So I started playing Hearthstone maybe two months ago. I've played many card games before, my favorite being MtG, so I picked up HS rather quickly. And since I just recently started, I was really excited to be playing with new cards, on a fresh year of standard format. I was immediately drawn to mage when I started, and before Un'Goro, was playing with a budget C'Thun deck that played pretty decently.
On release, and after opening many, many packs, I put together one of those OTK decks listed here, and since then, have been editing, testing, playing with, and really pushing the limits of the quest card. But currently in the meta, even in casual, it's aggro after aggro after aggro. And since these decks really rely on unconstructed spells, you really are hoping RNG saves the day. I've played 5 frost novas in a game, just from spell discovery, and it won me the game. I've also gotten 4 Pyroblasts in hand, and not enough control to even play them.
So the main point of this thread is to see if anyone has found any alternative play methods with Open the Waygate besides:
So if you guys have any suggestions for the decks I'm currently playing, or any other ways to play the Quest Mage, let me know, I'd sure appreciate it.
Welcome to Hearthstone. Where the control decks and cool things you want to play aren't competitive.
To be more constructive, run 2 arcanologist and 2 ice block. Maybe even 2 ice barrier. This deck is all about "1 more turn" to pull off the combo so delay is everything. Check out some other lists, not sure Shimmering Tempest and Cabal Courier are necessary. Some use Novice Engineers.
Welcome to Hearthstone. Where the control decks and cool things you want to play aren't competitive.
To be more constructive, run 2 arcanologist and 2 ice block. Maybe even 2 ice barrier. This deck is all about "1 more turn" to pull off the combo so delay is everything. Check out some other lists, not sure Shimmering Tempest and Cabal Courier are necessary. Some use Novice Engineers.
Unless your main focus is just to quick draw to Cabalist Books, why would not play cards to achieve quest faster? You think drawing more cards would be more efficient?
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If you think the party's great now, just wait 'til he invites the orcs over!
so yeah, generally you want as much draw as possible, glyph, tome and babbling books To activate quest. You also want two ice block, remove the mirror image and maybe the frost bolts. the giants are not necessary in the first quest, with as much draw as you should have from novice, arcane intellect, and coldlight oracles, as well as the ability to get draw or molten reflection from your spell creation, you should win fast enough. The giants basically just slow down the first deck, because they are not toward your main win condition, Instead they clog up hand and make it harder for you to actually draw what you need. If you do have 2 extra slots after changes then you can keep them, but draw or survival are both more powerful than giants.
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Just fill your deck with one drops, that is creative deck design, right?
I agree with the above poster. Defiantly 2 arcanologist and 2 iceblock. Gives you an extra turn and the arcanologists also "thin" your deck. Gives you a better chance of drawing your combo because you draw two cards from you deck for free leaving only 28 cards left for RNG draws (napkin math). It's a waste to use a draw on iceblocks because you should be able to get them for free.
I've played around with a few versions of the mage TTK decks. I haven't taken the time to rank up this season yet, so my perspective is from round ranks 18-15. I like divinspree's version the best. I am a fan of cabal courier over shimmering tempest... gives you another choice of what spell to use. I also think thalnos and loot hoarder/novice engineers are better options than ethereal arcanist, ice barrier, and mirror image. Mirror image is too much of a tempo loss imo, it does nothing to help you on the board.
The entire strategy is:
1. Survive long enough to activate your quest.
2. Draw enough cards to get your combo.
When you use your stalls and clears is important. Tempo is also important. Prioritize keeping the enemy board clear(ish) over drawing cards in the early game (frostbolt, frost nova, doomsayers, sheep big threats). Also, I prioritize dropping a minion over casting a spell (assuming it's a decent trade next turn). There is always RNG on the random spell draws, but it can be somewhat minimized with more "discover" mechanics and more draw.
I dont know if you are also interessted in playing wild but i have seen some weird lists of quest mage including a bunch of mechs, which give you spare parts and also Mimiron's Head. I think it is an interessting way to play the quest, so you might try it out.
You shouldn't be using 4+ mana removal at all IMO, you rely on your Books, Glyphs and Tomes to deal with the more mid range boards. Replace that stuff with all of the Secrets and you'll do fine, Ice Block and to a lesser extent Barrier are how you break the symmetry of Coldlight Oracle. Shimmering Tempest is bad, what makes Babbling Book good is that it costs the opponent more resources to remove it for your mana investment, the 2 drop slot is for Novice Enginer or maybe Loot Hoarder and/or Bloodmage Thalnos because you are trying to cycle into Nova/Sayer ASAP.
You shouldn't be using 4+ mana removal at all IMO, you rely on your Books, Glyphs and Tomes to deal with the more mid range boards. Replace that stuff with all of the Secrets and you'll do fine, Ice Block and to a lesser extent Barrier are how you break the symmetry of Coldlight Oracle. Shimmering Tempest is bad, what makes Babbling Book good is that it costs the opponent more resources to remove it for your mana investment, the 2 drop slot is for Novice Enginer or maybe Loot Hoarder and/or Bloodmage Thalnos because you are trying to cycle into Nova/Sayer ASAP.
I don't have the dust for Bloodmage, would Acolyte of Pain or Cult Master be good subs?
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If you think the party's great now, just wait 'til he invites the orcs over!
Welcome to Hearthstone. Where the control decks and cool things you want to play aren't competitive.
Yea beacause its really cool to be unable to interact with your opponent for 6 turns in a row. This quest has enough rng to not be consistent for a reason.
No interaction? I can generally keep the board clear until the 4-6th turn, when their mana become way more flexible. Especially in low cost aggro decks like pirates, murlocs, and pally decks. It's when the buffs come in that nova's and trades don't help anymore.
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If you think the party's great now, just wait 'til he invites the orcs over!
Have been messing with Mage Quest decks and haven't found a build I like yet.
At this point I prefer infinite fireballs over giants as the win condition, as it's harder to prevent. Trying now a build where the only cards costing 4 or more are combo pieces and Hemet, with the idea that you blow up the rest of your deck once you're ready to combo.
I sort of doubt there's a competitive version of this deck in Standard, but it's fun to try.
Have been messing with Mage Quest decks and haven't found a build I like yet.
At this point I prefer infinite fireballs over giants as the win condition, as it's harder to prevent. Trying now a build where the only cards costing 4 or more are combo pieces and Hemet, with the idea that you blow up the rest of your deck once you're ready to combo.
I sort of doubt there's a competitive version of this deck in Standard, but it's fun to try.
I always end up waiting on a sorcerer's apprentice, though. But that does seem like a good method if you have everything but Archmage Antonidas
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
If you think the party's great now, just wait 'til he invites the orcs over!
Have been messing with Mage Quest decks and haven't found a build I like yet.
At this point I prefer infinite fireballs over giants as the win condition, as it's harder to prevent. Trying now a build where the only cards costing 4 or more are combo pieces and Hemet, with the idea that you blow up the rest of your deck once you're ready to combo.
I sort of doubt there's a competitive version of this deck in Standard, but it's fun to try.
I always end up waiting on a sorcerer's apprentice, though. But that does seem like a good method if you have everything but Archmage Antonidas
Yeah the Apprentice is the weak link. I run Kabal Courier, so there's a (slim) chance of picking up Radiant Elemental as a substitute.
Have been messing with Mage Quest decks and haven't found a build I like yet.
At this point I prefer infinite fireballs over giants as the win condition, as it's harder to prevent. Trying now a build where the only cards costing 4 or more are combo pieces and Hemet, with the idea that you blow up the rest of your deck once you're ready to combo.
I sort of doubt there's a competitive version of this deck in Standard, but it's fun to try.
I always end up waiting on a sorcerer's apprentice, though. But that does seem like a good method if you have everything but Archmage Antonidas
Yeah the Apprentice is the weak link. I run Kabal Courier, so there's a (slim) chance of picking up Radiant Elemental as a substitute.
I could imagine that Hemet would be awesome for the Giant TTK, literally stall spells until quest and about 10 total spells, burn deck to leave Giants and Alexstrasza. If I had Hemet I'd definitely try it.
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If you think the party's great now, just wait 'til he invites the orcs over!
Delay is everything in those OTK Decks ! So 2nd Ice Block is needed and a 2nd Ice Barrier is helpful aswell maybe put in more Draw, like Loot Hoarder or Acolyte of pain. Btw. I prefer the REAL Exodia Mage more with the Girls+Molten Reflection and Infinite Fire Balls by Athonidas :)
Already updated for the Ice block and Barriers, stuck it in the first post. The problem was I didn't have the dust. But I got them now. And what do you mean real?
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If you think the party's great now, just wait 'til he invites the orcs over!
Still hoping people have some other types of decks utilizing the quest still though.
That's more or less the deck I use, I'd recommend cutting either the Loot Hoarders or the Novice Engineers for Frost Bolts, because you can't afford to lose the tempo or rely on the RNG to look for removal vs Pirate Warrior.
That's more or less the deck I use, I'd recommend cutting either the Loot Hoarders or the Novice Engineers for Frost Bolts, because you can't afford to lose the tempo or rely on the RNG to look for removal vs Pirate Warrior.
I haven't really came across many pirate decks in casual, and I guess if it becomes a problem in ranked, i'll switch it up, but thanks.
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If you think the party's great now, just wait 'til he invites the orcs over!
Are you actually able to deal with pirate warrior? I only beat it once due to a combination of good draw for me and bad draw for him.
I mean, no deck is good against everything. It's like a super complicated game of rock, paper, scissors. But good draw, plus good RNG on the discover/cab. tome spells and you can still win. I mean, they can do super well, full board stacked, and enough ice blocks can still win you the game.
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If you think the party's great now, just wait 'til he invites the orcs over!
Next set there will probably be a solid tempo list that plays Mana wyrm turn 1 and quest + other stuff turn 2. And steals a turn against control decks and probably can fight against aggro decks
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So I started playing Hearthstone maybe two months ago. I've played many card games before, my favorite being MtG, so I picked up HS rather quickly. And since I just recently started, I was really excited to be playing with new cards, on a fresh year of standard format. I was immediately drawn to mage when I started, and before Un'Goro, was playing with a budget C'Thun deck that played pretty decently.
On release, and after opening many, many packs, I put together one of those OTK decks listed here, and since then, have been editing, testing, playing with, and really pushing the limits of the quest card. But currently in the meta, even in casual, it's aggro after aggro after aggro. And since these decks really rely on unconstructed spells, you really are hoping RNG saves the day. I've played 5 frost novas in a game, just from spell discovery, and it won me the game. I've also gotten 4 Pyroblasts in hand, and not enough control to even play them.
So the main point of this thread is to see if anyone has found any alternative play methods with Open the Waygate besides:
2 Sorcerer's Apprentice + Molten Reflection (on Sorcerer's Apprentice) + Time Warp > Extra Turn
Archmage Antonidas + Molten Reflection (on Sorcerer's Apprentice)
Infinity Fireball
or
Arcane Giant + Arcane Giant or Molten Reflection / 2 8/X creatures for 5 mana or less + Time Warp > Extra Turn
Alexstrasza (on enemy hero) > Face
EDIT: I really appreciate the feedback! This is what I have now:
So if you guys have
any suggestions for the decks I'm currently playing, orany other ways to play the Quest Mage, let me know, I'd sure appreciate it.If you think the party's great now, just wait 'til he invites the orcs over!
Welcome to Hearthstone. Where the control decks and cool things you want to play aren't competitive.
To be more constructive, run 2 arcanologist and 2 ice block. Maybe even 2 ice barrier. This deck is all about "1 more turn" to pull off the combo so delay is everything. Check out some other lists, not sure Shimmering Tempest and Cabal Courier are necessary. Some use Novice Engineers.
If you think the party's great now, just wait 'til he invites the orcs over!
so yeah, generally you want as much draw as possible, glyph, tome and babbling books To activate quest. You also want two ice block, remove the mirror image and maybe the frost bolts. the giants are not necessary in the first quest, with as much draw as you should have from novice, arcane intellect, and coldlight oracles, as well as the ability to get draw or molten reflection from your spell creation, you should win fast enough. The giants basically just slow down the first deck, because they are not toward your main win condition, Instead they clog up hand and make it harder for you to actually draw what you need. If you do have 2 extra slots after changes then you can keep them, but draw or survival are both more powerful than giants.
Just fill your deck with one drops, that is creative deck design, right?
I agree with the above poster. Defiantly 2 arcanologist and 2 iceblock. Gives you an extra turn and the arcanologists also "thin" your deck. Gives you a better chance of drawing your combo because you draw two cards from you deck for free leaving only 28 cards left for RNG draws (napkin math). It's a waste to use a draw on iceblocks because you should be able to get them for free.
I've played around with a few versions of the mage TTK decks. I haven't taken the time to rank up this season yet, so my perspective is from round ranks 18-15. I like divinspree's version the best. I am a fan of cabal courier over shimmering tempest... gives you another choice of what spell to use. I also think thalnos and loot hoarder/novice engineers are better options than ethereal arcanist, ice barrier, and mirror image. Mirror image is too much of a tempo loss imo, it does nothing to help you on the board.
The entire strategy is:
1. Survive long enough to activate your quest.
2. Draw enough cards to get your combo.
When you use your stalls and clears is important. Tempo is also important. Prioritize keeping the enemy board clear(ish) over drawing cards in the early game (frostbolt, frost nova, doomsayers, sheep big threats). Also, I prioritize dropping a minion over casting a spell (assuming it's a decent trade next turn). There is always RNG on the random spell draws, but it can be somewhat minimized with more "discover" mechanics and more draw.
I dont know if you are also interessted in playing wild but i have seen some weird lists of quest mage including a bunch of mechs, which give you spare parts and also Mimiron's Head. I think it is an interessting way to play the quest, so you might try it out.
You shouldn't be using 4+ mana removal at all IMO, you rely on your Books, Glyphs and Tomes to deal with the more mid range boards. Replace that stuff with all of the Secrets and you'll do fine, Ice Block and to a lesser extent Barrier are how you break the symmetry of Coldlight Oracle. Shimmering Tempest is bad, what makes Babbling Book good is that it costs the opponent more resources to remove it for your mana investment, the 2 drop slot is for Novice Enginer or maybe Loot Hoarder and/or Bloodmage Thalnos because you are trying to cycle into Nova/Sayer ASAP.
If you think the party's great now, just wait 'til he invites the orcs over!
If you think the party's great now, just wait 'til he invites the orcs over!
Have been messing with Mage Quest decks and haven't found a build I like yet.
At this point I prefer infinite fireballs over giants as the win condition, as it's harder to prevent. Trying now a build where the only cards costing 4 or more are combo pieces and Hemet, with the idea that you blow up the rest of your deck once you're ready to combo.
I sort of doubt there's a competitive version of this deck in Standard, but it's fun to try.
Alright guys, played one game, and was able to pull off the combo, I really appreciate the feedback! This is what I have now:
Still hoping people have some other types of decks utilizing the quest still though.
If you think the party's great now, just wait 'til he invites the orcs over!
If you think the party's great now, just wait 'til he invites the orcs over!
If you think the party's great now, just wait 'til he invites the orcs over!
If you think the party's great now, just wait 'til he invites the orcs over!
If you think the party's great now, just wait 'til he invites the orcs over!
Are you actually able to deal with pirate warrior? I only beat it once due to a combination of good draw for me and bad draw for him.
If you think the party's great now, just wait 'til he invites the orcs over!
Next set there will probably be a solid tempo list that plays Mana wyrm turn 1 and quest + other stuff turn 2. And steals a turn against control decks and probably can fight against aggro decks