LEGEND AGGRO MAGE: No Epics, No Legendaries [900 Dust Budget Deck]

INTRODUCTION

Redditor cplayer wanted to prove that you can reach legend without having epics or legendaries, and he did it by using an aggro mage. He already leached Legend Rank in the Asian Server, but that deck included Bloodmage Thalnos and Leeroy Jenkins. So, he decided to make a totally affordable aggro mage deck on the North American Server, costing only 900 dust in total, and he reached Legend Rank with after 150 wins, starting from Rank 19.

THE DECK

THE CARDS

Ice Lance, Frost Bolt, Azure Drake, Arcane Intellect, Mana Wyrm, and Fireball are staple Mage deck cards. Arcane Missiles sometimes do not appear in such decks, and are replaced with Arcane Explosion. The Loot Hoarder is for card-draw, but some players use Novice Engineer instead if they don't have a Bloodmage Thalnos.

Amani Berserker: More and more aggro mages are using this card, simply because it has a three-point toughness and can deal five damage in one attack. It can kill a Chillwind Yeti if it became a 5/2, and survives a Consecration or Holy Light if it's a 2/3. What's best about it is that you can trigger its enrage ability with the Mage's hero skill.

Elven Archer: This is a great card to have if you're going second and this is in your opening hand. If you're opponent plays a Leper Gnome or something similar, the Elven Archer can just ping it for free. It's great for doing the last-damaging point and helping build your tempo. It works nicely with the fair amount of 1-damage pings coming from your Arcane Missiles and Knife Jugglers.

Harvest Golem: This is the replacement for Bloodmage Thalnos, but it many situations, the Golem is actually the better card, especially against aggro and because it's an annoying card to battle.

Argent Commander: The replacement for Leeroy, and although it costs two more mana and has a lesser attacking power, it does stand on its own because of its Divine Shield, aside from not giving your opponents a couple of 1/1 whelps.

Polymorph: This spell is your deck's third Fireball, especially when there are too many big minions that can prove to be deadly. In addition, Polymorph is a better card to use on Sylvanas Windrunner and Cairne Bloodhoof because it won't trigger Deathrattle. This is also good if you want to get rid of a taunter minion.

Chillwind Yeti: The game's best free four-drop, Chillwind Yeti packs a punch and will always provide good value for its cost. In some situations, it would be better to play this rather than Water Elemental on turn four, if you're expecting your opponent to play something with four or five health (if it's 5, that's where you use the Mage hero skill).

Leper Gnome: It's a great first-turn play (except when you're battling Mage or Druid or Rogue) and deals two direct damage upon death.

Mirror Image: There is only one copy of this card in the deck because this is an aggro deck that has a lot of cards that will trade against the opponent's minions efficiently and help in controlling the board. The deck doesn't always need to buy some time or protect the board, although the card works greatly with Knife Juggler in play.

Sorcerer's Apprentice: She provides good tempo and has a decent 3/2 body for a two-drop, but the card is situational and depends on you holding spells to cast in order to provide the best value, making Amani Berserker a better play on turn two.

Wolfrider: This is still good to have, especially against Shaman and Warrior, but two of it might be too much, with its meager 1-point health and all.

GAMEPLAY

The aggro mage has a lot of "control" tools, with Knife Juggler and Arcane Missiles providing random pings. Moreover, the four-drop Water Elemental can seal you the victory against Hunter, Warrior, Rogue, and sometimes, Paladin. Your direct-damage spells can of course be used for removal instead of burst damage to the opponent's face, so your play has to depend on an opening hand and a mulligan that can provide a great early game play, and of course, efficient use of mana.

With the deck costing only 900 dust because of ten common cards and five rares and having been proven of being capable to help you reach Legend Rank, you might want to try this out.

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DREAMHACK SUMMER 2014 DECKLISTS

FINALLY, the gods have answered our calls. All decks used by the twelve seeded player are now available, including those used in the round of 8 battles. The majority of the decks were comprised of Miracle Rogue, Druid, and Shaman. It's no surprise that Druid is preferred by the players because it holds up well against most decks, aside from being one tough cookie. Additionally, Amaz's famous priest deck and RDU's winning Freeze/Frost Mage is also in there.

ThijsNL's Round of 8

Reynad's Round of 8

Ek0p's Round of 8

RDU's Round of 8

Realz's Round of 8

Frezzar's Round of 8

Amaz's Round of 8

Gnimsh's Round of 8

GROUP STAGE DECKLISTS

1. Ek0p

2. Reynad

3. Danielctin14

4. Savjz

5. Realz

6. RDU 

7. Darkwonyx

8. TidesOfTime

9. ThijsNL

10. Gnmish

11. Amaz

12. Gaara

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RDU's Freeze Mage - The Deck That Won Him Dreamhack Summer 2014

INTRODUCTION

Dreamhack Summer 2014 is finally over, with RDU winning 3-0 against Amaz in the grand finals in a best-of-5 game format. Interestingly, he only used one deck: Freeze Mage. This is compared to Amaz using Combo Druid, Face Hunter, and his famous Randuin Wrynn Priest deck. That's right, it would seem that the mages have begun a comeback in tournament play, aside from Aggro Mage getting attention in Ranked Play.

THE DECK

This deck list was posted by HP user Bibikis, and it is an exact replica of what RDU used. This is actually a typical freeze mage deck, but was put to good use because it goes well against Miracle Rogue, the most famous deck in Ranked Play right now. 

CARD DRAW

The deck has two copies of Arcane Intellect, and they are actually good to have in your opening hand. Aside from this, Bloodmage Thalnos and Azure Drake provide card draw and spell damage. Finally, two copies of Acolyte of Pain and a single piece of Loot Hoarder are in it, which is great because you can just use your hero power to activate the card-drawing abilities of those two minions.

SLOWING YOUR OPPONENT

With the deck being called Freeze Mage, it's no wonder that the deck has two copies of Frost Nova, Blizzard, and Ice Block. The deck has four secrets in total. The other two secrets are one Ice Barrier and one Vaporize, with the latter giving a more aggressive tone to the dominantly control deck compared to having two copies of Ice Barrier. Aside from this, Mirror Image is included to stall your opponent's minions, with Doomsayer to threaten your opponent's board and bait your enemy into using his removal spells to get rid of it, allowing you to ideally drop an Alexstrasza on the next turn. Not to mention, there are two copies of Flamestrike.

DRAGON WIN

The ideal win condition with this deck is to use Alexstrasza on your opponent if his life is still a bit high. If your Alex survives, then you can attack next turn and a Fireball and a Frostbolt will do the job. Additionally, with the deck having two copies of Flamestrike and Blizzard, it wouldn't be impossible to deal about 20 burst damage to your opponent in one turn, even without the help of Sorcerer's Apprentice. This can be done by using Fireball + 2Frostbolt and + 2X Ice Lance. It's even better when you have Azure Drake or Bloodmage Thalnos in play.

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FREEZE MAGE: Legend Rank itsotter's Version

INTRODUCTION

itsotter is a Hearthstone player who reached Legend Rank 18 over the course of six hours using his Freeze Mage deck. He also finished last season at Legend Rank 12 by solely using this. Additionally, it performs well against Miracle Rogue, with itsotter having beaten Tides of Time and Massan. The deck only has two legendaries, so it's still relatively affordable, and is perhaps the best deck to use in the higher ranks. You can check out his steam here.

Additionally, Dreamhack Summer 2014 is over, and we all know that RDU won the game using Freeze Mage. One of the few differences between itsotter's deck and RDU's is that RDU uses Loot Hoarder instead of two copies of Novice Engineer. Finally, RDU replaces one Ice Barrier for a second Flamestrike, making it a bit more aggressive. RDU actually saw itsotter's version and called his "otter's list with a Vaporize".

THE DECK

The deck above is provided by itsotter himself using his account in HP. It costs a total of 6120 dust. He also defended his choice to use Novice Engineer, stating that he originally went for Loot Hoarders, but the Engineers gave better topdeck value because the card draw comes immediately from Battlecry and not through Deathrattle.

So, how does one win the Freeze Mage deck? The objective is pretty simple: stall the game using Doomsayer, Blizzard, Flamestrike, Ice Barrier, Ice Block, and even Mirror Image. But why? Because when you get enough mana in the late game, you will cast Alexstrasza and put your opponent's life down to 15 if the original life was higher than that. Once you set it to a mere 15 points, you go for the kill with your direct damage spells. you've got two copies of Acolyte of Pain, Novice Engineer and Arcane Intellect to dig for cards, while Azure Drake and Bloodmage provide additional power through spell damage.

Even when your opponent is at 20 life, he should be cautious already. It's not rare to use Frost Bolt + Frost Bolt + Ice Lance + Ice Lance + Fireball for a surprise 20 burst damage, bonus if Azure Drake or Bloodmage Thalnos is in play.

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Aggro Frost Mage: Reach Legend Rank In Hearthstone

While everyone seems to be familiar of the fact that Trump was able to reach Legend using budget mage, there are now new varieties of mage decks that are going up the ranks. From those that utilize Ancient Watcher and Defender of Argus to those that have Knife Juggler and Arcane Golem, the mage is still a class to be considered in ranked play. This one, which has Wolf Rider and Leper Gnome, is an aggro Frost Mage deck.




A key to winning here is to get an early aggressive play that will force your opponent to trade with your minions, all the while protecting the Leper Gnome and Loot Hoarder to ideally trade with 3/2s. Additionally, Knife Juggler works well with Mirror Image to protect your other creatures, aside from dealing two damage. Sorcerer's Apprentice is included to make Fireball cheaper, in case a big minion arrives or simply for the finishing blow. Even a cheaper way to finish the game is by using a Frostbolt to your opponent's face and following it up with an Ice Lance for a total of 7 damage for a mere three mana (or 1 mana if Apprentice is in play). Arcane Intellect is there for the needed reload of more firepower, in combination with Loot Hoarder.


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