Hearthpwn

12-2 Deck with mage again

Proves again the invaluable basic commons of mage, 2 fireballs, 2 flamestrikes, 2 water elementals + frostbolt = gg. Unstable portal is a nice pick up as well.

Curve was not as good as I hoped it would be, but I won my first 9 games on a tempo streak. I believe cone of cold is actually quite an essential pick up if it comes up. The tempo it gives with you having minions on the board can swing the game back in your favour if you're behind. Its also better than frost nova because it actually deals damage, which can get rid of pesky 2 hp minions mages find so hard to deal with (coupled with hero power). Nothing else much to say, card quality is awesome even though I failed to draft any epics/legendaries.

GG mage OP. =P

Last boss was a rogue that was kept frozen with water elemental. Pwned.

12-1 with the all-time favourite mage.

3 Fireballs and 3 Flamestrikes say it all. Spell Bender is a really good secret to pick up though, it really screws with buff plays, especially against paladins and their Blessing of Kings. Unstable portal is also a huge tempo swinger, which honestly every deck should consider. It doesn't really matter what minion comes out as long as its above 3 mana. Then on a turn where you have that spare mana or 2, you pump out the unfairness and control the board.

Just a tip if you draft a lot of flamestrikes: don't hesitate to use it if you don't have any other valid plays. I used it to maintain board control or keep it clear even when there was a 3/5 and 1/1. Losing tempo with such a control heavy choice of cards will surely lose you the game. The only loss I got was to a mage who outdid me by 1 turn because I chose to hold my removal spells to wait for more. Greed is the killer of awesome decks.

Peace out.

First GVG 12 win deck for me! Seemed pretty unlucky when I first started, this is my 4th arena run. Had a bad streak even with a decent curve.

Quality of cards seems to be really important, if you don't have enough epics or legendaries you just can't seem to challenge other decks.

Surprisingly, this mage deck doesn't have fireball, flamestrike etc, but it managed to curve out really well and keep board presence/advantage till I could draw Dr Boom and Ysera. Despite what you may think, Dr Boom was only good in 2 games, and Ysera in 1 (the last one). The overall curve and surprise force tank/duplicate combo just really breaks the opponent.

Goblin Blastmage btw, is INSANE. With a mech out, that's 4 free damage and can literally break the opponent's board. I do have to say that in GVG, you may think the quality of cards is important, but I have found that mulliganing correctly with a good curve is actually much more important. Anyhow, just thought I'd be the first to post a GVG 12-win deck.

Hope you guys enjoy! GLHF

Got another 12-2 win today, mage deck

When I first drafted it, it honestly looked pretty average- only 1 flamestrike and 1 fireball? Sadfaise. On the other hand, it worked out really well, and I actually look less at taking too many good spells now. Polymorph is always on the money because of its synergy with fire blast, but I realise that fireball and flamestrikes can be rather situational. Having more minions out was definitely a huge plus.

I'm also quite impressed by the ancient brewmaster, and am considering him as the choice pick in future decks. He can literally save your minions from dying and still attacking. He also allows you to replenish an-otherwise empty hand with a full health minion which you can play again after you've already attacked.

Top cards:

Frostbolt was amazing if an early game pick- it allows my minion to survive 1-2 extra turns to deal that awesome extra 3 damage per turn.

Mad Bomber synergised with Acolyte of pain amazingly well. If I needed to finish off a 1hp minion and actually want to get some card draw, these 2 cards work amazingly well- the ''drawback'' of hitting your own minion is totally diminished.

Frost nova was absolutely essential in about 3-4 of my games. Ignoring your opponent's minions and rendering useless for 1 turn does wonders for your finisher. Having only 1 copy of it was important though- it was actually quite a dead card most of the time.

Raging worgen, when behind a taunt, netted me so much damage (8!!) that it single-handedly won me 2 of my games. It also has a natural 'taunt' on it so it absorbs some nasty stuff like fireballs and polymorphs.

Water elemental is really so essential for a mage. Freezing the hero works wonders sometimes, and stops any weapon shenanigans that might otherwise occur. It also trades really well with most minions, and I actually picked both of them over fireball and flamestrike- SO worth it!

Stormpike commando added some much needed 2 damage removal, and if that cleared the opponent's board, the 4 damage is sweet!

There aren't any bad cards tbh, but I was rather underwhelmed by Big game hunter. It did allow me to easily kill some Venture co. mercs, and I actually had to use Dark iron dwarf to buff some minions into 7 attack kill range. Sort of regretted taking it but it is a pretty nice insurance in case your opponent pops a huge minion in your face.

All in all, the mage ability really is one of the sickest hero abilities- it synergises so well with so many cards.

Cheers!

Shaman with 12-2 wins.

Although 3 fire elementals is admittedly awesome, the most important for arena is always going to be value trades.

With the alchemist, rockbiter, lightning storms, knife juggler, hex and stormforged axes, most games were just about doing the most value trades at the beginning. With enough board control, I held back on some minions and instead spammed totems in case of AOE clears.

It works really well not to over-extend yourself, but also not limiting your board presence too much to risk getting gimped by a large minion spam with no lightning storm in hand (aka pants-down-moment). I had a lot of fun having the many choices in the late game.

The mana curve looks weird with 2 peaks, but it actually worked out really well because my responses were almost always better quality than the opponents'. Ancient mage actually paired really well with spells, which surprised me because I always thought it was a dead card. But a shaman actually has a huge advantage from existing totems- opponents sometimes love to ignore those. Lightning storm + 2 spell damage and another spell damage totem (total 3) wreaks absolute havoc on the opponents board.

I also initially thought that having a weird array of different minions might have less synergy, but in fact they just allowed me to have many more creative plays.

Best cards:

Hex is always so good at eliminating huge threats, but should not be overlooked as a value trade card.

Rockbiter is undervalued but can really give you a value trade, especially if you already have decent card draw.

Cult master value play is extremely essential in a deck where its the only way of drawing cards. I literally had to hold this card back till I was sure I could at least get 2-3 cards out of it. Once you establish dominance with Culter Master on the board, the game is yours.

Stormforged Axe is obviously great for dealing with random threats on the board.

Windfury single-handedly won me 2 of my games. The surprise double damage of a 6-7 damage minion behind another taunt is insane. When combined with rockbiter/Dark iron dwarf, its literally GG. Having more than one of these would seriously gimp you though.

Worst cards:

Well I'll be honest, the entire deck synergised so well that I'd be hard pressed to find any. I do have to say Earth elemental is a bit overrated though. If played early on turn 5 or 6, it can literally break your game if it gets sheeped/hexed and you have nothing on your next turn. Its a much better play when mana is no longer an issue or you're topdecking.

I do have to admit, the deck was really much better drafted (despite the mana curve) than I initially thought. I was literally beating priests with double MC and shadow games, Mages with 3 flamestrikes, Druids with 3 swipes. Made me re-evaluate taking too many spells in my future arena drafts.

Cheers!