[Archived] S8 Hearthstone Basic Mage Deck

[Damien 1,514]

This thread is for comments about our Basic Mage Deck.

[Guest Supermo]

Running it, liking it. I replaced the 2 Chillwind Yeti with 2 Ogre Magi though. -1 HP is worth the +1 spell damage considering spells like Arcane Missiles and Flamestrike. I also used to pack 2 Arcane Explosion and 2 Kobold Geomancer for ridiculous control. 4 damage to all enemies for 2 mana? Don't mind if I do.

[Guest Redright]

Check out a video I made of this deck in action! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3kv30i2lqU

[Vlad 411]

Check out a video I made of this deck in action! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3kv30i2lqU

Thanks for sharing it!

 

I wanted to give you a few tips, based on the video.

 

On turn 2, you play Mirror Image and then Mana Wyrm. This should have been done in reverse order, so the Wyrm gets buffed by casting Mirror Image (it's a spell, despite the fact that it puts down minions.

 

On turn 3, I believe playing Arcane Missiles like that was probably a bad idea. It turned out great for you (killing the 1/1 and doing 2 damage to the 0/4, allowing your Wyrm to kill it), but chances are that wouldn't have happened. I would probably have played Arcane Intellect there, since you already had good board presence and the opponent wasn't about to get to your Wyrm any time soon. That's a bit debatable though.

 

On turn 4, some discussion can be had about your decision to trade the Novice Engineer for the opponent's 1/1. In general, it's a bad idea to lose a minion when you don't have to. In this case, you could have either used your Hero Power to take it out (and play nothing else, since you had no more mana), or used your Mana Wyrm to take it out. The drawback to using your Mana Wyrm was that doing so would have put it in range of Consecration the following turn, but given that the opponent had a weapon equipped, he could have killed it anyway after Consecration. So, I do think that the best play here would have been to use the Wyrm to kill the Engineer, thus keeping your Engineer alive.

 

On turn 5, I would personally have opted for playing the Yeti instead of Arcane Intellect + Hero Power. That's because your board was already pretty solid, and the Yeti would have really put a ton more pressure on your opponent.

 

On turn 6, I would have used Fireball to kill the Lord of the Arena. This would have protected your Water Elemental.

 

On turn 7, I would absolutely have used Fireball + Hero Power to kill the Boulderfist Ogre. The Frostbolt + Water Elemental attack cost you 2 cards, when Fireball would have cost you a single one.

 

I agree with your turn 8 play, but you should have played the Novice Engineer before doing anything else. If you know you are going to definitely play a card-draw on a turn, you should always do it before making any other plays. This ensures that you draw your new card first, while you still have mana to adapt to it and perhaps come up with a better play.

 

That's it :)

 

Don't take it as criticism. Some of these are definitely preference-based decisions, but I think it's always interesting to analyse and discuss.

 

Good job!

[Guest Redright]

Just reposting my previous as I had some channel issue with youtube. 

 

 

Also thanks for the advice vlad. Also on turn 2 I mention I stuffed up

[Guest SomeGuy!]

Thanks, this deck has worked very well for me. I started playing a few days ago and haven't spent any money so I've only switched out a few cards from quest gold, but I've beaten several multi-legendary decks in both casual and ranked play (though only rank 16 so far, 2 ranked losses IIRC).

[Guest DAvid]

Should i add my Blizzard card to this?(only got 1) and it was like almost 2 months i tihnk you updated this so i was just wondering if i sould remove and add a card. Thanks 

[Skumjumbo 0]

Should i add my Blizzard card to this?(only got 1) and it was like almost 2 months i think you updated this deck, so i was just wondering if i should remove or add any card. Thanks 

Edited March 27, 2014 by Skumjumbo

[Vlad 411]

Should i add my Blizzard card to this?(only got 1) and it was like almost 2 months i think you updated this deck, so i was just wondering if i should remove or add any card. Thanks 

Blizzard is a strong card, and it would certainly improve the quality of this deck. I'd take out one of the weaker cards for it: Elven Archer or Arcane Missiles.

[Guest Guest]

Why is this listed as 80 arcane dust cost if it's all basic cards?

[Damien 1,514]

Why is this listed as 80 arcane dust cost if it's all basic cards?

That's a mistake on my end. I had to manually include all the basic cards in the tool and I forgot Flamestrike I'll fix it this week.

[Guest MichaelWesten007]

This deck has worked terribly for me.  I don't know if I'm doing something wrong or what, but the absence of any sort of Taunt cards makes me really vulnerable.

[Guest M Pick]

Made a couple of changes but this deck has worked well for me so far got to rank 16 and is starting to get a bit tough so saving up to craft a few cards.

[Guest Alexa]

Hi, I'm trying to create an almost-basic mage deck with some non-basic cards (that I've gotten along the way) - and I would ask for some guidance. 

 

I tried the IRC channel, but there were only a couple of people there and they seemed to be afk - or non-responsive.

 

I have one legendary from packs bought with game gold (and I did give in and buy a few packs) - I have one legendary from the packs I got, Leroy Jenkins whom I wasn't thrilled to get, but I have come to understand can be useful.

 

I have several other rare and epic cards, and I guess I'm looking for a mini tutorial or at least some guidance.  I was playing druid and/or Warlock (those are the two that I've gotten the most cards that seem to work, the game RNG seems to favor bestowing druid cards upon me, and that isn't surprising - when I started playing WoW back in vanilla days, I played a druid (resto, because at that time the other trees were broken, you could play them if you were really good, but at that time I wasn't)

 

Also the whole "chicks can't tank" thing was in full vogue and so I gave in and was a healer - a very good one.  Fast forward ten (is it really ten years since the advent of vanilla WoW?) and I no longer play that game, but I am interested in Hearthstone.

 

I would love to get the fireside card back, I'm not sure how to do that as my friends do not play these games (local friends) and I'm pretty much on my own for strategy and hands on assistance.

 

Returning to the primary issue - I have these:

 

 

Mana Wyrm x 2

Spellbinder x 2

Vaporize 

Kirin Tor Mage

Blizzard x 2

 

Those are the mage specific cards.

 

Others of possible interest:

 

Young Priestess

Knife Juggler x 2

Sunfury Protector x 2

Faerie Dragon x 2

Pint sized Summoner

Big Game Hunter x 2

Wild Pyromancer

Alarm o bot

Demolisher

Arcane Golem x 2

Imp Master

Emperor Cobra x 2

Mind Control Tech

Ancient Mage

Defender of Argus x 2

Twilight Drake

Violet Teacher

Abomination

Azure Drake

Stampeding Kodo

Gad. Auctioneer x 2

Agent Commander x 2

Sunwalker

Sea Giant

 

Ancient Watcher x 1 (I understand that this card can be useful when silenced, and for two mana (or with a Sunfury Protector for taunt?) I have two Ironbeak Owls I could put into my deck.

 

And the one Legendary, Leroy.

 

There are few other common cards, I didn't want the list to get more unwieldy.

 

I have 230 dust at present, not a lot, but I don't know which cards I can safely disenchant.  I almost disenchanted the Ancient Watcher then realized that I could silence it with a lucky draw, or turn it into a taunt minion.  

 

If I had lots of hours I'd do more, but the bar to that is the frustration that comes when I go up against people with lots of legendaries who overpower; a couple of friends, bright people all, who can't devote hours to this each day but would love it more if they could increase their win ratio but feel the same frustration I do - you can't win unless you have the cards, and you can't get the cards unless you can win.

 

I've gotten to rank 20 and can't seem to get any higher.  I'm a fairly bright person and I learn quickly, but I'm also an adult with responsibilities and a profession. (but I still love games)

 

Any help that can be given, via response here, or by friending in the game/battlenet and/or playing, or vent/TS or simply "here's a link, go read it" -- would be wonderful and appreciated.

 

I have an email address that I feel comfortable giving out, it was made expressly for this purpose - for Hearthstone connections and is unrelated to my identity - [email protected] 

 

Thanks and have a great weekend

 

 

[Guest Hallelujah]

I'm relatively new to the game and I cannot beat the AI Expert Shaman with this deck. Probably lost 4-5 times in a row with it.  Is it possibly out of date? I'm swapping Chillwind Yeti x 2 for Sen'jin Shieldmasta x 2 and see if that helps.  The lack of taunts appears to be a problem in this matchup and using frostbolts and fireballs to clear multiple windfury minions buffed with flametongue isn't viable.

[Poyo 41]

I'm relatively new to the game and I cannot beat the AI Expert Shaman with this deck. Probably lost 4-5 times in a row with it.  Is it possibly out of date? I'm swapping Chillwind Yeti x 2 for Sen'jin Shieldmasta x 2 and see if that helps.  The lack of taunts appears to be a problem in this matchup and using frostbolts and fireballs to clear multiple windfury minions buffed with flametongue isn't viable.

Hey, Hallelujah

After I've read your post, I got curious about what is so difficult about AI Expert Shaman and I went to put it out of its misery with the basic deck Blizzard provides, which I am confident is inferior to the one you are playing.

I am not entirely sure what is causing you problems, but I would assume that you are not prioritizing their totems. You have to keep the board clear rather than pressuring your opponent, mainly because of the Flametongue Totem.

Try again, play against the shaman, attempt to keep the board clean and use your spells to take out significant threats. 

Let us know if you still have issues :) Best of luck

[Guest Hearthstone newbie]

Can Icy-Veins make a low-budget version of this deck. It is really good. So much control. I'm not a fan of rolling aggro decks. They die too easily in this season with all the AOE cards that everyone is using now because of the zoolock debacle.

[RonnieMoon 5]

Here's some gameplay videos of games I lost, constructive feedback would be great. Where did i go wrong etc etc how can i improve my playstyle

 

 

 

 

[Poyo 41]

Game 1... I personally wouldn't mulligan the cleric, but that had no impact on the game, not playing Ooze on turn 2 however was an auto loss. Stupid mistake and for what? waiting for Deadly Poison or Assassin's Blade in order to create minor advantage, useless. 

Game 2... You lost the game on turn 1... Game 1 and 4 you desperately save your ooze when you shouldn't, here you throw an archer away for no reason. Playing Elven Archer this bad would probably make more sense to swap it with Stonetusk Boar :D

Game 3... Horrible starting hand, you are playing against a superior deck and you got beaten by a simple early pressure... Perhaps having polymorphs, fireballs, water elementals, yeties and engineer is a bit 2 heavy on 4 mana - even midrange druids don't pack so much for 4 mana cost.

Game 4... A lot of horrible small mistakes (Ofc, Ooze and Elven Archers + grand finale: Setting yourself a perfect AoE wipe) left you creating so much card disadvantage over the course of the game that you lost.

Personally I think you are doing small mistakes that end up causing huge card disadvantage and ultimately destroy your game. Saving Oozes to create card advantage on a silly weapon when your opponent is setting up his pressure is always a bad idea, roughly as much as saving an ooze instead of setting up pressure of your own. You played all your Elven Archers suboptimal and they had roughly the same impact on the game as if you played Stonetusk Boar instead.

Also... this is one of the first thing you learn at any card game... if you plan to play a Card Draw... play it first, everything else will follow, unless you already have a perfect play and you are simply using spare mana.
 

[GlockComa 0]

I have Mana Wyrm, Sorcerers Apprentice and Ice Barrier. Should I put any of these in my deck. What would I replace? Thanks!

[Oltier 471]

I have Mana Wyrm, Sorcerers Apprentice and Ice Barrier. Should I put any of these in my deck. What would I replace? Thanks!

Well, it depends on what kind of deck you have.. :)

[Guest Tim]

I'm having a hard time winning with this deck...no taunt and no way to recover lost health. Advice? Thanks.

[Guest GlockComa]

I have the basic Mage deck, first on the list here.

Those are all rare Mage cards, so I'm assuming they might be better. So should I put those 3 in my deck? What 3 in 'basic Mage deck' would be best to remove to make room for those 3? I'm a complete noob, so I'm not going for any play style. I'm just winging it. So I at least want to use my rate finds if they are better.

[Guest David Yount]

I have the 'basic Mage deck' that is what these comments are about...

I happen to have those 3 rare Mage cards. So I'm asking if the 'basic Mage deck' would be improved by adding those 3. And if so, what are three weakest to replace with those?

I hope that makes sense now. Thanks!

[GlockComa 0]

I am using 'The Basic Mage Deck' that these comments are about. I'm completely new to game. So I happened to get one each of the radars cards I listed. I'm simply asking if that deck would be improved by adding those 3 rare cards. And if so, what 3 cards in basic Mage deck should I use them to replace?

I hope that makes sense now. Thanks!!!