Hearthpwn

Hey everyone. I've been messing with some Mage decks to start the expansion and feel like Elemental might be the strongest. With that being said, there are a few specific cards that are popular in that deck that, frankly, seem bad. This is the version that got me to Legend. See notes below the deck.

The specific cards that vastly underachieved when I tried them were: Evocation, Wand Thief, and... Mana Cyclone. Yes, Mana Cyclone feels bad in Elemental Mage.

Evocation is just too clunky at 2 mana, the deck often has a fullish hand, and there are a lot of low impact Mage spells that are useless to what you want to be doing. 

Wand Thief has a useless body, isn't an elemental, and discovering any mana Mage card gives you some bad options. Just not worth it.

Mana Cyclone. Okay, hear me out. First, Mana Cyclone has direct anti-synergy with one of your KEY cards in Elemental Allies. They just don't work together. Second, see all of the reasons Evocation is bad. You drop a big Cyclone and get a handful of low impact cards that you can't cast as you die. You might RNG a game or two but running Mana Cyclone kills your consistency.

Replacements/Tech cards;

Firebrand is simply an MVP in the aggro early meta. Must run ATM. 

Wandmaker is basically everything Wand Thief wants to be. A slightly more relevant body (2 damage actually trades) and it gets you exactly the kind of spell you want. Mage 1 cost spells are VERY powerful. This is just more consistent than Wand Thief.

Devolving Missiles can also be Primordial Studies, depending what you're facing. Studies gives you a Mana Giant activator and the spell dmg minions are good right now.

Gyreworm is very nice in an aggro meta but could be subbed out.

Mulligan;

Elemental Allies is the key. If you don't have it initially, mulligan everything (except if you're against Shaman, then keep Frostbolt). If you do, Confectionary & Spellwing are keeps (Chenvalla against Priest or Druid).

 Strat;

The key is to play this deck as TEMPO. You must fight & control the board early, then set up a big finale. If you lose the board, you're toast. Be aware of which decks can't kill you and go full aggro. Keep count of your elementals and try to play them to accomplish something, not just to throw a 1 attack minion down. Many control decks can clear a massive Finale so only trigger as many Elementals as you NEED (3 is good, 4 at most). You want to be able to reload & fire again immediately after the first.

One key to pulling out wins in an unorthodox manner is to play to Mana Giants. Sometimes this means just dumping everything early to get discounts for a turn 5 or 6 giants. This can be very useful against aggro decks and a better win condition than Finale against them. Remember, Mana Giants are triggered by ANY card that didn't start in your hand, not just spells. 

It's a meme deck. Blizzard doesn't balance around Bronze 10 players.

Quote from GratedWasabii >>

Only problem is this makes Murlocs completely unplayable. They really needed to replace Megasaur with something or they should have just removed Murlocs. Still better than live, though.

Quote from marsupials311 >>

Murlocs are the only race that can get permanent DS and Poisonous and it took them this long to realize that's too good.  They can still stat higher than Demons and Beasts while having a full Poison team so they're definitely not unplayable or even bad.

Demons being bad does not mean Murlocs won't also be bad. I agree they were too strong, I hit 10k by pretty much just Murloc transitioning every other game, but now there's no point going them at all. I don't know that I've ever seen a game above 7.5k won by a pure stat build. You either have divine shields and/or death rattles or you lose. 

Waiting for toxfins and spending 2 gold each to poison a non divine shield Murloc really doesn't accomplish much. 

Tier S will be Dragons 

Tier 2 is Mechs & Amagaldon Menagerie

Tier 3 Beasts & Pirates

Tier 4 Demons & Murlocs

Only problem is this makes Murlocs completely unplayable. They really needed to replace Megasaur with something or they should have just removed Murlocs. Still better than live, though.

Or just remove Tidehunter for Murmy or Murgur. Murlocs fixed.

Deryl is definitely Tier A. If you see a Bronze, Deflecto, or Hydra before turn 8 (very likely) you instantly get top 4 and a fantastic shot at first. 

Pyramid, Jaraxxus, and Patches are all tier B IMHO. They both do a great job of building a strong early & midgame that lets you take the time for the best winning strat (aka cheesing out poison/divine shield murlocs on turn 10). They'd be Tier C without Murlocs, though.

I tend to agree that Brann is weak. There are a lot of shitty battlecry heroes and you give up a roll for better minions to roll for them. "Get Kalycegos" is not a consistent or good strat. I feel like Tess is probably Tier B or C but haven't played her enough.

Hooktusk is a dead hero now. 

I also feel like Eudora almost deserves her own "Super Saiyan" tier. That hero is bonkers and works with every strat & every lobby.