Hearthpwn

Well, the original question was about August 2024 changes, so we can see they impacted meta very seriously - nerfs killed Mech Warrior and Elemental Rogue, made Concierge unplayable and although Chia Drake stats change was unimportant, yet Dollhouse Druid became tier 3/4 deck anyway. On the other side, The Ryecleaver, Gilly, Lora, Service Ace and Twilight Medium weren't buffed enough to see play but all other buffed cards started to appear in meta. Especially Tsunami (which got its buff cancelled) and Convincing Conman (which should have its buff cancelled as well). Other buffs were well targeted, buffed cards appear in most of the best decks of this meta.

Mage got a bit overbuffed (remember there were also late August buffs to DJ Manastorm, Watercolor Artist and Metal Detector). But it is very different deck to what it was just after mini-set release. And it is much less popular too. So with all these buffs and Renathal return, it seems one buff reversal (Tsunami) and 2 nerfs (Skyla and Surfalopod) were enough to change it from meta tyrant to one of the best decks. With new set release (getting absolutely no new tools, unless you really want to make Lunar Trailblazer work and it won't) and Renathal leaving, it might face quite a harsh reality.

Ok, I'm done with HS. I got to D2 but all I can't stand facing the same decks anymore. I experimented and experimented and finally found something which worked for me, I call it 'the mage crusher'. According to HS, I have a 67% WR with it.

### Wheel 4
# Class: Warlock
# Format: Standard
# Year of the Pegasus
#
# 1x (0) Zilliax Deluxe 3000
# 1x (0) Zilliax Deluxe 3000
# 1x (4) Virus Module
# 1x (5) Perfect Module
# 2x (1) Gul'dan's Gift
# 1x (1) Soulfreeze
# 2x (2) Defile
# 2x (2) Eat! The! Imp!
# 2x (2) Elementium Geode
# 2x (2) Endgame
# 2x (2) Thornveil Tentacle
# 2x (2) Tidepool Pupil
# 2x (3) "Health" Drink
# 2x (3) Domino Effect
# 1x (3) Reverberations
# 1x (3) Rustrot Viper
# 2x (4) Dark Alley Pact
# 1x (4) Pop'gar the Putrid
# 1x (5) Symphony of Sins
# 1x (6) Loken, Jailer of Yogg-Saron
# 1x (9) Sargeras, the Destroyer
# 1x (10) Table Flip
# 1x (30) Fanottem, Lord of the Opera
#
AAECAf0GCvnGBazpBab7Bej/BfGABoCeBs2eBsSiBsekBom1BgrI6wX1+AWjoAbwqQaVswbCvgacwQaUygaTywbe5gYAAQP0swbHpAb3swbHpAbo3gbHpAYAAA==
#
# To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone
# Generated by HDT - https://hsreplay.net

Some cards could be better, Fanottem without the wheel is kind of useless but if you draw a 15/15 taunt with Loken, it could be worth it.

Against mage, mulligan for alley. I usually get a hand on a pupil which you can use to resummon your deamon if it gets destroyed. Tsunami doesn't make a dent it in it. 

For slower games, I try to pupil the symphony to burn my opponent's deck. Once you've burned 12 card, they're in trouble. I managed to burn 16 cards but it only happened once. 

Anyways, my point is that it could still be improved. Soulfreeze is a leftover of when I was using 'wheel'. It can be useful to stall rogue with his huge minions so you can Sargeras them. 

Cards I would potentially replace:

Fanottem, soulfreeze, reverb and maybe the table flip as it makes for a lot of removal. I've had games where my hand was full and I had to waste spells. Probably one less eat the imp! as well. I've tried the minion which allows you to have 11 mana. So 3-5 cards can still be tweaked here. Honestly, maybe even Loken.

Even in the current state, I won a lot. I've seen the variety with the mountain giant and the location. I used to run one location too. Maybe having two locations could work. I just find playing one location hard, let alone 2.

Maybe it's been mentioned before but nerfing a few mage cards only had a minor impact on spell mage(perhaps it was intended to avoid killing it) and with the new expansion, elemental mage is stronger than ever. So in a way that nerf paved the way for elemental mage, and mage was quite weak only a year ago, so I can see what they are doing.

Well, this is very old topic and mage is not a problem for a long time.