Hearthpwn

As the title says.

I have just recently approached the wonderful world of Freeze Mage in Wild. I made my own version (because I do not have all the cards I need), with Malygos, Alexstrasza and Ice Lance, and it's tons of fun so far (keep in mind I usually dislike Control/Combo decks, I am more of a Tempo player).

What i like the most of this deck is that my win condition can be adjusted, according to how the game is evolving. It's not a sheer OTK deck. More like Miracle Rogue instead.

However, I have realised it's not always easy to prepare a TTK with Alexstrasza, because she's very slow. I have won more games with the Malygos OTK strategy. Also, I do not have Archmage Antonidas, and it seems to me he can be a better secondary condition than Alex. More versatile.

So I was wondering if I should craft old Chef Tony, and at that point, if i should simply abandon Classic Freeze Mage for full-blown Exodia?

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TL;DR: is Freeze Mage simply an obsolete version of Exodia?

Old freeze Mage was a "real" competitive deck. Exodia was more of a meme. No idea what the status is of these decks in the current meta. What I can say is that freeze Mage can be a very fun and "open-ended" deck to play. What is you decklist like? Malygos was not part of the traditional freeze Mage lists. Alex was part of it. Sometimes Tony, but I'd recommend leaving him out of it tbh.

Here's my list for reference:

I do by no means pretend this is the best version. In fact it's probably woefully outdated. It's close to the lists that was ran back in the heydays of freeze Mages tho :-)

As for Exodia I've only run the super-meme'y Mimiron's Head version, so I'm no help there I'm afraid :-)

Thank you.

Well, as I said, my list is highly sub-optimal, I do not have all the pieces (double Ice Block above all), so this is the result. For now, ofc, I will craft the basic pieces as soon as I decide my path for the deck.

My problem with Alexstrasza, other than being slow, (she occupies a full turn, so you can't defend) is that her "damage" can be healed or armored up, very easily in Wild. And I expect it to get worse and worse in time. In general, it is the issue of the TTK: players know some burst is coming after many Freeze effect, and after Alex, so they can prepare for that in advance.

Malygos helps with an unexpected burst, potentially OTK, as long as you could build some previous, subtle face damage.

Maybe all I have to do is adding Cosmic Anomaly and Forgotten Torch?

Quote from RavenSunHP >>

 

Malygos helps with an unexpected burst, potentially OTK, as long as you could build some previous, subtle face damage.

Maybe all I have to do is adding Cosmic Anomaly and Forgotten Torch?

Emperor Thaurissan into Malygos + 2x Frostbolt + 2 Ice Lance. But this line takes as many cards as Exodia Mage. Also it is even more vulnerable to Dirty Rat, because Simulacrum can recreate a Sorcerer's Apprentice. Basically, Malygos Freeze Mage is an outdated version.

Kobold Freeze Mage (with Forgotten Torch and the namesake Evolved Kobold - yes Cosmic Anomaly is the strictly better new version of that card) can use part of it's burn to stall against minions and if needed, like against Reno Decks, OTK with a combination of Kobold, Fireball, Roaring Torch, Frostbolt and Ice Lances. However, I would not run symmetrical Carddraw (Coldlight Oracle, Research Project), but Novice Engineer, Bloodmage Thalnos and Acolyte of Pain instead. Also Flamestrike is too expensive, while four damage are often not enough for a board clear and Glacial Shard doesn't do enough.

I haven't played the deck for a long time, but I remember it took me quite some games to get good with it, so don't be discouraged if there is no immediate success.

Alright, crafted second Ice Block and going for Burn package with Cosmic Anomaly + Forgotten Torch.

Much cheaper than crafting Ol' Tony. Let's see how it goes in Wild.

This is the Decklist I used a couple of season ago and it seems to work decently well... I have Ice Barriers because they helps against Rogue and Shaman but if you're facing a lot of Big Priests Polymorph is certainly going to be a better choice... Also,I disagree that Flamestrike is too slow... It's meta dependant but it can be a life saver against Paladin and Shaman so don't ditch it completely.... In case you still haven't done it add a 2nd Mad Scientist,that little 2 drop saved my ass countless times by pulling Ice Block when I hadn't drawn it....

P.s. I'm always happy to see people join the dark side... I'm not a pro by any means but I'll gladly help if you have more questions.... If you want you can add me,the Battletag is on my profile....  

Quote from OldKeith >>

Old freeze mage is dead. There is literally no reason to play it anymore since exodia does everything better. Quest is also redundant because emperor thaurissan is a better enabler than playing random spells. 

This. Freeze mage IS exodia mage at this point. You can play the quest if you like the thrill, but there is no reason to. Old school builds with limited damage is too weak to armorgain and big heals.

I lost to a freeze-exodia yesterday, with 2x Research Project and 2x Coldlight Oracle, it was a pretty decent mill deck as well!

Quote from SlydE >>

Quote from OldKeith >>

Old freeze mage is dead. There is literally no reason to play it anymore since exodia does everything better. Quest is also redundant because emperor thaurissan is a better enabler than playing random spells. 

This. Freeze mage IS exodia mage at this point. You can play the quest if you like the thrill, but there is no reason to. Old school builds with limited damage is too weak to armorgain and big heals.

I lost to a freeze-exodia yesterday, with 2x Research Project and 2x Coldlight Oracle, it was a pretty decent mill deck as well!

I disagree... If the meta were full of Druids and Control Warriors than there would be no reason to play the regular version over Exodia but that's not that case... As far as I know the most prominent Decks are Even Shaman,Aggro Rogue,Renolock,Renomage,Mill Rogue and Big Priest...

• Against Aggro (so Shaman and Rogue) the regular version is definitely better because your Deck is not clogged with useless combo pieces and you have Alex to heal if needed...
• Against Mill Rogue you can just concede it doesn't matter what you're playing...
• Against Big Priest you need Polymorph not Exodia to win... Worst case scenario they have 35HP to burn through so both version shouldn't have problems closing the game unless they get Rag spammed from turn 4...
• Unless Renomage bricks you're screwed because neither Deck can go through Ice Block into Reno... 
• Against Renolock is more or less the same it all comes down to what Dirty Rat pulls... Exodia is  better because you can make them mill cards but if Rat pulls Emperor or Tony is game over while the regular version even if it's a bit slower suffers less from Dirty Rat...

It's just my opinion but with the meta we have right now I think the regular version performs better than Exodia.... 

Indeed, with the Burn package that Freeze can carry, I feel like I have fair chances against the top Aggro decks in Wild. I have actually defeated both the Odd Rogues I have met so far. The Burn package is versatile against minions/face.

But then again I never tried Exodia, so I will keep listening to expert opinions added here.

(Thanks to everyone so far)

Another thing I realised after adding the Burn package, is that Mage has essentially become a Burn class, at least in Wild: Burn Secret, Burn Odd, Burn Freeze, Burn Exodia.

All archetypes try to deal lethal face damage coming mostly and continuously from hand.

Renomage seems to be the only solid deck that does not comply to that paradigm.

Freeze Mage is usually built far more aggressively with cards like Aluneth and Research Project. If you're going to be playing so slow that you're putting in Alexstrasza or Archmage Antonidas you might as well be playing Quest Mage or Exodia Mage.

Exactly. In my experience with classic Freeze Mage so far, Alexstrasza is not really a main condition. More like a tech card.

If I win, it is mostly by repeatedly freezing the board, while burning the opponent's face across several turns. Basically, the only difference with Tempo Mage is in the defensive package.

Alex is typically too slow against Aggro, while Control in Wild is quite strong, possibly better than Combo, but they are not really popular in the meta.

Evolved Kobold is still used in Freeze Mage and thats what defines the deck together with Ice Lances. I cant say much about the competitive level though because I havent met a single freeze Mage in 2 months. Exodia Mage sees some amount some play but it loses extremely to Midrang/Tempo decks and any deck with Rat in it.