Hearthpwn

 

I -) Who Am I?

 

Hello friends!

My name is Johnny Stone and i'm a professional Hearthstone player and streamer for flowesports.

 First of all: thanks for reading this guide and if it is helpful to you, dont forget to upvote it!

If you want to see more of me, i'm streaming daily  on Twitch.

I also post frequently on Twitter and Facebook as well as creating videos for Youtube!

Finally you can find many more guides at my teams website: flowesports.com

 

II -) Basics:

 

I have been playing almost exclusivly wild mode this month and tested a lot of different decks. I also was able to reach Legend rank on both EU and NA servers.

Control/Secret Mage is a list i came up with through trial and error, it combines an old archetype completly gone from the current meta with some of the new ONIK cards.

This deck focuses on clearing your opponents minions with efficient cards like Explosive Sheep, Forgotten Torch and Flamestrike while at the same time generating insane value with Avian Watcher or Arcane Giant + Duplicate / Echo of Medivh.

The amount of different secrets and the fact that currently nobody is playing anything even close to this list makes it very difficult for opponents to realize whats going on and force them into a lot of mistakes.

Control/Secret Mage has a good matchup against most control decks simply because you have the time to draw your value combos. It also really shines against Patron Warrior, currently a very popular and strong deck in wild mode.

If you face off against an aggro or tempo orientated deck you will need a decent draw to fight their early game off so these matchups arent as good, but certainly still winnable!

 

 

III -) why no … ?

 

Fireball: our gameplan is not agressive and there are usually better options for removing minions

Deathlord: i have played with this card a lot and i believe the downside is a bit too much. Certainly an option though if you want to try it out i suggest replacing Doomsayers with it

2^nd Arcane Giant/Cabalist's Tome/Echo of Medivh: these cards shine only against other control decks and will hurt your chances of winning against aggro and tempo decks

why Elise Starseeker: very useful if the game goes to fatigue, still a respectable body against fast decks.

 

IV -) Mulligan:

 

Mad Scientist: keep always

Frostbolt: keep always

Doomsayer: keep vs aggro and tempo decks

Medivh's Valet: keep with Mad Scientist already in hand

Explosive Sheep: keep vs Paladin, Hunter, Warlock

Forgotten Torch: keep when no Frostbolt yet

Arcane Intellect: keep vs control decks

Avian Watcher: keep vs control decks

Flamestrike: keep vs Warrior

 

V -) Matchups:

Vs Patron Warrior:

extremly favorable matchup. Flamestrikes need to be reserved for Grim Patrons only. Prevent their carddraw if possible (play around Battle Rage, remove Acolyte of Pain as a priority). Him getting armor is almost irrelevant, so you don't need to go out of your way to remove Armorsmiths. Best Duplicate targets: Avian Watcher, Medivh's Valet

Vs Secret Paladin:

try to predict their secrets, practice will help with that. Polymorph should be reserved for Tirion Fordring. If they hit their perfect curve its almost impossible to answer it, so don't be mad if you loose some games, If you can survive the first ~10 turns you are in a good position usually. Best Duplicate targets: Avian Watcher, Explosive Sheep, Doomsayer, Medivh's Valet

Vs Hunter:

In contrast to the previous matchups, against Hunter usually the board is not the main problem. Their repetitive damage really adds up and if you dont draw your Antique Healbot or Ice Barrier its getting very difficult to stabilize. Try to avoid taking damage whenever possible (for example: don't trigger their Explosive Trap giving them an Eaglehorn Bow charge if you don't have to). Its difficult to force them to kill your Antique Healbot while having Duplicate up so don't plan for that. Echo of Medivh should be saved for Antique Healbot almost always.

Vs Freeze Mage:

usually you can't pressure them at all so outhealing their damage is the main win condition in this matchup. Getting him to procc Ice Barrier or catching a Fireball with Counterspell is huge. Wait with Antique Healbot until they use Alexstrasza. Ideally you want to use Echo of Medivh on at least one Antique Healbot other cards don't matter that much.

Vs Warlock Zoo:

similiar to Secret Paladin but a bit easier since our board clears are more effective. Your playstyle should almost always be defensive, pushing face damage is mostly irrelevant – clearing a 1/1 minion often is a better choice! Best Duplicate targets: Avian Watcher, Explosive Sheep, Doomsayer, Medivh's Valet

Vs control Priest/Warrior:

Priest is much harder because of Entomb, but the playstyle is similar. Set up value situations with Duplicate and Echo of Medivh and then play Elise Starseeker into Golden Monkey. Best Duplicate targets: Avian Watcher, Arcane Giant, Elise Starseeker. Sometimes it can be a good idea to make them draw extra cards (ex: ping on Acolyte of Pain if you forsee the game going into fatigue)