Legendary Fast Freeze Mage Standard

[Kobal 13]

If Freeze Mage is so reliant on an OTK against N'Zoth Paladin, would that make Kobold Geomancer a tech card for this matchup? :)

 

Also, seems Alexstrasza is at her worst here. Once you have the Paladin at 25 health, playing Alexstrasza is actually counterproductive, as the Paladin will probably heal up all the way to 30 while peace keepering her, so you have to start from scratch ...

[batanete 28]

On 5/19/2016 at 9:14 AM, Kobal said:

If Freeze Mage is so reliant on an OTK against N'Zoth Paladin, would that make Kobold Geomancer a tech card for this matchup? :)

 

Also, seems Alexstrasza is at her worst here. Once you have the Paladin at 25 health, playing Alexstrasza is actually counterproductive, as the Paladin will probably heal up all the way to 30 while peace keepering her, so you have to start from scratch ...

That is true, but even then alexing your opponent is usually a good thing. You either just win the game if he doesn't have healing in hand, or you force him to spend a turn removing alex and healing, which is one turn he's not developing minions(including rag) to kill you. It's still a very situational proposition though, and there are obviously exceptions to the rule. For example, if you somehow manage to get emperor to stick for one turn after the first proc with alex in hand, you may create an alternative otk situation such as alex+fireball+frostbolt+lance. This will obviously not happen very often, since the paladin has plenty of ways to kill emperor, but is always something to take into account.

As sottle says, HS is not a linear game. You should adapt gameplay to the individual game you are playing and the current situation, and if that sometimes means abandoning the general gameplan you usually follow for the match up you are playing, so be it.

Edited May 21, 2016 by batanete

[Kokuendan 10]

I spotted a mention of Explosive Sheep in the card swaps section, someone may want to fix that.

[Paracel 165]

I'm surprised Freeze haven't got the update it had and the attention it deserves. 

The current metagamed list differs from the guide by -1 Cone of Cold, -1 Pyroblast, +1 Flamestrike, + 1 Evolved Kobold.

A lot of players ran double Ice Barrier before, but 8 armor is not really as great as it sounds. It either ended up being not so good because your opponent wasn't really pressuring you that much, or it wasn't so good because your opponent is pressuring you so much you are dead unless your freeze them, regardless of the 8 health swing. It can be cut to 1-of.

Pyroblast is just a card that's not easy to use efficiently. Personally, I find it way too mana hungry - during 2-3 turn lethal setups it just takes too long to fit it. It also is impossible to use at the same turn with a defensive card like Ice Block. 

Now, Flamestrike is something that came in and out, and it's not really clear on how good it is, because on the one hand, it clears the board and buys you turns in more of a long-term sense, but at the same time it's less reliable than the actual freeze effects. Numbers wise, 4-damage is well positioned at the moment.

And the most spicy tech that's actually quite old is the Kobold Geomancer Senior. This guy functions like an additional Fireball if you combo him with 3 other spells, like Frostbolt - Lance - Lance. Evolved Kobold dies approximately 99.9% of time, but I'd call a Fireball effect for a price of Fireball a good deal. And he can be even better if you get a good Thaurissan. 

All things together, Freeze Mage is actually slightly more consistent right now and has more damage potential thanks to Kobold, who lets you get away with scenarios old versions couldn't. This is huge considering the fact Freeze is technically the only deck favored against Midrange Shaman - an outrageously popular choice - while being at least decent against a lot of other decks, like Rogue, Warlocks and quite often even Druid. Warrior is a huge problem, and he is sort of on a raise, same goes for Hunter and Tempo Mage but I think the trade-off is worth it. I should also note I have a 100% winrate against Control Warrior this season (3\3)(no proofs)(Kappa). 

If you want to play the deck, it's now, or it's going to be never very soon.

[positiv2 953]

5 hours ago, Paracel said:

I'm surprised Freeze haven't got the update it had and the attention it deserves. 

Check this out.

[SpyrosL 0]

Sjow plays freeze Mage in his stream http://themoment.tv/playlist/4178?mnoredir=1