recording games. I recorded a game using Google Play at 480, it's 137 mb. How would I show this to you? Happened to win but in no way dominated...
I think he meant by using the deck tracker and linking to it. Not sure if there is a way on mobile though.
Quest Mage is in a better spot than pre-nerfs, with a 51 ish percent winrate, so middle of the road. As some people said, some matchups are heavily unfavored, think Anacondra Druid, Poison Rogue, Face hunter. Have you faced a lot of these? Also mulligan is important and you need to know what to keep and what to not keep, because you start with -1 card. keeping one of each spell school is pretty good, or keep a harder one to come by like a frost spell, and search aggressively for incanter's flow. Most of my games, I felt like without flow a win is not very likely.
Lost pirate warrior Won quest mage Lost Gadgetzan rogue Lost Shield paladin Won Quest warlock Won Priest Lost Cthun Setthek Priest Won Hunter they left Lost by 1 Warlock Won Quest Priest Lost Demon hunter Lost Atonidas Mage Won Quest hunter left Lost Quest Paladin owned Lost Priest Silver 8 Lost Atonidas Mage Won Quest Lock quit Silver 7 Won Cthun Quest Mage Lost Paladin 1 and 2 cost minions Won Paladin Lost Taunt Druid, no quest Silver 8
20 games won 8....40% win rate
Lost Quest rogue not even close Lost Hunter basic Won Lock Lost Taunt Druid creamed Won Quest hunter Won Quest rogue Lost deathrattle demon hunter
yeah, that is true, I would aggressively mulligan for frost spells and Incanter's Flow. Most of the times I beat a quest mage it either did not draw Incanter or took ages to throw frost spells.
After watching your video, I think the issue is that you do not really understand how to play this deck. You have to understand that this deck is about progressing your quest while chipping away at your opponent or stalling their minions. Once you complete the quest, your ignites/fireballs, and other direct damage will be so overwhelming it makes up for the lack of damage down while progressing quest.
Here is a breakdown of errors I saw:
Turn 2, chose value over quest progression from Runed Orb - should have picked Oasis Ally Turn 3, ping (really!?) over quest progression from First Flame - even at higer cost, removes a threat and progresses quest Turn 4, Could have either played Oasis Ally and completed phase 1 of quest by now or Second flame on second cultist. Turn 5, Correct play Turn 6, targeted the lower threat minion and used two quest progression cards doing it when you could have used one Apexis Blast and generated a minion too. Turn 7, Used Arcane Intellect over Refreshing Spring water, which would have netted a 1 mana cost only, still only pinged and discovered a minion from Primordial Studies (a quest progression card)
You did not complete the first phase of the quest.
In order to win with this deck, you need to prioritize completing your quest, even if it feels like it's the play that is less mana efficient or has less value. The quest grants it's own rewards upon each phase of completion and is the point of the deck, it should be the primary focus of your plays not just on the turn you are on, but the turns ahead.
This is the one I use, and it is good against a broad range of deck types:
Can someone please tell me what I am doing wrong? I use Vicious Syndicate's reports and podcast to choose what I thought were the hottest current decks. They are hot on Quest mages so I spent a ton of dust which took months to get and created the Quest mage from their site. After 40 or so games I'm at Silver 8. I started keeping track of my win rate 20 games ago, it's 40%. This is a hot deck? Feeling like I want to quit this grind. Thanks for any advice.
dunno how you play, but got diamond 5 with QMage 2 days ago without any problems
There are two main potential reasons why you might be getting poor results.
One is that Quest Mage has some pretty polarised matchups. It's very good agains most decks, but also very weak against some, so it is possible that you got unlucky with the matchmaking or that at your rank the counters of the deck are popular.
The second is that, although the deck is not especially difficult to pilot, it is very punishing if you make key mistakes. This can be easily solved by looking for some videos or streams of the deck being played by top players.
Problem with the "hot" decks is that they are predictable. Everyone you queue into knows exactly what your deck is the moment you play quest on 1 and has learned the best way to play against it.
Unless you draw your cards in the perfect order every game, your win-rate is likely to suffer.
Mind sharing your deck string so I can see what you play? Here's mine
AAECAf0EAuj3A/T8Aw7BuAOBvwPHzgPNzgP30QPU6gPQ7APR7AOn9wOu9wOy9wP8ngT9ngTonwQA
I don't think it's all that difficult to play but thanks for your thoughtful response.
Keep in mind that it's just a few days into the new month and people are still ranking up. So there is probably a higher chance to queue into counters or other "hot" decks that will punish your deck.
Specially on lower ranks quest mage is expected to be everywhere, so more people build decks against it. Not that you should renounce playing it if it costed you all your dust and stuff, but you have to keep in mind it's easier to find bumps in your road if it's one of the most popular decks and also one that many people ill try and counter because it predates easily on lower ranks while having harder times on high ranks.
Click to see my Hearthstone projects:
My poison rogue eats quest mage for breakfast
Show us a replay of a typical game and maybe we could point out if you’re making any errors
That's not a really helpful reply here, though.
How does your poison rogue do against aggro druid or handbuff paladin?
Does it chew on them for a little bit... and then give up and spit them out, eventually going hungry?
Every deck has counters, OP wanted advice.
What I remember from VS is that quest mage as very overplayed compared to how good it actually is. The decks is very popular on ladder so many decks are either good against you or have tech cards for your deck. So the deck is worse than it looks but should still be better than 40%. Are you tactical with your cram session? Do you have trouble playing your frost spells? (use shattering blast and barrier then) Do you focus enough on completing the quest fast or are you holding too much onto your cards? (just cram session for draw after varden) Did you watch the deck played in grandmasters? The deck is very popular among some of the greatest competitive players. Why not learn from a pro?
Derp
I think he meant by using the deck tracker and linking to it. Not sure if there is a way on mobile though.
Quest Mage is in a better spot than pre-nerfs, with a 51 ish percent winrate, so middle of the road. As some people said, some matchups are heavily unfavored, think Anacondra Druid, Poison Rogue, Face hunter. Have you faced a lot of these? Also mulligan is important and you need to know what to keep and what to not keep, because you start with -1 card. keeping one of each spell school is pretty good, or keep a harder one to come by like a frost spell, and search aggressively for incanter's flow. Most of my games, I felt like without flow a win is not very likely.
Your advice made me upload my first Youtube video. Nothing at all special about this hunter. Spent over 3000 dust on this lame deck...sigh
https://youtu.be/QOb6hI9JeYE
Thanks
Since I've been keeping track
Silver 7
Lost pirate warrior
Won quest mage
Lost Gadgetzan rogue
Lost Shield paladin
Won Quest warlock
Won Priest
Lost Cthun Setthek Priest
Won Hunter they left
Lost by 1 Warlock
Won Quest Priest
Lost Demon hunter
Lost Atonidas Mage
Won Quest hunter left
Lost Quest Paladin owned
Lost Priest
Silver 8
Lost Atonidas Mage
Won Quest Lock quit
Silver 7
Won Cthun Quest Mage
Lost Paladin 1 and 2 cost minions
Won Paladin
Lost Taunt Druid, no quest
Silver 8
20 games won 8....40% win rate
Lost Quest rogue not even close
Lost Hunter basic
Won Lock
Lost Taunt Druid creamed
Won Quest hunter
Won Quest rogue
Lost deathrattle demon hunter
My deck
https://www.vicioussyndicate.com/deck-library/mage-decks/quest-mage/
Swapped out Hot Streak for Devolving missiles
Vicious Syndicate espousing it, largest percentage of people playing this deck in Legend, I can't get out of silver. What gives?
yeah, that is true, I would aggressively mulligan for frost spells and Incanter's Flow. Most of the times I beat a quest mage it either did not draw Incanter or took ages to throw frost spells.
Click to see my Hearthstone projects:
After watching your video, I think the issue is that you do not really understand how to play this deck. You have to understand that this deck is about progressing your quest while chipping away at your opponent or stalling their minions. Once you complete the quest, your ignites/fireballs, and other direct damage will be so overwhelming it makes up for the lack of damage down while progressing quest.
Here is a breakdown of errors I saw:
Turn 2, chose value over quest progression from Runed Orb - should have picked Oasis Ally
Turn 3, ping (really!?) over quest progression from First Flame - even at higer cost, removes a threat and progresses quest
Turn 4, Could have either played Oasis Ally and completed phase 1 of quest by now or Second flame on second cultist.
Turn 5, Correct play
Turn 6, targeted the lower threat minion and used two quest progression cards doing it when you could have used one Apexis Blast and generated a minion too.
Turn 7, Used Arcane Intellect over Refreshing Spring water, which would have netted a 1 mana cost only, still only pinged and discovered a minion from Primordial Studies (a quest progression card)
You did not complete the first phase of the quest.
In order to win with this deck, you need to prioritize completing your quest, even if it feels like it's the play that is less mana efficient or has less value. The quest grants it's own rewards upon each phase of completion and is the point of the deck, it should be the primary focus of your plays not just on the turn you are on, but the turns ahead.
This is the one I use, and it is good against a broad range of deck types:
### Quest Mage
# Class: Mage
# Format: Standard
# Year of the Gryphon
#
# 2x (0) Flurry (Rank 1)
# 2x (1) Brain Freeze
# 1x (1) Devolving Missiles
# 2x (1) First Flame
# 2x (1) Primordial Studies
# 1x (1) Sorcerer's Gambit
# 2x (2) Cram Session
# 2x (2) Ignite
# 2x (2) Runed Orb
# 2x (3) Arcane Intellect
# 1x (3) Cone of Cold
# 1x (3) Ice Barrier
# 2x (3) Incanter's Flow
# 2x (4) Fire Sale
# 2x (4) Fireball
# 2x (5) Apexis Blast
# 2x (5) Refreshing Spring Water
#
AAECAY0WBODMA+j3A+afBOifBA3BuAOBvwPHzgPNzgP30QPU6gPQ7APR7AOn9wOu9wOy9wP8ngT9ngQA
"Speculation is foolish when the tools of certainty are available." —Cinna, Vedalken Consul