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I bring life and hope... (S35 Wild Freeze Mage)

  • Last updated Feb 19, 2017 (Gadgetzan)
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Wild

  • 11 Minions
  • 19 Spells
  • Deck Type: Ranked Deck
  • Deck Archetype: Freeze Mage
  • Crafting Cost: 5720
  • Dust Needed: Loading Collection
  • Created: 2/14/2017 (Gadgetzan)
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  • Battle Tag:

    Serenity#2585

  • Region:

    EU

  • Total Deck Rating

    50

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I tried playing other classes and tried playing other Decks in the end I always come back to this one.... It'll always be my favorite... Even in a meta as frustrating as this one,I still find this Deck fun to play. I love smacking Pirate Warriors/Shamans face with Alexstrasza (thus the name of the Deck) and I'd like to share my knowledge about it with everyone willing to read the wall of text that is about to unfold...

 

As you can see the Decklist is nothing new... It's basically a Standard list with the addition of our beloved broken little friend Mad Scientist, but I find it to perform pretty well in the current meta... 

And now wall of text ahead so beware...

 

1.Explanation of the Deck's playstyle  

Freeze Mage is combo Deck that aims to defeat the opponent by using damage spells to burst him down... Since the only minions this Deck uses are either combo enablers or cycle cards that don't do much to affect the board state you also run a lot of Freeze effects (To slow down the pace of the game in order to draw your combo pieces) and AOE to deal with the opponent's board... A lot of people find this Deck uninteractive and unfun to play and play against but I think it's one of the few still viable Decks that rewards careful use of resources and planning ahead....

2.Possible Combos

The ones below are for when Emperor Thaurissan decides he doesn't want to be of any help and buries himself in the last 5 cards of the Deck....

And now these are for when Emperor Thaurissan chooses to show us his powers... (Disclaimer:His powers are so great that he usually doesn't survive when he uses them, so all the combos below take into account just one thick from him)

3.Matchups and mulligans

Druid

Jade

 

Hunter

Midrange/Secret

  • Even
  • This is one of those MUs where if you draw all your burn spells you can just recklessly throw them all at their face cause they don't run any healing...
  • Obviously prioritize killing their beasts over other minions...
  • Doomsayer is a pretty key card here... When used alongside a Freeze effect it will most likely clear the board or eat up a Kill Command... Also try to drop him during specific turns (i.e. on turn 5 to prevent Savannah Highmane) 
  • Keep in mind that Blizzard doesn't kill the minion spawned by Cat Trick
  • If you can,try to save The Coin to bait out Cat Trick and deal with its minion
  • As usual keep Mad Scientist/Novice Engineer also Doomsayer is a priority here... Frosbolt wouldn't be bad either, and if you have a decent hand you can also keep Forgotten Torch... 

 

Mage

Reno

Tempo 

Freeze

  • Even
  • The Coin is pretty important here since the player that has it can play "mindgames" with the opponent... He could,for example,drop Alexstrasza on turn 8 or Emperor Thaurissan on turn 5 so try to plan accordingly...
  • Do not attack with Secrets up! There's no way of knowing which is Secret it is so you don't want to risk giving your opponent 8 armor.... I guess you could attack with Alexstrasza, but most of the times she's frozen and her attack would be useless anyway so just don't do it...
  • Be careful with Acolyte of Pain,always count how many cards you have in your hand before pinging him... You might end up milling key cards and also the game might go to fatigue so you don't want to draw much more than your opponent...
  • OUTRIGHT kill Emperor Thaurissan... Even if it means wasting Frostbolt+Ice Lance the thing needs to die ASAP...
  • Always try to pop Ice Block at 1 so you can just ping them when they play the second one...
  • Do not waste Alexstrasza! Since this Decklist doesn't run Antique Healbot she's your only source of healing so don't just brainlessly play on turn 9.... Most of the times you'll ping your opponent's face several times and they'll probably be in burn range even without her help... If that wasn't the case,especially in this matchup,Pyroblast does the job equally well without sacrifing a card that could win you the game...
  • Archmage Antonidas... Even if not used in this Deck he's still a force to be reckoned with and especially in the mirror it can be an important asset.... If I had to tech this Deck for the mirror I'd probably include him... So if your opponent is running him he's the #1 priority for killing... You kill him even before Emperor Thaurissan...  Also always keep count of how many [card][Fireball/card]s he created....
  • This is probably useless as it's common knowledge still... Secrets don't trigger during your turn so Ice Block can't save you from fatigue damage...
  • Mulligan is as usual... You keep Mad Scientist/Novice Engineer and Arcane Intellect... If you knew it was mirror I suppose you could keep Alexstrasza/Emperor Thaurissan but that would be a disaster if it turned to be any other Deck so don't do it...

Paladin

Anyfin

  • Highly favored 80/20
  • This is one of the easiest matchups for you... They're slow.... Like really  really slow so you just cycle through the Deck and burst them down from 20+ HP...
  • Forget Alexstrasza exists... They have so much healing that you'd just waste a turn by playing her... 
  • Focus on getting a huge Emperor Thaurissan discount... The greedier the better... If you can OTK go for it...
  • Of course get rid of Murloc Warleader...
  • Mulligan is as it for any slow Deck... You keep Arcane Intellect[card]/2 drops and [card]Acolyte Of Pain and Doomsayer cause it might be Secret as well....

Secret

  • Highly favored 70/30
  • Doomsayer+any Freeze effect is your best friend here since it's almost sure it will clear the board... Keep in mind that Repetance is a card though...
  • Do not trigger Avenge if you can't deal with it...
  • Account for Truesilver Champion's healing effect when going for lethal over multiple turns....
  • Kill those Knife Jugglers... They might have been nerfed but they're still pretty annoying and can deal a good amount of damage if left unchecked...
  • Same as above for Secretkeepers... Unless you draw awfully and need to play Secrets manually they shouldn't be a problem,but once I saw one of those grow to 6/7 on like turn 4 so now I try to get rid of them ASAP...
  •  Here along with the usual 2 drops you should keep removal,Doomsayer, which you can greedy with, if you also have Frost Nova and Acolyte of Pain which is probably gonna either trade with 1/1s or eat up damage from weapons...

Priest

Dragon 

  • Favored 65/45
  • This used to be easier but now Kabal Talonpriest and Drakonid Operative are a thing so it got a bit worse... Still a pretty good matchup though,just not autowin like before...
  • Unlike the other Priest variants this one doesn't run any healing beside Holy Nova so you can safely go for Alexstrasza and a 1 or at worst 2 turns kill...
  • Don't expect your Doomsayer to clear the board unless your for some reason playing it on turn 2...
  • Try to avoid pinging minions as it would give targets to Northshire Cleric...
  • Mulligan is as usual with 2 drops and cycle... Keeping Emperor Thaurissan here is probably not that bad of an idea,especially if your hand is good....

Control/Reno

  • Highly favored 70/30
  • I'm grouping Reno and Control variants together cause the plan is the same for both Decks...
  • As with Anyfin Paladin forget about Alexstrasza.... 90% of the time she won't do much....
  • Be greedy with Emperor Thaurissan and try to go for the OTK,especially if you're sure it's Reno...
  • Pray your opponent is not one of the 2 people on the entire planet that plays Eater Of Secrets[card] and/or [card]Ragnaros The Firelord...
  • Be careful with Deathlords cause if they pull Emperor Thaurissan or [card]Evolved Kobold/card] you're gonna be in trouble...
  • Mulligan is the same as Dragon Priest... 

Rogue

Miracle

 

Shaman

Aggro

  • Slightly Unfavored 40/60
  • Doomsayer is your #1 mulligan priority here... Whatever he plays on turn 1,unless you're sure it would die,you play Doomsayer...
  • Don't be greedy with burst damage... He will eventually run out of steam so your goal here is just surviving till he's out of cards and you can play Alexstrasza to get out of lethal range...
  • Prioritize Ice Barrier over Ice Block... That 8 armor can really make a difference here...
  • Get rid of Flametongue Totem and Tunnel Trogg immediately,as they can snowball into huge amounts of damage...
  • Consider swapping in Flamestrike if you're facing a lot of Shamans as the cards is a godsend against them...
  • As stated above mulligan aggressively for Doomsayer,keep any for of removal you come across,obviously our beloved broken game changing Mad Scientist and unless your hand is really good don't keep Arcane Intellect cause it's too slow...

Midrange 

  • Favored 65/45
  • Be careful as this Deck,like the aggro variant,runs the Pirates package but has a way heavier late game and above all runs Jinyu Waterspeaker that could mess with your gameplan...
  • Apparently some lists run Bloodlust so account for that too...
  • Your strategy should be the same you have against other midrange Decks... You just try to survive till you can either get a big Emperor Thaurissan turn or can afford to go for Alexstrasza...
  • It's highly unlikely that Doomsayer will manage to clear the board in combination with Freeze effects so you're better off playing him early and keep the spells for stalling...
  • Again think about Flamestrike if there are too many Shamans...
  • Along with the usual 2 drops you keep Doomsayer and Forgotten Torch/Frostbolt...

Warlock

Reno

Zoo

  • Highly favored 70/30
  • As with Secret Paladin Doomsayer+Frost Nova is the MVP here... Most of the times it will wipe their whole board...
  • Kill Darkshire Couincilman as it can grow out of control...
  • Keep in mind that you can ping Imp Gang Boss to fill their board and prevent them from playing other minions...
  • They'll tap a lot,even more than Renolocks so by turn 10 they should be in burn range and you won't even need to play Alexstrasza...
  • They don't have any kind of healing so you can just throw everything you have at their face might it be necessary...
  • As usual you keep 2 drops,Doomsayer,Frost Nova can also be kept if you have the former and Frostbolt/Forgotten Torch...

 

Warrior

Pirate

  • Slightly Unfavored 40/60
  • As with Aggro Shaman Doomsayer is the card you want the most...
  • Ship's Cannon is even worse than pre-nerf Knife Juggler so kill it on sight...
  • Prioritize killing Pirates over other minions to deny Bloodsail Cultist value...
  • Consider even coining Frostbolt to kill Small-Time Buccaneer so that you can ping Patches the Pirate the following turn and unless they have another pirate they won't get their weapon buff on turn 3...
  •  Ice Lances are very good friends of yours here since they can prevent you from taking a huge amount of damage from weapons...
  • Doomsayer+Frost Nova will most likely get rid of their board so consider keeping the latter in the mulligan if you have a good hand...
  • Frothing Berseker needs to die ASAP...
  • Even more than with Shaman your goal in this matchup is surviving till you can play Alexstrasza... By the time you can use her they'll be in topdeck mode and they have no ways of dealing with an 8/8 meaning she'll probably end the game in about 2 turns after she's played...
  • You might want to play Doomsayer the turn before Alexstrasza cause they'll most likely ignore it to pop the Ice Block and you'll be back at 15 with an empty board...
  • Keep removal,2 drops,Doomsayer and maybe Frost Nova if the rest of the hand is good... Also if you see a big dragon it might not be a bad idea to keep that as well...

Control

  • Fucking impossible 10/90
  • Your strategy here is hit "Esc" and then click on "Concede" cause unless they draw crap and your hand is godlike Ms Justicar Trueheart made an already awful matchup close to impossible... 
  • Alternatively you can pray for them to disconnect...
  • Seriously I don't even know how to mulligan for this... It's just so one sided that it isn't even worth it... (Says someone who then ends up trying everytime only to concede 5 minutes later when they inevitably play Justicar Trueheart on curve)

3.Card replacements

  • Alexstrasza:Obviously not replaceable just play something else till you get her...
  • Bloodmage Thalnos:A second Acolyte of Pain or Loot Hoarder would be fine I guess and so would be Flamestrike or  Antique Healbot still he's a great card and it's splashable so I'd recommend crafting him...
  • Emperor Thaurissan:God please just get BRM or craft him cause he makes everything more fun and makes matchups that would otherwise be terrible a piece of cake...
  • Pyroblast:Archmage Antonidas is the most obvious replacement, and  even though he's a bit slow right now it might still snowball out of control against aggressive Decks...
  • Doomsayer:Well I suppose anyone now has 2 copies of this card,also not having him would drastically decrease your winrate... So same as above if you don't have it don't play the Deck...
  • Ice Block:same as above, you need two of these or we're not going anywhere...

4.Random Tips

  • When possible trade Mad Scientist before drawing to decrease the chances of getting a Secret you might have pulled from the Deck...
  • Remember that you can kill your own Mad Scientist to get a Secrets you wouldn't have otherwise been able to play...
  • Abuse your opponent's Sylvanas Windrunner and make her steal your Doomsayer to clear their board...
  • If you plan on drawing during a turn do that before doing anything else...
  • Sometimes overlooked but Ice Lance can also be used to kill frozen minions or at least put them in AOE range... 

 5. Stats

The ones below are my stats for the current season... I started playing this Deck at Rank 15 and now I'm sitting at 5... I have no intention to do so in such a boring meta but if you do play correctly I suppose you could easily reach Legend playing this Deck...  

 

 

And that's it! I'll probably review this later to check for spelling/card names/grammar mistakes... In the meantime I hope you enjoyed the guide... Feel free to leave a comment and ask any questions you might have...  

 

Update 19/02:

Added OTK combo without Kobold and Decktracker stats...